WHY DID THE GATOR CROSS THE GULF?
An alligator from Louisiana was discovered on a South Texas beach over 400 miles away, raising questions about how it got there

By Amanda Jackson, CNN 

When members of the National Park Service's (NPS) turtle patrol were scouting the South Texas shore for sea turtles, they spotted an unusual visitor -- an American alligator.

© Padre Island National Seashore/National Park Service/Facebook This American alligator was found on the beach in south Texas on Monday.

The alligator was discovered on the sandy Malaquite Beach on the Padre Island National Seashore in Corpus Christi on Monday. The reptile is thought to have floated across the Gulf of Mexico from Louisiana, as indicted by the notch of its tail and tag on its foot, according to park officials.


"We are kind of speculating that perhaps it was washed out during one of the flooding events in Louisiana," Kelly Taylor, Padre Island National Seashore Public Information Officer, told CNN on Wednesday. "It had a significant amount of algae on it's back that leads us to speculate that it was floating in the Gulf for a while."

Alligators spend time basking in the sun which helps keeps the algae off, Taylor added, which makes them believe this reptile was in the water for quite sometime.

While it is unknown what flooding event might have brought the gator out to sea, Louisiana has been dealing with several bouts of torrential rain over the past two months that has lead to dangerous flash flooding events for the area.

Last week, Lake Charles received more than 12 inches of rain, according to the National Weather Service, marking the third most rainfall in a single day in the city's history and more rain fell than during either of the hurricanes in 2020. In April, the state also received several days of severe weather that brought a near-record amount of rainfall to New Orleans.

Park officials released an image of their unusual beach visitor on Tuesday, stating that they also believe this was a young alligator due to it's size. American Alligators are one of the largest reptiles in North America, according to Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, and they can grow up to 13 feet in length.

This species is normally found in the coastal wetlands of the US Southeast, as far north as North Carolina and as far west as eastern Texas, according to The National Wildlife Federation.

"While alligators can tolerate salt water for a few hours or even days, they are primarily freshwater animals, living in swampy areas, rivers, streams, lakes, and ponds," according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration website.

Padre Island National Seashore, located in South Texas, is the longest stretch of undeveloped barrier island in the world, according to NPS. It separates the Gulf of Mexico from the Laguna Madre, one of a few hypersaline lagoons in the world.

"As a fresh water species being in salt water we can make assumption it was probably dehydrated," Taylor said. "It is received fluids but that is also standard."

She added that the alligator seemed to be in good shape but out of its element. It is now being treated and evaluated at a local rehabilitation center.

The more commonly known reptile that this park deals with are sea turtles. They have a dedicated team that monitors and protects the animals as they come on shore to nest and lay eggs. Each year, thousands of visitors come to the park to watch as the hatchings make their way out to the Gulf of Mexico.

CTHULU IN SPACE
Baby squid and tardigrades are heading to space

By Ashley Strickland, CNN 1

"Water bears" and baby squid are about to hitch a ride to space.

© Jamie S. Foster/University of Florida/NASA This image shows juvenile bobtail squid swimming in seawater just after hatching. 

No, we're not starting an aquarium in space. These animals will be joining the astronaut crew aboard the International Space Station for research purposes.

SpaceX is scheduled to launch its 22nd cargo resupply mission to the space station on June 3 at 1:29 p.m. ET. The spacecraft will carry supplies, scientific research experiments and technology demonstrations. It's even loaded up with new solar panels that will be installed outside the space station by astronauts during spacewalks in June.

Some 5,000 tardigrades, also known as water bears, and 128 baby glow-in-the-dark bobtail squid will be among the precious cargo heading to the station. Both will be involved in experiments there. The first will be to see how water bears tolerate the environment. Researchers also wants to know if the lack of gravity affects symbiotic relationships between the squid and beneficial microbes.

© Thomas Boothby/Boothby Lab/University of Wyoming/NASA Under a microscope, tardigrades look a bit like tiny bears -- hence their nickname, "water bears."

Other experiments heading to the station include a portable ultrasound, remote operation of robotic arms using virtual reality, analyzing how kidney stones form in space, studying the oral microbiome (that's in your mouth) and producing more stress-resistant cotton.

Hundreds of scientific experiments are carried out each day on the space station; it's an orbiting laboratory, after all. Astronauts oversee these experiments and report back their observations to researchers on Earth. The research helps us gain a better understanding of life in zero gravity as well as discovering benefits that can be applied on Earth.

Water bears in space

Beneath a microscope, tiny tardigrades look like water bears. Although they are commonly found in water -- and at times, serving as the nemesis in "Ant-Man and the Wasp" -- tardigrades are known for their ability to survive and even thrive in the most extreme environments.

"Tardigrades are a group of microscopic animals that are renowned for their ability to survive a number of extreme stresses," said Thomas Boothby, assistant professor of molecular biology at the University of Wyoming and principal investigator for Cell Science-04 tardigrade experiment, in a press conference Wednesday.

"Some of the things that tardigrades can survive include being dried out, being frozen and being heated up past the boiling point of water. They can survive thousands of times as much radiation as we can and they can go for days or weeks with little or no oxygen."

They can tolerate these extremes better than most forms of life, and what's more extreme than space? It's not the first time tardigrades have gone to space -- and there may even be some of them on the moon after a mission carrying them crashed into its surface.

"They've been shown to survive and reproduce during spaceflight, and can even survive prolonged exposure to the vacuum of outer space," Boothby said.

Scientists have been able to sequence the tardigrade genome, so they can actually measure how these microscopic animals are impacted by different environmental conditions based on their gene expression.

Boothby's experiment is designed to see how tardigrades adapt to life in low-Earth orbit, which could lead to a greater understanding of the stressors humans face in space. The research involves studying the molecular biology of water bears both for the short-term, such as water bears that live on the station for seven days to see their immediate adaptation, as well as long-term. These multigenerational water bears could help scientists understand the genetics behind adaptation and survival in a highly stressful environment.

Even though the space station is more protective than existing in deep space, humans and animal experiments aboard are subjected to decreased gravity and increased radiation exposure.

"Understanding how to safeguard astronauts and other organisms against these stresses will be essential for ensuring a safe and productive long-term space presence," Boothby said.

The tardigrades will arrive on the station in a frozen inanimate state, then be thawed out, revived and grown in a special bioculture system.

The short- and long-term study results should allow researchers to watch what genes are being turned on or off to help the tardigrades survive.

For example, if researchers determine that tardigrades are producing a lot of antioxidants to help combat the level of radiation they're experiencing, that could tell researchers that astronauts need to eat a more antioxidant-enriched diet.

"Ultimately this information will give us insights into how one of the toughest organisms on Earth is able to survive the rigors of spaceflight," Boothby said. "And our hope is that these insights will provide avenues for developing countermeasures or therapies that will help safeguard astronauts during prolonged space missions."


Celestial umami

Astronauts are about to experience a little bit of umami in space, just not the kind they can taste.

The UMAMI experiment stands for Understanding Microgravity on Animal Microbe Interactions and Jamie Foster, professor in the Department of Microbiology and Cell Science at the University of Florida, is its principal investigator. She's eager to see how healthy beneficial microbes communicate with animal tissues in space.

"Animals, including humans, rely on our microbes to maintain a healthy digestive and immune system," Foster said. "We do not fully understand how spaceflight alters these beneficial interactions. The UMAMI experiment uses a glow-in-the-dark bobtail squid to address these important issues in animal health."

Bobtail squid, which are only about three millimeters long, work as the perfect model to study this for two reasons. These squid have a special light organ inside the body which can be colonized by a species of luminescent bacteria. The squid can then use that bacteria to glow in the dark. Because it's a single species of bacteria and one type of host tissue, it's easy for researchers to follow how this process unfolds, Foster said.

The squid also have an immune system which is very similar to the type that humans have.

"We can take a lot of parallels of how the immune system is responding to these beneficial microbes in the space environment," Foster said.

The squid are born without bacteria, so they have to acquire it from their environment. The humans conducting the experiment will initiate this symbiosis by adding the bacteria to the animals and observing what happens during the first few hours as colonization takes place.

The squid will be part of a completely autonomous experiment housed in what looks like a box. Pumps will add water or bacteria when its needed, or pump out water if necessary.

The squid tissue will be frozen on the station and returned to Earth later, preserving the molecular timeline of which genes turned off and on for the squid, similar to the tardigrade experiment.

Researchers will be able to learn if spaceflight alters the mutually beneficial relationship between animals and their microbes.

"As astronauts explore space, they're taking with them a company of different microbial species," Foster said. "And it's really important to understand how those microbes, collectively called the microbiome, change in the space environment and how those relationships are established."

Image: shanegallagher.deviantart.com

Here is a sad piece of news. There is no official Science Fiction setting for Call of Cthulhu. Although over the years, the genre has been visited rarely, most notably in the scenarios, “Blood Moon” in Strange Aeons and “The Last Log,” Marcus L. Rowland’s fondly remembered contribution to White Dwarf #56, the genre itself remains ignored and its potential undeveloped.

Reviews from R'lyeh: By Jove... Cthulhu in Space

rlyehreviews.blogspot.com/2012/09/by-jove-cthulhu-in-space.html

#COLONIALISTARCHAEOLOGY 

Ancient Judeans ate non-kosher seafood, fish bones show

By Amy Woodyatt

Ancient Judeans ate non-kosher fish at a time when it was thought to have been prohibited in the Bible, according to a new study

.

© Chameleons Eye/Shutterstock Three catfish swim in Hula Nature Reserve in north Israel.

Researchers analyzed ancient fish bones from 30 archeological sites in areas that are now part of Israel and Egypt, dating from the Late Bronze Age (1550-1130 B.C.) to the end of the Byzantine period in 640 A.D.

The main principles of Jewish dietary law are laid down in the Chumash, or written Torah -- thought by many scholars to have been compiled during the Persian era (539-332 B.C.) and based on long-held traditions.

Observant Jews still comply with kosher requirements as laid out in the book -- including the requirement that any fish consumed must have fins and easily detached scales.

After analyzing fish bones at many Judean sites dating to the Iron Age (1130-586 B.C.) -- including at the Judean capital city of Jerusalem -- researchers found a significant proportion of non-kosher fish remains, such as catfish and shark.

The team also found evidence of non-kosher fish consumption in Jerusalem during the Persian era -- the point at which the laws were thought to have been compiled.

Yonatan Adler, senior lecturer in archeology at Ariel University on the West Bank, told CNN that he and his colleague Omri Lernau, from University of Haifa in Israel, wanted to use archeology to pinpoint the exact time when ancient Judeans became aware of the Torah and started to observe it in everyday life.

"We have in two places in the Torah, (in) Leviticus and Deuteronomy, a prohibition against eating finless and scaleless fish," he explained.

"What we found was that throughout the Iron Age ... there's no evidence that Judeans or Israelites were abstaining from scaleless fish," he said.

As a result, say the study authors, their findings call for a rethink of the assumption that long-held traditions were the basis for the food laws as described in the Torah.

Adler said more research needs to be done to pinpoint exactly when Judeans began to abstain from scaleless fish, adding that there is a gap in his team's data for the Hellenistic period (332 B.C. to 63 B.C.) -- the time between the Persian and Roman periods.

"Afterwards, during the Roman period, when we find Judean assemblages of fisher remains, they are almost completely absent of prohibited fish," he said.

The study was published in the archeological journal Tel Aviv.

COLONIALIST TOMB ROBBERY
Religious artifacts returned to Thailand after decades

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Two stolen hand-carved religious artifacts, sandstone lintels dating back to the 9th and 10th centuries, were returned to the Thai government on Tuesday in a ceremony more than 50 years overdue.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The 1,500-pound (680-kilogram) antiquities had been stolen and exported from Thailand — a violation of Thai law — roughly a half-century ago, authorities said, and donated to the city of San Francisco, authorities said. They had been exhibited at the San Francisco Asian Art Museum.

San Francisco, which owns the museum, agreed to hand over the ancient sandstone slabs following a three-year investigation by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and a civil lawsuit. The lintels had been structural parts of two religious sanctuaries in northeastern Thailand.

Records showed that the lintels had been obtained by a collector in galleries in London and Paris in the 1960s, according to the civil complaint. The collector, Avery Brundage, was apparently aware that at least one of the lintels had been illegally taken out of Thailand, the complaint states. Brundage, a former controversial president of the International Olympic Committee who donated the art to establish the museum, died in 1975.

The museum, however, contends that authorities conflated the two lintels with a third — which Brundage actually returned to Thailand in 1970 when he found out it may have been illegally removed from the country, according to Robert Mintz, deputy director of the Asian Art Museum.

The third lintel was never part of the San Francisco art collection, Mintz said, and museum officials say there's no evidence Brundage knew the other two lintels may have been stolen.

The Thai government had been trying to get the museum to return the other artifacts since 2016. The Los Angeles Times reported the mystery surrounding the lintels, and various attempts to return them to Thailand, in March.

Mintz said the curators are entrusted with artifacts held for the public and it was their responsibility to determine if any challenges to provenance are valid.

Mintz said the museum followed its bylaws — which stipulate certain steps must be taken — and did not seek to delay the return of the lintels.

“We're very happy that the Thai lintels have officially returned,” he said. “The two lintels really are going to where they belong."

But the museum still maintains that the lintels may not have been stolen. The artifacts left Thailand “under circumstances that are very unclear,” Mintz said, and turned up in Europe, where Brundage bought them.

No documentation regarding their export from Thailand has ever been found — which U.S. and Thai authorities say is evidence they were stolen. But Mintz says that a lack of evidence does not mean there is proof of that a crime was committed.

The case prompted the museum to review the provenance of its other artifacts.

The San Francisco city attorney, which represented the museum in litigation, did not immediately return a request for comment on Tuesday.

U.S. officials stressed the importance of repatriating stolen cultural artifacts. The repatriation ceremony, which included Thai dancers and prayers, was held in Los Angeles because the consulate is in the city — which also has the largest Thai population in the U.S.

The Thai ambassador to the U.S., Manasvi Srisodapol, called the ceremony part of the lintels' “sacred journey back home" and acknowledged the ongoing illegal trade of Thai artifacts in the black market.

“I do wish that the story of the Thai lintels will help raise public awareness to prevent removal of historic, religious and cultural treasures form their original sites in local communities," he said.

David Keller, the Homeland Security Investigations special agent who oversaw the repatriation case for nearly four years, said officials believe European dealers illegally exported the lintels out of Thailand. The antiquities' combined estimated value is $700,000.

Tatum King, the special agent in charge for Homeland Security Investigations in San Francisco, said the case reinforces the need for museums and art collectors to inventory their items and see if any are in fact stolen artifacts.

“Museums are often the front line of this, and we need their help,” King said.

Stefanie Dazio, The Associated Press

HOBBY LOBBY HAS BE FOUND GUILTY OF THIS  CRIME BY LOOTING GOODS FROM THE HOLY LAND, REGARDLESS OF RELIGION

Stephen Hawking's archive, office acquired for UK public

LONDON (AP) — London’s Science Museum and the Cambridge University library said Wednesday they have acquired a large collection of items belonging to late physicist Stephen Hawking, from his personalized wheelchairs to landmark papers on theoretical physics and his scripts from his appearance on “The Simpsons.” 

THE VERY CROWN OF CIVILIZATION, RIGHT LIZA

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The entire contents of Hawking’s office at Cambridge — including his communications equipment, memorabilia, bets he made on scientific debates and office furniture — will be preserved as part of the collection belonging to the Science Museum Group.


Hawking occupied the office at the university’s department of applied mathematics and theoretical physics from 2002 until shortly before his death in 2018.

Highlights will go on display at the London museum early next year. Museum officials are also hoping to create a touring exhibition in the U.K. before setting up a permanent display in London.

Meanwhile, his vast archive of scientific and personal papers, including a first draft of his bestselling “A Brief History of Time” and his correspondence with leading scientists, will remain at Cambridge University’s library.

The institutions’ acceptance of Hawking’s archive and office meant that his estate settled 4.2 million pounds ($5.9 million) in inheritance tax. 

'A DEATH TAX' TO YOU AMERICAN READERS AKA TAX AVOIDANCE

This was done through a U.K. government plan which allows those who have such tax bills to pay by transferring important cultural, scientific or historic objects to the nation. Artefacts accepted under the plan are allocated to public collections and available for all.

Hawking studied for his PhD at Cambridge and later became the university's Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, the same post that Isaac Newton held from 1669 to 1702.

Cambridge’s acquisition of the 10,000-page archive means that Hawking’s papers will join those of Newton and Charles Darwin at the university library, where they will soon be free for the public to access.

“The archive allows us to step inside Stephen’s mind and to travel with him round the cosmos to, as he said, ‘better understand our place in the universe,’” said Jessica Gardner, the university’s librarian.

“This vast archive gives extraordinary insight into the evolution of Stephen’s scientific life, from childhood to research student, from disability activist to ground-breaking, world-renowned scientist,” she added.

Diagnosed with motor neuron disease at 22 and given just a few years to live, Hawking survived for decades, dying in 2018 at 76. His work on the mysteries of space, time and black holes captured the imagination of millions, and his popular science books made him a celebrity beyond the preserves of academia. Hollywood celebrated his life in the 2014 biopic “The Theory of Everything.”

Hawking’s children, Lucy, Tim and Robert, said they were pleased that their father’s work will be preserved for the public for generations to come.

“My father would be so pleased and I think maybe at the same time, just a tiny bit overwhelmed that he was going to form part of the ... history of science, that he was going to be alongside the great scientists, the people whose work he really admired," Lucy Hawking said.

Sylvia Hui, The Associated Press

Stephen Hawking (January 8, 1942 — March 14, 2018) was a British theoretical physicist, known for his work on black holes, theoretical cosmology and quantum gravity. He was considered the world's smartest man. Due to his amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Hawking was almost totally paralyzed and had to use a wheelchair to move around and used a voice synthesizer to talk. He made four appearances on the show as himself: "They Saved Lisa's Brain", "Don't Fear the Roofer", "Stop or My Dog Will Shoot!" and "Elementary School Musical".

Appearances

•  Episode – "They Saved Lisa's Brain"
•  Episode – "Behind the Laughter" (Archive footage)
•  Episode – "Don't Fear the Roofer"
•  Episode – "Stop or My Dog Will Shoot!"
•  Episode – "Elementary School Musical"
•  Episode – "Mr. Lisa's Opus" (cameo)

Stephen Hawking | Simpsons Wiki | Fandom

ANARCHY OF CAPITALISM; THE MARKET

Japan wants TSMC, Sony to build 20 nanometre chip plant -Nikkan Kogyo

EVERY OECD COUNTRY IS DOING 

THE SAME

TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan's government wants Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd and Sony Group to invest 1 trillion yen ($9.2 billion) to build the country's first 20 nanometre chip plant, the Nikkan Kogyo newspaper reported on Wednesday.

© Reuters/ANN WANG FILE PHOTO: Logo of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), in Hsinchu

The potential factory would be built close to Sony's image sensor plant in southwest Japan, according to a proposal floated by Japan's trade and industry ministry, the report said. It did not provide further details on the proposal or when it was made.


Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida declined to comment on the report at a strategy briefing on Wednesday but said "stable chip supplies are important for Japan to maintain its international competitiveness."

TSMC declined to comment. A ministry spokesman said the report was not true but declined to elaborate.

Bitter trade tension between United States and China has resulted in concern that too much of the world's chip production is located in Taiwan as well as contributing to a global chip shortage that has hit automakers particularly hard.

Japan like the United States is looking for ways to boost semiconductor production at home in a bid to ensure its companies can secure the critical components.

Japan's most advanced semiconductor plant is a 40 nanometre chip factory operated by Renesas Electronics Corp near Tokyo. A 20 nanometre chip is more powerful as it packs more transistors into a smaller space.

U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer this month unveiled legislation to approve $52 billion to significantly boost U.S. semiconductor chip production and research over five years.

(Reporting by Tim Kelly, Ben Blanchard and Ritsuko Shimizu; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)

FORDISM2.0

Ford boosts EV spending, outlines 2030 sales targets, shares near 5-year high

"This is our biggest opportunity for growth and value creation since Henry Ford started to scale the Model T," 

© Reuters/Wolfgang Rattay FILE PHOTO: Ford Motor Co's logo pictured in 2019

DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co on Wednesday outlined plans to boost spending on its electrification efforts by more than a third and said it aims to have 40% of its global volume be all electric by 2030, sending shares up 6.5% to a near five-year high.

Under a plan dubbed "Ford+" meant to have investors value it more like a technology company, the No. 2 U.S. automaker said it now expects to spend more than $30 billion on electrification, including battery development, by 2030, up from its prior target of $22 billion. It has launched the all-electric Mustang Mach-E crossover, and plans to introduce electric versions of the Transit van and F-150 pickup.

"This is our biggest opportunity for growth and value creation since Henry Ford started to scale the Model T," Ford Chief Executive Jim Farley said in a statement.

Ford and other global automakers are racing to shift their gasoline-powered lineups to all electric power under pressure from regions like Europe and China to cut vehicle emissions. U.S. President Joe Biden has called for $174 billion to boost U.S. EV production, sales and infrastructure.

Ford's 2030 sales target would translate to more than 1.5 million EVs, based on last year's sales. By comparison, rival General Motors Co has targeted annual sales of more than 1 million EVs in the United States and China by 2025.

GM has said it aspires to halt U.S. sales of gasoline-powered passenger vehicles by 2035, and last year said it was investing $27 billion in electric and autonomous vehicles over the next five years.

Some analysts see Ford as trailing its rivals in the electrification race, but Ford officials disagree with that view, pointing to the Mach-E rollout and its other plans.

Ahead of an investor meeting, Ford said it expects to deliver an 8% operating margin in 2023.

The Dearborn, Michigan-based company also said it is forming a new stand-alone unit, called Ford Pro, to focus exclusively on commercial and government customers, a segment Farley sees as a huge growth opportunity for the company.

The company is targeting increasing revenue for the commercial market for hardware and related services addressable by Ford Pro to $45 billion by 2025, up from $27 billion in 2019.

Ford said it will also aim to develop EV batteries under the "IonBoost" brand, from lithium-ion versions to lithium-ion phosphate for commercial vehicles and eventually low-cost solid-state batteries in partnership with startup Solid Power, in which the automaker has invested. Farley expects Ford to cut battery costs by 40% by mid-decade.

Last week, the automaker announced a memorandum of understanding to form a battery joint venture with South Korea's SK Innovation, to make battery cells at two U.S. plants.

Farley also said Ford expects to have 1 million vehicles capable of receiving over-the-air software updates on the road by the end of the year, top the number of vehicles Tesla Inc serves that way next year and scale that to 33 million by 2028.

It sees the overall market for connected functions like driver-assist technologies, new features and upgraded software content, and EV charging hitting a projected $20 billion by 2030.

Ford confirmed it will develop two dedicated EV platforms, one for full-size trucks and SUVs, the other for cars and smaller SUVs. Reuters reported that on Tuesday.

Sources previously told Reuters Ford is planning to launch at least nine all-electric cars and car-based SUVs and at least three electric trucks, vans and larger SUVs, including second-generation editions of the Ford F-150 Lightning and Mach-E at mid-decade. (This story refiles to fix word order in headline)

(Reporting by Ben Klayman; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

Kremlin critic Khodorkovsky urges Europe to sanction Belarus

Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a former Russian oil tycoon, called for sanctions against Belneftekhim, Belarus’s state oil company, and Belaruskali, one of the world’s largest producers of potash.

Russian opposition figure Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former owner of the Yukos Oil Company, spoke out about the arrest of journalist Roman Protasevich [File: Matt Dunham/AP Photo]

24 May 2021

Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a former oil tycoon who fell foul of Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin, said European countries should punish Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko for his act of airspace “piracy” by sanctioning oil and potash producers.

“Roman Protasevich must be freed and the dictator punished,” Khodorkovsky said in a statement to Reuters news agency. “The dictator should be hit where it hurts the most: his wallet.”

“European countries should join United States sanctions against Belneftekhim and sanction Belaruskali,” Khodorkovsky said.

Belneftekhim is Belarus’s state oil company. Belaruskali is one of the world’s largest producers of potash fertilisers.

European leaders threatened on Monday to limit international air traffic over Belarus and possibly restrict its ground transport after a Ryanair passenger plane was forced to land in an incident denounced by Western countries as “state piracy”.

The presidential press service said Lukashenko personally ordered a MiG-29 fighter jet to accompany the Ryanair plane, which was en route from Athens, Greece to Vilnius, Lithuania, to the Minsk airport, where Protasevich – a journalist and passenger on the Ryanair flight – was arrested at the airport.

Protasevich, 26, is a co-founder of the Telegram messaging app’s Nexta channel, which Belarus last year declared as “extremist” after it was used to help organise large protests against Lukashenko.

Protasevich, who had fled the country for Poland, faces charges that could carry a prison sentence of up to 15 years.

Khodorkovsky condemned the diversion of the plane and the arrest of Protasevich.

“The piratical interception of a civilian aircraft in the Belarusian sky contemptuously disregards international aviation safety rules and is an unprecedented case of using military planes to hunt down a journalist,” Khodorkovsky said.

The incident also drew immediate international condemnation, calls for the activist’s release from the US and other nations, sanctions and an investigation by the United Nations’ civil aviation body.

EU sanctions expected to hit Belarus's potash, oil and finance

EU leaders summit in Brussels

Victoria Waldersee
Thu., May 27, 2021,

LISBON (Reuters) -The European Union will look at hitting Belarus's big potash exports as well as its oil and financial sectors with new sanctions, as punishment for forcing down a Ryanair flight to arrest a journalist, foreign ministers from the bloc said.

European leaders have described Sunday's incident, in which a flight between EU members Greece and Lithuania was pressed to land in Minsk and a 26-year-old exiled dissident and 23-year-old student were arrested, as state piracy. They have promised to impose serious consequences.

Foreign ministers gathering in the Portuguese capital Lisbon on Thursday said they were looking at hitting sectors that play a central role in the Belarus economy, to inflict real punishment on President Alexander Lukashenko.

"The hijacking of the plane and the detention of the two passengers is completely unacceptable, and we will start discussing implementation of the sectorial and economic sanctions," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters before the informal meeting in Lisbon.

Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said: "The keyword, I think, is potash. We know that Belarus produces very much potash, it is one of the biggest suppliers globally, and I think it would hurt Lukashenko very much if we managed something in this area."

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said the EU should consider hitting the oil sector, while Germany's Heiko Maas spoke of measures to target financial transactions, which diplomats said would probably involve preventing the EU from lending to Belarusian banks.

Exports of potash - a potassium-rich salt used in fertilizer - are one of the major sources of foreign currency for Belarus, and state firm Belaruskali says it produces 20 percent of the world's supply.

The EU statistics agency said the bloc imported 1.2 billion euros ($1.5 billion) worth of chemicals including potash from Belarus last year, as well as more than 1 billion euros worth of crude oil and related products such as fuel and lubricants.

So far this week, Europe has already moved to bar its airlines from using Belarus air space and to keep Belarusian planes out of its skies. But finding a package of sanctions that would change the behaviour of Lukashenko has proven difficult.

Since cracking down on pro-democracy protests last year, he largely ignored three previous rounds of EU sanctions and comparable U.S. measures, mainly blacklists that bar officials from travelling to or doing business in Europe and the United States.

Ministers in Lisbon said new sanctions would include a fourth round of travel bans and asset freezes. They are aiming for agreement on June 21 when they meet in Luxembourg.

Western countries are demanding free elections in Belarus. Germany's Maas said sanctions should continue to be tightened, at least until more than 400 political prisoners there are released.

"As long as this is not the case, the EU cannot relent in paving the way for fresh sanctions," he said.

($1 = 0.8201 euros)

(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee in Lisbon and Sabine Siebold in BerlinWriting by Robin EmmottEditing by Hugh Lawson and Peter Graff)

VERSUS BELARUS

BHP taps Nutrien for Canada potash mine partnership - Bloomberg News

(Reuters) - BHP Group is in discussions with fertilizer maker Nutrien Ltd about a partnership in the miner's potash project in Canada, Bloomberg News reported, citing sources.

© Reuters/David Gray FILE PHOTO: A promotional sign adorns a stage at a BHP Billiton function in central Sydney

Potential options include Nutrien acquiring a stake in the Jansen, Saskatchewan mine, or becoming an operator and selling the potash through its channels, the report said, adding that the talks were private and there was no guarantee of a deal yet.(https://bloom.bg/3fmbtHZ)

BHP and Nutrien declined to comment.

Investors have raised concerns over the Jansen project recently, worried that a potash oversupply over the next decade could crimp returns.

Australia-based BHP is the world's biggest listed miner, but does not produce potash, a crop nutrient farmers spread to increase yields.

Nutrien is the biggest global fertiliser producer by capacity, based in Saskatchewan.

Nutrien buying a stake in Jansen makes no sense for either company, BMO Capital Markets analyst Joel Jackson said in a note. A broader joint venture between Nutrien and BHP involving the potash assets of both companies has more potential, Jackson said.

BHP has already sunk $4.5 billion into Jansen and forecast more in annual capital expenditure, as it edges towards making a final investment decision on the mine by mid-year.

(Reporting by Anushka Trivedi in Bengaluru; additional reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg and Jeff Lewis in Toronto; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)

GREEN CAPITALI$M
An indoor farming startup is valued at $2.3 billion after a historic fundraising round as climate change concerns become more urgent

insider@insider.com (Alex Hickey, Morning Brew) 

Indoor vertical farming. Lianoland Wimons, Sgverticalfarming1, CC BY-SA 4.0

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Yesterday, Bowery Farming announced a $300 million fundraising round that included A-list investors like Natalie Portman, José Andrés, and Lewis Hamilton. Justin Timberlake also chipped in.

The startup, now valued at $2.3 billion, grows produce using indoor vertical farming setups. Its 13 varieties of greens are sold in 850 stores, and with its new funds it'll build additional farms and expand into new crops including tomatoes, strawberries, and carrots.

Sci-fi farming is catching on

Climate change concerns and a renewed focus on the food supply chain have contributed to increased investor appetite for indoor farming. Last year, global VC investment in indoor farms tripled to almost $1.9 billion.

Bowery's deal is the biggest on record for the industry, but competitors have scored plenty of dough in recent months, including BrightFarms ($100 million last October), "Omakase" strawberry grower Oishii ($50 million in March), and AppHarvest, which SPAC'd in February and is now worth $1.5 billion.

Zoom out: The indoor farming sector is growing but is still just a wee seedling. In 2019, California grew nearly 4x more pounds of lettuce than all indoor-grown veggies across the country combined.