Lightning in the 'cataclysmic' Tonga volcano eruption shattered 'all records'


By CNN

Jan 8, 2023

When the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano erupted in January 2022, it sent shockwaves around the world.

Not only did it trigger widespread tsunami waves, but it also belched an enormous amount of climate-warming water vapour into the Earth's stratosphere.

Now researchers in a new report have unveiled something else: the eruption set off more than 25,500 lightning events in just five minutes.

READ MORE: Volcanic eruption 'erased everything' - it could happen again



Over the course of just six hours, the volcano triggered nearly 400,000 lightning events. 

The eruption set off more than 25,500 lightning events in just five minutes. (CNN)

Over the course of just six hours, the volcano triggered nearly 400,000 lightning events.
Half of all the lightning in the world was concentrated around this volcano at the eruption's peak.

The "cataclysmic eruption" shattered "all records", according to the report from Vaisala, an environmental monitoring company that tracks lightning around the world.
"It's the most extreme concentration of lightning that we've ever detected," Chris Vagasky, meteorologist and lightning expert at Vaisala, told CNN.

Lightning surrounds Hunga volcano in distinctive ring patterns during the peak of the eruption. Each image shows one minute of lightning detected every 10 minutes between 4.10am and 6am on January 15, 2022. (Supplied)

"We've been detecting lightning for 40 years now, and this is really an extreme event."

The annual report by Vaisala found that 2022 was a year of extremes for lightning. Lightning increased in the US in 2022, with more than 198 million lightning strokes — 4 million more than what was observed in 2021, and 28 million more than 2020.

"We are continuing an upward trend in lightning," Vagasky said.

READ MORE: The Australian cities 'vulnerable' to tsunamis


The World-Wide Lightning Location Network, another lightning monitoring network led by the University of Washington, which is not involved with the report, said Vaisala's findings about global lightning as well as the Hunga volcano are consistent with their own observations.

"We can do this because the stronger eruptions generate lightning, and lightning sends detectable radio signals around the world," Robert Holzworth, the director of the network, told CNN.

In this satellite photo taken by Planet Labs PBC, an island created by the underwater Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai volcano is seen smoking on January 7, 2022. (AP)

When the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano erupted in January 2022, it sent shockwaves around the world. Not only did it trigger widespread tsunami waves, but it also belched an enormous amount of climate-warming water vapour into the Earth's stratosphere. 

(Tonga Geological Services, Government of Tonga.)

"The Hunga eruption was absolutely impressive in its lightning activity."
Researchers have used lightning as a key indicator of the climate crisis, since the phenomenon typically signals warming temperatures.

Lightning occurs in energetic storms associated with an unstable atmosphere, requiring relatively warm and moist air, which is why they primarily occur in tropical latitudes and elsewhere during the summer months.

But in 2022, Vaisala's National Lightning Detection Network found more than 1,00 lightning strokes in Buffalo, New York, during a devastating lake-effect snowstorm that dumped more than 76 centimetres of snow in the city, but piled historic totals in excess of six feet in the surrounding suburbs along Lake Erie.

Lake-effect snow occurs when cold air blows over warm lake water, in this case from the Great Lakes.
The large difference in temperature can cause extreme instability in the atmosphere and lead to thunderstorm-like lightning even in a snow storm.

The report noted that many of these lightning events happened near wind turbines south of Buffalo, which Vagasky said was significant.

He explained that the ice crystal-filled clouds were lower to the ground than usual, scraping just above the blades of the turbines.

"That can cause what is known as self-initiated upward lightning," Vagasky said. "So the lightning occurs because you have charged at the tip of this wind turbine blade that is really close to the base of the cloud, and it's really easy to get a connection of the electric charge."

In this photo supplied by the Royal Australian Navy, a resident of Nomuka Island in Tonga clears debris following the January 15 2022 eruption of the Hunga TongaHunga Ha'apai volcano. (AP)

This is an area of ongoing research, he said, as the country turns to more clean energy alternatives.
"We're seeing bigger and bigger wind turbines, and certainly as we're putting in more and more wind energy and renewable energy, lightning is going to play a role in that," he said.

The report comes after an unusual year in 2021, when they found lightning strokes increased significantly in the typically frozen Arctic region, which scientists say is a clear sign of how the climate crisis is altering global weather.

"Lightning in polar regions wasn't mentioned [in this year's Vaisala report], but our global lightning network shows a trend for much more lightning in the northern polar regions," Michael McCarthy, research associate professor and associate director of the World Wide Lightning Location Network, told CNN.

"That trend closely tracks the observed average temperature changes over the northern hemisphere.
"This close tracking suggests, but does not prove, a climate change effect," McCarthy added.
Vagasky said lightning in colder areas will only amplify as the planet warms, noting that meteorologists and climatologists have been collecting more data to not only make the climate connections clear but also keep people safe.

"That's why they've named lightning as an essential climate variable," he said, "because it's important to know where it's occurring, how much is occurring, and so you can see how thunderstorms are trending as a result of changing climates."

PAKISTAN

Thousands take to the streets in South Waziristan’s Wana against rising terrorism

Dilawar Wazir 

DAWN

Published January 6, 2023


Thousands of people rally in south Waziristan’s Wana against terrorism. — Photo by author

Thousands of people in South Waziristan’s Wana took to the streets on Friday against the recent wave of terrorism and demanded the immediate restoration of peace in the region.

The protest comes as terrorism is again rearing its head in the country, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

Pakistan has seen a rise in terrorist attacks across the country, believed to have been planned and directed by the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leaders based in Afghanistan.

The TTP, which has ideological linkages with the Afghan Taliban, executed more than 100 attacks last year, most of which happened after August when the group’s peace talks with the Pakistan government began to falter. The ceasefire was formally ended on Nov 28 by the TTP.

Yesterday, security forces killed 11 militants, including a key commander of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, in a raid in South Waziristan. Separately, two separate attacks targeting police in Lakki Marwat and Dera Ismail Khan left five officials injured.

As terrorism rears its head, residents across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have taken to the streets, demanding that the government should do more. Yesterday, thousands of people came out for peace in the Bajaur district.

In Wana today, people from all walks of life including political workers, social activists, traders and youth attended the peace march organised. Holding white flags and placards, the participants chanted slogans in favour of peace and against the fresh wave of terrorism in the region, particularly in the tribal districts.

Leaders of PPP, PTM, PML-N and AWP addressed the rally. They said the government was responsible for establishing safety and security in the region, asserting that terrorism was not acceptable at any cost.

The speakers noted that there was an increase in attacks on security personnel in Wana, while ordinary citizens were being kidnapped for extortion.

They complained that the government had failed to control the situation and warned that protests in the area would continue until a police force was constituted to eliminate both the “good and bad Taliban” from the area.

Talking to Dawn.com, Awami National Party leader Ayaz Wazir — who also attended the protest — said no one was safe in Wana, from political leaders to traders, tribal leaders and contractors.

“Today, thousands of people have taken to the streets to demand peace. We won’t sit quietly until the government guarantees peace,” he added.

Meanwhile, North Waziristan lawmaker Mohsin Dawar tweeted that the people of Wana have refused to be “used as cannon fodder and scapegoats in the new great game being imposed on the region”.

“More power to the people of Wana, South Waziristan for their resistance against terrorism,” he added.

Former PSG footballer and Olympic champion Modeste M’Bami dies aged 40 after a heart attack

By Issy Ronald, CNN
Sun January 8, 2023

Modeste M'Bami was part of the history-making Cameroon squad that won gold at the 2000 Olympic Games.

CNN —

Former Paris-Saint-Germain and Cameroon midfielder Modeste M’Bami has died aged 40 after suffering a heart attack, PSG said in a statement on Saturday.

M’Bami won two Coupes de France with the Parisian club, in 2004 and 2006, as well as an Olympic gold medal with Cameroon at the 2000 Sydney Games.

At those Olympics, M’Bami secured his place within Cameroonian footballing history as he scored a “golden goal” in extra time to seal the Indomitable Lions’ victory over Ronaldinho’s Brazil in the quarterfinals.

After beginning his career at Académie Kadji Sport, followed by Dynamo Douala in Cameroon, M’Bami joined PSG in 2003 where he stayed for three seasons.

He then spent three seasons at French side Olympique de Marseille, which was among those paying tribute to the Cameroonian, expressing its “great sadness.”

Tributes flooded in from all corners of the footballing world, including from former teammates and FIFA President Gianni Infantino.

“Such sad news,” Infantino said in an Instagram story underneath a black and white photo of M’bami. “RIP Modeste M’bami.”

M'Bami spent three seasons at Paris-Saint-Germain.Eddy Lemaistre/Corbis Sport/Getty Images

His Cameroonian teammate George Elokobi said on Twitter, “Devastating news. RIP my friend Modeste Mbami, gone too soon. Thank you for your warm welcome and a good roommate.”

“My sincerest condolences and prayers go out to your family and friends. Thank you for all your contributions to the Cameroon National Team.”

As well as his time at French clubs, M’Bami spent time playing at clubs in Spain, China, Saudi Arabia and Colombia before he returned to France to end his playing career at Le Havre in Ligue 2.

After retiring at the age of 35, he went back to Cameroon and organized recruitment days for footballers in Africa.

“We are deeply saddened to hear the passing of the former Cameroonian footballer Modeste M’bami,” the Confederation of African Football said on Twitter.

“All our condolences and thoughts go to his family and friends at this difficult time. May he Rest In Peace.”

Russell Banks, author of Cloudsplitter, dies at 82

8 January 2023, 17:44

Obit Russell Banks. Picture: PA

The award-winning writer was being treated for cancer, his editor said.

Award-winning fiction writer Russell Banks has died aged 82.

The professor emeritus at Princeton University died on Saturday in upstate New York, his editor, Dan Halpern, told the Associated Press (AP).

Banks was being treated for cancer, Mr Halpern said.

American author Joyce Carol Oates, who referred to Banks on Twitter as a great American writer and “beloved friend of so many”, said he died peacefully at home.

“I loved Russell & loved his tremendous talent & magnanimous heart,” Oates said. “’Cloudsplitter’–his masterpiece. but all his work is exceptional.”

Born in Newton, Massachusetts, and raised in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, Banks was a self-styled heir to such 19th century writers as Nathaniel Hawthorne and Walt Whitman, aspiring to high art and a deep grasp of the country’s spirit.

He was a plumber’s son who wrote often about working class families.

He lived part of the year in Florida and for a time had a home in Jamaica, but he was essentially a man of the north, with an old Puritan’s sense of consequences.

Snow fell often in his fiction, whether on the upstate New York community torn by a bus crash in The Sweet Hereafter or on the desperate, divorced New Hampshire policeman undone by his paranoid fantasies in Affliction.

In Banks’s critical breakthrough Continental Drift, published in 1985, oil burner repairman Bob Dubois flees from his native New Hampshire and goes into business with his wealthy brother in Florida, only to learn his brother’s life was as hollow as his own.

“His brother’s strut and brag were empty from the start, and in a deep, barely conscious way, Bob knew that all along and forgave him his strut and brag simply because he knew they were empty. But he had never believed it would come to this, to nothing,” Banks wrote.

Cloudsplitter was his most ambitious novel, a 750-page narrative on John Brown and his improbable quest to rid the country of slavery.

The story long precedes Banks’s lifetime but the inspiration was literally close to home.

Banks lived near Brown’s burial ground in North Elba, New York, and would pass by often enough that Brown “became a kind of ghostly presence”, the author told the AP in 1998.

Cloudsplitter reads like a prequel to Banks’s contemporary works, a summoning of Hawthorne and other early influences.

As remembered by son Owen Brown, John Brown was a haunted man of the Old World whose resolve to free the slaves and punish the enslavers made his face burn like a revivalist preacher’s.

“I was a boy; I was frightened by my father’s face,” Banks’s narrator explains.

“I remember father looking straight into our eyes, burning us with his gaze, as he told us to hear him now. He had determined that he would henceforth put his sins of pride and vanity behind him. And he would go out from here and wage war on slavery. The time has come, he declared, and he wished to join the time in full cry.”

Banks was a Pulitzer finalist for Cloudsplitter in 1999 and had been one 13 years earlier for Continental Drift. His other honours included the Anisfeld-Book Award for Cloudsplitter and membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Two of his books were adapted into acclaimed film releases in the late 1990s: The Sweet Hereafter, directed by Atom Egoyan and starring Ian Holm, and director Paul Schrader’s Affliction, which brought James Coburn an Academy Award for best supporting actor.

More recent works by Banks included the story collection A Permanent Member Of The Family and the 2021 novel Foregone, in which an American filmmaker who fled to Canada during the Vietnam War looks back on his impulsive youth — a background Banks understood from the inside.

His books often told of absent and otherwise failing fathers and Banks’s own father, Earl Banks, was an alcoholic whom the author says beat him as a child and left him with a permanently damaged left eye.

Russell was meant for other worlds, smart enough to have the nickname Teacher in secondary school and become the first of his family to attend college, receiving a full scholarship from Colgate University.

He was an idealist in search of ideals, among countless young people of the 1960s to adopt Jack Kerouac’s On The Road as a kind of Bible. He dropped out of Colgate and drove south with dreams of joining Fidel Castro’s revolutionary army in Cuba, a quest which ended in St Petersburg, Florida.

He was married twice by his early 20s and eventually had four children, endured more than a few bar fights, wrote poetry bad enough that he later wished he had burned it, worked for a time with his father as a plumber back in New Hampshire and resumed his education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

He was in his mid-30s and nearing the end of his second marriage when he published his first story collection, Searching For Survivors, and first novel, Family Life.

By the start of the 1990s, when he turned 50, he was an established author and had settled into a lasting marriage with his fourth wife, the poet Chase Twichell.

“Over the years, I think that I’ve been able to make my anger coherent to myself, and that’s allowed me to become more lucid as a human being, as a writer, as — I hope — a husband, father, and friend,” he told Ploughshares for an interview which appeared in the magazine’s Winter 1993/94 issue.

“It’s very hard to be a decent human being if you’re controlled by anger that you can’t understand. When you begin to acquire that understanding, you begin to become useful to other people.”

By Press Association

Guest Column | Ensure universal basic income to shun populism

Chandigarh News
Published on Jan 09, 2023 

The state should find ways and means to execute the universal basic income (UBI) as a new social contract in a statutory framework for the early development of its human capital and secure its future economic growth

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A PDS shop in India helps in keeping food affordable and accessible to the poor. (HT File photo)

BySuresh Kumar

The current political debate on freebies in the country has created hope for a reduction, if not the elimination, of subsidies. Although proposed by politicians, the freebies, whether as subventions or direct financial assistance, may be contextually relevant and need-based - poverty and hunger or could be an outcome of competitive politics and populism. Economists and sustainability professionals questioned subsidies for being unsustainable, but political policy ambitions prevail even if these are against the planet, people, and economy.

Most of the subsidies in our country aim to cater to the persistent problems of poverty, hunger, and unemployment. The country ranked 107 out of 121 countries in the Global Hunger Index 2022, with its child-wasting rate at 19.1%. As per the World Bank Report (2018), the Human Capital Index (HCI) of India is 0.44, which means that only 44% of children born in the year 2018 can expect to attain productivity in the labour market by the age of 18 years, given the risks of poor health and education that prevail in the country. It is thus losing 56% of its future economic capital with the present level of investments in education (3.8% of GDP) and health (3.4% of GDP). A large segment of our population does not earn a universal basic income (UBI) to provide for the financial requirements for a dignified living, which are, however, not defined at any level and may vary in different contexts and areas.

UBI necessary to achieve social justice

Universal basic income (UBI) means unconditional regular monetary income, payable to all adult individuals. Governments should guarantee a minimum earning to an individual enabling him to the essential goods and a life of dignity. UBI is necessary to achieve social justice, poverty reduction and better education and skills. It reduces the leakage of resources and the burden of compliance and improves efficiency in implementation.

The subsidies or freebies should only be for those who do not earn a basic income. These should be targeted to fill the income gap for the deserving and deprived but should be self-limiting, non-discriminatory, and non-interfering to achieve the long-term goal of the UBI for all. These should enable people to earn their living. However, not all subsidies go to the deserving poor. Free-of-cost water and electricity are examples where even those capable of paying are getting largess from rulers in some states. However, the subsidies to prevent hunger and famines, promote financial inclusion, and skills for self or gainful employment may be difficult to avoid. Food subsidies are nearly global and necessary to keep food affordable and accessible.

Free or subsidised insurance, credit, and pensions for poor, deprived, and incapacitated persons focus on financial inclusion and social security. EGS, RLEGP, NREP, TRYSEM, IRDP, and now NREGA aimed to create local jobs for the poor, illiterate, and unskilled people. The recent efforts on direct cash transfers to small and marginal farmers provide for the income gap.

Need to improve efficacy of systems

However, the existing subsidy programmes have not achieved the stated objectives, with poverty and illiteracy remaining persistent. The political utility of these programmes has also been transient. The lack of transparency, leakages, and sluggish delivery of justice are some of the issues in implementation. These require systemic changes and structural reforms to evolve new social security systems targeted at the UBI. Digital public goods, which are non-excludable and non-rivalrous, such as Aadhar, should be used to improve the efficacy of the systems and programmes.

The debate on freebies started because even the new generation of politicians, expected to be more transparent, pragmatic, and logical, seems to be repackaging populism and using political authority to mobilise funds to garner votes. It did not augur well for the nation, and the traditional politicians, challenged by the new generation, realised the need to contain the rising trends of freebies, commonly referred revdis - traditional sugar candy in north India.

Fits into democratic, socialist edifice of constitution

The leftists who propagate a welfare state prefer direct subsidies to reduce poverty and hasten equity and equality in the country. They feel it will redistribute resources and financially empower people to attain quality education and health. Of course, they prefer the UBI as it is non-stigmatic for being universal and impersonal. The rightists also agree with it as a measure to redistribute wealth, but the capitalists consider subsidies and even the UBI an avoidable burden on national resources. They feel it is a disincentive to work and will promote a work-shy society. Some even say that it will encourage drug abuse and alcoholism. The UBI has, however, been tried successfully in the Gyeonggi Province of South Korea. It was considered a tool for social resilience.


The UBI, as the new social contract, fits into the democratic and socialist edifice of our constitution, which envisages equity and equality for all. Shortage of public resources should not make the poor wait on empty stomachs and allow the rich to avail opportunities created by the growth. The state should find ways and means to execute the UBI as a new social contract in a statutory framework for the early development of its human capital and secure its future economic growth. It should innovate to overcome the constraint of resources and tax the rich for higher carbon emissions and e-commerce at the destination of goods and services. Repurposing the existing subsidies and greater synergy in the education, health, food, and economic policies should lead to new ways to achieve the UBI and shun mere populism.


sureshkumarnangia@gmail.com
The writer is a retired Punjab-cadre IAS officer. Views expressed are personal

Egypt: Apartment building collapse kills at least 4

The New Arab Staff & Agencies
08 January, 2023
An apartment building collapsed in Assiut Egypt on Sunday killing at least four people

Collapsing building are fairly common in Egypt due to poor housing regulations and enforcement [source: Getty]

At least four people were killed on Sunday when an apartment building collapsed in southern Egypt, a senior official said.

Building collapses are common in Egypt, where shoddy construction and a lack of maintenance are widespread in shantytowns, poor city neighborhoods and rural areas.

Rescue teams recovered four bodies from under the rubble of a five-story building in the Qulta neighborhood of the city of Assiut, said the province's Gov. Essam Saad.

He said in a statement that rescuers also recovered two survivors who were taken to a local hospital. Assiut lies some 400 kilometers (250 miles) south of the capital Cairo.

The governor added that authorities had evacuated surrounding apartment buildings, and dispatched bulldozers and other equipment to clear and secure the site.

Egypt: Roof collapse in Alexandria kills two, media says

Footage shared by the governor's office appeared to show rescuers attempting to remove rubble and work through the building's ruins.

By Sunday afternoon, rescue teams were still searching for survivors using bulldozers and diggers to lift debris.

The collapse in Assiut came a day after the roof of a building in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria caved in, leaving two people dead and one injured.

The government has tried to crack down on illegal building in recent years after decades of lax enforcement. Authorities are also building new cities and neighborhoods to rehouse those living in at-risk areas.

But many Egyptian cities still contain entire neighborhoods of unlicensed apartment blocks and shantytowns that don't follow building codes and regulations.

First female Sikh judge in US swears in

Indian-origin Manpreet Monica Singh was born and raised in Houston and now lives in Bellaire with her husband and two children

SHE KEPT HER NAME UNLIKE NIKKI HALEY

Representational image.
Library
PTI | Houston | Published 09.01.23, 09:28 AM

Indian-origin Manpreet Monica Singh has been sworn in as a Harris county judge, becoming the first female Sikh judge in the US.

Singh was born and raised in Houston and now lives in Bellaire with her husband and two children.

She was sworn in as a judge of the Harris County Civil Court at Law No. 4 in Texas on Friday.

Singh's father immigrated to the US in the early 1970s.

A trial lawyer for 20 years, she has been involved in numerous civil rights organizations at the local, state, and national levels.

"It means a lot to me because I represent H-town (a nickname of Houston) the most, so for it to be us, I'm happy for it," she said at the oath ceremony.

Indian-American Judge Ravi Sandill, the state's first South Asian judge, presided over the ceremony, which took place in a packed courtroom.

"It's a really big moment for the Sikh community," Sandill said.

"When they see someone of color, someone a little different, they know that possibility is available to them. Manpreet is not only an ambassador for Sikhs, but she's an ambassador for all women of colour," he said.

There are an estimated 500,000 Sikhs in the US, with 20,000 Sikhs living in the Houston area.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said: "It was a proud day for the Sikh Community, but also a proud day for all people of Colour who see the Diversity of the City of Houston in the Diversity of the Court”.

Chinese police clash with Covid test factory workers after sudden sackings

Daily Telegraph UK

By Louise Watt

8 Jan, 2023 

Chinese police have clashed with hundreds of workers at a Covid test kit factory after a number were suddenly fired and deprived of pay following the lifting of restrictions.

Manufacturer Zybio reportedly sacked workers and deprived others of their wages after the Chinese government abandoned its zero-Covid policy. Protests subsequently erupted in the city of Chongqing in southwestern China, according to footage shared online. There was no immediate comment from Zybio, which makes Covid-19 antigen test kits.

Videos showed people chanting “return our money” and throwing traffic cones, crates, and stools at police with riot shields. Test kits are apparently seen flying out of some of the crates.

Jan 7, at #Chongqing city, #CCPChina, workers clashed with #CCP police whn they protested against their employer, ZY Bio(中元汇吉药厂) ‘s sudden announcement that some 10K employees would be laid off.#ChinaProtests #China #ChinaUprising pic.twitter.com/Ptt1t0qBbg

— Inconvenient Truths by Jennifer Zeng 曾錚真言 (@jenniferzeng97) January 7, 2023

The demonstration over the weekend came as China deals with the consequences of last month’s sudden reversal of a zero-Covid policy that hit the country’s economic growth and led to deep public frustration.

China’s abrupt about-turn followed protests in several cities and universities against its zero-Covid approach.

For much of the past three years, Chinese authorities have tried to stamp out all traces of the virus, through mandatory quarantines, mass lockdowns and frequent testing of millions of people.

Such mass testing has relied on nucleic acid tests, and Chinese antigen test kits – which Zybio produces – have mainly been exported. But after China scrapped mass testing in early December, demand for antigen tests, which can be carried out at home, has soared.

Posts on social media alleged that Zybio had recruited staff in recent weeks, and then suddenly sacked them. The clash between police and protesters took place on Saturday night into Sunday morning, according to multiple social media users. On Sunday, searches for the clash appeared to be censored on the Twitter-like Sina Weibo platform.

Police, who used loudspeakers to tell protesters in the industrial park to “cease illegal activities” according to footage online, declined to comment.

The videos circulated on Sunday as China lifted almost all of its border restrictions, with foreign visitors and returning residents no longer having to undergo expensive and time-consuming quarantine. China also reopened its border with Hong Kong for the first time in three years, with Hongkongers travelling across the border to meet up with family members living on the mainland.

The moves come as China grapples with unprecedented infections and international accusations of a lack of transparency in case numbers, deaths and genetic sequencing data.

On Sunday, China’s National Health Commission reported just over 7,000 new cases and two deaths, even as individual provinces reported as many as one million cases per day.

China is now bracing for a further spread of the virus as the Lunar New Year travel period kicked off at the weekend. The 40-day travel period is traditionally the world’s largest annual migration as people return to their hometowns to celebrate.

Here's What Twitter's Severance Package Looks Like Under Elon Musk

By Danielle Ong
01/08/23 


KEY POINTSThe severance package only gave workers a month's worth of base pay
Workers were not given their prorated performance bonuses
Former employees are being called to forfeit any future stock payouts they are entitled to

Twitter employees who were laid off by new owner Elon Musk have recently received their official severance packages, according to a report.

In November, Musk tweeted that those affected by the job cuts — about three-fourths of the company's 7,500-strong workforce — would receive at least "3 months of severance, which is 50% more than legally required."

The workers, however, only received a month's worth of base pay as severance. Former Twitter employees were not given their prorated performance bonuses. In addition, only a select number of employees received COBRA or funding for health care continuation, Fortune reported, citing the severance materials it has viewed.

"I mean I expected him to f**k us (he did)," a laid-off employee wrote to the outlet. "This is about 1/3 of what he contractually owes us based on his purchase agreement."

In the terms of Musk's deal to purchase the social media platform, Twitter obligated him to provide a severance package "no less favorable" than what was promised by its prior leadership, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

The previous Twitter leadership offered employees at least two months' worth of severance pay as well as prorated performance bonuses, extended visa support, money for healthcare continuation and the cash value of equity that would vest within three months, as reported by the Los Angeles Times.

Apart from the paltry compensation, emails about the severance package are being marked as spam. Twitter employees who received their severance agreements are also being instructed to log in to a domain operated by CPT Group set up about five hours before the emails were sent out.

The domain did not initially bear Twitter's name or logo, causing many to believe it was a phishing scam. The website has since been updated to include Twitter's logo.

To receive the severance compensation, workers are being asked to sign a contract that prohibits them from participating in any lawsuit against Twitter or speaking publicly or to the press about the company, Business Insider reported. The contract also asks former workers to forfeit any future stock payouts they are entitled to, it said.

Gas terminals threaten coastal communities

Gas export terminals are under construction. But they pose health and environmental risks to US Gulf Coast residents.

A flotilla of protesters against new gas terminals in Louisiana | via Carlos Silva for Louisiana Bucket Brigade

BY NICHOLAS CUNNINGHAM, ENERGY TRANSITION CORRESPONDENT, GAS OUTLOOK
JANUARY 9, 2023 


Top gas executives assembled at the Golden Nugget Casino in Lake Charles, Louisiana, U.S., for a multiday conference in early November 2022 to discuss the ‘need’ to build new liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities on the Gulf Coast in light of global energy security concerns. But just outside, a flotilla of fishermen protested the event, demanding a halt to the construction of new gas export terminals.

“We’re here to protect our homes, our livelihoods and our families,” Travis Dardar, an indigenous fisherman and shrimper from Cameron, Louisiana, who led the flotilla, said in a statement. “Companies like Venture Global build these massive gas export terminals that fill our fishing grounds with concrete, poison the seafood in our waters, and make our homes unlivable — and they expect us to just sit there and take it? Hell, no.”

Much of the coastline of Texas and Louisiana is heavily industrialized with petrochemical plants, refineries, ports, pipelines, and crude oil and gas export terminals. The region already has seven LNG export terminals operating, with a handful under construction.

The industry is moving aggressively to try to sign up customers overseas, citing the war in Ukraine as a justification.

But many more are on the drawing board or are actively seeking permits, and the industry is moving aggressively to try to sign up customers overseas, citing the war in Ukraine as a justification.

“I would rather be able to use our energy resources to support the Europeans, than having to ship our sailors, our Marines and our soldiers there,” Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy said at the conference.

Edmund Valantis, an official with the Ministry of the Economy of Latvia, attended the event. “These are challenging times and it’s in our common interest to have discussions and expand the LNG market,” he said.

While packed with toxic industry, the coastline is also rich in wildlife, and has supported a vibrant fishing industry, one that is increasingly under pressure from encroaching fossil fuel facilities. The scramble to build new projects threatens the people and ecosystems on the Gulf Coast, according to residents living in the industry’s shadow.

“This is way more catastrophic than any hurricane,” Dardar said, noting that the destruction of wetlands and waterways for new colossal facilities would be irreversible.

Dardar is originally from the Isle de Jean Charles, an island in the Gulf of Mexico within Louisiana’s coastal wetlands. With the island rapidly disappearing from erosion and sea-level rise, Dardar relocated to southwest Louisiana after taking a voluntary buyout. Now, he lives close to Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass LNG terminal near Lake Charles.

The Calcasieu Pass facility “just start shipping out in February and already the people who live around that area have reported headaches and respiratory distress that they did not have before,” James Hiatt, a former oil and gas worker and current Gulf Coast organizer with Louisiana Bucket Brigade, a grassroots NGO, told reporters on a November 1 2022 press call.

The facility, the most-recent project to come online, has been flaring for nearly 70 percent of the days that it has been operating, according to the Louisiana Bucket Brigade.


“We no longer can allow corporate wealth to be built on our backs, causing illnesses and cancer with no benefits for our communities.

“Louisiana should be one of the richest states in the union. Instead, we are one of the poorest,” Hiatt added. “We no longer can allow corporate wealth to be built on our backs, causing illnesses and cancer with no benefits for our communities.”

He also questioned the logic of LNG in light of the war in Ukraine, noting that building new infrastructure will take several years, which means new projects wouldn’t come online until the second half of this decade. But once online, operators of new gas terminals would intend to run them for decades, exacerbating the climate crisis.

“What happens on the Gulf Coast in the next four or five years, this proposed buildout of gas export terminals, will dictate what happens in the rest of the world,” Hiatt said. “To continue pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere is suicidal and stupid.”

Rio Grande LNG

Further southwest, there is one area of the Gulf Coast that has yet to see gargantuan oil and gas storage tanks, pipelines and export terminals: Brownsville, Texas. Located on the coast at the border with Mexico, the tentacles of the oil and gas industry have not conquered this stretch of coastline.

Instead, dotting the coastline are parks, wetlands, nature preserves, and wildlife refuges, surrounding the delta where the roughly 1,900-mile Rio Grande River empties into the sea. The Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, for example, is home to the endangered ocelot, a wild cat with only a few dozen individuals left.

“We don’t have fossil fuel refineries at the Port of Brownsville on the Rio Grande Valley’s coastline. Three-quarters of the Texas Gulf Coast is packed with industry already — already has flare stacks, tanker ships, regular explosions — but we don’t have that,” Bekah Hinojosa, senior Gulf Coast campaign representative with the Sierra Club, an environmental NGO, told Gas Outlook. “So, this is the first big wave of fossil fuel industry trying to buildout into our community.”

Originally, there were five LNG projects proposed for the Brownsville area, but several of them have been canceled. Now, there are two main projects — Texas LNG and Rio Grande LNG — that are aiming to make final investment decisions before the end of this year and break ground shortly thereafter.

A new report from the Sierra Club, one of the largest environmental NGOs in the U.S., documents the multiple risks from the two LNG projects — threats to public health, indigenous sacred sites, ecosystems and the climate.

“We are on the front lines of border militarization, we’re already experiencing climate disasters like hurricanes and really bad flooding throughout the year. We are an impoverished community of mostly brown folks, mostly indigenous people,” Hinojosa said.

Brownsville is home to Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket launch site, which imposes pollution and explosion risks on nearby communities. Hinojosa scoffed at the idea of placing an LNG terminal in close proximity.

“Putting these two right near each other?” she said, referring to SpaceX and a possible LNG terminal.

 “A flammable disaster waiting to happen.”

Many Brownsville residents and local governments are fiercely opposed to the proposed projects, but the state government largely rubberstamps any new industrial project.

Many Brownsville residents and local governments are fiercely opposed to the proposed projects, but the state government largely rubberstamps any new industrial project, and the federal government in Washington hasn’t served as a check on growth either.

Hinojosa said that realization meant she needed to look overseas for help. She has made connections with activists in Europe to apply pressure on the major European banks that are bankrolling Gulf Coast LNG projects. She teamed up with Irish activists to pressure the Port of Cork to abandon plans for an LNG import terminal. The project was aiming to import gas from Rio Grande LNG in Brownsville. She scored a victory in 2019 when the Port of Cork, under pressure from activists, scrapped the concept.

Hinojosa spoke to Gas Outlook from London, where she was travelling to try to meet with other banks, including Barclays, Credit Suisse and Société Generale. As it stands, Credit Suisse, Société Generale and Macquarie Capital are financially backing LNG projects in Brownsville. A half dozen others, including BNP Paribas and La Banque Postale have backed out.

The Sierra Club report took aim at international financial institutions that are key to greenlighting billion-dollar projects. “Any public official, bank, or investor involved with the two proposed liquefied natural gas terminals: Rio Grande LNG and Texas LNG in the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas faces serious reputational and financial risks,” the report warned.

“We’re yelling at every company and country involved in these facilities to withdraw immediately.

Rio Grande LNG has contracts with a handful of energy companies, including Engie (France), ExxonMobil (U.S), Shell (U.K.) and three companies from China. But it does not have enough buyers to move forward with a final investment decision just yet. Texas LNG, on the other hand, does not have buyers under contract, meaning it is likely further off from greenlighting construction.

“Just last week we were in Switzerland hosting a protest outside of a Credit Suisse bank office. We have a petition with about 2,000 signatures and we asked if we could deliver it and they refused,” Hinojosa said.

“We’re yelling at every company and country involved in these facilities to withdraw immediately.

This article was originally published by Gas Outlook.

This article has been supported by the European Climate Foundation to assist the Gas Outlook Initiative. Responsibility for the information and views set out here lie with the author. The European Climate Foundation cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained or expressed therein.