UPDATE
Mauritius oil spill: Locals scramble to contain environmental damage

At least 1,000 tonnes of oil is thought to have leaked into waters near Mauritius

Volunteers in Mauritius are scrambling to create cordons to keep leaking oil from a tanker away from the island.

The MV Wakashio, believed be carrying 4,000 tonnes of oil, ran aground on a coral reef off the Indian Ocean island on 25 July.

Locals are making absorbent barriers of straw stuffed into fabric sacks in an attempt to contain and absorb the oil.

Mauritius is home to world-renowned coral reefs, and tourism is a crucial part of its economy.

Images posted online by local media show volunteers collecting straw from fields and filling sacks to make barriers. 

VIRTUAL TOUR OF MAURITIUS/REUTERS

The tanker has been leaking oil into surrounding waters

Others have been making their own tubes with tights and hair to add to the effort and some have been cleaning up the island's beaches.

Their actions go against an order from the government asking people to leave the clean-up to local authorities.

"People have realised that they need to take things into their hands. We are here to protect our fauna and flora," environmental activist Ashok Subron told AFP news agency.


Mitsui OSK Lines, the operator of the ship, said it had tried to place its own containment booms around the vessel but had not been successful owing to rough seas.

Helicopters are attempting to move some of the fuel and diesel off the ship.

EPA Volunteers are trying to limit the damage caused by the oil spill

It is thought that the ship, registered in Panama, had some 4,000 tonnes of fuel aboard when it ran aground. All crew were evacuated.

At least 1,000 tonnes of oil is thought to have leaked into the waters surrounding the island nation.

Mauritius declares emergency as ship leaks oil

Mauritius country profile

Environmentalists are concerned about the impact on the country's ecosystem.

The ship ran aground at Pointe d'Esny, a known sanctuary for rare wildlife. The area also contains wetlands designated as a site of international importance by the Ramsar convention on wetlands.

Happy Khamule from Greenpeace Africa warned that "thousands" of animal species were "at risk of drowning in a sea of pollution, with dire consequences for Mauritius' economy, food security and health". 

MAXAR TECHNOLOGIES/REUTERS

Satellite images show the extent of the oil spill

In a news conference, Akihiko Ono, executive vice president of Mitsui OSK Lines "profusely" apologised for the spill and for "the great trouble we have caused".

He vowed that the company would do "everything in their power to resolve the issue".

Police in Mauritius say they have been granted a search warrant, allowing them to board the vessel take away items of interest such as the ship's log book in order to help with an investigation. The ship's captain will assist officers with their search.

On Friday, Mauritian Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth declared a state of emergency and appealed for help.

France has sent a military aircraft with pollution control equipment from its nearby island of Réunion.

On Sunday, Japan announced it would dispatch a six-member team to assist the French efforts.

Mr Jugnauth is set to hold an emergency meeting later on Sunday amid fears that bad weather could further complicate efforts to hold back the oil.

SEE
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/08/locals-in-mauritius-are-going-to-great.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/08/mauritian-prime-minister-seeks.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/08/the-oil-spill-at-mauritius-is-disaster.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/08/update-mauritius-battles-devastating.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/08/mauritius-oil-spill-locals-scramble-to.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/08/oil-spill-off-mauritius-is-visible-from.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/08/france-offers-aid-as-mauritius-declares.html


https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/08/mauritius-facing-catastrophe-as-oil.html

DeVos Has Deep Ties to Michigan Protest Group, But Is Quiet On Tactics

Scott Bixby April 21, 2020

Bloomberg

When hundreds of protesters congregated on the steps of the Michigan state capitol building last week, snarling local ambulances in traffic and handing out candy to children with ungloved hands, it was with the organizational assistance of a dark money group with close ties with Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos.

Now, the governor is calling on the cabinet official and fellow Michigander to condemn the group’s open violation of social distancing guidelines during a pandemic.

“This group is funded in large part by the DeVos family,” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, told reporters in a press briefing last week. “And I think it’s really inappropriate for a sitting member of the United States president’s cabinet to be waging political attacks on any governor.”

But DeVos, so far, is staying mum—despite having made public statements urging Americans to follow stay-at-home guidelines for the sake of public safety, and being directly named by the governor at the center of the group’s ire.

Protest movements against statewide stay-at-home orders—and in support of President Donald Trump—are growing more prominent across the country as the coronavirus outbreak in the United States enters its third month, even though an increasing majority of Americans say that the orders are necessary and that Trump’s handling of the pandemic has been both slow and bungled.

For Some on the Right, No Rumor Is Too Outlandish About Michigan Gov. Gretcher Whitmer

Most of the protests can be traced back to “Operation Gridlock,” a protest in Lansing, Michigan, that urged conservatives frustrated with the aggressive social-distancing executive order signed by Whitmer to circle the complex in their cars and cause an intentional traffic jam. Michigan, which is the epicenter of the outbreak in the Midwest and has lost nearly 2,400 people to the virus, has implemented stiff stay-at-home orders to prevent the further spread of the novel coronavirus that banned interstate travel, closed garden stores and halted motor boating.

The protest—which ultimately violated the president’s own social distancing guidelines and, according to Whitmer, blocked access to a level-one trauma center—was organized last week by the Michigan Conservative Coalition and the Michigan Freedom Fund, the latter of which has long-established connections with the wealthy DeVos family. The group, styles itself as the “premiere conservative advocacy organization in Michigan” and which had previously advocated for “right-to-work” legislation, was founded by Greg McNeilly, a former executive director of the state Republican party and currently the chief operating officer of the Windquest Group, the family office that manages a portion of DeVos’ personal fortune and that of her husband.

As a 501(c)(4), the Michigan Freedom Fund is not obligated to disclose its donors or the amount of money they contribute, but has deep pockets and a willingness to dig in on conservative pet projects in the state. In 2018, the group spent more than $1.2 million advocating against Proposal 2, which would have changed the state constitution to allow for an independent commission to draw congressional districts in the state.

Whitmer, citing those connections, called on DeVos to disavow the group’s actions and to encourage participants in future actions to “stay home and be safe.”

As secretary of education, DeVos has encouraged Americans to follow social distancing guidelines against leaving home, unnecessary interstate travel and congregating in large groups—guidelines that have been increasingly flouted by those participating in protests like the one organized by the Michigan Freedom Fund.

The Department of Education did not respond to requests for comment regarding whether DeVos had any guidance for parents thinking of including their school-aged children in their protest plans, but a family spokesperson told The Daily Beast that while the DeVos’ have not provided any funds for the protest, they understand the frustration that prompted the event.

“As elements of the governor’s top-down approach appear to go beyond public safety, Michigan deserves competent governance—not baseless attacks,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

Another wealthy conservative backer of the Michigan Freedom Fund told The Daily Beast that the amount of money spent on advertising the event—$250 for sponsored Facebook posts, according to the group—is “infinitesimal” in the grand scheme of dark money in politics.

“There were thousands of cars there, according to state police—there were a few hundred people who disregarded the organizers’ directions and were not necessarily social distancing,” said Ron Weiser, a Michigan philanthropist and former chair of the state Republican Party who has supported the Michigan Freedom Fund in the past.

In the scheme of things, Weiser added—with the fund having spent millions in past campaigns—a $250 sponsored post on Facebook is, he felt, barely worth mentioning.

“I mean, why not talk to me about picking up change next to a parking meter?” Weiser said.

Weiser, who served as the U.S. ambassador to Slovakia under President George W. Bush, told The Daily Beast that any government official would be barred from being involved with funding or organizing an event like “Operation Gridlock,” and said that Whitmer’s criticism was clearly political.

“Governor Whitmer said what she should because it’s political and, as you well know, she’s auditioning to become vice president,” Weiser said, referring to Whitmer’s inclusion on former Vice President Joe Biden’s short list of potential running mates in the 2020 general election. “So she would attack anybody in the administration, if she has the opportunity.

Whitmer’s office has deflected that speculation, saying that she is “flattered” by Biden’s consideration but that she is currently focused on slowing the spread of the coronavirus pandemic in Michigan.

The protest’s organizers have echoed that dismissal. McNeilly, who is extremely active online, tweeted in response that “clearly she remains misinformed and disconnected with reality. Sad and beneath her....well, maybe not.”

Tony Daunt, executive director of the Michigan Freedom Fund, told a local Fox affiliate that Whitmer’s “wild claim” was false.

“I think the Conservative Coalition and the thousands of people who have signed on to that group are offended by that,” Daunt said, “as they should be.”

The governor’s office, which pointed out that it had received more requests for comment about the protest than the number of people who showed up on the Capitol’s footsteps, said that the governor understands the frustration of those protesting—within limits.

“We recognize that some people are angry and frustrated, and that’s okay,” said Bobby Leddy, the governor’s spokesperson. “We just ask those who choose to protest these orders to do so in a manner that doesn’t put their health or the health of our first responders at risk.”

Read more at The Daily Beast.

Conservative group linked to DeVos family organizes protest of coronavirus restrictions in Michigan

April 17, 2020 By Igor Derysh, Salon


Protesters rallied around the country this week against stay-at-home orders forcing nonessential businesses to shut down, but Michigan’s governor warned that they may have backfired by creating “a need to lengthen” the lockdowns.

Protesters in at least six states planned to protest restrictions aimed at containing the spread of the new coronavirus this week. In Michigan, a conservative group linked to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ family organized “Operation Gridlock” to protest restrictions on nonessential businesses and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s recent order barring travel between homes. The state is among the hardest-hit by the coronavirus pandemic, reporting more than 27,000 confirmed cases and 1,909 deaths.

A convoy of motorists protested Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s pandemic directive, calling on state leaders to allow small businesses to reopen.

Dubbed “Operation Gridlock,” the demonstration jammed the streets around the capitol. https://t.co/5qef4M6K1e pic.twitter.com/zbpvG4OWns
— ABC News (@ABC) April 15, 2020

Some protesters, several of whom wore pro-Trump gear, gathered on the capitol steps as many remained in their cars. Demonstrators chanted “recall Whitmer” and “lock her up,” a chant normally usually used by Trump supporters in reference to his 2016 Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

Chants of “recall Whitmer,” “USA” and “lock her up” outside Michigan Capitol. #OperationGridlock pic.twitter.com/7Q7niiNFUF
— Malachi Barrett (@PolarBarrett) April 15, 2020


Whitmer, who has feuded with President Donald Trump over the delayed federal response to the crisis, argued that “it wasn’t really about the stay-at-home order at all.”

“It was essentially a political rally — a political statement that flies in the face of all of the science and all of the best practices from the stay-at-home order that was issued,” the Democrat told MSNBC on Wednesday.

Whitmer said the cars “were blocking one of our hospitals, so an ambulance literally wasn’t able to get into the bay for ten minutes.”

“We know that this demonstration is going to come at a cost to people’s health,” she said. “The sad irony of the protest is that they don’t like to be in this stay-at-home order, but they might have just created a need to lengthen it.”

Other states saw smaller protests against the coronavirus restrictions.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, had his news briefing interrupted Wednesday by dozens of protesters. The small group chanted, blew horns and shouted into a megaphone to drown out the governor’s comments. The protesters chanted “we want to work” and “facts over fear.”


Protesters who oppose Gov. Andy Beshear’s decision to close businesses to slow the spread of the coronavirus have gathered en masse outside the room where he is doing his daily #COVID19 press conference, crying out “We want to work!” and now “Facts over fear!” pic.twitter.com/49812u8G4R
— Morgan Watkins (@morganwatkins26) April 15, 2020

Scientists and business executives alike have repeatedly argued that the economy cannot simply reopen if the risk of infection remains high.

“We do have some folks up in here in Kentucky today – and everybody should be able to express their opinion – that believe we should reopen Kentucky immediately, right now,” Beshear said at the briefing. “Folks, that would kill people. That would absolutely kill people.”

Dozens of protesters also gathered outside of Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s Monday news briefing to call for an end to the state’s stay-at-home order. DeWine, a Republican, has also received criticism from his own party for issuing a stay-at-home order, according to the Columbus Dispatch.

This photo, from an Ohio protest demanding opening the economy, is everything (taken by Joshua A. Bickel for The Columbus Dispatch) pic.twitter.com/WlSHauMvjM
— Zack Beauchamp (@zackbeauchamp) April 15, 2020

DeWine told MSNBC that he would not reopen the economy until medical experts deem it safe to do so.

“Whenever we open up, however we do it, if people aren’t confident, if they don’t think they’re safe, they’re not going to go to restaurants,” he said. “They’re not going to go to bars. They’re not going to really get back into society.”

Dozens of individuals also gathered in Utah to protest the business closures, carrying signs like “Resist like it’s 1776” and “America will never be a socialist country,” according to KSL-TV.

Walk for Freedom on Wednesday-Southern #Utah doesn’t let a pandemic get in the way of a protest #COVID19 #coronavirus pic.twitter.com/JbpA8jCkt9
— Scott Schwebke (@TheChalkOutline) April 16, 2020

The state’s stay-at-home order was set to expire this week, but Gov. Gary Herbert, a Republican, extended it through May 1.

“I’ve come to the conclusion that in order for us to slow the spread and to get back on our feet socially and economically, this is not the time” to reopen, he said earlier this week.

At least one protester was arrested in North Carolina after about 100 protesters gathered in Raleigh to protest the state’s stay-at-home order. The Raleigh Police Department warned that “protesting is not listed as an essential function.”

Holly Springs woman arrested during protest to Reopen NC https://t.co/dcbFAiDyv5 pic.twitter.com/3SV0t6Xanx
— CBS 17 (@WNCN) April 14, 2020

Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, said Monday that reopening the economy prematurely would be disastrous.

“Some people want to completely obliterate these restrictions,” he said. “It would be a catastrophe. The numbers are very clear that the interventions that we’ve entered into — social gatherings, limitations on bars and restaurants, the stay at home order — those kinds of things are working.”

Protesters are also set to demonstrate against the restrictions Thursday in Virginia.

“Government mandating sick people to stay home is called quarantine. However, the government mandating healthy citizens to stay home, forcing businesses and churches to close is called tyranny,” the group ReOpen Virginia said in a statement, claiming that “thousands of concerned citizens” would gather at the state capitol.

Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, extended the business closures Wednesday through May 8.

“As we have seen from our data and models, social distancing is working, and we are slowing the spread of this virus,” he said. “But it is too early to let up. By extending this order to keep certain businesses closed or restricted, we can continue to evaluate the situation and plan for how to eventually ease restrictions so that our businesses may operate without endangering public health.”

Former Obama aide Tommy Vietor argued that the protests’ ties to conservative groups like the DeVos-linked Michigan Freedom Fund show that the demonstrations are just “astroturf” efforts “paid for by billionaires.”

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel slammed the protesters for defying guidelines intended to protect the public.

“Using your right to peaceably protest in such a manner as to spread a virus which may endanger your life, the lives of your friends, family and neighbors, and the lives of countless food service, law enforcement and healthcare workers does not make you a patriot,” she said. “A ‘patriot’ is defined as a person who vigorously supports their country and is prepared to defend it against its enemies. The enemy here is the virus-not each other

RIGHT WING NUTS ANTI COVID-19 PROTESTS 

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/4/who-is-behind-coronavirus-social.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/04/how-tea-party-linked-group-plans-to.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/04/conservative-group-linked-to-devos.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/04/opinion-whos-behind-reopen-protests.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/04/america-has-descended-into-coronavirus.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/04/pro-trump-protesters-push-back-on-stay.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/04/fringe-right-closes-down-michigan.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/04/these-people-arent-freedom.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-quiet-hand-of-conservative-groups.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/04/pro-trump-protesters-push-back-on-stay.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/04/protesters-decry-stay-at-home-orders-in.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/04/trump-ally-lickspittle-bootlicker.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-rightwing-groups-behind-wave-of.html

 IT SPREAD TO CANADA 
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/04/reckless-yahoos-protest-at-queens-park.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/04/canada-eh-great-anti-vaxxer-coronavirus.html

Oil spill off Mauritius is visible from space

By Laura Geggel - Associate Editor

A bulk carrier ship, MV Wakashio, that recently ran aground off the southeast coast of Mauritius has been spilling oil into the sea, as seen in satellite images captured by Maxar Technologies on Aug. 7, 2020.

(Image: © Satellite image ©2020 Maxar Technologies)

The Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius is on the brink of an environmental catastrophe after a bulk carrier struck a coral reef off its coast in late July, an accident that has led to a large oil spill visible from space. The accident could lead to an even greater environmental disaster if the ship — whose cargo includes fuel oil, diesel and lubricant oil — breaks apart further, according to news sources.

The ship, the Japanese-owned MV Wakashio, hit a coral reef off Mauritius' southeast coast, near Pointe d'Esny, on July 25. In the weeks since, a crack has appeared on its hull, meaning that the ship's cargo is in jeopardy, a shipment that includes 4,290 tons (3,894 metric tons) of low-sulfur fuel oil, 228 tons (207 metric tons) of diesel and 99 tons (90 metric tons) of lubricant oil, which the ship was carrying from China to Brazil, according to The Swaddle, an Indian news site.

"This is the first time that we are faced with a catastrophe of this kind, and we are insufficiently equipped to handle this problem," Sudheer Maudhoo, the fishing minister of Mauritius told The New York Times.

A bulk carrier ship, MV Wakashio, that recently ran aground off the southeast coast of Mauritius has been spilling oil into the sea, as seen in satellite images captured by Maxar Technologies on Aug. 7, 2020. (Image credit: Satellite image ©2020 Maxar Technologies)
The ship was sailing from China to Brazil when it hit coral reefs near Pointe d'Esny on July 25. (Image credit: Satellite image ©2020 Maxar Technologies)
In this satellite image captured on Aug. 7, the ship can be seen sinking into the ocean and oozing gobs of oil. (Image credit: Satellite image ©2020 Maxar Technologies)
Maxar Technologies captured this image of MV Wakashio on Aug. 1, after the ship ran aground but before it started to leak oil. (Image credit: Satellite image ©2020 Maxar Technologies)

The spill didn't happen immediately. The MV Wakashio became stuck when it collided with the coral reef about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) off the Mauritius coast. After the ship ran aground, its crew was safely evacuated. Since then, efforts to stabilize the ship and pump out the oil have failed, all while the Indian Ocean's rough waves have battered the vessel, Maudhoo and environment minister Kavy Ramano told The Guardian.


It wasn't until this past week that oil — spilling from a new crack in the ship's hull — began gushing into Mauritius' blue lagoons — waters that attract international tourists and support the nation's fishing industry, according to The New York Times.


Images of the oil spill were captured by satellites operated by Maxar Technologies. These images, taken the morning of Aug. 7, show plumes of black oil saturating the lagoon and drifting northwest toward the shore.

Nagashiki Shipping, the company that owns the MV Wakashio, said that salvage efforts were on hold due to poor sea conditions, but that it was monitoring the situation, The Guardian reported. "Nagashiki Shipping takes its environmental responsibilities extremely seriously and with partner agencies and contractors will make every effort to protect the marine environment and prevent further pollution," the company said in a statement, as reported by The Guardian. Even though the ship is owned by Nagashiki Shipping, the 984-foot-long (300 meters) vessel, built in 2007, flies the Panama flag.

The location of the spill, Pointe d'Esny, is an environmentally sensitive area that is protected under an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands, known as the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance. The area is also close to the Blue Bay Marine Park, a tourist destination, according to The Swaddle.

Several groups are trying to stop the flow of the liquid cargo from the sinking ship. These include the Mauritius National Coast Guard, the environment services company Polyeco and the French island of Reunion.

This oil spill "is likely one of the most terrible ecological crises ever seen on the small island country," Greenpeace Africa said in a statement Friday (Aug. 7), according to Bloomberg Green.

This is not the only oil spill to happen in 2020. At least eight other big spills have happened so far this year, according to a catalogue on Wikipedia. This list includes the May 29 disaster, when Russia declared an emergency after 22,000 tons (20,000 metric tons) of oil spilled into the Arctic Circle, making it one of the largest oil spills in modern Russia.

Originally published on Live Science.


SEE
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/08/locals-in-mauritius-are-going-to-great.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/08/mauritian-prime-minister-seeks.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/08/the-oil-spill-at-mauritius-is-disaster.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/08/update-mauritius-battles-devastating.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/08/france-offers-aid-as-mauritius-declares.html


https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/08/mauritius-facing-catastrophe-as-oil.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/08/france-offers-aid-as-mauritius-declares.html


https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/08/mauritius-facing-catastrophe-as-oil.html

Apocalyptic moment locust invasion turns sky dark as 'worst infestation in decades' hits

APOCALYPTIC footage has shown the terrifying moment drivers in Kenya were descended upon by billions of locusts sparking further panic among east African countries.

By GERRARD KAONGA

PUBLISHED: 14:39, Thu, Feb 13, 2020 | UPDATED: 15:36, Thu, Feb 13, 2020

Dozens of African nations including, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Uganda have been invaded by enormous swarms of desert locusts. This has raised fears on surrounding food security as the pests have been known to decimate crops in short periods of time. The video footage shows the shock and surprise as the skies darken due to the locusts covering the sky.

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The infestation in Kenya is being considered the worst in 70 years whereas Somalia and Ethiopia are experiencing the worst outbreak in 25 years.

The UN has warned against the locusts and insisted the risk to crop production and food security will put millions of lives at risk.

Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock spoke to African ambassadors during a briefing at UN Headquarters on the severity of the issue earlier this week.

He said: “In this region, where there is so much suffering and so much vulnerability and fragility, we simply cannot afford another major shock.

Biblical apocalyptic locusts invasion causes panic in ‘worst infestation in decades' (Image: Getty )

The UN has warned against the locusts and insisted the risk to crop production and food security will put millions of lives at risk. (Image: Getty )


“That is why we need to act quickly.

“We do have a chance to nip this problem in the bud, but that’s not what we’re doing at the moment.

“We’re running out of time.”

The horde of estimated 360 billion insects were spotted crossing into the Karamoja border region in the northeast of Uganda by border officials who sounded an alarm.

Locusts devastated food supplies across the Horn of Africa after the United Nations’s Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) warned of an emerging humanitarian crisis last month (Image: n/a )

The United Nations’s Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) warned of an emerging humanitarian crisis last month.

Somalia has already declared a state of emergency due to the damaging loss of vital crops which the insects have munched their way through.

The United Nations has insisted they have protocols to help contain and monitor the problem across the countries.

SEE  https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=BIBLICAL
SEE  https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=PLAGUE
SEE  https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=LOCUSTS
SEE  https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=AFRICA
SEE  https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=KENYA
SEE  https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=SOMALIA
SEE  https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=PAKISTAN

Sufis Aren’t an Apolitical Counterweight to Political Islam, Babadzhanov Says

            Staunton, March 5 – Many post-Soviet analysts and officials have argued that Sufism, the mystical trend in Islam, can serve as a powerful bulwark against followers of political Islam and have even urged that their governments support Sufi orders as allies in the struggle against Islamism.

            (For background on such advocacy, see windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2022/03/view-that-sufism-represents-stabilizing.html, windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2021/05/sufism-offers-spirituality-traditional.html, windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2019/10/sufism-most-effective-means-to-counter.html and windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2016/07/sufism-better-than-state-as-bulwark.html.)

            But that attitude and the policies that arise from it are beginning to change, as ever more observers recall the role of militant Sufis in the 19^th century and deal with the problems, often greater than those posed by Islamist groups, that some Sufi orders present across the post-Soviet space.

            (For examples of such problems, see windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2022/12/kadyrov-raising-military-unit-based-on.html, windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2022/11/chechnyas-kadyrov-takes-up-cause-of.html and windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2022/11/russian-officials-accuse-influential.html.)

            Now, Bakhtiyar Babadzhanov, a scholar at Tashkent’s Institute of Oriental Studies, has attacked as “a cognitive mistake” the view that Sufism in principle is “apolitical” and warned officials in Uzbekistan and elsewhere that Sufism is a militant threat (ia-centr.ru/experts/iats-mgu/ostanetsya-li-sufizm-v-tsentralnoy-azii-vne-politiki-/).

            It is likely that he will be accused of ignoring those aspects of Sufism that genuinely are pacific and apolitical in order to make his case; but it seems likely that Babadzhanov’s argument likely presages a shift in policy not only in Uzbekistan against a segment of Islam even the Kremlin thought it could work with.

            To the extent that is true, the Sufis are likely to respond not by withdrawing from politics and militance but by doubling down on both, something that sets the stage for potentially serious consequences not only in areas where Sufis have been traditionally strong but in others where they have been growing in many cases because of state protection. 

Farmers to tackle locust swarms armed with new app

by University of Lincoln

Grassopper of Acrididae family: Anacridium aegyptium. Credit: Alvesgaspar/Wikipedia.

A new smartphone app to tackle pests destroying crops has been developed—and it could soon help farmers whose lands are being decimated by swarms of locusts, something the UN has called for "rapid action" action on.


The team of researchers from the University of Lincoln, UK, has designed and built the specialist app, called MAESTRO, which can recognise locusts and grasshopper pests through the smartphone's camera and record their GPS location.

The aim is for farmers to use the app to record the location and volume of locusts to enable the targeted delivery of pesticides to prevent swarms from spreading and decimating crops in their path. The next stage is the development of a cloud server which the app data will be uploaded to so that the pest's location can be identified in real time.

This potential targeted approach enables the precise use of pesticides to reduce the magnitude of locust swarms.

In January the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned that a Desert Locust outbreak in the Horn of Africa could provoke a humanitarian crisis as swarms of the pest continue to migrate and devastate crops in its path, and is calling for urgent international support to fight the worsening upsurge.

Dr. Bashir Al-Diri from the School of Computer Science at the University of Lincoln led the study. He said: "Each year, approximately 18 million hectares of land are damaged by locusts and grasshoppers, impacting hugely on farmers and their productivity.

"Monitoring techniques currently rely on field surveys by people through digging insect eggs, but this information only helps farmers to make mid and long-term forecasting decisions and can delay effective management measures.

"Our goal is to help farmers identify and record the spread of locusts on their land before they start to develop air borne swarms. We hope this new app will eventually put more knowledge and more power into the hands of the farmers. They will be able to predict insect population and spread, and act quickly and accurately to save their crops."

To build the new software, the scientific team gathered more than 3,500 images of locusts to train the system behind the app, which can also recognise a variety of terrain and plant growth.

With its advanced computer vision technology, the developers hope that the app framework will be used for a wide range of other applications in the future to capture and document key crop pests and diseases.

For example, it could easily be adapted to help individuals identify plant diseases and access expert advice on how to combat them, or to digitally capture the number and type of birds and wildlife in specific locations as part of national and international surveys.

Explore further

Precision pest control: smartphone app is the farmer's newest weapon in crop protection

More information: Piotr Chudzik et al, Mobile Real-Time Grasshopper Detection and Data Aggregation Framework, Scientific Reports (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-57674-8

SEE  https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=BIBLICAL
SEE  https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=PLAGUE
SEE  https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=LOCUSTS
SEE  https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=AFRICA
SEE  https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=KENYA
SEE  https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=SOMALIA
SEE  https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=PAKISTAN

From Slave Revolt to a Blood Pact with Satan: The Evangelical Rewriting of Haitian History
Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses, 2012

Elizabeth McAlister

Enslaved Africans and Creoles in the French colony of Saint-Domingue are said to have gathered at a nighttime meeting at a place called Bois Caïman in what was both political rally and religious ceremony, weeks before the Haitian Revolution in 1791. The slave ceremony is known in Haitian history as a religio-political event and used frequently as a source of inspiration by nationalists, but in the 1990s, neo-evangelicals rewrote the story of the famous ceremony as a “blood pact with Satan.” This essay traces the social links and biblical logics that gave rise first to the historical record, and then to the neo-evangelical rewriting of this iconic moment. It argues that the confluence of the bicentennial of the Haitian Revolution with the political contest around President Aristide’s policies, the growth of the neo-evangelical Spiritual Mapping movement, and of the Internet, produced a new form of mythmaking, in which neo-evangelicals re-signified key symbols of the event—an oath to a divine force, blood sacrifice, a tree, and group unity—from the mythical grammar of Haitian nationalism to that of neo-evangelical Christianity. In the many ironies of this clash between the political afterlife of a slave uprising with the political afterlife of biblical scripture, Haiti becomes a nation held in captivity, and Satan becomes the colonial power who must be overthrown.

Doi: 10.1177/0008429812441310
Issue: 2
Volume: 41
Page Numbers: 187-215
Publication Date: 2012

SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/01/my-2005-paper-gothic-capitalism-full.html

SEE  https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=CLR+JAMES

SEE  https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=BLACK+JACOBINS

SEE  https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=HAITI

SEE  https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=VOODOO

SEE  https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=PENTECOSTAL

SEE  https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=SATANISM

Next East Africa locust swarms airborne in 3 to 4 weeks, UN warns

Baby desert locusts in Somalia will become East Africa's next plague wave, UN agronomy experts have warned. Climate change-driven rain has triggered "unprecedented" breeding, says UN chief Antonio Guterres.


The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned Sunday that nymph (baby) desert locusts maturing in Somalia's rebel-held backcountry, where aerial spraying is next to unrealizable, will develop wings in the "next three or four weeks" and threaten millions of people already short of food.

Once in flight and hungry, the swarm could be the "most devastating plague of locusts in any of our living memories if we don't reduce the problem faster than we are doing at the moment," said UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock.

Read more: Why are locusts so destructive?

The locusts were now "very hungry teenagers," but once mature, their progeny would hatch, generating "about a 20-fold increase" in numbers, warned Keith Cressman, FAO locust forecasting officer.

"Mother Nature" alone would not solve the crisis, said Dominique Burgeon, resilience director of the FAO, which has urged international donors to give $76 million (€69.4 million) immediately.

Swarms, which left damage across parts of Ethiopia and Kenya in December, could also put Uganda, South Sudan, Eritrea and Djibouti at risk, making it the worst such situation in 25 years, the FAO said.

East Africa already has 19 million people facing acute food insecurity, according to the regional inter-agency Food Security and Nutrition Working Group (FSNWG).

Read more: Pakistan declares national emergency over locust swarms

East Africa struggles against locust swarms

'Huge' consumption of foodstuffs and fodder

Somalia last week declared a locust emergency, with its agriculture minister, Said Hussein Iid, warning that "food sources for people and their livestock are at risk."

Desert locusts, normally solitary but triggered to swarm by certain conditions, could consume "huge amounts of crops and forage" when present in large numbers, said Iid.

Experts say aerial pesticide spraying is the only effective control, but that the current hotspot for maturing locusts is in an inaccessible swathe of Somalia held by or under threat by the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group.

"This is where it begins," FAO spokesman Alberto Trillo Barca said at a police-guarded press briefing in northern Somalia attended by The Associated Press news agency.

"In the next three or four weeks, these nymphs, as we call them, will develop wings," Barca said on Thursday.

Read more: Locust swarms plague East Africa as wildfires burn Australia


These officials in Puntland, Somalia, are spraying by hand, but only aerial spraying is really effective, say experts

'Unprecedented locust crisis'

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, speaking in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, as an African Union (AU) summit kicked off, said Saturday: "There is a link between climate change and the unprecedented locust crisis plaguing Ethiopia and East Africa."

"Warmer seas mean more cyclones generating the perfect breeding ground for locusts. This is getting worse by the day," said Guterres.

Climate experts point to a rain-bearing cyclone that reached Somalian waters in December. Its winds had carried locusts from the Arabian Peninsula. Last week, the FAO said swarms had also been sighted in Oman and Yemen.

The locust density in East Africa was so high that even normal drier weather would still fail to inhibit another breeding generation, said Burgeon.


A locust swarm in Jijiga in Ethiopia in January decimated crops

Replacement crop unrealistic

A farmer in Kenya's eastern Kitui County, Esther Kithuka, told the Reuters news agency last Monday that she was worried about crop destruction. Another growing season due to start in April would be too short for any meaningful production.

Since last century, six desert locust plagues or what experts called region-wide "upsurges" have occurred. One of the worst occurred in 2003-2005 in North and West Africa.


SEE  https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=BIBLICAL
SEE  https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=PLAGUE
SEE  https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=LOCUSTS
SEE  https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=AFRICA
SEE  https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=KENYA
SEE  https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=SOMALIA
SEE  https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=PAKISTAN

The US's top infectious-diseases expert said 'it would be nice' if Trump hadn't scrapped the NSC's global-health unit

FAUCI TELLS THE NASTY TRUTH;TRUMP DID IT

John Haltiwanger Mar 11, 2020, 11:03 AM

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy

 and Infectious Diseases, and President Donald Trump. AP

THE JANUS FACED ADMINISTRATION

TRUMP LIES FAUCI TELLS THE TRUTH

The nation's top expert on infectious diseases said it would be nice if a global-health unit that President Donald Trump scrapped were still around.

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told House lawmakers, "It would be nice if the office were still there."

Fauci said that the bottom line for the coronavirus outbreak in the US is that "it's going to get worse."

In the US, at least 31 people have died, and there have been over 1,000 confirmed cases.

As he warned that the worst is yet to come for the coronavirus outbreak in the US, the nation's top infectious-diseases expert told House lawmakers it would be nice if President Donald Trump hadn't eliminated the National Security Council's global-health unit.

"We worked very well with that office. It would be nice if the office was still there," Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said during a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing on Wednesday.

In May 2018, Trump ordered the NSC's global-health unit to close and reassigned Rear Adm. Timothy Ziemer, who would've overseen the US response to a pandemic in that role. This came not long after John Bolton, the national security adviser, pushed out Tom Bossert, the White House homeland security adviser who had pushed for a robust strategy against pandemics and biological attacks.

The Trump administration has faced widespread criticism over its response to the coronavirus outbreak, particularly problems that have led to a lack of testing kits.

In Wednesday's hearing, Fauci presented the coronavirus outbreak to lawmakers in stark terms and warned against large gatherings.

"We would recommend that there not be large crowds. If that means not having any people in the audience as the NBA plays, so be it," he said.
"We will see more cases, and things will get worse than they are right now," he added.
He said that the "bottom line" is that "it's going to get worse."
—CSPAN (@cspan) March 11, 2020

When pushed for projections about the scale of the outbreak, Fauci said: "I can't give you a realistic number until we put into the factor of how we respond. If we are complacent and don't do really aggressive containment and mitigation, the number could go way up and be involved in many, many millions."

Fauci has been widely applauded as a voice of clarity amid the outbreak as Trump has contradicted experts and spread misinformation. Democratic Rep. Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts urged Fauci to push back when the president is at odds with the facts.

"The president has made some bizarre statements here," Lynch said. "The cases are not going down. The American people should be aware of that. You should be forthright in explaining that."

"I have never ever held back telling exactly what is going on from a public-health standpoint," said Fauci, who has advised six presidents.

Globally, more than 121,500 people have been infected by the coronavirus and over 4,300 people have died. In the US, at least 31 people have died, and there have been over 1,000 confirmed cases.

The World Health Organization on Wednesday declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic.

SEE 

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/03/trump-disbanded-nsc-pandemic-unit-that.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/03/i-dont-take-responsibility-trump-says.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/03/trump-denies-disbanding-pandemic-office.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/03/2020-time-capsule-3-i-dont-take.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/03/trump-disbanded-nsc-pandemic-unit-that.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/03/how-we-know-trump-was-lying-when-he.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-uss-top-infectious-diseases-expert.html

The Oil Spill At Mauritius Is A Disaster. And It Could Soon Get Worse

August 11, 2020
CAMILA DOMONOSKE Twitter



A man scoops oil from the coast of Mauritius on Saturday. A Japanese cargo ship ran aground near Blue Bay Marine Park in late July and began to leak fuel oil and diesel into pristine waters.Jean Aurelio Prudence/L'Express Maurice/AFP via Getty Images

A Japanese cargo ship struck a reef off the coast of Mauritius more than two weeks ago and has now leaked more than 1,000 metric tons of oil into the pristine waters and unique ecosystems of the island nation.

Mauritius has declared a state of environmental emergency, and the French government has sent technical support to assist with the disaster response. In addition, independently-organized local volunteers have been working to clean up and protect beaches with improvised materials.

But an even bigger danger looms.

A crack inside the ship's hull has been growing, and government officials warn the entire ship could split in half, releasing all the oil remaining inside the vessel.

Efforts are underway to pump that oil out of the ship before it breaks apart. As of Tuesday, just over 1,000 metric tons of oil had been pumped out of the ship, while some 1,800 metric tons of fuel oil and diesel remain on board, according to the company that owns the ship.


A large patch of leaked oil travels on ocean currents near the Pointe d'Esny in Mauritius on Saturday. The worsening oil spill is polluting the island nation's famous reefs, lagoons and oceans.AFP via Getty Images

The ship, the Wakashio, was a cargo ship, not an oil tanker, carrying 4,000 metric tons of fuel to power its engines (in comparison, supertankers can carry hundreds of thousands of metric tons of oil.) However, any oil spill larger than 700 metric tons is classified by industry groups as a large spill, and this spill has already released more oil than the combined total from every tanker spill documented in 2019.


Mauritius has declared a state of environmental emergency, and the French government has sent technical support to assist with the disaster response.


ENVIRONMENT
How California's Worst Oil Spill Turned Beaches Black And The Nation Green

The Mauritian government has urged residents to stay home and leave the clean-up to authorities, the BBC reports, but residents have organized themselves anyway and assembled home-made oil booms — floating barriers to contain and absorb the toxic spill.

Reuters reports that sugar cane leaves, plastic bottles and human hair (cut off and donated by residents) are being sewn into makeshift booms.

"People have realized that they need to take things into their hands. We are here to protect our fauna and flora," environmental activist Ashok Subron said, according to AFP.

Subron told a local news outlet the collective action by everyday citizens demonstrated "the failure of the state," and other residents are angrily asking why action wasn't taken sooner to prevent this unfolding disaster.

"The authorities did nothing for days," Fezal Noordaully, a taxi driver from a coastal village in Mauritius, told The Guardian. "Now they are but it's too late."

Scooping oil at the beach in Bambous Virieux, in southeast Mauritius, on Saturday.-/L'Express Maurice/AFP via Getty

When the Wakashio initially ran aground on July 25, its hull was intact and no major oil spill was detected. A Dutch company was brought in to refloat the ship and prevent spills.

But late last week, oil began to escape from the ship's tanks; the ship's owners issued a statement blaming bad weather and rough seas for the breach. The vessel's operators acknowledged "the regretful harm to the beautiful nature in Mauritius."


The vessel MV Wakashio was grounded on a reef for nearly two weeks before it began to leak large quantities of oil. The Japanese company that owns the ship says bad weather and rough seas caused one of the tanks of the vessel to be breached. Now a crack inside the hull of the ship has expanded and authorities worry it could break apart.Daren Mauree/L'Express Maurice/AFP via Getty

The island nation of Mauritius is located east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. It's home to a number of endemic species, or plants and animals that live nowhere else — from the pink pigeon, recently saved from extinction, to the blue-tailed day gecko, which pollinates a rare flower that only has 250 plants remaining.

The Mauritian Wildlife Foundation, which is dedicated to protecting endangered plants and animals that exist only in Mauritius, says it has helped lay booms to protect the Ile aux Aigrettes nature preserve as well as protected wetlands on the main island.

THE PICTURE SHOW
'Where The Land Used To Be,' Photos Show Louisiana Coast 10 Years After BP Oil Spill

But the key challenge is stop the flow of oil, the group says; until the source of the leak is addressed, shoreline clean-up will accomplish little.

In addition to environmental devastation, the spill could have "dire consequences for Mauritius' economy, food security and health," Greenpeace Africa warns. Tourism is an important part of the economy and had already taken a hit from the coronavirus pandemic.

SEE
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/08/locals-in-mauritius-are-going-to-great.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/08/mauritian-prime-minister-seeks.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/08/the-oil-spill-at-mauritius-is-disaster.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/08/update-mauritius-battles-devastating.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/08/mauritius-oil-spill-locals-scramble-to.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/08/oil-spill-off-mauritius-is-visible-from.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/08/france-offers-aid-as-mauritius-declares.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/08/mauritius-facing-catastrophe-as-oil.html