More Than 50 Missing After Coal Mine Collapses in Northern China

By Thursday, four deaths had been confirmed as rescuers worked to save miners at the site in Inner Mongolia.

Rescuers at the site of the mine collapse in the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia on Wednesday night, in an image taken from CCTV, the state broadcaster. 

Credit...CCTV, via Associated Press

By Chang Che and John Liu
Feb. 23, 2023

Rescuers in northern China were working on Thursday to save 53 coal miners who were missing after the collapse of an open-pit mine. At least four deaths had been confirmed, local officials and state media said.

Footage released by CCTV, the Chinese state broadcaster, showed what appeared to be the moment of the collapse on Wednesday afternoon. As a stream of workers, seen from a distance, are wending through a narrow basin, a landslide occurs, blanketing the area with rock and sand and obscuring the miners from view.

More than 500 emergency personnel were at the mine in Alxa League, a prefecture in the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia, by late Wednesday night, state media said. Live coverage on CCTV showed a fleet of trucks taking rescue equipment and food to the site, and workers putting up tents.

Wei Zhiguo, one of the leaders of the rescue effort, told CCTV that there had been a second landslide while emergency personnel were on the scene. “The rescue work is still being carried out in a very intense and orderly manner,” he said.

Six people had been rescued as of Thursday, CCTV reported. Among them was Ma Jianping, who was interviewed by the state broadcaster from a hospital bed. He said he had noticed “gravel falling from the mountain” as he began the day’s work.

“As we saw the situation worsen, we organized an evacuation but couldn’t make it in time,” he said. “Shortly afterward, the whole mountain caved in.”

Hundreds of people die in coal mining accidents in China every year, though the industry’s safety record has improved considerably. Last year, the death toll from such accidents was about 240, down from over 2,600 in 2009, according to data from government agencies. Most of the deaths have been attributed to failure to follow safety protocols, including ventilation requirements.

In 2020, at least 16 people died of carbon monoxide poisoning after being trapped in a coal mine in the southwestern city of Chongqing. At least 23 were killed at another mine in the same city a few months later.

Inner Mongolia has long been a key area for coal mining in China. In 2021, to stave off an energy shortage, the central government ordered more than 70 mines in the region to ramp up production, though Chinese leaders committed to phase out coal at a climate summit in Glasgow shortly thereafter. As of 2021, coal accounted for about 56 percent of China’s energy consumption, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Inner Mongolia Xinjing Coal Industry, which operates the coal mine, was incorporated in 1999, according to a Chinese business data platform, Qichacha. No major accidents are known to have occurred at the mine before.

Chang Che is the Asia technology correspondent for The Times. He previously worked for The China Project and as a freelance writer covering Chinese technology and society. @changxche

John Liu joined The Times in 2021 and covers news in China. Previously, he was a reporter for The Myanmar Times, and wrote about Taiwan for international outlets. @JohnLiuNN

Mudslide disrupts rescue of 53 missing in China mine collapse

FEBRUARY 22, 2023

The mudslide happened at an open-pit mine in the Alxa League operated by Xinjing Coal Mining Co.

BEIJING — A mudslide has disrupted rescue operations at a coal mine collapse in China's Inner Mongolia region that killed at least two people, injured six and left more than 53 people missing, state media reported on Thursday (Feb 23).

The collapse happened on Wednesday at an open-pit mine in the Alxa League operated by Xinjing Coal Mining Co.

After the collapse, President Xi Jinping ordered search and rescue efforts, state media reported.

"We must make every possible effort to rescue the missing persons and treat the injured," Xi said.

But the landslide on Wednesday evening led to the suspension of the search and it had not resumed by 6am on Thursday, state media reported.

There were no reports of any casualties in the mudslide.

Coal is a major source of energy in China but its mines are among the world’s deadliest, largely due to lax enforcement of safety standards, despite repeated government orders for improvements in safety over the years.

Inner Mongolia is a major coal-producing region. China's mines have been trying to boost output over the past year under a government call for greater supplies and stable prices.

Before the mudslide, four rescue teams of 109 people were searching for the trapped miners, state media reported.

Authorities also sent 238 firefighters, 41 fire trucks and six rescue dogs to join the rescue and more teams of about 200 people were expected to arrive on Thursday, state media said.

Premier Li Keqiang demanded a quick investigation into the cause of the collapse.

The accident was the top trending discussion on the Weibo, social media platform on Thursday with some users saying most of the missing were dump truck and excavator drivers.

The National Health Commission said on Wednesday evening six injured people had been rescued and it had sent 15 ambulances and 45 medical staff to help with the rescue.

More bodies found in China mine collapse,

49 remain missing


1 of 7
In this image taken from official surveillance camera footage run by China's CCTV, dirt moves down the side of a hill at an open pit mine in Alxa League in northernChina's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023. An open pit mine collapsed in China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on Wednesday, killing several people and leaving dozens missing, state media reported.

 (CCTV via AP)

BEIJING (AP) — The death toll from the collapse of an open pit coal mine in northern China has risen to four, with 49 people still missing, state broadcaster CCTV reported Thursday.

Work had been suspended for several hours after an additional landslide at the gigantic facility following Wednesday’s mine collapse in the vast Inner Mongolia region’s Alxa League.

State media said the landslide struck at 6:00 p.m. Wednesday, about five hours after the initial cave-in of one of the pit’s walls buried people and mining trucks below.

The official Xinhua News Agency said about 900 rescuers with heavy equipment were on the scene and work had resumed by Thursday morning.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has demanded “all-out efforts in search and rescue” and for “ensuring the safety of people’s lives and property and maintaining overall social stability.”

Images of the collapse distributed by CCTV showed a massive wall of debris rushing down a slope onto people and vehicles below.

The company running the mine, Inner Mongolia Xinjing Coal Industry Co. Ltd., was cited and fined last year for multiple safety violations ranging from insecure access routes to the mining surface to unsafe storage of volatile materials and a lack of training for its safety overseers, according to the news website The Paper.

Inner Mongolia is a key region for mining of coal and various minerals and rare earths, which critics say has ravaged the original landscape of mountains, grassy steppes and deserts.

China overwhelmingly relies on coal for power generation but has tried to reduce the number of deadly mine accidents through a greater emphasis on safety and the closure of smaller operations that lacked necessary equipment.

Most mining deaths are attributed to explosions caused by the buildup of methane and coal dust, or to drownings caused when miners break into shafts that had been abandoned due to flooding.

China has recorded a slew of deadly industrial and construction accidents in recent months as a result of poor safety training and regulation, official corruption and a tendency to cut corners by companies seeking to make profits. The economy has slowed, partly as a result of draconian lockdowns and quarantines imposed under the now-abandoned “zero COVID” policy.

South Africa: Budget - Decision Not to Raise the Sugar Tax "Puts Profits Ahead of People" Say Activists

@ParliamentofRSA / Twitter
South African Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana delivering the Budget Speech to the National Assembly plenary held at the Cape Town City Hall, February 22, 2023.

By Daniel Steyn

"Difficult operating environment for the sugar industry" cited by Finance Minister as reason

Health activists demonstrating in Cape Town for a rise in the tax on sugary drinks were disappointed by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana's announcement in his Budget speech that the tax would be frozen for two years. Godongwana said this was "due to the difficult operating environment for the sugar industry from the impact of flooding and social unrest."

The tax on sugary drinks was first introduced in 2018 to reduce consumption. The tax is imposed on drinks with more than 4g of sugar per 100ml. Research from the University of the Witwatersrand in 2021 showed that it has been effective in reducing the consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks.

HEALA, a coalition of organisations focused on nutrition, organised a flash mob in the Cape Town city centre ahead of the Finance Minister's Budget Speech on Wednesday, advocating for an increase in the sugary drinks tax. They want the tax to be increased from 11% to 20%, following the guidance of the World Health Organisation.

The flash mob was part of HEALA's "Less Sugar, More Life" campaign, and featured school pupils from Cape Town in a dance.

"We don't even notice how much sugar we are drinking in sugary drinks and it's harmful to our health. I want other young people to know that it's dangerous," said one of the dancers, Enkosi Stofile.

"The announcement by the Finance Minister, coupled with ineffective increases on other health taxes such as alcohol and tobacco, is a direct attack on the lives of millions of people at risk of serious health conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer," said Nzama Mbalati, HEALA's Programmes Manager.

Mbalati said there was no rationale for the decision to maintain the rate of tax on sugary drinks. "This decision is not in the interest of ordinary people. Instead, it puts profits ahead of people."

About 10,000 new cases of diabetes are reported in South Africa each month, according to the International Diabetes Federation. Up to 70% of women and 39% of men are obese or overweight. Sugar is a cause of obesity and tooth decay, and is linked to a range of other non-communicable diseases. The national budget for 2023, tabled by Godongwana in parliament today, includes a R200-million reduction in health spending this year.

Before the budget speech, News24 reported that the South African Sugar Association said 6,000 jobs could be lost if the tax was increased. SASA also said 9,000 jobs had already been lost since the levy was introduced.

However, in the aftermath of a fraud scandal at Tongaat Hulett, South Africa's largest sugar producer, in 2018, 5,000 workers were served with retrenchment letters.

Disclosure: Community Media Trust does work for HEALA. GroundUp was once a project of Community Media Trust and still has a close relationship with Community Media Trust.

Read the original article on GroundUp.

Godzilla egg? Japan baffled by large sphere washed up on its shores

FEBRUARY 22, 2023
ByAMANDA LEE

Officials inspecting a large ball of unknown origin on a beach in Hamamatsu on Wednesday.

Reuters

Residents and the authorities in Japan are baffled after a mysterious, large metal sphere was found ashore earlier this week.

The sphere, which is about 1.5m wide, was spotted on a beach in Hamamatsu, a coastal city in Japan’s main island of Honshu.

It was seen by an unidentified local man, who alerted the police after noticing the unusual object on Enshuhama beach.

The authorities arrived at the beach, and the bomb squad was called in to investigate the sphere.

Japanese public broadcaster NHK released footage showing two officials on the beach looking at the russet sphere, which appears to be rusty and made of metal.

The authorities have cordoned off the area and took X-rays of the sphere. They have said that it is not a bomb and does not pose a threat. However, its origins remain unknown, and it will be removed from the beach soon.

The Guardian reported that photographs of the object have been sent to the Self-Defence Forces and Japan Coast Guard for further examination.

An unidentified runner told NHK that he was surprised by the commotion as the sphere had been on the beach for quite some time.

“That ball has been there for a month. I tried to push it, but it wouldn’t budge,” said the man.

The sphere has been dubbed “Godzilla egg”, “mooring buoy” and “from outer space” by local residents in Hamamatsu. Others said it resembled something from the popular Japanese manga series Dragon Ball and believed it was an unidentified flying object that had fallen from the sky.

The TV footage of the sphere also prompted speculation on social media after Japan said it “strongly suspected” several Chinese spy balloons had been spotted over its territory in recent years.

On Wednesday, Japan expressed its concerns to China about suspected surveillance balloons spotted over its skies at least three times since 2019 — an allegation it first made last week. Beijing denies claims of espionage.

Both countries’ defence ministers met on Wednesday (Feb 22), in the first senior bilateral security dialogue in four years. Both sides agreed to work towards launching a communications hotline this spring.

The discovery of the sphere also comes amid the spotting of objects in various locations since the US shot down what it said was a spy balloon earlier in February. The balloon was seen over Montana and raised concerns as the US government tracked its path over the country. It was shot down off the coast of South Carolina and recovered in the Atlantic Ocean.

Syria earthquake: Did EU, US sanctions stop aid deliveries?

Cathrin Schaer
February 21, 2023

On social media, calls to lift sanctions on Syria and expedite earthquake aid have gone viral. But are those calls genuine?

The young Syrian woman has tears in her eyes. "We have no electricity, we have no gas, we have nothing," she cries angrily into the camera. "And then the earthquake happened … not a single person tried to help us. Don't let the media fool you," she pleads, and shows a graphic of airspace over Syria as part of her video.

The graphic indicates that no planes with aid for earthquake survivors had yet landed in her country, a day after the devastating earthquake which hit northern Syria and south-eastern Turkey on February 6.

Syria needs help, the young woman, who identifies herself as Patricia, a student from Damascus, rages into the camera.

But even before she had flashed the air traffic graphic on her TikTok video, which got more than 5 million views and over 240,000 mostly sympathetic comments, it had gone viral on various social media platforms. Most of those showing the graphic almost all used a variation of this hashtag: #StopSanctionsOnSyria.

Patricia's widely viewed TikTok video is an excellent example of the confusion and emotion surrounding the topic of sanctions on Syria. As frustration about delays in aid and equipment reaching parts of earthquake-hit Syria have grown, many observers asked whether sanctions were to blame for the deadly hold up.

Some asking this question genuinely want to know how they can help. Others, say critics of the authoritarian Syrian government headed by dictator Bashar Assad, are cynically using the natural disaster.

There was certainly an increase in the use of Syria sanctions-related hashtags after the earthquake, say researchers at the Syrian Archive, which uses online verification to track war crimes in Syria. "But there's no certainty as to whether these hashtags are deliberate [and part of a government-sponsored campaign] or organic," a spokesperson for the Syrian Archive told DW. "Just a general desire to help saw a lot of people participating in it. But it's also clear that this campaign is welcomed by the Syrian government."

Slow delivery of aid to northern Syria: DW's Mohamad Chreyteh

01:03

That aspect of it "is very deliberate," Andrew Tabler, a senior fellow and Syria expert at US thinktank, the Washington Institute, told DW. "The regime and its supporters are using it [the earthquake] as an excuse to call for the lifting of all sanctions on Syria."

That's despite the fact that the opposition-controlled area of Idlib — the part of northern Syria that likely paid the highest price for delays, in terms of survivors who could have been rescued but perished — is not subject to sanctions imposed on the Syrian government anyway.

"Those areas have not been under the control of the Assad regime in over a decade," Tabler pointed out.
Missing context

That kind of context is missing in a lot of the content on social media. For example, in her TikTok video, Patricia from Damascus never talks about why there are international sanctions on Syria in the first place.

Sanctions were imposed on Syria by European countries and the US after the Assad regime sparked a civil war by brutally cracking down on peaceful anti-government demonstrations during the so-called Arab Spring, starting 2011. Twelve years later, the Syrian government, now in control of much of the country again, wants to rehabilitate its image and regain access to international markets.

In northern Syria, underequipped local volunteers, the White Helmets, undertook search and rescue alone

 K. Rammah/AA/picture alliance

Nor does Patricia mention the revised cybercrime law introduced by the Syrian government in April 2022 that means it is dangerous for ordinary Syrians to publish or post anything that might be critical of the government. As the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy reported in a legal analysis of the revised law, the Syrian government also has a special security branch "to monitor published social media posts and other digital communications."

The air traffic graphic that TikTok's Patricia and many others presented online is also misleading. As a result of the conflict, the airspace over Syria has been out of bounds for most civilian carriers since 2015. Air traffic over Syria looks the same almost every day, incoming earthquake aid or not.

What is the truth about sanctions on Syria?

As many of the sanctioning governments were quick to point out, sanctions have always exempted humanitarian aid.

"I categorically reject the accusations that EU sanctions have any impact on humanitarian aid," the EU's crisis management commissioner, Janez Lenarcic, said shortly after the earthquake.

The German foreign office has also stressed that sanctions never applied to humanitarian aid, or even things like heavy machinery that could be used to move rubble.

"Don't fall for the narrative being spread by certain actors who are trying to further their own interests in these very difficult times," a German foreign office spokesperson warned during a recent press conference. "The current catastrophic situation is being exploited politically."

Sanctions in a gray zone

All of this is not to say that sanctions on Syria do not have some detrimental effect.

"I don't question that sanctions have negative impacts on human rights," Karam Shaar, a political economist and expert on Syrian sanctions, told DW previously. "Nobody can argue that. But we should be talking about the context and the rest of the story, too."

For example, Shaar noted, one of the biggest issues for many ordinary Syrians inside and outside the country has been the problem of sending money in and out of Syria. Sanctions are supposed to cut the Assad regime off from international banking but in effect, they've also made life very difficult for ordinary Syrians.

On February 9, the US government issued General License 23, which should go some way toward remedying this. It "authorizes for 180 days all transactions related to earthquake relief that would be otherwise prohibited by the Syrian Sanctions Regulations."

This week, the US commerce department also said it would help expedite exports to Syria that could be helpful in recovery efforts, such as telecommunications and medical gear, portable generators and water purification or sanitation equipment.

On February 15, the UK issued two additional licenses too. "UK sanctions do not target humanitarian aid, food, or medical supplies," the British government noted. But, its statement added, it recognized that some aspects of some sanctions might be impractical in a crisis. The new licenses would "make it easier for aid agencies to operate in Syria without breaching the sanctions that target Assad's regime."

EU member states have reportedly been discussing temporary changes to sanctions too.

Two more border crossings from Turkey into northern Syria only opened over a week after the earthquake.

Keeping a closer eye on sanctions

Shaar, the Washington Institute's Tabler and other analysts agree that sanctions and exemptions need more monitoring and regular evaluation.

"The problem is not with sanctions as a policy tool, but with the way they are implemented in Syria and other countries, and the lack of resources dedicated to making them effective," Shaar argued in a January op-ed for the Atlantic Council thinktank .

Tabler noted that a lack of careful evaluation could cause problems with the new US exemption, General License 23. It will run for six months rather than the customary three, he said, and the definition of what is "earthquake relief" remains very broad.

"And the Assad regime has a horrible track record with diverting aid," Tabler told DW. "I know the unintended effects that sanctions can have and I also know that people are suffering and we need to get them relief. But opening up in this way allows for abuse," the former special adviser on Syria for the US State Department explained.

 

Anger about the delayed arrival of aid into northern Syria has been growing since the February 6 earthquake

Omar Haj Kadour/AFP/Getty Images

In this case, Tabler suggests carefully checking on earthquake damage and what needs reconstruction, then ensuring the newly enabled cash flow into Syria is actually going towards that, rather than being siphoned off by the Assad government, which could use it to either enrich itself or fund further attacks on its opponents.

Sanctioning countries have the technology and ability to be able to do this kind of monitoring, Tabler stated. "But the question is one of political will."

Edited by: J. Wingard

UK Firms stick to four-day week after trial ends

PublishedShare

Image caption,

On her day off Faye bakes to relax

By Simon Read, Lucy Hooker & Emma Simpson

Business reporters, BBC News

Faye Johnson-Smith thought it was too good to be true when her boss said she could have every Wednesday off without a cut in her pay.

Her firm was taking part in a six-month trial, testing the costs and benefits of a four-day week on full pay.

Like most of the workers involved, Faye felt healthier and happier as a result of working shorter hours.

But at the end of the trial almost all the 61 employers involved were also keen to keep the new work pattern.

The scheme, which took place between June and December 2022, involved organisations across the UK from a brewery to a fish and chip shop, software developers to recruitment firms.

A report assessing its impact has found it had "extensive benefits" particularly for employees' well-being.

Its authors argue it could herald a shift in attitudes, so that before long we could all see a mid-week break or a three-day weekend as normal.

• The workers getting 100% pay for 80% of the hours

Faye works as a supervisor for Citizen Advice in Gateshead where around 200 staff took part in the scheme.

She says having the extra day off gives her time to "recover and recuperate".

As a result, she arrives back at work "ready to hit the ground running" and, she reckons, achieves as much, if not more, in her four days than she used to in five.

Her colleague, Bethany Lawson, says she finds her team easier to manage now most of them are on a four-day week, leaving her more time to get on, and she also finds she can push herself a little bit further after a day to "reset".

Image caption,

Being told she could work a four-day week felt like winning the lottery, says Bethany

But for a four-day week on full pay to work across the economy, employers will need to see productivity gains.

Workers will need to create the services and products in four days that they were creating in five, to make enough money to pay a full week's wages.

That kind of productivity growth has proved an intractable challenge for the UK economy. It has fallen behind many other rich nations in the amount of value created per worker in recent years, with competing explanations for why, and how that might be fixed.

The report's authors argue that although the trial was amongst organisations that volunteered to join, and were therefore more likely to make it work, the results make a strong case for a shorter working week.

"We don't have a firm handle on exactly what happened to productivity, but we do know that on a variety of other metrics, whether we're talking about revenue, [workforce] attrition, self-reports of productivity, employee well-being and costs, we had really good results," says Juliet Schor, from Boston College, one of the academic institutions behind the trial, alongside the universities of Oxford and Cambridge.

While most of the companies taking part said they were happy with productivity and performance outcomes, only 23 provided financial data covering revenues, and that showed revenue had broadly stayed the same over the six months of the trial.

But of the 61 companies that took part, 56 said they would continue with the four-day week, at least for now, while 18 said the policy was a permanent change.

Tyler Grange, an environmental consultancy which has six offices across England, is one of those fully embracing the new pattern.

Simon Ursell, its managing director, admits the first month of the trial was "a bit white knuckle".

He didn't want to simply compress into four days the work that was being done in five, because that would put staff under too much pressure, he says.

IMAGE SOURCE,TYLER GRANGE

Image caption,

Staff at Tyler Grange are now on a permanent four-day week work pattern

Instead the plan was to remove unnecessary meetings, travel and admin. But in the end it was the staff themselves who found the efficiencies required.

"Fundamentally, if you give people this incredible incentive of a whole day of their time a week, they are going to work really hard to make it work," he says.

Now, he says, his staff are doing 2% more in four days than they used to do in five. The team is happier. Absenteeism has shrunk by two-thirds and applications to work at Tyler Grange are flooding in.

Those results reflect the overall findings of the report: that staff were much less inclined to call in sick, and more inclined to stay with their employer, reducing recruitment costs and making it more worthwhile training staff.

The results are not as clear-cut for every organisation, however.

Citizens Advice in Gateshead, where Faye works, is not yet ready to commit to a permanent four-day week.

Chief executive Alison Dunn says the charity found many benefits to the shorter working week, including less burn-out amongst its staff, who are under a lot of pressure in the current cost-of-living crisis.

"It has absolutely worked in the majority of the business," she says.

"But there are some areas of the business where the jury is still out as to how effective it will be."

It has proved harder to make efficiencies at the contact centre, which was already heavily monitored with tough targets to meet. There, Citizens Advice has had to shoulder the cost of hiring extra staff to allow for the four-day week pattern.

Ms Dunn hopes the extra investment will eventually be offset by a reduction in costs around recruitment, retention and sickness but, it's still "a work in progress" she says, with a review due in April.

https://finance.yahoo.com/video/four-day-week-could-real-214819460.html

Boston College Economist and Sociologist Juliet Schor joins Yahoo Finance Live to break down the results of a United Kingdom study on four-day workweeks.

1933

Southern Baptists oust Saddleback Church over woman pastor


 Pastor Rick Warren speaks during the Southern Baptist Convention's annual meeting in Anaheim, Calif., Tuesday, June 14, 2022. On Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023, the Southern Baptist Convention ousted its second-largest congregation — Saddleback Church, the renowned California megachurch founded by Warren — for having a woman pastor. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

PETER SMITH
Tue, February 21, 2023 at 12:58 PM MST·6 min read

The Southern Baptist Convention on Tuesday ousted its second-largest congregation — Saddleback Church, the renowned California megachurch founded by pastor and best-selling author Rick Warren — for having a woman pastor.

The vote by the convention's Executive Committee culminates growing tension between the nation's largest Protestant denomination — which officially opposes women as pastors — and a congregation whose story has been one of the biggest church-growth successes of modern times.

The committee cited Saddleback's having “a female teaching pastor functioning in the office of pastor," an allusion to Stacie Wood, wife of the current lead pastor of Saddleback, Andy Wood.

But the controversy began in 2021, when Warren ordained three women as pastors, prompting discussions within the denomination about possibly expelling the megachurch.

Warren retired last year after more than 42 years at Saddleback. He made an emotional speech in June 2022 at the Southern Baptists’ annual convention in Anaheim, standing by his ordination of women. He told delegates who debated the issue, “We have to decide if we will treat each other as allies or adversaries.”

But the Executive Committee took the vote Tuesday without public discussion after meeting in executive session.

It voted to approve a recommendation from the denomination's Credentials Committee that Saddleback be deemed “not in friendly cooperation with the Convention" — the terminology used for ousting a church. While Southern Baptists' statement of faith officially opposes women as pastors, each congregation is self-governing, so the main enforcement mechanism is to oust it from membership.

The Executive Committee's motion said that Saddleback “has a faith and practice that does not closely identify with the Convention’s adopted statement of faith, as demonstrated by the church having a female teaching pastor functioning in the office of pastor.”

In a statement late Tuesday, the church didn’t indicate whether it planned to exercise its right to appeal the decision at the Southern Baptists' next annual meeting, scheduled for New Orleans in June.

“We love and have always valued our relationship with the SBC and its faithful churches,” Saddleback elders said in a statement. "We will engage and respond through the proper channels at the appropriate time in hopes to serve other like-minded Bible believing SBC churches. Meanwhile, we remain focused on following God’s leadership to love and serve our church family and the communities around our campuses."

Mike Keahbone, an Executive Committee member and Oklahoma pastor, said an appeal “appears likely.”

“This was the heart of the room; to let the messengers (delegates) of the SBC decide,” Keahbone tweeted Tuesday.

With its main campus in Lake Forest, south of Los Angeles, Saddleback Church has grown over four to 14 locations in Southern California, with an average weekly attendance of 30,000. There are four international campuses —in Hong Kong, Germany, the Philippines and Argentina.

Wood told The Associated Press last year that the Bible “teaches that men and women were given spiritual gifts by God.” His wife has served as teaching pastor for Saddleback.

“The church should be a place where both men and women can exercise those spiritual gifts,” Wood said. “My wife has the spiritual gift of teaching and she is really good. People often tell me she’s better than me when it comes to preaching, and I’m really glad to hear that.”

The Executive Committee also voted to oust five other congregations -- four over the issue of women as pastors and one over the issue of sexual abuse.

When Southern Baptists last updated their official statement of belief — The Baptist Faith and Message — in 2000, they added this clause: “While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.”

The five churches ousted for having women as pastors “have been valued, cooperating churches for many years, and this decision was not made lightly,” Committee Chairman Jared Wellman said in a statement. "However, we remain committed to upholding the theological convictions of the SBC and maintaining unity among its cooperating churches.”

Warren, with a social media following in the millions, has written multiple books, including the widely successful “The Purpose Driven Life.” In 2005, Time magazine named Warren one of the “100 Most Influential People in the World,” and he delivered the invocation at President Barack Obama's inauguration in 2009.

The church grew from a startup by Rick Warren and his wife, Kay Warren. With his charisma and easy, informal preaching style, Warren attracted thousands to the megachurch. Over the past decade, Warren also launched an ambitious plan to expand the church’s reach across Southern California as well as globally, a vision his successor has promised to complete.

Warren, in a tweet, said he and Kay would “respond to #SBC in OUR time & way thru direct channels" such as social media and newsletters.

Warren remains listed as founding pastor on the Saddleback website.

The SBC has in recent years authorized the ouster of churches that don't conform to its statement of faith. This includes churches with women pastors, LGBTQ-inclusive polices, support for racism or failure to respond adequately to child sexual abuse, such as employing offenders as pastors.

In some cases, the committee has ousted churches for allegedly failing even to cooperate in answering to such allegations, as reflected in some of the motions approved on Tuesday.

It deemed Freedom Church in Vero Beach, Florida, to be not in friendly cooperation “based on a lack of intent to cooperate in resolving concerns regarding a sexual abuse allegation." The denomination has been roiled by allegations in recent years of sexual abusers remaining in ministry, prompting the convention to vote for stricter policies. A task force focused on the issue this week announced the hiring of a firm to oversee a new database of credibly accused ministers.

Freedom Church's pastor, Richard Demsick, told the AP that the SBC has sent conflicting messages to the church. In a letter to national, state and local Southern Baptist entities, church leaders disputed any allegation of abuse, asked for additional information and said they planned to appeal any ouster.

The Executive Committee ousted New Faith Mission Ministry of Griffin, Georgia, and St. Timothy’s Christian Baptist in Baltimore, citing their “lack of intent to cooperate in resolving a question” arising from the churches having women senior pastors.

And it ousted Fern Creek Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky, and Calvary Baptist Church in Jackson, Mississippi, both for having female lead pastors, indicating they have a “faith and practice” at odds with the convention's.

The SBC has 13.7 million members, but has seen net declines over more than a decade in members and baptisms, its key metric for spiritual vitality.

___

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Scientists develop ‘spontaneous’ antidote to toxic fumes from building fires

Vishwam Sankaran
Tue, 21 February 2023 

Scientists develop ‘spontaneous’ antidote to toxic fumes from building fires


Researchers have developed a “breakthrough” synthetic compound that they say could potentially be used as a fast-acting antidote against toxic fumes in building fires.

The study, published on Monday in the journal PNAS, has demonstrated that the compound – hemoCD-Twins – is a “very effective,” “rapid” antidote against carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen cyanide (HCN) poisoning in mice models.

Both CO and HCN gases from burning materials in building fires can be fatal upon inhalation.

These compounds have been shown to bind strongly to the blood molecules hemoglobin, cytochromes, and iron containing compounds known as “hemes”, and block normal respiration.

When an individual is exposed to toxic fumes containing these compounds, it can be impossible to remove them from the body, especially when there is simultaneous CO and HCN poisoning.

This creates significant challenges in saving the lives of those exposed to toxic gases in building fires, scientists say.

Now, researchers, including those from Doshisha University in Japan, have shown that their new “breakthrough” synthetic compound captures CO very strongly and scavenges cyanide in saline solution.

It was also demonstrated to result in an 85 per cent survival rate and rapid recovery in mice.

Apart from showing an immediate antidotal effect, a high degree of safety, and storage stability, researchers say the compound also exhibited very low toxicity and rapid elimination via urinary excretion.

“This antidote will limit damage from gas poisoning caused by sudden fires and can be tested for the treatment of various symptoms caused by gas poisoning,” study co-author Hiroaki Kitagishi from Doshisha University said in a statement.

In 5–10 years, scientists hope to complete non-clinical and clinical trials to show that hemoCD-Twins can be incorporated in ambulances, emergency hospitals, and other facilities.

“This way, future generations will have no need to fear sudden fire gas poisoning. We will proceed with non-clinical and clinical trials in cooperation with medical doctors in order to implement this compound as a therapeutic agent in the world,” Dr Kitagishi said.