First images show aftermath of NASA's DART asteroid collision mission

Leah Crane - 10h ago  New Scientist

Plumes of debris erupting out of the asteroid Dimorphos ASI Italian Space Agency

NASA has smashed a spacecraft into an asteroid, and a small satellite watched the whole thing happen. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) crashed into the 160-metre-wide moonlet Dimorphos on 26 September. Now, the Light Italian CubeSat for Imaging of Asteroids (LICIACube) has sent back images of the collision from up close.

DART’s goal in smashing into Dimorphos, which orbits a larger asteroid called Didymos, was to change its orbit in a test of how we might be able to deflect an asteroid heading towards Earth. While the spacecraft documented its approach to the asteroid, it was destroyed in the actual collision.


Related video: NASA’s DART Mission Expected to Hit Target Asteroid Today
View on Watch

That is where LICIACube comes in. DART carried the 14-kilogram satellite in a spring-loaded box and then ejected it on 11 September so it could fly past Dimorphos at a safe distance after the collision. This was key to both figuring out how the collision affected the asteroid itself and determining whether its orbit was changed.

The first images from LICIACube show huge plumes of debris erupting out of Dimorphos after the collision. These pictures have not been analysed by scientists yet, but eventually they will reveal information about the asteroid’s interior and how much of it was destroyed in the smash-up.

"Now the science can start," said Katarina Miljkovic at Curtin University in Australia, in a statement. "We needed a large-scale experiment... This is to ensure that, should Earth ever encounter a dangerous asteroid hurling towards us, we would know what to do."

It will take at least a few days to observe and calculate how Dimorphos’s orbit around Didymos has changed. That will depend in large part on the asteroid’s internal strength and whether its surface crumbled on collision or stood up to the crash. It’s like hitting something with a baseball bat – if the object is a rock and doesn't crumble, it will go further than a piece of fruit that breaks up into many pieces. This information will help determine how future missions to protect Earth from any potentially dangerous asteroids should be designed.

Astronomers stunned as binary asteroid Didymos-Dimorphos brightens after DART space rock impact

Tereza Pultarova - SPACE.COM

Astronomers watched in awe as binary asteroid Didymos brightened up immediately after the impact of NASA's DART spacecraft on Monday (Sept. 26).


A sequence of images showing the brightening of asteroid Didymos immediately after the impact of NASA's DART spacecraft.© Virtual Telescope Project/Klein Karoo Observatory

Italian astronomer Gianluca Masi couldn't contain his excitement at the sight as he shared the observations in a livestream via the Virtual Telescope project. A small, dim dot that marked the Didymos-Dimorphos binary asteroid, at that time some 7 million miles (11 million kilometers) from Earth, began rapidly brightening and within minutes outshined even the brightest of stars in that tiny section of the sky.

"This is exceeding my expectations a lot," Masi said in the stream. "The object is now nearly 3 magnitudes brighter than earlier, this is tens of times more!"

Related: Asteroid impact: Here's the last thing NASA's DART spacecraft saw before it crashed

Since Italy was outside of the region with a direct view of Didymos at the time of the collision, Masi viewed the asteroid via a 12-inch (30 centimeters) telescope at South Africa's Klein Karoo Observatory in a feed shared by amateur astronomer Berto Monard.


Related video: NASA scientists celebrate as DART makes impact with Asteroid Dimorphos
Duration 0:48   View on Watch






The two astronomers watched in awe as Didymos not only brightened up, but also grew in size and changed shape as the cloud of debris stirred by DART's impact quickly spread in the surrounding space.

"Soon after the impact, an amount of dust was released like a plume and now this cloud of dust is expanding, sending back light from the sun," Monard explained in the stream. "This is much more than what I could expect. Even the shape is a bit different. It's like a comet. There are particles that are moving away from the asteroid and that's why you have a bigger halo of light."

Masi added that the only other time astronomers could observe such a human-made brightening of a celestial object was in 2005 when NASA's Deep Impact probe intentionally collided with Comet Tempel 1. The goal of that mission, however, wasn't to change the comet's trajectory but to extract some material from its surface to enable scientists to learn more about the composition of these ice balls.

"At that time, I could record a brightness increase, but I have to say that this is by far much more dramatic," Masi commented on his observations of Deep Impact's encounter with the comet.

Telescopes all over the world are currently aiming at the Didymos binary asteroid hoping to learn all they can about the cloud of debris stirred by DART's impact and about the effects the collision had on the orbit of the 560-foot-wide (170 meters) moonlet Dimorphos around the 2,560-foot-wide (780 m) main asteroid Didymos. Altering Dimorphos' orbit around Didymos by at least 73 seconds was the primary purpose of the DART mission.

If last night's impact was successful, the DART experiment could lead to technology that humankind might need one day to protect itself from a space rock on a collision course with Earth.

Follow Tereza Pultarova on Twitter @TerezaPultarova. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

Wow! Telescopes spot DART asteroid impact in deep space (videos)

Mike Wall -SPACE.COM

Telescopes here on Earth captured the DART asteroid probe's spectacular deep-space death.

The last photo Earth received from the DART spacecraft on Sept. 26, 2022.© NASA/JHUAPL

DART slammed into Dimorphos, a moonlet of the larger asteroid Didymos, as planned on Monday evening (Sept. 26), giving up its robotic life in the name of planetary defense. The dramatic impact occurred 7 million miles (11 million kilometers) from Earth, but some sharp-eyed scopes on our planet managed to spot it.

Observations by the Hawaii-based Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS), for example, show the Didymos system brightening considerably at the moment of impact. And just afterward, a massive shell of ejected material blasts away from the battered Dimorphos.

Related: NASA's DART asteroid-impact mission explained in pictures

One of Las Cumbres Observatory's (LCO) 3.3-foot (1 meter) telescopes at the South African Astronomical Observatory told a similar story, through from a different angle; DART hits Dimorphos while moving from left to right in the frame, rather than from right to left as in the ATLAS shots.

The ATLAS project posted its observations on Twitter late Monday night, as did a member of the LCO team. Both time-lapse videos are well worth a few moments of your time.

The 560-foot-wide (170 meters) Dimorphos poses no danger to Earth, and neither does Didymos, which is about 2,560 feet (780 m) across. NASA just used the space-rock system for target practice, to test out the "kinetic impact" strategy of asteroid deflection.

Scientists will now use a variety of telescopes to measure how much the impact changed Dimorphos' orbit around Didymos. Such data will teach them about the effectiveness of the kinetic impact technique, aiding future efforts to nudge dangerous space rocks away from Earth. And we will need to deal with a big incoming asteroid at some point, experts stress; it's a matter of when, not if.

The DART ("Double Asteroid Redirection Test") postmortem is just now getting underway. Many more ground-based telescopes around the world will soon start eyeing the Didymos system. And in the next couple of days, we should get some post-impact shots of Dimorphos from LICIACube, a tiny Italian cubesat that DART deployed on Sept. 11.

The up-close work won't stop there. The European Space Agency plans to launch a probe called Hera to the Didymos system in 2024. After arriving in 2026, Hera will stick around for a while, gathering a variety of data about both asteroids.

Mike Wall is the author of "Out There" (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or on Facebook.

NASA Video Sparks Fears We May Have Encountered The Borg

Nathan Kamal - 10h ago

The recent NASA DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) Mission to collide a spacecraft with an asteroid was a complete success, especially as they meant to do that, on purpose. However, a video of the NASA mission in action has prompted some online speculation that our species may have encountered the Borg from Star Trek, which is not good news for our biological and cultural distinctiveness. As you can see above, if you look closely at the asteroid Dimorphos (technically a satellite of the larger asteroid Didymos), you can see a distinctly straight edge near its bottom, which makes people worried about space cyborgs.


NASA Video Sparks Fears We May Have Encountered The Borg

© Provided by Giant Freakin Robot

To be clear, it seems that wags online are having a bit of fun with the NASA video, likening a close-up shot of the asteroid's gray, rocky surface to the gray, mechanical surface of a Borg Cube. Hopefully, no one is actually thinking that we are meeting the iconic Star Trek villain species with this particular space mission, which is intended to test whether a spacecraft can deflect incoming space rocks by impacting them with their kinetic energy (known as the Billiard Ball Effect). The DART mission has so far been successful, colliding with Dimorphos precisely as planned.

It is unlikely that NASA has acted in the role of a member of the Q Continuum as introduced us to the Borg, because as everyone knows, humanity does not contact the Borg until the year 2365 (Stardate 42761.3). At this point in history and NASA exploration, the Borg are in the Delta Quadrant, safely thousands of light-years from Earth, so it would beggar belief for them to be showing up anytime soon. Also, the Borg are fictional.

However, it is always nice for NASA fans to be able to have a little fun by imagining encounters with dangerous and implacable alien species that indomitably seek to assimilate everything they come across in search of perfection, like the Borg. After all, expectations are higher for NASA than they have been in some time, with their budget increased to its highest level in years and being under Presidential order to land a manned spacecraft on Mars sometime soon. Combined with competition from private aerospace companies like Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin (despite their general lack of non-blowing up), NASA has a lot on its plate right now.


NASA Video Sparks Fears We May Have Encountered The Borg

© Provided by Giant Freakin Robot

Also like NASA, the Borg have recently had a resurgence in public interest. While they have never completely disappeared from the franchise, the species was brought back as a villain in the recent Star Trek: Picard series, starring Patrick Stewart in his final turn as the title character and Jeri Ryan reprising the role of Seven of Nine from Star Trek: Voyager. We recently reported that the latter is soon to be receiving her own solo series, which will almost certainly involve more of the Borg.

At least for now, it is safe to assume that humanity is safe from extraterrestrial technological intelligence coming to dismantle our society. Despite the NASA photos, we're probably going to invent our own artificial intelligence to utterly destroy us.

The post NASA Video Sparks Fears We May Have Encountered The Borg appeared first on GIANT FREAKIN ROBOT.

CANADA

'We shouldn't have to push people': Most provinces have not made Sept. 30 a stat holiday

A memorial is displayed on Parliament Hill as ceremonies take place for National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Ottawa on Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021.

 (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick)
Brittany Hobson

The Canadian Press
Published Sept. 27, 2022 

While Canada prepares to honour the second annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Friday, the majority of provinces have not followed the federal government's move to make it a statutory holiday for its workers.

New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut have declared Sept. 30 a statutory holiday.

The other provinces and territories are choosing to observe the day in various ways, while some continue consultations with Indigenous groups and businesses about whether to make it a stat.

Some cities, schools and businesses are also choosing different ways to recognize the day.

New Brunswick was the latest to declare Sept. 30 a provincial holiday.

"While this is a day to commemorate the tragic history of residential schools and honour those who did not make it home, as well as their survivors and families, I would encourage all to reflect and be reminded that reconciliation is not just one day of the year," New Brunswick Aboriginal Affairs Minister Arlene Dunn said in a statement last week.

The day is set to be treated as any other provincial holiday. All essential services, including health care, will continue to be delivered. The holiday will be optional for private sector businesses, the province said.

Mi'gmawe'l Tplu'taqnn, a group representing Mi'kmaq communities in New Brunswick, said the day is set aside for people to remember and honour victims and survivors of residential schools, including children from First Nations who attended day schools.

"It's no secret our relationship with the (Blaine) Higgs government has been strained. Recognizing this holiday does not reconcile issues or differences with the Higgs government, but it is a step in the right direction," the organization said in a statement.

"By granting this holiday, the Government of New Brunswick is giving New Brunswickers an opportunity to reflect on how we can learn from each other and work together as treaty partners."

The day, originally known as Orange Shirt Day, was established in honour of the experience of Phyllis Webstad, whose gift of clothing from her grandmother was taken away on Webstad's first day at a residential school.

The federal government made the day a statutory holiday for its workers and federally regulated workplaces last year.

For many residential school survivors, including Eugene Arcand, the day will always be known as Orange Shirt Day and efforts at the grassroots level to acknowledge the pain and trauma Indigenous children were subjected to at residential schools should continue to be recognized.

Arcand, who is from Muskeg Lake First Nation in Saskatchewan, said he never thought he'd see a day dedicated to honouring survivors.

The discovery last year of what are believed to be 215 unmarked graves at a former school site in Kamloops, B.C., forced the country to listen to what survivors had been saying for years.

Since the discovery, numerous First Nations across Canada have begun their own ground-penetrating searches of school sites, Pope Francis delivered a historic and long-awaited apology on Canadian soil for the role the Roman Catholic Church played in running many of the residential schools, and a flag honouring those impacted by the schools was raised on Parliament Hill.

Arcand said these events will provide a better quality of life for future generations of children.

But, he added, it's up to non-Indigenous peoples to educate themselves.

"We shouldn't have to push people. It's important for people to determine for themselves how they want to get engaged," he said in a recent interview in Winnipeg.

"I'm not going to bang my head against the wall for the rest of my life trying to encourage people to engage."

The Saskatchewan government said it has no plans to make the day a statutory holiday for the province.

Matthew Glover, director of media relations, said the government is encouraging residents to take a moment to reflect and discuss the importance of meaningful reconciliation.

Flags are to be lowered to half-mast at all Saskatchewan government buildings.

The Manitoba government recently announced it would observe the day for a second year, while discussions continue about making it an official statutory holiday. Schools and non-essential government services and offices will be closed.

The province said it is continuing consultations with Indigenous and labour groups.

Jennifer Wood hopes that Manitoba will soon enact legislation making the day a statutory holiday.

Wood, who lives in Winnipeg, is a survivor from Neyaashiinigmiing Ojibwe Territory in Ontario.

"It will really show that the sincerity of everything that's happened is taken seriously. It's 2022. We cannot continue to sweep anything under the rug. We have to recognize what's happening in Canada, and look at ways on how we can coexist," she said.

The day should be about educating the broader public about the legacy of residential schools, she added.

"It's our time to tell our narrative of the truth of the residential school system."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 27, 2022.

Canada’s 1st urban Indigenous ceremonial grounds taking shape in Edmonton’s river valley

Karen Bartko - 

On an sunny and beautiful September day, the sound of construction filled the air in Edmonton's river valley, where crews were hard at work building the first urban Indigenous ceremonial grounds in Canada.


Rendering of the kihciy askiy site in Edmonton.© Supplied by the City of Edmonton

"My heart is really full," said Lewis Cardinal, the Indigenous Knowledge and Wisdom Centre (IKWC) project manager for kihciy askiy. He's been working on making the facility a reality for the better part of two decades.

Located south of Fox Drive and Whitemud Drive on Treaty 6 territory, kihciy askiy (pronounced "key-chee-ask-ee") will provide a natural setting for Edmonton's Indigenous community to host ceremonies, sweat lodges, cultural camps and talking circles, as well as grow medicinal herbs and facilitate intergenerational learning in an appropriately designed outdoor space.

The City of Edmonton partnered with the IKWC, an Alberta-wide organization supporting First Nation education, on kihciy askiy.


Read more:
National Indigenous Peoples Day a chance to celebrate rich history in Edmonton

Cardinal praised the city for its work in the project, calling it a bold act of reconciliation.

"To be here today, after all these years, is really to be stepping into a dream that I know is going to be beneficial for many Indigenous families and youth and elders, but also Edmontonians, because we also will have our door open for non-Indigenous people from Edmonton to be able to come in to learn."

kihciy askiy is intended to be a solemn site for Indigenous ceremonial gathering, so lively events like powwows won't happen there.

"We don't want this to be a tourist attraction and the elders have made that very clear," Cardinal said.

The facility will adhere to the city's noise bylaw and have a capacity of 100 people at a time.

"This is a place to be solemn, to seek solace and to make that connection with the land and the creator. And so we want to ensure that we follow that."

Read more:
What’s behind the growing interest in Indigenous-led tourism in Canada?

The site will have a circular area for up to eight sweat lodges and two permanent stone heating devices with a water source. There will also be an area for tipis with a permanent fire pit for ceremonies and small group workshops, and an amphitheatre.

A pavilion building will house washrooms, locker rooms, a gathering room and storage for ceremonial items. The site will have 50 parking stalls and two stalls for big busses.

The kihciy askiy site was selected for its historical and cultural significance: Howard Mustus, chair of the kihciy askiy elder council, said it's where Indigenous people would engage in commerce with traders and gather with kinsmen to socialize.

The city said the site was also used to forage for medicinal plants and ochre, a rare mineral that is also found close to the site and was used in spiritual and traditional ceremonies.

On a more logistical level, Cardinal said the site was also selected because it's accessible for those who rely on transit.

"Most of our peoples in the city have transportation issues, so they can't leave the city in order to do ceremonies," he explained.

It's been about 140 years since ceremonies like the ones kihciy askiy is designed for have been carried out in Edmonton's river valley, Cardinal said.

"We're the only group of people who have to leave the city in order to pray. We don't have a mosque, a temple or a cathedral that we can pray in.

"But now this is our cathedral, our mosque and our temple. It's a place where anyone can come to learn more about and being connected to Indigenous traditions."

There are also over 60 organizations in Edmonton that serve the needs of the Indigenous community, Cardinal said.

"Each of them have cultural programming or ceremonial programming as a part of what they do. They need space. Everyone has to leave town up to 100 kilometres to go and do various ceremonies and events, but now they can have access to this space."

Read more:

‘We encourage people to do the research’: A look at developing land acknowledgments in Canada

Cardinal said the IKWC anticipates demand for the site will be great that there will always be a ceremony or something going on.

"I think the only challenge we're going to have is ensuring that we have enough space to to support everyone's needs."

Mustus agreed scheduling could be an issue, as schools and government agencies have expressed interest in coming to the site to witness ceremonies and learn.

Cardinal said several educational institutions and groups are developing a land-based educational curriculum, including Edmonton Public Schools, the IKWC and the Yellowhead Indigenous Education Foundation.

"This land then becomes important for them to come in and and be able to deliver that kind of programming," Cardinal said.

Other cities have taken notice: Cardinal said he's received calls from officials in Toronto, Saskatoon, Calgary and Winnipeg, all eager to create a similar space in their communities.

"Most Indigenous people are no longer living in their traditional communities, they're in the urban centres. So they need to have access to culture," he said, adding the space will help with the reconciliation process.

Read more:
‘I downplayed it all’: Métis man shares journey to self-love after residential school

The project has been 16 years in the making, from initial consultations with dozens of elders to meeting and working with various City of Edmonton departments.

"I'm not really complaining about the time — some things are worth waiting for and worth building together," Cardinal said.

Making ceremonies and educational opportunities accessible to both the Indigenous and wider community is important to reconciliation, Cardinal said, but it took several years for it to come together because it had never been done before.

The city worked with the IKWC, as well as Reimagine Architects and builder Delnor, to conduct engagement about the community's needs and come up with the facility taking shape in west Edmonton.

"We really had to start with a blank slate in terms of trying to understand the programming needs, how it was expected to be operated," said Jason Meliefste, a branch manager with the city who has been involved in the $6.5-million facility for a few years.

"This project pales in scale and funding to a lot of the other major infrastructure projects at the city, but I don't think you'd find another project that has the same level of impact that this will have on our community."

Edmonton is home to the second-largest urban Indigenous population in Canada.

The city is full of churches, mosques, gurdwaras and other paces of worship, but Meliefste said there's about 65,000 Indigenous people in Edmonton that don't have a place to practise their traditional ways.

"I'm looking forward to that community having a home to be able to do this, to continue their practices and teach and pass down those learnings to their next generations."

Read more:
Alberta family fundraising to build ceremonial lodge in honour of girl who loved her Indigenous culture

Frederick Campion is a spiritual leader who is on the kihciy askiy elder council. He is also an IKWC liaison and Treaty 8 representative. He said his grandfather was demonized by the church for conducting sweat lodges in the 1930s.

"My grandfather prepared me for this, and I'm very happy to be seeing this happen in the city of Edmonton," Campion said.

He believes traditional ceremonies are key to keeping Mother Nature happy and the land healthy.

"Responsible for this land — that's what we are as Indigenous people. We're responsible and once they keep hearing that drum, the spirit will come and look after us. This is our belief. Whether you believe it or not, this is our belief," Campion said.

"We want to share these teachings so that everybody can have a greater understanding about this relationship."

Cardinal said part of the facility being accessible for the wider public includes developing programming specifically for the surrounding neighbourhoods of Grandview and Brookside, in the spirit of being good neighbours.

Read more:
Construction to begin soon in Edmonton on 1st urban Indigenous cultural site in Canada

Construction started in late 2021 and will continue through to next spring. Once finished, the site will be open daily from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The IKWC will operate the site under a licence agreement with the city: the IKWC will focus on programming while the city services the site and buildings.

Canada bans street dogs from more than 100 countries starting Wednesday

Rebecca Zandbergen - 14h ago

Dog rescue organizations in Canada hope the federal government will have a change of heart over its ban on street dogs from more than 100 countries.


Three of the dogs Fida Kablawi of London, Ont., has been working with in Cairo. Kablawi has sent 17 Egyptian street dogs to Canada over two years. She's hopeful Canada will reverse its ban, effective Wednesday, on bringing street dogs from dozens of countries to Canada.

© Submitted by Fida Kablawi

In June, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) announced that commercial dogs — dogs intended for resale, adoption, fostering, breeding, exhibition and research — at high risk for rabies will be banned from entering Canada starting Wednesday (Sept. 28), regardless of when import permits were issued.

Rabies is a viral disease that attacks the central nervous system of mammals, including humans, the government's website notes. The CFIA said dog rabies kills 59,000 people every year in countries affected by the ban, including Afghanistan, Ukraine and mainland China.

"It's very disheartening," said Baladi Dog Rescue of Ontario co-founder Lindy Lystar. The London, Ont., group has been working with a rescuer in Cairo and has flown some 30 dogs to the region.

"We have some very close friends in Egypt that are out there on the street every day and they see the horrors that these dogs have to go through," said Lystar.

"She'll come out of her house and there's 10 or 20 dogs poisoned on the street, and she feels so helpless," she said, referring to just one of the horrible ways street dogs seen are treated generally.

Most of the regions affected by the ban are in Africa (including Egypt), Central and South America, Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.

"It doesn't make a lot of sense," said Lystar about Canada's ban.

The dogs in Egypt are given vaccinations — including against rabies — their blood is tested for diseases, and they're spayed or neutered before making the trip to Canada, Lystar said, adding there's also a requirement that they be tested to assess a dog's immunity to rabies before they leave Egypt.

"They're a little bit scared, so they do need some extra care and love and training, but they're great dogs," said Lystar who has her own Egyptian dog, a short-haired, pointy-eared blond pet named Louise.

"They're loyal dogs. They're protective. They're so intelligent."

CBC News reached out to the CFIA and hadn't received a response at time of publication.

In July, the agency said Canada did not have any active cases of "dog rabies," a strain different from the rabies typically found in wildlife such as skunks, foxes, raccoons and bats. However, it note, in 2021, dogs with rabies were imported into Canada, prompting the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) and provincial public health authorities to ask the CFIA to take action to address the risks from imported dogs.

Vet association's past president says ban needed

Canine rabies has become a growing concern in Canada since the U.S. implemented a similar ban last year, prompting some rescue groups to redirect their efforts to send more dogs to Canada, Louis Kwantes, past president of the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association, told The Canadian Press.

"We always knew that the risk was there," Kwantes said. "But when it's actually in your country, that theoretical risk becomes a real and present danger."

While the CFIA's stance may seem severe, Kwantes said he believes it's warranted given the risks that canine rabies and other contagions that are endemic to other countries pose to Canada's human and dog populations.

Two cases of rabies in dogs imported from Iran — one of the banned countries — have been confirmed in Ontario since July 2021, according to the province's Agriculture and Food Ministry.

Both dogs had received rabies vaccines that aren't licensed in Canada before their arrival, Ontario officials said. A total of 49 people who came into contact with the dogs received rabies post-exposure prophylaxis, a type of treatment that is estimated to cost about $2,000 per person.

Kwantes said these cases are illustrative of the danger posed by even a single case of canine rabies making its way into the country. While dogs are routinely vaccinated against rabies, most Canadians are not, he said. Given the close relationship between them, the canine variant is cause for concern, he said.

Many of the banned countries don't have robust veterinary systems, said Kwantes, raising concerns about fraudulent vaccine certificates or inadequate inoculation.

Ways dogs treated 'breaks your heart'

Ahead of the government's ban that begins Wednesday, Fida Kablawi of London, Ont., returned with nine dogs from Egypt after a two-month stay in the capital city.

"I'm an animal lover, and it breaks your heart, and there's so many of them.

"It's sad. It's surprising, shocking sometimes," she said. "There's a lot of poverty. [People] have so many other problems to deal with that to them a suffering dog on the street is not a priority."

Kablawi first visited Cairo in 2020 on a work trip, and was so taken by the city's street dogs that she's returned multiple times to fly dogs back with her. She works with Baladi Dog Rescue and through fundraising, pays for the dogs' medical bills, the paperwork and the flights.

The dogs are only allowed to leave the country once Egypt's Ministry of Agriculture checks them out and signs off on the paperwork, said Kablwai.

"Most of the ones that we pick have had a really rough time — they've been neglected or they've been tied to a roof and chained and starved," she said. "The ones with the tough stories, the ones that we feel need the most love, the ones who have had it the worst, we try to bring over to give them a better life.

"I do believe Canada will change this [the ban] with just maybe some stricter laws when the dogs enter the country," she said.

Rescuers have been calling for better regulations, including quarantining, vet checks and behavioural assessments, to ensure the safety of both the dogs and families who will home them.

Watch Shark Leap From Water To Catch Fish in Extremely Rare Footage


A picture shows a shark hunting a fish in the water. It is not clear what species it is.

© Alternative-Monk-386/Reddit

A shark has been filmed leaping from the water to catch a fish in an extremely rare sighting in Croatia.

The video, which was posted to Reddit by user Alternative-Monk-386, shows a large fish thrashing about in shallow water, on Island Krk in Malinska. It is not clear what species it is, although the animal heavily resembles a shark.

A picture posted of the fish in a separate thread shows it nearly completely out of the water, with a fish flying in the air.

"We were just walking along the beach when we heard the splashing of water, when we looked at the sea we saw that it was an animal moving very rapidly. Since it happened very quickly and we could not see the animal after 15 seconds, we thought that maybe it was a baby dolphin," Alternative-Monk-386 told Newsweek.

"But after we slowed down the video, we were shocked to see that the animal was in fact a shark. There were about 10 other people on the beach at the moment and all of them were shocked and didn't understand what was happening."

The user asked Reddit users to help identify the creature. In a caption to the photo, the Reddit user said the animal was small, and in "very shallow water."

"Can you help us figure out if it is a shark? And if so which species?" the caption read.

Sharks do live in the Adriatic sea but sightings are incredibly rare. Species include the shortfin mako shark, common thresher, blue shark and spiny dog fish. Great white sharks have been recorded in the Adriatic before, although instances are extremely rare.

As sightings are so scarce, sharks are not considered a danger to swimmers in the country. According to the Global Shark Attack file, there have only been 14 attacks and one fatality caused by sharks in Croatia over the past 130 years.

Reddit users seemed to agree that the fish was in fact a shark, although the species remains a mystery.

"I reckon this is a shortfin mako. Nice sighting!" one user said.

Others speculated that it could be a larger species.

"I couldn't find anything about sharks on the island but my guess would be a bull shark," one user said.

Another Reddit user responded: "Bull sharks have never been proven to be found in the Mediterranean of which the Adriatic Sea is part of."

"Bull shark would make sense in such shallow waters," another user said.

Sharks will often feed in shallow waters. This is where most attacks occur, as it is where conflicts with swimmers are more likely.

"That's either a bull shark or a juvenile great white. But telling by the head shape and color its probably a bull shark," someone else said.

'Shocking' erosion of sand dunes in Prince Edward Island National Park due to Fiona

DALVAY BY THE SEA, P.E.I. — The scale of sand dune erosion in Prince Edward Island National Park due to post-tropical storm Fiona is “shocking” and has dramatically changed the landscape of some beaches, Parks Canada says.


 Provided by The Canadian Press

Jennifer Stewart, external relations manager with Parks Canada in P.E.I., said the storm has caused the most severe coastal erosion she’s seen since she began her career in 2000.

The erosion is particularly significant at Dalvay Beach, she said, where dune systems used to block the view of the water from the nearby roadway.

“There was a dune system. It's completely gone, and now the road is eroding away,” Stewart said in an interview.

“It is shocking. It completely changed the look of the landscape in this area.”

The post-tropical storm left a trail of destruction across Atlantic Canada, stretching from Nova Scotia's eastern mainland to Cape Breton, P.E.I. and southwestern Newfoundland.

Stewart said the loss of dunes is troubling because they act as a natural barrier in protecting shoreline from the impact of storms and ocean swells.

“Luckily, coastal ecosystems are very dynamic,” Stewart said. As sediment is washed back on the beach, vegetation, such as marram grass, will catch the sand to develop new dunes.

“As this happens, marram grass will spread its roots under the surface of the sand, creating a living web to hold the sand in place,” she said.

While sand dunes are likely to reform, this process takes years, Stewart said. In order to encourage growth, she said, people should avoid the area where the dunes were to avoid disturbing the vegetation.

Another victim of erosion caused by Fiona was the frequently photographed sea-stack rock formation known as the Teacup Rock at Thunder Cove Beach.

Bruce Stewart, who lives a short drive away from where the teacup once sat in New London Bay, has been an avid photographer of the distinctive rock structure.

“Unfortunately all that’s left there now is a bit of the pedestal,” Stewart said. "The saucer, if you like."

On his countless visits to Thunder Cove Beach, Stewart said he’s met photographers and tourists from all over the world snapping shots of the teacup.

Stewart said the loss of the landmark doesn’t compare to Fiona's destruction of homes in Atlantic Canada, but he said it’s still “devastating.”

“What was so special about the teacup is that it was a natural formation. It wasn’t something that somebody went and crafted,” he said.

The lamented teacup joins the former Elephant Rock, which drew thousands of tourists over the years to Norway, P.E.I., on the Island's northwestern tip until it also fell victim to the elements in the late 1990s.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 27, 2022.

-- By Lyndsay Armstrong in Halifax

---

This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

The Canadian Press

Parks Canada to let Chetamon Mountain wildfire burn to promote ecological growth

Katarina Szulc - 13h ago


The Chetamon Mountain wildfire, in Jasper National Park, will continue to burn in a controlled manner to help revitalize ecological growth, Parks Canada says.


Fire crews were able to hold the wildfire on Chetamon Mountain, in 

Jasper National Park, to about 6,000 hectares in size

© Submitted by Parks Canada

Fire management officials examined the area last weekend, particularly the western region of the fire. They determined the fire would be left to spread along the western perimeter into the Chetamon Mountain basin, Vine Creek valley, Corral Creek valley and Snake-Indian River valley.

"Natural features within these valleys, such as rocky ridges, water, and low-lying moist areas will help to contain the spread within the western flank," Parks Canada said in a news release issued Monday.

The fire, burning well north of Jasper, Alta., a municipality about 315 kilometres west of Edmonton, ignited after lightning struck on Sept. 1.

It grew to about 6,000 hectares before fire crews were able to hold it earlier this month.

Parks Canada officials have previously said they would allow the fire to continue to burn in a controlled manner, because it can promote ecological growth.

Related video: Incredible Timelapse Recording of Auroras Over Wildfire

Duration 0:16   View on Watch

"It's a natural process and then, if it's done in the right circumstances and conditions, it's beneficial," Brad Romaniuk, Incident commander for the Chetamon wildfire and Jasper National Park, told CBC News.

It creates a different mosaic for different ecosystems, which allows different plants and animals to survive and thrive, he explained.

"Fire... is a bit of a stimulus for that process to occur," he said.

There are many vast ecosystems within the Rocky Mountains, Romaniuk said, but wildfires in that environment rarely consume everything.

The burn can renew habitats for various animals, such as grizzly bears, wolves and elk, Parks Canada said in its news release.

The controlled burn may also limit the potential spread of future wildfires, because the scorched vegetation can act as a fuel break, Romaniuk said.

There were more than 40 active wildfires burning in the province as of Monday night, according to Alberta's wildfire dashboard.

Alberta's fire season officially ends Oct. 31.

NDP calls for probe into grocery store profits amid high food inflation

Craig Lord - 8h ago - GLOBAL NEWS

A woman shops for produce at the Granville Island Market in Vancouver, on Wednesday, July 20, 2022. Food inflation remains stubbornly high in Canada as grocery prices climbed at the fastest clip in more than four decades last month.

© THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Supermarket inflation or ‘greedflation’?

Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is calling for a parliamentary committee to investigate soaring profits posted at grocery stores, insinuating that corporate greed or worse is inflating the already rising costs of food.

Singh said Tuesday that a probe is needed to uncover the root cause of corporate profits and CEO bonuses in the food and grocery sector.

He pointed to soaring food prices as other sources of inflation cooled as a sign of artificially high grocery bills.

Statistics Canada reported earlier this month that while the annual rate of inflation cooled to seven per cent nationally in August, the cost of food skyrocketed 10.8 per cent — a new 41-year high.

Video: NDP’s Singh grills liberals on combatting corporate ‘greed’

“We know that this is an area where families are really feeling the squeeze and it's the one area where the prices have not started to come down,” Singh said Tuesday.

Food prices have been on the rise for much of 2022, with many economists pointing to the war in Ukraine stymying supply chains on wheat and other staples as a chief cause of inflation.

But Singh argued that if high prices were solely caused by international factors, grocery stores would not be simultaneously posting robust quarterly profits.

Metro said last month that its $275-million profit in Q3 was roughly nine per cent higher than last year; Loblaw, meanwhile, reported a Q2 profit of $387 million in July, up 3.2 per cent annually; and in June Empire Co. Ltd., parent of Sobeys, reported a Q4 profit of $178.5 million, up 3.8 per cent year over year.

“If it was simply an increase of price to match the increased costs, we wouldn't be seeing the bonuses and the record profits. So that is clear evidence that it's something beyond the understandable, perhaps, increased costs that flow from the war or gas prices that have gone up,” Singh said.

He alluded to the 2018 Competition Bureau inquiry that found Canadian grocers co-ordinated to fix the price of bread as proof that the industry has engaged in unscrupulous practices before.

Read more:

7 Canadian companies committed indictable offences in bread-price fixing scandal, Competition Bureau says

A report earlier this month from the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University also looked into allegations of corporate profiteering by Canada’s grocery giants.

The report compared the year-end profit margins of Loblaw, Metro and Empire Co. over the past four years and found they stayed “relatively consistent,” leaving little public evidence of so-called “greedflation.”

“It may look counterintuitive, but the numbers are not pointing to commercial abuse towards consumers,” the report says.

While each of the three grocery giants reported a jump in both profit and revenues in their latest quarterly results, each pointed to increased sales in their pharmacy businesses as driving the higher earnings.

Read more:

Sobeys parent company sees Q4 profit grow as food inflation nears 10% in Canada

The Dalhousie report did, however, say an investigation from the Competition Bureau could “shed more light on practices in the industry.”

Publicly available data in earnings reports is “inconclusive at best,” the report concluded, with little information available on the impact of food processing, transportation and affiliated companies on costs and profit margins in the grocery industry.

NDP MP Alistair MacGregor plans to introduce the motion calling for a probe at the agriculture committee on Wednesday.

Speaking with Global News on Tuesday, MacGregor pointed to increasing concentration in the food processing and grocery sectors as limiting competition and choice for consumers. He said a probe would seek to touch on the role of corporate concentration in food pricing.

He said his constituents in Duncan, B.C. have also told him they're increasingly being forced to shop in the centre aisles of the grocery store — the shelves lined with processed but typically cheaper foods — because they can't afford the fresh fruits, vegetables and quality meat found on the outer edge of the store.

Read more:

Nova Scotians changing how they shop for groceries as food prices keep climbing

"Too many Canadian families are experiencing this pain," he said.

"I just want parliamentarians to wake up to this fact and to really delve into it, to make sure we're coming up with concrete solutions to address it."

— with files from Global News' Bryan Mullan, Sean Boynton

Video: Report finds Canadians are struggling to keep up with higher food prices

ECOCIDE

Blasts precede Baltic pipeline leaks

RUSSIA'S MAIN PIPELINES LEAK NATURAL GAS INTO SEA AFTER APPARENT EXPLOSIONS

IT DOESN'T LOOK GOOD, FOLKS.

PICTURE ALLIANCE VIA GETTY / FUTURIS

Nordic Nonsense

Russia's Nord Stream gas pipelines, which supply Europe with most of its natural gas, have sprung leaks after apparent explosions, leading to concern that the equipment might have been intentionally sabotaged as an escalation in Russia's Ukrainian conflict.

As the Wall Street Journal reports, the pipeline pair act as the main links for Russian natural gas between Europe and Germany — and by extension the rest of Western Europe — and have been at the center of the escalating Ukraine conflict, with Russian President Vladimir Putin appearing to use the pipelines and the much-needed energy they supply as leverage in the face of sanctions from the European Union.

EU Action

European authorities are currently investigating the leaks, the WSJ notes, as leaders float the potential for sabotage.

In Poland, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki declared without citing evidence that the pipelines were intentionally damaged. The president of Denmark and — curiously — Russia itself also said sabotage could be the root cause of the problem.

The Swedish Maritime Administration (SMA) announced earlier on Tuesday that it had found a total of three gas leaks in Danish and Swedish waters near a small Baltic island, the WSJ reports. The agency warned sailors to keep a distance of five nautical miles or more away from the Swedish island, and also cautioned cautioned pilots to keep at least 1,000 meters over the site of the leaks.

Seismic Proportions

Seismologists said that they detected two tremors in the area of the leaks early Monday morning, and have said that they don't believe they were of natural origin.

"We are pretty sure that the two events were blasts," Swedish National Seismic Network seismologist told the WSJ. "They are not earthquakes."

Though the pipelines were not running, gas prices rose five percent in the wake of the news, the WSJ notes — another example of how, regardless of the cause, this is a huge deal in an already-catastrophic situation in Europe.

READ MORE: Europe Investigates Unexplained Leaks in Nord Stream Gas Pipelines [The Wall Street Journal]

More on the Ukraine invasion: Russia Warns That Nuclear Plant It Captured May Leak Waste Over Europe

Futurism

Blasts precede Baltic pipeline leaks, sabotage seen likely

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Denmark said Tuesday it believed “deliberate actions” by unknown perpetrators were behind big leaks, which seismologists said followed powerful explosions, in two natural gas pipelines running under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany.


Blasts precede Baltic pipeline leaks, sabotage seen likely

© Provided by The Canadian Press

European leaders and experts pointed to possible sabotage amid the energy standoff with Russia provoked by the war in Ukraine. Although filled with gas, neither pipeline is currently supplying it to Europe.

“It is the authorities’ clear assessment that these are deliberate actions -– not accidents,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said.

But she added that “there is no information indicating who could be behind it.” Frederiksen also rejected the suggestion that the incident was an attack on Denmark, saying the leaks occurred in international waters.

The incident overshadowed the inauguration of a long-awaited pipeline that will bring Norwegian gas to Poland to bolster the continent’s energy independence from Moscow.

The first explosion was recorded early Monday southeast of the Danish island of Bornholm, said Bjorn Lund, director of the Swedish National Seismic Network. A second, stronger blast northeast of the island that night was equivalent to a magnitude-2.3 earthquake. Seismic stations in Denmark, Norway and Finland also registered the explosions.

“There’s no doubt, this is not an earthquake,” Lund said.

On Wednesday, Danish defense minister Morten Bødskov will travel to Brussels to discuss the leaks with NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg.

Denmark’s Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod said nearby Sweden, Germany and Poland have been kept informed, and “we will inform and reach out to Russia in this case.”

He said Denmark’s foreign intelligence service didn’t see any increased military threat against Denmark after the three leaks on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines.

They created a foamy white area on the water's surface, images released by Denmark's military show. Danish Energy Minister Dan Jørgensen said that “we cannot say how long the leak will go" on for as the gas has not been turned off. There was no indication when the gas would be turned off.

The German operator of the pipelines, Nord Stream AG, said it’s preparing a survey to assess the damage in cooperation with local authorities.

“Currently, it is not possible to estimate a timeframe for restoring the gas transport infrastructure,” a company statement said. “The causes of the incident will be clarified as a result of the investigation.”

In Sweden, acting Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said “it is probably a case of sabotage,” but not an attack on Sweden.

Andersson added that neighboring oil-rich Norway “has informed us about increased drone activity in the North Sea and the measures they have taken in connection with it.”

Foreign Minister Ann Linde said that Sweden “(is) not ruling out any scenarios and we will not speculate about motive or actor.”

Related video: Ukraine accuses Russia of sabotaging gas pipelines
Duration 0:23   View on Watch

Baltic Pipe: Norway-Poland gas pipeline opens in key move to cut dependency on Russia

Norway, Poland open new gas pipeline as Nord Stream leaks

France 24

The escaped natural gas is made up almost entirely of methane. — the second biggest contributor to climate change after carbon dioxide. David Hastings, a retired chemical oceanographer in Gainesville, Florida, said much of the gas would rise through the sea and enter the atmosphere. “There is no question that the largest environmental impact of this is to the climate, because methane is a really potent greenhouse gas,” he said.

According to United Nations data, methane is 82.5 times worse for the climate than carbon dioxide over a 20-year time frame, because it so effectively absorbs the heat of the sun.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki called the events “an act of sabotage." During a ceremony in northwestern Poland, Morawiecki, Denmark's Frederiksen and Polish President Andrzej Duda symbolically opened the valve of a yellow pipe belonging to the Baltic Pipe, a new system sending Norwegian gas across Denmark to Poland.

"The era of Russian domination in the gas sphere is coming to an end," Morawiecki declared. “An era that was marked by blackmail, threats and extortion.”

No official presented evidence of what caused the leaks, but with distrust of Russia running high, some feared Moscow sabotaged its own infrastructure out of spite or to warn that pipelines are vulnerable to attack. The leaks raised the stakes on whether energy infrastructure was being targeted and led to a small bump in natural gas prices.

“We can clearly see that this is an act of sabotage, an act that probably means a next step of escalation in the situation that we are dealing with in Ukraine,” Morawiecki said.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters that American officials have not confirmed sabotage or an attack.

Anders Puck Nielsen, a researcher with the Center for Maritime Operations at the Royal Danish Defence College, said the timing of the leaks was “conspicuous” given the ceremony for the Baltic Pipe. He said perhaps someone sought “to send a signal that something could happen to the Norwegian gas.”

The extent of the damage means the Nord Stream pipelines are unlikely to be able to carry any gas to Europe this winter even if there was political will to bring them online, analysts at the Eurasia Group said. Russia has halted flows on the 1,224-kilometer (760-mile) Nord Stream 1 pipeline during the war, while Germany prevented them from ever starting in the parallel Nord Stream 2.

“Depending on the scale of the damage, the leaks could even mean a permanent closure of both lines,” analysts Henning Gloystein and Jason Bush wrote.

Puck Nielsen said of possible sabotage that “technically speaking, this is not difficult. It just requires a boat. It requires some divers that know how to handle explosive devices.”

“But I think if we look at who would actually benefit from disturbances, more chaos on the gas market in Europe, I think there’s basically only one actor right now that actually benefits from more uncertainty, and that is Russia," he said.

Asked if the leaks may have been caused by sabotage, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said “no version could be excluded.”

“This is an unprecedented situation that requires an urgent investigation. We are extremely worried by this news,” he said in a conference call with reporters.

Danish and Swedish maritime authorities issued navigation warnings, and established a prohibited area for vessels. Ships may lose buoyancy, and there may also be a risk of ignition above the water and in the air.

The Nord Stream pipelines have been at the center of an energy clash between Europe and Russia since the invasion of Ukraine in late February. Plunging Russian gas supplies have caused prices to soar, pressuring governments to help ease the pain of sky-high energy bills for households and businesses as winter nears. The crisis also has raised fears of rationing and recession.

The Baltic Pipe is a prominent element in the European Union's search for energy security and is to start bringing Norwegian gas through Denmark and along the Baltic Sea to Poland on Oct. 1.

Simone Tagliapietra, an energy expert with the Bruegel think tank in Brussels, speculated that the leaks could have been caused by Russian sabotage or anti-Russian sabotage.

One possibility is Russia signaling it “is breaking forever with Western Europe and Germany” as Poland inaugurates its pipeline with Norway, he said.

“In any case, this is a stark reminder of the exposure to risk of Europe’s gas infrastructure,” Tagliapietra said.

___

Olsen reported from Copenhagen, Denmark, and Keyton from Stockholm. Associated Press writers Vanessa Gera in Warsaw, Adam Schreck in Kyiv, Ukraine, Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin, and David McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany, contributed.

Monika Scislowska, Jan M. Olsen And David Keyton, The Associated Press

Nord Stream operator decries ‘unprecedented’ damage to three pipelines

Mary Ilyushina, Meg Kelly - 16h ago

The operator of the Nord Stream pipelines built to carry Russian gas to Europe on Tuesday reported “unprecedented” damage to the system, raising suspicions of sabotage after mysterious leaks caused sudden drops in pressure to three underwater lines in the Baltic Sea.


Nord Stream operator decries ‘unprecedented’ damage to three pipelines

© Danish Defence Command/Via Reuters

The leaks had no immediate impact on energy supplies to the European Union but raised concerns about serious environmental damage from methane, a greenhouse gas that is a major contributor to climate change.

“The damage that occurred in one day simultaneously at three lines of offshore pipelines of the Nord Stream system are unprecedented,” the company, Nord Stream AG, said in a statement to Russian state news agencies.Russia’s Gazprom says it won’t reopen Nord Stream gas pipeline to Europe as planned

Two of the damaged pipes are part of Nord Stream 1, normally a major transmission line of Russian natural gas to Europe, while the third is part of Nord Stream 2, which Western nations have blocked from becoming fully operational as part of sanctions over Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Russia has cut transmission through Nord Stream 1 in retaliation for Western sanctions, though the Kremlin has also blamed technical failures. Gas, however, remains in the undersea pipelines even if deliveries are halted.

Officials said that the damage may have been sabotage. “It is hard to imagine that it is accidental,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in Poland, according to the Danish newspaper Politiken. “We cannot rule out sabotage, but it is too early to conclude.”


Part of the Nord Stream 1 natural gas pipeline shown in 2011. After mysterious drops in pressure overnight, the operator of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 reported damage to three underwater pipes in the Baltic Sea. (John MacDougall/AFP via Getty Images)© John MacDougall/AFP/Getty Images

Frederiksen spoke at a ceremony in Goleniów, Poland, on Tuesday for the opening of the new Baltic Pipe, which will carry natural gas to Poland and neighboring countries from Norway through Denmark.

Europe has been scrambling to diversify supplies and reduce reliance on Russian energy.

After Russia cut off Nord Stream 1 in retaliation for the sanctions, halting supplies to Germany, Poland and other nations, European leaders, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, accused the Kremlin of using fossil fuels for “blackmail.”

An adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia was likely to blame for the new leaks.

“‘Gas leak’ from NS-1 is nothing more that a terrorist attack planned by Russia and an act of aggression toward EU,” the adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted.

A spokesman for the European Commission said that although gas supplies were not at risk because of the new leaks, officials were concerned about potential environmental damage.

“This hasn’t affected the security of supply as yet,” the spokesman, Tim McPhie, said. “As you know deliveries have been zero on Nord Stream 1 anyway, and Nord Stream 2 is not yet authorized to operate. We are also analyzing the potential impact of these leaks of methane, which is a gas which of course has considerable effects on climate change, and we are in touch with the member states about the potential impact on maritime navigation.”

Henning Gloystein, an energy analyst with the Eurasia group, told The Washington Post, the prospect of this burst being an accident is “terribly improbable” given there are at least three places with breaks in one area. Most European governments are now putting their energy infrastructure on a heightened alert, he said, because of fears this was the beginning of an asymmetrical attack.

Moreover, the combustible gas leak is dangerous for people and the surrounding environment, he said.

“A massive leak of gas is very methane heavy,” Gloystein stressed, which is “bad for the ocean immediately and will rise into the atmosphere.”

Still, the damage to the three pipelines delivered yet another reminder that Europe must brace for a difficult winter without reliable supplies of Russian gas. In its statement the Nord Stream operator said “it is impossible to estimate” when the pipelines will be fixed.

When Russia halted supplies via Nord Stream 1 earlier this month citing technical problems, it accused the West of refusing to provide turbines needed for repairs.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Swedish Maritime Authority had issued a warning of two leaks in the Nord Stream 1 pipeline in Swedish and Danish waters. The warning came shortly after a leak on the nearby Nord Stream 2 pipe was discovered in Danish waters.

Danish and Swedish authorities said they were investigating the leaks and introduced a five-mile radius exclusion zone, near the Danish island of Bornholm, where ships are banned.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday said the Russian government was “extremely concerned” about the damage.

“This is very alarming information, there is some damage in the pipe in the Danish economic zone, it is not yet clear what kind,” he told reporters during his daily conference call. “The pressure has dropped considerably. This is an unprecedented situation that needs to be dealt with urgently.”

Peskov also said Russia is not “excluding any options” after a report by the German newspaper Tagesspiegel, suggesting potential sabotage.

The European Commission’s chief spokesman, Eric Mamer, said the cause of the leaks was still unknown. “We believe we do not have the elements in order to determine what is the reason for the leak,” Mamer said. “Obviously, any act of sabotage on any infrastructure is something that we would condemn.”

Ilyushina reported from Riga, Latvia, Kelly from Berlin. Beatriz Rios in Brussels contributed to this report.

Pizza Hut Canada and Serve Robotics launching robot delivery service
Hogan Short
Sep 26 2022



CNW Group/Pizza Hut Canada

Ordering pizza is about to feel way more futuristic with Pizza Hut Canada and its new partnership with Serve Robotics.

From now until September 30, select Vancouver customers can place an order via the Pizza Hut app, and they may have their items delivered directly to their doorstep by a robot.

Yes, a robot.

“From introducing cheese in our stuffed crust to delivering pizza to the International Space Station, Pizza Hut is the pizza pioneer,” said Manish Dhankher, the director of operations at Pizza Hut Canada, in a press release.

“We’re always looking for ways to enhance our customer service and deliver hot, fresh, and delicious menu favourites to our customers. Pizza Hut is thrilled to be at the forefront of this technology and partner with Serve Robotics to bring this offering to Canada for the first time.”



Serve Robotics is the leading autonomous sidewalk delivery company and it is working with Pizza Hut Canada to bring this unique innovation to the delivery experience.

“Serve is excited to partner with Pizza Hut to provide Vancouver customers with the convenience and reliability of zero-emissions robotic delivery,” said Dr. Ali Kashani, co-founder and CEO of Serve Robotics, in the press release.

“This is an important step forward in our efforts to expand our delivery platform to serve more cities and communities.”

Customers will be able to track the robot’s location. Each order comes with a one-time PIN number to retrieve the order from the robot’s secure compartment.

The Pizza Hut location at 1725 Robson Street in Vancouver is the first location for this pilot program, with hopefully more Canadian locations to come.

“This signals an exciting step forward for the future of delivery technology in Canada,” added Dhankher.