Thursday, November 25, 2021

Russian Court to Consider Closure

of Top Rights Group; Memorial

STALIN WANTED TO BE CZAR TOO

November 24, 2021

Agence France-Presse

MOSCOW, RUSSIA —

Russia's Supreme Court on Thursday will consider a request to shut down Memorial, the country's most prominent rights group and a pillar of its civil society.

Founded by Soviet dissidents including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andrei Sakharov in 1989, Memorial has built up a huge archive of Soviet-era crimes and campaigned tirelessly for human rights in Russia.

Prosecutors have asked the court to dissolve Memorial International, the group's central structure, for allegedly violating Russia's controversial law on "foreign agents."

The move has sparked widespread outrage, with supporters saying the shuttering of Memorial would mark the end of an era in Russia's post-Soviet democratization.

It comes in a year that has seen an unprecedented crackdown on opponents of President Vladimir Putin, including the jailing of chief Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny and the banning of his organizations.

By taking the once-unimaginable move to close Memorial, the group's founders say Russian authorities would be sending a signal to both the West and domestic opponents.

The message, Memorial founding member Irina Shcherbakova told AFP ahead of the hearing, is: "We are doing to civil society here whatever we want. We will put behind bars whoever we want, we will close down whoever we want."

Thursday's hearing concerns one of two cases brought this month against the group and is being heard by the Supreme Court because Memorial International is registered as an international body. The ruling will not be open to appeal in a Russian court.

The other case, against the Memorial Human Rights Centre, began in a Moscow court on Tuesday and will continue later this month.

Both Memorial International and the Human Rights Centre are accused of violating rules under their designations as "foreign agents," a legal label that forces individuals or organizations to disclose sources of funding and tag all their publications with a disclaimer.

Cataloging Soviet atrocities

The Human Rights Centre is facing another charge of defending "extremist and terrorist activities" for publishing lists of imprisoned members of banned political or religious movements.

The "foreign agent" label, laden with Soviet-era connotations of treachery and espionage, has been used against a wide range of rights groups and independent media in recent years.

Memorial has spent decades cataloging atrocities committed in the Soviet Union, especially in the notorious network of prison camps, the gulag.

It has also campaigned for the rights of political prisoners, migrants and other marginalized groups, and highlighted abuses especially in the turbulent North Caucasus region that includes Chechnya.

It is a loose structure of locally registered organizations, but the dissolving of its central structure could have a major impact on operations.

Memorial International maintains the group's extensive archives in Moscow and coordinates dozens of Memorial-linked NGOs in and outside of Russia.

A board member of Memorial International, Oleg Orlov, told AFP the move would greatly complicate the work of the NGO by depriving it of a legal basis to pay employees, receive funds or store archives.

Supporters speak out

United Nations officials, the Council of Europe, international rights groups and Western governments have all warned against the group being disbanded.

Russia's two surviving Nobel Peace Prize winners — last Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and Novaya Gazeta newspaper editor Dmitry Muratov — urged prosecutors to withdraw their claims.

The two said in a joint statement that Memorial was aimed not only at preserving the memory of Soviet-era repression, but at "preventing this from happening now and in the future."

The Kremlin has said the case is a matter for the courts, though Putin's spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, noted that Memorial has "long had issues with observing Russian legislation."

Taiwan's Golden Horse A Holdout For Uncensored Chinese Cinema

By Amber Wang with Holmes Chan and Su Xinqi in Hong Kong
11/24/21

With no mainstream Chinese films showing for the third year running, Taiwan's top film festival may have lost some lustre, but directors and critics say it remains a crucial bulwark against Beijing's censors.

Long dubbed the Chinese-language "Oscars", the Golden Horse Film Awards will kick off in Taipei on Saturday -- again without the legion of Chinese filmmakers and stars who once used to walk the red carpet.

It ran afoul of Beijing when a Taiwanese director called for the island's independence in an acceptance speech at the 2018 ceremony, triggering an official boycott the following year.

China claims self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory to be retaken one day, by force if necessary.

There were no mainland films in the 2019 nomination list after China's national film board ordered directors and actors to boycott the event.

Kiwi Chow says the Golden Horse awards have now become "a free outlet especially for Hong Kong movies that cannot be distributed in Hong Kong"

Photo: AFP / ISAAC LAWRENCE

Several Hong Kong films dropped out while international sponsors cut ties with the awards that year under pressure from Beijing.

While plans to boycott were not spelt out the following two years, commercial mainland cinema and some advertisers have continued to steer clear.

Hong Kong director Jun Li, whose social drama "Drifting" is a frontrunner at this year's awards, said it was "obvious" that strained relations between China and Taiwan have affected the awards.

"Anyone would be lying if they tell you they don't feel the tension," he told AFP.

Li's film has the most nominations at 12, including best film and best director, and it tackles Hong Kong's notorious inequality with a story of homeless people taking authorities to court.

This file picture shows Taiwanese actress Karena Lam, winner of the best actress Golden Horse award in 2015

Photo: AFP / Sandy Cheng

Chinese films once dominated Golden Horse nominations but last year and this year saw just two films from the mainland in the running for best documentary and best animated short film.

According to organisers, over 200 Chinese and Hong Kong films submitted for competition this year, although film industry sources say they were mostly independent productions unlikely to hit theatres.

Analysts say mainstream Chinese cinema stayed away for fear of repercussions.

"For mega-production Chinese commercial movies, submitting to the Golden Horse awards can be courting trouble," Wonder Weng, from the Taiwan Film Critics Society, told AFP.

Weng added that the Golden Roosters -- the mainland's own premier film awards -- was being held this year on the same night as the Golden Horse bash.

This year two Hong Kong films that explore the city's 2019 pro-democracy protests are nominated

Photo: AFP / Philip FONG

"This apparently sends a message that there is a rivalry," he said.

Golden Horse continues to nominate the kind of films that would never get past China's censors.

This year two Hong Kong films that explore the city's 2019 pro-democracy protests, as well as a Chinese documentary about Tibet, are nominated.

A Chinese animation seen as a metaphor for Hong Kong's unrest and Beijing's authoritarian rule has also been given a nod.

China has imposed a sweeping national security law in Hong Kong, once a thriving cinema hub, to crush dissent, and new mainland style political censorship rules have been introduced for films.

In one recent example, authorities blocked the screening of Taiwanese short film "Piglet Piglet" unless scenes relating to the island's 2020 elections were removed, which the director refused.

Film critic Weng says the Golden Horse awards "sets the benchmark" for Chinese-language cinema as the only platform open to all subjects.

Last year, two Hong Kong films that cast an uncomfortable spotlight on China won accolades, and one of the winners proclaimed support for democracy activists in an acceptance speech read by a representative.

"I think the award has now become a free outlet especially for Hong Kong movies that cannot be distributed in Hong Kong," said Hong Kong director Kiwi Chow, who has a nomination this year.

"It gives film producers a way out under the current political climate," he told AFP.

Chow's "Revolution of Our Times," which takes its name from a pro-democracy protest slogan, is contending for best documentary and has never been shown commercially in Hong Kong.

He has also sold the rights and masters overseas to avoid Hong Kong's new censorship and national security laws.

Fellow Hong Kongers Rex Ren and Lam Sum are vying for best new director for their feature film "May You Stay Forever Young", which is also set against the backdrop of the pro-democracy protests.

Another critics' top pick for best documentary is "Dark Red Forest" by Chinese director Jin Huaqing, on how some 20,000 Tibetan nuns are forced to give up practising their faith under China's rule.

"I am gratified to see that the (Golden Horse) awards have managed to keep their courage," Chow told AFP. "I think that's also what art is meant to pursue."

ANTI-CHINESE RIOTS

Anti-government rioters torch buildings in Solomon Islands' capital

Protesters set buildings in the Solomon Islands' capital alight and attempted to storm the parliament on Wednesday (AFP/Handout)

Ofani Eremae
Wed, November 24, 2021

Rioters torched buildings in the Solomon Islands' capital of Honiara Thursday, targeting the city's Chinatown district in a second day of anti-government protests.

Eyewitnesses and local media reported crowds had defied a government lockdown to take to the streets.

Live images showed several buildings engulfed in flames and plumes of thick black smoke billowing high above the capital.

It followed widespread disorder in Honiara on Wednesday, when demonstrators attempted to storm parliament and depose Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare.

Businesses operated by Honiara's Chinese community were looted and burned, prompting Beijing's embassy to express "serious concerns" to the Solomons' government.

"(The embassy) made representations requesting the Solomon Islands to take all necessary measures to strengthen the protection of Chinese enterprises and personnel," it said in a statement.

Sogavare said his government was still in control.

"Today I stand before you to inform you all that our country is safe -- your government is in place and continues to lead our nation," Sogavare said, adding that those responsible "will face the full brunt of the law".

After failing to break into parliament on Wednesday, the rioters regrouped a day later, running amok in the Chinatown area and ransacking a police station, a local resident told AFP.

The man, who did not want to be named, said police had erected roadblocks but the unrest showed no sign of abating.

"There's mobs moving around, it's very tense," the resident said, as local media reported looting and police using tear gas.

Most of the protesters in Honiara are reportedly from the neighbouring island of Malaita, where people have long complained of neglect by central government.

The island's local government also strongly opposed the Solomons' decision to switch diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to China in 2019, in a move engineered by Sogavare who critics say is too close to Beijing.

- 'Pent-up anger' -

Opposition leader Matthew Wale called on the prime minister to resign, saying frustration at controversial decisions made during his tenure had led to the violence.

"Regrettably, frustrations and pent-up anger of the people against the prime minister are spilling uncontrollably over onto the streets, where opportunists have taken advantage of the already serious and deteriorating situation," Wale said in a statement.

Similar inter-island rivalries led to the deployment of an Australian-led peacekeeping force in the Solomons from 2003 to 2017 and the unfolding situation will be closely monitored in Canberra and Wellington.

New Zealand's foreign ministry said Thursday it had not been approached by the Solomons' government for assistance. Australian officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

There was rioting following general elections in 2006, with much of Honiara's Chinatown razed amid rumours that businesses with links to Beijing had rigged the vote.

Sogavare said those involved in the latest unrest had been "led astray" by unscrupulous people.

"I had honestly thought that we had gone past the darkest days in the history of our country, however... (these) events are a painful reminder that we have a long way to go," he said.

"Hundreds of citizens took the law into their own hands today. They were intent on destroying our nation and... the trust that was slowly building among our people," the prime minister added.

"No one is above the law... these people will face the consequences of their actions," he said.

str-ns/arb/jah

For Honduran youth, US is the only escape from poverty

Lesly Madariaga (L) is pleased her teen son Wilmer Rodriguez works as a barber in their neighborhood in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, but she fears he will try to migrate illegally to the United States

(AFP/Luis ACOSTA)

Moises AVILA, Noe LEIVA
Wed, November 24, 2021,

Wilmer Rodriguez's mother, Lesly Madariaga, spent a sleepless night looking for him in the streets of Nueva Suyapa, a poor neighborhood in the hills surrounding the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa.

But to no avail: like thousands of other young Hondurans trying to reach the United States in search of work, Rodriguez and a friend had stolen away in secret.

It was February 2020 but a month later he was back home.

Rodriguez, then 17, only got to Mexico before he was picked up by authorities and returned to Honduras.

"I want to go again, I still have the desire and it won't leave my head until I pull it off," Rodriguez told AFP.

"If they catch me one, two, three, four, five times again I'll still keep trying because my dream is to support my family."

In a country suffering from deep economic woes and rampant violence, and where more than half the population of 10 million lives in poverty, thousands expose themselves to the many risks of migration, not least from human traffickers and extortionists.

It can be a costly and fruitless exercise.

According to a recent report, Central American migrants spend around $2.2 billion a year trying to reach the US, most of which is paid to traffickers.

Around 50,000 Honduran migrants have been sent back home this year alone, according to official figures.

- 'They're all liars' -

Hondurans will head to the polls Sunday to elect a successor to President Juan Orlando Hernandez.

After 12 years of right-wing Nationalist Party hegemony, some see in leftist former first lady Xiomara Castro an opportunity for change.

But not Rodriguez. No matter who wins, his dream will remain resolute.

"I don't have much faith in politicians because the truth is, they're all liars," he said.

Now 18, he puts his faith instead in his ability to become "one of the great" barbers of the world -- in the United States.

Upon his return to Honduras, Rodriguez trained to cut hair and is now employed in his neighborhood's La Bendicion salon.

He has already won a pair of awards for his work.

In La Bendicion, the barber capes feature the US Stars and Stripes -- if ever Rodriguez needed more encouragement.

He has not told his mother as much, but she suspects he again will seek to reach the US.

"I wouldn't want to go through that process again," she said. "I wouldn't want him to run that risk."

She believes "God always provides food," but knows that is not enough for today's dreamers.

"The youngsters leave for a better life because there is no work here in Honduras."

- 'My goal is to work' -

There are two types of homes on the steep unpaved streets of Nueva Supaya: sturdy ones built of concrete blocks, whose owners have family abroad, and flimsy ones made of wooden or metal planks.

Rodriguez's house measures no more than 20 square meters (215 square feet) but a dozen family members are crammed into its two rooms.

In the bedroom, blankets provide makeshift dividing walls. Rodriguez sleeps atop a bunk bed, his mother and sister below.

He earns money now, but not enough.

"It's something, but just for me -- not to support 12 people," he said.

Still, he is determined not to fall into the trap that has seduced many others: gangs.

Like many Honduran neighborhoods, Nueva Suyapa is beset by the curse of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and Barrio 18 gangs whose drug-trafficking and extortion-related violence force many young people to flee the country.

Local non-governmental groups run programs trying to keep youths out of harm's way, and at home. But the lure from abroad is powerful.

"When children become youngsters they want to leave for other countries to look for better opportunities because here there are none," said Rosa Maria Nieto, executive director of the Sharing Association.

"It creates great pain and suffering in families."

Rodriguez says neighborhood younths are attracted to crime and "easy things" like selling drugs, although Rodriguez has always resisted.

"My goal is to work.... My house is my goal too. I know that one day I will build it."

mav/bc/mlm

‘Too little’ done to combat obstetric and gynaecological violence against women

admin

25 novembre 2021

In the wake of #MeToo, France saw an outpouring of harrowing testimonies from women across the country speaking out about cases of sexual harassment or abuse they faced while in maternity wards or at the gynaecologist. Now that a well-known practitioner is under investigation for rape, what is being done to curb mistreatment? FRANCE 24 investigates.

In a sea of purple banners, one of the colours employed by suffragettes to represent loyalty and dignity, tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Paris to condemn violence against women on Saturday.

Among those demanding more government action was Sonia Bisch, founder of Stop Violences Obstétricales et Gynécologiques (StopVOG), a feminist organisation combatting obstetric and gynaecological violence. Their presence in the march comes at a critical time.

Since September, a total of seven women have lodged official rape claims against well-known Parisian gynaecologist Émile Daraï, who left his position as head of the Tenon Hospital endometriosis centre on October 8. On top of the claims, Stop VOG has received an avalanche of testimonies from various women on their social media accounts.

But while a legal investigation is under way, little has been done to curb obstetric and gynaecological violence in France.

Unlawful

“Rape doesn’t only take place in a dark metro by a stranger holding a knife,” Bisch tells FRANCE 24. “It takes place within families, couples, and in gynaecological practices or maternity wards by doctors themselves … Unfortunately, medicine isn’t exempt from the things that happen in society.”

Obstetric and gynaecological violence occurs when a health professional engages in behaviour or practices that are not medically justified or consented to by the patient. “It can take place during an abortion, an IVF procedure, a pregnancy or childbirth – and it can be physical, psychological or verbal,” Bisch explains.

For Aurore, 32, it happened during her first-ever visit to the gynaecologist. She was 16 years old at the time and was told to get a check-up by her GP after she reported having itchy, irritated skin. Already feeling nervous about being examined under such intimate circumstances, she was met with hastiness. “The gynaecologist was visibly very annoyed that I hadn’t seen someone earlier. When he walked into the room, he said ‘Hello’ and immediately told me to get undressed,” she said.

“I took off my trousers, sat on the examination table and started crying,” she explained, remembering how scared and stressed she felt at the time. “He started and I squeezed my knees together, I didn’t want to go on. He examined me with a swab to get a sample and carried out a vaginal examination with his fingers. All the while I was crying, shaking my head, saying no. I didn’t understand what was happening. I wasn’t prepared.”

The doctor continued despite Aurore’s repeated attempts to stop the consultation. Years later, when she asked for her file, she found that he had also carried out a vaginal ultrasound. “I was so shocked at the time, I didn’t even notice what was happening,” she said. It turned out that Aurore had a simple yeast infection and only understood years later that she could have picked up medication at a pharmacy. But more importantly, she understood that she had been violated.

According to the 2002 Kouchner law, medical practitioners must ask patients for their consent before carrying out any medical procedure. If they fail to do so and perform an act of sexual penetration “by violence, constraint, threat or surprise”, this is considered rape in France, according to article 222-23 of the penal code.

A systemic issue

Cases of obstetric and gynaecological violence first made French headlines in 2014, when women used the hashtag #PayeTonUtérus to speak out about sexual harassment or abuse they faced during check-ups or procedures, in the wake of the #MeToo movement.

Three years later, former secretary for equality Marlène Schiappa ordered a report on these types of mistreatments which was published in June 2018. The report found that violence committed by obstetricians and gynaecologists in France was systemic and not limited to a few isolated cases.

Some forms were found to be more common than others, like performing episiotomies (surgical incision of the perineum) without patient consent, getting vaginal stitches without anaesthesia and using fundal pressure (applying pressure on the uterus) to speed up the birthing process, a practice that has been strongly discouraged by the French National Health Authority (HAS) since 2007.

The report also uncovered a general disregard for women’s pain and a lack of communication for procedures – something that Sandrine*, 40, experienced first-hand before the birth of her second child. When her due date was approaching and she still had no contractions, she began seeing her new gynaecologist on a regular basis to monitor the baby.

During one of these visits, Sandrine was subjected to a painful vaginal examination, without warning. “It hurt me a lot,” she said, remembering a previous midwife in Paris who would always ask before performing the procedure. The gynaecologist then continued her examination and did something Sandrine says “didn’t feel good at all”.

“She moved her fingers around, trying to stretch things out but wasn’t telling me what she was up to … I truly couldn’t handle the pain and felt like something was different. I told her to stop whatever she was doing and she immediately did,” she said. Sandrine found out that, without her consent or any communication, the gynaecologist had tried membrane stripping to induce labour since her baby was overdue.

“I think the biggest problem is not asking women for their approval and not mentally preparing them for the pain they’re going to feel,” Sandrine said, echoing Bisch’s contention that, in 2021, women in France shouldn’t be leaving doctors’ practices or maternity wards feeling “tortured or violated”.

Too little, too late

Since the release of the 2018 report, the French government and other medical authorities have done little to battle obstetric and gynaecological violence. To make matters worse, the Ordre des Médecins (French Medical Association) – the body in charge of drafting the code of medical ethics and processing complaints – was criticised in 2019 by the Court of Auditors for its disastrous handling of patient complaints.

“Three and a half years later, nothing has happened. It’s too little. There’s a charter and that’s it,” said Bisch, referring to a good practice charter published by the French National College of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians (FNCGM) in response to the allegations against Daraï.

When asked by FRANCE 24 if the institution plans on doing more, its president Dr. Isabelle Héron said the charter was “only one part of the answer”. The report aims to remind doctors of how to carry out a gynaecological examination, putting “the notion of consent at the centre of the consultation”, and will be pasted in waiting rooms so that patients “know this charter was published”, said Héron.

“But above all,” she said, the best solution was “to teach our young”.

For Bisch, it is not enough. “If violence could be stopped by pasting pieces of papers on walls, there would be no need for (feminist associations) to campaign against femicide. All we would have to do is paste a paper on the walls of abusive husbands telling them not to kill their ex-spouses,” she said.

“We need control of medical practices … We need medical professionals, students, police and lawyers to be trained in this matter, so they can understand the consequences of this violence,” Bisch concluded. “Speaking out is not enough. We need people to listen. When you don’t listen to victims, it’s as if they weren’t speaking at all.”

*Name was changed to guarantee anonymity

Transgender doctor and Instagram star fights bigotry

Transgender activist, surgeon in training and Instagram influencer: at just 24, Indian doctor Trinetra Haldar Gummaraju has worn many hats

(AFP/Punit PARANJPE)More

Ammu KANNAMPILLY
Wed, November 24, 2021,

Transgender activist, surgeon in training and Instagram influencer: at just 24, Indian doctor Trinetra Haldar Gummaraju has worn many hats. But one thing has remained constant.

"I was always the woman I am," she told AFP.

But few saw her as she wanted to be seen. Instead, from the age of four, Gummaraju was bullied and shamed every time she tried on her mother's sarees or high heels or did anything deemed feminine.

"My parents saw me as a deficient male," said Gummaraju, who is interning at KMC Manipal, one of the country's top teaching hospitals.

Older boys molested her, schoolteachers humiliated her and a psychiatrist advised her family to expose her to "more masculine influences".

No one considered the possibility that she was transgender. Especially not Gummaraju.

"I didn't even let myself question my gender identity because transgender people have such a negative image in this country -- they are seen as scary, abusive, dangerous."

Despite the fact that the vast majority of Indians worship Hindu gods who routinely shape-shift from male to female, the transgender community is largely exiled to the margins of society, with many forced to take up begging or sex work.

- 'Be myself online' -

By the time Gummaraju was a teenager, her self-hatred -- reinforced by social mores -- had deepened to such a degree that she had begun to self-harm.

Hope arrived in the form of admission to medical school, an accomplishment that evoked a grudging respect even from those who had shunned her.

There, she found a more supportive community including a therapist who gently urged her to experiment with gender expression.

Then there was Instagram -- "an online space where I could be myself".

Today, she has over 220,000 followers, but her early posts sparked a backlash from conservative professors and some fellow students.

She persisted, eventually coming out as transgender, first to her now-supportive family, and then on Facebook to hundreds of people.

The transition began with a new name, Trinetra -- after a fierce Hindu goddess -- followed by hormone replacement therapy in 2018 and surgery in February 2019.

It was a euphoric time, she recalled, even as she was advised bed rest for a month to recover.

"To see your body change shape -- it's like a fog is being lifted", she said.

"I could recognise myself in the mirror."

- 'Stop fear-mongering' -

Some of the side effects were unforeseen -- and troubling.

"It is so unfortunate that one of the things that made me realise I was now a woman... was catcalling and being groped", she said.

She also encountered rape threats when she posted glamorous selfies, something which cisgender women -- those whose gender identity matches the sex they were assigned at birth -- could relate to.

"I have experienced a lot of common ground with cisgender women," she said.

But the increasingly fractious debate over transgender rights threatens to make her community's existence even more precarious, she said, with some cisgender feminists in the West calling for women-only spaces to be restricted to those who are biologically female.

After hospital security forced her to exit a women's bathroom in 2017, Gummaraju developed a urinary tract infection because she abstained from drinking water for hours to avoid using a public toilet again.

"Some women don't seem to understand that we are not cisgender men. We are not the ones who are a threat to you," she said.

"The fear-mongering has to stop."

Despite the many challenges faced by the community, she hopes her rising profile will help younger transgender people realise that "life does get better".

"As doctors, we know human beings are resilient by default. Have faith in your ability to heal."

amu/stu/lto

West vs East: Canada sandwiched between atmospheric rivers

Wednesday, November 24th 2021, 9:56 am - When the atmosphere is at its most active, we can see deluges on both coasts simultaneously, which is the case this week. The difference in atmospheric rivers in these regions boils down to duration and elevation.

Atmospheric rivers can often be a major player in Canada’s weather story, delivering extreme amounts of moisture from the deep tropics all the way to our shores.

The strongest of these atmospheric rivers can deliver rainfall amounts in the hundreds of millimetres, causing devastating flooding and wreaking havoc on infrastructure, like the recent event in B.C.

These features are always a part of our atmosphere, but atmospheric rivers reach their strongest intensity in the fall and winter, when the temperature contrast between the balmy tropics and the frigid Arctic is at its strongest. They can develop in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. And when the atmosphere is at its most active, we can even see deluges on both coasts simultaneously, which is the case is this week. The difference comes down to duration and elevation.

DURATION

West Coast atmospheric rivers tend to last longer because the warm, moist water is west and south of the land mass. In general, we know the atmosphere likes to flow from west to east, so these atmospheric rivers can be particularly stable and long-lasting.

Meanwhile, East Coast atmospheric rivers are shorter in duration and tend to sweep across the coast more quickly since the warm, moist water is south of the land mass. Though the atmosphere can flow from south to north in a very amplified pattern, these tend to be less stablem, and a result, last for a shorter period of time.

Sydney NS flooding Nate Coleman Nov 24

Flooding in Sydney, N.S., after atmospheric river brings heavy rain this week. (Nathan Coleman/The Weather Network)

ELEVATION

For an atmospheric river to produce heavy rainfall, you need a hoisting mechanism -- moisture combined with lift equal precipitation.

(NOAA)

In the case of an atmospheric river, the lifting mechanism is mountain ranges (orographic lift). The West Coast has much bigger mountain ranges, so the orographic boost is stronger, and you can extract more moisture from the atmospheric river to fall as precipitation.

While the East Coast doesn’t have as much terrain, one feature that does increase the impacts is the large river basins (such as the Saint John River). These can collect water over a large area and funnel it, creating floods comparable to a spring snowmelt event in a short period of time.

Wednesday, November 24, 2021

'MAYBE'TECH

Mobile Carbon Capture in Shipping is Feasible

by Andreas Exarheas

Rigzone Staff

Monday, November 22, 2021

Mobile Carbon Capture in Shipping is Feasible

Mobile carbon capture in shipping is technically feasible.

Mobile carbon capture in shipping is technically feasible and has a long term role to play in meeting the industry’s decarbonization targets.

That’s according to a new feasibility study conducted by the oil and gas climate initiative (OGCI) and Stena Bulk, an international tanker owner and operator. The study found, however, that high operational and capital expenses would be involved in any deployment and recommended further work should be done to compare costs of carbon capture against other long-term marine carbon dioxide reduction technologies.

“The study’s findings demonstrate that marine carbon capture can play a role in meeting the International Marine Organizations (IMO) 2050 target of reducing emissions from the industry by 50 percent compared to 2008 baselines,” a statement published on the OGCI’s website noted.

“The decarbonization of shipping is a critical part of achieving global pathways to net zero. Transportation contributes 24 percent of global energy-related greenhouse gas emissions and around 10 percent of that total comes from international deep-sea shipping,” the statement added.

“The results have encouraged the team to pursue a demonstration to validate their assumptions and uncover further opportunities,” the statement continued.

Launched in October last year, the study investigated the potential of capturing carbon from the exhaust gases of the large internal combustion engines that large ships predominantly use for propulsion.

A range of factors including energy balances, fundamental physics and integration challenges were assessed using a Suezmax ship. The study noted that the team chose the Suezmax because it offered the highest potential impact if successful, even though it represented the greatest technical challenge.

The OGCI describes itself as a CEO-led initiative that aims to accelerate the industry response to climate change. Members comprise Saudi Aramco, BP, Chevron, CNPC, Eni, Equinor, ExxonMobil, Occidental, Petrobras, Repsol, Shell and TotalEnergies.

In October this year, the OGCI published its updated performance data, covering the four years to 2020. According to the data, absolute upstream and downstream methane emissions fell 18 percent in 2020, and 33 percent since 2017, carbon intensity fell eight percent in 2020 and 14 percent since 2017, and upstream flaring emissions fell 20 percent in 2020 and 29 percent since 2017.

In September, the organization updated its 2025 carbon and methane emission intensity targets, which now have a potential additional saving of around 50 million tons of greenhouse gases per year, the OGCI highlighted.

The costs of installing carbon capture systems onboard revealed

November 23, 2021

A feasibility study conducted by the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI) and Swedish tanker owner Stena Bulk shows the costs involved in installing carbon capture devices on ships. The study makes clear that such technology is feasible – something already demonstrated at sea in Japan by Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K Line) earlier this year – but it comes at quite a price, both in terms of installation and operating costs.

The costs for installation come in at around $30m for a system capable of capturing 90% of all CO2 emitted at sea (see chart below), while annual operating costs for such a system are estimated to be in excess of $2m a year, essentially adding another 25% to a ship’s annual operating expenses.

Despite the costs, the results from the OCGI/Stena Bulk study have encouraged the team to pursue a demonstration to validate their assumptions and uncover further opportunities.

Onboard CO2 storage developments are making plenty of headlines this year. Dutch scrubber manufacturer Value Maritime is installing a CO2 capture and storage unit on a 1,036 teu boxship, Nordica, belonging to Visser Shipping.

In South Korea, meanwhile, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) has developed a technology to store CO2 captured in ship engine emissions. The South Korean yard said it plans to commercialise the technology as soon as possible.

It was also recently announced that Wärtsilä Exhaust Treatment and Solvang, a Norwegian shipping company, have agreed on a full-scale pilot retrofit installation of a CCS system on one of Solvang’s ethylene carriers, the 21,000 cu m Clipper Eos.

Sam Chambers

Starting out with the Informa Group in 2000 in Hong Kong, Sam Chambers became editor of Maritime Asia magazine as well as East Asia Editor for the world’s oldest newspaper, Lloyd’s List. In 2005 he pursued a freelance career and wrote for a variety of titles including taking on the role of Asia Editor at Seatrade magazine and China correspondent for Supply Chain Asia. His work has also appeared in The Economist, The New York Times, The Sunday Times and The International Herald Tribune.

Australia, Germany commit $123m to fund hydrogen projects

A hydrogen pipeline in Duisburg, Germany, on Nov 16, 2021.

PHOTO: EPA-EFE

NOV 23, 2021,

MELBOURNE (REUTERS) - Australia and Germany plan to spend around US$90 million (S$123 million) to fund hydrogen projects as part of a joint push to speed up development of the clean fuel to help cut carbon emissions, the Australian government said on Tuesday (Nov 23).

Germany has committed €50 million (S$76.7 million) and Australia A$50 million (S$49.3 million) towards the alliance, first announced in June.

"The recent release of the first report from HySupply, our joint Australian-German hydrogen supply chain study, found there is great potential for Australian hydrogen to supply growing demand in Germany," Energy Minister Angus Taylor said in a statement.

The two sides will start accepting bids for funding from the joint Hydrogen Innovation and Technology Incubator, called HyGate, in the first quarter of 2022.

"Being able to draw on Germany's expertise in hydrogen technology will help our domestic industry add value and reduce costs in all stages of the hydrogen supply chain," said Assistant Industry Minister Tim Wilson.

Australia's conservative government is betting on hydrogen to help the country meet its target of net-zero emissions by 2050 as it looks to wean the country off coal and gas.

Australia's ARENA to oversee hydrogen project with Germany

HIGHLIGHTS

Australia and Germany have committed up to A$50 mil and Eur50 mil for renewable hydrogen projects

Germany-Australia signed hydrogen accord in June

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) will team up with Germany's Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) to administer the German-Australian Hydrogen Innovation and Technology Incubator, called HyGATE, and support pilots, trials, demonstrations and research for hydrogen projects, Australia's federal agency said in a statement Nov. 23.

Germany and Australia signed the 'Germany Australia Hydrogen Accord' June 13 to produce renewable hydrogen, with Australia looking to become a major hydrogen exporter and Germany having expertise in hydrogen technology importing significant quantities of hydrogen.

"Having already committed over A$160 million ($115.58 million) into renewable hydrogen research, studies and electrolyser deployments, ARENA now has an opportunity to highlight Australia's innovation and commitment to growing and being at the forefront of a renewable hydrogen economy," ARENA CEO Darren Miller said.

Australia and Germany have committed up to A$50 million and Eur50 million, respectively, to invest in new renewable hydrogen projects. Australia will provide the funds from A$565.8 million committed in the 2021-22 budget initiative to establish low emissions technology partnerships and initiatives with key trading and strategic partners, the statement said.

The country's Special Adviser on Low Emissions Technology Dr Alan Finkel, who played a key role in brokering the hydrogen partnership with Germany will work closely with ARENA and Australia's Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources to deliver HyGATE.

"The HyGATE initiative is an important step in bringing together Australian and German technological excellence, to fast-track the development of zero-emissions hydrogen technologies," Dr Finkel said.

ARENA and BMBF aim to open a new funding round for HyGATE in the first quarter of 2022.

According to Australia's National Hydrogen Strategy, by 2050, Japan alone intends to import up to 10 million tonnes of hydrogen per year, while the Republic of Korea, China, and the United States will have millions of hydrogen vehicles on their roads, and the European Union will be using hydrogen for heating, transport, and industrial applications to meet its 2050 target of net zero emissions.

"Our major energy trading partners have set clear targets as waypoints to becoming 'hydrogen societies'," National Hydrogen Strategy said.

S&P Global Platts assessed New South Wales Hydrogen produced via alkaline electrolysis, including CAPEX at A$3.4/kg Nov. 22, down 41.88% from A$5.58/kg Oct. 22.

New South Wales Hydrogen produced via coal gasification with CCS and including capex CAPEX was assessed at $2.55/kg Nov. 22, down 23% from A$3.33/kg Oct. 22.

ECOCIDE

Illegal miners clog Amazon tributary in new gold rush

Images provided by Greenpeace show lines of boats arranged side by side across the Madeira, following rumors that gold was discovered in the nearby area around the community of Rosarinho, in Brazil's northwest (AFP/Bruno KELLY)

Wed, November 24, 2021,

Rumors of a recent gold discovery have led wildcat miners to clog a major Amazon tributary with hundreds of dredging boats in Brazil's latest precious metals rush, Greenpeace warned Wednesday.

Federal police were preparing an operation to stop the more than 300 vessels -- the environmental group says the number could be far higher -- engaged in illegal mining in the Madeira River, the Estadao newspaper reported, citing Ministry of Justice sources.

Images provided by Greenpeace show lines of boats arranged side by side across the Madeira, following rumors that gold was discovered in the nearby area around the community of Rosarinho, in Brazil's northwest.

While clandestine gold mining is commonplace in the Amazon, the "atypical" operation some 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the city of Manaus attracted attention, said Greenpeace, which demanded greater speed from the authorities to stop what it called an "environmental crime."

According to Greenpeace the images show that the "garimpeiros," as wildcat miners are known in Brazil, are dominating the area and operating "without fear."

The police superintendent of Amazonas state told Estadao that officials are discussing a plan of action.

Audio published by the newspaper features apparent garimpeiros indicating that the dredging teams were already aware of a planned police operation, and that the illicit miners were readying a "wall" of rafts to prevent a police takeover.

A report by the Federal University of Minas Gerais together with Brazil's Public Prosecutor's Office revealed last July that just 34 percent of the 174 tons of gold exploited in Brazil between 2019 and 2020 have a proven legal origin.

Environmentalists have accused ultra-right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro's government of pursuing anti-environmentalist policies and weakening protections.

Since his assumption of power in January 2019, Amazon deforestation has surged, mainly due to illegal mining and cattle ranching.

mls/raa-mlm/ia

CANADA SHOULD TOO
A new republic is born: Barbados celebrates ditching Queen as head of state

Guy Faulconbridge
Reuters
Wednesday, November 24, 2021

Prince Charles, right, greets Barbados' Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley ahead of their bilateral during the COP26 summit at the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) in Glasgow, Monday, Nov. 1, 2021. (Jane Barlow/Pool Photo via AP)

LONDON -- Barbados, a former British colony, will next week ditch Queen Elizabeth as head of state, breaking its last remaining imperial bonds with Britain nearly 400 years since the first English ship arrived at the Caribbean island.

Barbados casts the removal of Elizabeth II, who is queen of Barbados and 15 other realms including the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and Jamaica, as a sign of confidence and a way to finally break with the demons of its colonial history.

"This is the end of the story of colonial exploitation of the mind and body," said Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, a Barbadian historian. He said this was a historic moment for Barbados, the Caribbean and all post-colonial societies.

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"The people of this island have struggled, not only for freedom and justice, but to remove themselves from the tyranny of imperial and colonial authority," said Beckles, vice-chancellor of The University of the West Indies.

The birth of the republic, 55 years to the day since Barbados declared independence, finally unclasps almost all the colonial bonds that have kept the tiny island in the Lesser Antilles tied to England since an English ship claimed it for King James I in 1625.

It may also be a harbinger of a broader attempt by other former colonies to cut ties to the British monarchy as it braces for the end of Elizabeth's nearly 70-year-old reign and the future accession of Charles, who will attend the republican celebrations in Bridgetown.

Barbados's move is the first time a realm has removed the queen as head of state in nearly 30 years: Mauritius, an island in the Indian Ocean, proclaimed itself a republic but remained in the Commonwealth, an association of mostly former British colonies which is home to 2.5 billion people.

Buckingham Palace says the issue is a matter for the people of Barbados.

Originally populated by waves of Saladoid-Barrancoid and Kalinago migrants, Spanish slaver raids forced Amerindians to flee. Barbados was unpopulated when the English first arrived.

The English initially used white British indentured servants to toil on the plantations of tobacco, cotton, indigo and sugar, but Barbados in just a few decades would become England's first truly profitable slave society.

Barbados received 600,000 enslaved Africans between 1627 and 1833, who were put to work in the sugar plantations, earning fortunes for the English owners.

"Barbados under English colonial rules became the laboratory for plantation societies in the Caribbean," said Richard Drayton, a professor of imperial and global history at Kings College, London who lived in Barbados as a child.

"It becomes the laboratory for slave society, which is then exported to Jamaica and the Carolinas and Georgia after that."

More than 10 million Africans were shackled into the Atlantic slave trade by European nations between the 15th and 19th centuries. Those who survived the often brutal voyage, ended up toiling on plantations.

While full freedom was finally granted in 1838, the plantation owners preserved considerable economic and political power might into the 20th Century. The island gained full independence in 1966.

REPUBLICAN SEEDS

Prince Charles, the 73-year-old heir to the throne, will travel to Barbados for the ceremonies marking the removal of his 95-year-old mother as head of state.

Barbados will remain a republic within the Commonwealth, a grouping of 54 countries across Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe and the Pacific that has always been a priority for Elizabeth, who heads it.

Though its name will remain simply Barbados, its removal of the queen may well sow the seeds of republicanism further across the Caribbean, according to Drayton.

"This will have consequences particularly within the English-speaking Caribbean," said Drayton, who pointed to talk of a republic in both Jamaica and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

"The queen has had an enormous personal relationship to many of these countries and has shown her own commitment to the Commonwealth vision which she inherited from that imperial moment of the 1940s and 1950s, so I do think that in the wake of the queen's passing that some of these questions would become more urgent in places like Canada and Australia."

The queen has made many visits to Barbados and, according to Buckingham Palace, has had "a unique relationship with this, the most easterly of the Caribbean islands."

The republic of Barbados will be declared at a ceremony which begins late in the evening on Monday, Nov. 29 at the National Heroes Square in Bridgetown.

"The time has come to fully leave our colonial past behind," Prime Minister Mia Mottley said in a 2020 speech prepared for Governor General Sandra Mason, who will replace Elizabeth as Barbados' head of state after being elected president.

"This is the ultimate statement of confidence in who we are and what we are capable of achieving."

(Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Alex Richardson)

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