The Red Cross Challenged Gamers To Not Commit War Crimes

Story by Isaiah Colbert • Yesterday 

The International Committee of the Red Cross has partnered up with a bunch of Twitch streamers to encourage gamers to not commit war crimes in popular shooters like Call of Duty. The ICRC hopes that its event, “Play by the Rules,” will educate players on the statutes of actual war. The organization has even created its own Fortnite mode to help communicate what those rules are.


A promotional image shows field medics covering behind barricades on the ICRC's Fortnite island.© Image: Epic Games

Read More: War Crimes in Video Games Draw Red Cross Scrutiny

“Every day, people play games set in conflict zones right from their couch. But right now, armed conflicts are more prevalent than ever,” the ICRC website said. “And to the people suffering from their effects, this conflict is not a game. It destroys lives and leaves communities devastated. Therefore, we’re challenging you to play FPS by the real Rules of War, to show everyone that even wars have rules—rules which protect humanity on battlefields IRL.”

As part of the event, on the ICRC’s official Twitch channel streamers have played a number of games while adhering (or attempting to adhere) to the Laws of Conflict, including PUBG Battlegrounds, Fortnite, Call of Duty: Warzone, Rainbow 6 Siege, and Escape From Tarkov. In addition to the Play by the Rules event, the ICRC created its own Fortnite mode that’s designed to convey the rules of war in the context of competitive play.


For those curious, the official rules of war for the ICRC’s Play by the Rules event (which have been streamlined to account for video game mechanics) are:

No thirsting (don’t shoot downed/unresponsive enemies)

No targeting non-violent NPCs

No targeting civilian buildings

Use med kits on everyone



ICRC

This isn’t the first time the ICRC has urged players to critically think about the rules of war. Back in 2017, the ICRC hosted a similar event in an Arma III DLC called Law of War. In Law of War, gamers put down their weapons and took on the role of humanitarian workers as they respond to people in crisis, deactivate mines, and speak with an investigative journalist. According to a blog post from Arma III developer Bohemia Interactive, the DLC raised a total of $176,667, which it donated to the ICRC. 

Exclusive-German authors, performers call for tougher ChatGPT rules amid copyright concerns

Story by By Foo Yun Chee • Yesterday 

FILE PHOTO: Illustration shows ChatGPT logo© Thomson Reuters

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Forty-two German associations and trade unions representing more than 140,000 authors and performers on Wednesday urged the European Union to beef up draft artificial intelligence rules as they singled out the threat to their copyright from ChatGPT.

Trade unions for the creative sector Verdi and DGB and associations for photographers, designers, journalists and illustrators set out their concerns in a letter to the European Commission, European Council and EU lawmakers.

The letter underlined the growing worries about generative artificial intelligence (AI) such as ChatGPT which can mimic humans and create text and images based on prompts.

"The unauthorised usage of protected training material, its non-transparent processing, and the foreseeable substitution of the sources by the output of generative AI raise fundamental questions of accountability, liability and remuneration, which need to be addressed before irreversible harm occurs," the letter seen by Reuters said.

"Generative AI needs to be at the centre of any meaningful AI market regulation," it said.

The European Commission, which last year proposed AI rules, will in the coming months thrash out the final details with EU lawmakers and member states before the rules become legislation.

The rules should be beefed up to regulate generative AI across the entire product cycle, especially on providers of foundation models, the groups said.

They also call for providers of such technology to be liable for all content generated and disseminated by the AI, in particular for infringement of personal rights and copyrights, misinformation or discrimination.

The letter said providers of foundation models such as Microsoft, Alphabet's Google, Amazon and Meta Platforms should not be allowed to operate central platform services to distribute digital content.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Mark Potter)

Cost of carbon emissions nearly five times higher than previously thought: analysis

Story by The Canadian Press • Yesterday 


OTTAWA — The economic cost of greenhouse gas emissions is nearly five times higher than previously thought, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said Wednesday.


Cost of carbon emissions nearly five times higher than previously thought: analysis© Provided by The Canadian Press

The minister told attendees at a climate change conference in Ottawa that the government used updated scientific knowledge and economic models to revise the way it evaluates how much climate change is costing Canadians.

The new numbers have been in development for months but come after a recent report from the parliamentary budget officer on the economic costs of the carbon price. That report did not specifically equate the cost of the price on carbon to the costs of climate change itself.

"The updates to the social cost of carbon simply show that every tonne of greenhouse gas is costing the economy more," Guilbeault said at the Net Zero Leadership Summit.

The social cost of carbon estimates the financial impact that every tonne of emissions has on everything from food production and human health to disaster repair bills and even property values.

The idea is that growing emissions contribute more to global warming, and every increase in global average temperatures can increase the number and severity of extreme weather events.

More than seven years ago an analysis estimated that by 2020 the cost would be about $54 a tonne in 2020. Guilbeault said the updated model suggests that figure was actually closer to $247.

He said this year it's even higher, at $261 per tonne of emissions, and by 2030 it will rise to $294.

Related video: Down-to-Earth Design: Rethinking Carbon in a Circular Economy (CNBC)   Duration 10:34  View on Watch

"Pause for a moment to understand what this signifies," Guilbeault said.

"Every tonne of carbon we reduce this year saves society as a whole $261 — and we are talking in terms of cutting megatonnes: millions of tonnes."

Between 2005 — the year Canada uses as the base for its 2030 emissions targets — and 2021, Canada eliminated 62 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. Using the new social cost of carbon figure, that equates to saving almost $10 billion.

However that doesn't include an estimate of what it cost to eliminate those 62 million tonnes. The carbon price in 2021 was $40 per tonne, and it will rise to $170 per tonne in 2030.

Last year a federal analysis of regulations to reduce emissions produced from gasoline and diesel said the cost of that policy was about $151 per tonne.

Canada's Ecofiscal Commission in 2017 pegged the cost of Quebec's electric vehicle subsidy at about $355 per tonne. Most provinces and the federal government now have some kind of electric vehicle subsidy.

By 2030, Canada wants to eliminate at least another 231 million tonnes. That could save $68 billion on the emissions side, but there are no direct comparisons to illustrate how much it will cost to do that.

Canada has dozens of other policies designed to help meet that target, including phasing out coal power, expanding renewable electricity, mandating an end to the sale of gas-powered cars and capping emissions from the oil and gas industry.

The parliamentary budget officer's recent analysis of carbon pricing said the government's climate rebates are more than the direct cost of carbon pricing for most families, but when you factor in the economic costs — such as lower incomes or job losses — many families may have less money in 2030 than they would without the carbon price.

Guilbeault and others criticized that report for not being explicit that climate change itself is contributing to job losses and lower incomes.

The social cost of carbon analysis is done in concert with the United States Environmental Protection Agency, which published its interim values last year but is still reviewing them before releasing a final version. Canada published its final numbers Wednesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 19, 2023.

Mia Rabson, The Canadian Press

CANADA

'Keira's Law' passes Senate, signalling a change to the way courts approach domestic violence

Story by Jessica Mundie • 

A private member's bill requiring that judges consider domestic violence and coercive control when issuing decisions passed the Senate on Tuesday evening.

Bill C-233, which was sponsored by Liberal MP Anju Dhillon, was introduced in February 2022. It was dubbed "Keira's Law" after four-year-old Keira Kagan, who was found dead with her father at the bottom of a cliff outside of Toronto in 2020.

Keira's mother, Jennifer Kagan-Viater, said at a press conference on Wednesday morning that she tried to call attention to the danger her daughter's father presented to their child well before their death.

She said she went to court to seek protection for Keira from the violent and coercive behaviour of her ex-husband Robin Brown.

"When we went to trial in my matter, I was before a judge with a background in labour and employment law and he cut me off on the stand when I was talking about domestic violence and parenting and the effect on our daughter." said Kagan-Viater.

"[The judge] said domestic violence is not relevant to parenting."

Kagan-Viater had been separated from Brown for years before her daughter's death.

She has told CBC News that she believes her daughter's death was the result of a murder-suicide and that her warnings about her ex-husband's abuse were largely ignored by judges.

A pending inquest into Keira's death was announced in February by Ontario's chief coroner.


Keira Kagan, 4, was found dead at the base of an Ontario cliff after allegedly going for a hike with her father, Robin Brown, whose body was also found nearby. Her mother, Jennifer Viater-Kagan and stepfather, Phillip Viater, believe it was a murder-suicide.

© Evan Mitsui/CBC

"We need to see a change in the way that judges understand domestic violence and coercive control, and this bill brings about that change," said Kagan-Viater.


Bill C-233 would amend the Judges Act to establish seminars for judges on intimate partner violence and coercive control, in addition to other forms of education they must undergo.

Pamela Cross is a lawyer and advocacy director at Luke's Place, which provides legal guidance to women leaving abusive relationships. She said she hopes the bill will lead to standardized education for judges on the effects of intimate partner violence on children.

She said judges who hear cases where family violence is a factor should be well-educated about how domestic violence works, how it affects kids and how often it continues after separation. She said "Keira's Law" is a good step in this direction.

An important aspect of Bill C-233, said Cross, is its focus on coercive control — a pattern of abusive behaviour that isolates a victim and causes them to lose their sense of autonomy.

Cross said that cases of coercive control may not involve physical violence. They may instead involve emotional abuse, psychological abuse, gaslighting, or financial abuse, she added.

Cross said Kagan-Viater's experience is not uncommon.

Too often, she said, women go to court after being abused by their partners and are not believed by judges — or judges fail to make the connection between intimate partner violence and its effects on children.

"Once this bill is fully implemented, judges should have more tools in their toolkit so that they can look at these cases and make decisions that are best for children and that also keep mothers safe," said Cross.

Pam Damhoff, one of the Liberal MPs spearheading the bill, said "Keira's Law" may inspire similar legislation at the provincial level.

"Kira was going to change the world and we're here today because she has changed the world. She is starting conversations, not only with our bill federally but across the country," said Damhoff.

Along with amending the Judges Act, the bill also amends the Criminal Code to allow a judge to consider ordering someone charged with intimate partner violence to wear an electronic monitoring device if they think the individual may pose a safety or security risk.

Liberal MP Ya'ara Saks, another supporter of the bill, said the option of electronic monitoring, paired with new training on intimate partner violence and coercive control, will give judges "a comprehensive toolbox of understanding" for dealing with these types of cases.

"We want to make sure that Keira's legacy is one that will protect more children in the future," said Saks.

After tens of thousands of federal workers walk off the job, Trudeau calls for more negotiations

Story by John Paul Tasker • 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is urging the union representing striking federal public servants to quickly hash out a deal to avoid serious service disruptions.

Speaking to reporters ahead of a Liberal caucus meeting Wednesday, Trudeau said the government tabled an offer Monday but the union, the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), hasn't meaningfully responded to it.

PSAC announced late Tuesday that more than 100,000 workers would walk off the job after it failed to reach a deal with Ottawa on a new collective agreement after months of negotiations.

"Obviously, Canadians have a right and deserve to get the services that they need from the federal government," Trudeau said.

"That's why we need both management and labour to get back to the bargaining table as soon as possible to continue to make progress.

"Right now, they need to get back to the table because they haven't been over the past number of hours."

PSAC national president Chris Aylward said Wednesday his union is at the table trying to reach a deal — something he said won't happen until "the government is ready to come to the table with a fair offer."

At issue in this dispute is pay and other workplace issues.

PSAC is demanding a 13.5 per cent pay increase over three years (4.5 per cent annually). Some bargaining units are asking for more than that. For example, tax agency workers want a pay bump of 22.5 per cent.

The Treasury Board Secretariat, the government department that is nominally the employer of bureaucrats, has offered nine per cent over three years.

Treasury Board Secretary Mona Fortier said PSAC has made unreasonable demands that aren't fiscally sustainable.

She said the government isn't willing to sign a "blank cheque" to cover what she described as outlandish wage increases.

Ottawa's nine per cent wage hike was endorsed by the Public Interest Commission (PIC), an independent mediator, Fortier said, and the government isn't willing to go higher.

PSAC also wants more flexibility in the rules on working from home — and they want the right to "telework" enshrined in a final agreement.

The government has demanded that public servants return to in-person work for a few days a week after years of COVID-related virtual work. That hasn't gone over well with public sector unions.


People line up outside a Service Canada office in Toronto on Apr. 26, 2022 to apply for passports. Families Minister Karina Gould, the minister responsible for the passport program, says PSAC's job action could lead to more processing delays.© Evan Mitsui/CBC

Families Minister Karina Gould, the minister responsible for the passport program, said the job action will result in delays to services Canadians rely on to travel.

In fact, she said, regular passport applications will not be processed while the strike is underway — a development that could lead to a serious backlog.

Related video: 'We are at the negotiating table:' Trudeau on first PSAC strike day (cbc.ca)

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The passport program receives about 85,000 applications a week and they won't be considered while most of the staff are out on a picket line, Gould said.

Passport Canada will only be able to process "humanitarian" applications and a select number of "urgent" applications, she said.

CRA services will be 'delayed or unavailable'

"If job action wraps up quickly, it won't have a big impact. If it goes for quite some significant time, then it will," Gould said. "If it's a couple of days or maybe a week, people will experience delays."

Asked what her message is for families who may see their vacation plans ruined by a dormant bureaucracy, Gould said she feels "very terrible for them."

"I think, like all of my colleagues, we're hopefully going to come to a negotiated agreement with PSAC expeditiously so the impact on Canadians is minimal," she added.

Immigration Minister Sean Fraser said it won't be business as usual at his department either.

He said the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will essentially stop processing most applications for the time being.

He said the timing is bad because the department had just started to chip away away its massive backlog of nearly a million applications, which piled up during the pandemic.

The Canada Revenue Agency also warned taxpayers that its services "will be delayed or unavailable" — which is bad timing, given the deadline to file taxes is April 30 (or June 15 if you're self-employed).

In a statement, the CRA said benefits payments will be prioritized and Canada child benefit (CCB) payments will still go out as scheduled.

Call centre operations will be limited during this job action, the CRA said.

In announcing the strike action, PSAC said Canadians can expect "a complete halt of the tax season."

But the CRA tax returns filed digitally should see fewer issues.

"While there are no plans to extend tax filing deadlines, the CRA will continue to accept all tax returns. Those that are filed digitally, which represent the vast majority of T1 and T2 returns, will largely be processed automatically by our systems without delay," the agency said.

Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu said she's already heard from some First Nations chiefs worried about the department's operations during the strike. The federal government provides many frontline services to status Indians.

"I'm going to be monitoring this really closely," Hajdu said. "The department has an operational plan to continue to provide services. Frontline services won't be affected."

Conservative MP Stephanie Kusie, the critic for the Treasury Board, ducked questions Wednesday about whether her party would support back-to-work legislation to force federal workers back on the job.

She said Trudeau is to blame for the job action. "We're calling on the prime minister and the Liberal government to get their act together and end this strike," she said. "It's his incompetence that has brought us to this place."

She said the longer the strike goes on, the more Canadians will suffer.

"Canadians won't receive their passports. Canadians will not receive their tax returns as a result of the incompetence of this Liberal government," she said.



NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh joins PSAC workers on a picket line in Ottawa, Wednesday, April 19, 2023.© Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh joined some PSAC workers on the picket line early Wednesday.

Singh has said the NDP will never support back-to-work legislation.

"We envision that there might be a scenario where the government would bring in back-to-work legislation. They've done it in the past and I said really clearly to them that we will never support that," Singh said.

"I looked directly at the prime minister and said, 'We're a workers' party, we're not going to support back-to-work legislation. Never consider that as an option for us, because we're not going to do that.'"

Oilsands wastewater seepage cleanup to be complete by end of May: Imperial

Story by The Canadian Press • Yesterday 

CALGARY — Imperial Oil Ltd. said its cleanup efforts following recent high-profile wastewater releases from its Kearl oilsands site will be complete next month.



Executives with the Calgary-based company said at an annual investor day event Wednesday that cleanup from February's wastewater overflow from a containment pond is already complete, and efforts to fully remediate the tailings pond seepage the company discovered last May have advanced significantly.

“Throughout the month of May we’ll essentially be complete, is the way we look at that," said Imperial senior vice-president Simon Younger during a question and answer session with analysts.

The update came one day before Imperial executives are set to testify Thursday before a House of Commons committee that is probing why it took nine months for First Nations and governments to find out what was happening with the company's wastewater spills.

On Wednesday, Imperial said it has identified the cause of the February wastewater overflow as a "process control" problem.

“I’ll be crystal clear with it. It should not have happened," Younger said. "We have already done everything we need to do to ensure that never happens again.”

He added the seepage issue is more complicated, but the company has determined that the seepage occurred at a shallower groundwater level than what the company's tailings pond seepage interception system was designed to handle. He said Imperial is now working to expand its seepage interception system with additional trenches and monitoring wells.

Water tests after Imperial's wastewater releases confirmed toxic chemicals in local groundwater and at least one nearby water body.

On Wednesday, the company apologized once again, saying Imperial places the "utmost priority" on the safety of both people and the environment.

“These incidents don’t align with that, and for this I’m deeply sorry, our upstream organization is deeply sorry, and the entire Imperial organization is deeply sorry," Younger said.

Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault has promised to create an improved reporting process for environmental emergencies. A group made up of representatives from federal and provincial governments, the Northwest Territories and Indigenous communities affected by the releases is seeking to develop a way to fix the notification process, as well as to address ongoing concerns about the possibility of seepage from all oilsands tailings ponds.

Also this week, Suncor Energy Inc. reported the release of six million litres of water from a pond at its Fort Hills oilsands mine north of Fort McMurray, Alta., that exceeded guidelines for sediment.

Suncor said it has stopped outflow from the pond and is studying the cause of the problem and how it affected water quality.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 19, 2023.

Companies in this story: (TSX:IMO, TSX:SU)

Amanda Stephenson, The Canadian Press

Tesla's Biggest Chinese Rival Drops a Bombshell

Story by Luc Olinga • Yesterday 

BYD, which has legendary investor Warren Buffett as a shareholder, has just unveiled the Seagull, a $11,000 electric vehicle making it by far the cheapest EV currently on the market.


The pressure is mounting on Tesla.

The world leader in electric vehicles is facing an unprecedented offensive from Chinese groups and more particularly from BYD, the world's leading manufacturer of clean vehicles -- battery powered vehicles, or BEV, and plug-in hybrid.

In January, when Tesla (TSLA) - Get Free Report CEO Elon Musk was asked during Tesla's fourth quarter earnings' call on Jan. 25, who he thought would be Tesla's main rival within five years, he had indicated that it would probably be a Chinese group.

"I'm curious how you see the current competitive landscape changing over the next few years, and who you see as your chief competitors in five years from now," an analyst asked him.

"I don't think it's any of the companies that we're aware of. I'm just guessing that someone might pick it up, eventually," Musk responded. "We have a lot of respect for car companies in China. They are the most competitive in the world. That is our experience and the Chinese market is the most competitive. They work the hardest, and they work the smartest. We have a lot of respect for the Chinese car companies that we're competing against."

As a result, "I would guess there would probably be some company out of China [which] is most likely to be second to Tesla," he concluded without giving a name.




The Seagull

Nearly three months after that statement, Musk can now see Tesla's biggest rival in the rear view mirror. BYD (BYDDY) , which is known for its portfolio of animal-named models -- Seal and Dolphin -- Chinese imperial dynasties -- Han, Tang, Yuan, Song -- and warships -- Frigate, Destroyer -- comes to launch Seagull at the Shanghai Motor Show

The Seagull is a full electric city car with compact dimensions and a very attractive price. This vehicle is 3.78 meters long, 1.71 meters wide and 1.54 meters high. Its design is different from other BYD models. The lines are more conventional, with an entirely vertical rear face.

Thanks to its wheelbase of 2.50 meters, the BYD Seagull should offer a nice space on board. Its five doors provide easy access for four occupants.

The Seagull is based on the BYD e-Platform 3.0 and houses a 55 or 75 kW (75 or 102 hp) electric motor. It will be powered by a lithium iron phosphate BYD Blade battery with capacities of 30 and 38 kWh, BYD said. This type of battery, more economical and which allows very fast recharging, has been tested for several months by the manufacturer. It could for example ramp up from 30% to 80% charge within 30 minutes, the company asserted.

The World's Cheapest EV

The BYD Seagull comes with two range versions: 305 to 405 kilometers (190 to 252 miles) on a single charge.

What is most striking about the Seagull is neither its features nor its design but its price. This vehicle will be priced from 78,000 yuan ($11,326). This is more than half less than the base price of the Nissan Leaf which is $28,040 or the Chevy Bolt which is $26,500. The Seagull will therefore be the cheapest electric vehicle in the world.

Tesla's Model 3 sedan, which is currently the least expensive model from the Austin, Texas-based automaker, costs $39,990 at base price. Tesla has launched a price war in China and the United States for several months to make its cars more affordable. The last price reduction took place on April 18 in the United States.



The Seagull is scheduled for the Chinese market this year. BYD has not yet said whether the group, which already exports cars to Europe, will sell this city car in other markets.

The Shenzhen group (southern China), which also a battery manufacturer and a Tesla supplier, has set itself the goal of exporting 300,000 vehicles worldwide this year, compared to 50,000 in 2022, according to public television CCTV. BYD markets passenger cars in around fifty territories, including Europe, one of its priorities as for many other Chinese groups.

BYD's latest announcement reflects Chinese automakers' offensive that is transforming the landscape of the global auto industry. This rise in power of Chinese manufacturers is part of a general policy of the local authorities. China, which is the world's main emitter of greenhouse gases, is seeking to reduce its polluting emissions and its dependence on foreign oil. The country aims to sell around 20% of electric or hybrid vehicles in 2025.

As a result, the government is giving itself the means for its success by providing tax credits, which is in addition to subsidies granted by the local authorities.

Sales of electric and hybrid cars have practically doubled there in 2022 to represent more than a quarter of vehicles sold, i.e. an unprecedented level, according to the Chinese Federation of Individual Car Manufacturers.

CHINA

The Tesla factory where a worker was crushed to death had safety weaknesses, report says

Story by bnguyen@insider.com (Britney Nguyen) • 

An aerial view of Tesla Shanghai Gigafactory on March 29, 2021 in Shanghai, China. 

Xiaolu Chu/Getty Images

Chinese inspectors want to punish Tesla after the death of a Shanghai factory worker, Caixin Global reported.

An investigation said the employee was responsible for the incident that resulted in their death.

But inspectors said Tesla had safety weaknesses.

A Chinese goverment investigation into the death of a Tesla employee in Shanghai concluded the electric carmaker has safety weaknesses, Chinese news site Caixin Global reported Wednesday.

The Shanghai Pudong emergency management bureau recommended an unspecified penality against Tesla, Caixin Global said, citing a report that was posted to the bureau's website and later removed. An employee of the bureau told the Associated Press that Tesla had requested the report's removal.

Inspectors said the worker who died was responsible for the incident that resulted in their death, Caixin Global reported. The employee who died reportedly didn't lock a safety gate when they entered a high-risk zone, and an early shift worker didn't ensure the zone was clear of people before turning on equipment, the Caixin Global report said. The 31-year-old employee was crushed by the equipment and later died in the hospital, according to the report.

Tesla's North American and Chinese offices did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment. Tesla CEO Elon Musk also did not respond to a request for comment.

Meanwhile, people claiming to work at the Tesla Shanghai factory have complained on social media, and have appealed to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, saying their performance bonuses were cut after the employee's death.

"Please pay attention to the performance of frontline workers at Tesla's Shanghai factory being arbitrarily deducted," one account tweeted.

Two employees at Tesla's Shanghai factory told Reuters that supervisors pointed to a "safety incident" when they inquired about bonus cuts.

Musk on Monday responded to a tweet about the bonus cut complaints and said, "Was alerted this weekend. Looking into it."

Last year, Musk shared his admiration for the employees at Tesla's factory in Shanghai with the Financial Times, saying "they will be burning the 3 a.m. oil," and that "they won't even leave the factory type of thing, whereas in America, people are trying to avoid going to work at all."

STATEHOOD OR INDEPENDENCE

This industry is depleting the water supply in Puerto Rico, experts say

Yesterday 

The manufacturing industry in Puerto Rico is putting the island's finite water supply at risk, experts told ABC News.

Is manufacturing jeopardizing Puerto Rico’s water supply?

View on Watch  Duration 7:15

In the 1960s and 1970s, industries ventured to Puerto Rico as the result of a now-expired federal tax incentive known Section 936, which exempted businesses from federal income tax profits earned by U.S. companies in Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories.

The incentive is widely regarded by experts as responsible for creating a fiscal crisis on Puerto Rico, as the island's economy remained stuck in a standstill due to its inability to generate wealth from the rapidly growing manufacturing sector. But with the expansion of industry also came severe environmental impact.MORE: Biden visits Puerto Rico after Fiona, commits to recovery 'as long as it takes'

Pharmaceutical manufacturing, among the most prominent on the island, accounted for 65% of total industrial self-supplied groundwater withdrawals by 2010, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. In the northern town of Barceloneta, a municipality dominated by the pharmaceutical industry, industrial groundwater withdrawals were estimated at 1.3 million gallons per day, according to the USGS.

In places like Salinas, a city on the island's southern coast, all of the drinking water comes from groundwater. Ruth Santiago, an attorney based in Salinas, Puerto Rico, and an environmental health advocate with Earth Justice, told ABC News.

The water is extracted from aquifers running through the north and south of the island using pumps before it is filtered and cleaned by the Puerto Rico Aqueducts and Sewers Authority, Santiago said. It is then delivered via pipes to the area.



The community groundwater pump in Salinas, Puerto Rico, sits inoperable behind a fence.© David Miller/ABC News

However, wells in the region are mysteriously drying up, and the South Coast aquifer, the one from which much of the industrial water is being extracted, has been designated as a critical state, experts said.

"It's being depleted," Santiago said.

Not only does industry use vast amounts of water throughout the production process, but it also can impact water supplies through polluting or contaminating water with chemicals, Santiago said.MORE: What to know about Puerto Rico's divide over its territorial status

To exacerbate the issue, the cleanup and monitoring of these sites "take a long time," Carmen Guerrero Perez, director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Caribbean Environmental Protection Division, told ABC News.

One-third of the island is made of karst limestone soils, a "very porous" substance that can allow contaminated water to leach through, Perez said. Puerto Rico has at least 19 contaminated sites that are on the national priority list for cleanup, she added.

Five of the sites on the national priority list can be partially attributed to the pharmaceutical industry, according to the EPA.



Warning signs are displayed on the fence surrounding the inactive Barceloneta Landfill site in Puerto Rico. About 300 tons of hazardous wastes are located in sinkholes on the property.© Lilia Geho/ABC News

Water contamination has been rampant in Puerto Rico since the 1970s, environmental scientist Neftali Garcia told ABC News.

The industries that arrived bolstered that they were generating jobs and growing the economy, Garcia said.

"But, what were the consequences? Air pollution, water pollution, soil pollution, rivers pollution," Garcia said. "Once you pollute the groundwater, cleaning the aquifer is extremely difficult, and it takes decades, if ever, [to] become clean."MORE: COVID-19 has made food insecurity worse in Puerto Rico

The "theory" is that the federal EPA and the territorial government will require polluters to sink wells, figure out the extent of the contamination problem and clean it up, Erik Olson, senior strategic director of the Health and Food, People & Communities Program at the National Resources Defense Council, told ABC News.

But disposing of the contaminated water in itself is difficult, the experts said.


Environment and community lawyer, Ruth Santiago, overlooks the Fibers Superfund site in Guyama, Puerto Rico. This site was established to clean up hazardous waste in contaminated groundwater from several industries.© David Miller/ABC News

"Eventually, that polluted water will get into the surface water of creeks, rivers and underground water," Garcia said.

A nationwide survey by the National Resource Defense Council that looked into compliance and violations across the country found that Puerto Rico had the worst compliance record and most violations of any territory or state in the country "by far," Olson said.

Experts also worry that the tools used to monitor the health and safety of the water are inadequate, Olson said.

Residents on the island have become accustomed to drinking bottled water, Santiago said. Sometimes, the water is shut off with no notice.

"It's been a number of years where people have had to basically live without water for two or three days per week, some of it during the summer months, like in June, July, August," Santiago said.


Luis Hernandez, left, gets help from Sergio Rivera, center, with filling drums with spring water for washing in Jayuya, Puerto Rico, the public water system isn't working full-time, so many collect water from the mountain springs, Oct. 4, 2017.© Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Sociologist says pandemic may have made Canadian youth less empathetic, meaner

Story by The Canadian Press • 

TORONTO — Increased time online during the pandemic may have made young Canadians meaner, a researcher said Wednesday, warning that declining empathy which emerged during isolation was now fostering increased cruelty during in-person interactions, including at school.

Kaitlynn Mendes, an associate professor at the University of Western Ontario, said during an Ontario Medical Association press conference that many parents may not be aware of their children's increased exposure to online harassment during the pandemic, which is now having damaging consequences.

"Teachers really noted that, as young people were coming back into school, the way that young people were communicating with each other during lockdown had changed, and they found that their empathy had really decreased," Mendes, who is a sociologist, told reporters.

"This was likely due to things like the lack of eye contact, facial expression, human touch, and even voice intonations. These are really important cues that are missing from online interaction and this makes empathizing hard, but it means that harassment and abuse actually become much easier," she added.

Mendes has not yet completed a comprehensive study about isolation's mental health impacts on Canadian youth, but based her analysis on anecdotal evidence and a study she conducted in the U.K.

In that study, 96 per cent of British youth between the ages of 13 to 18, teachers and parents said they used more social media during the pandemic. She told reporters she expects similar findings in the Canadian study she is conducting.

The British youths surveyed reported that more time online led to an increase "in their experiences of sexual harassment, misogyny, racism, homophobia, and even various forms of fraud ... and other practices like body shaming."

"We were also looking at harms based on sexuality. So we had lots of young people report how they were outed during COVID," she said.

In the U.K., young people also cited "increased anxiety, depression and even various forms of self harm," she added.

The challenges of confinement also made parents less strict about managing children's screen time, she said, calling for "more preparation, education, support and scaffolding that goes into young people's use of digital technologies."

"It's very clear that when things go wrong, young people do not know where to turn to for help and that was one of the most striking things that came out of our research," Mendes further said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 19, 2023.

Fakiha Baig, The Canadian Press