'Enough!' Abortion denial row sparks outcry in Croatia


Pro-choice protesters holding a placard saying 'Enough!' at a rally in the Croatian capital Zagreb (AFP/DENIS LOVROVIC)


Lajla VESELICA
Thu, May 19, 2022, 11:32 PM·4 min read

The heart-rending case of a woman denied an abortion by four hospitals despite the foetus having an aggressive tumour has sparked an outcry over women's rights in largely Catholic Croatia.

Despite the procedure being legal in the European Union member, Mirela Cavajda is now being forced to have a termination in neighbouring Slovenia.

The case comes amid a political storm in the United States over fears abortion rights there are being undermined, with the landmark Roe v. Wade case that guaranteed a woman's right to choose reportedly under threat from the Supreme Court.

Abortion is equally contested in Croatia, with church groups failing in a bid to have it banned five years ago and a majority of gynaecologists refusing to perform the procedure.

Cavajda was told in late April, in the sixth month of pregnancy, that her unborn child had an aggressive brain tumour.

Even if he survived birth, doctors said "he would be like a vegetable", she told reporters through her tears.

"I came home, sat down and stared at the wall... I made the decision in a second," said the 39-year-old, who already has a child.

- Emotional blackmail -

In Croatia abortion is legal until the 10th week of pregnancy. After that it can be performed if the health of the mother or foetus is in serious danger -- as in Cavajda's case -- or because of rape or incest.

However, four hospitals in the capital Zagreb refused to carry out an abortion.

One doctor asked Cavajda whether she would "kill a two-year-old child with a tumour", while another labelled the procedure "euthanasia".

Cavajda was also advised to cross the border to Slovenia, where at least 10 Croatian women a year in similar situations have to turn.

However, as fury about the case grew and an MRI scan showed the foetus' condition deteriorating, a medical commission ruled that an abortion could go ahead.

Abortion was legalised in Croatia in the 1950s and is regulated by a 1978 law passed when it was still part of Yugoslavia. But since independence in 1991, when the Catholic Church regained political clout, it has become harder to access with many doctors raising "consciousness objections" to terminations.

Indeed, nearly 60 percent of gynaecologists in public hospitals refuse to perform them on moral grounds.

In an emotional public letter, in which she also addressed her unborn baby boy whom she named Grga, Cavajda said that both doctors and the system had let her down and prolonged her ordeal.

"Waiting for Grga to die inside my womb, (or) give birth to him and watch him die... would be pure sadism.

"I would die with him," she wrote.

Last week thousands of people protested across the Balkan country about the neglect of women's health issues under the rallying call, "Enough!"

- 'Going backwards' -

Dentist Sonja Kraljevic warned against the country "going backwards", telling AFP that "women should have all (the rights)... they acquired a long time ago."

Branka Mrzic Jagatic, whose advocacy group RODA helped organise the rallies, said the "case exposed that women's healthcare in our public health system has collapsed completely."

In 2019, the traditionally patriarchal Balkans was shaken by a tide of #MeToo revelations about the verbal and physical violence women were suffering in childbirth and at the hands of gynaecologists.

RODA gathered hundreds of testimonies on painful and humiliating experiences at births, abortions and other procedures after a former Croatian lawmaker talked publicly about the agonising treatment she received after a miscarriage.

At one of last week's protests a letter was read out from a woman who suffered a horrifying ordeal during an abortion due to foetal abnormalities.

"A nurse told me to go to the toilet and, if I want an autopsy, hold the foetus with my hands... I saw him and held him in my hands," she wrote.

- 'Culture of death' -

But with 80 percent of Croats Catholic, the country is divided on abortion and its top court rejected a bid by church groups to have it banned in 2017.

"Life is important, I don't think we can interrupt it," said Josipa Brajko, one of several thousand people who joined the annual anti-abortion "March for Life" through Zagreb at the weekend.

Its organisers want new legislation "based on science and not on ideology and the culture of death."

Gynaecologist Boris Ujevic told the crowd that he refuses to carry out terminations because "life should be respected and life is law."

But women's rights activists said women should have guaranteed access to all healthcare including abortion.

Although Croatia's Supreme Court ruled that the 1978 law needs to be overhauled, the ruling conservative government appear reluctant to tackle the thorny issue.

Left-wing parties, meanwhile, are mulling a referendum to enshrine the right to abortion in the country's constitution.

Cavajda is now to terminate her pregnancy in Slovenia although Croatia's health system will cover the costs.

A Zagreb hospital said she declined to be induced in Croatia which would risk the baby dying after birth whereas in Slovenia the heart is stopped before the procedure.

ljv/fg

ARYAN SUPREMACISTS

Hindu extremists target Muslim sites in India, even Taj Mahal


The Gyanvapi mosque is in Hindu nationalists' crosshairs after claims circulated that a representation of Shiva was found there

 (AFP/Sanjay KANOJIA)

Abhaya SRIVASTAVA
Fri, May 20, 2022

Thirty years after mobs demolished a historic mosque in Ayodhya, triggering a wave of sectarian bloodshed that saw thousands killed, fundamentalist Indian Hindu groups are eyeing other Muslim sites -- even the world-famous Taj Mahal.

Emboldened under Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi, aided by courts and fuelled by social media, the fringe groups believe the sites were built on top of Hindu temples, which they consider representations of India's "true" religion.

Currently most in danger is the centuries-old Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi, one of the world's oldest continually inhabited cities, where Hindus are cremated by the Ganges.

Last week reports claimed a leaked court-mandated survey of the mosque had discovered a shivalinga, a phallic representation of the Hindu god Shiva, at the site.

"This means that is the site of a temple," government minister Kaushal Kishore, a member of Modi's BJP party, told local media, saying that Hindus should now pray there.

Muslims have already been banned from performing ablutions in the water tank where the alleged relic -- mosque authorities say it is a fountain -- was found.

- Religious riots -

The fear now is that the Islamic place of worship will go the way of the Ayodhya mosque, which Hindu groups believe was built on the birthplace of Ram, another deity.

The frenzied destruction of the 450-year-old building in 1992 sparked religious riots in which more than 2,000 people died, most of them Muslims, who number 200 million in India.

The demolition was also a seminal moment for Hindutva -- Hindu supremacy -- paving the way for Modi's rise to power in 2014.

The movement's core tenet has long been that Hinduism is India's original religion, and that everything else -- from the Mughals, originally from Central Asia, to the British -- is alien.

Some groups have even set their sights on UNESCO world heritage site the Taj Mahal, India's best-known monument attracting millions of visitors every year.

Despite no credible evidence, they believe that the 17th-century mausoleum was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan on the site of a Shiva shrine.

"It was destroyed by Mughal invaders so that a mosque could be built there," Sanjay Jat, spokesman for the hardline organisation Hindu Mahasabha, told AFP.

This month a court petition was filed by a member of Modi's party trying to force India's archaeological body, the ASI, to open up 20 rooms inside, believing they contained Hindu idols.

The ASI said there were no such idols and the court summarily dismissed the petition.

But it was not the first such case -- and it is unlikely to be the last.

"I will continue to fight for this till my death," Jat said.

"We respect the courts but if needed we will demolish the Taj and prove the existence of a temple there."

- 'Gospel truth' -

Audrey Truschke, an associate professor of South Asian history with Rutgers University, said the claims about the Taj Mahal are "about as reasonable as the proposals that the Earth is flat".

"So far as I can discern, there is not a coherent theory about the Taj Mahal at play here so much as a frenzied and fragile nationalist pride that does not allow anything non-Hindu to be Indian and demands to erase Muslim parts of Indian heritage," she told AFP.

But while the demolition of the Taj Mahal remains -- for now, at least -- a pipe-dream of the fundamentalists, other sites are also in the crosshairs.

They include the Shahi Idgah mosque in Mathura, built by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb after he attacked the city and destroyed its temples in 1670.

The mosque is next to a later temple built on what is believed to be the birthplace of the Hindu god Krishna.

On Thursday a court agreed to hear a lawsuit demanding the removal of the mosque, one of a slew of similar petitions.

Police in the northern city have been put on alert.

Another is Delhi's Qutub Minar, a 13th-century minaret and victory tower built by the Mamluk dynasty, also from Central Asia.

Some Hindu groups believe it was constructed by a Hindu king and that the complex housed more than 25 temples.

Such claims were born of a "very sparse" knowledge of the past, historian Rana Safvi told AFP.

Instead, a "sense of victimhood" was being fuelled by social media misinformation, she said, "making them believe it's the gospel truth".

abh-ash/stu/slb/smw/je

SEE LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Hinduism Is Fascism 

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for HINDUISM  FASCISM 

China condemns Canada's Huawei 5G ban over 'groundless' security risks


Beijing hit out at Canada for banning telecoms giants Huawei and ZTE 

from Canadian 5G networks on Friday 

Fri, May 20, 2022

Beijing hit out at Canada for banning telecoms giants Huawei and ZTE from Canadian 5G networks on Friday, calling Ottawa's concerns for security risks "groundless" and warning of retribution.

Canada's long-awaited measure on Thursday follows the United States and other key allies, and comes on the heels of a diplomatic row between Ottawa and Beijing over the detention of a senior Huawei executive on a US warrant, which has now been resolved.

The United States has warned of the security implications of giving Chinese tech companies access to telecommunications infrastructure that could be used for state espionage.

Both Huawei and Beijing have rejected the allegations.

"China is firmly opposed to this and will conduct a comprehensive and serious assessment," foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters in response to the 5G block.

"The Canadian side has excluded these Chinese companies from the Canadian market under the pretext of groundless security risks and without any solid evidence."

He added that Beijing would "take all necessary measures" to protect Chinese companies.

"This move runs counter to market economy principles and free trade rules," he said, accusing the Canadian government of "seriously damaging the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies."

Canada had been reviewing the 5G technology and network access for several years, repeatedly delaying a decision that was first expected in 2019.

It remained silent on the telecoms issue after China jailed two Canadians -- diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor -- in what observers believed was in retaliation for the arrest of Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wangzhou in Vancouver in December 2018 at the request of the United States.

All three were released in September 2021 after Meng reached a deal with US prosecutors on the fraud charges, ending her extradition fight.

But Canadian Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne made the 5G announcement on Thursday, citing the "intention to prohibit the inclusion of Huawei and ZTE products and services in Canada's telecommunication systems."

Champagne said Canadian telecommunications companies "will not be permitted to include in their networks products or services that put our national security at risk."

"Providers who already have this equipment installed will be required to cease its use and remove it," he said.

- 'Hostile actors' -

Huawei already supplies some Canadian telecommunications firms with 4G equipment.

Most, if not all, had held off using Huawei in their fifth-generation (5G) wirelesss networks that deliver speedier online connections with greater data capacity. Others have looked to other suppliers while Ottawa hemmed and hawed.

Canadian Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino warned Thursday of "many hostile actors who are ready to exploit vulnerabilities" in telecom networks.

The United States, Australia, Britain, New Zealand, Japan and Sweden have already blocked or restricted the use of Huawei technology in their 5G networks.

The US government considers Huawei a potential security threat due to the background of its founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei, a former Chinese army engineer who is Meng's father.

The concern escalated as Huawei rose to become the world leader in telecoms networking equipment and one of the top smartphone manufacturers.

Beijing also passed a law in 2017 obliging Chinese companies to assist the government in matters of national security.

The decision could prove to be "a major expense for Canada," Kendra Schaefer, tech policy researcher at consultancy Trivium China, told AFP.

"Not only have local telecom providers already invested... in Huawei equipment, but additionally they are going to go back and have to rip out everything they've already installed," she added.

ehl-tjx/apj/dhc

Canada to ban China's Huawei, ZTE from 5G networks

Canada's government has said it will ban the use of the two Chinese telecommunications giants' 5G gear due to national security concerns. The move follows similar restrictions in other Western countries.

Huawei is the biggest global supplier of network gear for phone and internet companies

Chinese telecommunications giants Huawei and ZTE will be banned from Canada's high-speed 5G networks, Canadian government officials said on Thursday. 

The decision was widely expected, though it had been delayed amid diplomatic tensions between Beijing and Ottawa. 

Canadian Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said wireless carriers "will not be permitted to include in their networks products or services that put our national security at risk."

"Providers who already have this equipment installed will be required to cease its use and remove it," he said.

Canada cites security concerns

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said the innovation "represents a major opportunity for competition and growth" but "also comes risks." 

"There are many hostile actors who are ready to exploit vulnerabilities in our defenses," he said.

Canada's allies in the Five Eyes intelligence-pooling group — the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand — had already banned Huawei.

Huawei, seen as a symbol of China's progress in becoming a technological world power, is a subject of US security and law enforcement concerns.

Washington has lobbied allies to exclude Huawei from 5G mobile networks over concerns that Beijing could pressure the company into cyberespionage. China and Huawei have denied the claims.

The decision was first expected in 2019, but the move had been repeatedly delayed amid a diplomatic row between Canada and China over the detention of a senior Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou on a US warrant.

China subsequently jailed two Canadians after the arrest. All three were released in September.

HUWAEI GOT ITS START BY HACKING CANADIAN TECH COMPANY; NORTEL, THEN ONCE IT COLLAPSED THEY BOUGHT ALL OF NORTEL'S TECH PATENTS

SEE LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for NORTEL 

NASA engineers investigate Voyager 1 spacecraft data mystery


This image details an artist's concept of the NASA Voyager 1 spacecraft with its antenna pointing toward Earth. Photo courtesy of NASA/UPI | License Photo

May 19 (UPI) -- NASA engineers are investigating a mystery with telemetry data from the aging Voyager 1 probe.

The Voyager 1 probe, currently 14.5 billion miles from Earth, is receiving and executing commands from NASA team on Earth and sending back science data, according to a NASA statement.


But data readouts from its attitude articulation and control system, or AACS, which controls the spacecraft's orientation, don't reflect what the Voyager actually does, engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said.

The AACS keeps Voyager 1's high-gain antenna pointed precisely at Earth, which allows it to send data home.

Voyager 1's signal hasn't weakened, which suggests its antenna remains properly aligned, but the telemetry data it's returning appears random or impossible, engineers said.



All signs suggest that the AACS is working, and the telemetry data anomaly hasn't triggered any onboard fault protection systems, which would put the spacecraft into "safe mode," where only essential operations could be performed.

The engineering team plans to continue monitoring the signal to determine whether the invalid telemetry data is coming directly from AACS or another system involved in producing and sending such data.

Due to the spacecraft's distance from Earth, it takes two days for the team on the ground to send a message to Voyager 1 and get a response.

"Until the nature of the issue is better understood, the team cannot anticipate whether this might affect how long the spacecraft can collect and transmit science data," NASA and JPL said in the statement.

Voyager 1's twin, Voyager 2, currently 12.1 billion miles from Earth, still operates normally.

Both probes were launched in 1977 and are the only spacecraft to collect data on interstellar space, according to NASA.

They've also provided new insights into the heliosphere, a protective bubble the Sun has created that extends past the orbit of Pluto.

"A mystery like this is sort of par for the course at this stage of the Voyager mission," said Suzanne Dodd, project manager for Voyager 1 and 2 at JPL.

"The spacecraft are both almost 45 years old, which is far beyond what mission planners anticipated. We're also in interstellar space -- a high radiation environment that no spacecraft have flown in before. So there are some big challenges for the engineering team. But I think if there's a way to solve this issue with the AACS, our team will find it."

Voyager is sending ‘impossible data’ back to Nasa from the edge of the Solar System

Adam Smith

Thu, May 19, 2022,

Nasa’s engineering team is investigating a mystery taking place on the Voyager 1 spacecraft.

Voyager 1 is the most distant human-made object in existence, having launched 44 years ago. It is currently operating at the edge of the solar system, flying through the “interstellar medium” beyond the Sun’s influence.

However, scientists found that the craft is receiving and executing commands from Earth successfully – but the readouts from the probe’s attitude articulation and control system (AACS) do not reflect what is actually happening on board Voyager 1.

The system maintains the craft’s orientation, keeping its antenna pointed precisely to the Earth so that data can be sent from it to Nasa. While all indications suggest that the AACS is working as normal, the telemetry data it is returning appears to be randomly generated – failing to reflect any possible state that the system could be in.

Further, the issue has not triggered any fault protection system that could put Voyager into safe mode, and the signal has not weakened – suggesting that the antenna is still in its normal position, pointing towards Earth.

Nasa says that it will continue to monitor the situation, as it is possible that the invalid data could be being produced by another system, but says that it does not understand why it is happening or how long this issue could continue. It takes approximately two days for a message from Earth to reach Voyager and get a response from the craft.

“A mystery like this is sort of par for the course at this stage of the Voyager mission,” said Suzanne Dodd, project manager for Voyager 1 and 2 at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

“The spacecraft are both almost 45 years old, which is far beyond what the mission planners anticipated. We’re also in interstellar space – a high-radiation environment that no spacecraft have flown in before. So there are some big challenges for the engineering team. But I think if there’s a way to solve this issue with the AACS, our team will find it.”

There is a possibility that Nasa will not find the source of the issue and instead have to issue software changes or use one of the craft’s backup systems – something that has been done before in 2017 when Voyager had to switch from its primary thrusters to secondary ones because of signs of degradation.

NASA's Voyager 1 is sending mysterious data from beyond our solar system. Scientists are unsure what it means.


Paola Rosa-Aquino
Thu, May 19, 2022

An illustration depicting one of NASA's twin Voyager spacecraft. Both Voyagers have entered interstellar space.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA said Voyager 1 is sending data that doesn't match the spacecraft's movements.

The veteran spacecraft has been exploring our solar system and interstellar space since 1977.

It is now 14.5 billion miles away from Earth, making it the most distant human-made object.

NASA's Voyager 1 is continuing its journey beyond our solar system, 45 years after it was launched. But now the veteran spacecraft is sending back strange data, puzzling its engineers.

NASA said on Wednesday that while the probe is still operating properly, readouts from its attitude articulation and control system — AACS for short — don't seem to match the spacecraft's movements and orientation, suggesting the craft is confused about its location in space. The AACS is essential for Voyager to send NASA data about its surrounding interstellar environment as it keeps the craft's antenna pointing right at our planet

"A mystery like this is sort of par for the course at this stage of the Voyager mission," Suzanne Dodd, a project manager for Voyager 1 and 2 at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in a statement. "The spacecraft are both almost 45 years old, which is far beyond what the mission planners anticipated." NASA said Voyager 1's twin, the Voyager 2 probe, is behaving normally.

Launched in 1977 to explore the outer planets in our solar system, Voyager 1 has remained operational long past expectations and continues to send information about its journeys back to Earth. The trailblazing craft left our solar system and entered interstellar space in 2012. It is now 14.5 billion miles away from Earth, making it the most distant human-made object.

An engineer works on a dish-shaped Voyager high-gain antenna on July 9, 1976.NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA said that from what its engineers can tell, Voyager 1's AACS is sending randomly generated data that does not "reflect what's actually happening onboard." But even if system data suggests otherwise, the spacecraft's antenna seems to be properly aligned — it is receiving and executing commands from NASA and sending data back to Earth. It said that so far the system issue hasn't triggered the aging spacecraft to go into "safe mode," during which it carries out only essential operations.

"Until the nature of the issue is better understood, the team cannot anticipate whether this might affect how long the spacecraft can collect and transmit science data," NASA said.

Dodd and her team hope to figure out what's prompting the robot emissary from Earth to send junky data. "There are some big challenges for the engineering team," Dodd said. A major one: It takes light 20 hours and 33 minutes to get to Voyager's current interstellar location, so a round-trip message between the space agency and Voyager takes two days.

"But I think if there's a way to solve this issue with the AACS, our team will find it," Dodd added.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a Forgotten Masterpiece | The Breakdown

Premiered Jan 30, 2020

GammaRay

Although often ridiculed, Gene Roddenberry's first effort to bring Star Trek to the big screen is actually a masterpiece of science fiction despite reactions. "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" displays all the great qualities of sci-fi, not merely for how powerful its visuals are, but also because of its thematic exploration around the concept of freewill. It examines if we are capable of operating beyond what our deterministic coding suggests, or whether we have the power to act of our own volition. This is why "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" is great, and we should all give it another chance.

'This is not a life': Palestinians in violence-hit Jenin camp

A woman stands in front of a mural, part of an art exhibit honouring slain Palestinian Al-Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, at the spot where she was killed while covering an Israeli army raid in Jenin in the occupied West Bank - RONALDO SCHEMIDT

by Claire Gounon
May 20, 2022 — 

Jenin (Palestinian Territories) (AFP)

Weeks of Israeli raids and clashes with Palestinians have filled residents of the flashpoint Jenin refugee camp with fear and anxiety, and a longing to "live in dignity".

A hub of armed Palestinian groups, the Jenin area in the north of the occupied West Bank has been targeted by Israeli raids time and again since a wave of anti-Israeli attacks in late March.

The operations to track down suspects and clashes with Palestinians have often turned deadly for both sides.

Palestinian-American Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot in the head and killed near the camp on May 11, while covering an Israeli raid.

"We sleep and wake to the sound of clashes, so we are worried and afraid," said 16-year-old Majd Owis.

"This is not a life. We want to live in dignity and peace," added artist Fidaa Sammar.

Mother of three Ahlam Benara said for weeks most of the Israeli raids, and ensuing clashes with Palestinians, have erupted in the early morning hours.

"Between 7:30 and 8:30 am," just when she has to prepare her children for school.

"My eight-year-old says he no longer wants to go to school because it's located near the main road," which Israeli jeeps use, she added.

Israel captured the West Bank from Jordan during the 1967 Six-Day War and controls all entry points to the territory.

About 475,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements, alongside 2.9 million Palestinians -- 14,000 of whom live in Jenin camp.

During the second intifada against Israeli occupation, an uprising that broke out in 2000 and lasted five years, Jenin was in the spotlight of violence.

- Fear and 'painful' stories -

In 2002, the army besieged the camp for more than a month amid fierce fighting that killed 52 Palestinians and 23 Israeli soldiers.

Twenty years later, portraits of the Palestinians killed in clashes with Israelis over the years cover drab grey cement walls in the camp, where residents consider them "heroes" while Israel brands them "terrorists".

The army says it has launched "counter-terrorism" operations in Jenin camp to arrest suspects responsible for the wave of anti-Israeli attacks since March 22.

The raids spark clashes with Palestinians punctuated by heavy gunfire.

"Sometimes I have to turn the volume on the TV high to drown out the sound because it scares my (10-year-old) daughter," said Benara.

"She has not been sleeping well" and lately began wetting her bed, she added.

Owis, the 16-year-old, lives near the street where Abu Akleh was killed during an Israeli army raid on May 11.

Outside his house stands a tree, now surrounded by flowers and portraits of the well-respected Al-Jazeera journalist.

Mourners have also left messages of farewell such as "thank you Shireen" and "goodbye Shireen".

There are also drawings of her and other Palestinian "martyrs", including the late iconic leader Yasser Arafat, on easels.

Dark paint or charcoal were used for the drawings, "to show (our) sadness", said Sammar, the artist who made them.

"Every home (in Jenin), has its own sad and painful story," she said, referring to residents killed in decades of violence.

"The situation is frightening. We wake up to the sounds of gunfire and fear grows that Israeli army tanks will roll in," she said.

Like most Palestinians, Sammar blames the Israeli army for the violence saying Palestinians confronting them are merely "resisting" occupation.

Benara, who was born in Algeria, said she would like to leave Jenin for the sake of her children.

"But my (Palestinian) husband says to me: 'This is life, we have to get used to it.' But I just can't."

B.C. to end fossil fuel subsidies under new oil and gas royalty system

The Canadian Press

VICTORIA — British Columbia is changing its decades-old royalty system, the fees it charges companies to extract publicly owned oil and gas, in an effort to align with provincial climate goals.

Premier John Horgan said the "broken system" of fossil-fuel subsidies doesn't fit with his government's climate plans or ensure people benefit from the resources.

"This new regime will benefit all British Columbians and help us address the challenge of our time, quite frankly, as we meet the challenge of climate change brought home so graphically to British Columbians over the past number of summers and then into the fall and even indeed into the winter," he told a news conference Thursday.

The province will eliminate the deep well royalty program, which is the largest oil and gas subsidy, he said.

The minimum royalty rate for oil and gas firms will move up from three to five per cent, Horgan added. This system applies to all new wells, while it will be phased in over two years for those currently operating.

B.C. is blessed with an abundance of natural resources, Horgan said.

"But those resources, (we) have to be reminded every now and again, belong to all of us. And for too long, the system of royalties for oil and gas has set us up to a situation whereby rather than British Columbians benefiting completely from these resources, we've seen extremely large profits for oil and gas companies, while British Columbians have had to pay more for their heating costs as a result."

The government said the elimination of the deep well program means a loss of credits amounting to between $440,000 and $2.81 million for companies, depending on the depth of the wells. The change is expected to bring in $200 million more in revenue annually for the government.

Bruce Ralston, the minister of energy, mines and low carbon innovation, said the deep well royalty program was created in 2003 with the intention to offset higher drilling and completion costs for wells considered particularly deep.

Since it was set up, he said a "patchwork of royalty deductions were introduced to reduce royalties," including those for deep wells.

"Market conditions and technological advancements have changed natural resource development significantly since then," he said.

The province undertook a review of its royalty program last year, which showed that about 77 per cent of B.C. residents were in favour of revamping the system, said a January news release from the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation.

Ralston said the new system will ensure the public return of half the profits over the life of any oil and natural gas well. He said the old system is complicated.

"It adds not only to the administrative costs for government, but it adds to the business cost of the companies that are trying to navigate through and calculate how they are going to pay their royalties. So, by eliminating the royalties programs we will introduce a measure of simplicity and clarity."

A Shell Canada Ltd. spokesperson said in a statement the company is reviewing the details of the announcement and looks forward to "continuing to work constructively with the government to ensure the competitive and responsible development of resources in British Columbia.”

Petronas Canada, Tourmaline Oil Corp. and Ovintiv Inc. did not immediately return a request for comment on how the changes will affect their operations in B.C.

Peter McCartney of the Wilderness Committee, a non-profit environmental group, said the new royalty system eliminates the province’s worst fossil fuel subsidies while creating a new one and fails to meet the moment of climate emergency.

Oil and gas extraction creates about 20 per cent of the province's carbon pollution, he said in a statement.

“But this latest subsidy offers a money-back guarantee for the most polluting activity in the province.”

— By Hina Alam in Vancouver

Companies in this story: (TSX:SHEL)

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 19, 2022.

Trump claims immigrants are voting illegally. The real problem is foreign fat cats funding US campaigns


Non-Americans – whose interests don’t necessarily align with the interests of the US – assert growing influence over American politics

Russian financier Yuri Milner bought large shares of Facebook and Twitter. Photograph: Steve Jennings/Getty Images for Breakthrough Prize

Robert Reich
Thu 19 May 2022

In 2017, Donald Trump repeatedly claimed without evidence that between 3 million and 5 million unauthorized immigrants had voted for Hillary Clinton. In the last few weeks, Trump has resurrected his lie during campaign rallies for Republican primary candidates he has endorsed – whipping up fears of “open borders and horrible elections”, and calling for stricter voter ID laws and proof of citizenship at the ballot box.

Trump endorsees and wannabes are amplifying this lie. JD Vance, the Trump-backed winner of last week’s Ohio Republican senate primary, claimed that President Biden’s immigration policy has resulted in “more Democrat voters pouring into this country”.

In fact, voter fraud is exceptionally rare, and claims that widespread numbers of undocumented immigrants are voting have been repeatedly discredited.

There is a problem of foreigners influencing American elections, however – but it has nothing to do with immigrants or fraudulent voting.

It’s foreign money flowing into US campaigns.

Some of the flow is clearly illegal. Last October, Lev Parnas, a Florida businessman who helped Rudy Giuliani’s effort to dig up dirt on Joe Biden in Ukraine, was convicted of funneling a Russian entrepreneur’s money to US politicians.

The real scandal is how much foreign money flows into US elections legally.

The US supreme court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United v Federal Election Commission opened the gates. It allows foreigners to influence US elections through their investments in politically active American corporations.

The five-justice conservative majority said that when it comes to political speech, the identity of the speaker is irrelevant, and that more speech is always better.

In dissent, Justice John Paul Stevens argued that the logic of the court’s ruling would allow foreign spending on American elections, threatening American interests.

Stevens was right. If the identity of the speaker doesn’t matter and more speech is always better, what’s to stop foreign spending on US elections?

Non-Americans whose money is now finding its way into American campaigns – mostly benefiting Republican candidates – include Russian oligarchs, the Saudi royal family, European financiers, Chinese corporate conglomerates and many other people and organizations that owe their allegiance to powers other than the United States.

The growing problem centers on three realities:

First, foreign investors now own a whopping 40% of the shares of American corporations. That’s up from just 5% in 1982.

Second, American corporations are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to influence elections – counting their separate corporate political action committees or personal donations by executives and employees. Much of this spending is through dark money channels that opened after the Citizens United decision.

Third, by law, corporate directors and managers are accountable to their shareholders, including foreign shareholders – not to America. As the then-CEO of US-based Exxon Mobil unabashedly stated, “I’m not a US company and I don’t make decisions based on what’s good for the US.”

The second and third points pose substantial threats to American democracy on their own. Add in the first, and you’ve got a sieve through which non-Americans – whose interests don’t necessarily correspond to the interests of the United States – assert growing influence over American politics.

Follow the money. In recent years, Russian billionaire oligarchs have bought significant amounts of Facebook, Twitter and Airbnb. Saudi Arabia owns about 10% of US-based Uber and has a seat on its board.

Many of America’s largest corporations with substantial foreign ownership (including AT&T, Comcast and Citigroup) have contributed millions of dollars to the Republican Attorney Generals Association, which in turn bankrolled the pro-Trump rally on the morning of the January 6 insurrection.

What to do about this? The Center for American Progress has a sensible proposal: it recommends that no US corporation with 5% or more of its stock under foreign ownership or 1% or more controlled by a single foreign owner be allowed to spend money to sway the outcomes of US elections or ballot measures.

Corporate governance experts and regulators agree that these thresholds capture the level of ownership necessary to influence corporate decision-making.

OK, but how to get this proposal enacted, when big American-based corporations with significant foreign investment have so much influence over Congress?

Democrats should make this an issue in the run-up to the 2022 midterms. While Republicans rail against the utterly fake danger to the United States of undocumented immigrants voting in American elections, Democrats should rail against the real danger to American democracy of foreign money affecting American elections through foreign investments in American corporations.

Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few and The Common Good. His new book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It, is out now. He is a Guardian US columnist. His newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com

U.S. doctors often mistreated by patients, families, study finds


Many doctors in the United States are mistreated by patients or their families, according to a new study.

 Photo by fernandozhiminaicela/Pixabay

May 19 (UPI) -- Nearly one-third of doctors in the United States have experienced mistreatment from patients or their families, including racist or sexist remarks, a study published Thursday found.

Among more than 6,500 responding physicians from across the country, just under 30% said they were "subjected to racially or ethnically offensive remarks" within the past year, data published Thursday by JAMA Network Open showed.

A similar percentage indicated they had had "offensive sexist remarks" directed toward them at least once over the past year, while just over one in five said they experienced "unwanted sexual advances" from patients, their families or other visitors over the same period, the researchers said.

In addition, roughly one in five physicians surveyed said a patient or their family refused to allow them to provide care because of the physician's personal attributes, such as race or gender, according to the researchers.

RELATED Race, gender doesn't affect patient view of doctors, survey says

"Physicians commonly experience mistreatment and discrimination by patients, families and visitors," study co-author Dr. Lotte Dyrbye told UPI.

"Everyone has a role in addressing prejudice, harassment and mistreatment, including the government, the press, medical institutions, healthcare workers and the public, said Dyrbye, senior associate dean of faculty at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Aurora.

Recent surveys of patients have suggested that race and gender do not affect how they view their doctors.

RELATED New study shows online reviews stressful for doctors

However, doctors who report being victimized by racial/ethnic and/or gender bias are up to twice as likely to experience burnout, Dyrbye and her colleagues found.

Female physicians were more than twice as likely to be victims of mistreatment or discrimination from patients, families or visitors, compared with their male peers, the data showed.

Black or African American physicians had a 59% higher risk for mistreatment or discrimination than White doctors, the researchers said.

RELATED Study: Doctor burnout may increase effect of biases on care

The survey did not ask whether bias incidents have increased or decreased since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, they said.

"Physicians who have [these] experiences are more likely to be burned out," Dyrbye said.

And, "When physicians are burned out, they are more likely to leave their practice, reduce their time taking care of patients, make medical mistakes and deliver more costly care to patients," she said.

Jersey Shore drama: Not enough sand at beach ahead of Memorial Day

By Allison Finch, AccuWeather, Accuweather.com

The beaches, boardwalk and a shopping mall are shown in Atlantic City in the 1970s.

WHEN AL MARTINO WAS THE HOUSE SINGER ON THE BOARDWALK

Photo by loc.gov/pictures/item/2017881730/, CC0,/Wikimedia Commons

With the unofficial start to summer quickly approaching and AccuWeather meteorologists forecasting temperatures in the 90s for areas along the East Coast this weekend, the summerlike weather is bound to make many people eager to grab their towels and head to the beach, but one part of the beach on the Jersey Shore won't be opening anytime soon.

Due to a recent storm that had stalled off the coast earlier this month, some beaches along the Jersey Shore don't have enough sand to accommodate beachgoers.

The Jersey Shore encompasses about 141 miles of beaches bordering the Atlantic Ocean, and tourism is the economic lifeline for many of the beach towns along that stretch of coastline.

Each time a coastal storm rolls through, residents of Ortley Beach, which is roughly 45 miles north of Atlantic City, are reminded of the ongoing erosion that is eating away the beach and damaging dunes throughout the barrier island.

Drone images showed a long stretch of the beach in Ortley Beach was wiped out by heavy surf from a recent coastal storm. The beaches there don't have enough sand to be opened for Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start of summer.

RELATED 116-year-old 'ghost tracks' unearthed following pesky coastal storm

While the erosion on Ortley Beach is not a new problem, the recent Mother's Day coastal storm that washed away homes in the Outer Banks of North Carolina and exposed "ghost tracks" on a beach in Cape May, N.J., also wiped out a massive amount of sand along the 4,000-foot-long beach and left cliffs as tall as 6 feet.

The high tide reached all the way up to the base of the cliffs, and as waves continue to come crashing down, more and more of the beach is eroded away in a vicious cycle. Drone footage shot this week from above Ortley Beach showed lengthy cliffs carved out by heavy surf kicked up by the recent coastal storm.

"After the Army Corps [of Engineers] came out, they had built us a nice, flat beach, and that's very good for energy dissipation," Robert Chanklian, the Toms River town engineer, told AccuWeather National Reporter Jillian Angeline.

RELATED   Watch: Beachfront homes along Outer Banks, N.C., keep crumbling into the ocean

"The waves roll gently up a beach their energy is dissipated. As the storm erodes the sand and ends up with these vertical surfaces, the waves, instead of giving up the beach, they pound into this and create more erosion."

Robert Chanklian, Toms River Town Engineer

According to Toms River Mayor Maurice "Mo" Hill, the storms that create significant coastal erosion along the Jersey Shore typically occur in the winter months. This allows officials ample amount of time to clean up and rebuild the beaches and dunes before the warmer months come around -- and the beachgoers arrive in droves.

Ortley Beach officials said that they must rebuild the beach and surrounding dunes on the closed section of Ortley Beach before reopening it to the public because it poses a fall hazard to beachgoers. And officials say the replenishing won't happen quickly.

While a combined effort from local engineers and the Army Corps will be needed to fully restore the beaches along the Jersey Shore from erosion, a local contractor has been hired to rebuild the section of Ortley Beach.

Workers will bring in truckloads of sand to fill the beach and surrounding dunes. Officials estimate the damaged area will be filled by the end of June, which is just time for the beginning of local schools' summer vacation.

The Army Corps will then come to the beach later in the year, or early next year, to address the erosion even further as part of a federal, state and locally funded, 50-year agreement to upkeep the beach. Crews from the Army Corps will have the horsepower to rebuild the beach so that the small refilling project won't be needed as often, according to Chanklian.

"They use a dredge," Chanklian said. "It scours up the sand, sucks it up like a vacuum, pumps it onto the beach, and then as they pump that slurry of sand and water on the beach, the water runs down, and we're left with sand."

Avalon Beach, New Jersey, also suffered significant coastal erosion during the Mother's Day storm. (Evan D'Ambrosio)


Ortley Beach was hardly the only town impacted by the recent storm. Beaches in Avalon, which is about 67 miles south of Ortley Beach, were left with cliffs after strong waves ate away at the beach. Similar scenes were spotted in nearby Ocean City as well.

A team at Stockton University Coastal Research Center has been tasked with surveying the damage along the Jersey Shore. Evan D'Ambrosio, a field specialist, shared a photo of the massive cliffs lined along Avalon Beach.

"That's the most substantial damage I've ever seen since I've been working for four or five years now," is how D'Ambrosio described the recent erosion.

The team D'Ambrosio is a part of will deliver the damage assessment survey results to the impacted towns when completed. This will help give town officials a better idea of how much work will be needed to repair the beaches and surrounding dunes.

Rebuilding the dunes is crucial ahead of the 2022 Atlantic Hurricane season, which is predicted to be an above-normal season according to AccuWeather's veteran meteorologist and hurricane expert Dan Kottlowski.

"The beaches are nice to have, but the dunes are what we need to protect everything," said Hill. "This dune is going to protect the coastline, and that's what's important."

AccuWeather National Reporter Jillian Angeline stands next to cliffs left in the sand at Ortley Beach after heavy surf from a recent coastal storm devoured the town's beaches.

Sand dunes protect inland areas from storm surges and large waves propagating inland, which in turn reduces the amount of coastal flooding and structural damage in an area. Coastal areas without dunes are more susceptible to higher rates of erosions and more frequent coastal flooding.

Along with restoring the dunes, the reopening of beaches along the Jersey Shore is vital for many business owners as well as the state. Tourism at the Jersey Shore is key for the New Jersey economy.

Many business owners along the shore depend on vacationers visiting during the summer months to make their income for the year, and with beaches being closed, business owners could take a hit in their earnings.

"The beach is a big economic driver for the Jersey Shore," said Hall. "A lot of businesses will make their money over the summer months."

Defense watchdog: Trump administration targeted brother of impeachment witness

A defense watchdog report released Wednesday found the brother of Trump impeachment witness Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman was illegally targeted for whistleblower complaint.

 File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

May 18 (UPI) -- Trump administration officials illegally retaliated against the brother of a key witness in former President Donald Trump's first impeachment trial, according to a report released Wednesday by the Pentagon Inspector General's office.

The report supported Army Lt. Col. Yevgeny Vindman's allegation that he was unfairly ousted from his role as ethics counsel to the National Security Council on Feb. 7, 2020, the same day his twin brother was escorted out of the White House for raising concerns about Trump's phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Yevgeny Vindman's brother, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, was on the July 2019 call and went to Yevgeny Vindman with his concerns after Trump asked Zelensky to open an investigation into Joe Biden ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

In addition to his firing from the NSC, Yevgeny Vindman received poor performance reviews for his service and was not recommended for an end-of-tour award after raising concerns about possible "sexist conduct" at the NSC.

RELATED Alexander Vindman sues Trump allies for alleged intimidation, retaliation

"Based on a preponderance of evidence, we conclude that it is more likely than not that the complainant was the subject of unfavorable personnel actions and that these were in reprisal for his protected communications," the report said.

The report did not recommend any punishment for military or Trump administration officials, but verified Yevgeny Vindman's claim that he was unfairly punished for protected whistleblower statements.

Yevgeny Vindman's lawyer said the report "fully vindicates" his client.

RELATED Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman retires from Army citing 'bullying,' 'retaliation' by Trump

"Through his protected lawful whistleblowing activities, Lt. Col. Vindman properly reported misconduct involving officials within the Trump administration's White House and National Security Council," attorney Mark Zaid said in a statement.

Top Democrats, who urged the inspector general to open the investigation, issued a joint statement Wednesday calling for added measures to protect whistleblowers.

"After Watergate, Congress passed significant reforms to ensure that whenever federal personnel made disclosures, they would be protected from reprisal. The Trump administration broke that promise by targeting whistleblowers and individuals connected to them with a vengeance. That can never be allowed to happen again, under any administration."