Failure to Prosecute UK War Crimes in Iraq Exposes ICC's Own Failings

The court could have set a powerful precedent in holding Britain to account. Instead, it has become a laughing stock and few will be able to take it seriously again.

by

Moazzam Begg 

 Published on

Thursday, December 17, 2020 

by

Middle East Eye

A platoon sergeant of the 1st Royal Regiment of Fusiliers guards members

 of 39 Engineer Squadron 32 Armoured Engineers as they breach one of

 the first obstacles clearing the way for British troops to enter Iraq on

 March 21, 2003. (Photo: Cpl. Paul (Jabba) Jarvis/British MoD/Flickr/cc)

"A court finds UK war crimes but will not take action." That was the extraordinary BBC News headline last week following the International Criminal Court's publication of its detailed investigation into war crimes committed by British troops during the occupation of Iraq.

The ICC's report is based on the findings of a preliminary inquiry to determine both whether there is a reasonable basis to believe that war crimes were committed and to assess whether the UK has itself investigated and sought to prosecute those accused of involvement.

The British government has gone to exceptional lengths to ensure that British troops accused of committing war crimes in Iraq are immune from prosecution.

The ICC concluded that because the UK was "not unwilling" to investigate and prosecute its soldiers for committing war crimes in Iraq, the investigation was being closed.

The truth, however, is that the British government has gone to exceptional lengths to ensure that British troops accused of committing war crimes in Iraq are immune from prosecution. Out of the hundreds of cases pending against British soldiers, by June this year only one such case remained open.

In March, the government presented the Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill. The law will place a five-year limit on criminal prosecutions against soldiers accused of war crimes and a six-year limit on civil actions.

Any cases outside of these periods will require the attorney general's consent. There will also be a duty for the government to consider abandoning its commitment to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) ahead of military expeditions overseas.

The new law will stop countless claims of war crimes against British soldiers who served as part of the military occupation of Iraq. The bill had its third reading in the Commons in November and is primed to becoming law in the new year.

The aim of the proposed law is to protect British soldiers from what the government calls "vexatious litigation."

The case of Phil Shiner

The government often cites the case of Phil Shiner, the British lawyer who successfully exposed the role of British soldiers in the torture and murder of Baha Mousa, an Iraqi man who died in British custody in Basra in 2003.

Shiner was struck off by the Solicitors Regulation Authority in 2017 after being found guilty of professional misconduct charges including paying an Iraqi middleman to find claimants to make allegations against British soldiers.

Shiner had submitted thousands of claims against the British army so this was the opportunity the government - having previously denounced law firms involved in litigation against British soldiers as "ambulance-chasing lawyers"—was waiting for. In the same year, the government shut down its own investigation, the Iraq Historic Allegations Team (IHAT), which had been set up to investigate allegations of torture by British soldiers. None of the IHAT cases led to prosecutions.

Despite denying the allegations of war crimes, the government reached out-of-court settlements with at least 326 claimants. It was, however, following on from Shiner's work that the ICC picked up the baton where the IHAT had dropped it. According to a report by the BBC and the Sunday Times, British IHAT detectives said they had seen evidence of war crimes carried out by British soldiers and alleged that Shiner's case was used to close down their investigation.

Stark contrast

The ICC said that there was a reasonable basis to believe that between 2003 and 2009 British soldiers murdered at least seven prisoners and tortured 54 others. It found there was a reasonable basis to believe that at least seven captives were raped or sexually abused as detainees in Camp Breadbasket run by British armed forces.

The stark contrast between the ICC's findings and its actions are deeply troubling. It is essentially saying that we know you raped and murdered but you're free to go—because we believe you'll police yourself.

This is what one IHAT detective said: "The Ministry of Defence had no intention of prosecuting any soldier of whatever rank he was unless it was absolutely necessary, and they couldn't wriggle their way out of it."

Why was the British Army in Iraq and Afghanistan?

The UK sent forces to Afghanistan as part of the international coalition that invaded the country in 2001 following the 9/11 al-Qaeda attacks in the US, and to Iraq in 2003 as part of a US-led invasion to overthrow Saddam Hussein.

In both countries British soldiers became increasingly bogged down fighting against insurgents opposed to international occupation.

In Iraq, British forces were handed responsibility for security in Basra and three provinces in the south, but their presence was challenged by Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi army militia fighters.

In September 2007, British forces withdrew from their bases in the city to the airport on the outskirts, the targets of "relentless attacks," according to an International Crisis Group report which said that their retreat was viewed by locals as an "ignominious defeat."

In Afghanistan, British forces had been deployed in 2006 to Helmand Province. But they proved ineffective against the resurgent Taliban and in 2009 more than 100 British soldiers were killed.

British troops eventually withdrew from Afghanistan in 2014, with 454 service personnel killed over the course of their 13-year campaign in the country.

Around 120,000 British troops served in Iraq for six years. In light of all that has emerged with US atrocities in Abu Ghraib and Camp Bucca, and revelations of the atrocities and coverups unearthed by WikiLeaks, it is not inconceivable that British troops committed many war crimes or that the British government would seek to cover them up.

After all, these soldiers were part of and allied to the most powerful and organised military machine in the world. They were armed, trained and motivated to fight, capture, interrogate and kill in the name of Queen and country.

Of course, it wasn't just Iraq. The brutality had begun in Afghanistan following the US-led invasion in 2001. A BBC Panorama investigation this year found a deliberate "policy of execution-style killings was being carried out by [British] Special Forces" against unarmed men.

Panorama also uncovered communications from Afghan Army officials who refused to go out on patrol with British soldiers because of their penchant for murder and their tendency to blame their Afghan counterparts in order to avoid investigation. They also said British soldiers planted drugs and guns on the bodies of unarmed Afghans they had killed.

Once again, the government was left to investigate itself. Operation Northmoor was set up in 2014 but the investigation was closed down in 2017 after looking at 675 allegations of abuse, but without interviewing key Afghan witnesses. The investigating Royal Military Police (RMP) "found no evidence of criminal behaviour by the armed forces in Afghanistan."

In November, the Australian Defence Force (ADF) released findings from a four-year inquiry that found Australian soldiers serving in Afghanistan, "fuelled by bloodlust" and "competition killing," tortured and executed unarmed Afghan prisoners and then covered up their crimes by planting guns. Thirty-nine people were killed. Some of them were shot dead. Two children reportedly had their throats slit.

The report includes the chilling account of one special forces operative and how ADF troops idolised British and American soldiers' atrocities: "Whatever we do, though, I can tell you the Brits and the US are far, far worse. I've watched our young guys stand by and hero worship what they were doing, salivating at how the US were torturing people."

Although, at times, it has backed ICC prosecutions of individuals, the Trump administration has shown its open hostility to the court by freezing ICC assets and placing prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and others on a travel ban.

A paper tiger

The ICC is also being penalised by the US for investigating Israeli war crimes. It is now hoped that President-elect Biden will reverse the sanctions but it won't be an easy rise for the ICC either way.

It is now hoped that President-elect Biden will reverse the sanctions but it won't be an easy rise for the ICC either way.

It could have achieved something meaningful with Britain but once again it seems the ICC is quite willing to prosecute Africans but far less able to prosecute powerful Western nations.

It may be because Britain is, by the government's own account, one of the largest contributors to ICC coffers that this prosecution didn't go ahead. Or it may be that the ICC is just a paper tiger. Whatever the case, there is no escaping the connotations of this.

The ICC could have set a very powerful and visible precedent in holding Britain to account. It could have given hope and a semblance of justice to those who have neither. Instead, the ICC is a laughing stock and few will be able to take it seriously again.

Moazzam Begg is a former Guantanamo Bay detainee and spokesman for Cageprisoners

© 2018 Middle East Eye

One World: The Wisdom of Wholeness

In this country, as well as much of our divided world, short-term gain is often all that matters and nothing else exists. This flawed thinking is at the core of our social infrastructure.

by

Robert C. Koehler

Published on

Thursday, December 17, 2020

 by

Common Dreams

As awareness of the "rights of nature" grows across global humanity,

I have no doubt that the wisdom of this awareness will start infiltrating our

 judicial, social and economic infrastructure as well, and begin undoing the

 short-term, dangerous thinking behind it. (Photo: Peter Lesseur / EyeEm/ iStock)

“We won't be in a position to make permanent progressive changes until the bad governments are changed permanently into good governments. And all governments are bad governments now and will remain bad governments until we have a global humanity.”

The words are those of Mark Haywood, in an email to me last week about my column, “Embracing Ecological Realism.” I think the words nail it. And I would add that “global humanity” includes a connection to Planet Earth, to life itself. And my intention is to put these words in a political context that is free—so I pray—of cynicism.

The irony is that this is ancient wisdom. We used to know this, once upon a time. Then we got civilized and became conquerors. We are now at the end, or nearly so, of this dark, bloody path. And while global humanity’s next step is uncertain—we must plunge into a new way of being—the wisdom of our fathers and mothers can guide us:

“For instance, an Ojibway friend of mine gave me a sheet of paper entitled ‘Twelve Principles of Indian Philosophy.’ The very first principle on that sheet read as follows: WHOLENESS . . .”

These are the words of Rupert Ross, in his book Returning to the Teachings. He continues: “The principle of wholeness thus requires looking for, and responding to, complex interconnections, not single acts of separate individuals. Anything short of that is seen as a naïve response destined to ultimate failure.”

If we don’t look at the world—every person, every living being, every flowing river, every handful of earth—with a sense of wholeness and wonder, with a sense of its connection to the larger eco-structure of the planet, which includes ourselves, whatever we do is likely to come back to haunt, if not us, then our children. This applies, most significantly, to political actions and government policy. If we go to war, war comes back to us. If we exploit, deforest and poison the planet . . . I think we know what happens.

This is not us-vs.-them politics, left vs. right. And it is certainly not some sort of idealism. This is reality: ecological realism. And the outreach of this column is to politicians who do not want to be failures.

Of course, there are “interests” that are going to come into conflict, especially considering our long history of short-term winning, also known as profit. In this country, as well as much of our divided world, short-term gain is often all that matters and nothing else exists. This flawed thinking is at the core of our social infrastructure. But much to the surprise of many corporate leaders, a deeper wisdom is also present at the core.

And it’s showing itself. The residents of Grant Township, Pennsylvania, for instance, have managed to stave off the construction, by the state gas company, Pennsylvania General Energy Company, of what are called fracking waste injection wells in their community. Five years ago, the residents, by a large majority, passed a Rights of Nature law, which, my God, “recognizes the rights of local ecosystems” to thrive, to exist. The law asserts that nature isn’t simply property, to be used (or used up) in any way the “owner” sees fit.

The gas company has sued the township several times over this infringement of its right to pollute, but the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has recognized the law and revoked the company’s permit to build its wells in the township.

“This decision is soooooo delicious,” township supervisor Judy Wanchisn told Rolling Stone after a legal victory in March. “I am hopeful that the haters and naysayers will take note, and that communities will be inspired with what’s just happened and run with it. Fights like ours should mushroom all around Pennsylvania.”

One fascinatingly strange facet of this issue is that it had to be settled in a court battle, with Nature, the defendant, pitting her interests against the plaintiff, as though the two were separate entities. As awareness of the “rights of nature” grows across global humanity, I have no doubt that the wisdom of this awareness will start infiltrating our judicial, social and economic infrastructure as well, and begin undoing the short-term, dangerous thinking behind it. This is the return of pragmatic wholeness to human consciousness.

For instance: “The idea of a value-based economic structure is far more realistic than many of our present business models, which are short-sighted in the extreme,” Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee writes at The Guardian.

“. . .We need to explore ways that businesses can serve humanity in its deepest sense, rather than creating a poverty of spirit as well as an ecological wasteland—develop an awareness that the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the energy we use are not just commodities to be consumed, but part of the living fabric of a sacred Earth. Then we are making a real relationship with our environment.”

With this return must come, of course, an awareness and an acknowledgement of our history of defying this wisdom, and the harm that it has caused. What we have done to the planet in the last few hundred years, we have also done to its human protectors.

“Indigenous American oppression is often cast as an object of the past,” writes Maria Fong at the Tufts University Sustainability blog, “but like global warming, their struggle is ongoing, part of the past, present, and future. As we fight against climate change, keep in mind the colonial history of resource extraction and exploitation. The same Enlightenment ideals that inspired the industrial revolution, warming our planet, also led to brutal conquest of Indigenous people.”

Moving beyond the misnamed Enlightenment is, of course, an immensely complex shift. But the wisdom is there! It’s available to those who seek it, even president-elects. Of course, when politicians do not seek this wisdom—and it’s questionable to what extent Joe Biden is doing so—the wisdom must flow upward, from global humanity. Don’t let cynical despair stop you from participating in this flow. We have a world to save.

Robert Koehler is an award-winning, Chicago-based journalist and nationally syndicated writer. His book, "Courage Grows Strong at the Wound" (2016). Contact him or visit his website at commonwonders.com.

People's Action Calls On Biden to Transform Labor Dept Into Agency That Protects Workers—Not Corporations

"While we at People's Action believe that Senator Bernie Sanders is an example of the type of person ready to transform the landscape for working people in solidarity with the movement, we're ready to welcome any labor secretary ready to do the same."

by

Julia Conley, staff writer

 Published on Thursday, December 17, 2020 

by

Common Dreams

Customers and cashiers at a Publix supermarket in Orlando, Florida. (Photo: Jeffrey Greenberg/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Amid an unemployment crisis and a pandemic in which millions of grocery store and other essential workers have been forced to work in unsafe conditions, the national grassroots group People's Action on Thursday led a call for President-elect Biden to nominate a secretary of labor who will "transform" the department into an agency that supports and protects workers—not corporations.

Along with 24 of its state and local member groups, People's Action sent a letter (pdf) to two of Biden's top incoming advisers, Ron Klain and Mike Donilon. As Biden considers a potential labor secretary, the groups wrote, the incoming White House chief of staff and senior advisor should push for "the selection of someone that will be ready to usher in structural reform and have the ability to relate to and galvanize the movement to both define and open up political space for the type of change needed to address inequities in our society that have reached an unacceptable and unsustainable level."

"We need a secretary of labor ready to bring about structural reforms in concert with workers and movements. We need more than simply enforcement of laws on the books; we need labor law reform that will put more power in the hands of workers and, in turn, more money in their pockets."
—People's Action

According to recent news reports, Rep. Abby Finkenauer (D-Iowa) has been under consideration this month to be Biden's labor secretary. The congresswoman, a moderate who lost her reelection campaign in November, introduced a bill in May to help small businesses procure personal protective equipment for their workers.  

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a longtime advocate for workers' rights, has stated his desire to serve as labor secretary, and Sara Nelson, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants, has also been named as a possible progressive contender.

"While we at People's Action believe that Senator Bernie Sanders is an example of the type of person ready to transform the landscape for working people in solidarity with the movement, we're ready to welcome any labor secretary ready to do the same," wrote the groups. "What we can't compromise on, however, is someone ready to advance bold, structural reform. The lives of working families and the future of our country depend on that."

To ensure that his Labor Department will "fight to end corporate greed and corporate monopolies with a focus on ending poverty," People's Action said, Biden must "take seriously the work that is ahead to truly address the economic and racial inequities that have grown in our economy."

"We need a secretary of labor ready to bring about structural reforms in concert with workers and movements," wrote the groups. "We need more than simply enforcement of laws on the books; we need labor law reform that will put more power in the hands of workers and, in turn, more money in their pockets."

The letter was released as a new Harvard study showed that nine months into the coronavirus pandemic, workers at some of the biggest retail and fast food chains in the U.S. are still not being afforded protective equipment and measures to keep them from contracting and spreading Covid-19. 

More than 40% of workers surveyed in the study said they are "sometimes, rarely, or never" able to socially distance while at work, and nearly 30% said the customers they serve are frequently not wearing face coverings. 

The disempowerment of frontline, low-wage workers during the pandemic follows decades of weakened labor protections and shrinking union membership, with just 11% of workers represented by unions and many retail, fast food, domestic, and other workers left out. 

"If unionization were made easier," People's Action and its member groups wrote, "we'd see growth of the most diverse and powerful labor movement in American history. These workers—elevated as essential during this pandemic, despite being the backbone of our society all along—are also more likely to be Black and Latinx."

"A bold agenda of encouraging unionization would help swing the pendulum of power towards workers and away from the 1%, and also rightfully bring more economic and political power to Black and Latinx individuals," the groups continued. "A strong secretary of labor—focused on workers' right to organize for better wages, benefits, and working conditions—could enact substantial policy reforms that could make a difference to millions of workers and to the balance of power in our country."

People's Action called for Biden to appoint a labor secretary who will bring about a new social contract—one that reaches farther than President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Depression-era New Deal did to guarantee well-paying jobs for all. 

The group pointed to five transformational policies that it recommended over a year ago, along with groups including the Center for Popular Democracy and Jobs With Justice, which it said should be used as guiding principles for how Biden's incoming labor secretary approaches the fight for American workers:

• The Right to Collective Action at Scale: Sectoral Bargaining—By reinventing our labor law system so that workers are not forced to bargain company-by-company, but instead can negotiate fair work conditions across a whole sector and up supply chains, we can restore workers' bargaining power at scale. 
• Freedom from Arbitrary Job Loss: "Just Cause" Employment—We can protect workers from being abruptly left with bills due and no paycheck by adopting "just cause" employment protections that require employers to give a good reason, fair notice, and severance pay before a worker can be left without a job.
• The Human Right to a Decent Job: A Federal Job Guarantee—With a federal job guarantee we can end structural unemployment and ensure that every person in America has access to a decent job.
• Democracy at Work: The Cooperative Advantage—We can democratize our economy and ensure workers receive a fair share of economic gains by promoting the growth of worker cooperatives that enable workers to be owners of their workplaces.
• Universal Guarantees to Basic Needs: Medicare for All and Universal Family Care—We can free workers from inadequate employer-based benefits by creating new universal social support systems, beginning with health insurance through Medicare for All and Universal Family Care to meet their caregiving needs.

"Covid-19 has revealed and exacerbated the extreme inequality that has come to be the norm in our country," People's Action wrote. "That's not how it's always been; and that's not how it needs to be. There were times in our history when this extreme division wasn't the case. Our current stability as a country depends on us getting back to a more equitable society. Cabinet positions and other key personnel in federal agencies are critical for advancing the necessary agenda."

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#SPACERACE2.0
Moon rocks in hand, China prepares for future moon missions
By SAM McNEIL, Associated Press
Published: December 17, 2020

A model of China's Chang'e 5 lunar orbiter and lander are displayed before a press conference at the State Council Information Office in Beijing, Thursday, Dec. 17, 2020. Following the successful return of moon rocks by its Chang'e 5 robotic probe, China is preparing for future missions that could set the stage for an eventual lunar base to host human explorers. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) Photo Gallery Moon rocks in hand, China prepares for future moon missions - Columbian.com


BEIJING — Following the successful return of moon rocks by its Chang’e 5 robotic probe, China is preparing for future missions that could set the stage for an eventual lunar base to host human explorers, a top space program official said Thursday.

China’s next three lunar missions are on track, along with programs for returning samples from Mars and exploring asteroids and the planet Jupiter, Deputy Chief Commander of the China Lunar Exploration Program Wu Yanhua said.

“Exploring the truth of the universe is just beginning,” Wu said at a news conference held hours after the Chang’e 5?s capsule parachuted to a landing in Inner Mongolia carrying the first lunar samples to be brought to Earth in more than 40 years.

Named after the Chinese goddess of the moon, the Chang’e program has made three landings there, including on its less explored far side. Chang’e 6, scheduled for a 2023 launch, is to collect more samples from the lunar south pole, while its two successors are to conduct detailed surveys and test technologies needed for the construction of a science base on the moon.

No dates have been given for Chang’e 7 and 8, or for a crewed mission to the moon that China says is in the works, or for the construction of a lunar base.

“China is willing to keep on contributing to the world and enhancing human well-being with Chinese space solutions,” Wu said.

The capsule of the Chang’e 5 probe and its cargo of samples were flown to the space program’s Beijing campus after landing just before 2 a.m. on Thursday.

The mission achieved firsts for China’s lunar exploration program in collecting samples, launching a vehicle from the moon’s surface and docking it with the capsule to transfer the samples for their voyage to Earth, the China National Space Administration said in a statement issued following the landing.

“As our nation’s most complex and technically groundbreaking space mission, Chang’e 5 has achieved multiple technical breakthroughs … and represents a landmark achievement,” it said.

China in 2003 became just the third country to send an astronaut into orbit on its own after the Soviet Union and the United States and its space program has proceeded along a steady, cautious track, largely avoiding the fatalities and launch failures that marred the U.S.-Soviet space race of the 1960s.

Wu said the latest flight featured collaboration with the European Space Agency, along with Argentina, Namibia, Pakistan and other nations with which Chinese cooperates on monitoring and communicating with its spacecraft. China in the future will “encourage more scientists around the world to participate to obtain more scientific results,” Wu said.

One exception remains the United States. Amid concerns over the Chinese space program’s secrecy and close military connections, American law forbids cooperation between NASA and the CNSA unless Congress gives its approval. That has prevented China from taking part in the International Space Station and helped drive Beijing to launch a now-defunct experimental space station and formulate plans to complete a permanent orbiting outpost within the next two years.

Two of Chang’e 5’s four modules set down on the moon on Dec. 1 and collected about 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of samples by scooping them from the surface and drilling 2 meters (about 6 feet) into the moon’s crust. The samples were deposited in a sealed container that was carried back to the return module by an ascent vehicle.

The newly collected rocks are thought to be billions of years younger than those obtained earlier by the U.S. and former Soviet Union, offering new insights into the history of the moon and other bodies in the solar system. They come from a part of the moon known as the Oceanus Procellarum, or Ocean of Storms, near a site called the Mons Rumker that was believed to have been volcanic in ancient times.

As with the 382 kilograms (842 pounds) of lunar samples brought back by U.S. astronauts from 1969 to 1972, they will be analyzed for age and composition and are expected to be shared with other countries.

The age of the samples will help fill in a gap in knowledge about the history of the moon between roughly 1 billion and 3 billion years ago, Brad Jolliff, director of the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences at Washington University in the U.S. city of St. Louis, wrote in an email. They may also yield clues as to the availability of economically useful resources on the moon such as concentrated hydrogen and oxygen, Jolliff said.

“These samples will be a treasure trove!” Jolliff wrote. “My hat is off to our Chinese colleagues for pulling off a very difficult mission; the science that will flow from analysis of the returned samples will be a legacy that will last for many, many years, and hopefully will involve the international community of scientists.”

Whether U.S. researchers will have access to the samples depends on American policy, Wu said.

“Regardless of whether they are American government departments, commercial operations, scientists or engineers, we sincerely seek friendly cooperation on the basis of equality, mutual benefit and peaceful application,” Wu said.

#SPACERACE2.0

UPDATED 

China moon probe Chang'e-5 lands back on Earth

Researchers work around Chang'e-5 carrying moon samples next to a Chinese national flag in Siziwang. Reuters

Gulf Today Report

China's Chang'e-5 moon probe has landed in the northern Chinese region of Inner Mongolia, with the first fresh samples of rock and debris from the moon in more than 40 years.

The official Xinhua news agency reported that the capsule of the Chang’e 5 probe landed just before 2am (1800 GMT Wednesday) in the Siziwang district of the Inner Mongolia region.

The state media also said the capsule earlier separated from its orbiter module and performed a bounce off Earth’s atmosphere to reduce its speed before passing through and floating to the ground on parachutes.

Two of the Chang’e 5’s four modules set down on the moon on Dec.1 and collected about 2 kilogrammes (4.4 pounds) of samples by scooping them from the surface and drilling 2 metres (about 6 feet) into the moon’s crust. The samples were deposited in a sealed container that was carried back to the return module by an ascent vehicle.

Recovery crew members film the capsule of the Chang'e 5 probe after it successfully landed in Siziwang district. AP

The successful mission was the latest breakthrough for China’s increasingly ambitious space programme that includes a robotic mission to Mars and plans for a permanent orbiting space station.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping, in a statement read out at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center, called it a major achievement that marked a great step forward for China's space industry, state-run Xinhua News Agency said.

He expressed hope that mission participants would continue to contribute toward building China into a major space power and national rejuvenation, the agency reported.

Recovery crews had prepared helicopters and off-road vehicles to home in on signals emitted by the lunar spacecraft and locate it in the darkness shrouding the vast snow-covered region in China's far north, long used as a landing site for China’s Shenzhou crewed spaceships.

Recovery crew members check on the capsule of the Chang'e 5 probe after its successful landing in Siziwang district. AP

The spacecraft’s return marked the first time scientists have obtained fresh samples of lunar rocks since the former Soviet Union’s Luna 24 robot probe in 1976.

The newly collected rocks are thought to be billions of years younger than those obtained earlier by the US and former Soviet Union, offering new insights into the history of the moon and other bodies in the solar system. They come from a part of the moon known as the Oceanus Procellarum, or Ocean of Storms, near a site called the Mons Rumker that was believed to have been volcanic in ancient times.

As with the 382 kilograms (842 pounds) of lunar samples brought back by US astronauts from 1969 to 1972, they will be analyzed for age and composition and are expected to be shared with other countries.

The age of the samples will help fill in a gap in knowledge about the history of the moon between roughly 1 billion and three billion years ago, Brad Jolliff, director of the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences at Washington University in the US city of St. Louis, wrote in an email. They may also yield clues as to the availability of economically useful resources on the moon such as concentrated hydrogen and oxygen, Jolliff said.

A researcher works next to Chang'e-5 lunar return capsule carrying moon samples in Siziwang district. Reuters

“These samples will be a treasure trove!” Jolliff wrote. “My hat is off to our Chinese colleagues for pulling off a very difficult mission; the science that will flow from analysis of the returned samples will be a legacy that will last for many, many years, and hopefully will involve the international community of scientists.”

Chang’e 5 blasted off from a launch base in China’s southern island province of Hainan on Nov. 23 and appeared to have completed its highly technically sophisticated mission without a hitch.

It marked China’s third successful lunar landing but the only one to lift off again from the moon. Its predecessor, Chang’e 4, became the first probe to land on the moon’s little-explored far side and continues to send back data on conditions that could affect a future extended stay by humans on the moon.

A Chinese Probe Just Brought Back The First New Samples From The Moon in Decades


(New China TV/YouTube)
SPACE

AFP
16 DECEMBER 2020

An unmanned Chinese spacecraft carrying rocks and soil from the Moon returned safely to Earth early Thursday in the first mission in four decades to collect lunar samples, the Xinhua news agency said.

The return module of the space probe known as Chang'e-5 landed in northern China's Inner Mongolia region, Xinhua said, quoting the China National Space Administration.

Beijing is looking to catch up with the US and Russia after taking decades to match its rivals' achievements and has poured billions into its military-run space programme.

The spacecraft, named after a mythical Chinese Moon goddess, landed on the Moon on December 1 and began its return voyage two days later. While on the Moon it raised the Chinese flag, China's space agency has said.

Scientists hope the samples will help them learn about the Moon's origins, formation and volcanic activity on its surface.

With this mission, China became only the third country to have retrieved samples from the Moon, following the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1970s.

This was the first such attempt since the Soviet Union's Luna 24 mission in 1976.

The spacecraft's mission was to collect two kilograms (4.5 pounds) of material in an area known as Oceanus Procellarum – or "Ocean of Storms" – a vast, previously unexplored lava plain, according to the science journal Nature.

Under President Xi Jinping, plans for China's "space dream", as he calls it, have been put into overdrive.

China hopes to have a crewed space station by 2022 and eventually send humans to the Moon.

© Agence France-Presse

Oral contraceptive pills protect against ovarian and endometrial cancer

by Uppsala University

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

A comprehensive study from Uppsala University involving more than 250,000 women shows that oral contraceptive use protects against ovarian and endometrial cancer. The protective effect remains for several decades after discontinuing the use. The study is published in the journal Cancer Research.

Ovarian and endometrial cancer are among the most common gynecological cancers, with a lifetime risk of just over 2%. Endometrial cancer is slightly more common but as it has clearer symptoms and is therefore often detected at an early stage, the mortality rate is low. However, ovarian cancer is among the deadliest cancers, since it is often not detected until it has already spread to other parts of the body.

The first oral contraceptive pill was approved already in the 1960s, and 80% of all women in Western Europe have used oral contraceptives at some point in their life. Oral contraceptives include estrogen and progestin, which are synthetic forms of the female sex hormones. The estrogen and progestin in oral contraceptives prevent ovulation and thereby protect against pregnancy.

In the current study, the scientists compared the incidence of breast, ovarian and endometrial cancers between women that had used oral contraceptive pills and never users.

"It was clear that women who had used oral contraceptive pills had a much lower risk of developing both ovarian and endometrial cancer. Fifteen years after discontinuing with oral contraceptives, the risk was about 50% lower. However, a decreased risk was still detected up to 30-35 years after discontinuation," says Åsa Johansson at the Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology, Uppsala University, one of the leading researchers behind the study.

However, oral contraceptive pills have previously been associated with an increased risk of breast cancer.

"Surprisingly, we only found a small increased risk of breast cancer among oral contraceptive users, and the increased risk disappeared within a few years after discontinuation," says Johansson. "Our results suggest that the lifetime risk of breast cancer might not differ between ever and never users, even if there is an increased short-term risk."

The results from the current study are important, since oral contraceptive use has commonly been associated with side effects such as deep vein thrombosis and breast cancer.

"In addition to protecting against pregnancy, we have shown that oral contraceptive pills also have other positive effects. Our results can enable women and physicians to make more informed decisions about which women should use oral contraceptive pills," says Therese Johansson, one of the Ph.D. students behind the study.

Explore further 

Recent use of some birth control pills may increase breast cancer risk

More information: Karlsson T, Johansson T, Höglund T, Ek W, Johansson Å. (2020) 

Time-dependent effects of oral contraceptive use on breast, ovarian and endometrial cancers.Cancer Research (2020). 

DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-20-2476

Journal information: Cancer Research


Provided by Uppsala University

Research strongly suggests COVID-19 virus enters the brain

by Bobbi Nodell, University of Washington

DECEMBER 17, 2020

The S1 protein likely causes the brain to release inflammatory products causing a storm in the brain, researchers said. Credit: Alice Gray

More and more evidence is coming out that people with COVID-19 are suffering from cognitive effects, such as brain fog and fatigue.

And researchers are discovering why. The SARS-CoV-2 virus, like many viruses before it, is bad news for the brain. In a study published Dec.16 in Nature Neuroscience, researchers found that the spike protein, often depicted as the red arms of the virus, can cross the blood-brain barrier in mice.

This strongly suggests that SARS-CoV-2, the cause of COVID-19, can enter the brain.

The spike protein, often called the S1 protein, dictates which cells the virus can enter. Usually, the virus does the same thing as its binding protein, said lead author William A. Banks, a professor of medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine and a Puget Sound Veterans Affairs Healthcare System physician and researcher. Banks said binding proteins like S1 usually by themselves cause damage as they detach from the virus and cause inflammation.

"The S1 protein likely causes the brain to release cytokines and inflammatory products," he said.

In science circles, the intense inflammation caused by the COVID-19 infection is called a cytokine storm. The immune system, upon seeing the virus and its proteins, overreacts in its attempt to kill the invading virus. The infected person is left with brain fog, fatigue and other cognitive issues.

Banks and his team saw this reaction with the HIV virus and wanted to see if the same was happening with SARS CoV-2.

Banks said the S1 protein in SARS-CoV2 and the gp 120 protein in HIV-1 function similarly. They are glycoproteins—proteins that have a lot of sugars on them, hallmarks of proteins that bind to other receptors. Both these proteins function as the arms and hand for their viruses by grabbing onto other receptors. Both cross the blood-brain barrier and S1, like gp120, is likely toxic to brain tissues.

"It was like déjà vu," said Banks, who has done extensive work on HIV-1, gp120, and the blood-brain barrier.

The Banks' lab studies the blood-brain barrier in Alzheimer's, obesity, diabetes, and HIV. But they put their work on hold and all 15 people in the lab started their experiments on the S1 protein in April. They enlisted long-time collaborator Jacob Raber, a professor in the departments of Behavioral Neuroscience, Neurology, and Radiation Medicine, and his teams at Oregon Health & Science University.

The study could explain many of the complications from COVID-19.

"We know that when you have the COVID infection you have trouble breathing and that's because there's infection in your lung, but an additional explanation is that the virus enters the respiratory centers of the brain and causes problems there as well," said Banks.

Raber said in their experiments transport of S1 was faster in the olfactory bulb and kidney of males than females. This observation might relate to the increased susceptibility of men to more severe COVID-19 outcomes.

As for people taking the virus lightly, Banks has a message:

"You do not want to mess with this virus," he said. "Many of the effects that the COVID virus has could be accentuated or perpetuated or even caused by virus getting in the brain and those effects could last for a very long time."


Explore further  COVID-19 vaccines focus on the spike protein – but here's another target

More information: Elizabeth M. Rhea et al, The S1 protein of SARS-CoV-2 crosses the blood–brain barrier in mice, Nature Neuroscience (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41593-020-00771-8
Journal information: Nature Neuroscience 

Provided by University of Washington 

Is Istanbul headed for another big earthquake?

MURAT SOFUOGLU
31 JAN 2020

In September last year, Istanbul was shaken by a magnitude 5.8 earthquake, triggering widespread panic. This is what experts think the future might hold for the city.

Istanbul is one of the world’s most picturesque cities located along the banks of the Bosphorous - a globally strategic waterway that divides Europe and Asia. What lies beneath the city though, doesn’t paint as beautiful a picture.

The city lies directly atop the dangerous North Anatolian fault line, marking the border between the Eurasian and Anatolian plates, the scene of some of the world’s most destructive earthquakes in history, claiming the lives of tens of thousands.

In the last five centuries, Istanbul has seen at least seven big earthquakes in 1509, 1719, 1754, 1766, 1894 and 1912. In 1999, the Izmit earthquake, the most recent big one killed several hundred residents of Istanbul along with 16,000 people living in the Marmara and northwest Black Sea regions.

Istanbul is sandwiched between the Black Sea in the north and the Sea of Marmara to the south.

On January 24 this year, another deadly earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 hit Turkey’s eastern province of Elazig and its neighbouring cities, killing at least 41 people and wounding more than 1,600.

On September 26, it was once again jolted by a magnitude 5.8 earthquake, which panicked Istanbulites, triggering a long debate about the possibilities of another ‘big one’ in the city.

Which faults could affect Istanbul?

Sener Usumezsoy, who looks more like a bodybuilder or a cowboy than a geology professor, speaks with authority about the ancient fault lines of Istanbul, which lay underneath the waters of the Marmara Sea, located between the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles straits.

He is one of Turkey’s most prominent earthquake experts and remains measured about what might lie ahead for Istanbul
.
Sener Usumezsoy, a popular Turkish geology professor, speaks to TRT World about Istanbul’s earthquake risks in the city's Kadikoy district. In the picture behind him, the Sea of Marmara, under which some dangerous fault lines lay down. (Murat Sofuoglu / TRTWorld)

First and foremost, Usumezsoy thinks that while there are some risks for Istanbul, people should not fear a ‘big one’ because the fault lines beneath the Marmara Sea do not seem to contain the structure that could lead to a powerful earthquake.

Behind the presumed inevitability of a devastating earthquake lies one major misunderstanding. There is a misconception that the inactive north boundary fault line between Tuzla and Silivri, very close to Istanbul’s city centre, is part of the active North Anatolian fault, which has led to devastating earthquakes in the past across Turkey from east to west, according to Usumezsoy.
(Samet Catak/Enes Danis / TRTWorld)

In addition to this misunderstanding, the two big earthquakes in the Marmara Sea — which were triggered by the North Anatolian fault line in the late 19th Century and early 20th Century — have decreased the probability of a big earthquake in Istanbul, Usumezsoy says.

"In 1912, the western edge of the restless North Anatolian fault was broken in mainly two areas — one is close to the Tekirdag Basin, and another one is close to the Silivri Basin in the Marmara Sea," Usumezsoy explains.

As a result, currently, the fault line does not have enough seismic energy to lead to a big earthquake, the professor claims.

The 1912 earthquake in Tekirdag province was extremely destructive, with an estimated magnitude of 7.4 and killed around 3,000 people destroying nearly 25,000 houses in its wake.

Since 1912, seismologists have been debating whether the broken fault has accumulated considerable stress, and could lead to another big earthquake.

"Strong earthquakes occur when the fault zone becomes locked. Then tectonic strain accumulates, and the seismic energy is released in an earthquake," said Dietrich Lange, a leading academic for the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (Germany), who conducted a comprehensive study in the summer on the fault lines in the Marmara Sea.

Lange believes that the North Anatolian fault has built up enough tectonic strain to trigger a big earthquake.

But Usumezsoy disagrees, saying that the latest Japanese research proves otherwise.

The map shows bathymetric features and the layout of five seafloor extensometers in an area close to the Silivri Basin in the Sea of Marmara. These measurements show that there are movements or creepings between stations designated by arrows and numbers, which indicate that the Silivri fault is not locked and as a result do not accumulate essential stress to trigger a big earthquake. (Samet Catak/Enes Danis / TRTWorld)

“If this fault has become locked, accumulating two centimetres tectonic strain per year, that means it should have accumulated at least two metres strain until today,” Usumezsoy says.

“However, research conducted by Japanese showed that in this part of the Marmara Sea, the fault has not been locked without accumulating two centimetres strain. Instead, much of the fault is creeping, which amounts to 1.5 centimetre per year,” he said.

Therefore, the probability of a big earthquake is significantly diminished, according to him. 

Strike-slip faults are vertical fractures where the blocks have mostly moved horizontally, building up strain and eventually leading to earthquakes. Turkey’s dangerous North Anatolian Fault (NAF) is a strike-slip fault. The map shows that NAF in the Sea of Marmara is not locked, instead it has about 1.5 centimetre slip rate per year, meaning that it is not producing enough strain to trigger a big earthquake. (Samet Catak/Enes Danis / TRTWorld)

Nearly 20 years before the 1912 earthquake, in 1894, the North Anatolian fault also broke on its south eastern edge, where it was moving from the Armutlu Peninsula westward to the Cinarcik Basin, in the Marmara Sea.

As a result, in this area, the North Anatolian fault does not appear to have enough seismic energy to lead to a powerful earthquake, affecting Istanbul, Usumezsoy asserts.

The 1894 earthquake killed hundreds of people and led to enormous destruction inside Istanbul’s old city, leaving its mark on the ancient metropolis’s landmarks from the monumental Galata Tower to the city's Byzantium-era walls.

(Samet Catak/Enes Danis / TRTWorld)

Since the last big one in 1999, the pressure on the North Anatolian fault in the Marmara Sea has concentrated on its southern branch. It is moving south, close to the southern shores of the Marmara Sea, according to Usumezsoy.

That means the North Anatolian fault’s southern branch, which is more active and under pressure, is moving further away from Istanbul.

Quake debate

Despite Usumezsoy’s assurances, after the recent earthquake in Silivri Basin, the big Istanbul earthquake debate resurfaced as both ordinary folks and experts passionately argue about its potential timing and magnitude.

The 4.6 and 5.8 earthquakes happened in the Silivri Basin, where a separate fault line in the middle of the Marmara Sea, which lies northward, was broken twice in late September. (Map 1)

No casualties were reported, but several buildings collapsed in Istanbul, and many were left marked by cracks

.

A man takes pictures of a damaged mosque after an earthquake in Istanbul, Turkey, September 26, 2019. (Murad Sezer / TRTWorld)

After the earthquakes in the Tekirdag Basin, the Cinarcik Basin and most recently in the Silivri Basin, all earthquake-watchers have turned their attention towards a tiny fault line in the Kumburgaz Basin, which moves from the middle of the Marmara Sea to Cekmece.

Where could another earthquake happen?

“This (Kumburgaz) fault, which has been said to have a length of 40 to 50 km, is now being expected to be broken. This is the one, which carries a risk to be broken at the moment. But because this fault is not part of the North Anatolian fault system, it can not create big earthquakes,” Usumezsoy told TRT World.

“Because the depth of the Kumburgaz fault is about 10 kilometres, it can not create an earthquake more than the magnitude of 6.5,” he said. 

(Samet Catak/Enes Danis / TRTWorld)

The depth of the Kumburgaz fault also proves that it’s not part of the North Anatolian fault system, which traverses the lithosphere at a depth of 20 kilometres across Turkey.

The magnitude of an earthquake is calculated by measuring its length and depth. As a result, the larger the area of the fault, the larger the earthquake. The same principle applies to the depth of the fault line.

“Magnitude represents the total energy released in the earthquake, which in turn depends on the area (length times depth) of the fault where slip occurs,” says Earthquake Country Alliance, an earthquake monitoring group, which aims to increase awareness and preparedness about earthquakes and tsunamis.

But other experts like Ronald Armijo, a French scientist, come to a different conclusion based on the assumption that the Kumburgaz fault lies further than Cekmece to Yesilkoy, defending a counter-argument that the high-risk fault has a length of 70 km, which means Istanbul could face a magnitude 7.2 earthquake.

Some other experts also claim that the allegedly active fault between Silivri and Tuzla will be broken once, leading to an earthquake of a magnitude of 7.6.

Usumezsoy disagrees with them, saying they are confusing a normal and possibly dead faultline between Tuzla and Cekmece with the North Anatolian fault, which is essential to Istanbul.

“Their mistake is a vital mistake to understand the dynamics of (Istanbul’s future earthquake),” the professor concludes. 

Source: TRT World