FILIPINO  MYTHOLOGY ANIME 'TRESE' ON NETFLIX

Everything You Need to Know About the Mythological Creatures in Trese

If you need a refresher, here's your complete guide.

By KARL GAVERZA | 2 days ago

Trese is a series close to my heart, what really drew me into the komiks was the action and use of the source material. When I heard about its upcoming anime adaptation, I, as well as many other fans, expected a lot. And I wasn’t disappointed.

There is so much in the show to think about, mysteries on top of mysteries, the use of folklore as an inspiration, and all with the use of amazing art direction. Trese did a good job condensing what was in the komiks while adding just enough to streamline the adaptation in a new media.

The writing, in particular, took the very best parts of the source material and gave it new life, smoothly integrating the dialogue and the plot into a new experience. The animation itself was very fluid which added to the suspense. The character of Alexandra Trese seems less invincible in Trese, compared to the graphic novels. There is a struggle in her character that is very refreshing to see. That vulnerability really makes you root for her character all the more. The 18 rating of Trese really helps drive the point that this isn’t just your regular show. The blood and gore were not there just as window dressing but actively added to the atmosphere of what Trese is trying to achieve.

The series takes inspiration from different mythological creatures from the Philippines. If you need a refresher, here's your complete guide to the inspirations behind the creatures of Trese. Let's get started.

The White Lady of Balete Drive  

THE LADY IN WHITE IS A FAMILIAR GHOST ENTITY IN A VARIETY OF ASIA PACIFIC CULTURES

AS WELL AS IN CHINA , THE  KOREA'S AND JAPAN

The White Lady of Balete Drive is a beautiful woman with long hair that sometimes covers her face. She wears a white flowing dress, like that of a gown, slightly covered with bloodstains or dirt or with a face bathed in blood.

There are many versions of this urban legend: Some say a woman was raped at the same spot as Balete Drive by Japanese soldiers in the Second World War and that her ghost remains to avenge. Another version of the story says that the white lady was a student of the University of the Philippines. While on her way to Balete Drive from school, she was raped by a cab driver and her body was dumped in the area. Due to this, she appears to most cab drivers because she allegedly wants to seek revenge. A third version says a woman was driving in Balete Drive when she crashed her car, resulting in her death. In Trese, the White Lady of Balete Drive has been victimized twice—her ghost becoming a casualty in something bigger.


Nuno sa Punso

The Nuno sa Punso, which translates to grandfather of the mound, is an old man. He's described as very small, with reddish skin, with a long beard, and is hunchbacked. He's also sometimes seen holding a staff.

According to legend, the nuno steals pretty girls from villages and offers jewels or gold for them to live with him. While the saying, "Tabi, tabi po baka kayo mabunggo" which translates to "Excuse me, lest I bump you," is a polite way to pass through his domain. It is said that if you fail to utter the phrase, the nuno can be grazed and retaliate with fever or skin rashes. Offerings of food are made to the nuno to gain their favor, and in Trese, this is done through chocnut. Yes, the same peanut milk chocolate candy of our childhoods. In most legends, you would have to offer chickens, or other types of food. The series' nuno has a servant called Laman Lupa which is a collective term for dwarfs, gnomes, goblins, and other underground-dwellers in the Tagalog areas of Luzon. Both the duwende and the nuno belong to this group. While in Trese, this refers to an elemental made out of earth that is subservient to the nuno.

Aswang  

A huge part of the plot of Trese revolves around aswang tribes. But, what is an aswang? The term aswang is prolific in Philippine mythology. It may refer to a specific kind of monster with specific traits, yet it may also be a catch-all term for any kind of monster.

The term aswang is used by various ethnolinguistic groups, with some of them having no similarities whatsoever to the creatures they describe. An aswang in the north may be different from an aswang in the southern part of the Philippines. When aswang is translated it is usually done by calling it a witch, possessing supernatural powers that they use to spread terror. The general physical aspects of an aswang includes having a long, hollow tongue, sharp claws, sharp teeth, beautiful if in human form, and bestial if shapeshifted. By day, aswangs looks tired and pale, because they lack proper sleep as they are nocturnal.
\
Anthropologist Francis X. Lynch describes four ways of becoming an aswang: personal effort, the transmission of supernatural powers, contamination, and heredity. There are certain rituals that can turn one into an aswang if the subject is willing. The first ritual is to hold a fertilized chicken egg against one’s belly and then tie it in place with a piece of cloth around the body. After some time, the chicken from the egg will pass into the individual’s stomach in an osmosis-like manner. Then, the individual is able to make the sound 'tik, tik' that the aswang usually makes. The eggshell isn't thrown away and is instead placed in a bamboo tube alongside an ointment made from chicken droppings dissolved in coconut water and mixed with human flesh and blood. Another ritual is to go to the cemetery and take two fertilized eggs right after the Good Friday procession during the evening. The individual should stand straight, look directly at the full moon without blinking and place each egg under their armpits. After saying certain words three times (these words were not known by the informants) the egg disappears into their stomach, thereby turning them into an aswang. There should be a renewal of this procedure each year to keep the aswang powers.

There is also a belief that's widespread where an aswang just refuses to die without transferring its powers, usually to a member of its family or some friend. This process is done by having the initiate put their mouth close to the aswang's mouth (about two inches away). Then, the aswang chick hops into the mouth of the new aswang. Likewise, if an aswang puts any of their bodily fluids or human flesh into something that is ingested by a human, like food or water then the human will turn into an aswang themselves. This is clearly shown in the series' prison scene where captives are force-fed flesh. Then, there are the aswang's descendants which lasts up to seven generations as aswangs. Newly turned aswang are called yanggaw or bag-ong yanggaw as they cannot control their bloodlust and seek to feed.

Ibwa

One of the heads of the aswang clan is called Ibwa who is based on a specific mythical creature. Ibwa once mingled with the people in human form. Due to the thoughtless act of a mourner at a funeral, he became so addicted to the taste of human flesh that it has since been necessary to protect the corpse from him. He fears iron, hence, a piece of that metal is always laid on the grave. Holes are burned in each garment placed on the body to keep him from stealing them.

Xa Mul

Here's another head of the aswang clan that's based on a mythical creature: Xa Mul is an evil spirit who is said to swallow people alive without crushing them between his teeth. This spirit is present in the cultures of the Isneg or Apayao, an Austronesian ethnic group native to Apayao Province in the Philippines' Cordillera Administrative Region.

Ibu

Ibu is the Manobo goddess of death and the underworld. She is the queen of the underworld whose abode is down below at the pillars of the world. All care, worries, and trouble are no more in the underworld. Under the rule of the mistress Ibu, souls work, eat and even marry. In Trese, her emissary is a psychopomp—a guide of souls to the place of the dead. She uses the MRT and LRT as transportation for souls to her realm. In most Philippine myths, the soul is ferried to the next world by means of a boat, crossing the sea to the underworld.

Santelmo

Depicted as floating balls of fire, santelmo are said to be souls of people lost at sea. They are kept at bay by sprinkling salt on your sails. In other legends, a santelmo is formed when sunlight comes into contact with spilled human blood. Trese, on the other, features Santelmo who is called on by Alexandra Trese as the spirit of the Great Binondo Fire, which happened in the '50s. The depiction in Trese has the santelmo as more fire elementals that can be called upon for help.

Tikbalang

Tikbalang can be identified by their human bodies which are characterized by horse heads and long limbs—so long that when they sit their knees reach above their heads. These creatures are also described as a 'tall thin black men with a horse's head and terrible teeth.' They can be warded off by turning your clothes inside out. Sometimes, the tikbalang can even change itself into the form of one of the relatives of its victim before transforming back to scare its victim. Legend has it one can be controlled by taking three hairs from its head.

Trese's Tikbalang is fond of races, as befits their horse-like nature. This translates to one Tikbalang in particular as the best racer around. In old legends, if you want to control a tikbalang you have to ride it and wait until you grab three hairs from the top of its mane.

Red Dwende

There are many kinds of dwende: black, white, green and red. Amang Paso is a red dwende that are known to be neutral, as it can be either beneficient or maleficent. They are fond of chicken sacrifices and teach prayers, or oracion. Red dwende are who you go to if you want an agimat (talisman). Don't get any ideas, though, as they may be easy to invoke but they are difficult to get rid of. It is said that if they like you, they'll go with you wherever you will be.

Wind Elementals

Hannah and Amie are wind people—elementals that have power over the winds. The closest creatures that fit this description are the Ilonggo awan-awan. They are said to control the wind, rain, lightning, thunder, typhoon, and the whirlwind. Plus, they can also bring about sickness and death. Naturally, wind elementals live in the space between the clouds and the earth.

Tiyanak

Tiyanak are said to be the souls of babies that have died without being baptized. They want to play with whoever passes by them, and their favorite playmates are children with uncommon names. It is said that they crow like birds and they cry to lure childless couples. Then, they wait until they find an opportunity to kill the couple by sucking their blood. A tiyanak attracts people through its infant-like wails and the creature transforms into its hideous form when picked up. From there, it mauls the victim until they are dead.

Trese portrays the creature as goblins that possess small corpses left in the woods. In the tiyanak's legends, their true form is a hideous creature that returned from death. The tiyanak is also a shapeshifter, capable of taking on many forms.

Sigbin

A sigbin can look like a locust, frog, or a goat without horns and long hind legs like a kangaroo with large ears that flap. It has a long tail that's used to whip victims. They drink the blood of their victims by sucking at their shadows, and steal the bodies of their victims so that they can eat it with their aswang masters. Sigbins show themselves during the full moon. You'll be able to tell if it's a sigbin as it walks backward and it can reach its head at the back of its feet. Here's some useful information: they are afraid of sharp objects including knives.

In the series, Anton Trese's familiars are sigbin that are capable of shapeshifting into massive dogs. With this form, they function as very efficient trackers that have a

strong sense of smell.

Datu Talagbusao

The datu talagbusao is a Bukidnon god of war in the form of a warrior with big red eyes with a red garment.

Talagbusao is uncontrollable. He can enter a mortal warrior’s body and make him fight fiercely to avenge a misdeed, but he can also drive the warrior to insanity due to the gods excessive demand for the blood of pigs, chickens, or humans. The talagbusao in the world of Trese takes his place as the god of war, using his powers to manipulate the tides of battle.

Reprinted with permission from Philippine Spirits.

More: The Enigmatic Philippine Origins of Trese's Santelmo

PHOTOS  COURTESY OF NETFLIX.

Five must-read materials for a crash course on Philippine mythology.

By ANRI ICHIMURA | ESQUIRE PH | Jun 8, 2021

 Trese Marketing Campaign Deserves Its Own Award, and We’re Not Surprised to Discover that GIGIL Was Behind It (esquiremag.ph)

With all of the genius promotional materials around Metro Manila—from the alleged aswang caught on tape vandalizing a billboard to manananggals flying over busy streets—there’s hardly a Filipino netizen that isn’t eagerly awaiting Trese’s premiere on Netflix on June 11.

The Filipino animated series will bring the beloved graphic novels of the same name to life, giving audiences a new and revamped way of experiencing the Philippine mythology and folklore that enrich our culture.

Philippine mythology can be complicated, but Esquire caught up with Budjette Tan, co-creator and writer of the Trese komiks, who shared his starter pack for novices of Philippine mythology. Here are five required reading materials that’ll fully initiate you into the world of Filipino folklore.

PHOTO BY SUMMIT BOOKS.

1| The Lost Journal of Alejandro Pardo: Creatures and Beasts of Philippine Folklore

Sometime after creating Trese, Tan created his own lexicon on Philippine mythological creatures with The Lost Journal of Alejandro Pardo: Creatures and Beasts of Philippine Folklore. It was also illustrated by Trese illustrator and co-creator Kaljo Baldisimo.

Similar in style to Harry Potter’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, each description of the creatures and monsters of Philippine mythology is accompanied with fascinating, if terrifying, illustrations. The Lost Journals is no longer in print, but it is available as an eBook on Summit Books’ flagship Lazada store.

PHOTO BY AMAZON.

2| The Works of Maximo Ramos

Even in death, Maximo Ramos remains a pillar in Filipino folklore literature. Tan shares Ramos is a great starting point for those who want a comprehensive education on Philippine literature. Some of his books include: Philippine Myths, Legends, and Folktales; Legends of the Lower Gods; The Creatures of Midnight; and The Aswang Complex in Philippine Folklore.

His works have been published worldwide, and there’s a good chance you’ll find some of his books on Philippine myths and legends in the Filipiniana section of your community or university library. If not, you can purchase his paperbacks on Amazon.




PHOTO BY ADARNA.

3| Mga Nilalang na Kagila-gilalas

Originally published as 101 Kagila-gilalas na Nilalang, the popular mythology book was reprinted as Mga Nilalang na Kagila-gilalas in 2019. Similar to The Lost Journal of Alejandro Pardo, this Adarna-published guide to Philippine mythology is written in Tagalog and features over 100 creatures, gods, goddesses, and monsters.

Mga Nilalang na Kagila-gilalas was written by Edgar Calabia Samar and is available on the Adarna House website.

PHOTO BY ANVIL.

4| Mga Tambay sa Tabi-Tabi

If you’re really struggling to keep up with the complicated pantheon of Philippine mythology, Tan recommends Mga Tambay sa Tabi-tabi: Creatures of Philippine Folklore written by Ang Illustrador ng Kabataan and published by Anvil.

It’s actually a Tagalog children’s book designed to introduce the myths of Filipino culture, but it’s a great crash course that’s easy to digest. The book appears to be out of print, but if you don’t mind preloved books, you can find a copy on Carousell or one of the many secondhand book shops on social media.

PHOTO BY THE ASWANG PROJECT

5| The Aswang Project

Last but not least is The Aswang Project, a comprehensive online resource that was created by Jordan Clark in 2006. The site includes articles and videos on creatures, legends, and cultures of Philippine mythology.

What started as an introductory website to Filipino folklore has since evolved into something far more advanced and detailed as it records the hundreds of regional creatures and myths across the Philippine archipelago. If we had to rank this, we’d say The Aswang Project is for more advanced acolytes of Philippine mythology. You can visit the website here

WATCH: Here's the Trese Creator's Starter Pack to Philippine Mythology

Think you’re ready for Trese now? The show drops on June 11, only on Netflix.

MORE FROM ESQUIREMAG.PH

AL GORE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT

Got $1,000? The Original Source Code for the World Wide Web Is For Sale as an NFT

The auction is called “This Changed Everything.”

In 1989, British computer scientist Sir Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web, which since changed the world forever. Sotheby’s will be auctioning the original source code for the World Wide Web, which includes the original time stamped files, signed by Berners-Lee, as an NFT (non-fungible token).

The NFT will be offered in a standalone online auction titled ‘This Changed Everything.’ This will be the first historical artefact relating to this landmark moment ever to be sold, and is offered directly by Sir Tim Berners-Lee himself.

 
HE IS WORKING IN THE BASEMENT, BOILER ROOM

“Three decades ago, I created something which, with the subsequent help of a huge number of collaborators across the world, has been a powerful tool for humanity,” Berners-Lee said. “For me, the best bit about the web has been the spirit of collaboration. While I do not make predictions about the future, I sincerely hope its use, knowledge and potential will remain open and available to us all to continue to innovate, create and initiate the next technological transformation, that we cannot yet imagine.

“NFTs, be they artworks or a digital artefact like this, are the latest playful creations in this realm, and the most appropriate means of ownership that exists,” he added. “They are the ideal way to package the origins behind the web.”
What is an NFT?

An NFT is a special bit of Internet content and is considered a digital asset with a unique identity recorded in a database that allows its ownership to be tracked. It can be traded from person to person and comes in various forms, like JPEG, GIF or a video. In recent years, the value of NFTs have drastically increased in value as more and more collectors pay insanely huge amounts of amount to own them. They work similarly to cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Dogecoin.

Also read: What are NFTs?

Sotheby says that the NFT that’s up for sale is composed of four elements; the original time-stamped files containing the source code written by Berners-Lee; an animated visualization of the code; a letter written by Berners-Lee reflecting on the code and the process of creating it; as well as a digital “poster” of the full code created by Berners-Lee from the original files using Python, including a graphic of his physical signature; all digitally signed.

“Over the past several centuries humankind has seen a succession of paradigm shifts that have brought us forward into the modern era; Galileo’s proof of Heliocentricity, Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press, and Einstein’s Theory of Relativity to name but a few, but none has had the seismic impact on our daily lives as the creation of the World Wide Web,” said Cassandra Hatton, VP, global head of science & popular culture at Sotheby’s. “Sir Tim’s invention created a new world, democratizing the sharing of information, creating new ways of thinking and interacting, and staying connected to one another; it is hard to imagine our world without it, and even harder to imagine where it will bring us next. This unique and singular auction will celebrate Sir Tim’s groundbreaking achievement, in which collectors will finally have the opportunity, thanks to the NFT format, to own the ultimate digitally-born artefact.”

“The brainchild of one of the most important thinkers that the UK has ever produced, the web is a truly great British invention—one that has gone global in all senses of the word,” added Oliver Barker, Chairman of Sotheby’s Europe. “As a company that itself took its first steps in London, and is now making its mark all over the world, we at Sotheby’s could not be more proud to be part of a celebration of this defining moment three decades on.”
Who is Sir Tim Berners-Lee

Berners-Lee is considered one of the greatest innovators of the modern age. And the apple did not fall far from the tree. He grew up in a household of mathematicians and computer scientists—his parents worked on the Ferranti Mark 1, the world's first commercially available general-purpose digital computer.

PHOTO BY SOTHEBYS.


A graduate of Oxford University, Berners-Lee had always dreamed of creating a common information space in which everyone could communicate, resulting in the creation of the first web browser and the first website. He went on to make sure to preserve the free use of the World Wide Web on a global scale and is one of the greatest acts of philanthropy in recent history. After three decades, there are now over 1.7 billion websites being accessed by 4.6 billion people around the world, with children learning HTML in school to make their own webpages.

The sale is scheduled to open from June 23 to 30, with bidding starting at a very low $1,000. Proceeds of the sale will benefit initiatives that Sir Tim and Lady Berners-Lee support. Interest in cryptoart and other collectible pieces of history like the WWW Source Code in NFTs are becoming the hottest thing in the art and auction world. So it will not be that surprising if the sale ends up in the six or seven-digit mark.

Here’s a quick look on how much serious collectors are willing to spend for these one-off digital assets. Even the original NFT of YouTube’s most viewed home-made video was sold for $761,000 (about P36.6 million).

For more information about the auction, visit sothebys.com/WWW

Steve Hanke warns BTC could ‘completely collapse the economy’ of El Salvador

Steve Hanke slammed El Salvador’s Bitcoin adoption as legal tender and questioned how Bitcoin would function in day-to-day transactions.



Steve Hanke, a professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins University, has warned that El Salvador’s recent adoption of Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender has the potential to “completely collapse the economy.”

Steve Hanke served as a senior economist under President Ronald Reagan’s administration from 1981 to 1982. Hanke has previously described BTC as a speculative asset “with a fundamental value of zero,” and in April, the 78-year-old tweeted, “Cryptocurrencies are the future of money. Bitcoin is not.”

Speaking with streaming financial news provider Kitco News on Tuesday, the university professor noted that BTC hodlers from regions such as Russia and China could now target El Salvador to cash out their holdings — essentially draining the country of its United States dollars:

“It has the potential to completely collapse the economy because all the dollars in El Salvador could be vacuumed up, and there’d be no money in the country. They don’t have a domestic currency.”

During the interview, the economist described the elected representatives in El Salvador who voted in favor of president Nayib Bukele’s Bitcoin law as “in a word, stupid,” and questioned how BTC could function as a legal tender in day-to-day transactions, in a country where most citizens rely on cash.

“You’re not going to pay for your taxi ride with a Bitcoin. It’s ridiculous [...] You’ve got 70% of the people in El Salvador don’t even have bank accounts,” he said.

On Friday, JPMorgan echoed similar sentiments but in more measured language, with the firm stating in a client note that it was difficult to see any “tangible economic benefits associated with adopting Bitcoin as a second form of legal tender, and it may imperil negotiations with the IMF.”

The Central American Bank for Economic Integration doesn’t share this view, however, and stated yesterday that El Salvador’s adoption of BTC is innovative and “creates many spaces and opportunities.”

The multinational bank also revealed that it will be forming a technical advisory group to aid El Salvador in its transition to using Bitcoin as legal tender.

Hanke speculated that “dark forces are clearly behind this” in El Salvador, who want to use Bitcoin to get their hands on U.S. dollars.

Related: El Salvador reportedly weighing paying employees in Bitcoin

The economist also described remittances across borders in Bitcoin as “nonsensical,” as he thinks the asset will need to be converted instantly to dollars to be able to use it.

“If grandma is down in El Salvador is waiting for her remittances and you want to send Bitcoin like that, it’s fine, but what does she do? She has to go to the ATM to get dollars because that’s the only way you can buy something,” Hanke said. However, businesses in El Salvador will be mandated to accept Bitcoin.

An article in Foreign Policy by trenchant Bitcoin critic David Gerard, author of the book Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain, speculated that as El Salvador can’t print U.S. dollars, its adoption of BTC may be part of a move to source U.S. dollar liquidity from its citizens to pay back foreign debts.

Electricity-eating bacteria could help oceans absorb more carbon, study 

Isabella O'Malley 

WEATHER NETWORK

Embedded content: https://players.brightcove.net/1942203455001/B1CSR9sVf_default/index.html?videoId=6258239917001

Oceans are one of the biggest carbon sinks on Earth and their ability to capture carbon dioxide helps curb the impacts from the staggering levels of pollution that we release.

Carbon dioxide dissolves into the oceans as its concentration in the atmosphere increases. Despite the oceans’ seemingly endless expanse, the impacts from growing greenhouse gas emissions is causing oceans to become warmer and more acidic, which is harming marine life and aquatic biodiversity levels.

Experts are searching for solutions that can leverage nature’s abilities to remove carbon from the atmosphere, and researchers from Washington University in St. Louis have discovered a new behaviour in a common marine bacteria that could boost the amount of carbon dioxide that oceans are absorbing.

The bacteria (Rhodovulum sulfidophilum) were found in an estuary in Woods Hole, Massachusetts and the scientists observed them “eating” electricity, a process that researchers previously believed to only be conducted by freshwater bacteria.

© Provided by The Weather Network

The bacteria were found in the Trunk River estuary in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

 (Sandra Brosnahan, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center/USGS)

Video: 'Electricity-eating' microbe could help fight climate change (The Weather Network)

“These microbes are fixing and sequestering carbon dioxide and they can both ‘eat’ electricity and perform photoferrotrophy,” Arpita Bose, assistant professor of biology at Washington University in St. Louis, said in the university’s press release.

Bose explains that these microbes use iron to conduct photosynthesis, a process that can only be done if the organisms have a source of carbon dioxide.

“Photoferrotrophs use soluble iron as an electron source for photosynthesis while fixing carbon dioxide. Marine environments are great places for them because they are rich in many things they need,” said Bose.

“We are interested in these microbes because of their role in carbon sequestration. Perhaps these microbes can be important for combating climate change.”

© Provided by The Weather Network

Microscopic images of Rhodovulum sulfidophilum. (Bose Laboratory)

Fifteen different strains of the Rhodovulum sulfidophilum bacteria were found with the capability of consuming electricity and they are all capable of living in various marine ecosystems. The bacteria live in marine sediments, which the researchers’ study says is the “single largest ecosystem on Earth’s surface in spatial coverage.”

Given their ability to thrive in many different environments, the researchers say that they will continue studying the potential for using this bacteria in carbon storage, carbon capture, biotechnology, and other applications that could increase the oceans capacity and resilience as a carbon sink in a warming world.

STILL USING HYDROCRABONS
Cogeneration plant at Edmonton International Airport takes off
Nicole Bergot 

Edmonton International Airport (EIA) has powered up a new natural gas cogeneration power plant to cut carbon emissions and costs

.

 Ed Kaiser The Edmonton International Airport on April 25, 2020.

The facility, under construction in 2019 and operational this spring, facilitates the capture of heat from electrical power generation, using it to warm water, which in turn heats the EIA terminal.

The plant is expected to cut the airport’s annual carbon emissions by roughly 20 per cent — or 7,000-8,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year, says a Tuesday EIA news release.

Video: Massive solar farm proposed for Edmonton International Airport (Global News)

The facility is also expected to reduce EIA’s energy costs by roughly $800,000 per year.

Atco was the prime contractor for the $11-million project, located adjacent to the central utilities plant.

“Using natural gas, an abundant, affordable and clean energy source, makes CoGen a win-win solution that offers facilities an opportunity to decrease their environmental footprint through decreased GHG emissions and lower operational costs,” said Lance Radke, Atco vice president, customer experience and initiatives.

The Government of Alberta contributed $1.85 million towards construction.

“We couldn’t have done it without our partners, the Government of Alberta and ATCO, and we’re thankful for their support. Our company is committed to being carbon-neutral by 2040 under our commitment to the climate pledge and this new cogeneration facility goes a long way to helping us get closer to that goal by reducing our current emissions by 20 per cent,” said Tom Ruth, EIA president and CEO.

Amazon prioritized finding 'wicked smart' college grads for management roles over promoting hourly workers within the ranks, according to a new report

insider@insider.com (Allana Akhtar) 

© Helen H. Richardson/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images More than 75% of managers at Walmart stores in the US began as hourly workers, according to The New York Times. Helen H. Richardson/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images

Amazon kept hourly workers from getting promoted by seeking out new college grads to fill management roles, NYT reports.

By comparison, Walmart reportedly promotes hourly workers at roughly double the rate of Amazon.
Amazon has a minimum wage of $15 for all workers, a pay floor Walmart has not officially enacted.

Walmart - the country's largest private employer and Amazon's biggest competitor - promotes hourly employees to managers at roughly double the rate at Amazon, according to a new New York Times report.

More than 75% of managers at Walmart stores in the US began as hourly workers, the Times reported. Amazon, for example, last year promoted only about 220 of 5,000 employees at the JFK8 warehouse on Staten Island, according to the Times. It's part of a plan at Amazon to fill management roles with "wicked smart" college graduates, one former executive told the outlet.

David Niekerk, a former human resources vice president who stepped down in 2016, told The Times Amazon prevented hourly employees from achieving promotions by design, and said the firm's then-head of operations shot down a 2014 proposal to create more leadership roles for these workers.

The lengthy report examined how Amazon has kept business flowing amid a pandemic. One of the biggest revelations reported by the Times was how quickly Amazon burns through hourly employees, leaving some executives to fear that they may run out of new workers.

Before the pandemic, Amazon lost 3% of hourly workers each week, resulting in an annual turnover rate of 150%, according to documents reviewed by The Times.

 "Amazon touts new initiative in response to criticism over work conditions at warehouses"

In 2019, Walmart said its turnover rate for store employees is down 10% to the lowest level in five years. Across the industry, the National Retail Federation reported six out of every 10 employees has been promoted.

Amazon, which flourished during the COVID-19 pandemic as Americans spent more on e-commerce than in-store shopping, announced it would hire 75,000 people across US in Canada with a starting pay. of more than $17 and a signing bonus of up to $1,000. The retailer also increased pay by up to $3 an hour for 500,000 current workers.

Read more: Target is recovering from a sweeping back-end system failure, affecting everything from payroll software to call centers, just 2 years after its cash registers crashed around the globe

The online retailer repeatedly touts their $15 minimum wage - a benchmark Walmart has not officially set for its workforce yet. In a Bloomberg article published late last year, an Amazon spokesperson brought attention to the fact Walmart has "yet to join" Amazon in raising its minimum wage to $15.

Jeff Bezos envisions Amazon as "Earth's best employer and Earth's safest place to work" in his final letter to shareholders as chief executive. Bezos wrote he will renew his commitment to helping reduce work-related injuries and increase employee satisfaction as Executive Chair.

"If we want to be Earth's Best Employer, we shouldn't settle for 94% of employees saying they would recommend Amazon to a friend as a place to work," Bezos wrote in April. "We have to aim for 100%."

Walmart and Amazon were not immediately available for comment.

ABOLISH THIS LOUGHEED ERA CONSITUTIONAL MULLIGEN

Peter L. Biro: Section 33 has no place in a liberal democracy. It ought to be repealed

Special to National Post

Canada’s democracy has always been considered resilient and well immunized against the democratic backsliding that is occurring in other liberal democracies. Yet there is one feature of Canada’s Constitution that undermines this rather smug assessment: Section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms — the infamous notwithstanding clause — which permits Parliament and the provincial legislatures to provisionally suspend the operation of the charter with respect to certain fundamental rights and freedoms

.

© Provided by National Post The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

In recent weeks, we have seen two provincial premiers resort to the notwithstanding clause in order to insulate legislation from charter scrutiny. In Ontario, Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government announced that it plans to invoke the notwithstanding clause in order to restore parts of the Protecting Ontario Elections Act that restricts third-party election advertising and that had been struck down by a judge for infringing freedom of expression.

And in Quebec, the Coalition Avenir Québec government of Premier François Legault has invoked the notwithstanding clause as part of Bill 96, which seeks to amend Canada’s Constitution to identify Quebec as a nation and make French its official and common language. In 2019, the Legault government also resorted to the notwithstanding clause when it passed Bill 21, An Act Respecting the Laicity of the State, which is intended to eradicate religious symbols in most of the public sector.

Back in 2018, Premier Ford introduced legislation cutting the size of Toronto’s city council in half, and announced that he would be prepared to invoke Section 33 in order to save the law in the event that it was found to violate the charter. In the face of public opposition, both Ford and his attorney general cavalierly defended the proposed use of Section 33 by touting their access to “all the tools in the toolbox.”

The willingness of our leaders to resort to the notwithstanding clause is cause for concern. Although the invocation of Section 33 does not offend the rule of law because the notwithstanding clause is, indeed, in the constitutional “toolbox,” it nevertheless poisons the liberal-democratic well from which free citizens draw their water.

Section 1 of the charter already anticipates that there will be circumstances in which rights and freedoms may lawfully be curtailed. But the courts have imposed a rigorous, multi-pronged test under Section 1 that requires the government to establish that the law or action responds to a matter of pressing and substantial concern, that its objective is rationally connected to the abridgement of a charter right, that the impairment of the right must be minimal and that there must be proportionality between the benefits of the law and the deleterious effects of the impairment.

With Section 33, however, governments are not required to satisfy a judge that any of these conditions are present. Except to the extent that a government’s purpose is articulated in legislative debate, the exercise of justifying the abridgement of constitutionally protected rights and freedoms can be dispensed with altogether when such an exercise risks producing an inconvenient or embarrassing result for the government.

The notwithstanding clause is the product of some heavy-handed, high-stakes bargaining amongst federal and provincial negotiators during the constitutional negotiations of 1981. The insistence by then-premiers Peter Lougheed, Allan Blakeney and Sterling Lyon on the inclusion of such a constitutional override clause was crucial in securing the requisite provincial support for the patriation package.

The principal justification for such an override was perhaps best articulated by constitutional law scholar Peter Russell: “A belief that there should be a parliamentary check on a fallible judiciary’s decisions on the metes and bounds of our fundamental rights and freedoms.” However, almost four decades after the inclusion of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in Canada’s Constitution, we have had the benefit of a rich and well-developed jurisprudence under Section 1.

It is high time we recognize that the escape hatch of Section 33 undermines Canada’s commitment to protecting civil liberties, erodes the legitimacy of our democracy, renders it vulnerable to democratic backsliding and compromises Canada’s credentials as a global champion of human rights and liberal-democratic values.

The problem is not that first ministers will be tempted to use all the tools in the constitutional “toolbox,” but that Section 33 is a dangerous and altogether unnecessary tool. It simply has no place in the constitutional toolbox of any mature and robust liberal democracy. It ought to be repealed.

Peter L. Biro is the founder of Section1.ca, a democracy and civics education advocacy organization, a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and chair emeritus of the Jane Goodall Institute, Global. He is a lawyer, business executive and the editor of “Constitutional Democracy Under Stress: A Time For Heroic Citizenship.”

US Jury deciding if immigration detainees must get minimum wage

SEATTLE (AP) — A federal jury is deciding whether one of the nation's biggest private prison companies must pay minimum wage — instead of $1 a day — to immigration detainees who perform tasks like cooking and cleaning at its jail in Washington state.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Democratic Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson sued the Florida-based GEO Group in 2017, saying the company had unjustly profited by running the Northwest detention center in Tacoma on the backs of captive workers.

A separate lawsuit filed on behalf of detainees was also filed that year, seeking back pay. Tacoma-based U.S. District Judge Robert Bryan, who rejected several attempts by GEO to dismiss the lawsuits, consolidated the cases for trial, which he conducted via Zoom because of the pandemic.

“What GEO is doing to exploit captive detainee workers at the Northwest detention center is for real — and at a massive scale,” Assistant Attorney General Andrea Brenneke told the jury in closing arguments Tuesday. “GEO could easily pay detainee workers the minimum wage and still make millions of dollars in profits from the facility each year.”


GEO's response is that the detainees simply aren't employees. Even if they were, the company says, it would be unlawfully discriminatory for Washington to require GEO to pay them minimum wage — now $13.69 an hour — when the state doesn't pay minimum wage to inmates who work at its own prisons or other detention facilities.

In her closing argument, GEO attorney Joan Mell accused the state and detainee advocates of using the lawsuits to attack the immigration detention system. GEO has operated the detainee work program for more than a decade, and the state made no effort to get the company to pay the minimum wage until 2017, amid a flurry of lawsuits Ferguson filed against the Trump administration.

“If the plaintiffs can prove the Minimum Wage Act is – quote — applicable ... then they can reform immigration detention without ever having to go to Congress,” she said. “They’re taking a shortcut via the courthouse to get what they want.”

The Northwest detention center houses people who are in custody while the government seeks to deport them or reviews their immigration status. It can hold up to 1,575 detainees, making it one of the nation's largest immigration jails, though as of early this month its population was just 216, largely due to the pandemic.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which pays GEO to run the facility, requires the company to operate a “voluntary work program” to keep the detainees occupied. It requires them to be paid at least $1 per day for work that includes cleaning bathrooms, showers and industrial kitchens; washing and folding laundry; sweeping and buffing floors; preparing and serving food; and cutting hair.

Former detainees testified that they worked because they needed money to buy extra food or clothing at the commissary or to make phone calls to loved ones.

The shifts often last just an hour or two. GEO's own analysis said it that if detainees didn't do the work, it would need to hire 85 full-time workers from the community.

GEO's contract with ICE also requires it to comply with applicable state and local law — which, the state says, includes the Washington Minimum Wage Act.

Washington appears to be the only state suing a private detention contractor for not paying minimum wage to immigration detainees. But similar lawsuits have been brought on behalf of immigration detainees in other states, including New Mexico, Colorado and California, seeking to force GEO and another major private detention company, CoreCivic, to pay minimum wage to detainees there.

The Colorado and California cases are pending, but a federal judge rejected the lawsuit brought by former detainees of CoreCivic's Cibola detention center in New Mexico — a decision upheld by a federal appeals court panel in March.

“Persons in custodial detention—such as appellants—are not in an employer-employee relationship but in a detainer-detainee relationship,” the panel wrote.

That is the crux of GEO's argument in the Washington case. The company acknowledges it has the money to pay detainees the minimum wage if it wants. In 2018 GEO made $18.6 million in profits from the facility; it would have cost $3.4 million to pay the minimum wage to detainees.

Mell also pointed to provisions in GEO's contract with ICE that state that any employees GEO hires must have legal status in the U.S. Many of the detainees don't. “The contract spells it out: The detainees are not employees,” Mell said. “They can’t be.”

But the definition of “employee” in Washington's minimum wage law is extremely broad — it includes anyone who is permitted to work by an employer, without regard to immigration or legal work status. The law says residents of “a state, county, or municipal" detention facility are not entitled to minimum wage.

According to lawyers for the state and for the detainees, that exception doesn't cover a private, for-profit jail such as GEO's. Further, GEO oversaw the scheduling and performance of the work just as a typical employer does, they said.

If the jury finds that the minimum wage law applies to GEO, a second phase of the trial will be held to determine damages. Jurors did not reach a verdict Tuesday; they were to resume deliberations Wednesday.

In a separate effort, Washington is trying to close the detention center entirely. This spring Gov. Jay Inslee signed a law that would ban for-profit detention centers in the state. GEO has sued to block it.

Gene Johnson, The Associated Press

US Park service sued after gate kills Ugandan humanitarian

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The family of a women’s rights activist from Uganda sued the National Park Service this month after she was decapitated last year by a gate at Utah’s Arches National Park.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The gate had been left unlatched against federal policy for two weeks before it struck Esther Nakajjigo in June 2020, according to the lawsuit filed in Denver.

She and her husband were newlyweds traveling in the well-known park when the wind caught the gate as they drove out, Fox13-KSTU in Salt Lake City reported.

The lawsuit does not specify the amount of damages being sought, but Nakajjigo's family has previously filed a $270 million notice of claim. Notices of claim must be filed ahead of lawsuits against government agencies and the lawsuit was filed June 8 in federal court.

The gate sliced through the side of their rented car, striking Nakajjigo in the head and neck and killing her, the lawsuit said.

Her husband Ludo Michaud witnessed his wife's death, something he has called the “worst thing I hope I will ever see.”

Nakajjigo, 25, was born in Kampala, Uganda, and used her university tuition money to start a nonprofit community health care center for girls and young women when she was a teenager.

She earned numerous humanitarian awards and created a popular reality television series aimed at empowering young mothers. She was attending a social-entrepreneurship program in Colorado at the time of her death.

A National Park Service spokesperson declined comment Monday on the lawsuit, Fox13-KSTU reported. The park service previously issued a statement expressing sympathy to her family.

The Associated Press

'Unacceptable' that Inuk MP felt unsafe in House of Commons, Miller says

OTTAWA — Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller says it's a "sad reflection" on Canada that an Inuk MP feels she's been racially profiled by security officials on Parliament Hill.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Mumilaaq Qaqqaq, a rookie New Democrat MP from Nunavut, told the House of Commons on Tuesday night that she does not feel safe on the Hill.

She said she's been chased down hallways and racially profiled by members of the Parliamentary Protective Service.

Commons Speaker Anthony Rota's office says Qaqqaq has never complained about any incidents to the Speaker, who presides over the protective service along with the Speaker of the Senate.

The service itself has not so far responded to a request for comment on Qaqqaq's allegations.

Miller says Qaqqaq is not the first MP of colour to complain, recalling that former Liberal MP Celina Caesar-Chavannes also spoke out about feeling "carded" by Hill security — a reference to a controversial police practice that has been denounced for targeting primarily Indigenous and racialized individuals for questioning.

"It's a reflection of still who we are as a country," Miller said Wednesday.

"It is a sad reflection of where we are. It's unacceptable and it shouldn't be that way but it is."

He added: "For someone to feel unsafe in what should be one of the most secure places in the country because of who she is and what her identity is is entirely unacceptable and, in fact, is an attack on her parliamentary privilege."

Qaqqaq, first elected in 2019, has decided not to seek re-election. She told the Commons in what was her official farewell speech Tuesday that she feels she doesn't belong in the chamber.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the House of Commons has sat in a hybrid format for most of Qaqqaq's brief time as an MP, with most MPs participating virtually in proceedings from their home ridings.

But in the short time she's spent on the Hill, Qaqqaq said security guards have jogged after her down hallways, "nearly put their hands on me and racial profiled me."

She said she's learned "as a brown woman, do not move too quickly or suddenly, do not raise your voice, do not make a scene, maintain eye contact and don't hide your hands."

Last fall, Qaqqaq took a leave of absence for several months, later explaining she had been suffering from "extreme burnout, depression and anxiety." She took another two-week leave in April, citing continuing "personal health problems."

The second leave came on the heels of a Twitter spat with Labrador Liberal MP Yvonne Jones. Qaqqaq charged that Jones "is not an Inuk" and challenged her to "validate her Inuk-ness."

She eventually apologized to Jones.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 16, 2021.

Joan Bryden, The Canadian Press

HE HAS A FOOL FOR A CLIENT

Ex-CIA worker seeks to represent himself at espionage trial

NEW YORK (AP) — A former CIA software engineer accused of leaking secrets to WikiLeaks notified a judge Tuesday that he wants to represent himself at an October retrial on espionage charges.

Joshua Schulte, 32, plans to proceed on his own behalf, defense attorney Sabrina Shroff told U.S. District Judge Paul A. Crotty during a court hearing.

The judge then directed prosecutors to submit legal papers on issues surrounding a hearing that would be conducted to ensure Schulte’s right to a fair trial is protected.

Shroff said the judge may have to decide if Schulte is fit to represent himself and then could assign his lawyers to assist him as what is known as “standby counsel.”

Schulte has pleaded not guilty in the 2017 release of secrets by WikiLeaks that resulted from what prosecutors have labeled the largest leak of classified information in CIA history.

The so-called Vault 7 leak revealed how the CIA hacked Apple and Android smartphones in overseas spying operations and efforts to turn internet-connected televisions into listening devices.

After a year-long investigation, authorities arrested Schulte, who had already left the CIA after falling out with colleagues and supervisors and moved to New York City to work at a news agency.

His lawyers argued at his first trial last year that the leak could have been made by many others. A jury then deadlocked on the espionage charges while convicting him of less serious charges of contempt of court and making false statements.

Prior to his arrest, Schulte worked as a coder at the agency’s headquarters in Langley, Virginia, where some of the CIA’s digital sleuths design computer code to spy on foreign adversaries.

In January, Schulte represented himself in a court filing in which he complained that he was subjected to cruel and unusual punishment by being forced to await trial in solitary confinement in a vermin-infested cell of a jail unit where inmates are treated like “caged animals.”

After the October trial, Schulte will face child pornography charges in a separate trial.

Larry Neumeister, The Associated Press

KENNEY LIES

Alberta premier denies supporting niqab ban despite past public statements

© Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press Alberta Premier Jason Kenney is denying he ever supported a ban on niqab or face veils worn by some Muslim women.

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney is denying he supported a ban on niqabs even though he issued a directive in 2011 banning women from wearing them during citizenship ceremonies when he was the federal minister of citizenship and immigration.

Kenney made the remarks during a news conference following the virtual Western Premiers Conference on Tuesday.

"I've never supported a proposed ban," Kenney said.

"To the contrary, I've always said that Canada is a country that protects and respects religious freedom and pluralism, and the government has no business regulating what people wear unlike in certain European and Middle Eastern countries that do have bans on face coverings," he added.

"That has never been proposed. I've always opposed that."

Kenney is facing new questions about his record in light of recent comments by Tim Uppal, the Conservative MP for Edmonton-Mill Woods.

Uppal, who became the spokesperson for the niqab ban as the minister of state of multiculturalism in the Harper cabinet, apologized in a Facebook post Sunday for not pushing back harder against the policies of his former government which he said "alienated Muslim Canadians and contributed to the growing problem of Islamaphobia in Canada."

Uppal said he decided to publicly account for his past actions after four members of a Muslim family were struck and killed by a man driving a truck in London, Ont.

The accused is now facing terrorism charges in addition to four charges of first-degree murder and one charge of attempted murder. One family member, a nine-year-old boy, survived the attack.

Uppal's caucus colleague, Calgary-Nose Hill MP Michelle Rempel Garner, also apologized for her inaction.

Despite his denial on Tuesday, Kenney continued to take responsibility for and defend the policy as recently as 2015, when the ban was struck down in court.

Kenney was also a member of cabinet when the Conservative government led by former prime minister Stephen Harper proposed a hotline during an election campaign to report so-called "barbaric cultural practices."

© CBC Edmonton-Mill Woods MP Tim Uppal, seen here in 2015 when he was minister of state for multiculturalism, became the spokesperson for legislation to ban face-coverings at citizenship ceremonies.

Uppal, who appeared on CBC Radio's Edmonton AM Tuesday, deflected questions about whether he felt Kenney should apologize as he was accounting for his own actions as the minister of state for multiculturalism.

"[Kenney] has a very good relationship with a lot of people in the Muslim community," Uppal said. "This is something that I have seen myself first-hand."

Kenney left federal politics in 2016 to run for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta, the first step in his successful drive to unite the PCs with the Wildrose Party.

Jasvir Deol, the NDP MLA for Edmonton-Meadows, called for Kenney to apologize. The premier was not in Tuesday's question period to take Opposition questions on the issue.

IN THE CLOSET CONSERVATIVES

RACE BASED RELIGION

Southern Baptists elect moderate Ed Litton president in defeat for hard right


JUNE 16, 2021 / 7:25 AM / AP

Nashville — The Southern Baptist Convention tamped down a push from the right at its largest meeting in decades on Tuesday, electing a new president who has worked to bridge racial divides in the church and defeating an effort to make an issue of critical race theory.


Ed Litton, a pastor from Alabama, won 52% of the vote in a runoff against Mike Stone, a Georgia pastor backed by a new group called the Conservative Baptist Network that has sought to move the already-conservative denomination further right.

Litton, who is white, was nominated by Fred Luter, the only Black pastor to serve as president of the United States' largest Protest denomination. Luter praised Litton's commitment to racial reconciliation and said he has dealt compassionately with the issue of sexual abuse within SBC churches, another hot-button subject at the gathering of more than 15,000 church representatives.

It was standing room only in the hall where, with Nashville's COVID-19 precautions lifted, attendees were packed closely without facemasks. One small section was reserved for those wearing masks.

Last year's annual meeting was canceled due to the pandemic.

Pastor Ed Litton, of Saraland, Alabama, answers questions after being elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention on June 15, 2021, in Nashville.

MARK HUMPHREY / AP

Stone had campaigned aggressively, including speaking at churches across the country and even appearing on "Fox & Friends" on Tuesday before the vote. And the Conservative Baptist Network had encouraged supporters to come to the meeting as voting delegates.

But in the end, the message that seemed to resonate with voters was that Stone - who supported a motion to repudiate critical race theory - was a divisive choice.

"We're a family, and at times it seems like an incredibly dysfunctional family," Litton said after the results were announced. "But we love each other."

Delegates rejected a proposal that would have explicitly denounced critical race theory, which is an academic construct for framing systemic racism. It's been a target of religious and political conservatives. Instead, they approved a consensus measure that doesn't mention it by name but rejects any view that sees racism as rooted in "anything other than sin."

The measure also affirmed a 1995 resolution apologizing for the history of racism in a denomination that was founded in 1845 in support of slavery and for "condoning and/or perpetuating individual and systemic racism in our lifetime."

One white delegate urged the convention to denounce critical race theory by name, saying it held him "guilty because of the melanin content of my skin." But another argued that the convention shouldn't be swayed by a political movement that has already seen some state legislatures ban teaching of the theory.

"If some people in this room were as passionate about the gospel as they are about critical race theory, we would win this world to Christ," said James Merritt, chairman of the resolutions committee and a former convention president.

Several Black pastors have voiced frustration over critical race theory debates playing out in the SBC instead of the denomination confronting systemic racism itself. Several have already departed the SBC over what they said was racial insensitivity from overwhelmingly white leadership.

Dwight McKissic, a prominent Black pastor from Texas who had planned to join that exodus if Stone won, tweeted in response to Litton's election: "God has a plan for the SBC & I want to be a part of it. Truly, racism was rejected 2day!"

The two-day meeting concludes Wednesday, when delegates will consider proposals for a sweeping review of the SBC's response to abuse in its churches. It's an issue that recently erupted with secret recordings and leaked letters purportedly showing that some leaders tried to slow-walk efforts to hold churches accountable and sought to intimidate and retaliate against those who advocated on the issue. Stone was among those specifically called out.

First published on June 16, 2021 / 1:33 AM

© 2021 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia's Tigray at "tipping point"


BY PAMELA FALK

JUNE 16, 2021 / 3:08 AM / CBS NEWS

United Nations — In his harshest statement yet on the seven-month crisis in northern Ethiopia's Tigray region, U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock told Security Council members Tuesday "there is now famine in Tigray." He put the blame squarely on forces from the neighboring nation of Eritrea.


"Eritrean soldiers are using starvation as a weapon of war," he said.

Lowcock painted a brutal picture. "Rape is being used systematically to terrorize and brutalize women and girls. Aid workers have been killed, interrogated, beaten, blocked from taking aid to the starving and suffering and told not to come back," he told diplomats in a closed briefing at an informal dialogue of the U.N. Security Council that was requested by the Mission of Ireland.


Ireland's U.N. Ambassador, Geraldine Byrne Nason called the situation an "unfolding humanitarian catastrophe."

"Now, we are at a tipping point," she said.A woman stands in line to receive food donations at the Tsehaye primary school, which was turned into a temporary shelter for people displaced by conflict, in the town of Shire in the Tigray region of Ethiopia on March 15, 2021. BAZ RATNER / REUTERS

"Ignorance is dangerous. Denial is unforgiveable."

"Despite all we have told you of the widespread and systematic scale of the rapes, we continue to receive horrific reports of widespread sexual violence," Lowcock said, clearly frustrated by the lack of action from the 15-nation council.

Lowcock outlined three areas where progress is "urgently" needed: humanitarian access, funding, and a hastening of the pace of aid.

"Ignorance is dangerous. Denial is unforgiveable," he warned, saying there is a "duty" to "do something."

Fighting in Ethiopia broke out in November 2020 between government troops and Tigrayans. Eritrea sent forces across the border to help Ethiopian troops.

The Biden administration has spoken out. Last month, citing continuing atrocities, Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on the "governments of Eritrea and Ethiopia to take all necessary steps to ensure that their forces in Tigray cease and desist this reprehensible conduct."

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Linda Thomas Greenfield scolded the council last week, asking, "Do African lives not matter?" and taking issue with the lack of a single public meeting on the crisis.

U.S. AID Administrator Samantha Power called on the Security Council's three African members to put the issue on the agenda.

Council members weigh in

After Tuesday's U.N. meeting, those three nations - Niger, Tunisia, and Kenya - along with St. Vincent and the Grenadines, issued a statement saying they, "share in the concern for the humanitarian needs faced by 17.1 million Ethiopians including people in the Tigray region." The four nations said they are concerned about "reports of sexual violence against women and girls."

They called on Ethiopia to "conduct thorough investigations into these atrocities."

Not mentioning famine in the statement, the nations cautioned, "Any action by the Security Council must recognize and respond to the reality that Ethiopia is finalizing preparations for an election that is barely a week away."

Ethiopia's U.N. ambassador, Taye Atske Selassie Amde, who was at the meeting, said Eritrean forces "will definitely leave soon," a commitment that Eritrea also made in April – and one that hasn't happened.

Later in the evening, Ireland's Byrne Nason told CBS News, "Ireland has been on the Security Council for six months, and in those six months we have never looked away from this developing catastrophe in Tigray."

She said, "We need unhindered humanitarian access to the hundreds of thousands already in immediate danger of starvation, we need to ensure humanitarian workers and supplies are safe, and we need to end all violence."

"Ultimately, a political solution is needed, and Ireland certainly called for that today, but while we work towards that, our number one priority is ensuring that no more lives are lost," Byrne Nason added.

Russian Deputy Ambassador Anna Evstigneeva, who attended the meeting, told CBS News in a statement, "We take the humanitarian challenges that Ethiopia faces very seriously." She said "humanitarian agencies should scale up their assistance with full respect to and in close coordination with the sovereign authorities."

"We oppose any politicization of humanitarian situations, including in Tigray," Russia's envoy said.

U.K. Ambassador to the U.N. Barbara Woodward spoke to reporters after the closed dialogue, saying she was disappointed that nations on the Council have not been able to agree to a meeting in public, saying that "without a ceasefire, this could become a man-made famine."

First published on June 16, 2021 

© 2021 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Pamela Falk

Pamela Falk is CBS News Foreign Affairs Analyst and an international lawyer, based at the United Nations.