CANADIAN BUYOUT

Westinghouse sale signals arrival of a new nuclear age

Brandon Vigliarolo - Yesterday - The Register

Energy granddad wants in on the next generation of atomic tech

Uranium fuel producer Cameco Corp and investment firm Brookfield Renewable Partners intend to buy Westinghouse Electric Company in a bid to accelerate a nuclear power resurgence. …

The deal will cost the pair (and Brookfield Renewable's unnamed institutional partners) $7.85 billion, including $4.5 billion in equity and the remainder in assuming the company's debts. Westinghouse president and CEO Patrick Fragman says the agreement kickstarts a new chapter, not only for Westinghouse Electric Company, but for nuclear power as well.

"We are proud to join Brookfield Renewable and Cameco, reaffirming the important role played by Westinghouse and nuclear power in enabling the world's clean energy transition and energy security goals," Fragman said in a statement.

Nuclear power appears to be entering a renaissance phase. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), nuclear power generation needs to more than double by 2050 to help the world meet global warming reduction goals.

The IEA isn't the only group embracing nuclear power – Japan recently reversed its ban on nuclear power after the Fukushima meltdown 11 years ago, clearing the way for shuttered plants to reopen and new ones to be constructed.

Related video: Nuclear Power Stages a Comeback, But Is It Affordable and Safe?

Environmental responsibility aside, Cameco CEO and president Tim Gitzel said that there's never been a better time to get into nuclear, though keep in mind that his organization manufactures uranium fuel for such facilities.

"We're witnessing some of the best market fundamentals we've ever seen in the nuclear energy sector. [It is] becoming increasingly important in a world that prioritizes electrification, decarbonization and energy security," Gitzel said.

Cameco and Brookfield Renewable also talked up the construction of utility-scale and modular nuclear power generators. Smaller reactors are being developed, including a molten salt reactor that can fit on the back of a flatbed semi trailer, or more traditional small modular water reactors.

It's unknown in which direction Cameco and Brookfield plan to take Westinghouse, though the pair did say they were well positioned to "execute on the growing pipeline for extending and uprating nuclear power plants, and service the rising demand" for new smaller reactors – no mention of the type.

Westinghouse Electric Company is currently owned by Brookfield Business Partners, a subsidiary of Brookfield Renewable under parent company Brookfield Asset Management.

Brookfield Business purchased Westinghouse Electric Company from Toshiba in 2018 after the latter placed Westinghouse in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in a bid to restructure it. Brookfield said that its management of Westinghouse nearly doubled the company's profitability through restructuring and a refocus of its services.

Westinghouse Electric Company is also independent of Westinghouse Electric Corporation, from which it was spun off in 1999 after Westinghouse (then known as CBS Corp) merged with Viacom and sought to get rid of the last of its industrial enterprises.

The deal is still being negotiated and isn't expected to close until the second half of 2023.

 

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B.C. First Nations seek action on sturgeon deaths, after court blamed declines on dam

VANCOUVER — Three British Columbia First Nations want the provincial and federal governments to live up to a nine-month-old court decision that said there is "overwhelming" evidence a dam on the Nechako River is killing endangered sturgeon.


B.C. First Nations seek action on sturgeon deaths, after court blamed declines on dam© Provided by The Canadian Press

They are highlighting the ruling after scientists asked the public in September for help in solving the mysterious deaths of 11 adult sturgeon found in the Nechako River in central B.C.

The Ministry of Land, Water and Resource Stewardship said the fish showed no visible external injuries and their deaths were not caused by disease, chemical exposure, angling or gillnet fisheries.

However, the Nechako First Nations claim mismanagement of the river and the dam reservoir are behind the deaths, saying quick action is needed to protect their rights and the sturgeon, which the court said were in “a decline so severe that the species is currently at risk of imminent extirpation.”


In the 1950s, the B.C. government authorized the Aluminum Company of Canada, now Rio Tinto Alcan, to build the Kenney Dam and a 233-kilometre-long reservoir on the river for hydropower generation to smelt its product.

Two of the Nechako First Nations, the Saik’uz and Stellat’en, sued the governments and Rio Tinto Alcan for the decades of losses to their fisheries, the lands, waters and rights.

The B.C. Supreme Court ruled in January that while Rio Tinto Alcan has complied with every contract it signed and abided by all terms on its water licence, the "failure" came from the governments who settled on insufficient requirements to protect the fish of the Nechako.

The judge ruled the Saik’uz and Stellat’en nations have an Aboriginal right to fish for food, social and ceremonial purposes in the Nechako River watershed and that both the provincial and federal governments have an obligation to protect that right.

Justice Nigel Kent said it was a fact that the Kenney Dam's installation and operation were behind the "recruitment failure" of the Nechako white sturgeon, referring to the survival of fish larvae into the juvenile stage.

Sturgeon, with their long snout and shark-like tail, can grow up to six metres long and live for over a century. The Nechako white sturgeon are a distinct population.

Priscilla Mueller, elected chief of Saik’uz First Nation, said the community living along the river has watched water flow decline over the last several years.

“Right now, the Nechako River received less than 30 per cent of the water that it would naturally receive. So, when you look at the river today, the water level is very low. It would be very difficult for the sturgeons to survive in very low water," she said.

“It’s not only affecting the sturgeons, but it’s also affecting our salmon and other fish habitats."

Mueller recalled fishing with her grandparents as a child and said the salmon and sturgeon thrived on the river.

“And now like in Saik’uz, I haven't heard of anybody getting a sturgeon for years since I was a child .… The (Kenney) Dam really affected the river in a big way,” said Mueller.

The Saik’uz, Stellat’en and Nadleh Whut'en First Nations said in a news release that the recent deaths are the “latest blow” to the endangered species, which numbers between 300 and 600.

“Given the population’s conservation status, these mortalities have very serious implications for the Nechako white sturgeon’s ability to recover, and will drive the population closer to extinction,” they said.

The nations have since filed an appeal of the January ruling, seeking a court order for the restoration of flows on the Nechako that would re-establish "the natural functions of the river.”

Mueller said it’s not just in the First Nations’ interests to restore the river — the health of the river would benefit the whole community on the waterway.

The nations said they now look forward to discussions with all parties to create a new water management regime.

Mueller said one of the first steps is to invite Rio Tinto to their community to see who they are and how they live.

"So, for our community, building relationships is very important. And when you think about a relationship, it's not just one-sided. If we were gonna co-manage the river, that means all parties need to be involved,” said Mueller.

The Ministry of Land, Water and Resource Stewardship said no more dead sturgeon have recently been observed on the Nechako River, which it saw as a “positive update.”

“We are cautiously optimistic that this mortality event is over. The province is focusing on understanding the cause and what can be done to prevent potential future events," the ministry said in an email statement.

No cause of death was immediately apparent, but analyses and lab tests would continue, with water temperature and oxygen stress studies also underway through a partnership with the University of British Columbia, said the ministry.

"The province understands there is interest from First Nations and stakeholders in a water release facility at the Kenney Dam in the Nechako watershed," the ministry said, adding that it was discussing sturgeon stewardship "to ensure it meets the interests of Nechako First Nations."

Fisheries and Oceans Canada said in a written statement it had been engaged with Indigenous groups, Rio Tinto, B.C. and others in Nechako River white sturgeon recovery initiatives since 2000. A key objective was to ensure Rio Tinto operations “do not impact Nechako white sturgeon and facilitate their recovery.”

Andrew Czornohalan, director of power and projects at Rio Tinto BC Works, said in an email statement that the company is “deeply saddened” by the sturgeons’ deaths and it is working with partners, including the Nechako white sturgeon recovery initiative and the province.

“We are aware of the sturgeon mortality that occurred this summer in the Nechako River and in other rivers in B.C., including the Fraser River. We have offered technical capacity via the water engagement initiative to identify the possible causes of this unprecedented event."

He said the company has contributed over $13 million to the recovery initiative since 2000.

Over the past two years, Rio Tinto has been working with the First Nations and local communities to improve the water flow into the Nechako River while still monitoring for flood risks in Vanderhoof, a city in northern B.C., said Czornohalan.

“We will continue to collaborate with First Nations, governments and other stakeholders to review all aspects of the Nechako Reservoir management process in hopes of improving the health of the river and ensuring Rio Tinto can remain a driver of economic opportunities in B.C.,” said Czornohalan.

He said on top of powering its smelting plant, the dam provides hydropower for around 350,000 residents in B.C.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 13, 2022.

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

Nono Shen, The Canadian Press

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for FOSSIL FISH 

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for STURGEON 

Cryptozoology Part 2: plawiuk — LiveJournal

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for STURGEON FOSSIL FISH

Mexico march puts violence against women, girls in spotlight

Online News EditorOctober 8, 2022

San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Mexico, Oct 8 (EFE).- Dozens of women and girls marched through the main streets of San Cristóbal de Las Casas in Mexico’s Chiapas state on Saturday to put violence, inequality and discrimination faced by women in the country in the spotlight.

Ahead of International Day of the Girl Child on Oct. 11, the protesters walked to the city’s central park carrying banners and balloons, and white handkerchiefs on their wrists as a symbol of peace.

With slogans such as “I have the right to play without fear,” “Fight for girls” and “We are a girls’ club and we deserve respect,” they expressed their demands for respect and visibility.

The small contingent was also accompanied by a group of children and men who supported the march, with banners that read: “Respect for women” and “Stop discrimination and violence against women,” among others.

Jennifer Haza, director of Melel Xojobal, told EFE that this march is held every year in order to highlight the problems in Chiapas where, she said, 21 percent of girls aged three to 17 years old do not attend school.

She also said that the state has the second-highest number of pregnancies of girls under 15 years of age in the country.

According to statistics from the National Survey on the Dynamics of Household Relationships 2021, in Chiapas 20.2 percent of the population of women aged 15 and over have experienced situations of violence at school throughout their lives.

In 2020, Chiapas state had the highest number of pregnancies of girls under 15 years of age in the country with a total of 1,139, equivalent to 95 pregnant girls per month, according to a report from the Network for the Rights of Children in Mexico.

The organization also reported that between 2018 and 2022, a total of 1,220 girls aged between one and 17 disappeared, of which 76 percent were aged between 12 and 17 years. EFE

mf/tw

Young Peruvian activists determined to make female voices heard

Online News EditorOctober 11, 2022

By Carla Samon Ros

Lima, Oct 11 (EFE).- Tania and Sofia are a pair of Peruvian teenagers who were born in different parts of that Andean nation yet share a common vision: to protect women from harm and encourage other girls and female adolescents to make themselves heard in a male-dominated society.

Tania’s voice is calm and measured and her body language conveys strength and self-assurance. But an air of tenderness envelops her when she talks about the projects she has carried out in her community in the northwestern region of Piura.

That 17-year-old developed an initiative known as “Education for Pachamama” (Education for Mother Earth) that she explained is aimed at promoting environmental education through talks and workshops.

She also helped create a project to organize her community’s mototaxis – light, three-wheeled motor vehicles similar to Thailand’s “tuk tuks” and Pakistan’s “chand garis.”

“We saw there was a problem with (teenage girls) going out late at night, and we wanted to find a secure space for them so they could get home safely,” Tania, who says she aspires to become a lawyer to “defend those who have no voice,” told Efe, adding that the idea is to create a network for sharing the numbers and WhatsApp contacts of trustworthy mototaxis.

Some 1,120 kilometers (695 miles) south of Piura, Sofia also took it upon herself to transform her community of San Pedro de Carabayllo, part of Lima province, into an area that is “safe for girls.”

Specifically, the organization she belongs to carried out a gender-focused urban audit to locate and reclaim unsafe areas of her community.

“We reclaimed a location that was infested with street sexual harassment” and which targeted a lot of school-aged girls, the 16-year-old told Efe.

Sofia said she was motivated to become an activist in part by the many dinner-table political debates she heard as a young child, as well as by the “stereotypes, violence, machismo and inequalities that go hand-in-hand with being a female adolescent in Peru.”

Tania and Sofia recently met at an event in Lima to mark the International Day of the Girl Child that was organized by Plan International, a development and humanitarian non-governmental organization. While there, they took part in workshops aimed at fostering the political participation of girls and female adolescents.

“Participation is a right, a principle and the basis of other rights. A girl who feels empowered and can have a say in her life … will later exercise a much more powerful citizenship,” Selmira Carreon, Plan International’s technical coordinator for children’s participation and youth mobilization in Peru, told Efe.

According to a study released this month by Plan International, only half of the girls surveyed said it is acceptable for them to be active in their communities, while 10 percent believe women are not qualified to be political leaders and only 25 percent see themselves as potential candidates for political office.

But many others are determined to forge a new reality for women in Peru.

“We can’t talk about equality in a country where those who make the important decisions are mostly men,” Sofia said. “The old and deep-rooted patriarchal, conservative order doesn’t want us in power and in political spaces because they know we’re the ones who are going to bring … an end to inequality.” EFE

csr/mc

Centuries after conquest, indigenous languages survive in Brazil

Online News EditorOctober 12, 2022

By Alba Santandreu

Sao Paulo, Oct 12 (EFE).- More de 175 indigenous languages have endured in Brazil despite centuries of colonization and that legacy is celebrated in a new exhibit that opened here Wednesday.

“Nhe’e Pora: Memory and Transformation” signals the start of the 2022-2032 International Decade of Indigenous Languages of Brazil, promoted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Hosted by the Museum of the Portuguese Language in Sao Paulo, Nhe’e Pora (“sacred words” in Guarani) is intended to rescue the history and identity of Brazil’s 300 indigenous peoples.

“During the invasion, the European languages of the colonizers were imposed through practices of physical violence, death threats, torture and prohibition,” exhibit curator Daiara Tukano told EFE.

In the early phase of the conquest, she said, the Portuguese identified Tupi-Guarani as the most widely spoken language in the coastal region and made that tongue the instrument for administering their indigenous subjects and introducing them to Christianity.

Over time, Tupi-Guarani evolved into Nheegatu, which served as a lingua franca for the first three centuries of the colonial era.

But the colonizers eventually abandoned Nheegatu in favor of a policy of forcing the indigenous people to learn Portuguese.

“Each language is a universe, it’s a system of thought,” Tukano said. “We cannot allow our cosmovision and sciences to be diminished and erased for that single Western (system of) thought that is imposed.”

The exhibit includes indigenous artifacts, some from the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at the University of Sao Paulo and from the private collection of French-born Lux Boelitz Vidal, one of Brazil’s pre-eminent anthropologists.

Vidal, 94, spent extended periods living with the Xikrin people in the southwestern part of Para state, who now find their way of life threatened by illegal loggers.

Shortly before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, Vidal, at the urging of the Xikrin, began work on a virtual library comprising all of the knowledge she accumulated over decades.

With the help of a small team, she digitized her files, including more than 100 hours of recordings of music, first-person histories and myths passed down through the generations.

“It’s a library that serves the youth. When they listened for the first time, they said: ‘it’s pure Xikrin,'” Isabelle Giannini, Vidal’s daughter and the coordinator of the project, recounted to EFE.

as/dr

Rescuers recall dangerous, complex Miracle of the Andes mission

Online News EditorOctober 12, 2022

By Meritxell Freixas

San Fernando, Chile, Oct 12 (EFE).- Fifty years after the Andes flight disaster, the first nurse who treated the 16 survivors, one of the co-pilots who rescued 14 members of the group and the journalist who conducted an exclusive interview with the other two spoke to Efe about the complex and dangerous rescue mission.

That two-day operation began on Dec. 22, 1972, more than two months after Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, a chartered flight traveling from Montevideo to Santiago with 45 crew and passengers, including 19 members of an Uruguayan rugby union team, crashed in the Andes mountains on Oct. 13 due to pilot error.

The mission got under way amid heavy cloud cover that would have made any air rescue unthinkable under normal circumstances.

But it proceeded due to the urgency of retrieving the group, who had survived for 72 days on a glacier at an elevation of 3,570 meters (11,710 feet) in the remote Andes of far western Argentina, just east of the border with Chile.

After waiting more than an hour for the fog to dissipate, the search-and-rescue teams headed to Los Maitenes ranch to meet with Roberto Canessa and Fernando “Nando” Parrado, two of the survivors who had set off on a days-long hike from the site of the wreck and had been found by a Chilean arriero (muleteer).

“We didn’t believe they were the Urguayans because we’d carried out more than 100 missions searching for them,” Ramon Canales, a co-pilot of one of the helicopters that took part in the mission, told Efe in the central Chilean city of San Fernando.

“If it were true that they were the Uruguayans, that would be international news. What better story to cover than that one for someone who’s starting out?” said Alipio Vera, a journalist who was just 27 years old at the time and was the first to interview Canessa and Parrado at the ranch.

Two helicopters lifted off from Los Maitenes in search of the fuselage of the crashed plane. Parrado was on board one of the choppers and was tasked with guiding the rescuers, but he became disoriented when the helicopter had to take a different approach to the peak.

Parrado recalled though that an avalanche that had killed several members of the group had left a coffee-colored patch high up on the mountain, the co-pilot said, recalling the elation they experienced when they spotted that brown-colored slab of rock and shortly afterward the fuselage and the 14 remaining survivors.

Canales took a photo of the men – their arms raised in the air and shouting into the sky – that became the iconic image of an ordeal and miraculous survival that drew international headlines.

“It gave me an inner joy that’s difficult to describe,” Jose Bravo, the first nurse to treat the survivors, told Efe of the moment the rescue team came upon the crashed plane.

Six people were evacuated the first day, while the other eight were taken to safety a day later. Bravo remained on the glacier with the second group.

“Night fell and we all went inside the plane to tell jokes and sing … They asked us what they could eat in Chile at that time, what fruit there was. The guys were crying. They were happy,” the nurse recalled during an interview in San Fernando.

The following morning, the mission was completed on a sunny, windless day. “When we climbed into the helicopter, we hugged one another, and seeing them cry we also cried,” Bravo said. EFE

mfm/mc

Lula campaigns in Rio slums; Bolsonaro courts Brazil’s Catholics

Online News EditorOctober 12, 2022

 

Rio de Janeiro, Oct 12 (EFE). Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and challenger Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took advantage of Wednesday’s national holiday to stump for votes ahead of the Oct. 30 presidential runoff.

The right-wing incumbent went to the Basilica of Our Lady of Aparecida in Sao Paulo state, where thousands of the Catholic faithful gathered to honor Brazil’s patron saint on her feast day.

While former two-term president Lula, the candidate of the center-left Workers Party (PT), campaigned in Complexo do Alemao, the largest of Rio de Janeiro’s “favelas,” or shantytowns.

Lula bested Bolsonaro by a margin of 48 percent to 43 percent in the first round of voting on Oct. 2, but fell short of the 50 percent-plus-one needed to avoid a runoff.

Millions of Brazilians climbed out of poverty during Lula’s 2003-2011 tenure as president and the giant South American nation managed to get off the United Nations Hunger Map – only to return to it this year.

“The people will go back to eating three times a day, will go back to having formal employment,” the 76-year-old who got his start in politics as a leader of the steelworkers union told the throng who joined him Wednesday on a walking tour of Complexo do Alemao.

Lula vowed to show “the elite who govern the country that once again, a steelworker will straighten out” Brazil.

The president, meanwhile, was greeted at the Aparecida Shrine with a mixture of applause and jeering, as many pilgrims viewed his visit as cynical opportunism.

Bolsonaro arrived at the basilica after taking part in the inauguration of an Evangelical church in Minas Gerais state.

The incumbent, who often proclaims, “Brazil above all, God above everybody,” enjoys support from 63 percent of the roughly 30 percent of the population who identify as Evangelical, while 60 percent of professed Catholics prefer Lula.

Brazil’s Catholic Bishops Conference issued a statement this week denouncing the “intensification of the exploitation of faith as a path to win votes in the second round.”

Yet a member of the conference, Aparecida Archbishop Orlando Brandes, marked the saint’s day with a thinly veiled endorsement of Lula.

Bread, peace and brotherhood are “what Brazil needs today,” Brandes said, invoking one of Lula’s slogans without mentioning the candidate by name.

And Lula’s campaign took the opportunity of publishing a letter from the candidate promising that all religions will be respected if he returns to the presidency.

“Religion is a sacred and fundamental right and it must be respected by all of us,” he wrote.

“As the Catholic that I am, on this day that is so special for Brazil, I want to ask, through the mediation of Our Lady of Aparecida, that God bless us to be able to construct a democratic, just, independent and sovereign nation,” Lula said. EFE mat/dr

 Chinese chip bosses protest ‘wrong’ US restrictions

Online News EditorOctober 13, 2022

Shanghai, China, Oct 13 (EFE).- Chinese semiconductor employers said they’re opposed Thursday to restrictions announced by the United States on the purchase of chips by companies or individuals from the country, the official China Daily newspaper reported.

In a statement, the China Association of the Semiconductor Industry said this ban, announced at the end of last week, represents an interference in international trade.

“We hope that the US government corrects its incorrect practices in a timely manner,” said the organization, which called for “seeking consensus.”

Likewise, the Association urged Washington to “return to the framework of the consultation mechanism on international trade” sponsored by the World Semiconductor Council and the Assembly of Governments and Authorities on Semiconductors.

On Friday, the US Department of Commerce denounced a new order that will prevent Chinese companies or individuals from accessing microchips or components manufactured in the US, under threat of inclusion on its list of sanctions for foreign companies that do not comply with the measure.

The announcement was a heavy blow to companies such as Taiwan’s TSMC, the world’s largest chipmaker, which plunged 8.3 percent Tuesday on the stock market, falling to its lowest listing levels since mid-2020.

However, the world’s second largest producer, South Korea’s SK Hynix, announced Wednesday that Washington will exempt it from complying with the measure for one year to keep its operations in China intact. This exemption, according to sources quoted Thursday by Japanese newspaper Nikkei, was also received by TSMC.

According to US authorities, who recently approved a law to stimulate the production of microchips in their territory, China is using its technological advances to spy on its own citizens and develop advanced military technology.

For its part, Beijing called the measure an “intimidation” which “undermines the rules of the market and the international economic and commercial order” and “endangers the stability of industrial supply chains.”

In the face of the open trade war with Washington since March 2018 and the growing diplomatic tensions, China has announced various measures and plans to boost the national semiconductor industry, in which it continues to depend on foreign manufacturers. EFE

vec/lds

A protest over the death of a woman who was detained by the morality police, in downtown Tehran, Iran, September 21, 2022MORE than 200 people have been killed during a fierce crackdown by Iranian authorities, as women in the country continue to protest and win support across the world.Iranian security forces have mounted a huge clampdown on protests across the country, sparked by the death in September of Mahsa Amini at the hands of the so-called morality police for an alleged breach of the Islamic republic’s strict dress code for women.Widespread protests across Iran on Wednesday were marked by security forces’ use of guns and beatings.Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights is reporting that 201 people have so far been killed during the protests since the retaliation by the Iranian regime began.Tehran Youth, presumed to be a group of young activists who have taken the lead in current anti-government protests, had issued the call for Wednesday’s protests after security forces used military weapons against protesters in the Kurdish city of Sanandaj earlier this week.Multiple reports by social media monitoring groups said that there was a near-total internet shutdown in major cities, not only for mobile phones but also landline home connections.But despite the actions of the government, reports emerged of protests taking place in Mashhad, Esfahan, Rasht, Keramn, Chabahar and Sanandaj, Arak and other cities and towns.Reports by labour groups from southern Iran said that security forces were deployed in large numbers around oil and petrochemical facilities to prevent the continuation of strikes and protests by workers that started on Monday.Despite the clampdown by the authorities, the first cracks have started to appear among Iran’s political elite over the women-led protests.Ali Larijani, former speaker of the Iranian parliament, called for a re-examination of the enforcement of compulsory hijab law and an acknowledgment that the protests have deep political roots, and are not simply the product of US or Israeli agitation.The protests have sparked a wave of solidarity across the world.Veteran political activist Professor Angela Davis said: “I want to offer my heartfelt solidarity to all those in Iran who have decided that Mahsa Amini’s death at the hands of the Islamic republic shall not be in vain.”“I want to thank all those whose militant refusal, directed at the regime, has created the occasion for Mahsa Amini’s name to reverberate around the world,” she added.MORNINgstar

Iran top judge orders harsh sentences for ‘main riot elements’

Iran has been rocked by weeks of protests following the death of Mahsa Amini in custody.

Protesters chant during a protest over the death of a woman who 

was detained by the morality police, in central Tehran, Iran [File: AP]

Published On 13 Oct 2022

Iran’s judiciary chief has ordered judges to issue harsh sentences for the “main elements of riots” as protests continue over the death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman who died in custody nearly a month ago,

“I have instructed our judges to avoid showing unnecessary sympathy to main elements of these riots and issue tough sentences for them while separating the less guilty people,” the Iranian semi-official Students News Agency quoted Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei as saying on Thursday.

Mohseni-Ejei had previously ordered courts across the country to fast-track the cases of those arrested.

The protests started in mid-September after Amini, 22, died while in the custody of Iran’s so-called “morality police” for an alleged breach of the country’s strict dress code for women.

A report last week by the medical examiner’s office did not specifically mention the cause of Amini’s death but said she had a brain tumour operated on when she was eight, and no blows were dealt to her head or other organs.

Amini’s family have refuted the authorities’ account that she was not beaten, and has also questioned the validity of the coroner’s report.

Her death triggered the biggest protests in Iran since 2019 when a surprise move to ration fuel and raise prices sparked unrest.

Last week, Majid Mirahmadi, deputy for security and police affairs at the interior ministry, had warned that “anyone who is arrested at the scene of the riots will not be freed under any circumstances until the time of their trial, which will be held quickly and will issue assertive and deterring sentences”.

Dozens of people have so far been indicted in connection with “riots”, while stringent internet restrictions continue.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Thursday accused the United States of resorting to a “policy of destabilisation” against Iran.

“Following the failure of America in militarisation and sanctions, Washington and its allies have resorted to the failed policy of destabilisation,” Raisi said at a summit in Kazakhstan, according to his office.

KEEP READING
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AL JAZEERA

 

Iran's Judiciary Chief Says Judges Must Issue 'Tough' Sentences To Protesters

October 13, 2022

By RFE/RL

A wave of protests has swept across the country following the death Mahsa Amini last month. The 22-year-old died three days after being taken into custody by the morality police for allegedly violating Iran's strict law mandating women wear a hijab, or headscarf, when in public.


In a sign Iran's government is intensifying its crackdown on protesters angered by the death of a young woman while in police custody for allegedly improperly wearing a hijab, the head of the country's judiciary said "tough sentences" should be issued to those apprehended by police.

A wave of protests has swept across the country following the death Mahsa Amini last month. The 22-year-old died three days after being taken into custody by the morality police for allegedly violating Iran's strict law mandating women wear a hijab, or headscarf, when in public.

Her supporters and family say she was beaten during her arrest, while officials have said she had "underlying diseases."

"I have instructed our judges to avoid showing unnecessary sympathy to main elements of these riots and issue tough sentences for them while separating the less guilty people," the state ISNA news agency quoted Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei as saying on October 13.

Iran Human Rights said on October 12 that at least 201 people, including 23 children, have been killed in the protests that have rocked Iran, and the Oslo-based group warned that more fatalities are likely in a continued "bloody crackdown."

The Iranian government has imposed a near-total Internet shutdown to try and quell the protests.


U.S. Encourages Technology Companies To Help Iranians Circumvent Internet Outages

A mobile phone in Iran is unable to connect to the Internet. The Iranian government has imposed a near-total Internet shutdown to try and quell the protests, which according to one human rights organization have left more than 200 people dead.


October 13, 2022
By Hannah Kaviani

Top U.S. officials have met with representatives of technology companies to encourage them to work on ways to facilitate Internet access in Iran after a licensing change freed up the use of software and other technology used to circumvent Internet blockages.

The United States issued a general license for such technologies last month and says they can be used by Iranians amid a crackdown on antigovernment protests.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said on October 12 that Iranian authorities have blocked Internet access amid the violent protests to suppress the Iranian people and keep human rights abuses out of the eye of the international community.

The general license, known as a GL D-2, opens the door for technology companies to provide people in Iran the tools they need to circumvent Internet shutdowns. Several U.S. technology companies are already providing new services to Iranians under the license, Sherman said.

Sherman spoke at a roundtable discussion in Washington with global technology companies on increasing access to communication tools for Iranians. The event was convened by the Global Network Initiative, a nongovernmental organization that focuses on Internet freedom issues.

The Iranian government has imposed a near-total Internet shutdown to try and quell the protests, which according to one human rights organization have left more than 200 people dead.

The protests broke out after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was taken into custody last month for allegedly wearing a hijab improperly. Eyewitnesses say Amini was beaten, while officials have said she died of illness, though they have not provided any evidence to back up their claim.

Sherman thanked the companies for taking the initiative to supply the tools, saying this is a moment of opportunity to help connect the Iranian people.

Iranian Officials Say Student Protesters Arrested, Sent To Reeducation Camps

"As more technology companies offer them software, services, and hardware, the Iranian people's ability to communicate with each other and their digital ties to the rest of the world will strengthen. And it will become more costly for their government to sever access in the future," she said.

She added that as more Iranians gain access to the latest software and services that meet global standards for digital security and anti-surveillance technologies they can better protect themselves from government crackdowns.

Deputy Special Envoy Jarrett Blanc, who also spoke at the roundtable discussion, said the U.S. government is making efforts to hold the Iranian government accountable for the acts of violence and the Internet shutdown, including imposing sanctions on organizations and individuals responsible.

It is important to see the GL D2 as part of the U.S. response to the protests, Blanc said. Before the GL D-2 was granted there were ways that sanction policy complicated the Iranian people’s access to the Internet, which was not the objective.

The GL D-2 is a crucial pillar of this response because it means U.S. regulations are not standing in the way of Iranians accessing a free flow of information and access to the Internet, he said.


Iran Ratchets Up Crackdown Against Protesters, Several Deaths Reported

Iran has been rocked by protests since the death of a young woman in police custody last month.

October 13, 2022
By RFE/RL's Radio Farda

Iranian security forces continue to ratchet up their crackdown on protests across the country as they try to quell unrest sparked by last month's death of a young woman while in police custody over how she was wearing a head scarf.

Demonstrations on October 13 took place in various cities after reports overnight that several people were killed in clashes with security forces in the country's Kurdish regions.

The Hengaw rights group, which reports on these regions, called for international aid organizations such as Doctors Without Borders and the International Committee of the Red Cross to be given access to the areas amid "intense violence" between protesters and security forces.

On October 13, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network, a group that monitors Kurdish-inhabited areas of western Iran, announced the death of three protesters by security forces in the cities of Sanandaj and Kermanshah.

“At least 48 other protesters were injured in different cities and the condition of one person was reported to be critical,” the group added.

Amini's death came three days after she was taken into custody after being detained by the so-called Morality Police.

Eyewitnesses say Amini, who was of Kurdish background, was beaten, while officials have said she died of illness, though they have not provided any evidence to back up their claim.

Again on October 13, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi blamed the United States for the unrest, accusing Washington and its allies of resorting to "the failed policy of destabilization."

Despite a near-total Internet shutdown by authorities, Iranians were still posting calls on social media for street protests with the aim of supporting people in the western Iranian city of Sanandaj after Iran's security forces launched "an all-out military attack" on protesters.

In a video sent to RFERL's Radio Farda, security agents could be seen violently beating a protester in Tehran.

Another video posted on social media from the western city of Ilam showed police forces pursuing protestors.

Meanwhile, striking workers have been reported in several cities across the country in recent days, especially in southern areas where Iran's oil industry is located, one of the few sectors of the economy able to bring in money for the government.

The Free Union of Iranian Workers announced on October 12, that more than 30 contract workers in the Asalouyeh petrochemical plants have been arrested by security forces for their protests.

Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL's Radio Farda

More than 200 killed during fierce

crackdown by Iranian authorities

A protest over the death of a woman who was detained by the morality police, in downtown Tehran, Iran, September 21, 2022

MORE than 200 people have been killed during a fierce crackdown by Iranian authorities, as women in the country continue to protest and win support across the world.

Iranian security forces have mounted a huge clampdown on protests across the country, sparked by the death in September of Mahsa Amini at the hands of the so-called morality police for an alleged breach of the Islamic republic’s strict dress code for women.

Widespread protests across Iran on Wednesday were marked by security forces’ use of guns and beatings.

Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights is reporting that 201 people have so far been killed during the protests since the retaliation by the Iranian regime began.

Tehran Youth, presumed to be a group of young activists who have taken the lead in current anti-government protests, had issued the call for Wednesday’s protests after security forces used military weapons against protesters in the Kurdish city of Sanandaj earlier this week.

Multiple reports by social media monitoring groups said that there was a near-total internet shutdown in major cities, not only for mobile phones but also landline home connections.

But despite the actions of the government, reports emerged of protests taking place in Mashhad, Esfahan, Rasht, Keramn, Chabahar and Sanandaj, Arak and other cities and towns.

Reports by labour groups from southern Iran said that security forces were deployed in large numbers around oil and petrochemical facilities to prevent the continuation of strikes and protests by workers that started on Monday.

Despite the clampdown by the authorities, the first cracks have started to appear among Iran’s political elite over the women-led protests.

Ali Larijani, former speaker of the Iranian parliament, called for a re-examination of the enforcement of compulsory hijab law and an acknowledgment that the protests have deep political roots, and are not simply the product of US or Israeli agitation.

The protests have sparked a wave of solidarity across the world.

Veteran political activist Professor Angela Davis said: “I want to offer my heartfelt solidarity to all those in Iran who have decided that Mahsa Amini’s death at the hands of the Islamic republic shall not be in vain.”

“I want to thank all those whose militant refusal, directed at the regime, has created the occasion for Mahsa Amini’s name to reverberate around the world,” she added.

MORNINgstar

Beyond the veil, Iran’s women at the mercy of men

Online News EditorOctober 6, 2022

 

By Jaime León

Tehran, Oct 6 (EFE).- The death of Mahsa Amini in police custody has sparked unprecedented protests against the obligatory headscarf laws in Iran but discrimination against women in the Islamic republic runs much deeper.

Women in Iran have comparatively greater access to work and education than in many neighboring countries but men still have the final say on the extent of women’s rights.

Patriarchal decision-making powers extend to marriage, whereby the mantle of superiority is passed from father to husband.

In Iran, women enjoy their greatest level of freedom when they are single adults, but it comes with caveats – they are prohibited from singing in public, driving motorbikes and attending football games.

Fathers hold veto powers over the marriage of their daughters, even when they are of adult age. Once a woman is married, she needs permission from her husband to study, work and obtain a passport, in accordance with the Islamic Republic of Iran’s civil code.

Written permission for a passport can be withdrawn at the whim of the husband, who can therefore prevent his wife from leaving the country.

A male partner has custody over a daughter until the age of nine and a son until 15, and can divorce more easily than a woman, who requires the approval of a judge, a male-only job in Iran.

The terms of a marriage can be negotiated ahead of time, and such contracts can include special circumstances guaranteeing the woman the right to a passport, to study, work and grant her custody of the children.

“My marriage contract allows me to work because that’s what I asked my husband before we married and he accepted,” an Iranian woman told Efe on the condition of anonymity. “For me, it was important to have more freedom.”

Iran’s officials underline how the situation for women in the country has improved since the post-revolution founding of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979.

According to the government, 97% of girls receive an education compared to 62% before the Islamic revolution and women make up 17% of senior level roles in work, compared to 3% in 1979.

Women also make up 59% of university students in Iran. In politics, however, things are different.

Of the 290 lawmakers in parliament, just 16 are women, none of whom hold a ministerial role.

The highest-ranking woman in Iran’s politics is Ensieh Khazali, who serves as vice president for family affairs.

Another blemish on Iran’s women’s rights is child marriage. Each year, 30,000 children under 14 are married each year, according to NGO estimations.

Iranian law stipulates that the minimum age for marriage is 13 for girls and 15 for boys, although the age limits can be lowered with parental and judicial permission.

Women are banned from a number of activities that men would take for granted.

The list of prohibitions includes attending football matches, a topic that returned to the international limelight when protester Sahar Khodayari self–immolated in 2019 after she was sentenced to six months in prison for disguising herself as a man to enter a stadium, a tactic used by many women.

In 2019, under pressure from the international community and FIFA, the Islamic Republic permitted 3,500 women to attend a game between Iran and Cambodia. It was the first time in 40 years that women were seen in a football stadium crowd.

U.S. mortgage interest rates rise to highest level since 2006

Yesterday 

(Reuters) - The average interest rate on the most popular U.S. home loan rose to its highest level since 2006 as the housing sector continued to bear the brunt of tightening financial conditions, data from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) showed on Wednesday.


Housing construction in Florida© Reuters/OCTAVIO JONES

Mortgage rates have more than doubled since the beginning of the year as the Federal Reserve pursues an aggressive path of interest rate hikes to bring down stubbornly high inflation.

Those actions, designed to cool the economy sufficiently to curb price pressures, have weighed heavily on the interest-rate-sensitive housing sector as expectations for Fed tightening have led to a surge in Treasury yields. The yield on the 10-year note acts as a benchmark for mortgage rates.

The average contract rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose by 6 basis points to 6.81% for the week ended Oct. 7 while the MBA's Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, fell 2.0% from a week earlier and is down roughly 69% from one year ago.

Its Purchase Index, a measure of all mortgage loan applications for purchase of a single family home, fell 2.1% from the prior week and is 39% lower than a year ago, while MBA's refinance Index declined 1.8% last week and is down 86% from one year ago.

Homebuilding and sales have weakened significantly in recent months, with home resales posting seven straight months of declines. However, home prices remain high even as house price growth slows, eroding affordability for buyers who are still competing due to a shortage of properties for sale.

(Reporting by Lindsay Dunsmuir; Editing by Bernadette Baum)