Gelatinous creatures with ‘bite of a lion’ wash up on beach in Ireland, officials say

Aspen Pflughoeft
Tue, July 4, 2023 

Photo from the Cork County Council Beachguards

Stranded on the wet sand of the beach in southern Ireland sat a reddish pink gelatinous sea creature. Dead or alive, as long as it sat in the sand, the doomed animal posed a danger to beachgoers.

The gelatinous sea creatures were spotted on beaches in County Cork and identified as lion’s mane jellyfish, the Irish news outlet CorkBeo reported.

Lion’s mane jellyfish are “one of the largest jelly species in the world,” according to Oceana. Their bodies can reach 6.5 feet in size while their tentacles can stretch up to 120 feet.

The jellyfish got its name from its tentacles, which appear to form a “mane” and deliver the “bite of a lion,” according to The Wildlife Trusts. These tentacles pack a “very nasty sting” — “even if they’re no longer attached to the jellyfish.”

“The lion’s mane is known as the most dangerous jellyfish that can appear in Irish waters,” CorkBeo reported.

The animal’s sting is “not usually” fatal but can cause “nausea, sweating, cramps, headaches and other symptoms,” the Irish Examiner reported.

Because of the danger the animals pose, sightings of lion’s mane jellyfish prompted a beach closure on July 3, the Cork County Council Beachguards said.

These jellyfish “are normally found in the northern half of Ireland,” the Big Jellyfish Hunt, a wildlife group from University College Cork dedicated to the animal, said. County Cork is along a harbor on the southern coast, about 160 miles southwest of Dublin.

“Recently we have had many reports of lion’s mane in County Cork,” wildlife experts said. “It is very unusual to see so many lion’s mane jellyfish stranding in Cork and sometimes up to 10 observed together at sea.”

The Big Jellyfish Hunt suggested that the recent lion’s mane jellyfish sightings are occurring because the animals “were swept out of their normal home range” in Dublin Bay as babies.

Beachgoers were encouraged to report sightings of the sea creature, wildlife experts said.

Vibrant creature found near Thailand is perplexing — and a new species. Take a look


Moira Ritter
Mon, July 3, 2023

More than 15 years ago, a group of nature lovers were on their way to the Thungyai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary in Thailand when something strange caught their eye: a rock-licking fish with a bright red tail.

After arriving at their camp, the visitors went diving and discovered the fish, which was determined to be a new species and was named the Garra Red tail — because it is a member of the diverse Garra genus and because of its coloring, according to a post from the Facebook page Freshwater Fishes of Thailand by Dr. Nonn Panitvong.

This is the sixth species of Garra discovered in the area, according to the study.

Since then, the fish has been known throughout the aquarium trade as the Redtail Garra. Now, for the first time, experts have scientifically identified the creature as an official new species.

Co-authors Weerapongse Tangjitjaroen, Zachary S. Randall, Sampan Tongnunui, David A. Boyd and Lawrence M. Page, describe the fish and identify it as Garra panitvongi in a new study published June 30 in Zootaxa.

Here’s what to know about the creature.

Garra: a diverse genus

Researchers said they collected samples of the new species from the Salween River basin in southeastern Myanmar and western Thailand. The discovery of Garra panitvongi marks the sixth species of Garra discovered in the river basin, according to the study.

There are 189 species of Garra — making it one of the most diverse genera of fish in the world — ranging “from western Africa to China, north to Turkey and Afghanistan, and south to Borneo,” researchers said. Five of those species have been previously identified in the Salween river basin.

The samples were specifically collected from Kasat River in the Kayin State of Myanmar and the Kanchanaburi Province of Thailand.
A distinctive appearance

The newest species of Garra is distinguished by its vibrant coloring and uniquely shaped proboscis, experts said.

The fish’s caudal fin, or tail, and the back quarter of its body is a “red-orange color,” photos show.

The creature’s distinctive red-orange tail made it stand out from other similar species, experts said.

Researchers also noted its pointy proboscis, which is a long and thin tube positioned at about the same height as the fish’s eye. The proboscis is also significant because of the blue stripe that originates at its tip and extends in a V-shape towards the creature’s eye.

Researchers also noted the unique blue, v-shaped stripes on the creature’s proboscis.

Aside from its brightly colored tail, the fish has a dark greenish body and head, the study said. It has six to seven black stripes on its sides before it transitions to its red-orange coloration.

Experts said the fish lacks black spots on its proboscis and bands on its tail that other similar species in the area have.

The fish are an average of about 3.6 inches long, the study said.

Google Translate was used to translate the Facebook post from Freshwater Fishes of Thailand by Dr. Nonn Panitvong.

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Dark purple creature hidden beneath rocks on Thai island discovered as new species

Europe is facing drought with more groundwater being lost than replaced by rain

Sky News
Tue, July 4, 2023 


Europe has a water problem.

Rising temperatures mean its snow is melting, rivers are dwindling, canals are drying up and punishing droughts persist.

It is having a huge impact.

According to the European Drought Observatory, more than a third of the continent is currently under a drought warning, with 10% experiencing severe drought.

This has been going on in various forms since 2018 and it has been estimated that the total water loss across Europe is about 84 billion tonnes per year.

And a recent major study by a university in Austria suggested that Europe is now regularly losing much more groundwater than is being replaced by rainfall.

Torsten Mayer-Gürr, who is one of the study authors, said: "A few years ago, I would never have imagined that water would be a problem here in Europe …. Now it looks like we could face problems."

Read more: Households urged to save water now over summer droughts fear

In parts of France and much of Spain, water restrictions are in place.

Leaders of both countries have said that a lack of fresh water is a critical national issue.

In April when temperatures in southern Spain reached a record breaking 40c, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told parliament: "The government of Spain and I are aware that the debate surrounding drought is going to be one of the central political and territorial debates of our country over the coming years."

France's President Emanuel Macron has launched a water crisis plan this year to conserve the precious resource after an unusually dry winter following the country's worst drought on record left its reservoirs 80% below normal levels at the beginning of March.

In a speech he warned that climate change threatened the "end of the abundance of land and materials including water".

The situation is causing conflict, with French environmentalists recently clashing with police over plans to build huge reservoirs to help commercial agriculture businesses keep crops alive.

In Portugal, drought has spread over 90% of the mainland, prompting the government to request EU aid for struggling farmers.

And in Germany the government is so worried about water security for Europe's largest economy it has developed a national water strategy for the first time.

"The consequences of the climate crisis for people and nature are forcing us to act," Environment Minister Steffi Lemke said in a statement.

Read more: Europe could see repeat of last summer's severe droughts, scientists warn

Why is this happening?

Drought is a complicated thing.

Water mismanagement is a big problem.

EurEau, the European federation of national drinking water service providers, has estimated that the continent loses about 20-25% of its drinking water just because of leaks from pipes.

Overconsumption and illegal water use is a major problem too.

In Spain there have been concerns about strawberry farmers in the south of the country impacting the Donana wetlands, which is an important and fragile eco-system.

Consumption as the world heats up is likely to grow.

In England and Wales for example we use about 14bn litres of water a day.

The National Audit Office has predicted that we will need an extra 4bn per day by 2050 to counter the growing risk of drought from climate change.

The role of climate change in all of this is significant.

Lots of parts of Europe have always experienced natural cycles of drought, but climate change is a force that is making things much worse.

That's for a few reasons.

Generally higher temperatures mean there is more evaporation from the ground, rivers and lakes, reducing available water.

On top of that scientists say climate change is making extreme events like heatwaves more likely, more intense, and longer in duration.

This bakes the ground hard, so water from intense rainfall flows over it rather than soaks in - which can increase the risk of flash flooding

Another issue is ice, or lack of it.

Europe's glaciers are shrinking at an unprecedented rate, depriving major rivers and reservoirs of replenishment over time.

The Rhine river in Germany is a good example of this - it got so low in 2022 - Europe's hottest ever summer - that cargo ships could not use it.

The impact of drought can be profound, even in relatively wealthy economies.

A major consequence is food production.

In Spain, farmers are warning of crop failures and irreversible losses, especially to cereal growers.

Dry ground and vegetation means wildfire seasons are starting earlier and burning more intensely, as was observed in Spain, Portugal and France last year.

Ecosystems and habitats also really start to suffer without enough water.

Rivers and wetlands are particularly vulnerable, with knock on impacts for fish and bird life.

Drought can even impact energy security.

Last year a lack of rainfall affected Norway's hydropower production and in France they had to reduce nuclear power output because there wasn't enough river water to cool the stations.

Reduced rain and snowfall impacts tourism too.

Last winter the Alps received less than half their normal snowfall.

Earlier in 2023, a lack of rain contributed to the canals in Venice running dry.

In some parts of France it is now illegal to refill swimming pools and in the south of the country sales of above ground garden swimming pools have been banned.

The UK and large parts of Europe have always enjoyed abundant fresh water, but we are starting to see how climate change threatens a precious resource that we often take for granted.

Earth Keeps Breaking Temperature Records Due to Global Warming

Will Mathis and Aaron Clark
Wed, July 5, 2023 

Earth Keeps Breaking Temperature Records Due to Global Warming

(Bloomberg) -- Global temperatures have smashed through records this week, underscoring the dangers of ever-increasing greenhouse gas emissions generated from burning fossil fuels.

The average worldwide temperature reached 17C (63F) on Monday, just above the previous record of 16.9C in August 2016, according to data from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction. The threshold only lasted a day. On Tuesday, the average temperature hit 17.2C.

The new highs illustrate the extremity of 2023’s summer in the northern hemisphere, and bring into focus the slow pace of global progress on curbing emissions.

“It's a death sentence for people and ecosystems,” said Friederike Otto, a senior lecturer at the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment. The El Niño weather phenomenon is set to push global temperatures higher, she said.

The heat this summer has already put millions of people around the world at risk. China is experiencing a scorching new heat wave less than two weeks after temperatures broke records in Beijing. Extreme heat in India last month has been linked to deaths in some of its poorest regions. Last week saw a dangerous heat dome cover Texas and northern Mexico, while the UK baked in its hottest June on record.

El Niño conditions have developed in the tropical Pacific for the first time in seven years and will trigger a surge in temperatures, according to the World Meteorological Organization. “The onset of El Niño will greatly increase the likelihood of breaking temperature records,” WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said in a Tuesday statement.

It’s likely the world will exceed 1.5C of warming “in the near term,” with efforts on climate action still insufficient, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said in March in a report summarizing five years of its own research. Global greenhouse gas emissions need to be cut to 60% below 2019 levels by 2035, according to the report, and climate-related risks are rising with every increment of warming.

“Our world needs climate action on all fronts — everything, everywhere, all at once,” UN Secretary General António Guterres said in a statement at the time. Guterres has urged nations to rapidly accelerate plans to phase out the use of fossil fuels.

Attention will focus on the state of efforts to limit global warming as nations gather for the COP28 annual UN climate summit in Dubai later this year, with expectations already low on the potential outcomes.

Diplomats left a two-week preparatory meeting from COP28 held in Germany last month disappointed by inter-country bickering and what some described as a lack of ambition from the United Arab Emirates, this year’s host nation.

Any failure to achieve progress that significantly boosts the prospects for holding the global average temperature below 1.5 degrees of warming could see some countries, particularly vulnerable small island states, start to question the multilateral climate process.

--With assistance from David Stringer, Emily Cadman and Ben Sharples.

(Updates with new record hit on Tuesday in headline, first and second paragraphs.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

The oceans are unusually hot and on track to get hotter. That's not good.

Dinah Voyles Pulver, USA TODAY
Tue, July 4, 2023

Maps of unusually warm sea surface temperatures are awash in reds and oranges this summer, illustrating a series of marine heat waves across much of the globe and raising fears for what the rest of the year could bring as the heat persists and even intensifies.

Roughly 40% of the world’s oceans are experiencing marine heat waves, the most since satellite tracking started in 1991, according to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.

By September, that number is projected to climb to 50%, a number that is "kind of scary," said Dillon Amaya, a research scientist with NOAA's Physical Sciences Laboratory. The heat waves could linger through the end of the year.

The spike in ocean temperatures – fueled in part by global climate change – has set off alarms among scientists because of the devastating impact marine heat waves can have on ocean ecosystems, including fish and other marine life. The warmth could help usher in the hottest year on record this year or next and spin up more tropical cyclones than originally forecast in the Atlantic hurricane basin.

The dark oranges and reds on this map illustrate areas where sea surface temperatures are above the long-term average. The map is prepared by the Climate Change Institute at the University of Maine.

In the Antarctic meanwhile, sea ice coverage reached a record low for early winter in the Southern Hemisphere in June, international organizations including NOAA reported. Sea ice extent on June 27 was nearly 1 million square miles lower than the 1981-2010 average and nearly a half-million square miles below the previous lowest extent for the month, set in June 2022.
How hot is the ocean?

Sea surface temperatures in many areas outside the polar regions have been warmer than normal since March. In April and May, they were highest on record for those months in a series of data dating back to 1850, said the United Kingdom’s Met Office.

Anomalies in sea surface temperatures – the difference between the actual temperature and the average temperature – were a record high in May. In the eastern Atlantic, temperatures have been about 1.8 degrees higher than the 1961-1990 average, said Phil Klotzbach, a senior research scientist at Colorado State University.

World sea surface temperatures have been running above previous records since March, according to this chart by the Climate Change Institute at the University of Maine.
What is a marine heat wave and why are they a concern?

A spike in a region's ocean surface temperatures that ranks among the top 10% warmest for that time period in that region when compared with the 1991-2020 average. It could last from several days to months.

Normally, only about 10% of the world's oceans would be warm enough to meet the criteria for a marine heat wave, Amaya said.

NOAA and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change say marine heat waves have increased in frequency and become more severe in recent decades.

"We know that marine heat waves are getting warmer and warmer as a result of global warming," Amaya said.

Heat waves can disrupt ecosystems, kill fish and other marine life and bleach corals. A massive heat wave off the U.S. West Coast – from Alaska to Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula – in 2014-2016, dubbed “the blob,” caused:

Harmful algal blooms and kelp forest losses that led to shellfishery closures, at an estimated economic cost of $185 million.

The loss of an estimated one million seabirds.

A decline of up to 70% of the cod in the Gulf of Alaska.

What is NOAA's marine heat wave forecast and what does it show?

NOAA developed a system to forecast marine heat waves based on 30 years of satellite data, and is releasing a monthly experimental forecast. In the tropical Atlantic, the forecast shows marine heat wave conditions are likely to linger through August and could linger through the end of the year.

Heat wave conditions are forecast to persist through November in the Northeast Pacific. The forecast projects, with medium confidence, that marine heat wave conditions will form by next spring along the U.S. West Coast, a region where the forecast has the best skill at predicting long-term conditions, Amaya said. Along the equator in the Pacific, where El Niño is developing, heat wave conditions are forecast to persist and intensify.
What’s driving the heat wave in the Atlantic and what does it mean for hurricanes?

Overall, the world's oceans are warming because they've absorbed the majority of the excess warming caused by an increase in greenhouse gas emissions over decades, according to NOAA. Global ocean temperatures were a record high in April and May.

However, natural climate patterns also influence temperatures. The record heat in the Atlantic this spring and summer may be attributed to a weakening in a high pressure system that expands and contracts over the North Atlantic, known as the Bermuda high or the Azores high, said Klotzbach and Amaya.

The high pressure controls the strength of the trade winds. When weaker winds blow over the ocean, it decreases evaporation at the surface and allows ocean temperatures to warm rapidly, Amaya said.

Also partly to blame may be a decrease in seasonal Saharan dust blowing over the Atlantic, which has allowed more sunlight to reach the water, said Albert Klein Tank, head of the Met Office's Hadley Centre.

Sea surface temperatures in the Eastern Atlantic, where hurricanes are often born, are tracking well ahead of previous hyperactive hurricane seasons, Klotzbach said. And typically, warmer ocean temperatures in the Atlantic more fuel hurricanes.

However, El Niño usually creates vertical wind shear over the Atlantic, preventing hurricanes from building the tall, cloud formations that help give them their structure and wind speeds.

"It's certainly a tug-of-war this year between a likely moderate/strong El Nino and the warmest Atlantic on record," Klotzbach said.
What’s happening in the Antarctic and what does it mean?

It’s not unusual for sea ice extent to vary, but the current low in the Antarctic is unusual, NOAA said. Sea ice has set record lows since April.

While scientists know a lot about sea ice in the Arctic and its link to the warming climate, trends in Antarctic sea ice are more difficult to decipher, said Zach Labe, a postdoctoral research associate at Princeton University and NOAA’s geophysical fluid dynamics laboratory.

“It's likely the current record low sea ice (in the Antarctic) is related to feedbacks from the atmosphere and ocean,” Lalbe said. For example, strong winds associated with storm systems can reduce sea ice growth, but areas of unusual ocean heat in the Southern Ocean also can reduce the formation of sea ice.

The yellow line shows the median extent of sea ice around Antarctica from 1981-2010. Areas of blue and white show the current extent of sea ice.

From the time satellite observations of the Antarctic started in 1979, until 2015, the observations showed sea ice extent increasing very slightly. A rapid change started in 2016, and since then sea ice has been mostly below the 1981-2010 average, NOAA reported.

The sea ice reached a record low at the end of the Southern Hemisphere’s summer in 2022, Labe said. That record was broken again in February 2023. Now, with winter just beginning, sea ice is expanding at a much slower rate than normal.

This NOAA graph shows the monthly extent of Antarctic sea ice, dating back to 1979. Summer in the Southern hemisphere

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Worrying heat waves in Atlantic, other oceans fueled by climate change

The 1936 North American heat wave hit Toronto hard — temperatures reach 40 °C

Randi Mann
Wed, July 5, 2023 

The 1936 North American heat wave hit Toronto hard — temperatures reach 40 °C

This Day In Weather History is a daily podcast by Chris Mei from The Weather Network, featuring stories about people, communities and events and how weather impacted them.

On Sunday, July 5, 1936, one of Canada's deadliest heat waves hit Manitoba and Ontario. It was part of the 1936 North American heat wave. It took place during the Great Depression and Dust Bowl.

City of Toronto Archives

In North America, the heat wave killed more than 5,000 people and destroyed a vast number of crops. The weather event set many record highs that held until the 2012 North American heat wave. The 1936 heat wave was also followed by one of the continent's coldest winters.

City of Toronto Archives


In late June, the temperatures started to exceed 38 °C across the United States. The Midwest was faced with some of their hottest temperatures on record. In the Northeast, the temperatures reached approximately 35 °C.

In July, North Dakota reached a record 49 °C; still the hottest temperature in the state's history. Many other states set record highs during the month.

In Canada, Ontario and Manitoba reached 43 °C, tying previous heat records. By July 5, Ontario was in a drought. Areas from what is now the QEW corridor, from Hamilton to Niagara and Lake Erie was described as “parched waste,” in the Toronto Daily Star.

July 9, 1936 - The Toronto Daily Star
Courtesy of The Toronto Daily Star

By July 9, temperatures surpassed 40 °C. Areas in Toronto were referred to as “downtown slums” and “districts of torture.” Drivers were lined up on Fleet Street in hopes of getting some lake breeze.

City of Toronto Archives

By July 15, the temperatures finally made it out of the 40s and 30s and sat in the high 20s. By then, the heatwave killed more than 200 people in Toronto. The overall death toll in Canada was around 1,180.

To learn more about the 1936 heatwave, listen to today's episode of "This Day In Weather History."

Subscribe to 'This Day in Weather History': Apple Podcasts | Amazon Alexa | Google Assistant | Spotify | Google Podcasts | iHeartRadio | Overcast'

Thumbnail: Courtesy of City of Toronto Archives

Israel withdraws troops from West Bank militant stronghold

CIVILIAN REFUGEE CAMP and warns 2-day raid is not a one-off

The Canadian Press
Wed, July 5, 2023 



JENIN, West Bank (AP) — The Israeli military withdrew its troops from a militant stronghold in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, ending an intense two-day operation that killed at least 12 Palestinians, drove thousands of people from their homes and left a wide swath of damage in its wake. One Israeli soldier was also killed.

The army claimed to have inflicted heavy damage on militant groups in the Jenin refugee camp in an operation that included a series of airstrikes and hundreds of ground troops.

But it remained unclear whether there would be any long-lasting effect after nearly a year and a half of heavy fighting in the West Bank.

Ahead of the withdrawal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to carry out similar operations if needed.

“At these moments we are completing the mission, and I can say that our extensive operation in Jenin is not a one-off,” he said during a visit to a military post on the outskirts of Jenin. “We will eradicate terrorism wherever we see it and we will strike at it.”

The Jenin raid was one of the most intense Israeli military operations in the West Bank since an armed Palestinian uprising against Israel's open-ended occupation ended two decades ago.

Since early 2022, Israel has been carrying out near daily raids in the West Bank in response to a series of deadly Palestinian attacks. It says the raids are meant to crack down on Palestinians militants and said they are necessary because the Palestinian Authority is too weak.

The Palestinians say such violence is the inevitable result of 56 years of occupation and the absence of any political process with Israel. They also point to increased West Bank settlement construction and violence by extremist settlers.

Israel struck the camp, known as a long-time bastion of Palestinian militants, early Monday in an operation it said was aimed at destroying and confiscating weapons.

Big military bulldozers tore through alleyways, leaving heavy damage to roads and buildings, and thousands of residents fled the camp to seek safety with relatives or in shelters. People said electricity and water were knocked out. The army said the bulldozers were necessary because roads were booby-trapped with explosives.

After troops left Wednesday morning, residents began emerging from their homes. They found streets lined by scorched and flattened cars and piles of rubble.

The military said it had confiscated thousands of weapons, bomb-making materials and caches of money. Weapons were found in militant hideouts and civilian areas alike, in one case beneath a mosque, the military said.

The withdrawal came hours after a Hamas militant rammed his car into a crowded Tel Aviv bus stop and began stabbing people, wounding eight, including a pregnant woman who reportedly lost her baby. The attacker was killed by an armed bystander. Hamas said the attack was revenge for the Israeli offensive.

Early Wednesday, militants from Hamas-ruled Gaza also fired five rockets toward Israel, which Israel said were intercepted. Israeli jets struck several sites in Gaza.

In Jenin, fighting continued until shortly before the withdrawal Wednesday morning.

The Israeli military said it carried out an airstrike late Tuesday targeting a group of militants in a Jenin cemetery. It said the gunmen threatened forces moving out of the camp. Israeli and Palestinian officials also reported fighting near a hospital in Jenin late Tuesday. An Associated Press reporter on the ground could hear explosions and the sound of gunfire.

Palestinian health officials said 12 Palestinians were killed during the Israeli raid and dozens were wounded. Another Palestinian man was killed by Israeli forces in an unrelated incident near the West Bank city of Ramallah. The Israeli military has claimed it killed only militants, but it has not provided details.

The large-scale raid comes amid a more than yearlong spike in violence that has created a challenge for Netanyahu’s far-right government, which is dominated by ultranationalists who have called for tougher action against Palestinian militants only to see the fighting worsen.

Over 140 Palestinians have been killed this year in the West Bank, and Palestinian attacks targeting Israelis have killed at least 25 people, including a shooting last month that killed four settlers.

The sustained operation has raised warnings from humanitarian groups of a deteriorating situation.

Doctors Without Borders accused the army of firing tear gas into a hospital, filling the emergency room with smoke and forcing emergency patients to be treated in a main hall.

The U.N.’s human rights chief said the scale of the operation “raises a host of serious issues with respect to international human rights norms and standards, including protecting and respecting the right to life.”

Kefah Ja’ayyasah, a camp resident, said soldiers forcibly entered her home and locked the family inside.

“They took the young men of my family to the upper floor, and they left the women and children trapped in the apartment at the first floor,” she said.

She claimed soldiers would not let her take food to the children and blocked an ambulance crew from entering the home when she yelled for help, before eventually allowing the family passage to a hospital.

Across the West Bank, Palestinians observed a general strike to protest the Israeli raid.

With airstrikes and a large presence of ground troops, the raid bore hallmarks of Israeli military tactics during the second Palestinian uprising in the early 2000s. But there are also differences, including its limited scope.

Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek those territories for their hoped-for independent state.

___

Majdi Mohammed And Imad Isseid, The Associated Press

LET'S BE HONEST; RODEO KILLS

Bull rider heralded as 'up-and-coming star' dies during weekend rodeo near Calgary

The Canadian Press
Tue, July 4, 2023 



CALGARY — A bull rider heralded as a promising star on the Indigenous rodeo circuit has died during a competition in southern Alberta.

Reg Fountain, emergency management director for the Stoney Nakoda Nation west of Calgary, says 19-year-old Seth Saulteaux died Sunday during a qualifier for the Indian National Finals Rodeo.

Fountain says Saulteaux suffered a traumatic injury to his head while bull riding and, although he was able to walk off from the arena, he collapsed and couldn't be revived by paramedics.

Fountain says Saulteaux had been wearing a helmet during the competition and followed other safety protocols.

He says Saulteaux was from the Maskwacis area south of Edmonton but had recently been living on the Tsuut’ina Nation near Calgary.

The Indian National Finals Rodeo, which sanctions rodeos in the United States and Canada, posted a message of condolence to Saulteax's family on Facebook, calling him "a dedicated bull rider" and "an up-and-coming star in the INFR circuit."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 4, 2023.

Anger as San Francisco drops case against officer who killed unarmed Black man: ‘Murder is decriminalised’

Josh Marcus
Mon, July 3, 2023 

Sean Moore, an unarmed Black San Francisco man shot by police in 2017, is seen illuminated in the beam of a flashlight standing on the steps of his home during a police call related to a noise complaint (San Francisco Police Department)

Family members and civil rights activists expressed anger at a decision by San Francisco prosecutors to drop charges against a police officer who shot and killed Sean Moore, an unarmed Black man gunned down on the front steps of his home during a call about noise complaint.

San Francisco district attorney Brooke Jenkins announced the decision to drop the manslaughter prosecution, which was filed in 2021 by her predecessor, on Sunday, saying her office “can not ethically prosecute this case in good faith.”

“The people of San Francisco elected me to restore accountability and enhance public safety; to faithfully follow the facts and the law and not bow to political pressure or pursue politically expedient prosecutions that are legally and ethically dubious,” she wrote in a statement. “As prosecutors, we have a sacred duty to try cases in good faith, to not abuse our power and ensure that the cases we bring forward are fair in order to maintain trust in the criminal justice system.”

Family members were baffled and hurt by the decision, which marks the third such case Ms Jenkins has dropped, leaving no more active prosecutions related to police killing people while on active duty.

“I’m very angry, I’m beyond angry,” Kenneth Blackmon, Moore’s brother, told Mission Local. “I’m in disbelief, to be honest with you.”

Anti-police violence activist Samuel Sinyangwe argued in a Twitter post on Monday the decision meant “murder is now fully decriminalized for police in the city of San Francisco.”

In January of 2017, San Francisco police officers Colin Patino and Kenneth Cha were called to Moore’s Oceanside house around 4am responding to a call that the man was violating a noise-related restraining order by banging on the walls of his home.

Police body camera video captured the incident, the first such officer-involved shooting recorded this way in city history.

Moore, who family members said was in the midst of a mental health crisis caused by bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, can be seen angrily telling officers to “get the f*** of my stairs” from behind a metal entry gate.

Officers continue to demand he exit the home, and eventually he does so, at which point they pepper sprayed the unarmed man and beat him with a baton. Moore then punched Patino, breaking his nose, and kicked Cha down a set of stairs, after which Cha shot Moore twice, hitting him in the leg and stomach.

A year after the violent encounter, charges against Moore were dropped. An appeals court found the officers hadn’t witnessed Moore violating the restraining order at issue, so they lacked probable cause to arrest him. As such, when they ignored his requests to leave, their “consensual encounter” became an unlawful detention.

In 2020, Moore died while serving time in prison on an unrelated matter, and an autopsy found the wounds from the shooting were partially responsible.

In 2021, San Francisco city supervisors voted to pay $3.25m to settle a federal excessive force lawsuit from Moore’s family related to the 2017 police encounter.

That same year, former San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin filed charges against the officer involved in Moore’s shooting, the first time a city district attorney had ever charged a police officer with a crime related to a use-of-force death.

San Francisco police have among the worst records in California for disparate use of force on people of colour. Black people are 6.5 times more likely to be killed than white people by San Francisco officers, according to data analysis from Mapping Police Violence.

The sun has produced a record number of sunspots — and it could mean power outages, grounded flights, and beautiful auroras

Marianne Guenot
Tue, July 4, 2023 

The sun on June 30. Magnetic fluctuations on the sun's surface can be seen here. Sunspots are cooler than other parts of the sun's surface because they form in areas where our star's magnetic fields are strong.SDO/NASA

Scientists spotted a record 163 sunspots in June, twice as many as they had predicted.


There were more sunspots last month than there had been in any month in more than two decades.


The news comes as the sun nears a peak of activity that could produce grid-disrupting solar flares.

The sun had more sunspots in June than it had in any other month in more than 20 years, according to scientists.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said it recorded 163 sunspots last month, about twice as many as had been anticipated for the period.

The last time there were this many sunspots on the sun's surface was in September 2002, per NOAA.

Scientists are paying close attention to this number because it can help predict if powerful solar flares may cause problems for Earth.

The more sunspots scientists see on the sun, the more likely the sun is to release powerful space weather, such as solar flares that could trigger radio blackouts, ground flights, and cause power grid disruptions. These solar flares could also reveal stunning auroras.

Why sunspots are being tracked so closely

An image of the sun on May 23 shows a sunspot four time the size of Earth.SDO/NASA

Sunspots are cooler than other parts of the sun's surface because they form in areas where our star's magnetic fields are strong.

The more sunspots are on the surface, the more scientists know that the magnetic activity is disrupted at the surface of the sun.

And the more the the magnetic fields are disrupted, the more likely they are to cause a sudden explosion of energy known as a solar flare, according to NASA.

Because we're seeing more sunspots than expected, we're likely to see a much stronger solar maximum than had been anticipated.
A solar maximum is on its way

The sun follows a solar cycle, whereby its activity grows and wanes approximately every 11 years. Our star is currently in the phase of the cycle where its activity is revving up towards a solar maximum.

Scientists keep a close eye on our star because as it gets more active, it's more likely to send charged particles to Earth that can mess with our infrastructure.

While our Earth's magnetic field protects us from most space weather, charged particle breaking through that barrier can cause minor disruptions like radio blackouts.

These mostly go unnoticed, but can temporarily ground flights as the Federal Aviation Administration won't allow planes to fly without both radio and satellite communications.

Experts are most concerned that this peak of activity could bring a solar storm so powerful it could knock our crucial infrastructure like power grids.

This solar cycle has already provided some spectacular space weather. This year, a powerful solar flare caused widespread radio blackouts in North America, Central America, and South America, and an unexpected solar storm caused auroras so bright they were spotted as far south as Arizona.

Auroras seen in Riverton, on March 24, 2023.NWS Riverton

A false sense of security

Experts had forecast that this solar maximum would be fairly mild, peaking at 115 sunspots per month.

Solar physicist Keith Strong shared on Twitter a forecast from the Royal Observatory of Belgium suggesting the sun could peak at just under 200 monthly sunspots. That would be higher than the last solar maximum, which peaked at 146 monthly sunspots in 2014.

Experts previously told Insider this could be an issue. With each decade, we become more dependent on electrical infrastructure, according to Mathew Owens, a professor of space physics and the University of Reading.

The latest solar cycle was particularly quiet and may have lulled us into a false sense of security, he added.

"It was the smallest we'd had for about a hundred years," Owens said, adding, "The danger of going from a small cycle to a slightly bigger one is that you then realize where all the vulnerabilities are."

Still, if the sun peaks at 200 sunspots, it will be far from the biggest solar maximum on record. Solar cycle 19 peaked at 359 sunspots in October 1957, per NOAA.

Move over, Danielle Smith: What Canadians should know about New Brunswick's Blaine Higgs


Noah Fry, PhD Candidate, Political Science, McMaster University

THE CONVERSATION
Tue, July 4, 2023 

New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs speaks to the media outside Government House in Fredericton, N.B., following a cabinet shuffle in June 2023.

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Stephen MacGillivray

Though he lacks Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s showmanship, New Brunswick’s Blaine Higgs has a hard-line conservative record to make right-wing ideologues giddy.

Unlike some of its previous initiatives, the New Brunswick government’s Policy 713 — an education directive on sexual orientation and gender identity — has put Higgs on the national radar.

Using the language of “parental rights,” the policy now requires parental consent for any name and pronoun changes for students under 16. It also removes language protecting gender identity in sports.

Read more: New Brunswick’s LGBTQ+ safe schools debate makes false opponents of parents and teachers

In response to the changes, six members of the 29-member Conservative caucus voiced their frustrations, including four cabinet members. Since then, two ministers have resigned while others have been shuffled out of caucus.
Grievance conservatism

But this parental rights advocacy is only the latest in a series of right-wing policies in New Brunswick.

Despite relatively low popular vote support in the past two provincial elections, Higgs has unapologetically governed from the right since 2018.

Some of his actions are conventional. Higgs lowered taxes for top income earners, ran surpluses and minimized increases to education and health care. He has a contentious relationship with labour and has criticized workers for a weak work ethic.

However, Higgs has gone further than his Conservative counterparts in the region. In doing so, he has burned many bridges.

His relationship with the health-care sector is fraught. Emergency rooms have overflowed at times with residents dying in waiting rooms.

When it was reported a woman was unable to get access to a rape kit, Higgs blamed the nurses for “showing a lack of compassion.” He has also limited abortion access within the province.

Higgs has an equally contentious relationship with Indigenous Peoples. In 2021, New Brunswick directed government employees to halt territorial acknowledgements because the province is involved in a series of legal actions and land claims initiated by First Nations.

Read more: New Brunswick ban on land acknowledgements is a death blow to nation-to-nation relationships

The province also tore up tax-sharing agreements with the Wolastoqey Nation, which Higgs argued were “unfair.”

Higgs, left, and New Brunswick Aboriginal Affairs Minister Arlene Dunn, right, speak with Chief Alan Polchies Jr. of St. Mary’s First Nation after raising flags as part of National Indigenous Peoples Day in Fredericton, N.B., in June 2021. 

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Stephen MacGillivray

Proudly unilingual

Higgs’s relationship with New Brunswick’s Acadian francophone population may be his worst. He once ran for the leadership of the Confederation of Regions party — an anglophone-rights party.

Higgs does not speak French and has made little effort to learn it, and has depicted himself as a “target” for being unilingual.

Higgs started his premiership in 2018 by loosening bilingual hiring requirements for paramedic positions, paving the way for unilingual workers in designated anglophone areas.

Recently, the government attempted to “innovate” French immersion by establishing one program with reduced French content. Conservatives argued that French immersion was two-tiered and disadvantaged English Prime students who receive mostly English instruction.

After tremendous pushback from parents and teachers, which Higgs referred to as “a shouting session,” the government walked back its plans.

The policy nonetheless led to the resignation of Education Minister Dominic Cardy. In a widely circulated letter, Cardy called out Higgs for his “micromanagement.”

Some argue Higgs moved to the centre during the province’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. But his early support for vaccinations and lockdown measures didn’t reflect his subsequent efforts. New Brunswick re-opened early and stopped reporting weekly case numbers.

Dominic Cardy, New Brunswick’s education minister at the time, releases the province’s back to school plan in August 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. He later resigned over tensions with Higgs. 

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Kevin Bissett

Will Higgs win again?

With reports of a leadership review and tensions within his party, an early election is possible.

Though some pollsters report Higgs is either tied with the New Brunswick Liberals or trailing them, he still has a pathway to victory.

Higgs won in 2018 and 2020 by capitalizing on New Brunswick’s linguistic divide. Losing francophone ridings by massive pluralities doesn’t matter because he carried the more plentiful, mostly anglophone ridings.

Academics have observed New Brunswick’s political behaviour tends to follow a diagonal line drawn from Moncton to Grand Falls. Historically, Liberal-Conservative divisions have matched this alignment.

New Brunswick 2020 election results with dividing line. Modified map originally from Elections NB. Elections New Brunswick

This began to change in the 1970s, but has re-emerged as a political strategy. Higgs knows the game and has won twice by playing it.

Higgs practises grievance politics that is as divisive as it is successful. His calculations involve mobilizing a coalition big enough to win but small enough to remain ideologically pure.

He does this through picking issues that, while unpopular broadly, motivate voters within his coalition. Policy 713 is an example: the frustrated voters who cast ballots solely as a form of protest to this issue are few and far between, and unlikely to vote Conservative anyway.

This game is not Higgs’s invention — it’s the new Canadian conservatism. Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and Alberta’s Danielle Smith use the same strategy. Both have platforms that voice suspicions of government, evident during their campaigns for “freedom” during COVID-19 protocols.

Yet Higgs is a more serious threat. He pursues a hard-right agenda without scrutiny. He has imposed his agenda on a centrist province with barely any national media attention.

To his credit, Higgs does not hide who he is. He is open with media and speaks his mind. Canadians — not just New Brunswickers — would be wise to listen.

This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. The Conversation has a variety of fascinating free newsletters.

It was written by: Noah Fry, McMaster University.

Read more:


Politicians believe voters to be more conservative than they really are


Will Danielle Smith veer back to the right and towards Alberta separatism?

Noah Fry is supported in part by funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

NB Policy 713: LGBT school policy change causes political turmoil in Canada

Nadine Yousif - BBC News, Toronto
Mon, July 3, 2023 

New Brunswick premier Blaine Higgs has faced calls to resign after forging ahead with controversial changes to an LGBT school policy

A controversial policy change that bars teachers from using a student's preferred pronouns without parental permission will soon go into effect in New Brunswick despite pushback. It has caused political turmoil in the Canadian province.

In May, under Premier Blaine Higgs, New Brunswick announced that a policy to create a safe space for students who identify as LGBT in schools will be amended, with the changes coming into effect on 1 July.

The amendments to the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity policy - also known as Policy 713 - removed explicit mention of allowing students to participate in extracurricular activities, including sports teams, that reflect their gender identity.

More controversially, the changes - as explained by the province's education minister Bill Hogan - also forbid teachers from using the chosen preferred names and pronouns of a student under the age of 16 without the consent of their parents.

In cases where it is not possible to get parental permission, the policy states that a student should be sent to a social worker or a psychologist to develop a plan on how to approach their parents.

Mr Higgs and his right-leaning Progressive Conservative government updated the policy without a legislative vote, due to what they said were "hundreds of complaints from parents and teachers".

The government has been criticised for not providing evidence of these complaints, and the changes have since created a firestorm in the small province of less than a million people.

Two New Brunswick ministers quit in protest, while two others were pushed out by Mr Higgs for not supporting his plan. The premier now faces a growing threat of being ousted from office, as dissidents from his own party have called for a leadership review citing "a pattern of autocratic" governing.

Even Prime Minister Justin Trudeau weighed in, igniting a debate on the issue at the federal level.

At a Pride event earlier in June, Mr Trudeau said that "trans kids in New Brunswick are being told they don't have the right to be their true self, that they need to ask permission".

"Trans kids need to feel safe, not targeted by politicians," he said.

In response, federal Conservative opposition leader Pierre Poilievre told Mr Trudeau to "butt out" of New Brunswick politics.

"The prime minister has no business in decisions that should rest with provinces and parents," Mr Poilievre said.
What is Policy 713? And why was it changed?

Initially passed in 2020 after a decade of consultations, Policy 713 in its original form asked for parental consent in order to formally change students' names or pronouns, but made it mandatory to use a student's preferred name if it is not possible to get permission from a parent.

It also allowed students to participate on sporting teams and use washrooms consistent with their gender identity.

Nicki Lyons-MacFarlane, who volunteers with LGBT youth in the city of Fredericton, said the policy has benefited many such students in the province.

"Students have been validated and affirmed by this policy," they told the BBC. "If anything, it has saved lives."

They added that in light of the changes, students now fear being mis-gendered or outed to their families.

Mr Higgs' government said the changes to the policy are about "ensuring parents also feel respected". In a recent interview with the CBC, the premier, who has been in office since 2018, said he has seen "a tremendous amount of outpouring support" for his stance.

Prime Minister Trudeau criticised the policy change.

But the changes have been the subject of fierce opposition from parts of the public in New Brunswick.

Several local protests have been held, and school psychologists and social workers have filed grievances with the government.

The province's child and youth advocate, Kelly Lamrock, has called the new policy "shoddy and inadvertently discriminatory".

Donald Wright, a professor of political science at the University of New Brunswick, said the changes to Policy 713 came as a surprise for some, and have been the topic of conversation for many in the province. But Mr Wright added the premier is known for supporting "wedge issues" that are typically divisive.

"He believes that enough New Brunswickers will support him on this," he said.

The move, however, has proven to be a remarkable political gamble for the premier, Mr Wright said.

"He has lost a quarter of his cabinet," he said. "That is not insignificant."

Hadeel Ibrahim, a reporter who has covered the issue for CBC in New Brunswick, said the changes to Policy 713 were the final straw for those who have previously opposed Mr Higgs' other policies and his style of governance.

"Some people are saying there is a de-emphasis on the 'progressive' part of 'Progressive Conservative', because they believe he is going too far to the right," Ms Ibrahim said.
The rest of Canada weighs in

The debate over the policy in New Brunswick quickly spread beyond the province's borders.

LGBT advocates in other parts of Canada have raised concern Mr Higgs' move is a sign of "American-style politics" on gender identity seeping into Canadian society. Laws restricting and regulating the lives of transgender youth are part of a rising trend in the US, with numerous states passing laws that relate to transgender people.

If US firms 'go woke', do they really go broke?

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association, a national civil rights group, has threatened the premier with a lawsuit, arguing the changes to Policy 713 are "unlawful and unconstitutional".

But there has also been some support. Action4Canada, a conservative Christian group based in British Columbia, touted it as a "heroic decision" and a test case.

"Premier Higgs and (Education) Minister Bill Hogan have courageously and unapologetically taken the first steps, in Canada, towards protecting children from going down a path of destruction," the group said in a statement.

The debate comes at the heels of other controversies on LGBT issues and schools that have taken place across the country. Earlier in June, a Catholic school board in the Toronto area voted against flying the Pride flag outside its main offices, prompting a student walk-out in protest.

A poll commissioned by Canadian think-tank Second Street of 1,523 people in early May - before New Brunswick's policy changes were announced - suggested that 57% of Canadians believe parents have a right to be informed by a school if a child wants to change their gender identity.

"I don't think it is too surprising that parents want to know what their kids are up to in school," said think-tank president Colin Craig of the results.

Ms Ibrahim said that no official polling has been done on the policy change in New Brunswick. As a result, it has been difficult to discern just how much local support the premier has on this issue.

As the amended policy comes into effect on Saturday, some teachers in New Brunswick have already stated that they will not follow it.

A handful of school boards have said they will develop their own policies that will allow teachers to use a students' chosen name and pronouns informally, regardless of parental consent or age.

Given the political and public reaction, Mr Wright at the University of New Brunswick said there appears to be more support for Policy 713 in its original form than the amendments.

And with his future as leader now on the line, Mr Wright said the premier may have "misplayed his cards".