‘Mystery whale’ spotted in Washington’s Puget Sound is one of the world’s longest



Maddie Capron
Fri, January 21, 2022

A whale swam into Washington’s Puget Sound and came extremely close to land, photos show.

Spotting it may have been a “rare gift,” experts said.

The Pacific Whale Watch Association said Jan. 20 the visitor was actually a fin whale, one of the longest species of whales on the planet.

“Experts have confirmed that the mystery whale in Puget Sound last week was indeed a fin whale,” the association said on Facebook. “Fin whales are second to the blue whale as the longest whales on Earth.”

Fin whales can grow up to 85 feet, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The whale’s spotting in Puget Sound was very rare, experts said.

The fin whale spent a week near Seattle’s northern shoreline, according to Orca Network, a nonprofit dedicated to the Pacific Northwest’s whale population.

“To have such an impressively large and gorgeous being spend time this far inland in our urban waterways is a rare gift,” the group said on Facebook. “These encounters were deeply moving experiences.”

Fin whales have V-shaped heads and can be easy to distinguish because of the fin on its back, NOAA said. The species was targeted by the whaling industry decades ago, which severely lowered their populations.

The fin whale is listed as an endangered species and is also considered depleted under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, according to NOAA.

“It may still be around, so keep those eyes peeled,” the Pacific Whale Watch Association said of this particular fin whale.

These machines scrub greenhouse gases from the air – an inventor of direct air capture technology shows how it works


Klaus Lackner, 

Professor of Engineering and Director of the Center for Negative Carbon Emissions, Arizona State University

Thu, January 20, 2022, 

One 'mechanical tree' is about 1,000 times faster at removing carbon dioxide from air than a natural tree. The first is to start operating in Arizona in 2022. Illustration via Arizona State University

Two centuries of burning fossil fuels has put more carbon dioxide, a powerful greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere than nature can remove. As that CO2 builds up, it traps excess heat near Earth’s surface, causing global warming. There is so much CO2 in the atmosphere now that most scenarios show ending emissions alone won’t be enough to stabilize the climate – humanity will also have to remove CO2 from the air.

The U.S. Department of Energy has a new goal to scale up direct air capture, a technology that uses chemical reactions to capture CO2 from air. While federal funding for carbon capture often draws criticism because some people see it as an excuse for fossil fuel use to continue, carbon removal in some form will likely still be necessary, IPCC reports show. Technology to remove carbon mechanically is in development and operating at a very small scale, in part because current methods are prohibitively expensive and energy intensive. But new techniques are being tested this year that could help lower the energy demand and cost.

We asked Arizona State University Professor Klaus Lackner, a pioneer in direct air capture and carbon storage, about the state of the technology and where it’s headed.
What is direct carbon removal and why is it considered necessary?

When I got interested in carbon management in the early 1990s, what drove me was the observation that carbon piles up in the environment. It takes nature thousands of years to remove that CO2, and we’re on a trajectory toward much higher CO2 concentrations, well beyond anything humans have experienced.

Humanity can’t afford to have increasing amounts of excess carbon floating around in the environment, so we have to get it back out.

Not all emissions are from large sources, like power plants or factories, where we can capture CO2 as it comes out. So we need to deal with the other half of emissions – from cars, planes, taking a hot shower while your gas furnace is putting out CO2. That means pulling CO2 out of the air.

Since CO2 mixes quickly in the air, it doesn’t matter where in the world the CO2 is removed – the removal has the same impact. So we can place direct air capture technology right where we plan to use or store the CO2.

The method of storage is also important. Storing CO2 for just 60 years or 100 years isn’t good enough. If 100 years from now all that carbon is back in the environment, all we did was take care of ourselves, and our grandkids have to figure it out again. In the meantime, the world’s energy consumption is growing at about 2% per year.
One of the complaints about direct air capture, in addition to the cost, is that it’s energy intensive. Can that energy use be reduced?

Two large energy uses in direct air capture are running fans to draw in air and then heating to extract the CO2. There are ways to reduce energy demand for both.

For example, we stumbled into a material that attracts CO2 when it’s dry and releases it when wet. We realized we could expose that material to wind and it would load up with CO2. Then we could make it wet and it would release the CO2 in a way that requires far less energy than other systems. Adding heat created from renewable energy raises the CO2 pressure even higher, so we have a CO2 gas mixed with water vapor from which we can collect pure CO2.

Climeworks, a Swiss company, has 15 plants removing carbon dioxide from the air. Climeworks

We can save even more energy if the capture is passive – it isn’t necessary to have fans blowing the air around; the air moves on its own.

My lab is creating a method to do this, called mechanical trees. They’re tall vertical columns of discs coated with a chemical resin, about 5 feet in diameter, with the discs about 2 inches apart, like a stack of records. As the air blows through, the surfaces of the discs absorb CO2. After 20 minutes or so, the discs are full, and they sink into a barrel below. We send in water and steam to release the CO2 into a closed environment, and now we have a low-pressure mixture of water vapor and CO2. We can recover most of the heat that went into heating up the box, so the amount of energy needed for heating is quite small.

By using moisture, we can avoid about half the energy consumption and use renewable energy for the rest. This does require water and dry air, so it won’t be ideal everywhere, but there are also other methods.
Can CO2 be safely stored long term, and is there enough of that type of storage?

I started working on the concept of mineral sequestration in the 1990s, leading a group at Los Alamos. The world can actually put CO2 away permanently by taking advantage of the fact that it’s an acid and certain rocks are base. When CO2 reacts with minerals that are rich in calcium, it forms solid carbonates. By mineralizing the CO2 like this, we can store a nearly unlimited amount of carbon permanently.

For example, there’s lots of basalt – volcanic rock – in Iceland that reacts with CO2 and turns it into solid carbonates within a few months. Iceland could sell certificates of carbon sequestration to the rest of the world because it puts CO2 away for the rest of the world.

There are also huge underground reservoirs from oil production in the Permian Basin in Texas. There are large saline aquifers. In the North Sea, a kilometer below the ocean floor, the energy company Equinor has been capturing CO2 from a gas processing plant and storing a million tons of CO2 a year since 1996, avoiding Norway’s tax on CO2 releases. The amount of underground storage where we can do mineral sequestration is far larger than we will ever need for CO2. The question is how much can be converted into proven reserve.

Klaus Lackner tests direct air capture technologies in his lab. Arizona State University

We can also use direct air capture to close the carbon loop – meaning CO2 is reused, captured and reused again to avoid producing more. Right now, people use carbon from fossil fuels to extract energy. You can convert CO2 to synthetic fuels – gasoline, diesel or kerosene – that have no new carbon in them by mixing the captured CO2 with green hydrogen created with renewable energy. That fuel can easily ship through existing pipelines and be stored for years, so you can produce heat and electricity in Boston on a winter night using energy that was collected as sunshine in West Texas last summer. A tankful of “synfuel” doesn’t cost much, and it’s more cost-effective than a battery.
The Department of Energy set a new goal to slash the costs of carbon dioxide removal to US0 per ton and quickly scale it up within a decade. What has to happen to make that a reality?

DOE is scaring me because they make it sound like the technology is already ready. After neglecting the technology for 30 years, we can’t just say there are companies who know how to do it and all we have to do is push it along. We have to assume this is a nascent technology.

Climeworks is the largest company doing direct capture commercially, and it sells CO2 at around 0 to ,000 per ton . That’s too expensive. On the other hand, at per ton, the world could do it. I think we can get there.

The U.S. consumes about 7 million tons of CO2 a year in merchant CO2 – think fizzy drinks, fire extinguishers, grain silos use it to control grain powder, which is an explosion hazard. The average price is -0. So below 0 you have a market.

What you really need is a regulatory framework that says we demand CO2 is put away, and then the market will move from capturing kilotons of CO2 today to capturing gigatons of CO2.
Where do you see this technology going in 10 years?

I see a world that abandons fossil fuels, probably gradually, but has a mandate to capture and store all the CO2 long term.

Our recommendation is when carbon comes out of the ground, it should be matched with an equal removal. If you produce 1 ton of carbon associated with coal, oil or gas, you need to put 1 ton away. It doesn’t have to be the same ton, but there has to be a certificate of sequestration that assures it has been put away, and it has to last more than 100 years. If all carbon is certified from the moment it comes out of the ground, it’s harder to cheat the system.

A big unknown is how hard industry and society will push to become carbon neutral. It’s encouraging to see companies like Microsoft and Stripe buying carbon credits and certificates to remove CO2 and willing to pay fairly high prices.

New technology can take a decade or two to penetrate, but if the economic pull is there, things can go fast. The first commercial jet was available in 1951. By 1965 they were ubiquitous.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Klaus Lackner, Arizona State University.

Read more:


Climate change is relentless: Seemingly small shifts have big consequences


Earth’s energy budget is out of balance – here’s how that’s warming the climate


Why we can’t reverse climate change with ‘negative emissions’ technologies

Klaus Lackner is a Scientific Advisor to Carbon Collect and holds shares in the company, which is working with Arizona State University on developing an air capture device. He also advises Aircela, which is developing a household-scale system to convert ambient carbon dioxide into synthetic fuel. Lackner’s work in carbon management has over three decades been supported by research grants from private companies, foundations, universities and the U.S. Department of Energy.

Explainer-Might Russia recognise 'independence' of breakaway east Ukraine regions?


FILE PHOTO: A woman stands on a road in the village of 

Staromarivka in Donetsk Region

Thu, January 20, 2022

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A group of Russian lawmakers have urged parliament to appeal to President Vladimir Putin to recognise two pro-Russian breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine as independent states.

Here's a look at what such a move might mean for the Ukraine crisis https://www.reuters.com/world/blinken-arrives-berlin-ukraine-talks-with-european-allies-2022-01-20, in which Russia has deployed around 100,000 troops https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-military-drills-belarus-create-new-threats-ukraine-2022-01-18 near its neighbour's border in preparation for what the United States says - and Moscow denies - could be an imminent invasion https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/keep-defender-guessing-russias-military-options-ukraine-2022-01-14.

WHAT ARE THE BREAKAWAY REGIONS?

Russian-backed separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions - collectively known as the Donbass - broke away from Ukrainian government control in 2014 and proclaimed themselves independent "people's republics", so far unrecognised. Since then, Ukraine says about 15,000 people have been killed in fighting. Russia denies being a party to the conflict but has backed the separatists in numerous ways, including through covert military support, financial aid, supplies of COVID-19 vaccine and the issue of more than 600,000 Russian passports to residents. A Ukrainian defence ministry source said Kyiv estimated there were 35,000 separatist fighters and 2,000 Russian regular forces in Donbass, though Russia disputes this.

IF RUSSIA RECOGNISES THEM, WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS?

Russian recognition would kill off the 2014 and 2015 Minsk peace agreements that, although still unimplemented, have until now been seen by Russia, Ukraine and Western governments as the best chance for a solution. The 2015 deal called for self-government for the two regions in accordance with Ukrainian law.

Recognition of Donetsk and Luhansk "statehood" could provide Moscow with a pretext for overt military intervention in support of its allies, in the same way that it has stationed troops in breakaway regions of Georgia (see below). A Russian parliament member and former Donetsk political leader, Alexander Borodai, told Reuters that, in this scenario, the separatists would look to Russia to help them wrest control of parts of Donbass now controlled by Ukrainian forces. Western governments have lined up to warn Moscow that any movement of military forces across the Ukrainian border would draw a strong response, including stringent financial sanctions.

HAS RUSSIA RECOGNISED BREAKAWAY STATELETS BEFORE?

Yes - it recognised the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, two breakaway regions of Georgia, after fighting a short war with Georgia in 2008. It has provided them with extensive budget support, extended Russian citizenship to their populations and stationed thousands of troops there.

WHAT ARE THE PROS AND CONS FOR MOSCOW?

In the Georgia case, Russia used recognition of the breakaway regions to justify an open-ended military presence in a neighbouring former Soviet republic and indefinitely thwart Georgia's NATO aspirations by denying it full control of its own territory.

Olesya Vartanyan, a South Caucasus specialist at Crisis Group, said there was also a significant downside for Moscow, however, in taking responsibility for two territories unrecognised by even its close allies and with no prospects for economic development. "You don't really know what to do with them but you still have to continue financing them, you have to provide funds and from time to time you have to deal with their internal crises," she said. Russia had also destroyed any possibility of dialogue on foreign policy with Georgia.

That precedent suggests the Kremlin might see more advantage in directly annexing Donbass, as it did with Crimea in 2014, than in recognising it as independent.

WHAT IS THE KREMLIN SAYING?

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has responded cautiously to the idea of Putin recognising Donbass. He said it was a parliamentary initiative that would require a vote, and he could not comment until that process had finished.

(Reporting by Mark Trevelyan, Maria Tsvetkova, Anton Zverev and Pavel Polityuk; Editing by Alex Rich

Ukraine war necessary if Russia recognises breakaway regions - pro-Kremlin MP

Maria Tsvetkova

Thu, January 20, 2022,

  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian-backed separatists in east Ukraine would expect Russia's army to fight with them against Ukrainian government forces if Moscow follows through on a parliamentary proposal to recognise their independence, a pro-Kremlin lawmaker said on Thursday. 

  Alexander Borodai made the comment after 11 lawmakers proposed that parliament ask President Vladimir Putin to recognise https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/might-russia-recognise-independence-breakaway-east-ukraine-regions-2022-01-20 the independence of the breakaway Donetsk and Luhansk regions. 

  Such a move would mark a major escalation by Russia after weeks of mounting tensions around Ukraine. A Russian military buildup and threatening rhetoric have stoked Western fears of a looming invasion, though Moscow denies any such plan. 

  Borodai, a former Donetsk political leader who is now a member of the Russian parliament, said the separatists would look to Russia to help them wrest control of parts of the territory they claim that are now held by Ukrainian forces. 

  "In the event of (the republics) being recognised, a war will become a direct necessity," Borodai told Reuters. 

  "Russia would have to take on some security responsibilities" and defend the territories, he said, as it did after recognising the independence of two breakaway Georgian regions after a 2008 war between Russia and Georgia. 

  The separatists took control of a swathe of eastern Ukraine in 2014 in a conflict that continues to simmer and has killed 15,000 people, according to Kyiv. Ukraine has long accused Russia of having regular troops in the region, something Moscow denies. 

  Borodai, a lawmaker for the ruling, pro-Putin United Russia party, served as prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic in east Ukraine at the height of the conflict in 2014. He now leads an organisation of war veterans. 

  Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Thursday responded cautiously to the proposal on recognition, saying he could not comment until parliament had voted on it. The lawmakers behind it are from the Communist Party, which casts itself as an opposition force but actually often backs the Kremlin. 

  Two sources familiar with government discussions of the proposal told Reuters the idea of recognising the regions was being seriously considered. 

  But a source close to the separatist leadership said the likelihood of such a move was low because it could provoke punitive measures against Russia, potentially entailing serious economic damage. 

  Orysia Lutsevych, a Ukraine analyst at Chatham House think-tank in London, said recognition could create a legal pretext for a Russian invasion of Donbass to "protect" it from Ukraine. 

  She said it would be a "clear step of escalation" requiring a Western response in the form of sanctions against Russia or bolstering NATO forces on the alliance's eastern flank. 

  (Additional reporting by Anton Zverev and Mark Trevelyan, editing by Tom Balmforth, Mark Trevelyan, William Maclean) 

Science Says Pomegranates Could Help Increase Our Endurance as We Age

Nashia Baker
Fri, January 21, 2022

Pomegranates are known for their unique sweet-meets-tart flavor. Intriguing taste aside, the fruit boasts plenty of health benefits thanks to the antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and dietary fiber packed inside. Per new research published in JAMA Network Open, pomegranates could also boost muscle endurance and metabolic health in seniors. The reason? After we consume this fruit, our microbiomes make a postbiotic called Urolithin A, which researchers out of the University of Washington say can protect against frailty and increase mitochondrial health as we age.

"Mitochondria are like batteries that power the cells in your body," the research team shared. "But over time, they break down. The process of mitophagy recognizes this failure and proactively tears down the mitochondria, reducing it to elemental components that a cell can reuse. But with aging, mitophagy becomes less efficient and your body accumulates this pool of failing mitochondria. It's one way that muscles become less functional as we age."

Related: Eating the Rainbow: Four Flavorful Fruits That Offer Maximum Health Benefits

woman holding pomegranate halves

Urolithin A, which can be taken in supplement form, is known to improve the mitochondria (which powers cells) and boost muscle endurance. "This is relevant both to people with chronic diseases and people who want to be more active later in life," said David Marcinek, the lead author and professor, in a university release. The team discovered that seniors who took urolithin A supplements had better results in their physical endurance tests. Sixty-six volunteers participated in the study and received either 1,000 milligrams of urolithin daily for four months or a placebo. In the beginning of the study, all participants, on average, had low adenosine triphosphate (ATP) levels, which caused low cell function.

Over time, the team found that the group that took the urolithin A supplements saw muscle contractions (specifically of the hands and legs) improve during exercise. Plus, these participants made it further in distance during their six-minute walks, as compared to those in the placebo group. "Even though we did not observe an effect of the supplement in whole body function, these results are still exciting because they demonstrate that just taking a supplement for a short duration actually improved muscle endurance," Marcinek said. "Fatigue resistance got better in the absence of exercise."

The scientists also noted that blood tests that showed urolithin A featured less chemicals associated with metabolic disorders. "I think these changes suggest that the treatment affects the metabolic condition of people. Even though it didn't affect the maximum ATP production, it improved test subjects' general metabolism," Marcinek said. Pomegranate supplements could also help those who cannot exercise based on their current muscle health. "Just getting them over that point where exercise is possible—a walk around the block or climbing some stairs—might help a person build their own health," he added.

JESUIT RULES
Vatican website gives space to group demanding female priesthood


Father Roy Bougeois from Georgia poses with a group of 

Roman Catholic activist in front of the Vatican

Thu, January 20, 2022, 1:21 PM·2 min read
By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican has given space on its website to a Catholic group that demands the ordination of women priests during consultations ahead of a key meeting next year.

While the Church remains opposed to women priests, the inclusion of resource material from the Women's Ordination Conference (WOC) is part of an opening up of debate on a range of issues that has pleased liberals but angered traditionalists.

It follows the publication last month of material from a Catholic gay rights advocacy group on the same part of the website dedicated to the meeting, which is known as a synod.

That publication was criticised by Catholic conservatives who have accused Pope Francis and the Vatican of sending mixed signals on traditional teachings.

"The courageous dialogue called for by the synodal process must include open conversation about women's ordination," WOC said in a Tweet welcoming the inclusion of its material on the synod website.

The U.S-based organisation's package of background material is called "Let Her Voice Carry - a Synod Toolkit for Ordination Justice Advocates".

The group calls itself the "uncompromising feminist voice for women's ordination and gender equity in the Roman Catholic Church" and its leaders assist at the ordinations of female priests, which Church leaders say are illegitimate and invalid.

The 2023 synod, called "For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation and Mission" is already steeped in division.

Supporters see it as an opportunity to change the Church's power dynamics and give a greater voice to lay Catholics, including women, and people on the margins of society.

Pope Francis has said he wants the long consultative phase to be broad and inclusive, but conservatives say the three-stage process of dialogue - local, national and international - may erode the hierarchical structure of the 1.3 billion member Church and, in the long run, dilute traditional doctrine.

The Catholic Church teaches that only men can be priests because Jesus chose only men as his apostles.

Supporters of a female priesthood say Jesus was merely conforming to the customs of his times and that women played a greater role in the early Church than is commonly recognised.

The pope has ruled out a female priesthood, saying the "door is closed" on the issue.

He has allowed women to have greater roles in a number of Vatican departments.

(Reporting by Philip Pullella; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

A fair chase: Why hunting technology has come under fire from prestigious club


Bill Conners
Thu, January 20, 2022

Are we allowing technology to take over our lives?

I pose the question as I sit here running my fingers across a keyboard making my thoughts appear on the screen of a 32-inch monitor, as if by magic. If I were so inclined, I could choose to sit back and tell my computer what I am thinking, and it would do my typing for me. It’s great that those options are available to me, I can’t even read my own handwriting anymore.

It would be hard to argue against the premise that computers and the internet have turned our lives on end, and it is difficult to know where the boundaries are and when we should push back against the technology.

There isn’t much we do today — whether it be cooking, cleaning, communicating, traveling, repairing a car and just about everything else — that hasn’t been impacted by technology. That would include hunting and fishing, if you are so inclined.

There was a time when a fish finder was nothing more than the guy holding the fishing rod. Today, a fish finder is a device that uses sonar (a sound navigation and ranging system) that can show the angler the contour of a lake bottom and where the fish are hiding in those contours. It can also show you if they are suspended in the water column under your boat. Today’s fish finders can even give the angler a fair idea as to the size of the fish that appear on the screen. The latest models may have built-in features such as GPS, electronic compasses and radar. Using your cellphone, you can have maps of your favorite lakes and streams at your fingertips. It’s hard for a fish to escape detection.

Hunting has been no less impacted. In fact, the technical advances in hunting equipment have caused the Boone and Crockett Club to evaluate its policy on the use of technology as it relates to the harvest of animals that are eligible for entry into its record books. The new policy became effective in December.

A doe walks in front of a trail camera.

At issue is the use of trail cameras that can transmit images via wireless technology, smart rifle scopes and GPS-enabled technology. In some minds, the quest for efficiency is on a collision course with hunting ethics.

The Boone and Crockett Club was founded in 1887 by Theodore Roosevelt and George Bird Grinnell, its core mission being to promote the conservation and management of wildlife, especially big game, and its habitat, to preserve and encourage hunting, and maintain the highest ethical standards of fair chase and sportsmanship in North America.

According to the organization’s website, that mission has remained relatively unchanged for over 130 years. Over time, the club has seen many challenges to the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation, which it helped to create, as well as to the traditions of hunting.

When and where necessary, the club has taken action to protect this Model. As a part of this process, the club has developed positions that support its beliefs and mission and protect the fair chase ethic. Abuse the use of technology, violate the fair chase ethic, and your once-in-a-lifetime trophy will not make it to the record book, even if it is otherwise qualified.

While some of the devices and activities may be legal in some jurisdictions, they may bar your entry into the record book because they violate the spirit of fair chase.

For instance, you are sitting in your treestand, and you get an alert that your have an inbound message on your cell phone. A trail camera has sent you a picture of a deer that you have been watching for months. You know the deer will not be passing your stand because the camera is on a different trail. You quickly gather your equipment, change positions, and a short time later that trophy buck walks within shooting distance. If you had not received that wireless transmission you would not have collected the wall-hanger.

Because of the growing popularity of trail cameras, they have been banned by a number of states, with perhaps more on the way. The wireless transmission models were the first to go, but a couple of states are now targeting all trail cameras. Also in their sights are two-way radios, cell phones, night vision devices, range finders built into rifle scopes, drones and thermal imaging devices.

There may be nuances for the use of these devices, but any trophy submitted for consideration to Boone and Crockett is going to require the hunter to sign an affidavit they didn’t use a smart scope, remote trail camera or some other banned device to take the animal.

Making the decision all the more difficult is that not everyone sees the technological advances in the same light.

If your expectation is to make the record books, it would pay to know all of the Boone and Crockett policies and make sure you play by the rules.

Bill Conners of the Federation of Fish and Game Clubs writes on outdoors issues. Email: conners@billconners.net.

This article originally appeared on Poughkeepsie Journal: Boone and Crockett limits hunting technology for record books

Exclusive-U.S. opposes plans to strengthen World Health Organization


FILE PHOTO: The WHO logo is pictured in Geneva

Fri, January 21, 2022
By Francesco Guarascio, Trevor Hunnicutt and Stephanie Nebehay

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The United States, the World Health Organization's top donor, is resisting proposals to make the agency more independent, four officials involved in the talks said, raising doubts about the Biden administration's long-term support for the U.N. agency.

The proposal, made by the WHO's working group on sustainable financing, would increase each member state's standing annual contribution, according to a WHO document published online and dated Jan. 4.

The plan is part of a wider reform process galvanised by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has highlighted the limitations of the WHO's power to intervene early in a crisis.

But the U.S. government is opposing the reform because it has concerns about the WHO's ability to confront future threats, including from China, U.S. officials told Reuters.

It is pushing instead for the creation of a separate fund, directly controlled by donors, that would finance prevention and control of health emergencies.

Four European officials involved in the talks, who declined to be named because they were not authorised to speak to the media, confirmed the U.S. opposition. The U.S. government had no immediate comment.

The published proposal calls for member states' mandatory contributions to rise gradually from 2024 so they would account for half the agency's $2 billion core budget by 2028, compared to less than 20% now, the document said.

The WHO's core budget is aimed at fighting pandemics and strengthening healthcare systems across the world. It also raises an additional $1 billion or so a year to tackle specific global challenges such as tropical diseases and influenza.

Supporters say that the current reliance on voluntary funding from member states and from charities such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation forces the WHO to focus on priorities set by the funders, and makes it less able to criticise members when things go wrong.

An independent panel on pandemics that was appointed to advise on the WHO reform had called for a much bigger increase in mandatory fees, to 75% of the core budget, deeming the current system "a major risk to the integrity and independence" of the WHO.

LONG-STANDING SCEPTICISM

The WHO itself responded to a query by saying that "only flexible and predictable funds can enable WHO to fully implement the priorities of the Member States".

Top European Union donors, including Germany, back the plan, along with most African, South Asian, South American and Arab countries, three of the European officials said.

The proposal is to be discussed at the WHO's executive board meeting next week but the divisions mean no agreement is expected, three of the officials said.

The WHO confirmed there was currently no consensus among member states, and said talks were likely to continue until the annual meeting in May of the World Health Assembly, the agency's top decision-making body.

European donors in particular favour empowering, rather than weakening, multilateral organisations including the WHO.

One European official said the U.S. plan "causes scepticism among many countries", and said the creation of a new structure controlled by donors, rather than by the WHO, would weaken the agency's ability to combat future pandemics.

Washington has been critical of the WHO for some time.

Former president Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the WHO after accusing it of defending China's initial delays in sharing information when COVID-19 emerged there in 2019.

The Biden administration rejoined soon after taking office, but officials told Reuters they think the WHO needs significant reform, and raised concerns about its governance, structure and ability to confront rising threats, not least from China.

One of the European officials said other big countries, including Japan and Brazil, were also hesitant about the published WHO proposal.

A Brazilian official with knowledge of the discussions said Brazil agreed that WHO funding needed to be looked at, but said it opposed the proposal to raise contributions as it had run up deficits tackling the virus and was now facing a fiscal crunch.

Instead, the official said the WHO needed to investigate other ways to raise funds, such as charging for its services, cutting costs or relocating operations to cheaper countries.

"Raising contributions should be the last resort," said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the discussions.

Two of the European officials said China had not yet made its position clear, while a third official listed Beijing among the critics of the proposal.

The governments of Japan and China had no immediate comment.

(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio @fraguarascio in Brussels and Trevor Hunnicutt in Washington; Additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva, Andreas Rinke in Berlin and Anthony Boadle in Brasilia; Editing by Josephine Mason, Kevin Liffey and Daniel Wallis)

False banana: Is Ethiopia's enset 'wondercrop' for climate change?


Helen Briggs - Science correspondent
Fri, January 21, 2022



Scientists say the plant enset, an Ethiopian staple, could be a new superfood and a lifesaver in the face of climate change.

The banana-like crop has the potential to feed more than 100 million people in a warming world, according to a new study.

The plant is almost unknown outside of Ethiopia, where it is used to make porridge and bread.

Research suggests the crop can be grown over a much larger range in Africa.

"This is a crop that can play a really important role in addressing food security and sustainable development," said Dr Wendawek Abebe of Hawassa University in Awasa, Ethiopia.

Enset or "false banana" is a close relative of the banana, but is consumed only in one part of Ethiopia.

The banana-like fruit of the plant is inedible, but the starchy stems and roots can be fermented and used to make porridge and bread.

Enset is a staple in Ethiopia, where around 20 million people rely on it for food, but elsewhere it has not been cultivated, although wild relatives - which are not considered edible - grow as far south as South Africa, suggesting the plant can tolerate a much wider range.

Using agricultural surveys and modelling work, scientists predicted the potential range of enset over the next four decades. They found the crop could potentially feed more than 100 million people and boost food security in Ethiopia and other African countries, including Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda.

Study researcher Dr James Borrell, of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, said planting enset as a buffer crop for lean times could help boost food security.

"It's got some really unusual traits that make it absolutely unique as a crop," he said. "You plant it at any time, you harvest it at any time and it's perennial. That's why they call it the tree against hunger."

Ethiopia is a major centre of crop domestication in Africa, home to coffee and many other crops.

Climate change is predicted to seriously affect yields and distribution of staple food crops across Africa and beyond.

There is growing interest in seeking new plants to feed the world, given our reliance on a few staple crops. Nearly half of all the calories we eat come from three species - rice, wheat and maize.

"We need to diversify the plants we use globally as a species because all our eggs are in a very small basket at the moment," said Dr Borrell.

The research is published in Environmental Research Letters.

Where Ukraine's sunflowers once sprouted, fears now grow


 Ukrainian troops ride on an APC with a Ukrainian flag, in a field with sunflowers in Kryva Luka, eastern Ukraine, on July 5, 2014. 

(AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)

ROBERT BURNS
Fri, January 21, 2022,

WASHINGTON (AP) — On a warm spring day in Ukraine 26 years ago, three men smiled for cameras as they planted symbolic sunflower seedlings in freshly tilled earth where Soviet nuclear missiles had once stood ready.

That placid scene was, briefly, a launchpad for hope that the demise of the Soviet Union would bury the threat of great power war and mark the start of lasting peace in an undivided Europe. Today Ukraine is ground zero for worry that Russia will ignite a conflict that could engulf the region.

On that early-June day in 1996, the American secretary of defense, William J. Perry, joined his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts in ceremonies marking the completion of Ukraine’s nuclear disarmament. Under Western pressure, Ukraine had agreed to give up the weapons it inherited with the breakup of the Soviet empire in exchange for a Russian and Western security guarantee.

Perry likened the moment to the parting of a dark cloud of Cold War fear.

“It is altogether fitting that we plant sunflowers here at Pervomaysk to symbolize the hope we all feel at seeing the sun shine through again,” he said, standing on a small concrete pad in the former missile field, where SS-19 nuclear missiles once stood in underground silos, prepared to launch toward targets in the United States. Nearby, American, Russian and Ukrainian national flags waved in a warm breeze.

That hopeful moment when American, Russian and Ukrainian officials grabbed white-handled spades to plant sunflowers has given way to today’s fears of renewed conflict and a new cold war. Today, Russian President Vladimir Putin stands accused by the West of violating that deal by targeting Ukraine with 100,000-plus troops.

Now it is Russia that wants a security guarantee from the West as well as legal guarantees that Ukraine never be permitted to join the NATO alliance, even as Moscow readies for a potential invasion of a neighbor with inferior military might and none of the 170-plus nuclear-tipped missiles it once held.

Moscow wants a stop to NATO's eastward expansion, which it asserts Washington promised in the early aftermath of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 in the context of the reunification of Germany. The U.S. and its NATO allies deny any such promise was given. The opportunity for countries to join NATO is enshrined in Article 10 of the organization's founding treaty, and this “open door” policy was reaffirmed in 2008 when alliance leaders agreed that Ukraine and Georgia “will become members of NATO” but set no timeline and offered them no formal path to membership. Ukraine remains without a NATO invitation, and none is likely for the foreseeable future.

Ukraine gave up its inherited nuclear weapons — an estimated 1,900 warheads that at the time constituted the third-largest nuclear arsenal in the world — after getting the security assurance it wanted. It is known as the Budapest Memorandum, named for the Hungarian capital in which it was signed in 1994 by the United States, Britain and Russia. Its words seem to defy the reality of today's Ukraine crisis.

The three signatory nations pledged to “respect the independence and sovereignty and the existing borders of Ukraine." They promised to “refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine, and that none of their weapons will ever be used against Ukraine except in self defense or otherwise in accordance with the charter of the United Nations.”

Thus began a long road to today's crisis in which Ukraine's future may be in doubt. It already has lost control of the eastern Donbas region bordering Russia, following a Russian intervention in 2014 in support of separatists. That same year, Russia seized and annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula.

After those Russian moves, the United States and NATO distanced themselves from Russia, and Washington has provided substantial — but still limited — military assistance to Kyiv. Ukraine continues to seek closer ties to the West, including membership in the NATO alliance, which Putin sees as a threat to Russia for having expanded eastward toward its borders multiple times since 1999.

President Joe Biden says the United States stands with Ukraine. But he also notes that since Ukraine is not in NATO, it has no guarantee of U.S. military backing. Biden also has noted the historic significance of a nuclear-armed Russia potentially invading a neighbor that swore off nuclear weapons.

“This will be the most consequential thing that’s happened in the world, in terms of war and peace, since World War II,” he said.

Among the U.S. officials at Pervomaysk for the sunflower planting in 1996 was Ashton Carter, who years later would become secretary of defense. In a memoir, Carter recalled Ukraine's decision to disarm, which he saw as marking the true end of the Cold War that divided Europe for nearly half a century. He said it showed that even insecure nations can give up the awesome destructive power of nuclear weapons — “placing their trust instead in a world order dedicated to peace and a powerful America dedicated to international partnerships.”

At the time, Perry spoke of prospects for “a permanent season of peace.” But looking back, he concluded that the spirit of goodwill was all too short-lived.

“I am saddened to realize," he wrote in 2015, “that such a scene and such cooperation are unthinkable today.”

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EDITOR'S NOTE — AP National Security Writer Robert Burns covered the 1996 ceremony at Pervomaysk where Perry and his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts planted sunflower seedlings, as well as other Perry visits associated with Ukraine's nuclear disarmament.

Canada, US and allies talk aid for Haiti at meeting

Police patrol after recovering the bodies of at least two journalists slain by gangs in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Jan. 7, 2022. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said immediate action is needed to fix the security situation in Haiti and that additional aid is a central topic of a virtual meeting Friday, Jan. 21, 2022 that includes cabinet officials from Canada, the United States, France and other countries. 

(AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph, File)More



ROB GILLIES and DÁNICA COTO
Fri, January 21, 2022

TORONTO (AP) — Haiti’s spiraling insecurity and growing concerns about its ability to hold general elections following the killing of President Jovenel Moïse prompted two dozen international senior officials to meet Friday and agree to increase aid.

Canada, which hosted the more than three-hour-long meeting with representatives from countries including the U.S., France and Mexico as well as U.N. officials, pledged $39 million in aid while other countries promised to improve Haiti’s security situation so it could hold successful elections. They also committed to bolstering Haiti's National Police as violence spikes and gangs become more powerful, with more than 20,000 Haitians forced to live in unhygienic shelters amid the pandemic after losing their homes in recent months to gang turf battles.

“The increase in violence is only worsening the already precarious humanitarian situation,” said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ahead of the meeting, which was behind closed doors. “We must work together to restore stability, and to protect the safety and well-being of the Haitian people.”

Representatives of 19 countries took part, including Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.

“In order to tackle insecurity, the partners agreed to strengthen their current and future support of the security sector, including the Haitian National Police, with a focus on respect for the rule of law, justice and human rights,” the office of Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said in a statement after the meeting.

Joly said all stakeholders in Haiti need to work together and “that without such an agreement, re-establishing security will remain a challenge, as will the holding of free and credible elections.”

Henry, Haiti’s prime minister, said he expects to have a provisional electoral council in place in upcoming days and has pledged to hold elections this year, although he has not provided a date. He thanked the international community for helping Haiti during “a particularly trying time” and noted that violence was considerably disrupting everyday life and isolating several cities and towns in the southern part of the country, cutting off much needed aid.

“There is an urgent need to address these problems and find lasting solutions,” he tweeted during the meeting. “I am convinced that the root cause of such a situation lies mainly in the abject poverty in which a significant part of our population lives.”

Haiti is a country of 11 million inhabitants where about 60% earn less than $2 a day, and it is facing a deepening economic crisis, with inflation spiking and an estimated 4.4 million people at risk of hunger. It is also struggling to recover from the July 7 assassination of Moïse at his private residence and a 7.2 magnitude earthquake that struck last August, killing more than 2,200 people and destroying or damaging some 137,500 homes.

Moïse’s killing complicated an already fragile political situation in Haiti.

He had been ruling by decree for more than a year after dissolving a majority of Parliament in January 2020 amid a delay in legislative elections that have yet to be held, with only 10 senators currently in power.

Opponents, meanwhile, claimed that Moïse’s own term should have ended in February 2021, while he insisted it should continue to Feb. 7 this year — the fifth anniversary of his inauguration, which had been delayed by controversy over his election.

Some worry Haiti’s instability will deepen in early February when the term of the slain president expires. Shortly before his death, Moïse had tapped Henry to serve as prime minister and many observers think that Henry’s term should end on Feb. 7 as well, though he is not expected to step aside on that date.

An official that attended the meeting said there was no discussion about possible foreign intervention or about the confidence that ministers might have in Henry’s ability to govern.

Many parts of Haitian civil society are calling for accords that would allow for a consensual leadership of the country while it waits to renew its institutions through elections — though various factions differ on what the accord should contain.

Jean Victor Généus, Haiti’s foreign affairs minister, met with reporters in Haiti after the meeting and praised the offers of help from the international community, saying that a stabilized Haiti also would attract investors.

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Associated Press reporter Evens Sanon in Port-au-Prince, Haiti contributed.