Giant sea bass are thriving in Mexican waters – scientific research that found them to be critically endangered stopped at the US-Mexico border


Arturo Ramírez-Valdez, Researcher, University of California San Diego
Sun, January 9, 2022,

Giant sea bass are listed as a critically endangered species. Maru Brito, CC BY-ND

I was looking at the seafloor, focused on identifying fish species as I normally did when diving off of the California coast, when suddenly I felt something large above me. When I turned my head I saw a giant fish – more than 6 feet (2 meters) long – calmly interested in the air bubbles coming from my SCUBA regulator. This was 2016 and was my first encounter with a giant sea bass.

I am a marine ecologist, and I study how international borders pose challenges for conservation and management efforts in the marine environment. Although there are no walls or fences in the ocean, borders still act as stark barriers for a variety of things.

Giant sea bass live off the west coast of North America in both Mexican and U.S. waters. I have found that large differences in regulation and research effort between the two countries has led to a significant misunderstanding of giant sea bass population health.

A map showing high density of giant sea bass along the west coast of the U.S. and along both sides of the Baja Peninsula.

Different countries, different science

The giant sea bass is the largest coastal bony fish in the Northeastern Pacific. It can grow up to 9 feet (2.7 meters) long and weigh up to 700 pounds (315 kg). It lives in coastal waters from northern California to the tip of the Baja California peninsula in Mexico, including the entire Gulf of California.

In California, commercial fishing for the species began in the late 1880s. Large fish used to be very abundant across the entire range, but the fishery collapsed in the early 1970s. As a response, in 1981 the U.S. banned both commercial and recreational fishing for giant sea bass, and there are many ongoing research and population recovery efforts today.

The collapse and subsequent protection and flurry of research in the U.S. stand in stark contrast to Mexico. In Mexico, there are minimal regulations on fishing for the species, and there is almost a complete lack of data and research on it – there are only three studies on giant sea bass with any data from Mexico.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature considers giant sea bass to be a critically endangered species due to the population being “severely fragmented, leading to a continuing decline of mature individuals.” But this decision was based on a report that had no data whatsoever from Mexico. This lack of data is concerning, considering 73% of the species’ range is in Mexican waters.

This knowledge gap made me wonder if ecologists had the wrong idea about the health of giant sea bass populations.

A man standing behind a very large black fish on a scale.
Healthy fish in Mexico

In 2017, I led an effort to document the giant sea bass population in Mexico and look for clues to what it was in the past. At the beginning of the project, my colleagues and I feared that the records in Mexico would confirm the precarious situation of the fish in the U.S. But the reality turned out to be the opposite.

A man in orange overalls on a small blue boat sitting behind four large black fish on the deck.

To our surprise, we found giant sea bass everywhere in the fish markets and fishing grounds from our very first assessments. The fishmongers were never out of the fish; instead, they would ask us, “How many kilos do you need?” It was clear that for fishers in Mexico, the species is still common in the sea, and therefore, in their nets. It is still possible to find big fish up to 450 pounds 200 kilograms, and the average catch was around 26 pounds (12 kilograms).

It was fantastic to see an abundance of these fish in markets, but I also wanted to understand the fishery trends through history and how current fishing levels compared to previous years. I looked at historical and contemporary fishing records and found that the Mexican commercial fleet has caught an average of 55 tons per year over the past 60 years, and the fishery has been relatively stable over the past 20 years, with a peak in 2015 at 112 tons.

According to U.S. and Mexican records, the largest yearly catch ever recorded for giant sea bass in Mexico was 386 tons in 1933. Biologists consider a fishery to have collapsed when total catches, under the same effort, are less than 10% of the largest catches on record. So a steady trend of 55 tons per year shows that the fishery in Mexico has not collapsed. It is clear that giant sea bass populations have faced severe declines throughout their range; however, the health of the species is not as dire as thought.

Another interesting finding from my research is that the apparent collapse of the giant sea bass fishery documented in the 1970s actually began as early as 1932.

Over the first half of the 20th century, as the U.S. commercial fleet overfished U.S. waters, they began fishing in Mexican waters too – but they continued to count all catches as from the U.S. This changed in 1968 when the two governments signed the Mexico–U.S. Fisheries Agreement, limiting how much fish each country’s fleet could take from the other country’s waters. The collapse of the U.S. fishery in the 1970s was not due to a drastic reduction in fish numbers in Mexican waters, but driven by changes in fishing regulation between the U.S. and Mexico. The California fish populations had been depressed for decades, but this was hidden by fish from Mexico.

A large dark fish swimming in a kelp forest and surrounded by smaller fish.

Better data, better management

Based on my research, I believe that the giant sea bass may not qualify as a critically endangered species. My analysis of modern catch data suggests that the population of this iconic fish is likely much larger than biologists previously thought, especially in Mexico.

I am leading the next assessment for the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and now that we have accumulated better data, we can make a more informed decision that balances responsible management of the species with human needs.

I hope that our study inspires policymakers in the U.S. and Baja to start a conversation about how to manage this incredible fish in a collaborative way. But I feel our work also has larger implications. It shows how asymmetry in research and data can create significant barriers to understanding the past and present status of a species like the giant sea bass and make it harder to implement sustainable practices for the future.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Arturo Ramírez-Valdez, University of California San Diego.

Read more:

To protect ocean environments, ‘good enough’ might be the best long-term option


Scientists at work: Uncovering the mystery of when and where sharks give birth


Scientist at work: Tracking the epic journeys of migratory birds in northwest Mexico

Arturo Ramírez-Valdez receives funding from the UC-Mexus CONACYT Number: 160083; PADI Foundation, Grant App. 29020 and 33095; Mia J. Tegner Memorial Research Fellowship at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego; the Mohamed bin Zayed Species, Grant Number: 192521063, and Link Family Foundation.

I'm a CEO at One of the World's Biggest Shipping and Logistics Companies. Here's How My Industry Can Go Green


Vincent Clerc
Sun, January 9, 2022

Operations At Port Of Los Angeles As Shipments Fall

Container ships at anchor outside the Port of Los Angeles in Los Angeles, California, U.S., on Sunday, Nov. 21, 2021. Shipments to the Port of Los Angeles fell 8% year over year in October. Photographer: Tim Rue/Bloomberg via Getty Images Credit - Bloomberg via Getty Images—© 2021 Bloomberg Finance LP

In 2021, because of the pandemic, we saw unprecedented supply-chain disruptions but also took important steps toward a decarbonized and sustainable global supply chain. It was a truly industry-wide effort, with Maersk and X-Press Feeders ordering what will be the world’s first container vessels running on carbon-neutral “green“ methanol—the first scalable carbon-neutral solution available for such ships—among the milestones.

Increased customer demand for green transport has helped push companies and shipowners to invest in in carbon-neutral vessels, and industry expectations are for this to not only continue in 2022, but to accelerate. Companies are waking up to the fact that progress is needed now and new solutions must be implemented on all aspects of the business. This is illustrated by the fact that the vast majority of container lines now stand firmly behind a net-zero target of, at the latest, 2050.

Shipping has long been caught up in a chicken-and-egg situation. No investment in vessels that can sail on carbon-neutral fuels has meant no investment in the development of carbon-neutral fuels and vice versa. With this vicious cycle broken and new, carbon-neutral vessels expected to hit the waters starting in 2023, the market for green shipping fuels is opening up. Beginning in 2024, Maersk alone will need between 300,000 and 400,000 metric tons of carbon-neutral fuel for its new methanol ships.

To sustain the newfound momentum, there are important regulatory components that must shape up. This past year has made it quite clear that the market is currently what drives developments in the area of decarbonization of shipping. Aside from the first investments in carbon-neutral vessels, this was most clearly demonstrated by a coalition of leading global retailers including Amazon, IKEA and Unilever who announced a target of switching all of their ocean freight to vessels powered by zero-carbon fuels by 2040. In 2022, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the United Nations agency in charge of regulating shipping, will need to make significant progress on three points in order to steer the agenda the way it should.

Read More: Did We Just Blow Our Last, Best Chance to Tackle Climate Change?

Firstly, the industry needs a more ambitious net-zero emissions goal. The current international target is to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by at least 50% by 2050—but we actually need to be at net zero by 2050 at the latest to stand a chance to remain aligned with the Paris Agreement. In the coming year, we must acknowledge that reality and take significant steps to adjust the targets accordingly in 2023 when they will be up for review in the IMO.

We also need a “drop dead” date for the building of new fossil-fuel-powered vessels. Industries only function with clear and enforceable deadlines, so another goal for 2022 should be to support a hard stop—sometime in the coming decade—for newly constructed conventional-fuel-powered ships.

Read More: Climate Crises Dominated 2021. But These Innovations Offer Some Hope

Lastly, we need a substantial global price on carbon emissions to reduce the current cost gap between green and fossil fuels. A more punitive carbon price would go a long way in driving behavior change in the shipping industry. The European Union is currently working on its own regional measures, but the IMO should set an international price to create a level playing field—$150 per ton of greenhouse gas emissions is a good target and would generate enough revenue to help fund efforts to mature zero-carbon seafaring technology; partly cover operating expenditure for shipowners using renewable fuels; and help support climate-mitigation projects in developing countries—whether they are shipping-related or not. Climate change affects us all, but it affects some areas of the world disproportionately and we must use the resources we have to help those who are the most impacted.

The foundation for all of this has been laid, but starting in 2022, the shipping industry needs to move faster, act smarter and continue to make bold decisions.

This essay is part of a series on concrete goals the world should aim for in 2022 in order to put us on track to avert climate change-related disaster. Read the rest here.

Science Museum boards up display on early human migration because it is ‘non-inclusive’

Craig Simpson
Sat, January 8, 2022

An interactive exhibit at the Science Museum's 'Who am I?' exhibition

The Science Museum has boarded up a display on DNA and early human migration as part of work to address its “non-inclusive narrative”.

Curators are to alter the “Who Am I?” gallery covering human biology, including a cabinet that deals with genetics.

The display explaining mankind’s migration from Africa was earmarked for alteration in order to “update (the) non-inclusive narrative”, internal documents show, and the exhibit has been boarded up.

The display titled “How Did You Get Here?” stressed humanity’s common lineage, with a panel stating that the “human journey began in Africa” and “all humans alive today descend from African ancestors”.

Maps in the display also showed how mankind ultimately spread to the Americas and Polynesia, and displayed figurines, model boats, a bow, and drum to illustrate the far-flung areas of Homo Sapien colonisation

The cabinet on prehistoric “pioneers who open up new worlds” has been covered with white hoardings that state staff are “updating the contents of this case” and asking visitors to “bear with us and enjoy the rest of the gallery”.

A nearby plinth titled “Out of Africa” - the name of the theory of human migration from the continent - is now bare, but a display on “the first European” remains in place.

The Science Museum has not given a schedule for the changes to the display, and has not clarified which specific objects in the cabinet resulted in the display being assessed as “non-inclusive”.

Another exhibit from the Who Am I gallery, which explains brain science, genetics and identity

It is understood the display contained a hula girl figurine - an object that has recently been criticised for presenting a stereotypical view of Polynesian people - and genetic studies relating to the San people in South Africa, who in 2017 devised a code of ethics for scientists studying them.

A spokesman for the museum said: “The How did I get here? display in the Who Am I? gallery is currently covered while curators review content that is more than a decade old relating to migration, race and genetics which no longer reflects current scientific thinking.

“We are planning to update the Who Am I? gallery on a rolling basis, where resource allows, to reflect areas where there has been fresh research or a shift in scientific understanding.”

The changes follow the earmarking of the Who Am I? gallery for updates, with The Telegraph previously revealing that a cabinet on gender differences titled “Boy Or Girl?” was also up for review following “complaints about a lack of mention of transgender”.

The proposals were criticised by Maya Forstater, executive director of campaign group Sex Matters and winner of a prominent employment tribunal relating to her “gender-critical” views, who said: “It is concerning that a place dedicated to science is being swayed by cultural trends in this way.”

Science ‘shaped by the zeitgeist’

Sir Gregory Winter, the Nobel Prize-winning molecular biologist, said that influence from cultural trends was in some ways inevitable for scientific organisations

He told The Telegraph: “Science is driven mainly by scientists seeking an understanding of ourselves, our world, and our past, our present and our future. It is also driven by scientists seeking to use this information for practical and - often commercial - purposes.

“Inevitably scientists have had to engage with the public and with the zeitgeist.

“For example, science has been shaped by the zeitgeist, as in the regulations relating to embryo research and the genetic engineering of organisms. Scientists have also shaped the zeitgeist - spectacularly with climate change.

“As for museum curators, they also have to engage with the public and the zeitgeist. It is entirely possible to explain the same science in different ways to the public, and it is not unreasonable for curators to review their efforts in the light of new research or other considerations.

“As far as I am concerned, the key test for a museum exhibit is whether it represents the underlying scientific consensus in a clear and engaging manner to a wide constituency.

“I would have liked to use the word ‘truth’ rather than ‘consensus’ - but sometimes, as in evolutionary studies with sparse data, it may be impossible to establish a ‘truth’.

“Of course, organisations should not ‘pander too much’, but they should engage.”

Tensions rise again against Peru's Las Bambas mine, despite latest deal

Fri, January 7, 2022, 

LIMA, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Peruvian Prime Minister Mirtha Vasquez said on Friday she would travel again next Friday to an area of frequent protests against MMG Ltd's Las Bambas copper mine as tensions with community protesters build up once again.

The trip will be Vasquez's third to the area since she was appointed in October, following repeated road blockades that have disrupted Las Bambas' operations.

The Chinese-owned copper mine, which has faced repeated protests since it opened in 2016, is one of the biggest mines in Peru, the world's second largest copper producer where mining is a key source of tax revenue.

In December, protesters from the Chumbivilcas province blocked the road for over a month, forcing it to suspend operations and causing a major problem for the leftist administration of President Pedro Castillo, who has promised to prioritize the demands of marginalized communities.

The Chumbivilcas communities - mostly indigenous citizens of Quechua descent - have repeatedly accused the Chinese company of failing to provide jobs and money to the region, one of the poorest in Peru, despite the vast mineral wealth.

Las Bambas just restarted copper output after Vasquez traveled to Chumbivilcas last month and brokered an agreement https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/peru-community-agrees-lift-blockade-las-bambas-mine-silent-next-steps-2021-12-30 onsite to prevent further blockades.

But some Chumbivilcas communities have since said they reject that agreement and called on Vasquez for further negotiations, according to meeting minutes seen by Reuters dated Jan. 6.

Vasquez told reporters she hopes to hear concerns and resolve any social conflict through dialogue.

A group of four communities said they rejected part of the agreement, including a section that commits locals not to pursue further road blockades.

"Having analyzed the agreements, they do not address the proposals and demands of the communities ... and in that sense they do not represent the voice of the people," the meeting minutes said, which called on Vasquez and Castillo to meet with them in person next Friday.

It is unclear if Castillo will attend the meeting. He has generally deferred to Vasquez to handle issues related to Las Bambas.

"The masses also agree that if the President of the Republic does not come, there will be no dialogue and as a result we will launch a protest," the minutes said. (Reporting by Marcelo Rochabrun; Editing by Sandra Maler)

FACT FOCUS: Unfounded theory used to dismiss COVID measures

FILE - Dr. Robert Malone gestures as he stands in his barn, Wednesday July 22, 2020, in Madison, Va. An unfounded theory taking root online suggests millions of people have been “hypnotized” into believing mainstream ideas about COVID-19. In widely shared social media posts this week, efforts to combat the disease have been dismissed with just three words: “mass formation psychosis.” The term gained attention after it was floated by Malone during a Dec. 31, 2021 appearance on a podcast.

(AP Photo/Steve Helber)More


ANGELO FICHERA and JOSH KELETY
Sat, January 8, 2022, 10:04 AM·5 min read

An unfounded theory taking root online suggests millions of people have been “hypnotized” into believing mainstream ideas about COVID-19, including steps to combat it such as testing and vaccination.

In widely shared social media posts this week, efforts to combat the disease have been dismissed with just three words: “mass formation psychosis.”

“I’m not a scientist but I’m pretty sure healthy people spending hours in line to get a virus test is mass formation psychosis in action,” reads one tweet that was liked more than 22,000 times.

The term gained attention after it was floated by Dr. Robert Malone on “The Joe Rogan Experience” Dec. 31 podcast. Malone is a scientist who once researched mRNA technology but is now a vocal skeptic of the COVID-19 vaccines that use it.

But psychology experts say the concept described by Malone has no basis in evidence, and is similar to theories that have long been discredited. Here’s a look at the facts.

CLAIM: The concept of “mass formation psychosis” explains why millions of people believe in a mainstream COVID-19 “narrative” and trust the safety and efficacy of the vaccines.

THE FACTS: Malone highlighted the unfounded theory on a podcast hosted by comedian and commentator Joe Rogan. During the episode, Malone cast doubt on COVID-19 vaccine safety and claimed the mass psychosis has resulted in a “third of the population basically being hypnotized” into believing what Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, and mainstream news outlets say.

Malone went on to say that the phenomenon explained Nazi Germany.

“When you have a society that has become decoupled from each other and has free-floating anxiety in a sense that things don’t make sense, we can’t understand it, and then their attention gets focused by a leader or a series of events on one small point, just like hypnosis, they literally become hypnotized and can be led anywhere,” Malone said. He claimed such people will not allow the “narrative” to be questioned.

Crediting a professor in Belgium, Malone also said in a December blog post that this “mass hypnosis” explains millions of people becoming captivated by the “dominant narrative concerning the safety and effectiveness of the genetic vaccines.”

Psychology experts say there is no support for the “psychosis” theory described by Malone.

“To my knowledge, there’s no evidence whatsoever for this concept,” said Jay Van Bavel, an assistant professor of psychology and neural science at New York University who recently co-authored a book on group identities. Van Bavel said he had never encountered the phrase “mass formation psychosis” in his years of research, nor could he find it in any peer-reviewed literature.

“The concept has no academic credibility,” Stephen Reicher, a social psychology professor at the University of St Andrews in the U.K., wrote in an email to The Associated Press.

The term also does not appear in the American Psychological Association's Dictionary of Psychology.

“Psychosis” is a term that refers to conditions that involve some disconnect from reality. According to a National Institutes of Health estimate, about 3% of people experience some form of psychosis at some time in their lives.

Richard McNally, a professor of clinical psychology at Harvard University, wrote in an email that people who support COVID-19 vaccines and public health guidance are not delusional. Rather, they are “fully responsive to the arguments and evidence adduced by the relevant scientific experts.”

Health officials have found the COVID-19 vaccines to be safe and effective — especially in terms of protecting against serious illness.

The description of “mass formation psychosis” offered by Malone resembles discredited concepts, such as “mob mentality” and “group mind,” according to John Drury, a social psychologist at the University of Sussex in the U.K. who studies collective behavior. The ideas suggest that “when people form part of a psychological crowd they lose their identities and their self-control; they become suggestible, and primitive instinctive impulses predominate,” he said in an email.

That notion has been discredited by decades of research on crowd behavior, Drury said. “No respectable psychologist agrees with these ideas now,” he said.

Multiple experts told the AP that while there is evidence that groups can shape or influence one’s behaviors — and that people can and do believe falsehoods that are put forward by the leader of a group — those concepts do not involve the masses experiencing “psychosis” or “hypnosis.”

Steven Jay Lynn, a psychology professor at Binghamton University in New York, said Malone’s argument that a group can “literally become hypnotized and can be led anywhere” is premised on a myth about hypnosis.

“His claim represents a serious misunderstanding of hypnosis and doubles down on the popular misconception that hypnosis somehow transforms people into mindless robots who think what the hypnotist wants them to think and do the hypnotist’s bidding,” Lynn said in an email. “The scientifically established fact is that people can easily resist and even oppose suggestions.”

Before the concept of “mass formation psychosis” took off in recent days, it had percolated online in recent months.

Mattias Desmet, the professor in Belgium who Malone cited for formulating the idea, did not return requests for comment. Malone also did not return a request for comment.

___

Fichera reported from Philadelphia; Kelety from Phoenix.

___

This is part of AP’s effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.

UK
Race against tide for archaeologists digitally restoring Seaford Head’s ancient hillfort



Sun, January 9, 2022

The Iron Age hillfort at Seaford Head has stood watch over the English Channel from its cliff top location for two-and-a-half millennia - Paul Grover

The Iron Age hillfort at Seaford Head has stood watch over the English Channel from its cliff top location for two-and-a-half millennia. Yet it is doomed to collapse into the sea, with parts of the site already lost and climate change accelerating its downfall. Archaeologists are now in a race against time to unlock its secrets.

Experts from University College London have spent recent weeks surveying the ancient monument with drones and producing 3D models of it in the hope of not only learning more about Seaford Head, but producing a template for the hundreds of other historic monuments along the British coastline set to disappear beneath the waves.

Seaford Head fort, which also contains a Bronze Age burial site (barrow) and dates to around 600 to 400 BC, perches atop the Seven Sisters headland of the same name between Brighton and Eastbourne.

Despite being known to archaeologists for centuries, it has only had investigative work done on it twice, in the late 19th century by Augustus Pitt Rivers and again in the 1980s. These surveys have done little more than date the fort and barrow.

“There are most definitely secrets that it hasn’t given up, because it hasn’t been subject to any major excavations”, Jon Sygrave, a project manager for Archaeology South-East, a part of UCL, told The Telegraph.

This latest survey, which is funded by Historic England, is not designed to reveal those mysteries, so much as identify them and decide what further archaeological work should be done and can be justified with constrained resources.

A key plank of the survey work is drone photogrammetry, which involves taking multiple aerial photographs of the site, merging them using advanced software and georectifying them so that they are to scale and measurable. This allows archaeologists to create a 3D model of the site and identify sites of potential interest.

Drone photogrammetry is a key part of the archaeologist's work to create a 3D model of the ancient monument

The drones are also used to survey the cliff face itself which, due to previous collapses, already provides a cross-section of the fort. “We’ve got one image very clearly showing the ditch and bank of the enclosure,” said Mr Sygrave.

Whatever the results, time and tide are working against his team.

On average, the coast at Seaford is retreating by 50 centimetres (20 inches) a year. That figure, however, masks a pattern of large cliff collapses followed by months or even years of stasis. The UCL team cannot predict when the chalk might next give way, but it could take with it another large chunk of the fort.
Large chunk of cliff collapsed last year

In March 2021, a large section of the Seaford Head cliff face collapsed following heavy rain, leaving behind an enormous mound of debris reaching into the seawater. Elsewhere on the clifftop, large cracks have appeared, portending further losses. That prompted English Heritage to place it on the Heritage at Risk register.

“Every time that there’s a section of cliff that’s lost, it’s not just the material that’s lost in that cliff collapse. There’s also the area behind it, because you can’t safely work within the first 10-20 meters of the cliff,” explained Mr Sygrave.

Climate change, meanwhile, is likely to accelerate this process. Increasingly rough weather conditions and rising sea levels are all expected to eat away at Britain’s coastline and the ancient monuments dotted along it.

Marcus Jecock, a senior archaeological investigator and coastal lead at Historic England, said: “Coastal erosion is not a new threat, but climate change is accelerating the rate at which erosion is happening and thereby the rate at which archaeological sites of all types that exist around our coasts are being lost - often without proper record.”

The coast of Seaford is retreating by 50 centimetres a year

Because of the precarious nature of coastal heritage, the study undertaken by Archaeology South-East at Seaford Head is designed to produce results quickly and cost-effectively. The full survey work was completed in just a few weeks, while a full analysis of the findings will be submitted by the end of January.

The pilot project is also intended to spark a discussion among a general public perhaps unaware of how much of its heritage is about to plunge off a cliff face.

With sea defences potentially costing into the millions of pounds, as well as sometimes being disfiguring, few at-risk sites realistically can be saved from disappearing.

The project will produce a podcast series, bringing in institutions such as the National Trust, as well as films discussing the protection of heritage.

“It’s a discussion that needs to be had between people that manage these sites, curators and the public as well, so that they’re not under any sort of illusion that all of these sites can be protected,” said Mr Sygrave.

Anti-coup protests in Sudan turn deadly ahead of UN-backed talks

By The Switzerland Times
-January 9, 2022

A Sudanese protester was killed on Sunday as security forces fired tear gas at thousands of people who gathered to keep pressure on the military, a day before the UN launched talks aimed at putting end to weeks of crisis after a coup.

The October 25 takeover, led by army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, derailed a civil-military power-sharing transition established after the 2019 ouster of the long-time autocrat. date Omar al-Bashir.

It has also sparked regular protests – sometimes in the tens of thousands – from Sudanese wanting a return to democratic transition in a country with a long history of coups.

The latest death brings the number of protesters killed in the crackdown on anti-coup protests to 62, the Sudanese Central Medical Committee said in a statement.

They said the 26-year-old protester who was killed was “hit by a tear gas canister in the neck” fired by security forces.

He died a day before the United Nations held a press conference launching a dialogue between “all major civilian and military actors” to find a way forward “towards democracy and peace,” the special envoy said. UN Volker Perthes.

Earlier Sunday, a teenager died from live gunshot wounds to the neck suffered during Thursday’s protests, doctors said.

Pro-democracy protesters marched again to the presidential palace in central Khartoum on Sunday and also gathered in northern Khartoum, witnesses said.

“No, no to military rule,” they chanted, waving the national flag.

Main streets around the capital were cordoned off in an attempt to prevent people from converging there and at the army headquarters, which was the epicenter of the mass protests that forced Bashir to leave.

Protesters also gathered in Omdurman, the twin city of Khartoum across the Nile, and Wad Madani in the south, witnesses said.

“We will not accept less than a full-fledged civilian government,” said Ammar Hamed, 27, protesting in Khartoum.

Authorities have repeatedly denied using live ammunition to confront protesters and insist that many members of the security forces were injured in protests which often “deviated from the calm.”

The protests had died down by nightfall.

Doctors condemn raids on hospitals

Doctors in white coats joined Sunday’s rallies to protest the security forces storming hospitals and other medical facilities in previous protests.

The Sudanese Central Committee of Physicians, affiliated with the protest movement, said on Saturday that the medics would hand over a memorandum to UN officials listing the “attacks” against such facilities.

Last week, Sudanese civilian Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok resigned, saying the country was at a “dangerous crossroads threatening its very survival”. He did not resume his duties until November 21, after being ousted with his government during the coup.

Analysts said his departure left full control of the military and threatened a return to the repression of the Bashir era.

“It’s time to end the violence and get into a constructive process,” Perthes said on Saturday announcing the talks.

Last week, the United States, Britain, Norway and the European Union warned that Sudan could plunge into conflict and called for “an immediate dialogue, led by the Sudanese and facilitated by the international community” .

But the Forces for Freedom and Change, the civil alliance that led the protests against Bashir and became part of the transitional government, said it had received “no details” of the initiative. ‘UN.

The Sudanese Professionals Association, also central to anti-Bashir protests, said on Sunday that it “completely rejects” the UN-facilitated talks.

“The way to resolve the Sudanese crisis begins with the complete overthrow of the putschist military council and bringing its members to justice for the killings committed against the defenseless (and) peaceful Sudanese people,” SPA said in a statement.

Burhan insisted that the military takeover “was not a coup” but was intended only to “rectify the course of the Sudanese transition”.

The UN Security Council is due to meet on Wednesday to discuss developments in Sudan.

The resumption of protests since the coup has been met with a crackdown 

that has killed at least 60 people.

Sudan protest organizers reject UN mediation offer

One of Sudan's leading protest organizers has refused a UN call for dialogue aimed at restoring civilian rule. The UN has hoped to broker talks between the anti-coup movement and the military.


Protesters in Sudan rallied again on Sunday in support of a return to civilian rule

One of the major organizers of Sudan's anti-coup protests, the Sudanese Professionals' Association, refused an offer from the UN to mediate talks with the military on Sunday.

The UN has hoped to help broker a deal following a military coup last October.

The UN envoy to Sudan, Volker Perthes, has said talks were the "sustainable path forward toward democracy and peace," and called for an "end to the violence." He claimed the process would be "inclusive," though protesters do not seek a power-sharing agreement but rather a return to civilian rule.

Perthes has planned a news conference for Monday, where it is expected he will outline the details of his proposal. The UN Security Council will meet Wednesday to discuss Sudan.

Forces for the Declaration of Freedom and Change, the umbrella coalition for the groups behind the protests, said it had not received any details of Perthes' proposal.
Why does the UN wish to broker talks?

The UN's offer to mediate comes a week after the resignation of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok. He said the inability of the generals to compromise with protesters was behind his decision to step down.

Sudan PM quits, leaving military in control

The Sudanese Professionals' Association has said it sees Perthes as being behind that arrangement, which they've discredited as it sidelined pro-democracy forces, a position Hamdok similarly realized was untenable when he resigned.

The protest organizers' rejection of the offer came amid renewed protests on Sunday, which are expected to continue.

More than 60 people have been killed since the military took over.
What has the protest movement said?

The Sudanese Professionals' Association said in a statement that the "only way" out of the crisis was through the removal of the generals from the seats of power in the country.

The protest movement wants civilian leadership restored, underscored by the protest slogan, "No negotiations, no compromise, no power-sharing'' with the generals.

The coup on October 25 came two years after mass protests led to the ouster of the country's previous longtime autocratic ruler, Omar al-Bashir.

Together with youth groups known as Resistance Committees, the Sudanese Professionals' Association have buttressed the movement against military rule.
What happened Sunday during the protests?

On Sunday, protests in the capital, Khartoum, and other cities continued as thousands rallied against the country's military rulers.

Activist Nazim Sirag told the AFP news agency that security forces fired tear gas at protesters near the presidential palace. One protester was injured when security forces opened fire in Khartoum's Bahri district.

The Sudanese Doctors Committee said a teenage protester, Alaa el-din Adel, 17, died Sunday after succumbing to a wound to the neck during protests in Omdurman near Khartoum. His death brings the total number of people who have died since protests began to 61, the committee said.

Health care workers in white coats also joined protests Sunday calling for security guarantees at hospitals which have been stormed by the government during protests.

ar/wd (AFP, AP)

Mexico Cuts Pemex Debt Burden by $3.2 Billion

Philip Sanders
Sun, January 9, 2022


(Bloomberg) -- Mexico’s government said it had slashed Petroleos Mexicanos’ debt burden by $3.2 billion through a refinancing operation.

The government swapped debt that was expiring soon for a new bond with a maturity of 10 years, while also refinancing some medium maturity debt that was cheap, according to a statement from the Finance Ministry.

The operation will reduce the “financial pressure” on Pemex by $10.5 billion between 2024 and 2030, the ministry said, adding that the refinancing wouldn’t reduce the fiscal budget. The government contributed $3.5 billion to the operation, which helped narrow the spread to sovereign bonds by 50 basis points, reducing Pemex’s annual financial costs by $180 million.

Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced a $3.5 billion capital injection into Pemex in early December, saying it would be made through a series of bond market transactions. That came on top of initiatives last year to cut taxes and overhaul management at the company.

Pemex is flailing under $113 billion of debt, the most of any major oil producer, struggling to reverse over a decade of crude output declines, and is highly reliant on the federal government being willing to continue paying bondholders.

Suspected arson case a searing reminder of risks of uninsured homes

For Paul Stanczak and Danielle Bablich, the Christmas season came to an abrupt end on Boxing Day.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

In a bleary state of shock, the couple learned their partially completed cottage on Ontario's Georgian Bay was ablaze after receiving a call from a neighbour at about 5:20 a.m. on Dec. 26.

Stanczak drove the three minutes from Bablich's parents' home to find the small chalet into which they'd already poured more than $425,000 destroyed in minutes due to a suspected act of arson.

"I just stood there on another neighbour's lot across the street ... and watched our dream in flames. And there’s nothing you can do about it," Stanczak, 44, said in a phone interview.

"It was one of the hardest things we've ever been through," said Bablich, 37, who joined her partner at the cottage turned crime scene after calming their six-year-old son.

“I watched it just finish burning and collapse into itself."

The Toronto couple had worked on the Scandinavian-style chalet for over a year, overseeing the project as trees were cleared, the foundation was laid and the structure went up, complete with drywall and electrical and water hook-ups by Christmas.

But they chose not to insure it, in part because they relied solely on their savings so there was no bank loan involved to require insurance.

Experts say a rose-tinted mindset can wind up with disastrous consequences for property owners who opt to forego coverage.

If there's no lender in the mix, homeowners can decide not to insure their building, its contents and the cost of accommodations should the house suffer damage.

But Insurance Bureau of Canada spokesperson Anne Marie Thomas says owners often neglect to consider liability insurance, which covers them in case of visitor injury and makes up part of most home insurance policies.

“I don't think it's as rare as people would imagine that it is," she said of uninsured homes.

"Even if it was literally just a shack, it's always a good idea to have insurance ... for the liability portion.

"If someone trips, slips, breaks their arm, injures their head — the dog tripped them up on the way in the door, whatever — they can be sued by the person coming into the home," Thomas said. "Even the mailman delivering mail."

Stanczak and Bablich noted that the tradespeople they contracted had liability insurance and that the property was gated.

"Especially with no gas hook-up, there’s no reason for there to be a fire either," Stanczak said.

“Hindsight is 20/20. You never think it’s going to happen to you," Bablich added.

Ontario Provincial Police Const. David Hobson said an investigation into the suspected arson is ongoing.

Anyone with information about the case is urged to contact Crimestoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or visit canadiancrimestoppers.org.

The couple are hoping a GoFundMe page titled, "Support Arson Victims Paul and Danielle," might help them carry on with the home — they foresaw it as a rural haven and a legacy for their son — but are currently in project limbo.

"We don't want this to stop us and we want to continue," Stanczak said. "But on the flipside can we actually go to a property where this much tragedy has befallen us?"

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 7, 2022.

Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press

Haiti newsman tells of escape from deadly attack by 'all-powerful' gang

Author: AFP|Update: 09.01.2022 

An aerial view of Port-au-Prince, Haiti -- a city battling powerful 

criminal gangs -- seen on October 28, 2021 / © AFP/File

"The bullets were flying thick and fast," said Wilmann Vil, the sole survivor of a recent gang attack that killed two fellow Haitian journalists just outside Port-au-Prince.

Vil himself has gone into hiding, fearful that the criminal gang, one of several terrorizing Haiti's capital city, might find him.

In that fateful encounter Thursday, Vil and two colleagues -- Wilguens Louissaint and Amady John Wesley -- were walking through a dried-up river bed in the foothills overlooking Port-au-Prince while working on a story.

As they walked, members of a gang seeking to dominate the area and control a strategic passage to the country's south, suddenly opened fire.

"The bullets were flying, pouring down on us," Vil told AFP in a phone interview Saturday.

The 31-year-old reporter managed to take cover behind nearby trees and, after scrambling up the rocky hillside, was taken in by friendly farmworkers.

- The sound of gunfire -

In the chaos of the moment, he had lost track of his colleagues.

"I took my phone to call Amady," with whom he had worked for years.

"I asked him where he was and he replied, 'These guys captured me, I'm with them," said Vil, who works for online media outlet RL Production.

Vil then heard his colleague begging gang members to spare him and Louissaint.

"Amady kept telling them, 'We're not bandits, we're journalists. We were here reporting,'" Vil recalled.

He said he put his phone on speaker so the farmworkers sheltering him could listen in.

All they heard was a burst of gunfire.

Vil now knew he was the lone survivor -- and needed to get out fast.

Neighbors gave him clothes so he could disguise himself and led him to a small house to hide.

On the way, he said, "I saw armed guys already on the rooftops who were looking for me."

Knowing the risk they ran by protecting him, the farmworkers found a motorcycle-taxi to take him, along with a local official, out of the gang-controlled zone.

- 'Better armed than the police' -

Though he had escaped the immediate threat, Vil said his previously tranquil life has been shattered.

His four-year-old daughter is afraid and "doesn't sleep," Vil sighed. He and his family have been staying with friends, fearful the gang may have spies in the neighborhood.

Vil knows how the gangs operate, having met them on several occasions while reporting.

"These guys are all-powerful," he said. "I've seen how they work in the ghettos."

"They have so many weapons, and people working for them who you would never have suspected."

He reported his colleagues' deaths to the police but has little hope the killers will be brought to account.

"They know who these guys are... they even have their phone numbers," Vil said.

But he questions the ability of the police to dislodge gangs from areas they control, noting they are "better armed than the police."

He also blames certain powerful people -- whom he would not name -- for Haiti's plunge into chaos.

"I'm not defending the bandits -- they're guilty," he said. "But the politicians and private sector in Haiti are also guilty, because these guys in the ghettos don't have the money you would need to buy the kind of weaponry I've seen."

Now he speaks in resigned tones of taking his family abroad.

"The country," he says, "is really finished because of the crime."