Seawater seeping into decaying oil tanker off Yemen coast

ECO DISASTER

WAR! WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR?!

PROFIT AND POLLUTION

MAGGIE MICHAEL, Associated Press•June 26, 2020

Houthis Floating Bomb
This satellite image provided by Manar Technologies taken June 17, 2020, shows the FSO Safer tanker moored off Ras Issa port, in Yemen. Houthi rebels are blocking the United Nations from inspecting the abandoned oil tanker loaded with more than one million barrels of crude oil. UN officials and experts fear the tanker could explode or leak, causing massive environmental damage to Red Sea marine life. (Maxar Technologies via AP)

This image provided by I.R. Consilium taken in 2019, shows the external piping system of the FSO Safer and the hose failure that led to a spill, moored off Ras Issa port, Yemen. Houthi rebels are blocking the United Nations from inspecting the abandoned oil tanker loaded with more than one million barrels of crude oil. UN officials and experts fear the tanker could explode or leak, causing massive environmental damage to Red Sea marine life. (I.R. Consilium via AP)

This image provided by I.R. Consilium taken in 2019, shows the deck of the FSO Safer, indicating the lack of basic maintenance for several years, leading to incidental smaller spills, moored off Ras Issa port, Yemen. Houthi rebels are blocking the United Nations from inspecting the abandoned oil tanker loaded with more than one million barrels of crude oil. UN officials and experts fear the tanker could explode or leak, causing massive environmental damage to Red Sea marine life. (I.R. Consilium via AP)

CAIRO (AP) — The United Nations said an abandoned oil tanker moored off the coast of Yemen loaded with more than 1 million barrels of crude oil is at risk of rupture or exploding, causing massive environmental damage to Red Sea marine life, desalination factories and international shipping routes.

Meanwhile, Houthi rebels who control the area where the ship is moored have denied U.N. inspectors access to the vessel. Internal documents obtained by The Associated Press shows that seawater has entered the engine compartment of the tanker, which hasn't been maintained for over five years, causing damage to the pipelines and increasing the risk of sinking. Rust has covered parts of the tanker and the inert gas that prevents the tanks from gathering inflammable gases, has leaked out. Experts say maintenance is no longer possible because the damage to the ship is irreversible.

For years, the U.N. has been trying to send inspectors to assess the damage aboard the vessel known as the FSO Safer and look for ways to secure the tanker by unloading the oil and pulling the ship to safety.

But one European diplomat, a Yemeni government official and the tanker’s company owner said that Houthi rebels have resisted. The diplomat said the rebels are treating the vessel as a “deterrent like having a nuclear weapon.” All three individuals spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the subject with a reporter.

“They do say that openly to the U.N., ‘We like to have this as something to hold against the international community if attacked,'" the diplomat said. “Houthis are definitely responsible for failure of the U.N. to look at the ship.”

Money is also an issue, the diplomat said, adding that the Houthis initially were demanding millions of dollars in return for the oil stored in the tanker. The U.N. is trying to reach an arrangement where money could be used to pay workers and employees at Yemen's Red Sea ports, the diplomat added.


This image provided by I.R. Consilium taken in 2019, shows the internal piping system inside the FSO Safer, moored off Ras Issa port, Yemen. Houthi rebels are blocking the United Nations from inspecting the abandoned oil tanker loaded with more than one million barrels of crude oil. Internal documents obtained by the AP showed that seawater has entered the engine compartment of the tanker, which has been left without maintenance for over five years, causing damage to the pipelines and increasing the risk of sinking. Rust has covered parts of the tanker and the inert gas that prevents the tanks from gathering inflammable gases, has leaked out. (I.R. Consilium via AP)


This image taken in 2019, shows the corrosion on the control piping system inside the FSO Safer tanker, moored off Ras Issa port, Yemen. Houthi rebels are blocking the United Nations from inspecting the abandoned oil tanker loaded with more than one million barrels of crude oil. Internal documents obtained by the AP showed that seawater has entered the engine compartment of the tanker, which has been left without maintenance for over five years, causing damage to the pipelines and increasing the risk of sinking. Rust has covered parts of the tanker and the inert gas that prevents the tanks from gathering inflammable gases, has leaked out. (I.R. Consilium via AP)

This image provided by I.R. Consilium taken in 2019, shows the extent of the corrosion in the boiler system inside the FSO Safer tanker, moored off Ras Issa port, Yemen. Houthi rebels are blocking the United Nations from inspecting the abandoned oil tanker loaded with more than one million barrels of crude oil. Internal documents obtained by the AP showed that seawater has entered the engine compartment of the tanker, which has been left without maintenance for over five years, causing damage to the pipelines and increasing the risk of sinking. Rust has covered parts of the tanker and the inert gas that prevents the tanks from gathering inflammable gases, has leaked out. (I.R. Consilium via AP)

Some experts, however, criticize both the Houthis and the U.N. for failing to fully understand the magnitude of the crisis with the abandoned ship.

Ian Ralby, founder of I.R. Consilium, who specializes in maritime and resource security, told the AP that U.N.’s efforts to send a team to assess the ship is “futile.” What the vessel needs is a salvage team, he said.

“It’s real shame that they wasted so much money and time in this futile operation,” said Ralby. “If you are taking these years to get a simple team to assess, we will not have a second chance to salvage,” he added.

Ralby, who has written extensively about the tanker, told the AP that amid declining oil prices the cost spent on cleaning up the environmental damage from an explosion or leakage will be much more than the millions worth of oil on the ship.

But the Houthis have refused to back down from their demands.

Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, the rebel group's leader, blamed the U.S. and Saudis for not letting the rebels sell the oil, saying in a June 18 Twitter post that any “disastrous consequences ... God forbid,” that could result from the collapse of the vessel will be the responsibility of these two countries.

The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels are in control of the western Red Sea ports, including Ras Issa, 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) from where the FSO Safer tanker has been moored since the 1980s. They are at war with the internationally recognized government, which is backed by a Saudi-led coalition and the United States. President Abed Rabbu Mansour Hadi is in exile in Saudi Arabia and his government in disarray.

The floating tanker is a Japanese-made vessel built in the 1970s and sold to the Yemeni government in 1980s to store for export up to 3 million barrels pumped from oil fields in Marib, a province in eastern Yemen. The ship is 360 meters (1,181 feet) long with 34 storage tanks.

A senior official at the state-owned oil company in charge of the tanker, said because of a shrinking operational budget, which used to be around 20 million dollars a year before the war, the company could no longer afford to purchase fuel needed to run the boilers on the ship. The boilers are needed to power generators that, among other things, keep an inert gas that prevents explosions flowing. The tanker needs 11,000 tons of the fuel, which cost about 8 million dollars each year.

“After the stoppage of the boilers the strong majority of the equipment and the machines of the tanker stopped because they all depend on steam power,” the company official said. That includes the machines that power the ventilation system, which reduces humidity and prevents corrosion, he said.

Since 2015, annual maintenance on the ship has come to a complete halt and most crew members, except for 10 people, were pulled off the vessel after the Saudi-led coalition imposed a land, sea, and air embargo before waging an extensive air campaign to dislodge the Houthi rebels from areas they seized including the capital, Sanaa.

The civil war in Yemen has caused massive destruction in most of the areas under Houthis control. Because of the proximity of the tanker to the contested Hodeida port, fears have grown that a stray shell or bullet could hit the tanker causing massive explosion or oil leak into the Red Sea.

Hodeida was at the center of Yemen’s civil war in 2018 when coalition forces made major advances to take over the vital port, which is considered the life-line of most of northern Yemen, where most of Yemenis live and where the Houthis enjoy full control. A U.N.-brokered peace deal put an end to the offensive but failed to achieve peace or loosen Houthis’ grip over the ports.

Over the past two years, the Yemeni government in exile, the U.N., and western diplomats have been sounding the alarm and putting pressure on Houthis to secure the tanker. The rebels initially agreed to let inspectors examine the tanker but later backtracked.

Top Houthi leaders often expressed cynicism toward the international community warnings.

“The life of the shrimps is more precious than the life of Yemeni citizen to the U.S. and its allies. Is this because they care about their naval ships or the Israeli presence in the Red Sea?” wrote Mohammed Ali al-Houthi in a May 25 Twitter post. “Why is Safer more dangerous than the siege and the assault of the American, British, Saudi, Emirati and their allies on the people?” he added in reference to the US-backed, Saudi-led coalition targeting the rebels in Yemen.

Yahia Sharaf Eddin, the deputy head of Yemen Red Sea Ports Corporation, defended the Houthis rebels and told the AP that the group had instructed port authorities to assist U.N. inspectors. He said it was the Saudi-led coalition that refused to give the U.N. a green light to board the decaying tanker.

The more delays in reaching a solution to the vessel, the more dangers it poses, Sharaf Eddin said.

A recent internal government memo obtained by the AP shows that earlier this month a diving team was dispatched by the state-run oil company that owns the tanker to seal holes in the ship that have allowed seawater to leak into the engine room.

The divers were able to make repairs, but it remain unclear if the work will hold, according to the July 13 report.

“We believe that the plugs/seals that were installed to prevent the entry of seawater into the engine room space will not withstand/hold long,” the report read.

An earlier letter dated Oct. 2019 sent by the Yemeni minister of oil — who is affiliated with the Saudi-backed government — to the prime minister, and seen by the AP, found other problems with the tanker.

“Rust has covered some parts of the tanker along with equipment, fire distinguishing system stopped working, and what is more dangerous is that the gas which was covering the oil inside the tanks has leaked out. It was used to protect the tankers from exploding,” the letter read.

The oil minister’s letter recommended three different approaches to deal with the tanker: make repairs, pump the oil to another ship, or to pull the tanker away and safely unload it in another port.

The minister wrote that because of the “collapsing condition” of the vessel, the best solution is to pull it away to another port.

“We are notifying you about this dangerous situation to do your best and to get Yemen and the region out from such environmental dangers,” he wrote.

The letter came months after the U.N.’s projects arm, known as UNOPS, put out a tender to hire an international agency to inspect the vessel after an initial agreement with Houthis.

The U.N. hired a team of experts and had them standing by in Djibouti. The AP obtained a copy of the tender letter and documents showing the experts’ proposed inspection program and a list of equipment needed, including gas detector and oil sampling kits.

But the Houthis backed out of the agreement before the repair crew could be sent to Yemen.

Mark Lowcock, the U.N. humanitarian chief, told the U.N. Security Council last year that the U.N. assessment team was ready to be deployed but “the necessary permits remain pending with the Ansar Allah authorities” in reference to Houthis.

“I would just like to note that this is additionally frustrating when one recalls that the same authorities wrote to the United Nations early last year requesting assistance with the tanker and promising to facilitate our work,” he added.

Sharaf Eddin, the Yemeni ports official, accused the U.N of siding with the Saudi-coalition and misleading the public by blaming Houthis for the delays.

“This is the same U.N. which is exploiting Yemen tragedy to collect donations then spend it on its own employees,” he said, echoing Houthis’ widely held anti-U.N. sentiment. He added that the coalition in 2017 refused to give access to a fuel vessel to head to the Safer tanker to run the power generators. “What is Houthis’ interest in preventing a disaster? Any spark could cause massive explosion,” he acknowledged.

He provided letters sent by Houthi-appointed government officials last summer, including one from the foreign minister, approving the visit by the U.N. But the European diplomat said the Houthis revoked their initial approval and put new conditions on U.N. activities.

The U.N. has repeatedly warned that delays in taking action to fix the FSO Safer could lead to a man-made environmental disaster in the Red Sea four times greater than the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

The Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989 was one of the largest oil spills in U.S. history. The tanker spewed nearly 300,000 barrels of thick, toxic crude oil into Alaska’s pristine Prince William Sound. Scores of herring, sea otters and birds were soaked in oil, and hundreds of miles of shoreline polluted. The spill destroyed the livelihoods of hundreds of commercial fishermen in the area.

The senior official at the state-owned company in charge of the tanker issued an appeal for help to the international community saying that a similar oil spill off the coast of Yemen could accelerate Yemen’s worsening humanitarian disaster.

“The disaster could happen at any second,” he said, “Rescue Yemen from a terrible, imminent disaster that will add to Yemen’s burdens for tens of years and deprive thousands from their source of living, and kill marine life in the Red Sea.”

https://tinyurl.com/yd8drnxc

What it's like to have sex in space


Picture: NASA via Getty Image

If it’s true what they say, we’ll all be making trips to the moon and Mars soon enough.
After all, one international programme to put people on Mars has already begun selecting and training people for a launch in 2031.

But if we’re spending that much time in space (it will take an estimated 21 months to get to Mars) we’re going to need to know how to have out-of-this-world sex.

Literally.



Well, there’s a few things to overcome, and not just the dilemma of where to find condoms on a planet with no shops.

First of all, Earth’s atmosphere protects us from most radiation, but that isn’t the case in space – and unfortunately our features and organs most sensitive to radiation are the ones crucial to sex.

When there’s the issue of microgravity – that thing that makes astronauts float around in their spaceships. But it also makes them lose muscle mass, and for female astronauts, it can stop their ovulation.

Not very conducive if you're trying to re-populate the earth after Donald Trump fires one too many missiles.

This video from Fivethirtyeight explains that while no humans are known to have had sex in space, there are some creatures who have managed it, but it's unclear how successful it's been.

And there’s a mountain of research that hasn’t been done yet, so a lot of the effects of space on our sexual abilities are unknown, but as the video explains, it seems to address a core question:

Do we need this planet to survive?

Here’s how we can help the Covid-19 recovery, tackle the climate crisis and fight disillusionment with our democracy

As we take stock of what we have learnt during this crisis, we must leverage this to change the way we do things – including the way parliament works

Caroline Lucas @CarolineLucas
There was a striking opinion poll back in April when people had experienced the first weeks of lockdown. What did they want when the coronavirus crisis was over? Only nine per cent said they wanted life to go back to “normal”.

So we know what people don’t want. The challenge now is to find out what they do want.

As many have acknowledged, this is a pivotal moment where we can address two global crises – coronavirus and the climate emergency, which may have disappeared from the front pages but has not gone away. If anyone needed reminding of how dangerous the climate crisis is, land surface temperatures of up to 45C have been recorded in the Arctic this week, something that is truly terrifying.

We can use the need to restart our economy in the wake of Covid-19 in a way which also addresses the climate crisis. But I believe there is a third priority too.
We’ve learnt in the past four months that real change can happen fast, in both government and the public, where there is a shared necessity and a common will. As we take stock of what we have learnt during this crisis, we must leverage this to change the way we do things – including the way parliament works.

Read more

Green recovery ‘only option’ to return to economic prosperity

The disillusionment with our democracy is profound. Too often, people feel they just don’t count and nor do their views. They have no control over key areas of their lives, and politics is something that is done to them, not with them.

This isn’t healthy for our democracy and it will stop us successfully tackling the climate crisis, when time to take effective action is rapidly running out. Effective action could not be more urgent. This is the last decade where we have a serious chance of avoiding the worst of climate change. If we bungle it and throw away the opportunity to do things differently now, we will have squandered what is probably our last chance to get off this dangerous path.

If we are to transform our society and our economy in the way that’s needed to protect and restore nature and our climate while improving people’s lives and life chances, people need to know they are being heard and that they have a stake in the future of this country. More than that, addressing the challenges we face needs all of us.

That is why the Reset inquiry from the parliamentary group on the Green New Deal that I co-chair with the Labour MP Clive Lewis, isn’t just about producing proposals on how to re-emerge from coronavirus in a way that’s fairer, greener and more sustainable. It is about a whole new approach to change that treats citizens as partners in the process.
It involves surveys, opinion polls, online workshops where people can explore and develop proposals in key areas, or write to us with their ideas. We’ll hold virtual evidence sessions where we will hear from a wide range of voices, including those whose expertise comes from their own lived experiences.

But we want to go further than just consultation. If we are to fundamentally change our society, as we must, we need to actively engage with people from the start, using their experiences and expertise in the process of deciding what steps to take next. And we need to give them a meaningful stake in, as well as control of, the changes that happen, rejuvenating democracy in the process.

The UK’s citizens’ assembly on climate, which began meeting in January, starts to show what’s possible when you do that. A hundred and eight citizens, of all ages, races, backgrounds and views, have been meeting to discuss how the UK can meet its mandated target of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Their interim report, on how to rebuild the economy post-coronavirus, was published this week.

Jacob Rees-Mogg suggests weather to blame for high coronavirus death rate

What was noticeable was not only the level of engagement, but how closely their recommendations were echoed in the progress report of the government’s own advisers, the Committee on Climate Change, two days later. If people are given the time to discuss complex issues, and presented with evidence, they can come up with solutions to the most intractable problems and feel ownership of those decisions.

We need that engagement and understanding if we are to successfully tackle the climate emergency, and tackle the corrosive levels of inequality that blight our country. So before we return to clogged streets, crowded shops and polluted air we want people to tell us now about the changes they are looking for as part of an open dialogue about the future of our country, and in particular how we might use this once in a generation opportunity to make it fairer and greener.

We want to start the process of putting power back into communities, creating the connections and structures that will underpin lasting change.

The public response to coronavirus has shown that people can not only be trusted to take the right actions for the sake of their own safety and others, we are also capable of extraordinary levels of innovation, kindness and generosity. Reset presents an opportunity for our voices and our actions to matter. Working together, we’ll make sure the government listens.

Caroline Lucas is the Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion

US anthem wrapped up in racist history and should be replaced with John Lennon's 'Imagine', say activists
MISAPPROPRIATION, JOHN LENNON WAS A BRIT AND ACCORDING TO THE FBI AN ENEMY ALIEN

IMAGINE IS INTERNATIONALIST, 

IT BELONGS TO HUMANITY
NOT SOME IMAGINED NATION by Sirena Bergman in news

Getty

A number of American cultural institutions have been called out for the racist stereotypes they promote.

From The Simpsons to Aunt Jemima syrup, it seems brands and entities are taking notice, and changing things up to become more inclusive and promote the anti-racism message that the resurgence in the Black Lives Matter movement has shed a light on.

But perhaps the most engrained of all such institutions getting a new reckoning is the national anthem.

"The Star-Spangled Banner" has been at the centre of the struggle against racism for some years, most notably when Black NFL player Colin began to take the knee during the singing of the anthem before football games back in 2016.

At the time he drew widespread criticism from white people – including President Trump, who suggested in a tweet that he should be fired.

But now it seems people are reconsidering.

Last week, protesters in San Francisco toppled a statue of the song's composer, Francis Scott Key.

Key, who died in 1843, was slave owner who made some horrifyingly racist claims, saying that African Americans were an "inferior race of people, which all experience proves to be the greatest evil that afflicts a community".

Activist and author Kevin Powell says that it's time to address the racist history of the anthem that Americans grow up singing.

For example, the original version contained the lines: "No refuge could save the hireling and slave/From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave/And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave/O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave."

Powell makes the point that: "How are you criticising a rap song for being violent, but when we get to kindergarten, we are literally teaching children violence through song? I said, ‘I can't participate anymore.’ So I stopped a long time ago.’”

Historian Daniel E Walker agrees, and suggests it should be replaced with John Lennon's "Imagine".

He told Yahoo Entertainment:

I do side with the people who say that we should rethink this as the national anthem, because this is about the deep-seated legacy of slavery and white supremacy in America, where we do things over and over and over again that are a slap in the face of people of colour and women.

He added that "Imagine" is "the most beautiful, unifying, all-people, all-backgrounds-together kind of song you could have”.

On Twitter, people suggested their own alternatives:

But not everyone is into the idea.

Predictably, there were those who refused to accept that there is a real problem with having a song written by a racist as as national anthem.

Lots of people said that racist or not, the current anthem is really not a great song and could do with a refresh.

While this really does miss the point, it's also hard to argue with.

https://www.indy100.com/article/us-national-anthem-racism-slavery-john-lennon-imagine-9589121

Racism in the entertainment industry: 'The Simpsons' will no longer have white actors voice non-white characters

Sophia Ankel

Apu Nahasapeemapetilon in The Simpsons. FOX

"The Simpsons" will no longer have white actors voicing non-white characters, according to a statement released by producers on Friday.

The move comes five months after white actor Hank Azaria said he would step down from voicing Indian-American character Apu Nahasapeemapetilon on the hit show.

The announcement comes amid a wider consideration of systemic racism in the media and entertainment industry.

The producers of "The Simpsons" said on Friday that they would stop using white actors to play non-white characters amid a broader discussion about systemic racism in the media and entertainment industry.

"Moving forward, 'The Simpsons' will no longer have white actors voice non-white characters," the statement said.

The statement did not elaborate further but comes five months after white actor Hank Azaria said he would step down from voicing Indian-American character Apu Nahasapeemapetilon after heavy criticism.

It is unclear whether Apu or any other characters would remain on the series.

Other non-white characters in "The Simpsons" who are voiced by white actors include Homer Simpson's best friend, Carl Carlson, who is also played by Azaria, and the Simpson family doctor, Dr. Hibbert, voiced by Harry Shearer.

Shearer also voiced Sanjay Nahasapeemapetilon, Apu's brother.

"The Simpsons", which is broadcast by Fox Network and made its series debut in 1989, has faced years of criticism for reinforcing racist stereotypes.

The show's announcement comes amid a wider consideration of systemic racism in media and entertainment, following country-wide demonstrations over the killing of George Floyd and other Black Americans at the hands of police.

Actor Mike Henry, who is white, wrote in a tweet that he would no longer play the role of "Family Guy"'s Cleveland Brown, a black character who has been part of the series since 1999.

"It's been an honor to play Cleveland on 'Family Guy' for 20 years," Henry wrote. "I love this character, but persons of color should play characters of color. Therefore, I will be stepping down from the role."

Other white actors, including Jenny Slate and Kristen Bell, said that they would stop playing non-white characters on animated shows.

Bell, who played a mixed-race character called Molly in the "Central Park" series created by Apple TV+, said in a statement that the casting had undermined "the specificity of the mixed-race and Black American experience."

Slate, who voiced Missy on Netflix's show "Big Mouth" also stepped down, writing in a statement that she was "engaging in an act of erasure of Black people" by playing the role, according to the New York Times.

Azaria stepped down from voicing Apu earlier this year after the documentary "The Problem with Apu" was released. Comedian Haru Kondabolu argued the character was problematic because he helped drive the stereotype of South Asians.

Every single NWSL player kneeled during the national anthem at the first professional contact sports game to return in the US since the coronavirus pandemic began

NWSL players kneeled during the national anthem while wearing "Black Lives Matter" shirts. Jose Argueta/ISI Photos/Getty Images

Every National Women's Soccer League player starting in the first professional American team sports game Saturday kneeled during the playing of the national anthem.

Players from both teams — the NC Courage and Portland Thorns — wore Black Lives Matter shirts during warm-ups.

The players then took the field and once again kneeled for a moment of silence for victims of police brutality while wearing black armbands in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

The Thorns and the Courage issued a joint statement before kickoff to explain the players' decision to kneel during the anthem

Professional sports are back in America, but they return to a country that is considerably different than it was before.

The death of George Floyd at the hands of former Minneapolis police officers ignited a conversation about police brutality and race relations across America. And, as often is the case, the public discourse has infiltrated the sports world.

So when the National Women's Soccer League became the first American professional contact sports league to return since the coronavirus pandemic began with the kickoff of the 2020 Challenge Cup on Saturday, the players capitalized on their elevated platform to make a unified statement.

Every player for the Portland Thorns and reigning champion North Carolina Courage kneeled during the national anthem before the first game in the tournament. Players on both teams wore black shirts with "BLACK LIVES MATTER" printed in block letters on the front while warming up and while the national anthem played.

—CBS Sports (@CBSSports) June 27, 2020


—NWSL (@NWSL) June 27, 2020
—NC Courage (@TheNCCourage) June 27, 2020
—Portland Thorns FC (@ThornsFC) June 27, 2020



Shortly thereafter, the starters took the field and once again kneeled for a moment of silence in honor of victims of police brutality. Substitutes also kneeled on the sidelines.
—Alex Vejar (@AlexVReporting) June 27, 2020



Every player donned a black arm band in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

NWSL players wear arm bands in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. CBS/NWSL

When they arrived at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman, Utah, the Portland players wore black shirts that said "Educate. Elevate. Engage." in red, yellow, and green.
—Portland Thorns FC (@ThornsFC) June 27, 2020


The Thorns and the Courage issued a joint statement prior to kickoff to explain the players' decision to kneel during the anthem:


"We took a knee today to protest racial injustice, police brutality, and systemic racism against Black people and people of color in America," the statement read. "We love our country and we have taken this opportunity to hold it to a higher standard."

"It is our duty to demand that the liberties and freedoms this nation was founded upon are extended to everyone," the players added.
—Portland Thorns FC (@ThornsFC) June 27, 2020


Read more:
Here's your viewing guide for the NWSL — the first American professional contact sports league to return since the coronavirus pandemic began
US Women's National Team and international stars who will participate in the 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup
An entire team in the top women's soccer league dropped out of their return to action after 6 players tested positive for coronavirus following trip to local bar
14 professional athletes who have already said they will kneel during the national anthem

Accenture is laying people off as Wall Street braces for big cuts next year

Business Insider•June 27, 2020


Welcome to Wall Street Insider, where we take you behind the scenes of the finance team's biggest scoops and deep dives from the past week.

Accenture is cutting US staff, and top execs just warned of more pain to come as the consulting giant promotes fewer people and looks to control costs, Meghan Morris and Dakin Campbell first reported. Their story got a lot of attention this week, and for good reason. It could be an indicator for how the firm's own clients are weathering a downturn, and consulting likely won't be the only industry to feel the crunch.

We also took a look at who's most at risk once Wall Street kicks off the tidal wave of layoffs many banks had put on pause — and why boutique firms without a strong restructuring practice could be "dead in the water," as one recruiter put it.

Dakin along with Casey Sullivan got an inside look at Egon Durban, who became co-CEO of Silver Lake Partners in December. They spoke with more than 40 people who have worked with Durban, or across from him on deals, to understand his rise at the tech-focused private-equity firm he joined as a young banker in 1999.

Read the full story here:
40 insiders reveal the meteoric rise of Silver Lake's Egon Durban, the tech-focused PE firm's No. 1 dealmaker who strong-armed his way to the top and is about to get $18 billion more to invest

Keep reading for a look at why one of the earliest forms of alt-data is breaking down; a rundown of Amazon's rapid-fire moves to scoop up warehouses; and a deep dive into the culture at BTIG.

Inside BTIG

btig wall street sexual discrimination eeoc investigation 2x1

Samantha Lee/Business Insider

The financial-services industry has tried to clean up its image in recent years, but shades of an earlier era on Wall Street have lingered at the firm BTIG, a Business Insider investigation by Nicole Einbinder and Rebecca Ungarino has found.

Read the full story here:
Former employees say BTIG had a toxic party culture that was stuck in the '80s

California shakes up auto industry, says all vans and trucks must be electric by 2024

Paul A. Eisenstein,NBC News•June 26, 2020


California regulators have approved new rules that would see a massive shift from conventional gas and diesel trucks and vans to ones powered by batteries and zero-emission hydrogen fuel cells.

The first-of-their-kind guidelines, which take effect in 2024, cover a broad range of truck segments, from medium-duty models up to the "big rigs" that move vast amount of goods throughout California and across the country. Current guidelines from the California Air Resources Board already press manufacturers to add electric and hydrogen trucks to light-duty segments.

California’s push to reduce truck emissions could lead to some major changes in a traditionally staid automotive industry. Among other things, it could encourage the emergence of new competitors such as Nikola Motors, which is producing an array of hydrogen-powered heavy-duty trucks, and Detroit-based start-up Rivian, which has a contract to produce around 100,000 all-electric delivery vans for Amazon.

"California is once again leading the nation in the fight to make our air cleaner, becoming the first place in the world to mandate zero-emission trucks by 2045," Governor Gavin Newsom said in a Thursday statement. "Communities and children of color are often forced to breathe our most polluted air, and today's vote moves us closer toward a healthier future for all of our kids."

California has long pressed auto and truck manufacturers to reduce emissions. The state has considerable sway, not only because of the size of its market but also because of a waiver enacted under the federal Clean Air Act.



Under guidelines approved Thursday, at least 40 percent of the tractor trailers sold in California would have to be powered by some form of zero-emissions technology by 2024. Medium-duty trucks, such as the Ford F-250 or Chevrolet Silverado HD, would be required to switch over 55 percent of their sales by 2035; and 75 percent of delivery trucks and vans would have to use zero-emissions powertrain technology by 2035, a point by which fully 100 percent of government fleets and last-mile delivery trucks would have to meet the target.

During a hearing, regulators received mixed feedback on their proposals, with clean air advocates arguing that such a shift is critical in addressing the state’s endemic air pollution problems, as well as broader climate change concerns.

That was echoed by CARB Chair Mary Nichols, who said, "It's the only way we think we can make significant progress on the most stubborn air pollution problems.”

But industry officials were far more skeptical. Jed Mandel, president of the Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association, warned that there was a variety of reasons why hydrogen and electric trucks aren’t the answer. "They cost more than traditional fuel trucks, because there's no charging infrastructure and developing one is very expensive,” he said during testimony.

That is changing rapidly, however, countered Andy Schwartz, a policy adviser for Tesla who said, "Charging infrastructure can and will be built.”

On Friday, Electrify America announced it had completed a network of chargers spanning the first of two cross-country routes it expects to power up this year alone, this one running 2,700 miles and passing through 11 states.

EA, which was set up by Volkswagen using $2 billion in funds included in its settlement of its diesel emissions scandal, is planning more than 10,000 public charging stations across the country, with competitors such as ChargePoint and EVGo laying out similar plans.

Tesla, meanwhile, has already energized an extensive charging grid across North America, with plans to beef up the Supercharger network as it prepares to roll out both its Cybertruck pickup and big Semi truck.

The push for electric trucks is expected to open the door to new manufacturers, though traditional marques aren’t ready to walk away.

Along with Tesla, Nikola Motors hopes to gain traction thanks to the CARB ruling on zero-emissions trucks. The Phoenix-based start-up — which recently went public and now has a larger market capitalization than Ford — is focusing on hydrogen fuel-cell semi trucks, such as the Nikola One. The company hopes to mitigate concerns about finding fuel by setting up its own network of hydrogen stations across the country.

Other start-ups that could benefit from the new California standards and existing EV rules include the likes of Detroit-based Bollinger, Lordstown Motors — which plans to start building electric pickups at the old General Motors plant — and Rivian.

The latter company has received billions of dollars of investments over the past several years from players as diverse as Ford, Cox Automotive and Amazon. The e-commerce giant led a consortium pumping $700 million into Rivian and has placed an order for 100,000 all-electric delivery trucks through 2024.

Conventional truck and automotive manufacturers are laying out major plans of their own. General Motors CEO Mary Barra this month announced plans to build electric delivery vans, in addition to the all-electric Hummer pickup to debut in 2021. The various subsidiaries of Daimler AG, such as Freightliner, have already launched an assortment of electric vans and heavy trucks, with more in the works. And Toyota is partnering with truck giant Kenworth to develop hydrogen-powered Class 8 semi prototypes that could lead to production models later this decade.

In terms of light-duty vehicles, as many as eight, and possibly 10, start-ups and conventional manufacturers are expected to be producing all-electric pickups by 2023, including the Hummer, the Cybertruck and an all-electric version of the Ford F-150.

‘Leadership Matters.’ Researcher Says Rate of Fatal Police Shootings Is Lower in Cities With Black Police Chiefs
Melissa Chan,Time•June 26, 2020


A police chief’s race may significantly impact how often officers fatally shoot people, a new analysis says.

In cities with Black police commanders, the per-capita rate of fatal shootings by police officers is about 70% lower than in cities with white police leaders, according to Stephen Wu, the study’s author, who analyzed data from the 60 largest U.S cities between 2015 and the first half of 2020. The rate of deadly shootings is also lower in Latino-led police forces, he says.

“A lot of people will talk about training and the racial makeup of officers,” says Wu, 47, an economics professor in New York’s Hamilton College, who has written extensively on how economic and social factors affect human behavior and well-being. “It’s not just about the overall police force. Leadership matters.”

The study, which has not yet been published, comes amid heightened scrutiny of the nation’s police forces following George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis. Floyd, who was Black, died on May 25 after a white police officer kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes. The incident reignited national backlash over incidents of police brutality against Black people and prompted a flurry of local and federal reform proposals, including defunding and dismantling the police.

Wu’s research does not include data on police killings that weren’t gun deaths, but it suggests diversifying the highest levels of leadership may be a logical way forward in at least reducing fatal police shootings.

Using the Washington Post’s widely cited database on lethal shootings by on-duty police officers, Wu analyzed incidents in each city between Jan. 1, 2015 and June 1, 2020 and generated per-capita rates using 2020 Census Bureau estimates. He accounted for other possible contributing factors, including differences in crime rates across cities, the racial makeup of police departments and leadership turnovers that occurred before June 1.

His study found that out of the top 20 cities with the highest rates of fatal police shootings—including Las Vegas, Kansas City and Albuquerque—16 are led by white police leaders. But 14 out of the 20 cities with the lowest rates are led by Black leaders.

For a city of 1 million people, Wu says the disparity roughly translates to the difference between having 21 deadly police shootings in a five-year period compared with 35. “That was a pretty striking finding,” he says.

Lexington, Ky., led by a Black police chief, had the lowest per-capita rate of fatal police shootings: zero in the last five years. Las Vegas, led by the elected sheriff of Clark County, who is white, had the highest.

Andrew Walsh, Deputy Chief at the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, says the analysis “may be flawed” because it does not take into account the roughly 45 million annual tourists who visit the city. The city of Las Vegas, he adds, makes up only a portion of the department’s policed jurisdiction, which spans 7,000 square miles.

He said the department in the last decade has made many changes to become a “model agency” when it comes to leadership and deadly force reforms, including partnering with the Justice Department to improve use-of-force polices, implementing input from the community and giving officers low-lethal options to use like rubber bullets.

Walsh said the use of deadly force is a last resort for officers who have to make split-second decisions in life or death situations. “We recognize the need for this conversation, and our agency is not perfect,” Walsh said in a statement, “but there are citizens and officers who are alive today because a police officer had to make the decision to use deadly force.”

Wu says he did not factor in the number of annual visitors to each city, but that it did not take away from the overall finding of his research, which looks at trends across 60 cities. “Las Vegas has many tourists, but so do many other cities,” he says.

There are other caveats though, and a police leader’s race is not a perfect predictor, Wu says. Lexington’s police department, with its zero fatal shooting incidents, is headed by a Black chief who took over in March 2018, but his predecessor was white. And some police departments led by white police chiefs, such as Nashville and San Diego, have relatively low rates of fatal police shootings. But Wu says the overall effect a Black police leader has on fatal shootings is “large and significant.”

Advocates agree. National Black Police Association Chair Sonia Pruitt says minority leaders have a powerful effect on changing a police department’s culture and subsequent behavior of its rank-and-file.

“Leadership tends to be top-down,” says Pruitt, whose group represents 80,000 police officers in the U.S., U.K. and Canada. “Black chiefs, they generally come from communities where we’re having the most conflict, so there’s some understanding of the issues.”

When protests erupted in Houston after Floyd’s death, more than 10 million people watched the city’s police chief, Art Acevedo—a Cuban immigrant and the first Latino to lead the department—become emotional on video as he related to the hardships and discrimination that Black and brown minorities face. In an address to demonstrators, his voice cracked as he pledged to march with them “until I can’t stand no more.”

“Your upbringing does inform you as a person, as a police officer, as a leader,” he tells TIME. “It makes you more sensitive because you understand the plight of communities of lower-income working families.”

Cities benefit in many ways, including improved trust within communities, when there’s both racial and gender diversity in top leadership levels, says Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Chief Randal Taylor, who is Black.

“If it’s not at least the chief,” Taylor says, “then I hope there are people in high-ranking positions who have a seat at the table who can help make those decisions.”

That’s easier said than done, says Pruitt, when minorities remain underrepresented in many police forces across the country.

Within the New York Police Department—the nation’s largest police force, which has been led by a white commissioner since 1992—almost half of its 36,000 members are white, about 15% are Black and 29% are Latino, according to the city’s Civilian Complaint Review Board. New York City’s population is about 43% white, 24% Black and 29% Latino, the latest Census Bureau figures show.

Of the 5,300-member police force in Houston, 41% are white, 30% are Latino and 21% are Black. Houston is about 58% white, 45% Latino and nearly 23% Black. In Indianapolis, about 14% of the police department’s 1,650 members are Black, compared with 28% in the city. The police chiefs in both cities say it’s important for police forces to be reflective of the communities they serve.

Many departments have made efforts to close the gap in the last few years, but Pruitt blames systemic racism for the lack of diversity within all levels of police forces.

“Minority officers are woefully underrepresented in police departments around the country,” she says. “It’s doing a huge disservice to the country.”

In the last few weeks, a handful of police agencies have made leadership changes.

On Tuesday, Donny Williams, who is Black, was named chief of the Wilmington Police Department in North Carolina after the former chief retired. That same day, Williams fired three longtime police officers who were recorded making a series of racist remarks on one of their patrol car cameras. One of the officers says he “can’t wait” to start “slaughtering” Black people if a civil war breaks out, according to an internal investigation report. The same officer says a civil war is necessary to “wipe” Black people “off the f—— map.”

White police chiefs in Atlanta, Louisville, Richmond, Tucson and Portland have either resigned, offered to resign or have been fired, following scrutiny over heated race-related situations. The resignations have made room for high-ranking Black leaders to take over, at least temporarily, in Atlanta, Portland and Richmond.

When Portland’s former chief quit after facing scrutiny over her department’s lack of diversity, she recommended Chuck Lovell, a Black lieutenant, to replace her. As Lovell was sworn in as chief on June 11, he acknowledged it was a “tumultuous time,” but one, he said, “that is also filled with opportunity for change.”

Antibiotic use on crops isn't being monitored in most countries

New research suggests antibiotic use on crops is more widespread than previously estimated. Photo by Rob Reeder/CABI
June 23 (UPI) -- Though antibiotics have been used for decades to combat bacterial diseases among various crop varieties, including apples and pears, the practice isn't closely monitored.

New research -- published Tuesday in the journal CABI Agriculture and Bioscience -- suggests the use of antibiotics on crops is more widespread than previously suspected.

For the study, scientists surveyed how antibiotic usage is tracked in 158 countries. Though more than a quarter of the surveyed countries have developed antibiotic monitoring programs for human use and animal health, just 3 percent currently track antibiotic use on crops.

To get a better sense of how frequently antibiotics are deployed against crop pathogens, researchers analyzed 36,000 records collected at Plantwise plant clinics in 32 countries between 2012 and 2018.

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Plantwise is a global program created by CABI, the Center for Agriculture and Bioscience International, to help small-scale and family farmers sustainably combat crop pests and diseases.

The analysis revealed antibiotic applications are recommended for more than 100 crops, sometimes in large amounts and for non-bacterial pathogens. The data showed that in Southeast Asia, an average of 63 tons of streptomycin and 7 tons of tetracycline are sprayed on rice crops each year.

Most application recommendations call for the use of antibiotics against bacteria pathogens. In some places, however, antibiotics are being prescribed for other kinds of crop diseases, for which the treatment will have no effect.

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"There is a considerable proportion of crop advisors recommending antibiotics against insect pests -- either the advisors are unaware that they will have no impact on insect pests, or they are recommending antibiotics as a preventative measure against bacterial diseases," Philip Taylor, lead study author and CABI researcher, said in a news release.

Records showed 11 antibiotics -- frequently, blended together -- are commonly applied to crops on farms throughout the Americas, Eastern Mediterranean, Southeast Asia and the Pacific Rim nations. The ratios in antibiotic mixtures and the recommended amounts varied from country to country, region to region. Researchers found little evidence of antibiotic use on crops in Africa.

"It is very interesting that there are no records from Africa," Taylor said. "You may suspect that this was due to price, yet that does not appear to be the reason."

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Though the amounts of antibiotics deployed on crops pales in comparison to the amounts used for human and animal health, research suggests bacteria strains developed antibiotic resistance up to 100,000 times faster when exposed to antibiotics in combination with other agricultural chemicals.

Authors of the latest report suggest antibiotic use on crops warrants further study, as it could provide a new avenue for bacteria strains to develop antibiotic resistance in humans.

"Some evidence suggests that crops are a potential vehicle for resistant bacteria to enter the human gut, and is an area where further research is needed," Taylor said. "It is hoped that the data presented in this paper will increase the debate regarding the use of antibiotics against crop pathogens and that crop production will be included under the one health umbrella."

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