'Amazon's days of impunity are over': 

400 international lawmakers including Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib slam Jeff Bezos on wages, climate action, and taxes

© Provided by Business Insider

 Rep. Ilhan Omar is among the international lawmakers on the list. Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images

Over four hundred lawmakers from 34 countries have signed an open letter to Jeff Bezos saying that Amazon's "days of impunity are over."

The letter follows organized Black Friday protests against Amazon from employees, trade unionists, and activist groups under the banner "Make Amazon Pay."

Included in the list of signatories are US Democratic Representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib.

The letter accuses Amazon of underpaying and intimidating its workers, contributing to climate change, and paying unfairly low taxes.

Over four hundred international lawmakers declared war on Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in an open letter published Thursday.

"Mr. Bezos, We, elected representatives, legislators, and public officials from around the world, hereby put you on notice that Amazon's days of impunity are over," the lawmakers wrote.

The letter accuses Amazon of underpaying and intimidating its workers, contributing to climate change, and paying unfairly low taxes.

This follows co-ordinated protests on Black Friday, November 27, against the e-commerce giant. Under the slogan "Make Amazon Pay" employees, trade unionists, and activist groups protested the tech giant, demanding that it pay workers higher wages, put an end to employee and union surveillance, and commit to more meaningful sustainability efforts.

The 400 signatories include lawmakers from 35 countries. US Democratic Representatives Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Ro Khanna, and Jamaal Bowman added their names to the list.

"Today, we pledge to stand with this movement in every congress, parliament, and statehouse where we work," the lawmakers wrote.

In response to the open letter, an Amazon spokesperson said: "While as a large company we welcome scrutiny from policymakers, the matters raised in this letter stem from a series of misleading assertions by misinformed or self-interested groups who appear to be using Amazon's profile to further their individual causes."

"Amazon has a strong track record of supporting our employees, our customers, and our communities, including providing safe working conditions, competitive wages and great benefits, leading on climate change with the Climate Pledge commitment to be net zero carbon by 2040, and paying billions of dollars in taxes globally. We look forward to continued dialogue with interested parties on these topics," they added.

In the open letter, lawmakers accused the e-commerce giant of circumventing its responsibilities.

"The world knows that Amazon can afford to pay its workers, its environmental cost and its taxes. And yet - time and again - you have dodged and dismissed your debts to workers, societies, and the planet," they said.

"While your personal wealth has risen by around US $13 million per hour in 2020, [Amazon] workers enter dangerous working conditions, enjoy little or no increase in their pay, and face retaliation for their efforts to defend themselves and organize their colleagues," they wrote.

Jeff Bezos' personal net worth has risen by $72 billion since the beginning of this year, per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index at time of reporting. By Business Insider's calculations, that puts his average wealth increase per hour since the beginning of 2020 at $9 million.

Read more: Here's the internal map of the 95 most powerful executives under cloud boss Andy Jassy

Amazon raised its frontline workers' pay by $2 per hour as hazard pay in March, which it then cancelled at the end of May. Last week, the company announced it would grant holiday bonuses of $300 to full-time and $150 to part-time workers - although the company confirmed to Business Insider the bonuses will be taxed.

The letter also accused Amazon of failing to address its contribution to climate change.

Amazon's announced its climate pledge in 2019 to commit to net zero-carbon emissions across its business by 2040 and Jeff Bezos has set up a private $10 billion "Earth Fund." But both internal and external activist groups have challenged Amazon, saying if it's serious about climate change it needs to bring forward its net-zero deadline to 2030 and sever its contracts with the fossil fuels industry.

Finally, the lawmakers accused Amazon of paying low tax rates. In 2019 Amazon paid $162 million in federal corporation tax (1.2% of the pre-tax income it reported that year) after two years of paying none at all, due to various deductions and tax credits.

In Europe the question of Amazon's taxes, like those of other US tech giants, has become hotly debated as they are able to base themselves in nations with favorable tax schemes. It was served last month with a notice from France's Finance Ministry instructing it to pay a new 3% digital services tax on revenue generated in the country.

"Amazon pays all the taxes required in every country where we operate," an Amazon spokesman told The Guardian in April. "Corporate tax is based on profits, not revenues, and our profits have remained low given our heavy investments and the fact that retail is a highly competitive, low-margin business," they added.
You can read the lawmakers' full letter here:

Mr. Bezos,

We, elected representatives, legislators, and public officials from around the world, hereby put you on notice that Amazon's days of impunity are over.

Last Friday, 27 November, workers, activists, and citizens around the world joined forces to demand justice from Amazon. Today, we pledge to stand with this movement in every congress, parliament, and statehouse where we work. In short, we write to you now with a single commitment: to Make Amazon Pay.

The world knows that Amazon can afford to pay its workers, its environmental cost and its taxes. And yet - time and again - you have dodged and dismissed your debts to workers, societies, and the planet. Your great wealth is based on the skills of your workers and the care they receive from their friends, family and communities.

These are the very people who risked their health and that of their loved ones to supply goods to consumers and make you enormous profits. But while your personal wealth has risen by around US $13 million per hour in 2020, these workers enter dangerous working conditions, enjoy little or no increase in their pay, and face retaliation for their efforts to defend themselves and organize their colleagues. We pledge again, alongside your workers, to Make Amazon Pay.

Your company's rise to dominance has come with extraordinary costs to our environment. While you have personally acknowledged the climate emergency among the defining challenges of our era, Amazon's carbon footprint is greater than two-thirds of the world's countries.

Your plan for emissions reduction is both insufficient to stay within the environmental boundaries of our planet and difficult to trust given Amazon's record of broken promises on sustainability and financial contributions to climate change denial.

We pledge again, on behalf of our planet, to Make Amazon Pay.

Finally, you have undermined our democracies and their capacity to respond to collective challenges. Your monopolistic practices have squeezed small businesses, your web services have disrespected data rights, and you have contributed a pittance in return. For example, in 2017 and 2018, Amazon paid zero US federal corporation tax. Through your global tax dodging, you damage the public provision of health, education, housing, social security and infrastructure.

We pledge again, for our constituents, to Make Amazon Pay.

We urge you to act decisively to change your policies and priorities to do right by your workers, their communities, and our planet. We stand ready to act in our respective legislatures to support the movement that is growing around the world to Make Amazon Pay.
Read the original article on Business Insider

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Vitol pays $164 million to resolve U.S. allegations of oil bribes

 in Latin America

By Tom Hals, Gram Slattery and Julia Payne

© Reuters/Denis Balibouse FILE PHOTO: 

A sign is pictured in front of the Vitol Group trading commodities company building in Geneva

(Reuters) - Vitol Group's U.S. subsidiary agreed to pay $164 million to resolve probes by the U.S. government that the energy trader paid bribes in Brazil and other countries to boost its oil trading business, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Thursday.

Under a three-year deferred prosecution agreement, the Swiss trading firm admitted guilt and agreed to improve internal reporting and compliance functions.

Vitol, run out of London, is the world's largest independent oil trader, trading some 8 million barrels of oil a day.

"Vitol paid bribes to government officials in Brazil, Ecuador and Mexico to win lucrative business contracts and obtain competitive advantages to which they were not fairly entitled," Acting U.S. Attorney Seth DuCharme of the Eastern District of New York said in a statement.

The energy trader will pay the Department of Justice (DOJ) a criminal penalty of $135 million to resolve the probes. Brazilian authorities will receive $45 million from that amount.

Vitol will also pay back the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) over $12.7 million in ill-gotten gains, plus $16 million in fines, according to the DOJ statement.

"Vitol is committed to upholding the law and does not tolerate corruption or illegal business practices. As recognised by the authorities, Vitol has cooperated extensively throughout this process," Vitol CEO Russell Hardy said in a statement.

Brazilian police have for years been investigating several major companies for the alleged use of bribes to win contracts with state-controlled oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras), as part of the wide-ranging 'Car Wash' probe.

In October, police expanded the investigation at Petrobras based in part on secret recordings made by a former executive of Vitol, according to court documents.

Vitol and its co-conspirators paid over $8 million to at least four Petrobras officials between 2005 and 2014, the DOJ said. In an effort to hide the schemes, the company used "sham" consulting agreements, shell companies, and fake invoices with its co-conspirators, who in turn communicated with code names like 'Batman', 'Dolphin' and 'Tiger.'

Petrobras said in a statement that it had assisted prosecutors with dozens of investigations into alleged corruption involving employees.

ECUADOR AND MEXICO

Vitol also admitted to bribing or agreeing to pay over $2 million to officials in Ecuador and Mexico in other to secure and retain business there for oil products, according to the DOJ statement.

Prosecutors said the bribes went to employees at Mexico's state-run Pemex and Ecuadorian state oil company Petroecuador.

Petroecuador and Pemex did not respond to requests for comment.

Brazilian prosecutors announced in late 2018 that they were investigating Petrobras' oil deals with trading houses, including the world's biggest oil traders - Vitol, Trafigura and Glencore.

In early 2019, the DOJ opened its own probe into the three company's dealings in Brazil. The FBI investigated two key Vitol executives who were overseeing the region during those years, including the head of Vitol's U.S. arm, Michael "Mike" Loya, who retired earlier this year.

Loya did not immediately respond to a message sent to his LinkedIn account.

Trafigura said no charges had been brought against any Trafigura company or its current management. Glencore declined to comment.

Brazilian prosecutors charged two former Trafigura employees, including a former board member, in late 2018 over allegations of paying bribes to Petrobras employees.

(Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware, Gram Slattery in Rio de Janeiro and Julia Payne in London; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien and Noeleen Walde

Alberta Health Is Trolling Critics On Twitter And Blocking Debate

The government's online conduct discourages free speech, while doctors have found themselves #BlockedByShandro.

JEFF MCINTOSH/THE CANADIAN PRESS

Alberta Minister of Health Tyler Shandro has blocked critics on social media, inspiring the Twitter hashtag #BlockedByShandro. HE WAS ORIGINALLY THE WILDROSE PARTY WEB MASTER

The Alberta government is engaged in an aggressive social media campaign to defend its controversial health-care reforms and suppress dissent via its army of press secretaries and issues managers. Their conduct raises concerns regarding the appropriate use of social media by the government.

Tweets by politicians and their staff are often politically motivated or present information with a partisan spin. The public presumably knows to filter information from these accounts accordingly. Even then, politicians and their staff should be mindful that they serve all Albertans, not merely those who elected them.

By contrast, the official social media accounts of government institutions should provide the public with nonpartisan information. It is therefore concerning that the Alberta Health Twitter account has taken a decidedly political turn during this government’s tenure, particularly at a time when the public looks to it for important health information.

For example, the Alberta Health account recently boasted that the province has more doctors than ever, which is a politically charged statement. Health Minister Tyler Shandro and his staff have been engaged in protracted debates with citizens about the number of doctors leaving the province due to the toxic work environment created by the government. Alberta Health’s tweet supports the minister’s views and stakes out a position on this political controversy.  

The Twitter accounts of both Alberta Health and Shandro referenced the same physician registration statistics but failed to acknowledge significant limits on this data. The number of registered doctors does not correspond to the number who are actively practicing. Because doctors register for an entire year, we will not know how many have left until the renewal period passes. Even then, some doctors who move will opt to remain licensed in Alberta.

Data on the number of doctors currently billing the government is similarly inconclusive. Because doctors are required to give patients 90 days’ notice before closing their practices, those who are leaving will still submit claims during this notice period. While it is expected that official government Twitter accounts will portray the policies of the government of the day in a favourable light, it is quite another matter for them to present data in a misleading manner as they have done with this issue.

Another component of the government’s social media strategy is to block critics on Twitter. For example, Shandro has blocked many doctors who have criticized what they see as his heavy-handed approach to health reform (see #BlockedByShandro). Given the government’s extensive use of Twitter to make announcements about the health-care system and COVID-19, it is essential that citizens have access to this information, particularly the health professionals who are directly affected.

Elected officials must have thick skins and accept that criticism, however unsavoury, is integral to democratic debate.

The minister’s extensive Twitter blocking also undermines democratic values such as transparency and accountability by hindering citizens’ access to information. This issue has been the subject of lawsuits in Canada and the U.S.

For example, citizens who were blocked by the mayor of Ottawa alleged that his conduct violated their Charter-protected right to freedom of expression. They argued that access to information is essential to meaningful expression on public matters and that the mayor’s Twitter account is a place for citizens to engage in public policy debates. The mayor ultimately agreed to mute rather than block the litigants, which would enable them to see his tweets without him seeing theirs. In similar cases, U.S. courts have found President Trump’s Twitter blocking unconstitutional. Elected officials must have thick skins and accept that criticism, however unsavoury, is integral to democratic debate.

Instead of engaging with citizens strictly on the substance of their critiques, the government’s press secretaries and issues managers frequently deploy ad hominem attacks (also see here, here and here). They also employ dubious tactics such as posting pictures of private citizens (perhaps to make them targets of harassment by government supporters?) and tagging their employers in tweets. Communications staff ought to interact civilly with the citizens who pay their salaries and limit their discourse to substantive matters. The freedom to criticize government is essential to a democratic society and should not be discouraged through intimidation by government employees.

If used properly, social media can enhance democracy by facilitating access to information and providing a platform for citizens to engage with elected officials. Unfortunately, the Alberta government is using social media in a manner that harms democracy by discouraging free speech, misleading citizens and limiting access to information.

25 YEARS OF BROKEN PROMISES

Liberals Won’t Keep Promise To End Long-Term Boil-Water Advisories On First Nations By March 2021

It is also the current condition and the situation faced by the people of Neskantaga, the First Nation community in Ontario that has been under a boil-water advisory for 25 years.

© Provided by HuffPost Canada Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller holds a news conference in Ottawa on Dec. 2, 2020.

Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller says he takes responsibility for the fact that the Liberal government will fail in its election promise to lift all long-term drinking water advisories in First Nations by March 2021.

“Today we’re making ourselves accountable. We’re making future governments accountable,” Miller said Wednesday at an Ottawa press conference.

“And while there have been many reasons for the delay, I want to state as clearly as possible… ultimately, I bear the responsibility for this, and I have the responsibility and the duty to get this done.”

It was a key promise Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made on his path to power during the 2015 election campaign.

Miller confirmed the Liberal government will not meet its March 2021 deadline despite 97 long-term boil-water advisories having been lifted in partnership with Indigenous communities since 2016. Fifty-nine advisories remain in place in 41 communities.

Miller said an additional $1.5 billion investment this year to tackle the problem, spelled out in this week’s fall economic statement, will “accelerate work” to ensure every First Nation reserve has safe and clean water. The funding is in addition to $2.1 billion the government has already committed to the project since 2016.

At an earlier technical briefing, representatives from Indigenous Services Canada told reporters they expect 22 long-term advisories in 10 communities — nine in Ontario, one in Saskatchewan — to still be in place after March.

But Miller expressed optimism that an additional 20 advisories could be lifted by the end of this month, and, if all goes well, the number of remaining advisories could be down to 12 by the spring.

While he would not announce a second deadline, Miller said he aims to provide projected completion dates in the coming months.

The target was ambitious “from the get-go,” Miller said, adding that Indigenous communities don’t want an “Ottawa-imposed deadline,” but rather a long-term commitment to tackle the systemic problems preventing reliable access to clean water

Imagine having to boil the water that you’re about to consume, every time you reach for a glass of water. Imagine doing this every day of your life, multiple times per day, for over 17 years,” he said, noting that was the reality for members of the Lac Seul First Nation in northern Ontario until a new water plant was completed and opened last February.

“It is also the current condition and the situation faced by the people of Neskantaga, in their case for 25 years,” he said of the First Nation community in Ontario that has been under a boil-water advisory for 25 years. Its residents were evacuated from their homes in October after an oil sheen was discovered in its reservoir.

Miller defended Trudeau for imposing the timeline in the first place and for not having been upfront sooner that the promise wouldn’t be kept.

“As a Canadian, the prime minister did what would be expected of any leadership and said, ‘we want to get this done,’” Miller said of his party’s 2015 campaign promise.

The spring deadline was a “rallying cry for something that is much more profound,” he said, in order to focus attention on the under-investment in essential services in some Indigenous communities.

Trudeau “deserves a lot of credit for saying that,” Miller said.

The minister noted that the mandate letter he received from Trudeau when he joined cabinet last year made it clear that it was among his top priorities to eliminate all long-term drinking water advisories on reserve.

“It is my responsibility to get it done,” he said.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost Canada.
 

THE OMEN

Just in time for Christmas, Jupiter and Saturn will come closer than they have since the Middle Ages

"You'd have to go all the way back to just before dawn on March 4, 1226, to see a closer alignment between these objects visible in the night sky."

By Ashley Strickland, CNN  December 3, 2020


The wonders of stargazing 03:12

(CNN)The two largest planets in our solar system are coming closer together than they have been since the Middle Ages, and it's happening just in time for Christmas.

So, there are some things to look forward to in the final month of 2020.

On the night of December 21, the winter solstice, Jupiter and Saturn will appear so closely aligned in our sky that they will look like a double planet. This close approach is called a conjunction.

"Alignments between these two planets are rather rare, occurring once every 20 years or so, but this conjunction is exceptionally rare because of how close the planets will appear to one another," said Rice University astronomer and professor of physics and astronomy Patrick Hartigan in a statement.

"You'd have to go all the way back to just before dawn on March 4, 1226, to see a closer alignment between these objects visible in the night sky."

If you're a stargazer, you've likely noticed Jupiter and Saturn have been getting closer together since the summer. And they're currently visible in our night sky, inching ever closer to one another.

Jupiter's moon Europa may glow in the dark

But between December 16 and 25, they will become even cozier. Look for the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction low in the western sky for about an hour after sunset each evening during this time.

"On the evening of closest approach on Dec(ember) 21 they will look like a double planet, separated by only 1/5th the diameter of the full Moon," Hartigan said. "For most telescope viewers, each planet and several of their largest moons will be visible in the same field of view that evening."

While these two planets may appear close, they are still hundreds of millions of miles apart, according to NASA.

Hope for clear skies because the conjunction will be visible around the world, with the best perspective for those near the equator.

"The further north a viewer is, the less time they'll have to catch a glimpse of the conjunction before the planets sink below the horizon," Hartigan said.

Unusual molecule found in atmosphere on Saturn's moon Titan

The planets will be bright enough to be viewed in twilight, which may be the best time for many US viewers to observe the conjunction.

"By the time skies are fully dark in Houston, for example, the conjunction will be just 9 degrees above the horizon," Hartigan said. "Viewing that would be manageable if the weather cooperates and you have an unobstructed view to the southwest."

If you're in New York or London, or along those latitudes, try to spot the conjunction right after sunset. Waiting an hour after the sun sets will only put the planets closer to the horizon, making them more difficult to spot.

The best conditions to see this astronomical event will include a clear southwestern horizon and no low clouds in the distance, Hartigan said. Binoculars or a telescope may help you distinguish the planets. A telescope would enable a view of Saturn's rings and the brightest moons of both planets, he said.

If you miss this conjunction and want to see the planets with the same proximity, just higher in the sky, it won't happen until March 15, 2080 -- and then not again until after 2400.
Between 0 and 3000 CE, or Common Era, only seven conjunction were or will be closer than this one -- and two of those were too close to the sun to be seen without a telescope, according to Hartigan. So, yes, this is an incredibly rare event.

Jupiter and Saturn will form the first "double planet" in 800 years


Before 2020 comes to a close, Jupiter and Saturn will be so close that they will appear to form a "double planet." The great conjunction, as the planetary alignment has come to be known, hasn't occurred in nearly 800 years.

© Getty Images saturnjupiter.jpg

When their orbits align every 20 years, Jupiter and Saturn get extremely close to one another. This occurs because Jupiter orbits the sun every 12 years, while Saturn's orbit takes 30 years — every couple of decades, Saturn is lapped by Jupiter, according to NASA. 

However, 2020's conjunction is especially rare — the planets haven't been observed this close together since medieval times, in 1226.

"Alignments between these two planets are rather rare, occurring once every 20 years or so, but this conjunction is exceptionally rare because of how close the planets will appear to one another," Rice University astronomer Patrick Hartigan said in a statement. "You'd have to go all the way back to just before dawn on March 4, 1226, to see a closer alignment between these objects visible in the night sky."


Aligning with the solstice on December 21, 2020, the two planets will be just 0.1 degrees apart — less than the diameter of a full moon, EarthSky says. The word "conjunction" is used by astronomers to describe the meeting of objects in our night sky, and the great conjunction occurs between the two largest planets in our solar system: Jupiter and Saturn. 

The planets will be so close, they will appear to overlap completely, creating a rare "double planet" effect.© Provided by CBS News Jupiter and Saturn will come within 0.1 degrees of each other on December 21, 2020, during what is known as the great conjunction

How to watch the great conjunction

During the last great conjunction in 2000, Jupiter and Saturn were so close to the sun that the event was difficult to observe. But skywatchers should have a clearer view of the celestial event this time around. The great conjunction will be shining bright shortly after sunset, low in the southwestern sky, as viewed from the Northern hemisphere, NASA says. 

Through the entirety of December, skywatchers will easily be able to spot the two planets. For the next three weeks, you can look up each evening to watch them get closer and closer in the sky. 

Jupiter currently appears brighter than any star in the sky. Saturn is slightly dimmer, but still just as bright as the brightest stars, with a recognizable golden glow. 

Saturn will appear just to the east of Jupiter, and will even look as close to the planet as some of its own moons. Unlike stars, which twinkle, both planets will hold consistent brightness, easy to find on clear nights. 

The event is observable from anywhere on Earth, provided the sky is clear. "The further north a viewer is, the less time they'll have to catch a glimpse of the conjunction before the planets sink below the horizon," Hartigan said. 

The planets will appear extremely close for about of month, giving skywatchers plenty of time to witness the spectacular alignment throughout the holiday season. The event aligns with the December solstice, marking the shortest day of the year in the Northern hemisphere. 

This will be the "greatest" great conjunction for the next 60 years, until 2080. Hartigan said that, following that conjunction, the duo won't make such a close approach until sometime after the year 2400.

Head of regional health authority where Indigenous woman died removed from post

MONTREAL — Two months after the death of Joyce Echaquan in a Quebec hospital, the head of the regional health authority that runs the hospital has been removed from his post. 

Provided by The Canadian Press

The departure of Daniel Castonguay was announced Wednesday evening in a news release issued by the provincial health minister.

The decision was approved after the provincial cabinet saw a report by Lise Verreault, who was appointed in mid-November to study allegations of racism against Indigenous people at the hospital in Joliette, Que., northeast of Montreal.

The hospital and its management came under scrutiny in late September after Echaquan, an Atikamekw woman, filmed two staff members at the Joliette hospital insulting her as she lay dying, and other Indigenous people came forward with stories of abusive treatment.

Wednesday's press release says Verreault interviewed 18 people as part of her mandate to establish whether the bond of trust had been broken between the health authority's management and the Indigenous communities it serves.

Castonguay has been reassigned to aid in the preparation of Quebec COVID-19 vaccination campaign and will be replaced on an interim basis by Caroline Barbir, who is also head of a Montreal's Ste-Justine children's hospital.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 3, 2020.

———

This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

The Canadian Press

Footage shows catastrophic collapse of iconic Puerto Rico telescope

Dramatic video from Puerto Rico captures the moment when a 816-tonne platform came crashing down on the Arecibo Observatory, shattering one of the world's largest telescopes and striking a crushing blow to the global scientific community.

© RICARDO ARDUENGO/AFP via Getty Images 

This aerial view shows the damage at the Arecibo Observatory after one of the main cables holding the receiver broke in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, on December 1, 2020.

The catastrophic collapse happened on Dec. 1, less than two weeks after the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) warned that such a disaster was imminent. The NSF had already shuttered operations at the facility after a suspension cable snapped and slashed a hole in the dish last month.

Read more: Massive Puerto Rico radio telescope collapses after cables snap

The telescope was the largest of its kind when it opened in 1963, and it has contributed to all manner of astronomical discoveries over the years, from asteroids to planets to mysterious radio signals in space. It also won a place in pop culture as the set for such films as Contact and GoldenEye, the first James Bond movie starring Pierce Brosnan.

The observatory's telescope consisted of a 816-tonne reflector dish platform suspended 137 metres above a massive, bowl-like dish, which measured 305 metres across.

Suspension cables holding up the platform snapped on Dec. 1, dropping the heavy platform on the dish with a tremendous crash.

Video: Aerial footage shows damage caused by Arecibo radio telescope collapse

Video captured by the Arecibo control tower shows one of the three major cables snapping, causing the platform to swing down on the remaining cables before snapping them, too.

The footage shows the reflector dish platform falling apart in mid-air, while dragging down several support towers behind it.

Drone footage captured from one of the support towers shows the moment when the first cable snapped. The cable snapped at the tower, then the whole structure came crashing down, pulling other towers with it and cracking the bowl of the telescope. Large clouds of dust rose from the bowl after the catastrophe.

Read more: Mysterious radio signal from space traced to ‘zombie’ in our galaxy

Jonathan Friedman, who worked for 26 years at the facility and still lives nearby, described the awful sound of the collapse in an interview with the Associated Press.

“It sounded like a rumble. I knew exactly what it was,” he said. “I was screaming. Personally, I was out of control. … I don’t have words to express it. It’s a very deep, terrible feeling.”

Many scientists, Puerto Rico residents and other public figures mourned the telescope's loss after it was closed, and again after it collapsed.

Ángel Vázquez, the telescope’s director of operations, said it was no surprise when the telescope fell apart early Tuesday.

“It was a snowball effect,” he said. “There was no way to stop it. ... It was too much for the old girl to take.”

Huge Puerto Rico radio telescope, already damaged, collapses

ARECIBO, Puerto Rico — A huge, already damaged radio telescope in Puerto Rico that has played a key role in astronomical discoveries for more than half a century has now completely collapsed. The telescope’s 900-ton receiver platform fell onto the reflector dish more than 400 feet below on Tuesday. The U.S. National Science Foundation had earlier announced that the Arecibo Observatory would be closed. An auxiliary cable snapped in August, causing a 100-foot gash on the 1,000-foot-wide (305-meter-wide) reflector dish and damaged the receiver platform that hung above it. Then a main cable broke in early November.

© Provided by The Canadian Press
DáNica Coto, The Associated Press

Alaska islands may be part of single, massive volcano

Maya Wei-Haas 

A trail of volcanic islands off the coast of southern Alaska may actually be part of a single giant caldera, according to evidence being presented next week at the American Geophysical Union’s fall meeting. If so, it’s possible the newly revealed volcanic giant once erupted in a blast large enough to dwarf the cataclysmic 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens.

© Photograph by NASA

The Islands of the Four Mountains in Alaska actually consists of six volcanoes, several of which are pictured here. The restless Mount Cleveland (center) is among the Aleutian's most active. Studying the volcanic hazards of this chain is of vital importance for the frequent air traffic overhead. “We say it’s a very remote area, and it is, but when you come up to 30,000 feet there’s [tens of thousands of] people that pass by every day,” says geophysicist John Power.

The behemoth in question is marked by a semi-circular cluster of peaks in the Aleutian Islands known as the Islands of the Four Mountains (IFM). Long thought to be independent volcanoes, the six peaks—including Herbert, Carlisle, Cleveland, Tana, Uliaga, and Kagamil—may actually be a series of connected vents along the edge of a much larger volcanic caldera.

Even if the idea is confirmed, though, the results don’t necessarily foretell of future catastrophe.

“This new research result doesn’t change the hazards,” says John Power, a geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Survey and the Alaska Volcano Observatory who will present the work Monday at the AGU meeting. “We’re not forecasting something dangerous here.” (Learn more about supervolcanoes, and why this term can be misleading.)
Searching for the behemoth

Scientists didn’t set out to seek evidence for the mighty blast when they first sailed to the IFM in 2014, but were instead focused on the region's archaeology. A second group headed out during the next couple of years to look into the volcanoes' tectonic underpinnings.

The researchers examined the local geology and employed a suite of technology to study the region, including seismometers to pick up tiny tremors and chemical analyses to understand the composition of gasses effusing from the ground. As they were working through the data, however, perplexing features kept cropping up that they only recently realized may belong to an enormous and ancient eruption.

The first puzzle piece was the curious half-ring shape of the closely clustered IFM volcanoes. One explanation could be a caldera.

Calderas are formed when a massive reservoir of magma suddenly empties and the overlying ground collapses, creating a vast depression in Earth’s surface anywhere from one to 30 miles across. The formation of a caldera produces a host of fractures through which magma can then seep to the surface, so volcanic clusters are common around their edges or centers.

In this case, the researchers suspected that the IFM volcanoes may represent a series of connected geologic structures around a potential 12-mile-wide caldera, which they think lies hundreds of feet beneath the surface of the frigid Pacific waters.

“This would be a simple problem if it were on land,” says Diana Roman, a volcanologist at Carnegie Institution for Science and one of the principal investigators on the project. “But it’s underwater, so it makes it orders of magnitude more difficult.”

Another piece of the puzzle was the discovery of rocks known as welded ignimbrites. These materials form when a large eruption lays down searing volcanic ash so thick that the grains weld together into solid rock, explains Pete Stelling, who participated in the 2015 research season but is not part of the new analysis.

Prompted by these puzzling data, the team began “scraping the couch cushions,” as Roman says, to find any other information to help explain the phenomena. They collected an array of evidence, including gravity anomalies from satellite data and bathymetric surveys that were conducted in the area shortly after World War II. While not high resolution, the seafloor mapping hinted at several curved ridge structures and a depression more than 400 feet deep that could be part of a caldera.

If their suspicions are confirmed, the team believes that the potential underwater basin may have resulted from a volcanic explosion that was just shy of earning the label “super eruption.”

“Any one piece of these pieces of evidence is questionable,” Power says. “But as we get more and more of them lining up, it does become a stronger argument.”
Big, but not the biggest

The team cautions that many unknowns about the structure remain. For one, they are still unsure about the size of the caldera, and they don’t know whether it was made from one large blast or several smaller eruptions.

Even if it was a single event, it would have been a mid-sized blast compared to others around the world through geologic history, Roman notes. For example, a very rough calculation would place the IFM blast about a tenth the size of the one that rocked Yellowstone some 640,000 years ago, says Adam Kent, a volcanologist at Oregon State University who was not part of the study team. “It would be potentially world-changing,” he says. “But not world-ending.”

Still, the preliminary research does provide some tantalizing clues to help scientists better understand the current and potential future hazards in this region.

“This lays a really nice story for future investigation,” says Jackie Caplan-Auerbach, a volcanologist and seismologist at Western Washington University who wasn’t part of the research team.

Denmark to end oil, gas extraction in North Sea

Greenpeace called it “a landmark decision toward the necessary phase-out of fossil fuels.”

COPENHAGEN — Denmark has decided to end all oil and gas activities in the North Sea by 2050 and has cancelled its latest licensing round, saying the country is "now putting an end to the fossil fuel era.”

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The Danish Parliament voted late Thursday to end offshore gas and oil extraction, which had started in 1972 and made the country the largest producer in the European Union. Non EU-members Norway and Britain are larger producers, with a bigger presence in the North Sea.

Denmark is this year estimated to pump a bit over 100,000 barrels of crude oil and oil equivalents a day, according to the government.

That is relatively little in a global context. The U.K. produces about ten times that amount while the U.S., the world's largest producer, pumped over 19 million barrels of oil a day last year. Environmental activists nevertheless said the move was significant as it shows the way forward in the fight against climate change.

Greenpeace called it “a landmark decision toward the necessary phase-out of fossil fuels.”

“This is a huge victory for the climate movement,” said Helene Hagel of Greenpeace Denmark. Wealthy Denmark has “a moral obligation to end the search for new oil to send a clear signal that the world can and must act to meet the Paris Agreement and mitigate the climate crisis."

The 2015 landmark Paris climate deal asks both rich and poor countries to take action to curb the rise in global temperatures that is melting glaciers, raising sea levels and shifting rainfall patterns. It requires governments to present national plans to reduce emissions to limit global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit).

Denmark has been an early adopter of wind power, with more than a third of its electricity production deriving from wind turbines. They are considered key in the transformation of the energy system and should enable Denmark to no longer be dependent on fossil fuels in 2050 for electricity production.

The agreement to end oil and gas extraction means that a planned eighth licensing round and any future tenders have been cancelled and makes 2050 the last year in which to extract fossil fuels in the North Sea.

It was backed by both the left-leaning parties as well as the centre-right opposition, suggesting the policy is unlikely to be reversed.

“It is incredibly important that we now have a broad majority behind the agreement, so that there is no longer any doubt about the possibilities and conditions in the North Sea,” said Climate Minister Dan Joergensen, a Social Democrat.

According to official figures, the move would mean an estimated total loss for Denmark of 13 billion kroner ($2.1 billion). The industry has earned the small Scandinavian country over 500 billion ($81.5 billion) since the 1970s.

In October, energy group Total pulled out of the latest tender process leaving only one applicant, Ardent Oil, according to authorities.

In June, the Danish Council on Climate Change - an independent body that advises the government - recommended ending any future exploration in the North Sea, saying a continuation would hurt the country’s ambitions as a front-runner on fighting climate change.

Jan M. Olsen, The Associated Pre