Senators call on TikTok CEO to explain ‘inaccurate’ statements about how company manages US data

By HALELUYA HADERO

AP

June 7, 2023

 Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., left, and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., right speak during a hearing, Oct. 5, 2021, in Washington. The two U.S. senators are asking TikTok to explain what they called “misleading or inaccurate” statements about how it stores and provides access to U.S. user data. In a letter sent Tuesday, June 6, 2023 to TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, U.S. Sens Richard Blumenthal and Marsha Blackburn cited recent news reports from Forbes and The New York Times that raised questions about how the company some handles sensitive U.S. user information. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — Two U.S. senators are asking TikTok to explain what they called “misleading or inaccurate” responses about how it stores and provides access to U.S. user data after recent news reports raised questions about how the Chinese-owned social media platform handles some sensitive information.

In a letter sent Tuesday to TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Marsha Blackburn cited a report from Forbes that said TikTok had stored financial information of U.S. content creators who get paid by the company – including their Social Security numbers and tax IDs - on China-based servers.

The senators also cited another report from The New York Times, published in late May, that said TikTok employees regularly shared user information, such as driver’s licenses information of some American users, on an internal messaging app called Lark that employees from TikTok’s Beijing-based parent company, ByteDance, could easily access.

TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek said, ”“We are reviewing the letter. We remain confident in the accuracy of our testimony and responses to Congress.”

TikTok has said servers that contain U.S. user data have been physically stored in Virginia and Singapore, where its headquartered. But who can access that data - and from where - is an ongoing question.

Chew, the company’s CEO, said at a congressional hearing in March that access to the data was provided “as-required” to engineers globally for business purposes. He also said some ByteDance employees still maintained access to some U.S. user data, but that would end once Project Texas - the company’s plan to siphon off U.S. user data from China - was completed.

The popular social media app has been under scrutiny from Western governments, who’ve been wary of the company’s Chinese ownership and have prohibited its use on government issued devices. Earlier this year, the Biden administration threated to ban the platform nationwide if the company’s Chinese owners don’t sell their stakes.

To assuage concerns from U.S. lawmakers, TikTok has been touting its Project Texas plan to store U.S. user data on servers owned and maintained by the software giant Oracle. Last year, the company said it began directing all U.S. user traffic to those servers but also continued to back up data on its own servers.

Chew said the company began deleting all historic U.S. user data from non-Oracle servers in March, and the process expected to be completed this year.

In their letter, the senators also said the recent news reports appear to contradict testimonies from another TikTok official about where U.S. user data is stored.

BBC, British Airways, Novia Scotia among first big-name victims in global supply-chain hack

By FRANK BAJAK and SYLVIA  HUI

AP

JUNE 7, 2023

 A British Airways Airbus A380 aircraft performs its demonstration flight during the first day of the 50th Paris Air Show at Le Bourget airport, north of Paris, June 17, 2013. U.S. and British cybersecurity officials warned Wednesday, June 7, 2023, that a Russian cyber-extortion gang's hack of a file-transfer program popular with corporations could have widespread global impact. Initial data-theft victims include the BBC, British Airways and Nova Scotia's government. (AP Photo/Francois Mori, File)

U.S. and British cybersecurity officials warned Wednesday that a Russian cyber-extortion gang’s hack of a file-transfer program popular with corporations could have widespread global impact. Initial data-theft victims include the BBC, British Airways and Nova Scotia’s government.

“This is potentially one of the most significant breaches of recent years,” said Brett Callow, an analyst at the cybersecurity firm Emsisoft. “We’ll have a better sense of how significant it is as more details emerge about the number and type of organizations impacted.”

The Cl0p ransomware syndicate announced on its dark web site late Tuesday that its victims — who it suggests number in the hundreds — had until June 14 to get in touch to negotiate a ransom or risk having sensitive stolen data dumped online.

The exploited program, MOVEit, is widely used by businesses to securely share files. The parent company of its U.S. maker, Progress Software, alerted customers to the breach on May 31 and issued a patch. But cybersecurity researchers say scores if not hundreds of companies may by then have had sensitive data quietly exfiltrated.

“There are undoutedly organizations who don’t even know yet that they’re affected,” said Caitlin Condon, senior manager of security research at the cybersecurity firm Rapid7, noting that MOVEit is particularly popular in North America.

“We’ve seen a wide range of organizations affected by this attack across health care, financial services, technology, manufacturing, insurance, government, and more,” Condon said via email, adding that more businesses can be expected to disclose data theft, particularly “as regulatory reporting requirements come into play.”

Asked to confirm the identity of several reported victims, a Cl0p spokesperson responding to an email query said, “We have not yet examined company files as you can see on our site, we have given the opportunity to companies to decide their privacy before our actions.”

Zellis, a leading payroll services provider in the U.K. that serves British Airways, the BBC and hundreds of others, was among impacted users. Zellis said Monday a “small number” of its customers were affected by what cybersecurity professionals call a supply-chain breach because the compromise a single software provider can have such profound impact.

“We have notified those colleagues whose personal information has been compromised to provide support and advice,” British Airways said in a statement.

The BBC, which employs about 22,000 people worldwide, said it was working with Zellis as it sought to establish the extent of the breach. The broadcaster said in an email sent Monday to all U.K. staff and freelancers that data including birthdates, national insurance numbers and home addresses was disclosed. But it said bank account details had apparently not been compromised, and there was “no evidence that the data is being exploited.”

The U.K. drugstore chain Boots, which employs more than 50,000 people, also said it had made staff aware of the hack.

Nova Scotia’s government confirmed Sunday that it was among 

victims, saying some residents’ data was exposed. The Canadian province’s health authority uses MOVEit to share sensitive an confidential information.

The University of Rochester issued a statement last Friday suggesting it was among victims but a spokesperson, Sara Miller, would not confirm that it used MOVEit or discuss what data was stolen.

“What’s disconcerting about MOVEit is that it’s almost exclusively used by enterprise organizations to share extremely sensitive data with each other,” said Jared Smith, threat analyst with the cybersecurity firm SecurityScorecard. Essentially, companies that don’t trust Dropbox or Google Drive to be secure enough for their business.

And that specifically means the kind of sensitive data that “adds more fuel to the fire of the already existing identity theft ecosystem,” said Alex Heid, chief research officer at Security Scorecard.

The firm detected 2,500 vulnerable MOVEit servers across 790 organizations, including 200 government agencies. Smith said it wasn’t possible to break down those agencies by country. It was not known how many vulnerable MOVEit servers were hacked.

The hackers were actively scanning for targets, penetrating them and stealing data at least as far back as March 29, said Smith.

Cl0p is among the world’s most prolific cybercrime syndicates and this is not the first time it has breached a file-transfer program to gain access to data it could then use to extort companies. Other instances include GoAnywhere servers in early 2023 and Accellion File Transfer Application defices in 2020 and 2021

In a joint advisory issued Wednesday, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and FBI said Cl0p “is estimated to have “compromised more than 3,000 U.S.-based organizations and 8,000 global organizations.”

“Due to the speed and ease (with which it) has exploited this vulnerability, and based on their past campaigns, FBI and CISA expect to see widespread exploitation of unpatched software services in both private and public networks.”

Cl0p claims it does not extort governments, cities or police agencies, but cybersecurity experts say that’s likely a tactic to try to avoid direct conflict with law enforcement and that the financially motivated gang can’t be trusted to keep its promise to erase data stolen from those targets.

—

Bajak reported from Boston, Hu from London.

Platonic co-parenting offers an alternate model for family building

By LEANNE ITALIE

June 7, 2023

This May 2020 photo shows Tracy Smith in Tulsa, Okla. Smith has been using the mating site Modamily to find a platonic co-parent. 

(Jenny White Photography via AP)

NEW YORK (AP) — Nick Farrow wanted what a lot of people do: a child, and a parenting partner. At 45, after a long-term romance didn’t work out, he decided to take matters into his own hands, entering into a platonic open arrangement that has flourished for nine years, since daughter Milly was born.

Whether it’s with friends, known sperm donors or co-parenting connections made on so-called mating sites, more families are coming together platonically, without the pain of divorce or the added stress and expense of going it alone.

Choosing to parent together platonically while living separately or under the same roof is an idea that’s been around for years among LGBTQ+ people. It has gained ground more recently among heterosexuals, and interest skyrocketed during the pandemic.
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Farrow and his parenting partner live about 15 miles apart, he in the English seaside town of Brighton. Their daughter, conceived through insemination, shuttles between the two. Not unlike divorced couples with kids, the two come together for Milly’s birthdays, and they sometimes alternate Christmases and other special occasions.

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Explaining their arrangement to loved ones was a process.

“When the time came, we got everybody to meet everybody,” Farrow said of family and friends. “We invited them to ask all the difficult, awkward questions. There was the feeling that what we were doing was a bit odd, that it could be risky, that it could be dangerous. It really, really helped to get everybody on board.”

Farrow met his parenting partner on Modamily, one of a handful of sites and apps aimed at family building, as opposed to the hookup culture and endless swiping of dating services.

Since 2011, about 100,000 people from around the world have registered on Modamily. At least 1,000 babies have been born through partnerships created there, said founder and CEO Ivan Fatovic. About half involved known sperm donors from a database of nearly 10,000 that the site maintains, he said.

“We’re seeing people look at all the different alternate ways of starting a family because they’ve been thinking about it for many years,” Fatovic said. “Whatever they’ve been doing up to this point wasn’t working so they start thinking outside the box.”

There’s no one scenario that defines elective co-parenting. Most, but definitely not all, platonic co-parents live separately. Some who seek out Modamily or similar services are in search of sperm donors they can meet personally, with or without the potential to share their lives once a baby is born.

Other parenting partnerships come together out of need for financial and care support in raising children. Still others involve two friends who want children without romance. And there are those like Farrow, unlucky in love with a burning desire to parent, but not alone.

Last year, TV commentator Van Jones welcomed a baby girl with a longtime female friend. He was already the father of two boys with his ex-wife, Jana Carter. Jones declined an interview request through a spokesman.

And there’s Jones’s CNN colleague, Anderson Cooper. He’s the father of two boys born via surrogacy after he and boyfriend Benjamin Maisani downshifted to close friends. Cooper and Maisani are now parenting together.

The idea of co-parenting is, of course, nothing new among divorced couples, but more divorced women are leaning on each other to make it through.

About six years ago, 39-year-old Ashley Simpo and her son moved in with a friend and her two kids to share expenses and parenting duties in Brooklyn, New York. High rents and low salaries were crushing them both.

“I think that the alternative for both of us would have been homelessness or moving back in with parents and relocating. For parents, that means ripping your kids out of their schools,” she said.

Their “mommune” of five lasted about six months, until their finances stabilized and they amicably ended the arrangement.

“It really opened my eyes in terms of how mothers support each other. I had never really tapped into a mother ship or an intentional community network,” said Simpo, who had been divorced about two years at the time. “It was really healing for me.”

Platonic co-parenting arrangements require thoughtful structure. That can get difficult when multiple parents are involved — after divorce, for instance, or when friendships change.

Many sign parenting agreements with the help of lawyers or family coaches to crystallize rules and lay out what is non-negotiable. There’s religion, but also what happens if either co-parent begins dating or gets married? And there’s the day-to day, like how finances are handled and what disciplinary approach will be taken.

“In platonic co-parenting relationships, I think people forget to plan for all of those little nuances,” said Alysha Price, who owns a firm offering parenting coaches. “It’s not always going to be stars and rainbows and happy days.”

In London, Patrick Harrison co-founded PollenTree.com in 2012 as a resource for people interested in platonic co-parenting. It grew quickly and now serves the U.S. as well. Users are split between people looking to meet and choose sperm donors without the option of co-parenting, and those “really focused on creating their own kind of alternative family,” Harrison said.

“People are looking at family life and thinking, ‘I want some of that, too.’ People have this kind of misconception that it’s all very alternative, but it’s deeply not. A lot of our members are really conventional. They want kids. They just want kids,” Harrison said.

The pandemic sent Pollen Tree’s numbers soaring. Just before lockdowns began, Harrison said, the site had about 40 signups a day. The number shot up to 100 on some days in 2020 and 2021. Things have stabilized for now among its 100,000 members. Costs are in the $30 range monthly.

Tracy Smith, 43, is an immigration attorney in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She found Modamily in 2020 and has been trying to find a platonic arrangement with a stranger.

“I’ve always wanted to become a mother. I’ve always wanted my own biological child,” she said. “But I’ve really not had great luck in relationships. I’d been on the dating apps for 13 years.”

Smith has spoken to male friends about platonically parenting together.

“I haven’t found anybody who’s willing to take that leap. I mean, it’s a big commitment. The No. 1 choice is a romantic relationship that leads to a baby. But I mean, I’m 43 and dating is tough. It’s exhausting.”

___

Ticket sales top 1 million for Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand

AP
today

Chelsea's Sam Kerr, right, celebrates scoring their side's first goal of the game during the Vitality Women's FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium in London on Sunday, May 14, 2023. A world record crowd of 77,390 watched Chelsea beat Manchester United 1-0 in the Women’s FA Cup final. 

(Adam Davy/PA via AP)

SYDNEY (AP) — More than 1 million tickets have been sold for the Women’s World Cup kicking off in Australia and New Zealand next month, with soccer’s international governing body saying the tournament is on track to be the most attended standalone women’s sporting event in history.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino issued a statement saying 1,032,884 tickets had been sold up to Friday morning local time in Sydney, surpassing the pre-tournament sales for the 2019 edition in France.

Co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, the 2023 edition features an expanded field of 32 teams, up from 24 in France. There are 64 total matches during the tournament.

“Delighted to share with the world that FIFA has passed one million tickets sold,” Infantino said. “This means that with over one month to go before kick-off ... 2023 is on track to become the most attended FIFA Women’s World Cup in history. The future is women — and thanks to the fans for supporting what will be the greatest FIFA Women’s World Cup ever!”

Total stadium attendance exceeded 1.35 million at the 2015 Women’s World Cup in Canada, when the number of participating teams had increased to 24 from 16 at the previous edition.

The tournament kicks off with New Zealand against 1995 champion Norway in Group A at Auckland’s Eden Park, followed by the Group B opener between Sam Kerr’s Australia lineup and Ireland at Stadium Australia, the main venue for the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

New Mexico enjoys revenue windfall, as economists warn of uncertain future

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN

today

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Mind-blowing is how legislative analysts describe New Mexico’s budget numbers, saying during a briefing Thursday that projected revenues have been outpacing previous spending at levels never seen before.

Still, they warned members of the revenue and tax policy committee that some of the one-time funding will dry out, and lawmakers will have to decide whether to continue paying for health care, education and other social programs that have been expanded during the boom.

Staff with the Legislative Finance Committee also reiterated that oil and gas development has been driving New Mexico’s historic numbers, and more still needs to be done to diversify the state’s economy to weather the industry’s volatility as well as prepare for a future when energy markets might shift more toward renewable sources.

“These are historic revenues that we have not ever seen before,” said Charles Sallee, interim director of the Legislative Finance Committee. “It gives us an opportunity to make sure that wherever you decide to spend the money on, that it counts, that it results in something. Government’s job is not just to spend money to spend money.”

He talked about increased reserves that allowed the Democratic-led legislature to boost one-time spending on a wide range of projects during the most recent legislative session. Despite some vetoes, Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed off on a state budget that boosted spending by 14%.

Sallee said his staff would be embarking on another round of forecasts this summer that will look decades down the road at both the possibilities and constraints of increasing spending over the coming years.

Economists with the Legislative Finance Committee also warned that a recession could be on the horizon. They have been monitoring rising inflation and brinkmanship in Washington over the national debt ceiling given New Mexico’s heavy reliance on federal funding and bank failures around the country.

Some lawmakers asked about recommendations for potential tax changes that could help help boost economic development and create new revenue streams for the state.

Sen. Ron Griggs, a Republican from Alamogordo, noted that tax revenues from solar and wind development amount to a fraction of what oil and gas brings in. He told fellow lawmakers that continuing production in a way that is environmentally conscious would ensure revenues for decades.

“If we don’t have oil and gas revenues, what happens to New Mexico? I mean you and I can’t afford to suck that up on personal income tax or something so we have to look at that,” he said.

Sallee acknowledged that New Mexico has been blessed with record revenues that have allowed the state to “punch well above our weight” when it comes to spending. Replacing those revenues to maintain spending would mean imposing high taxes on what amounts to a very poor population, he said.

Democratic Sen. Bill Tallman of Albuquerque asked whether lawmakers should be concerned. Sallee said yes, noting that lawmakers will have to consider “that these revenues are not going to be at the same level for the next generation.”

PRAISE PELE
As tourists flock to view volcano’s latest eruption, Hawaii urges mindfulness, respect

By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER

today

Kilauea erupts after 3-month pause

Kilauea, one of the most active volcanoes in the world, began erupting on Wednesday after a three-month pause, displaying spectacular fountains of mesmerizing, glowing lava that's a safe distance from people and structures in a national park on the Big Island. (June 7)

HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii tourism officials urged tourists to be respectful when flocking to a national park on the Big Island to get a glimpse of the latest eruption of Kilauea, one of the world’s most active volcanoes.

Kilauea, Hawaii’s second-largest volcano, began erupting Wednesday after a three-month pause.

The U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory on Thursday lowered Kilauea’s alert level from warning to watch because the rate of lava input declined, and no infrastructure is threatened. The eruption activity is confined to the closed area of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

“Out of respect for the cultural and spiritual significance of a volcanic eruption and the crater area for many kamaʻāina, the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority urges mindfulness when planning a visit to the volcano,” the agency said in a statement Wednesday night, using a Hawaiian word often used for Hawaii residents.

For many Native Hawaiians, an eruption of a volcano has a deep yet very personal cultural significance. Some may chant, some may pray to ancestors, and some may honor the moment with hula, or dance. Hawaiians ask that people keep a respectful distance.

“Don’t just get out your camera and take photos. Stop and be still and take it in,” said Cyrus Johnasen, a spokesperson for Hawaii County who is Hawaiian. “It’s something that you can’t pay for. In that moment, you are one with Hawaii.”

In recognizing the sacredness of the area, he also urged visitors to not take rocks, refrain from horseplay and leave plants alone.

“A lot of plants up there are native,” he said. “Just be mindful that you will leave a footprint. The idea is you leave one that’s small as possible.”

Word of Kilauea’s lava fountains spread quickly, bringing crowds to the park. “Expect major delays and limited parking due to high visitation,” said a warning on the park’s website Thursday.

There was no exact count available, but officials estimated the first day and night of the eruption brought more than 10,000 people, which is more than triple the number of visitors on a normal day when Kilauea isn’t erupting, park spokesperson Jessica Ferracane said.

Several thousand viewers were watching the USGS’s livestream showing red pockets of moving lava Thursday morning.

“We were on social media, and we saw that it was actually going off while we’re here, so we made the drive from the Kona side,” Andrew Choi, visiting with his family from Orange County, California, told the Hawaii Tribune-Herald. “This feels so ridiculously lucky. We’ve never seen anything like this.”

Park officials suggested visiting at less-crowded times before 9 a.m. or after 9 p.m.

Scientists expect the eruption to continue and remain confined to the Halemaumau crater in the park.

Early Wednesday, lava fountains were as high as 200 feet (60 meters) and decreased to 13 feet to 30 feet (4 meters to 9 meters) in the afternoon, according to the observatory.

“People here on Hawaii Island are getting a spectacular show,” Mayor Mitch Roth said. “And it’s happening in a safe place that was built for people to come view it.”

15 PHOTOS: 

In this image provided by the U.S. Geological Survey, an eruption takes place on the summit of the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii, Wednesday, June 7, 2023. Hawaii tourism officials urged tourists to be respectful when flocking to a national park on the Big Island to get a glimpse of the latest eruption of Kilauea, one of the world's most active volcanoes. (U.S. Geological Survey via AP)

Norway domestic security agency had intelligence about imminent attack before LGBTQ+ Pride shooting

yesterday

People react as they lay flowers at the scene of a shooting in central Oslo, Norway, Saturday, June 25, 2022. A report released Thursday, June 8, 2023 into a deadly shooting during Oslo’s annual LGBTQ+ Pride festival last year says Norway’s domestic security agency had intelligence indicating an attack was imminent and could have prevented the bloodshed.

 (AP Photo/Sergei Grits, file)

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A report released Thursday into a deadly shooting during Oslo’s annual LGBTQ+ Pride festival last year blasted Norway’s domestic security agency, saying it had intelligence an attack was imminent and could have prevented the bloodshed.

The report focused on how the police and the Norwegian Police Security Service handled the June 25, 2022 attack in which two people were killed and 20 wounded. The report was commissioned by the Norwegian police.

It said the domestic security agency, known by its Norwegian acronym PST, had been warned by the Norwegian Intelligence Service during an emergency meeting that an “operation” was about to take place in a Scandinavian country, with several clues pointing at Norway.

The attack could have been averted “following a notification PST received from the Norwegian Intelligence Service five days before the attack occurred,” the report stated.

Norwegian Justice Minister Emile Enger Mehl called the report “serious” and said she would follow up the conclusions.

“The attack took lives, and has hit the queer community in particular,” she said.

A Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, Zaniar Matapour, was immediately arrested after a gunman opened fire in Oslo’s nightlife district while the city held its annual Pride festival. Matapour was charged with murder, attempted murder and terrorism offenses. No trial date has been set.

Three others are suspects in the case, including one who allegedly fled to Pakistan. Norway is awaiting his deportation. PST has branded he attack an “Islamist terror act.”

“We at PST apologize for any misjudgments that were made,” agency director Beate Gangås said.

The report also said the security agency failed to pass on its information to local police.

“Although PST relied on relevant intelligence about Matapour, PST did not share this intelligence with the radicalization contacts in the police who were responsible for following him up,” the report states.

Greek island temple complex reveals ‘countless’ offerings left by ancient worshippers

June 7, 2023

In this undated photo released by the Greek Culture Ministry, on Wednesday, June 7, 2023, clay figurines of boys and girls found during an excavation on the Greek island of Kythonos. Archaeologists excavating a hilltop sanctuary on the Aegean Sea island of Kythnos have discovered “countless” pottery offerings left there by ancient worshippers over the centuries, Greece's Culture Ministry said Wednesday, June 7, 2023.

 (Greek Culture Ministry via AP)

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Archaeologists excavating a hilltop sanctuary on the Aegean Sea island of Kythnos have discovered “countless” pottery offerings left by ancient worshippers over the centuries, Greece’s Culture Ministry said Wednesday.

A ministry statement said the finds from work this year included more than 2,000 intact or almost complete clay figurines, mostly of women and children but also some of male actors, as well as of tortoises, lions, pigs and birds.

Several ceremonial pottery vessels that were unearthed are linked with the worship of Demeter, the ancient Greek goddess of agriculture, and her daughter Persephone, to whom the excavated sanctuary complex was dedicated.

The seaside site of Vryokastro on Kythnos was the ancient capital of the island, inhabited without break between the 12th century B.C. and the 7th A.D., when it was abandoned for a stronger position during a period of pirate raids.

The artifacts came from the scant ruins of the two small temples, a long building close by that may have served as a temple storeroom and a nearby pit where older offerings were buried to make space for new ones. The sanctuary was in use for about a thousand years, starting from the 7th century B.C.

The excavation by Greece’s University of Thessaly and the Culture Ministry also found luxury pottery imported from other parts of Greece, ornate lamps and fragments of ritual vases used in the worship of Demeter and Persephone at Eleusis, an ancient Athens suburb.

It is unclear to what extent the site on Kythnos was associated with Eleusis — one of the most important religious centers in ancient Greece, where the goddesses were worshipped during secret rites that were only open to initiates forbidden to speak of what they saw. The sanctuary at Eleusis is known to have owned land on the island.

Kythnos, in the Cyclades island group, was first inhabited about 10,000 years ago. Its copper deposits were mined from the 3rd millennium B.C., and in Roman times it was a place of political exile.

The excavations are set to continue through 2025.

In this photo released by the Greek Culture Ministry on Wednesday, June 7, 2023, an ancient clay figurine of a woman among fragments of vases excavated from the remains of an ancient sanctuary on the Aegean Sea island of Kythnos. Archaeologists excavating a hilltop sanctuary on the Aegean Sea island of Kythnos have discovered “countless” pottery offerings left there by ancient worshippers over the centuries, Greece's Culture Ministry said Wednesday Several ceremonial pottery vessels were also unearthed which are linked with the worship of Demeter, the ancient Greek goddess of agriculture, and her daughter Persephone, to which the building complex was dedicated. 

(Alexandros Mazarakis Ainian/Greek Culture Ministry via AP)

 
 
 

A third day of smoky air gives millions in US East Coast, Canada a new view of wildfire threat

By JENNIFER PELTZ and ROB GILLIES

AP

today

What to know
The latest
How to stay healthy as the smoke spreads

Photo gallery: Wildfire haze envelops familiar sites

NEW YORK (AP) — Images of smoke obscuring the New York skyline and the Washington Monument this week have given the world a new picture of the perils of wildfire, far from where blazes regularly turn skies into hazardous haze.

A third day of unhealthy air from Canadian wildfires may have been an unnerving novelty for millions of people on the U.S. East Coast, but it was a reminder of conditions routinely troubling the country’s West — and a wake-up call about the future, scientists say.

“This is kind of an astounding event” but likely to become more common amid global warming, said Justin Mankin, a Dartmouth College geography professor and climate scientist. “This is something that we, as the eastern side of the country, need to take quite seriously.”

Millions of residents could see that for themselves Thursday. The conditions sent asthma sufferers to hospitals, delayed flights, postponed ballgames and even pushed back a White House Pride Month celebration. The fires sent plumes of fine particulate matter as far away as North Carolina and northern Europe and parked clumps of air rated unhealthy or worse over the heavily populated Eastern Seaboard.

At points this week, air quality in places including New York, the nation’s most populous city, nearly hit the top of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s air-pollution scale. Local officials urged people to stay indoors as much as possible and wear face masks when they venture out.

Such conditions are nothing new — indeed, increasingly frequent — on the U.S. West Coast, where residents were buying masks and air filters even before the coronavirus pandemic and have become accustomed to checking air quality daily in summertime. Since 2017, California has seen eight of its 10 largest wildfires and six of the most destructive.

The hazardous air has sometimes forced children, older adults and people with asthma and other respiratory conditions to stay indoors for weeks at a time. Officials have opened smoke shelters for people who are homeless or who might not have access to clean indoor air.

So what’s the big deal about the smoke out East?

“The West has always burned, as has Canada, but what’s important now is that we’re getting these massive amounts of smoke in a very populated region, so many, many people are getting affected,” said Loretta Mickley, the co-leader of Harvard University’s Atmospheric Chemistry Modeling Group.

Fueled by an unusually dry and warm period in spring, the Canadian fire season that is just getting started could well become the worst on record. More than 400 blazes burned Thursday. Over a third are in Quebec, where Public Safety Minister François Bonnardel said no rain is expected until next week and temperatures are predicted to rise.

He said there have been no reports of injuries, deaths or home damage so far from the fires, but it remained unclear Thursday when more than 12,000 evacuees from various communities would be able to return. Manon Cyr, mayor of the evacuated town of Chibougamau, said she advised residents to be “Zen and patient. That’s the most important.”

But, she noted, the real solution will be a good dose of rain.

In neighboring Ontario, a haze hung over Toronto, Canada’s most populous city, where many school recess breaks, day care center activities and outdoor recreation programs were canceled or moved inside.

U.S. President Joe Biden said Thursday that hundreds of American firefighters and support personnel have been in Canada since May, and that he’d offered Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “any additional help Canada needs to rapidly accelerate the effort to put out these fires.” The two spoke Wednesday.

Wildfires aren’t the only air-quality problems that beset major population centers around the globe.

In Beijing, for example, decades of sandstorms blowing in from the Mongolian plains have mixed with human-made pollution, sometimes making neighboring buildings invisible to one another. Commuters have even been spotted walking down streets wearing plastic bags over their heads to insulate against particulates.

Many African countries in and near the Sahara Desert, too, regularly grapple with bad air mainly because of sandstorms. Senegal, in particular, has endured years of unsafe levels of air pollution, which is causing asthma and other respiratory diseases, climate experts say.

Chemically, wildfire smoke can be more toxic than typical urban pollution, but with an asterisk: With smog, “the problem is you’re in it all the time,” says Jonathan Deason, an environmental and energy management professor George Washington University.

In New York City, Health Department spokesperson Pedro Frisneda said emergency rooms were seeing a “higher than usual” number of asthma-related visits from the blanket of smoke, estimating patients were in the “low hundreds.”

The city public school system — the nation’s largest — said Friday’s classes would be conducted remotely, a decision that mostly affected high schoolers because most other pupils already had a scheduled day off. Motorists even got a break Thursday and Friday from having to move their cars for street cleaning.

In Washington, a big Pride Month celebration on the White House’s South Lawn was moved from Thursday to Saturday, and a Washington Nationals-Arizona Diamondbacks game was postponed. Local officials closed public parks and suspended some road work.

Philadelphia ended trash collection ended early, for the sake of sanitation employees. Bridgeport, Connecticut’s largest city, opened spaces usually used as hot-weather cooling centers so that residents could escape the unhealthy air.

A Chris Stapleton concert at a Syracuse amphitheater was pushed back, fireworks were canceled at Niagara Falls and racing was canceled at New York’s Belmont Park two days before the famed Belmont Stakes. It wasn’t yet clear whether the Triple Crown race itself might be affected; Gov. Kathy Hochul said that would depend on the air quality at the track Saturday.

And in central Pennsylvania, Country Meadows Retirement Communities temporarily closed walking areas and outdoor courtyards designated for residents in secured memory support units — “they may or may not recognize when they experience respiratory distress,” explained company spokesperson Kelly Kuntz. All 2,300 residents of its 10 facilities were asked to cancel outdoor trips and strenuous outdoor activities.

“Bocce is huge,” Kuntz said. “No bocce ball until this is done.”


Gillies reported from Toronto. Associated Press journalists Michael Hill in Albany, New York; Ashraf Khalil and Seung Min Kim in Washington; Gene Johnson in Seattle; Sam Mednick in Dakar, Senegal; Olga R. Rodriguez in San Francisco; Mark Scolforo in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Ted Anthony in New York; and Shelley Adler in Fairfax, Virginia, contributed to this report.

Hochul, Murphy urge people to mask-up, stay inside

With weather systems expected to hardly budge, the smoky blanket billowing across the U.S. and Canada from wildfires in Quebec and Nova Scotia should persist on Thursday and possibly into the weekend. (June 8) 

(Production: Vanessa A. Alvarez)

‘EH!POCALYPSE NOW!’ Americans blame Canada as haze from northern fires continues

By ROB GILLIES

AP

yesterday

Masons work during hazy conditions in Philadelphia, Wednesday, June 7, 2023. The haze from Canada's wildfires is taking its toll on outdoor workers along the Eastern U.S. who carried on with their jobs even as dystopian orange skies forced the cancelation of sports events, school field trips and Broadway plays. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

TORONTO (AP) — The front page headline of the New York Post screamed “BLAME CANADA!” The Boston Herald has “Thanks Canada,” and the Dallas Morning News front page said “U.S. caught in a Canadian haze.”

A thick, hazardous haze of wildfire smoke loomed over daily life this week for millions of people across the U.S. and Canada from over 400 Canadian wildfires. Canadians are unaccustomed to getting the attention of millions of Americans, let alone drawing their ire.

Americans quickly poked fun as the smoke-clogged air eerily silhouetted skylines in New York, Philadelphia and Washington.

The New York Post also used the headline “EH!POCALYPSE NOW” in reference to Canadians’ frequent use of the word “Eh” and went on to say “It’s the unhealthiest thing to come out of Canada since poutine.” Poutine is the popular dish north of the border of french fries, cheese and gravy.

“Sorry!,” Canadian meteorologist Anthony Farnell tweeted in response to the Post headline.
American composer Marc Shaiman rewrote his tongue-in-cheek song he co-wrote for the cartoon South Park, “Blame Canada.”

“Blame Canada! Shame on Canada! For the fog and the smog, the haze from the blaze. The Ontario smoke that is making us choke,” he sang.

Nelson Wiseman, a political scientist at the University of Toronto visiting upstate New York this week, said his wife heard an unusual theory from one American.

“A U.S. truck driver told my spouse yesterday that the wildfires are a product of Canadians caring more about protecting wildlife than managing their forests,” he said.

Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal, said some people on social media quipped that, finally, Americans will know where Canada is on the map.

“My comment to a friend was, they’re so excited they even got the provinces right,” said Robert Bothwell, a Canadian historian.

Smoke from wildfires, a fact of life in the West, catches outdoor workers off guard in the East

By ALEXANDRA OLSON and WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS

AP

yesterday

NEW YORK (AP) — The hazardous haze from Canada’s wildfires is taking its toll on people whose jobs have forced them outdoors along the U.S. East Coast even as a dystopian orange hue led to the cancelation of sports events, school field trips and Broadway plays.

Delivery workers, construction workers, farm laborers and railroad and airport employees on the West Coast have become all too familiar with the hazards that come with massive wildfires. Yet in the East a sun jaundiced by smoke is so novel, many workers had no idea what was happening.

Some, unprepared for the effects of smoke inhalation, left their jobs midday unable to carry on as the air quality worsened. Most, however, pushed through in the hopes that the skies would clear.

They haven’t.

A laggardly weather system has settled over the region and the smoky blanket billowing from wildfires in Quebec and Nova Scotia continued Thursday, and may persist into the weekend.

New York City Public Schools announced Thursday that classes on Friday will switch to remote instruction. Most elementary and middle schools were scheduled to be off for a clerical day, however. In Philadelphia, the city suspended trash collection and street cleaning and repairs to protect workers from the pollution.

Some companies provided N-95 masks and allowed employees to take breaks indoors but labor rights groups pushed for more protections, replaying a years-long struggle that began in California and other Western states.

Food delivery workers on bicycles and scooters crisscrossed the streets of New York City even though a “Code Red” alert remained in place Thursday.

Bimal Jhale, 43, tried to set out on his scooter to make deliveries for Grubhub on Wednesday afternoon but was already dizzy after working as cook in a diner that morning. By evening Jhale, father of a 5-year-old boy, had recovered somewhat and tried again.

“We are taking all these risks and still what we are making is barely enough to survive so we can’t afford to miss work for even one day,” said Jhale, who spoke in Hindi through a translator from the Justice for App Workers organization.

Grubhub alerted drivers that they would not be penalized if they didn’t feel safe completing deliveries and reminded those with pre-existing conditions to stay inside, a company spokesperson said.

In recent years labor agencies in California, Oregon and Washington have adopted rules requiring employers to provide protection from wildfire smoke, including N95 respirators, breaks and sometimes moving operations indoors. California Gov. Gavin Newsom passed a bill in 2021 allowing farmworkers access to the state’s stockpile of N95 masks.

While wildfire smoke has traveled across the continent to the East Coast in the past, conditions this week were particularly severe. There is little official guidance in the East related to wildfires and there are no such specific standards at the federal level, though employers must protect workers from wildfire smoke under general laws requiring safe work sites.

There are potential long- and short-term financial and health ramifications for workers. A study last year found that every day of exposure to drifting wildfire smoke can reduce workers’ quarterly earnings by 0.1% — a toll that comes to $125 billion a year in lost income.

“One thing that seems really clear from our research is that the effects of smoke on labor earnings or labor market incomes will extend past the days in which the smoke is bad,” said Mark Borgschulte, one of the study’s authors and an assistant professor in economics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. “You can see people having heart attacks on days when air pollution is bad. That’s going to affect them for a long periods of time.”

Wildfire smoke contains hundreds of chemical compounds, experts note. In the short term, vulnerable people can be hospitalized and sometimes die from excessive smoke. Scientists have also linked smoke exposure with long-term health problems including decreased lung function, weakened immune systems and higher rates of flu.

Even when rules are in place, labor activists say getting companies to comply is another matter.

Tony Cardwell, president of the country’s third-largest railroad union, said he has clashed with rail companies over protections for workers in California even after new wildfire rules were place. He said the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division, which represents track maintenance workers, is sending emails this week to railroads operating in the East to seek protections, including air quality monitoring and rescheduling work.

Amtrak said it made N-95 and KN95 masks available to all employees, and in areas were where the air quality is considered hazardous, the company postponed non-critical work that requires employees to be outdoors. Norfolk Southern is conducting air monitoring and providing workers with N95 masks where needed, spokesperson Connor Spielmaker said.

Other companies scrambled to take similar steps.

Ground crews for Delta Air Lines are coming indoors in between aircraft turns, the time between when a plane pulls up to the gate and the next flight pushes back, said company spokesman Morgan Durrant.

Alex Kopp, safety director for The Association of Union Contractors, which represents 1,800 construction contractors, said the group was “concerned that air quality will have an effect on jobsite safety” and urged members to take precautions. But he acknowledged that “the current air quality certainly presents a new challenge.”

Local 3 IBEW, an AFL-CIO affiliated union representing electrical workers in New York, said it received reports of only two jobs sites closing Wednesday due to air quality issues despite public warnings to remain indoors, though some contractors are requiring masks.

Many workers were left to navigate the threat on their own.

Victor Aucapina, a construction worker doing a home renovation in Brooklyn, pulled his T-shirt over his nose between bites as he sat on a curb during a lunch break. Aucapina said he opted to keep his two young children home from school Wednesday but said he couldn’t miss work as his family’s sole breadwinner.

He was caught off guard as skies grew more yellow by lunchtime and winds carried with them the scent of burning trees.

“I didn’t think it would so bad. Now I feel the smoke, the smell,” said Aucapina, who added that he may bring a respirator if conditions don’t improve but missing work would “be a last resort.”

Wildfires of this size are so novel in the East, many workers did not immediately grasp the threat.

Warren Duckett didn’t realize anything was wrong when he set out for his construction job in Washington, D.C., Wednesday morning and heard about the wildfires on the radio. Soon, one co-worker was on his way home suffering from smoke-related sinus issues, but Duckett pushed on.

“We thought it was just a foggy morning,” Duckett said.

Duckett was hopeful that the skies would clear in the afternoon, but as in New York, that was not the case.

Conditions worsened in the country’s capital Thursday as air quality warnings deteriorated from “Code Red,” to “Code Purple.”

____

Associated Press Writer David Koenig in Dallas and Paul Wiseman in Washington, D.C. contributed to this story. Grantham-Philips reported from Washington, D.C.

END
ANTI-2SLGBTQIA+
HATE AND VIOLENCE
IN CANADA
WRITE TO CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER JUSTIN TRUDEAU

During Pride month, call on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Government of Canada to reaffirm support and solidarity for 2SLGBTQIA+ communities in Canada. You will be able to view and edit your message before it is sent.

In 2023 alone, Canada has seen a surge in anti-2SLGBTQIA+ hate motivated attacks through vandalism of Pride flags in peoples homes, schools in Nova Scotia, and Halifax, and anti-2SLGTBQIA+ protests at a children's drag story event in Montreal. In April 2023, the township of Norwich, Ontario voted to exclude pride and other non-civic flags from being displayed on municipal property. In the same month, a youth-led anti-trans group called Save Canada disrupted an International Day of Pink event being held at a local school in Ontario that was commemorating North America’s 2SLGBTQIA+ civil rights movement known as the Stonewall Riots.

“More anti-LGBT+ demonstration events have already been recorded in Canada so far this year than in all of 2021 and 2023 is on track to exceed 2022.”
- Sam Jones, Armed Conflict Location and Data Project.”

In the face of rising hate, violence, abuse and attacks on the human rights of 2SLGTBQIA+ communities, we need urgent action to prevent hate from gaining more traction in Canada.

ACT IN SOLIDARITY WITH 2SLGBTQIA+ COMMUNITIES IN CANADA

Read Amnesty's blog Anti-2SLGBTQIA+ Hate in Canada Must End

Read Amnesty’s blog about the impact of Uganda’s ‘Anti-Homosexuality Bill’ on Ugandan LGBTI+ communities

Read Amnesty’s Report Pandemic or Not: We Have the Right to Live to learn more about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on LGTBQI+ communities across Asia and the Pacific Islands

Listen to the Podcast “Why has it become harder to get gender-affirming healthcare in Ontario”

Listen to the Podcast “How anti-trans hate speech online leads to real-world violence”.