Europe's access to space in jeopardy after Vega-C rocket failure

Guillaume Reuge with Mathieu Rabechault and Juliette Collen in Paris
Tue, December 20, 2022 


Flights of the new European Vega-C rocket have been suspended pending an investigation into an overnight launch failure, French firm Arianespace said Wednesday, leaving Europe with few avenues into space.

Just minutes after the Vega-C rocket lifted off from Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana at 10:47 pm local time on Tuesday (0147 GMT Wednesday), its trajectory deviated from its programmed route and communications were lost, Arianespace said.

The order to destroy the launcher, which was carrying two satellites built by Airbus, was then given by French space agency CNES.

"The launcher fell down" into international waters in the Atlantic Ocean, Arianespace's chief technical officer Pierre-Yves Tissier told a press conference.

If successful, it would have been the first commercial launch -- and second overall -- for the Vega-C since its inaugural flight on July 13.

The rocket was launched over the Atlantic Ocean and had shot past 100 kilometres (62 miles) altitude and was more than 900 kilometres north of Kourou when the problem occurred.

Tissier said the "failure seems limited to Zephiro 40", the second stage of the launcher built for the Vega-C by Italian aerospace company Avio.

Avio CEO Giulio Ranzo said the company took full responsibility for the failure.

The flight data was recovered and will now be analysed as part of an inquiry that will be co-led by the European Space Agency and Arianespace.

The independent commission aims to determine "the cause of the failure and to propose robust and long-lasting corrective actions to guarantee a safe and reliable return to flight of Vega-C," Arianespace chief executive Stephane Israel told the press conference.
- Latest Europe space setback -

The suspension leaves Europe with few options after numerous delays to the next-generation Ariane 6 rocket and cancelled Russian cooperation over the Ukraine war.

Just two launchers remain of the previous-generation Ariane 5, with the only other option being Vega-C's predecessor Vega.

Otherwise, Europe has no way to launch satellites into orbit or heavy payloads into space until Ariane 6's long-delayed inaugural flight planned for late 2023 -- or when Vega-C flights resume.

Israel said that "neither Ariane 5 or Ariane 6 are impacted by the failure that occurred".

The failure marks the latest setback for the European Space Agency (ESA), which is aiming to make Europe more competitive in the rapidly expanding satellite market.

Elon Musk, the CEO of US rival rocketmaker SpaceX, tweeted that he was "sorry to hear" of the failure.

"It is a sobering reminder of the difficulty of orbital space flight," he added.

The Vega-6 rocket had been trying to bring into orbit two Earth observation satellites built by European aerospace giant Airbus.

They were planned to join the Pleiades Neo constellation, which is capable of capturing very high-resolution images of any point on the globe several times a day.

The failure is a blow for Airbus, which developed the programme, whose services are sold to both companies and the military.

Satellites that bring in commercial revenue are usually insured. An industry insider said that the lost Pleiades Neo 5 and 6 satellites were covered for 220 million euros ($233 million), potentially allowing Airbus to build them again.

Airbus did not comment when contacted by AFP.

- Third failure in nine launches -

Tuesday's launch was originally scheduled for November 24.

However it was postponed due to a faulty piece of equipment linked to the payload fairing, a type of nose cone, Arianespace's CEO Israel told AFP, though the problem was not connected to Tuesday's failure.

Tuesday marked the third failure out of the last nine launches of Vega or Vega-C.

It is also a blow to Avio, which has been involved in three of those failed launches. Avio's share price plunged more than 9.5 percent on Wednesday.

As well as the Ariane 6 delays, Europe's space sector has been further weakened in the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Moscow pulled its Soyuz rocket launchers and technical personnel from Kourou earlier this year in response to EU sanctions over the Ukraine invasion.

In the absence of an alternative, ESA has been forced to turn to SpaceX to launch two scientific missions.

Vega-C Rocket Forced to Self-Destruct With 2 Satellites On Board

Passant Rabie
Wed, December 21, 2022 

Vega-C rocket lifting off from its launch pad at the Kourou space base, French Guiana, Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2022.


Arianespace’s medium-lift Vega-C rocket failed to reach orbit on its second mission, resulting in the destruction of the two satellites on board.

The rocket, developed by the European Space Agency (ESA), built by Italian company Avio, and operated by Arianespace, took off on Tuesday at 8:47 p.m. ET from the Kourou space base in French Guiana, carrying the Neo 5 and Neo 6 satellites for for Airbus’ Pléiades Neo Earth-imaging constellation.

The rocket’s first stage separated successfully from the second stage, but trouble ensued shortly thereafter. Around two minutes and 27 seconds after liftoff, the rocket’s second stage, called the Zefiro 40, experienced a catastrophic anomaly, Arianespace announced on Twitter.

“Following the nominal ignition of the second stage’s (Zefiro 40) engine around 144 seconds after lift-off, a decrease in the pressure was observed leading to the premature end of the mission,” Arianespace wrote in a statement.

“After this underpressure, we have observed the deviation of the trajectory and very strong anomalies, so unfortunately we can say that the mission is lost,” Stéphane Israël, chief executive of Arianespace, said on the launch webcast, as reported by SpaceNews. Per standard procedures, the rocket was ordered to self-destruct.

The satellites on board were meant to complete Airbus’ six-satellite constellation, providing high-resolution imagery of Earth.

Arianespace and ESA have appointed an independent inquiry commission to analyze the reason for the rocket’s failure and determine what needs to be done before Vega-C can resume flights, according to an Arianespace statement.

Vega-C was originally scheduled to launch on November 24, but the mission was delayed due to faulty equipment in the payload fairing separation system. The launch system hasn’t had the best track record, with the latest incident marking the third time a Vega rocket has suffered a mission failure in the last eight liftoffs, according to the BBC. In November 2020, a Vega rocket failed eight minutes into the mission, the result of human error.

More on this story: Vega Rocket Failure Apparently Caused by Human Error

It’s a disappointing follow-up to Vega-C’s debut this summer. On July 13, Vega-C successfully completed its inaugural flight, delivering the Italian Space Agency’s LARES-2 to orbit as its primary payload. Vega-C is a more powerful successor to the Vega launcher, which was in operation for 10 years. Vega-C is fitted with a more powerful first and second stage, along with an improved re-ignitable upper stage.

Tuesday’s mission marked the first time Vega-C carried a commercial payload, so it is unfortunate that the mission ended in failure. ESA is counting on Vega-C to deliver European payloads to orbit and maintain its presence in the growing space industry by virtue of possessing its own launch vehicle.

ESA is also getting ready to debut Ariane 6, the next-generation launcher to follow Ariane 5. Ariane 6 was originally slated for launch in 2020, but has suffered numerous delays, and is now scheduled to fly in 2023. “With Vega-C and Ariane 6, Europe will have a flexible, independent solution for a fast-changing launch market,” Daniel Neuenschwande, ESA’s director of Space Transportation, said in a statement in June.

Hopefully ESA can recover from the mission failure and get Vega-C back on track.

 

Eagle spotted carrying Canada goose near WA dam. Security camera captures the fly-by

Dec. 21, 2022 Updated Wed., Dec. 21, 2022 

By Jared GendronIdaho Statesman

Two bald eagles and a Canada goose are perched on a lamppost Dec. 15 near Wanapum Dam along the Columbia River. After 30 minutes of viewing the eagle on security footage, employees at Grant Public Utility District drove to the lamppost to catch a glimpse of the birds in person. (Christine Pratt/Grant Public Utility District )

The control room operators rewound the security camera footage, slowed it down and rewatched what just happened. They couldn’t believe it: a bald eagle soaring past the camera with a Canada goose clutched in its talons.

On Dec. 15, the eagle was spotted carrying the goose past the camera at Wanapum Dam, along the Columbia River, between the towns of Vantage and Beverly. The sighting sparked intrigue among employees at Grant Public Utility District (PUD), the nonprofit organization that owns the dam.

A control room employee at Grant PUD shared the video of the raptor in action on Facebook the same day, which the utility department then shared on its own social media page. A snapshot of the video depicting the eagle and goose then was shared on the website forum Reddit, and the post immediately garnered attention. As of Tuesday, the post has received more than 63,000 upvotes – or “likes.”

“Everyone was surprised that the eagle was carrying such a large bird,” said Christine Pratt, a spokesperson with Grant PUD.

Pratt said it reminded her of a scene she witnessed during winter several years ago. She said she saw an eagle dive into the Columbia River trying to catch a coot, which is a species of waterfowl.

“So I know for a fact they (eagles) will go after small birds, but what surprised everybody was just the size,” Pratt said. “A Canada goose can easily outweigh an eagle.”

Pratt said the control room employees spotted the eagle land on a lamppost in the vicinity. Not long after, another eagle joined it. Onlookers at the dam speculate that the second bird was the raptor’s mate. Control room employees watched the eagles for 30 minutes across multiple security cameras. Some workers then drove to the lamppost to photograph the scene.

It wasn’t immediately clear to personnel if the goose was dead or alive at the time of its capture. Pratt said utility district workers were speculating it could have been alive, but nobody could be certain of it.

Eagles in Washington

Bald eagles are plentiful in Washington. The birds travel long distances, including from Washington to Alaska, said Joe Buchanan, a wildlife biologist with the state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife. Buchanan said eagles are savvy predators and are known to hunt other birds, especially waterfowl such as ducks and other waterbirds like gulls.

Eagles are opportunistic predators, so they are adept at identifying injured animals or ones not cautious of their surroundings. Eagles take advantage of these situations to score easier meals. They also are known to scavenge.

Buchanan doesn’t think the goose was alive when snatched by the eagle.

“My guess is if the goose was alive, the eagle probably would not be carrying it, because it probably would be wiggling around and that sort of thing,” Buchanan said. He explained that eagle talons are both useful for carrying and incapacitating other animals, but he is unsure whether talons can inflict enough damage to kill a goose.

Canada geese travel from Canada to Washington during the winter season, and some have settled in the area year round, Buchanan said. Pratt said the dam’s surrounding areas attract wildlife because the public utility district expends resources into restoring natural habitats and ensuring wildlife survival.

FORTY YEARS OF GOP CUTS

The IRS says its 87,000 new hires could help collect as much as $1 trillion by forcing rich tax cheats to pay up — but will more 'fire-breathing dragons' really do the trick?

Serah Louis

Thu, December 22, 2022

t

The IRS says its 87,000 new hires could help collect as much as $1 trillion by forcing rich tax cheats to pay up — but will more 'fire-breathing dragons' really do the trick?

Get ready, ultra-wealthy Americans: President Joe Biden wants you to start paying your share.

Through the Inflation Reduction Act, Biden plans to increase funding for the IRS to help the agency catch sneaky tax evaders — especially those high-earners who love to find loopholes around the law.

A Treasury Department report from May 2021 estimates the extra money would allow the agency to hire around 87,000 new employees — which could include revenue agents and customer service and IT staff — by 2031.

Advocates believe the increased funding could raise as much as $1 trillion by forcing tax cheats to pay their dues, especially after years of budget cuts have gutted the system.

However some critics worry the increased scrutiny on taxpayers could backfire in a big way.

Don't miss

• Better than NFTs: You don't have to be ultra-rich to own a piece of a Pablo Picasso. Here's how to enter the fine art market

• 'Hold onto your money': Jeff Bezos says you might want to rethink buying a 'new automobile, refrigerator, or whatever' — here are 3 better recession-proof buys

• Americans are paying nearly 40% more on home insurance compared to 12 years ago — here's how to spend less on peace of mind

The IRS desperately needs the support

The $80 billion in funding spread over the next 10 years will help the IRS modernize its infrastructure, increase enforcement and replace its aging workforce (50,000 of the IRS’s 80,000 workers are expected to leave in the next five years).

The agency has reportedly been underfunded by about 20% for a decade — leading it to cut back on both staff and technology updates.

Bogged down by a processing system that’s more than half a century old and a backlog that includes millions of unprocessed paper filings, the IRS has been in need of more resources and support for a while.

The customer service department has been woefully short-staffed as well. During the 2022 filing season, the IRS received around 73 million phone calls from taxpayers — but only 10% were actually answered.

Read more: The 10 best investing apps for 'once-in-a-generation' opportunities (even if you're a beginner)

"The combination of more than 21 million unprocessed paper tax returns, more than 14 million math error notices, eight-month backlogs in processing taxpayer correspondence, and extraordinary difficulty reaching the IRS by phone made this filing season particularly challenging," national taxpayer advocate Erin M. Collins wrote in her midyear report to Congress.

On top of these issues, former IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig estimated in 2021 that the agency is losing $1 trillion in unpaid taxes each year — particularly due to evasion from the rich and big businesses. He also indicated they could be slipping through the cracks in part due to the lightly regulated cryptocurrency market, foreign source income and abuse of pass-through provisions.

Rettig has long pushed for increased funding “to bring on the fire-breathing dragons” to take cheaters to task.

Could bolstering enforcement do more harm than good?

Supporters argue the funding will help close the “tax gap” by helping catch more evaders.

From the total $80 billion, $45.6 billion has been allotted for increased enforcement — which will go toward hiring more enforcement agents, providing legal support and investing in “investigative technology” to determine who should or shouldn’t be audited.

But not everyone is thrilled with the news.

“They’re not going to get this ‘magic money,’” Brian Reardon told Bloomberg. Reardon is the president of the S Corporation Association, which represents small, privately-owned businesses that pass taxes onto their shareholders.

“If you dial up enforcement on people who are otherwise following the rules and paying what they owe, you create resentment and anger. You undermine people’s confidence in the tax system.”

However, the Biden administration maintains that the increased enforcement will be focused on the ultra wealthy and large corporations, and isn’t intended for small businesses or households who earn less than $400,000 a year.

Research from the Department of Treasury indicates that the top 1% of Americans could be dodging as much as $163 billion in taxes each year.

That being said, while Eli Akhavan, a partner at Steptoe & Johnson in New York, expects audits will go up, he’s been telling his wealthy clients they “have nothing to worry about other than some headaches,” provided they’re following good advice and have their “ducks in a row.”

“If there’s nothing to find, there’s nothing to find,” Akhavan says.

How female Iranian activists use powerful images to protest oppressive policies

Parichehr Kazemi, PhD Candidate in Political Science, University of Oregon
Wed, December 21, 2022 

Women have been at the forefront of protests in Iran.

Hawar News Agency via AP via AP

Images of unveiled Iranian women and adolescent girls standing atop police cars or flipping off the ayatollah’s picture have become signature demonstrations of dissent in the past few months of protest in Iran.

In fact, among the Iranian protest photos selected for inclusion in Time magazine’s list of the “Top 100 Photos of 2022” are one of women running from military police brigades and another of an unveiled woman standing on a car with hands raised.

As a scholar studying the use of images in political movements, I find Iranian protest photos powerful and engaging because they play on several elements of defiance. They draw on a longer history of Iranian women taking and sharing photos and videos of actions considered illegal, such as singing and dancing to protest gender oppression.

Pictures in past Iranian movements

Iranian women did not stage mass public demonstrations against restrictions on their freedoms for nearly three decades following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, when protests against compulsory hijab laws were brutally crushed by the Islamic regime.

Thousands of Iranian women march in Tehran on March 12, 1979.

AP Photo/Richard Tomkins

In the 2009 Iranian Green Movement against election fraud, however, women played a major role. Images of one young female protester, Neda Agha-Soltan, who was fatally shot by security forces during the protest, went viral, catalyzing millions of Iranians to join the protests.

In subsequent protests, visuals have been at the heart of women’s efforts to mobilize against the Islamic Republic. In 2014, women began recording themselves walking, cycling, dancing and singing in public unveiled, under the banner of the “My Stealthy Freedom” movement. Started by Masih Alinejad, an Iranian-born journalist based in New York, the movement protested the forced wearing of the hijab and other restrictive laws by showing women breaking them.

Walking in busy city streets unveiled, riding a bike in parks where such activities are banned for women and joining dance circles in town squares were among the ways in which Iranian women protested oppressive laws and practices.

Four years later, what came to be known as the “Girls of Revolution Street,” protests started with one woman, Vida Movahed, standing atop a utility box on Tehran’s Revolution Street to wave her headscarf on a stick like a flag. Soon, others joined Movahed by repeating her action in other public spaces in Iran.

Images showing dozens of people protesting mandatory veiling in this way were widely shared on social media and later picked up by global news networks, bringing international attention to women’s resistance efforts in Iran.

The use of images by protesters has been a central practice of resistance in other protests around the world as well. During the Arab Spring, a series of protests against the ruling regimes that spread across the Middle East and North Africa in the early 2010s, images played an important role in mobilizing people into joining the movement.

A photo of a woman dragged by government forces in the streets of Egypt with her body exposed persuaded many to protest against what was a clear example of state violence in the Egyptian uprising. These images challenged the regime interpretations of protesters as “troublemakers” and helped bypass the state-controlled news networks to show the world what was happening on the ground.
What such a resistance means

Iranian women have been protesting the Islamic Republic’s sexist policies and showing the world what freedom and gender identity mean to them through their bodily expressions.

Images of women freely riding a bike or sitting with a member of the opposite sex while unveiled are ways of protesting through the everyday acts that women are barred from under the Islamic Republic. Through their widespread participation in these actions, women have shown a solidarity.

As it is difficult for the Islamic Republic to suppress this kind of protest, it often responds by arresting key activists who can be identified and imprisoning them for several years. In 2019, one activist associated with this form of protest, Yasaman Aryani, was sentenced to a 16-year jail term after a video surfaced of her handing out flowers in the Tehran metro unveiled.

Images of Iranian women engaged in defiant acts make their daily oppression visible. Scholar Mona Lilja describes these protests in terms of “resisting bodies” that speak in ways that are not always apparent at the outset of a demonstration or public act of defiance. Emotions, symbolic actions and women’s engagements with the spaces in which they protest combine to form the meaning of resistance we associate with these pictures.

Today’s protest pictures build on past resistance efforts and build on a tradition of resisting the Iranian government.

This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Parichehr Kazemi, University of Oregon. News from experts, from an independent nonprofit. 

Read more:

Hijab rules have nothing to do with Islamic tenets and everything to do with repressing women

Who are Iran’s morality police? A scholar of the Middle East explains their history

Parichehr Kazemi's research is supported by the University of Oregon's Center for the Study of Women in Society (CSWS) and the Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund (SYLFF).

Esports seen as pathway to boost diversity in STEM careers


Shemar Worthy, a 21-year-old DePaul senior majoring in information systems, plays an online game at the university's Esports Gaming Center, Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022, in Chicago., where he says gaming was a gateway to his interest in a tech career. A growing effort to channel students' enthusiasm for esports toward preparing them for jobs in science, technology, engineering, and math could improve racial diversity in STEM.

 AP Photo/Claire Savage

CLAIRE SAVAGE
Wed, December 21, 2022 

CHICAGO (AP) — As a kid, Kevin Fair would take apart his Nintendo console, troubleshoot issues and put it back together again — experiences the Black entrepreneur says represented “a life trajectory changing moment” when he realized the entertainment system was more than a toy.

“I think I was just genuinely inspired by digital technology,” he said.

Motivated by his love for video games, Fair learned to code and fix computers. In 2009, he started I Play Games!, a Chicago-based business that exposes young people of color to a side of video gaming they might not have otherwise known existed.

By channeling students' enthusiasm for esports — multiplayer competitive video games — schools and businesses like Fair's aim to prepare them for careers in science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, at a time when the fields lack racial diversity.

“These kids were born with digital devices within their hands, and if you give them access, the world is theirs,” said entrepreneur and scholar Jihan Johnston, who founded digital education company Beatbotics with her teenage son, Davon — an avid gamer.

Despite industry inequality and representation issues, young video game users are diverse. A 2015 Pew Research Center study found Black teens are slightly more likely than their peers to play video games, while roughly the same amount of white and Hispanic teens play.

Meanwhile, Black and Hispanic workers make up just 9% and 8% of STEM employees in the U.S. respectively, Pew said last year.

Johnston is reframing the conversation about video games by coaching communities of color on how esports can lead to careers for their children.

“I think our community does not know that this can lead to college,” she said.

This school year, DePaul University in Chicago offered a new academic esports scholarship designed to hone practical skills for the video game industry. Nine of the 10 freshmen recipients are students of color, according to Stephen Wilke, the school’s esports coordinator.

Aramis Reyes, an 18-year-old computer science major with a focus in game design and development, is one of the $1,500 scholarship awardees.

The bespectacled teen described himself as a casual, noncompetitive gamer. For Reyes, the magic of video games is the potential for storytelling. “I have so many design ideas that I want to get into,” he said.

Skills that gamers develop naturally help prime them for their pick of careers in IT, coding, statistics, software engineering and more, Fair said. Typing proficiency sets up gamers to be efficient in the modern workplace, and competitive players approach the data they see on their screen analytically, thinking in frames per second.

“All of that is high-end math happening in the person’s head at the moment,” he said.

Like Fair, video games also sparked Reyes’ interest in coding.

“Everything is so accessible if you know the right place to look. You know, I literally went through a secondhand store and found a book this thick on how to learn Python,” Reyes said, gesturing to show a 10-inch (25-centimeter) spine.

Fair said businesses like his will help close the diversity gap. Increasing diversity in STEM would improve pay equity, invigorate innovation and help keep America competitive on a global scale, as testing reveals the U.S. is lagging in STEM education.

University of California Irvine research supports Fair’s strategy: a collaborative program with the North America Scholastic Esports Federation found that school-affiliated clubs aimed at using student interest in esports in an academic context facilitated math and science learning, increased STEM interest, and benefited kids at low-income schools the most.

Grace Collins, a Cleveland area teacher who launched the first all-girls varsity esports high school team in 2018, said creating a welcome space and improving representation is crucial to building out diversity in both esports and STEM.

“I think the challenges for diversity in esports and the challenges for diversity in STEM are often very similar … so solving this problem in one place can help alleviate them on the other side,” Collins said.

Reyes, who is Hispanic and Latino, said esports feels like a welcoming community for students of color, and is “absolutely” an avenue into improving diversity in STEM. Although civil rights advocates say racist hate speech persists online, overwhelmingly the gaming community is accepting, in Reyes’ experience.

Sophomore Lethrese Rosete agreed, calling DePaul’s esports club “a very safe and friendly environment.”

Rosete, 20, is majoring in user design experience to combine her creativity and coding skills.

She’s aware of inequality issues in STEM and video game design, mentioning Activision’s Blizzard Entertainment president, ousted after a discrimination and sexual harassment lawsuit cited a “frat boy” culture that became “a breeding ground for harassment and discrimination against women.”

But Rosete said DePaul doesn’t feel that way. “We’re all just here to learn,” she said.

When first-person shooter game Valorant released a new Filipina character, Rosete said she started screaming and running around in excitement.

“I felt at peace,” said Rosete, who is Filipina American. “I felt like my representation had come.”

But video games are not a cure-all for the STEM diversity gap. “It’s a systemic problem that’s way bigger than esports,” Wilke said.

Lack of representation, online extremism and expensive equipment buy-in could have the opposite effect by reinforcing stereotypes and exacerbating inequality.

Online safety is also a concern — video game company Epic Games, maker of Fortnite, will pay a total of $520 million to settle complaints involving children’s privacy and methods that tricked players into making purchases, U.S. federal regulators said Monday.

Fair recommended parents keep a “good watchful eye” on their kids’ online activity. “There’s a lot of trash out there,” he said.

Access to gaming consoles and computers varies by teens’ household income, and the average Black and Hispanic households earn about half as much as the average white household, the Federal Reserve reported in 2021.

Although surveys show increases in developers of color, white men remain overrepresented in the gaming industry.

Fair said there is a long way to go to improving racial diversity in both STEM and esports.

“I can have a lot of kids that love playing FIFA. But that doesn’t mean that they’re going to desire to become engineers,” he said. “You have to kind of try and show directly how what they’re doing, the activity that they want to do connects to something that they can make money in.”

___

Savage is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

Fiji calls in military after close election is disputed

People's Alliance Party leader Sitiveni Rabuka gestures during a church service at the Fijian Teachers Association Hall in Suva, Fiji, Sunday, Dec. 18, 2022. Fijian police on Thursday, Dec. 22, 2022 said they were calling in the military to help maintain security following a close election last week that is now being disputed.

(Mick Tsikas/AAP Image via AP)

NICK PERRY
Wed, December 21, 2022 

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Fijian police on Thursday said they were calling in the military to help maintain security following a close election last week that is now being disputed.

It was an alarming development in a Pacific nation where democracy remains fragile and there have been four military coups in the past 35 years. The two main contenders for prime minister this year were former coup leaders themselves.

Police Commissioner Brig. Gen. Sitiveni Qiliho said in a statement that after police and military leaders met with Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama they collectively decided to call in army and navy personnel to assist.

The commissioner said there had been threats made against minority groups who were “now living in fear following recent political developments.”

Reporters in the capital, Suva, said there were no immediate signs of any military presence on city streets.

The military move came after Bainimarama’s Fiji First party refused to concede the election, despite rival Sitiveni Rabuka's party and two other parties announcing they had the numbers to form a majority coalition and would serve as the next government.

Fiji First Gen. Sec. Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum told media Wednesday that under the nation's constitution, Bainimarama would remain prime minister until lawmakers returned to Parliament within two weeks to vote on the next leader.

Sayed-Khaiyum questioned the validity of the internal voting which had led to one of the parties joining Rabuka's coalition. And he lashed out at Rabuka, accusing him of sowing division in Fiji.

“The entire rationale of this man has been to divide Fiji to gain political supremacy,” Sayed-Khaiyum said. “And we can see that simmering through again. In fact it's not simmering, it's boiling.”

A day earlier, Rabuka and two other party leaders announced they were forming a coalition with a total of 29 seats against Fiji First's 26 and would form the next government.

“A government we hope that will bring the change that people had been calling out for over the last few years,” Rabuka said at a news conference. “It’s going to be an onerous task. It will not be easy, and it was never easy to try and dislodge an incumbent government. We have done that, collectively."

Rabuka's announcement prompted New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta to send her congratulations on Twitter, saying New Zealand “looks forward to working together to continue strengthening our warm relationship."

But New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern took a more cautious approach, saying she was waiting until the dust settled.

Bainimarama has been in power for 16 years. He led a 2006 military coup and later refashioned himself as a democratic leader by introducing a new constitution and winning elections in 2014 and 2018.

Rabuka, meanwhile, led Fiji’s first military takeover in 1987 and later served seven years as an elected prime minister in the 1990s.

Bainimarama and Rabuka were initially deadlocked after the election. Rabuka’s People’s Alliance Party won 21 seats and the affiliated National Federation Party won five seats, while Bainimarama’s Fiji First party secured 26 seats.

That left the Social Democratic Liberal Party, which won three seats, holding the balance of power. The party decided Tuesday in a close 16-14 internal vote to go with Rabuka — a vote that Fiji First is now questioning.

THE UN GANG VS HAITI GANGS

UN deputy urges countries to consider armed force for Haiti


A police convoy escort fuel trucks filled with gas as they drive from the Varreux fuel terminal, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Nov. 8, 2022. U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, speaking to the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2022, urged countries to urgently consider Haiti’s request for an international armed force to help restore security in the country troubled by gang violence. A U.N. special envoy said intentional killings and ransom kidnappings have increased sharply, armed gangs control the main roads entering or leaving the capital, the police force is shrinking, and a third of schools are closed.(AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph, File)


EDITH M. LEDERER
Wed, December 21, 2022

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N.’s deputy secretary-general urged every country “with capacity” to urgently consider the Haitian government’s request for an international armed force to help restore security and alleviate a humanitarian crisis in the Caribbean nation, which is in “a deepening crisis of unprecedented scale and complexity that is cause for serious alarm.”

Amina Mohammed also reiterated Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ call for international support for the beleaguered Haitian National Police.

“Insecurity has reached unprecedented levels and human rights abuses are widespread,” she told the U.N. Security Council. “Armed gangs have expanded their violent criminal activities, using killings and gang rapes to terrorize and subjugate communities.”

Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry and the country’s Council of Ministers sent an urgent appeal Oct. 7 calling for “the immediate deployment of a specialized armed force, in sufficient quantity” to stop the crisis caused partly by the “criminal actions of armed gangs.” But more than two months later, no countries have stepped forward.

Meanwhile, the already terrible situation in Haiti has gotten worse.

Helen La Lime, the U.N. special envoy for Haiti, told the council that gang violence has increased to “alarmingly high levels,” marked by spikes in kidnappings, killings and rapes.

“November witnessed 280 intentional homicides, the highest on record,” she said. Reported kidnappings for ransom have exceeded 1,200 cases so far this year — double the number recorded in 2021 — “making every commute for the average Haitian an ordeal.”

La Lime said the increase in reported rapes reflects the “horrendous” use of sexual violence by gang members “to intimidate and subjugate whole communities,” and the brutality of this violence “has become a badge of notoriety for perpetrators.”

Compounding the plight for millions of Haitians, the gangs control all main roads in and out of the capital, Port-au-Prince, which has created a “catastrophic economic situation” because trade is now stymied, she said.

“Close to half the population are food insecure, with some 20,000 people facing famine-like conditions,” thousands are displaced and 34% of schools remain closed, La Lime said, and the number of suspected cholera cases has increased to 15,000.

She said the Haitian National Police force continues to shrink, with its operational strength down to 13,000 personnel, with fewer than 9,000 available as active-duty officers.

While police have carried out some effective operations against gangs in Port-au-Prince, La Lime said, they need a specialized force as secretary-general Guterres outlined in October.

Many Haitians have rejected the idea of another international intervention, noting that U.N. peacekeepers were accused of sexual assault and sparked a cholera epidemic more than a decade ago that killed nearly 10,000 people. The United States has led several interventions in Haiti, including in 1994 and 2004, and there is also opposition to another American military foray.

Some opponents claim Henry hopes to use foreign troops to keep himself in power. He assumed the premiership last year after the still-unsolved assassination of President Jovenal Moise. Many consider Henry is illegally in the position because he was never elected nor formally confirmed in the post by the legislature.

Henry has failed to set a date for elections, which have not been held since 2016, but has pledged to do so once the violence is quelled.

Haiti's Foreign Minister Jean Victor Geneus told the council the circumstances that pushed the government to request an international force to support the police “to eradicate or at least contain the phenomenon of armed gangs" and restore order haven't changed much. He said the Haitian people “in their vast majority" favor an international force “no matter what some say."

Geneus said Henry met civic, business and political leaders Wednesday morning to sign a “National Consensus" document that will establish a transitional council to move toward organizing elections “in the course of next year."

U.S. Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood said because of the upsurge in gang activity the United States continues “to advocate for international security support, including a non-U.N. multinational force as requested by the Haitian government.”

He made no mention of countries that might lead or participate in such a force but said the U.S. has provided more than $90 million in security support to Haiti in the past 18 months and will continue to provide “critical support.”

Canada’s U.N. Ambassador Robert Rae, whose country has been mentioned as a possible leader of a multinational force, told the council: “The solutions must be led by Haiti, not by Canada, not by the United States, not by anyone here, not by any country, not by the U.N.”

He said the plans have to come from within the country after “a deep and sustained political dialogue” and “we need to make a concerted effort to understand the needs of Haitians and to support the country’s plans.”

Global Times: Edgar Snow's descendant hopes China, US can still find common ground, carry on ties recognized in reply letter from Xi

Thu, December 22, 2022 

BEIJING, Dec. 22, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Chinese people and American people have a rich history of friendship and if we can successfully create opportunities to work together, this world will become a better place, Adam Foster, president of the Helen Foster Snow Foundation, who penned a letter to Xi Jinping, told the Global Times.

In a letter of reply in January 2022, Xi pointed out that Edgar and Helen Snow actively promoted the Chinese Gong He (Gung Ho) movement of industrial cooperatives, and played an important role in establishing the Shandan Peili School in China's Gansu Province.

The Chinese people, he added, bear in mind the contributions made by international friends, including the Snows, to China's revolution and construction, as well as their sincere friendship with the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Chinese people.

Xi said he highly appreciates the positive contributions made by the Helen Foster Snow family to the development of China-US relations over the years.

He expressed his hope that Foster and the foundation will continue to follow the example of the Snows and make new contributions to enhancing the friendship and cooperation between the Chinese and American people.

Xi's reply came after Adam Foster had written to him, recalling the contributions made by Helen Snow to enhancing people-to-people friendship between the US and China.

He also vowed to carry forward her spirit of promoting friendship and cooperation between the people of the two countries and create a bridge for US-China people-to-people exchanges and interaction.

"It was really encouraging to see that leaders from both sides are looking for ways to keep that people-to-people connection… I hope that relationship continues," Adam Foster told the Global Times.

"We wrote a letter to President Xi, and that was signed by 66 members of the Foster family, thanking the Chinese people for what they've done to celebrate Helen and to honor her legacy," said Foster.

Continuing the legacy

Helen Foster Snow, great-aunt of Adam Foster, together with Edgar Snow, whom she met and married in China, championed the practice of making the CPC known to the world through their writings on the Party and the Chinese revolution.

Adam Foster, President of the Helen Foster Snow Foundation, an organization named after the accomplished journalist and writer, told the Global Times that the foundation is committed to creating a platform for dialogue, engagement and practical cooperation, while focusing on exchanges in education, culture and business.

To achieve that goal, the foundation is working with universities, museums and other institutions to promote language learning, education and cultural exchanges.

"For example, we are working with partners in Jiangxi Province to create a ceramic cultural center based in Utah, to share this amazing cultural tradition of ceramic artistry with Americans; with Northwest University in Xi'an, we are working to promote the Helen Foster Snow Translation Award to be a world-class translation competition," he said.

"Chinese people and American people have a rich history of friendship. If we can successfully create opportunities to work together, this world will become a better place," said Foster.

He said that understanding China is not easy for Americans. "It requires something more than just reading the headlines of news stories. I think it's important for people in both countries to learn more about each other and for Americans to become more China-literate."

He said it is important for both people to know that "we're not enemies of each other… sometimes the loudest voices can represent a very small minority of people. So I hope the Chinese people recognize that American people are not seeking conflict. The vast majority of Americans want peace and prosperity just as the Chinese people do."

According to Foster, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the foundation has held several events in China to share his great-aunt's work as a photojournalist in 1930s China. "Events like these create a chance for subnational governments to engage and have dialogue with each other on non-sensitive topics," he said.

Adam Foster said that he would love his five children to carry on the family tradition of warming up relations between people from both countries. "I'm hoping that I can bring my children there to follow in those footsteps [of Helen] so that they can learn more about their great aunt and the adventures she had in China, and also to reconnect with these wonderful Chinese people that we've made friendships with over the years."

SOURCE Global Times

There's a long history behind the bitter orthodox schism in Ukraine | Terry Mattingly

Terry Mattingly
Thu, December 22, 2022

After the Soviet Union's collapse, Orthodox Christians throughout the Slavic world celebrated the slow, steady construction of churches after decades of persecution.

In 2004, the poet Nina Borodai wrote a long prayer – "Song of the Most Holy Theotokos" (Greek for "God-bearer") – seeking the prayers of St. Mary for the lands of "Holy Rus," a term with roots dating to the 988 conversion of Prince Vladimir of Kiev.

"Mother of God, Mother of God / … All Holy Rus prays to you / And valleys and mountains and forests. … / Consecrate all the churches to you," wrote Borodai (computer translation from Russian). "Domes, domes in the sky are blue / I can't count the bells / The ringing floats, floats over Russia / Mother Rus is awakening."

Worshippers pray and light candles in St. Volodymyr's Cathedral, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate, on Nov. 06 in Kyiv, Ukraine. Electricity and heating outages across Ukraine caused by missile and drone strikes to energy infrastructure have added urgency preparations for winter.

Borodai's prayer of joy and repentance was an unlikely spark for an explosion of religious conflict inside Ukraine. Leaders of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – with centuries of canonical ties to Russian Orthodoxy – face Security Service of Ukraine accusations of collusion with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. Some churches have been seized or padlocked as pressures rise for conversions to the rival Orthodox Church of Ukraine, officially born in 2019 with recognition by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Istanbul and Western governments.

In November, an OCU priest posted a video showing laypeople singing Borodai's poem after a service inside the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, the font of Slavic monasticism since its birth in 1051 in caves above the Dnieper River. Monastery critics made headlines by claiming the video proved the monks – part of the historic UOC – are disloyal to Ukraine. Lavra visitors, according to the New York Times, were "cheering for Russia."

Days later, security forces raided the monastery and, in the weeks since, officials have accused bishops and priests of aiding Russia. They released photos of Russian passports, theological texts in Russian and pamphlets criticizing the newly created Ukrainian church.

Terry Mattingly, News Sentinel columnist

The UOC synod responded by pleading for fair, open trials of anyone accused, while noting: "From the first day of the invasion of Russian troops, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has condemned this war and has consistently advocated the preservation of the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine. Our believers, with God's help and the prayers of their fellow believers, courageously defend their Motherland in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. … Memory eternal to all victims of this terrible war!"

This echoed waves of UOC statements condemning the invasion. When fighting began, Father Nikolay Danilevich, head of its church relations office, tweeted: "Putin treacherously attacked our country! We bless everyone for the defense of Ukraine! … God save Ukraine!"

UOC Metropolitan Onuphry proclaimed: "We appeal to the President of Russia and ask him to immediately stop the fratricidal war. The Ukrainian and Russian peoples came out of the Dnieper Baptismal font, and the war between these peoples is a repetition of the sin of Cain, who killed his own brother out of envy."

Orthodox believers around the world have been stunned by these events, while watching for signs that global Orthodox leaders will intervene in this schism. I am Orthodox and have – in 2009 and 2012 – worshipped in the Lavra and visited its vast underground matrix of sanctuaries, tombs and monastic cells. It's hard to imagine officers with machine guns walking past the bodies of numerous saints.

After meeting believers on both sides, I believe three clashing views of "Holy Rus" have shaped this tragedy.

Putin proclaims that the Rus is real, and this justifies his invasion. Supporters of the new Ukrainian church argue that the Ecumenical Patriarchate, after years of conflict with Russian Orthodoxy, had the authority to trump centuries of Slavic history and create the OCU.

Caught in the middle, leaders of the historic UOC say the Rus is a historical reality but insist that this makes Russia's invasion even worse – the sin of brothers killing brothers.

During worship in my own East Tennessee parish – part of the Orthodox Church in America, which has Russian roots – we continue to pray "for those who are suffering, wounded, grieving or displaced because of the war in Ukraine. And for a cessation of the hostilities against Ukraine, and that reconciliation and peace will flourish there, we pray thee, hearken and have mercy."

Terry Mattingly leads GetReligion.org and lives in Oak Ridge. He is a senior fellow at the Overby Center at the University of Mississippi.

Migrants flee more countries, regardless of US policies


2 / 17
Migrants walk towards the US-Mexico border in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Christian Chavez)

ELLIOT SPAGAT
Thu, December 22, 2022 at 7:00 AM MST·6 min read

TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) — In 2014, groups of unaccompanied children escaping violence in Central America overwhelmed U.S. border authorities in South Texas. In 2016, thousands of Haitians fled a devastating earthquake and stopped in Tijuana, Mexico, after walking and taking buses through up to 11 countries to the U.S. border.

In 2018, about 6,000 mostly Guatemalan and Honduran migrants fleeing violence and poverty descended on Tijuana, many of them families with young children sleeping in frigid, rain-soaked parks and streets.

A Trump-era ban on asylum, granted a brief extension by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on Wednesday, was one of the U.S. policies affecting migrants’ decisions to leave their homes. The last eight years show how an extraordinary convergence of inequality, civil strife and natural disasters also have been prompting millions to leave Latin America, Europe and Africa. Since 2017, the United States has been the world’s top destination for asylum-seekers, according to the United Nations.

___


This is part of an occasional series on how the United States became the world’s top destination for asylum-seekers.

___

Migrants have been denied the right to seek asylum under U.S. and international law 2.5 million times since March 2020 on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19, an authority known as Title 42. It applies to all nationalities but has fallen disproportionately on people from countries that Mexico takes back, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and, more recently Venezuela, as well as Mexico. Pent-up demand is expected to drive crossings higher when asylum restrictions end.

When the pandemic hit, nationalities rarely seen at the border grew month after month, from Cuba, Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia. High costs, strained diplomatic relations and other considerations complicated U.S. efforts to expel people from countries that Mexico wouldn't take.

Cubans are fleeing their homes in the largest numbers in six decades to escape economic and political turmoil. Most fly to Nicaragua as tourists and slowly make their way to the U.S. They were the second-largest nationality at the border after Mexicans in October.

Grissell Matos Prieguez and her husband surrendered to border agents near Eagle, Pass, Texas, Oct. 30, after a 16-day journey through six countries that included buses, motorcycles and taxis and exhausting night walks through bushes and foul-smelling rivers.

“Throughout all the journey you feel like you are going to die, you don’t trust anybody, nothing,” said Matos, a 34-year-old engineer. “You live in a constant fear, or to be detained and that anything would happen.”

To pay for the trip from Santiago de Cuba, they sold everything, down to computers and bicycles, and borrowed from relatives in Florida. Their parents and grandparents stayed behind.

A recent surge that has made El Paso, Texas, the busiest corridor for illegal crossings is made up largely of Nicaraguans, whose government has quashed dissent.

Haitians who stop in South America, sometimes for years, have been a major presence, most notably when nearly 16,000 camped in the small town of Del Rio, Texas, in September 2021. The Biden administration flew many home but slowed returns amid increasingly brazen attacks by gangs that have grown more powerful since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse last year.

Migration is often driven by “pull factors” that draw people to a country, such as a relatively strong U.S. economy and an asylum system that takes years to decide a case, encouraging some to come even if they feel unlikely to win. But conditions at home, known as "push factors," may be as responsible for unprecedented numbers over the last year.

Looking back, Tijuana attorney and migrant advocate Soraya Vazquez says the Haitian diaspora of 2016 was a turning point.

“We began to realize that there were massive movements all over, in some places from war, in others from political situations, violence, climate change,” said Vazquez, a San Diego native and former legislative aide in Mexico City. “Many things happened at once but, in the end, men and our governments are responsible.”

After hosting legal workshops for Haitians in Tijuana, Vazquez helped bring chef Jose Andres' World Central Kitchen to the city's migrant shelters for four years. Seeking financial stability, she became Tijuana director of Al Otro Lado, a nonprofit group that reported $4.1 million in revenue in 2020 and was recently named a beneficiary of MacKenzie Scott's philanthropy.

“What provoked all of this? Inequality,” Vazquez said over tea in Tijuana's trendy Cacho neighborhood.

For decades, Mexicans, largely adult men, went to the U.S. to fill jobs and send money home. But in 2015, the Pew Research Center found more Mexicans returned to Mexico from the U.S. than came since the Great Recession ended.

Mexicans still made up one of three encounters with U.S. border agents during the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, higher than three years ago but well below the 85% reported in 2011 and the 95% at the turn of the century. And those fleeing are increasingly families trying to escape drug-fueled violence with young children.

Like clockwork, hundreds cross the border after midnight in Yuma, Arizona, walking through Mexican shrub to surrender to U.S. agents. Many fly to the nearby city of Mexicali after entering Mexico as tourists and take a taxi to the desert. The Border Patrol releases them to the Regional Center for Border Health, a clinic that charters six buses daily to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

The health clinic had shuttled families from more than 140 countries by August, not one from Mexico, said Amanda Aguirre, its executive director.

Daniel Paz, a Peruvian who surrendered to border agents in Yuma with his wife and 10-year-old in August, had the surprise misfortune of being expelled home without a chance at asylum, unusual even after the Peruvian government began accepting two U.S. charter flights a week.

Peruvians were stopped more than 9,000 times by U.S. authorities along the Mexican border in October, roughly nine times the same period a year earlier and up from only 12 times the year before.

Paz is watching developments around Title 42 and considering another attempt after the government of Peruvian President Pedro Castillo was toppled Dec. 7.

“We'll see if I'm back in January or February," he texted Sunday from Lima. “There is no lack of desire.”

Tijuana's latest newcomers are Venezuelans, about 300 of whom recently temporarily occupied a city-owned recreational center.

About 7 million Venezuelans fled since 2014, including nearly 2 million to neighboring Colombia, but only recently started coming to the United States.

Many Venezuelans gather at Mexico’s asylum office that opened in Tijuana in 2019 and processed more than 3,000 applications in each of the last two years from dozens of countries, led by Haitians and Hondurans.

Jordy Castillo, 40, said he'd wanted to leave Venezuela for 15 years but didn't act until friends and family started reaching the United States last year. His three brothers were first in his circle to seek asylum there, even though they knew no one.

“They found someone who took them in and got settled,” he said.

__

Associated Press writer Gisela Salomon in Miami contributed.