Friday, February 12, 2021

Coronavirus: Bat scientists find new evidence

By Helen Briggs
BBC Environment correspondent

Published: 2 days ago

Scientists say coronaviruses related to Sars-CoV-2 may be circulating in bats across many parts of Asia.

They have discovered a virus that is a close match to the virus that causes Covid-19 in bats at a wildlife sanctuary in eastern Thailand.

And they predict that similar coronaviruses may be present in bats across many Asian nations and regions.

The discovery extends the area in which related viruses have been found to a distance of 4,800km (2,983 miles).

And it gives clues to how Covid-19 might have emerged.

The researchers said sampling was limited, but they were confident that coronaviruses "with a high degree of genetic relatedness to Sars-CoV-2 are widely present in bats across many nations and regions in Asia".

The area includes Japan, China and Thailand, the researchers said in a report published in Nature Communications.

Past studies have suggested that Sars-CoV-2 emerged in an animal, most likely a bat, before spreading to humans.

The precise origins of the virus are unknown and have been investigated by a team commissioned by the World Health Organization (WHO).

WHO probe team in China exits Wuhan quarantine.

In the latest research, a team lead by Lin-Fa Wang of Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore detected a close relative of Sars-CoV-2 in horseshoe bats kept in an artificial cave at a wildlife sanctuary in Thailand.

The virus, named RacCS203, is a close match to the genetic code of Sars-CoV-2 (with 91.5% similarity in their genomes).

It is also closely related to another coronavirus - called RmYN02 - which is found in bats in Yunnan, China (with 93.6% similarity to the genome of Sars-CoV-2).

"We need to do more surveillance in animals," said Prof Wang. "In order to find the true origin, the surveillance work needs to go beyond the border of China."

One big concern is the ability of coronaviruses to move between different mammals, for example cats, dogs and minks.

By moving between species, the virus can mutate and evolve into a new pathogen, which could explain how Covid-19 emerged.

Dr Thiravat Hemachudha of Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand, was part of the team of international researchers.

The viruses found in bats in Thailand and China act as "a perfect template that can recombine with others and eventually evolve as new emerging pathogen(s), Covid-19 virus as one", he said.

The researchers also examined antibodies in bats and a trafficked pangolin seized in southern Thailand.

The antibodies were able to neutralise the pandemic virus, which is further evidence that Sars-CoV-2-related coronaviruses are circulating in Southeast Asia, they said.

Commenting, Prof Martin Hibberd of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said the findings highlighted the broad distribution of bats and viruses that may include the originator of the current outbreak.

"Further work is required to understand how Sars-CoV-2 passed from animals to humans, with the recent WHO investigators in Wuhan showing that as of yet, these is no conclusive evidence of how this happened," he said.

Follow Helen on Twitter.

Study: SARS-CoV-2-related coronaviruses are circulating in Southeast Asian animals

Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.Feb 10 2021

While the World Health Organization (WHO) continues its mission to Wuhan investigating the origin and early transmission of SARS-CoV-2, a new study led by scientists from Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, and Chulalongkorn University, Thailand, shows that SARS-CoV-2-related coronaviruses (SC2r-CoVs) are circulating in animals as far away as Thailand.

The study, published in Nature Communications today, reported that high levels of neutralizing antibodies against the virus were present in both bats and pangolins found in the Southeast Asian country. The study further indicates that more SC2r-CoVs are likely to be discovered in the region. Southeast Asia with its large and diverse bat populations may be a more likely hotspot for such viruses.

"This is an important discovery in the search for the origin of SARS-CoV-2, which was made possible by rapid application of cutting-edge technology through transparent international collaboration," said Dr. Supaporn Wacharapluesadee, from Thai Red Cross Emerging Infectious Diseases Health Science Centre, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok Thailand.

In the study, the team examined Rhinolophus bats in a Thai cave. SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies were detected in bats of the same colony and in a pangolin at a wildlife checkpoint in Southern Thailand.

"Our study extended the geographic distribution of genetically diverse SARS-CoV-2-related coronaviruses from Japan and China to Thailand over a 4,800-km range. Cross-border surveillance is urgently needed to find the immediate progenitor virus of SARS-CoV-2," said Dr. Chee Wah Tan, Senior Research Fellow with Duke-NUS' Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID) program and co-author of this study.

The team conducted serological investigations using the SARS-CoV-2 surrogate virus neutralization test (sVNT) developed at Duke-NUS in early 2020.

"Our study demonstrates that our SARS-CoV-2 surrogate virus neutralization test, developed mainly for determining neutralizing antibodies in humans to monitor vaccine efficacy and detect past infections, can also be critical for tracing the animal origin and animal-human spillover events," said Professor Wang Linfa from Duke-NUS' EID program and corresponding author of this study.

Prof Wang's team invented the sVNT assay, trade named cPass, which has been granted Emergency Use Authorisation by the US FDA to determine SARS-CoV-2-neutralising antibodies in human sera, due to its good performance concordance with live virus-based assays.

Studies like this are crucial in furthering our understanding of the many SARS-CoV-2-related viruses that exist in the wild. This work is also timely as investigations into the origins of SARS-CoV-2 are ongoing and may provide further leads on the origin of this outbreak. Such studies also play a key role in helping us be better prepared against future pandemics as they provide a more detailed map of zoonotic threats."
Patrick Casey, Professor, Senior Vice Dean for Research, Duke-NUS Medical School

Source:

Duke-NUS Medical School

Journal reference:

Wacharapluesadee, S., et al. (2021) Evidence for SARS-CoV-2 related coronaviruses circulating in bats and pangolins in Southeast Asia. Nature Communications. doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21240-1.

Pharmacists in England considering strike action over Covid debts

Industry association says chancellor must intervene to waive repayment of £370m of government loans

Jessica Elgot THE GUARDIAN
Wed 10 Feb 2021

Pharmacies have been providing extra services

during the pandemic, including Covid inoculations.

Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA

Pharmacists in England are considering strike action unless the Treasury writes off a £370m debt from a support package awarded during the pandemic, which saw many chemists help deliver vaccines.

The chair of the National Pharmacy Association urged the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to intervene in the budget on 3 March, saying the industry did not want to stage walkouts but many members were facing closure due to unsustainable debts.

Andrew Lane, chairman of the National Pharmacy Association, told the Guardian: “This is a desperate situation for many of our members, so it’s not surprising that you do hear people talking about some form of protest.

“But no one wants to let their patients down, so strike action is the last thing any pharmacist would want to do. Instead, we need to continue to make the evidence-based case and appeal to the government to do the right thing by the nation’s heroic pharmacists and the patients they serve.”

High street pharmacies to start offering Oxford Covid vaccine next week

High street pharmacies have found themselves on the frontline of primary care during the pandemic as many GP surgeries switched to telephone consultations. Larger pharmacies are operating as coronavirus vaccination hubs, though they must commit to offering 1,000 jabs a week, which many smaller providers cannot meet.

The industry, which is said to be close to the chancellor’s heart as his mother was a community pharmacist, was offered £370m in government loans last year to help meet additional costs amid the pandemic. It now wants that debt to be waived.

An industry source told the Guardian that Steve Barclay, chief secretary to the Treasury, had ruled out writing off the whole debt in recent meetings with pharmacy leaders, though some extra cash has been offered. It “falls way short”, the source said.

The Treasury is said to have suggested the funding gap is met by the NHS. “They are batting this back to the NHS, saying the onus is on them to fund any shortfall,” the source said. “The sector now feels like community pharmacies are in effect subsidising the NHS.”

A September report commissioned by the National Pharmacy Association predicted that under current funding, 72% of community pharmacies will be in debt by 2024.

Eight out of 10 pharmacies told a parliamentary group that the government loans had not been enough to meet the extra costs of the crisis. The all-party parliamentary group on pharmacies wrote to the government in December asking that the debt be written off against the additional costs of Covid-19.

Lane said the sector had not received any bailout cash because pharmacies had to continue to operate throughout the pandemic. “While other sectors get bailouts for being closed, community pharmacies are in debt because we’ve stayed open to save lives,” he said.

“People can live without pizzas but they can die without their pills and the healthcare we provide. With each hour we stay open to provide vital services, the more money leaks from our pockets and hastens the demise of this country’s long-cherished pharmacy network. When will ministers finally make good on their commitment to meet the additional costs associated with coronavirus?”

Industry insiders said they had had to provide a huge number of additional services, including mass pre-orders of medications and increased medication deliveries and frontline care, while experiencing a drop in footfall and demand for their other products.

Pharmacies have also incurred additional costs in making their operations Covid-secure, such as introducing PPE and social distancing measures because of the higher risk of coming into contact with infected customers.

Labour’s shadow health secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, has written to the health secretary, Matt Hancock, asking him to help unblock the funding.

“Community pharmacies have played a key role in the national response to Covid and should be fully mobilised as part of the vaccination effort, especially with hard-to-reach communities,” Ashworth said. “Now many are facing financial ruin thanks to Rishi Sunak’s attempts to claw back this extra support. Ministers should be doing everything they can to support pharmacies through the Covid crisis.”

In his letter this week, Ashworth said mounting costs had been “directly incurred in the battle against Covid-19 … The repayment of this loan threatens the future of thousands of pharmacies, coming on top of several years of reduced funding for the sector.”

Ashworth said GPs have had £197.5m in costs reimbursed across 6,800 practices despite not being physically open, and NHS dentists have received permanent payments for lost income as a result of coronavirus.

“They feel there is not a level playing field between different primary care providers, and that they are being penalised for their hard work and commitment,” he wrote. “They have pointed to considerable ‘buck-passing’ between NHS England, DHSC [Department of Health and Social Care] and the Treasury on where the decision lies to progress this or a similar solution.”

Any move towards industrial action would be controversial, and one industry insider said they were doubtful all members would adhere. In 2009, pharmacists in Ireland held a crippling 10-day strike, which caused long queues for medications, over cuts in payments to pharmacists. It was eventually called off over patient safety concerns.

The Treasury and Department for Health were approached for comment.

#SPACERACE2.0
China spacecraft sends Mars footage for first time

China’s space agency releases video footage two days after its Mars probe successfully entered the red planet’s orbit.

This handout photograph released on February 5, 2021 by the China National Space Administration shows an image of Mars captured by China's Mars probe Tianwen-1.

[File Photo: China National Space Administration/AFP]

12 Feb 2021

China’s space agency has released video footage from its spacecraft circling Mars, two days after it successfully entered the planet’s orbit in Beijing’s latest ambitious space mission.

In the video, published by state broadcaster CCTV, the surface of the planet is seen coming into view out of a pitch-black sky against the outside of the Tianwen-1, which entered the orbit of the Red Planet on Wednesday.

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White craters are visible on the planet’s surface, which fades from white to black through the video as the probe flies over the course of one Martian day, said official news agency Xinhua.

The 5,000-kilogramme (five-tonne) Tianwen-1 – which translates to “Questions to Heaven” – includes a Mars orbiter, a lander and a solar-powered rover and launched from southern China last July.

It is the latest step in Beijing’s space programme, which aims to establish a crewed space station by 2022 and eventually put an astronaut on the moon, and has opened up a new, extraterrestrial arena for US-China competition.
Signs of past life

Tianwen-1 launched around the same time as a rival US mission and is expected to touch down on the surface of the planet in May.

Its success comes the same week as the United Arab Emirates’s Hope probe also successfully entered Mars’s orbit – making history as the Arab world’s first interplanetary mission.

Chinese scientists hope to land a 240-kilogramme (529-pound) rover in May in Utopia, an enormous impact basin on Mars. Its orbiter will last for a Martian year.

For the three-month study of the planet’s soil and atmosphere, the mission will take photos, chart maps and look for signs of past life.

The probe has already sent back its first image of Mars – a black-and-white photo that showed geological features including the Schiaparelli crater and the Valles Marineris, a vast stretch of canyons on the Martian surface.

Mars has proved to be a challenging target, with most missions since 1960, sent by Russia, Europe, Japan and India, ending in failure.

NASA’s Perseverance, which is set to touch down on the Red Planet on February 18, will become the fifth rover to complete the voyage since 1997 – and all so far have been American.

Explosions in Indian fireworks factory kill 15, injure 34

Fri, February 12, 2021,

NEW DELHI (AP) — Several explosions at a private fireworks factory in southern India killed at least 15 workers and injured 26 others on Friday, police said.

Those injured in the blasts at the factory in Tamil Nadu state's Virudhunagar district were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment, police officer Raj Narayanan said.

Ten fire engines were called to fight the fire, which destroyed four sheds at the factory.

Narayanan said 11 people died on the spot and four later succumbed to burn injuries in the hospital. Four workers were allowed to go home after receiving first aid.

The explosions occurred while chemicals were being mixed by the workers to make fireworks, the Press Trust of India news agency said.

Fireworks manufacturing is a big business in India, where fireworks are often set off at festivals and weddings.

Many illegal factories produce fireworks that are cheaper to buy than legally made ones.

The area where the blast occurred is 520 kilometers (325 miles) south of Chennai, the state capital.

Roses are red and contributing to climate change, florists warn

Florists in Paris are trying to convince their customers to choose locally grown flowers over roses, which must be flown in and contribute to carbon emissions.

Most of the roses sold in France in the run-up to Valentine's Day have to be imported from countries such as Kenya, ECUADOR, resulting in carbon emissions that contribute to climate change [File: Sarah Meyssonnier/Reuters]

12 Feb 2021

It is the classic romantic combination: Valentine’s Day and a bouquet of red roses. But some Parisian florists are trying to wean customers off the flowers because of their ecological cost.

Most roses sold in France in the run-up to Valentine’s Day, a peak sales period for the global flower industry, have to be imported by air freight from countries such as Kenya, ECUADOR, resulting in carbon emissions that contribute to climate change.

Florists worried about the environmental damage from this trade say there are viable alternatives that can be grown locally and are trying to encourage their customers to try them.

But these ecologically-minded florists face an uphill struggle because the tradition of gifting red roses on Valentine’s Day, which is celebrated on February 14, is so ingrained in many cultures.

Hortense Harang, founder of an online flower shop called “Fleurs d’Ici” — French for “Flowers from here” — has been spearheading the campaign to wean people off roses.

“Red roses are so 1950s,” she said. “Roses are something that is completely a no-go in this season because it doesn’t make sense basically to buy roses. Roses do not grow under our latitudes in this season.”

Her campaign has gathered support.

“It’s not logical to have flowers from the other side of the planet if we can get them locally,” said Edith Besenfelder, a 46-year-old Parisian florist who works with local and seasonal flowers.

But old habits die hard. Celine Argente, the 40-year-old owner of the Sylvine flower shop in Paris, said she had been encouraging clients to buy red tulips as a way of declaring their love. But despite that, her shop this week was packed to the rafters with red roses to meet demand.

“It’s a classic which people can’t change from,” she said. “The red rose remains the flower for Valentine’s Day.”

SOURCE : REUTERS

Lidia Thorpe: The Indigenous woman shaking up Australia

Granddaughter of a revered Indigenous matriarch takes her fight for equality nationwide as member of the federal parliament.

Draped in a possum-skin cloak, Senator Thorpe entered the Australian Federal parliament for the first time as member last September [File: Photo from Thorpe's office]

By Ali MC
12 Feb 2021

Melbourne, Australia – The image is striking.

Draped in a possum-skin cloak Senator Lidia Thorpe entered her first day in the Australian Federal parliament last September with her right fist raised in a Black Power salute.

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In her left hand, she carried a stick engraved with 441 stripes representing the number of Indigenous people to die in custody since a landmark Royal Commission in 1991.

Thorpe tells Al Jazeera she raised her fist “as a sign of resistance and as a sign of our struggle and in solidarity with Black people across the world”.

She also described the responsibility as “carrying the voice of my people into a place which denied our rights for so long” and confirmed her intent: “I’m not saying anything different to what the people on the ground are calling for.”

While not the first Indigenous senator in parliament Thorpe is perhaps the most outspoken, and certainly the most controversial, even stating last year that she did not identify as Australian.

She is not your average politician.

A grassroots campaigner and activist, she is a descendant of the Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung peoples and a granddaughter of the revered Indigenous matriarch Alma Thorpe.

Having growing up in Melbourne’s council estates, she had her first child at age 17, became a victim of domestic violence and in 2013 was declared bankrupt [Courtesy of Lidia Thorpe]In 2017, she was the first Indigenous person elected to parliament in the state of Victoria, a seat she ultimately lost a year later.

The 48-year-old is no stranger to tough times. Having grown up 0n Melbourne’s council estates, she had her first child at age 17, became a victim of domestic violence and in 2013 was declared bankrupt.

She is now a mother to three children and a grandmother twice over, and a federal senator for the left-wing Greens party.

Thorpe tells Al Jazeera that while her time in state politics was useful, entering the federal arena meant she could start conversations “on a national level”.

Yet the task before her might seem insurmountable.

Indigenous Australians suffer from vast inequalities in health, education, poverty and employment.

While accounting for less than three percent of the nation’s population, they also make up 27 percent of the prison inmates.

These inequalities mean that Indigenous Australians on average die up to 17 years younger than non-Indigenous people.

The numbers are reported annually under a policy called Closing the Gap, yet the statistics have barely changed in the 12 years since the initiative was implemented.

Last year Prime Minister Scott Morrison called the failure of successive governments to address the ongoing racial divide a “national shame”.

In response, Thorpe told Al Jazeera that the annual Closing the Gap report “isn’t taken as seriously as it should be”.

“I want to be working a lot harder and faster to reduce those numbers,” she said. “We’re running out of time.”

Last year Prime Minister Scott Morrison called the failure of successive governments to address the treatment of the Indigenous people as a ‘national shame’ [Ali MC/Al Jazeera]

“We know what it’s like to hear all the fanfare about announcements in Black lives but we never actually see the action. I want to go into [parliament] with action, not talk.”

Thorpe says at the heart of the debate between Black and white Australia is the unresolved issue of a treaty.

While historically the British had negotiated treaties with Indigenous peoples in colonies such as Canada and New Zealand, in Australia, the land was declared “terra nullius”, a Latin term for “nobody’s land”.

As such, no treaties were formed with the more than 500 different Indigenous nations who had lived on the continent for more than 60,000 years.

While the legal fiction of terra nullius was finally overturned in a 1992 High Court decision, a national treaty process has never been instigated.

Thorpe says that it is “imperative we get down to the grassroots level” with each individual Indigenous nation and “start a conversation so they can determine their own destiny”.

While some treaty processes have been implemented at a state level, Thorpe says these are just a token if the vast inequalities remain unchanged and Indigenous cultural sites continue to be destroyed.

“You can’t frack our country and talk treaty,” she said.

“You can’t extinguish Native Title to build the Adani coal mine and talk treaty. And you certainly can’t destroy sacred birthing trees in Victoria and log our country to the point of totems becoming extinct and still want to talk treaty.”

The Adani Mining’s Carmichael coal mine in Queensland state has been controversial, drawing criticism from environmentalists and Indigenous leaders, who denounced the project’s impact on groundwater as well as the Great Barrier Reef.

While historically the British had negotiated treaties with Indigenous peoples in colonies such as Canada and New Zealand, in Australia, the land was declared ‘terra nullius’, a Latin term for ‘nobody’s land’ despite the existence of Indigenous people [Ali MC/Al Jazeera]

“There’s no good faith in any of those discussions – how can we trust these people when it comes time to negotiate?”

Thorpe said that a treaty should take precedence over initiatives such as the recent Uluru Statement which calls for a constitutionally enshrined Indigenous voice to parliament by way of an advisory committee.

She says that the Uluru Statement did not consult adequately with Indigenous people and instead relied on “hand-picked” leaders.

However, Dani Larkin, an Indigenous Bundjalung woman and legal academic with the University of New South Wales, has a different view.

She said that a constitutionally enshrined Indigenous advisory committee would, in fact, allow treaty negotiations to have political legitimacy.

“[The Uluru Statement] was recognising if we are going to now look at treaty, if we establish this body first, we will have all the resources, we will have the political empowerment, the standing and we’ll have things safeguarded in the constitution.”

Larkin also said that the idea for such a committee – termed “a voice to parliament” – was borne out of community frustration with the inequality gaps such as the high incarceration rates.

“These were the types of issues that [Indigenous people] reflected on and asked: ‘What would change that’? Because that’s an immediate need to be addressed,” she said.

“And what they came to was – this is all going to require law and policy reform. It’s going to require us actually having a say on how laws and policies are either reformed or created that will directly or indirectly impact us.”

While Larkin agrees with Thorpe that “we need a treaty”, she is adamant that such a parliamentary voice would legally protect any negotiations, which is vital given the history of poor relations between Indigenous communities and the government.

“I don’t want to see my mob – or any mob in Australia – further traumatised or disempowered by these really important processes that could bring us so much success and healing as a people,” she said.

“It’s unfortunate that some people within political leadership that have a huge following behind them disregard the legal technical expertise that one needs to acquire to properly guide their mob and their constituents that follow them.”

While presenting views that are likely to be polemical within the Indigenous political and legal community, Thorpe raises far greater ire from some non-Indigenous people.

Thorpe told Al Jazeera that she regularly receives racist and violently threatening messages, some of which needed to be referred to the police for investigation.

She also described being bullied and racially vilified her whole life and said while she should not get used to it, she has.

“I don’t hide it. I call it out. And I gain strength from the people around me – my family, my friends, my community.”

Thorpe described being bullied and racially vilified her whole life – even as an adult [Courtesy of Lidia Thorpe]

She told Al Jazeera that while some people are abusive – especially via social media – she will engage with those people, even at times turning people’s views around.

“The more we can educate people out there, the better off we are going to be. If anything, it gives me more strength. I’ve been taught by that older generation and I wasn’t to pass that on to the next generation so we can continue to grow our movement.”

And with thousands of people now attending the annual January 26 Invasion Day rallies – a contemporary version of an Indigenous protest that began in 1938 – it would seem that movement is set to grow even further.

“It’s where I need to be,” she said about her role in Australian federal politics.

“I’m very confident in my skin to be in that place and continue to call [the government] out because it is a very white, colonial place and they are not used to having people like me in there.”

SOURCE : AL JAZEERA

New Zealand parliament drops tie requirement after Māori lawmaker ejected for refusing to wear one

New Zealand's parliament has dropped its requirement that male members wear neckties, after a Māori leader was ejected earlier this week for refusing to wear one in the chamber.

Rawiri Waititi wore a traditional Māori jade pounama instead of a tie.

Rawiri Waititi, 40, argued that forcing him to a Western dress code was a breach of his rights and an attempt to suppress indigenous culture. Instead, on Tuesday he arrived wearing a taonga, a Māori greenstone pendant.

Speaker Trevor Mallard twice prevented Waititi from asking questions in the debating chamber on Tuesday, insisting that lawmakers could only ask a question if they were wearing a tie.

When Waititi continued with his question after being stopped a second time, Mallard ordered him to leave.

"It's not about ties, it's about cultural identity, mate," Waititi said as he exited the chamber.

The incident kicked off a debate about colonialism in New Zealand, and sparked outrage from around the world with #no2tie soon trending on Twitter. By Wednesday, Mallard had announced that the parliament was scrapping the tie requirement.

"A meeting of the committee held tonight discussed this and heard a submission from Te Paati Māori. The committee did not reach a consensus but the majority of the committee was in favour of removing a requirement for ties to be part of 'appropriate business attire' for males," he wrote on Twitter.

"As Speaker, I am guided by the committee's discussion and decision, and therefore ties will no longer be considered required as part of 'appropriate business attire'. I acknowledge those who felt this was an important issue worthy of further consideration."

Speaking to Reuters on Wednesday, Waititi said he was not surprised by the treatment of the speaker as Māori people had been facing this type of treatment for hundreds of years.

"Māori have not been treated equal in its own country and indigenous people all over the world have been subjected to discrimination due to racist systems that keep our peoples in second place," he said.

"For us to stand up against subjugation, to stand up again assimilation, to stand up against those who try and make us look, feel, make us think like they want us to think ... this was standing up against that."

Waititi wore the same attire to parliament on Wednesday and this time he was permitted to speak.

"The noose has been taken off our necks, and we are now able to sing our songs," Waititi said in the interview.

The New Zealand parliament is the most inclusive ever elected in the country. Nearly half of the 120 seats are held by women.

It has a 11% LGBTQI representation and 21% Māori representation. The parliament saw its first member of Parliament of African origin and of Sri Lankan origin after the election last October.

But Waititi, who has called ties "a colonial noose," said there is still systemic racism in New Zealand, and this was a product of colonization.

Māori are over-represented in prisons, the majority of children in state care are Māori, and poverty and unemployment are rife in the community.

Asked to comment, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said that it was not something she had a strong opinion on, and that she had no objection to someone wearing a tie in parliament or not.

"There are much more important issues for all of us," Ardern said.on to someone wearing a tie in parliament or not.

"There are much more important issues for all of us," Ardern said.

IT WAS NOT MEXICO'S LAND TO GIVE AWAY

US judge will not stop land transfer for mine in Arizona

The ruling means the land transfer can now take place by mid-March under a timeline approved by Congress and then-President Barack Obama in 2014.

US District Judge Steven Logan, an appointee of former President Barack Obama said the group of Native Americans who brought the suit lacked standing and that the government has the right to give the land to whomever it chooses [File: David Stanway/Reuters]

12 Feb 2021

A federal judge on Friday said he would not stop the US Forest Service from transferring government-owned land in Arizona to Rio Tinto for its Resolution Copper project, denying a request from Native Americans who said the land has religious and cultural import.

The judge’s decision is likely to escalate the clash between members of Arizona’s San Carlos Apache Tribe, who consider the land home to deities, and Rio and minority partner BHP Group Plc, who have spent more than $1bn on the project without producing any copper, the red metal used to make electric vehicles and other electronic devices.

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The ruling means the land transfer can now take place by mid-March under a timeline approved by Congress and then-President Barack Obama in 2014.

US District Judge Steven Logan, an Obama appointee, said the group of Native Americans who brought the suit lacked standing and that the government has the right to give the land to whomever it chooses.

A view of the future block cave mine planned by mining company Rio Tinto in the Tonto National Forest near Superior, Arizona [File: Deanna Dent/Reuters]

Tribal members claimed the US government has illegally occupied the land for more than 160 years, but Logan sided with government lawyers by finding that Washington gained the land in an 1848 treaty with Mexico.

Representatives for the tribe, Rio Tinto and the US Forest Service were not immediately available for comment. BHP declined to comment.

“We remain undaunted,” said Michael Nixon, a lawyer for Apache Stronghold, the nonprofit group of Native Americans opposed to the mine.

Logan’s ruling was related to an injunction request. Apache Stronghold had also asked for a jury trial to determine, in part, whether the US government can give the land away. It was not immediately clear when that trial could take place as US courts have prioritised criminal cases during the coronavirus pandemic.

Some Native Americans work for and support the Resolution project, though many others have pledged to oppose it forcefully.

Logan declined last month to block the publication of an environmental study that started the 60-day countdown for the land swap.

MASS STRIKE

How Myanmar’s popular uprising aims to topple military rulers

Amid crackdown, protesters aim is to take away the coup leaders’ power by stopping all governance mechanisms from working.

“For this revolution to be successful, everyone needs to participate,” said the union organiser. “Workers, students, even soldiers and the police. Everyone.”

Trade unions took the lead because they had no other option, the organiser said. “Even under the democratically elected government, we didn’t have our rights, so under a dictatorship, we don’t have a chance.”

A civil disobedience movement began almost immediately after the coup and amassed support from broad swaths of society [File: Stringer/AFP]

By Joshua Carroll

13 Feb 2021

Starve the government of legitimacy and recognition; stop it from functioning by staging strikes; and cut off its sources of funding. That is the strategy emerging from a mass movement in Myanmar aimed at toppling the new military dictatorship.

As protesters defying the February 1 coup brave beatings, arrests, water cannon, and even live ammunition, activists hope a “no recognition, no participation” approach can sustain pressure even if demonstrations are stamped out with violence.

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“The immediate aim is to take away the military’s power by stopping all of its governance mechanisms from working,” said Thinzar Shunlei Yi, who like many activists is now in hiding to avoid arrest.

“It will disable the military’s ability to rule.”

Myanmar’s fragile 10-year experiment in democracy was snuffed out in early February when soldiers arrested civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myint, and other top officials in early morning raids as military chief Min Aung Hlaing seized power.

A civil disobedience movement began almost immediately and amassed support from broad swaths of society. Trains have ground to a halt, hospitals have closed, and ministries in the capital, Naypyidaw, are believed to be straining amid mass walkouts.

Many thousands including nurses, doctors, lawyers, teachers, engineers, farmers, railway staff, civil servants, factory workers and even some police officers, have gone on strike or defected in a bid to cripple the new military government.

Disrupting military’s business empire

In a statement published on a military Facebook page on Thursday, Min Aung Hlaing said “unscrupulous” people were inciting civil servants to leave work.

“Those who are away from their duties are requested to return to their duties immediately for the interests of the country and people,” he said.

The strikes are also disrupting parts of the military’s vast business empire. A copper mine in northern Sagaing region, jointly owned by the military and a Chinese company, has ceased operations after more than 2,000 workers walked out.

And hundreds of engineers and other staff working for Mytel, a telecoms operator part-owned by the military, have stopped work.

Activists hope a ‘no recognition, no participation’ approach can sustain pressure against the military even if demonstrations are stamped out with violence [Reuters/Stringer]

Calls for a boycott of products produced by army-owned companies have also gained momentum. Local business owners have destroyed cartons of cigarettes produced by the Virginia Tobacco Company, which is part-owned by Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd, a military conglomerate.

Lim Kaling, a major Singaporean shareholder in the venture, announced he was divesting this week after facing pressure from activists at Justice For Myanmar and elsewhere.

Japanese brewer Kirin, meanwhile, has said it will withdraw from a joint venture with a military-owned beer company.

New connectivity

The movement’s tactics go further than a similar uprising did in 2007, when there were widespread street protests similar to those seen in recent days, but no coordinated efforts to hobble the military government with industrial action.

One difference today compared with 2007 is that many people in the formerly isolated country own smartphones and are online, allowing calls for civil disobedience to spread rapidly in the aftermath of the coup, even amid sporadic internet shutdowns.

Another is that, after a ban on trade unions was lifted in 2011, Myanmar has a young but tenacious workers’ rights movement with years of experience organising strikes.

Approximately 5,000 workers in Hlaing Tharyar, an industrial zone in the main city of Yangon, have joined the general strike, a union organiser who requested anonymity told Al Jazeera.

“I can’t say how long we’ll be on strike, but it will be until the abolition of the dictatorship,” she said.

Workers’ rights groups, joined by student activists, were among the first to protest in the streets on February 6, galvanising others who had been reluctant to march because of the military’s history of shooting protesters.

Civil servants risk jobs

Trade unions took the lead because they had no other option, the organiser said.

“Even under the democratically elected government, we didn’t have our rights, so under a dictatorship, we don’t have a chance.”

Myanmar’s civil servants, who have spent the last five years working for the only credibly elected government most people in the country have ever known, are also risking their livelihoods and their freedom to avoid a return to the dark days.

Than Toe Aung, deputy permanent secretary at the Ministry of Construction, announced he was joining the strike on Monday.

“I call on my colleagues to follow suit to help bring down the dictatorship,” he said in a statement posted to Facebook.

From civil servants to healthcare workers and labourers, Myanmar protesters have defied the military threats and arrests as they march to call an end to the coup [Than Lwin Times/Reuters]

Staff from the ministries of investment, transport, energy and social welfare, among others, have also pledged not to return to work until power is handed back to Aung San Suu Kyi’s government.

Myanmar’s ambassador to the United States, Maung Maung Latt, said last week he is seeking asylum in the US to protest the coup, and urged other diplomats to follow suit.

On Thursday, staff from the Myanmar Economic Bank, which disburses government salaries, also joined the strike.

Threat of defections

But perhaps most worrying for the generals is the threat of defections from the military-controlled police force.

During a rally in Naypyidaw on Tuesday, a police lieutenant named Khun Aung Ko Ko broke ranks to join protesters.

“I am aware I will be put in jail with a long prison sentence if our fight for democracy does not succeed,” he wrote in a statement handed out at the demonstration afterwards.

“My sacrifice for the people and members of the police force, to fight for democracy and the fall of dictator Min Aung Hlaing, will be worth it.”

MUTINY!

Some Myanmar police officers across the country have also reportedly joined in the protests against the military rule [File: Stringer/AFP]

Another officer joined protesters in the coastal town of Myeik, while dramatic footage from Magwe in central Myanmar showed three riot officers leaving their lines to defend protesters from water cannon with their shields.

Then on Wednesday, 49 uniformed officers from the police department in Loikaw, the capital of eastern Kayah state, joined a march there with a banner that read, “No military dictatorship.”

The officers are now in hiding and the remaining members of the department are looking to arrest them, The Kantarawaddy Times reported.

Thinzar Shunlei Yi said she believed that not just police officers but also rank and file soldiers want to join the movement.

“I hope this is possible,” she said. “In the past few years, I’ve been contacted by different soldiers asking for help because their rights have been violated. They’ve been bullied, they’ve been harassed, they’ve been tortured. It’s brutal inside the military.”

Military crackdown

One of the key demands from protesters has been for the military to return power to Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party. But many activists, especially those from often ethnic minority groups who feel betrayed by the party, are pushing for more radical demands.

“Some people are demanding the military accept the 2020 election result and restore democracy,” said Maung Saungkha, a prominent freedom of expression activist, referring to a November 8 poll, which the NLD won in a landslide.

“If we accept the 2020 election, then we will still be under the military’s 2008 constitution, and with that constitution, coups will happen again and again,” he added.

“So, we need to negotiate with protesters about the strategy and a set of common demands.”

The military government’s crackdown has already begun. Dozens of protesters have been arrested and one young woman is on life support after police shot her in the head on Tuesday.

The military government is also making plans to impose a so-called “cybersecurity law” that would mean three-year prison sentences for speaking out against the government online.

Activists said the movement’s best hope of survival is solidarity.

“For this revolution to be successful, everyone needs to participate,” said the union organiser.

“Workers, students, even soldiers and the police. Everyone.”

VIDEOS HERE
How Myanmar’s popular uprising aims to topple military rulers | Politics News | Al Jazeera

Friday, February 12, 2021

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