Canadian ILWU Calls Strike Vote for West Coast Container Ports

Vancouver is Canada's primary gateway with Asia (file photo)

PUBLISHED JUN 6, 2023 5:12 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

Canada’s International Longshore and Warehouse Union yesterday, June 5, posted a notice that it will conduct a strike authorization vote among its members at the end of this week. The union which represents 7,200 dockworkers at the ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert has been taking an aggressive stance in its contract negotiations having declared in March days before the previous five-year contract expired that they were already at an impasse with the BC Maritime Employers Association.

The threat of a strike that Canada’s two gateway ports with Asia raise further concerns for shippers as the disruptions continue at the U.S. West Coast ports. The two Canadian ports, which experienced the same issues with backlogs and delays due to increased volumes during the pandemic, however, present an alternative route, especially for American shippers looking to bring cargo into the U.S. Midwest. There are direct rail links that can route cargo from the Canadian coast to Chicago and beyond. Similarly, Canadian shippers could look to the neighboring U.S. ports such as Seattle to provide an alternative route.

The ILWU scheduled a two-day vote on June 8 and 9 for the strike authorization but under the current process it would be barred from stating a strike before June 24 at the earliest. The negotiation conciliation process overseen by the Canadian federal government ended on May 30.

The process for the contract renewal began in November 2022 with the first filing under Canadian Labor Law to negotiate a new collective agreement. The previous contract took 18 months to negotiate between the ILWU and the 49 private-sector employers at the ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert.  The first meetings did not get underway till February 2023 and less than a month later the ILWU called for the conciliation process saying that there was no meaningful progress in the talks.

The federal government appointed two mediators to oversee the discussions which ran till the end of May. Under Canadian law, both sides are barred for an additional 21-day cooling-off period from taking any actions. After that, they would have to file a notice either for a strike or lockout and that requires at least 72-hour notice.

Like their American counterparts, the Canadian talks are centering on wages as well as issues related to automation. Both ports are seeking to expand their capacity with Vancouver also recently receiving a government consent decision in a long-running effort to build a new fourth terminal. 

The employers and the union have declined to make specific comments on the issues, sticking points, or status of the negotiations. Estimates are that the West Coast ports handle nearly C$300 billion worth of cargo annually (US$225 billion) with analysts saying that a strike would have major implications for the economy both in British Columbia and at the federal level while disrupting the supply chain across Canada.

Canada's surprise hike exposes global struggle to find endpoint for rates

Erik Hertzberg, Bloomberg News  June 7.2023

The Bank of Canada’s decision to resume raising interest rates shook global bond markets and underscored the difficult task faced by central banks as they try to slow economic activity and tamp down inflation.

Policymakers led by Governor Tiff Macklem increased the benchmark overnight rate to 4.75 per cent, ending a pause they declared in January after Canada’s economy proved surprisingly strong despite much higher borrowing costs.

The central bank said the economy is running too hot to bring inflation back to its 2 per cent target, citing robust consumer demand for goods and services and a pickup in housing activity. But Canada’s situation isn’t unique — and it may be the case that other central banks, including the Federal Reserve, will have to push rates deeper into restrictive territory this time around.

 “Usually what happens in Canada, nobody in the U.S. cares,” Fidelity Investments portfolio manager David Wolf, a former adviser to the Bank of Canada, said on BNN Bloomberg Television. “But in this case, I think people are taking the message that maybe all of these central banks aren’t as close to done as people would have thought.”

The yield on 2-year U.S. Treasuries jumped as high 4.6 per cent, while comparable Canadian government bonds now boast the highest yield since 2007. Traders briefly fully priced in a Fed hike by July.

The Bank of Canada’s decision didn’t include much forward-looking language, suggesting officials have jumped back into hiking mode without any certainty about where borrowing costs will ultimately end up. 

And while some economists have given Macklem kudos for a quick restart, the rate move is also a tacit acknowledgment that policymakers paused prematurely. Rates are likely headed higher in Canada than previously thought necessary by most observers — and by the bank itself.

It’s a vindication for economists such as Citigroup Inc.’s Veronica Clark, the first analyst in a Bloomberg survey to predict a rate hike this week. “The Bank of Canada did pause. They waited to see how the data were coming in. They were expecting activity and inflation to slow and it didn’t,” she said Wednesday by phone. 

But by moving to the sidelines, the central bank also helped Canada’s housing market find a floor and start to rebound, she said. “It’s a bit of a cautionary tale for the Fed to be pausing too.” 

Other analysts see lessons for investors as they gauge what a potential pause in the U.S. tightening cycle might mean. Fed Chair Jerome Powell and his officials, who are now in a blackout period ahead of next week’s decision, seem intent on skipping a rate increase, while explaining to the public that they’re not done yet. 

“We have seen two central bank surprises this week in Australia and Canada. Canaries in the coal mine?” Earl Davis, head of fixed income and money markets at BMO Global Asset Management, said by email. “The U.S. market is coming to the realization that the Fed may surprise as well.”

 

Trudeau shows no interest in compromising with Meta, Google over online news bill

Mickey Djuric, The Canadian Press June 7,2023

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks briefly with reporters as he makes his way to a cabinet meeting, Wednesday, June 7, 2023 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is showing no interest in compromising with Meta and Google over a Liberal bill that would make them pay for Canadian journalism that helps the companies generate revenue.

Trudeau said Wednesday that Meta and Google's bullying tactics will not work with his government, which he says is ensuring those companies do not weaken Canada's democracy by threatening its domestic media industry.

Meta announced last week it will test blocking access to some news for a small percentage of Canadian users of Instagram and Facebook.

The company says it is prepared to permanently end access to news content in Canada if Parliament passes Bill C-18, which would require tech giants to pay publishers for linking to or otherwise repurposing news content.

Google ran a similar test earlier this year, restricting access to news on its search engine for less than four per cent of its Canadian users. It says it is looking for a compromise with the Liberal government. 

"The fact that these internet giants would rather cut off Canadians' access to local news than pay their fair share is a real problem, and now they're resorting to bullying tactics to try and get their way. It's not going to work," Trudeau said at a news conference. 

"We will continue to make sure that these incredibly profitable corporations contribute to strengthening our democracy, not weakening it."

Big publishers have told a Senate committee currently studying the bill that they could lose millions of dollars should their content be blocked by Google and Meta.

The online news bill already passed in the House of Commons and could be approved by the Senate as early as this month. 

If it becomes law, both companies would be required to enter into agreements with news publishers to pay them for news content that appears on their sites if it helps the tech giants generate money.

Both companies have argued that news doesn't generate much revenue for their companies, and are considering ending local news on their platforms altogether. 

Meta says news makes up about three per cent of the content that's on Facebook feeds, and Google says less than two per cent of searches have to do with news, because people care more about recipes than articles. 

Still, each company has proposed amendments in the Senate, including changes to the section of the bill that deals with arbitration and tweaks that would create more certainty around which publishers they would have to enter into agreements with.

For example, Google says that as the bill is currently written, it would have to enter into agreements with community and campus broadcasters, even if they do not produce news content and have no obligation to adhere to a codes of ethics.

Spokesperson Shay Purdy said in a statement Wednesday that the company has come to the table with "reasonable and pragmatic solutions" that would increase the company's investment in Canadian news. 

"We're very concerned about the path we're on and we're doing everything we can to engage constructively and avoid a negative outcome for Canadians."

Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez has said that the bill is already balanced, and that Meta and Google have his phone number if they want to talk. 

Rodriguez was expected to appear before a Senate committee on Wednesday evening. 

Meta declined a request for comment about the prime minister's remarks.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 7, 2023.

———

Meta funds a limited number of fellowships that support emerging journalists at The Canadian Press.

WORKERS CAPITAL

PSP Investments earned 4.4 per cent return for its latest financial year

The Canadian Press

A man looks over a brochures offering various retirement savings options Friday, February 3, 2012 in Montreal. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

The Public Sector Pension Investment Board says it earned a 4.4 per cent return for its most recent financial year as it faced a challenging market environment. 

The investment manager says net assets under management grew to $243.7 billion as of March 31, up from $230.5 billion a year earlier, helped by $2.9 billion in net transfers from the federal government and $10.2 billion generated from net income.

PSP Investments says its gains for the year topped its reference portfolio which returned 0.2 per cent.

The results came as the fund's capital markets investments, which includes its public market equities and fixed Income, gained 0.3 per cent, while its private equity holdings returned 3.3 per cent and its credit investments gained 13.1 per cent.

PSP Investments says its real estate holdings returned 0.2 per cent and infrastructure investments gained 19.0 per cent. Natural resources assets returned 10.9 per cent.

The board invests money for the pension plans of the federal public service, the Canadian Forces, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Reserve Force.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 7, 2023.

Canadian Pacific guilty of contempt of court around long work shifts

The Canadian Press

June 7,2023

A Federal Court judge has found Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. guilty of contempt of court for employees working excessively long hours.

Over a 10-month period in 2018 and 2019, the rail operator failed in 22 instances to comply with cease-and-desist orders laid out by an arbitrator, the ruling states.

The orders related to rest provisions under federal regulations and a pair of collective agreements for conductors and engineers that largely limit shifts to 10 or 12 hours, depending on the circumstances.

"CP’s own evidence was that 'thousands of situations continue to occur annually where employees are not off within 10 hours,'" Judge Ann Marie McDonald wrote, citing the labour arbitrator.

The railway made no argument that the situations qualified as exceptions spelled out in the collective agreement, the arbitrator said in March 2018.

Teamsters Canada president François Laporte said the company "needs to smarten up and stop putting profits over people before another tragedy occurs."

"Canadian Pacific recklessly puts lives on the line in forcing so many train crews to work longer than allowed," Laporte said in a statement Wednesday.

The Calgary-based company said it was disappointed with the ruling.

"We respectfully disagree with the court’s decision and will be filing an appeal," spokesman Patrick Waldron said in an email.

The June 6 decision comes less than two months after a Canadian Pacific freight train went off the tracks due to a washout in Maine that saw locomotives and four derailed lumber cars go up in flames.

The rail line is the same one where the fatal Lac-Mégantic disaster unfolded in 2013. Canadian Pacific did not own the track at the time.

POSTMODERN SEANCE
AI chatbots offer comfort to the bereaved

THE GHOST IN THE MACHINE

New York (AFP) – Staying in touch with a loved one after their death is the promise of several start-ups using the powers artificial intelligence, though not without raising ethical questions.

Ryu Sun-yun sits in front of a microphone and a giant screen, where her husband, who died a few months earlier, appears.

"Sweetheart, it's me," the man on the screen tells her in a video demo. In tears, she answers him and a semblance of conversation begins.

When Lee Byeong-hwal learned he had terminal cancer, the 76-year-old South Korean asked startup DeepBrain AI to create a digital replica using several hours of video.

"We don't create new content" such as sentences that the deceased would have never uttered or at least written and validated during their lifetime, said Joseph Murphy, head of development at DeepBrain AI, about the "Rememory" program.

"I'll call it a niche part of our business. It's not a growth area for us," he cautioned.

The idea is the same for company StoryFile, which uses 92-year-old "Star Trek" actor William Shatner to market its site.

"Our approach is to capture the wonder of an individual, then use the AI tools," said Stephen Smith, boss of StoryFile, which claims several thousand users of its Life service.

Entrepreneur Pratik Desai caused a stir a few months ago when he suggested people save audio or video of "your parents, elders and loved ones," estimating that by "the end of this year" it would be possible to create an autonomous avatar of a deceased person, and that he was working on a project to this end.

The message posted on Twitter set off a storm, to the point where, a few days later, he denied being "a ghoul."

"This is a very personal topic and I sincerely apologize for hurting people," he said.

"It's a very fine ethical area that we're taking with great care," Smith said.

After the death of her best friend in a car accident in 2015, Russian engineer Eugenia Kyuda, who emigrated to California, created a "chatbot" named Roman like her dead friend, which was fed with thousands of text messages he had sent to loved ones.

Two years later Kyuda launched Replika, which offers personalized conversational robots, among the most sophisticated on the market.

But despite the Roman precedent, Replika "is not a platform made to recreate a lost loved one", said a spokeswoman.

'Philosophical'

Somnium Space, based in London, wants to create virtual clones while users are still alive so that they then can exist in a parallel universe after their death.

"It's not for everyone," CEO Artur Sychov conceded in a video posted on YouTube about his product, Live Forever, which he is announcing for the end of the year.

"Do I want to meet my grandfather who's in AI? I don't know. But those who want that will be able to," he added.

Thanks to generative AI, the technology is there to allow avatars of departed loved ones to say things they never said when they were alive.

"I think these are philosophical challenges, not technical challenges," said Murphy of DeepBrainAI.

"I would say that is a line right now that we do not plan on crossing, but who knows what the future holds?" he added.

"I think it can be helpful to interact with an AI version of a person in order to get closure —particularly in situations where grief was complicated by abuse or trauma," Candi Cann, a professor at Baylor University who is currently researching this topic in South Korea.

Mari Dias, a professor of medical psychology at Johnson & Wales University, has asked many of her bereaved patients about virtual contact with their loved ones.

"The most common answer is 'I don't trust AI. I'm afraid it's going to say something I'm not going to accept'... I get the impression that they think they don't have control" over what the avatar does.

© 2023 AFP

Hong Kong's top court to hear appeal on banned Tiananmen vigil

Issued on: 08/06/2023 -

Hong Kong (AFP) – Hong Kong's top court agreed on Thursday to hear an appeal from government prosecutors against a prominent activist for her involvement in a banned Tiananmen Square vigil, challenging a lower court ruling in her favour.

Chow Hang-tung was one of the leaders of a group that organised an annual vigil commemorating the bloody Tiananmen Square crackdown in China.

The vigil has been banned since 2020, the year that Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong designed to quell dissent.

She was convicted last year of inciting others to defy the ban in 2021, but won a rare victory in December when the High Court ruled in favour of her appeal, saying that police did not properly follow procedure when banning the vigil.

The Department of Justice renewed its efforts against Chow, asking Hong Kong's top court to clarify whether a person accused of defying a government ban on a public gathering can challenge the legality of that ban in court.

The Court of Final Appeal ruled Thursday that the case raised a legal question of "great and general importance" and scheduled a hearing for November 22.

The decision came days after the 34th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown on Sunday.

Chow faces further prosecutions, including charges under the national security law that carry sentences of up to a decade in jail.

She was arrested the morning of June 4, 2021, when her articles published on social media and in a newspaper called on residents to "light candles to seek justice for the dead".

At the time, police said that the vigil was banned due to the Covid-19 pandemic and that thousands of officers would be on standby to halt any "unlawful assemblies".

Hong Kong was once the only Chinese city that could commemorate the incident of June 4, 1989, when the government sent troops to crush demonstrations in Tiananmen Square calling for political change.

While the commemoration is forbidden in mainland China, tens of thousands would gather every year in Hong Kong's Victoria Park to hold a candlelight vigil.

But public mourning for the victims of the Tiananmen crackdown has been driven underground since Hong Kong outlawed the vigil in 2020.

On Sunday, the area around Victoria Park saw heavy police presence, with officers searching people and briefly detaining some who carried flowers or held a candle -- which were taken as signs of mourning.

Vanished, Shot, Murdered: Laos Activists Spooked By Spate Of Incidents


By Rose TROUP BUCHANAN

June 7, 2023

A spate of incidents involving government critics has sparked fears of a crackdown in Laos

An isolated murder, a brutal attempted killing and a murky disappearance: Laotian activists have been caught up in a series of alarming recent incidents that have spooked the reclusive communist state's embattled dissident community.

Landlocked, poor and deeply tied to China, Laos is one of the world's most repressive countries, with independent civil society barely present, free media non-existent and rare protests quickly dispersed.


Now a spate of incidents involving government critics has sparked fears of a crackdown as the country gears up to take the chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) next year.

The latest wave of incidents began in late April when a gunman shot campaigner Anousa "Jack" Luangsuphom in the head and body in a brazen attack at a Vientiane cafe.


The 25-year-old was an admin for a popular Facebook page where users shared memes, jokes and their dissatisfaction with the government.

"They were very scared when they saw what happened," exiled Laotian dissident Joseph Akaravong said of the activist community.

"It shows that the Lao government is afraid to see people activating to demand rights and freedoms in Laos," he told AFP from France, where he was granted asylum in 2022.

Last year, Anousa received an anonymous death threat and a warning to leave the country, according to one person with knowledge of events.

Many of those who spoke to AFP did so on condition of anonymity, citing fears for their safety, or that the Laotian government would ban them from working in the country.

In the days after Anousa's shooting, the state news agency published shocking, graphic CCTV footage of the attack as the news spread.

Miraculously he survived -- though his family initially said he was dead to deter the gunman from returning to finish him off -- and he is now being treated abroad.

Less than two weeks later, activist Savang Phaleuth disappeared into police custody on May 9 after returning to Laos from Thailand, where he had been living and working for 16 years.

Rights groups say the police have not informed Savang's family of the charges against him or allowed them to visit.

Then, on May 16, Bounsuan Kitiyano was found dead in Thailand's Ubon Ratchathani province on the Laotian border, shot three times and dumped in a forest.

Both Savang and Bounsuan belonged to the Free Lao group, which advocates for democracy and has staged protests outside the country's Bangkok embassy.

There is no proven link between the Laos government and either attack, and investigators in both Anousa's shooting and Bounsuan's killing have suggested personal disputes may be to blame.


But rights groups say the three incidents fit a disturbing and long-running pattern of harm coming to those who criticise or resist the regime.

"It is very clear that there is an ongoing effort to wipe out Laos critics and activists in Thailand," said Andrea Giorgetta, of the International Federation for Human Rights.


Rights groups say the recent incidents fit a long-running pattern of harm coming to those who criticise or resist the regime

He told AFP that while this repression had been going on for years -- citing the environmental campaigner Sombath Somphone, who vanished in 2012 -- a change seemed to be under way.

"There is definitely an escalation of measures that are being used to target dissidents," he said.

"From detentions and deportations, you see outright killings."

Ten human rights organisations -- including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch -- issued a joint statement urging Bangkok and Vientiane to investigate Bounsuan's killing, noting "a recurring targeting of human rights defenders affiliated with Free Lao".

Other Free Lao members to be targeted include Od Sayavong and his housemate, who vanished in 2019, as well as Somphone Phimmasone, Soukane Chaithad and Lodkham Thammavong -- all arrested in 2016.

"Under this repressive climate, these human rights defenders who fled their country continue to live in fear of being targeted for exercising their human rights," the statement said.

AFP made multiple attempts to contact the Laotian foreign ministry, information ministry and embassy in Bangkok for comment, but got no response.

Laos is set to lead ASEAN next year, and some observers suggest Vientiane could be trying to clean house before the country takes the international spotlight.

"Lao authorities may be trying to get rid of activists ahead of being under high scrutiny next year," said Emilie Pradichit, of the regional human rights group Manushya Foundation.


Others point to new Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone, who pledged in December to tackle the tanking economy and "raise the spirit of the revolution to the highest level".

"The increased violence against Lao activists is to suppress any dissenting voice that would undermine the new PM's authority and image," said Pradchit.

As another international expert based in Laos put it: "Once in a while, an example is made and that serves to show people what the limits are."

Myanmar lawyers face harassment, intimidation in junta courts: HRW

This photo taken on February 15, 2021, shows Khin Maung Zaw (C), a lawyer representing detained Myanmar civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and ousted president Win Myint, speaking to the media outside Dekhina district court in Naypyidaw. (AFP)

AFP
June 08, 2023

Since it seized power more than two years ago, Myanmar's junta has arrested tens of thousands in a sweeping and bloody crackdown on dissent

BANGKOK: Myanmar lawyers defending political detainees in junta-run courts are being harassed and even jailed by military authorities, Human Rights Watch said Thursday, warning that intimidation was forcing many to stop taking cases.

Since it seized power more than two years ago and plunged the country into turmoil, the junta has arrested tens of thousands in a sweeping and bloody crackdown on dissent.
Rights groups say the military has used the courts to throttle opponents including democracy figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi and former president Win Myint, who were jailed for lengthy terms by closed-door courts.

Defense lawyers working in “special courts” set up by the junta to try political crimes face harassment, intimidation and threats from authorities, HRW said in a report based on interviews with 19 lawyers.

“In the courtroom, I now have to worry about not getting myself detained rather than speaking the truth,” one Yangon-based lawyer told the watchdog.

“Everyone at the court knows who I am... The junta can detain me at any time, and they can and will make up any reasons they want.”

HRW cited the case of attorney Ywet Nu Aung, who was reportedly detained as she left a hearing where she was representing a former chief minister and member of Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy (NLD).

She was accused of helping to provide financial support to anti-junta militias and later sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labor.

Lawyers are regularly barred from communicating privately with clients ahead of hearings, HRW said, and in an overcrowded legal system, some had taken on hundreds of cases.

“Sometimes cross-examination doesn’t even happen,” another lawyer told HRW.
“It’s near impossible to challenge what they (the prosecution) present as evidence, and we never get to have a defendant released on bail.”

All 19 lawyers told HRW they had experienced “intimidation and surveillance by junta authorities.”

“Few have been willing to put themselves at risk of further surveillance and intimidation and many have stopped taking cases,” HRW said.

More than 23,000 people have been arrested by the junta since the coup in February 2021, according to a local monitoring group.

Last year, a junta-controlled court ordered the execution of a former NLD lawmaker along with a prominent activist over allegations of “terrorism” — Myanmar’s first use of capital punishment in decades

Brazil delays key Indigenous land rights trial

AFP
Wed, June 7, 2023

Indigenous Brazilians demonstrate in Brasilia June 7, 2023 against the 1988 time limit for recognizing certain Indigenous lands (Evaristo SA)

Brazil's Supreme Court on Wednesday postponed a critical trial over Indigenous ancestral land rights as demonstrators protested in the capital.

The case -- which began in 2021 and has been called "the trial of the century" for the country's native peoples -- could remove protected status for some native lands, opening them up to agribusiness and mining.

Hundreds of Indigenous people from all over the country have camped in Brasilia this week in anticipation of the trial, which had been set to begin Wednesday.

The delay came when one of the judges asked for more time to review the case, which asks whether the government should recognize protected Indigenous lands where the current inhabitants were not living when the country's 1988 constitution was adopted.

So far, three of 10 judges have voted on the case -- one in favor of the 1988 cut-off, or against the native peoples, and two with the opposite opinion.

Now, the court has 90 days to set a new date for the vote to proceed.

The matter revolves around the Brazilian constitution's protection of Indigenous lands.

The agribusiness lobby argues those protections should apply only to lands whose inhabitants were present there in 1988, when the constitution was adopted.

Indigenous rights activists argue the constitution mentions no such time limit, and that native inhabitants have often been forced from their ancestral lands.

Members from 20 different ethnic groups, along with the Minister of Indigenous Peoples Sonia Guajajara, were present at the court Wednesday.

The trial's deferral is "emotionally draining" for Brazilian communities waiting for an answer, Daniel Pataxo, a leader of the Pataxo people in northeastern Bahia state said.

"It ends up being a lack of respect for us as human beings," the 38-year-old, who traveled to Brasilia for the trial, told AFP outside the court, where dozens of Indigenous people had gathered.

Elsewhere in Brazil, roadblocks were set up by Indigenous people in at least three different states Wednesday, authorities said.

Last week, the lower chamber of Congress passed a bill in favor of the 1988 time limit, in a blow to leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who campaigned on protecting Indigenous rights.

Brazil counts nearly 800 Indigenous territories, though around a third of them have yet to be officially defined, according to the National Foundation of Indigenous Peoples (FUNA).

Environmentalists say protecting Indigenous reservations is one of the best ways to stop the destruction of the Amazon, a critical resource in the race to curb climate change.

rsr-mel/app/ag/caw/dw

Brazilian Amazon Deforestation Falls 31% Under Lula

By AFP - 

Agence France Presse

June 7, 2023

Aerial view of a burnt area in Labrea, southern Amazonas State, 

Brazil, on September 17, 2022

MICHAEL DANTAS

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon fell by 31 percent in the first five months of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's administration versus the same period last year, officials said Wednesday.

Satellite monitoring detected 1,986 square kilometers (767 square miles) of forest cover destroyed in Brazil's share of the world's biggest rainforest from January to May, down from 2,867 square kilometers for the same period in 2022, according to the national space agency's DETER surveillance program.

The figures from space agency INPE were welcome news for environmentalists pinning their hopes on veteran leftist Lula, who took office on January 1 vowing to fight for zero illegal deforestation after a surge in clear-cutting and fires in the Amazon under his far-right predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022).

Under Bolsonaro, an ally of Brazil's powerful agribusiness sector, average annual deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon increased by more than 75 percent versus the previous decade.

Lula marked World Environment Day on Monday by announcing a sweeping new plan to combat deforestation, with hundreds of targets and objectives, including the immediate seizure of half the territory being illegally exploited for logging, farming, mining or other activities on protected lands.

"Brazil plays a major role in the balance of our planet's climate, largely thanks to the Amazon," Lula said.

"Preventing deforestation in the Amazon also helps reduce global warming."

Experts say the new government's real test on deforestation will start in the coming months, with the onset of drier weather in the Amazon from around July -- typically peak season for deforestation and forest fires.

The Lula administration has suffered a series of setbacks on the environment this week at the hands of Brazil's Congress, in which conservative foes of Lula hold the majority.


Last week, lawmakers passed bills cutting the powers of the environment and Indigenous-affairs ministries and dramatically curbing the protection of Indigenous lands.

Vaquitas still exist, but barely: sea 'panda' survey

AFP
Wed, June 7, 2023 

About a dozen vaquitas were spotted on a recent scientific expedition in the Gulf of California (Handout)

The vaquita, a small porpoise on the verge of extinction, is still hanging in there, said scientists Wednesday who had spotted about a dozen specimens of Mexico's "panda of the sea" on an expedition in May.

The vaquita is the smallest of all porpoises, similar to dolphins but with shorter beaks and more rounded bodies.

They perish in nets used to illegally catch totoaba, large fish whose swim bladders -- organs used to control buoyancy -- are believed in China to hold medicinal powers.

Scientists conducting a survey of the vaquita's endemic range in the Gulf of California off Mexico's north coast -- spotted between 10 and 13 of the porpoises last month, they reported Wednesday.

"We estimated that the sightings included 1-2 calves and there was a 76 percent probability that the total number seen, including calves, was between 10 and 13 individuals," said a report issued by the NGO Sea Shepherd spearheading vaquita conservation efforts.

"Since the search was in a small portion of the vaquita's historical range, 10-13 is considered a minimum estimate of the number of vaquitas left," it added.

This was about the same number estimated in October 2021.

According to the latest report, all vaquitas sighted in May "appeared to be healthy."

The vaquita is considered the world's most threatened cetacean -- the group of whales, dolphins and porpoises.

Grey-colored porpoises, vaquitas are called "pandas of the sea" for the rings around their eyes.

They grow to about 55 kilograms (120 pounds) and 1.5 metres (five feet) in length.

Elusive by nature, the vaquita is difficult to observe, and little is known about their reproductive life and longevity.

Females are believed to have a single calf every two years or more, according to conservation group WWF.

Vaquitas drown when they get entangled in gillnets -- vertical sheets of netting used to catch fish -- and cannot surface to breathe.

First discovered as a species only in 1958, vaquita numbers plummeted by 92 percent from 1997 to 2005, according to scientists.

The vaquita is listed as "critically endangered" on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of threatened species -- the last category before extinction in the wild.

In 2019, UNESCO added the Gulf of California to its list of World Heritage in Danger due to fears of imminent vaquita extinction.

Priests in Bolivia 'saints by day, demons by night': alleged victim

José Arturo Cárdenas
Wed, June 7, 2023 

Bolivian Pedro Lima, a former trainee Catholic clergyman, has told AFP of decades of 'hell' suffered by victims of paedophile priests (Aizar RALDES)

A Bolivian former seminarian who says he was the victim of a vast sex abuse network in the Catholic Church has told AFP of decades of "hell" meted out to children by men of the cloth.

Pedro Lima said not only minors but also adults like himself who were training to become priests were subject to abuse in the South American country, often by clergymen who arrived from Spain.

The 54-year-old, who has lived in Paraguay since 2011 where he works as a blacksmith, returned home last month to give evidence in a vast investigation into child predation at schools countrywide, including a boarding school for poor, rural kids in Cochabamba.

"The children lived through hell," he recounted of things he said he saw. "These abusive priests were saints by day, demons by night."

At the center of the latest scandal is a Spanish priest by the name of Alfonso Pedrajas, who died in 2009 after decades of service as a Church teacher in Bolivia starting in 1971.

In his journal, recently discovered and published by a newspaper, Pedrajas confessed to having harmed dozens of people, possibly as many as 85. He also noted that senior clergy had known about his crimes and kept quiet.

Lima, who said he had encountered Pedrajas personally, claims he was expelled from the Jesuit order in 2001, while studying to become a priest, for reporting abuse.

Since then, he has compiled a list of alleged wrongdoers, most of them now dead.

"It wasn't only one priest, there is a structure of priests who helped and supported each other so this (abuse) could continue to happen," he told AFP.

Priests heard young victims' complaints, then rebuked them and expelled them from school, Lima alleged.

He said he, too, was a victim, but declined to go into detail given the "pain" it causes him.

"Those types of acts that have been committed against other people have been also perpetrated against me," Lima said.

- 'Brainwashed' -

Spanish priest Jordi Bertomeu, a top sex crimes investigator for Pope Francis, has been investigating the claims in Bolivia, a country of 12 million people who are mostly Catholic.

According to Lima, the aggressors "brainwashed" vulnerable children who were made to believe they were "the bad guys and worthless."

The Bolivian Episcopal Conference, which last month admitted having been "deaf" to the suffering of victims of pedophile priests, declined to comment on Lima's specific allegations.

Since the revelations in the diary, Bolivian prosecutors have opened cases against priests including Pedrajas and three others from Spain: Luis Maria Roma, Alejandro Mestre and Antonio Gausset.

All four are deceased, but there are other accused still alive.

Several alleged victims have come forward in recent weeks in the capital La Paz, in Cochabamba, Tarija in the south and Santa Cruz in the east.

A recent investigation by Bolivian newspaper Pagina Siete finding at least 170 alleged victims.

Bolivian President Luis Arce has written to Pope Francis to ask for any files on sexual abuse committed by Catholic priests in the South American country.

Lima, for his part, is seeking "full reparation" from the Church.

There are "broken people, totally, whose lives were destroyed by the aggression, people who have ended up needing psychiatric (treatment)," Lima said, though he himself came through it OK.

"The damage is great."

Thousands of reports of pedophilia within the Catholic Church have surfaced around the world in recent years.

Pope Francis has pledged an "all-out battle" against clerical abuse, holding an unprecedented summit on the issue in 2019 and enacting reforms that include new obligations to report clerical child abuse and cover-ups.

jac-vel/dga/ltl/mlr/caw

POOR HAITI

Following 4.9 magnitude quake, 'humanitarian needs in Haiti are huge'

04:58
Video by: Tom Burges WATSON

Issued on: 08/06/2023 -

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.9 struck southern Haiti early Tuesday, killing at least four people and injuring 36 others, authorities said. The quake struck before dawn near the southwestern coastal city of Jeremie at a depth of six miles (10 kilometers), according to the U.S. Geological Survey. For more on the

Earthquake kills several people in Haiti following deadly floods

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.9 struck southern Haiti early Tuesday, killing at least four people and injuring 36 others, authorities said.

Issued on: 07/06/2023 -

01:32

People drive past damaged buildings in Jeremie, Haiti, after an earthquake hit western Haiti. An earthquake shook parts of western Haiti on Tuesday, killing at least four people and injuring more than two dozen others, civil protection authorities said. 

Text by:NEWS WIRES|

Video by: Fraser JACKSON

The quake struck before dawn near the southwestern coastal city of Jeremie at a depth of six miles (10 kilometers), according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

“I thought the whole house was going to fall on top of me,” Eric Mpitabakana, a World Food Program official in Jeremie, told The Associated Press by phone.

Two homes collapsed in the quake, and a key route that connects Jeremie and Les Cayes was blocked, according to Haiti's Civil Protection Agency.

Three of the fatal victims were from the same family and were found under a collapsed house where rescuers were searching for more people, Frankel Maginaire, with Haiti’s Civil Protection Agency in Jeremie told the AP.

He said that several children were hospitalized with injuries they received after they panicked and ran.

A crowd of people gathered around one home that collapsed as they tried to search for survivors in the rubble. They carried out at least one victim wrapped in a sheet.

Mpitabakana said things fell around his house and that he and other colleagues are contemplating sleeping outdoors if there are strong aftershocks.

“There were so many people out on the street, and a lot of panic,” he recalled of the moments after the quake struck.

Claude Prepetit, a geologist and engineer with Haiti's Bureau of Mines and Energy, told Radio Caraibes that smaller earthquakes that occurred earlier this year in southern Haiti led to the bigger one that struck Tuesday.

The earthquake struck almost two years after a 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck southern Haiti and killed more than 2,200 people, with Les Cayes sustaining the most damage. Some people who lost their homes last August are still living in camps.

Allen Joseph, a program manager with global aid organization Mercy Corps, said in a phone interview that schools, banks and other institutions in Jeremie remained closed on Tuesday and that rescue teams had been searching for survivors in the rubble earlier.

He said the organization was still evaluating the situation to determine what help might be needed.

“There was a lot of panic,” he said. “Everyone was rushing to get outside...The neighbors were yelling, ‘Go, go, go!’"

Paul Pierre, a driver for a nongovernmental organization based in Jeremie, told the AP in a phone interview that he was barely waking up when he felt the house rocking.

“Everyone ran outside with their children, their babies,” he said. “There were some houses that collapsed.”

Pierre said he remained calm and sought shelter until the earth stopped moving, adding that he's used to earthquakes.

In 2010, a magnitude 7 quake near the densely populated capital, Port-au-Prince, killed at least 200,000 people and caused widespread devastation to buildings.

Tuesday's earthquake comes as Haiti struggles to recover from heavy floods over the weekend that killed at least 51 people, injured 140 and flooded nearly 31,600 homes. Prime Minister Ariel Henry has requested international assistance.

“Disasters keep hitting Haiti, left and right,” said Dr. Didinu Tamakloe, Haiti director for Project Hope, a U.S. aid organization. “People have not had sufficient time to recover from previous disasters, only to be hit by flash floods, an earthquake and landslides in a matter of days.”

(AP)

In Kenya, lions are speared to death as human-wildlife conflict worsens amid drought

By EVELYNE MUSAMBI and DESMOND TIRO

June 6,2023

The male lion named "Loonkiito", one of Kenya's oldest wild lions who was killed by herders in May 2023, is seen in Amboseli National Park, in southern Kenya on Feb. 20, 2023. Recent lion killings highlight the growing human-wildlife conflict in parts of east Africa that conservationists say has been exacerbated by a yearslong drought. (Philip J. Briggs/Lion Guardians via AP, File)

MBIRIKANI, Kenya (AP) — Parkeru Ntereka lost almost half of his goat herd to hungry lions that wandered into his pen located near Kenya’s iconic Amboseli national park.

The 56-year-old’s loss made headlines in the east African country as it led to the spearing to death of six lions in retaliation by the Maasai people, who have co-existed with wild animals for centuries.

The killings highlighted the growing human-wildlife conflict in parts of east Africa that conservationists say has been exacerbated by a yearslong drought.

At the same time, the predator population within the parks has increased. Hunger and thirst can send them into communities.

Ntereka said losing 12 goats is a huge loss for his large family.

“I sell these livestock in order to afford school fees. I don’t know how I will afford secondary school fees for some of my children,” said the father of eight.

The Big Life Foundation, which runs conservation programs in the area, has been offering compensation to herders who lose their livestock to predators.

But the compensation does not match the market rate for cows, goats and sheep.

Herder Joel Kirimbu said compensation should match the market rate.

“Cows are expensive and can cost as much as 80,000 Kenyan shillings ($577) each. One cannot compare 80,000 shillings to 30,000 shillings. We receive very little compensation. That is why we become angry and despite receiving compensation, we come out and kill the lions,” he told The Associated Press.

Rosi Lekimankusi, a mother of five, said 13 of her goats were killed by lions in the same village, Mbirikani in Kajiado County, just 150 kilometers (93 miles) from the capital, Nairobi.

“This is a big loss for us because my husband and I have no other jobs,” she told The Associated Press while standing outside her goat pen.

Her biggest fear is that such lion attacks will become even more common in her Maasai village that borders Amboseli national park.

The Big Life Foundation, which has run the compensation program for 20 years, said it cannot afford to pay the market price but asserted that the amount cannot be disregarded because it at least expresses solidarity with herders for their loss.

“It could be a little just to make sure your anger goes down but its better than nothing,” said Daniel Ole Sambu, who coordinates the foundation’s Predator Protection Program.

He said the foundation also gives the community scholarships for local children and support for medical facilities.

The human-wildlife conflict often makes headlines in Kenya, where tourism plays an important role in the economy.

Last month, one of Kenya’s oldest lions, Loonkiito, was speared to death as it wandered out of the Amboseli national park in search for food.

The Kenya Wildlife Service said it is working on lasting solutions that would address the conflict while protecting both humans and wildlife.

Ntereka, the herder who lost almost half his goats, lives in fear of another lion attack.

“Since the olden days, we believed that when a lion invades your home and eats your cows, it will still return even after 10 years. It will never forget that your home was once a source of food,” he said.

DEFENDING PAST GAINS

Protests in France as unions make last-ditch bid to resist higher retirement age

By OLEG CETINIC and ANGELA CHARLTON

June 7,2023

France protests against pension reform resume

Workers returned to the streets in Paris as they sought to reignite resistance to the pension reform that raises the retirement age from 62 to 64.


PARIS (AP) — French union activists marched on the headquarters of the Paris Olympics and slowed traffic at the capital’s Orly Airport with strikes Tuesday as they sought to reignite resistance to a higher retirement age.

But the last-ditch effort drew fewer followers than at the height of the movement earlier this year, and even some union leaders seemed ready to move on.

President Emmanuel Macron’s move to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 — and force the measure through parliament without a vote — inflamed public emotions and triggered some of France’s biggest demonstrations in years. But the intensity of anger over the pension reform has ebbed since the last big protests on May 1, which more than 500,000 people attended in Paris alone, and since the measure became law in April.

As part of Tuesday’s actions, a third of flights were canceled at Paris’ Orly Airport because of strikes, and about 10% of trains around France were disrupted. Around 250 marches, rallies and other actions were planned around the country to mark the 14th day of national protest since January over the pension 

A small group of activists with the hard-left CGT union pushed their way into the headquarters of the 2024 Olympics in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, chanting anti-Macron slogans.

In Paris, mild tensions flared near a restaurant in the Left Bank as individuals engaged in minor vandalism of bus shelters and threw objects at police. Police quickly dispersed the crowds.

Thousands gathered along the embankments of the Seine River near the gold-domed Invalides monument before setting off on their march to southeast Paris. The peaceful crowd waved union flags, banged drums and chanted to demand the withdrawal of the pension law and a lower retirement age.

In the western city of Rennes, union activists marched on train tracks before being turned back by police, according to local public broadcaster France Bleu.

Macron says the pension reform was needed to finance the pension system as the population ages. Unions and left-wing opponents say the changes hurt poorer workers and have argued for higher taxes on the wealthy and employers instead.

The outgoing head of the moderate CFDT union, Laurent Berger, said that after Tuesday’s actions, “we will continue to contest the retirement reform, but it will take on a different form.”

CGT chief Sophie Binet told reporters at the Paris march that other protests are ’’probable,” but she too said it was time to talk about other issues such as working conditions or tax fraud by companies.

Organizers of Tuesday’s protests hope to rally support before a possible parliamentary debate on Thursday on a bill that is seeking to repeal the new retirement age.

Legislators from centrist opposition group LIOT proposed the bill to put back the retirement age to 62. But it has already met challenges before it reaches the parliamentary floor. While Macron’s centrist party doesn’t have a majority in the National Assembly, it has allied with the conservative Republicans party to push back the opposition’s efforts.

Protests in France as unions make last-ditch bid to resist higher retirement age

By OLEG CETINIC and ANGELA CHARLTON
June 6,2023

PARIS (AP) — French union activists marched on the headquarters of the Paris Olympics and slowed traffic at the capital’s Orly Airport with strikes Tuesday as they sought to reignite resistance to a higher retirement age.

But the last-ditch effort drew fewer followers than at the height of the movement earlier this year, and even some union leaders seemed ready to move on.

President Emmanuel Macron’s move to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 — and force the measure through parliament without a vote — inflamed public emotions and triggered some of France’s biggest demonstrations in years. But the intensity of anger over the pension reform has ebbed since the last big protests on May 1, which more than 500,000 people attended in Paris alone, and since the measure became law in April.

As part of Tuesday’s actions, a third of flights were canceled at Paris’ Orly Airport because of strikes, and about 10% of trains around France were disrupted. Around 250 marches, rallies and other actions were planned around the country to mark the 14th day of national protest since January over the pension reform.

A small group of activists with the hard-left CGT union pushed their way into the headquarters of the 2024 Olympics in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, chanting anti-Macron slogans.

In Paris, mild tensions flared near a restaurant in the Left Bank as individuals engaged in minor vandalism of bus shelters and threw objects at police. Police quickly dispersed the crowds.

Thousands gathered along the embankments of the Seine River near the gold-domed Invalides monument before setting off on their march to southeast Paris. The peaceful crowd waved union flags, banged drums and chanted to demand the withdrawal of the pension law and a lower retirement age.

In the western city of Rennes, union activists marched on train tracks before being turned back by police, according to local public broadcaster France Bleu.

Macron says the pension reform was needed to finance the pension system as the population ages. Unions and left-wing opponents say the changes hurt poorer workers and have argued for higher taxes on the wealthy and employers instead.

The outgoing head of the moderate CFDT union, Laurent Berger, said that after Tuesday’s actions, “we will continue to contest the retirement reform, but it will take on a different form.”

CGT chief Sophie Binet told reporters at the Paris march that other protests are ’’probable,” but she too said it was time to talk about other issues such as working conditions or tax fraud by companies.

Organizers of Tuesday’s protests hope to rally support before a possible parliamentary debate on Thursday on a bill that is seeking to repeal the new retirement age.

Legislators from centrist opposition group LIOT proposed the bill to put back the retirement age to 62. But it has already met challenges before it reaches the parliamentary floor. While Macron’s centrist party doesn’t have a majority in the National Assembly, it has allied with the conservative Republicans party to push back the opposition’s efforts.  

 

 

Japan, Australia, US to fund undersea cable connection in Micronesia to counter China’s influence

By MARI YAMAGUCHI

June 6,2023

U.S. President Joe Biden, from left, Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi hold a Quad meeting on the sidelines of the G7 summit, at the Grand Prince Hotel in Hiroshima, western Japan, on May 20, 2023. Japan announced Tuesday, June 6, 2023, that it joined the United States and Australia in signing a $95 million undersea cable project that will connect East Micronesia island nations to improve networks in the Indo-Pacific region where China is increasingly expanding its influence. 

(Jonathan Ernst/Pool Photo via AP, File)

TOKYO (AP) — Japan announced Tuesday that it joined the United States and Australia in signing an agreement on a $95 million undersea cable project that will connect East Micronesia island nations to improve networks in the Indo-Pacific region where China is increasingly expanding its influence.

The approximately 2,250-kilometer (1,400-mile) undersea cable will connect the state of Kosrae in the Federated States of Micronesia, Tarawa in Kiribati and Nauru to the existing cable landing point located in Pohnpei in Micronesia, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

Japan, the United States and Australia have stepped up cooperation with the Pacific Islands, apparently to counter efforts by Beijing to expand its security and economic influence in the region.

In a joint statement, the parties said the next steps involve a final survey and design and manufacturing of the cable, whose width is about that of a garden hose. Completion is expected around 2025.

The announcement comes just over two weeks after leaders of the Quad, a security alliance of Japan, the United States, Australia and India, emphasized the importance of undersea cables as a critical component of communications infrastructure and the foundation for internet connectivity.

“Secure and resilient digital connectivity has never been more important,” Matthew Murray, a senior official in the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said in a statement. “The United States is delighted to be part of this project bringing our region closer together.”

NEC Corp., which won the contract after a competitive tender, said the cable will ensure high-speed, high-quality and more secure communications for residents, businesses and governments in the region, while contributing to improved digital connectivity and economic development.

The cable will connect more than 100,000 people across the three Pacific countries, according to Kazuya Endo, director general of the international cooperation bureau at the Japanese Foreign Ministry.