Sunday, May 09, 2021

SHOCKING BUT TRUE
School principal paddling of child was not a crime, Florida state attorney says

By Susannah Cullinane, CNN 
5/9/2021

A Florida school principal did not commit a crime when she paddled a 6-year-old girl on the buttocks, as she appeared to have been asked by the child's mother to discipline the girl, according to a review by the state attorney's office
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© Courtesy Brent Probinsky A Florida school district is investigating the circumstances regarding video taken of a child being paddled at an elementary school

The girl's mother secretly recorded the incident at Central Elementary School in Clewiston, Florida, on April 13 after the school phoned her to say her daughter had damaged computer equipment. The family's attorney, Brent Probinsky, said the woman was told to bring $50 to the school to pay for damages and that sometimes children were paddled.

In cellphone video sent to CNN by Probinsky, an adult staff member can be seen paddling the 6-year-old girl as another adult holds her in place. In the video, after the first strike, the child starts to cry and tries to move away from the adults, but the adult yells at the child to get back in position and hits her twice more.

CNN is not naming the mother and child because of their concerns about their safety.

The Florida State Attorney conducted a review and found no evidence school Principal Melissa Carter had committed a crime, according to a memo to Clewiston Police Department dated May 7.

However, Probinsky argues that the State Attorney's office used flawed legal analysis to reach its decision.

In his memo, Deputy Chief Assistant State Attorney Abraham R. Thornburg said school staff member Celia Self had called the child's mother to inform her she would be charged after her daughter apparently intentionally damaged computer equipment.

The phone call appeared to have been conducted in Spanish, he said. According to Self's statement, the mother said that her daughter had also been damaging things at home and that she was "afraid to discipline her by spanking, because her daughter threatens to call the police and DCF."

"Ms. Self further stated that (the mother) then requested that the school spank the child for her, to which Ms. Self replied that she would have to physically come to the school, specifically request such discipline, and be present during the spanking if she wished school staff to do it for her. According to both Ms. Carter and Ms. Self, (the mother) then arrived at the school and made that request," Thornbury wrote.

Thornbury said the video showed Carter explaining to the child what was going to happen and why.

"Ms. Self and Ms. Carter then appear to make efforts to position the child so that she can be safely spanked without injury. Ms. Carter then strikes the child with a wooden paddle three times in succession on the buttocks. After the spanking, both staff members ask the child to apologize to her mother, and again explain the reason for the spanking and that it may occur again if she continues misbehaving. Both staff members appear to treat the child and her mother with respect throughout this process."

Thornbury said in the mother's initial account of the incident to HCSO on April 14 she indicated she understood that she was going to the school to be present for school staff to spank her daughter.

"She further indicated to HCSO that there was a language barrier and that she was 'confused' and 'did not understand the process correctly.' CPD made several attempts to obtain a more specific and detailed statement from (the mother) but she did not return phone calls from the agency," he said.

"It is of note that despite refusing to give a sworn statement to law enforcement, (the mother) has made several statements to the media during the pendency of the investigation -- one of them indicating that she intentionally 'sacrificed' her daughter because no one would believe her about what was happening at the school unless she video recorded it. Such a statement that she knew all along that the paddling was going to occur is wholly inconsistent with her initial statement to law enforcement that she was confused and did not consent," he said.

Thornbury said the evidence suggested "the child's mother sanctioned and consented to the spanking of her daughter as discipline for misbehavior." The mother's secretly-recorded video did not show her objecting to the paddling and she could be heard thanking staff afterwards, he said.

"A parent has the right to use corporal punishment to discipline their children, and similarly has the right to consent that others do so on their behalf," he said. Thornbury said the evidence suggested "that any reasonable person in Ms. Carter's position would have believe that (the mother) consented to the spanking in the manner it was performed."

Thornbury said that similarly there was no evidence of the offense of aggravated battery as alleged by Probinsky. "Here, there is no evidence or indication of great bodily harm, permanent disability, or permanent disfigurement," he said and that "using a paddle to spank a child is not likely to cause death of great bodily harm."

"Similarly, the law in Florida is clear that spanking a child does not amount to child abuse," Thornbury wrote.

Thornbury said he reviewed evidence from the Hendry County Sheriff's Office (HCSO), the Cledwiston Police Department as well as speaking with Probinsky for his review of the case.

'Illegal and a criminal battery'


In a statement issued Saturday, Probinsky said Florida State Attorney Amira Fox's decision not to file criminal charges against Carter and Self "relied on a flawed legal analysis."

"Most of us have seen the video of the horrific beating with a large wooden paddle of this little six-year-old girl who stood three feet tall and weighed forty pounds. Fox's decision not to criminally charge these women relied on a flawed legal analysis and she applied the wrong law to decide if a criminal act was committed," he said.

Probinsky said Hendry County School District, where the school is located, had a written rule prohibiting any corporal punishment of students and that state law requires that principals and teachers must follow the rules of the local school district.

"The principal, Melissa Carter, and her assistant, Celia Self, who held down and severely paddled this six-year-old first grader, violated the clearly written rule of the Hendry County School District and the laws of the State of Florida," Probinsky said.

Some other Florida counties allowed corporal punishment, he said, and in cases in those areas the state attorney would need to decide whether punishment was reasonable and not excessive. But that should not have been the measure in this case, as Probinsky argues the punishment was not legally permitted.

"The paddling was illegal and a criminal battery," he said.

"What message are we sending to other teachers who now believe they will suffer no criminal consequences if they paddle our elementary school children, some severely, even for the smallest of infractions?" he said.

Probinsky added that corporal punishment was "a brutal relic of the past and should be banned in all of our schools."

CNN is reaching out to the State Attorney's Office for additional comment.

Probinsky previously told CNN that the girl's mother had been confused as to whether paddling was allowed. She had been "frightened and confused" when she came to the school and started secretly recording, Probinsky said.

The Clewiston Police Department received a request from Hendry Regional Medical Center staff at 1:31 p.m. the following day, April 14, after "a complaint of a child with injuries accompanied by the child's mother who requested a police report," the department said in a May 2 release sent to CNN.

The mother went to the Hendry County Sheriff's Office on April 14 to file a report, Probinsky told CNN. The HCSO has not responded to multiple requests from CNN for comment. CNN has not been able to obtain a copy of the report.

Probinsky told CNN he was representing the mother and child at their request and had taken the case pro bono. When asked if there were plans to pursue civil action, Probinsky said they were waiting to see what the school board and state attorney's office did.

In a statement to CNN, the Department of Children and Families said it is investigating the "concerning incident that happened at Central Elementary School in Clewiston."

Hendry County District Schools Superintendent Michael Swindle declined to comment when reached by CNN, but confirmed the district was also investigating.

"The situation is under investigation, at this time we have been advised to not give any statements." Beverly Thompson, Administrative Secretary of Hendry County School Board, said in an email Tuesday.

CNN has reached out to the Florida Department of Education which, per its policy, would not confirm or deny an investigation into staff at the school.

"The department has a robust system for investigating allegations of educator misconduct and taking disciplinary action when allowable by law," Cheryl Etters, a spokesperson for FDOE said in a statement to CNN. "While educators are entitled to due process rights, the department is committed to making sure the appropriate disciplinary action is taken on the educator's certificate."

At this time, no charges have been filed in the case.
Nova Scotia's top doctor sparks meme with caution on non-essential shopping
© Provided by The Canadian Press

HALIFAX — Nova Scotia's top doctor has launched a social media meme with his comments imploring residents to cease shopping for non-essential items, including Birkenstock sandals offered at sale prices.

As the province hit record-high numbers of new COVID-19 positive cases on Friday, Dr. Robert Strang referenced a sale of the sandals at Costco, where they were being sold for just under $60.

Strang said during a briefing that "it is not the time to go to Costco for sandals you heard were in stock. It's critical you limit your trips."

Former premier Stephen McNeil, who during the province's first wave famously coined the phrase "Stay the Blazes home," later posted a tweet of his feet in old Birkenstocks, writing, "Listen to the Good Doctor: this is not the time."

This set off other postings from Nova Scotians, including one woman wearing multi-coloured, plastic fish sandals as her personal reminder to stay home.

Despite chilly, freezing rain outdoors, Strang posted his own tweet of his feet in old Birkenstocks, responding to the premier under the hashtag #thisisnotthetime.


Not all social media users got on board.

"People of Nova Scotia need to stop showing their feet...We get you have sandals already," wrote one Twitter user. "Whip dee doo da day!"

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 8, 2021.

The Canadian Press
The Observers
Violence against Peru’s indigenous communities surges as drug traffickers move in



Issued on: 08/05/2021 - 
Herlín Odicio (president of the Cacataibo native communities’ federation) and Berlín Diques (president of Orau) © Herlín Odicio/ Luis Miranda and Berlín Diques

Text by: Olivia Biz


Nine indigenous leaders in Peru’s central Amazon have been murdered in the past year and many more have received death threats as their ancestral land is seized by drug traffickers. Covid-19 restrictions have made the remote region even more vulnerable as governmental efforts to protect the land have been hindered. In the face of mounting pressure, authorities have recently taken action, but our Observers say that more needs to be done.

The latest attack was reported on April 23, 2021 in the eastern region of Ucayali, where alleged drug gangs set fire to the home of Elmer Gonzales, who belongs to the indigenous Cacataibo ethnic group. The traffickers also left a warning that read “I am Colombian. Elmer, I want my load” (see photo below). Meanwhile, Fredy Yaycate, from the same community was kidnapped and found several days later with signs of torture. They are now among a growing number of Cacataibo people who have gone into hiding, fearful for their lives.

Warning left by traffickers that reads “I am Colombian. Elmer, I want my load” © Observers

We spoke to the President of the Native Federation of Cacataibo Communities, Herlín Odicio, who was forced into hiding in April after death threats and attacks on his land in Ucayali escalated.

The situation started to get bad last September, when a Columbian [narcos] came to my community and offered me a lot of money to collaborate with them. They were offering to give me money for every drug flight that left from a secret airstrip on my territory. I didn’t accept the offer, and since then, the death threats have gotten worse. But they already knew me, I received the first threats five years ago.

In February 2021, the government of Ucayali released a report that identified 46 clandestine airplane runways in the region, used to transport coca into neighbouring Brazil and Bolivia. The report also revealed that narcotrafficking in Ucayali caused the deforestation of 42,600 hectares of land in 2020.


Aerial view of an airstrip in Ucayali region © © GERFFS


When the coronavirus state of emergency began, governmental institutions stopped and the narcos took advantage of the silence to go deeper into the Amazon and assassinate more leaders. The Amazon is huge and the police cannot be everywhere. But the main problem is that the state does not work, they have not been protecting us. We’ve seen the illegal crops and maceration pits they use to make cocaine paste, and we’ve sent proof to the police. But nothing has been done.

Suspected clandestine airstrips in 2020 © © GeoBosques



From coca to cocaine


Phase 1: Forest cleared so that coca camps can be built on the land, Ucayali 


Phase 2: Coca cultivation, Ucayali 


Phase 3: Coca lab to transform plant into cocaine. 
Photo taken by indigenous land monitors in Sinchi Roca,
 Ucayali in May 2021. 


Gasoline and kerosene, ingredients used to make cocaine paste. Photo taken by indigenous land monitors in Sinchi Roca, Ucayali in May 2021.

5/6

Clandestine coca lab in Ucayali 

6/6
Wood sold illegally and used to build coca labs. 
Photo taken by indigenous land monitors in Sinchi Roca, 
Ucayali in May 2021. 
 © The Observers

Denouncing what is happening is the only thing that I can do. For too long, our communities have had no rights, but we haven’t spoken out. It’s time for this to change. I know that I am risking my life but I will continue this fight until the last days of my existence.

The nine indigenous leaders who were murdered this year all stood up to the drug trafficking mafias in their territories. But there is another denominator in each of the cases: impunity. We spoke to Zulema Guevara, whose husband, Arbilo Meléndez, was assassinated in April 2020. Shortly after the Cacataibo leader’s death, the prosecution identified the alleged perpetrator, but he was never sentenced. More than a year later, Zulema Guevara is still demanding justice for her husband.

Justice is not happening even though they have all the cards in their hands. The person who killed my husband is still free and it looks like he could remain free. I seek justice not only for my husband, but for all the leaders who are being killed and for their widows and children that they have left behind. (...) Our communities are being abandoned.

Zulema Guevara has been receiving death threats from the same group of people who killed her husband. In an attempt to save her life and those of her children, she has gone into hiding with her family.

Such stories are becoming increasingly common and have prompted indigenous organisations and the land defenders at risk to launch an emergency campaign to draw the government's attention.

The government takes welcome but 'superficial' action

Responding to pressure from these indigenous communities, as well as from the US, Norway and the UN, the Peruvian government announced the creation of an "intersectoral mechanism" in April, under which various sectors of the government would come together to protect the human rights of defenders.

Since the beginning of April, authorities have also started destroying clandestine airstrips and coca labs.

Although these initiatives are a step in the right direction, indigenous leaders say the mechanism is a superficial solution to the problem
Berlin Diquez, president of the regional indigenous organisation ORAU, told us that until the government makes a commitment to assist tribes in obtaining legal titles to ancestral land, the violence would continue unmitigated.

Until we own something that is legally recognised, we will keep on fighting, because until that moment, justice will not be served.

No man’s land


Ucayali is vulnerable to land invasions, as many of its indigenous communities don’t have legal titles to their ancestral territory. To procure these titles, tribes must navigate their way through a complex procedure that can take decades.

Meanwhile, the process of titling individual properties is much faster, which has encouraged outsiders, with the government’s support, to buy land in indigenous territories.

The FRANCE 24 Observers team spoke to Lavaro Masquez, a lawyer specialising in indigenous rights at Lima’s Legal Defence Institute.

Titling is the most important problem facing indigenous communities in Peru. One of the cases I am working on at the moment concerns a tribe that has been requesting titles to its land for 25 years, but they still haven’t been given legal ownership to what is rightfully theirs. In the meantime, drug trafficking and other illegal activities have spread and are threatening the community.

There is structural discrimation and racism against indigenous communities in our country. The government does not prioritise indigenous cases as the balance is tipped in the favour of those who have money.

Indigenous people are risking their lives to stop the proliferation of coca and to protect their land. It’s time to give them the importance that they deserve. We need to give them their land back.

The difficulties that Peruvian indigenous communities face in obtaining land titles is not unique to Peru. Indigenous peoples and rural communities occupy more than half of the world’s land, but they legally own just 10 percent of it.

A special thanks to Gabrielle Colchen and Laura Peña Silva for their help translating the interviews.

Saturday, May 08, 2021

Scores more wounded as Israeli police, Palestinians clash anew in Jerusalem

Issued on: 09/05/2021
An Israeli police officer aims his rifle towards Palestinian demonstrators during clashes at Damascus Gate just outside Jerusalem's Old City, on May 8, 2021. © Oded Balilty, AP

Text by: NEWS WIRES


Scores of people were injured Saturday as Israeli police fired water cannon and rubber bullets to disperse Palestinian protesters in annexed east Jerusalem, a day after fierce clashes at the city's Al-Aqsa mosque.

The fresh violence, a day after more than 200 people were wounded at the mosque, prompted international calls for an end to the violence.

Police said they dispersed the rally in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood where demonstrators had thrown stones at security forces.

Officials said Sunday a rocket had been fired from the Gaza Strip, with the Israel Defense Forces responding by striking a "military target" in the south. Earlier, officers had fired tear gas towards protesters on the border.

In Jerusalem, police said they made three arrests for attacks on officers, while Palestinians reported 13 other arrests earlier in the day.

The Palestinian Red Crescent reported 90 people were wounded in Saturday's clashes in Jerusalem, revising up their earlier estimate of 53.

AFP journalists in Jerusalem said Israeli riot police had fired rubber bullets, sound grenades and water cannon on Palestinians Saturday, some of whom threw projectiles at the police. One officer received a head injury, said police.

On Friday, riot police stormed Al-Aqsa mosque compound, after they said Palestinians threw rocks and fireworks at officers.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the police actions.

"Israel is acting responsibly to ensure respect for law and order in Jerusalem while allowing freedom of worship," he said in a meeting of security officials.

The violence was the worst in years at Al-Aqsa, Islam's third-holiest site after Mecca and Medina, located on the site Jews revere as the Temple Mount.

A focal point

Palestinians have held nightly protests in Sheikh Jarrah against an attempt by Israeli settlers to take over Arab homes.

On Saturday, protesters chanted, waved Palestinian flags and threw stones before police moved in.

Dozens of Arab Israeli protesters also gathered across Israel in solidarity with Sheikh Jarrah residents, holding up signs that read "the occupation is terrorism".

East Jerusalem Palestinians face evictions following settlers' lawsuits



A reporter for Israeli public TV tweeted footage of a Jewish driver whose car was attacked with stones and windows shattered at the entrance to Sheikh Jarrah Saturday.

Police blocked buses filled with Arabs headed for Jerusalem from northern Israel, saying they would not be allowed "to participate in violent riots".

Instead, hundreds marched on highways leading to the city.

Thousands of worshippers stayed on at Al-Aqsa on Saturday for Laylat al-Qadr (Night of Destiny), a peak of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The Islamist movement Hamas, which rules Gaza, urged Palestinians to remain at Al-Aqsa until Ramadan ends, warning that "the resistance is ready to defend Al-Aqsa at any cost".

Outside the Damascus Gate entrance to Jerusalem's Old City, Palestinians set fire to a barricade before police on horseback dispersed the protesters.


'Extreme concern'


The Quartet of envoys from the European Union, Russia, the United States and the United Nations expressed "deep concern" over the violence.

"We call upon Israeli authorities to exercise restraint," they wrote.

The United States -- an Israeli ally whose tone has toughened under US President Joe Biden -- said it was "extremely concerned" and urged both sides to "avoid steps that exacerbate tensions or take us farther away from peace".

"This includes evictions in east Jerusalem, settlement activity, home demolitions and acts of terrorism," the State Department said.

The European Union called on the authorities "to act urgently to de-escalate the current tensions," saying "violence and incitement are unacceptable and the perpetrators on all sides must be held accountable".

Russia voiced "deep concern", calling the expropriation of land and property in the occupied Palestinian territories including east Jerusalem "a violation of international law".

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said he held the Israeli government responsible for the unrest and voiced "full support for our heroes in Al-Aqsa".

Yair Lapid, an Israeli politician attempting to form a coalition government to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, backed the police.

"The state of Israel will not let violence run loose and definitely will not allow terror groups to threaten it," he tweeted.

'Barbaric attack'


The Al-Aqsa clashes drew sharp rebukes across the Arab and Muslim world.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan denounced Israel as a "cruel terrorist state" in a speech in Ankara Saturday, calling on the United Nations to intervene to "stop the persecution".

Jordan condemned Israel's "barbaric attack" and Egypt, Turkey, Tunisia, Pakistan and Qatar were among Muslim countries that blasted Israeli forces for the confrontation.

Israel also drew criticism from Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, two countries that signed normalisation accords with the Jewish state last year.

Iran called on the United Nations to condemn the Israeli police actions, arguing that "this war crime once again proved to the world the criminal nature of the illegitimate Zionist regime".

Tensions are expected to remain high in Jerusalem.

Israel's supreme court is to hold a new hearing in the Sheikh Jarrah case on Monday, when Israelis mark Jerusalem Day to celebrate the "liberation" of the city.

(AFP)

Hundreds injured as Israeli police, Palestinians clash at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque

Issued on: 08/05/2021 -
Palestinians react as Israeli police fire stun grenades during clashes at the compound that houses Al-Aqsa Mosque, known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount, amid tension over the possible eviction of several Palestinian families from homes on land claimed by Jewish settlers in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, in Jerusalem's Old City, on May 7, 2021. © Ammar Awad, Reuters

Text by: NEWS WIRES

Video by: Yena LEE


Israel braced for more protests Saturday after clashes at Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound wounded more than 200 people and as the US, EU and regional powers urged calm after days of escalating violence.

In the unrest following Muslim prayers Friday, Israeli riot police fired rubber bullets and stun grenades at Palestinians who hurled rocks, bottles and fireworks at officers at Islam's third-holiest site, which is also revered by Jews.

Israeli police said 18 officers were wounded while the Palestinian Red Crescent reported that 205 Palestinians were injured in the violence at Al-Aqsa and across annexed east Jerusalem, including more than 80 who were hospitalised.

Video footage showed Israeli forces storming the mosque's sprawling plaza and firing sound grenades inside the building, where throngs of worshippers including women and children were praying on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

An AFP reporter witnessed hundreds of Palestinians hurling stones at police. He said officers locked the doors of Al-Aqsa mosque, trapping worshippers for at least an hour.

The clashes came as tensions have soared over Israeli restrictions on access to parts of the Old City during Ramadan and the threat of eviction hanging over four Palestinian families in east Jerusalem to make way for Jewish settlers.


02:51

The Islamist movement Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, urged Palestinians to remain at the Al-Aqsa compound until Thursday morning, when Ramadan ends, warning that "the resistance is ready to defend Al-Aqsa at any cost".

Al-Aqsa is in the Haram al-Sharif compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, which also includes the Dome of the Rock.

'Heavy price'


On Saturday dozens of Arab citizens of Israel protested in Nazareth in solidarity with Jerusalem Palestinians, holding signs that read "the occupation is terrorism".

The High Follow up Committee for the Arabs in Israel, which represents the country's 20 percent minority, called for protests in other Arab cities and Jerusalem.

The United States -- a staunch Israeli ally whose tone has however toughened under US President Joe Biden -- said it was "extremely concerned" by the events and urged both sides to "avoid steps that exacerbate tensions or take us farther away from peace".

"This includes evictions in east Jerusalem, settlement activity, home demolitions and acts of terrorism," the State Department said.

The European Union called on the authorities "to act urgently to de-escalate the current tensions," saying "violence and incitement are unacceptable and the perpetrators on all sides must be held accountable".

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said he held the Israeli government responsible for the unrest and voiced "full support for our heroes in Al-Aqsa".

Yair Lapid, an Israeli politician attempting to form a coalition government to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, sent encouragement to police officers.

"The state of Israel will not let violence run loose and definitely will not allow terror groups to threaten it," he tweeted. "Whoever wants to harm us must know that he will pay a heavy price."

'Barbaric attack'


Al-Aqsa mosque director Omar al-Kiswani said in a video posted by Palestinian activists that, directly after the evening iftar break fast meal, "the Al-Aqsa mosque was stormed and unarmed worshippers were attacked to empty it".

Hundreds of people slept on the carpets on the mosque Friday night. Although this is not unusual during Ramadan, many stayed in an act of defiance against the police action.

Jordan condemned Israel's "barbaric attack", and Egypt, Turkey, Tunisia, Pakistan and Qatar blasted Israeli forces for the confrontation.

Israel also drew criticism from Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, two countries that signed normalisation accords with Israel last year.

Iran called on the United Nations to condemn the Israeli police actions, arguing that "this war crime once again proved to the world the criminal nature of the illegitimate Zionist regime".

The clashes followed a week of intensifying violence.

Earlier Friday, Israeli police said officers killed two Palestinians and wounded a third after the three men opened fire on the Salem base in the occupied West Bank -- the latest of several deadly shootings that week.

Clashes have also repeatedly broken out in east Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, fuelled by a years-long attempt by Jewish settlers to take over Palestinian homes.


02:10

Israel's Supreme Court is to hold a new hearing in the case on Monday, when Israelis mark Jerusalem Day to celebrate the "liberation" of the city, including with a parade of Israeli flags through the Old City.

(AFP)


NEWS
Fresh Jerusalem clashes leave more than 90 injured, Palestinian medics say

Tensions have been mounting over the possible eviction of Palestinians from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Shaikh Jarrah. The US, Russia, EU and UN have expressed their "deep concern" about the latest clashes.





Tensions have been rising in Jersualem over the possible eviction of Palestinians from an eastern neighborhood of the holy city.


Fresh clashes broke out between Palestinian protesters and Israeli police in Jerusalem late on Saturday, leaving dozens of people injured.

Tensions have been rising over the potential eviction of Palestinians from land claimed by Jewish settlers in the Shaikh Jarrah neighborhood of the city.

A spokesman for the Palestinian Red Crescent told the AFP news agency that 90 people had been wounded in the violence that saw stun grenades and rubber bullets fired to disperse the crowds.

The aid service had given an earlier estimate of 53 people who had been injured.

The clashes took place outside Jerusalem's Old City during what was believed to be the holiest night of Ramadan.

Israeli police had cordoned off areas of the Old City to prevent gatherings and cracked down on protesters in a show of force that threatened to deepen the holy city's worst religious unrest in several years. The police defended their actions as security moves but were by Muslims as provocations.
World powers 'concerned'

The four members of the Middle East Quartet — the US, Russia, the EU, and the UN — expressed "deep concern" over the recent unrest.

Watch video 01:29 Demonstrators in Jerusalem protest hatred, violence

They pointed to "last night's confrontations (Friday) between Palestinians and Israeli security forces at Haram Al-Sharif/Temple Mount."

"We are alarmed by the provocative statements made by some political groups, as well as the launching of rockets and the resumption of incendiary balloons from Gaza towards Israel, and attacks on Palestinian farmland in the West Bank."

"We call upon Israeli authorities to exercise restraint and to avoid measures that would further escalate the situation during this period of Muslim Holy Days," the statement said, insisting that "all leaders have a responsibility to act against extremists and to speak out against all acts of violence and incitement."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan went so far as to call Israel a "terrorist state," criticizing the country's actions in East Jerusalem.
The "cruel Israel, the terrorist state of Israel" is "brutally and immorally" attacking Muslims in Jerusalem, Erdogan said on Saturday
evening. "A world that cannot protect Jerusalem and Muslims has betrayed itself."

He called on the United Nations, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and other international organizations to take action.


More than 200 people have been injured in clashes over the past two days.
Netanyahu defends response

Speaking to a meeting of senior security officials, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the police.

"Israel is acting responsibly to ensure respect for law and order in Jerusalem while allowing freedom of worship," he said.

Police Commissioner Yaakov Shabtai said extra officers had been deployed in Jerusalem on Saturday to "enable freedom of worship and maintain order and security."

"At the same time, we will not allow violent riots, lawbreaking, or the harming of police officers. We ask everyone to calm the spirits and violence, particularly on such an important day for the Muslim religion," Shabtai said in a statement.

Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state. Israel claims the entire city as its eternal, indivisible capital.

Its annexation of the eastern section was not recognized internationally.

A long-running dispute between Palestinians and Israeli settlers in Shaikh Jarrah is set to be heard by the Israeli supreme court on Monday.

The League of Arab States has urged the international community to intervene to prevent any forced evictions.

jf/aw (AFP, Reuters)

China says most rocket debris burned up during reentry

BEIJING — China's space agency said a core segment of its biggest rocket reentered Earth’s atmosphere above the Maldives in the Indian Ocean and most of it burned up early Sunday
© Provided by The Canadian Press

Harvard astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell, who tracked the tumbling rocket part, said on Twitter, “An ocean reentry was always statistically the most likely. It appears China won its gamble… But it was still reckless.”

China’s official Xinhua News Agency said reentry occurred at 7:24 p.m. local time Saturday. “The vast majority of items were burned beyond recognition during the reentry process," the report said.

Despite that, NASA Administrator Sen. Bill Nelson issued a statement saying: "It is clear that China is failing to meet responsible standards regarding their space debris.”

Usually, discarded rocket stages reenter the atmosphere soon after liftoff, normally over water, and don’t go into orbit.


The Long March 5B rocket carried the main module of Tianhe, or Heavenly Harmony, into orbit on April 29. China plans 10 more launches to carry additional parts of the space station into orbit.

The roughly 30-meter (100-foot) -long stage would be among the biggest space debris to fall to Earth.

The 18-ton rocket that fell last May was the heaviest debris to fall uncontrolled since the former Soviet space station Salyut 7 in 1991.

China’s first space station, Tiangong-1, crashed into the Pacific Ocean in 2016 after Beijing confirmed it had lost control. In 2019, the space agency controlled the demolition of its second station, Tiangong-2, in the atmosphere.

In March, debris from a Falcon 9 rocket launched by U.S. aeronautics company SpaceX fell to Earth in Washington and on the Oregon coast.

China was heavily criticized after sending a missile to destroyed a defunct weather satellite in January 2007, creating a large field of hazardous debris imperiling satellites and other spacecraft.

The Associated Press

Chinese rocket debris lands in Indian Ocean, draws criticism from NASA

By Ryan Woo 2 hrs ago
© Reuters/TINGSHU WANG FILE PHOTO: The Long March-5 Y5 rocket, carrying the Chang'e-5 lunar probe, is seen before taking off from Wenchang Space Launch Center, in Wenchang

BEIJING (Reuters) -Remnants of China's biggest rocket landed in the Indian Ocean on Sunday, with most of its components destroyed upon re-entry into the atmosphere, ending days of speculation over where the debris would hit but drawing U.S. criticism over lack of transparency.

The coordinates given by Chinese state media, citing the China Manned Space Engineering Office, put the point of impact in the ocean, west of the Maldives archipelago.

Debris from the Long March 5B has had some people looking warily skyward since it blasted off from China's Hainan island on April 29, but the China Manned Space Engineering Office said most of the debris was burnt up in the atmosphere.

State media reported parts of the rocket re-entered the atmosphere at 10:24 a.m. Beijing time (0224 GMT) and landed at a location with the coordinates of longitude 72.47 degrees east and latitude 2.65 degrees north.

The U.S. Space command confirmed the re-entry of the rocket over the Arabian Peninsula, but said it was unknown if the debris impacted land or water.

"The exact location of the impact and the span of debris, both of which are unknown at this time, will not be released by U.S. Space Command," it said in a statement on its website.

The Long March was the second deployment of the 5B variant since its maiden flight in May 2020. Last year, pieces from the first Long March 5B fell on Ivory Coast, damaging several buildings. No injuries were reported.

"Spacefaring nations must minimize the risks to people and property on Earth of re-entries of space objects and maximize transparency regarding those operations," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, a former senator and astronaut who was picked for the role in March, said in a statement after the re-entry.


Video: China says remnants of Long March 5B about to re-enter earth's atmosphere (Reuters)

"It is clear that China is failing to meet responsible standards regarding their space debris."

ANXIETY OVER POTENTIAL DEBRIS ZONE

With most of the Earth's surface covered by water, the odds of populated area on land being hit had been low, and the likelihood of injuries even lower, according to experts.

But uncertainty over the rocket's orbital decay and China's failure to issue stronger reassurances in the run-up to the re-entry fuelled anxiety.

"It is critical that China and all spacefaring nations and commercial entities act responsibly and transparently in space to ensure the safety, stability, security, and long-term sustainability of outer space activities," Nelson said.

Harvard-based astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell told Reuters that the potential debris zone could have been as far north as New York, Madrid or Beijing, and as far south as southern Chile and Wellington, New Zealand.

Since large chunks of the NASA space station Skylab fell from orbit in July 1979 and landed in Australia, most countries have sought to avoid such uncontrolled re-entries through their spacecraft design, McDowell said.

"It makes the Chinese rocket designers look lazy that they didn't address this," said McDowell.

The Global Times, a Chinese tabloid, dismissed as "Western hype" concerns the rocket was "out of control" and could cause damage.

"It is common practice across the world for upper stages of rockets to burn up while reentering the atmosphere," Wang Wenbin, a spokesman at China's foreign ministry, said at a regular media briefing on May 7.

"To my knowledge, the upper stage of this rocket has been deactivated, which means most of its parts will burn up upon re-entry, making the likelihood of damage to aviation or ground facilities and activities extremely low," Wang said at the time.

The rocket, which put into orbit an unmanned Tianhe module containing what will become living quarters for three crew on a permanent Chinese space station, will be followed by 10 more missions to complete the station by 2022.

(Reporting by Ryan Woo, Hallie Gu and Xiao Han in Beijing and Peter Szekely in New York; Editing by Himani Sarkar & Simon Cameron-Moore)

Independence movements in Scotland and Quebec are heading in different directions

Éric Grenier CBC /7/5/2021




© Jane Barlow/PA/The Associated Press Voters in Scotland went to the polls on Thursday to elect members to the Scottish Parliament. Counting is expected to be completed on Saturday.




As Scots contemplate becoming an independent country again — just seven years after deciding against it in a 2014 referendum — Quebec seems further away from independence than it has been for decades.

Due to complications related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the complete results of the election held in Scotland on Thursday were only announced on Saturday. The governing Scottish National Party (SNP) fell one seat shy of a majority in the Scottish Parliament — but thanks to eight seats won by the pro-independence Scottish Greens, Scotland could be on track for a second independence referendum.

Whether one is held will depend on a number of factors — including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Quebec was able to hold its own referendums on independence twice without seeking approval from Ottawa. Scotland, on the other hand, needs Westminster's permission to hold a legal vote.

But appetite for Scottish independence is running higher than it was back in 2014 — and it's not inconceivable that the United Kingdom might soon find itself disunited.

Canada, by comparison, looks like a paragon of stability.

For roughly half a century — from the start of the Quiet Revolution to the first election of a Parti Québécois government in 1976 and through two sovereignty referendums in 1980 and 1995 — the future of the federation looked shaky. These days, however, grievances in parts of Western Canada arguably might pose a bigger threat to national unity than Quebec's sovereignty movement.

Long decline in support for sovereignty

The paucity of polls on Quebec sovereignty is just one sign of the lack of current interest in la question nationale.

In the 1990s and 2000s, polls on Quebec independence were published on a monthly basis — sometimes even multiple times per month. Now, polls on independence appear once or twice a year at most.

Only three polls on sovereignty have been published since 2018. The most recent came from Mainstreet Research — it found just 32 per cent support for independence, or 36 per cent among decided voters in Quebec.

Another survey by Léger published in December found similar results: 27 per cent in favour of sovereignty, or about 34 per cent among decided voters.

Among decided francophone voters (about 60 per cent of them voted 'oui' in 1995), support for sovereignty in the Léger poll was roughly 44 to 45 per cent.
More Scots saying 'aye,' more Quebecers saying 'non'

While the trend line is drifting away from sovereignty in Quebec, it has moved toward independence in Scotland over the past year.

Polls put support for independence in Scotland at around 45 per cent, just a few points behind support for staying in the United Kingdom (the rest are undecided).

While that is a shift from the summer and fall of 2020 — when Yes support crested to about 50 per cent, nearly 10 percentage points ahead of No — support for independence nevertheless remains at a historic high and is well ahead of where it was before the 2014 referendum (which the No side won by a margin of 55 to 45 per cent).
© Jeff J Mitchell/PA/The Associated Press Under leader Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish National Party could capture a majority of seats in Scotland's Parliament.

The boost in support for independence can be attributed largely to two factors: Brexit, which 62 per cent of Scots voted against in the 2016 referendum, and the election of a majority Conservative government under Johnson in 2019 (and Britain's subsequent "hard" exit from the European Union).

In short, the political situation has changed the landscape in Scotland enough to make a pro-independence vote in another referendum more likely.

Quebec has been going in the opposite direction.

The PQ drifting into irrelevance

There has been a long trend in Quebec politics away from the old sovereignist vs. federalist divide as support for sovereignty has waned. It hasn't hit 40 per cent in polls since 2015 and you have to go back to 2005, during the sponsorship scandal, to find polls with more than 50 per cent support for Quebec independence.

The Parti Québécois, the standard bearer for sovereignty in Quebec, has been struggling as a result.



A poll by Léger for Le Journal de Montréal on Friday showed the PQ with just 12 per cent support, putting it in fourth place behind Premier François Legault's Coalition Avenir Québec, the opposition Liberals and Québec Solidaire, a small left-wing sovereignist competitor.


The PQ's share of the vote has slid in three consecutive elections since 2008 and it hasn't done better than 35 per cent of the vote since 1998. In the 2018 election, the PQ put up the worst result in its history.


The Léger poll suggests the PQ could set a new record low when Quebec holds its next scheduled election in October 2022.

Legault's CAQ has changed the game

The PQ's support has been gutted by both the lack of enthusiasm for old constitutional debates and the rise of the CAQ, which has emerged as the main vehicle for French-speaking nationalists in Quebec.

According to Léger, the CAQ has 46 per cent support and enjoys a 26-point lead over the Quebec Liberals. This would be enough to hand the CAQ a massive majority government if an election were held today — perhaps the biggest majority Quebec has seen in over 30 years.

Despite the fact that his party doesn't support independence, Legault has successfully corralled the votes of sovereignists. The poll conducted by Léger in December found that about half of Quebecers who support sovereignty would cast their ballot for the CAQ. Just about a third of sovereignists prefer the PQ.

The push for independence is no longer a priority for Quebec nationalists, who seem quite content with a CAQ government that pushes for more autonomy for Quebec within the federation.

Legault has so far proven wrong one of the arguments sovereignists used against him — that by abandoning the threat of a referendum, the CAQ would lose a lot of Quebec's leverage with the federal government.
© Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Quebec Premier François Legault have made several joint announcements so far in 2021.

Instead, Legault has emerged as an important figure around the first ministers' table — and isn't the pariah among federalist party leaders that past PQ premiers could be. Federal leaders like Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole and Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet have courted Legault for electoral gain.

Legault and the CAQ won't maintain their current popularity levels forever, of course. It's difficult to predict what a post-Legault political landscape will look like in Quebec.

But with the political environment looking better for Scottish nationalists and worse for Quebec sovereignists, it seems that the next blue-and-white flag to flutter outside United Nations headquarters may be the Saltire, not the Fleurdelisé.
Scottish government sets stage for another independence vote

LONDON — The Scottish National Party won its fourth straight parliamentary election on Saturday and insisted it will push on with another referendum on Scotland's independence from the U.K. even though it failed by one seat to secure a majority.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Final results of Thursday's election showed the SNP winning 64 of the 129 seats in the Edinburgh-based Scottish Parliament. The result extends the party's dominance of Scottish politics since it first won power in 2007.

Other results from Super Thursday's array of elections across Britain emerged Saturday, including the Labour Party's victory in the Welsh parliamentary election. Labour's Sadiq Khan was also reelected mayor of London.

The election with the biggest implications was the Scottish election, as it could pave the way to the break-up of the United Kingdom. The devolved government has an array of powers but many economic and security matters remain within the orbit of the British government in London.

Though the SNP won the vast majority of constituencies, it failed to get the 65 seats it would need to have a majority as Scotland allocates some by a form of proportional representation. Though falling short, the SNP will be easily able to govern for the five-year parliamentary term with the eight members of the Scottish Greens, who also back Scottish independence.

SNP leader and Scotland's first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said her immediate priority would be steering Scotland through the coronavirus pandemic and that the legitimacy of an independence referendum remains, SNP majority or not.

“This is now a matter of fundamental democratic principle,” Sturgeon said. “It is the will of the country.”

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the leader of the Conservative Party, would have the ultimate authority whether or not to permit another referendum on Scotland gaining independence. Johnson appears intent on resisting another vote, setting up the possibility of renewed tensions between his government and Sturgeon’s devolved administration.

The prime minister wrote in the Daily Telegraph newspaper published Saturday that another referendum would be “irresponsible and reckless” in the “current context” as Britain emerges from the pandemic.

He has consistently argued that the issue was settled in a September 2014 referendum, when 55% of Scottish voters favoured remaining part of the U.K. Proponents of another vote say the situation has changed fundamentally because of Brexit, with Scotland taken out of the European Union against its will. In the 2016 Brexit referendum, 52% of the U.K. voted to leave the EU while 62% of Scots voted to remain.


 
Video: Scottish independence back on the table in latest election (cbc.ca)
Duration 2:14

Sturgeon said it would be wrong for Johnson to stand in the way of a referendum and that the timing is a matter for the Scottish Parliament.

There's been growing talk that the whole issue may end up going to court, but Sturgeon said the “outrageous nature” of any attempt by the British government to thwart the democratic will of Scotland would only fuel the desire for independence.

“I couldn't think of a more powerful argument for independence than that,” she said.

The Scotland results have been the main focus since an array of local and regional elections took place Thursday across Britain, in which around 50 million voters were eligible to vote.

In Wales, the concluded vote count showed Labour doing better than expected as it extended its 22 years in control of the Welsh government despite also falling one seat short of a majority. Mark Drakeford, who will remain first minister, said the party will be “radical” and “ambitious.”

Ballots continue to be counted from local elections in England, which already have been particularly good for Johnson’s Conservative Party, notably its victory in a special election in the post-industrial town of Hartlepool for a parliamentary seat that Labour had held since 1974.

That win extended the party’s grip on parts of England that had been Labour strongholds for decades, if not a century. Many seats that have flipped from red to blue voted heavily for Brexit. The speedy rollout of coronavirus vaccines also appears to have given the Conservatives a boost even though the U.K. has recorded Europe's highest COVID-related death toll at 127,500.

For Labour's new leader, Keir Starmer, the Hartlepool result was a huge disappointment and has led to another bout of soul-searching in a party that in 2019 suffered its worst general election performance since 1935.

Starmer said he would soon set out a strategy of how it can reconnect with traditional voters. He hasn’t given details though is thought to be considering a rejig of his top team, starting off with removing his deputy, Angela Rayner, from her roles of party chair and campaign co-ordinator.

Though Labour is clearly losing ground in its traditional heartlands, its support held up in other parts of England, such as the big cities.

In London, Sadiq Khan won a second term in elections delayed by a year because of the pandemic. He secured 55.2% of the vote once second preference votes were counted, beating his Conservative rival Shaun Bailey got 44.8%. Khan's winning margin was down slightly on last time.

The party also won other mayoral races, including Steve Rotherham in the Liverpool City Region, Andy Burnham in Greater Manchester and Dan Norris in the West of England region, which includes the city of Bristol.

The Conservatives' Andy Street, meanwhile, was reelected as mayor of the West Midlands, which includes the city of Birmingham.

Pan Pylas, The Associated Press



#FEMICIDE AMERIKA PAPER TIGER
Bomb kills at least 30 near girls' school in Afghan capital
LEAVES WITH TAIL BETWEEN LEGS

KABUL — A bomb exploded near a girls' school in a majority Shiite district of west Kabul on Saturday, killing at least 30 people, many of them young pupils between 11 and 15 years old. The Taliban condemned the attack and denied any responsibility.


© Reuters An injured woman is transported to a hospital after a blast in Kabul

Ambulances evacuated the wounded as relatives and residents screamed at authorities near the scene of the blast at Syed Al-Shahda school, in the Dasht-e-Barchi neighbourhood, Interior Ministry spokesman Tariq Arian said. The death toll was expected to rise further.

The bombing, apparently aimed to cause maximum civilian carnage, adds to fears that violence in the war-wrecked country could escalate as the U.S. and NATO end nearly 20 years of military engagement.

Residents in the area said the explosion was deafening. One, Naser Rahimi, told The Associated Press he heard three separate explosions, although there was no official confirmation of multiple blasts. Rahimi also said he believed that the sheer power of the explosion meant the death toll would almost certainly climb.

Rahimi said the explosion went off as the girls were streaming out of the school at around 4:30 p.m. local time. Authorities were investigating the attack but have yet to confirm any details.

One of the students fleeing the school recalled the attack. the screaming of the girls, the blood.

“I was with my classmate, we were leaving the school, when suddenly an explosion happened, “ said 15-year-old Zahra, whose arm had been broken by a piece of shrapnel.

“Ten minutes later there was another explosion and just a couple of minutes later another explosion,” she said. "Everyone was yelling and there was blood everywhere, and I couldn’t see anything clearly.” Her friend died.

While no one has claimed responsibility for the bombing, the Afghan Islamic State affiliate has targeted the Shiite neighbourhood before.

The radical Sunni Muslim group has declared war on Afghanistan's minority Shiite Muslims. Washington blamed IS for a vicious attack last year in a maternity hospital in the same area that killed pregnant women and newborn babies.

In Dasht-e-Barchi, angry crowds attacked the ambulances and even beat health workers as they tried to evacuate the wounded, Health Ministry spokesman Ghulam Dastigar Nazari said. He implored residents to co-operate and allow ambulances free access to the site.

Images circulating on social media purportedly showed bloodied school backpacks and books strewn across the street in front if the school, and smoke rising above the neighbourhood.

At one nearby hospital, Associated Press journalists saw at least 20 dead bodies lined up in hallways and rooms, with dozens of wounded people and families of victims pressing through the facility.

Outside the Muhammad Ali Jinnah Hospital, dozens of people lined up to donate blood, while family members checked casualty posted lists on the walls.

Both Arian and Nazari said that at least 50 people were also wounded, and that the casualty toll could rise. The attack occurred just as the fasting day came to an end.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, and Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told reporters in a message that only the Islamic State group could be responsible for such a heinous crime. Mujahid also accused Afghanistan's intelligence agency of being complicit with IS, although he offered no evidence.

The Taliban and the Afghan government have traded accusations over a series of targeted killings of civil society workers, journalists and Afghan professionals. While IS has taken responsibility for some of those killings, many have gone unclaimed.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani issued a statement condemning the attack, blaming the Taliban even as they denied it. He offered no proof.

IS has previously claimed attacks against minority Shiites in the same area, last year claiming two brutal attacks on education facilities that killed 50 people, most of them students.

Even as the IS has been degraded in Afghanistan, according to government and US officials, it has stepped-up its attacks particularly against Shiite Muslims and women workers.

Earlier the group took responsibility for the targeted killing of three women media personnel in eastern Afghanistan.

The attack comes days after the remaining 2,500 to 3,500 American troops officially began leaving the country. They will be out by Sept. 11 at the latest. The pullout comes amid a resurgent Taliban, who control or hold sway over half of Afghanistan.

The top U.S. military officer said Sunday that Afghan government forces face an uncertain future and possibly some “bad possible outcomes” against Taliban insurgents as the withdrawal accelerates in the coming weeks.

_____

Associated Press photographer Rahmat Gul and video journalist Ahmad Seir in Kabul, Afghanistan and Kathy Gannon in Islamabad, Pakistan contributed to this report.

Rahim Faiez, The Associated Press

Afghan school blast toll rises to 58, families bury victims

KABUL (Reuters) - The death toll from an explosion outside a school in Afghanistan's capital Kabul has risen to 58, Afghan officials said on Sunday, with doctors struggling to provide medical care to at least 150 injured.

© Reuters/STRINGER People stand at the site of a blast in Kabul

The bombing on Saturday evening shook the city's Shi'ite Muslim neighbourhood of Dasht-e-Barchi. The community, a religious minority in Afghanistan, has been targeted in the past by Islamic State militants, a Sunni militant group.

Reuters/STRINGER An Afghan policeman stands guard inside a hospital, after a blast in Kabul

An eyewitness told Reuters all but seven or eight of the victims were schoolgirls going home after finishing studies.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Saturday blamed the attack on Taliban insurgents but a spokesman for the Taliban denied involvement, saying the group condemns any attacks on Afghan civilians.

Families of the victims blamed the Afghan government and Western powers for failing to put an end to violence and the ongoing war.

Bodies were still being collected from morgues as the first burials were conducted in the west of the city. Some families were still searching for missing relatives on Sunday, gathering outside hospitals to read names posted on the walls, and checking morgues.

"The entire night we carried bodies of young girls and boys to a graveyard and prayed for everyone wounded in the attack," said Mohammed Reza Ali, who has been helping families of the victims at a private hospital.

"Why not just kill all of us to put and end to this war?" he said.

The violence comes a week after remaining U.S. and NATO troops began exiting Afghanistan, with a mission to complete the drawdown by September 11, which will mark the end of America's longest war.

But the foreign troop withdrawal has led a surge in fighting between Afghan security forces and Taliban insurgents with both sides trying to retain control over strategic centres.

(Reporting by Kabul bureau, Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

UH OH
NOAA's "new normal" climate report is anything but normal

Jeff Berardelli 

Just a quick glance at the new U.S. Climate Normals maps published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on Tuesday is enough for most climate scientists to say, "I told you so." And it's not just because the maps show a warmer and wetter nation, as one would expect with global warming; it's also the specific geographic pattern of those changes.
© NOAA noaa-temps-map.jpg

That's because for decades climate scientists and their computer models have projected the regions that should expect the most warming, the most drying and the biggest increase in precipitation due to human-caused climate change. NOAA's new maps are clear evidence that this impact is now being felt.

It doesn't take a climate scientist to see the changes that have occurred. In the maps below, using NOAA data, Climate Central illustrates the warmer temperatures the U.S. has experienced. When comparing the latest "normals" to what used to be normal a century ago, the difference is clear — seen in red from coast to coast.

© Provided by CBS News / Credit: Climate Central

The map on the left depicts the updated climate "normals" compared to the normal temperatures of the early 20th century (1901-1930). In that time the U.S. has warmed an average of 1.7 degrees Fahrenheit. But the shades of the map show that not all areas are warming uniformly, with the darker red indicating temperature increases in some regions of 2 to 4 degrees Fahrenheit.

The map on the right is more muted in tone and shows the difference between recent 30-year averages, comparing the 1981-2010 normals to the new 1991-2020 normals. While the new normals are just 10 years removed from the earlier set, the changes are still significant. In that time the nation has warmed an average of half a degree Fahrenheit.

That may not sound like much, but small changes in the normals mean much larger changes in the extremes like heat waves, droughts, wildfires, floods and hurricanes. And hidden within the pattern of changes are interesting clues into how climate change will impact us now and into the future.
Defining the new normal

Every 10 years NOAA releases a new set of "climate normals" — what is considered normal, typical or average weather in a given location at a given time of year. To ensure that these normals are not subject to the ebb and flow of yearly weather, these averages are based on 30-year time periods to even out any short-term swings.

The new normal baseline is calculated from 8,700 weather stations operated by NOAA across the U.S. and its territories. The data includes information on temperature, precipitation and other weather variables.

So why update the normals every 10 years? First, it is required by the U.N.'s World Meteorological Organization. But on a practical note it is necessary to accurately reflect the state of the climate. These "normals" allow meteorologists, like myself, to compare the weather on any given day with what is historically expected, to give the public a gauge of how typical or extreme the weather is at any given moment.

"Keeping weather and climate data updated is important for the government officials and business owners who rely on it for decisions such as clothing, tourism, and construction companies, utilities, farmers, and city planners," explains Bernadette Woods Placky, chief meteorologist at Climate Central. "But the fact that NOAA needs to keep pushing average temperature data higher is the sign of something bigger —the longer-term warming."

But some climate scientists, like Michael Mann of Penn State, don't love the system of reporting new normals. As he told The Associated Press, Mann prefers using a constant baseline because updating what is normal for present-day conditions obscures the long-term warming trend and makes the warming due to climate change seem less significant. "Adjusting normal every 10 years perverts the meaning of 'normal' and 'normalizes' away climate change," said Mann.





What the data reveals


Since the 1800s the globe has warmed by around 2 degrees Fahrenheit. Nine out of 10 of the warmest years on record worldwide have all occurred in the past decade.

A recent study by NASA proves that all recent warming is related to humans' burning of fossil fuels and the resultant amount of heat-trapping greenhouse gases and aerosols in the atmosphere.

But because of regional variations in geography like ice cover, water and land type, some regions warm much more or less rapidly than others. For instance, the Arctic regions are warming at three times the average global rate due partly to rapid changes in ice cover and the impact of local feedback.

In the United States, NOAA's new climate normals reveal that our nation is about on pace with the global average of warming. What's more, the pattern of recent regional changes in our climate validate scientists' understanding of how man-made climate change is unfolding.

"We're really seeing the fingerprints of climate change in the new normals," said Michael Palecki, the project manager of NOAA's latest climate normals update. "We're not trying to hide that. We're in fact reflecting that."

These climate change fingerprints are best illustrated by using side-by-side comparisons of previous 30-year climate normals, pictured below. The warming trend could not be more apparent when comparing the early 20th century (the map at the top left) with the latest two decades (bottom right).

© Provided by CBS News / Credit: NOAA

But there are subtleties in the data. Western and northern states are clearly warming faster. The Southeast is warming less fast. Sean Sublette, a meteorologist from Climate Central, says that many of these differences in warming are due to differences in the presence of water.

"As a general rule of thumb, a warming climate intensifies the water cycle of evaporation, condensation, and precipitation. So dry climates get drier. Wet climates get wetter," Sublette explains.

In the West, the terrain is generally dry.That means as the climate warms more of the excess heat from climate change goes directly into warming the air temperature, not evaporating moisture. In the Southeast the opposite is true. The moisture-laden climate there means that much of the heat is used to evaporate water rather than directly heating the air, which explains the slower rate of warming.

These same physics also help illuminate some of the trends in U.S. precipitation. While not quite as clear-cut as temperature, the maps below show a clear trend of increasing wetness in the East and drying in the Southwest.
© Provided by CBS News / Credit: NOAA

A warmer Gulf of Mexico allows more moisture to be evaporated and transported northward, falling as rain and snow. Also a warmer U.S. means that more of that rain and snow on the ground is re-evaporated, enhancing precipitation even more — a positive feedback loop.

In the West, that feedback loop is negative. As precipitation becomes less consistent in the Southwest due to climate change, the ground becomes drier. With less moisture on the ground, air temperatures increase even more, drying out the ground even more. The lack of soil moisture means less rain falls locally. This negative feedback is how drought begets drought and is a contributing factor to why the region is going through one of its worst droughts in modern history.

While some of the recent drying in the Southwest can possibly be explained by natural variability, the long-term trend from climate models is for more drying as the climate continues to warm and rainfall becomes more variable.

In the shorter term, changes in temperature and precipitation are not quite as stark but still very apparent. The maps below compare the climate normals from 1981-2010 with this new update of 1991-2020. Most of the U.S has warmed in the past decade, with the exception of parts of the Northern Plains states.

© Provided by CBS News / Credit: NOAA - CISESS

As for why the Northern Plains have not warmed in the recent decades, there are some common theories but it is still an active area of research. Some climate scientists think it has to do with a more wavy jet stream, theorized as a result of faster heating of the polar regions, allowing cooler Arctic air to be displaced further south. Other scientists say it could be greater snowpack and increased cloud cover. Some say it's likely all of the above.

But Sublette says another common explanation for the slight cooling in the Northern Plains states may related to modern farming.

"The early reasoning is likely related to land use — there is now a greater coverage of corn and soybeans in the hotter months," Sublette explains. "Colloquially known as 'corn sweat,' the plants give off more moisture from their leaves... which leads to more evaporation, which has a cooling effect."

In that same area, the maps show precipitation has increased. In fact, the majority of the U.S. has gotten wetter, with the exception of the region that needs the rain most, the southwestern quarter of the nation.

© Provided by CBS News / Credit: NOAA - CISESS


Shifts in average mean large changes in extremes


While the changing pattern of temperature and precipitation may seem subtle when averaged out, these shifts result in real and expensive consequences because of an escalation in extreme weather. A NOAA analysis finds that the number of disasters each year in the U.S. that cause greater than a billion dollars in damage (adjusted for inflation) has more than quadrupled since the 1980s.

As Sublette explains, a small change in the average means a disproportionate increase in extremes. "So, while 1°F does not sound like much on the average, that means that the frequency of extreme heat goes up much more rapidly."

In the NASA animation below, illustrating normal distribution of temperatures from 1951 to the present, you can clearly see how the shift reveals an even greater increase in extreme temperatures, pictured in the darker shades of red on the right side of the distribution. As they say, "wait for it."

© Provided by CBS News / Credit: NASA

Climate scientist Ed Hawkins has an equally good way of visualizing this effect in the tweet below:

But it is not just extreme heat that a warmer climate portends. More heat means more available energy for just about every form of weather. That means more extreme floods like the Midwest experienced in 2019. It means more extreme droughts and fires like the record-breaking 2020 Western wildfire season. And it means more extreme hurricanes, leading to greater damage and an increase in climate migration.

So, while these updated climate normals may seem like what Climate Central's Bernadette Woods Placky calls "a geeky data moment," she hopes people can see the deeper significance.

"This data update is a moment to pause and take a look at the bigger picture, that we are warming almost everywhere and there is nothing normal about it," she said.