Sunday, April 25, 2021

Flexible diet has helped leaf-eating lemurs survive deforestation



When fruits and flowers are plentiful, leaf-loving lemurs called sifakas diversify their diets, but their diverse diets may help them habitat fragmentation and deforestation. Photo by Lydia Greene/Duke University

April 23 (UPI) -- Several species of leaf-eating lemurs, or sifakas, in Madagascar also like to munch on flowers and fruit, returning to leaves when more nutrient dense food sources are scarce.

The authors of a new study, published Friday in the journal Science Advances, estimate lemurs with more flexible diets are better able to resist habitat fragmentation and deforestation compared to their pickier peers.

For the study, scientists sequenced the genomes of four different sifaka species: the Coquerel's sifaka, Propithecus coquereli; Verreaux's sifaka, P. verreauxi; golden-crowned sifaka, P. tattersalli; and the diademed sifaka, P. diadema.

All but two of the surveyed lemurs were born in the wild but lived at Duke Lemur Center.

RELATED Lemurs prove there's more than one biochemical recipe for monogamous love

Though the four species prefer different types of habitat, all four share similar diets -- they eat leaves, and their genomes reflected as much.

Tree leaves are difficult to digest, host toxic compounds and are frequently bitter.

Thankfully, all four surveyed sifaka species have evolved the genetic coding required to digest leaves. These evolutionary adaptations allow them to neutralize toxic compounds and break down tough leaf membranes so they can efficiently absorb nutrients.

RELATED Most of Madagascar's rainforest on pace to disappear by 2070

Scientists found the genetic coding that help lemurs digest tree leaves are similar to leaf-digestion genes found in the genomes of domestic cattle and Central Africa's colobus monkey.

Though sifakas are well-suited for leaf consumption, as the genomic analysis confirmed, they're not picky eaters. When flowers bud and fruits ripen, sifakas abandon leaves for more nutritious foods.

"Sifakas can take advantage of foods that are higher energy and are more nutrient dense, and can fall back and subsist on leaves in times of scarcity," lead study author Elaine Guevara, an assistant research professor of evolutionary anthropology at Duke University, said in a news release.

RELATED Gut bacteria reveal which lemurs are most vulnerable to deforestation

Scientists were surprised to find that diademed sifakas feature surprisingly high levels of genetic diversity, despite being threatened by habitat loss.

The latest research suggests the species' ability to utilize a diversity of food sources may offer it and other lemur species like it an advantage over those targeting only leaves or only fruit.

"I've seen sifakas at the Lemur Center eat dead pine needles," said Guevara. "Their diet is really flexible."

Previous studies have shown even small, vulnerable mammal populations with high levels of genetic diversity, or heterozygosity, are often more resilient to climate change, habitat loss and disease.

Unfortunately, sifakas yield new generations only once every 17 years or so.

Scientists worry their genetic diversity may simply reflect the genetic health of previous generations. And deforestation rates have accelerated dramatically in recent decades.

"Sifakas are still critically endangered, their population numbers are decreasing, and habitat loss is accelerating drastically," said Guevara.

While the latest research suggests the island's lemurs are naturally resilient, scientists suggest there are limits to their resiliency.

Without policies to protect the lemur habitat that remains, however, even the most resilient lemur populations are likely to shrink.

"Sifakas still have a good chance if we act," said Guevara. "Our results are all the more reason to do everything we can to help them."


POWER ENGINEERING
Navy certifies first female Steam Generating Plant Inspector
By Christen McCurdy



Chief Machinist’s Mate Mayra Hudgens, a Bronx, N.Y., native assigned to Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center, recently became the first female Sailor to earn the U.S. Navy’s Steam Generating Plant Inspector certification. Photo by Hendrick L. Dickson/U.S. Navy

April 22 (UPI) -- A Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center sailor recently became the first woman certified as a Steam Generating Plant Inspector for the U.S. Navy, the service announced Thursday.

Marya Hudgens, a chief machinist's mate assigned to the MARMC Engineering Department's Steam and Propulsion Branch, completed the SGPI certification course after a lengthy process including screenings, shipboard qualifications and courses of knowledge.

"When I was aboard USS Boxer as an E-5, this was a goal I set for myself," Hudgens said in a press release issued by the branch. "Everyone was telling me there had never been a female boiler inspector in the Navy. I remember saying, 'One day I'm going to be the first.'"

According to the Navy, there are more than 6,000 machinist mates in the service, but only about 25 certified SGPIs

SGPIs perform specialized tasks like inspecting material condition, monitoring general readiness, diagnosing improper operating procedures and detailing repairs of all marine main propulsion plant boilers and steam catapult accumulators.

According to Senior Chief Machinist's Mate Michael Barton, who is also assigned to the Steam and Propulsion Branch, the training program begins early in a sailor's career.

Sailors who show potential and interest are added to a list, which is whittled down before they make it to the final certification course.

Hudgens, a 15-year veteran of the service, said she hopes her accomplishments will influence others to aim high.

"My hope is that by me achieving this, it will push more female machinist's mates to set their goals high and realize they could be doing the same thing that the guys are doing, if they work hard and don't give up," Hudgen said.

Saturday, April 24, 2021

 

GAO: Poor planning, sustainment problems driving F-35 costs

The active-duty 388th and Reserve 419th Fighter Wings conducted an F-35A Combat Power Exercise at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, in January 2020. Photo by R. Nial Bradshaw/U.S. Air Force
The active-duty 388th and Reserve 419th Fighter Wings conducted an F-35A Combat Power Exercise at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, in January 2020. Photo by R. Nial Bradshaw/U.S. Air Force | License Photo

April 22 (UPI) -- The Pentagon should develop a plan to ensure it can afford to sustain the future F-35 fleet, said a Government Accountability Office report release Thursday.

According to the report, the Defense Department plans to acquire nearly 2,500 F-35 aircraft for a cost of $400 billion, but the costs of sustainment are far higher -- and have climbed steadily upward over the last decade

Estimated sustainment costs for the jet over its 66-year service life have increased steadily, from $1.11 trillion to $1.27 trillion since 2012, according to the GAO.

The Air Force will need to reduce estimated annual per-plane costs by $3.7 million -- or 47% -- by 2036, or costs will be $4.4 billion more than it can afford.

RELATED 'Kingpin' command and control squadron moves out of UAE

The cost per aircraft per year would total $6 billion in 2036 alone, the GAO said -- meaning the services "will collectively be confronted with tens of billions of dollars in sustainment costs that they project as unaffordable during the program."

The report recommended Congress should consider requiring the Defense Department to report annually on its effort to contain costs for the fighter jet -- making F-35 aircraft procurement decisions contingent on the department's progress in containing costs.

The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole combat aircraft, and currently regarded as the world's superior fighter plane -- but the F-35 program has also come under fire for operating problems and spiraling costs.




Renewable energy: Inside Alberta’s wind and solar boom

By Kieron O'Dea Global News
Posted April 24, 2021

A renewable energy boom is underway in the heart of oil country, as vast new projects harness Alberta’s bounty of wind and sun, drawing an increasingly eager and adaptable workforce.

Drew Mair feels fortunate to be so busy. For the owner of Ridgeline Power Solutions, an Edmonton solar installation company, business has never been better.
“I’ve been swamped… People are excited about putting [solar] on their houses, putting it on their businesses and putting it on government buildings. So there’s a general enthusiasm about it.”


READ MORE: ‘It’s the future’: Town of Taber looking at net-zero carbon emissions

Like many Albertans, Mair’s career path has been shaped in the boom and bust cycle of the oil and gas sector. An electrician by trade, he spent ten years working in several oil installations in and around Fort MacMurray. Then came the downturn of 2015.
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“You could see the writing was kind of on the wall. There weren’t as many jobs. There weren’t as many new projects on the books. And I was kind of disillusioned with working in oil and gas,” Mair tells Global News.

Mair had always harboured a keen interest in renewable energy, an interest he traces back to a grade school science project where he designed and built a solar-powered model boat.

“It’s part science, part magic… I think it’s just amazing — the fact that you can use the energy from the sun to turn it into the power that you use in your house every day.”

Drew Mair, owner of Ridgeline Power Solutions, an Edmonton solar installation company.

Despite Mair’s electrical skillset, there was no easy path into the solar business.

“I basically had to create my own job at the beginning because there weren’t enough companies that were hiring people to do solar,” Mair says.

Over a few short years, Mair networked and researched, started and grew his own company, and has seen the industry grow in leaps and bounds to the point where it is today.

He jokes about the adaptability that got him this far. “I’m part electrician, part roofer, part carpenter, but definitely heavy on the electrical. And, you know, that’s what we’re dealing with at the end of the day is power generation.”
“We’re the Sunshine State of the North”

The growing enthusiasm for renewable energy runs across the spectrum of scale. Many recent wind and solar power projects in the province stand out for their sheer size.

The Claresholm solar farm in southern Alberta recently went online. Producing 132 MW of electricity, it is now Canada’s largest solar project. But that won’t last long.
1:45 ‘We’re really excited’: Enbridge opens new solar facility in southern Alberta – Apr 13, 2021

When the Travers solar farm near Vulcan goes online, it will be nearly three times the size, capable of powering 100,000 homes. Construction is set to begin later this year.

Greengate Power CEO Dan Balaban says the farm will be among the largest in the world, one of many massive renewable projects drawing on Alberta’s workforce.

‘We’re going to see a renewable construction boom in this province and all over the world over the next decade and beyond. And we have a lot of skilled labour here in Alberta,” Balaban says. “I believe a lot of those skills are easily transferable to renewable energy projects, which at the end of the day are really just large construction projects.”


READ MORE: Alberta solar farm construction to proceed after TC Energy supply deal signed

Ideal market conditions are coming together with the region’s natural wealth in the wind and solar resource, says Balaban.

“We have some of the best onshore wind resources in North America. We’re the Sunshine State of the North. Our solar resource in Alberta is as good as the solar resource in Florida for the purposes of producing electricity.”

2:00 Southern Alberta witnessing unprecedented surge in renewable energy projects– Nov 16, 2020

Canada’s Energy Regulator (CER) recently released a report forecasting that Alberta and Saskatchewan will lead the nation in the growth of renewable energy in the coming years, powered mostly by wind and solar.

Darren Christie, chief economist for CER notes the technology has become more affordable. “It is a really remarkable thing how quickly costs have fallen for wind and solar over the last number of years.”

Christie notes that Alberta and Saskatchewan have long lagged far behind hydro-rich provinces like Quebec, B.C., Manitoba and Newfoundland, where upwards of 90 per cent of power is generated from renewable sources. Closing the gap is driving much of the growth in wind and solar.


READ MORE: Hydro-Québec expands its horizons with massive solar energy project

“In both Alberta and Saskatchewan, with the phase-out of coal, it certainly creates an opportunity for that growth of renewables as they look to lower the carbon intensity of their power systems,” Christie says.
Montana First Nation: A small community making a big solar impact

While his crew manages the demand for solar installation in Edmonton, Drew Mair has shifted his focus to the utility side of green energy, working for Akamihk Energy.

Under the leadership of Chief Leonard Standingontheroad of the Montana First Nation, Mair is busy managing the largest solar farm in any Indigenous community in Canada.

With more than 36,000 modules and capable of powering more than 1,000 homes, the solar farm is a realization of Montana’s ambition to be a leader in green energy. It’s been seven years in the making according to Chief Standingontheroad and is the culmination of an effort that arrayed so many of the nation’s buildings with solar of their own. All the electricity produced feeds the grid through the nation’s own renewable energy company, Akamihk Energy.

Most of all, the renewable journey has opened up new career paths for many First Nation members.

“It’s made a big difference in the attitude of our nation members,” Chief Leonard Standingontheroad says.

“They’re really looking at it as an opportunity for careers. And we’ve had a lot of training during the planning of the solar farm. There are people that trained as installers and in different categories of tech, and that’s really been successful.”

The solar farm on Montana First Nation in Maskwacis, Alta.

For Mair, the chance to work with a community so heavily invested in green energy is a reward in itself. And it’s a far cry from his days in oil and gas.

“It’s amazing. I don’t feel like I have to get up and go to work. I don’t have work dread anymore. I like what I do, and I’m very grateful for that. I get to do what I like to do with like-minded people in a community that is really important to me,” Mair says.


De-polarizing the energy discussion


As renewable energy takes flight in Alberta, there’s a growing awareness among advocates of the need to depolarize the discourse in the sector.


READ MORE: No, renewable energy is not primarily to blame for Texas power failures
Balaban says “[the energy discussion] has been framed as oil and gas ‘versus’ renewables. But I believe it’s an ‘and.’


“I believe we can be developing our oil and gas ‘and’ our renewable energy resources. The world is accelerating its transition to net zero.”


“But for the foreseeable future, we’re still going to need oil and gas in the mix. And I think it’s important that we invest in both so that we can continue to be prosperous today and ensure that we can be prosperous for generations to come.”



Mair sees his work as part of a larger trend that is opening new space in the long transition of the energy sector.


“I don’t begrudge anyone for going to work in oil and gas. How could I? Because that would make me a hypocrite,” he says.

“But there are alternatives and they’re very satisfying. And you can make a living out of them… So if by me not working in oil and gas, that frees up a position for somebody else, then that’s fantastic. “

© 2021 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
UK
Ex-Post Office chief should be stripped of CBE over Horizon scandal, union says
Paula Vennells, who was chief executive of the Post Office until 2019, was awarded a CBE for ‘services to the Post Office and to charity’.
Post Office stock / PA Media

By Sam Tobin
4/23/2021

The former CEO of the Post Office should be stripped of her CBE over the Horizon scandal, a trade union said, after dozens of subpostmasters had their convictions overturned at the Court of Appeal.

Paula Vennells, who became the organisation’s chief executive in 2012, was awarded a CBE in 2019 for “services to the Post Office and to charity”.

Ms Vennells left the company in 2019, months before a damning High Court judgment in a civil claim brought against the Post Office by hundreds of former subpostmasters.

Speaking in the House of Commons last year, Labour MP Kevan Jones said awarding Ms Vennells a CBE was “rubbing salt in the wounds of these innocent people” and called for her honour to be removed.

On Friday, after 39 former subpostmasters had their names cleared, the Communication Workers Union called for Ms Vennells to be stripped of her CBE for “her part in this scandal”.

READ MORE
Boris Johnson vows Post Office scandal victims will be ‘properly looked after’
Relief and anger as subpostmasters finally have their convictions overturned
Ex-post office worker went through 12 years of ‘absolute hell’

Andy Furey, CWU’s national officer for postmasters, said: “Our union is demanding that Paula Vennells, the former CEO, be stripped of her CBE – which was awarded to her for services to the Post Office in 2019 – for her part in this scandal.

“We also demand a criminal investigation against those who put loyal, decent workers in this diabolical situation.

“Many senior figures who are complicit in this scandal will now want to run from this situation, but we must not let that happen.

“Heads must roll for the humiliation and misery inflicted on decent, upstanding people who were simply providing much-needed local services and were pillars of their local communities.

“It will be only when justice is done that the suffering of so many can be mended and these decent, loyal postmasters can get real closure.”

At the appeal hearing last month, Sam Stein QC, representing five of the former subpostmasters, told the Court of Appeal: “The Post Office has turned itself into the nation’s most untrustworthy brand … through its own behaviour and its own fault over many years.”

The Post Office failed in its simplest of duties – to act honestly and reliably

He said the Post Office’s “appalling and shameful behaviour” in prosecuting subpostmasters was “the longest and most extensive affront to the justice system in living memory”.

Mr Stein added: “The fall from grace by the Post Office cannot be ignored.


“It has gone from valued friend to devalued villain.


“Those responsible within the Post Office had the duty to maintain not only the high standards of those responsible for any prosecution, but also to maintain the high faith and trust we had for the Post Office.

“Instead, the Post Office failed in its simplest of duties – to act honestly and reliably.”

Tim Moloney QC, representing 30 of the appellants, told the court that the Post Office’s failure to investigate issues with the Fujitsu-developed Horizon accounting system was “shameful and culpable”.

He said there was “an institutional imperative” within the Post Office “of acquitting Horizon and convicting subpostmasters … in order to protect Horizon and to protect their own commercial reputation”.

The Court of Appeal also heard the Post Office “shredded” potentially incriminating documents relating to its defective Horizon IT system in a bid to “hide the truth”.

The Post Office was “firmly aware that they were going to be exposed” by 2013, but nonetheless deliberately tried to “keep back material” which undermined Horizon’s credibility, the court was told.

A barrister called Simon Clarke gave legal advice to the Post Office’s criminal law team about the disclosure and retention of material about “all Horizon-related issues” in around 2013.

In the advice, Mr Clarke said that, at one weekly conference call at the Post Office’s head office, he was told that minutes of a previous call “should be, and have been, destroyed”, adding that “the word ‘shredded’ was conveyed to me”.

Mr Stein argued this showed the Post Office may have been involved in the “destruction of documents”, which he said “may well amount to conspiracy to pervert the course of justice”.

He added: “There is evidence that this knowledge and this reason for obscuring the truth and hiding the truth went to the very heart of the Post Office.”

In a statement after the ruling, Post Office chairman Tim Parker said the Post Office “continues to reform its operations and culture to ensure such events can never happen again”.

The Post Office’s current chief executive Nick Read said the Court of Appeal’s ruling was “a vital milestone in fully and properly addressing the past”.

Post Office’s aggressive pursuit of staff casts shadow ...
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/apr/23/post-office...

1 day ago · When the Rev Paula Vennells stepped down as chief executive of the Post Office in February 2019, she walked away nearly £5m richer.. As Vennells made for the exit, hundreds of loyal employees ...

Paula Vennells - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paula_Vennells

Overview
Early life and education
Career
Honours


Paula Anne Vennells, CBE, FRSA (born 1959) is a British businesswoman and Anglican priest. She was Chief Executive Officer of the Post Office Limited from 2012 to 2019. The Post Office under her leadership pursued court cases against hundreds of subpostmasters for fraud, due to financial discrepancies that in reality arose from computer errors for which her own company wa







THE ANARCHY OF CAPITALISM
Seeking "driving seat" for EU, Breton to meet chipmaker execs
GLOBAL SHORTAGE OF CHIPS
By Michel Rose and Douglas Busvine 
4/23/2021

PARIS/BERLIN (Reuters) -European industry chief Thierry Breton will hold discussions with the chief executive of chipmaker Intel and a top executive of Taiwanese competitor TMSC on April 30, as the EU seeks to shield itself from shocks in the global supply chain.

Breton will meet Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger in Brussels next Friday and will also hold a video conference with Maria Marced, President of TMSC Europe, on the same day, the European Commissioner said.

"Increasing our autonomy does not mean isolating ourselves in a world where supply chains are global," Breton told Reuters.

"In parallel to exploring how we can increase Europe's capacity...we will continue to build bridges with international partners - but with us in the driving seat," he added, confirming the meetings.

Breton is seeking to persuade a leading chipmaker to site a major fabrication plant in the EU that would help realise the Commission's strategic goal of securing the most advanced chip production technology over the next decade.

The ambition, contained in the Commission's Digital Compass strategy, foresees doubling Europe's share of global semiconductor production to 20% and producing the most advanced 2 nanometer chips by 2030.

Breton's push for technology 'sovereignty' comes as a surge in demand for everything from consumer electronics to cars has disrupted global supply chains and exposed the continent's reliance on chips made in Asia.

FLYING IN

Gelsinger, new in the job, has announced his intent to build a 'fab' in Europe as part of a strategy reset in which Intel would launch a foundry - or contract manufacturing - division and invest billions in new production capacity.

Yet, say sources in Brussels, Breton is keener to reel in TSMC, which is widely regarded as the undisputed industry leader and has a better command of the most advanced manufacturing processes. TSMC declined to comment.

Analysts caution that siting a major plant in Europe could prove to be a strategic blunder because the continent - which neither makes high-end electronics nor has a modern chip-design industry - lacks a viable market.

Local chipmakers such as Infineon, STM and NXP gave up their aspirations to stay at the leading edge years ago and are now niche players focusing on segments like automotive.

Still, with Breton setting his sights on a major investment, speculation is circulating about where a future 'eurofab' might be sited, with his native France, Germany's Dresden cluster and nearby Poland mentioned as potential locations.

Gelsinger is also expected to travel to Germany during his visit to Europe next week, Politico cited an Intel official as saying.

An Intel spokesperson based in Munich did not confirm this and the German Economy Ministry declined to comment, saying it did not confirm or deny meetings as a matter of policy.

(Writing by Michel Rose; additional reporting by Foo Yun Chee in Brussels and Ben Blanchard in Taipei; Editing by Toby Chopra, Kirsten Donovan)
MODI'S MASSACRE
‘It’s over’: India COVID-19 patients suffocate as cases surge during oxygen shortage

By Aijaz Hussain The Associated Press
Posted April 24, 2021 

WATCH: India's daily COVID-19 cases hit new world record as country faces oxygen shortages


Indian authorities scrambled Saturday to get oxygen tanks to hospitals where COVID-19 patients were suffocating amid the world’s worst coronavirus surge, as the government came under increasing criticism for what doctors said was its negligence in the face of a foreseeable public health disaster.

For the third day in a row, India set a global daily record of new infections. The 346,786 confirmed cases over the past day brought India’s total to more than 16 million, behind only the United States. The Health Ministry reported another 2,624 deaths in the past 24 hours, pushing India’s COVID-19 fatalities to 189,544. Experts say even those figures are likely an undercount.

The government ramped up its efforts to get medical oxygen to hospitals using special Oxygen Express trains, air force planes and trucks to transport tankers, and took measures to exempt critical oxygen supplies from customs taxes. But the crisis in the country of nearly 1.4 billion people was only deepening as overburdened hospitals shut admissions and ran out of beds and oxygen supplies.

READ MORE: India marks one COVID-19 death every 5 minutes as country hits new case record


“Every hospital is running out (of oxygen). We are running out,” Dr. Sudhanshu Bankata, executive director of Batra Hospital, a leading hospital in the capital, told New Delhi Television channel.

In a sign of the desperation unfolding over the shortages, a high court in Delhi warned Saturday it would “hang” anyone who tries to obstruct the delivery of emergency oxygen supplies, amid evidence that some local authorities were diverting tanks to hospitals in their areas. The court, which was hearing submissions by a group of hospitals over the oxygen shortages, termed the devastating rise in infections a “tsunami.”

At least 20 COVID-19 patients at the critical care unit of New Delhi’s Jaipur Golden Hospital died overnight as “oxygen pressure was low,” the Indian Express newspaper reported.

“Our supply was delayed by seven-eight hours on Friday night and the stock we received last night is only 40 per cent of the required supply,” the newspaper quoted the hospital’s medical superintendent, Dr. D.K. Baluja, as saying.
1:36India reports over 100,000 cases of COVID-19 in one day, passing grim milestoneIndia reports over 100,000 cases of COVID-19 in one day, passing grim milestone – Apr 5, 2021

On Thursday, 25 COVID-19 patients died at the capital’s Sir Ganga Ram Hospital amid suggestions that low oxygen supplies were to blame.

India’s infection surge, blamed on a highly contagious variant first detected here, came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared victory over the coronavirus in January, telling the virtual gathering of the World Economic Forum that India’s success couldn’t be compared with anywhere else.

“In a country which is home to 18 per cent of the world population, that country has saved humanity from a big disaster by containing corona effectively,” Modi said.

But health experts and critics say a downward trend in infections late last year lulled authorities into complacency, as they failed to plug the holes in the ailing health care system that had become evident during the first wave. They also blame politicians and government authorities for allowing super-spreader events, including religious festivals and election rallies, to take place as recently as this month.


READ MORE: India is shattering global COVID-19 infection rates. Here’s why

“It’s not the virus variants and mutations which are a key cause of the current rise in infections,” Dr. Anant Bhan, a bioethics and global health expert, tweeted this week. “It’s the variants of ineptitude and abdication of public health thinking by our decision makers.”

Dr. Vineeta Bal, who studies immune systems at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research in Pune city, said that at the heart of India’s “paralyzing” oxygen shortage was the sense of complacency that took hold as cases declined.

When the virus first erupted in India last year, Modi imposed a harsh, nationwide lockdown for months to keep hospitals from being overwhelmed. But the government relaxed restrictions in the face of widespread financial hardship and Modi has refrained from ordering a new lockdown.

But a pandemic doesn’t just end, Bal noted. Summing up the authorities’ response, she said: “Failure of governance, failure of anticipation, failure of planning, compounded by this sense that we’ve conquered (the virus).”

Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah as well as opposition politicians this month took part in mass election rallies in five populous states with tens of thousands of supporters who were not wearing masks or social distancing.

In addition, religious leaders and hundreds of thousands of devout Hindus descended on the banks of the Ganges River in the northern Indian city of Haridwar last month for a major Kumbh festival. Experts have described these as super-spreader events.



“Political and religious leaders have been exemplary on television for not following the restriction that they’re saying ordinary people should follow,” Bal said.

Last week, the Supreme Court told Modi’s government to produce a national plan for the supply of oxygen and essential drugs for the treatment of coronavirus patients.


READ MORE: ‘We support it’: B.C. health officials say stopping India flights will help curb our third-wave

The government said Saturday it would exempt vaccines, oxygen and other oxygen-related equipment from customs duty for three months, in a bid to boost availability.

In addition, Modi’s emergency assistance fund, dubbed PM CARES, in January allocated some $27 million for setting up 162 oxygen generation plants inside public health facilities in the country. Three months on, only 33 have been created, according to the federal Health Ministry.

But the Defence Ministry is set to fly 23 mobile oxygen generating plants within a week from Germany to be deployed at army-run hospitals catering to COVID patients. Each plant will be able to produce 2,400 litres of oxygen per hour, a government statement said Friday.

That’s coming too late for hospitals in the capital and hard-hit states such as Maharashtra, which have turned to social media to plead with authorities to replenish their oxygen supplies. Early Saturday, Bankata’s Batra hospital reported severe shortage of oxygen for its 190 admitted patients.



When the news anchor asked Bankata what happens when a hospital issues an SOS call as his had done, Bankata replied: “Nothing. It’s over. It’s over.”

Hours later, the hospital received supplies to run for few hours.

Fortis Healthcare, a chain of hospitals across India, said Saturday that one of its hospitals in New Delhi “is running out of oxygen” and was suspending admissions. In a tweet, it said it had been waiting for fresh supplies since the morning.

As the oxygen scarcity deepened, local officials in several states disrupted movement of tankers and diverted supplies to their areas.

READ MORE: Canada banning flights from India, Pakistan for 30 days as COVID-19 cases soar

On Friday, the Press Trust of India news agency reported that a tanker-truck carrying oxygen supplies in Delhi’s neighbouring state of Haryana went missing. Days before, the news agency reported, a minister in Haryana blamed Delhi authorities for looting an oxygen tanker when it was crossing their territory.

“Unfortunately, many such incidents have occurred and have dire effect on hospitals in need of oxygen supplies,” said Saket Tiku, president of the All India Industrial Gases Manufacturers Association.

India is a major vaccine producer, but even after halting large exports of vaccines in March to divert them to domestic use, there are still questions of whether manufactures can produce them fast enough to bring down infections in time in the world’s second most populous country.
India said this week it would soon expand its vaccination program from people aged 45 to include all adults, some 900 million people — well more than the entire population of the entire European Union and United States combined.

___

Associated Press Science Writer Aniruddha Ghosal in New Delhi contributed to this rep

THREE PENNY OPERA EUGENE BRECHT/KURT WEIL/LOTTE LENYA IN GERMAN

EXCELLENT QUALITY TRANSFER ACTUAL RECORD NO POPS 
PAUSE WHEN TURNING RECORD OVER 

LGBT activists not excited by Jenner's campaign for governor

MEMBER OF 1% TRANSISTIONS GENDER BUT NOT CLASS

Though Caitlyn Jenner is one of the most famous transgender people in America, the announcement of her candidacy for California governor was greeted hostilely by one of the state’s largest LGBTQ-rights groups and by many trans activists around the country.

“Make no mistake: we can’t wait to elect a #trans governor of California,” tweeted the group, Equality California. “But @Caitlyn_Jenner spent years telling the #LGBTQ+ community to trust Donald Trump. We saw how that turned out. Now she wants us to trust her? Hard pass.”

Jenner – the former Olympic gold medallist and reality TV personality -- is a Republican and supported Trump in 2016. She later criticized his administration for some discriminatory actions against transgender people, but has failed to convince many trans-rights advocates that she is a major asset to their cause.

“Caitlyn Jenner is a deeply unqualified hack who doesn’t care about anyone but herself,” tweeted trans activist Charlotte Clymer. “Her views are terrible. She is a horrible candidate.”

Jennifer Finney Boylan, a transgender writer and professor at Barnard College, appeared on multiple episodes of Jenner’s TV show, “I Am Cait” and considers her a friend. But she’s not an admirer of Jenner’s politics.

“I wish her well personally,” Boylan said via email. “But I can’t see how the conservative policies she is likely to embrace will help Californians.”

Wyatt Ronan of the Human Rights Campaign, a major national LGBTQ-rights organization, said Jenner “is not the leader California needs.”

“Her support of Donald Trump, the most virulent and vocal anti-LGBTQ president in American history, and her decision to hire Trump’s inner circle for her campaign are just two examples why,” he said.

David Badash, editor of an LGBTQ-oriented news and opinion site called The New Civil Rights Movement, noted that Jenner’s campaign website outlined no policy positions and offered two options to those visiting the site: “Shop” and “Donate.”

Badash questioned why Jenner would run as a Republican at a time when GOP legislators in more than 20 states have been pushing bills aimed at curtailing transgender youths’ ability to play school sports and receive gender-affirming medical care.

Some activists found reason to welcome Jenner’s announcement, saying it was further evidence that transgender Americans are running for office more frequently.

Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen of the National Center for Transgender Equality Action Fund noted that in the 2020 election, Sarah McBride of Maryland became the first openly trans person elected to a state Senate seat and Stephanie Byers of Kansas became the first openly trans Native American elected to a state legislature.

In Vermont, Christine Hallquist won the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 2018, but lost the general election to incumbent Republican Phil Scott.

“Voters want leaders who will deliver results for their communities, no matter who they are,” Heng-Lehtinen said.

Attorney Sasha Buchert, co-director of the Transgender Rights Project at the LGBTQ-rights group Lambda Legal, said when the public sees transgender people in public life it “serves to expand public awareness of the reality and diversity of trans lives."

“It matters to us what policies candidates support — and what their track record might be — on a full range of issues, not just trans rights and inclusion,” Buchert added. "That is the lens one should always use in evaluating any candidate, including Caitlyn Jenner.”

David Crary, The Associated Press

JENNER'S PARTY

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signs anti-trans sports bill

By Caroline Kelly and Kelsie Smith, CNN 
4/23/2021

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, signed a bill into law on Friday requiring all Alabama athletes in K-12 public school to compete in sports based on the gender they were assigned at birth -- joining a growing trend among Republican-controlled legislatures around the country that have been moving in recent weeks to impose restrictions on the lives of transgender Americans.

© Jake Crandall/USA Today/Sipa USA Gov. Kay Ivey holds a sit down interview with reporters in the Governor's office at the Alabama State Capitol Building in Montgomery, Ala., on Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021. (Photo by Jake Crandall/ Advertiser/USA Today Network/Sipa USA)

Ivey's office confirmed to CNN in an email that the governor signed the bill into law Friday afternoon.

The bill states that no K-12 public school is allowed to "participate in, sponsor, or provide coaching staff for interscholastic athletic events at which athletes are allowed to participate in competition against athletes who are of a different biological gender, unless the event specifically includes both biological genders."

While proponents of the bill say sex-specific sports teams have given biological female athletes more equal opportunities to compete, those against it say the bill is discriminatory and harmful to transgender athletes.

Alphonso David -- president of the Human Rights Campaign, one of the nation's largest LGBTQ advocacy groups -- slammed the legislation as "nothing more than a politically motivated bill designed to discriminate against an already vulnerable population."

"By signing this legislation, Gov. Ivey is forcefully excluding transgender children. Let's be clear here: Transgender children are children. They deserve the same opportunity to learn valuable skills of teamwork, sportsmanship, and healthy competition with their peers," David said in a statement. "Simply put, Alabamans deserve better than lawmakers who legislate against the health and safety of all kids for cheap political gain."

Alabama Republican Rep. Scott Stadthagen, who sponsored the bill, praised Ivey for her support.

"I want thank Governor Ivey for her leadership and for protecting the rights of Alabama's female athletes," he tweeted Friday. "Standing up for what is right is not always easy, but it is always the right thing to do."

So far this year, South Dakota, Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee have enacted similar sports bans, with Arkansas also approving a measure earlier this month that prohibits physicians in the state from providing gender-affirming treatments to trans youth. At least 30 states have introduced similar bans this year, according to the American Civil Liberties Union's anti-trans bill tracker.

According to data from the Human Rights Campaign, at least 117 bills have been introduced in the current legislative session that target the transgender community, the highest number the organization has recorded since it began tracking anti-LGBTQ legislation more than 15 years ago. The majority of bills would affect transgender youth, a group that researchers and medical professionals warn is already susceptible to high rates of suicide and depression.  


CANADA
Here are the key players in the military's sexual misconduct scandal
FIRE THE BRASS

OTTAWA — Two House of Commons committees continue to probe the Liberal government's handling of sexual misconduct allegations against senior military officers. Here are the key players involved in the scandal:

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Gen. Jonathan Vance:
Former chief of the defence staff who stepped down on Jan. 14. Weeks later, a Global News report alleged Vance engaged in an ongoing relationship with a subordinate that started more than a decade ago and continued after he became top commander in 2015. Global has also reported that Vance allegedly sent a lewd email to a much more junior soldier in 2012. Vance has not responded to requests for comment from The Canadian Press, but Global has reported that Vance has denied any wrongdoing.

Admiral Art McDonald: Vance's successor who stepped aside six weeks after taking the top job. A former commander of the Royal Canadian Navy, McDonald voluntarily gave up his new post when the defence minister announced on Feb. 24 that military police were looking into an allegation, which hasn't been detailed publicly. McDonald has not responded to requests for comment from The Canadian Press.

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan:
Sajjan has come under fire from opposition MPs and the one-time Canadian Armed Forces ombudsman over his handling of misconduct allegations. A former army lieutenant-colonel and Vancouver police detective, Sajjan has argued he was right to pass off responsibility for a report of misconduct against Vance in March 2018 to the Privy Council Office, the bureaucratic operation that supports the Prime Minister's Office. He told the House defence committee last month that drawing an elected official into a probe would be "wrong and dangerous, politicizing any investigation."



Video: Sajjan repeats claim that immediate action was taken following Gen. Vance misconduct allegations (Global News)

Gary Walbourne
: Former military ombudsman who first raised misconduct allegations against Vance to Sajjan in a meeting on March 1, 2018. Walbourne has expressed frustration over the defence minister's referring him to the Privy Council, but the government has said senior civil servants could not launch an investigation because the ombudsman refused to provide them with more information. Global News has reported the allegation Walbourne raised involved a lewd email sent to a female corporal in 2012, three years before Vance became defence chief.

Vice-admiral Haydn Edmundson:
A top-ranking military officer who temporarily left his job following media reports of an allegation of sexual assault. The head of military personnel in Ottawa stepped aside last month as he faces a military police investigation. He has denied the allegations.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 22, 2021.

SEE