Meet the Sulfur Miners Risking Their Lives Inside a Volcano
Mt. Ijen, on the island of Java, is one of the most dangerous workplaces on Earth.














PHOTOGRAPH: LARRY LOUIE
Miners collect sulphur on Mt. Ijen on the Indonesian island of Java.

To celebrate his wife’s birthday last year, Canadian photographer Larry Louie took her to a sulfur mine. That wasn’t the plan—their original itinerary was in Bali. But after a couple of days in that tourist-plagued paradise, they began looking for something a little less commercialized. A bit of online research led Louie to the sulfur mines of the dormant Mt. Ijen on the nearby island of Java. Famous for their electric-blue fire (created by the spontaneous combustion of subterranean gasses) and toxic yellow smoke, the mines would make an interesting photography project, Louie thought.

His wife agreed, so the couple packed their bags, booked a flight to Java, and hired a local guide to take them to the sulfur mine. They started climbing Mt. Ijen in the middle of the night and reached the summit just before dawn in order to see the blue flames. As the sun rose, they descended into the vast volcanic caldera, which emits billowing clouds of sulfur from hundreds of cracks in the earth. Ceramic pipes placed by miners in the caldera floor direct some of the smoke toward collection points, where the superheated gas instantly turns into a solid, forming dripping yellow stalactites.

These stalactites are what the workers mine. Using picks, they chip off chunks of sulfur, place them in reed baskets, and carry them up to the top of the crater, where they are loaded into wheelbarrows for the trip down the mountain. (Sulfur is used in cosmetics, explosives, and agricultural products.) Louie learned from his guide that workers spend 12-hour shifts dodging plumes of poisonous smoke (with many protected only by rags tied around their mouths) while carrying up to 180 pounds of sulfur on their backs. With temperatures reaching 100 degrees Fahrenheit and a pervasive smell of rotten eggs, it’s one of the most dangerous and unpleasant jobs on earth—but pays $12 a day, a relatively high salary for that part of Indonesia.

Louie’s guide provided him and his wife with gas masks, but they were too clogged to be useful. This became a problem when Louie insisted on getting as close as possible to his subjects. After three hours of shooting, he nearly passed out from all the toxic smoke. “I got a little dizzy and was losing my eyesight a little bit,” he says. “Fortunately my wife saw me and she yelled to the guide to get me out of there.” They eventually made the decision to end the expedition early and descend the mountain. Louie had hoped to return the next day to shoot more photographs, but he felt too sick to make another climb.

Louie has photographed people working in some of the world’s most extreme environments, including a Bangledeshi garbage dump, an Indian jute mill, and a Moroccan tannery. But few workers labor under conditions as difficult as the sulfur miners on Mt. Ijen. “I’ve always been interested in highlighting the strength of people and the struggles of workers around the world,” he says.

He’d like to return to Mt. Ijen someday—but this time, perhaps, with a functioning gas mask.

Images from the series “Devil’s Gold” are included in Louie’s book Beyond the Darkness, which was shortlisted for the 2019 Lucie Photo Book Prize.

Talking Pictures | The Blue Lava of Indonesia

Photographer and filmmaker Reuben Wu narrates a selection of his images documenting the amazing blue 'lava" that flows across the sulfurous landscape of Kawah Ijen Crater on Java, Indonesia.

MYSTERY POOL OF BOILING WATER INSIDE HAWAII VOLCANO CRATER COULD END UP BEING OVER 200 FEET DEEP

BY HANNAH OSBORNE ON 9/2/19 AT 10:20 AM EDT


A pool of water that appeared inside a crater at Hawaii's Kīlauea volcano is growing and could end up being more than 200 feet deep. Scientists do not know where the boiling water filling the Halema'uma'u crater is coming from—but they say it could relate to the eruptions of 2018, when there were several collapse events at the volcano.

The green pool was first spotted at the end of July after a helicopter collecting data on the volcano flew over the crater. An image from the trip showed a green patch at the base that looked like water. The presence of this could not be confirmed from the single image—and there had never been any written observations of water from inside Halema'uma'u, so its presence would be "unusual," Hawaii Volcano Observatory (HVO) scientist emeritus Don Swanson said at the time.

Since it was first seen, scientists with HVO have been observing the pool. Initially, it was about the size of a pick-up truck, but the water level has been going up. "For the last month, since the water was first observed, the water level has been steadily rising, so we strongly suspect that it will continue to rise," Jim Kauahikaua, a geophysicist with the HVO, told Newsweek.
The water at the bottom of the Halema'uma'u crater. HVO scientist Jim Kauahikaua said the water could end up being over 200 feet deep.HVO

Halema'uma'u is an active crater within the Kīlauea volcano—the most dangerous volcano in the U.S., according to the 2018 United States Geological Survey (USGS) National Volcanic Threat Assessment. Last year, there was an eruptive event at Kīlauea that started in May and only ended in August. Over this time, more than 13 square miles of land was covered in lava flows, with hundreds of homes destroyed.

A study into the eruption later revealed it was the biggest for 200 years, with a structural failure at the Pu'u O'o volcanic cone forcing magma out and along the rift zone. This, they found, acted as a catalyst for the eruptions that followed.

At the start of 2018, the Halema'uma'u crater was filled with lava. However, as the eruption at Kīlauea continued, this drained away, with collapse events taking place until August 2.
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Kauahikaua said that while they are not sure where the water is coming from, it appears to be related to the 2018 eruption. "Evidence so far is pointing toward the lake being part of a rising water table, possibly rebounding from being depressed by the collapse events of 2018," he said.

The pool is extremely hot, with steam seen rising from the surface of the water. "We got a temperature of about 70C (160F) using a thermal camera but that is probably a minimum due to atmospheric absorption of thermal energy between the lake and the camera," Kauahikaua said.


Explaining what they expect to happen with the pond, he said: "If this is groundwater, then it will rise to an equilibrium level about 70 meters (230 feet) above the bottom of the pit."

Scientists with HVO are continuing to monitor the crater and its newly formed pond. There is a webcam watching it and researchers are now making direct observations from the rim of Halema'uma'u. "If it is groundwater, then it is probably part of the recovery of the water table at the summit of Kīlauea volcano," Kauahikaua said. "The presence of surface water interacting with rapidly rising magma during the next eruption may lead to minor explosions; however, these are not expected to increase the hazard to the public at this time."

The Halema'uma'u crater from the rim. 
At the start of 2018, the crater was filled with lava.HVO

UNUSUAL UPLIFT AT YELLOWSTONE VOLCANO WAS CAUSED BY MAGMA RISING UP DEEP BENEATH THE SURFACE, STUDY FINDS
BY HANNAH OSBORNE ON 3/12/20

In 2013, an area of the Yellowstone supervolcano started rising at an unusually high rate. Over the next two years, it rose by over 5.9 inches per year—the highest rate of uplift ever recorded inside the caldera. What was behind this was unknown.

Now, scientists have said this unusual period of ground deformation was the result of magma intrusion deep below the Norris Geyser Basin area. When magma rises, it pushes the rock above it up.

In a study published in the Journal of Geological Research-Solid Earth, researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) looked at the event and found magma rising under the Basin was behind the uplift.

Their study, published in January, has been highlighted by the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (YVO) in its weekly column, The Caldera Chronicles.

Ground deformation at Yellowstone is normal, with the land swelling, sinking and cracking as a result of the magma, fluids and gas moving around beneath it. It is normally only a few inches per year and can only be detected with sensitive instruments. Studying deformation allows scientists to monitor the volcano for any changes beyond the normal background movement, which may suggest something is happening deep beneath it.

The period of uplift at Yellowstone over 2013 and 2014 came to an abrupt end when a magnitude 4.9 earthquake hit the area. At this point, uplift switched to subsidence, and the ground started to sink. Uplift started again in 2016 and continued until the end of 2018. It now appears to have paused.

By analyzing GPS and radar data, researchers say this unusual ground deformation was likely the result of deep magma intrusion beneath the Norris Geyser Basin between 1996 and 2001. This was followed by the "volatile ascent and accumulation" at a level possibly just a few hundred meters (about 600 feet) below the surface. The magma that rose beneath the Basin appears to have got shallower between 2014 and 2016.

"Frequent eruptions of Steamboat Geyser since March 2018 are likely a surface manifestation of this ongoing process," they wrote. "Hydrothermal explosion features are prominent in the Norris Geyser Basin area, and the apparent shallow nature of the volatile accumulation implies an increased risk of hydrothermal explosions."

Steamboat Geyser, the tallest currently active geyser in the world, broke its own record for eruptions in 2019, producing 48 over the course of last year—16 more than the previous record set in 2018. Researchers say the shallow magma under the Norris Geyser Basin may suggest there is an increased risk of hydrothermal explosions in the area.

Dan Dzurisin, one of the study authors, wrote about the research in The Caldera Chronicles. He said the magma intrusion two decades ago appears to have set the stage for all the deformation recorded.

"Modeling...suggests the 1996–2004 uplift was caused by an intrusion of magma about 14 km [8.7 miles] beneath Norris," he wrote. "When magma intrudes the crust it cools, crystallizes, and releases gases that had been dissolved in the melt. Gas escape lowers pressure in the magma, causing the surface to subside... But rising gases can become trapped under an impermeable layer of rock, causing the kind of rapid uplift seen at Norris from late 2013 until the [magnitude] 4.9 earthquake in March 2014.

"It seems likely the quake created microfractures that allowed gases to escape upward again, resulting in subsidence that ended in 2015. The third uplift episode from 2016 to 2018 suggests rising gases became trapped again, this time at a slightly shallower depth."

He said this activity was common, so there is no reason to be concerned. "For the first time, we've been able to track an entire episode of magma intrusion, degassing, and gas ascent to the near-surface. For those in the know, like you, that's awesome—not alarming."

The Norris Geyser Basin area. Researchers say uplift in the area in the last decade is the result of magma rising beneath the ground. ISTOCK



YELLOWSTONE VOLCANO'S STEAMBOAT GEYSER SMASHED RECORD FOR ERUPTIONS IN 2019

BY HANNAH OSBORNE ON 1/7/20

The Steamboat geyser at Yellowstone Volcano smashed the record for the number of eruptions in a single year over 2019. In its monthly update of activity, the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (YVO) confirmed there were 48 eruptions last year. That's 16 more than the previous record set in 2018, when there were 32 eruptions at Steamboat.

Steamboat is the world's tallest currently active geyser. It has two vents, with the north one producing the highest water columns—up to around 300 feet into the air. Eruptions at Steamboat do not take place at regular intervals, and sometimes it does not erupt for decades. In 1961, it erupted for the first time in 50 years. It also experienced "quiet periods" during the 1990s and late 2000s, National Park Service notes. In this time, there were years between single eruptions.

What is behind the uptick in eruptions over 2018 and 2019 is not known. "There don't appear to be any obvious changes in the geyser, at least in terms of surface activity," Mike Poland, the scientist-in-charge at YVO told Newsweek. "For subsurface activity, we're hoping to learn more from some seismic deployments that happened in 2018 and 2019."

Poland said that by comparing seismic sensors placed around the geyser over the last two years should help researchers work out if anything has changed over time—but the huge amount of data collected will take time to analyze.

"A preliminary look suggests that Steamboat has a plumbing system that is more complex and deeper than that of Old Faithful, which might be a reason for the different (taller) eruption style, and also the reason that Steamboat eruptions cause nearby Cistern Spring to drain," he said.

"But we'll have to await a more thorough analysis for the final results. Steamboat, and many other geysers, do this sort of thing from time to time—they erupt a lot and then almost not at all. Giant is another good example. That one was very active in 2018, but basically went back to sleep in early 2019.

"Steamboat, of course, is very interesting, and I would like to take advantage of the frequent eruptions to continue to learn more. At some point, this cycle of activity will stop, and the geyser will go back to sleep. When that happens, our window for learning more about this interesting geyser will effectively end," Poland said.

The graphic below, provided by Statista, illustrates the number of Steamboat Geyser eruptions over the decades.

The number of Steamboat Geyser eruptions broke the record in 2019.STATISTA

2019 also saw fewer earthquakes at Yellowstone than normal. The YVO said that over the year, there were 1,217 earthquakes, which is "well below the annual average of 1,500-2,500 earthquakes." There was also "no significant uplift" in the area for the first time in several years. Earthquake activity at the volcano varies over time, and the level recorded was all part of the normal fluctuations.

Over the coming year, researchers are planning to deploy more seismic equipment and GPS instruments as part of projects to study the volcano, Poland said. "There are hopes to do more research into hydrothermal areas, and specially Norris Geyser Basin," he added. "So we'll start making plans for that, working with the Park to see what might be possible."

An eruption at Steamboat geyser in Yellowstone National Park.

 Steamboat broke its record for the number of eruptions in

 a year in 2019.

JIM PEACO/YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK VIA GETTY IMAGES

This article was updated to include an infographic.

Native American tribes brace for coronavirus: 'It's going to be a test'


Erik Ortiz, NBC News•March 15, 2020

The normal sound of students shuffling through the hall has been replaced by silence at Marty Indian School, a kindergarten to grade 12 facility on the Yankton Sioux Tribe's reservation in South Dakota.

Following in the footsteps of other school officials across the country, Superintendent John Beheler said the decision was made to close Marty Indian on Thursday and Friday ahead of this week's spring break. It comes after an Indian Health Service patient in Charles Mix County, where the school and reservation are, tested positive Wednesday for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, health officials said.

An Indian Health Service official said the person had traveled to a conference in the United States, and others who came into contact with the patient were being tested as well.

"We'll have to start looking at relational ties to the individual and if there are any relatives in attendance in our school," Beheler said.

Even in this sparsely populated prairie land of rolling hillsides and bluffs, the paralyzing effects of the global coronavirus outbreak have hit home.

The tribe on Friday approved a "declaration of disaster," which means its offices will be closed this week for cleaning, while employees are banned from traveling to major cities and states affected by the virus, and the tribe's 9,000 members are being asked to stay away from public gatherings. For students at Marty Indian School, a plan to see the Minnesota Timberwolves play the Los Angeles Lakers this month was abandoned after the NBA announced it is suspending the rest of the season.

"Demographically, we have a situation here that a lot of our kids live with elders and their grandparents, and so we have to take these precautionary measures," Beheler added.

But leaders of Native American tribes across the country acknowledge that it's only a matter of time before they may be thrown into a similar situation as the Yankton Sioux, and have begun banning forms of travel and declaring a state of emergency.

Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez, center. (Navajo Nation)

Most pressing is the need for federal funding that can provide medical supplies and testing kits, said Jonathan Nez, the president of the Navajo Nation, the largest tribal reservation in the United States spanning the corners of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.

"We're asking Congress to intervene to make sure that we get the funding we need," Nez said.

This month, Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., the vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, led a bipartisan group of 27 senators to ask Vice President Mike Pence to ensure all tribal leaders and urban Indian health departments are not left out of the conversation to combat the coronavirus and are provided with the $40 million in funding for their efforts.

The House of Representative's emergency relief package, which is awaiting Senate approval, allocates $64 million to the Indian Health Service to address the coronavirus' impact on the more than 2.5 million American Indian and Alaska Native population the agency services.

The amount, however, still falls short of the $94 million for emergency funding sought by the National Council of Urban Indian Health. But council spokeswoman Meredith Raimondi said it's still an improvement from when Urban Indian Organizations missed out in past emergency funding, such as for the Zika virus.

"Our biggest concern right now is that there's not really a funding mechanism for the CDC to distribute funds to Indian country," Raimondi said, adding that she'd like to see an interagency agreement coordinate funding.

"Because of bureaucracy, it can take a while," Raimondi said.

The majority of Native Americans don't live on a reservation, she added, but many still get health care through Indian health programs.

Udall said the Trump administration's "insufficient response" to COVID-19 could leave Native American communities to "bear the worst costs of this public health crisis." He told NBC News that his office is in contact with federal agencies to make sure funds are dispersed swiftly, there's a funding release timeline and that coronavirus testing is accessible in Indian country.

On Wednesday, Udall introduced a bill that would allow tribes to apply directly to the CDC's public health emergency preparedness program, which provides states and some cities access to federal resources meant for getting them ready for public health emergencies. Tribes are currently ineligible.

"Tribal communities face unique challenges in responding to public health threats, and we need to do everything we can to make sure that Native Americans don't get left behind," Udall said.

The potential spread of the coronavirus on reservations is compounded by already existing disparities affecting the Native American population, including barriers to accessible health care, poor health, unemployment and generational poverty.

In 2017, the chairman of the Yankton Sioux Tribe, Robert Flying Hawk, testified before the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs about how the closing of inpatient care at an Indian Health Service hospital and the shuttering of a 24-hour emergency room had created hardships for his community.

A series of extreme weather events that devastated South Dakota last year and affected reservations, including the Yankton Sioux, exposed how difficult it was for tribes to get federal funding.

The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, home to the Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, was in a state of emergency a year ago because of the extreme flooding.

On Tuesday, Oglala President Julian Bear Runner declared a state of emergency because of the coronavirus. He said the tribe had still not received any testing kits from the federal government.

"Who knows how long we will be walking with this disease and not be able to properly diagnose that, quarantine and treat those who have been affected," he told the Argus Leader. The tribe has also banned travel for tribal employees.

As of Saturday, South Dakota reported one death related to the coronavirus: a man in his 60s with underlying health conditions.

News

In an email, Indian Health Services told NBC News that all of its facilities are capable of testing patients for COVID-19 at no cost. After the case in Charles Mix County, the agency added that it is "working closely with [South Dakota] to identify anyone else in the community who has been in close contact with the patient and may need to be tested."

In eastern Oregon, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation had to temporarily close its casino last week after an employee contracted the coronavirus. Tribal officials said there were no known cases involving tribal residents.

The Navajo Nation has also declared a state of emergency, although there were no confirmed cases of the coronavirus on the reservation as of Saturday. Some residents have been tested, but the testing was done through state health departments, not through Indian Health Service, which could reach more people.

Nez said his COVID-19 Preparedness Team is monitoring the states and counties within the reservation and community health representatives have been going door to door to check on the elderly and other vulnerable people. At least 30 to 40 people have been tested, with drive-up testing also available in New Mexico.

To get the word out to more people, tribal leaders announced the translation of COVID-19 into the Navajo language: Dikos Ntsaaígíí-Náhást'éíts'áadah.

The Navajo Nation is susceptible to the spread of the virus as a popular tourist destination and the home of four casinos, Nez said. Arizona has tracked at least 12 coronavirus cases, while New Mexico has had at least 10.

The reservation dealt with its own outbreak in 1993 of the hantavirus, a severe pulmonary disease spread by rodents. The mortality rate for the Navajo was 44 percent, higher than the general population, according to a 2016 federal government report.

"It's going to be a test," Navajo member Vernon Livingston, 38, said of the response to the latest outbreak.

Livingston, who lives on the reservation near Window Rock, Arizona, said the news of the coronavirus has sent people panic-buying toilet paper and food at markets. While he applauds the community health representatives and tribal leaders with making sure residents understand the coronavirus, Facebook remains the common way for people to share what's going on.

He worries about the stigma of dealing with illness and some people seeking the use of medicine men and local traditionalists with warding off a new disease that currently has no vaccine.

"If people start getting sick, us Navajos will think of how we're going to fix it," he added. "A lot of us Navajo men can be really stubborn about going to the hospital — we think, we'll stay home and fight it. But this is something different."

Pope prays at Great Plague church as Italy toll mounts

MORE THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS FOR CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
AT LEAST THE POPE PICKS AN APPROPRIATE VENUE, PRAYING THE 

GREAT BUBONIC PLAGUE AWAY WAS REALLY EFFECTIVE.

Dmitry ZAKS, AFP•March 15, 2020



The 83-year-old pontiff's unannounced visit to a church with a crucifix from the times of the Great Plague came with Italy's hospitals running out beds (AFP Photo/-)


Rome (AFP) - Pope Francis left Vatican City on Sunday to pray in a Rome cathedral for coronavirus victims as Italy's death toll hit a one-day high of 368.

The 83-year-old pontiff's unannounced visit to a church with a crucifix from the times of the Great Plague came with Italy's hospitals running out beds and the entire nation of 60 million under effective lockdown.

Only occasional joggers and a few locals carrying grocery bags could be seen on the streets of Rome in what has fast become Italy's biggest crisis in several generations.

Official data showed the number of fatalities in the Mediterranean country shooting up by 368 to 1,809 -- more than half of all the fatal cases recorded outside China.

The Vatican took the drastic step of cancelling Easter week celebrations that were set to begin on April 5 as the country braced for the worst.

Pope Francis has been suffering from a cold for more than two weeks and communicating with the world's 1.3 billion Catholics via livestream.

But the Vatican said the pontiff appeared at Rome's Santa Maria Maggiore basilica and then walked "on foot, as if on a pilgrimage" to the San Marcello al Corso church.

It explained that the pope selected the church because it holds a "miraculous crucifix which, in 1522, was carried in procession through city districts" to mark the end of the Great Plague.

The pope prayed for "the end of the pandemic that affects Italy and the world, imploring for the healing of the many sick, and remembering the many victims," the Vatican said.

- 'Getting worse' -

Milan's Lombardy region governor Attilio Fontana said the situation in areas around the Italian financial hub was only "getting worse".

"We are close to the point where we will no longer be able to resuscitate people because we will be out of intensive care unit beds," Fontana told Italy's Sky TG24 channel.

"We need those machines (doctors) use to ventilate lungs, artificial respirators that unfortunately we cannot find," Fontana said.

The Lombardy region has recorded 1,218 of the Italian deaths officially attributed to COVID-19 over the past three weeks -- more than the rest of Europe combined.

The region of 10 million -- slightly smaller but more economically productive than neighbouring Switzerland to the north -- also has 13,272 reported infections and 767 people in intensive care.

Milan mayor Beppe Sala said he had managed to secure shipments of surgical masks from China to help cover a growing shortage.

"Milan has always had excellent relations with the main Chinese cities and I made a few phone calls over the past few days in search of masks," the Milan mayor said.

"The first shipment arrived (Friday) and we will now distribute them to doctors, to our staff."

The European Commission also announced the imminent delivery of one million masks from Germany.

Yet the situation remained critical despite Lombardy enjoying a world-class healthcare system that has been praised by the World Health Organization for years.

- Curfew warning -

The governor of Venice's Veneto region to the east also called on "everyone to remain in isolation" to avoid putting hospitals under further strain.

"If you do not follow the rules, the healthcare system will crash and I will have to impose a curfew," Veneto governor Luca Zaia warned.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte insisted on Sunday that his government was paying "maximum attention" to the situation in the north.

His government put the finishing touches to a new crisis plan that reportedly includes family relief measures such as parental leave pay and help for the self-employed.

The government said it was also in discussion with banks about a suspension of some family mortgage payments.

Satoshi Uematsu: Japanese man who killed 19 disabled people sentenced to death

DON'T HANG HIM, KEEP HIM ALIVE AS JAPAN'S SHAME FOR ITS TREATMENT OF THE DISABLED. HANGING HIM IS A COVER UP PF THE SOCIAL HYGIENIC EUGENICS OF JAPANESE SOCIETY.


BBC•March 16, 2020

Satoshi Uematsu when he was detained in 2016

A Japanese man has been sentenced to death for a stabbing rampage in 2016 which resulted in the death of 19 disabled people at a care home.

Satoshi Uematsu said people with disabilities who were unable to communicate well had no human rights, said broadcaster Kyodo.

The 30-year old had once worked in the care facility, located near Tokyo.

The case is one of Japan's worst mass killings and has shocked people in a country where violent crime is rare.

In an earlier interview with Japan's Mainichi Shimbun newspaper, Uematsu had said there was "no point in living" for people with mental disabilities and that he "had to do it for the sake of society".

The Yokohama District Court on Monday ordered him to death by hanging.

Uematsu previously said he did not plan to appeal against any verdict or sentence.
'He abused marijuana'

MARIJUANA DOES NO SUCH THING, ITS AN EXCUSE FOR SOCIALLY SANCTIONED 

MASS MURDER DUE TO JAPAN'S EUGENIC ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE DISABLED

During the trial earlier this year, the former employee of the Sagamihara care home did not dispute that he stabbed his victims.

But his defence team pleaded not guilty, citing their client's mental state. They said he had been under the influence of drugs at the time.

"He abused marijuana and suffered from mental illness," his lawyer said.

"He was in a condition in which either he had no capacity to take responsibility or such a capacity was significantly weakened."

There were traces of marijuana found in his blood after the attack.

Prosecutors though insisted Uematsu was mentally competent and that the rampage was "inhumane" and left "no room for leniency".

Uematsu in court - he now has long black hair tied in a ponytail

The attack has also raised the issue of how disabled people are treated in Japan.

The identities of most of those killed have not been revealed by their families, reportedly because they do not want to reveal they had a disabled relative.

Before the start of the court hearing, however, one mother whose 19-year old daughter was killed in the attack revealed that her first name was Miho.

"Even the most extreme penalty is light for you," the mother said according to public broadcaster NHK. "I will never forgive you."

"Please bring back my most precious daughter... you're still alive. It's not fair. It's wrong. I demand capital punishment," she added.
What happened during the attack?

On 26 July 2016, Mr Uematsu drove to the Tsukui Yamayuri-en care facility outside of Tokyo, armed with several knives.

He entered one of the buildings by breaking a window and began attacking sleeping residents one by one in their rooms, according to the prosecution.

His 19 victims were aged between 19 and 70, according to Japanese news agency Kyodo. Another 25 people were wounded, 20 of them seriously.

Soon after the attack, Mr Uematsu handed himself in at a police station.

The facility, set in extensive grounds, had about 150 residents at the time of the attack, according to local officials. Nine staff members were on duty at the time.

It later emerged that a few months before the attack Mr Uematsu had taken a letter to Japan's parliament saying he would kill 470 severely disabled people if authorised.

"I want Japan to be a country where the disabled can be euthanised," he said.
He was subsequently taken to hospital but released after two weeks. Since his arrest, he had shown no remorse.

Japan man faces verdict in murder of 19 at disabled care home

Natsuko FUKUE, AFP•March 15, 2020

Yokohama (Japan) (AFP) - A Japanese court hands down its verdict Monday in the case of a man accused of murdering 19 disabled people at a care home in 2016, in one of the country's worst mass killings.

Satoshi Uematsu, a former employee at the facility, does not dispute his involvement in the grisly stabbing rampage that shocked Japan where violent crime is rare. He faces the death penalty if convicted.

His lawyers have entered a plea of not guilty, arguing the 30-year-old was suffering a "mental disorder" linked to his use of marijuana.

But prosecutors say Uematsu was capable of taking responsibility for the attack at the Tsukui Yamayuri-en centre in Sagamihara town outside Tokyo and should be executed for his crimes.

The rampe was "inhumane" and left "no room for leniency", prosecutors argued last month.

Uematsu's behaviour in court, including apparently trying to put something in his mouth, disrupted proceedings in the first hearing in January, with the judge calling a recess and then resuming without him.

He faces six charges including murder and has reportedly said he will not appeal whatever decision the court hands down.

But he has also defended himself, arguing his actions do not deserve the death penalty.

Uematsu has reportedly said he wanted to eradicate all disabled people in the horrifying attack that also left 26 people wounded.He turned himself in to police after the assault, carrying bloodied knives.

It later emerged he had left his job at the home just months earlier and had been forcibly hospitalised after telling colleagues he intended to kill disabled people at the centre.

Uematsu had been discharged after 12 days when a doctor decided he was not a threat. He had also written a letter outlining plans to attack the home, claiming "disabled people only create unhappiness".

- 'I will never forgive you'-

Among the few victims to be identified publicly was a 19-year-old woman, Miho, whose mother had said at the court that Uematsu "didn't need a future".

"I hate you so much. I want to rip you apart. Even the most extreme penalty is light for you. I will never forgive you," her mother said, according to public broadcaster NHK.

"Please bring back my most precious daughter... You're still alive. It's not fair. It's wrong."

"I demand capital punishment," she added.

Uematsu has shown no remorse for the attack, telling Japan's Mainichi Shimbun daily that people with mental disabilities "have no heart", and for them "there's no point in living".

"I had to do it for the sake of society," he said.

Uematsu's beliefs shocked Japan, with experts and activists raising questions about whether others might hold similar views.

Japan has been making efforts to increase accessibility -- particularly in Tokyo ahead of this year's Paralympic Games -- and activists hailed last year's election of two disabled lawmakers.

But some critics feel the country still falls short of fully integrating people with disabilities.

Five dead in fire at Petronas-Aramco refining complex in Malaysia

A. Ananthalakshmi

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - A fire killed five people at an oil refining complex in southern Malaysia owned by Petronas and Saudi Aramco commercial operations this year.

It was the second fire in less than a year at the $27 billion Pengerang Integrated Complex (PIC) in Malaysia’s southern state of Johor.

The massive project includes a refinery, which will process around 300,000 barrels per day of crude oil when fully operational, and petrochemical plants with annual production capacity of 3.3 million tonnes.

Petronas [PETR.UL] and Saudi Aramco each have a 50% stake in the PRefChem joint venture, which owns and operates the refinery and some petrochemical plants at PIC.

The Johor state fire and rescue department said the fire and a blast occurred on Sunday night at the diesel hydro treater unit, which was removing sulfur from raw diesel using hydrogen gas.

Other than the fatalities, one person has suffered burns, the fire department said, adding that the cause of the fire was under investigation.

Pengerang Refining and Petrochemical (PRefChem), the joint venture, said a thorough investigation was ongoing and that it was cooperating with authorities.

“The emergency response team is working closely with the relevant authorities and the situation is under control and the site is shut down,” it said in a statement.

It also confirmed the five deaths and the injury.

In April 2019, an explosion and fire occurred at the plant’s atmospheric residue desulphurisation unit (ARDS), a unit that removes sulfur from fuel oil, which is then used to produce gasoline. There were no casualties then.

The ARDS has been scheduled for operation by mid-2020, and full commercial operations for PRefChem was targeted for the second half of 2020.

Malaysia’s Pengerang peninsula sits between the Malacca Strait and the South China Sea, through which almost all the Middle East oil and gas bound for northern Asia’s industrial powerhouses of China, Japan and South Korea is shipped.

The PIC project is state energy firm Petronas’ biggest investment in Malaysia.

Saudi Aramco came on board in 2017, agreeing to pump in $7 billion in its biggest downstream investment outside the kingdom. It also agreed to supply up to 70% of the crude feedstock requirement of the refinery.

Crowded, poor South Asia sees steady rise in coronavirus cases

KARACHI/KABUL (Reuters) - Health authorities across South Asia reported rising tallies of coronavirus cases on Monday, raising the prospect of rapidly spreading outbreaks overwhelming poor medical facilities in a region that is home to a quarter of the world’s people.

South Korean soldiers in protective gear make their way while they disinfect buildings downtown, following the rise in confirmed cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Daegu, South Korea, March 15, 2020. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

South Asia has been relatively lightly hit by the virus compared with neighbors to the east, like China and South Korea, and to the west like Iran and parts of Europe.

But measures that have reined in epidemics in China, where the coronavirus emerged late last year, and South Korea are unlikely to work in poor, crowded parts of South Asia, health officials say.

“As compared to developed countries like the United States and China it will be difficult to (enforce) social distancing, especially in slum areas,” said Giridhara R Babu, an epidemiologist at the Indian Institute of Public Health in the city of Bengaluru.

“The living environment itself is crowded and it may not be practical to ask them to maintain minimum distance from each other.”

Pakistan recorded a sharp rise in coronavirus cases on Monday, up 40 to 94, according to a Reuters tally of statistics from central and provincial governments.

The majority of new cases were in the southern province of Sindh in patients who had recently traveled from Iran - which has one of the world’s worst outbreaks.

Saeed Ghani, a cabinet minister in the Sindh government, told reporters on Monday existing quarantine facilities in Pakistan’s Baluchistan province on the Iranian border were inadequate, resulting in large numbers of coronavirus cases.

“Out of 100 plus samples, 50 resulted positive, which is a huge number,” he said.

AFGHAN PANIC

Afghanistan saw its tally rise to 21 with the majority of cases in the western province of Herat, which borders Iran and where thousands of Afghans cross back into their home country every day, some after being deported and others to escape a worsening Iranian economy.

Transport costs from the Iranian border to Herat city have quadrupled since the outbreak of the virus, officials said.

“We beg politicians and the central government to take this matter seriously,” said Herat governor Abdul Rahim Qayomi.

“We need food, we need medicines and we need all the basic facilities to be able to handle this problem.”

Afghanistan’s health infrastructure has been devastated by decades of war and a lack of funds and would be hard pressed to mount any sort of concerted action against a coronavirus epidemic.

Matin Noorzai, a wholesaler in the one of the main markets in the Afghan capital of Kabul, said he had seen unprecedented demand and soaring food prices in recent days as worried shoppers stocked up.

“If the situation continues like this, I am sure in the coming week there will be no food left in the market,” he said.


CLOSURES CONTINUE

Elsewhere, Sri Lanka reported a near-doubling of cases to 18 from 10. India’s tally rose to 110, while total cases in the Maldives and Bangladesh rose to 13 and 8, respectively.

New Delhi followed several other Indian states by ordering the closure of night clubs and gyms, and banning gatherings of 50 or more people.

Bangladesh, like other countries in the region, canceled international cricket matches and shut schools until the end of the month.

On Sunday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered $10 million from India to get a regional emergency fund going.


Speaking to fellow South Asian leaders via video conference, Modi said India would also offer rapid response teams and other expertise to deal with the crisis.

Around the world, the coronavirus has infected nearly 170,000 people and killed more than 6,500, according to a Reuters tally of official data.


Reporting by Asif Shahzad in Islamabad, Syed Raza Hassan in Karachi, Pakistan, Abdul Qadir Sediqi in Kabul, Storay Karimi in Herat, Afghanistan, Alasdair Pal in New Delhi, Ruma Paul in Dhaka and Waruna Karunatilake in Colombo; Writing by Alasdair Pal; Editing by Robert Birsel and Giles Elgood

Blinded Chilean student says protests won't end until president steps down

Aislinn Laing 

MARCH 16, 2020

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - A Chilean student who became a lightning rod for broad social unrest after police shot him in the face during a demonstration has said President Sebastian Pinera will never regain the trust of citizens and should step down.

Gustavo Gatica, 22, a Chilean student blinded in both eyes by police rubber bullets in a protest last year, receives lessons by an expert to learn to walk as blind next to his mother and girlfriend at subway station in Santiago, Chile, February 5, 2020. Picture taken, February 5, 2020. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido

Gustavo Gatica, 22, a psychology student at a Santiago university, said Pinera, a conservative billionaire two years into a second term in office, squandered an early window to engage with demonstrators’ complaints of social inequality and elitism when unrest began in October.

Instead, Gatica told Reuters in his first interview since he lost his sight in November, Pinera had said Chile was “at war” with those perpetrating violence and failed to rein in rights abuses by police.

“This unrest could have broken out at any moment because politicians had no idea what people were feeling, they lived in a bubble,” he said.

“The difference is that Pinera declared war, brought soldiers out, there were deaths, shootings. That’s why people remain in the streets, why there is so much violence, because he remains in office.

“His resignation would dial down the tension.”

The protests resulted in at least 31 people killed, 3,000 injured, and 30,000 detained. Prosecutors are probing allegations of abuse made by over 5,000 people against the security forces.

Chile’s human rights watchdog says 445 people suffered eye injuries, primarily due to police tear gas canisters and rubber bullets. Gatica became one of two people blinded in both eyes after he was shot with rubber bullets on Nov. 8.

The end of the southern hemisphere summer vacation and the second anniversary of Pinera’s return to office last week has seen protests surge again.

In response to the protests, Pinera has announced measures to improve pensions, lift the minimum wage, cut hospital waiting lists, and address white collar crime and the price of medicines, as well as agreeing to demands for a referendum on a new constitution.

In a local television interview on Thursday, he renewed his backing for Chile’s police, saying there had been some “excessive use of force” but they had found themselves “overwhelmed” by “unprecedented and organized” violence.

Elected in 2017 with 54% of the second round vote against a leftist candidate, center-right Pinera insisted he would see out his last two years in office, saying: “I was voluntarily chosen by a large majority of Chileans.”

On Wednesday, Gatica was mobbed by well-wishers after he returned to Plaza Italia, the hub of protests in the capital, to join a demonstration.

The same day, police chief General Mario Rozas said the officer responsible for shooting remains on active duty while prosecutors investigate the case. In reference to the case, he told a congressional human rights committee that “all actions were conducted within the law and the rules.”

Gatica said that was proof of a culture of impunity.

“While there is no justice people will continue to go to the streets,” he said. “Justice would be those responsible paying the price in all these cases, not just mine, including going to jail.”


Reporting by Aislinn Laing, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien

Few U.S. shale firms can withstand prolonged oil price war

HOUSTON (Reuters) - For the last five years, U.S. shale oil producers have been battling suppliers for lower costs and running equipment and crews hard to drive drilling costs down by about $20 a barrel.

The oil market rout last week, however, has left most shale firms facing prices below their costs of production. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and major oil producers including Russia have turned on each other to launch a price war that threatens to sink shale companies burdened with higher costs.

The cause of OPEC and Russia’s disagreement was what to do about plummeting oil demand as coronavirus curbs travel and economic activity worldwide. When oil producers failed to agree on coordinated cuts, they abandoned all attempts to keep global markets balanced.

With U.S. crude CLc1 falling 50% this year to near $31 a barrel, only a handful of the hundreds of U.S. shale firms today can profit from their newest wells, according to a Reuters analysis of field-by-field data provided by consultancy Rystad Energy.

Shale producers, most of which budgeted for oil between $55 per barrel and $65 per barrel in 2020, have moved quickly to idle rigs, cut staff and generate cash for expenses. The industry is on the ropes for the second time since 2014, when de facto OPEC leader Saudi Arabia launched the last price war to drive shale producers out of the market.

That effort pushed many shale producers into bankruptcy but ultimately failed because the industry made quick technological advance that drove costs down.

LOWEST COSTS

Just 16 U.S. shale companies operate in fields where the average new well costs are below $35 per barrel, according to Rystad. Among those, Chevron Corp (CVX.N), Devon Energy Corp (DVN.N) and EOG Resources said they plan or are weighing new spending cuts.

The largest U.S. oil producer, Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N), turns a profit at $26.90 per barrel on its New Mexico properties, which are about a quarter of its Permian holdings, according to Rystad. The company declined to comment for this story, but earlier this month said it would slow its development in the Permian Basin, the largest U.S. shale field that spans Texas and New Mexico.

Occidental Petroleum Corp (OXY.N), and privately held CrownQuest Operating, both have costs below $30 per barrel, according to Rystad Energy.

But just covering output costs leaves producers lacking cash for shareholder dividends and corporate costs. Despite Occidental’s low-cost advantage, its shares on Friday traded at $14.26, down about 65% this year over worries it will not be able to shoulder its $40 billion debt load.

In Oklahoma, Continental Resources Inc (CLR.N) can profit below $40 per barrel while EOG. Magnolia Oil & Gas Corp (MGY.N) and Murphy Oil Corp (MUR.N) can withstand the price onslaught in South Texas’ Eagle Ford shale play, according to Rystad.

In North Dakota only six producers can cover costs at that level. In the Permian, a dozen can.

The very few able to cover production costs will lead to a wholesale reduction in industry spending as unprofitable producers stop drilling, say analysts.

Already, producers are asking oil service companies, which supply them with what they need for drilling in the shale patch to cut the price they charge for those services by 25%.

Producers are already working with restructuring firms, hoping to cut deals with creditors, people familiar with the matter said, and others are checking the value of their hedges, a means of locking in prices for future output.

REDOUBLING COST CUTS

“A limited amount of activity will be able to go on,” said Matt Gallagher to Reuters, chief executive of Parsley Energy, who estimates that “activity levels will likely decrease 50% plus.”
FILE PHOTO: A pump jack operates in the Permian Basin oil and natural gas production area near Odessa, Texas, U.S., February 10, 2019. REUTERS/Nick Oxford

Parsley last week led the charge of shale producers pressuring oilfield service firms for price cuts.

Most U.S. shale production is “at risk with the current oil prices,” and new drilling projects are likely “to be put on hold relatively quickly,” said Artem Abramov, head of shale research at researcher Rystad Energy.

(For a graphic on the shale price producers need to cover costs, please click here: tmsnrt.rs/3cUpDwQ)
Parsley Energy is one of the few that can cover its costs with oil in the $30s, according to analysts’ estimates. But, said Gallagher, that is not good enough. “We fully expect that (cost) structure to reduce quickly from here,” he said.

Gallagher plans to cut spending and idle equipment, although the magnitude of the latest price collapse has not allowed him or others to precisely say how much and for how long. It will take six months for service costs to come down, he said.

Competitors are still deciding how deeply they need to go. EOG Resources Inc (EOG.N), one of the largest U.S. shale producers, is “evaluating our activity” and “in the process of finalizing our specific plans,” CEO Bill Thomas said.

Denver-based shale producer SM Energy Co (SM.N) has hedged 80% of this year’s oil production, giving it a guaranteed price of about $55 to $58 per barrel, and does not need to make quick cuts, said Vice President Jennifer Martin Samuels. Still, it is “evaluating the current plan in terms of modifying activity.”

“There are no good answers for the industry in a $30 per barrel environment,” Stephen Richardson, a shale analyst at Evercore ISI, wrote on Thursday in a report titled: “Let’s not fool ourselves, it’s all uneconomic and likely to stay that way.