Friday, January 21, 2022

 

UK probes historic ban on LGBT armed forces personnel

Independent review will look at impact of pre-2000 block on homosexuals in the military.


The government is yet to announce who will chair the review and its terms of reference. | Dan Mullan/Getty Images

BY ANNABELLE DICKSON
January 19, 2022 

LONDON — The experiences of LGBT veterans discharged from Britain’s armed forces will heard by a new inquiry probing a pre-2000 ban on homosexual personnel.

The U.K. government announced Wednesday it’s launching an independent review into the impact the prohibitive rules had on those affected. It’s part of a plan, said minister for veterans Leo Docherty, to “better tailor support to the LGBT veteran community.”

“While the modern military embraces the LGBT community, it is important that we learn from the experiences of LGBT veterans who were affected by the pre-2000 ban,” he said in a statement released ahead of the announcement.

The government is yet to announce who will chair the review and its terms of reference.

The joint chief executives of LGBT armed forces charity Fighting With Pride Craig Jones and Caroline Paige said in their own statement that the inquiry would hear accounts from veterans whose lives were blighted by criminal convictions, prison sentences and dismissal in disgrace before Britain lifted the ban.
UK
Second court victory for Palestine Action



Asa Winstanley Activism and BDS Beat 
20 January 2022


Activists at Birmingham Magistrates Court on Thursday. Palestine Action

Activists celebrated another victory against Israeli drone giant Elbit on Thursday, as a British court dropped all charges.

Birmingham Magistrates Court ordered that three activists go free, despite charges of criminal damage, aggravated trespass and resisting arrest.

The Palestine Action campaigners had targeted an Elbit landlord, Vine Property Management in Birmingham, in the English Midlands.

The case is the second against Palestine Action to come to trial. Last month, the group’s first trial also ended in full acquittal with protesters found not guilty of criminal damage.

The activists in the first trial successfully argued that damage they caused to Elbit’s Shenstone factory near Birmingham was proportionate action to halt the factory’s involvement in Israeli war crimes against Palestinians.

The group had chained themselves to the gates of Elbit subsidiary UAV Engines in Shenstone and splattered the building with blood-red paint in January last year.

Palestine Action shut down Elbit landlord Vine in July 2021. Palestine Action

The three activists cleared in the second trial on Thursday had taken action to shut down Vine Property in July last year, “as part of a wider campaign targeting the suppliers, partners and landlords of Elbit” the group said in a statement.

Vine is the landlord of the Shenstone factory.

“Activists chained the gates shut, occupied the roof and sprayed the site with red paint to signify its complicity in the murder of the Palestinian people,” they recalled.

They dropped a large sign calling on the landlord to “Evict Elbit.”

Palestine Action said the legal victory was “hugely significant” and was more proof that even the British courts system appears to “understand the necessity, and proportionality, of taking action to undermine British complicity in Israeli war crimes.”

Activists said on Thursday that the Crown Prosecution Service had failed to offer any evidence, leading to the charges being dropped before their political defence of proportionate action against Israeli war crimes could be put forward in court again.

Palestine Action said in its statement that there had been “serious failings by the police” and an “abuse of process” by prosecutors.

Their solicitor Lydia Dagostino told The Electronic Intifada that there had been “major failings in disclosure” by prosecutors, leading to activists walking free.

The Crown Prosecution Service did not respond to requests for comment.
The group’s latest legal victory follows hot on the heels of its first Elbit factory shutdown last week.

On 10 January, Elbit announced that it had sold off its Ferranti factory in Oldham, in the north of England.

Activist Max Geller told the most recent episode of The Electronic Intifada Podcast that, “if the UK is not going to prosecute Palestine Action, Elbit is going to be left with very little options besides quitting the country.”
Native American tribe, New Mexico ink water leasing deal

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A Native American tribe has agreed to lease more of its water to help address dwindling supplies in the Colorado River Basin, officials announced Thursday

.

Provided by The Canadian Press

The agreement involves the Jicarilla Apache Nation, the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission and The Nature Conservancy.

The tribe has agreed to lease up to 6.5 billion gallons (25 billion liters) of water per year to the state to bolster flows for endangered species and increase water security for New Mexico.

The water would be released from the Navajo Reservoir in northwestern New Mexico to feed the San Juan River, which flows into the Colorado River.

New Mexico is among the seven Western states that rely on the Colorado River. Water managers elsewhere already have had to come up with contingency plans as less snow, warmer temperatures and water lost to evaporation have affected the river's ability to meet demands.

Daryl Vigil, the Jicarilla Apache Nation's water administrator, highlighted the need for creative solutions as pressure grows across the drought-stricken basin. He pointed to the benefits of meaningful cooperation with Native American communities, saying this novel project could serve as a model for other tribes and opens the door to broader conversations as officials try to chart out guidelines for future operations of the Colorado River.

The goal is to create flexibility across sovereign jurisdictions to get water to where it needs to be, Vigil said.

“It's about building a future together,” he said. “This sets the stage for that.”

Not all tribes in the basin have legal authority to lease water. Some tribes in Arizona already have played a significant role in shoring up water supplies as that state deals with mandatory cuts to its Colorado River allocation.

The Jicarilla Apache Nation’s water rights support the tribe's cultural practices and economy while ensuring residents have water to drink.

The tribe subleases most of its water to other users. For several decades, that has included coal-fired power plants in the region through long-term contracts that provided a steady source of revenue. With the plants facing closure, officials said that presented an opportunity for the Jicarilla Apache Nation, New Mexico and the environmental group to strike a new deal that ensured the water would be put to use and that the tribe would be compensated.

“The Colorado River Basin’s tribal nations are among the most important leaders and partners in efforts to find lasting solutions to the pressing water scarcity and ecological challenges that face the millions of people who rely on this incredible river,” said Celene Hawkins, a tribal engagement program director for The Nature Conservancy.

Vigil said the San Juan River was among the hardest hit tributaries last year. While snowpack this winter has been promising, he said officials still need to prepare.

“We’ve been living adaptively for thousands of years. Let us show you how it's done,” he said.

Susan Montoya Bryan, The Associated Press
SAVINGS FOR RETIREMENT AND A TAX CREDIT
CPP: Higher Deductions Coming to Your 2022 Paycheque

Puja Tayal 
MOTLEY FOOL

Are you a salaried employee earning an annual paycheque of around $65,000? Then you’ve got to read this. Service Canada is bringing big changes to the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) in 2022. You could see a higher-than-expected deduction in your paycheque for the second year in a row. This could sting, as inflation is at its 13-year high, and the government is gradually removing stimulus money. © Provided by The Motley Fool Man with no money. Businessman holding empty wallet
2022 CPP changes

As part of a multi-year enhancement plan announced in 2019, Service Canada has been increasing the CPP contribution at a pre-determined rate. It increased this rate to 5.7% in 2022 from 5.45% last year. But what is not pre-determined is the maximum pensionable earnings. The agency calculates this amount by comparing the average weekly earnings in the 12 months ending June 30 with the previous year.

As the pandemic impacted lower-income earners, fewer were added to the above formula in the last two years. Hence, the 2022 maximum pensionable income increased by $3,300 to $64,900, instead of a $2,100 increase to $63,700, according to the National Post. Even in 2021, the maximum pensionable income increased by $2,900.
 
What do 2022 CPP changes mean to your paycheque?

Your employer deducts the employee contribution along with the employer contribution and puts it towards CPP and gives it to Service Canada. If you earn $65,000 annually, your employer will deduct $3,500 in CPP contribution from your 2022 paycheque, a $333 increase from 2021, and a $600 increase from 2020. The maximum CPP contribution amount increased by 11% in 2022 and 9% in 2021 compared to 5% in 2020.

What happens with this CPP contribution? Service Canada invests that money on your behalf towards retirement and gives you a monthly pension when you turn 65. And just so you know, the CPP payout is taxable. You have no control over where the agency invests your money. But you get a guaranteed CPP amount from the government.
How to cope with rising CPP contributions

While CPP payouts might partially help you with retirement, what about the current paycheque deductions? If your salary does not grow at the same pace as your CPP contributions, it might reduce your real income. You can cope with this growth by focusing a portion of your investment portfolio on passive investing.

MOST CANADIAN WORKERS DO NOT HAVE WORK PLACE PENSIONS THEY RELY ON CPP FOR THAT,

RIGHT WING ECONOMISTS TRY TO MAKE CPP INCREASES SOUND LIKE A TAX INCREASE RATHER THAN BEING A TAX CREDIT SAVINGS PROGRAM




NDP must decide if it wants to be Parliament's conscience or win: polling analyst

OTTAWA — A polling and political analyst says the New Democrats need to decide whether they want to be the "conscience of Parliament" or win an election.
© Provided by The Canadian Press

Philippe Fournier of 338Canada.com says polls consistently show that NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is more popular than either Prime Minister Justin Trudeau or Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole.

But the NDP must win over suburban as well as urban voters and attract Liberals tired of the ruling party to stand a chance of forming government.

The NDP gained just one more MP in last year's federal election, despite spending $25 million on the campaign, and did not attract enough support in rural areas or the suburbs to come within reach of power. The NDP has 25 MPs, fewer than the Liberals, Conservatives and Bloc Québécois.

The NDP caucus is wrapping up a three-day virtual retreat to talk about priorities, policies and strategy for when the House of Commons resumes sitting at the end of the month.

Fournier said polls show that Singh is well thought-of by many Liberal voters. But he risks alienating them by brutally attacking the Liberals, and should turn his fire on the Conservatives.

"Does the NDP really want to win or be the conscience of Parliament?" Fournier asked. "If they want to win they are doing very poorly."

He said polls show that Trudeau still has the support of "the vast majority of Liberal voters" and not many are shifting their support to the NDP.

But eventually "the wear and tear of government" will lead to an erosion of Liberal support.

"How the Liberals will eventually lose is if more voters will be disenchanted. They will flock to the NDP or the Greens," he said.

Fournier, who analyzes multiple opinion polls, said the latest polling on voting intentions puts the NDP at around 20 per cent of the national vote.

NDP MP Charlie Angus says levels of insecurity felt across class divides are changing the political discourse in Canada.

Angus said there is now an opportunity for the NDP simultaneously to reach working-class, middle-class and young and elderly voters, all of whom are feeling the pinch from housing and living costs, and are "seeing their lives get more precarious."

He said there was now a "broader working class" including middle-class people who are not living at the standards of their parents, and are struggling to afford housing and even groceries.

"More and more people are saying the middle class I am in is not the class my parents were in — there's been a shift on class issues," Angus said. "Professors at university are making less money than someone who works at Tim Hortons."

The NDP MP said younger voters interested in justice were feeling the same economic insecurity as older, working-class voters to whom the Tories have been working to appeal.

Angus said it was "a false dichotomy" to assume that the NDP could not appeal to traditional working-class voters and young Canadians motivated by racial justice and green issues.

"I think there are ways of bringing those two narratives together and I think that is something we can start to do in this coming year," he said.

"This younger generation really understands economic insecurity. They are not putting up with it in a way 10 years ago they were expected to," he said. "They are beginning to speak out, like 'How come I don’t have a living wage? How come I have no place to live?'"

Singh said he and all NDP MPs had received pleas from seniors, including those unable to afford their rent, groceries or medication. The party leader said they were looking to the NDP "for a solution."

"Canadian families have gone through a lot these past two years whether it has been dealing with losing their jobs, losing benefits they rely on to get by, or struggling to get COVID-19 vaccines and tests. They want a government that is standing up for the issues affecting them most," he said in an emailed statement.

Karl Bélanger, a former senior adviser to the NDP and president of consulting firm Traxxion Strategies, said the party was right to focus on living costs, including the affordability of housing.

He said, as the fourth party in the House of Commons, the NDP must be "nimble at all times" and showcase all their MPs so they become recognized national figures.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 20, 2022.

Marie Woolf, The Canadian Press
Former Eastway employees allege lax safety standards before deadly Ottawa explosion

Alistair Steele, Guy Quenneville 

Former employees of Eastway Tank Pump & Meter Ltd. have come forward to allege a history of safety lapses at the Ottawa company prior to last Thursday's explosion that killed six workers and left a seventh critically injured.

The allegations include at least three previous fires, improper storage of flammable chemicals, and "hot" trucks — tankers that still contained fuel or flammable residue — being exposed to sparks from welding and other activities at the Merivale Road facility.

CBC News spoke with three former employees who corroborated details of each other's accounts of the working conditions at the tanker truck manufacturer, as well as an industry expert with no connection to the company.

In a statement attributed to Eastway Tank president and owner Neil Greene, sent to CBC News on Wednesday evening, he called the allegations "unfounded."

"We are all mourning the loss of our friends and family, and I share the immense pain, sadness and anger being felt.

"With respect, these allegations are unfounded. Eastway Tank has always worked to maintain the highest safety standards. We are working closely with investigators and are cooperating fully to get to the bottom of what happened."

The cause of the explosion and fire is still under investigation by several agencies. Eastway Tank builds and services tankers capable of carrying a variety of fuels.

CBC News has also obtained details of orders from the Ministry of Labour stemming from a 2017 investigation that originated with a complaint about working conditions at the facility.

'Alarm bells'


Josh Bastien left Eastway in the spring of 2021 over what he alleged was an unsafe working environment. Bastien's father Rick, a senior employee of the company, was among those killed in the Jan. 13 blast.

"My dad rang alarm bells for a long time and he's gone now, and I feel like he would want the truth told finally. His death, it has to mean something. Because this can't keep happening," Bastien told CBC.

Bastien, who worked at Eastway for about three years, described a serious fire that broke out inside one of the service bays about a year and a half ago when a spark from a welding torch landed in a tray of oil.

"The service bay looked like it was a portal of hell. I could see like flames in the distance and smoke just billowing out and filling the main shop," he said.

Bastien said he grabbed a fire extinguisher, put a wet rag over his mouth and entered the service bay to put the fire out, but his father shoved him out the door to finish the job himself.

Bastien said the fire was out by the time firefighters arrived, but not before the flames damaged tools and blackened the ceiling.

Another former employee, Chris Collins, recounted a fire similar to the one cited by Bastien and described another fire during his own tenure at Eastway that began in the shop's boiler room, near containers of flammable liquid.

Collins also shared a photo showing the aftermath of a third fire in March 2021, just after he left the company.

Collins said the photo was sent to him by former colleague Danny Beale, who also died in last week's explosion. It shows a tanker truck with a blackened underside in front of a service bay entrance, with a firefighter standing nearby.

Collins, an electrician who left the company last March after about two years, said that following the fires he saw little concrete action taken by Eastway management to prevent similar incidents.

"It wasn't until after the fires that I saw, and looking at the responses that happened, where I started to question and seriously contemplate that the response wasn't anywhere near what you'd think a proper fire response was," he said.

CBC has asked for a record of previous fire calls to 1995 Merivale Rd., but the City of Ottawa has refused to provide it, citing the current investigation.
'A constant battle'

Bastien said smaller fires were commonplace at Eastway Tank and were often ignited when welding was being performed near open bins full of oil-soaked rags.

"You'd have an oily garbage can filled with rags, and a guy would be welding on a tank and a spark would fly down and land inside the garbage can. Now you've got smoke billowing everywhere and there's a fire inside the shop," said Bastien, adding he witnessed that happen at least two dozen times.

"It was a constant battle with sparks and flames because the shop was so confined."

Bastien also described open buckets of flammable liquid being stored near a boiler.

"It could be jet fuel, it could be gas, it could be diesel," he said.
© CBC This diagram of the Eastway facility shows the explosion appears to have taken place in the production area on the left, while the service area on the right remains standing.

Another former employee whom CBC has agreed not to name because he fears reprisal said he was "constantly" closing the steel door of a chemical storage closet because it was right beside a welding station.

"There's sparks flying everywhere, literally five feet away from there … so all it would take is just one of those sparks to just hop into that room," said the former employee, who said he was laid off early last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and refused to return when asked due to his safety concerns.

"The smell would waft out of it, and there would be open flame constantly in that weld room. Everybody thought it was a death trap," Bastien alleged.

The unnamed former employee was also concerned about workers smoking near entrances, especially in the winter when it was difficult to reach a picnic table beside the building.

"All it would take is somebody throwing a butt onto the ground and it being blown into the building," the man said.

'Hot' trucks a hazard


Among the other serious safety lapses Bastien alleged he witnessed were so-called "hot" trucks being brought into the service and production areas of the plant before having their tanks carefully steam-cleaned and tested for combustible fuel or fuel residue.

"There's many times I can guarantee a truck with product came inside and no one mentioned anything or said anything," Bastien alleged.

Collins said he also witnessed hot trucks being brought into the shop.

"We did have vehicles with live fuel, sometimes gasoline, diesel or other home heating oils that were brought into the shop to be worked on," he said.

"Typically we were told, 'Don't do any type of sparks or welding on it.' But for the most part, jobs got done."

© CBC This drone image shows the entrances where trucks entered the production area and paint shop.

Bastien said he was often tasked with driving tanker trucks in and out of the facility, even though he wasn't licensed. He alleged other unlicensed Eastway employees did the same.

"My dad used to hate it when he found out I was doing that," Bastien said. "Here I am driving around in bombs in the yard, and I could have done something wrong. Something could have happened."
Fuel spills

The unnamed former employee also described an ongoing problem with the pumping system used to flush contaminated liquid from the pits underneath the service bays.

He said the dangerous soup of fuel and water would often bubble up and threaten to spill down a ramp leading past the paint shop into the production area.

"The pits would flood up and it would be a mess, and it happened all the time," said the man, who worked at Eastway for about three years.

He said fuel spills would also occur when workers were draining the trucks to be serviced.

"I've seen guys in there come out after working … and they're soaked in fuel, these guys. Like, completely soaked in fuel."

Fuel also "constantly" ran across the unpaved yard into a ditch that ran alongside the rail tracks behind the property, the man said.

Bastien alleged he was sometimes tasked with draining the service pits by pumping the contaminated liquid through a hose under the back fence and directly into the ditch.

"That's what we were told to do," he said.

Labour ministry investigated complaints

Ontario's Ministry of Labour has confirmed an inspector issued four orders to the company after a June 2017 visit to the site found issues related to ventilation, welding safety and training, and exposures to hazardous chemical substances.

The field visit was made in response to a workplace health and safety complaint, a ministry spokesperson said via email Thursday.

"Concerns were raised about exposure to gas, ventilation and training," the spokesperson said.

All of the 2017 orders — written by a labour inspector to an employer to either comply with health and safety laws or stop work — were complied with, the spokesperson said.

The ministry visited the company's worksite again in September 2018 after a public complaint about workers not wearing personal protective equipment, but found Eastway to be in compliance, a spokesperson said.

The City of Ottawa told CBC it was not involved in inspecting the facility.

'Going through the motions'


In the company's initial statement to CBC after the explosion, Eastway president and owner Greene said: "We remain in close contact with investigators, and we will co-operate with authorities on all ensuing investigations. We want to get to the bottom of what happened."

"I don't think there was ever any push to the culture to make that safety switch. I think it was more of, 'We took care of it. This stuff can happen. Be smarter next time,'" Collins said.

"But that shouldn't be your only safety precaution."

Collins said he served on Eastway's health and safety committee for about two months, but it accomplished little.

"It really seemed like we were more or less just going through the motions," Collins said. "You'd still see [workers] welding four or five feet away from a fuel container."

Both Bastien and the unnamed employee echoed Collins's account, saying they often felt uncomfortable about raising their concerns with supervisors.
© Francis Ferland/CBC Chris Lawson of the Office of the Fire Marshal speaks to reporters one day after the fatal explosion and fire at Eastway Tank. Several agencies are investigating the incident.

Dangerous work

Eastway Tank is certified by Transport Canada to manufacture and inspect tanks capable of carrying light crude, gasoline, diesel fuel, aviation fuel and methanol.

Chris Revers, plant manager at Jasper Tank near Edmonton, said his first reaction upon hearing of last week's explosion was shock, then concern.

"I know what kind of dangerous work this is, building these units and maintaining them. Bad stuff happens every day, and it's just the nature of the job," said Revers, whose company has been manufacturing and servicing tanks for the oil and gas industry since 1947.

"What we try to do is do the best we can to mitigate those dangers and ensure that our people are safe."

Revers, who has no direct knowledge of Eastway Tank or what caused the explosion, said rigorous testing and safety precautions are a must in the industry.

Every tank that enters a facility should undergo careful inspection including a visual assessment, leakage test, pressure test and a "sniff" test with a gas detector, he said.

Tanks that contained fuel must be drained and steam cleaned for hours, Revers said, and even then there's the danger of fuel residue or vapour becoming trapped in lap seams.

"Before a tank should be coming into a shop, you need to ensure that that tank is safe, and it's not a hot tank," Revers said.

He added that welding and other work that can throw sparks should never be performed near volatile materials.

"None of these things should happen near a hot tank or product that's being used," he said.

Some tank manufacturers exceed government standards to ensure a safe workplace, Revers said, adding he hopes Transport Canada heeds whatever comes out of the various investigations into the Eastway disaster.

"They're going to want to make sure that this doesn't happen again," he said. "And they should."
Canadian restaurant forced to partially close after accepting dog photos as vaccination proof

BY LEXI LONAS - 01/20/22 

© Getty

A Canadian restaurant was ordered to close its indoor operations briefly after it was discovered to be accepting dog photos as proof of COVID-19 vaccination.

Alberta, where The Granary Kitchen is located, requires restaurants to get proof of vaccination, a negative COVID-19 test or a medical exemption from the vaccine from all customers.

Alberta Health Services sent an executive order to the restaurant on Jan. 14 saying that it needed to shut down indoor services following an investigation of the establishment.

According to the order, the health authority received complaints that the restaurant was allowing customers to dine indoors when they presented dog pictures and personal identification. The authority said it sent two "test shoppers" there on two separate occasions and both were permitted to dine in the restaurant after showing staff pictures of dogs and personal identification.

“In both instances, facility staff used a tablet to make it appear as if they were scanning a QR code when in fact the staff member was presented with a photograph of a dog. The staff member then proceeded to ask the test shopper for personal identification and offered dine in services,” the order states.

The Granary Kitchen announced that it would temporarily close in a post on its Facebook page on Friday.

"To our valued guests, we had an unfortunate circumstance at our front door which involved one of our underage hostesses, and the requirements for the REP program," the post said, referring to Alberta's Restrictions Exemption Program, which allows participating businesses to operate with fewer COVID-19 restrictions if they require proof of vaccination or negative test results from patrons aged 12 and older.

"We are taking the weekend to retrain and regroup," the post continued. "We look forward to serving you again as soon as we are ready to reopen."


The restaurant also offered free coffee with to-go orders over the weekend.

The restaurant did not announce that it was reopening, but activity on its Facebook page indicated that it had.

In order for the restaurant to reopen indoor dining services, the order said the establishment needed to submit a written a plan showing how it would comply with Alberta’s COVID-19 measures, train staff in implementing required restrictions, provide written confirmation that staff were so trained and attend an administrative hearing with the Environmental Public Health department to show the plans and statements.

Thursday, January 20, 2022

 

Tech bros propose replacing women with ‘synthetic wombs’

Taking away the responsibility of pregnancy from women could result in less wealth inequality by gender, one billionaire argued











Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and Gumroad founder Sahil Lavingia proposed synthetic wombs as a solution to gender inequality

Several prominent tech entrepreneurs discussed the possibility of replacing natural birth with synthetic wombs, arguing that such technology would remove the “burden” of pregnancy and allow women to work more.

After Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk warned on Tuesday that society “should be much more worried about population collapse,” Musk’s fellow tech leaders came up with one solution for declining birth rates.

“We should be investing in technology that makes having kids much faster/easier/cheaper/more accessible… Synthetic wombs, etc,” proposed Sahil Lavingia, the founder of digital product trading platform Gumroad.

Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of cryptocurrency Ethereum, agreed, arguing that women would be able to continue working if the “burden of pregnancy” was replaced with synthetic wombs.

Buterin – who has an estimated net worth of $1.46 billion – claimed that outsourcing pregnancy to machines could mean “significantly reducing the inequality” of wealth between genders.

Though Lavingia and Buterin received some support on social media, the majority of reactions were overwhelmingly negative, with critics comparing the idea to the lab-grown humans from ‘The Matrix’.

“This is so dystopian… why not create a system where anyone contributing to society earns enough to build a family, buy a house and live instead of constantly being priced out by inflation?” suggested one person.

Journalist Amil Niazi tweeted“The reason the majority of ppl [are] choosing not to have kids aren’t having them is not because they’re lacking quick and easy synthetic wombs it’s because it increasingly feels like you need to be a millionaire to have them.”

In 2019, scientists in the Netherlands claimed they were within 10 years of creating the world’s first artificial womb. That technology, however, is intended to be used to protect premature babies rather than to replace natural pregnancy altogether.

SEE LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for SHULAMITH FIRESTONE 

WW3.0 PROVOCATION
US Warship’s South China Sea Passage Sparks Beijing Warning



The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold (DDG 65), along side Singapore Navy’s (RSN) RSS Supreme (FFS 73), participated in Exercise Pacific Griffin 2017. Photo: AFP

 STAFF WRITER WITH AFP JANUARY 20, 2022

A US warship sailed through the South China Sea on Thursday, sparking a warning from China’s military as tensions between the superpowers remain high.

The American navy said the USS Benfold “asserted navigational rights and freedoms in the vicinity of the Paracel Islands, consistent with international law.”

The Southern Theatre Command of the People’s Liberation Army said the US ship had “illegally” entered what Beijing regards as its waters.

The PLA “organized naval and air forces to engage in tracking and monitoring as well as to warn and drive (the destroyer) away,” its statement added.

China claims almost all of the South China Sea, through which trillions of dollars in trade passes annually, with competing claims from Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam.

Beijing has ignored a 2016 ruling by The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration that its historical claim is without basis.

Led by the United States, multiple Western navies conduct “freedom of navigation operations”, known in military circles as FONOPs, to assert the idea that the South China Sea is an international waterway.

Thursday’s passage by the USS Benfold was the first declared FONOP of the year.

It came a week after the United States laid out its most detailed case yet against Beijing’s “unlawful” claims in the South China Sea, rejecting both the geographic and historical justifications.

In a 47-page research paper, the State Department’s Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs said China had no basis under international law for claims that have put Beijing on a collision course with the Philippines, Vietnam, and other Southeast Asian nations.

China has rejected the report.

Over the years Beijing has steadily cemented its control of key islands and atolls in the South China Sea through land reclamation and the construction of military facilities that have alarmed many of its neighbors.

Chinese military calls U.S. warship's trespassing a "serious provocation"

(Xinhua08:14, January 21, 2022

BEIJING, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese military spokesperson on Thursday called the trespassing of a U.S. warship into China's territorial waters a serious provocation.

Earlier in the day, the U.S. missile destroyer USS Benfold sailed into waters off the Xisha Islands in the South China Sea without permission from the Chinese government.

Wu Qian, spokesperson for China's Ministry of National Defense, said this is not "freedom of navigation" as claimed by the United States but an act that has violated China's sovereignty and undermined the peace and stability of the South China Sea.

Wu said the People's Liberation Army has dispatched air and naval forces to monitor the U.S. warship and warn it off.

"The Chinese military strongly deplores and resolutely opposes the U.S. act," he said, adding that the U.S. military warship's hegemonic behaviors can not be tolerated in China's territorial waters.

Wu urged the U.S. side to understand the situation clearly and stop provocation.

The Chinese military will take all necessary measures to respond to any threats and provocations, and will resolutely protect China's sovereignty and security and safeguard regional peace and stability, he said. 

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)