PREVENTABLE INCIDENT

US Military relieves general of duties, cites tank sinking

By JULIE WATSONJune 9, 2021

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In this Sept. 11, 2020 photo provided by the U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Marine Maj. Gen. Robert F. Castellvi is shown during a ceremony at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in California. Officials announced Wednesday, June 9, 2021 that Castellvi will be relieved of his duties for failing to properly train Marines and sailors and evaluate the platoon before a training exercise in the summer of 2020 when a seafaring tank sank off the Southern California coast, killing nine troops. (Cpl. Jailine L. AliceaSantiago/U.S. Marine Corps via AP)

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Marine Corps is relieving a general of his duties for failing to properly train Marines and sailors and evaluate the platoon before an exercise last summer when their seafaring tank sank off the Southern California coast, killing nine troops, the military announced Wednesday.

The July 30 training accident was one of the deadliest for the Marines in recent years. Leaders said it could have been prevented.

The crew of the amphibious assault vehicle was left in the dark, using their cellphone lights to desperately try to find an unmarked escape hatch as they took on water, according to the investigation. There also were no safety boats nearby to save them.

The investigation found Maj. Gen. Robert F. Castellvi “bears some responsibility;” it said the accident off San Clemente Island, 70 miles (113 kilometers) from San Diego, was caused by inadequate training, shabby maintenance of the amphibious assault vehicles and poor judgment by commanders.

At the time, Castellvi served as commanding general of the 1st Marine Division of Camp Pendleton, north of San Diego, and oversaw the preparation of the troops.

A second probe launched in May to examine preparedness before the exercise found the troops had not received appropriate instruction on escaping the amphibious assault vehicle, and the unit had not completed a required evaluation.

The unit was training during restrictions from the coronavirus pandemic, but investigators found that should not have played a factor in meeting the requirements.

The Marine Corps said its commandant, Gen. David Berger, “personally and formally counseled (Castellvi) for his failure to properly train the Marines and Sailors for whom he was entrusted and for the inadequate evaluation of the AAV Platoon.”

“There are no excuses for not getting the whole unit the required training. None,” Berger said in an earlier interview with reporters.

Castellvi was suspended in April from his new position as Marine Corps inspector general, which he moved into after the accident. The Marine Corps said Wednesday he will not be returning to that position.

The action will go on his permanent record and will be taken into consideration in future decisions regarding his military career. Typically such a measure prevents an officer from being promoted or serving in a role charged with the responsibility of caring for troops, the Marine Corps said.

Castellvi could not be immediately reached for comment.

Wednesday’s announcement comes after some of the families of the eight Marines and one sailor who were killed questioned why more was not being done to hold leadership accountable.

Castellvi is the only general involved who has been relieved of his duties. Three commanders have been dismissed as a result, including the leader of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit. Administrative or disciplinary actions were taken against seven other military personnel.

The Marines use the vehicles to transport troops and their equipment from Navy ships to land. The armored vehicles outfitted with machine guns and grenade launchers look like tanks as they roll ashore for beach attacks, with Marines pouring out of them to take up positions.

The investigation is ongoing.

Afghan Hazaras being killed at school, play, even at birth

By KATHY GANNON

today


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Afghan Hazaras attend the funeral of Mina Khiari, who was killed in bombing last week, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, June 5, 2021. After the collapse of the Taliban 20 years ago, Afghanistan's ethnic Hazaras began to flourish and soon advanced in various fields, including education and sports, and moved up the ladder of success. They now fear those gains will be lost to chaos and war after the final withdrawal of American and NATO troops from Afghanistan this summer. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Just running errands in the mainly Hazara neighborhoods of west Kabul can be dangerous. One day last week, Adila Khiari and her two daughters went out to buy new curtains. Soon after, her son heard that a minibus had been bombed — the fourth to be blown up in just 48 hours.

When his mother didn’t answer her phone, he frantically searched hospitals in the Afghan capital. He found his sister, Hosnia in critical condition with burns over 50% of her body. Then he found his mother and other sister, Mina, both dead. Three days later, on Sunday, Hosnia died as well.

In all, 18 people were killed in the two-day string of bombings against minivans in Kabul’s Dasht-e-Barchi district. It was the latest in a vicious campaign of violence targeting Afghanistan’s minority Hazara community — one that Hazaras fear will only get worse after the final withdrawal of American and NATO troops this summer.

Hundreds of Afghans are killed or injured every month in violence connected to the country’s constant war. But Hazaras, who make up around 9% of the population of 36 million people, stand alone in being intentionally targeted because of their ethnicity — distinct from the other ethnic groups, such as Tajik and Uzbek and the Pashtun majority — and their religion. Most Hazaras are Shiite Muslims, despised by Sunni Muslim radicals like the Islamic State group, and discriminated against by many in the Sunni majority country.

After the collapse of the Taliban 20 years ago, the Hazaras embraced hopes for a new democracy in Afghanistan. Long the country’s poorest community, they began to improve their lot, advancing in various fields, including education and sports.

Now many Hazaras are moving to take up arms to protect themselves in what they expect will be a war for control among Afghanistan’s many factions.

Inside the Nabi Rasool Akram Mosque compound, protected by sandbags stacked against its ornate doors and 10-foot high walls, Qatradullah Broman was among the Hazaras attending the funeral of Adila and Mina this week.

The government doesn’t care about Hazaras and has failed to protect them, he said. “Anyone who can afford to leave, they are leaving. Those who can’t are staying here to die,” said Broman. “I see a very dark future for our people.”

There is plenty for Hazaras to fear.

Since it emerged in 2014 and 2015, a vicious Islamic State group affiliate has declared war on Afghanistan’s Shiites and has claimed responsibility for many of the recent attacks on the Hazaras.

But Hazaras are also deeply suspicious of the government for not protecting them. Some worry that government-linked warlords, who also demonize their community, are behind some of the attacks

Former government adviser Torek Farhadi told the Associated Press that within the political leadership, “from the top down,” there is a “sorry culture” of discrimination against Hazaras. “The government, in a cynical calculation, has decided Hazara lives are cheap,” he said.

Since 2015, attacks have killed at least 1,200 Hazaras and injured another 2,300, according to Wadood Pedram, executive director of the Kabul-based Human Rights and Eradication of Violence Organization.

Hazaras have been preyed on at schools, weddings, mosques, sports clubs, even at birth.

Last year, gunmen attacked a maternity hospital in the mainly Hazara districts of west Kabul. When the shooting ended, 24 people were dead, including newborns and their mothers. Last month, a triple bombing at the Syed Al-Shahada school in the same area killed nearly 100 people, mostly Hazara schoolgirls. This week, when militants attacked a compound of de-mining workers, shooting at least 10 to death, witnesses said they tried to pick Hazaras out of the workers to kill.

Some of these attacks, deliberately targeting civilians, hospitals and children, could rise to the level of war crimes, said Patricia Gossman, Associate Director of the Asia Program of Human Rights Watch.

Pedram’s organization has petitioned the U.N. Human Rights Commission to investigate the killing of Hazaras as genocide or a crime against humanity. It and other rights groups also helped the International Criminal Court in 2019 compile suspected war crimes cases in Afghanistan.

“The world doesn’t speak about our deaths. The world is silent. Are we not human?” said Mustafa Waheed, an elderly Hazara weeping at the burial of Mina and her mother.

A black velvet cloth inscribed in gold with Quranic verses was draped over the two bodies. Family and friends carried them on wooden beds, then placed them inside the graves. Mina’s father fell to the ground crying.

“The U.S. can go into space, but they can’t find out who is doing this?” Waheed said. “They can see an ant move from space, but they can’t see who is killing Hazaras?”

In the face of the killings, talk has turned to arming Hazara youth to defend the community, particularly in the districts that the community dominates in western Kabul. Some Hazaras say the May 8 attack on the Syed al-Shahada school was a turning point.

It is a significant reversal for a community that showed such hope in a new Afghanistan. After the fall of the Taliban, many Hazara militias gave up their weapons under a government disarmament program, even as other factions were reluctant.

“We used to think the pen and the book were our greatest weapon, but now we realize it is the gun we need,” said Ghulam Reza Berati, a prominent Hazara religious leader. Fathers of the girls killed in the school attack are being told to invest in weapons, said Berati, who helped bury many of the girls.

Sitting on the carpets of west Kabul’s Wali Asar Mosque, Berati said Hazaras are disappointed in the democracy brought by the U.S.-led coalition. Hazaras have largely been excluded from positions of prominence, he said.

Hazaras worry about continuing Islamic State group attacks and about the potential return of the Taliban to power after the American withdrawal. But they also worry about the many heavily armed warlords who are part of the government. Some of them carried out violence against Hazaras in the past, and Hazaras fear they will do so again if post-withdrawal Afghanistan slides into a repeat of the brutal inter-factional civil war of the early 1990s.

One warlord who is still prominent in Kabul, Abdul Rasool Sayyaf, led a Pashtun militia that massacred Hazara civilians during a ferocious 1993 battle with Hazara militias in Kabul’s mainly Hazara neighborhood of Afshar.

Rajab Ali Urzgani became a sort of folk hero in his community as one of the youngest Hazara commanders during the Battle of Afshar — only 14 at the time.

Now 41 and still known by his nom de guerre, Mangol, he returned to Afshar earlier this month with the AP to visit the site. He stopped to give a prayer for the dead at a mass grave where nearly 80 men, women and children killed in the bloodshed are buried. A black Shiite banner flies at the entrance.

Mangol held out little hope for peace in Afghanistan following the withdrawal.

“When the foreigners withdraw, the war will happen 1000%,” he said. “The war will happen like in the past with the different groups, and we will defend our family and our dignity.”

_____

Associated Press Writer Tameem Akhgar contributed to this report.

THIS ALSO OCCURS IN PAKISTAN WHERE THEY ARE A MINORITY THERE

Ex-Mossad chief signals Israel behind Iran nuclear attacks

By JON GAMBRELL

today

FILE - In this July 3, 2016, file photo, Yossi Cohen, then the director of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency, attends the funeral in Jerusalem of a rabbi killed by Palestinian gunmen. Cohen, the outgoing chief of Israel's Mossad intelligence service, offered the closest acknowledgment yet his country was behind a series of recent attacks targeting Iran's nuclear program and a military scientist in a television interview aired Thursday, June 10, 2021. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty, File)


DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The outgoing chief of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service has offered the closest acknowledgment yet his country was behind recent attacks targeting Iran’s nuclear program and a military scientist.

The comments by Yossi Cohen, speaking to Israel’s Channel 12 investigative program “Uvda” in a segment aired Thursday night, offered an extraordinary debriefing by the head of the typically secretive agency in what appears to be the final days of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rule.

It also gave a clear warning to other scientists in Iran’s nuclear program that they too could become targets for assassination even as diplomats in Vienna try to negotiate terms to try to salvage its atomic accord with world powers.

“If the scientist is willing to change career and will not hurt us anymore, than yes, sometimes we offer them” a way out, Cohen said.

Among the major attacks to target Iran, none have struck deeper than two explosions over the last year at its Natanz nuclear facility. There, centrifuges enrich uranium from an underground hall designed to protect them from airstrikes.

In July 2020, a mysterious explosion tore apart Natanz’s advanced centrifuge assembly, which Iran later blamed on Israel. Then in April of this year, another blast tore apart one of its underground enrichment halls.

Discussing Natanz, the interviewer asked Cohen where he’d take them if they could travel there, he said “to the cellar” where “the centrifuges used to spin.”

“It doesn’t look like it used to look,” he added.

Cohen did not directly claim the attacks, but his specificity offered the closest acknowledgement yet of an Israeli hand in the attacks. The interviewer, journalist Ilana Dayan, also seemingly offered a detailed description in a voiceover of how Israel snuck the explosives into Natanz’s underground halls.

“The man who was responsible for these explosions, it becomes clear, made sure to supply to the Iranians the marble foundation on which the centrifuges are placed,” Dayan said. “As they install this foundation within the Natanz facility, they have no idea that it already includes an enormous amount of explosives.”

They also discussed the November killing of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, an Iranian scientist who began Tehran’s military nuclear program decades ago. U.S. intelligence agencies and the International Atomic Energy Agency believe Iran abandoned that organized effort at seeking a nuclear weapon in 2003. Iran long has maintained its program is peaceful.

While Cohen on camera doesn’t claim the killing, Dayan in the segment described Cohen as having “personally signed off on the entire campaign.” Dayan also described how a remotely operated machine gun fixed to a pickup truck killed Fakhrizadeh and later self-destructed.

Cohen described an Israeli effort to dissuade Iranian scientists from taking part in the program, which had seen some abandon their work after being warned, even indirectly, by Israel. Asked by the interviewer if the scientists understood the implications if they didn’t stop, Cohen said: “They see their friends.”

They also talked about Israel’s operation seizing archival documents from Iran’s military nuclear program. Dayan said 20 agents, none Israelis, seized material from 32 safes, then scanned and transmitted a large portion of the documents. Cohen confirmed that the Mossad received most of the material before it was physically taken out of Iran.

Cohen defended Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to go public with the results of the operation, going against a long-standing practice of secrecy involving Mossad activities.

“It was important to us that the world will see this, but this thing should also resonate with the Iranian leadership, to tell them, ‘Dear friends: One, you have been infiltrated. Two, we see you.. Three, the era of ... lies is over,’” Cohen said.

Media in Israel operate under a decades-old policy that requires journalists to clear stories involving security matters through military censors. That Cohen’s remarks apparently cleared the censors suggests Israel wanted to issue a new warning to Iran amid the Vienna nuclear negotiations.

Iran has repeatedly complained about Israel’s attacks, with Iran’s ambassador to the IAEA Kazem Gharibabadi warning as recently as Thursday that the incidents “not only will be responded to decisively, but also certainly leave no option for Iran but to reconsider its transparency measures and cooperation policy.”

Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment over the comments by Cohen, who was replaced by former operative David Barnea. Cohen in the interview acknowledged he might one day seek the prime minister’s office himself.

___

Associated Press writer Karin Laub in Amman, Jordan, contributed to this report.

Exclusive: Biden mulls giving refiners relief from U.S. biofuel laws - sources
By Jarrett Renshaw and Stephanie Kelly 1 hour ago

© Reuters/Jim Young FILE PHOTO: A gas pump selling E15, a gasoline with 15 percent of ethanol, is seen in Mason City

NEW YORK (Reuters) - President Joe Biden's administration, under pressure from labor unions and U.S. senators including from his home state of Delaware, is considering ways to provide relief to U.S. oil refiners from biofuel blending mandates, three sources familiar with the matter said.

The issue pits two of the administration's important political constituencies against each other: blue-collar refinery workers and farmers who depend on biofuel mandates to prop up a massive market for corn.

It could prompt an about-face for the administration, which had been rolling back former President Donald Trump's dramatic expansion of waivers for U.S. refiners from the Renewable Fuel Standard.

The law requires them to blend billions of gallons of ethanol and other biofuels into their fuel each year or buy credits from those that do.

The credits, known as RINs, are currently at their highest price in the program's 13-year history, and refiners have said the policy threatens to bankrupt fuel makers already slammed by sinking demand during the pandemic.

Biofuel advocates counter that fuel makers should have invested in biofuel blending facilities years ago and can pass through added costs for buying credits to consumers at the pumps.

Democratic senators Chris Coons and Tom Carper of Delaware have held at least two discussions in recent weeks with Michael Regan, head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, to discuss providing relief for refiners, according to the three sources.

Coons and Carper were seeking to help the state's lone refinery, a plant in Delaware City with a capacity of about 180,000 barrel-per-day. Their requests added to a chorus of pleas from other states hosting refineries, including Pennsylvania, Texas and Louisiana.

In the meetings, Regan and the senators discussed options like a nationwide general waiver exempting the refining industry from some obligations, lowering the amount of renewable fuel refiners must blend in the future, creating a price cap on compliance credits, and issuing an emergency declaration, two of the sources said.

Nick Conger, an EPA spokesperson, confirmed Regan had met with the senators but did not comment further on the discussions or confirm whether the agency was looking at ways to provide relief to refiners.

Coons did not respond to a request for comment.

A spokesperson for Carper said the senator has spoken to Regan a number of times about the high costs for RINs.

Seth Harris, deputy assistant to the president on labor and economic issues, has also met with union representatives to hear their grievances about biofuel mandates, the two sources said.

Harris did not respond to a request for comment.

Merchant refiners like PBF Energy, which operates the Delaware City plant, say biofuel laws could shut down plants and kill thousands of union jobs.

The company recently shut most of its refinery in New Jersey, the latest in a series of shutdowns along the U.S. East Coast. The region, which faces higher refining costs because of its distance from U.S. oil fields, has seen fuel production capacity drop about 40% since 2000.

Federal data shows that only eight refineries remain out of the 17 that were operating on the U.S. East Coast in 2000.

At least one company has already bet the administration will end up helping refiners: Reuters previously reported that Delta Air Lines Inc has stopped buying RINs, leaving its refinery in Pennsylvania with a $346 million liability at the end of the first quarter.

(Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw and Stephanie Kelly; Editing by David Gregorio)

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Archer's flying taxi makes splashy debut in heated market

By Omar Younis and Tracy Rucinski 
JUNE 11,2021

© Reuters/MIKE BLAKE Flying taxi company Archer Aviation unveils all-electric aircraft in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Archer Aviation unveiled its first electric flying taxi "Maker" in a Tesla-style debut on Thursday as an increasing number of investors and aviation companies pile into the hot but yet-to-be-approved urban air mobility space.


Interest in zero-emission aircraft that take off and land like helicopters but fly like planes is growing as aerospace companies look for new markets and face pressure to help decarbonize their industry though the battery-operated vehicles.

Maker's debut, staged at a hangar using XR technology to simulate a ride, followed news on Thursday of two separate deals involving electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft companies based in Britain and Brazil.

Archer's aircraft does not yet fly commercially but it mounted an extravagant show under a new chief creative officer who has decades of experience in experiential design and television production, Kenny Taht, to attract attention.

Archer expects Maker's commercial launch in 2024 in Los Angeles and Miami and is in the process of certifying the piloted four-passenger aircraft with the Federal Aviation Administration, co-founder and co-CEO Brett Adcock told Reuters.

"Our real goal is to make a mass market transportation solution in and around cities," Adcock said.

The taxis can fly at 150 miles per hour (240 km per hour) for distances up to 60 miles (100km) at an entry level price between $3 and $4 per passenger mile.

In New York City for example, the 17-mile trip from John F. Kennedy International Airport to Manhattan would cost $50 to $70 and take around five to seven minutes versus 60 to 90 minutes in a car.

While experts estimate the eVTOL market to be worth billions over the next decade, it is not expected to immediately make money and the timing of regulatory approval remains uncertain.

Asked about the approval process, the FAA said: "The FAA can certify new technologies such as eVTOLs through its existing regulations. We may issue special conditions or additional requirements, depending on the type of project."

As the market heats up, so has competition.

Archer is currently embroiled in a legal battle with Boeing-backed competitor Wisk Aero, which has accused it of stealing trade secrets and infringing on its patents.

Archer last week asked a California court to dismiss the lawsuit and courtersued Wisk for "false statements" regarding a separate criminal probe.

Archer plans to go public through a $3.8 billion merger with blank-check company Atlas Crest and has an investment and $1 billion order from United Airlines.

(Reporting by Omar Younis in Los Angeles and Tracy Rucinski in Chicago; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)

Indigenous kids were taught to feel 'inferior' from young age

Indigenous children were taught from a young age that they were inferior and they should adopt "the white man's way," says a Niagara-on-the-Lake woman who grew up in the Northwest Territories.

Veronica Puskas attended a residential school from 1971 to 1975, but it was government-run, with no religious affiliation and she says she didn't endure the kind of horrific abuse that other children suffered at scores of similar institutions across Canada.

Though while attending Akaitcho Hall for Grades 9 to 12, Puskas said she was wholly cut off from her Inuit culture, the aggressive assimilation experienced by earlier Inuit was worse than what she experienced.

However, the brunt of the government's attempts at assimilation started much earlier in her life, at the Rankin Inlet Federal Day School, she said.

“We were taught that our culture was not good enough. I grew up thinking that, and I’m going to have to say it, that the white man’s way was better.”

On Sunday, June 6, a moment of silence was held at Simcoe Park in NOTL in memory of 215 dead Indigenous children whose bodies were found in a mass grave in Kamloops, B.C.

Puskas was on hand to honour the memory of those children and talk about her own experience as a residential school survivor.

“My parents were given the option of where I should go. And that ended up being the best thing for me because (Akaitcho Hall) was well-run,” Puskas told The Lake Report.

The school was operated by a husband and wife, she said. “We think well of them, still.”

That sentiment was echoed by former Nunavut MP Nancy Karetak-Lindell, who attended Akaitcho Hall from 1972 to 1974.

“It’s not like what you’re hearing about all the residential school issues today,” Karetak-Lindell told the Nunatsiaq News in 2001.

While Puskas felt Akaitcho Hall was better than many of the other residential schools in Canada, the government's goal of cultural genocide by cutting Indigenous youth off from their history was still prevalent.

“We were still transitioning from our culture. We were never taught any of our culture,” Puskas said.

Being taught to look down on her Indigenous culture has left her with trauma she is still resolving, 60 years on.

“I did lose that emotional connection, especially with my mom. I saw it between her and her youngest. Because I didn’t get to, when I was that age, learn how to make parkas or boots,” Puskas said as she began to cry.

Puskas mother was "unilingual. Some of her friends were able to go to school and she was told not to," she said.

Puskas on the other hand was educated nearly her whole childhood in federal day school and at the residential school.

"I think there was a little bit of resentment there," Puskas said, sobbing.

“I’m still working on it. I’m getting there.”

Video: Canadians memorialize indigenous school children (Reuters)

She said she had a realization one day when speaking with an Indigenous friend who needed to see an ear specialist in Toronto for abuse she suffered while in residential school.

“She said to me, ‘You know, these white men, they are good at everything.’ And I said, ‘No, no. We were very good at everything. We were able to survive for thousands of years without them,' ” Puskas said.

“If you tried to live in our climate, in our culture, you wouldn’t survive,” she noted.

She pointed to the ill-fated expedition of Sir John Franklin and a group of British explorers in the 1840s. The whole expedition of 129 men perished where the Inuit have long thrived.

“There are some stories where Inuit met them and tried to give them food. They were offered help, but they didn’t want it.”

She was raised Catholic but saw in the church something that drove her away from the powerful institution and toward the Anglican church.

“We were taught to love one another but that wasn’t being displayed. There was conflict in my mind and it took me a while to process that,” Puskas said.

“Especially in relation to First Nations people. There was so much horrible stuff that was done to them," she said.

Puskas takes issue with the Pope's and the Canadian government's responses to the ongoing suffering caused by residential schools.

Reconciliation is “going to take a long time. You’re seeing it already, the Pope, the government – they’re trying to deflect the blame,” she said.

“But stories need to be told. We need to hear these people tell their stories.”

Puskas moved to NOTL over 10 years ago. Her husband is from the area and she said they had visited the town for more than 40 years.

“We always knew we wanted to retire here, so we bought a house back in 2003,” she said.

Puskas worked most of her life in finance and accounting for the government of the Northwest Territories. She now does work with the Niagara Worship Centre's Celebrate Recovery program.

The program helps people dealing with any number of issues, from addiction to depression.

“I’ll be five years sober now this coming August. And I, in turn, help others,” Puskas said.

She spoke about meeting Indigenous girls who had been to other residential schools and of the trauma they suffered.

“There were two sisters. They were taken away from their homes, four or five years old, and taught to hate their parents,” Puskas said.

“And they didn’t have that emotional connection with their parents any more. Especially with their dad. They were traumatized. So much so that one became agoraphobic (fearing crowds), and the other never married. Never.”

Although residential schools are now closed in Canada, the damage they inflicted on Indigenous people and culture remains.

“It’s intergenerational trauma. Let’s just say what dad went through, he directed that anger at his kids. And that’s just really sad," Puskas said.

“This one guy I know is close to 50. His parents were very harsh. He’s still struggling,” she said.

“There’s a lot of anger.”

Evan Saunders, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Lake Report

Sealed, signed and delivered

Hebrew University archaeologists unveil 7,000-year-old seal impressions used for commerce and protection of property

THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM

Research News

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IMAGE: ROUNDED SILOS AT TEL TSAF. view more 

CREDIT: BOAZ GARFINKEL

A team of archaeologists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU) made a rare discovery when they unearthed a small clay seal impression dating back some 7000 years. The impression, with two different geometric stamps imprinted on it, was discovered in Tel Tsaf, a prehistoric village located in Israel's Beit She'an Valley up north.

The discovery was made as part of a dig that took place between 2004 and 2007 and was led by HU's Professor Yosef Garfinkel along with two of his students, Professor David Ben Shlomo and Dr. Michael Freikman, both of whom are now researchers at Ariel University. One hundred and fifty clay sealings were originally found at the site, with one being particularly rare and of distinct, historic importance. The object was published in the journal Levant.

Sealings, also known as bulla, are made of a small piece of clay were used in historical times to seal and sign letters and to prevent others from reading their contents. The sealing found in Tel Tsaf is particularly significant because it is the first evidence of the use of seals to mark shipments or to close silos or barns. When a barn door was opened, its seal impression would break - a telltale sign that someone had been there and that the contents inside had been touched or taken. "Even today, similar types of sealing are used to prevent tampering and theft," explained Garfinkel. "It turns out that this was already in use 7,000 years ago by land owners and local administrators to protect their property."

Measuring less than a centimeter wide, the fragment was found in great condition due to the dry climate of the Beit She'an valley. The sealing is marked by symmetrical lines. While many sealings found in First Temple Jerusalem (ca. 2,600 years ago) include a personal name and sometimes biblical figures, the sealing from Tel Tsaf is from a prehistoric era, when writing was not yet in use. Those seals were decorated with geometric shapes instead of letters. The fact that there are two different stamps on the seal impression may indicate a form of commercial activity where the two different people were involved in the transaction.

The found fragment underwent extensive analysis before researchers could determine that it was indeed a seal impression. According to Garfinkel, this is the earliest evidence that seals were used in Israel approximately 7,000 years ago to sign deliveries and keep store rooms closed. While seals have been found in that region dating back to 8,500 years ago, seal impressions from that time have not been found.

Based on a careful scientific analysis of the sealing's clay, the researchers found it wasn't locally sourced but came from a location at least ten kilometers away. Other archeological finds at the site reveal evidence that the Tel Tsaf residents were in contact with populations far beyond ancient Israel. "At this very site we have evidence of contact with peoples from Mesopotamia, Turkey, Egypt and Caucasia," Garfinkel added. "There is no prehistoric site anywhere in the Middle East that reveals evidence of such long-distance trade in exotic items as what we found at this particular site."

The site also yielded clues that the area was home to people of considerable wealth who built up large stores of ingredients and materials, indicating considerable social development. This evidence points to Tel Tsaf as having been a key position in the region that served both local communities and people passing through. "We hope that continued excavations at Tel Tsaf and other places from the same time period will yield additional evidence to help us understand the impact of a regional authority in the southern Levant," concluded Garfinkel.

CAPTION

4. Tel Tsaf seal and a modern impression.

CREDIT

Vladimir Nichen

When physics meets financial networks

A review highlights the role of the theory of Complex Networks in predicting crises

IMT SCHOOL FOR ADVANCED STUDIES LUCCA

Research News

 

Generally, physics and financial systems are not easily associated in people's minds. Yet, principles and techniques originating from physics can be very effective in describing the processes taking place on financial markets. Modeling financial systems as networks can greatly enhance our understanding of phenomena that are relevant not only to researchers in economics and other disciplines, but also to ordinary citizens, public agencies and governments. And the theory of Complex Networks represents a powerful framework for studying how shocks propagate in financial systems, identifying early-warning signals of forthcoming crises, and reconstructing hidden linkages in interbank systems.

In a review article appearing on Nature Reviews Physics, several scholars in Complex Networks have now teamed up to organize and update the knowledge in the field. The article summarizes over 15 years of truly interdisciplinary research, highlighting how the statistical physics approach has shed light on various key properties of these phenomena. The authors represent some of the most internationally active research groups in the field, based at the IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, the University of Leiden, "Ca' Foscari" University of Venice, University of Zurich, "Tor Vergata" University of Rome, University College London and Bank of England.

The starting point of the analysis is the recognition that financial institutions are linked together in a global web of interactions whose structure can be analyzed quantitatively by means of network theory, the framework that studies the structure and consequences of the relationships connecting different objects in large systems. In fact, the financial system can be viewed as a network whose nodes represent agents - e.g. retail and investment banks, insurance companies, investment funds, central banks but also non-financial firms and households - and whose edges represent dependencies between nodes.

The models traditionally employed by regulators and policymakers consider far too simple representations of financial systems, describing them either as collections of isolated actors or as a homogeneous "mixture" where each actor interacts equally with all the other ones. However, as the 2007-2008 crisis showed dramatically, both representations fail to provide an appropriate description of the highly heterogeneous and intertwined structure of these systems, as well as the implications for society. When the crisis struck, banks that broke down could not repay their debt, causing other banks to go bankrupt, in a cascading effect whose dynamics strongly depended on the details of the interconnection patterns. Policymakers admitted that they felt abandoned by traditional economic models.

Here is where network theory comes into play, by clarifying the interplay between the structure of the network, the heterogeneity of the individual characteristics of financial actors and the dynamics of risk propagation, in particular contagion, i.e. the domino effect by which the instability of some financial institutions can reverberate to other institutions to which they are connected. The associated risk is indeed "systemic", i.e. both produced and faced by the system as a whole, as in collective phenomena studied in physics. "Each bank determines the interest rate for loans to other banks based on their perceived individual riskiness," explains Diego Garlaschelli, Associate Professor at the IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca and at Leiden University, the Netherlands. "However if those banks are in turn interconnected via other loans, then the actual risk of a collective default can be much higher. Since the existence of loans is a matter of confidentiality, one has to devise new techniques to guess the key properties of interbank networks from partial information. This is crucial also for central banks that strive to run reliable stress tests on the financial system. A nontrivial generalization of the statistical physics framework allowed us to address this challenge in an original way."

The publication in Nature Reviews Physics is a recognition of the fact that financial networks are one of the new frontiers of modern physics; besides, it acknowledges the key role played by statistical physics in providing a mathematical description of the relation between microscopic and macroscopic properties of systems composed of many parts, including social and economic ones.

The authors of the review have been working in the field of financial networks for several years. "Our network reconstruction methods have been tested by various groups worldwide, including one uniting researchers from several central banks, and have been found to systematically outperform the alternative ones," says Tiziano Squartini, Assistant Professor in physics at the IMT School. "In collaboration with the Dutch Central Bank, we even found that, while the 2007-2008 crisis came as a surprise to traditional models, a network analysis accounting for the observed heterogeneity of banks could have predicted it three years in advance."

Today, after almost fifteen years from the financial crisis, the role of networks for monitoring financial stability and designing macroprudential regulation is widely recognized. Both policymakers and researchers agree that systemic risk has to be studied and managed by adopting a network perspective. Besides, it is necessary that institutions adopt network models for risk assessment more comprehensively. This is also reflected in the policy action and discourse of the highest financial authorities, both in the US and in the EU.

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Marco Bardoscia, Paolo Barucca, Stefano Battiston, Fabio Caccioli, Giulio Cimini, Diego Garlaschelli, Fabio Saracco, Tiziano Squartini, and Guido Caldarelli, "The Physics of Financial Networks", Nature Reviews Physics (2021).

UK

Economic crime is going uninvestigated as Police hide behind the veil of Action Fraud

UNIVERSITY OF PORTSMOUTH

Research News

 

Fraud is going uninvestigated by police who are "hiding behind the veil" of the Action Fraud national crime reporting agency.

In his paper published this week in Policing, Professor Mark Button, director of the Centre for Counter Fraud Studies at the University of Portsmouth argues that, Action Fraud, which has been widely derided, has become a useful veil from which the police can hide their inadequate response.

Figures from Action Fraud, the arm of the police responsible for recording scams and fraud, show that between 2019 and 2020, over 800,000 people reported being a victim of fraud, with £2.3bn finding its way into criminal hands. However, Professor Button calculated just 0.6 per cent of police officers are dedicated to investigating fraud.

The research focused on reviews and investigations carried out over the past 20 years and found that these have consistently highlighted the low priority given to the investigation of financial crimes in England and Wales. In 2018 the House of Commons home affairs committee said that "the proportion of fraud cases being investigated is shockingly low".

Professor Button says: "Action Fraud is in reality a call centre provided by a private company under contract to the City of London Police.

"The staffs it employs are largely low-skilled and paid at around the minimum wage. It has no capacity to investigate. However, even in the area it does have responsibility for there is an evidence of areas in need of improvement."

"Considering fraud and computer misuse crime amounts to a third to half of all crime against individuals this is a huge mismatch".

Professor Button suggests radical change is required to address the investigative gap through either a move towards regional investigation of economic crime or a national solution, through a National Economic Crime Agency.

Economic crime is the most common type of crime and costs society billions of pounds. In the current policing structures economic crime will always be the 'Cinderella' crime falling behind other policing priorities and lacking the resources required for agencies to effectively tackle it. Much of economic crime requires specialist knowledge.

The paper aims to start a debate around the future structures of policing for economic crime centred around a national body or regional forces rather than the traditional local forces.

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POSTMODERN ALCHEMY

Researchers turned transparent calcite into artificial gold

TEL-AVIV UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

 

IMAGE: FIGURE SHOWS 3D RECONSTRUCTION OF THE GOLDEN VATERITE AND THE LASER-INDUCED HEATING OF THE SPHERULITES. view more 

CREDIT: TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY

Breakthrough in metamaterials: for the first time in the world, researchers at Tel Aviv University developed an innovative nanotechnology that transforms a transparent calcite nanoparticle into a sparkling gold-like particle. In other words, they turned the transparent particle into a particle that is visible despite its very small dimensions. According to the researchers the new material can serve as a platform for innovative cancer treatments.

In a new paper published in Advanced Materials, an international team of scientists, coordinated by Dr. Roman Noskov and Dr. Pavel Ginzburg from the Iby and Aladar Fleischman Faculty of Engineering at Tel Aviv University, Prof. Dmitry Gorin from the Center for Photonics and Quantum Materials at the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech) and Dr. Evgeny Shirshin from M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, has introduced the concept of biofriendly delivery of optical resonances via a mesoscopic metamaterial, a material with properties that are not found in nature. This approach opens promising prospects for multifunctionality in biomedical systems, allowing the use of a single designer-made nanoparticle for sensing, photothermal therapy, photoacoustic tomography, bioimaging, and targeted drug delivery.

"This concept is the result of cross-disciplinary thinking at the interface between the physics of metamaterials and bioorganic chemistry, aiming to meet the needs of nanomedicine. We were able to create a mesoscopic submicron metamaterial from biocompatible components that demonstrates strong Mie resonances covering the near-infrared spectral window in which biological tissues are transparent," says Dr. Roman Noskov.

The nanostructures capable of nanoscale light localization as well as performing several functions are highly desirable in a plethora of biomedical applications. However, biocompatibility is typically a problem, as engineering of optical properties often calls for using toxic compounds and chemicals. The researchers have resolved this issue by employing gold nanoseeds and porous vaterite (calcium carbonate) spherulites, currently considered promising drug-delivery vehicles. This approach involves controllable infusion of gold nanoseeds into a vaterite scaffold resulting in a mesoscopic metamaterial - golden vaterite - whose resonance properties can be widely tuned by changing the quantity of gold inside the vaterite. Additionally, high payload capacity of vaterite spherulites allows simultaneous loading of both drugs and fluorescent tags. To exemplify the performance of their system, the researchers demonstrated efficient laser heating of golden vaterite at red and near?infrared wavelengths, highly desirable in photothermal therapy, and photoacoustic tomography.

Prof. Pavel Ginzburg summarizes: "This novel platform enables the accommodation of multiple functionalities - as simple add-ons that can be introduced almost on demand. Alongside optical imaging and thermotherapy, MRI visibility, functional biomedical materials and many other modalities can be introduced within a miniature nano-scale particle. I believe that our collaborative efforts will lead to in-vivo demonstrations, which will pave the way for a new biomedical technology."

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