Anti-coup protesters defy Myanmar junta's campaign of fear
AFP 31 mins ago


Protesters took to the streets across Myanmar again on Saturday, defying the junta which has increasingly sought to crush the uprising with a campaign of violence and fear.

© Handout Security forces remove a barricade across a road in Yankin township in Yangon as a crackdown on demonstrations against the military coup continues

The country has been in turmoil since the military ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi from power in a February 1 coup, triggering a nationwide uprising as protesters call for a return to democracy.

So far, more than 230 people have been killed in anti-coup unrest, according to a local monitoring group, as security forces have deployed tear gas, rubber bullets and live rounds against anti-coup protesters.

But the movement has pushed ahead -- albeit in smaller numbers.

Local media showed protesters in gas masks gathering in northern Shan state, while in the southern coastal city of Dawei, motorists hoisted posters of Suu Kyi and signs that said "end the dictatorship".

The protesters in Shan state hoisted home-made shields that said "protect unarmed civilians".

Outside of protests, crackdowns by security forces continue on the streets and residential areas across Myanmar, said the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners monitoring group.

"Casualties and unprovoked shootings are increasing day by day," it said.

Video: Five killed in Myanmar protests, civilian leader says people should defend themselves (Reuters) Anti-coup protesters defy Myanmar junta's campaign of fear (msn.com)


In the central ruby-producing city of Mogok, local media Myanmar Now reported that a small quarter's night guards were shot overnight.

"One died on the spot last night while two others are in critical condition in the hospital," a rescue team member confirmed to AFP, declining to give more details.

Commercial hub Yangon has emerged as a hotspot for unrest, as security forces armed with guns continue to root out protesters wielding homemade protection gear.

But the resistance movement remains defiant.

"Who says we have to give up because of unequal weapons? We are born for victory," tweeted prominent activist Ei Thinzar Maung, with the hashtag #SpringRevolution.

Tom Andrews, UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, said the junta could not defeat a population "united in peaceful opposition" against its rule.

"Desperate, it launches ruthless attacks to provoke a violent response to try and justify even more violence," he tweeted Saturday.

"It's not working. The world must respond by cutting their access to money & weapons. Now."

bur-dhc/jfx

PROLETARIAN DEFENSE OF BOURGEOIS DEMOCRACY
Myanmar garment workers urge global brands to denounce coup

3/19/2021

NEW YORK — Tin Tin Wei used to toil 11 hours a day, six days week sewing jackets at a factory in Myanmar. But she hasn't stitched a single garment since a coup in February.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Instead, the 26-year-old union organizer has been protesting in the streets — and trying to bring international pressure to bear on the newly installed junta.

Her union, the Federation of Garment Workers in Myanmar, and others have been staging general strikes to protest the coup and are urging major international brands like H&M and Mango, which source some of their products in Myanmar, to denounce the takeover and put more pressure on factories to protect workers from being fired or harassed — or worse arrested and killed for participating in the protests.

“If we go back to work and if we work for the system, our future is in the darkness, and we will lose our labour rights and even our human rights,” said Tin Tin Wei, who has been a clothing factory worker since age 13.

The response from companies so far has been mixed. Only a few have said they would curtail their business in Myanmar. Most others have put out statements that stop short of taking action, saying that while they denounce the coup, they want to support the workers by providing them with jobs.

Tin Tin Wei's union and the Confederation of Trade Unions in Myanmar have also been demanding comprehensive international sanctions — not the targeted sanctions some have imposed — to bring down the junta that ousted the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

As international sanctions were dropped in the mid-2010s when Myanmar began shifting toward democracy after decades of military rule and started to set some labour standards, Western brands looking to diversify their sourcing were attracted to the country's cheap labour. Broad sanctions now would cripple that burgeoning clothing industry, which has been growing rapidly in recent years before the coronavirus pandemic cut orders and eliminated jobs.

Comprehensive sanctions could wreck the livelihoods of more than 600,000 garment workers, but some union leaders say they would rather see massive layoffs than endure military oppression.

“I need to do some sort of sacrifice in the short term for the long term for our next generation," said Tin Tin Wei, who is the sole breadwinner in her family and has been receiving food donations.

The civil disobedience movement, or CDM as it is known, has included railway workers, truck drivers, hospital, bank employees and many others determined to stifle the economy.

The aim is “no participation with the junta at all," Sein Htay, a migrant labour organizer who returned to Myanmar from Thailand said in an emailed comment. “We believe that CDM is really working. So we are motivated to continue."

But violent crackdowns by Myanmar security forces against protesters including garment workers are escalating. Troops shot and killed at least 38 people Sunday in an industrial suburb of Yangon — an area dominated by clothing factories — after Chinese-owned factories were set on fire. Tens of thousands of workers and their families were seen fleeing the area in the days that followed.

The garment industry plays a key role in Myanmar’s economy, particularly the export sector. Roughly a third of Myanmar's total merchandising exports come from textiles and apparel, worth $4.59 billion in 2018. That's up from 9%, or $900 million, in 2012 as international sanctions were dropped, according to the latest data from the European Chamber of Commerce in Myanmar.

Myanmar’s apparel exports mostly go to the European Union, Japan and South Korea because of favourable trade agreements. The U.S. accounts for 5.5% of Myanmar's exports, with clothing, footwear and luggage representing the bulk of that, according to garment trade expert Sheng Lu.

But Myanmar still accounts for a tiny share — less than 0.1% — in U.S. and European Union fashion companies’ total sourcing networks. And there are plenty of other alternatives for brands.

Despite this, many are taking a wait-and-see stance when it comes to any long-term decisions. Experts note it’s not easy to shift products to a different country, nor is it easy to return to Myanmar once companies leave. Furthermore, some argue Western companies play a role in reducing poverty by giving workers in Myanmar opportunities to earn an income while also helping to improve labour standards there.

Factory working conditions were already poor before the February coup, but the labour unions had made some inroads and gave workers hope. And while the National League for Democracy, the party that was ousted in the takeover, wasn’t proactively protecting unions, it didn’t persecute or crack down on them, says Andrew Tillett-Saks, a labour organizer in Southeast Asia who previously was based in Myanmar.

Asian brands have so far remained quiet about the turmoil. The American Apparel & Footwear Association joined other groups like the Fair Labor Association in condemning the coup while urging members to honour existing financial contracts with factories there.

L.L. Bean CEO Steve Smith said he was saddened by the situation in Myanmar, which he visited in 2019. Bean uses several factories and suppliers for three product lines.

Smith said there’s backup production elsewhere, but it’s important not to abandon the country.

Other companies have been more forceful in their response. For instance, Hennes & Mauritz and The Benetton Group have suspended all new orders from factories in Myanmar.

“Although we refrain from taking any immediate action regarding our long-term presence in the country, we have at this point paused placing new orders with our suppliers,? H&M said in a statement. “This is due to our concern for the safety of people and an unpredictable situation limiting our ability to operate in the country.”

Spanish brand Mango said it would work with its trade and union partners, globally and locally in Myanmar, to ensure there’s no retaliation against any factory worker or union leader exercising their civil or union rights.

Moe Sandar Myint, chairwoman of the Federation of Garment Workers in Myanmar who organized small strikes on factory floors that later moved to the streets, said brands aren't doing enough to help workers. She wants to see “concrete action."

Nearly 70% of the garment factories in Myanmar are owned by foreigners, according to the European Chamber of Commerce in Myanmar, and a good chunk of them are Chinese-owned. International brands using the factories don’t directly hire the workers, often depending on a web of contractors and sub-contractors to produce goods for them.

But companies have “an enormous amount of influence in the industry," Tillett-Saks said. “They hold all the power over the supplier."

Tin Tin Wei says escalating intimidation by the military is scaring some employees at her factory. Located in the Hlaing Thayar industrial zone, it unionized five years ago. Out of 900 workers employed at the factory, 700 initially joined the protests but that number dropped to 500 by early March, she said.

Moe Sandar Myint, who’s in hiding and moving from one safe house to another after the police raided her home in early February, said she will keep fighting.

“I cannot allow my generation and my next generation to live through another military leadership,” she said. “This is unacceptable.”

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Kurtenbach reported from Bangkok. Associated Press writers Grant Peck in Bangkok and Dave Sharp in Freeport, Maine, contributed to the report.

Anne D'Innocenzio And Elaine Kurtenbach, The Associated Press

As endangered birds lose their songs, they can't find mates

3/17/2021

WASHINGTON — Male songbirds usually learn their tunes from adult mentors. But when aspiring crooners lack proper role models, they hit all the wrong notes — and have less success attracting mates.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

For five years, ecologist Ross Crates has tracked the singing ability and breeding success of critically endangered regent honeyeaters. These distinctive black and yellow birds were once common across Australia, but habitat loss since the 1950s has shrunk their population to only about 300 or 400 wild birds today.

While male birds once formed large winter flocks, now they are sparsely distributed across the landscape, so many fly solo. That means fewer honeyeater mentors are nearby during young birds’ impressionable first year.

“Song learning in many birds is a process similar to humans learning languages — they learn by listening to other individuals,” said Crates, who is based at Australian National University.

“If you can’t listen to other individuals, you don’t know what you should be learning.”

The researchers found that a significant portion of male birds appear to be learning tunes exclusively from other species they encounter. About 12% of male regent honeyeaters wind up producing mangled versions of songs typically sung by noisy friarbirds and black-faced cuckooshrikes, among other species.

In some species, such as mockingbirds, song mimicry adds flourish to love songs. But the female regent honeyeaters aren’t impressed.

Unconventional male singers were less successful in wooing mates, the scientists found in research published Tuesday in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. “We think the females are avoiding breeding and nesting with males that sing unusual songs,” Crates said.

For a population already on the brink of extinction, that’s worrisome.

“This research suggests that the loss of a song language once the population reaches a very small size could accelerate their decline,” said Peter Marra, a conservation biologist at Georgetown University who was not involved in the paper.

The precise reason females remained aloof was not clear.

“When male birds sing, it’s like putting out an ad saying, ‘I’m over here, I’m species X, I’m Bob, and I’m really interested in finding a partner,'” said Scott Ramsay, a behavioural ecologist at Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario, who was not involved in the research.

It could be that female honeyeaters aren’t even recognizing these unconventional singers as potential partners, and so they’re not approaching them, he said. Or it could be that they approach, “but then things go wrong if the males get courtship signals wrong.”

Most male birds spend several months in their first year learning and refining the songs they’ll recite for the rest of their lives. Some birds learn from their fathers, but regent honeyeaters leave the nest before they learn to sing, so the males need to find other mentors.

“We need to be aware of the importance of preserving song culture in birds — it’s possible to have a population that's still genetically viable, but isn’t viable in terms of passing on cultural knowledge,” said Carl Safina, an ecologist at Stony Brook University who was not involved in the research.

“Some elements of what these birds need to do to survive isn’t instinctive, it has to be learned,” he said.

Crates’ team has begun putting their findings into action. To help young birds in captive breeding programs learn their notes, they’ve started playing male song recordings and also housed capable male singers next to young learners. The hope is that these veteran vocalists can pass on their songs to the next generation.

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Follow Christina Larson on twitter: @larsonchristina

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Christina Larson, The Associated Press

Climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe has book out in September

3/18/2021

© Provided by The Canadian Press

NEW YORK — The new chief scientist at the Nature Conservancy, Katharine Hayhoe, has written a book about climate change.

One Signal Publishers announced Wednesday that Hayhoe's “Saving Us” will be released Sept. 21. Hayhoe will combine research and personal stories as she attempts to unite readers, including those who deny the overwhelming evidence of climate change, and motivate them toward action.

“So why aren’t we taking climate change seriously? The missing piece of the puzzle is communication,” Hayhoe said in a statement. “Because it’s so scary and so contentious, we don’t talk about it. And if we don’t talk about it, why would we care? In this book, I want to give people the tools to have constructive conversations about why these issues are relevant to all of us, and how we can work together for change.”

The Nature Conservancy is an international environmental organization founded in 1951. Hayhoe, a climate scientist who teaches public policy and public law at Texas Tech University, hosts the PBS digital series “Global Weirding” and was named a “Champion of the Earth” by the United Nations in 2019.

The Associated Press

Pre-embryos made in lab could /SHOULD/ WILL spur research, ethics debates

3/18/2021

WASHINGTON — For the first time, scientists have used human cells to make structures that mimic the earliest stages of development, which they say will pave the way for more research without running afoul of restrictions on using real embryos

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© Provided by The Canadian Press

Two papers published Wednesday in the journal Nature detail how two teams of scientists independently made such structures.

They stressed that their work is only for research, not reproduction, but it likely will pose new ethical questions.

“Studying early human development is really difficult. It’s basically a black box,” said Jun Wu, a stem cell biologist at the University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center.

“We believe our model can open up this field,” he said, if “you can test your hypothesis without using human embryos.”

Wu’s team used embryonic stem cells and the second team used reprogrammed skin cells to produce balls of cells that resemble one of the earliest stages of human development.

These balls, called blastocysts, form a few days after an egg has been fertilized but before the cells attach to the uterus to become an embryo. To differentiate their models from blastocysts created through fertilization, the researchers refer to the structures as “iBlastoids” and “human blastoids.”

“They shouldn’t be considered as equal to a blastocyst, although they are an excellent model for some aspects of biology,” said Jose Polo, an epigeneticist at Monash University in Australia who led the second research team.

Both groups stressed that the structures they made were not the same as naturally occurring embryos, and it’s unclear whether they could develop into viable embryos.

“The blastoids are less efficient in terms of generating structures mimicking later stage human embryos,” said Wu, whose team stopped growing the structure in a culture after four days.

Scientists previously generated similar structures of mouse cells in a lab, but this is the first time they have been made from human cells. The new models correspond to about three to 10 days after fertilization, Wu said. Last year, researchers unveiled structures that model cells 18 to 21 days after fertilization.

Research involving human embryos and blastocysts is currently ineligible for federal funding in the U.S., and several states prohibit it outright.

Some scientists now use blastocysts donated from fertility clinics for research into the causes of infertility and congenital diseases. The new work should allow them to do such research at much larger scales, Polo said.

“This capacity to work at scale will revolutionize our understanding of these early stages of human development,” said Polo.

The scientists stressed that their creations were not intended to be used for human reproduction.

“There is no implantation,” said Amander Clark, a stem cell biologist at the University of California, Los Angeles who co-authored the paper with Polo. “These structures are not transferred to a uterus or uterus-like structure,” she said. “There is no pregnancy.”

The distinction between blastocysts derived from fertilization and the structures created in a lab may not be so clear-cut, said Shoukhrat Mitalipov, a human embryologist at Oregon Health and Science University who was not involved in the research.

“Both groups show how closely they resemble real embryos,” he said. “If they are really as good as embryos, should they be treated as embryos?”

“This brings new ethical issues,” he said. “Are they going to be covered as human embryos? Should restrictions apply?”

Scientists previously tried to turn the lab-generated mouse cell structures into embryos, but they were not successful.

The optimal scenario for research is to “get as close to a real embryo as possible so you can learn from it, but not a real embryo so you don’t get into debates about the moral status of embryos,” said Alta Charo, a professor emerita of law and bioethics at University of Wisconsin who was not involved in the papers.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Christina Larson, The Associated Press

Research from N.S. prof suggests sperm whales taught each other how to avoid whalers

HALIFAX — New research from a team including a Dalhousie University biologist suggests sperm whales taught each other to avoid whalers in the 18th and 19th centuries

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© Provided by The Canadian Press

A research paper published in the journal Biology Letters Wednesday indicates that in the North Pacific the whales — the same species hunted in Herman Melville’s "Moby Dick" — quickly changed their habits to avoid open-boat whalers.

“What seems to have been going on is that the whales had been learning techniques to avoid this new threat that appeared, these guys in their boats,” Dalhousie University professor Hal Whitehead said in an interview. “They learned very quickly and they learned, it seems, from each other.”

During the 18th and 19th centuries, whalers from Europe and North America searched the world's waters to find new species to exploit, the paper says.

After discovering sperm whales, they searched for the mammals in large, sail-powered whaling ships, and once whales were sighted, hunters would go out in row boats and attempt to strike them with hand-thrown harpoons. If the trip was successful, the bodies were towed back to the ship for oil processing.

Whitehead, co-author of the study, said log books from American whalers in the North Pacific show that successful harpoon strikes fell by about 58 per cent over the first few years of hunting in a region.

“I didn't expect it to be that clear, frankly,” he said of the results. “I was pretty amazed when I looked at it.”

The Halifax university professor said the large mammals may have learned to adopt defensive measures from others in their close social units.

Some of the evasive methods noted in the log books by whalers during the 19th century included swimming upwind to evade the hunters' row boats and getting close enough to attack the vessels.

The biggest change noted in the logs, however, was that the whales abandoned the characteristic defensive behaviour they had adopted against what was previously their main predator: killer whales.

Whitehead said sperm whales gather their young and create a barrier around them while fending off killer whales using their jaws and tails.

"This is exactly the wrong thing when you're faced with Captain Ahab," Whitehead said in reference to the "Moby Dick" skipper, "because to gather in a tight group, it's a lovely, big target for someone throwing a harpoon."

The research paper said fleeing whales possibly made themselves more visible from a distance "by blowing hard and showing their bodies forcefully, so increasing the number of sightings with groups that were not easily struck."

The research also indicated sperm whales could likely sense and co-ordinate behaviour over several kilometres. Sperm whales are highly communicative, Whitehead added, using their massive nose to make powerful sounds.

It's likely a group of sperm whales that had experienced whalers before and figured out how to deal with them communicated their strategy to other pods in the region, he added.

"Since the sperm whales are so social and communal, it makes sense that they do this socially and communally," Whitehead said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 17, 2021.

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

Danielle Edwards, The Canadian Press

Sharks, Turtles, and Penguins Are All Swimming in Circles. No One Knows Why.

Caroline Delbert 

3/19/2021

© Narazaki et al., Similar circling movements observed across marine megafauna taxa, iScience (2021) Sharrks, turtles, and penguins are all swimming in circles. No one knows why. Could it have something to do with Earth's magnetic field?

A new study shows marine animals swim in circles, and scientists are baffled.

Some circles are likely navigational, while others are for feeding.

Animals studied range from whales to sharks to penguins, making this a widespread behavior.

Scientists have discovered a confounding pattern in nature: Many marine animals are strangely swimming in circles.

The researchers modeled the animals’ behavior using a variety of math ideas and the navigational concept of dead reckoning. In a variety of animals, including turtles, penguins, and a solitary whale shark, the scientists spotted the behavior because of the advent of true 3D sensing of movement.

Why is this happening? No one is exactly sure.
➡ You think science is bad***. So do we. Let’s nerd out over it together.

Lead study author Tomoko Narazaki, of the University of Tokyo, first noticed the circles in a group of turtles she was studying, according to Vice. She and her team moved the turtles specifically to monitor how they would navigate back to their home waters, and even with a destination in mind, they still often swam in circles. Surprised, Narazaki encouraged her colleagues who studied different animals to look at their sensor data as well.

“Examining high-resolution 3D movements of sharks, sea turtles, penguins, and marine mammals, we report the discovery of circling events where animals consecutively circled more than twice at relatively constant angular speeds,” Narazaki and her coauthors write in their study, which appears in iScience.

The scientists gathered the data while the animals—located everywhere from the Cape Verde Islands to Okinawa, Japan—were foraging, swimming home, and returning after nesting. The circles ranged from just a few to dozens in a row. The scientists saw most of the recorded circles during foraging, especially among the sharks:
“For example, a total of 272 circling events were observed in four tiger sharks tagged off Hawaii. Sharks circled 2–30 times at wide-ranging depths but maintained relatively constant depth during each circling event. In addition, circling behaviors previously reported in bottom-feeding sandbar sharks occurred primarily close to the sea floor, suggesting a role in foraging.”

© Narazaki et al., Similar circling movements observed across marine megafauna taxa, iScience (2021) (A) Tiger shark, (B) Whale shark, (C) King penguin, (D) Antarctic fur seal, (E) Green turtle, (F) Cuvier’s beaked whale. The movement of a submarine during geomagnetic measurements is also shown in (G). The shaded area in (F) is displayed three-dimensionally in (H) showing how a Cuvier’s beaked whale circled during final ascent phase of a deep dive.Source: Narazaki et al., Similar circling movements observed across marine megafauna taxa, iScience (2021)

But feeding isn’t the only possible explanation for circling behaviors.“[M]any circling events appear unrelated to foraging,” the researchers report.“For example, a shark-mounted video showed a male tiger shark circling to approach a female for courtship.” And seals circled during the day when their primary foraging time was at night.

The study team suspects the circling of many animals has to do with navigating using the Earth’s magnetic field. The researchers explain:
“Animals might also be able to improve measurement accuracy by taking multiple samples by circling several times. Animals might circle to derive directional/positional cues from the geomagnetic field, especially in navigationally challenging situations.”

In the study, some animals were equipped with sensors and GPS tags, while the scientists themselves observed others. The technology to monitor animals this way, and humanely, is still very new and growing. The scientists say the ideal next step is to record a lot more data and analyze it in a simultaneous way to help identify patterns.

Long dormant volcano comes to life in southwestern Iceland
4 hrs ago

© Provided by The Canadian Press

REYKJAVIK, Iceland — A long dormant volcano on the Reykjanes Peninsula in southwestern Iceland flared to life Friday night, spilling lava down two sides in that area's first volcanic eruption in nearly 800 years.

Initial aerial footage, posted on the Facebook page of the Icelandic Meteorological Office, showed a relatively small eruption so far, with two streams of lava running in opposite directions. The glow from the lava could be seen from the outskirts of Iceland’s capital, Reykjavík, which is about 32 kilometres (20 miles) away.

The Department of Emergency Management said it was not anticipating evacuations because the volcano is in a remote valley, about 2.5 kilometres (1.5 miles) from the nearest road.

The Fa0 years, and the Reykjanes Peninsula hadn't seen an eruption of any volcano in 781 years.gradals Mountain volcano had been dormant for 6,00

There had been signs of a possible eruption recently, with earthquakes occurring daily for the past three weeks. But volcanologists were still taken by surprise because the seismic activity had calmed down before the eruption.

The Associated Press

Melting glaciers are triggering earthquakes

 in Alaska, study finds

Stacy Liberatore For Dailymail.com 

3/19/2021

© Provided by Daily Mail MailOnline logo

Alaska's melting glaciers may have set the stage for a magnitude 7.8 earthquake in 1958 that triggered a massive avalanche of about 90 million tons of rock down into the narrow inlet of Lituya Bay.

A new study from the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute found ice loss has influenced the timing and location of earthquakes with a magnitude of 5.0 or greater in the area during the past century.

Alaska is home to some of the largest glaciers in the world that weigh thousands of pounds that sink the land beneath.

When these giant glaciers start to melt, the once sunken land quickly rebounds and tectonic plates grind pass each other that results in a seismic event.

© Provided by Daily Mail Alaska's melting glaciers may have set the stage for a magnitude 7.8 earthquake in 1958 (pictured) that triggered a massive avalanche of about 90 million tons of rock down into the narrow inlet of Lituya Bay

Scientists have long feared Alaska's melting glacier could trigger catastrophic natural disasters, such as massive avalanches and landslides, but few have thought about earthquakes.

However, it has been known that ice loss has caused the events in otherwise tectonically stable regions, such as Canada's interior and Scandinavia.

In Alaska, this pattern has been harder to detect, as earthquakes are common in the southern part of the state.

This region is home to massive glaciers, with some thousands of feet thick that cover hundreds of square miles

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© Provided by Daily Mail The team determined there is a link between the expanding movements of the mantle with massive earthquakes across Southeast Alaska, where glaciers have been melting for more than 200 years

And with so much weight on top, the land beneath sinks.

When the ice slowly disappear, due to warmer than usual temperatures, the ground springs back like a sponge – moving the entire mantle.

Chris Rollins, the study's lead author who conducted the research while at the Geophysical Institute, said: 'There are two components to the uplift.'

'There's what's called the 'elastic effect,' which is when the earth instantly springs back up after an ice mass is removed.'

'Then there's the prolonged effect from the mantle flowing back upwards under the vacated space.'

The team determined there is a link between the expanding movements of the mantle with massive earthquakes across Southeast Alaska, where glaciers have been melting for more than 200 years.

Southern Alaska sits at the boundary between the continental North American plate and the Pacific Plate, which has lost more than 1,200 cubic miles of ice.

Researchers found the plates grind past each other at about two inches per year -roughly twice the rate of the San Andreas fault in California - resulting in frequent earthquakes.

The disappearance of glaciers, however, has also caused Southeast Alaska's land to rise at about 1.5 inches per year.

Rollins ran models of earth movement and ice loss since 1770, finding a subtle but unmistakable correlation between earthquakes and earth rebound.

When they combined their maps of ice loss and shear stress with seismic records back to 1920, they found that most large quakes were correlated with the stress from long-term earth rebound.

© Provided by Daily Mail Southern Alaska sits at the boundary between the continental North American plate and the Pacific Plate, which has lost more than 1,200 cubic miles of ice

Unexpectedly, the greatest amount of stress from ice loss occurred near the exact epicenter of the 1958 quake that caused the Lituya Bay tsunami.

While the melting of glaciers is not the direct cause of earthquakes, it likely modulates both the timing and severity of seismic events.

When the earth rebounds following a glacier's retreat, it does so much like bread rising in an oven, spreading in all directions.

This effectively unclamps strike-slip faults, such as the Fairweather in Southeast Alaska, and makes it easier for the two sides to slip past one another.

In the case of the 1958 quake, the postglacial rebound torqued the crust around the fault in a way that increased stress near the epicenter as well.

Both this and the unclamping effect brought the fault closer to failure.

'The movement of plates is the main driver of seismicity, uplift and deformation in the area,' said Rollins.

'But postglacial rebound adds to it, sort of like the de-icing on the cake. It makes it more likely for faults that are in the red zone to hit their stress limit and slip in an earthquake.'

AIMCo's next move: As Alberta contemplates CPP exit, investment manager focuses on rebuilding trust

Barbara Shecter 

FINANCIAL POST 3/19/2021

Erin O'Toole says Conservatives must

© Provided by Financial Post AIMCo board chair Mark Wiseman.

As the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic sent markets crashing last March, board members of the Alberta Investment Management Corporation realized they had a problem on their hands.

A Crown corporation that manages nearly $120 billion in assets for pension, endowment and government funds, AIMCo had been pursuing a derivative strategy known as VOLTS that aimed to earn premiums from bets on volatility across multiple global equity markets.

It was one of dozens of “value-added” strategies managed internally by AIMCo’s public equities team, but when markets went haywire with a level of volatility last seen on 1987’s Black Monday, the risky strategy quickly magnified losses.

The board approved a decision to wind down the trades and lock in a $2.1-billion loss to avoid further carnage. It was an embarrassing failure of risk management for a fund that size — the loss erased about one-sixth of the investment returns generated by AIMCo for all of 2019 — and sparked questions of oversight, risk-taking and most of all trust with the more than 30 client organizations that park their money there.

“There’s no doubt that the VOLTS situation shook that relationship,” AIMCo board chair Mark Wiseman said in a recent exclusive interview with the Financial Post. “Our job is to regain the confidence of the clients in that relationship and I think it’s something we have to invest very heavily in.”

Wiseman, who was appointed to lead the board in July, after a review of the VOLTS fiasco landed, knows there is still a lot of work to be done and that the stakes are high: Alberta Premier Jason Kenney is actively considering withdrawing Albertans from the national Canada Pension Plan and to divert the savings to AIMCo, something that would boost its significance in the province.

Wiseman would not comment on the CPP decision, expected this spring, but he said AIMCo’s unique set-up requires a strong partnership with all clients, which range from the pension plans for Alberta judges, teachers, government, and university employees, to the province’s Heritage Savings Trust.

“It only works well when there’s a high degree of trust and collaboration between the client and the asset manager,” Wiseman said, in part because AIMCo works with each to determine an optimal asset mix given their obligations and risk tolerance, before investing accordingly.

Unlike other types of money management, however, most AIMCo clients can’t just take their money elsewhere if they are unhappy, a point made clear last year when Kenney’s United Conservative Party unilaterally moved a number of public sector investment plans including the Alberta Teachers Retirement Fund under AIMCo management.

“In most cases they can’t (opt out),” Wiseman said. “The rules are different (for each client), but for the most part they cannot, and that puts, in my view, a tremendous amount of responsibility on AIMCo to communicate, to be transparent, to be collaborative and to invest heavily in that relationship with our clients.”

Under Wiseman, a search is underway for a new CEO after current CEO Kevin Uebelein announced he would depart by June, before his contract expires.

In addition, a new position has been created to manage client needs and report directly to the CEO

.

© Ryan Jackson/Edmonton Journal files Current AIMCo CEO Kevin Uebelein.

Another step taken in the wake of the volatility losses is the formation of a four-member “enterprise” risk committee , created last month to monitor and manage risks to the organization that are not strictly financial — including reputation. Wiseman is also a member as a result of his role as chair of the Crown corporation.

“That (committee) will be charged with overseeing the governance of enterprise risk for the institution — everything from operating risk, (to) reputation risk, (to) systems risk,” he said, adding that these were monitored but not in a coordinated or consolidated way. “We’ve just put it into a single committee, so it doesn’t get lost.”

Keith Ambachtsheer, a veteran pension consultant, said that with AIMCo at such a critical juncture, someone with Wiseman’s experience was a necessity to manage a range of governance, investing and political concerns.

At 51, Wiseman has been in the senior ranks of large institutional asset managers including the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board and New York-based Blackrock Inc.

He also spent four years at the helm of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, the country’s largest pension management organization — and, like AIMCo, a Crown corporation that operates at arms-length from government. That experience from 2012 until 2016 will undoubtedly help AIMCo should Kenney decide to extract Albertans’ share of CPP and create a home-grown version managed by the provincial asset manager.

While Wiseman’s career has not been without controversy — he joined AIMCo six months after stepping down from his position at Blackrock, the world’s largest asset manager, after failing to disclose he was in a relationship with a colleague as required by company policy — his investment management credentials may be unmatched in Canada

© Kevin Van Paassen/Bloomberg files Mark Wiseman in 2015, when he was at the helm of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.

“He will have strong views on what AIMCo needs to do to regain the trust of its clients,” Ambachtsheer said, adding that Wiseman would also be a good resource to help determine what attributes are needed in the Alberta asset manager’s next CEO.

Malcolm Hamilton, an actuary and former partner at pension consultant Mercer who specialized in the design and funding of public and private pension plans, said he expects AIMCo will ultimately recover from the damage done by the volatility strategy.

“One bad year or one bad mistake is never fatal for a public sector pension plan,” Hamilton said. “You acknowledge your mistake, learn from it … then you move on.”

But not everyone is happy.

A private members’ bill introduced by Alberta’s NDP finance critic in December sought to get AIMCo clients a seat at the boardroom table, and better access to the investment manager’s governance and how investment decisions are made.

Defeated along party lines at the committee stage last week, the bill sought to boost the 11-member board to 15, with four representatives from AIMCo’s public sector clients. A statement posted by the NDP Caucus said another purpose of the bill was to remove the ability of the province’s finance minister to issue investment directives to AIMCo.

And that is only part of a far-more politically charged environment Wiseman finds himself in.

There is also discontent at the Alberta Federation of Labour, which has accused the UCP government of beefing up AIMCo with funds — from the pensions pushed under its umbrella to the potential standalone Alberta replacement for CPP — with the intent of pressuring the investment manager to prop up the oil-and-gas industry as global investors turn to more environmentally friendly alternatives.

Wiseman acknowledged that investment managers benefit from size and scale, but he said AIMCo already has those attributes as one of Canada’s largest institutional investment managers.

“My view for AIMCo is that very simply, Albertans — regardless of what assets are managed by AIMCo, whether that’s expanded or not — deserve a world class public asset manager for the province that can benefit from all the scale and scope benefits that are set forth in the Canadian model,” he said.

A large part of that model, established at institutional investment managers such as CPPIB and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, is independent governance, meaning decisions are free from political interference and left entirely to the board, he said.

AIMCo’s relationship with Alberta’s government, too, has been established at arms-length, and while the terms could be tweaked to reinforce independence — not just arms-length but “orangutan arms” as Wiseman put it — the investment manager has made all decisions independently since he joined the board.

That includes implementing “changes to the culture” and other recommendations called for by outside experts that assessed what went wrong with the VOLTS volatility strategy that was first undertaken in 2013 and got increasingly risky after 2018, with a “legacy” risk-management system that didn’t spot the problem until it was too late.

“I can tell you unequivocally, in my eight months as chair, there has been zero interference, attempt of interference at my level, or as far as I know at the level of management at AIMCo,” Wiseman said. “And more to the point, I believe the government of Alberta is fully aligned with the Canadian model…. That’s what they’ve asked me to help them do.”

He said the independent governance model is a big factor in the investment returns generated by Canada’s large pension funds, which remain among the top-10 in global rankings such as the 2020 Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index.

It is so important to him that Wiseman pledged to leave AIMCo if the government ever abandons the arms-length relationship with the asset manager.

“If it’s no longer the case, I won’t be chair of the board,” he’s said, “because, very simply, I believe in strong, independent public asset management.”

Wiseman said decisions around oil and gas and the energy transition to a lower carbon economy will likewise be made based on investment potential rather than politics, and he sees a “massive investment opportunity” in alternative energy.

AIMCo chief to leave early as fund positions for ‘pivotal’ challenges

Report to AIMCo board on $2.1B in losses calls for culture change

Ex-CPPIB CEO Mark Wiseman to chair AIMCo as Alberta eyes pension fund overhaul

AIMCo to conduct review of volatility strategy linked to reported $3 billion loss

“I actually think AIMCo can play, potentially, a really, really unique role because physically of where we sit… in terms of the information flow about these topics,” he said.

“Some of the best technology, some of the best innovation, some of the best thinking in the world, obviously as they relate to energy in particular, are coming out of Alberta.”

He said he believes the organizations whose money AIMCo manages, for the most part, also recognize there is a “home-field” advantage over institutional investors outside the province and the country when it comes to the energy transition.

“I think the clients are laser focused on being a fiduciary to their beneficiaries,” he said. “That decision is being made purely from an investment point of view, not a political point of view.”

Financial Post

• Email: bshecter@nationalpost.com | Twitter: BatPost

 

Jupiter's stratosphere is a 'unique meteorological beast in our Solar System'

Billions lack drinking water, handwashing facilities and toilets

Li Cohen 


It's been more than a year since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic. Many countries have started to recover as vaccines continue to become more readily available, but for much of the globe, one vital component to life remains inaccessible: Access to safe drinking water.

© Carlos Becerra / Getty Images Daily Life in Venezuela's Toughest Slum During Coronavirus Outbreak

At a United Nations meeting on Thursday to address water-related goals and targets as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, United Nations General Assembly president Volkan Bozkir said that, at this point, the world has committed a "moral failure" in getting everyone access to safe drinking water.


Bozkir made his point with startling statistics about the state of global water access: Roughly a third of the entire world's population, 2.2 billion people, do not have access to clean drinking water, he said.

Along with inadequate access to hydration, he said billions of people also lack access to proper sanitation resources. More than 2 billion people don't have a "decent toilet of their own," and 3 billion don't have "basic hand washing facilities."

The data Bozkir cited was found in a 2019 report by UNICEF and the World Health Organization.

"If I may be candid: it is a moral failure that we live in a world with such high levels of technical innovation and success, but we continue to allow billions of people to exist without clean drinking water or the basic tools to wash their hands," Bozkir said.

"We live in an era of technological miracles. We are on track to create driverless cars, robots & artificial intelligence," he later tweeted. "So, how is it possible that we are off track to ensure that everyone in the world has sustainably managed water and sanitation?"

According to the U.N.'s sustainable development goals, most of the people affected by these lack of resources are in rural areas. If leaders fail to make water and sanitation measures more accessible to the billions of people impacted, the UN has said, "COVID-19 will not be stopped."

"The fact that billions of people have had to face this pandemic without basic hand-washing facilities and that health providers in some of the Least Developed Countries do not have running water is impossible to reconcile," Bozkir said, "especially when we live in a world of such abundance and of such profound innovation."

Inadequate water and sanitation is fatal, even aside from the pandemic. Nearly 1,000 children die every day because of illnesses they develop from a lack of these resources, according to the U.N.

The U.N. agenda has laid out eight goals to rectify the situation. Along with establishing universal and equitable drinking water, sanitation and hygiene, the organization intends to improve water quality through environmental measures, increase water-use efficiency, establish an integrated management plan for water resources, protect water ecosystems, expand internal cooperation, and strengthen support in communities.

Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said Thursday at the meeting that as of now, the world is not on track to meet those goals.

"To achieve universal access to water and sanitation, the current rate of progress would need to quadruple," she said. "Moreover, the planetary crisis, including the interlinked threats of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, will increase water scarcity. By 2040, one in four of the world's children under 18 — some 600 million — will be living in areas of extremely high-water stress."

She recommended that as countries commit to plans for pandemic recovery, they intertwine those plans with the Sustainable Development Goals and address inadequate water and sanitation access. She also urged that governments focus on preventing water-related natural disasters and focus on empowering women's leadership in the development of a green economy.

Bozkir recommended that governments also focus on addressing these issues with the help of the communities they govern, and listen to organizations who are fighting for similar goals.

"Water is life," Bozkir said. "We simply cannot live on this planet — and certainly not in any healthy capacity — if we are deprived of this most basic human need. Our entire agricultural system — all of the food we consume — is dependent upon water supplies. The same extends to all other life on this planet. Every ecosystem, every species, depends upon water."

"Our discussion is not just about liquid in a bottle," he said. "It is about dignity...opportunity...our health and our ability to survive."

CBS News' Pamela Falk contributed to this report.

Space junk removal: Mission to clean up debris with magnets set for launch

By Katie Hunt, CNN 3/19/2021


It's invisible in the night sky, but above us there is a cloud of more than 9,000 tons of space junk -- equivalent to the weight of 720 school buses.

© Courtesy Astroscale The spacecraft and the 17-kilogram dummy satellite -- the debris to be cleaned up -- will separate and then perform a high-stakes game of cat and mouse over the next few months.

This debris is composed of parts of old satellites as well as entire defunct satellites and rocket bodies. The debris poses risks to the International Space Station and threatens things we take for granted on Earth -- weather forecasting, GPS and telecommunications. It's a problem that's getting worse with more and more satellites being launched each year by ventures like Elon Musk's SpaceX.


A demonstration mission to test new technology developed by the company Astroscale to clean up space debris is set to launch in the early hours of Saturday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

A Soyuz 2 rocket will launch a 175-kilogram spacecraft with a satellite attached into space. The spacecraft and the 17-kilogram satellite -- the debris to be cleaned up -- will separate and then perform a high-stakes game of cat and mouse over the next few months.

Astroscale will test the spacecraft's ability to snatch a satellite and bring it down toward the Earth's atmosphere, where it will burn up. It will do this in a series of different maneuvers, with the mission expected to end in September or October of this year.

As part of the mission, the company will test whether the spacecraft can catch and dock with the satellite as it tumbles through space at up to 17,500 miles per hour -- several times faster than the speed of a bullet.

The tests rely on a magnetic docking plate to latch onto the satellite. Astroscale said it hopes all new satellites being launched will ultimately have this docking plate, allowing them to be safely removed at the end of their life span. What's more, Astroscale said it had already signed a deal with internet satellite company OneWeb.

"Now is the time to take the threat of debris seriously by committing to debris removal programs and preparing satellites for future removal at their end of life," said John Auburn, managing director of Astroscale UK and group chief commercial officer.

"Avoiding catastrophic collisions will help to protect the space ecosystem and ensure all orbits can continue to thrive sustainably for generations to come."

Astroscale is headquartered in Japan but the mission is being controlled from the United Kingdom.

Nets, harpoons and robotic  arms

The technology being tested in this mission targets the removal of satellites yet to be launched and doesn't address the problem of debris already in space. However, the company is working with JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, on its first debris removal project.

Other space agencies, institutions and companies are also working on technology to remove space junk.

ClearSpace 1, the European Space Agency's mission to remove space junk from orbit, is expected to launch in 2025. This mission will use four robotic arms to capture the debris.

A 2018 demonstration mission successfully deployed a net to ensnare space junk, the first successful demonstration of space cleanup technology. The RemoveDebris experiment is run by a consortium of companies and researchers led by the UK's Surrey Space Centre and includes Airbus, Airbus-owned Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. and France's Ariane Group. It has also tried a method using a harpoon.

There are at least 26,000 pieces of space junk orbiting the Earth that are the size of a softball or larger and could destroy a satellite on impact; over 500,000 the size of a marble big enough to cause damage to spacecraft or satellites; and over 100 million pieces of debris the size of a grain of salt that could puncture a spacesuit, according to a January report by NASA.

In fact, the report said, the bits of space junk that are most dangerous to spacecraft and satellites are often the smallest because they are too small to be detected, and operators aren't able to maneuver to avoid them.

© Courtesy Astroscale The mission will last for about six months.

Environmentalists Say Turkish Wastewater Lake Could Cause an Environmental Disaster

Imperial Oil urges shareholders to reject 'premature' net-zero 2050 carbon motion

CALGARY — Imperial Oil Ltd.. is recommending investors attending its annual meeting in May vote against a shareholder resolution that it adopt a corporate wide target to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050

.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The motion, made by Aequo Shareholder Engagement Services on behalf of Quebec group retirement system Batirente, argues that Imperial's current 2023 emissions reduction target is a step in the right direction but that it is also important to have a long-term strategy.

In its notice of meeting, however, Imperial recommends voting down the proposal because, although it supports initiatives to control global warming, it is "premature" to set targets before it has a concrete plan for how to reach them.

The company says it has a portfolio of technologies at various stages of commercialization that could be employed, including the use of solvents to produce bitumen from oilsands wells with less energy and using carbon capture and storage to create emission offsets.

It says it is intent on its current goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions intensity by 10 per cent by 2023 relative to 2016 levels.

Batirente CEO Daniel Simard says all companies, especially those in the energy sector, have to align their strategies with the Paris Agreement and reduce their emissions by 2050.

“Our climate commitment as unveiled in autumn 2020, aims to both alleviate the cause of climate warming, through the reduction of GHG emissions, and mitigate its consequences, by building resilience," he said in a news release.

“It is important for Batirente to meet its fiduciary responsibility by taking measures to optimally allocate the capital entrusted to us.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 19, 2021.

Companies in this story: (TSX:IMO)

The Canadian Press

No Good Evidence That 5G Harms Humans, New Studies Find

Ed Cara 

Concerns over the potential harms of 5G technology are overblown, according to two large new reviews of research recently published by scientists in Australia. Both found no clear evidence that the type of radiofrequency energy used by 5G mobile networks poses any danger to human health.

5G is the next generation of wireless communication. It enables faster speeds and lower latency than LTE, and while we’re already seeing that in action on 5G phones, it’ll take years before 5G’s potential to transform industries like autonomous cars becomes a reality.

© Photo: William West/AFP (Getty Images) 

Public service announcement posters deployed last year in Melborne, Australia.

The State of 5G in 2021: Are We There Yet?

That delayed promise hasn’t stopped some people from warning that 5G will only accelerate the harms purportedly caused by our existing use of wireless technology. The evidence for any health risks from our cell phones today isn’t particularly strong, but it’s still something scientists are keeping an eye on. In particular, there have been many studies in the lab and on animals trying to figure how varying levels of radiofrequency energy could possibly affect the body, including the sort of energy that would be emitted by 5G networks.

The two new papers are the work of researchers from the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) and the Swinburne University of Technology in Australia. Both were published this week in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology and are billed as the first reviews to focus on 5G specifically.

Aside from looking at animal and lab experiments, one review also analyzed epidemiological studies of radar, which uses the same sort of RF (low-level energy fields above 6 gigahertz to as high as 300 GHz) that 5G is expected to rely on. Their conclusions, based on reviewing data from over 100 studies, should be reassuring.

“In conclusion, a review of all the studies provided no substantiated evidence that low-level radio waves, like those used by the 5G network, are hazardous to human health,” said Ken Karipidis, assistant director of assessment and advice at ARPANSA, in a statement released by the agency.

The second review, which focused on RF energy specifically in the millimeter wave (MMW) band, which 5G will use, also found no link between low levels of MMW exposure and health effects. According to the researchers, both findings are just more evidence that cell phones today and in the near future will continue to emit levels of RF well below the safety thresholds established by the International Commission for Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) that have been adopted worldwide.

No, a Study Didn't Just Prove That Cellphones Cause Brain Cancer

Some studies did find plausible biological effects from this sort of RF exposure. But importantly, these studies usually weren’t replicated by other, similar experiments. Overall, most of the studies they reviewed were deemed to be low quality, Karipidis and his team concluded.

All that said, these reviews won’t be the final word on vetting the safety of 5G and cell phone radiation in general. And the researchers hope their work will help strengthen the ongoing research looking into it.

“We recommend that future experimental studies improve their design with particular attention to dosimetry and temperature control and that future epidemiological studies continue to monitor long-term health effects in the population related to wireless telecommunications,” said Karipidis.

Is it snowing microplastics in Siberia? 

Russia scientists take samples‎

‎
‎MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian scientists are trying to understand the scale of a potential threat to the environment in Siberia: snow polluted with microplastics that then melts and seeps into the ground. ‎

‎

© Reuters/Siberian Microplastics centre of Microplastic particles found in snow samples taken in Siberia are seen through a microscope in Tomsk‎

‎Scientists at Tomsk State University (TSU) say they have gathered snow samples from 20 different Siberian regions - from the Altai mountains to the Arctic - and that their preliminary findings confirm that airborne plastic fibres are turning up in snow in remote parts of the wilderness.

 ‎‎

© Reuters/Siberian Microplastics centre of A researcher carries snow samples collected to investigate microplastic pollution levels in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region‎

‎"It's clear that it's not just rivers and seas that are involved circulating microplastics around the world, but also soil, living creatures and even the atmosphere," Yulia Frank, scientific director at TSU's Microplastics Siberia centre, told Reuters. ‎

‎Microplastics, which are created when bigger pieces of plastic litter break up over time, are increasingly being found in the air, food, drinking water and even Arctic ice. Scientists are increasingly worried they may pose a risk to human health and marine life, though there is no consensus yet on the issue. ‎‎

© Reuters/Siberian Microplastics centre of Researchers collect snow samples to investigate microplastic pollution levels in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region‎

‎Video: How putting particles in the stratosphere might just slow global warming 

‎Tomsk scientists have previously found microplastics in the digestive systems of fish caught in Siberian rivers, confirming that they are contributing to polluting the Arctic Ocean with plastic. ‎

‎"Siberia is absolutely under-researched in this aspect and our (Russia's) interest in this problem comes late compared to the rest of the world," Frank said. ‎

‎Scientists are now studying the snow samples to understand to what degree population density, the proximity of roads and other human activity contributes to the pollution. ‎

‎(Reporting by Dmitry Turlyun; Writing by Maria Vasilyeva; Editing by Alex Richardson)‎

Bakery owner frustrated employees were denied Alberta's critical worker benefit

BECAUSE INCOMPETENT UCP IGNORED FED FUNDS FOR WORKERS 

UNTIL THE NDP ASKED THEM ABOUT IT 

Lisa Johnson 

An Edmonton bakery owner says he was surprised to find his application for Alberta’s critical worker benefit program denied despite the government listing bakers as eligible.

© Provided by Edmonton Journal Simon Underwood, co-owner of Doughnut Party, says his attempt to get his workers the one-time $1,200 payments was turned down because doughnuts are not considered as essential as bread.

Simon Underwood, co-owner of Doughnut Party, says his attempt to get his workers the one-time $1,200 payments was turned down because doughnuts are not considered as essential as bread.

“Where is this particular piece of criteria coming from, and why is it being used to disqualify our staff?” said Underwood, who added if the program had used all the money, that would be fine — but that’s not what he was told.

He said the experience was “uniquely frustrating,” since the rules weren’t clearly outlined and seemed to be an arbitrary splitting of hairs.

“Were people not supposed to have any treats? Is pizza essential food or non-essential food?” said Underwood.

The application portal for private workers is set to be closed by Friday, but many workers who were once listed as eligible have already found out they will not receive it because that criteria has since been narrowed.

At first, the government’s website listed “truck transportation” occupations as eligible, but when more details of the program were released and the application portal opened, it specified only those involved with the delivery of food and medical supplies could access the cash.

When the program was announced Feb. 10 , the province said more than 380,000 frontline workers would receive the one-time payments. The province would pitch in $118 million towards the total $465-million benefit cost, shared with the federal government.

Since the opening of applications a week later on Feb 17, questions have swirled about why essential workers like food delivery drivers, retailers, restaurant employees and taxi drivers were not included.

© Provided by Edmonton Journal Labour Minister Jason Copping said the government considers critical workers those who provided specific supports in health care and those in the private sector supporting food and medicine supply chains.

Labour Minister Jason Copping said at an estimates committee last week that the program had to differentiate between essential and critical workers because there was limited funding. The government considers critical workers those who provided specific supports in health care and those in the private sector supporting food and medicine supply chains, Copping said.

“We wanted to design a program that worked for Alberta,” said Copping, who added that a large majority of Alberta’s workforce was designated as essential.

“I thank all workers who continued to work throughout the pandemic — they’ve come to work and done an incredible job,” he said.

As of March 10, the program had received 6,930 calls and 9,284 applications, although department officials were unable to confirm how many applications or employees had been denied. Copping’s office did not provide updated numbers or comment as of press time Thursday.

At a Thursday news conference, NDP labour critic Christina Gray again called on the government to fill the gaps in the program that she said was denying thousands of deserving workers.

“It seems to me that it was rolled out quickly, without consultation with workers, without reflecting what’s happening on the ground in this pandemic,” said Gray.

Gray was joined by taxi industry representatives who said they were insulted to have been left out of the benefit.

Taxi driver Sardar Rashid Yousaf said the rules were unfair to drivers on the front lines of the pandemic.

“If somebody is sick, who would they pick? If somebody goes to the hospital, who would they pick? So we are taking a risk on our life,” he said.

On Wednesday, the federal government finally confirmed the province would receive the $347 million the province had announced for the critical worker benefit.

Katherine Cuplinskas, press secretary to federal Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, said in an email Wednesday Ottawa had provided $30 million and would be providing $317 million as part of a plan originally billed as a wage top-up for essential workers.

“We are pleased that Alberta requested this additional funding to help those who have been on the front lines of the pandemic for over a year. Albertans deserve this financial support in recognition of their hard work and sacrifice,” said Cuplinskas.

Copping has said the majority of the province’s money would be out the door before the end of the month.

lijohnson@postmedia.com

twitter.com/reportrix

For more on Alberta’s vaccine rollout, read our guide driven by reader questions.

Downed Iran UKRAINE plane: Families of Edmonton victims demand real truth in wake of final report

Chris Chacon 

GLOBAL NEWS

3/18/2021

Unsettling reaction poured in Thursday after the final report into the downing of Ukraine Airlines flight PS752 was released.

© Chris Chacon/Global News Image of Amir Hossein Saeedinia parents.

More than a year later, the victims' families — even the Transportation Safety Board of Canada — are left with more questions than answers.

"I'm still waiting for her, honestly. I haven't believed that she's really gone.

"It's just a long nightmare," said Javad Soleimani, husband of Elnaz Nabiy, who was on flight PS752.

Ever since Soleimani lost his wife, he's been looking for answers.

The final report from Iran’s civil aviation body blamed “human error” as the reason why the Revolutionary Guard shot down a jetliner minutes after it took off from Tehran on Jan. 8 last year.

All 176 people on board were killed, including 55 Canadian citizens, 30 permanent residents and dozens of others bound for Canada. Thirteen of those people called Edmonton home.

Read more: TSB says Iran report on downing of flight PS752 explains what happened, but doesn't say why

The report didn’t provide a detailed explanation or evidence about the underlying factors that caused Iran’s military to fire two surface-to-air missiles at Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752.

Canada’s TSB says Iran’s final report on Ukrainian flight 752 ‘incomplete’

Canada’s Transportation Safety Board says Iranian officials failed to provide evidence that a passenger jet was shot down by mistake early last year, leaving key questions unanswered as Iran’s military effectively investigated itself.

It is unusual for the TSB to comment on the results of a report into an incident that took place in another country.

READ MORE: Victims’ loved ones say Iranian report into downing of Ukrainian flight 752 lacks details

"All of the families of the victims are stuck on Jan. 8 because we didn't have any closure, we don't know exactly what happened that night," Soleimani said.

Soleimani and other families now forced to confront their grief again after Iran issued its final report.

Parents of University of Alberta mechanical engineering PhD student Amir Hossein Saeedinia, who also died on the flight, said the report is unacceptable.

"I read it page by page, it was a torture to me every page that I read. Their lies to attempt to hide the truth, it made me sad, I cried," Amir's father Masoud Saeedinia said.

Video: Flight PS752: Remembering the victims of the Iran plane crash

READ MORE: UN investigator says questions remain over whether Iran intentionally downed Ukraine jet

Iran's report echoes what the Iranian government has claimed for a year that human error caused the tragedy.

"It does not explain any of the underlying factors behind why the missiles were launched at PS752, which is the stated cause of the accident," Transportation Safety Board Chair Kathy Fox said.


"In short, the report says what happened but it doesn't answer the why."

The families said they believe the attack was intentional, but want to know why it happened. They want the Canadian government, Ukraine and other countries to take this matter to the International Court of Justice for real answers.

Read more: Iran plane crash, one year later: 13 victims with ties to Edmonton remembered as brilliant, loving

The Canadian government also appointed a special group of investigators to look into this crash. They are acting separately from the TSB, and are expected to file a report in the coming weeks.

Video: Iran plane crash report explains what happened, but doesn’t say why: TSB

— With files from Jordan Press, The Canadian Press