Global warming: Arctic’s ‘Last Ice Area’ shows signs of melting much earlier than anticipated

By: FE Online |
July 04, 2021 1:14 PM

Melting of ice: Even as experts had expected this area - located to the north of Canada and Greenland - to brave the global warming, it is apparently melting as well.

LIA is a key area that scientists were banking upon to support ice-dependent species when the nearby ice was melting away. (Image: Felix Linhardt/Kiel University)

Climate change: The ‘Last Ice Area’, located in the Arctic’s Ice north of Greenland, has started melting earlier than what the scientists had expected, as the scientific community had deemed this area strong enough to be able to withstand the effects of global warming. However, researchers have now published a paper in Communications Earth & Environment journal saying that the area with Last Ice Area or the LIA witnessed record low sea ice concentration in August last year, according to a report in IE. The researchers have also said that likely due to climate change, the sea ice has been thinning for a few years now.

The National Geographic had noted in 2015 that climate projections estimated complete disappearance of Arctic’s summer ice by 2040, but it added that the only place that had the ability to withstand climate change and global warming would be the area of Arctic ice called Last Ice Area.

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The report cited the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) as saying that the extent of the Arctic summer ice was shrinking due to climate change, which was an issue not only for the wildlife in the area, but also for the local Inuit population. However, even as experts had expected this area – located to the north of Canada and Greenland – to brave the global warming, it is apparently melting as well.

LIA is a key area that scientists were banking upon to support ice-dependent species when the nearby ice was melting away. Seals use the area for creating dens for their offsprings, while polar bears use it to hunt the seals. The surface of the ice is also used by walruses for foraging.

University of Washington had led the research that has been recently published, and the team said that the observation of the first sign of change in the LIA goes back to 2018, and in August 2020, the vulnerability of the sea ice to the long-term effects of global warming were noticed. They added that just like other parts of the Arctic Ocean, the ice in LIA had been thinning in a gradual manner over the years.

With the help of satellite images, the researchers found that the concentration of sea ice in the area was at a low of 50% as of August 14 last year, of which, they are attributing 80% of thinning to normal factors related to the weather, like winds breaking up the ice and moving it away. The remaining 20%, however, was attributed to longer-term thinning caused by global warming. Lead author of the study Axel Schweiger said that in the winter and spring of 2020, patches of thicker and older ice had drifted into the area, but the thinner, newer ice was sufficiently melted to expose the open ocean, which then led to the beginning of a vicious cycle in which the open ocean absorbed heat energy, as a result melting more ice regardless of the fact that some very thick ice was present in the area.

However, the report said that the study’s results are not applicable to the entire area due to the fact that there are some unknowns.

 

China Space Station Crew: First Spacewalks

 By Leonard David
 July 4th, 2021

Crew of Shenzhou-12
Credit: GlobaLink/Inside Outer Space screengrab

Two Chinese astronauts stationed in the Tianhe core module of China’s space station Tiangong carried out their first spacewalks on Sunday.

Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo performed the spacewalks with Nie Haisheng, commander of the mission, staying inside the module and assisted in manipulating the station’s robotic arm that helps the other two astronauts with their extravehicular chores.

Credit: GlobaLink/Inside Outer Space screengrab

Feitian spacesuit

The spacewalking twosome used new-generation homemade extravehicular mobility unit spacesuits called “Feitian,” meaning flying to space.

Their tasks included installing foot restraints and an extravehicular working platform on the mechanical arm. They also lifted a panoramic camera.

Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab

According to China Central Television (CCTV), the extravehicular panoramic camera was initially installed at a lower position on the robotic arm, with a limited vision. A wider perspective of the camera is required for the astronauts to monitor the situation outside the space station, so the astronauts need to install a bracket to lift the camera higher.

More difficult tasks ahead

The spacewalk mission lasted about seven hours outside the cabin.

Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab

“There will be another extravehicular task which will be more difficult,” said Liu Xiangyan, deputy chief designer of the space station system. “But I believe that, through the practice and experience of this task, the astronauts will better complete the next task,” said Liu.

The three astronauts were sent into space aboard the Shenzhou-12 spaceship on June 17. They will inhabit the core module until mid-September before returning to Earth.

Go to these newly issued videos detailing the spacewalk and the robotic arm at:

https://youtu.be/wHaMTSkcpaw

https://youtu.be/7xGBqxiQFBM

https://youtu.be/NwLOqXsMFJI

 Posted in Space News

OPINION

The villains behind the heat wave

The fossil fuel industry knew all along what climate change would do to people

Illustrated | iStock

RYAN COOPER
JULY 4, 2021

Last week, I noted that on June 27, Canada smashed its all-time heat record with a temperature of 116 degrees Fahrenheit, besting the previous record by three whole degrees. It turns out that was just the start: The same small town of Lytton that broke the national record broke it again the next day by hitting 118 degrees, and a third time the following day with a temperature of 121.3 degrees — or more than eight degrees higher than any previous recorded temperature in Canadian history.

"This is the most anomalous regional extreme heat event to occur anywhere on Earth since temperature records began. Nothing can compare," weather historian Christopher Burt told Yale Climate Connections. The heat roasted the forests surrounding Lytton, accelerating wildfires that produced their own "pyroculmulus" storms, creating more lightning and even more blazes. The day after setting the record, fire ripped through Lytton and burned it to the ground just 15 minutes after the first appearance of smoke.

During that same period last week, Greenpeace published a recording of an ExxonMobil lobbyist, Keith McCoy, in which he boasted about working with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and the Biden administration to weaken Democrats' climate policy, discussed the company's role in funding climate denial, and suggested the company's support of a carbon tax is purely a "talking point" because they expect it will never happen. (The company denied this was true, but there's no reason to take their word for it.)

All Americans are implicated in climate change to some degree. As a country, the U.S. has for decades contributed several times the global average of per capita emissions. But a relative handful of people — principally corporate executives at large fossil fuel companies, their major shareholders, company apparatchiks who hand bribes to politicians, and those that accept those bribes — bear the overwhelming majority of the responsibility. Their amoral greed is directly implicated in the climate disasters that are killing thousands of people already, and will soon be killing millions.

At least several hundred people in western North America were killed by the heat wave — at time of writing, perhaps 320 deaths in Canada and 75 in the United States were being linked to the heat, with likely more remaining to be discovered. Estimates of the costs of melted or broken infrastructure have not yet been compiled, but are sure to be enormous.

It was an awful disaster. Yet in some ways, it was lucky the heat wave struck where it did. Canada and the U.S. are both rich, and not too many people live in that part of either country. If the same scale of heat wave had hit a poor, densely populated country, the death toll would be exponentially greater. Science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson's recent book The Ministry of the Future opens with a gripping, terrifying account of a near-future heat wave in India that kills 20 million people in a matter of weeks.

Absent a Second World War-scale global policy mobilization that is nowhere in sight, something like Robinson's scenario is absolutely certain to happen somewhere on the planet, sooner or later. Here's why: Beyond a "wet-bulb" temperature of about 95 degrees (the combined heat and humidity level at which the body can no longer cool itself by sweating), no human being can survive for long and even the healthiest person sitting motionless in the shade will cook themselves to death from the inside within a few hours.

A study from last year found that big chunks of humanity live in places that routinely get quite close to the self-cooking mark, that two particular places (located on the Persian Gulf and in Pakistan) have already seen brief spikes over it, and that the frequency of these extreme heat events is increasing fast almost everywhere. This is also happening much faster than previous climate models predicted, which held that such temperatures would not be reached until the last quarter of this century.

As we are seeing today, though, it does not even take truly extreme heat to kill people. The 2003 heat wave in Europe killed over 70,000 people, and one that hit Russia in 2010 killed about 11,000. Neither got even close to the metabolic limit. Someday, probably within the next decade or two, an ultra-severe heat wave is going to strike a heavily populated region without the resources to cool off its citizens, and millions will die. And heat is just one of dozens of ways — drought, flooding, sea level rise, crop failures, and so on — that climate change will kill people.

ExxonMobil and its fossil-fuel competitors know all this perfectly well. The company knew the basic science of climate change beyond any doubt by 1979 at the latest, from its own research and the work of other scientists. At that point it chose to spend tens of millions of dollars on an enormously successful campaign to sow doubt about what its own data was telling them (following the similarly-murderous strategy of the tobacco industry). The reason, you see, is that doing otherwise would have dented their profits. "Did we join some of these 'shadow groups' to work against some of the early efforts? Yes, that's true. But there's nothing illegal about that," McCoy told the Greenpeace activists. "You know, we were looking out for our investments, we were looking out for our shareholders."

The United States is both the biggest historical contributor to climate change and the only rich country where a major political party outright denies the truth about what is happening. The biggest reason for that is the propaganda campaign executed by ExxonMobil and other deep-pocketed fossil fuel interests, like the Koch family, who successfully convinced conservatives that climate change was fake liberal nonsense.

Well over half of global greenhouse gas emissions have happened since 1990, when the U.S. was the unchallenged global hegemon. If America had done what was obviously in the best interest of itself and all humanity at that point, and led a global movement away from carbon energy, heading off climate change would have been massively cheaper and easier. But that would have been expensive and inconvenient for wealthy fossil fuel executives, so they decided to boil the planet. Millions and millions of deaths are the certain and easily foreseen consequence.

The 28-day paternity leave comes into effect in France



Issued on: 03/07/2021 -

The duration of paternity leave has doubled from 14 to 28 days.

© Philippe Huguen, AFP

Text by: Grégoire SAUVAGE

Announced in September by French President Emmanuel Macron, the extended paternity leave would allow young fathers to become more involved with their children and reduce inequalities between women and men.

In France, July 1 usually heralds an increase in gas or electricity bills, but this year it brings good news as well: the 28-day paternity leave comes into effect this week and includes a mandatory week off for new fathers. The long-awaited reform will give fathers time to invest more in parenthood and home life.

The reform doubles the current length of paternity leave for a father or second parent of a biological or adopted child to 25 days plus three for the birth from the current 11 plus three days. The three days of birth leave will be paid by the employer, while the remaining days will be covered by the social security system.

In the case of a multiple birth, seven days of leave are added, for a total of 32 days compared to the current 18.

Nicolas, a nurse in a care home in Morbihan, whose little girl is due to be born in just under two weeks, will be among the first to benefit from the new policy.


"This is our first child. We can't wait to meet this little being and discover her world," he told AFP. "Being able to take a month off, it's a right and a very strong social benefit that makes it possible to enter fully into fatherhood and also be there to supplement the mother at home."

This 40-year-old father-to-be has already planned everything. To allow his colleagues to "also get a breather during the summer" he will take a few days of vacation around the birth in mid-July, then in August, before taking his entire leave in September.

His employer "immediately validated" his request, Nicolas said, adding that he believes that "the way people look at the role of the father has changed".

Encouraging fathers

"[It’s] a real evolution," said David Malczuk, 27, who will welcome his second child at the end of July and has already arranged to take a month off work.

When his first child was born, the industrial designer had saved his 11 days of vacation time to travel with his wife and their son to Russia, where his wife is originally from.

"She gave birth on a Wednesday. I stayed with her in the maternity ward until Sunday, and on Monday I went back to work. I was exhausted, I had bags under my eyes," he recalled. "This time, I will be able to develop a rhythm with the baby and regain some energy."

Paternity leave is currently optional and taken by about seven out of ten fathers, a figure that has changed little since the scheme was introduced in 2002 and which conceals major social inequalities: 80 percent of employees on permanent contracts make use of it, compared with less than 60 percent on fixed-term contracts.

"It's not just a question of what fathers want: there are still many psychological obstacles, particularly with regard to the company," said psychotherapist Isabelle Filliozat, vice president of the "1,000 Days Commission", which recommended that the government increase paternity leave to nine weeks.

According to her, the reform should "encourage more fathers to take it" because "the compulsory week will help them in their negotiations with their bosses".

Changing roles at home

Attitudes towards parenthood are largely formed in the first days after birth.

"It's not a question of role or gender," Filliozat said. "If you are around a child on a daily basis, you become more sensitive, attentive and develop your parenting skills."

However, "fathers do not have enough opportunity to have time with their infants, they form less of an attachment, feel a little less involved and may tend to leave parenting tasks to the mother, which generates a lot of conflict," she added.

The 28-day leave is nevertheless "laughable" in the eyes Marie-Nadine Prager of the Collective PAF (For a Feminist Parentality).

"It's probably better for bonding with the baby, but not for reviewing the place of each person in the household," said the activist, arguing for parental leave based on the Scandinavian model, well-paid and divided between the parents.

Changes may be introduced in the autumn, at the conclusion of a study on the balance between work and family life that Christel Heydemann, from Schneider Electric France, and sociologist Julien Damon have been conducting since March.

The cost of the measure is estimated at €260 million in 2021, then €520 million per year.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

This article was translated from the original in French.

10 killed in Myanmar clashes between army and anti-junta fighters

Issued on: 04/07/2021 - 

Despite the threat of crackdowns, protesters in Myanmar are still taking to the streets daily in defiance of the military regime STR AFP

Yangon (AFP)

At least 10 anti-junta fighters and civilians were killed during clashes with the military in central Myanmar, villagers said Sunday, as locals increasingly take up arms against the regime in the coup-wracked country.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since a February coup that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi's government, with 890 people killed in a junta crackdown on dissent, according to a local monitoring group.

In some areas civilians have formed "defence forces" to combat the State Administration Council, as the junta dubs itself, often using hunting rifles or makeshift weapons cobbled together from household items.

The central Sagaing region has been the site of multiple skirmishes between defence forces and the military, and on Friday fighting broke out in Depayin township.

Residents told AFP that military trucks entered their area and opened fire on a village near the jungle hoping to flush out members of the local defence force.

"We heard the shooting of artillery 26 times," said a villager, who added that anti-junta fighters tried to retaliate but could not fend off the attack.

"They shot everyone who they saw on the road and in the village. They did not just have one target," he said.

Civilians were among the dead, he added.

Villagers waited until Saturday to venture out of their homes to assess the casualties, said another witness, who helped to collect the bodies around Depayin township.

"We found in one place eight people were killed, and in another area two were dead," he said.

Local media reported a higher death toll, though it could not be independently verified by AFP.

State-run media offered a different account of the skirmish, saying the military was patrolling the area when they were ambushed.

Soldiers fended off "armed terrorists" and later found "four mortars and six percussion lock firearms", reported the Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper.

In another attack in a different part of Sagaing one member of the security forces was killed and authorities were "working to stabilise the area", the paper added.

Despite the threat of crackdowns, protesters in Myanmar are still taking to the streets daily in defiance of the military regime.

On Sunday residents across Sagaing held short demonstrations, flashing a three-finger salute of defiance during rapid marches through the streets.

© 2021 AFP

Several dead, homes evacuated as Cyprus experiences worst forest fire in decades

Issued on: 04/07/2021 - 12:12

Residents of villages watch a fire in the Larnaca mountain region on Saturday, July 3, 2021. © Petros Karadjias, AP

Text by: NEWS WIRES

A huge forest blaze in Cyprus has killed four people, destroyed homes and forced evacuations of villages as Greece, Israel and other countries deployed fire-fighting aircraft to the Mediterranean island.

The fire began Saturday afternoon and has swept through districts in the southern foothills of the Troodos mountains as the country grapples with a blistering heatwave.

"It is a tragedy," President Nicos Anastasiades said on Twitter, describing it as "the largest fire since 1974" when the island was divided after Turkey occupied its northern third.

The blaze had caused "loss of life" and destroyed property and forest lands, Anastasiades said, adding that "the government will provide immediate assistance to the victims and the families of the victims.

"We will not leave anyone abandoned in the destruction of the fire."

Italy and Greece sending aid

Interior Minister Nicos Nouris said that four charred bodies were found outside the village of Odos in Larnaca district.

"Forensic examiners are going to the scene for identification," he told reporters on Sunday.

"All the indications support the fact that these are the four missing persons we have been searching for since yesterday," he said, adding that all four of the dead are thought to be of Egyptian nationality.

The daily Phileleftheros newspaper said the four bodies were found about 400 metres (yards) from their burnt-out vehicle.

Janez Lenarcic, European Commissioner for Crisis Management, said on Saturday its "aerial firefighting capacity" had been mobilised, with Italy and Greece sending planes to help.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said "two firefighting planes" would be sent. They were expected to arrive on Sunday.

Local media reported that a 67-year-old man had been arrested on suspicion he started the blaze.

(AFP)

A huge forest blaze raging in Cyprus has killed four people

A car drives on a road in the village of Vavatsinia in the Larnaca district of Cyprus as a giant wildfire rages on the hills above during the night of July 3

 Iakovos Hatzistavrou AFP

Issued on: 04/07/2021 - 

Vavatsinia (Cyprus) (AFP)

A huge forest blaze raging in Cyprus has killed four people, destroyed homes and forced evacuations of villages as Greece, Israel and other countries deployed fire-fighting aircraft to the Mediterranean island.

The fire began Saturday afternoon and has swept through districts in the southern foothills of the Troodos mountains as the country grapples with a blistering heatwave.

"It is a tragedy," President Nicos Anastasiades said on Twitter, describing it as "the largest fire since 1974" when the island was divided after Turkey occupied its northern third.

The blaze had caused "loss of life" and destroyed property and forest lands, Anastasiades said, adding that "the government will provide immediate assistance to the victims and the families of the victims.

"We will not leave anyone abandoned in the destruction of the fire."

Interior Minister Nicos Nouris said that four charred bodies were found outside the village of Odos in Larnaca district.

"Forensic examiners are going to the scene for identification," he told reporters on Sunday.

"All the indications support the fact that these are the four missing persons we have been searching for since yesterday," he said, adding that all four are thought to be Egyptian nationals.

The daily Phileleftheros newspaper said their bodies were found about 400 metres (yards) from their burnt-out vehicle.

A 67-year-old man had been arrested on suspicion he started the blaze. He was seen by an eyewitness leaving the village of Arakapas in his car at the same time the fire started there on Saturday, police said.

- Extended heatwave -

Anastasiades visited a crisis management centre in the village of Vavatsinia, located a few kilometres east of the blaze, on Sunday morning, before heading to areas ravaged by the flames, according to the CNA news agency.#photo1

He said the area destroyed by fire exceeded 55 square kilometres (21 square miles), adding that the blaze appeared largely contained but could resurge.

"The high temperatures and the wind are our biggest dangers," he said.

Firefighters were seen along the road leading to Vavatsinia and several helicopters hovered above the fire as a thick grey smoke obscured the sky in much of the south of the island.

An AFP correspondent in the village of Ora reported seeing several burned out homes.

Janez Lenarcic, European Commissioner for Crisis Management, said on Saturday its "aerial firefighting capacity" had been mobilised, with Italy and Greece sending planes to help.

Two other firefighting planes were scheduled to take off from Israel.

Israel's firefighting authority said that the planes were due to land in Larnaca, where they would join the Italian and Greek teams and also Spanish and British crews.

Cyprus has experienced extended heatwaves and periods of drought in recent years.

In the past few days, the temperature has hit 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) inland and there has been very little rain since mid-April.

© 2021 AFP

'Abysmal attempt': B.C. wildfire response criticized by Indigenous leader

An Indigenous leader accused British Columbia's government Saturday of ignoring the needs of community members in Lytton while a wildfire levelled their village earlier in the week.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The accusations came as the BC Coroners Service said it was finally safe to enter the community to investigate reports that two people were killed in the blaze, which destroyed businesses and homes as it cascaded through the village days earlier.


The head of the Nlaka'pamux Nation Tribal Council, of which the Lytton First Nation is a member, said that as the fire tore through the area, the council was forced to try to save lives with little to no help from the government.

Chief Matt Pasco, who operates a ranch near Ashcroft, B.C., north of Lytton, said the first contact he received from the government came 12 hours after evacuations began, and it was regarding his cattle, not about affected community members.

"It was an abysmal attempt at the very thing they're meant to do," he said in an interview Saturday. "They had processes in places for our cattle but none for Nlaka'pamux people."

Pasco said the government's shortfalls can be traced to the province's treatment of Indigenous peoples and lack of recognition of their jurisdiction when it comes to land management and stewardship.

"Yes, we do have coordination problems because (the province) is not set to take care of Indigenous issues or Indigenous peoples," he said.

Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth acknowledged the government's shortcomings in a statement.

"While there were challenging factors, early communication with the Nlaka’pamux Nation Tribal Council and the Oregon Jack Creek Band didn’t live up to expectations," he said.

He said the ministry has taken steps to address gaps in protocols that contributed to this situation.

Pasco said the tribal council is working with the Lytton First Nation and other affected communities to figure out how many members remain unaccounted for.


Video: Indigenous elder celebrated for saving parts of B.C. First Nation from devastating Lytton wildfire (Global News)

He said the most pressing questions concern what happens next for the community.

"It's so devastating that I cannot find the English words to describe the devastation. It's hard to fathom," he said. "What does next week look like? What does the first long weekend of September look like when we have the children go back to school?"

New mapping from the BC Wildfire Service shows the wildfire has grown since Friday night.

Kaitlin Baskerville, with the BC Wildfire Service, told a public meeting Saturday that current conditions are comparable to mid-August.

She said there are four fires of note in the Thompson-Nicola region.

Mark Healey, also with the service, told the meeting that fire crews are working to stop the spread of the fire towards Spences Bridge as well as stop it from crossing the Fraser River.

Elsewhere, an out-of-control wildfire burning about 40 kilometres southwest of Kamloops, B.C., forced officials to evacuate more than 100 homes Friday evening.

Orders issued by the Thompson-Nicola Regional District said the fire in the Durand Lake area has started threatening structures and the safety of residents.

Federal ministers have pledged to support B.C.'s fire fighting efforts, with Public Safety Minister Bill Blair saying the government has been preparing for the wildfire season for the past few weeks.

The cause of the wildfire that devastated Lytton is under investigation, although Premier John Horgan said he had heard anecdotal evidence linking the start of the fire to a train running through the community.

The office of federal Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said in an emailed statement that it would take necessary action should any potential non-compliance with Canada's rail safety laws and regulations be identified.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 3, 2021.

Nick Wells, The Canadian Press

Alberta infrastructure bends and buckles under heat wave
CBC/Radio-Canada 

© Submitted by Shelly Clauson Shelly Clauson snapped this photo in Clairmont, Alta. She believes the benches are made of some sort of composite plastic material that warped due to the heat.

The heat is taking a toll on infrastructure.
In Edmonton, several photos posted to social media show the sidewalks buckling in some areas and the damage is being attributed to the extreme heat blanketing western Canada.

Ward 3 or tastawiyiniwak councillor, John Dziadyk, shared a photo on Facebook of a section of sidewalk that was cracked and bent at an unusual angle.

In a statement, he calls on the city to take action.

"Core services should be the priority for the city,' Dziadyk wrote. "Just as potholes are caused by the cold, the heat is impacting our infrastructure. The city needs to be nimble and quick to address these issues."

In an email to CBC News, the city acknowledged the problem.

"The extreme heat caused this sidewalk and other sidewalks in the city to buckle or heave," wrote Parks and Road Services spokesperson Derek Logan.

"Concrete expands with temperature, and in extreme heat the expansion is larger. When expansion reduces the space between slabs or joints of a sidewalk, buckling can occur."

Logan noted it is not typically a problem in Edmonton given the cooler climate and city workers are dealing with the issue.

Video: Alberta heat wave worries province’s farmers (Global News)

"This week, at least 57 city sidewalks were found to have buckled or heaved due to the heat," he wrote.

"In response, city crews have been proactively inspecting sidewalks throughout Edmonton and responding to all 311 notifications. When signs of buckling were found, crews placed signs with flashing amber lights to alert people of the uneven concrete. The area would then be repaired by digging out the heave, forming or pouring concrete in the spot and replacing the impacted sidewalk panels. We prioritized heaves for repairs based on the risk they present to the public."

© CBC News A spokeperson for the City of Edmonton says at least 57 city sidewalks have buckled or heaved due to the recent heat.

Edmonton isn't the only place feeling the heat.

In Clairmont, just north of Grande Prairie, Shelly Clauson spotted a rather unusual site.

"We were turning around in the parking lot at the seniors hall there, and my sister Candy pointed out, she said 'It must be hot when the picnic tables are melting'," Clauson explained.

"I turned around and I looked and the benches were all deformed, so I had to get a picture."

Clauson believes the benches are made of some sort of composite plastic material that failed to maintain structural integrity under the soaring temperatures.

"I was pretty shocked. I didn't think those things could even do that," she said. "I've also seen people have posted pictures of their windows shattering in their house."

Clauson said it's been so hot in the region that she's had to install some additional infrastructure of her own at home to try to keep cool.

"My house was absolutely boiling so we threw some tinfoil up on the windows," she said.

Unfortunately it did not achieve the desired goal.

"We ended up coming into Grande Prairie to stay at my sister's because my daughter ended up with heat exhaustion from sitting on the couch in our living room. Very grateful for family that lets me stay in their air-conditioned houses."

Relief is on the way for people and infrastructure. Environment Canada says more typical temperatures for this time of year should return on Sunday.

ARMED MOORS

Massachusetts police take eleven 'heavily armed men' into custody after they claim to 'not recognize our laws': report
Tom Boggioni
July 03, 2021



According to a report from ABC News and a series of tweets from the Massachusetts State Police Twitter account, nine men described as "heavily-armed" were taken into custody early Saturday morning after police questioned them and they fled into the woods that need after a stand-off hours later. (UPDATE: Police later reported 11 men were taken into custody.)

The report states that, "The incident unfolded around 1:30 a.m. when a state trooper came across a group of 8 to 10 people refueling on the side of the I-95 highway in Wakefield, a suburb of Boston. The group was dressed in military-style uniforms, carried tactical gear like body cameras and helmets and had long guns slung over their shoulders," adding that the men claimed "to be from a group that does not recognize our laws."

ABC added the police issued an intial statement saying, "Approximately 8 males fled into the woods carrying rifles and handguns and appear to be contained in the wooded area adjacent to the highway. No threats were made, but these men should be considered armed and dangerous."

A police spokesperson stated that the men explained they were traveling to Maine from Rhode Island for "training," and identified themselves as belonging to a group called "Moorish American Arms."

Two men were taken into custody immediately, with the Mass. Police Twitter account reporting later, "Remaining suspects on highway have been taken into custody by MSP Special Tactical Operations Team. 7 additional suspects being transported for booking. We will now conduct sweeps of their 2 vehicles and woods. Total of 9 in custody counting the initial 2 arrests."

An updated report from MassLive states: "A man who identified himself to police as the leader of the group said on a video recorded after the encounter that he 'instructed my men to get out peacefully. I greeted your man with a handshake,' he said, of speaking with the trooper.He claims in a series of videos the group was following federal law and should be allowed to travel across state lines with their weapons.A firearms license is required to possess or carry firearms in Massachusetts. For non-residents of Massachusetts, a non-resident license to carry firearms must be obtained through the Firearms Records Bureau."

Police later updated the mnumber taken into custody to 11.

You can see some tweets below:

1. Pirate Utopias | The Anarchist Library

   https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/hakim-bey-pirate-utopias

   2003-01-09 · Hakim Bey Pirate Utopias Moorish Corsairs & European Renegadoes PIRATE AND MERMAID A CHRISTIAN TURN'D TURKE DEMOCRACY BY ASSASSINATION A COMPANY OF ROGUES AN ALABASTER PALACE IN TUNISIA THE MOORISH 

Moorish Weather Report - Hakim Bey - Hermetic Library

https://hermetic.com/bey/weather

2017-03-02 · Moorish Weather Report By Hakim Bey “Then said the weather god to the queen goddess: 'we must act at once! 'we shall perish of hunger!”' “The Hittite Myth of Telpinu” (“The Disappearing God Type'q, in TH. Gaster, Thespis (1950), p. 303 ”…Apollonius replies like a pure sophister: 'And must I think then' – saith he – 'that the world is a living thing?' Saith Jarcas: 'Yea ...

• Estimated Reading Time: 9 mins

Hakim Bey - Black Jezus

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1. Letter from Hakim Bey – Moorish Science Monitor Online

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   2021-01-09 · Letter from Hakim Bey. From the Ziggurat Press run of the Moorish Science Monitor, Vol. V, #1, Winter 1990/1991 “Special Preternatural Hygiene Issue”. Salaam aliekum! The Manhattan Moorish Orthodox Church (Adept Chamber) hierarchy is tickled pink to hear that the Moorish 

Freed American journalist remembers horrors of Myanmar junta jail

Agence France-Presse
July 03, 2021

Journalist Nathan Maung says he turned to meditation when he 

was jailed for reporting on the Myanmar coup(AFP)

Journalist Nathan Maung turned to meditation when he was jailed for reporting on Myanmar's bloody coup, but even back home in sleepy Virginia, he can't forget those left behind, including a colleague still at the mercy of their jailers.

In March, as the junta moved to crush mass pro-democracy protests on Myanmar's streets, about 45 soldiers arrived at Maung's office in the commercial capital Yangon, he told AFP in an interview.

As the squad battered their way through the gate and a locked door, Maung was frantically sending messages to friends telling them he was about to be arrested, he said.

When the soldiers finally broke through and stormed in with their guns up, "I said, 'Please, don't shoot us'."

Myanmar has been rocked by a huge uprising since the February putsch that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi and her government.

The junta has responded with force -- shooting protesters, arresting suspected dissidents, rounding up journalists and shutting down news outlets.

Maung and his colleague Hanthar Nyein watched the squad take "everything from our office" -- cash, jewelry, and even shoes -- before they were brought to an interrogation center in northern Yangon.
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There, he said, he was held "for four days" -- during three of which he was denied food, and for two, water.

"I kept practicing Vipassana meditation to be mindful," said Maung, who is a Myanmar-born US citizen.

And with the first sip of water came hope.

"After I drank my first water, I thought I could live," he said. "I wouldn't be killed."
Crackdown on dissent

More than 880 people have been killed and almost 6,500 arrested in the crackdown according to a local monitoring group, although the State Administration Council -- as the junta calls itself -- disputes these figures.

Another group, Reporting ASEAN, says 89 journalists have been detained since the coup.

In March, one journalist livestreamed his own arrest on his employer's official Facebook page, with the chaotic footage showing loud bangs outside his apartment building.

Kamayut Media, which Maung founded, faced similar charges under a colonial-era law that criminalizes encouraging dissent against the military.

As well as brute force, the military has re-tooled a colonial-era law to make spreading "fake news" a crime as it tightens its grip on dissent.
'Cigarette burns'

Maung soon found out how brutal the consequences of being brought in could be.

"They hit my eardrums with their bare hands several times, they beat my face and shoulders," he said.

"(They) kicked... my sides."

His phone had been broken by the time he got to the center, and was of no use to his interrogators looking for contacts of dissidents and other journalists.

But Hanthar Nyein's was still working, and they needed his password.

"They put his legs on the ice block for hours, burnt his skin with a cigarette," Maung said.

He refused to tell them until they threatened to rape him, Maung said, and when they found pictures of him with Suu Kyi and other political figures, he was beaten again.

The junta's information team says all investigations and interrogations are being carried out according to the law.
'I left him behind'

Maung believes US diplomacy was one of the factors in all charges against him being dropped, and his release in June.

It is a freedom not yet afforded to fellow US citizen and journalist Danny Fenster, who has been held since May 24, the only foreign reporter remaining in junta custody.

In Fredericksburg, Virginia, Maung said he is committed to continuing his work and a "free Burma" -- using a previous name for Myanmar -- and to work to free other imprisoned journalists, such as his colleague Hanthar.

Until then, he has demons to live with.

"I contacted our lawyers when I arrived in the States, and I was told that he was crying in the court when I left him behind," he said.

"It broke my heart... I do not enjoy my freedom at all."