Drone cameras record social lives of killer whales

A new study led by the University of Exeter and the Center for Whale Research suggests killer whales may socialise with each other based on age and gender, with younger whales and females more sociable than other groups.

The research used drone cameras to study one pod of southern resident killer whales off the US coast of Washington State, in the Pacific Ocean.

Around 10 hours of footage was captured over 10 days.

Australia whales: ‘Unbelievable’ super-group caught on film

When a drone pilot captured footage of an enormous group of whales off the New South Wales coast last year, it sent scientists into a frenzy.

A pod of that size - known as a super-group - and the "bubble-net" feeding behaviour they were displaying had never been documented off Australia before.

A research paper has now confirmed both extraordinary events.

Video by Isabelle Rodd.

#FREERAIF
Mustafa al-Darwish: Saudi man executed for crimes committed as a minor

Mustafa al-Darwish was arrested in 2015 and charged with trying to carry out an armed revolt

Saudi Arabia has executed a man for offences that rights groups say he committed while aged 17, despite the kingdom's assurance that it had abolished the death penalty for minors.

Mustafa Hashem al-Darwish was arrested in 2015 for protest-related offences.

Saudi authorities say he was charged with forming a terror cell and trying to carry out an armed revolt.

But rights groups had called for a stop to his execution, saying their trial had been unfair.

Amnesty International and Reprieve, an anti-death penalty charity, say 26-year-old al-Darwish had already recanted his confession, which was allegedly made after he was tortured. Saudi authorities have not publicly commented on the accusation.

According to Reuters news agency, al-Darwish's charges included "seeking to disturb security by rioting" and "sowing discord".

Evidence against him included a picture "offensive to the security forces", and his participation in over 10 "riot" gatherings in 2011 and 2012.

Reform and repression go hand in hand in Saudi Arabia

The Saudi interior ministry said al-Darwish had also attempted to kill local security forces, state media reports. However court documents did not specify the dates of any of his offences, according to Reuters.

Reprieve said al-Darwish's family received no warning about the execution in advance, and only learned about it online.

"How can they execute a boy because of a photograph on his phone?," his family said in a statement, published by Reprieve. "Since his arrest, we have known nothing but pain. It is a living death for the whole family."

The Saudi interior ministry, cited by state news agency SPA, said al-Darwish was executed in Dammam, a city in the oil-rich Eastern Province.

Campaign group Reprieve said Saudi Arabia has now executed the same number of people in the first half of 2021 as it did in the whole of 2020

Saudi authorities last year said that they would no longer hand out death sentences to people who committed crimes while they were minors, and instead only apply a maximum 10-year jail sentence.

The royal decree said the new law would be applied retroactively to those awaiting execution.

Amnesty and Reprieve say al-Darwish's case should have been reviewed under the new law. They and other groups have repeatedly raised concerns about the implementation of this reform.

The UK's foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, also raised the issue of justice reform during a visit to Riyadh last month, according to the UK foreign office.

Earlier this year, the Saudi Human Rights Commission said the kingdom had "drastically" reduced the number of people it put to death in 2020.

However, Reprieve said Saudi Arabia had now executed the same number of people in the first half of 2021 as it did in the whole of 2020.

AMERICAN COLONY
(American) Samoa culture plays role in US citizenship ruling

American Samoa is the only unincorporated territory of the United States where the inhabitants are not American citizens at birth.

HONOLULU (AP) — In a decision citing American Samoa cultural traditions, those born in the U.S. territory shouldn't have citizenship automatically forced on them, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling reverses a lower court ruling that sided with three people from American Samoa who live in Utah and sued to be recognized as citizens. The judge ruled the Utah residents are entitled to birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment. He then put his ruling on hold pending appeal.

U.S. Congress should play a bigger role than the courts in deciding citizenship for those in territories, the appeals court ruling said.

American Samoa is the only unincorporated territory of the United States where the inhabitants are not American citizens at birth.

Instead, those born in the cluster of islands some 2,600 miles (4,184 kilometers) southwest of Hawaii are granted “U.S. national” status, meaning they can’t vote for U.S. president, run for office outside American Samoa or apply for certain jobs. The only federal election they can cast a vote in is the race for American Samoa’s nonvoting U.S. House seat.

The ruling notes that American Samoa government leaders and others opposed the lawsuit because they are concerned automatic citizenship could disrupt cultural traditions, such as communal land ownership and social structures organized around large, extended families led by matai, those with hereditary chieftain titles.

“There is simply insufficient caselaw to conclude with certainty that citizenship will have no effect on the legal status of the fa’a Samoa,” or the American Samoan way of life, the ruling said. “The constitutional issues that would arise in the context of America Samoa’s unique culture and social structure would be unusual, if not entirely novel, and therefore unpredictable.”

Drawing on the views of the American Samoa people is one of the more gratifying aspects of the ruling, said Michael Williams, an attorney representing the American Samoa government, which intervened to oppose the lawsuit.

“It is also vindication for the principle that the people of American Samoa should determine their own status in accordance with Samoan culture and traditions,” he said.

A path toward U.S. citizenship exists for those who want it. But some say it’s costly and cumbersome. Non-citizen nationals of American Samoa are entitled to work and travel freely in the United States and receive certain advantages in the naturalization process.

Neil Weare, one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs, said they are disappointed by the ruling, and are reviewing next steps. Options include asking a wider panel of appeals court judges to hear the case or taking it to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Weare is president of Equally American, which advocates for equality and civil rights for people in U.S. territories.

He said he was impressed with a dissenting judge’s opinion.

”When the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified, courts, dictionaries, maps, and censuses uniformly regarded territories as land ‘in the United States,’" wrote Judge Robert E. Bacharach in his dissent.

Self-determination is a highly valued principle in American Samoa, said Line-Noue Memea Kruse, adjunct faculty in Pacific islands studies at Brigham Young University-Hawaii and whose book is cited in the ruling.

“There are many foreign interests looming over these citizenship cases,” she said. "This is not the end. They will keep pushing. This to me is a form of inter-territorial hegemony."

Jennifer Sinco Kelleher , The Associated Press

CANADA
Green Party's Annamie Paul survives emergency meeting over leadership
David Thurton CBC

© Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press Green Party leader Annamie Paul survived an emergency meeting on her leadership Tuesday night. But the party's federal council adopted a separate motion asking Paul to publicly "repudiate" one of Paul's former senior advisors

The leadership of the Green Party's Annamie Paul is safe— for now — after party brass decided late Tuesday not to kickstart a process that could have ultimately ousted her as leader of the party.

The party's federal council – which is the governing body of the party – held an emergency meeting Tuesday night that lasted more than three-and-a-half hours. Officials were expected to hold a vote on whether to trigger a complex process under the party's constitution which could've declared no-confidence in Paul's leadership.

That vote did not end up taking place, multiple sources with knowledge of the meeting told CBC News.

Instead, sources say, the federal council adopted a separate motion asking Paul to publicly "repudiate" one of Paul's former senior advisors, Noah Zatzman, who accused many politicians — including unspecified Green MPs — of discrimination and anti-Semitism in a social media post last month.

The motion also calls for Paul to "explicitly support" the Green Party caucus. If not, the motion says, Paul would face a vote of non-confidence on July 20.

Tuesday night's decision follows a difficult few weeks for the party, which has been ripped apart by internal disputes over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

As violence in the region escalated, Paul issued a statement calling for a ceasefire and condemning both Palestinian rocket attacks and excessive Israeli military force, an apparent attempt to put forward a moderate position close to that of the Trudeau government.

© Guy LeBlanc/Radio-Canada Fredericton MP Jenica Atwin announced on Thursday that she is leaving the federal Green Party to sit as a Liberal.

Green MP Jenica Atwin — who has since left the Green caucus to join the Liberals — ripped into Paul's statement on Twitter. "It is a totally inadequate statement," Atwin wrote. "Forced evictions must end. I stand with Palestine and condemn the unthinkable air strikes in Gaza. End Apartheid."

 (SHE HAS RECANTED AND SINCE BECOME PRO ISRAEL AS PER THE LIBERAL PARTY POLICY)

Green MP Paul Manly also took issue with Paul's statement, saying the planned removal of Palestinian families from the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah "is ethnic cleansing."

Zatzman responded with a Facebook post stating that Greens "will work to defeat you and bring in progressive climate champions who are antifa and pro LGBT and pro indigenous sovereignty and Zionists!!!!!"

Zatzman is no longer an adviser to the leader. His six-month contract, slated to expire on July 4 and obtained by The Canadian Press, stipulates that the party will pay Zatzman a fee for time worked beyond 100 hours per month.

CBC News has reached out to the Green Party, Paul and Zatzman for comment following Tuesday's meeting.

Separately, two party executives recently announced they would step down early. One of them was John Kidder, a vice-president on the party's governing body and husband to MP and former leader Elizabeth May.

When Atwin announced last week that she was crossing the floor to join the Liberals, she said there were too many "distractions" in the Green Party and she wanted to work in a more "supportive and collaborative" environment.

In a media statement, May and B.C. Green MP Manly said they were "heartbroken" by Atwin's decision — and that Zatzman was to blame.

"Unfortunately, the attack against Ms. Atwin by the Green Party leader's chief spokesperson on May 14th created the conditions that led to this crisis," the two said. The MPs added that, while they were frustrated, they have "no intention of leaving the Green Party of Canada."

Speaking to reporters after Atwin's announcement, Paul said she was blindsided by her departure and only learned about it from media reports.

Paul said that while the party supports cross-party cooperation and rejects excessive partisanship, she said there are "significant differences" between the Green and Liberal parties and called Atwin's floor-crossing a "disappointment."

Paul said a byelection should be called in Fredericton because voters there chose to elect a Green MP in the 2019 campaign.

She said she doesn't believe the internal squabbling over Israel was what pushed Atwin to switch sides. She said she understands Atwin was in talks with the Liberals for "numerous weeks" before the internal debate over Middle East issues flared up.

China says nuclear fuel rods damaged, no radiation leak

BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese nuclear power plant near Hong Kong had five broken fuel rods in a reactor but no radioactivity leaked, the government said Wednesday in its first confirmation of the incident that prompted concern over the facility’s safety.

Radiation rose inside the No. 1 reactor of the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant in Guangdong province but was contained by barriers that functioned as planned, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment said on its social media account.

The Hong Kong government said it was watching the plant and asking officials in Guangdong for details after its French co-owner on Monday reported increased “noble gases” in the reactor. Experts said that suggested fuel rods broke and leaked radioactive gas produced during nuclear fission.

Noble gases such as xenon and krypton are byproducts of fission along with particles of cesium, strontium and other radioactive elements.

“There is no problem of radioactive leakage to the environment,” the ministry statement said. It said radiation in the reactor coolant increased but was within the “allowable range."

The protective envelope on about five of the reactor’s 60,000 fuel rods is damaged, the ministry said. It said such damage was inevitable due to manufacturing and other problems and was well below the level the facility was designed to cope with.

The ministry said regulators would oversee measures to control radiation levels within the reactor but gave no details.

The Taishan plant, which began commercial operation in December 2018, is owned by China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group and Electricite de France. A second reactor began operating in September 2019.

They are the first of a new type called European Pressurized Reactors designed by Framatome, of which Electricite de France is the majority owner. Two more are being built in Finland and France.

The ministry denied a report by CNN that regulators increased the level of radiation allowed outside the power plant to avoid shutting it down. The ministry said regulators reviewed a report about higher radiation levels in the reactor.

China is one of the biggest users of nuclear power and is building more reactors at a time when few other governments plan new facilities because the cost of solar, wind and other alternatives is plunging.

Chinese leaders see nuclear power as a way to reduce air pollution and demand for imports of oil and gas, which they deem a security risk.

China has 50 operable reactors and is building 18 more, according to the World Nuclear Association, an industry group. China has constructed reactors based on French, U.S., Russian and Canadian technology. State-owned companies also have developed their own reactor, the Hualong One, and are marketing it abroad.

Hong Kong gets as much as one-third of its power from the Daya Bay nuclear power plant east of the territory in Guangdong. Plans call for Hong Kong to use more mainland nuclear power to allow the closure of coal-fired power plants.

Previously, the Taishan facility leaked a “small amount” of radioactive gas on April 9, the National Nuclear Safety Administration said on its website. It said the event was “Level 0,” or “without safety significance.”

Joe Mcdonald, The Associated Press

Adele shares message to mark fourth anniversary of Grenfell Tower disaster

KEIRAN SOUTHERN, PA

15 June 2021, 




Adele paid tribute to survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire as she marked the fourth anniversary of the disaster.

The chart-topping singer recorded a video message for the Grenfell United campaign group and called for the official inquiry into the blaze to be hastened along.

Adele, 33, said there are “so many unanswered questions” surrounding the tragedy and “no-one has been held accountable for that night’s events”.

A total of 72 people died in the west London blaze, which happened four years ago on Monday.

Adele added: “Grenfell United is still out here, fighting tirelessly for the justice and for the change that not only they deserve, that their community deserve, but that the whole country deserves.

“For that, I’d like to thank you. Thank you for putting your pain aside for all of these years to fight the fight. I can’t imagine the kind of personal consequences that has on you.

“I really hope that this time next year, you will have the answers that you need to finally, finally be able to breathe together. I love you. I’ll see you soon. Stay strong. We’re all with you.”

Adele, who is from Tottenham, north London, visited Grenfell shortly after the fire and has frequently shared messages of support for survivors.

UK urged to intervene in Belarus crisis over ‘human rights violations’

BRONWEN WEATHERBY, PA

15 June 2021

The UK has been urged to use its “power” as a nation to strengthen sanctions placed on the Belarusian president and his regime amid ongoing concerns about human rights violations taking place in the country.

The leader of the Belarusian opposition Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya addressed the Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday afternoon as part of a one-off evidence gathering session on the current crisis.

Ms Tsikhanouskaya told the session: “This is the moment countries need to unite to put pressure on the regime.”

Members of the Belarusian community protest (Niall Carson/PA)

Two other panels of expert witnesses were invited to speak alongside Ms Tsikhanouskaya about what can be done stop the authoritarian president Alexander Lukashenko and his Russian backers and to help create a democratic state.

The committee’s findings will be used to make recommendations to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO).

Mr Lukashenko, who was elected to power in 1994, won re-election for a sixth time in 2020 with 80% of the vote, in a ballot deemed “neither free nor fair” by the European Union. The “fraudulent elections” sparked mass protest.

Ms Tsikhanouskaya said: “Last summer, people showed the regime it was ready to see the end of a dictatorship. After the fraudulent elections people went onto the streets to protest against stolen votes. The regime answered with cruelty, brutality and torture.

“Since August more than 35,000 people have been detained, there are hundreds of political prisoners. These detentions continue, and there are around 1,000 more every month.

“People are scared now, no one feels safe, and people have to consider if they are kidnapped what will happen to their children or elderly parents. And the borders are closed too so there’s no escape.

“But people are not giving up and they are continuing to fight. And while the demonstrations have stopped, they are using other ways to continue the uprising.”

Ms Tsikhanouskaya said workers have launched a labour movement ready for a national strike, and disaffected members of law enforcement still on the inside of the regime are providing information to the opposition.

Volunteers are also continuing the effort by holding small rallies and travelling to remote areas without internet connection and to see elderly citizens to show them “the reality” of the situation.

Mr Lukashenko has been placed under renewed scrutiny since May this year after a commercial Ryanair Flight to Belarus was redirected and grounded “on the basis of a false bomb scare” in order to arrest journalist and critic of the regime Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend.

Asked about her thoughts on the kidnapping, Ms Tsikhanouskaya said: “I was shocked, I couldn’t believe he created an international crisis over a matter of personal revenge. It was a really big mistake, and shows he was acting more out of emotion than strategically.

“We believe it was an example of the impunity he felt. No sanctions had been put in place since December and he felt he could cross this red line.”

Ryanair owner Michael O’Leary gave evidence to the Transport Select Committee on Tuesday morning, calling the diversion of one of his airline’s flights a “premeditated breach of all the international aviation rules”.

However, the aviation mogul said the continued ban on flying over Belarus would not be beneficial for the industry or its customers in the “long-term” and urged international authorities to work towards getting “appropriate assurances from the Belarusian and/or Russian authorities that this will never happen again”.

Ms Tsikhanouskaya thanked the UK Government for what it had done so far in supporting sanctions against Mr Lukashenko, and doubling financial support to human rights and community groups in Belarus – but said sanctions must now extend to individuals, including judges and prosecutors, as well as on businesses and oligarchs who financially support the regime.

She called on UK officials to keep Belarus on the international agenda and to take the lead in investigating the Government, also urging countries to prevent Mr Lukashenko in abusing Interpol to have dissenters extradited back to Belarus.

Others who joined in the conversation included Professor Philippe Sands QC, professor of public understanding of law at University College London, who highlighted the “serious violence” taking place in Belarusian prisoner camps.

Victoria Fedorova, head of NGO Legal Initiative, said that without any recourse for justice inside Belarus legal proceedings and sanctions started by other nations are their only hope.

Astronomers map motion in galaxies spanning hundreds of millions of light-years

Shane McGlaun - Jun 15, 2021,

A group of scientists comprised of astronomers from the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP), with help from scientists in China and Estonia, have mapped the motion of galaxies via huge filaments that connect the cosmic web. Researchers have found that these long tendrils of galaxies spin on a scale spending hundreds of millions of light-years. The rotation is said to be on enormous scales never before seen.

Cosmic filaments are massive bridges made of galaxies and dark matter that connect clusters of galaxies. The filaments funnel galaxies towards and into large clusters that sit at the end of the filaments. These filaments are described as a type of cosmic superhighway, and astronomers have mapped the motion of galaxies in those filaments using the Sloan Digital Sky survey.

The Sloan Digital Sky survey is a survey of hundreds of thousands of galaxies. Using Sloan data, scientists were able to determine a new and interesting property of the filaments; that property is that the filaments spin. According to astronomer Peng Wang, despite being thin cylinders similar to pencils that span hundreds of millions of light-years, the filaments are only a few million light-years in diameter.

The massive tendrils of matter rotate and have such massive scale that the galaxies inside them are like specks of dust. The tendrils move like a helix or in corkscrew-like orbits circling around the middle of the filament while traveling along it. Spins of this type have never been seen on such massive scales, and the implication is that there must be an unknown physical mechanism responsible for creating torque on these objects.

Exactly how the angular momentum responsible for the rotation is generated is one of the key unsolved mysteries of cosmology. According to the standard model of structure formation, small overdensities in the early universe grew via gravitational instability as matter flowed from under to overdense regions. This type of potential flow is irrotational or curl-free. Researchers say there is no primordial rotation in the early universe.

That means any rotation present in the universe must be generated as structures form. Cosmic webs in general and filaments specifically are intimately connected with galaxy formation and evolution. These filaments also have a significant impact on galaxy spin, often regulating the direction of how galaxies and their associated dark matter halos rotate. However, the astronomers admit it’s unknown if the current understanding of structure formation predicts the filaments themselves should spin.

 

Police deployed at South Korea THAAD base as U.S. seeks upgrades

By Elizabeth Shim

The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense base in Seongju, South Korea, has become the site of frequent clashes between protesters and police. File Photo by Keizo Mori/UPI | License Photo

June 15 (UPI) -- South Korea's military continues to deliver materials and equipment to the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense base in Seongju, as the United States aims to enhance interoperability of Patriot and THAAD systems on the peninsula.

Seoul made deliveries six times in May and multiple times in June. The military made its fourth delivery of the month to the THAAD site early Tuesday, News 1 reported.

Supplies began to arrive at the location at about 6 a.m. but local protesters may have attempted to block the vehicles from entry. More than 50 people also held a sit-in at a nearby village hall, according to Newsis.

Police began to force the group to disband at about 6:50 a.m., with more than 1,000 officers deployed to the area. The vehicles were able to enter the base about 7:30 a.m., News 1 said

The Soseong-ri All-Source Situation Room, an anti-THAAD group, said that police have been mobilized about twice a week to "secure a regular overland transportation route" for the military.

Activists who claim the THAAD base is illegal clashed with police. No injuries were reported.

"The more police there are, the more severe the human rights violations at Soseong-ri," activists said, according to Newsis. "As long as police enable illegal construction at the THAAD base, [clashes] will inevitably continue at Soseong-ri."

The military said more than 20 vehicles were used to deliver essential supplies to soldiers and construction material.

Confrontations between police and protesters in South Korea come at a time when the U.S. military could be seeking to upgrade the THAAD base on the peninsula.

U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command Lt. Gen. Daniel L. Karbler said Wednesday in a statement to the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee that "development efforts associated with U.S. Forces Korea" are designed to "improve Patriot and THAAD interoperability and bring a Patriot launch-on-remote capability ... in Fiscal Year 2021."

Karbler also said a new integrated capability that will leverage "THAAD's AN/TPY-2 radar together with the Patriot radar" will be "fielded this summer" with USFK.

South Korea's defense ministry previously said facility improvements were being made on the base.