Scientists think Jupiter’s moon Io may be home to alien life
Story by Joshua Hawkins • BGR

Scientists think Jupiter’s moon Io may be home to alien life

artist impression of Io, Jupiter's moon© Provided by BGR

The volcanic moon, which orbits the gas giant Jupiter, has long been written off as a possible home for alien life, as its extreme temperature and lava-covered surface make it wholly inhabitable. But, now scientists say that the volcanic moon could house life deep underground, perhaps even in the lava tubes that help deliver molten rock to the planet’s surface.

It’s an intriguing notion, that alien life might exist on Io, and it is one that doesn’t come lightly. Juno, one of NASA’s spacecraft currently studying Jupiter and its moons, has been sending data back about the Jovian moons for months. Juno sent us terrifying images of Io just last month, giving us a good look at the planet’s bright surface.

Most of the information we have about Io is old, dating back to when the Galileo spacecraft toured the Jovian system over 20 years ago. We know that Io is roughly the same size as our Moon, and that it features an active lava lake, lava flows, mountains, and more. Another big difference could be the existence of alien life on Io, an exciting prospect that begs scientists to look deeper into the moon.


photo of Io, jovian moon© Provided by BGR

The idea here is that microbial growth could be living in the lava tubes that cover Io, allowing the lava from the planet’s core to seep to the surface. Here on Earth, similar growth lives in the lava tubes that pockmark our planet. The idea, then, is that Io could be similar and that alien life of some kind could live in those tubes.

According to a report shared by Big Think, recent simulations of Io show that the tidal heating on the moon is keeping magma liquid below the surface of the planet. However, some of the eruptions on the Jovian moon are so violent that they send magma hundreds of kilometers into space. The tubes that these eruptions send lava through at times could be where alien life on Io is hiding.

Of course, the water scarcity on the moon is problematic, which is where the sulfur that Io is made of might come in handy. This would most likely act as an alternative to water, allowing the existence of microbial ecosystems. Io wouldn’t be home to intelligent alien life, as you might think of it, but it is still alien life, which makes this possibility exciting for many those taking part in the search for alien life in the universe.

A mental health crisis in Canada is fuelling billions in losses for employers

Story by Victoria Wells • Financial Post

One in five people are dealing with mental illness each year.

Workers are still struggling almost three years after the pandemic sent Canadians’ mental health to new depths and that’s costing employers billions of dollars.

Employee mental health is “strained,” said Paula Allen, global leader and senior vice-president, research and total well-being, at Lifeworks Inc., a unit of Telus Corp.’s health division. Almost half of all employees report being more sensitive to stress, and 34 per cent are considered high risk for mental-health impacts, meaning depression or anxiety are interfering with their lives, according to the human resources company’s latest research.

“I think employers would be shocked to actually know how many people in their workforce are struggling significantly and coming to work every single day with a big smile,” she said.

One in five people are dealing with mental illness each year, and one in two has had one by the time they’re 40, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health said on its website. But access to treatment is lacking, and only half get the help they need.

It being January isn’t helping matters, given that the third Monday of the month has been dubbed Blue Monday, or the most depressing day of the year. Blue Monday doesn’t have any basis in research, but it does shine a light on well-being at a time when holiday bills are rolling in, new year’s resolutions have been abandoned and the lack of light in the Northern Hemisphere all compound feelings of fatigue, depression and anxiety.

The winter doldrums are bad enough, but stressors from last year also haven’t gone away. Workers are still feeling isolated — a major contributor to poor mental health — which is made worse for some by the continuation of remote work . Many are also still stressed from being thrust into a state of hyper-vigilance during the pandemic. Add to that political polarization and a war in Europe, and people are left with a kind of low-grade malaise that builds up over time, creating more risk to their mental well-being.

“We’re going through a lot of upheaval,” Allen said. “People are really just on edge.”

A potential recession and the soaring cost of living have to be dealt with as well. Inflation and rising interest rates have put major pressure on people’s budgets, fuelling the highest level of stress around money since the 2008 financial crisis, with 61 per cent of employed North Americans feeling more stress now than this time last year, according to research from Ceridian HCM Inc. and the Financial Wellness Lab of Canada.


More than 80 per cent of North Americans spend time during their workdays worrying about money.© Getty Images/iStockphoto

That stress is eating into people’s workdays and more than 80 per cent of North Americans admit to taking time from work tasks to think about their personal finances. Almost a quarter of them spend an hour or more per day worrying about money. The result: billions of dollars in lost productivity , clocking in at US$50 billion in Canada and US$614 billion in the United States, the Financial Wellness Lab estimates.

In addition to the lost productivity toll on companies, mental-health disability claims are rising , up 8.7 per cent in 2021 from 6.4 per cent in 2019, Statistics Canada data shows.

The financial impacts should be enough reason for employers to take action on workers’ well-being, and some have. For many, that comes in the form of offering employee assistance programs (EAPs), which provide counselling and support services. Those initiatives aren’t just a perk, Allen said. They save lives.

But posting the EAP hotline number in the staff break room and calling it a day isn’t enough, experts say. Employers must also focus on creating workplaces that promote respect and inclusion, both of which are vital for well-being. That might mean training managers to address employee concerns, and how to spot and help a worker in crisis. Those measures create a productive work environment, and keep employees feeling supported, leading to greater loyalty and retention, thereby eliminating the costs of hiring and training in a tight labour market.

Of course, mental health isn’t solely the responsibility of employers. January is an ideal month for individuals to take steps to shore up their own well-being as well as that of those around them. “At this time of year, we have to really be intentional about taking as much control as we can and supporting each other as much as we can,” Allen said.

She suggests making concrete plans to connect with friends, which buoys mood by creating something to look forward to and addresses isolation. Seeking professional help is another option, especially if the dark and gloomy days of winter are taking a major toll. People should also ensure they’re not putting off seeking help, since that can turn a difficult situation into a crisis, Allen said.

“Don’t take mental health for granted,” she said. “Every single one of us has a certain level of vulnerability, and often we don’t know how extensive that vulnerability is until we’ve crashed right through it.”

A popular adage states: be kind, you never know what someone might be going through. It’s a saying worth following if you’re paying attention to mental-health statistics. With so much of our time spent working, employers have a unique opportunity to make a difference. If bosses aren’t moved by the ethical and human case for addressing employee mental health, perhaps the financial benefits will be enough to move their hand.

LEFT WING CRITIQUE, IT'S CANADA

Canadian lawyers accusing Twitter of stifling free speech score first victory in novel lawsuit

Story by Tom Blackwell • 

It is a special kind of outrage in this digital age: the reaction to being blocked or censored by a social media platform like Twitter. Some Americans, including ex-president Donald Trump, have resorted to legal action to fight what they consider a breach of their freedom of expression.


A scene from B.C.-made documentary The New Corporation, whose makers are suing Twitter for refusing to run a paid tweet promoting the film.

© Provided by National Post

But in citing their constitutional rights those litigants have all faced the same immutable hurdle. The United States’ first amendment, like the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in Canada, applies just to government, not private individuals or companies.

No one has a constitutional right to tweet.

But a unique Canadian lawsuit that just scored its first win in the courts is taking a creative new approach to the issue, claiming that Twitter is breaching contract law — not the Charter directly — with its alleged restrictions on free speech.

The case is challenging Twitter’s decision to refuse to run a paid tweet for a B.C.-made documentary — The New Corporation — that’s critical of large corporations. The company tried to have the legal action thrown out, but an Ontario Superior Court judge recently ruled it had enough merit to move ahead.

The novel legal approach could be applied in countries throughout the world with similar constitutions, argued Sujit Choudhry, one of the two lawyers spearheading what he calls a “global test case.”

“The stakes are high for Twitter,” he said. “If the door is opened to a Canadian court to second-guess Twitter’s use of its platforms … it won’t be the last case.”

Canada to summon Russian ambassador over 'hateful' anti-LGBTQ tweets

Twitter bans Ottawa law professor Amir Attaran for saying Trudeau should be 'tarred and feathered'

Meanwhile, he and Joel Bakan, the other lawyer behind the suit and the movie’s producer, say they’re struck by the fact the company has vigorously opposed a legal action aimed at increasing freedom of expression on the platform — as new CEO Elon Musk boasts of being a “free-speech absolutist.”

A Twitter spokesperson could not be reached for comment by deadline.

But in written legal arguments , the company says there is nothing in contract or any other law that obliges it to let users do and say whatever they want on the site. In fact, a court that imposed such a requirement would be breaching the platform’s own freedoms, says the factum submitted to court by the firm’s Toronto lawyers.

“Twitter retains absolute discretion to decide which tweets can and cannot be promoted,” they argue. “Asking this Court to order that Twitter sell the Applicants an advertising product is antithetical to the freedom of expression protected by … the Charter.”

Several social media users in the U.S., where the constitutionally enshrined right to free speech knows almost no bounds, have tried to fight legally when their posts have been censored or their accounts suspended or cancelled. And lost.

A judge rejected Trump’s challenge of his Twitter ban last May, noting that the constitution does not apply to private companies and that the former president had failed to prove it was somehow working in concert with government.

The civil-rights-focused Chandra Law Firm says on its website that potential clients often ask if they can sue social media sites for violating their first-amendment rights. “The answer is always ‘no.’ Not if you expect to get anything out of it, anyway…. Please do not contact us about this.”

In the Canadian case, a boutique, one-woman ad agency in Vancouver tried to buy paid tweets to promote the well-reviewed documentary , which is partly funded by the federal government and available on the Crave cable and streaming service. Paid tweets look like regular ones but are given increased reach and are targeted at specific audiences. Twitter refused, citing in part its political and inappropriate content rules.

The film’s producers were welcome to advertise with “organic,” free tweets, but Twitter believes that getting wide reach for political messages “should be earned, not bought.”

Bakan says the platform does not overcome free expression problems by offering less-restricted use of organic tweets, as they are not nearly as effective as the paid ones.

In court, the group then argued that the company had violated contract law, largely because such agreements — even if not protected directly by the constitution — must still comply with basic constitutional and legal values under the “doctrine of public policy.”

A Mafia payment to murder someone, for instance, or a trust that doesn’t allow Black people to participate are contracts that would not be recognized by the courts under the doctrine, said Bakan.

“The (Supreme) Court has said that contract clauses that violate constitutional values violate public policy and shouldn’t be enforced,” he added. “These clauses that Twitter is relying upon and even more so the absolute discretion they’re claiming completely negate freedom-of-expression values, and that violates public policy.”

While the documentary at the heart of the case offers a left-wing critique of capitalism, Choudhry and Bakan say their arguments apply equally to conservative content on Twitter.

The company responds first that there was no contract between the parties, since it never accepted the request for a paid tweet. But even if there was a contract, the public policy doctrine would not apply because it is triggered only if there is “illegality, immorality, restraint on trade, injury to the state or injury to the justice system.”

That Twitter continued to fight the lawsuit — and argue it has “absolute discretion to muzzle any speech they want” — even after Musk took over in October suggests it has more on its mind than just open expression, said Bakan.

“He wants free speech, but he wants even more that courts and government should not be deciding what free speech is on his platform.”

JUST ( DON'T SAY) TRANSITION

'Tomorrow's hydrogen superpowers': Ottawa gives $9.74 million to Alberta sector

Story by Hamdi Issawi • 

Canada’s government is funding Alberta’s hydrogen economy to the tune of $9.74 million in a bid to position the province as a global leader in the sector.

Federal cabinet ministers Randy Boissonnault. left, and Dan Vandal announce federal funding to support Alberta's hydrogen economy at the Alberta Motor Transport Association office at the Edmonton International Airport on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023.© Provided by Edmonton Journal

Ottawa announced the support Tuesday through Prairies Economic Development Canada (PrairiesCan), a federal department charged with diversifying economies in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Dan Vandal, federal minister responsible for PrairiesCan and northern affairs, delivered the news from the Alberta Motor Transport Association (AMTA) office at the Edmonton International Airport.

“This investment will improve access to hydrogen fuels, support hydrogen product testing, attract investment to Alberta’s hydrogen industry and increase the availability of quality training opportunities related to the commercialization of hydrogen technologies,” Vandal said.
‘We need to move aggressively’

Just over $3.74 million of the sum will support two efforts by Edmonton Global, a not-for-profit corporation founded by members of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region to aid exports and attract investment, PrairiesCan said in a news release.

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The lion’s share of Global Edmonton’s envelope ($3 million) will fund foreign investment initiatives, including international events such as the 2023 Canadian Hydrogen Convention in April, PrairiesCan said, while the remainder will help the corporation develop the region’s hydrogen supply chain and labour market, including a database of small and medium-sized businesses capable of joining the supply chain.

Related video: What's holding back the hydrogen industry in Canada? (cbc.ca)
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Enzo Barichello, board chairman for Edmonton Global, said the region is in the midst of an international race as countries around the world vie to be “tomorrow’s hydrogen superpowers.”

“We cannot let this opportunity escape our region,” Barichello said. “We need to move aggressively to take advantage of this.”

AMTA and the University of Alberta will receive $3 million to improve access to hydrogen fuel and encourage uptake, PrairiesCan said, which includes the acquisition of hydrogen fuelling equipment to pilot buses and heavy equipment in Edmonton and Calgary.

AMTA president Willie Hammel said association staff and members are focused on shifting to a low carbon future, and the announcement represents a “big step” in that direction.

“The funding is going to speed up the adoption of hydrogen in the Alberta heavy vehicle sector, which is going to be a real game changer for us and for our environment,” he said.

Unlocking Alberta’s potential

Likewise, PrairiesCan said C-FER Technologies in Edmonton will receive $3 million to upgrade the organization’s test facility for hydrogen fuel infrastructure, equipment and technologies. A subsidiary of Crown corporation Alberta Innovates, C-FER Technologies describes itself as a not-for-profit organization that helps clients in the energy industry improve safety, efficiency and their effect on the environment.

Brian Wagg, director of corporate services for C-FER Technologies, said the funding will allow the organization to help small and medium enterprises — as well as service companies, manufacturers and regulators — improve hydrogen technologies and provide information to create new standards for transportation and storage of the product.

Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi recognized the funding as an opportunity for local economic growth and Alberta jobs while addressing climate change by promoting a low-carbon energy source.

“In order for us to unlock our potential, we need to create local demand here, and this announcement allows us to do so,” Sohi said at the news conference. “This allows us to work with the industry testing technologies,” such as buses and heavy-duty trucks.

The federal government’s hydrogen strategy aims to create 350,000 jobs in the sector by 2050, and estimate’s Canada’s share of the global hydrogen market at $50 billion per year with implementation of the plan.

“Together, government and industry partners can meet the challenge to create and to scale up Alberta’s hydrogen economy for the province and for Canada,” Vandal said.

@hamdiissawi

Canada ‘limited’ on ability to help Afghans, Trudeau says after ex-MP killed

Story by Rachel Gilmore • GLOBAL NEWS

A woman looks at a picture of former Afghan lawmaker Mursal Nabizada on her mobile phone, who was shot dead by gunmen at her house in Kabul on January 15, 2023. - Mursal Nabizada had been a member of parliament in the previous Western-backed regime who had turned down the opportunity to flee Afghanistan when the Taliban seized power in August 2021. "Nabizada, along with one of her bodyguards, was shot dead at her house," Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran said on January 15.

© WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP via Getty Images

Opposition to Taliban’s oppression of girls and women
Duration 1:58  View on Watch

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada is "limited" in what it can do to help Afghans leave the country, as fresh calls to help more people flee emerge following the killing of former Afghan parliamentarian Mursal Nabizada.

The former lawmaker, a fierce advocate for women and girls in the region, was shot and killed by gunmen in her Kabul home on Sunday -- the first slaying in the capital of a lawmaker from the previous administration since the Taliban's takeover.

The development prompted Canadian parliamentarians to issue fresh calls for the government to speed up its efforts to bring home the other eight female former Afghan lawmakers. But, Trudeau said, the Taliban is making it difficult to heed the calls.

"We're going to continue working to make sure that the most vulnerable people are able to get out," the prime minister said, speaking to reporters on Tuesday.

"At the same time, we have to recognize that the Taliban is not allowing people to leave, it's putting people at risk. So our ability to do that is extremely limited."

Still, Trudeau pledged to "continue to be there for the Afghan people."

"Our heart breaks for the people of Afghanistan right now," he said.

Afghanistan women barred from working at foreign, local NGOs by Taliban

Duration 1:45  View on Watch

An all-party group of six MPs released a joint statement on Monday saying they've worked together since last October to bring the remaining female former lawmakers to safety.

The "brutal gender apartheid system" in Afghanistan, they said, is growing more dangerous by the day.

"For the sake of the lives of these eight women, we urge the Canadian government to act on this matter urgently and take immediate action to assist in getting these women to safety," the statement read.

In a joint statement sent to Global News late Monday, both Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly's office and Immigration Minister Sean Fraser's offices reiterated the government's pledge to resettle "at least 40,000 Afghan nationals by the end of 2023."

"Almost 30,000 Afghan refugees now call Canada home. Among them are hundreds of women leaders, including judges, human rights defenders, journalists, community organizers, and Members of Parliament," the statement read.

"We’ll continue to do everything we can to welcome Afghans safely and quickly."

That effort, the statement added, includes working with opposition MPs on the issue -- and to "bring more women leaders to Canada."

Still, some opposition MPs questioned whether the government's efforts are enough. In a tweet on Sunday, NDP MP Heather McPherson -- one of the MPs behind the joint, all-party statement -- called Nabizada's killing "heartbreaking."

"For months, I have worked with MPs from all parties to bring Afghan MPs still trapped in Afghanistan to safety to Canada," she wrote.

"I can’t help but wonder if MP Nabizada would be alive today if the gov’t had acted faster."

Meanwhile, Canadian politicians have spoken out against the killing. Both Joly and Fraser's offices condemned the violence as a "horrific crime."

"We condemn the murder of Mursal Nabizada, a former Afghan parliamentarian, who bravely fought for the rights of women and girls," the statement read.

"We offer her loved ones our most sincere condolences. We stand with them in pursuing the accountability they deserve. The perpetrators of this horrific crime must be brought to justice."

Nabizada was among the few female parliamentarians who stayed in Kabul after the Taliban seized power in August 2021. Police say one of her bodyguards was also killed in the attack on Sunday.

The example Nabizada set, the ministers' offices wrote, will "continue to be an inspiration for those fighting for change and human rights across the world."

"Canada will continue to advocate for a coordinated effort by the international community to support Afghan women and Afghan human rights defenders and to pressure the Taliban to uphold human rights," the statement went on to say.

Meanwhile, with each passing day, the Taliban continues its crackdown on women's rights in the region.

After their takeover, the Taliban initially said they would not impose the same harsh rules over society as they did during their first rule of Afghanistan in the late 1990s.

But they have progressively imposed more restrictions, particularly on women.

They have banned women and girls from schooling beyond the sixth grade, barred them from most jobs and demanded they cover their faces when outside.

-- with files from The Canadian Press, The Associated Press.

January 8: Bringing Brazil's rioters to account

Issued on: 18/01/2023 - 

A page from the Brazilian newspaper O Globo featuring the faces of rioters who stormed key buildings in the capital Brasilia on January 8 2023 

 NELSON ALMEIDA / AFP

Brasília (AFP) – Brazil has faced a herculean task in processing hundreds of people detained in the country's biggest-ever once-off roundup of suspects following violent riots in the capital on January 8.

More than 1,000 will likely face charges for the invasion of the presidential palace, Congress and Supreme Court a week after the inauguration of leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

A prosecutor involved in the case has described the process to AFP on condition of anonymity, as he does not have authorization to speak on the record.

The detainees

More than 2,000 people were arrested immediately after the riots by backers of far-right ex-president Jair Bolsonaro.

Of these, about 300 were detained at the scene of the crime but the majority were rounded up at an encampment of Bolsonaro supporters some eight kilometers (five miles) away, where they had returned after taking part in the uprising.

Nine days later, some 1,400 remain in custody.

Men are being held at the Papuda prison and women at Colmeia, both in Brasilia and both severely overcrowded as a result.

Papuda with its capacity for 1,176 detainees was accommodating 2,139, according to the latest update from the prisons authority.

Colmeia had 1,148 detainees for its 1,028 capacity.

The suspected rioters were being held separate from the rest of the prison population.

"Many of them are from other cities and states and will be transferred... out of Brasilia" in the coming days to await trial, said the prosecutor.

More than 600 have already been released pending further investigation -- mainly elderly people, pregnant women and mothers with small children now awaiting their fate in freedom.

The charges

Federal Supreme Court (STF) Justice Alexandre de Moraes is in charge of supervising the investigation and prosecution of all the rioters.

The detainees face a variety of charges under the umbrella of "anti-democratic acts."

These include criminal association, attempting to subvert the democratic order, involvement in an attempted coup d'etat and incitement to crime, according to the Federal Police.

Among the more serious charges, involvement in a "coup d'etat" carries a possible sentence of up to 12 years, according to Brazil's penal code.

There was much talk directly after the events -- including from Lula -- of "terrorism" charges, which carry a maximum penalty of 30 years.

However, according to the law, the crime of terrorism requires an act to have been carried out "for reasons of xenophobia, discrimination or prejudice based on race, color, ethnicity or religion," whereas the riots were political.

"It is possible" that no "terrorism" charges will be brought in the end, said the prosecutor.

Initial hearings

By Tuesday, some 1,400 initial custody hearings had been held.

These are to confirm that a detainee's rights and welfare are being respected.

Given the overwhelming number of suspects, all the hearings were held via video conference, with judges in Brasilia receiving help from judges in other districts.

The ranks of prosecutors, too, were boosted by personnel from other regions.

"It was a week of 18-hour days," said the prosecutor.

Some 100 federal prosecutors in total worked on the 1,400-odd cases.

Hundreds of defense lawyers -- public and private -- were also involved.

"In a normal situation, with a normal crime, the custody hearing must happen within 24 hours and a judge must decide immediately" whether to free a suspect or not, the prosecutor explained.

"But there is jurisprudence that in exceptional cases, this period can be extended. This is an absolutely exceptional case."

At about 1,000 of the hearings, prosecutors sought preventive detention for the accused. If granted, the conditions for continued detention must be reconsidered every 90 days.

In the rest of cases, prosecutors agreed to suspects being released on bail or house arrest pending trial.

For preventive detention to be ordered, prosecutors must show that a person is likely to commit further crimes if freed: in this particular case, that they continue to pose a threat to the public order.

With the case ultimately in the hands of the STF, judge De Moraes is the one who will decide who remains in prison to await trial, said the prosecutor.

With the custody hearings all but over, the work of bringing criminal charges against the individuals will now move to the office of Bolsonaro-appointed prosecutor general Augusto Aras.

On Monday, the prosecutor general filed his first charges -- against 39 suspected rioters.

Trials

Will there be one big case or many small ones? Will the STF hear them all, or will the cases be sent back to lower courts? This must all still be decided.

What is clear, is that it will take a long time -- possibly years with appeals included -- for the legal process to run its course.

© 2023 AFP

Chile preparing threatened condor chicks for release into wild

Issued on: 18/01/2023 

Condor chick Mailen was born in captivity at Chile's Rehabilitation Center for Birds of Prey 


Talagante (Chile) (AFP) – Alhue and Mailen were born in captivity but conservationists hope to free the chicks soon as part of a project to boost Chile's ailing population of Andean condors.

The Andean condor, a type of vulture, is the largest flying bird in the world but its population is considered "vulnerable" by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List of Endangered Species.

There are just an estimated 6,700 Andean condors living in the wild.

At Chile's Rehabilitation Center for Birds of Prey (CRAR), conservationists are trying to boost those numbers.

"The aim is to introduce condors to nature born from condors that cannot be freed, who are here for life," said Eduardo Pavez, the CRAR founder.

The CRAR center in Talagante, 40 kilometers from Santiago, looks after birds that cannot be released into the wild, either because they cannot fly or have become too accustomed to human contact.

The parents of both Alhue, a male, and female Mailen, have lived in the center for years and cannot be released.

Venerated but threatened

The condor has long been venerated by indigenous peoples in the Americas.

The Andean condor is the largest flying bird in the world but its species is vulnerable according to the International Union for the Conserevation of Nature 

In Andean religious mythology, the condor was a symbol of power and ruled the upper world, acting as an intermediary with the world of spirits and the sun god, Inti.

It features on the coat of arms of several countries, such as Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia and Chile.

It is virtually extinct in Venezuela in the north of the continent, while the largest concentrations are found in the south of Chile and Argentina.

The greatest threat to the condor is human occupation of the Andean mountain range, and a lack of food.

CRAR, founded in 1990, takes in all sorts of birds of prey including owls and falcons that are injured, have been in an accident or were kept in captivity.

Its aim is to rehabilitate them and release them back into the wild, but in many cases that is impossible.

Alhue's mother, for example, was injured by a power line and can no longer fly.

Mailen's mother, who was brought to the center at the age of about one, has become too accustomed to humans to be able to survive in the wild.

Over the years, CRAR has already freed 13 out of 25 condor chicks born in captivity, with another four due to be soon released.

Teaching by pecks

Within the next six to nine months, once they are fully grown, Alhue and Mailen will be separated from their parents.

Workers at the Rehabilitation Center for Birds of Prey take care of condor chicks they hope to one day release into the wild 

The parents will then be able to begin reproducing again while their offspring will start socializing with and learning from other adult condors at the center.

They will be taken to a large cage where adults that cannot be released mix with juveniles preparing for the outside world.

There they can fly around and communicate with other members of their species.

"Here they establish a hierarchy where the adult males dominate. They have to learn that hierarchy, sometimes by force of pecks, so they find their place in condor society," said Pavez.

Human encroachment onto its natural habitat has provided a threat to the Andean condor's existence and affect its access to food 

That is a vital apprenticeship for Mailen and Alhue ahead of their likely release in the southern hemisphere in spring of 2024 so that they are able to build relationships with other wild condors, get to know their territory and find food.

PHOTOS  JAVIER TORRES / AFP

© 2023 AFP

Out of Nile, into tile: Young Egyptians battle plastic plague

Volunteers collect garbage from the Nile in Egypt's capital Cairo in a clean-up campaign, on March 7, 2020 - Khaled DESOUKI

by Bahira Amin
January 17, 2023 — Cairo (AFP)

Entrepreneurial young Egyptians are helping combat their country's huge plastic waste problem by recycling junk-food wrappers, water bottles and similar garbage that usually ends up in landfills or the Nile.

At a factory on the outskirts of Cairo, run by their startup TileGreen, noisy machines gobble up huge amounts of plastic scraps of all colours, shred them and turn them into a thick liquid.

The sludge -- made from all kinds of plastic, even single-use shopping bags -- is then moulded into dark, compact bricks that are used as outdoor pavers for walkways and garages.

"They're twice as strong as concrete," boasts co-founder Khaled Raafat, 24, slamming one onto the floor for emphasis.


Each tile takes about "125 plastic bags out of the environment", says his business partner Amr Shalan, 26, raising his voice above the din of the machines.

Raafat said the company uses even low-grade plastics and products "made of many different layers of plastic and aluminium that are nearly impossible to separate and recycle sustainably".

Egypt, the Arab world's most populous country, is also the biggest plastic polluter in the Middle East and Africa, according to a multinational study reported by Science magazine.

The country generates more than three million tonnes of plastic waste per year, much of which piles up in streets and illegal landfills or finds its way into the Nile and the Mediterranean Sea.

Microplastics in the water concentrate in marine life, threatening the health of people who consume seafood and fish caught in Africa's mighty waterway -- mirroring what has become a worldwide environmental scourge.

- 'Their children's future' -

TileGreen, launched in 2021, aims to "recycle three billion to five billion plastic bags by 2025", said Shalan.

The start-up last year started selling its outdoor tiles, of which it has produced some 40,000 so far, and plans to expand into other products usually made from cement.

Egypt, a country of 104 million, has pledged to more than halve its annual consumption of single-use plastics by 2030 and to build multiple new waste management plants.

For now, however, more than two thirds of of Egypt's waste is "inadequately managed", according to the World Bank -- driving an ecological hazard environmental groups have been trying to tackle.

On the shores of the Nile island of Qursaya, some fishermen now collect and sort plastic trash they net from the river as part of an initiative by the group VeryNile.

As the Nile has become more polluted, the fishermen "could see their catches decreasing", said project manager Hany Fawzy, 47. "They knew this was their future and their children's future disappearing."

Over three-quarters of Cairo fish were found to contain microplastics in a 2020 study by a group of Danish and UK-based scientists published in the journal Toxics.

Off the port city of Alexandria, further north, microplastics were detected in 92 percent of fish caught, said a study last year by researchers at Egypt's National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries.

VeryNile, started five years ago with a series of volunteer clean-up events, buys "between 10 and 12 tonnes of plastic a month" from 65 fishermen, paying them 14 Egyptian pounds (about 50 US cents) per kilogram, Fawzy said.

- 'Good step forward' -


VeryNile then compresses high-value plastic like water bottles and sends it to a recycling plant to be made into pellets.

Low-quality plastics such as food wrappers are incinerated to power a cement factory which, Fawzy said, keeps "the environment clean with air filters and a sensitive monitoring system."

"We can't clean up the environment in one spot just to pollute elsewhere," he said.

The Egyptian programmes are part of a battle against a global scourge.


Less than 10 percent of the world's plastic is recycled, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The OECD said last year that annual production of fossil-fuel-based plastics is set to top 1.2 billion tonnes by 2060, with waste exceeding one billion tonnes.

In Egypt, activists have hailed what they see as a youth-led push for sustainability that has created demand for environmentally-minded solutions and products.

But while the change is welcome, they say it remains insufficient.

"What these initiatives have done is find a way to create a value chain, and there's clearly demand," said Mohamed Kamal, co-director of environmental group Greenish.

"Anything that captures value from waste in Egypt is a good step forward. But it's not solving the problem. It can only scratch the surface."

Film on Israel’s 1948 War Shows Palestinian Agony: Director

Wednesday, 18 January, 2023 - 06:00

Jordanian director Darin J. Sallam's debut feature film 'Farha' tells the story of the 1948 conflict following Israel's creation 

© Khalil MAZRAAWI / afp/AFP

Asharq Al-Awsat

Jordanian film "Farha", vehemently criticized in Israel, is based on true events and represents "only a drop in the ocean" of Palestinian suffering, director Darin J. Sallam told AFP.

Released last month on Netflix, "Farha" depicts atrocities against Palestinians during the 1948 conflict following Israel's creation, which Palestinians call the Nakba, or "catastrophe".

The Arabic-language film tells the story of a Palestinian teenager, Farha, whose village comes under attack by Israeli forces.

Her father hides her and, through a crack in a door, she witnesses the execution a family of Palestinian civilians, including two girls.

Sallam, 35, said the plot for her first full-length feature was inspired by a story told to her by her mother, about a Palestinian woman named Radiyeh.

The film recounts "the story of a girl who had been forced to abandon her dreams because of events she had no control over", Sallam said.

"Farha" featured in the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival and has won a dozen awards in other festivals.

In Israel, where discussion of alleged atrocities during the 1948 war remains largely taboo, officials condemned Netflix over the decision to stream the film.

"I wanted to open the world's eyes to this pivotal moment in the history... and to show that this land was not without people," Sallam said, of what is now Israel and the Palestinian territories.

"Rather, it was a land with people who had lives, dreams, hopes and history."

The film was shot in the northern Jordan towns of Ajlun and Al-Fuhais, which resemble the Palestinian village where Farha's story begins.

The teenage girl tries to persuade her father to let her complete her studies in the city, prepares for a friend's wedding, and picks figs before her village is attacked.

Sallam said she avoided showing violence, with the exception of the unarmed family's killing.

"This scene, which shook the Israeli government, is only a drop in the ocean of the suffering of millions of Palestinians during the Nakba," she said.

Sallam called for more filmmakers to explore this painful chapter in Palestinian history, which "almost never appears in cinema".

Her mother, of Syrian origin, had heard Radiyeh's story at a refugee camp in that country and passed it on to her, "and I decided to make a film and share it".

"Radiyeh had been locked up by her father who feared for her, and when she was finally able to come out of hiding she went to Syria," Sallam said. "That's where she told the story to my mother."

The filmmaker said she had "lost all contact with this woman", a resident of the war-ravaged Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk, north of Damascus, since fighting in Syria began in 2011.

After one screening of the film in the United States, an audience member spoke to Sallam.

"A woman aged in her eighties who had survived the Nakba told me: 'I am Farha'", she said.

Former Israeli minister Avigdor Lieberman, who had served in government until Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power last month, said in November the film's "whole purpose is to create a false pretence and incite against Israeli soldiers".

Chili Tropper, Israel's former culture minister, said "Farha" shows "lies and libels".

For Sallam, whose father is Palestinian, "denying the Nakba is denying my existence, denying the tragedy of millions of people."

"My own father survived the Nakba. He... fled to Jordan with his parents."

Sallam's father was born in Ramle, in what is now central Israel.

Most of its Arab residents fled or were forced from their homes during the 1948 conflict, as were more than 760,000 Palestinians across the country.

Many of their descendants live to this day in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

More than half of Jordan's population of about 10 million people are of Palestinian origin, the result of mass displacement in 1948 and during the 1967 Six-Day War, when Israel occupied the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

Last year, Israeli director Alon Schwarz faced backlash over his documentary on an alleged 1948 massacre of Palestinians in Tantura, a Mediterranean village in the northwest of what is now Israel.

Calls have mounted in recent years, including among Israeli activists, for greater transparency about the conduct of nascent Israeli forces during the 1948 conflict.

Peru's Boluarte appeals for calm as Lima braces for more unrest

Issued on: 18/01/2023

01:47   A demonstrator takes a selfie in front of a line of police in riot gear in Lima, Peru, on January 17, 2023AP  Text by: NEWS WIRES

With Peru's capital bracing for two days of anti-government protests starting Wednesday, President Dina Boluarte called on the demonstrators flooding into Lima to gather "peacefully and calmly" – even as they demand her resignation.

The South American country has been rocked by over five weeks of deadly protests since the ouster and arrest of her predecessor Pedro Castillo in early December.

Thousands of protesters from rural areas are descending on Lima this week to keep up pressure against the government, often defying a state of emergency declared to try to maintain order.

With tensions mounting, many poor and Indigenous demonstrators were already making their presence felt Tuesday in the capital, where police used smoke canisters against marchers who gathered ahead of the larger mobilizations.

"We know they want to take Lima, given everything that is coming out on social media, on the 18th and 19th (Wednesday and Thursday)," Boluarte said in a speech at Peru's Constitutional Court.

"I call on them to take Lima, yes, but peacefully and calmly. I am waiting for them in the seat of government to discuss their social agendas."

Convoys of demonstrators were still on their way.

Hundreds of members of the Indigenous Aymara community boarded buses Tuesday from Ilave city in the Puno region, on the border with Bolivia.

"I am excited to travel to Lima because the fight continues, all the Aymara blood brothers are traveling to the fight," Julio Cesar Ramos told AFP before boarding one of the buses.

"It hurts me to see my country like this, that is why Aymara and Quechua brothers, we are united as one," said Roger Mamani, 28.

At least 42 people have died in clashes between protesters and security forces, largely in the country's south and east, according to Peru's human rights ombudsman.

Various groups are demanding Boluarte's resignation, the dissolution of parliament and immediate elections.

But the president warned that "the rule of law cannot be hostage to the whims" of a single group of people.

Rival marches

Demonstrators from all over Peru have arranged to meet in the capital to protest together, but despite various announcements, it is still difficult to determine how many people will arrive in Lima.

By Tuesday afternoon, dozens of people were already marching through Lima's streets to Plaza San Martin, the historic epicenter of demonstrations.

"All of us who have come from the city of Cusco are joining the national strike. Dina Boluarte should leave because she does not represent the coast, the mountains, or the jungle," said teacher Edith Calixto, 45 from the Andes.

Residents of the northern city of Cajamarca carried signs that read "National Insurgency." Some held "rondero" whips of the type used by local patrols in rural areas.

"Dina, please, resign so that this town calms down because the town is not going to give up," Antonia Riveros, a 55-year-old native of Huancavelica, said.

Meanwhile a "march for peace" was also underway in Lima, with dozens of members from community groups and political parties wearing white T-shirts in rejection of the protests against Boluarte.

"We do not want violence in our country. I know that now there is a group that disagrees with the current government, but nevertheless it is not the way to carry out protest," 56-year-old merchant Cesar Noa told AFP.

Roadblocks

Protesters have maintained almost 100 road blocks in several parts of Peru.

Security forces cleared one road block on the Panamericana Norte highway early Tuesday morning. Boluarte said others would be dismantled soon.

President Castillo was removed from office and arrested on December 7, after attempting to dissolve the country's legislature and rule by decree, amid multiple corruption investigations.

Boluarte, who was Castillo's vice president, succeeded him. But despite Boluarte belonging to the same left-wing party, Castillo supporters have rejected her, even accusing her of being a "traitor."

(AFP)