CLIMATE CRISIS
No reprieve in sight for B.C.'s prolonged drought and wildfires

Nathan Howes

The Weather Network.
Wed, August 9, 2023

No reprieve in sight for B.C.'s prolonged drought and wildfires

B.C. residents hoping for a turnaround in the extended period of drought and wildfire conditions won't like what's expected weather-wise for the rest of August.

SEE ALSO: Understand how B.C.'s drought is affecting communities

The province can expect to see plenty of high-pressure ridges as the month wears on, meaning heat and a lack of rainfall will prevail, according to Kevin MacKay, a meteorologist at The Weather Network.

BCPRECIP

"We're going to be heading back up towards that 30-degree mark right through the middle of the month," said MacKay.

Above-seasonal temperatures and extended drought conditions have led to water restrictions and continued wildfires.

DROUGHTBC

Since April, much of southern B.C. has seen "well below" 50 per cent of the average rainfall, with some areas even dropping below 30 per cent, according to MacKay.

Looking ahead to the remainder of August, the dry areas will remain that way, so the wildfire season isn't likely to improve any time soon. To make matters worse, this is typically the province's busiest month for wildfires.

Before August even began, there had been 1,600 wildfires this year, burning more than 1.5 million hectares of land.

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"It's been an unforgettable year and it's not over, yet," said Erika Berg, provincial wildfire information officer at BC Wildfire Service, in an interview with Mia Gordon, a video journalist at The Weather Network.

"It's been unprecedented in the way of an early start [with] the amount of area burned, the amount of fire on the landscape [and the] devastating losses in the wildfire community."

Thumbnail courtesy of BC Wildfire Service/Twitter.

13-year-old Da’vian Kimbrough becomes youngest soccer player to go pro in US

Wed, August 9, 2023 

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Da’vian Kimbrough, a 13-year-old forward, signed a contract with the Sacramento Republic of the second-tier League Championship of the United Soccer League, which says he is the youngest athlete in American professional team sports.

Kimbrough, who joined the team’s youth academy in 2021, was 13 years, 5 months, 13 days when the deal was announced Tuesday.

After playing for North Bay Elite Futbol Club in Solano County and Woodland Soccer Club of Yolo County, Kimbrough scored 27 goals in 31 matches for the Republic’s under-13 team in 2021, when he was 11.

He played for the under-14 team last year, also joining the under-15 team for some matches. Kimbrough scored six goals this year as the New York Red Bulls Academy team won the Bassevelde Cup for under-13 teams in Belgium.

Kimbrough, born Feb. 18, 2010, is eligible to debut on Saturday against the Birmingham Legion.

Maximo Carrizo signed with Major League Soccer’s New York City on his 14th birthday on Feb. 28, 2008. He has yet to make his MLS debut.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

The Associated Press

From upsets to record attendance, these are the trends that have emerged at the Women's World Cup

Tue, August 8, 2023 



SYDNEY (AP) — The traditional elite have been cut down to size at the Women's World Cup.

That has been the standout theme as a tournament that has already set records for attendance and goals scored enters the quarterfinals stage, and it has made for high drama.

“It’s been absolutely incredible and a great testament to some of the work that is happening around the world,” FIFA's head of women's football, Sarai Bareman, told The Associated Press. “To see the results of this World Cup brings so much meaning to the work that we do.

"It’s really special, not only for the players and the teams, but for those of us who are working on the game day in and day out.”

Soccer's world governing body FIFA is trying to grow the women's game at pace, and it seems to be having an impact.

Established nations have fallen one by one over the past two weeks, with the back-to-back defending champion U.S. team joining No. 2-ranked Germany, Brazil and Olympic gold medalist Canada by going home early.

The tournament, being co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, has produced one upset after another.

The U.S. team's penalty shootout loss to Sweden in the round of 16 ended its bid for an unprecedented three-peat of World Cup titles.

Lina Hurtig’s spot kick crossed the line by a tiny fraction and that was enough to send the pre-tournament favorites packing, and prompting questions about the future of U.S. soccer.

Two-time champion Germany opened with a thumping 6-0 win over Morocco but was beaten by Colombia and held to a draw by South Korea in the group stage. Brazil started off with a 4-0 win over Panama before losing to France and drawing with Jamaica. Both Germany and Brazil were gone before the knockouts.

Tournament newcomer Morocco, as well as South Africa, Jamaica and Colombia all advanced. The Colombians, the only team from the Americas still in contention, face England in the quarterfinals after edging Jamaica 1-0 in the round of 16.

“This World Cup has been amazing. As you can see, the gap is closing (between) the smaller teams and the bigger countries,” Jamaica's Manchester City forward Bunny Shaw said. “Women's football is growing. We've got to keep moving forward and keep pushing.”

What remains to be seen is whether the upsets are a quirk of this year's tournament in the Southern Hemisphere, or a more permanent trend.

The Associated Press takes a look at some other trends from the opening weeks:

IMPROVEMENTS IN GOALKEEPING

There have been standout performances by goalkeepers so far, with the Americans repeatedly frustrated by Sweden's Zecira Musovic in the round of 16. The Chelsea keeper produced a string of saves and was voted player of the match as the U.S dominated but couldn't find a breakthrough in the game that ended 0-0 through extra time.

Netherlands keeper Daphne van Domselaar was player of the match as the Dutch advanced to the quarterfinals by beating South Africa 2-0.

While that game saw South Africa keeper Kaylin Swart make an error to allow Lineth Beerensteyn to score, she also pulled off a string of saves to keep the Netherlands at bay.

Nigeria's captain Chiamaka Nnadozie’s made a crucial save to deny Canada's Christine Sinclair a place in history in a scoreless opening draw, earning her player of the match accolades.

“Of course everything is not perfect, but I think we are going in the right direction,” said former Germany keeper Nadine Angerer, who is part of FIFA's technical study group at the World Cup.

“What we’ve seen so far in general is that there are way better goalkeeping performances.”

Angerer said the save percentage in the group stage improved from 70% in 2019 to 77%.

IT'S NOT ALL ABOUT POSSESSION

The tactical improvement of less-established teams has been as highlight.

While teams with fewer outright stars have had to cede possession, they have still managed to be effective.

Jamaica's tactical approach saw it advance from a group that included France and Brazil without conceding a goal. It was eventually eliminated by Colombia 1-0.

“Sometimes the decision when you go into a game is ‘Do I want the ball or do I want the opponent to have the ball?’ said Jill Ellis, who coached the U.S. to two World Cup titles. “But if I want my opponent to have the ball, I want them to have it because I want them to open up because my strengths are in the transition.”

So while Japan and Spain have dominated possession, Colombia's counter-attacking threat has also been effective.

“You’re seeing the personality or the strengths of nations come to the forefront,” Ellis said. “It’s not trying to take this style for this team., it is: ‘What is my team really good at and how can I exploit that?’ I see that a lot more in this World Cup.”

TIME ADDED ON

It was a feature of the men's World Cup in Qatar last year and FIFA is continuing to clamp down on time-wasting.

Lengthy periods of stoppage time have been played, seeing games go well beyond 90 minutes during regulation time.

While that initiative wasn't continued by major domestic leagues after Qatar, the Premier League appears set to follow it up this season.

Arsenal scored an equalizer in the 11th minute of stoppage time against Manchester City in the Community Shield on Sunday before going on to win on penalty kicks.

GROWING INTEREST

The Women's World Cup has been pulling in the fans.

Australia has twice played in front of crowds exceeding 75,000 in Sydney, limited only by the capacity of the stadium.

The attendance of 1,533,545 fans so far in the first two rounds has exceeded the previous record total of 1,353,506 when the World Cup was staged in Canada in 2015.

More than 500,000 people have attended fan zones in host cities to watch games on giant screens.

While this tournament has been expanded to 32 teams, up from 24, the fact that 14 games in the first two rounds have had crowds of more than 40,000 people points to the popularity of the event.

“This World Cup has shifted from being a team-supported tournament to a globally-followed event," FIFA president Gianni Infantino said. “This is why we are witnessing the greatest Women's World Cup ever — and a record-breaking one.”

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James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson

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AP Women’s World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-womens-world-cup

James Robson, The Associated Press

Bigger bonuses could change lives for tiny teams that advance in Women’s World Cup

Wed, August 9, 2023 



MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Players who reached the knockout round at the Women's World Cup got larger individual bonuses that can be life-changing for many of them.

FIFA designated $30,000 for the 732 players among 32 teams in the tournament field. The payout rises to $60,000 for players on the 16 teams that advanced out of group play.

The money grows to $90,000 for players in the quarterfinals and its a significant payday for many of the players, particularly those that have had financial disputes with their federations over pay and support.

Hildah Magaia, appropriately nicknamed the "Breadwinner” of South Africa's squad, helped the Banyana Banyana advance out of group play, into the knockout stage, and double her bonus.

She appropriately plans to use the money to care for her mother.

“I’ll be able to do everything for my mother because I’m the one who’s taking care of her," she said. “I’m the breadwinner, so I’ll be doing everything for my mom.”

Deneisha Blackwood, part of the Jamaica squad eliminated by Colombia in the knockouts, described the minimum payouts as a good start for her team. Jamaica has had financial difficulties and relied on crowdfunding to raise money for its travel to the tournament.

“Obviously we as players have a life outside of football and I think prize money like that rewards us in ways we can't imagine. A lot of us have bills to pay and family to take care of,” Blackwood said, “and I think for the younger generation, especially, football doesn't make you a lot of money. So for (girls) to see us doing what we love and realize that you can make a living off it — it's motivational.”

No one can ensure all the players will receive their guaranteed bonuses.

The global players union, FIFPRO, last year sent a letter to FIFA on behalf of players from 25 national teams asking for better conditions within the tournament. FIFA announced the individual bonuses of the $110 million prize pool in June.

But FIFA President Gianni Infantino said before the start of the World Cup that the federations would be responsible for distributing the payments. He was unable to make any guarantee that funds would reach the players.

FIFPRO said it was working to establish bank accounts for the players as well as an auditing process. But there have already been snags.

FIFPRO announced late Tuesday that it was assisting Nigeria's players in a dispute with their federation concerning bonus payments, camp allowances and expenses, some dating back to 2021. Nigeria narrowly missed the quarterfinals after a penalty shootout loss to England.

“The team is extremely frustrated that they've had to pursue the Nigeria Football Federation for these payments before and during the tournament," FIFPRO said. “It is regrettable that players needed to challenge their own federation at such an important time in their careers.”

In the run-up to the World Cup, South Africa players boycotted a warm-up match against Botswana because the individual payments weren't included in their contracts. The dispute ended when billionaire Patrice Motsepe, the president of the African Football Confederation, agreed to contribute $320,000 to be equally distributed among the players.

Some of the Jamaican players took to social media before the World Cup to complain about a lack of support and funding for the team. That spurred two crowdfunding campaigns to raise money for the Reggae Girlz.

The Jamaican Football Federation released a statement saying reports about the team's financial struggles had taken away from the team's accomplishments. The Reggae Girlz reached the Round of 16 but fell 1-0 to Colombia on Tuesday night.

“We of course welcome anyone who wants to contribute to the development of our national football teams, which have done well and made Jamaica proud,” the Jamaican federation said in a statement.

Nigeria forward Uchenna Kanu said the money was not the team's main motivation — playing well was. Nigeria reached the Round of 16, but fell to England on penalties after a scoreless draw on Monday.

“But of course, if we get paid that much money, of course it’ll have a huge impact on our lives," Kanu said. “We have families, we have things to take care of with money. That’s important for us as well.”

Players from the United States won a contract with U.S. Soccer last year that guarantees them equal pay with their men's national team counterparts. As part of the agreement, all tournament prize money funds are split between the two teams, with a percentage going to the federation.

The total prize pool at this Women's World Cup is more than three times the $30 million prize fund that was paid out at the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France. But it's still far less than the $440 million in prize money for the men's World Cup in Qatar last December.

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AP Sports Writer John Pye in Brisbane, Australia, contributed to this report.

Anne M. Peterson, The Associated Press

For Nigeria's Super Falcons, a narrow Women's World Cup exit is the start of a journey, not the end

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APTOPIX 

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Nigeria's goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie saves a ball during the Women's World Cup round of 16 soccer match between England and Nigeria in Brisbane, Australia, Monday, Aug. 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)


Nigeria's players react during a penalty shootout during the Women's World Cup round of 16 soccer match between England and Nigeria in Brisbane, Australia, Monday, Aug. 7, 2023. 

\(AP Photo/Tertius Pick



JOHN PYE
Updated Tue, August 8, 2023

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Chiamaka Nnadozie’s Nigeria lineup had two chances hit the crossbar in a scoreless draw, and only missed out on the Women’s World Cup quarterfinals after losing a penalty shootout against England.

By taking the European champions right to the wire, the Super Falcons proved, once again, that rankings are less important than respect for rival teams under the tournament’s expanded 32-team format.

In the group stage, Nigeria held Olympic champion Canada to a 0-0 draw, upset co-host Australia 3-2 and advanced to the knockout stage after a 0-0 draw with Ireland.

A late red card for England forward Lauren James for stomping on Nigeria defender Michelle Alozie took the focus off two tight halves of football on Monday night that could have gone either way.

Ashleigh Plumptre's left-foot strike cannoned into the crossbar in the 17th minute and her right-foot shot, moments after the ball rebounded, forced a diving save from England goalkeeper Mary Earps. Uchenna Kanu's two second-half headers went within inches.

Had any of those chances found the back of the net, it's likely Nigeria would have gone on to win a knockout match for the first time in nine trips to the Women's World Cup and England would have followed the defending champion U.S. team, No. 2-ranked Germany, Canada and Brazil through the exit.

“Coming to the World Cup we had so many dreams. So sad today, but it’s not the end,” Nnadozie, Nigeria’s goalkeeper and team leader, said. “We’ve been playing tough, tough games. There’s no easy teams. We respect them all. Right now, we have to work harder and come back stronger again.”

Nigeria’s players leave this World Cup with respect well-earned on the field that they now want matched by their national soccer federation in a dispute over bonus payments and expenses dating back to 2021.

The global player’s union FIFPRO issued a statement the morning after Nigeria's exit to say it was time to speak out and work on ensuring the players’ “contractual rights are honored and the outstanding payments are settled.”

By reaching the round of 16, each player should get $60,000 from FIFA’s prize money fund according to the escalating scale of payments guaranteed by the sport's governing body.

The union said the players are “extremely frustrated” at having to chase their federation for promised pay and expenses.

“It is regrettable,” FIFPRO said, “that players needed to challenge their own federation at such an important time in their careers.”

The federation accused FIFPRO of “shouting from far off” and said in a statement that is has “no issues with the players. It had assured them before the World Cup that they would be paid the couple of friendly matches and qualifying matches for which they were being owed appearance fees and bonuses respectively. It pledged to pay the money once the World Cup money is paid.”

Nigeria was ranked 40th the world in June but the players and coaching staff never had any doubts they could mix it with the elite teams on the biggest stage for the women's game.

“We’re not surprised to get to this stage. We believe in ourselves,” Nnadozie said. “We knew we could come here and go far. We just have to keep our heads up.”

Plumptre grew up playing as a forward in England's youth teams before making a choice to represent Nigeria, and didn't regret it for a minute.

“Football for me is more of a life journey that I’m on. I wanted to explore more of my heritage,” she said. “For me, this, even though it’s football, it’s learning. For me, there’s nothing more fulfilling. I’m disappointed in the result, but grateful I’ve had the opportunity.”

Now a center back, the 25-year-old Plumptre said the Super Falcons had set a higher bar for future performances.

“We have the expectation that we should be competing with the top-ranked teams,” she said. "We should be pushing them to the very end. We can be getting results against them. Because, not only this game have we done that, but we’ve done that throughout the group stage as well.

“We’ve proven that in this tournament and I’m sure we can do that going forward.”

Nigeria's American coach Randy Waldrum silenced his pre-tournament critics by preparing a team that went within the thickness of a crossbar of reaching the last eight at the World Cup.

“I take away that we can be and probably should be one of the top teams in the world," he said. “I certainly hope that FIFA ranking goes from 42 to a better number. More importantly, I think we’ve just shown that we’re capable of playing with anybody.”

Waldrum said Nigeria's supporters should be proud of the Super Falcons and, of course, the players should be appreciated.

“We gave everything. I certainly hope that people back in Nigeria appreciate the job that they’ve done while they’re here and I would hope that they’re happy, not upset,” he said. “I think we made the country proud and hopefully, around the world.”

Marta, Sinclair and Rapinoe among the generational talents retiring after Women's World Cup

The Canadian Press
Wed, August 9, 2023

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — Generational talents Marta, Christine Sinclair and Megan Rapinoe have all played in their final Women's World Cup and are leaving the game in a much different place than when they started.

Joining them in the group of players ending their international careers is Estefania Banini of Argentina, who said it's time to make way for younger players. Caroline Seger of Sweden is still playing in the tournament, but she has already said that it will be her last.

“It's emotional. Those are some of the greatest football players of all time, players that I've looked up to,” said United States captain Lindsey Horan as her eyes filled with tears. “Pinoe, Sinc, both of them I got to play with. Marta, one of the GOATs. It's hard as a football player to see these guys exiting like this, but look at how much they did for women's football. Them on the field, their character, everything. They're the reason we're all here today.”

Marta, the Brazilian player once dubbed “Pele in Skirts” by the legendary Pele himself, raised the profile of women's soccer in her home country with her dazzling play that she learned from boys on the streets of Dois Riachos.

The 37-year-old was tearful when Brazil was surprisingly eliminated from the tournament in the group stage. It was her sixth World Cup and she fell short of becoming the first player — male or female — to score in all six.

At the team's final match she looked across the field at young teammates Laurinha and Bruninha, and realized that there's more work to be done for the Brazilian national team.

“Women’s football doesn’t end here. Women’s football in Brazil doesn’t end here. We need to understand this,” she said.

Marta has scored 115 goals for Brazil, including a record 17 goals at the World Cup. She has been named the FIFA women's player of the year a record six times.

Rapinoe, 38, announced before the World Cup that it would be her last. She will play out the season with her club team, OL Reign, before retiring from the game.

She finishes as one of the most decorated U.S. players ever. In addition to two World Cup titles, and Olympic gold and bronze medals, she won the prestigious Ballon d'Or as well as a FIFA best player award. She was also awarded the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, for her social justice work.

Rapinoe was among the players who fought for, and won, equal pay with the men's national team.

Rapinoe's World Cup career ended with a missed penalty. The United States were sent out of the tournament in a shootout in the Round of 16 with Sweden after a scoreless draw. It was the team's earliest ever exit.

“It's been an honor,” Rapinoe said, her eyes welling with tears.

Sinclair's future with the Canadian national team is unsettled, although at 40 this was assuredly her final World Cup. Canada is set to face Jamaica on Sept. 26 in Toronto for a spot in the Paris Olympics next year, and Sinclair hasn't said whether she'll play.

Sinclair has scored a record 190 international goals, most among men and women. As captain of the team, she was dogged throughout the World Cup by questions about an ongoing contract dispute between the players and Canada Soccer.

The women's team has been playing without a contract for more than a year, demanding better pay and treatment.

After Canada was eliminated in the group stage, Sinclair called on her federation to support the team to avoid future early exits.

“I think more of it is like a wake-up call for our federation — the lack of a professional league, the lack of support for our youth national teams," she said. "I think you’re just going to continue to see teams reach our level, surpass us, whatever you want to call it, if things don’t change.”

Seger, 38, has been struggling with a calf injury at the World Cup. Sweden advanced to the quarterfinals, by defeating the United States on penalties after a scoreless draw, and will face Japan on Friday in Auckland. It is Seger's fifth World Cup.

Seger’s 235 appearances for Sweden are the most for any female player in Europe, and although she has two Olympic silver medals and two World Cup third-place finishes, Sweden has never won a major tournament.

“For me to be here with this national team and trying to do that, it’s my last chance. I mean, I’m not going to play any more World Cups so for me that’s the end," she said. "To be able to hopefully help the team in every way I can to bring home the gold would be of course a dream come true.”

Banini was in tears following Argentina's final match at the World Cup against Sweden. Known as the “Mendoza Messi" in reference to her hometown, she returned to La Albiceleste last year after a lengthy absence over what she said was the poor treatment of the women's team.

“I was able to fulfill what I wanted: play in the United States, play on a great team and play in a World Cup with the national team, that was my great dream. I’m living what I always dreamed of," she said. "I think I achieved everything I fought to improve, and now I have to step aside. I hope they continue fighting for women’s football."

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AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-womens-world-cup

Anne M. Peterson, The Associated Press

Journalists seek regulations to govern fast-moving artificial intelligence technology



NEW YORK (AP) — Several news organizations, writers and photographers groups are pushing to be involved in creating standards for the use of artificial intelligence, particularly as it concerns intellectual property rights and the potential spread of misinformation.

In an open letter sent on Wednesday, they outlined priorities for setting rules on the technology, which is developing faster than regulators can keep up with.

“We ... support the responsible advancement and deployment of generative AI technology, while believing that a legal framework must be developed to protect the content that powers AI applications as well as maintain public trust in the media,” the organizations said.

The letter was signed by The Associated Press; Gannett; the News Media Alliance, which represents hundreds of publishers; Getty Images; the National Press Photographers Association; Agence France-Presse and others.

The organizations want to make sure intellectual property owners maintain their rights when AI operators use material for training. The AP last month made a deal with ChatGPT-maker OpenAI to license the news agency's archive of news stories.

The letter also calls for artificial intelligence companies to take specific steps to eliminate bias and misinformation in the material it produces. In particular, photographers are concerned about the ability of artificial intelligence to create false images.

Seven U.S. companies that are leading AI developers agreed in July to voluntary safeguards set by President Joe Biden's administration for building their technology, but the commitments aren’t enforceable and don’t touch on intellectual property concerns.


Wed, August 9, 2023 
The Associated Press

Researchers are shocked to find 2 great white sharks have become 'buddies' since the predators are typically solitary creatures

Grace Eliza Goodwin,Jenny McGrath
Wed, August 9, 2023 

A great white shark off the coast of Cape Cod in 2022.

Joseph Prezioso/Getty Images

Researchers were shocked to find out that two great white sharks have become friends.


The sharks, named Simon and Jekyll, have travelled 4,000 miles together up the Atlantic Coast.


Great white sharks are usually solitary creatures so finding these shark "buddies" was a surprise.

Turns out, even chronically single apex predators may need companionship sometimes.

Researchers were shocked to discover that two great white sharks — which are typically solitary creatures — have seemingly become friends, traveling thousands of miles together.

Scientists at OCEARCH, a nonprofit research organization, first tagged Simon and Jekyll with location trackers in December off the coast of Georgia, according to the group's website.

OCEARCH has learned that since then, the sharks have traveled practically side-by-side for over 4,000 miles, all the way up the Atlantic Coast to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, the organization said in a video posted to Facebook.

During the summer great whites travel over hundreds of miles north from Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas in search of gray seals. Canda's rebounding seal population attracts the predators, Live Science reports.

Why are these two great white shark sticking together?

"This is potentially groundbreaking," Bob Hueter, chief scientist at OCEARCH, said in the Facebook video, later adding, "We've never seen anything quite like this before."

Heuter continued, "White sharks lead a very solitary existence. We don't really expect to see these white sharks staying together, but Simon and Jekyll, they seem to be buddies in the sense that they're going in the same place at the same time."

Heuter said in the video that OCEARCH plans to conduct genetic analyses on samples of the sharks' DNA to determine if the pair are brothers or half-brothers.

They're both juvenile sharks, with Simon weighing in at 434 pounds and 9 feet 6 inches long and Jekyll at 395 pounds and 8 feet 8 inches, according to their profiles on OCEARCH's website.

Gray reef sharks, sand tigers, and hammerheads all form social groups to some degree. While great whites are generally solitary, Yannis Papastamatiou, a professor at Florida International University, found that it varies from shark to shark. Some are friendly and others prefer to be alone.

A busted Russian warship may not have seen an exploding Ukrainian drone boat coming, hinting at problems that have plagued Russia throughout its war

Ryan Pickrell
Wed, August 9, 2023 

Russian Navy's landing vessel Ropucha-class Olenegorsky Gornyak 012 cross the Bosphorus strait en route to the Black Sea on February 09, 2022 in Istanbul, Turkey.

Burak Kara/Getty Images

A Russian warship was struck by a Ukrainian drone boat that it doesn't appear to have seen coming.


In video footage from last week's incident, the drone seems to approach uninhibited by ship defenses.


The attack hints at problems like complacency, negligence, and underestimating threats that have hurt Russia in this war.

Ukraine pulled off an attack on a Russian warship last week, and the lack of an obvious defensive response by the ship to the explosive-laden drone boat that crippled it suggests the Russian crew may not have seen it coming.

The apparent failure to detect or even attempt to fire at the incoming drone hints at problems that have plagued the Russian military throughout its war: Complacency, negligence, and a tendency to underestimate the Ukrainians, especially when it comes to reach.

Video surfaced last Friday of a naval drone — like the ones the Ukrainian military showed off and made international headlines with only days before — approaching a Russian ship and cutting out right as it detonated on impact.

The Russian ship, identified as the Project 775 Ropucha-class landing ship Olenegorsky Gornyak, was spotted listing heavily in the water in the aftermath of the attack at the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, indicating the vessel was actually hit, despite Russia's discredited claims to have thwarted the attack.

Commenting on the video of the drone attack, prominent pro-Russian milblogger Rybar, per a CNN translation, observed that "it is interesting that the drone approached the large landing ship freely," assessing "the crew probably did not anticipate an attack and therefore did not take any action to destroy the drone."

Ukrainian drone boat attacks have been occurring much more frequently since they were first used last year. Just a few days before this attack, Russian vessels were fighting off drone boats in another incident. Experts told Insider it's odd that these threats are seemingly not being given higher priority, especially considering other Black Sea Fleet losses, like the Russian flagship cruiser Moskva that was sunk after being struck by Ukraine's shore-based anti-ship missiles.

Due to their size, design, and low profile in the water, the drone boats are hard to detect both visually and by radar, especially at night, but it's still a known threat, making the apparent lack of a more robust defense and heightened vigilance surprising.

Since the deadly suicide bombing of the US Navy destroyer USS Cole in 2000, US ships have taken greater precautions in less-than-friendly waterways, such as extra watch standing, added surveillance, and weaponry at the ready, Bryan Clark, a former Navy officer and defense expert at the Hudson Institute, told Insider. Actions can include steps like manning topside gun crews and closely tracking radar providing targeting data for the deck guns and rotary cannons.

"You should've seen some of that activity. I didn't see any of that," he said of Russia's Olenegorsky Gornyak, adding that "it seemed like there was really no response."

"It just seems very strange they didn't respond at all to the incoming drone boats," Clark added. At the very least, crew-served weapons like machine guns might have stopped the attacking drone boat. Russia has had some reported successes repelling drone boat attacks on its corvettes and intelligence vessels.

One of three Russian navy vessels, a Ropucha class large landing ship "Olenegorsky Gornyak" sails through the Bosphorus Strait en route to the Black Sea past the city of Istanbul on February 9, 2022.

OZAN KOSE/AFP via Getty Images

The British defense ministry said in an intelligence update the day after the attack on the big Russian landing ship that "the 3600 tonne, 113 metre long Olenegorsky Gornyak represents the largest Russian naval vessel seriously damaged or destroyed since the sinking of the cruiser Moskva on 13 April 2022."

The ministry added that "this is a significant blow to the [Black Sea Fleet], which previously relocated most of its units to Novorossiysk due to the high threat to Sevastopol."

The Russian ship may have assumed it was safe in Novorossiysk, given that the port is roughly 350 miles from the Ukrainian port city of Odessa, but it shouldn't have. The reach of Ukraine's drone boats was hardly a secret.

Just days before the attack, Ukraine showed CNN its naval drone boats packed with nearly 1,000 pounds of explosives, revealing they have a range of roughly 500 miles. Yet the reactions of the Olenegorsky Gornyak's crew did not look like a ship aware it was operating within the reach of Ukraine's weapons.

Typically, the work of identifying emerging threats is done by naval intelligence officers, with fleet commanders then ordering preparations to ready their ship crews to the risk.

If the Russian warship, previously described as "one of Russia's best," did, in fact, fail to take necessary precautions within range of attack, it certainly wasn't a first for the Russian military in its war in Ukraine, as it has made costly errors of this nature in the past.

At the start of the year, a few dozen, if not actually a few hundred, Russian troops were killed in a New Year's Day strike on their barracks in Makiivka.

The Kremlin blamed complacency and cellphone usage, but Russian milbloggers argued their commanders negligently stationed Russian forces in a vulnerable position near ammunition storage within firing range of Ukraine's US-provided HIMARS, a powerful and proven rocket artillery system.

Months later in June, more Russian service members were killed in a rocket artillery strike after reportedly being forced to stand in one spot in Kreminna for hours listening to a commander's speech, again within range of Ukraine's HIMARS.

And more recently, a large number of Russian troops gathered last week out in the open on a beach on Dzharylhach island, a position that also turned out to be within reach of Ukraine's rocket artillery, and suffered significant casualties as a result. An expert told Insider's Erin Snodgrass at the time that Russia failed "military operations 101," and that's been happening throughout this conflict.

Other questionable actions, for instance, involve things like storing ammunition next to medical facilities and Russian generals foolishly strutting along the front lines, moves that appear to stem from a lack of appreciation for their enemy in this fight, which may have been the case with the Olenegorsky Gornyak.

A sea drone shows the silhouette of Olenegorsky Gornyak ship near the port of Novorossiysk, Russia, in this screengrab obtained from social media video released on August 4, 2023.

"We have seen that video," Mark Cancian, a senior adviser with the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Insider, referring to the video footage of the drone attack.

"You don't see any obstacles, you don't see any nets, you don't see any patrol boats or shooting or anything like that that would indicate an active defense."

The video suggests the landing ship took no apparent action in response to the drone boat beyond possibly turning on a searchlight.

Cancian acknowledged that there may have been defensive actions but said that going off the video of the attack, "it certainly looks like they assumed that the Ukrainians were not able to strike at that distance."

The Russians "were not as attentive and didn't have the surveillance up that they should have," Cancian said, and they paid the price. Russia also seems to have discounted Ukrainian cleverness, which is damaging Russian ships in the Black Sea even without a navy.

The thing to watch, he noted, will be whether or not Russia adapts in response to this incident.

If they do, it shows Russia learns, albeit the hard way, but if they don't, it indicates "that not only are they sort of complacent and sloppy, but they're not learning either." We'll see if they do.

Kellogg's 'woke' workplace diversity programs are illegal, RIGHT WING group claims

KELLOGS WAS ALWAYS WOKE 

IT BEGAN AS A HEALTH FOOD CO.

 Kellogg's Corn Flakes, owned by Kellogg Company, are seen for sale in a store in Queens,

 New York City


Wed, August 9, 2023 
By Daniel Wiessner

(Reuters) - A conservative legal group on Wednesday urged a U.S. anti-discrimination agency to investigate Kellogg Co over workplace diversity policies that it says are unlawful, and accused the cereal maker of sexualizing its products.

This is the second complaint filed this week against a company by America First Legal, a nonprofit run by Stephen Miller, who was an adviser to former President Donald Trump.

America First in a letter to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) said Kellogg's hiring, training and promotion practices are designed to achieve a balance based on race and sex that violates the federal law banning workplace bias.

It also criticized marketing campaigns including boxes of Cheez-It crackers featuring drag queen RuPaul and cereal boxes celebrating LGBTQ Pride Month.

"Management has discarded the company's long-held family friendly marketing approach to politicize and sexualize its products," the group said.

The EEOC can sue companies if it finds that their employment practices amount to illegal discrimination.

Kellogg did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Many legal experts expect an uptick in legal challenges to corporate diversity programs in the wake of a June U.S. Supreme Court ruling barring race-conscious admissions policies in higher education.

America First in the letter said Kellogg, for example, has said it wants to have "25% underrepresented talent at the management level" by 2025 and runs fellowship programs that are only open to racial minorities.

"Kellogg’s employment practices are unlawfully based on 'equity,' which is a euphemism for illegal discrimination," Reed Rubenstein, a lawyer with the group, wrote in the letter.

America First said it also had sent a letter to Kellogg's board of directors on Wednesday threatening shareholder litigation if the company maintains the allegedly illegal policies.

The nonprofit on Tuesday sued Target Corp on behalf of an investor, saying the retailer failed to anticipate customer backlash over LGBTQ-themed merchandise that hurt its stock value.

The complaints are part of a campaign conservative legal groups and Republican legislators are waging against corporations that have enacted so-called woke policies on social issues such as race, gender and diversity.

(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York; Editing by Stephen Coates)

Norfolk Southern content with minimum safety too often, regulators say after fiery Ohio derailment

The union representing track maintenance workers, said  glad to see OSHA doing something to hold the railroad accountable because its “actions were completely derelict.” 


The Canadian Press
Wed, August 9, 2023 



OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Norfolk Southern made improvements after one of its trains derailed, caught fire and spilled toxic chemicals near an Ohio town, but the company is nowhere near the “gold standard for safety” it is striving to be, according to federal regulators. Instead, the railroad is too often only willing to meet minimum safety requirements.

The Federal Railroad Administration released its 143-page report on the Atlanta-based railroad’s safety culture Wednesday. The agency has been working on the report for months since thousands of people had to evacuate their homes after the East Palestine, Ohio, derailment.

Poor communication and mistrust between employees and managers are hindering Norfolk Southern’s efforts to improve safety, the report also said. The agency questioned whether the company's training for employees and managers is adequate.

“At a time when so many people working on and living near train tracks are asking legitimate questions about how major freight railroads operate, railroads must have a culture and operations that are focused on safety,” agency administrator Amit Bose said. “This first-of-its-kind assessment — conducted immediately after the Norfolk Southern derailment in East Palestine — shows in too many instances the railroad should be doing more to ensure the safety people deserve.”

The agency has promised to conduct similar safety culture reviews at all the major freight railroads, including CSX, Union Pacific, BNSF, Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Kansas City, but it hasn’t set a timeline for those reviews.

Norfolk Southern is collaborating with workers on safety and addressing the report’s findings, said CEO Alan Shaw, who since the Feb. 3 derailment near Pennsylvania has repeatedly called for his railroad to set the “gold standard” for safety in the industry.

Bose met with Shaw and several of the railroad’s other executives Tuesday to go over the findings, and the company gave a copy of the report to Atkins Nuclear Secured, an independent consultant with expertise in nuclear submarines that is reviewing the company’s safety program.

“We aren't waiting” to act, Shaw said. He said the railroad will keep working on improvements it announced in March while trying to address the regulators' recommendations.

Congress and regulators have called for all the major freight railroads to make a number of changes to improve safety but proposed legislation has stalled in the Senate and failed to get started in the Republican-controlled House.

The rail agency said its assessment “shows numerous examples where NS seems more concerned with compliance with minimum safety requirements of federal regulations and industry standards rather than understanding and seeking to address safety concerns that fall outside the boundaries of existing rules and regulations.”

And as investigators looked into the railroad's practices, they “encountered multiple instances of lapses in trust between employees and their frontline supervisors,” including times when employees refused to meet with investigators because they feared they would be disciplined for speaking out about their safety concerns.

Shaw has defended the railroad's overall safety record and said its number of derailments is down since it began overhauling its operations in 2019 and making widespread job cuts in the name of efficiency. But the federal agency pointed out that between 2018 and 2022 the rate of accidents per million train miles on Norfolk Southern rose faster than any other major freight railroad.

The agency said it has noticed some initial improvement since the derailment, but that it has been inconsistent as the railroad hasn't always communicated the changes well to all its supervisors and employees.

Just last year the agency audited Norfolk Southern’s safety practices and training programs after three railroad employees — including two conductors who had been on the job less than a year — suffered amputations while on duty. The agency made 25 recommendations in that audit that the railroad didn’t promptly or comprehensively respond to.

Just two days before the East Palestine derailment, "NS responded, indicating that where recommendations exceeded the minimum regulatory requirements, they would take no further action, but did promise to engage in corrective action for the majority of the recommendations,” the report said.

The National Transportation Safety Board has been investigating what caused the Ohio derailment after holding hearings on it in June. But that agency has said the derailment was likely caused by an overheating bearing on one of the rail cars. A sensor triggered an alarm about that bearing but the crew didn't have time to stop the train before cars loaded with hazardous chemicals began to careen off the tracks.

The federal rail agency took a close look at how Norfolk Southern monitors those sensors and found that there was often only one employee — sometimes working from home — monitoring all the roughly 1,200 detectors throughout the railroad's network of 19,500 miles (31,382 kilometers) of track in the eastern United States. And that person relied on email to alert dispatchers about any problems — creating the possibility of a delay in notice. That person also dealt with reports of mechanical problems from train crews and safety concerns reported by the public.

In addition to Wednesday's report, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration said it had fined the railroad $49,111 for failing to provide proper protective gear and adequate hazardous materials training to the workers who were sent to East Palestine immediately after the derailment to rebuild the tracks.

Norfolk Southern also agreed establish a medical monitoring program to track the health of workers who were at the site and improve its training for future derailments as part of a settlement with OSHA.

Tony Cardwell, who leads the union representing track maintenance workers, said he's glad to see OSHA doing something to hold the railroad accountable because its “actions were completely derelict.” Cardwell said he was “blown away” when he learned that his members were working at the derailment site just in their normal leather gloves and boots and not in the hazmat suits he kept seeing on news reports.

“Unless agencies step in and force the carriers to do these things, they won’t do them because there’s a cost associated with it,” said Cardwell, who is president of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division union.

Josh Funk, The Associated Press

Closure of 3 Southern California power plants likely to be postponed, state energy officials decide




SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Temperatures in many California cities are cooling down this week, but a debate is simmering on how to generate enough electricity to power the state through extreme weather events while transitioning away from a reliance on fossil fuels.

The California Energy Commission voted Wednesday to extend the life of three gas power plants along the state's southern coast through 2026, postponing a shutoff deadline previously set for the end of this year. The vote would keep the decades-old facilities — Ormond Beach Generating Station, AES Alamitos and AES Huntington Beach — open so they can run during emergencies.

The state is at a greater risk of blackouts during major events when many Californians simultaneously crank up their air conditioning, such as a blistering heat wave.

“We need to move faster in incorporating renewable energy. We need to move faster at incorporating battery storage. We need to build out chargers faster,” commissioner Patricia Monahan said. “We're working with all the energy institutions to do that, but we are not there yet.”

The plan, put together by the state’s Department of Water Resources, still needs final approval from the State Water Resources Control Board, which may vote on the issue next week. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation last year creating an energy reserve the state could use as a last resort if there is likely to be an energy shortage. The law allowed the Department of Water Resources to fund or secure power sources in those instances.

The commission acknowledged it was a difficult decision. Environmentalists say the state needs to transition to more short- and long-term solutions that will help it move away from fossil fuels and to rely more on renewable energy sources like solar and wind. They’re also concerned about the health impacts associated with pollution from gas plants.

Few people spoke in support of keeping the plants open during about three hours of public comment.

Neither GenOn, the company running the Ormond Beach plant, nor AES, which runs the Alamitos and Huntington Beach plants, responded to email requests for comment on the vote.

At Wednesday's meeting, activists said residents cannot be sure the state will not decide to again extend the life of these plants in another three years. Siva Gunda, the commission's vice-chair, said the state should better prepare a strategy for ending operations of the plants by 2026.

The three plants were originally set to shut down in 2020 under state regulations aimed at power plants that suck up ocean water to cool down their equipment. Many similar power plants have already shut down to comply with those rules.

The Ormond Beach plant is located in a largely Latino, low-income part of Oxnard, a city about 54 miles (87 kilometers) west of Los Angeles, next to agricultural fields that border homes. Oxnard residents who testified at the meeting said they are concerned about respiratory illnesses associated with pollution from gas facilities, as well as odors and noises coming from the plant.

“We are tired of fighting for our human right to breathe clean air,” said Oxnard resident and activist Sofi Magallon.

Newsom said earlier this year that the state would have enough water in its reservoirs from intense periods of snow and rain this past winter to revive hydroelectric plants, which reduces the chances of electricity outages during heat waves.

Emissions from the three plants dramatically increased during a record-breaking September heat wave, according to a report released by Regenerate California, a coalition of environmental groups. That included pollution from carbon and smog-forming nitrogen oxides. The report also cites data from the state showing that several gas plants didn't generate as much electricity as expected during the heat wave.

“They're not providing the energy that we're relying on them for. They're overpromising and underdelivering,” said Ari Eisenstadt, an energy equity manager with the California Environmental Justice Alliance. “That makes them a pretty bad investment.”

California has made strides in recent years to move toward renewables. In 2021, more than 37% of the state’s electricity came from renewable sources, up nearly 3% from the previous year, according to the Energy Commission. The state has set out to remove as many carbon emissions from the atmosphere as it emits by 2045.

But environmentalists still want California to speed up its transition toward renewables like solar and wind. In the meantime, the state should spend “much more ambitiously” to fund programs incentivizing people to reduce their energy use, so resources are not strained during extreme heat, said Teresa Cheng, a campaigner with Sierra Club.

That includes a statewide program to pay people to conserve energy during peak electricity times.

During last September's heat wave, Newsom issued something called a Flex Alert, which asked Californians to use less energy during the evenings in part by setting their thermostats to 78 degrees Fahrenheit (26 degrees Celsius) or higher. The result was a dramatic reduction in reliance on the grid, Cheng said.

“There's always this crux of being able to extend the life of gas plants,” Cheng said. “As long as we have these gas plants online, we never really have to invest in clean energy solutions.”

___

Sophie Austin is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Austin on Twitter: @sophieadanna.

Sophie Austin, The Associated Press

Wed, August 9, 2023 

Space tourists will probably have sex up there, but they shouldn't get pregnant, researchers warn


Morgan McFall-Johnsen
Wed, August 9, 2023

Space sex could be on the horizon.Crystal Cox/Morgan McFall-Johnsen/Insider; NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI

Space tourism is blasting off, increasing the odds that space-vacationers will have sex up there.


If someone gets pregnant in space, the radiation could harm them or their embryo, scientists say.


Space companies could end up with lawsuits and bad press if they don't talk to tourists about this.

Let's talk about space sex.

So far there have been no reports of cosmic coitus, but more and more people are taking a pleasure cruise in Earth's orbit. It may just be a matter of time until somebody starts the 250-mile-high club.

Since billionaires Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson raced to the edge of space two years ago, orbital tourism has taken off.

Blue Origin's New Shepard suborbital rocket launches toward space.Blue Origin

Branson's company, Virgin Galactic, is set to launch its first space tourists on Thursday, with plans to conduct similar flights every month.

SpaceX launched its third batch of people who aren't professional astronauts into space in May. Billionaire Yusaku Maezawa has booked a trip around the moon on the company's Starship mega-rocket, which made its first attempt at launching to orbit in April. Entrepreneur Dennis Tito has booked two seats on a similar Starship lunar flight — one for himself, and one for his wife.

If they can shell up enough cash, wealthy people around the world can book a vacation beyond it, lasting anywhere from a few minutes to a few weeks. Some companies even aim to build hotels in Earth's orbit.

"It is unrealistic to assume that all space tourism participants will abstain from sexual activities," researchers wrote in a green paper on the subject earlier this year.

Sharon and Marc Hagle kiss in front of Blue Origin's space capsule after a short spaceflight.Blue Origin

That's why, they argue, spaceflight companies should be proactive and talk to their customers about cosmic coupling and its risks.

If somebody gets pregnant — on purpose or otherwise — there's a chance that the background radiation of space would harm a freshly fertilized egg cell, even if they're only in space for a day or two after the act, two space researchers told Insider. There's no telling how that would affect the rest of the pregnancy.

"These high-energy deep-space-radiation particles, some of them pass right through the vehicle and right through people. And so in theory, if one of them is coming through and it just so happens to hit a developing embryo, what effect would it have on that?" Dr. Kris Lehnhardt, who leads NASA research on medical systems for deep-space exploration, told Insider.

That's an open question, Lehnhardt said, but "the consequence of someone becoming pregnant in space could be very high."
The dangers of unfettered space fornication

A Starship prototype launches from SpaceX's facilities in Boca Chica, Texas.SpaceX

It may not even be possible to get pregnant in space, but it's probably not worth taking the chance.

There has been very little research on the effects the space environment might have on reproductive systems. That's partly because space research has long been dominated by government agencies.

"In general, NASA stays away from sex and reproduction questions," Lehnhardt said. "It's not truly relevant to the work that we're doing at NASA right now on a day-to-day basis."

Even when it has been relevant, reproductive health hasn't been one of NASA's strong suits. Engineers there famously asked astronaut Sally Ride if 100 tampons would be enough for a one-week spaceflight.

Most of the space reproduction studies that do exist are focused on rodents. Their findings may not be applicable to humans at all, but they offer hints that reproductive functions could be affected by space radiation and microgravity.

Colonel Walter Villadei floats in microgravity during a Virgin Galactic flight.Virgin Galactic

In one study, researchers put mouse embryos in an incubator on board a satellite. The embryos developed in space but sustained "severe" DNA damage and had developmental defects.

In other research, exposure to microgravity decreased testosterone levels and sperm production in male rats. Some female rats have mated during spaceflight but then shown signs of early pregnancy loss.

Some forms of radiation on Earth are known to have negative effects on human pregnancy. But "the galactic cosmic radiation that we experience in space doesn't have a good comparison on the ground," Lehnhardt said.

It may even be risky to conceive within a few months of returning from spaceflight, the green paper authors argue. Again, research is lacking. The uncertainty is enough for some astronauts to freeze their eggs before they launch into orbit, according to Lehnhardt.
Have you talked to your spaceflight customers about sex?

Elon Musk at the "Choose France" Summit at the Chateau de Versailles, outside Paris.Ludovic Marin/Reuters

If someone does get pregnant up there, that person or their fetus could face complications. Failure to address this possibility puts space-tourism companies at risk of reputational damage or litigation, the green paper argues.

"We're definitely not trying to say you should ban sex in space," David Cullen, the lead author of the paper and a professor of space biotechnology at Cranfield University, told Insider.

Instead, he continued, companies should "put in place procedures and mitigations to minimize the chance of any sexual interactions leading to human conception."

Cullen and his co-authors argue that space-tourism leaders should talk about the risks of acting on orbital arousal. Companies could require that their customers undergo medical and reproductive counseling, or sign waivers about sex and reproduction before flying.
To build cities on other planets, we have to learn how to make babies out there

Those are just the first steps. If humans are to settle on other planets to become a "multiplanetary species" — a goal that Elon Musk has often touted over the years — someone will need to figure out the feasibility and risks of space sex, pregnancy, and birth.

As far as we know, SpaceX is not discussing sex with its spaceflight customers.Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters

That's why Cullen and other authors of the paper are working on an initiative called SpaceBorn United, to research in vitro fertilization (IVF) in space. The company plans to try space IVF first using mouse embryos, in 2024, but eventually aims to test on human embyros.

"Those are the stepping stones of research that would be needed to see how viable pregnancy could be in the space environment," Lehnhardt said.

But, he was sure to note, "NASA has absolutely nothing to do with that."