Civil society groups call for permanent residency for all migrants in Canada – September 14, 2022
Friday, September 23, 2022
GEMOLOGY
Large fancy vivid yellow diamond discovered in N.W.T.YELLOWKNIFE — The owners of a diamond mine in the Northwest Territories say workers have recovered what is likely Canada's largest fancy vivid yellow diamond.
The Arctic Canadian Diamond Company says the 71.26-carat diamond was recovered from its Ekati mine on Aug. 25.
Fancy coloured diamonds are rare gems where the stone has a strong colour.
Yellow diamonds get their colour from the presence of nitrogen.
The grading system for the colour strength of fancy diamonds ranges from faint to fancy vivid.
A 552-carat rough yellow diamond was discovered at the Diavik diamond mine in the territory in 2018.
It holds the record for the biggest gem-quality diamond found in North America and one of the 30 largest in the world.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 23, 2022.
The Canadian Press
Untouched Whale Graveyard Captured in Eerie Photo: 'You're All Alone'
Pandora Dewan - 12h ago
Ahaunting photo of an underwater whale graveyard has netted Swedish photographer, Alex Dawson, first prize in Scuba Diving's 2022 Underwater Photo Contest Wide Angle category.
"When I capture images I want to create 'I wish I was there' feelings. That's my mantra, " Dawson told Newsweek.
Under three feet of pack ice in the bay of Tasiilaq, Greenland, Dawson and his companion Anna Von Boetticher (seen in the image) swam among 20 whale carcasses to capture the winning shot. The site, known locally as flenseplassen, which translates roughly to "skinning grounds," is where local Inuit hunters collect their carcasses and strip them down to the bare bones. When the tide is high, they pull what remains back into the water.
"Usually to see whale bones like this you would need a submarine," said Dawson. But in Greenland they lie just 15 to 20 feet below the surface and are virtually untouched.
To capture the image, he swam under the ice for over an hour, switching between breathing regulators as his breath froze in their valves. "Cold doesn't give me any fear," he said, after completing the 28F dive.
Alex Dawson's winning shot of an untouched whale graveyard in Greenland Alex Dawson/Scuba Diving's Underwater Photo Contest 2022© Alex Dawson/Scuba Diving's Underwater Photo Contest 2022
The only entry point was through a small human-sized hole in the ice. "Going down into the darkness and you're all alone," he said. "You think who's down here?
"Then you come down and you see these whale bones. They're so huge."
Minke whales, as seen here, can grow up to 33 feet in length and weigh about 10 tons.
They are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act although they are currently classed as being of least concern by the IUCN. According to Dawson, the Inuits collect only 10 whales per year out of a population of 100,000.
Alex Dawson dived in 28F water under three feet of pack ice S Bachstroem/Getty© S Bachstroem/Getty
This was Dawson's second trip to Greenland, following a previous expedition in 2019. "What's so interesting with Greenland and the pack ice is that every time you dive it will always look different because the ice moves. It's basically a new dive every time."
The main difference on this trip, he said, was the climate: "For the first five days of the trip the weather was so warm the ice and snow started melting." In these conditions, the top of the ice starts to melt, leaving a 15 inch layer of freezing water above the pack ice beneath the fresh snow. "We had to walk in this...it took three hours to walk home from our dive.
Stock image of snowy mountain ridge. The ice in Greenland had begun to melt beneath the snow. Mumemories/Getty© Mumemories/Getty
"Whether it's climate change or random weather cycling I don't know...I guess we'll see over the next five years."
The contest's other winners include Boz Johnson, Salvatore Ianniello, Miguel Ramirez and Yury Ivanov. You can see all of their images here.
The grand prize, seen below, was awarded to Boz Johnson for his image of two flying fish taken in the Philippines.
Boz Johnson's winning photo for Scuba Diving's Underwater Photo Competition 2022 of flying fish in the Philippines Boz Johnson/Scuba Diving's Underwater Photo Contest 2022© Boz Johnson/Scuba Diving's Underwater Photo Contest 2022
Pandora Dewan - 12h ago
Ahaunting photo of an underwater whale graveyard has netted Swedish photographer, Alex Dawson, first prize in Scuba Diving's 2022 Underwater Photo Contest Wide Angle category.
"When I capture images I want to create 'I wish I was there' feelings. That's my mantra, " Dawson told Newsweek.
"Usually to see whale bones like this you would need a submarine," said Dawson. But in Greenland they lie just 15 to 20 feet below the surface and are virtually untouched.
To capture the image, he swam under the ice for over an hour, switching between breathing regulators as his breath froze in their valves. "Cold doesn't give me any fear," he said, after completing the 28F dive.
Alex Dawson's winning shot of an untouched whale graveyard in Greenland Alex Dawson/Scuba Diving's Underwater Photo Contest 2022© Alex Dawson/Scuba Diving's Underwater Photo Contest 2022
The only entry point was through a small human-sized hole in the ice. "Going down into the darkness and you're all alone," he said. "You think who's down here?
"Then you come down and you see these whale bones. They're so huge."
Minke whales, as seen here, can grow up to 33 feet in length and weigh about 10 tons.
They are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act although they are currently classed as being of least concern by the IUCN. According to Dawson, the Inuits collect only 10 whales per year out of a population of 100,000.
Alex Dawson dived in 28F water under three feet of pack ice S Bachstroem/Getty© S Bachstroem/Getty
This was Dawson's second trip to Greenland, following a previous expedition in 2019. "What's so interesting with Greenland and the pack ice is that every time you dive it will always look different because the ice moves. It's basically a new dive every time."
The main difference on this trip, he said, was the climate: "For the first five days of the trip the weather was so warm the ice and snow started melting." In these conditions, the top of the ice starts to melt, leaving a 15 inch layer of freezing water above the pack ice beneath the fresh snow. "We had to walk in this...it took three hours to walk home from our dive.
Stock image of snowy mountain ridge. The ice in Greenland had begun to melt beneath the snow. Mumemories/Getty© Mumemories/Getty
"Whether it's climate change or random weather cycling I don't know...I guess we'll see over the next five years."
The contest's other winners include Boz Johnson, Salvatore Ianniello, Miguel Ramirez and Yury Ivanov. You can see all of their images here.
The grand prize, seen below, was awarded to Boz Johnson for his image of two flying fish taken in the Philippines.
Boz Johnson's winning photo for Scuba Diving's Underwater Photo Competition 2022 of flying fish in the Philippines Boz Johnson/Scuba Diving's Underwater Photo Contest 2022© Boz Johnson/Scuba Diving's Underwater Photo Contest 2022
Elon Musk Keeps Big Promise to Iranians Fighting for Freedom
The richest man in the world has just made a move that could change the game in Tehran.
Elon Musk continues to move the lines defining the role of a CEO.
The richest man in the world (fortune estimated at $254 billion on Sept. 22 by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index) has torn up the traditions that say CEOs should keep quiet and not meddle in geopolitical affairs to protect profits.
In a world in search of leaders, Musk sees himself as filling the void and becoming one of the champions the masses turn to when chaos reigns.
He has also become a kind of guide for world political leaders, alerting them to the issues he considers priorities for the planet.
To establish his influence, Tesla's (TSLA) CEO has mastered the social networks, where he opines and interacts on a daily basis with users, whoever and wherever they may be.
He has more than 106.7 million followers on Twitter, a platform that has a big hand in setting the daily news agendas. On the microblogging website, messaging goes the other way as well: The billionaire's fans alert him to urgent problems of the moment and he responds.
Protests
He is displaying this method right now, when many Iranian citizens and average social-media users and are calling on him for help as the government of Iran tries to crush the protests it is facing.
The protests focus on the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year old Iranian woman who was arrested for wearing what the the country's morality police judged to be an ill-fitting veil. These authorities enforce laws requiring women to wear head scarves. Amini died in police custody.
"The Islamic regime is killing the people of #Iran PLEASE HELP US AND BE OUR VOICE !" a Twitter user asked him on Sept. 21. "They cut off the internet and now they are slaughtering people."
In fact, Musk has a technological tool that can be considered a weapon against governments that manipulate and repress public opinion, often by blocking sources of communications to the outside and blocking the internet.
This tool is Starlink, the satellite-internet-connection service of Musk’s SpaceX. This service guarantees secure and independent access to the internet. It is difficult to hack. Service cuts are rare.
It provides access to the internet for residents of areas that are poorly served by the fixed and mobile networks of telecom operators. Thousands of small satellites circulating in low orbit -- mainly 342 miles (550km) above Earth -- enable the service.
Musk and his company have supplied Starlink terminals to volcano-hit Tonga, in the southern Pacific Ocean, to provide internet access to isolated and remote villages.
Starlink antennas gained popularity after Musk sent them to Ukraine after Russia invaded the country on Feb. 24. They give Ukrainians independent access to the internet and enable the country to keep in touch with the outside world. The system is used particularly in remote areas as well as places that Russia has bombed.
Musk Answers the Call
No surprise, then, that the Iranians hope they can benefit from this service when the Iranian authorities seem to have blocked the phone networks and Internet.
"I'm sure you won't answer it Mr Musk, but is it technically possible to provide Starlink to Iranian people? It could be a game changer for the future," a Twitter user begged Musk on Sept.19.
"Starlink will ask for an exemption to Iranian sanctions in this regard," the tech tycoon responded.
Less than four days after that promise, Musk and SpaceX appear to have filed the exemption request to serve Iran. And they got the permission.
"We took action today to advance Internet freedom and the free flow of information for the Iranian people, issuing a General License to provide them greater access to digital communications to counter the Iranian government’s censorship," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced on Twitter on Sept. 23
Musk announced that SpaceX was immediately activating service in Iran.
"Activating Starlink...", the billionaire said without providing additional details. For example, he does not say if SpaceX will send antennas on site as it did in Ukraine.
While social-media users awaited the Iranian government's reaction to the move -- which undoubtedly will disrupt its efforts against the protests -- they welcomed the billionaire's decision.
"Great news #MahsaAmini," commented one Twitter user.
"That’s awesome! Your companies are truly philanthropic. All of them truly care for the betterment of humanity. Thank you, Elon, for always caring about the humanity ❤️," said a Musk fan.
"For any Iranians reading this: remember that dishes don't have to be visible to the naked eye; they can be covered by cloth, cardboard, plastic, fibreglass... anything with minimal RF attenuation (nothing metallic / conductive or overly thick)," commented another user.
How Texas' abortion ban hurts Big Oil's
effort to transform its workforce
CAPITALI$M REQUIRES A WOMAN'S RIGHT TO CHOOSE
By Liz Hampton and Sabrina Valle
DENVER/HOUSTON (Reuters) - As Texas officials moved to restrict abortion, promote Christianity in schools and the state's power grid teetered on collapse, oil worker Steven Beaman and his wife Hayley Hollands decided it was time to live elsewhere.
By April, Beaman had joined a communications firm in Colorado, leaving behind a more than decade-long career in oil and gas, and Hollands, an attorney, soon followed, forsaking the state over its increasingly strident politics and polarization.
"It is kind of the first time I've reckoned with the idea that I don't think I'm going to live in my home state ever again," said Hollands. She likened the climate contributing to the couple's decision to leave Texas to "death by a thousand paper cuts."
Oil companies have spent millions to counter the frayed image of fossil fuels and recruit a younger and more diverse workforce. But a flaring of political culture wars - around abortion, religion and LGBT+ rights - threaten to undo hiring and retention goals, according to interviews with more than two dozen workers and a national survey.
Over half of women between 18-44 years and 45% of college-educated male and female workers would not consider a job in a state that banned abortion, according to a survey of 2,020 U.S. adults last month by opinion researcher PerryUndem.
BP, Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Shell and TotalEnergies did not comment on how abortion and cultural wars are affecting their hiring and employee retention when asked by Reuters.
GRAPHIC: Workers weight abortion bans in career decisions https://graphics.reuters.com/USA-ABORTION/zjvqkrdrmvx/chart.png
RECRUITING HURDLE
"It has always been difficult to attract women into oil and gas," said Sherry Richard, a 40-year oil industry veteran most recently human resources chief at offshore driller Transocean Ltd. "When you create an environment that is unfriendly to women, it just makes it harder," she said.
Richard, 66, who now sits on the boards of two oilfield firms, said she does not plan to leave the state, but would support her son and his family if they moved.
The business risks to recruiting is especially high for oil companies, already unpopular with graduates of engineering programs, said Jonas Kron, chief advocacy officer at Trillium Asset Management. The Boston-based firm, which oversees $5.4 billion in investments outside of oil, is asking companies to take action to minimize the financial losses of a limited workforce.
"Lack of diversity is not only a problem to financial performance, which they are acutely aware of, but also one of company values," Kron said. "That is deeply concerning."
Some California members of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) have declined to attend the group's conference in Houston in October because of the state's anti-abortion law, which bans most abortions after about six weeks. The only exception is when a doctor certifies the mother's life is in immediate danger.
SWE after next year will not hold conferences for its 40,000 members in states with abortion bans due to "restricted access to women's healthcare," according to its website.
Trevor Best, chief executive of Syzygy Plasmonics, a Houston-based startup whose chemical reactors run on renewable electricity, recently had a woman job candidate from out-of-state say she would not consider relocating to Texas.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has acknowledged the state is losing workers, but does not regret the departures. "We have an exchange program going on,” Abbott said in August at a conservative political gathering. "We are getting California conservatives; we are sending them our liberals.”
SILENCE ON ABORTION
The five top oil majors have said they support travel for health treatments by employees in different states. But none named abortion in their responses, nor disclosed whether there is an internal guidance for abortion care, a concern for employees who have to administer the policies.
"The rules are not clear," said a Texas engineer who also does recruiting for an U.S. oil major in Houston and declined to be named. "Will (an employee) have to tell her manager the reason of the trip for instance? I have asked for clarity, but I received no reply."
Some workers want their employers to take a stand on abortion.
"Companies say they value employee's rights and yet finance politicians who violate my rights and wellbeing," said a 45-year-old engineer at oilfield service firm Halliburton who declined to be identified fearing reprimands. "This is hypocrisy," she said.
Oil companies contribute to politicians who advocate for free trade, tax and energy policies through political action committees (PACs). That criteria fits a majority of Republican politicians who also vote to restrict abortion rights.
A California-based Chevron engineer who is planning to have a child and also declined to have his name used said he told his boss that he could not go ahead with a relocation to Houston.
"We find it medically unsafe to carry a pregnancy in Texas," he said, adding his wife is at high risk for ectopic pregnancies. With doctors in Texas now only able to perform emergency abortions in event of immediate danger to the mother's life, "that is too close to call for me."
Dawn Seiffert, 52, and her husband, an oil company employee, returned to Texas in 2012 and planned to stay. But with Texas' anti-abortion law implemented, the mother of four is considering moving with her daughters to Maine while her husband remains to earn full retirement benefits.
Texas politics "even before Roe" were heading in the wrong direction, Seiffert said. "The public education, the grid... they're more consumed with personal freedoms versus any responsibility towards one another," she said.
(Reporting by Liz Hampton in Denver and Sabrina Valle in Houston; Editing by Gary McWilliams and Lisa Shumaker)
STATEHOOD! OR INDEPENDENCE!
With one vote, Congress can give
Puerto Ricans the right to determine
their own future | Opinion
The aftermath of Hurricane Fiona in Puerto Rico is a painful reminder that there is no such thing as a “natural disaster.” The devastating scope and magnitude of the harm from so-called natural disasters in Puerto Rico are, in reality, the aftermath of a political disaster that began in 1898, when the United States annexed Puerto Rico and made it a U.S. territory.
Before then, every U.S. territory eventually became either a state, which gave it the political power to fend for itself in Washington, or an international sovereign, which gave it the political autonomy to fend for itself on the international stage.
But Puerto Rico has languished as a U.S. territory for almost 125 years — subject to U.S. law without any voting representation in the federal government. That means Puerto Rico lacks the political power either to demand the resources to which U.S. states are entitled or bargain for the resources it needs as an international sovereign.
But for the first time ever, Congress can change all that with just one vote.
Against the odds, the Puerto Rico Status Act (“PRSA”) has been voted out of the House Committee on Natural Resources. That it is now on its way to a floor vote — and could eventually make its way to President Biden’s desk — is far from business as usual on the Hill. It is, in fact, nothing short of breathtaking.
The product of months of arduous negotiations, extensive discussions with stakeholders and broad public commentary, the PRSA offers Puerto Rican voters — for the first time — the opportunity to choose among non-territorial (read: non-colonial) status options: statehood, independence and a form of international sovereignty known as “free association.” If enacted, the PRSA would finally bring a long-overdue end to Puerto Rico’s nearly 125-year-long ordeal as a politically powerless U.S. territory.
The forces behind the PRSA, Puerto Rico’s nonvoting Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González-Colón, R-Puerto Rico, and Rep. Nydia Velázquez, D-New York, belong to different mainland political parties and have long been political opponents on the issue of the island’s status: González-Colón supports statehood; Velázquez opposes it. Last year, they sponsored competing — and diametrically opposed — bills on Puerto Rico’s status. Yet they have found common ground in their life-long commitment to ending its colonial status. With the steadfast support of Committee Chair Raúl Grijalva, D-Arizona, and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer D-Maryland, they have crafted a joint bill that prioritizes Puerto Rican self-determination over political self-interest.
As residents of a U.S. territory, the 3.2 million U.S. citizens of Puerto Rico have neither voting representation in the federal government nor international sovereignty of their own. They are second-class citizens — subject to U.S. sovereignty yet unequal under U.S. law. Territorial status violates the most basic of American values: government by consent. The promise of a government “of the people, by the people, for the people” rings hollow in Puerto Rico.
As a U.S. territory, Puerto Rico cannot unilaterally achieve independence. Nor, of course, can it unilaterally admit itself into statehood. Congress has an essential role to play in Puerto Rico’s decolonization, wherever it may lead. The PRSA responds to this reality exactly as Congress should: It offers Puerto Rican voters a choice among all of their non-territorial status options. It defines the options in detail, spells out the transition to each one and requires a nonpartisan voter-education campaign leading up to the plebiscite. If none of the options receives a majority, a runoff follows. Once one option wins, the transition begins. Soon thereafter, Puerto Rico would cease to be a U.S. territory — a living monument to America’s failure to abandon its colonial past.
Of course, not everyone agrees with every line in the PRSA. And no bill — let alone one that will finally release more than 3 million people from more than 100 years of subordination — can succeed without serious compromise on all sides.
The question is whether the compromises that the PRSA requires are worth the candle. In this case, the candle finally shines the light of liberty and equality on our fellow Americans who live in Puerto Rico. If that is not worth the candle, nothing is.
Rafael Cox Alomar is professor of law at the University of the District of Columbia, David A. Clarke School of Law.
Christina D. Ponsa-Kraus is the George Welwood Murray Professor of Legal History at Columbia Law School
CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
One man's plea deal may shed light
on Brett Favre's possible ties to a
$70 million Mississippi welfare scam
In a development that could impact Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre, a key figure in an unfolding Mississippi welfare misappropriation scandal entered into a plea deal with state and federal prosecutors Thursday.
In a deal announced by the U.S. Department of Justice, John Davis, the former director of the Mississippi Department of Human Services, entered a guilty plea Thursday for his role in a scheme that misdirected more than $70 million in welfare funds earmarked to support the state’s neediest residents. In exchange for the plea, Davis is expected to cooperate with investigators who are seeking additional indictments in the scam.
Davis' cooperation is believed to be key for state and federal prosecutors, who are seeking information on other possible individuals involved in the various stages of misdirecting funds. Those under investigation include multiple unnamed (for now) co-conspirators with Davis.
Favre has come under media scrutiny for nearly $8.1 million in welfare funds that were allegedly doled out to entities tied to the former NFL star. Of that sum, $1.1 million directly went to Favre for public speaking appearances that he allegedly didn’t make, along with $5 million to the construction of a volleyball building at Favre’s alma mater, the University of Southern Mississippi, and another $2 million to a pharmaceutical startup that Favre has been tied to as an investor.
Favre repaid the $1.1 million for the uncompleted speaking engagements — although not the accrued interest that prosecutors sought — and his lawyer has denied the former NFL quarterback knew welfare funds were being tapped for any of his endeavors. With his plea agreement, Davis could answer any questions for prosecutors about Favre’s level of knowledge or influence, as well as shed light on any meetings regarding the funds that went to entities tied to the former NFL star.
According to the DOJ's announcement, Davis directed his office to provide “federal funds to two nonprofit organizations and then directed the two organizations to fraudulently award contracts to various entities and individuals for social services that were never provided.”
As part of his plea, Davis is expected to reveal how that alleged fraud was established and the precise individuals who benefitted. Such cooperation is considered a massive coup for state and federal prosecutors, who charged Davis as a central facilitator in the misappropriation scam. Davis had been indicted on two dozen charges for his role in the misappropriations and would have faced a potential of nearly 50 years in prison had he been convicted on all counts. Instead, with his cooperation and plea agreement to a handful of charges, he’s expected to face only a fraction of that time behind bars in exchange for cooperation that could implicate other figures.
Davis’ guilty plea is the second major agreement reached in the case by prosecutors, following nonprofit manager Nancy New, who was indicted and in April pleaded guilty to 13 felonies related to the investigation. New was accused of fronting a nonprofit that was utilized as a pipeline to move welfare funds to various projects in an enterprise that state and government authorities historically describe as a “welfare for the well-connected” plot.
Aside from Favre, prosecutors are also investigating former Mississippi governor Phil Bryant. Published reports by Mississippi Today detailed alleged texts linking Bryant, Davis, New and Favre to funds that were sought for the volleyball building project at Southern Miss. Among those materials, Bryant allegedly directed Favre in how to write a funding proposal that would be approved by the Mississippi Department of Human Services. Bryant has denied any recollection of using welfare funds for inappropriate projects.
Former top Mississippi health official pleads guilty to fraud
A former top Mississippi health official pleaded guilty on Thursday to conspiracy to defraud the state of millions of dollars in federal funds as part of a scandal that also involved former NFL quarterback Brett Favre.
A Justice Department release states that John Davis, who served as the executive director of the Mississippi Department of Human Services, and co-conspirators illegally took funds from two welfare programs — Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and the Emergency Food Assistance Program — for their own personal use.
Davis directed the state human services department to provide federal funds to two nonprofit organizations, which he then told to award contracts to multiple entities and people for social services that were never provided, the release states.
Davis also had the nonprofits make complete or almost-complete payments to those contracts near the start of the contract periods, knowing that no major service would be provided, according to the Justice Department.
Favre received a letter from the state auditor’s office in October to request the repayment of money he received as part of the scheme. Nine other individuals also received the letter.
Favre reportedly was improperly paid $1.1 million in welfare funds from December 2017 to June 2018. He repaid $600,000 in October, but the state auditor said he still owed $228,000 in interest.
Texts between Favre and former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant (R) revealed last week that they communicated ways to use at least $5 million in welfare funds for a new volleyball center at the University of Southern Mississippi, his alma mater.
Davis pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and to commit theft concerning programs receiving federal funds and one count of theft concerning programs receiving federal funds.
Sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 2, 2023, and he could face up to five years for the count of conspiracy and 10 years for the count of theft.
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