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Saturday, December 17, 2022

U.S. wrongly revoked Oppenheimer’s security clearance in 1954, Biden admin says

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a written order that the since-dissolved Atomic Energy Commission acted out of political motives.

Manhattan Project officials, including Dr. Robert J. Oppenheimer (white hat) inspect detonation site of the Trinity atomic bomb test.Los Alamos National Laboratory / Time & Life Pictures/Getty Image

Dec. 17, 2022,
By Reuters

The Biden administration on Friday reversed a 1954 decision by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) to revoke the security clearance of Robert Oppenheimer, known as the “father of the atomic bomb” for his work on the Manhattan Project.

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a written order that the since-dissolved AEC acted out of political motives when it revoked Oppenheimer’s security clearance nearly 70 years ago. Oppenheimer died in 1967.

“The Oppenheimer matter concerned a man who, not long before, had played an indispensable and singular role in the war effort, a man whose loyalty and love of country were never seriously questioned,” Granholm said in the written order.

“More troubling, historical evidence suggests that the decision to review Dr. Oppenheimer’s clearance had less to do with a bona fide concern for the security of restricted data and more to do with a desire on the part of the political leadership of the AEC to discredit Dr. Oppenheimer in public debates over nuclear weapons policy,” she said.

Oppenheimer, a theoretical physicist, headed the top secret Los Alamos Laboratory, which was established under President Franklin Roosevelt as home of the Manhattan Project to build the first atomic bomb during World War Two.

He oversaw the first atomic bomb detonation in the New Mexico desert, code-named “Trinity,” before the weapons were used in the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Following the war, Oppenheimer opposed nuclear proliferation and development of the hydrogen bomb, stances that Granholm suggested in her order led the AEC to revoke his security clearance.

“I commend Sec. of Energy Granholm for vacating the AEC’s flawed 1954 decision to revoke Robt Oppenheimer’s security clearance,” Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont said on Twitter.

“He was a loyal American who was subjected to a gross miscarriage of justice, and this action was long overdue.”

Reuters

FRACKQUAKE

5.4 magnitude earthquake rocks west Texas just weeks after similar jolt

By Patrick Hilsman

The second 5.4-magnitude earthquake in a month rocked the area around Midland, Texas, on Friday. Image provided by U.S. Geological Survey

Dec. 17 (UPI) -- Western Texas was rocked by a 5.4 magnitude earthquake Friday, exactly one month after a similar quake struck the oil-producing region, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

The powerful tremor was counted as fourth-strongest earthquake in Texas history by the U.S. Weather Service. No injuries were reported.

Residents felt the quake, which struck near Midland, Texas, as far away as Lubbock and Abilene San Angelo. Locals also reported cracked tiles, walls and ceilings.

"The earthquake occurred within the interior of the North American Tectonic Plate far from any tectonic plate boundaries, and is therefor considered an intraplate earthquake,' the USGS said in a statement.

The magnitude was originally reported as 5.3 before being updated to 5.4, then downgraded to 5.2, and finally upgraded back to 5.4. An aftershock about 3 minutes after the initial temblor registered at 3.6 before being downgraded to 3.3.

Friday's quake comes one month after the same area of Texas recorded the third-largest earthquake in state history.

The area where Friday's earthquake struck has experienced 120 earthquakes of 2.5 magnitude or greater since 2018 and the U.S. Geological Survey believes human activity has contributed to them.

"Over the past two decades the central and eastern United States (CEUS) has experienced an increase in the occurrence of earthquakes," the agency said.

"Scientific studies have linked much of this increase to human activity, predominantly wastewater injection into deep disposal wells. However, other mechanisms such as fluid withdrawal, enhanced oil recovery, or hydraulic fracturing processes can also result in induced earthquakes."

5.3-magnitude earthquake rattles West Texas in heart of oil country, geologists say

BROOKE BAITINGER

December 16, 2022

U.S. Geological Survey

A 5.3-magnitude earthquake shook West Texas near Midland on the afternoon of Friday, Dec. 16, the U.S. Geological Survey reports.

The quake hit the heart of oil country at 5:35 p.m. Central Time, according to the USGS. People from as far away as Carlsbad, New Mexico and San Angelo reported feeling the tremor to the agency. The epicenter was about 13 miles northwest of Midland.

The National Weather Service in Midland said it’s the fourth strongest earthquake ever registered in Texas.No injuries were immediately reported.

A Twitter user commented on the NWS thread and said they felt it from their third floor apartment in Midland. “It made the dish drainer fall into the sink and my Christmas tree almost fell over,” they wrote.

Another said they felt their apartment shake in Grand Prairie.

“That was actually a little scary,” another person wrote.

It’s at least the second earthquake of 5.0 magnitude or larger in the area in the last month, the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reported. On Nov. 16, a 5.3-magnitude earthquake hit northwest of Pecos, the outlet reported.

People felt that quake in various parts of Texas and New Mexico as well, including El Paso, Midland and Lubbock, the outlet reported.

Magnitude measures the energy released at the source of the earthquake, the U.S. Geological Survey says. It replaces the old Richter scale.

Quakes between 2.5 and 5.4 magnitude are often felt but rarely cause much damage, according to Michigan Tech. Quakes below 2.5 magnitude are seldom felt by most people.

Midland and neighboring Odessa are in the heart of the Permian Basin, with a combined population of more than 300,000.

The Midland Reporter-Telegram says the other most powerful earthquakes in Texas were:

6.5 magnitude -- Aug. 16, 1931, near Fort Davis
5.7 magnitude – April 14, 1995, near Alpine
5.4 magnitude -- Nov. 16, 2022, west-southwest of Mentone

Earthquakes occur less often east of the Rocky Mountains but “are typically felt over a much broader region than earthquakes of similar magnitude in the west,” according to USGS.

This is a developing story that will be updated.

‘Unusual’ 3.7-magnitude earthquake shakes western Montana awake, geologists say

3.4-magnitude earthquake shakes north of Pinnacles National Park, geologists say

Earthquake rattles North Carolina mountains, with hundreds feeling it, geologists say

Pentagon received hundreds of UFO reports in 2022
However, officials say there has been no evidence pointing to alien life

The Pentagon has released footage of unidentified flying objects in recent years

Deutsche Welle | Published 17.12.22

The Pentagon said on Friday that it has received hundreds of reports of unidentified flying objects, or UFOs, since establishing an office dedicated to the phenomenon in July.

But the new reports do not point to evidence of alien life, officials said.

"I have not seen anything in those holdings to date that would suggest that there has been an alien visitation, an alien crash or anything like that," said Ronald Moultrie, under secretary of defense for intelligence and security.

Pentagon to investigate all new reports

The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) was created in July to investigate unidentified objects in the sky, underwater or in space.

Its establishment followed more than a year of renewed interest in unidentified flying objects that military pilots have observed but have sometimes been reluctant to report.

The AARO is headed by Sean Kirkpatrick, who said the Pentagon received "several hundred" reports into the phenomenon this year.

"I would just say that we are structuring our analysis to be very thorough and rigorous. We will go through it all," Kirkpatrick said. "As a physicist, I have to adhere to the scientific method, and I will follow that data and science wherever it goes."

Historical UFO reports under the microscope

Meanwhile, in the annual defense policy bill passed by Congress earlier this week, the Pentagon has also been directed to prepare a report looking at the historical record of the US government related to UFOs going back to 1945.

The bill will ensure the AARO researches all records, including those so highly classified that few people know about them.

"That is going to be quite a research project," Kirkpatrick said.

As for the new reports from 2020, the Director of National Intelligence is set to provide an update with the exact number of reported sightings by the end of the year.

Pentagon has received ‘several hundreds’ of new UFO reports

ByTara Copp
December 17, 2022

Washington: A new Pentagon office set up to track reports of unidentified flying objects has received “several hundreds” of new reports, but no evidence so far of alien life, the agency’s leadership says.

The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) was set up in July and is responsible for not only tracking unidentified objects in the sky, but also underwater or in space — or potentially an object that has the ability to move from one domain to the next.

The image from the US Department of Defence from 2015 shows an unexplained soaring high along the clouds, travelling against the wind.CREDIT:AP

The office was established following more than a year of attention on unidentified flying objects that military pilots have observed but have sometimes been reluctant to report due to fear of stigma.

In June 2021 the Office of the Director of National Intelligence reported that between 2004 and 2021, there were 144 such encounters, 80 of which were captured on multiple sensors.

Since then, “we’ve had lots more reporting,” said anomaly office director Sean Kirkpatrick. When asked to quantify the amount, Kirkpatrick said, “several hundreds.”

RELATED ARTICLE

Those Navy UFO videos? They are real, says the Pentagon

An updated report from the Director of National Intelligence that will provide specific figures on new reports received since 2021 is expected by the end of the year, the officials said.

The office was set up not only to examine the question of whether there’s extraterrestrial life, but also because of the security risk posed by so many encounters with unknown flying objects by military installations or military aircraft.

This May, Congress held its first hearing in more than half a century on the topic, with multiple members expressing concern that whether or not the objects are alien or potentially new, unknown technology being flown by China, Russia or another potential adversary, the unknown creates a security risk.

So far, “we have not seen anything, and we’re still very early on, that would lead us to believe that any of the objects that we have seen are of alien origin,” said Ronald Moultrie, under secretary of defence for intelligence and security. “Any unauthorised system in our airspace we deem as a threat to safety.”

The office is also working on ways to improve its ability to identify unknown objects, such as by recalibrating sensors that may be focused just on known adversary aircraft or drone signatures, Moultrie said.

RELATED ARTICLE

Even the Pentagon is looking for aliens. What are the odds of finding them?

One reason for the hundreds of additional reports coming in may be the outreach the department has done to destigmatise reporting potential encounters. Each service has also established its own reporting processes, Kirkpatrick said.

Beyond unidentifiable objects, there’s a lot of new technology — such as future stealth bombers and stealth fighters, drones and hypersonic missiles being fielded by both the US and China — that could be mistaken for a UFO. Kirkpatrick said the new office has been coordinating with the Pentagon and the US intelligence community to get the signatures of US technology in order to rule out those aircraft or drones.

“We are setting up very clear mechanisms with our blue programs, both our DOD and IC programs, to deconflict any observations that come in with blue activities, and ensure that we weed those out and identify those fairly early on,” Kirkpatrick said, referring to the “blue” US aircraft programs in operation by the Pentagon or intelligence agencies.

AP

Pentagon’s UFO investigation finds no evidence of alien origin

The agency is reviewing hundreds of incidents.

By Luis Martinez
December 16, 2022

Another UFO report comes out this week

The Pentagon said that they have has not yet been able to find any evidence that extraterrestrials may be responsible for the hundreds of UFO incidents they are reviewing or that any alien beings may have crashed on Earth.

Senior Pentagon officials relayed this to reporters Friday in a briefing to highlight the broad review headed by the new All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) working with other federal agencies to review unidentified aerial phenomena incidents. Unidentified anomalous phenomena or UAP's is the new term for UAP's and has itself gone a name change as it is no longer limited to aerial phenomena.

UFO enthusiasts have been waiting since Oct. 31 for a long delayed first annual update by the Director of National Intelligence to their 2020 report that could explain only one of the 144 incidents it reviewed.

The Pentagon's update on Friday gave a hint of what that upcoming report might reveal.

Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence Scott Bray explains a video of an unidentified aerial phenomena, as he testifies before a House Intelligence Committee subcommittee hearing at the U.S. Capitol on May 17, 2022 in Washington, DC.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images, FILE

MORE: Another UFO report expected this week, some incidents still unexplained

At a congressional hearing in May, Pentagon officials said they were now reviewing about 400 UAP incidents.

On Friday, officials said that so far nothing seems to indicate an extraterrestrial origin in the incidents they have reviewed so far.

"At this time, the answer's no," said Ron Moultrie, the under secretary of defense for intelligence and security. "We have nothing."

He added that nothing has been found "that any of the objects that we had seen are of alien origin."

MORE: Pentagon now reports about 400 UFO encounters: 'We want to know what's out there'

Moultrie provided a similar answer when asked if the review indicated the possibility that extraterrestrials may have crashed or landed on earth.

Video footage released by the To the Stars Academy of Arts and Science purportedly shows pilots observing a UFO while aboard a U.S. Navy aircraft.

To the Stars Academy of Arts and Science

"I have not seen anything in those holdings to date that would suggest that there has been an alien visitation and alien crash or anything like that," he said. Moultrie explained that by holdings he was referring to documents, witness interviews, or written recollections from witnesses.

ARRO Director Sean Kirkpatrick told reporters that his office was taking a sober approach to the review and would not rule out any possibility.

"I would just say that we are structuring our analysis to be very thorough and rigorous. We will go through it all," said Kirkpatrick. "As a physicist, I have to adhere to the scientific method and I will follow that data and science wherever it goes."

Moultrie noted that some of the incidents under review may be from right here on Earth.

MORE: Few answers in unclassified UFO report

"I think it would be safe to say that there will be probably a number of these activities that can be characterized as non-adversarial systems, things like balloons and things like UAVs that are operated for purposes other than surveillance or intelligence collection," he said.

Kirkpatrick agreed that was a fair characterization, but that there can be multiple explanations.

"I would just emphasize there's not a single answer for all of this, right. There's going to be lots of different answers," he said. "And part of my job is to sort out all of those hundreds of cases on which ones go to which things."

"Our team knows that the public interest in UAP is high. We are developing a plan to provide regular updates and progress reporting to the public on our work," he added. Though he explained that any potential releases would have to be weighed against maintaining some information classified for national security purposes.

Moultrie said that from now on UAP no longer stands for unidentified aerial phenomena, but now refers to unidentified anomalous phenomena, because they're no longer just limiting themselves to reviewing incidents in the skies.

"This new terminology expands the scope of UAP to include submerge and trans-medium objects and identify phenomenon all domains whether in the air, ground sea or space, pose potential threats to personal security and operations security, and they require our urgent attention," said Moultrie

U.S.-French satellite launched to map almost all of the world’s oceans, lakes, rivers

By —Marcia Dunn, Associated Press

Science Dec 16, 2022

A U.S.-French satellite that will map almost all of the world’s oceans, lakes and rivers rocketed into orbit Friday.

The predawn launch aboard a SpaceX rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California capped a highly successful year for NASA.

Nicknamed SWOT — short for Surface Water and Ocean Topography — the satellite is needed more than ever as climate change worsens droughts, flooding and coastal erosion, according to scientists. Cheers erupted at control centers in California and France as the spacecraft started its mission.

“It is a pivotal moment, and I’m very excited about it,” said NASA program manager Nadya Vinogradova-Shiffer. “We’re going to see Earth’s water like we’ve never before.”

About the size of a SUV, the satellite will measure the height of water on more than 90% of Earth’s surface, allowing scientists to track the flow and identify potential high-risk areas. It will also survey millions of lakes as well as 1.3 million miles (2.1 million kilometers) of rivers, from headwater to mouth.

WATCH:Artemis 1’s Orion spacecraft splashes down after moon flyby

The satellite will shoot radar pulses at Earth, with the signals bouncing back to be received by a pair of antennas, one on each end of a 33-foot (10-meter) boom.

It should be able to make out currents and eddies less than 13 miles (21 kilometers) across, as well as areas of the ocean where water masses of varying temperatures merge.

NASA’s current fleet of nearly 30 Earth-observing satellites cannot make out such slight features. And while these older satellites can map the extent of lakes and rivers, their measurements are not as detailed, said the University of North Carolina’s Tamlin Pavelsky, who is part of the mission.

Perhaps most importantly, the satellite will reveal the location and speed of rising sea levels and the shift of coastlines, key to saving lives and property. It will cover the globe between the Arctic and Antarctica at least once every three weeks, as it orbits more than 550 miles (890 kilometers) high. The mission is expected to last three years.

READ MORE: How the James Webb Space Telescope captures stunning images of space

Laurie Leshin, the director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, noted that while the agency is known for its Mars rovers and space telescopes, “this is the planet we care most about.”

“We’ve got a lot of eyes on Earth,” with even more globe-surveying missions planned in the next few years, she added.

NASA and the French Space Agency collaborated on the $1.2 billion SWOT project — some 20 years in the making — with Britain and Canada chipping in.

Already recycled, the first-stage booster returned to Vandenberg eight minutes after liftoff to fly again one day. When the double sonic booms sounded, “Everybody jumped out of their skin, and it was exhilarating. What a morning,” said Taryn Tomlinson, an Earth science director at the Canadian Space Agency.

It’s the latest milestone this year for NASA. Among the other highlights: glamour shots of the universe from the new Webb Space Telescope; the Dart spacecraft’s dead-on slam into an asteroid in the first planetary defense test; and the Orion capsule’s recent return from the moon following a test flight.

More questions than answers as EU corruption scandal unfolds

By LORNE COOK and COLLEEN BARRY

1 of 7

A man walks down stairs during a special session on lobbying at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, eastern France, Dec. 12, 2022. Following months of investigations, police have so far launched more than 20 raids, mostly in Belgium but also in Italy. Hundreds of thousands of euros have been found in Brussels and four people have been charged since Dec. 9 with corruption, participation in a criminal group and money laundering.

(AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias, File)

BRUSSELS (AP) — No one answers the door or the phone at the offices of the two campaign groups linked to a cash-for-favors corruption scandal at the European Union’s parliament, allegedly involving Qatar. No light is visible inside.

No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ), a pro-human rights and democracy organization, and Fight Impunity, which seeks to bring rights abusers to book, share the same address, on prime real estate in the governmental quarter of the Belgian capital.

The heads of the two organizations are among four people charged since Dec. 9 with corruption, participation in a criminal group and money laundering. Prosecutors said in a statement that they suspect certain European lawmakers and aides “were paid large sums of money or offered substantial gifts to influence parliament’s decisions.”

Qatar rejects allegations that it’s involved. The Gulf country that’s hosting the soccer World Cup has gone to considerable trouble to boost its public image and defend itself against extensive criticism in the West over its human rights record. It has also lobbied the EU recently on visa and air transport issues.

The lawyer for Fight Impunity President Pier Antonio Panzeri is not talking. He declined to comment about his client’s role in an affair that has shaken the European Parliament and halted the assembly’s work on Qatar-related files.

The secretary-general of NPWJ, Niccolo Figa-Talamanca, has left jail but must wear an electronic monitoring bracelet. On its Italian website, after he stepped down, the group praised his work, saying it hopes “the ongoing investigation will demonstrate the correctness of his actions.”

Charged along with them are Eva Kaili, who was removed as an EU parliament vice president after the charges were laid, and her partner Francesco Giorgi, a parliamentary assistant. Pictures they’ve posted on social media project the image of an attractive and ambitious Mediterranean jet-set couple.

Following months of investigations, police have so far launched more than 20 raids, mostly in Belgium but also in Italy. Hundreds of thousands of euros have been found in Brussels: at an apartment and in a suitcase at a hotel not far from the parliament.

Mobile telephones, computer equipment and the data of 10 parliamentary assistants were seized.

Taking to Twitter, Belgian Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne described what he calls the “Qatargate” investigation as a “game changer.” It was achieved, he said, “partly thanks to years of work by State Security,” the country’s intelligence agency.

According to what Italian newspaper La Repubblica and Belgian daily Le Soir said were transcripts they had obtained of his Dec. 10 statements to prosecutors, Giorgi allegedly confessed to managing money on behalf of an “organization” led by Panzeri that dealt with Qatari and Moroccan representatives.

“I did it all for money, which I needed,” Giorgi told prosecutors, according to La Repubblica. He tried to protect his partner Kaili, a 44-year-old Greek former TV presenter with whom he has an infant daughter, asking that she be released from jail. Kaili’s lawyer has said she knew nothing about the money.

Giorgi arrived in Belgium in 2009. He made a career at the parliament with the center-left Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group. He met Panzeri, at the time an EU lawmaker, at a conference. “I asked him to give me an internship, and he did,” Giorgi said in his statement.

Panzeri became his mentor, made him an assistant and introduced him around, the Italian newspaper said. Giorgi expressed relief that the scheme had been uncovered. He described himself as a simple person who got in over his head due to a moral obligation he felt toward Panzeri.

Up until his arrest, Giorgi worked as an assistant for another S&D lawmaker, Andrea Cozzolino. Italy’s center-left Democratic Party suspended Cozzolino on Friday while the probe goes on. He temporarily withdrew from the S&D.

In Italy last weekend, Panzeri’s wife, Maria Dolores Colleoni, and daughter, Silvia Panzeri, were taken into custody on a European arrest warrant. A court in Brescia ordered them to be placed under house arrest, one of their lawyers told AP.

On Friday, a Milan judicial source confirmed to AP that 17,000 euros ($18,075) were seized during a search of Panzeri’s house, where his wife is staying, in Calusco d’Adda in the Bergamo province northeast of Milan. Police also seized computers, cell phones, watches and documents.

Police separately found a key to a safe deposit box in the house of Giorgi’s parents in the Milan suburb of Abbiategrasso, leading investigators to discover 20,000 euros ($21,260) in cash.

Panzeri’s wife is expected to appear in court again on Monday, when a panel of judges will decide whether to extradite her to Belgium. A similar hearing will be held Tuesday for their daughter. Kaili is due to face court in Brussels on Thursday.

The source in Milan, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly, said Italian investigators were looking at other people but declined to identify them. The source said they were not EU lawmakers or people associated with the campaign groups.

Many questions remain unanswered about the scandal. What Qatari officials, if any, were involved? Why target the EU’s parliament? How wide is the investigators’ net? What was the role of Panzeri, the former lawmaker and president of Fight Impunity?

No light shines in his office, but Panzeri’s own words on his group’s website could point the way: “Martin Luther King Jr. once said, ‘let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.’ If we are to continue to move towards justice, accountability must be our guiding light.”

___

Barry reported from Milan. Samuel Petrequin in Brussels and Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed.

PRIVATIZATION FAIL

Efforts to restructure Puerto Rico power company debt wobble

Fri, December 16, 2022

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico’s power company appears destined for an even longer bankruptcy than expected after several creditors rejected a new debt restructuring plan filed late Friday following years of failed negotiations.

A federal control board that oversees the island’s finances filed a plan that proposes to cut by nearly half the more than $10 billion of debt held by Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority, the largest of any local government agency.

Board chairman David Skeel warned that residents and businesses in the U.S. territory will “shoulder the payments of this greatly reduced debt through their electricity bill."

“However, (the power company) needs to move on, and Puerto Rico needs reliable electricity,” he said.

The announcement riled many Puerto Ricans already burdened by a deep economic crisis and recent power bill increases despite chronic outages blamed in part on crumbling infrastructure resulting from decades of neglect and mismanagement.

The board noted that two classes of creditors agreed to support the plan, surpassing a legal requirement that at least one has to support it for a federal judge to implement it across the board.

Skeel noted that no agreement was reached with the holders and guarantors of $7.6 billion worth of power company bonds, adding that the plan would allow them to join a settlement class as one option.

“Puerto Rico residents and businesses simply cannot pay what some creditors demand at this point,” he said, adding that the board is open to further negotiations. “We hope we will find a viable compromise.”

The Ad Hoc Group, which includes companies that hold or insure nearly half of the power company’s debt, rejected the plan, calling it “highly coercive” and warned it would only serve to extend the company’s nearly six-year-long bankruptcy.

“The biggest losers in this debacle are the island’s residents,” said Stephen Spencer of Houlihan Lokey, the group’s financial adviser.

The drawn-out bankruptcy already has cost more than $200 million in legal fees as litigation and mediation talks continue.

Spencer noted the power company has reneged on three debt restructuring deals since 2015, with Gov. Pedro Pierluisi announcing in March that he was rejecting the newest plan because it wasn’t feasible or in the island’s best interest.

A federal judge overseeing Puerto Rico’s bankruptcy case ordered a fresh round of mediation talks in September after the previous ones failed.

Puerto Rico has restructured nearly all its debt since announcing in 2015 that it was unable to pay its more than $70 billion public debt load and filed for the biggest U.S. municipal bankruptcy in history two years later.

The power company’s debt is the only one pending, and resolving it is considered key to help attract investors to the island and boost its economic development.

Dánica Coto, The Associated Press

Canadians are waiting longer than ever for medical treatments, data reveals

Yahoo Canada
December 9, 2022

A nurse tends to a patient in the Intensive Care Unit at the Bluewater Health Hospital in Sarnia, Ont., on Tuesday, January 25, 2022. Personal support workers in Ontario hospitals were promised last spring that a wage increase introduced during the pandemic would remain permanently on their paychecks. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young (The Canadian Press)

An annual survey of physicians reveals that Canadians have waited longer than ever before for medical treatment this year.

A study from the Fraser Institute, with data collected between Jan. 10 to Sept. 15, 2022, from 855 respondents across 12 medical specialties, found that the median wait time for medical procedures was 27.4 weeks, the longest ever recorded.

Ontario had the shortest wait time at 20.3 weeks while Prince Edward Island had the longest wait time in Canada at 64.7 weeks.

“Excessively long wait times remain a defining characteristic of Canada’s health-care system,” a statement from Mackenzie Moir, Fraser Institute policy analyst and co-author of the report reads.

“They aren’t simply minor inconveniences, they can result in increased suffering for patients, lost productivity at work, a decreased quality of life, and in the worst cases, disability or death.”

It's estimated that across the 10 provinces the total number of procedures people are waiting for in 2022 is 1,228,047.

"This means that, assuming that each person waits for only one procedure, 3.2 per cent of Canadians are waiting for treatment in 2022," the report states. "Physicians report that only about 11.03 per cent of their patients are on a waiting list because they requested a delay or postponement."

October data released by Health Quality Ontario (HQO) on Thursday reveals that patients spend an average of 2.2 hours waiting for their first assessment by a physician in provincial emergency departments.

For patients with a low-urgency medical condition, 72 per cent finish their emergency visit within the target time of four hours. For high-urgency patients, 88 per cent finish their emergency visit within the target time of eight hours.

The EU plans to sanction Twitter for its 'arbitrary suspension of journalists'
"There are red lines. And sanctions, soon."

By Cecily Mauran on December 16, 2022

The EU is defending media freedom online.

After Twitter suspended several prominent journalists on Thursday night for allegedly violating company policy, the EU says sanctions are on the way.

The accounts now temporarily suspended from the platform for seven days include Ryan Mac from the New York Times, Donie O'Sullivan from CNN, Drew Harwell from The Washington Post, political commentator Keith Olbermann, journalist Tony Webster, Micah Flee from The Intercept, Steve Herman from the Voice of America, journalist Aaron Rupar, and Mashable reporter Matt Binder.

It was initially unclear what led to the mass account suspension, but Twitter owner and CEO Elon Musk later tweeted, "Accounts engaged in doxxing receive a temporary 7 day suspension," implying that said journalists had violated Twitter's safety policy which limits live location sharing, even though they didn't.

Here are the events that led up to this mass suspension:

On Wednesday, Twitter banned an account called "ElonJet." The account, owned by college student Jack Sweeney, tracks the whereabouts of Elon Musk's private jet using publicly available information. It was momentarily unbanned, then banned again.

Then that same day, Musk tweeted that a car carrying his son "was followed by crazy stalker" who "blocked [the] car from moving and climbed onto [its] hood." In the tweet, Musk said that he was pursuing legal action against Sweeney.

Journalists like Binder who were suspended Thursday night had previously tweeted about Twitter's handling of the ElonJet account suspension, while some had also shared the official LAPD statement regarding the incident connected to Musk's son.

Following this series of events, Vera Journova, vice president of Values and Transparency in the EU Commission, threatened sanctions against Twitter, citing the EU's Digital Services Act which passed in November and will go into effect in 2023. "News about arbitrary suspension of journalists on Twitter is worrying. EU’s Digital Services Act requires respect of media freedom and fundamental rights. This is reinforced under our #MediaFreedomAct," Journova tweeted.

SEE ALSO: Twitter suspends accounts of multiple tech journalists without explanation

The "arbitrary suspension" refers to the fact that the tweets from suspended accounts didn't violate Twitter's policy.

Binder told Mashable he was suspended on Thursday night after sharing a screenshotted tweet from CNN's O'Sullivan who had just been suspended. "The screenshot was an official LAPD statement regarding the incident Elon Musk was tweeting out about last night which led him to suspending ElonJet and its creator Jack Sweeney. I did not share any location data, as per Twitter's new terms. Nor did I share any links to ElonJet or other location tracking accounts."

The LAPD statement does not contain any location data and says the following: "LAPD's Threat Management Unit is aware of the situation and tweet by Elon Musk and is in contact with his representatives and security team. No crime reports have been filed yet."

In an email to Mashable, EU Commission spokesperson Charles Manoury said, "The Commission will keep monitoring developments as they take place to ensure that once the DSA enters into force, Twitter, like all other online platforms concerned, will follow the rules." In his statement, Manoury said the Digital Services Act "will apply to all platforms, in particular the big ones, to make sure their power over public debate is framed by regulation adopted by legislators."

One of the DSA's core objectives is to protect freedom of expression online and to ensure that "terms and condition of platforms are clear, understandable and transparent" and that "users have right of complaint and redress against content moderation decision."

Online platforms that don't comply with this act might face penalties within the EU, including monetary fines and temporary suspension of service.

The social media company's failure to pay rent on its headquarters is impacting bond holders tied to the building

Twitter's headquarters in San Francisco, California. It is looking to

Bloomberg

Dec 17, 2022

Elon Musk’s efforts to cut costs at Twitter are hitting an obscure group of investors: holders of bonds tied to the company’s headquarters building in San Francisco.

Twitter hasn’t paid rent on its headquarters, or any of its other global offices, in weeks, the New York Times reported on December 13.

Its main office at 1355 Market Street in San Francisco has a mortgage that was packaged into a $400 million bond in 2015.

Prices on one portion of the bond dropped to about 85 cents on the dollar in the middle of the week, from around 99 cents on Tuesday, according to price data compiled by Bloomberg. Those securities were originally rated B- by Morningstar.

Twitter isn’t the only tenant in the building, but it’s the biggest by far.

The social media company is also looking to renegotiate terms of its leases on offices, including its San Francisco headquarters, according to the New York Times.

Shorenstein Realty Investors manages the building and owns a portion alongside outside investors.

Twitter’s efforts to cut lease expenses only adds to the owners’ difficulty.

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The mortgage on the building matured in September and the borrower failed to refinance it, according to Morningstar Credit Information and Analytics.

Getting mortgages on big office buildings is difficult enough now, but missed lease payments from the biggest tenant will only make efforts to refinance the property harder, said David Putro, head of commercial real estate analytics at MCIA.

“In an already difficult lending environment, even a temporary cessation of lease payments would further complicate a refinancing,” said Mr Putro.

If Shorenstein and others on the hook for repayments fail to repay the mortgage loan again in January, lenders have a handful of options to try to ensure they get paid.

That could include giving the borrowers more time to repay bondholders in exchange for other borrower concessions and equity contributions, or foreclosing on the building and selling it, said Michael Cohen, managing partner at Brighton Capital Advisers.

A surge of Wall Street players are screaming that Elon Musk's Twitter obsession is hurting Tesla

Asia Martin
Dec 16, 2022

Elon Musk is the CEO of both Twitter and Tesla.

AND SPACEX AND BORING COMPANY

SEC filings on Wednesday revealed Elon Musk sold $3.6 billion more in Tesla stock.
Analysts speculate the proceeds will help cover Twitter's deficits, raising concerns.
Dan Ives stated that Musk is 'using Tesla as his own ATM machine' to fund Twitter.

The impact of Elon Musk buying Twitter on Tesla is getting scarier for investors. For the third time, after saying in April that he had "no further TSLA sales planned," filings made on Wednesday revealed Musk sold 22 million more shares of Tesla, valued some $3.6 billion. That brings the total amount of Tesla stock that Musk has sold this year to $23 billion.

Just a few days ago, Musk promised that in the long haul, Tesla would benefit from his ownership of Twitter. But there's growing skepticism from analysts that will happen. Dan Ives at Wedbush wrote in a report on Thursday that Twitter remains a nightmare for investors because Musk has been using "Tesla as his own ATM machine to keep funding" the social network.

Tesla's falling electric vehicle sales as countries around the world face their own recessions amid the ongoing fall out of the pandemic isn't necessarily a shock. But it does present a problem for Tesla and its owner, who continues to use its shares to fund his refashioning of Twitter for his ventures to build out 'the everything app' that he refers to under the name "X."

Ultimately, Elon promised Tesla shareholders they'd benefit from Twitter. He also promised he wouldn't sell any more Tesla stock. It's up to Tesla investors to decide whether he plans to keep his promise.

"Elon is Tesla's brand. He needs to pull it together," Loup Ventures' Gene Munster said to CNBC earlier this week. Some, like major Tesla shareholder KoGuan Leo, have gone so far as to suggest that Musk has "abandoned" his duties at the carmaker, and called for a new CEO to replace him.

Meanwhile, Insider has reported on a slate of problems for Twitter that include: advertisers that have suspended their activity on the platform; the failure of Elon's reimagined Twitter Blue; growing concern around the rise of bigotry on the platform; and Elon's troubling political tweets that seem to be adding to the non-stop swirl of controversy around the company.

In his note to clients, Ives maintained an outperform rating for Tesla, indicating that he expects Tesla's rate of return to do better than its peers despite signs that it won't be the best performer in the batch.

Munster, for his part, further admonished that Elon would cause long-term damage if he does nothing about the number of issues arising from the billionaire's purchase of Twitter.

The broader market is also worried. Tesla's stock has dropped 31% since Musk bought Twitter at the end of October. When you track how the stock has held up since Musk's offer to buy Twitter in mid-April, it's down 52%. It should be noted that tech stocks lost trillions of dollars in value this year due to a drop in consumer demand, inflation, and the overall market correction from the astronomical multiples seen the year before.

Tesla faces other issues besides Musk's Twitter problems. The company is no longer the main electric car maker on the block in multiple countries. Since new entrants have carved out their own market share and traditional automakers have successfully launched a series of hybrids and their own EV models, Tesla has seen a rise in competition in the US, China, and parts of Europe.

It was only earlier this month that Bloomberg reported that Tesla was slashing some of its production output in China by 20% to 30%, a sign that the reality of sales didn't live up to what they were projected to be. It's been also reported that the EV maker lowered the cost of its cars in China in an attempt to boost sales. It worked, but Tesla ultimately lost out to its Chinese competition, BYD.

"More activism and growing investor frustration will force the Board of Tesla to confront some of these issues head on in the near-term. This is a moment of truth for Musk and Tesla," wrote Ives.

Correction, December 16, 2022 — In a previous version of this article, we misstated that Gene Munster spoke to Insider. He made his comments during an appearance on CNBC.