UK

Liz Truss appears on right-wing ‘conspiratorial’ platform

'This isn't the first time Liz Truss has flirted with the far-right, she must be immediately suspended from the Conservative Party'

Hannah Davenport 

Today
Left Foot Forward

A podcast set up by a misogynistic influencer and former UKIP candidate will host an interview with Liz Truss this afternoon according to the channel’s social media account.

The former Prime Minister is set to appear on an episode of Tomlinson Talks on the Lotus Eaters podcast. Lotus Eaters was set up by Carl Benjamin who had his YouTube account stripped of its ability to earn money in 2019 after he repeatedly joked about raping Labour MP Jess Phillips. He has also been accused of repeatedly using racial slurs against minorities in YouTube videos.

One of its contributors is Benjamin ‘Beau’ Dade, who was dropped from running as a Reform UK candidate after claims emerged that he had fantasised about deporting “millions” of British citizens to “rid itself of the foreign plague we have been diseased with”.

Anti-racism campaign group HOPE Not Hate claimed the podcast has also ‘promoted the Great Replacement Theory and claimed the World Economic Forum is trying to control society.’ Liz Truss has herself touted conspiracy theories like claiming the ‘Deep State’ was ousting her from power.

HOPE Not Hate has called for Truss to be immediately suspended from the Tory Party over her ‘flirtings with the far-right’.

Georgie Laming, Campaigns Director at HOPE Not Hate said: “It is completely irresponsible for any MP or candidate to share a platform with Lotus Eaters and their band of conspiracy theorists and far-right activists.

“This isn’t the first time Liz Truss has flirted with the far-right, she must be immediately suspended from the Conservative Party.”

Liz Truss will be interviewed by presenter Connor Tomlinson who also contributed frequently to Talk TV and GB News. She was widely condemned earlier in the year for cosying up with Steve Bannon, agreeing with him as he described Tommy Robinson as a “hero” during their discussion.

Hoping to get re-elected in her constituency of South West Norfolk, Truss launched her own general election campaign video last Thursday, which didn’t get the reactions she was perhaps hoping for. The MP was rinsed after listing her ‘record’, with many commentators quick to stress that she had omitted some major points, a glaring one being “tanking the economy”.

(Image credit: The Telegraph / Screenshot)

UK

Royal College of Nursing General Secretary stands down to enter politics

Professor Pat Cullen is seeking nomination to run for Sinn Féin

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Hannah Davenport Today
General Election Left Foot Forward News

The General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has announced she will step down with immediate effect in order to seek election to Parliament in the general election.

Professor Pat Cullen has spent three years as General Secretary and Chief Executive of the UK’s largest nursing union, overseeing waves of historic industrial action when nursing staff in England went on strike for the first time in the RCN’s history in December 2022.

Ahead of the general election, Cullen is seeking nomination to stand as Sinn Féin candidate for the Fermanagh and South Tyrone constituency. She said it had been an “honour” to champion nurses’ rights and that she is now ready to lead as an MP “working to better the lives of workers, families and communities.”

In a statement she said: “This election is an opportunity to vote for a new and better future.It is also an opportunity to support better funding for our public services and to reject years of cruel Tory cuts which have targeted frontline services, particularly health.”

Commenting on her resignation from the RCN, Cullen said she “owed the RCN members a debt of gratitude”.

“This was the hardest decision to make, and we have achieved so much in 3 very different and difficult years,” said Professor Pat Cullen.

“I hope my legacy here will be to have helped the nursing profession use its voice and campaign for change, for ourselves and patients. I owe RCN members a debt of gratitude.”

Paul Vaughan, Chair of RCN Council, said: “Pat has been a tremendous leader for our profession and put the College on a journey to a brighter future. She has been fearless in rooting out longstanding cultural issues internally and speaking truth to power in the health service and politics alike.”

The RCN is seeking applicants for its permanent General Secretary and Chief Executive as the union looks to advocate for nursing over the next five week election campaign period.

Professor Nicola Ranger said: “We will ensure every party and candidate knows the value of nursing and RCN Congress next week is the ideal opportunity for that.

“Pat’s vision for the return of the RCN Institute of Nursing Excellence will be a lasting legacy as it provides support to many thousands of nursing staff. She has progressed the profession in so many ways and we’re thankful for her incredible hard work to advance the cause of the College.”

(Image credit: Good Morning Britain / Screenshot)

Hannah Davenport is news reporter at Left Foot Forward

Hong Kong's first domestic security arrest targets Tiananmen activist Chow Hang-tung and her supporters

Hong Kong's first domestic security arrest targets Tiananmen activist Chow Hang-tung and her supporters

The six were accused of publishing seditious content

Written byHong Kong Free Press

Posted 29 May 2024 

Screenshot from Chow Hang-tung's club on Facebook. Fair use.

Detained Hong Kong rights activist Chow Hang-tung was among six people arrested by national security police on May 28, 2024, marking the first apprehensions under the city’s new security law, which was enacted in March.

Secretary for Security Chris Tang confirmed on May 28 that the arrests were made in connection with a Facebook group that called for support for barrister and human rights activist Chow, who has been detained under the Beijing-imposed national security law since September 2021. The group was created on May 18, 2023, and the primary location for those who managed it was the UK.

In an earlier statement, police said five men and one woman had been detained on suspicion of acting with seditious intent. One of them, a woman already in custody, was alleged to have continuously published anonymous “seditious” posts on a social media page with the help of the other five.

The posts were said to have made use of an “upcoming sensitive date” to incite hatred against the central and Hong Kong governments, as well as the Judiciary. Police also alleged that the posts were meant to incite netizens to organise or participate in illegal activities at a later time.

“Concerning the sensitive date, actually I think the date itself was not important,” Tang told reporters in Cantonese. “The most important thing is that these people who intend to endanger national security made use of this subject to incite hatred,” he continued.

The arrests came a week before June 4, which this year will mark the 35th anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown, when hundreds, if not thousands, died as China’s People’s Liberation Army violently dispersed student protesters in Beijing.

The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, which Chow used to be vice-chair of, organised annual vigils to remember the victims of the crackdown in Victoria Park until 2020, when the gathering was banned amid the COVID-19 pandemic in order to stop the spread of the virus.

The vigil was banned again in 2021, with police again citing COVID-19, and the Alliance disbanded in September 2021 after its leaders — Chow, Albert Ho and Lee Cheuk-yan — were arrested on suspicion of inciting subversion. There have been no official commemorations held since.

Police searched the homes of five arrestees and seized items related to the case, including electronic devices that were suspected of having been used to publish the alleged posts.

Under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, more commonly known as Article 23 legislation, crimes related to seditious intention are punishable by up to seven years behind bars.

“Those who intend to endanger national security should not delude themselves into thinking that they can evade police investigation by posting online anonymously,” police said in a Chinese statement issued on Tuesday afternoon.

“The general public must recognise the truth and not be deceived by false and distorted information,” they added.

Separate from the 2020 Beijing-enacted security law, the homegrown Safeguarding National Security Ordinance targets treason, insurrection, sabotage, external interference, sedition, theft of state secrets and espionage. It allows for pre-charge detention of up to 16 days, and suspects’ access to lawyers may be restricted, with penalties involving up to life in prison. Article 23 was shelved in 2003 amid mass protests, remaining taboo for years. But, on March 23, 2024, it was enacted, having been fast-tracked and unanimously approved at the city’s opposition-free legislature.

The law has been criticised by rights NGOs, Western states and the UN as vague, broad and “regressive.” Authorities, however, cited perceived foreign interference and a constitutional duty to “close loopholes” after the 2019 protests and unrest.

Iceland: Grindavik volcano eruption prompts new evacuations

A volcano located near the famous Blue Lagoon has erupted once again — the fifth such eruption since December. Icelandic authorities have declared a state of emergency but air traffic has not been significantly affected.

The volcano shot lava 50 meters (165 feet) into the air

A volcano in Grindavik, Iceland, erupted again on Wednesday, spewing lava and clouds of ash into the air.

Iceland's Met Office said the volcano was shooting lava about 50 meters (165 feet) high from a fissure that was around 1 kilometer (1,100 yards) long.

It is the fifth volcanic eruption in the region since December, and it comes almost three weeks after the end of the previous eruption.

The volcanic fissure near Grindavik is around 1 kilometer (1,100 yards) long

Birn Oddsson/Iceland Civil Defense/AP/picture alliance

Blue Lagoon evacuated

Authorities have declared a state of emergency.

The eruption triggered the evacuation of the nearby Blue Lagoon geothermal spa, a popular tourist attraction. Around 700 to 800 visitors were said to be staying there as of Wednesday morning.

Additionally, the few residents who returned to the nearby town of Grindavik since it was evacuated in late 2023 were once again ordered to leave.

Air traffic has not been significantly disrupted by the ash cloudI

Birn Oddsson/Iceland Civil Defense/AP/picture alliance

Iceland's main international airport in Keflavik, near the capital, remained "open and operating in the usual way," airport operator Isavia said on its website.

The latest eruptions signal a reawakening of the Svartsengi volcanic system after almost 800 years of dormancy.

It's unclear when this volcanic activity will die down again, or what it means for the Reykjanes Peninsula — one of the few densely populated parts of Iceland.

opportuniste

Haiti transitional council names Garry Conille PM

The UN development specialist previously served as Haiti's prime minister for a brief period. His selection comes as Haiti grapples with a major security crisis.

UN development specialist Garry Conille has been named Haiti's new prime minister by the country's transitional council.

The move comes amid a security crisis in the Caribbean country, with armed gangs controlling most of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and parts of the countryside.

The transitional council was formed last month after former Prime Minister Ariel Henry formally resigned.

A member of the council told the AFP news agency that Conille was elected 6-1 on Tuesday afternoon.

Council president Edgard Leblanc also announce the decision on social media.

Who is Garry Conille?

Conille has been UNICEF's regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean since January 2023 and briefly served as prime minister from October 2011 to May 2012.

UNICEF said in a short statement to late Tuesday that he was stepping down from his role as regional director: "We are working closely with Garry to ensure a smooth transition at this time."

What is the political situation in Haiti?

Haiti is waiting for the deployment of a Kenyan-led multinational force tasked with returning control of the capital to the state.

Following Henry's resignation, Kenya said it would halt the deployment of its multinational force until a new government is installed.

Haiti has had no president since the assassination of Jovenel Moise in 2021 and has no sitting parliament.

The country's last election was held in 2016.

Haiti's gang violence pushes country to the brink



02:03

Gang violence in Haiti

Gangs launched a series of attacks on police stations, prisons and other infrastructure in February while Henry was on a state visit to Kenya.

Armed groups released over 4,000 inmates after storming the country's two largest prisons.

Henry was locked out of the country by the attacks and Haiti's airport in Port-au-Prince was not operational for three months.

Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands displaced in the upsurge of gang violence.

Last week, gang members killed three missionaries, a Haitian and a US couple.

sdi/fb (AP, AFP)

Golfers want millions to give up a World Heritage Site in Ohio with ancient Indigenous ties



 A 155-foot diameter circular enclosure around hole number 3 at Moundbuilders Country Club at the Octagon Earthworks in Newark, Ohio, is pictured July 30, 2019. A trial was slated to begin Tuesday, May 28, 2024, to determine how much the historical society must pay for the ancient ceremonial and burial earthworks, which is among eight ancient areas in the Hopewell Earthworks system named a World Heritage Site last year.

 (Doral Chenoweth III/The Columbus Dispatch via AP, File)

A groundskeeper mows near the flat-topped mound that is part of the 50-acre octagon at Moundbuilders Country Club at the Octagon Earthworks in Newark, Ohio, July 30, 2019. A trial was slated to begin Tuesday, May 28, 2024, to determine how much the historical society must pay for the ancient ceremonial and burial earthworks, which is among eight ancient areas in the Hopewell Earthworks system named a World Heritage Site last year. (Doral Chenoweth III/The Columbus Dispatch via AP, File)

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

 May 28, 2024

NEWARK, Ohio (AP) — Ohio’s historical society is one step away from gaining control of ancient ceremonial and burial earthworks maintained by a country club where members golf alongside the mounds.

A trial was slated to begin Tuesday to determine how much the historical society must pay for the site, which is among eight ancient areas in the Hopewell Earthworks system named a World Heritage Site last year.

Built between 2,000 and 1,600 years ago by people from the Hopewell Culture, the earthworks were host to ceremonies that drew people from across the continent, based on archeological discoveries of raw materials from as far west as the Rocky Mountains.

The Ohio History Connection, which owns the 2,000-year-old Octagon Earthworks in Newark in central Ohio, won a state Supreme Court decision a year and a half ago allowing it to reclaim a lease held by the Moundbuilders Country Club so that it can turn the site into a public park.

The historical society has put the value of the site at about $2 million, while the country club is seeking a much higher return.

Native Americans constructed the earthworks, including eight long earthen walls, that correspond to lunar movements and align with points where the moon rises and sets over the 18.6-year lunar cycle.

The Ohio History Connection calls them “part cathedral, part cemetery and part astronomical observatory.”

Numerous tribes, some with historical ties to Ohio, want the earthworks preserved as examples of Indigenous peoples’ accomplishments.

In 1892, voters in surrounding Licking County enacted a tax increase to preserve what was left of the earthworks. The area was developed as a golf course in 1911, and the state first leased the 134-acre (54-hectare) property to Moundbuilders Country Club in the 1930s.

A county judge ruled in 2019 that the historical society can reclaim the lease via eminent domain.

The club challenged the attempt to take the property, saying the Ohio History Connection did not make a good faith offer to purchase the property as required by state law. The country club says it has provided proper upkeep of the mound and allowed public access over the years.

The club suffered another legal blow when the trial court disallowed evidence it had hoped to present regarding the land’s value. The club appealed that decision to the state Supreme Court, which declined jurisdiction.

SPACE

Satellite to probe mystery of clouds and climate

Jonathan Amos,

Science correspondent

BBC

Esa
Artwork: It's taken fully 20 years to get Earthcare into space

A sophisticated joint European-Japanese satellite has launched to measure how clouds influence the climate.

Some low-level clouds are known to cool the planet, others at high altitude will act as a blanket.

The Earthcare mission will use a laser and a radar to probe the atmosphere to see precisely where the balance lies.

It's one of the great uncertainties in the computer models used to forecast how the climate will respond to increasing levels of greenhouse gases.

"Many of our models suggest cloud cover will go down in the future and that means that clouds will reflect less sunlight back to space, more will be absorbed at the surface and that will act as an amplifier to the warming we would get from carbon dioxide," Dr Robin Hogan, from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, told BBC News.

The 2.3-tonne satellite was sent up from California on a SpaceX rocket.

The project is led by the European Space Agency (Esa), which has described it as the organisation's most complex Earth observation venture to date.

Certainly, the technical challenge in getting the instruments to work as intended has been immense. It's taken fully 20 years to go from mission approval to launch.

Eumetsat
Clouds play an integral part in the balance of energy at the Earth's surface

Earthcare will circle the Earth at a height of about 400km (250 miles).

It's actually got four instruments in total that will work in unison to get at the information sought by climate scientists.

The simplest is an imager - a camera that will take pictures of the scene passing below the spacecraft to give context to the measurements made by the other three instruments.

Earthcare's European ultraviolet laser will see the thin, high clouds and the tops of clouds lower down. It will also detect the small particles and droplets (aerosols) in the atmosphere that influence the formation and behaviour of clouds.

The Japanese radar will look into the clouds, to determine how much water they are carrying and how that's precipitating as rain, hail and snow.

And a radiometer will sense how much of the energy falling on to Earth from the Sun is being reflected or radiated back into space.

Airbus

Earthcare is about 2.5m wide and 3.5m deep. Its solar array (not pictured) is 11m long

"The balance between this outgoing total amount of radiation and the amount coming in from the Sun is what fundamentally drives our climate," said Dr Helen Brindley from the UK's National Centre for Earth Observation.

"If we change that balance, for example by increasing greenhouse gas concentrations, we reduce the amount of outgoing energy compared to what's coming in and we heat the climate."

As well as the long-term climate perspective, Earthcare's data will be used in the here and now to improve weather forecasts. For example, how a storm develops will be influenced by the initial state of its clouds as they were observed by the satellite days earlier.

Esa
Earthcare's observations of clouds will also help current weather forecasts


The original science concept for Earthcare was put forward by Prof Anthony Illingworth, from Reading University, and colleagues in 1993.

He said it was a dream come true to see the satellite finally fly: "It's been a long and challenging journey with an amazing team of dedicated scientists and engineers from the UK and abroad. Together, we've created something truly remarkable that will change the way we understand our planet."

One of the key technical struggles was the space laser, or lidar.

Developer Airbus-France had a torrid time arriving at a design that would reliably work in the vacuum of space. A fundamental re-configuration of the instrument was needed, which not only resulted in delay but added significantly to the eventual cost of the mission, which today is valued at some €850m (£725m).

Nasa
Saharan dust: The laser will study how small particles will influence cloud formation


"These aren't missions that you put up to be cheap and quick, to solve small problems; this is complex. The reason Earthcare has taken so long is because we want the gold standard," said Dr Beth Greenaway, the head of Earth observation at the UK Space Agency.

Earthcare won't have long to gather its data. Flying at 400km means it will feel the drag of the residual atmosphere at that altitude. This will work to pull the satellite down.

"It's got fuel for three years with the reserve of another year. It's basically lifetime-limited by its low orbit and the drag there," said Esa's Dr Michael Eisinger.

The industrial development of Earthcare was led by Airbus-Germany, with the basic chassis, or structure, of the spacecraft built in the UK. Britain also supplied the radiometer, from Thales Alenia Space UK, and the imager, from Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. GMV-UK has prepared the ground systems that will process all the data.

Esa
The Japanese space agency has nicknamed the mission "Hakuryu" or "White Dragon"


The Japanese space agency (Jaxa), because of its strong interest in the mission, will follow its usual practice of giving the spacecraft a nickname - "Hakuryu" or "White Dragon".

In Japanese mythology, dragons are ancient and divine creatures that govern water and fly in the sky. This year, 2024, also happens to be the Japanese Year of the Dragon, known as "tatsu-doshi".

There's a connection in the appearance of the satellite, too, which is covered in white insulation and has a long, trailing solar panel, resembling a tail.

"Earthcare, like a dragon rising into space, will become an entity that envisions the future for us," said Jaxa project manager Eiichi Tomita.

Earth poised for another major solar storm this WEEK creating magnificent auroras - as NOAA gives 60% chance of radio blackouts

By NIKKI MAIN SCIENCE REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED:  28 May 2024 | 

Earth could be hit by another powerful solar storm this week that is predicted to trigger radio blackouts and incredible northern light displays.

Earlier this month, the sun unleashed the most powerful streams of plasma, known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs), in 20 years, causing communication disruptions worldwide.

The sunspot that caused the chaos has swung back around and released a powerful flare toward Earth's region on Monday.

Read More
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) a 60 percent chance of radio blackouts on Tuesday and throughout the rest of the week.

The sun (pictured) emitted 17 small solar flares on Monday and one major X2.9 flare which is the largest class ranking

READ MORE: Scientist warns powerful solar eruptions could hit Earth in 2025

Experts offer theory on 'hairy UFO' crash discovered in North Carolina

Top secret China spaceplane releases mystery object into Earth's orbit

NOAA issued a severe geomagnetic storm watch on May 11 when the same sunspot was smashing our planet with dozens of energized streams of plasma.

A solar or geomagnetic storm is a major disturbance of Earth's magnetosphere – the area around Earth controlled by the planet's magnetic field.

NOAA's alert was the first given since 2005 when Earth was hit with the highest dose of radiation in a half-century.

The unusual event earlier this month disrupted GPS, power grids, farming equipment and satellites in orbit - and experts are monitoring Monday's flare in preparation of the same issues.

The sunspot, labeled AR3664, has released 17 flares this week, but the strongest has captured attention worldwide.

'I have not seen an explosion like this in my 40 years of observing the sun,' Amateur astronomer Michael Karrer, from Austria told SpaceWeather.

'So fast, so far out into space! It was gigantic,' he said.

Sunspot AR3664 is currently not facing directly at Earth, but data shows it will move in view by the end of the week and could unleash solar storms toward out planet.

While the storms are not expected to reach levels seen earlier this month, they are expected to cause a level three (R3) radio blackout that may last from just minutes to hours and affect GPS systems and radio communication.

GPS systems are disrupted because the radiation emitted from the solar flare hits the magnetic sphere surrounding Earth, causing fluctuations in the ionosphere.

The ionosphere is a layer in the upper atmosphere that absorbs and reflects signals during geomagnetic storms, causing static and disruptions in the signals received by GPS systems.

Auroras are also expected to spread across northeast Canada tonight, although no official forecasts related to the solar storm have been released.

The US could be impacted by the loss of cell phone communication, GPS signals and hour-long blackouts as a result of the solar flares. Pictured: Filtered image of the sun's solar flare from Milano, Italy

The flare first came from the old sunspot region AR3664, the same location as the May 10th storm, marking the first of its kind in 21 years. Pictured: Active region of the sun emitting solar flares

The sunspot first ejected solar flares on May 10 before it rotated away, but its reemergence could mean a powerful geo-storm is heading toward earth.

Earlier this month, a powerful G5 solar storm hit earth, marking the largest outburst in 20 years that was expected to collapse US power grids and cause nationwide blackouts.

There weren't significant impacts caused by the storm, although some farmers reported they lost access to their GPS systems, forcing them to pause operations.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported that there weren't more severe problems because they were prepared.

"Simply put, the power grid operators have been busy since yesterday working to keep proper, regulated current flowing without disruption," Shawn Dahl, a service coordinator for the NOAA told NPR at the time.

Other astronomers captured images of the sun emitting the solar flare across the world over the last two days ranging from Arizona, Virginia and countries as far away as Italy and Chile.

Read More
How tonight's geomagnetic storm could send GPSs haywire and cause havoc for airplanes - here's what could happen to cell phones or other electronics

Scientists have warned that these extreme eruptions could only be the start of more powerful solar flares that could hit Earth next year, causing the worst geo-storm in 165 years.

In 2019, the sun had zero reported visible sunspots on its surface, but the US National Space Weather Prediction Center estimated there could be up to 115 by July 2025.

Astronomers worry that another extreme solar flare could mirror the 1859 Carrington Event that set telegraph wires on fire, disrupted ships' compasses and cut off communications worldwide.

If an event of that magnitude occurred today, it would have much more widespread implications because of the modern-day reliance on technology for every day operations.

This would mean home medical equipment that requires electricity to function would be rendered useless and without cell phones, there would be no way to call 911 in the case of an emergency.

Major geomagnetic storms can also destroy satellites by causing them to crash into other objects in space.

The 2022 geomagnetic storm was the last severe storm prior to early May, which destroyed up to 40 Starlink satellites worth more than $50 million.

European-Japanese climate research satellite launched from California aboard SpaceX rocket

A European-Japanese climate research satellite designed to study Earth’s temperature balance has been launched into orbit from California

VANDENBERG SPACE FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) — A European-Japanese climate research satellite designed to study Earth's temperature balance was launched into orbit from California on Tuesday.

The EarthCARE satellite lifted off from coastal Vandenberg Space Force Base atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 3:20 p.m. The satellite was successfully deployed about 10 minutes later, SpaceX said on the launch webcast.

The name EarthCARE is short for Earth Cloud Aerosol and Radiation Explorer.

The satellite is equipped with four instruments to study the role of clouds and aerosols — particles suspended in the atmosphere — in reflecting solar radiation back into space and trapping infrared radiation emitted from Earth's surface.

The research is a cooperative project between the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

After stage separation, the reusable Falcon 9 first stage booster landed back at Vandenberg, completing its seventh flight.

Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. 

World's first wooden satellite built by Japan researchers

The satellite's creators expect the wooden material will burn up completely when the device re-enters the atmosphere 

 AFP

MAY 29, 2024,

TOKYO - The world’s first wooden satellite has been built by Japanese researchers, who said their tiny cuboid craft will be blasted off on a SpaceX rocket in September.

Each side of the experimental satellite developed by scientists at Kyoto University and logging company Sumitomo Forestry measures just 10cm.

The creators expect the wooden material will burn up completely when the device re-enters the atmosphere – potentially providing a way to avoid the generation of metal particles when a retired satellite returns to Earth.

These metal particles could have a negative impact on the environment and telecommunications, the developers said as they announced the satellite’s completion on May 28.



“Satellites that are not made of metal should become mainstream,” Dr Takao Doi, an astronaut and special professor at Kyoto University, told a press conference.

The developers plan to hand the satellite, made from magnolia wood and named LignoSat, to space agency JAXA next weeIt will be sent into space on a SpaceX rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in September, bound for the International Space Station (ISS), they said

From there, the satellite will be released from the Japanese ISS experiment module to test its strength and durability.

“Data will be sent from the satellite to researchers who can check for signs of strain and whether the satellite can withstand huge changes in temperature,” a Sumitomo Forestry spokeswoman told AFP on May 29.

Also on May 28, a rocket carrying a separate sophisticated satellite – a collaboration between the European Space Agency (ESA) and JAXA – blasted off from California on a mission to investigate what role clouds could play in the fight against climate change.

The EarthCARE satellite will orbit nearly 400 kilometres above Earth for three years. AFP

 

Melinda French Gates to donate $1 billion over next 2 years in support of women's rights

 

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By Michelle Chapman and Thalia Beaty

Melinda French Gates says she will be donating $1b over the next two years to individuals and organisations working on behalf of women and families globally. (File picture) Photo: AP / Jose Luis Magana

Melinda French Gates says she will be donating $1 billion over the next two years to individuals and organisations working on behalf of women and families globally, including on reproductive rights in the United States.

It is the second billion-dollar commitment French Gates has personally made in the past five years. In 2019, she pledged over 10 years to expand women's power and influence.

Earlier this month, French Gates announced she would step down from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and vowed to focus on women and families. As a part of leaving the Gates Foundation, French Gates received $12b from Bill Gates for her philanthropy going forward.

French Gates, one of the biggest philanthropic supporters of gender equity in the United States, said Tuesday in a guest essay for The New York Times that she had been frustrated over the years by people who say it was not the right time to talk about gender equality.

"Decades of research on economics, well-being and governance make it clear that investing in women and girls benefits everyone," she wrote.

French Gates said over the last few weeks she's started directing what will total $200 million in new grants through her organisation, Pivotal Ventures, to groups working in the US to protect women's rights and advance their power and influence. The grants are for general operating support, meaning they are not earmarked for specific projects. The groups include the National Women's Law Center, the National Domestic Workers Alliance and the Center for Reproductive Rights.

Teresa Younger, the president and CEO of the Ms. Foundation for Women, which also received a grant, has long called on donors to give unrestricted, multi-year funding to organisations. She praised French Gates' new commitment as a part of a larger trend of major women donors giving generously to nonprofits.

"If philanthropy took lessons from the way that women are moving money, we would see more money in the field having greater impact," Younger said.

Her organisation learned of the grant, which is the first they have received from Pivotal Ventures within the last week, and Younger said there was no application process. She declined to disclose the amount of the grant but said it would help expand their work with organisations in the South and Midwest.

The nonprofit MomsRising Education Fund also received a grant that will extend to the end of 2026, with Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, its executive director and CEO, saying, "We're deeply honoured and enormously grateful that Melinda French Gates is stepping up for women and families in a time when the rights of our daughters may be significantly less than of ourselves or our own mothers."

French Gates also pledged to give 12 individuals $20m each to distribute to nonprofit organisations of their choice before the end of 2026. Those funds will be managed by the National Philanthropic Trust, one of the largest public charities that offers donor-advised funds, a spokesperson for Pivotal Ventures said.

In total, French Gates announced $690m in commitments out of the promised $1b, which also include an "open call" for applications that the organisation Lever for Change will administer this fall. French Gates said $250m will be awarded to fund organisations working to improve women's mental and physical health globally.

French Gates' Pivotal Ventures is a limited liability company that also manages investments in for profit ventures, so there is little public information about its grant-making or the assets it manages. Pivotal Ventures has focused on a number of avenues to increase women's economic and political participation and power, like closing the wage gap, compensating care work often done by women, and encouraging women to run for political office.

Pivotal Ventures said it has committed $875m of the $1b that French Gates pledged in 2019 to a mixture of venture and philanthropic funding. Additionally, the Gates Foundation has funded research and interventions to improve maternal mortality and women's health more broadly for years. In 2020, it hired its first president for its gender quality division and in 2021, the foundation pledged $2.1b to gender equity efforts convened by UN Women.

In her essay Tuesday, French Gates touched upon the high maternal mortality rates in the US, noting that Black and Native American mothers are at the highest risk.

"Women in 14 states have lost the right to terminate a pregnancy under almost any circumstances. We remain the only advanced economy without any form of national paid family leave. And the number of teenage girls experiencing suicidal thoughts and persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness is at a decade high," she said.

French Gates will be leaving the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation next week. She helped co-found the organization nearly 25 years ago.

The Associated Press receives financial support for news coverage in Africa from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and for news coverage of women in the workforce and state governments from Pivotal Ventures.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will change its name to the Gates Foundation. It is one of the largest philanthropic organisations in the world. As of December 2023, its endowment was $75.2b, thanks to donations from Gates and the billionaire investor Warren Buffett. While it works across many issues, global health remains its largest area of work, and most of its funding is meant to address issues internationally rather than in the US.

- AP

How a flag with Mass. Revolutionary War roots became a banner of the far right

May 24, 2024Gary Fields, Lisa Mascaro and Farnoush Amiri, The Associated Press

People carry an "Appeal To Heaven" flag as they gather to support President Donald Trump during a visit to the National Constitution Center to participate in the ABC News town hall, Sept. 15, 2020, in Philadelphia. (Michael Perez/AP)

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is embroiled in a second flag controversy in as many weeks, this time over a banner with Massachusetts roots that in recent years has come to symbolize sympathies with the Christian nationalist movement and the false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

An “Appeal to Heaven” flag was flown last summer outside Alito’s beach vacation home in New Jersey, according to The New York Times, which obtained several images showing it on different dates in July and September 2023. The Times previously reported that an upside down American flag — a sign of distress — had flown outside Alito's Alexandria, Virginia, home less than two weeks after the violent Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump.

Some of the rioters carried the inverted American flag or the “Appeal to Heaven” flag, which shows a green pine tree on a white field. The revelations have escalated concerns over Alito's impartiality and his ability to objectively decide cases currently before the court that relate to the Jan. 6 attackers and Trump's attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Alito has not commented on the flag at his summer home.

Here is the history and current symbolism of the “Appeal to Heaven” flag.
Massachusetts origins

Ted Kaye, secretary for the North American Vexillological Association, which studies flags and their meaning, said the “Appeal to Heaven” banner dates to the Revolutionary War.

Six schooners outfitted by George Washington to intercept British vessels at sea flew the flag in 1775 as they sailed under his command. It became the maritime flag of Massachusetts in 1776 and remained so until 1971, he said.

According to Americanflags.com the pine tree on the flag symbolized strength and resilience in the New England colonies while the words “Appeal to Heaven” stemmed from the belief that God would deliver the colonists from tyranny.
How has its symbolism changed?

There are a few different reasons people fly “Appeal to Heaven” flags today, said Jared Holt, a senior analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a London-based think tank that tracks online hate, disinformation and extremism.

Some fans of it identify with a “patriot” movement that obsesses over the Founding Fathers and the American Revolution, he said. Others adhere to a Christian nationalist worldview that seeks to elevate Christianity in public life.

“It’s not abundantly clear which of those reasons would be accurate” in this situation, Holt said. But he called the display outside Alito’s home “alarming,” saying those who do fly the flag are often advocating for “more intolerant and restrictive forms of government aligned with a specific religious philosophy.”

The “Appeal to Heaven” flag was among several banners carried by the Jan. 6 rioters, who also favored religious banners symbolizing the white Christian nationalist movement., the Confederate flag and the yellow Gadsden flag, with its rattlesnake and “Don’t Tread on Me” message, said Bradley Onishi, author of “Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism.

"That’s the family,” he said.

What about Mike Johnson?

The "Appeal to Heaven" flag stands with the Louisiana state flag outside the district office of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, May 23, 2024. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

House Speaker Mike Johnson displays the flag in the hallway outside his office next to the flag of his home state, Louisiana. He said he has flown it “for as long as I can remember.”

Johnson, a Republican, told The Associated Press he did not know the flag had come to represent the “Stop the Steal” movement.

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“Never heard that before,” he said.

The speaker, who led one of Trump’s legal challenges to the 2020 election, defended the flag and its continued use despite the modern-day symbolism around it.

“I have always used that flag for as long as I can remember, because I was so enamored with the fact that Washington used it,” Johnson said. “The Appeal to Heaven flag is a critical, important part of American history. It’s something that I’ve always revered since I’ve been a young man.”

He added: “People misuse our symbols all the time. It doesn’t mean we don’t use the symbols anymore.”

Johnson said he had never flown the U.S. flag upside in distress, as Alito did, and he declined to assess the justice’s situation and whether raising the flags at his home was appropriate.

But he called the criticism of the “Appeal to Heaven” flag “contrived.”

“It’s nonsense,” he said. “It’s part of our history. We don’t remove statues and we don’t cover up things that are so essential to who we are as a country.”
Should Alito recuse?

House Democratic Whip, Katherine Clark of Massachusetts said in a statement that the display of the “Appeal to Heaven” flag at an Alito home was “not just another example of extremism that has overtaken conservatism. This is a threat to the rule of law and a serious breach of ethics, integrity and Justice Alito’s oath of office.”

She called for Alito to recuse himself from any cases related to Jan. 6 and the former president.

There's a clear difference between the House speaker displaying the flag outside his office and a Supreme Court justice flying it and the upside down American flag outside his homes as the court is deciding cases involving issues those flags have come to symbolize, said Alicia Bannon director of the Judiciary Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University.

Alito's actions don’t “just cross the line," she said. "They take you out of the stadium and out of the parking lot.”

Alito and the court declined to respond to requests for comment on how the “Appeal to Heaven” flag came to be flying and what it was intended to express.

Alito has said the upside down American flag was briefly flown by his wife during a dispute with neighbors and that he had no part in it.
Another blow to the court's reputation

The Supreme Court already was under fire as it considers unprecedented cases against Trump and some of those charged for the attack on the Capitol.

An issue at the center of the controversy is that the high court does not have to adhere to the same ethics codes that guide other federal judges. The Supreme Court had long gone without its own code of ethics, but it adopted one in November 2023 in the face of sustained criticism over undisclosed trips and gifts from wealthy benefactors to some justices, including Alito. The code lacks a means of enforcement, however.

The federal code of judicial ethics does not universally prohibit judges from involvement in nonpartisan or religious activity off the bench. But it does say that a judge “should not participate in extrajudicial activities that detract from the dignity of the judge’s office, interfere with the performance of the judge’s official duties” or “reflect adversely on the judge’s impartiality.”

Jeremy Fogel, executive director of the Berkeley Judicial Institute at the University of California, Berkeley Law School, said the flag revelations lead to questions about whether Alito can be impartial in any case related to Jan. 6 or Trump.

“Displaying those particular flags creates the appearance at least that the justice is signifying agreement with those viewpoints at a time when there are cases before the court where those viewpoints are relevant,” he said.

A March AP/NORC poll found that only about one-quarter of Americans think the Supreme Court is doing a somewhat or very good job upholding democratic values. About 45% think it’s doing a somewhat or very bad job.

Tony Carrk, executive director of Accountable.US, a progressive watchdog organization, said the controversy shows that further steps are needed to put teeth into the court's ethics code.

“There’s a reason why the confidence in credibility among the American people for the Supreme Court has plummeted to an all-time low,” he said.

___

Associated Press writer Ali Swenson contributed to this report.

 

American Boeing 737 blown around in wind

Video footage has emerged of an American Airlines Boeing 737-800 being blown around shortly before 2AM this morning, while parked at a gate at Dallas Fort Worth Airport (DFW).

In the video circulating widely online, which seems to be taking from security camera footage, you can see the parked jet connected to a jet bridge with its door open (though it’s my understanding that the plane wasn’t occupied at the time of the incident). The plane then starts to move due to wind gusts — it turns sharply to the right, and in the end comes to a stop at a nearly 90 degree angle to its initial position.

According to the National Weather Service, winds at the airport maxed out at just under 80 miles per hour (or around 130 kilometers per hour), so those are pretty significant gusts.

Can incidents like this be prevented?

There’s no need for an investigation into what happened, because some patriots have already figured it out. Obviously this incident happened due to DEI at Boeing. D’oh.

In all honesty, there are a few interesting aspects to this video. For one, it’s noteworthy how much loose ground equipment there is at the airport. Were winds that strong just not anticipated, or does DFW just not have a procedure for this kind of stuff, in the event of a storm?

While beyond my area of expertise, it’s my understanding that most airlines are supposed to have a plan for high wind situations, as we see here. At least at some airlines, that includes triple chocking the gear, to maximize the odds of the jet staying in place. Best I can tell in the video, it looks like there were no chocks on the wheels. I’m not sure if the chocks flew away, or what exactly happened there.

It’s also my understanding that fueling the aircraft can help to stabilize it in this situation, to give it more weight. However, that can also be hard to plan for at a major hub.

The silver lining here is that best I can tell, the aircraft didn’t sustain any damage, and the wing didn’t quite hit the jet bridge. Had that happened, this would have been a much more significant issue.

Bottom line

An American Boeing 737 went on a bit of an adventure at DFW early this morning, as the jet started spinning due to strong winds. This happens every so often, and it’s always quite a visaul to see a jet of this size moving due to wind.