Mexicans continue tradition of king cakes
By FABIOLA SÁNCHEZ

January 6, 2022

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Bakery workers prepare "Rosca de Reyes" pastries the day before Epiphany, or Three Kings Day, in Mexico City, Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

MEXICO CITY (AP) — While tortillas come to mind when Mexico is mentioned, every Jan. 6, Mexicans’ love of bread comes to the fore with the cutting of oval brioche decorated with candied fruit known as king cakes to celebrate Epiphany.

Just hours before Mexicans took their first slices, hundreds of shoppers packed amid the overwhelming smell of fresh-baked bread inside one of Mexico City’s oldest bakeries to buy their king cakes, known as “rosca de reyes.” The Ideal bakery, founded in 1927, inhabits the former San Francisco el Grande convent in the capital’s center.

Among the throng was Dalia Hernández, a 34-year-old homemaker who was thrilled to return to the bakery after steering clear last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite rising infections again, capital authorities have so far allowed businesses like Ideal to continue welcoming customers. Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum did, however, cancel the tradition of the giant king cake sliced in the city’s central plaza for the second consecutive year.

“I really missed coming to the bakery,” Hernández said. “Last year, only my husband came, but this time we all came because it is part of a family tradition.” She said the tradition of the cakes has persevered because they are “part of our culture, our identity as Mexicans.”

The king cakes had their origins in 14th-century France and Spain and arrived to Mexico with the conquest.

Even though it is a seasonal treat eaten only during the early days of January, it’s something enjoyed by all levels of Mexican society, keeping demand high, said Oswaldo Tapia, chef for the company NTD Ingredients.

“The rosca de reyes is a traditional food that I believe would be unlikely to disappear because Mexicans are bread lovers,” said Tapia, who has been baking for three decades. Mexico has added its own touches, making it in an oval shape and often filling it with cream.

Sugar is sprinkled on traditional "Rosca de Reyes" pastries at Chef Francisco Vasquez's bakery the day before Epiphany, or Three Kings Day, in Mexico City, Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Traditionally, Mexicans had decorated their king cakes with acitron, a candied element from a particular type of cactus. But the government prohibited that in 2005 due to the impact on the species. Other fruits are now substituted.

The figurine of a baby meant to represent a baby Jesus is hidden inside the cakes. The person who finds the figurine in their slice is supposed to buy tamales for everyone present on Feb. 2, another Christian feast day.

Inside the Ideal bakery Wednesday, Ana Morales, a 54-year-old businesswoman recalled running through the building’s patio as a child. Her family lived in an upper part of the building so she awoke each morning to the smell of baking bread.

“This place is fascinating, beautiful,” she said. “Coming today for a real rosca is to live a beautiful Kings’ Day.”

“The truth is whoever doesn’t eat rosca de reyes ... doesn’t know Mexico,” Morales said. “This is the taste of Mexico. It is a tradition and a privilege to be able to still savor bread.”

AP videojournalist Fernanda Pesce contributed to this report.

In South Korea, hair loss emerges as new election issue

By HYUNG-JIN KIM

January 6, 2022

Lee Jae-myung, a candidate of the ruling Democratic Party for next March's presidential election, speaks during a New Year press conference at a Kia Motors' plant in Gyeonggi-do, South Korea Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022. (Chung Sung-Jun/Pool Photo via AP)


SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung isn’t bald. But he is enjoying the support of many bald voters over his push for government payments for hair loss treatments.

Since his proposal was disclosed earlier this week, hair loss has emerged as a hot-button topic ahead of March’s presidential vote in South Korea, where previous elections have focused on North Korea’s nuclear program, relations with the U.S., scandals and economic problems.

Online communities for bald people are flooded with messages supporting his proposal. There is also strong criticism that it’s just a populism-driven campaign pledge by Lee, the governing party candidate, to win votes.

Messages on social media include, “Jae-myung bro. I love you. I’ll implant you in the Blue House” and “Your Excellency, Mr. President! You’re giving new hope to bald people for the first time in Korea.”

Lee told reporters Wednesday that he thinks hair regrowth treatments should be covered by the national health insurance program.

“Please, let us know what has been inconvenient for you over hair-loss treatments and what must be reflected in policies,” Lee wrote on Facebook. “I’ll present a perfect policy on hair-loss treatment.”

Lee, an outspoken liberal, is leading public opinion surveys. Some critics have called him a dangerous populist.

“(Lee’s idea) may appear to be a necessary step for many people worrying about their hair loss but it’s nothing but serious populism, given that it would worsen the financial stability of the state insurance program,” the conservative Munhwa Ilbo newspaper said in an editorial Thursday.

Currently, hair loss related to aging and hereditary factors is not covered by the government-run insurance program. Hair loss treatments are only supported if the loss is caused by certain diseases.

Reports say one in every five South Koreans suffers from hair loss.

BALD IS BEAUTIFUL

Ugandan authorities face pressure to free detained author

By RODNEY MUHUMUZA


KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Ugandan authorities face growing pressure to free an author who has been in detention for 10 days, allegedly over his criticism of the president and his son.

Novelist Kakwenza Rukirabashaija has been in custody since Dec. 28, accused of what the police called offensive acts in violation of a law against the misuse of a computer.

Rukirabashaija, who writes satirical fiction, has been detained twice before over his work highlighting the failures of the government of President Yoweri Museveni, Uganda’s leader since 1986.

A magistrate ordered Rukirabashaija’s unconditional release earlier this week, but Ugandan security officials have not complied with the order.

Defense attorney Eron Kiiza said Rukirabashaija looked visibly weak and could barely sit down in his bloodied clothes when he was returned to his house on Monday for a search.

Kiiza told The Associated Press he believed Rukirabashaija is in the hands of the Special Forces Command, an army unit that protects the first family. He said a series of Twitter posts by Rukirabashaija had apparently angered Museveni and his son, Lt. Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who commands Uganda’s infantry forces.

In the tweets, Rukirabashaija described Museveni as an election thief and Kainerugaba as an overweight and “intellectually bankrupt” soldier who hopes to succeed his father as president.

“They keep moving him around,” Kiiza said of the security forces. “They have defied court orders to release him, of course with impunity.”

Police spokesman Fred Enanga declined to comment on Rukirabashaija’s whereabouts, saying it was now a matter for the attorney general’s office. It was not immediately possible to get a comment from the Special Forces Command.

Rukirabashaija last year was awarded the PEN Pinter Prize for an international writer of courage. English PEN, a human rights organization for writers, said in a statement that it was “gravely concerned” about the Ugandan author’s detention.

The U.S. Embassy in Uganda called for Rukirabashaija’s release, saying on Twitter that civil society, human rights defenders, journalists and others “all play critical roles in a democratic society & should be able to carry out their work free of harassment.”

Idaho Sen. Jim Risch, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in a Twitter post said the writer’s detention is among “new & troubling examples” of Ugandan authorities’ efforts to suppress dissent.

At home, Rukirabashaija’s case has renewed focus on the alleged excesses of the security forces in enforcing Museveni’s authority.

Bobi Wine, a popular activist who challenged Museveni in elections last year, said the security forces must be held accountable for the alleged torture of Rukirabashaija and mistreatment of civilians.

Danes release suspected pirates rather than try them at home

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Three suspected pirates who were detained on a Danish military vessel after a fatal gunfight with the Danish navy off West Africa have been released after the government decided it did not want to bring them to Denmark to face preliminary charges of attempted murder.

“We have no interest in getting the persons in question to Denmark,” Justice Minister Nick Haekkerup said Thursday, adding there was a “risk that they would not subsequently be deported.”

A fourth suspected pirate who was injured during a gunbattle with the Danish army, is already in Denmark receiving medical care and will continue to face charges, he said.

Foreign citizens found guilty of crimes in Denmark are often deported after having served their time. But some fight to stay, while others cannot be extradited because Denmark may not have extradition agreements with their countries. The nationalities of the suspected pirates are not known.

Haekkerup said he “had quite exceptionally ordered the prosecution to notify three of the four suspected pirates that charges against them would be dropped.” He said it was “a very unusual case,” adding “they simply do not belong here. And that’s why I think it’s the right thing to do.”

Danish media said the men were put on a dinghy in international waters with enough fuel, water and food to reach land.

The fourth suspected pirate was flown to Denmark on Jan. 6 where he will face a custody hearing and “further prosecution against him continues.”

He was first admitted to a hospital in Ghana during a port call in December. However, as it was not possible to leave him there or in the area, and because it was not justifiable to release him at sea “for health and safety reasons,” the government said “it has been necessary to bring the person to Denmark.”

The Nov. 24. incident involved the Danish frigate HDMS Esbern Snare, which was on an anti-piracy operation off West Africa.

It engaged in an exchange of fire with a vessel that was reported to have been approaching several commercial ships in the Gulf of Guinea off oil-rich Nigeria. It had first dispatched a Seahawk helicopter which reported seeing men on the vessel with “equipment connected to piracy, including ladders.”

Following the gun battle, the vessel sank. Four of the suspected pirates were killed and one is missing, presumed drowned. The other four were taken aboard the Danish ship.

Later, because the ship is considered Danish territory, a Copenhagen court ordered the four held in custody while authorities investigate the case. In Denmark, preliminary charges are one step short of formal charges.

The Gulf of Guinea is one of the world’s most dangerous waterways with regular kidnappings. In 2019, the region accounted for more than 90% of global crew member abductions.

Colombian man felt tranquil before euthanasia ended his pain
By ASTRID SUÁREZ

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Victor Escobar sits at his home during an interview in Cali, Colombia, Thursday, Jan. 6, 2022. Escobar, who suffers chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, oxygen dependence, lack of muscle control and secondary effects from a stroke is scheduled on the evening of Jan. 7 to become the first person to receive euthanasia legally, without being a terminally ill patient. Euthanasia for terminally ill patients is legal in Colombia. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)


CALI, Colombia (AP) — For the first time in years, Víctor Escobar stopped taking most of the medicines needed for his lung disease. There was no longer any need. On Friday evening, he became the first Colombian to be euthanized despite not yet being in terminal condition.

“I feel an immense tranquility. I don’t feel fear of what is to come,” Escobar told The Associated Press this week. “They have told me that the process is going to be a slow sedation at first so that I have time to say goodbye.

“After that is the injection of the euthanasia, which is going to be something without pain — a very tranquil death. I trust in God that that all this will be that way,” he said in a weak voice while sitting on a sofa in the small home he had been paying off with a pension of $250 a month.

His lawyer, Luis Giraldo, said Friday evening that the process had been completed and Escobar was dead.

Escobar was the first to use a July ruling of the nation’s top court that changed the rules for euthanasia, allowing it to be applied to people who suffer intense physical or psychological suffering due to a grave and incurable disease, even if they are not yet near death.

His family declined to reveal the name of the clinic where the euthanasia took place.

The country depenalized euthanasia in 1997, but only for those considered to have fewer than six months to live. While polls indicate most Colombians favor expanding it to people like Escobar, the legislature so far hasn’t formally followed the court’s lead by explicitly authorizing it and some remain deeply opposed.

The Catholic Church issued a statement in July saying that “any action or omission with the intention of provoking death to overcome pain constitutes homicide.”

From the apartment in Cali, where he was born, Escobar was conscious of the importance of his case, the first in Latin America.

“It is the door so that a patient like me, with degenerative diseases, has the opportunity for a dignified death,” he said Thursday.

Even morphine was insufficient to calm his pain and he said other medications were losing their effects.

He had been ill since 2008, when two strokes cost him the movement of half his body, though some of that returned. He later developed chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, hypertension, diabetes, severe arthrosis and costochondral junction syndrome — a painful inflammation where the ribs meet the breastbone.

Escobar fought to obtain euthanasia for more than two years. Judges twice turned him down because his illnesses were not yet considered terminal.

“It was a complicated affair to confront justice, the political parties, religion and many powerful people as somebody who only had (access to) communications media,,” said Giraldo, his attorney.

In an earlier case, a judge in October had authorized voluntary euthanasia for Martha Sepúlveda, a woman suffering amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. But it was cancelled hours before the planned procedure when extensive news coverage led the medical committee at the clinic where it was to be performed to change its mind.

Escobar said he would say farewell to his wife, three children, brother and cousins at a midday meal.

“I will have the opportunity that they give me the warmth of the family and their accompaniment and also that I can thank them in my own name,” he said. “It will be a day of rejoicing for us, and I hope it will be something very private.”

Escobar said he hoped his case would lead to actual legalization and regulation of assisted death for non-terminal patients. Legislation to do so failed in November.

“If we ask for a dignified death it is because we are tired of all the illnesses that overcome us,” Escobar said. “For us, life ended a long time ago.”

Ethiopia announces amnesty for prominent opposition figures


Eskinder Nega has often been put behind bars (AFP/Yonas TADESSE)

Fri, January 7, 2022

The Ethiopian government announced Friday it was pardoning a number of high-profile political prisoners, including members of the rebel Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), in a bid to promote "national dialogue".

The surprise move comes amid a lull in the brutal 14-month conflict in northern Ethiopia after a dramatic shift in battlefield fortunes at the end of last year saw government forces retake a string of key towns and the TPLF retreat to its stronghold in Tigray.

"The key to lasting unity is dialogue. Ethiopia will make any sacrifices to this end," the government communications service said in a statement announcing the amnesty.


"Its purpose is to pave the way for a lasting solution to Ethiopia's problems in a peaceful, non-violent way... especially with the aim of making the all-inclusive national dialogue a success."

It listed several prominent members of the TPLF as well as opposition leaders from the Oromo ethnic group, the largest in Ethiopia, and the Amhara.

It was not immediately clear how many of those granted amnesty had yet been freed.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed -- a Nobel peace laureate who reportedly went to the battlefront in November to lead his troops -- had also called for "national reconciliation" and "unity" in a statement issued as Ethiopia celebrated Orthodox Christmas.

The war in the north has claimed the lives of thousands of people and left hundreds of thousands more facing famine conditions in Tigray, which is under what the United Nations says is a de facto blockade.

The pardons coincided with a mission to Ethiopia by US envoy Jeffrey Feltman, who is pushing for talks to end a conflict that has threatened to tear apart Africa's second most populous state and destabilise the Horn of Africa region.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said in a statement on Twitter he welcomed the amnesty announcement.

"I will remain actively engaged in assisting Ethiopia to bring an end to the fighting and to restore peace and stability," he added.

- Ethnic tensions -

Among the prominent TPLF figures to be granted amnesty are Sibhat Nega -- a founder of the party -- as well Kidusan Nega, Abay Woldu, Abadi Zemu (also a former ambassador to Sudan) and Mulu Gebregziabher.

One of those already freed is Amhara politician Eskinder Nega, one of several leading government opponents rounded up after deadly protests erupted in 2020 over the killing of popular Oroma singer and activist Hachalu Hundessa.

Balderas for Genuine Democracy, which Eskinder founded, posted a picture on Facebook of him and a colleague posing with fist-pumps outside the maximum security Kality prison in the capital Addis Ababa where they had been held.

Jawar Mohammed, an Oromo media mogul and one-time Abiy ally turned opposition politician who was also arrested after the 2020 bloodshed, was also given a pardon.

In all, 239 people were killed in the demonstrations and violence over just a few days in June and July 2020 that saw Abiy grapple to maintain control and keep a lid on the simmering ethnic tensions and resentments.

Hachalu's songs channelled marginalisation among his Oromo ethnic group, and were the soundtrack to anti-government protests that swept Abiy, the country's first Oromo leader, to office in 2018.

- 'Substantive discussions' -

Meanwhile Feltman -- who this week resigned his post -- held "constructive, substantive discussions" in Addis Ababa with Abiy, US State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters Thursday.

The United States will work to see that "any positive momentum from discussions can be quickly realised," Price said.

"We continue to call for an immediate cessation of hostilities, an end to human rights atrocities, unhindered humanitarian access and a negotiated resolution to the conflict."

Fighting broke out when Abiy sent troops into Tigray in November 2020 after months of seething tensions with its ruling party the TPLF, accusing its fighters of attacking federal army camps.

He declared a swift victory but rebel fighters hit back, recapturing most of Tigray by the end of June and pushing into the neighbouring regions of Amhara and Afar.

The TPLF claimed to have been as close as 200 kilometres (125 miles) from Addis Ababa in November, prompting alarmed foreign nations to tell their citizens to leave.

But by the end of December they announced a withdrawal to Tigray after the government retook several strategic towns on the road to the capital, including the UNESCO heritage site Lalibela.

str-txw/dl

Bosnia’s Dodik: From moderate to genocide-denying autocrat
By SABINA NIKSIC

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Bosnian Serb member of the tripartite Presidency of Bosnia Milorad Dodik speaks during a press conference after talks with U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Gabriel Escobar in the capital Sarajevo, Bosnia, on Nov. 8, 2021. Long-reigning Bosnian Serb leader, Milorad Dodik, has grown increasingly hostile this week as the West turned up the pressure on him to stop a spiraling secessionist campaign in his multiethnic Balkan country of 3.3 million people that has never truly recovered from its fratricidal 1992-95 war. (AP Photo, File)

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — He was once described in Washington as an anti-nationalist “breath of fresh air” in the murderous, genocide-scarred Balkan morass of ethnically divided Bosnia.

How times change.

This week Bosnian Serb political leader Milorad Dodik, now a genocide-denying secessionist, was slapped with new U.S. sanctions for alleged corruption. He responded in typical style, saying the days when the United States and other Western democracies “modeled Bosnia to their taste” are long gone.

Accusations he corruptly amassed vast wealth for himself, his relatives and associates, are “monstrous lies,” Dodik claimed.

“The U.S. is a great power, but they are also big liars,” he said.

Dodik maintains the West is punishing him for championing the rights of ethnic Serbs in Bosnia — a dysfunctional country of 3.3 million that’s never truly recovered from a fratricidal war in the 1990s that became a byname for ethnic cleansing and genocide.

The sanctions, Dodik boasted, will just help the Serbs break free of Bosnia into the eager embrace of their “true friends” — Russia, China, the champions of illiberal democracy within the European Union, and neighboring Serbia.

The 63-year-old political science graduate first came to prominence in 1998, as a moderate reformist narrowly elected regional prime minister of Republika Srpska, one of Bosnia’s two postwar administrative units. NATO-led peacekeepers surrounded key buildings held by police loyal to Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic — later convicted of wartime genocide and crimes against humanity — to ensure Dodik could take control.

Shortly after, then U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright met him and “felt like a breath of fresh air had blown through the room,” according to her spokesman at the time.

But in 2001, after losing a presidential election in Republika Srpska, Dodik changed course, refashioning himself as a nationalist hardliner and secessionist. He gradually gained control of all levels of Republika Srpska’s government, and in 2009 managed to expel foreign judges and prosecutors from Bosnia’s court system — amid reports he was under investigation for corruption and erosion of democracy.

The 1995, U.S.-brokered Dayton Peace Accords, which ended Bosnia’s more than 3 1/2 years of bloodshed, established two separate governing entities — Republika Srpska and one dominated by mostly Muslim Bosniaks, over half of Bosnia’s population, and Catholic Croats.

They’re linked by shared, state-wide institutions, and all actions at a national level require consensus from all three ethnic groups.

In the immediate postwar years, the international community kept Bosnia on a reform course, pressuring its leaders to abandon hate speech and accept painful compromises in return for financial and other support. But over a decade ago the international focus shifted to other global crises. Only 600 of the 60,000 international peacekeepers deployed in 1995 now remain. Bosnia was mostly left to its own devices, exposed to the growing influence of Russia, China and Turkey, and to widespread corruption and economic decline.

Over the years, Dodik weathered countless accusations by national and international rights and media freedom groups of curbing media independence and popularizing vile rhetoric against political opponents of all ethnic stripes. He notoriously defended the 2008 approval, by a regional development bank, of a favorable $2 million loan to a firm co-owned by his son, saying that “was better than letting (the young man) get addicted to drugs.”

His family’s net worth is hard to estimate, but in 2019 Dodik reported annual income and assets worth over 1.2 million euros ($1.36 million), including an 800,000-euro villa in Serbia’s capital, Belgrade. Dodik says claims about his children’s wealth are maliciously overblown by his political opponents.

One of the fiercest of them, Drasko Stanivukovic, mayor of Banja Luka, Republika Srpska’s biggest city, retorted that the family has stakes in at least 70 companies — including ones owned by their “relatives, friends and business associates.”

Dodik regularly downplays the 1995 massacre, by Bosnian Serbs, of over 8,000 Bosniak men and boys in the eastern enclave of Srebrenica, even dismissing it as “a fabricated myth.”

In recent months he has repeatedly voiced hope that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Hungary’s populist Prime Minister Viktor Orban will serve as his bulwark against the “tyranny” of Western democracies, warmly welcoming Orban’s December contention that the EU’s main challenge on Bosnia is “how to manage the security of a state in which 2 million Muslims live.”

After serving for 15 years as Republika Srpska’s president or prime minister, in the fall of 2019 Dodik was elected to Bosnia’s multi-ethnic presidency that also includes a Bosniak and a Croat official.

Last summer, with tacit support from Moscow and Belgrade, Dodik spearheaded the Serb walkout from Bosnia’s multi-ethnic institutions — thus blocking decision-making — to protest the international High Representative in Bosnia’s move to outlaw genocide denial.

Dodik and Serb officials under his control say they will no longer respect decisions by the High Representative, a post created under the Dayton agreement with broad powers, including to impose laws or dismiss officials who undermine the fragile postwar ethnic balance.

This winter, Dodik intensified his secessionist campaign, pledging to form an exclusively Serb army, judiciary and tax system. He described Bosniaks as “second-rate people” and “treacherous converts” who sold their “original (Orthodox Christian faith) for dinner.”

U.S., British, German and other western officials recently started accusing Dodik of stoking ethnic tensions to distract from his and his cronies’ corrupt practices.

But Dodik says sanctions won’t discourage him from “fighting for the rights of Republika Srpska.”

“Regardless of what they do, they cannot stop me,” he said.

 British Columbia

Vancouver seawall damaged as high tides, winds pummel B.C.'s South Coast

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Jericho Park Pier damaged, Ambleside Park partially flooded

CBC News · Posted: Jan 07, 2022 

Sections of the Stanley Park seawall suffered damage as high tides and wind hit Metro Vancouver on Friday. (Submitted by Bernie Steininger)

Vancouver's Stanley Park seawall was damaged and closed to the public after high tides and extreme wind pummeled B.C.'s South Coast on Friday.

The seawall will remain closed between Sunset Beach and the Lions Gate Bridge as staff focus on clearing debris, the Vancouver Park Board said in a statement. It and the park were closed to the public earlier in the day because of the hazards.

The District of West Vancouver has also closed its seawalk and Ambleside Park, which was partially flooded because of the extreme wet conditions.

English Bay Beach in Vancouver's West End was also flooded, with waves over a metre high spotted crashing ashore. At Jericho Beach on Vancouver's West Side, the pier was partially destroyed on Thursday, leaving lumber piled haphazardly on the sand.

The town of Qualicum Beach on the east coast of Vancouver Island, also posted a statement calling its waterfront "hazardous," saying its seawall has been partially damaged and asking the public to avoid the area. 

A large wave hits the seawall in English Bay in Vancouver on Friday. (Ben Nelms/CBC)

Angela Danyluk, a senior sustainability specialist at the City of Vancouver, said the "king tide" occurred around 10 a.m. local time on Friday, along with a storm surge and strong westerly winds with gusts of up to 50 kilometres per hour.

Danyluk said king tides — a colloquial term for the highest tides — can happen throughout the year, but are most likely to occur in December, January and February because the earth, moon, and sun are perfectly aligned to reinforce their gravitational pull.

Waves crash into the Dundarave Pier in West Vancouver. (CBC)

"They're predictable — we know when they're coming. It's just that when they come at this time of year there's often a storm surge event and rain, and in our case this week, snow," she said. 

• Winter storm shuts down highways, leaves thousands without power as high winds forecast for South Coast

"Jericho Pier looked like more of a debris trap today than an actual pier that you can fish from." 

Throughout the day on Friday, B.C. Hydro scrambled to restore power to thousands of customers left in the dark thanks to the powerful winds. More than 20,000 customers woke up in the dark Friday morning, primarily on the Lower Mainland, the Sunshine Coast and Vancouver Island.

Waves crash into the seawall in English Bay on Friday. (Ben Nelms/CBC)

Jericho Pier badly damaged by strong winds and king tide (PHOTOS)

Amir Ali
Jan 7 2022, 

@TriciaBarker49/Twitter

The King Tide and high winds have found their latest victim, and this time it’s the Jericho Pier at Jericho Beach.

Pictures shared by Park Board Commissioner Tricia Barker on Twitter show the devastating impact that the weather has had on the pier.

Barker tells Daily Hive Urbanized that workers have roped off Jericho Beach as they assess the damage.You might also like:

The City of Vancouver calls the pier a popular destination for locals and visitors, and it is also a popular fishing and crabbing spot.


City staff roping off Jericho Beach. (@TriciaBarker49/Twitter)

Throughout the day on Friday, the king tide flooded beaches and forced the closure of Stanley Park and the seawall.

Meanwhile, strong winds have caused power outages in some parts of the province.

When it comes to the Jericho Pier, Park Board commissioners actually approved a renewal project to modernize it back in 2017. The wooden pier would be replaced with a new higher concrete structure to withstand high tides and storm surges.


Jericho Pier (@TriciaBarker49/Twitter)


Artistic rendering of the new entry plaza into Jericho Pier at Jericho Beach in Vancouver. (City of Vancouver)


The height of the proposed new concrete and steel structure versus the existing wooden structure. (City of Vancouver)

The city website suggests that they’re still in the “public engagement for conceptual design phase” of the project. There is also a fundraising campaign, as the not-for-profit Adaptive Sailing Association of BC is responsible for 50% of the estimated $16-million construction cost.

Perhaps the damage will create some movement on the renewal project.

Barker also sent Daily Hive Urbanized a picture of some damage at the foot of Trafalgar Street, where there’s an entrance to the now destroyed path.

Barker says staff are assessing but are also still out managing the damage.

Jericho Pier was also briefly closed after a King Tide in November 2021 submerged the structure, necessitating minor repairs.


Jericho Pier (@TriciaBarker49/Twitter)

 

Disinformation campaign against former MP Kenny Chiu a disturbing precedent, researchers say

January 8, 2022

 

Conservative MP Kenny Chiu rises during Question Hour in the House of Commons on April 13, 2021 in Ottawa. The Conservative Party believes Mr Chiu’s defeat in the 2021 election was linked to the campaign against him. Adrian Wilde/The Canadian Press

A disinformation campaign against a Conservative Party candidate during the 2021 election race is a disturbing demonstration of how propaganda tactics can be used by a hostile foreign, two researchers at McGill University say Actor for interfering in Canadian political system.

And they suggest that a countermeasure to discourage future propaganda efforts would be a public registry to track foreign influence, a mechanism similar to the one that former BC MP Kenny Chiu was attacked during campaigning. Was.

Mr Chiu’s proposal was criticized on Chinese-language social media during the 2021 federal election campaign, alleging that his plan would “oppress the Chinese community” in Canada. The comments were circulated on apps and websites widely used by some Canadians of Chinese descent, who make up nearly half of their riding population.

What is worrying, the authors say, is that “these tactics can be deployed in information and psychological warfare operations against any group.” “In short, it has a high potential for interference in Canada’s electoral process by foreign state actors and thus seriously threatens the country’s liberal democracy.”

Writing this month in Policy Options, a publication by Canada’s Institute for Research on Public Policy, Seiz-Fung Lee and Benjamin Fung say Canada needs to better protect itself from the propaganda campaigns that plague this country’s electoral can damage the process. Ms. Lee and Mr. Fung are experts in information warfare. Ms. Lee is a research assistant in the School of Information Studies at McGill University in Montreal, where Mr. Fung is Professor of Data Mining and Canada Research Chair for Cyber ​​Security.

Mr Chiu, a Canadian born in Hong Kong, was elected as a member of parliament in 2019 for the federal riding of Steveston-Richmond East in BC’s Lower Mainland, but was defeated in the 2021 election. 2016 census data indicates that the ethnic origin of the equestrian population is close to 50 percent Chinese.

The Conservative Party believed that Mr. Chiu’s defeat was linked to a campaigning campaign against him, but foreign affairs critic Michael Chong acknowledged that the evidence has so far been inconclusive.

This propaganda effort against Mr Chiu was documented in a recent November report by the Atlantic Council think tank’s Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab).

DFRLab analyzed Chinese-language apps and anonymous articles circulating on websites like WeChat and Weibo, both of which were heavily used by some Canadians of Chinese descent who misrepresented a private member’s bill Which was introduced by Mr. Chiu in 2021.

The Foreign Influence Registry Act proposed by him was an effort inspired by similar Australian legislation. Canada’s Security Intelligence Service and other bodies have warned that countering foreign interference is a growing problem in Canada. It called for a registry where people acting on behalf of foreign governments or corporations must file notices when trying to influence public policy, contract or law in Canada. This exempted diplomats.

In late 2018, Australia implemented a “Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme” to track actions being taken by foreign governments and foreign state-owned enterprises, as well as individuals or political organizations affiliated with the countries. The United States Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) has been in effect since 1938 and a similar registry is under consideration in the UK.

The election campaign attack on Mr. Chiu portrayed his registry proposal as an attempt to target all people of Chinese descent in Canada. An article on WeChat alleges, “Once this act becomes law, all individuals or groups associated with China may be treated as spokespersons of the Chinese government and will be required to specifically register “

It said that once the bill becomes law, “activities related to federations in mainland China, as well as normal Sino-Canadian economic, cultural and technological exchanges,” “will be suppressed” and have a “profound negative impact on the Chinese community.” Will have.”

The anonymous attacks also called Mr Chiu “anti-China” because he was a vocal critic of Beijing’s crackdown on discontent and protests in Hong Kong and because he supported a resolution condemning Chinese government repression in Xinjiang.

Ms. Lee and Mr. Fung said the propaganda is widespread throughout social media in expatriate Chinese communities and that a language barrier sometimes prevents Chinese expatriates from verifying what they read by crosschecking it with other Western media.

He said it was very difficult to prove who was behind the propaganda, but it was reasonable to say that “it is logical to speculate that whoever was responsible for the spread of fake news had to reframe the narrative in favor of Beijing’s interests.” There was a clear purpose of shaping from.”

McGill academics say the solution is to uncover the sources of influence on public debate in Canada. They say a useful countermeasure would be a mechanism similar to that advocated by Mr Chiu and the Conservative Party, and which was proposed by Alliance Canada Hong Kong, an umbrella group of Canadian human rights activists. This registry, outlined by the group, will be linked with a public commission to enforce compliance with the registry.

Canadians’ views about China, U.S. at a standstill, poll suggests

Negative perceptions of China persist while public is divided on Canada’s southern neighbour, survey shows.

Mario Canseco

Just over two-thirds (68%) of Canadians have an unfavourable opinion of China, while favourable perceptions of the United States are about 50%.

bjdlzx/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Every six months, Research Co. and Glacier Media ask Canadians about their opinions of other countries. Plenty has happened since July to suggest that the way we look at other nations would shift.

Germany has a new chancellor and Japan has a new prime minister. There have been more mentions in the media about the behaviour of Russia and Saudi Arabia in the international stage, whether in the form of questions about the future of Ukraine or the purported “charm strategy” to purchase a once-great football club in the United Kingdom.

Still, no country has dominated the international coverage landscape in Canada more than China. In September, over the course of just a few hours, Canadians learned that Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou was no longer under house arrest in Vancouver – following a deferred prosecution agreement with the United States – and that arbitrarily detained Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig had been released from custody and were on their way to Canada.

Chinese authorities continue to claim that the two matters are unrelated, and that Spavor and Kovrig had “applied for release for medical reasons.” The end of a crisis that unfolded over more than 1,000 days has not had an immediate impact on public perceptions. Only 20% of Canadians hold a positive view of China, consistent with the 21% observed in mid-2021 and the 19% posted in late 2020.

At this stage, 68% of Canadians have an unfavourable opinion of China, a proportion that climbs to 73% among men, 81% among Canadians aged 55 and over and 72% among British Columbians.

Just weeks ago, we learned that a majority of Canadians (56%) continue to believe that Canada should boycott the Beijing Winter Olympics and that two-thirds (68%) are trying to avoid Chinese products. Simply put, the dismay that Canadians show towards this particular country is practically the same as it was at the height of the well-documented diplomatic impasse.

Canada’s closest trading partner also sees stagnation when it comes to public views. Among Canadians, positive perceptions of the United States remain at 50%, while negative ones gained a point in six months to reach 41%. There has been consistency on these views since Joe Biden was elected president. Gone are the days when more than three in five Canadians (62%) held negative opinions about a country whose government was headed by Donald Trump.

The way Canadians feel about the United States does not go through major fluctuations by age or gender right now. The real variation happens at the regional level. Sizable majorities of Albertans (58%) and Quebecers (56%) hold positive views about the neighbouring country. The numbers are lower in Ontario (51%), Atlantic Canada (44%), British Columbia (43%) and Saskatchewan and Manitoba (36%).

Most Canadians who voted for the Conservative Party (59%) or the Liberal Party (55%) in last year’s federal elections hold a favourable opinion of the United States. The proportion drops dramatically among those who voted for the New Democratic Party (NDP) last year (31%, with 62% saying their view is negative).

The numbers for the United States are still not near the level observed for other G7 nations. We consistently see more than two-thirds of Canadians expressing positive feelings about France (68%, down five points), Germany (69%, unchanged), Italy (also 69%, down four points), Japan (also 69%, down one point) and the United Kingdom (71%, down two points).

There is also a drop in the way Canadians perceive three other countries. While a majority continue to express positive views about South Korea (55%, down two points), perceptions of Mexico have fallen once again (45%, down four points). 

Fewer than two in five Canadians (37%, down four points) have a favourable opinion of India, with negative views inching close to 50% in Alberta (48%), Saskatchewan and Manitoba (also 48%) and Quebec (47%).

Three countries fare better than China, while two others continue to lag. More than two in five Canadians have positive views about Venezuela (28%, down two points), Russia (down four points) and Saudi Arabia (23%, unchanged). Criticism of Russia is especially high among men (65%) and Canadians aged 55 and over (73%).

As has been the case for years, the lowest rating is reserved for Iran (16%, down one point) and North Korea (14%, also down one point). It is remarkable to see that China, the manufacturer of so many of the products Canadians use every day, is viewed only slightly more favourably than two countries with which Canada has had remarkably different relationships – in diplomacy and trade – for decades.

Mario Canseco is president of Research Co.

Results are based on an online study conducted from December 15 to December 17, 2021, among 1,000 adults in Canada. The data has been statistically weighted according to Canadian census figures for age, gender and region. The margin of error, which measures sample variability, is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.