Exclusive: Mitsui & Co to sell all stakes in coal-fired power plants by 2030 - CEO

By Yuka Obayashi and Noriyuki Hirata

© Reuters/Toru Hanai FILE PHOTO: People walk past the logo of Japanese trading company Mitsui & Co in Tokyo

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co Ltd <8031.T> plans to sell its remaining stakes in coal-fired power stations by the end of the decade as it shifts to gas from coal to help achieve its 2050 net zero emission target, its chief executive told Reuters.

"We still own stakes in coal-fired plants in Indonesia, China, Malaysia and Morocco, but our goal is to make it zero by 2030," Mitsui CEO Tatsuo Yasunaga said in an interview on Friday.

The comment - Mitsui's first on selling out of coal-fired power generation - comes as firms worldwide move away from coal to cut harmful carbon dioxide emissions and slow climate change.

Mitsui, which generates about two-thirds of profit from energy and metals, is also shifting away from oil.

"With the COVID-19 crisis, we have postponed investment in a few upstream oil deals, but our liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects are on track," he said.

Through equity holdings, Mitsui's energy assets comprise 78,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil and 181,000 bpd in gas measured in oil-equivalent terms.

Its crude ratio will decline by 2030 due to the scheduled launch in about four years of LNG projects in Mozambique and arctic Russia, Yasunaga said.

"Renewable energy can't replace all other power sources in one fell swoop. Gas goes well with volatile renewable energy as gas-fired power generation is easy to switch on and off," he said, adding Mitsui is also keen on cleaner energy such as offshore wind farms and hydrogen projects.Outside of energy and resources, Mitsui is betting on healthcare, especially through Malaysian hospital operator IHH Healthcare Bhd of which it owns 32.9%.

"The pandemic has helped spread virtual diagnosis and other services in Singapore and Malaysia, helping our plans to use data to provide new services, including nutrition and disease prevention," he said.

Mitsui is one of five trading houses that Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought 5% stakes in August with the possibility of increasing its holdings to 9.9%.

Mitsui has been in mail contact with the U.S. investor and has received no specific requests, Yasunaga said."We are committed to implementing our growth plans as promised and seeking new opportunities that bring mutual benefit," he said, citing as an example its alliance with U.S. dialysis provider DaVita Inc whose biggest shareholder is Berkshire.

Growing DaVita in Asia will bring mutual benefit and Mitsui is eager to pursue similar collaborations, he said.

"We have to show an outcome that could prompt Berkshire to boost its stake to 9.9%," Yasunaga said.

(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi and Noriyuki Hirata; Editing by Christopher Cushing)

Investors urge heavy carbon emitters to set science-based reduction targets

By Simon Jessop  

© Reuters/Carlos Barria FILE PHOTO: Cracked earth marks a dried-up area near a wind turbine used to generate electricity at a wind farm in Guazhou, 950km (590 miles) northwest of Lanzhou, Gansu Province

LONDON (Reuters) - Investors managing around $20 trillion in assets on Tuesday called on the heaviest corporate emitters of greenhouse gases to set science-based targets on the way to net zero carbon emissions by mid-century.

AXA Group and Nikko Asset Management Co are among 137 investors urging 1,800 companies responsible for a quarter of global emissions to act, coordinated by non-profit group CDP.

While more companies are pledging their support for the 2015 Paris agreement on climate change, aiming to be carbon neutral by 2050, not all have been clear about how they will get there.

To help limit global warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial norms by 2050, companies need to set out their pathway to net zero and ensure it is consistent with the science and independently verified, the investors said.

"Climate change presents material risks to investments, and companies that are failing to set targets grounded in science risk losing out - and causing greater damage to the world economy," said Emily Kreps, Global Director of Capital Markets at CDP.

The companies targeted together annually contribute 13.5 gigatonnes of emissions directly and indirectly tied to their operations, equivalent to 25% of the world's total, CDP said.

Specifically, the investors said they wanted companies to set targets through the Science-Based Targets Initiative to help ensure the goals can be more easily compared and assessed.

More than 1,000 companies have already set science-based targets, of which around 300 have targets in line with the 1.5 degrees goal.

"Companies that do not set science-based targets risk being surprised by increased costs or lost business that could result from the increasing focus on climate change by society and regulators," said Ted Maloney, Chief Investment Officer at MFS Investment Management.

(Reporting by Simon Jessop; Editing by Mark Potter)

Former Marvel execs launched an ambitious comics universe as the pandemic hit. 7 months later, they have Hollywood in their sights.

© AWA AWA previewed its comics at last year's New York Comic Con. AWA

Two former Marvel executives, Axel Alonso and Bill Jemas, along with Fandom cochairman Jon Miller, founded the new comics company Artists, Writers and Artisans (AWA) last year.

The company launched its first comic series, "The Resistance," in March, shortly before comics distribution was halted due to the pandemic.

Business Insider talked with Alonso and Jemas about navigating a new comic publisher through the pandemic, how it's performing, and what to expect from its future.

Two former Marvel execs, Axel Alonso and Bill Jemas, entered 2020 expecting to go full steam ahead with a new comics universe. Not only did they have decades of combined experience in the industry, but also financial backing from big-time investors like James Murdoch, the son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

But it didn't take long before they hit a complication. Their new company, Artists, Writers and Artisans (AWA), debuted its first series in March. Five days after it was released, comics distribution was halted and shops across the country closed due to the pandemic.

That first series, AWA's "The Resistance," by writer J. Michael Straczynski and artist Mike Deodato Jr., was coincidentally about a virus that kills millions around the world, but gives thousands of others superpowers. It is meant to set up AWA's "shared universe," similar to Marvel and DC's in which characters live in the same universe and can interact with one another.

The distribution shutdown was painful for AWA.

"Knowing that 'The Resistance' was sitting on the racks in the comic shops and people couldn't get it was a nightmare," Alonso said.

But he wouldn't call the pandemic a setback for the company.

While comics distribution was shut down, AWA released "The Resistance" as a free digital comic, boosting awareness for the series for when the comics shutdown ended in May and readers returned to stores.

"You have to look where there's an opportunity to be discovered in a crisis," Alonso said. "People liked it, so when shops opened back up, they flew off the shelves. Comic readers are completionists. Just because they read it online doesn't deter them to buy the comic or graphic novel."

Alonso has experience seeing opportunity in crisis, having started AWA after exiting his position as Marvel's editor-in-chief during a 2017 sales slump.

He also has faith that AWA's vision of a new business model for comics, where risk and upside are split between the creator and publisher, will be able to entice creators to build a comics universe to compete with heavyweights Marvel and DC.
Alonso's Marvel exit was the catalyst for AWA

Alonso is well aware of the irony in that AWA's first series was about a pandemic, but that aligns with one of his missions for the company: reflecting the real world, which was born out of his experience at Marvel.

Alonso was editor-in-chief starting in 2011, during a time when Marvel introduced bold and diverse new characters like Miles Morales, a biracial Spider-Man. But when sales had decreased in 2017, Alonso was ousted.

"One of my goals was to introduce more diversity," Alonso said of Marvel. "It deeply offended some long-term fans. But to see Miles Morales on the big screen [in "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse"] was validating. It showed that being topical was a good thing. It's a foolish path to make the fans love you. Now I start the day looking at a blank canvas. You have to take chances, go with your gut, and write about the world as it is.

He was contemplating his next move in late 2018 when he got a call from Jemas, another comics veteran.

Jemas, the former president of Marvel Comics who is often credited for helping dig the company out of bankruptcy in the early 2000s, was exploring a new venture, and he wanted Alonso at his side. Jemas had previously poached Alonso for Marvel from DC in 2000.

Jemas called Alonso's departure from Marvel the spark for AWA.

"Axel is the best there is at what he does," Jemas told Business Insider.

These two former Marvel execs, along with Jon Miller, the cochairman of entertainment website Fandom, joined forces for a comics company at the intersection of titanic publishers like Marvel and DC and creator-owned publishers like Image. Jemas serves as CEO, Alonso as creative chief, and Miller as board chairman.

"In comics, you can either go to Marvel or DC and get a page rate but own nothing, or option B is creator-owned," Alonso said. "You can do something original that you own and put out in the market and hope it finds an audience. If you're lucky and your book becomes the next 'Walking Dead,' you have a stable income. If not, you may not make much money."

AWA aims to mitigate the risks for creators when launching a creator-owned comic by guaranteeing them a financial stake in the books. At Marvel or DC, creators take on little risk but own none of the IP. At a publisher like Image, they own their IP, but take on most of the financial risk. AWA aims to split the risk between the creator and the publisher.

"We do budget each series to be cash-flow positive, but our publishing business doesn't cover our overhead costs," Jemas said. "We don't expect it to until we build up a solid backlist of graphic novels and hardcover books."

Jemas said that sales have been above projections. "The Resistance" issue one landed at No. 65 on industry website Comichron's best-selling comics of March, a list dominated by much larger publishers Marvel and DC, with more than 26,000 copies sold.

Alonso said AWA's model allows creators to "bet on themselves without putting it all on the line."

That's what attracted AWA's "Year Zero" and "Devil's Highway" writer Benjamin Percy to AWA. Known for DC comics like "Green Arrow" and currently Marvel's "Wolverine," Percy got to experiment with AWA.

"Writing for DC and Marvel is a privilege and a joy of course, but it also comes with restrictions, because you're often the custodian of a character that's been around for decades," Percy told Business Insider.

© AWA/Mike Deodato Jr A group of AWA characters. AWA/Mike Deodato Jr

Hollywood is in AWA's sights

At a time when Hollywood is increasingly looking for new IP to mine, AWA's mission attracted major investors.

They include production company Sister, which was founded by Elisabeth Murdoch (the daughter of Rupert), and Stacey Snider, the former chair and CEO of Fox's film studio; James Murdoch, the son of Rupert, who has distanced himself from his father's media empire that includes Fox News and News Corp; and the venture capital firm Lightspeed Venture Partners.

"There's an arms race for great content right now between Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and Disney itself, with Disney Plus," Alex Taussig, a partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, told The Wall Street Journal last year.

Both Sister and James Murdoch invested at least $5 million into the company, according to WSJ. Miller, the third AWA founder who is also a former digital chief at News Corp, facilitated Murdoch's investment, WSJ said.

"[James] Murdoch knows comic books and respected our vision," Alonso said. "He loved that we were empowering creators and giving them skin in the game. He liked that creators would be invested in it and he saw potential in that."

The goal is to eventually make the move to Hollywood and discussions have taken place, Jemas and Percy said, but they didn't disclose further details.

"Hollywood is hungry for IP," Percy said. "One of the questions you always face with studios is the question, 'What does it look like?' You show them a comic and the whole project is already storyboarded."

The comics will always come first, Alonso said.

"Our goal is to create a respected publisher first," he said. "We have to make comic books first. I'm not a director or screenwriter or showrunner. I make comic books. But I want to make comic books that people would want to see on the screen."

But Alonso also noted, "No one does comics saying 'I hope we just end here.'" Once the comics universe has strong enough legs, it's inevitable that AWA will try to make the leap to movies and TV.

The future plans for those comics?

Alonso said that the second volume of "The Resistance" has already been written and is being drawn. He compared the books to TV seasons, meaning they'll be told in different volumes but will be an ongoing story. Readers can expect work from popular creators like Reginald Hudlin, Garth Ennis, and Frank Cho, who are all on the company's creative council.

"The number one rule when we spoke to investors and amongst ourselves is to be patient," Alonso said.
Read the original article on Business Insider

Manitoba farm fined after worker suffers ‘serious’ injury

A Carberry, Manitoba-based workplace is going to have fork over tens of thousands of dollars after the province served it with a fine for unsafe working conditions.

© THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

 A farmer works a potato field in North Tryon, Prince Edward Island on Thursday, July 13, 2000. A national agriculture group says farming needs to be reformed, both to save the climate and save farmers. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

Back in April of 2018, a worker at Shilo Farms Ltd. suffered a serious hand injury while preparing potatoes.

Workplace Safety and Health says the potatoes travel along the conveyor to a seed-treating drum, and while the employee was taking a look at that drum, their hand came in contact with the conveyor's exposed chain and sprockets.

Read more: Nutrien fined $150,000 for workplace injury at Rocanville mine mill

Workplace Safety and Health has deemed the company at fault for the accident and has fined them a total of $32,675.

A portion of the fine -- $2,000 -- will be used for public education on occupational safety and health.

At the time of the incident, Shilo Farms Ltd. employed around 40 people.

The province used Saturday's news release to remind workplace managers that safeguards need to be in place for all machines under the Workplace Safety and Health act.

All stop-work orders and penalties can be found online by going to the labour section of the government's website.

SASKATCHEWAN ELECTION Saskatchewanians argue for and against higher minimum wage
Connor O’Donovan 

© Supplied / Global News NDP Leader Ryan Meili makes a campaign speech in Regina on Sunday, October 11.

At a campaign announcement Sunday morning, Saskatchewan NDP Leader Ryan Meili confirmed his party's commitment to phase in a $15 an hour minimum wage if elected.

"A higher minimum wage kickstarts local economies from the bottom up," Meili said in his Sunday stump speech.

The promise, which if implemented would likely mean Saskatchewan would no longer have the lowest minimum wage in Canada, is drawing mixed reactions from the community.

Read more: Minimum wage in Saskatchewan goes up 13 cents Oct. 1, remains lowest in Canada

Restaurants Canada Western vice-president Mark von Schellwitz suggested a higher minimum wage could mean lost jobs, noting that restaurants are Saskatchewan's "third largest private employer" and that businesses are already struggling to employ the amount of workers they usually do.

"It would make our unemployment situation even worse as restaurants are struggling to keep people on payroll anyways," von Schellwitz said.

Justin Linder, who owns the Rotisserie in Regina, echoed that sentiment and said that a bump in wages would likely mean a bump in menu prices.

"I don't pay minimum wage to my employees because I feel like they're worth more than minimum wage," Linder said. "But there's no room in the budget right now as is and to pay people more — you're either going to have to pass it on to the customers or you're gonna have to absorb it. And right now you can't absorb that kind of increase. And I don't want to have to pay my customers more."

Read more: 60,000 job losses by 2019 due to minimum wage increase: Bank of Canada

But Saima Desai, an organizer with Fight for 15 Saskatchewan, supports the increase.

"We've been talking about a $15 an hour minimum wage in Saskatchewan for so long that now it actually needs to be more than $15," she said. "Fifteen dollars alone isn't a minimum wage but it's a good first step."

Desai pointed to a 2016 report, published by the Canadian Centre for Policy alternatives that suggested Saskatchewan's minimum wage is well below what it calls a "living wage".

The report obtained its "living wage" figure for Regina, $16.95 an hour, by estimating annual household living expenses for a "model family" of four.

"$11.45 does not go very far at all. It's ridiculous that anyone in this province has to live on that amount of money," said Desai. "Raising the minimum wage would mean more money in the pockets of the people most likely to spend that money in the Saskatchewan economy. It shows a commitment to people and to making life livable."

Read more: Nova Scotia and New Brunswick minimum wages ‘well below’ a livable wage: report

The NDP is also pledging to help some small businesses adapt to the proposed increase with a rebate program.

To qualify for the program, businesses would have had to have qualified for the small corporate tax rate in the previous year and have reported a taxable income of less than $200,000.

The rebates would be equal to 25 per cent of the cumulative increase multiplied by the number of minimum wage hours paid out.

26.25 cents per employee hour at $12.50 in 2021-22 ($1.05 increase in minimum wage)

51.25 cents per employee hour at $13.50 in 2022-23 ($1.00 increase in minimum wage)

76.25 cents per employee hour at $14.50 in 2023-24 ($1.00 increase in minimum wage)

88.75 cents per employee hour at $15.00 in 2024-25 ($0.50 increase in minimum wage)

Businesses in retail, accommodation and food services, and agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting sectors.

Read more: Almost 9 out of 10 Canadians feel food prices are rising faster than income: survey

In recent years the Saskatchewan Party has been raising the minimum wage nearly annually using a formula that considers changes to the Consumer Price Index and Average Hourly Wage in Saskatchewan.

According to the government of Saskatchewan website, the indexation formula "which helps ensure that all people benefit from the economic prosperity of the province".

When asked for comment on the NDP plan, Saskatchewan Party spokesperson Jim Billington replied with the following statement.

"The Saskatchewan Party has a plan for a strong economic recovery and more jobs. That plan is already working, as 8700 new jobs were created in September and Saskatchewan now has the lowest unemployment rate in Canada.

"Now is not the time to slow down that economic recovery and job growth by adding additional costs to small businesses, many of which are still feeling the impact of the pandemic. Even with the partial subsidy the NDP is proposing, this would still drive up the cost to small businesses, making it harder to retain and hire new employees.

"The Saskatchewan Party government has made life more affordable for those making minimum wage by significantly reducing their personal income tax. By doing so, we are able to put more money in the pockets of low income earners in a way that does not add to the financial burden on small businesses and kill jobs."

At this point in the campaign, the Saskatchewan NDP is the only provincial party to commit to increasing minimum wage.

More synchronized action needed to tackle COVID economic crisis, IMF's Georgieva says

By Andrea Shalal and Marc Jones

© Reuters/REMO CASILLI IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva speaks during a conference hosted by the Vatican on economic solidarity

WASHINGTON/LONDON (Reuters) - The international community must do more to tackle the economic fallout of the COVID-19 crisis, the head of the International Monetary Fund said on Monday, publicly calling on the World Bank to accelerate its lending to hard-hit African countries.

Some of the key events of the virtual and elongated annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank take place this week, with the most pressing issue how to support struggling countries.

"We are going to continue to push to do even more," IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said during an online FT Africa summit.

"I would beg for also more grants for African countries. The World Bank has grant-giving capacity. Perhaps you can do even more... and bilateral donors can do more in that regard," Georgieva said in an unusual public display of discord between the two major international financial institutions.

No immediate comment was available from the Bank.

Georgieva last week said the IMF had provided $26 billion in fast-track support to African states since the start of the crisis, but a dearth of private lending meant the region faced a financing gap of $345 billion through 2023.

The pandemic, a collapse in commodity prices and a plague of locusts have hit Africa particularly hard, putting 43 million more people at risk of extreme poverty, according to World Bank estimates. African states have reported more than 1 million coronavirus cases and some 23,000 deaths.

G20 governments are expected to extend for six months their Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) which has so far frozen around $5 billion of poorer countries' debt payments, but pressure is on the main development banks and private creditors to provide relief too.

HOLDING ONTO GOLD RESERVES

Georgieva said the Fund was also pushing richer member countries to loan more of their existing Special Drawing Rights (SDR), the IMF's currency, to countries that needed support most, and was "very committed" to finding a way forward for countries like Zambia now needing to restructure their debts.

The United States has blocked Georgieva's early call for issuance of more SDRs, arguing that it would benefit mostly richer nations, not the developing countries that need it most.

Pledges to the Fund's Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust, which supports low-income countries, have totaled $21 billion to date, including $14 billion in existing SDR holdings, but more resources were urgently needed, an IMF spokeswoman said.

The IMF chief dodged calls by civil society groups for the IMF to sell off some of its extensive gold reserves, saying the Fund viewed them as an important "financial buffer."

Profit from selling less than 7% of the IMF’s gold could fund cancellation of all debt payments by the poorest countries to the IMF and World Bank for the next 15 months, the UK-based Jubilee Debt Campaign said in a new report issued Monday.

The IMF said its gold reserve of about 90.5 million ounces (2,814.1 metric tons) was worth about $137.8 billion at the end of December, compared to its historical cost of $4.4 billion.

Georgieva said countries in serious trouble must restructure their debts as soon as possible.

"This is the message for all countries in debt distress... If debt is not sustainable, please move towards restructuring, the sooner the better," she said.

Georgieva said transparency in lending was critical for all parties, and welcomed what she called "encouraging" statements by China to move toward a more consolidated view of the debts held by the Chinese government and other institutions.

"I believe that now is the moment in this crisis, to make ... transparency paramount and mandated to the extent possible everywhere," she said.

(Reporting by Marc Jones in London, and Andrea Shalal and David Lawder in Washington; Editing by Tom Arnold, Ed Osmond and Andrea Ricci)

Electric cars to triple market share in Europe amid COVID-19, researchers say

By Kate Abnett

© Reuters/Kai Pfaffenbach A battery charger sign for electric cars is painted on the ground of a parking ground near the soccer stadium in Wolfsburg

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Electric vehicles made up 8% of car sales in Europe in the first half of 2020, putting them on track to triple their market share this year, according to analysis by the NGO Transport & Environment (T&E).

While the novel coronavirus pandemic has seen overall car sales plummet, sales of electric cars - which T&E defined as both battery and plug-in hybrid models - have increased.

This saw electric cars more than triple their market share in the European Economic Area (EEA), compared with the first half of last year, T&E said.

Outright sales of such vehicles are expected to roughly double this year, to one million units, it said.

T&E attributed the sales increase to tougher European Union car emissions standards, which took effect this year, and post-pandemic purchase incentives in Germany and France.

The NGO expects carmakers to meet the 2020 emissions standards, which would see electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles triple their market share in 2020 to 10% of EEA car sales.

"It is because of the EU emissions standards, but it is also thanks to many investments carmakers made last year," report co-author Julia Poliscanova said.

The European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) said electric vehicle sales have been boosted by national support schemes to foster economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic but that this trend was not necessarily a long-term one.

"It is difficult to make any predictions on future long-term shifts in consumer behaviour from such 'artificial' growth driven by subsidies," ACEA said.

T&E urged the EU to set tougher future emissions targets to ensure electric vehicles keep edging out polluting models.

Fuel-guzzling SUVs also increased their market share, to 39%, in the first half of 2020.

The European Commission has already outlined plans to further tighten car CO2 limits as part of its proposal for a tougher 2030 EU climate goal.

ACEA said policymakers needed to strengthen charging infrastructure and schemes to make zero-emissions vehicles affordable before considering tighter CO2 standards.

(Reporting by Kate Abnett; Editing by Ken Ferris)

Volts under the hood: U of C team wants to make electric car conversions easier

Brodie Thomas POSTMEDIA

  

© Provided by Calgary Herald A team of students at the University of Calgary are working on systems that will help people convert fuel cars to electric vehicles. Photo taken in March. Wednesday, March 11, 2020.


A team of students at the University of Calgary wants to make it easier to convert gas-powered vehicles to electric.

The Relectric Car Team is currently converting a 1966 Volvo into an electric vehicle, but as they do it they’re working on software and hardware solutions that could be applied to just about any vehicle.

Relectric founder Ratik Kapoor said the team’s goal is to make retrofitting an old vehicle about as affordable as purchasing a good used car.

“There are so many cars being scrapped every year when all they have is a scrapped engine or a blown head gasket,” he said.

Rather than discarding them, the Relectric team believes people should have an easy option to keep the frame of the vehicle on the road, while dispensing with the complicated and costly engine.

“Our team wants to make that price more affordable, so people can convert their Honda Civics,” said Kapoor.

The Relectric team is working on open source solutions to this problem. There is already a small community of people who retrofit cars — often classic cars — with electric engines and batteries.

Kapoor said two things are holding back the average backyard mechanic from doing this. One is the cost of batteries, and the other is the complexity of newer cars in which just about everything has a sensor wired to a central computer.

“What our team is trying to do is make a central controller,” he said. “It would take care of the motor, the batteries, and it would also integrate the stuff that you already had with our own custom sensors.”  

© Brendan Miller/Postmedia

 Ratik Kapoor, Founder of Electric Car Team Schulich, poses for a photo. Kapoor is part of a team of students at the University of Calgary who are working on systems that will help people convert fuel cars to electric vehicles. Photo taken in March. Wednesday, March 11, 2020.

By making their software open source — freely available to anyone — Relectric hopes people anywhere will be able to work on the software and engineer solutions for specific circumstances.

“We’re hoping once we start putting some substantial stuff out there, people start using it and we can spark a community around EV conversions that integrates everything together and is more friendly to the end-user.”

Before the pandemic, the team was working in the basement of a local used electric car dealership.

Jim Steil offered his 1966 Volvo station wagon to the team as their project car. It was something he’d been hoping to do himself. After connecting with the team, he found their enthusiasm infectious.

“I saw myself in them, and it was almost like I had found a part of my family which I did not know existed,” said Steil. “Sometimes everything just lines up, and this was one of those times.”  

© Brendan Miller/Postmedia A team of students at the University of Calgary are working on systems that will help people convert fuel cars to electric vehicles. Photo taken in March. Wednesday, March 11, 2020.

But once the lockdown began, physical distancing requirements hindered their ability to meet and work on the car.

Kapoor said the team has been able to keep working on software solutions in the six months since. They’re developing touch-screen software that will give drivers feedback on their vehicle, including information on battery life and estimated range — the type of bells and whistles that come built into new electric cars but which are difficult to add to conversions.

Now that schools are back in session, Kapoor and his team are planning to get under the hood of the Volvo this fall with physical distancing protocols in place.

brthomas@postmedia.com

Bangladesh approves death penalty for rape, but will it help?

A feminist group take part in an ongoing protest demanding justice for the alleged gang rape of a woman

© Provided by CBS News Members of a feminist group take part in an ongoing protest in front of the parliamentary building, demanding justice for the alleged gang rape of a woman in Noakhali, Bangladesh, in Dhaka, October 10, 2020. / Credit: MOHAMMAD PONIR HOSSAIN/REUTERS

© MOHAMMAD PONIR HOSSAIN/REUTERS 

Amid growing anger and widespread protests, Bangladesh's government approved on Monday the use of the death penalty in rape cases. Led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the cabinet met online and approved changes to a law that will enable courts to sentence any convicted rapist to execution.


President Abdul Hamid was expected to sign the "Women and Children Repression Prevention (Amendment) Bill" into law on Tuesday, according to Law and Justice Minister Anisul Huq.

The country's existing laws mandate a life prison sentence for rape convictions, but now courts will be able to choose between that sentence and death. Bangladesh's parliament wasn't required to consider the change in the legislation as it's only an alteration of existing law.

The government drafted and passed the law after weeks of angry, unprecedented protests across the South Asian nation following a series of high-profile rapes.

© Provided by CBS News People join a protest in front of the Bangladeshi parliament demanding justice for the alleged gang rape of a woman in Noakhali, Bangladesh, in Dhaka, October 10, 2020. / Credit: MOHAMMAD PONIR HOSSAIN/REUTERS

Anger had been building against the government and the police for perceived inaction in several rape cases for months, but a 30-minute video of a woman being stripped and sexually assaulted by a group of men, which spread quickly across social media, triggered huge protests over the weekend.

The police have now arrested eight suspects for the assault that was caught on camera more than a month ago in Noakhali, about 120 miles southeast of the capital, Dhaka.

Only "acting tough"?

While the punishment is severe, several activists who joined the protests in Bangladesh and who have led the campaign for change told CBS News that the government's move is more a cop-out than a meaningful commitment to protect women.

They note say most protesters never demanded the death penalty, as many don't consider it a real solution to country's sexual violence problem.

© Provided by CBS News Women's rights activist Umama Zillur (center, in red shirt) leads a protest chant during a demonstration outside Bangladesh's parliament in Dhaka, October 10, 2020, calling on the government to address sexual violence in the country. / Credit: MD Muntasir

"The government strategically chose a road that would let them escape accountability," Umama Zillur, a member of the Feminists Across Generations alliance, who has been fighting gender-based violence in Bangladesh for several years, told CBS News. "We will not accept this."

Zillur is one of the organizers of the #RageAgainstRape protests that rocked Bangladesh over the weekend. She said the voluntary participation of high school students was unprecedented.

"Nowhere in our demand did we ask for death penalty… because we know death penalty is going to reduce conviction rates, will increase murder after rape, and at the end of the day it's not going to help us in any way."

Activists believe rape often goes unreported in Bangladesh because of social stigma, a lengthy justice process, low conviction rates and fear of harassment by offenders.

© Provided by CBS News India's women revolt against a culture of rape... 02:43

Shahdeen Malik, a senior advocate (lawyer) at Bangladesh's Supreme Court, told CBS News that the conviction rate for rape cases in Bangladesh is less than 3%. He said that is due in large part to the country's police being unable or unwilling to properly gather and handle forensic evidence.

"They're poorly educated and they are not sensitized," said Malik, who represents defendants in cases that reach the high court. "Our police is a male dominated force which doesn't even consider rape a serious crime."

Zillur and Malik, like many others, believe the government isn't focused on fighting the root problem as much as it is easing the pressure from an angry public. They see the death penalty as a knee-jerk reaction to the protests.

Taqbir Huda, a Research Specialist at the Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST), noted to CBS News that under existing Bangladeshi law, the death sentence is already an option for gang-rape or rape-murder convictions.

"So death penalty for Noakhali incident was very much an available option," he said. "The government is trying to give an impression that they're acting tough."

"I won't be surprised if tomorrow the government decides to crack down on the protesters, telling them, 'why protest when we have already met your demands?'" said Malik, the Supreme Court lawyer.
"Rape has become a culture"

Rather than the death penalty, protesters have called for systemic change in the country of 170 million people, where advocacy groups estimate that on average, almost four women are raped every day.

Rights group Ain o Salish Kendra, which keeps a tally of rape statistics in the country, says 975 women have been raped this year already, one fifth of them subjected to gang rape. Government data doesn't list the number of rapes specifically, instead lumping them together with a broad range of crimes against women under the category of "women and child repression."

Huda, the researcher and activist, said some of the key demands to address the problem include a law to protect witnesses; a wider definition of rape that includes marital rape; and government efforts to boost national awareness of the implications of sexual violence.

"We want long term solutions, not a situation where 20 years down the road we will be still protesting on the streets," said Huda.

Protest organizers were to meet Tuesday to plot their next steps to keep pressure on the government. © Provided by CBS News Anti-rape campaigner Meera Sushmita (red shirt) holds a news conference with other student protest leaders in Rajshahi, Bangladesh, 150 miles west of Dhaka, on October 11, 2020.

"The problem is not that we don't have strong laws, the problem is that rape has become a culture in our country," Meera Sushmita, a student who participated in the weekend protests, told CBS News.

"It's so common and normal in Bangladesh for women being blamed for rape," she said. "People believe women are raped because of the way they dress, which is [considered] too modern for this country."

Sushmita, a member of an anti-rape network, is now focused on raising awareness through a public campaign, trying to educate people about consent and the seriousness of rape. She and friends spent Monday painting murals and slogans on walls around Dhaka, trying to get the message across.

Many young women in Bangladesh, including Zilur and Sushmita, have taken hope from the protests and the response to them. Now they're more determined than ever to keep pushing for the kind of change they say could make a real difference.

Belarus threatens to fire on anti-Lukashenko protesters

Belarus on Monday threatened to fire on protesters to break up demonstrations against President Alexander Lukashenko, as EU foreign ministers agreed to impose sanctions personally targeting the strongman leader.

© STRINGER 

Police use water cannons and tear gas on demonstrators Sunday

© Provided by AFP Tens of thousands of opposition supporters were seen in this march last month in the Belarusian capital of Minsk, with many being detained by police.

The use of live firearms would mark a major escalation in the two-month standoff between Lukashenko and protesters, who have staged peaceful rallies against his disputed re-election in August and against the abuse and torture of detainees.

© STRINGER There have been regular demonstrations against Lukashenko since his disputed re-election in August

The warning came after security forces cracked down harshly on anti-Lukashenko protests on Sunday, prompting EU foreign ministers to agree it was time to sanction Lukashenko himself.

Later on Monday, officers used tear gas and stun grenades against a group of pensioners holding a regular protest march, prompting outrage from the opposition.

The protests broke out when Lukashenko claimed victory in August 9 elections over a popular opposition candidate, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who claims to be the true winner.

Belarus's first deputy interior minister Gennady Kazakevich said in a video statement that "we will not leave the streets and law enforcement officers and internal troops if necessary will use riot control equipment and lethal weapons".

© STRINGER Pensioners, once thought to be among Lukashenko's strongers supporters, have joined the protests

Police have so far only acknowledged using water cannon, rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse the protesters.

Kazakevich claimed that protests had become "extremely radical", saying stones and bottles had been thrown at police on Sunday by protesters armed with knives, who built barricades and set fire to tyres.

"This has nothing in common with civil protest," the deputy minister said, claiming that "groups of fighters, radicals, anarchists and football fans" were taking part

- Tear gas for 'grandmothers' -

Belarus was facing attempts to revive the "chaos of the 1990s" and foment the "colour revolutions" that have toppled pro-Kremlin leaders in other ex-Soviet states, he said.

His statement came as police have used some of the harshest tactics yet against protesters.

On Monday, burly men with black balaclavas and batons confronted a crowd of mainly middle-aged and older women carrying placards with slogans such as "the grandmothers are with the people", video footage by Tut.by independent news site showed.

"We deployed stun grenades from an Osa flare gun and fired tear gas when the citizens started to show aggression," Minsk police spokesman Roman Lashkevich told Russia's RIA Novosti news agency.

"Today the regime crossed yet another line," Tikhanovskaya said in a statement, pointing out that older Belarusians had once been seen as Lukashenko's most loyal electorate.

The men were shown spraying from inside their vehicles as protesters angry at the detention of demonstrators threw flowers at them and shouted "Fascists!" and "Cowards!".

Later protesters in Minsk blocked roads and set tyres on fire, as military vehicles drove through the city centre, Tut.by reported.

During Sunday's mass protests, police deployed water cannon and stun grenades in Minsk, detaining more than 700 people across the country, the interior ministry said.

The crackdown ended any expectations that a prison visit by Lukashenko to hold over four hours of talks with critics held in jail at the weekend marked any change in approach.

Two entrepreneurs with links to the opposition who took part in the meeting were moved to house arrest after the talks.

Kazakevich's statement was the first time the authorities have explicitly threatened to use firearms against opposition demonstrators.

But the Nasha Niva independent newspaper on Sunday posted a video in which internal troops appeared to run towards demonstrators while threatening them with guns.

When protests broke out in August, police acknowledged opening fire on protesters in the southern city of Brest, killing one, though it was unclear whether live bullets were used.

They said they acted in self-defence as the men were armed with iron bars, but relatives of the dead man said he had simply been walking along the street.

- Lukashenko sanctioned -

European foreign ministers Monday agreed Lukashenko's name should join a list of 40 of his officials already sanctioned by the EU with travel bans and asset freezes, diplomatic sources said.

The EU had held back from penalising Lukashenko himself, hoping to persuade him to engage in dialogue with opposition forces to resolve the crisis. But the treatment of demonstrators on Sunday proved the last straw.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said earlier that the Belarusian leader should be among those sanctioned as "the violence continues, perpetrated by the Lukashenko regime".

The EU, along with the United States and other countries, has rejected the results of the August 9 election and said it does not regard Lukashenko as the legitimate president.

Lukashenko has been president of his country, wedged between Russia and the EU, since 1994, holding on to power through a combination of strongman tactics and sometimes wily diplomacy.

Analysts say the protest movement is keeping him under pressure but the continued backing of the security forces, and for the moment key ally Russia, is allowing him to stay in power.

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