Bear cubs rescued from wildlife trade in Vietnam

Two bear cubs are starting a new life in a sanctuary in Vietnam after being rescued from the illegal wildlife trade, an animal welfare group said Friday.


© Handout

The rescued cubs have been taken to a sanctuary in Vietnam run by Four Paws

AFP - 1h ago, MAY 20, 2022

The two sisters, named Be and Em, were confiscated by authorities from a man who admitted catching them in a cardamom field with a plan to sell them, the Four Paws organisation said.

Communist Vietnam is a major hub for the illegal trade in wild animals, and bears are kept to drain the bile from their gall bladders for use in traditional medicine.

The rescued cubs have been taken to a sanctuary in Vietnam run by Four Paws, where they will be reared and spend the rest of their lives.

They cannot be returned to nature because there are no safe places for bears in Vietnam and no projects to reintroduce them to the wild.

"At the moment they mostly eat, play, and sleep but we can already see their individual personalities showing," Emily Lloyd, Animal Manager at the sanctuary, said in the Four Paws statement.

"Be is very playful and confident, while Em for now is more reserved but nonetheless curious."

Four Paws said the sanctuary has hand-raised five bears rescued from similar circumstances in recent years.

Vietnam has passed laws to try to curb the wildlife trade but enforcement is patchy and Four Paws said the bear bile business was "flourishing".

bur-pdw/je

Asiatic black bear cubs rescued from illegal wildlife trade in Vietnam

by Mongabay.com 

FEB 2019

Vietnamese authorities confiscated the two female bear cubs from wildlife smugglers in Hai Phong province on January 9, according to Vienna, Austria-based animal welfare NGO Four Paws.

After spending a night in a hotel, the cubs were taken to a Four Paws bear sanctuary in Ninh Binh on January 10, where they are receiving intensive medical care.
Authorities do not know who was meant to buy the bear cubs or where their ultimate destination was. It’s likely that the bears were imported from Laos, though they could also have come from a bear farm in Vietnam.

Two Asiatic black bear cubs have been rescued from the illegal wildlife trade in Vietnam.

Vietnamese authorities confiscated the two female bear cubs from wildlife smugglers in Hai Phong province on January 9, according to Vienna, Austria-based animal welfare NGO Four Paws. The rescue operation was a collaborative effort between Vietnamese police, Four Paws, local NGO ENV (Education for Nature-Vietnam), and Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand. The cubs’ origin has not been determined, and their mother has not been found.

After spending a night in a hotel, the cubs were taken to a Four Paws bear sanctuary in the city of Ninh Binh in northern Vietnam on January 10, where they are receiving intensive medical care. Four Paws’ Vietnam Animal Manager, Emily Lloyd, said in a statement that both bear cubs weighed just 900 grams and were dehydrated when they arrived, so the group’s team of veterinarians is providing the cubs with milk fortified with vitamins and probiotics.

“The bears are still very young, and the situation is critical, but we will do everything we can for their survival,” Lloyd said.

Two bear cubs have been rescued from wildlife smugglers in Hai Phong province, Vietnam. Photo Credit: © FOUR PAWS.

Authorities do not know who was meant to buy the bear cubs or where their ultimate destination was. It’s likely that the bears were imported from Laos, though they could also have come from a bear farm in Vietnam, Four Paws said.

Though bear bile extraction has been outlawed in Vietnam since 2005, it’s believed there are still as many as 1,000 bears being held in captivity on bile farms in the country. Four Paws said that research has shown that many bears are still used for bile extraction and that the illegal trade of bear bile is still ongoing in Vietnam.

Bear bile is used by practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine to treat a range of ailments, from hangovers to liver conditions and cancer. A decline in the demand for farmed bile that began in 2010 has led to fears of a mass die-off of Vietnam’s captive bears as bile farmers are no longer able to afford to keep the animals.

The Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus) is listed as Vulnerable to extinction on the IUCN Red List. “Habitat loss due to logging, expansion of agriculture and plantations, roadway networks and dams, combined with hunting for skins, paws and especially gall bladders are the main threats to this species,” the IUCN reports

.Two rescued Asiatic black bear cubs are cared for by FOUR PAWS staff in Hai Phong province, Vietnam. Photo Credit: © Hoang Le | FOUR PAWS.

CITATION

• Garshelis, D. & Steinmetz, R. 2016. Ursus thibetanus (errata version published in 2017). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T22824A114252336. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22824A45034242.en. Downloaded on 15 January 2019.

'Now it's for real': Ukraine war puts Sweden's military on alert



Spooked by Russia's assault on Ukraine, Sweden has announced a dramatic increase in defence spending

 (AFP/Jonathan NACKSTRAND)

Johannes LEDEL
Thu, May 19, 2022,

A new and more serious reality looms large for Sweden's conscripts as their military service now takes place in the shadow of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The war has seen Sweden drastically ramp up its military readiness and take the "historic" step this week to apply for NATO membership, reversing two centuries of military non-alignment.

"You realise this is actually for real -- I'm not here on some year-long summer camp," says Axel Bystrom, a 20-year-old conscript on Sweden's strategic Baltic Sea island of Gotland.

"Now it's for real and that makes you more serious," added the young squad leader with the P18 regiment, which was only re-established in 2018.

Breaking off branches from nearby spruces, Bystrom and his fellow soldiers meticulously cover three armoured vehicles to camouflage them.

"You are working to be as good as you possibly can all the time, because you are thinking, 'this could be a reality. We may have to use it'," the native of Visby, Gotland's medieval main town, tells AFP.

More military exercises are also being held across Sweden.

- War games -

Sweden has long had a fear of Russia. With the end of the Cold War, the country made swingeing cuts to its defence spending.

But following Moscow's annexation of Crimea in 2014, it decided to rearm and hike spending, reintroducing mandatory military service in 2017.

As only a fraction of the population is called up and avoiding service is quite easy, conscripts like Bystrom tend to be highly motivated.

Spooked by Russia's assault on Ukraine, Sweden has announced a dramatic increase in defence spending, targeting two percent of GDP "as soon as possible", up from around 1.5 percent expected in the next few years.

Overall, Sweden's armed forces consist of some 55,000 people, including the Home Guard and part-time employees -- around 23,600 are part of the regular forces.

For many Swedes, Gotland is a popular summer holiday destination known for its sandy beaches on a sleepy island of 60,000 people.

But it is also less than 350 kilometres (217 miles) from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.

"Gotland is situated in the middle of the Baltic Sea. So if you own Gotland, you can pretty much control the air and naval movements in the Baltic Sea," P18 commander Magnus Frykvall explains.

A common theory is that in a conflict Russia would want to seize the island and install its S-400 surface-to-air missile defence system, effectively blocking off most of the southern Baltic Sea.

The Gotland regiment is still growing. According to Frykvall, they can now field around 800 soldiers and plan to increase numbers to 4,000 during wartime.

The uptick has been accelerated after Russian President Vladimir Putin "made it clear that he is willing to use military force to gain his political goals".

At its peak during the Cold War, some 25,000 troops and reserves were stationed on Gotland -- more than six times the amount planned for now.

But the planned boost in artillery and anti-aircraft systems means the regiment would "probably" be enough to "meet any threat."

If Sweden's NATO application -- currently facing diplomatic hurdles from Turkey -- were accepted, it would deter anyone from attacking Gotland, according to Frykvall.

"Thirty-two countries are much stronger than one," he says, referring to NATO's guiding principle that an attack on one member is seen as an attack on all.

- 'Make Gardens Not War' -

For residents living near the regiment, the increased military activity has been very noticeable.

"We have machine gun fire, we have explosions, we have artillery shots, shots from tanks as well," says Robert Hall, a local Green Party politician.

"We have tanks moving in and out of the military area and on the road 17 metres in front of our house, so we hear a lot of noise a lot of the time", he says.

In an eye-catching contrast, the ecological commune he helped found lies just across from the entrance to the military area.

Next to the sign for the "Suderbyn Ecovillage", a giant banner shows a tank overgrown with plants and reading "Make Gardens Not War".

For Hall, who is originally from California, the nature of the whole island has gone through a dramatic shift since he first came.

"We moved here in 1995 and there was still a lot of euphoria on the island about the fall of the Iron Curtain," he says.

"Gotland really wanted to position itself as the neutral meeting place in the middle of the Baltic Sea."

That idea has now instead given way to a new line of division.

"We're back to where we were before 1989, with a divided sea, even though it's not quite divided in the same location anymore," Hall said.

jll/po/imm

Ukraine war casts a chill in Norwegian Arctic town







Pierre-Henry DESHAYES
Thu, May 19, 2022,

War may be far away but tensions from the Ukraine conflict are causing an unprecedented chill in a remote Arctic town where Russian and Ukrainian coalminers have worked side by side for decades.

In Barentsburg, in Norway's Svalbard archipelago, relics of a bygone era -- a bust of Lenin, a sculpture with Cyrillic script declaring "Our goal - Communism" -- bear witness to Russia's longstanding presence.

The town's population peaked at around 1,500 in the 1980s, but shrank after the Soviet Union collapsed.

Now, some 370 people live here, two-thirds of them Ukrainians -- most from the Russian-speaking eastern Donbas region -- and the remainder Russians.

The atmosphere on the archipelago changed after Russia's invasion of Ukraine began in February, officials and residents told AFP.

"Opinions are absolutely polarised," admits Russian tour guide and historian Natalia Maksimishina.

But, she says, "what our long and difficult history of the Soviet Union has taught us is that people here know when to stop talking politics".

Some Ukrainians accuse the Russian state-owned company Arktikugol Trust operating the coal mine in Barentsburg of muzzling dissent.

But Russia's consul Sergey Guschin says there were "no visible signs of conflict on the surface", although he admits "there are of course some tensions and discussions on social networks" like Facebook and Telegram.

The consulate is protected by high iron bars and security cameras, and lavishly decorated with a marble entrance, winter garden and custom-made tapestries.

Its splendour stands out in the otherwise drab town.

- Departures -

In what could be another sign that anger is simmering under the surface, around 45 people have left Barentsburg "since the start of the operation", acknowledges Guschin, using Moscow's terminology for the Ukraine invasion.

There were no further details about the individuals.

The departures speak volumes, as leaving Barentsburg is no easy feat.

Western sanctions imposed on Russian banks have not only prevented the miners from sending money home to their families, they've also made it difficult for them to buy plane tickets.

The only airport is in Longyearbyen, Svalbard's main town 35 kilometres (22 miles) away, where it is difficult to get by without a Visa or Mastercard, which Russians cannot use because of sanctions.

At the entrance to Barentsburg, the coal plant spews out black smoke, adding to the town's dreary atmosphere.

A 1920 treaty which gave Norway sovereignty over Svalbard guarantees citizens from signatory nations equal access to its natural resources.

Russia's Arktikugol Trust has operated the mine in Barentsburg, on the shores of the Isfjorden fjord, since 1932.

A few locals huddle between the town's pastel-coloured buildings, seeking shelter from the bitter cold that reigns even in May.

Locals are more discreet today, especially since they work for the state-controlled company that runs the whole town, from the mine to the shops and restaurants.

Russia imposes heavy fines or even prison terms on anyone found guilty of "discrediting" its military or publishing "false information" about it.

- 'People just shut up' -

Longyearbyen is inhabited mainly by Norwegians but has a large Russian and Ukrainian community.

It can only be reached by helicopter or snowmobile in winter and boat in summer due to lack of roads from Barentsburg.

Julia Lytvynova, a 32-year-old Ukrainian seamstress who used to live in Barentsburg, accuses Arktikugol Trust of suppressing dissent.

As a result, "people just shut up, work and live their lives like nothing has happened".

She hasn't been back to Barentsburg since the war started, but she asked a friend to put up an anti-war poster for her on the gates of the Russian consulate.

Her sign, written on a blue-and-yellow background, had a now-famous expletive-laden line used by Ukrainian border guards after rejecting a Russian warship's surrender demand.

Her poster was taken down in less than five minutes, she says.

The mayor of Longyearbyen, who has lived in Svalbard for 22 years, says he has "never experienced the kind of discord" now seen among the 2,500 residents of 50 nationalities, including around 100 Russians and Ukrainians.

"There are some tensions in the air," Arild Olsen admits.

In response to the invasion, most tour operators in Longyearbyen stopped taking tourists to Barentsburg, depriving the state-owned company of a lucrative cash cow.

Lytvynova supports the move "because this money supports the Russian aggression".

By ending this source of income, "they don't help to kill my Ukrainian people".

phy/po/raz

'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