Center of California's San Andreas Fault Could Cause Even Bigger Earthquakes, Says Study

Orlando Jenkinson 

© Richard Par/Getty Images Stock image view of San Andreas fault. The central section of the fault has a greater potential or larger earthquakes than previously thought.

Larger earthquakes at the center of California's huge San Andreas fault line are more likely than previously thought, according to a study published in the journal Geology.

The research challenged earlier assumptions that the central section of the San Andreas Fault did not create severe earthquakes, compared to other parts of the fault. The authors suggested instead that serious earthquakes of large magnitudes have happened there in the past and could happen again.

The San Andreas Fault is the border section between two massive tectonic plates under the surface of the Earth—the Pacific and North American plates.

It stretches almost 800 miles through California, reaching past San Francisco in the north and almost as far south as San Diego. At the two extremities in the north and south, the plates are relatively static and can see large pressures built up over time that produce big earthquakes when they move.

This happened with devastating consequences in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, a 7.9 magnitude quake in the northern section of the fault that claimed the lives of over 3,000 people. In the south at least 57 people died in 1994 when a 6.7 magnitude earthquake struck at Northridge near Los Angeles.

In contrast to these two volatile sections of the San Andreas fault, the parts of the plates at the central section are not static but move past each other in slow motion at around one inch per year. Scientists thought this "creeping" section of the fault tended to avert any large pressure build-ups and negate chances of big earthquakes there. The research found otherwise.

Scientists examined the degree of heating in rocks almost two miles below the surface in the central section. Material down there can offer clues to previous earthquake activity because rocks heat up with friction when earthquakes occur. The scientists found no evidence of large quakes in the central section in the last 2,000 years but said larger earthquakes had happened there further back in time.

"This means we can get larger earthquakes on the central section than we thought," lead author Genevieve Coffey, from Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, told Columbia Climate School news. "We should be aware that there is this potential, that it is not always just continuous creep," she said.

Their analysis of rocks in the central section of the fault showed evidence of earthquakes displacing rocks by more than five feet, which would equate to an earthquake of around 6.9 in magnitude (larger than the fatal 1994 Northridge earthquake). Even larger earthquakes than that could also be possible in the central section, the authors said.

"Ultimately, our work points to the potential for higher magnitude earthquakes in central California and highlights the importance of including the central [San Andreas Fault] and other creeping faults in seismic hazard analysis," the study said.

Black women have been hit 'especially hard' by pandemic job losses–and they're still behind in recovery

Morgan Smith 

The U.S. economy has bounced back at a stunning pace since 2020's coronavirus recession – yet this recovery has largely left behind Black women.

© Provided by CNBC

Throughout much of the pandemic and consistently since December, Black women's unemployment (5.8%) has been significantly higher than that of Latinas, Asian women and white women, according to research from the National Women's Law Center.

Experts point to several possible factors widening the recovery gap, with hiring discrimination, burnout and a lack of substantial benefits in lower-paid industries at the top of the list.

"If you look at the experiences of Black women in corporate America, the pattern is really clear: the workplace is worse for women of color than white women, and Black women consistently stand out as having the worst experience of all," Rachel Thomas, co-founder and CEO of Leanin.org, tells CNBC Make It. "So Black women have been hit especially hard by the pandemic's economic downturn."

CNBC Make It spoke with Thomas and other experts about the main issues driving this economic gap and how employers can better support Black women in the workplace.
Burning out in front-line jobs

Black women have shouldered a disproportionate share of front-line jobs throughout the coronavirus crisis that have put them at a higher risk of contracting the virus. More than 1 in 3 Black women have worked in front-line jobs, the NWLC reports, including roles as personal care aides, nursing assistants, cashiers and retail salespeople.

These industries have been the hardest hit by the pandemic and continue to be vulnerable to coronavirus restrictions and shutdowns. The recovery of these jobs remains sluggish and uneven: in January, women only gained 52,000 jobs in leisure and hospitality, or about 34%, despite making up about 53% of the industry's workforce.

Most of these jobs have required employees to show up in person, even at the height of the pandemic. Such conditions have put Black women in a compromised position as they tend to live in regions with higher transmission rates and are more likely to fall ill, Jasmine Tucker, the NWLC's director of research, says. "A lot of these jobs don't offer fair paid leave or even sick leave policies, so every time you get sick, you risk losing your job," she explains.

According to research from Lean In, 47% of Black women have gone to work during the pandemic when they had a good reason to stay home, whether that was being sick or not having child care. These high-risk, low-reward jobs have led Black women to a difficult choice: quit, or show up to work at the expense of their — and often their family's — well-being.

Lack of child care

The ongoing child-care crisis has hit Black mothers especially hard during the pandemic, pushing a lot of women out of the workforce.

Black mothers tend to shoulder more child-care responsibilities than their white counterparts, according to the Institute for Women's Policy Research, and are also more likely to be the primary wage earners in their families. Without access to affordable child care, many have had to quit their jobs.

More than two thirds of working Black mothers are also single. "Large numbers of Black women have left the workforce because they are mothers, or single mothers, and had to make a difficult choice to leave their jobs to take care of their children during the pandemic," Thomas says. "The lack of affordable child-care and flexibility within their jobs has just created a very untenable, unstable situation for mothers, especially mothers of color."

These barriers have not only made it difficult for Black women to find meaningful full-time employment, but also to re-enter the labor force. The NWLC reports that nearly 30% of Black women who are unemployed have been out of work for six months or longer.

Hiring discrimination

Although the 2020 murder of George Floyd and the pandemic brought a renewed focus on diversity, equity and inclusion practices at companies, Black women – and other people of color – continue to experience racism and microaggressions in the workforce.

"Black women are still facing hiring discrimination, and if they've been unemployed for long periods of time, they could feel even more discouraged from applying to jobs," Tucker notes.

The barriers for securing a job are higher for Black women because "as a Black woman, you're facing all of the biases that go with being a woman, along with the biases that go with being a woman of color," Thomas explains.

Black women also experience more – and more acute – microaggressions than other groups of women.

In its annual "Women in the Workplace" report, Lean In and McKinsey & Company found that Black women are more likely than white women to be on the receiving end of disrespectful and "othering" behavior. About 17% of Black have been confused with someone else of the same race/ethnicity, compared to 4% of white women.

What companies can do to help

Employers can help mitigate this economic gap by reviewing their benefits, hiring and promotional practices and updating them to be more equitable for women of color.

Such meaningful changes could include including more women of color in the workplace planning and hiring process and broadening paid leave policies, as well as designing clearer, structured promotion and mentorship opportunities for Black women.

"A lot of companies don't truly know how many women of color they're hiring or promoting," Thomas says. "To make sure your hiring and promotion processes are fair, you need to track how women of color are moving through your organization."

While the past two years have spurred some leaders to pay closer attention to the challenges Black women face in the workforce, it's important to recognize that Black women have been dealing with these issues long before the pandemic – and it could take a long time to see sustainable progress.

"We like to find the silver lining, but the reality is, things have been really bad for Black women," Nikki Tucker, the head of social at Leanin.org, says. "The pandemic has just finally opened a lot of people's eyes to the things Black women have been going through all of our lives."

Racism in Youth Leaves Black Women With Lasting Risk of Depression

© Provided by HealthDay

MONDAY, Feb. 28, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Black women who often encountered racism before age 20 have an increased risk of depression, new research shows.

Of the 1,600 Black women in Detroit, aged 25 to 35, who took part in the study, nearly two-thirds said they'd been subjected to some form of racism during adolescence, and more than one-third had symptoms of depression.

"Looking across the life course from adolescence through the 20s, Black women with persistently high frequency and high stress related to racism had the highest risk for depressive symptoms in adulthood than those with persistently low frequency," said study co-author Anissa Vines. She is assistant professor of epidemiology in the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Vines said the findings — recently published in the Journal of Urban Health — show how damaging racism is to the mental health of young people, and "echo what other researchers have been reporting on the implications of adverse childhood experiences on health in later life."

Her team also examined whether the amount of social support that the study participants received in childhood and adulthood affected the link between racism and depression.

"Though we hypothesized the social support would buffer the effects of racism, we did not find evidence to support this," Vines said in a university news release.

The data used in the study were collected between 2010 and 2012 — before more recent events that have brought overt acts of racism to the forefront of national attention in the United States.

The researchers also pointed out that the women faced a number of challenges, from Detroit's eroding economy to high poverty rates and low educational attainment.

"The health of women living in Detroit cannot be separated from the erosion of their physical, emotional, social, economic and political environments," the study authors explained.

Even so, they added, "the importance of early-life racism seen in this single geographic area may be broadly generalizable to young Black women in other geographical settings."

The findings further highlight that racism is a public health crisis that requires urgent intervention, because it can cause lasting damage to the well-being of people of color, the study team concluded.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about racism and health.

SOURCE: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, news release, Feb. 25, 2022

EU member state heads back fast-track for Ukraine joining bloc

By AARON REICH AND REUTERS 

© (photo credit: REUTERS/YVES HERMAN) 

A European Union flag flies outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, December 19, 2019.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky officially applied on Monday to join the European Union, with the application being on its way to Brussels for processing, Ukrainian President's Office deputy head Andrij Sybiha wrote on Facebook.

In response, the heads of state for eight different EU member states – Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic – pushed for vastly expediting Ukraine's admission into the bloc.

"We call on EU member states to consolidate highest political support to Ukraine and enable the EU institutions to conduct steps to immediately grant Ukraine an EU candidate country status and open the process of negotiations," the leaders wrote, as noted on the official website of the Lithuanian president.

This follows Slovakian Prime Minister Eduard Heger telling Politico that Ukraine should have a "special track" towards EU membership.

“They fight for themselves, they fight for us — they fight for freedom,” Heger said told Politico. “We have to realize that they are protecting our system, our values and we have to be together with them. So there is no time to hesitate on this.”

© Provided by The Jerusalem Post Josep Borrell speaks at a news conference on the Russian military operation against Ukraine, at EU headquarters in Brussels on Sunday (credit: STEPHANIE LECOCQ/REUTERS)

Overall, support for Ukraine is strong in the EU, as noted in a recent op-ed in The Jerusalem Post by EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell.

"This is a matter of life and death," Borrell noted. "I am preparing an emergency package to support the Ukrainian armed forces in their fight."

European Commission President Ursula von der Leye told Euronews Sunday that Ukraine is "one of us and we want them in the European Union."

Several European nations have already sent considerable funds and munitions towards Ukraine, as well as levying sanctions against Moscow, as have their allies abroad such as the US.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Tuesday morning that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had offered his country, which is under attack from its neighbor Russia, more support in the form of sanctions and weapons.

"In our call, Secretary Blinken affirmed that the US support for Ukraine remains unfaltering," Kuleba said on Twitter. "I underscored that Ukraine craves for peace, but as long as we are under Russia's assault we need more sanctions and weapons. Secretary assured me of both. We coordinated further steps."

Power grid

Another way the EU is helping Ukraine is through energy.

On Monday, energy ministers from EU countries agreed to urgently link a European power system to Ukraine's grid, a move that would increase its independence from Russia following Moscow's invasion of the country.

The invasion of Ukraine by Russia, Europe's top gas supplier, has sharpened concerns of disruption to energy supplies and increased scrutiny of European Union countries' reliance on imported fossil fuels.

It has also raised concerns about Ukraine's own energy system, and EU ministers on Monday backed a long-planned link of Ukraine's electricity grid with Europe's.

"There was a broad agreement around the table. Based on this, we will move forward... to connect Ukraine's electricity system as quickly as possible," EU energy commissioner Kadri Simson said after the meeting.

Ukraine disconnected its grid from a Russian system last week and has asked for emergency synchronization with a European system. That would mean Russia would no longer control technical aspects of Ukraine’s network such as grid frequency. EU officials said the link could be completed within weeks.

This is a developing story.

'A new Europe' united against Russia — even neutral Switzerland

Alex Seitz-Wald 


WASHINGTON — A continent that has spent most of the past millennium at war with itself has united against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with Germany reversing its historic policy against sending weapons to conflict zones and even famously neutral Switzerland joining the rest of Europe against Moscow

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Provided by NBC News

“It’s the rebirth of a new Europe,” said Michael McFaul, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia. “I’m absolutely shocked, I want to tell you honestly. It’s a historic shift. I think this will have major consequences moving forward for the future of Europe, for the future of the transatlantic alliance, for the future of NATO — just when all of those things were fraying.”


The European Union, for the first time ever, agreed Sunday to directly finance the purchase and delivery of arms, with plans to send more than half a billion dollars worth of military aid to Ukraine as it battles Russian forces in what the president of the European Commission called a “watershed moment.”

Virtually all of European airspace is now closed to Russian aircraft, including private jets. The E.U. also banned Kremlin-backed media outlets and took steps to freeze Russian assets and cut off the country’s access to the global financial system.

French Ambassador to the U.S. Philippe Etienne said on MSNBC Monday that the united front was nothing less than “a turning point in the history of our continent.”

Sweden, which is not part of NATO and has maintained a policy of neutrality through both World Wars and the Cold War, announced Monday it will send 5,000 anti-tank weapons to Ukraine.

The Swedish government said it is the first time the Scandinavian country has sent arms to a country at war since 1939, when it aided its neighbor Finland against a Soviet invasion.

Even Switzerland joined the fray.

Neutrality has been a survival tactic for Switzerland that kept the alpine nation independent since Napoleon. It is not part of the European Union nor NATO.

But bowing to public pressure from its citizens and every party in its parliament but the far-right, the Swiss government announced Monday it will join the EU’s sanction against Russia, bar entry to some high-level Russians with Swiss connections and close Swiss airspace to Russian flights.

The move is significant not only symbolically, but because Switzerland’s infamously secretive banks are a favorite of Russian oligarchs.

“We are in an extraordinary situation where extraordinary measures could be decided,” Swiss President Ignazio Cassis said at a press conference Monday, though he noted that Swiss neutrality remains intact since the country is not sending military aid or getting involved in the fight itself.

Experts say the most significant action, though, may be Germany’s.

The most powerful country in continental Europe has for years pursued friendlier relations with Moscow and refused to sell weapons to countries involved in armed conflicts as part of a post-World War II doctrine of pacifism.

“The Russian invasion of Ukraine marks a turning point,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in a statement. “It threatens our entire post-war order. In this situation, it is our duty to do our utmost to support Ukraine in defending itself against Vladimir Putin’s invading army.”

Thanks to economic necessity and a sense of historic obligation to atone for the crimes committed by the Nazis, Berlin sought engagement instead of confrontation with Russia.

“There’s an exaggerated perception in German public opinion, I would say a misperception, that engaging with Russia during the Cold War led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Germany did more business with the USSR than other European countries,” said Charles Lichfield, deputy director of the Atlantic Council’s GeoEconomics Center. “That has informed German behavior.”

As recently as last week, Germany not only refused to send its weapons to Ukraine, but it blocked other countries like the Netherlands from sending their own German-made weapons to Kyiv.

But Berlin dramatically reversed course over the weekend, announcing plans to send at least 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 Stinger anti-aircraft defense systems to Ukraine, paving the way for virtually the entire continent to join the fight.

“There was a drive towards unity and Germany was an obstacle,” said Lichfield. “It is striking that once the German obstacle was lifted, the EU got in.”

Tobias Vestner, head of the security and law program at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, said the Swiss have long prided themselves on being a safe space for international organizations and dialog, like the summit it hosted last year between President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

But Swiss citizens are beginning to rethink their role in an increasingly globalized world, Vestner said, especially after a pandemic that did not respect international borders.

“This is something we’ve never seen before,” he said. “So I wouldn’t be surprised if you see a change in the way neutrality is interpreted and applied.”

Kyiv Independent Site Surges From 20,000 Followers to 1.4 Million Since Russian Invasion

© Provided by TheWrap

The Kyiv Independent, a Ukrainian English media outlet, gained 1 million followers in the wake of Russia's invasion into Ukraine.

Anastasia Lapatina, a journalist with the Independent, tweeted the news Sunday.

The startup outlet, with a Twitter following now passing 1.4 million, came to be after a group of more than 30 ex-Kyiv Post journalists joined forces with the aim of regaining editorial independence and carrying on their values after the owner shut down the publication on Nov. 8, 2021.

The staff unanimously chose Olga Rudenko, former deputy chief editor at the Kyiv Post, who worked there for 10 years, to helm the new publication as editor-in-chief.

The Kyiv Independent says it was founded on principles that reflect the transition from the Post and that it will always be partially owned by its journalists and won't "serve a rich owner or oligarch." Its revenue will be derived from readers, donors and commercial activities.

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine Feb. 24, 2022, after tension built up at their borders as a result of Russian troops being stationed there. Many well-known political figures and celebrities of Ukrainian heritage have issued statements about these events. President Biden aims to impose economic sanctions in order to get President Vladimir Putin's attention.

To support the Independent's fight to publish accurate coverage and counter misinformation, you can donate to their Patreon link or their gofundme.

SPORTS

Wayne Gretzky: Russia Should Be Banned From World Juniors Hockey Tournament In Edmonton

Wayne Gretzky is calling for Russia to be barred from playing in the World Juniors hockey tournament

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© Getty Images Wayne Gretzky

"I think international hockey should say, ‘We’re not gonna let them play in the World Junior Hockey Tournament,'" he said in an interview with "NHL on TNT" over the weekend. "I think we got to, as Canadians, take that stance since the games are going to be played in Edmonton." The rescheduled tournament is set to take place in Edmonton this summer after being put on hold due to rising COVID-19 cases in December.

Calling Russia's invasion of Ukraine a "senseless war," Gretzky says he has been in contact with Ukrainians in the country this week.

"I talked to a couple of guys this morning who are living in Ukraine. They are actually driving from Kyiv with their families 14 hours, dropping them off, driving back, and picking up rifles and guns so that they can protect their own cities," he says.

The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) is the body that makes decisions on any banishment from play. If it follows Gretzky's calls, the IIHF would follow in the footsteps of FIFA who banned Russia from playing a World Cup qualifying match.

Gretzky's Comments on Russia Go a Long Way

With his carefully-chosen words this weekend, Gretzky has supported the right cause. Hockey needs more people like that. He is known as the Great One for very good reason, but he just got a little bit greater.

© Provided by The Hockey News Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports

Adam Proteau

For many of us of a particular age, Wayne Gretzky was, is, and always will be the best hockey player of all time.

Growing up in the 1980s, there was no questioning his dominance, willpower, and creativity on the ice. But No. 99 was not a political animal; by the time he played his most famous games against the powerful Soviet Union team at the 1987 Canada Cup, the hockey battle for supremacy was all but over, and there was no debating which country was best.

Four years after Gretzky, fellow leviathan Mario Lemieux, and an all-time great roster was finished with the Soviets at the Canada Cup, the Soviet Union collapsed, and a more European-friendly vibe emerged at hockey’s top levels.

Since then, Gretzky has, for the most part, steered clear of politics, both Canadian and international. However, that changed Saturday when, as part of a hockey panel on the TNT Network, he spoke out in favor of banning Russian players from the upcoming International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship, currently scheduled to take place in Edmonton in August.

With Russian athletes in many sports now facing bans from participating because of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s heinous war of aggression against Ukraine, Gretzky said he believes hockey’s gatekeepers must follow suit.

“I think international hockey should say, ‘We’re not gonna let them play in the world junior hockey tournament,” Gretzky said. “I think we got to, as Canadians, take that stance, since the games are going to be played in Edmonton.”

(The IIHF would later go on to ban Russia and Belarus from upcoming international events).

Now, you may say it’s easier for Gretzky to speak out than Russian players like Alex Ovechkin, but there’s two factors at play here that make it extremely commendable for the Hockey Hall-of-Famer to take a stance. For one thing, it’s true Gretzky doesn’t have direct family members in Ukraine or Russia the way Ovechkin does right now, but Gretzky’s family lineage stretches back to include links to the Russian Empire, Belarus, and yes, Ukraine. (And this is to say nothing of Ovechkin’s well-chronicled, enthusiastic support of Putin when it was convenient for him to do so. He cannot have it both ways, and expect not to be criticized at this moment in history.)

Secondly, the hockey community does not normally encourage its greatest players to be outspoken on matters outside the sport. “Go along to get along” is a philosophy most NHLers adopt from their earliest years, and those who choose to speak up about one non-hockey cause or another are labeled as troublemakers and/or distractions. That said, in speaking about Russia’s actions against Ukraine, Gretzky is neither of those two things. His opinion about Putin isn’t going to turn the tide of this war, but Gretzky has put himself on the right side of history by not choosing to remain silent.
View the original article to see embedded media.

In many ways, Russian players and sports stars are innocent victims of Putin’s madness. We should never forget the humanity that binds us all, and acknowledge that millions of Russians want no part of this war. But the IIHF would be, and should be heavily criticized if they allow Russian participation in their events.

Solidarity with Ukraine is a must if we’re going to be a free and healthy, democracy-supporting group of nations. Russia has squandered any goodwill they may have had, and while it is unfortunate a collection of talented young hockey stars are going to pay a price for their homeland’s actions, they have nobody to blame but Putin himself.

With his carefully-chosen words this weekend, Gretzky has supported the right cause. Hockey needs more people like that. He is known as the Great One for very good reason, but he just got a little bit greater.

Russia boycott: Full list of countries refusing to play national team after Ukraine invasion

Jeorge Bird 



Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a host of national football teams have announced that they will refuse to play against Russia for the foreseeable future.

Poland, Sweden and Czech Republic, which were scheduled to face Russia in World Cup qualifying were the first to take the position. England, Wales and Scotland have followed suit, ruling out playing Russia at any level of competition.

After initially ordering Russia to play their upcoming games in neutral territory under the name the Football Union of Russia, FIFA is now set to oust the nation from World Cup qualifying altogether.

MORE: Is Chelsea's Russian owner Abramovich selling the club?

Here's a look at all the nations that have stated that they won't be playing Russia.
Poland, Sweden, Czech Republic

Poland, Sweden, and the Czech Republic are scheduled to play Russia on March 24 in a four-team World Cup qualifying playoff mini-bracket.

But all three teams released a joint statement saying they will not play Russia in the matches, leaving FIFA with a decision to make.

OŚWIADCZENIE FEDERACJI PIŁKARSKICH POLSKI, SZWECJI I CZECH. Więcej... https://t.co/fkNXQJIseH pic.twitter.com/Tc9o5POp02— PZPN (@pzpn_pl) February 24, 2022

High-profile players such as Robert Lewandowski and Wojciech Szczesny have also come out individually to criticized Russia with the reigning FIFA player of the year Lewandowski stating that "we can't pretend that nothing is happening."

MORE: Champions League final moved from Russia

It is the right decision! I can’t imagine playing a match with the Russian National Team in a situation when armed aggression in Ukraine continues. Russian footballers and fans are not responsible for this, but we can’t pretend that nothing is happening. https://t.co/rfnfbXzdjF— Robert Lewandowski (@lewy_official) February 26, 2022

Juventus goalkeeper Szczesny, who has a Ukrainian wife, said that he is refusing to play against Russia. He wrote on Instagram: “Seeing the suffering on their faces and fear for their country makes me realize I can’t stand still and pretend that nothing has happened.”

Karl-Erik Nilsson, chairman of the Swedish FA, said: "The illegal and deeply unjust invasion of Ukraine currently makes all football exchanges with Russia impossible. We therefore urge FIFA to decide that the playoff matches in March in which Russia participates will be canceled. But regardless of what FIFA chooses to do, we will not play against Russia in March."

MORE: Football fallout after Russia's invasion of Ukraine

England takes a stand against Russia

The English FA released a statement condemning Russia's actions in Ukraine and said that they do not intend to play Russia in any international fixtures at any level for the foreseeable future.

The FA statement read: "Out of solidarity with Ukraine and to wholeheartedly condemn the atrocities being committed by the Russian leadership, the FA can confirm that we won't play against Russia in any international fixtures for the foreseeable future.

"This includes any potential match at any level of senior age group or para football."

Statement from The FA: pic.twitter.com/bz0CLR0rum— FA Spokesperson (@FAspokesperson) February 27, 2022

Ireland, Wales, Scotland join Russia boycott

Not only did the three nations announce their refusal to play against Russia, but Ireland and Scotland also offered support to the Ukrainian football federation with matches scheduled between the countries in March and June.
Ireland

The Football Association of Ireland announced its “full and unequivocal support” to the Ukrainian FA on Feb. 28. The decision was notable as Ireland is meant to play a pair of UEFA Nations League matches against Ukraine in June, drawn together in a four-team group with Scotland and Armenia.

MORE: Schalke cuts ties with Russian shirt sponsor

FAI president Gerry McAnaney and chief executive Jonathan Hill reached out to executives in Ukraine to inform them the FAI will be as "flexible and accommodating as possible" with regards to the two Nations League fixtures.

In addition, the FAI announced they will refuse to play Russia under any circumstances.

“In light of the current situation,” Hill said, “I can confirm that we will not consider any international fixture against any Russian side, no matter what the level, until further notice.”

Wales

Wales have also stated that they will not play any matches against Russia.

The statement from the Welsh FA read: "The Football Association of Wales (FAW) stands in solidarity with Ukraine and feels an extreme amount of sadness and shock to the recent developments in the country.

"The FAW expresses its condemnation for the use of force and the atrocities being committed by Russia in its invasion of Ukraine.

"The FAW has decided that Cymru will not play any international fixtures against Russia for the foreseeable future, at any level of the game.

"Our thoughts and support are with the people of Ukraine."
Сильніші разом. Together, we are stronger. Gyda'n gilydd, yn gryfach. 🇺🇦🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 #TogetherStronger— FA WALES (@FAWales) February 27, 2022

Scotland

Scotland have also stated that they won't play against Russia in any venue.

The statement read: "The Scottish FA President, Rod Petrie, has written to his counterpart at the Ukrainian Association of Football to send a message of support, friendship, and unity.

"Football is inconsequential amid conflict but we have conveyed the strong sense of solidarity communicated to us by Scotland fans and citizens in recent days.

"We remain in dialogue with UEFA and FIFA regarding our men's FIFA World Cup play-off and women's World Cup qualifier and have offered to support our Ukrainian colleagues' preparations as best we can in these unimaginably difficult circumstances.

"Should the current circumstances continue, we will not sanction the nomination of a team to participate in our scheduled UEFA Regions Cup fixture against Russia, due to be played in August.

"This will remain our position should any other fixtures arise at any level of international football."

The Scottish FA send a message of support, friendship and unity to the people of Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/hSckZTs0Xz— Scottish FA (@ScottishFA) February 28, 2022

United States will not play Russia

On February 28, the United States added itself to the growing list of countries boycotting Russia, announcing it will not take the field against Russia "no matter the level of competition or circumstance, until freedom and peace have been restored."

In the statement, the U.S. took a firm stance, saying "we will neither tarnish the global game nor dishonor Ukraine" by taking the field against Russia.

While it had already been widely reported earlier that morning that FIFA was likely to ban Russia from competition, the statement of intent by the United States was still a firm and meaningful move, with the increase in competitive nations boycotting Russia forcing FIFA's hand.

#WeStandWithUkraine pic.twitter.com/spRVx7NZbr— U.S. Soccer (@ussoccer) February 28, 2022

Fact check: False claim about Ukraine, Clinton Foundation resurfaces amid Russian invasion

The claim: Ukraine was the largest donor to the Clinton Foundation for 15 years

© Seth Wenig, AP Then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and her husband former President Bill Clinton, greet supporters after voting in Chappaqua, N.Y. on Nov. 8, 2016.

McKenzie Sadeghi, USA TODAY 

While unrelated footage purporting to show the Russian invasion of Ukraine runs rampant online, some social media users have resurfaced an old narrative about foreign donations to the Clinton Foundation.

“Ukraine largest donor to the Clinton Foundation 1999-2014,” reads text in a Feb. 26 meme on Facebook.

Similar rumors about Ukrainian financial donations to the Clinton Foundation have gained traction on Twitter. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., promoted an iteration of the claim during a Feb. 19 rally in Texas, according to PolitiFact.

“Fact: Ukraine was the single largest donor to the Clinton Foundation,” reads a Feb. 24 tweet that generated more than 100 likes. As evidence, some users cited a graph purportedly showing the foundation's top foreign donors.

Follow us on Facebook! Like our page to get updates throughout the day on our latest debunks

But the posts misrepresent a chart from 2015, which ranks individual contributions to the foundation based on nationality. As FactCheck.org reported in 2019, the Clinton Foundation hasn't received donations from the Ukrainian government.

USA TODAY reached out to the social media users who shared the claim for comment.
Posts misuse report on individual donations

The Wall Street Journal published a report in 2015 on individual donations over $50,000 made to the Clinton Foundation between 1999 and 2014. The article included a chart listing the top foreign donors.

Ukraine tops the list, but the graph doesn't support the claim in the social media posts.

That's because the graph doesn't reflect donations from governments, as the posts assert. The Journal's analysis looked at individual contributions and ranked them “by nationality of donor.”

Ukrainians contributed $10 million to the Clinton Foundation – more than any other nationality, according to the report. Most of that money came from Ukrainian businessman and philanthropist Victor Pinchuk.

Pinchuk’s foundation, based in Kyiv, donated $8.6 million to the foundation between 2009 and 2013, the Journal reported. He and his wife started contributing to Clinton charities in 2006.

Fact check roundup: What's true and what's false about the Russian invasion of Ukraine

The article notes that Pinchuk has close government ties, as he served as a member of the Ukrainian Parliament from 1998-2006 and is the son-in-law of former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma. Pinchuk's contributions – both to the Clinton Foundation and the Trump Foundation – have come under scrutiny and faced criticism, but they didn't stem from the Ukrainian government.

Pinchuk also wasn’t the largest donor to the Clintons' charity between 1999-2014.

A 2015 analysis from The Washington Post found several donors had given more than $25 million to the Clinton Foundation since its creation. Among them: Canadian mining magnate Frank Giustra’s foundation, Democratic supporter Fred Eychaner and a major lottery based in the Netherlands.

The Clinton Foundation reports all contributors on its site. The Ukrainian government is not listed as a donor.

Other governments are, though. Australia, Saudi Arabia and Norway have all donated between $10 million and $25 million through grants, memberships, sponsorships and conference fees.

USA TODAY reached out to the Clinton Foundation for comment.
Our rating: False

Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that Ukraine was the largest donor to the Clinton Foundation for 15 years. While some foreign governments have contributed to the Clinton Foundation, Ukraine has not.

The claim misrepresents a 2015 report on individual donations made between 1999 and 2014. According to the report, which lists the Clinton Foundation's top donors by nationality, Ukrainians contributed $10 million during that time period. Most of the money came from Pinchuk's foundation.
Our fact-check sources:
Wall Street Journal, March 19, 2015, Clinton Charity Tapped Foreign Friends
FactCheck.org, Oct. 25, 2019, Headlines Spin Ukrainian Donations to Clinton Charity
Victor Pinchuk Foundation, accessed Feb. 25, Biography of Victor Pinchuk
Forbes, accessed Feb. 25, #1249 Victor Pinchuk
ABC News, Nov. 23, 2016, Trump Foundation Took Donations From Controversial Ukrainian Clinton Donor
The New York Times, Aug 20, 2016, Foundation Ties Bedevil Hillary Clinton’s Presidential Campaign
Open Secrets, Nov. 18, 2019, Clinton Foundation cash flow continues to drop years after 2016 election loss
The Washington Post, Feb. 18, 2015, Clintons' foundation has raised nearly $2 billion - and some key questions
The Clinton Foundation, accessed Feb. 25, Reports and Financials
The Clinton Foundation, June 30, 2019, Recognizing Our Generous Supporters (archived)

Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app, or electronic newspaper replica here.

Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.

Lithium Americas considers spinning off U.S. operations

(Reuters) - Canada-based miner Lithium Americas Corp said on Monday it was exploring a separation of its U.S. and Argentinian operations by creating an independent public company focused on the Thacker Pass lithium project in Nevada.

The Thacker Pass project, approved by former U.S. President Donald Trump's administration in January last year, could become the largest U.S. source of lithium - a metal that has surged in demand globally due to its use in electric vehicles.

But the project faces opposition in a federal court from some indigenous tribes who ask for the approval to be overturned. Lithium Americas said last week it expects the final court decision on the matter by September end.

The company's main operations in Argentina are centered around the Caucharí-Olaroz lithium brine project that it jointly owns with China's Ganfeng Lithium. The operation is set to complete construction this year.

With both the assets progressing towards production, the company said it had begun studying the viability of a spinoff.

"While no final decision has been made, we believe a separation could enable each of our businesses to maximize and accelerate their strategic objectives, with dedicated focus and increased financial flexibility," Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Evans said in a statement.

(Reporting by Ruhi Soni in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Soni)

Ukraine Ambassador: Zelensky has expectations from Israel because he’s Jewish

By LAHAV HARKOV

© (photo credit: GLEB GARANICH/REUTERS) PRESIDENT ISAAC Herzog is welcomed to Kyiv at a ceremony by Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in October.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has sought more help from Israel because he is Jewish, Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Yevgen Korniychuk said on Monday.

“As an ambassador of a country with a Jewish president, I can say Zelensky has higher expectations from Israel than Israel can deliver,” he said.

Korniychuk also speculated that Bennett is in a difficult situation balancing between Israel’s relations with Ukraine and Russia because Zelensky is Jewish. He also pointed out that many Ukrainians qualify to immigrate to Israel under the Law of Return – 180,000 by Israel’s estimation.

“Our leadership believes Israel is the only democratic nation that has a good relation with both leaders,” Korniychuk said, referring to Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Our president believes that Jerusalem could probably be one of the best venues for negotiations.”

Bennett offering Putin to serve as an intermediary when they spoke on Sunday “was a miracle,” Korniychuk said, and followed major efforts to pressure Israel on that front, which included enlisting senior Ukrainian rabbis.

© Provided by The Jerusalem Post Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Yevgen Korniychuk. (credit: Lahav Harkov)

“I am glad the Israeli government took the correct position in terms of the mediation process,” he added.

Zelensky has asked Israel to take on the role of mediator several times over the past year, including during his phone call with Bennett on Friday.

Korniychuk said his message to Israel was, “Thank you, we appreciate all of your effort, but we need more.

“Decisions are being made slower than we need but we are happy about yesterday’s move and we hope for greater support,” he stated.

Israel is sending about 100 tons of humanitarian aid, including medicine, sleeping bags, water purification kits and other items.

Ukraine asked Israel to send teams of paramedics, but the government declined the request.

However, Israeli authorities told the ambassador they would not stop volunteers if Ukraine organizes them, and that efforts are underway for both medical and military volunteers.

Ukraine also asked for defensive weapons and protective gear, but Israel has declined those requests.

Kornichuk reiterated his country’s requests in a meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office on Monday.

“When Israel wants our help we are there for them,” Korniychuk said, referring to the UN, consular requests and other matters.

Korniychuk took umbrage with Israeli border control officers continuing to reject Ukrainians who they believe will overstay their tourist visas, saying the standards should be updated because of the war.

A spokesperson for Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked said, “We are not deporting Ukrainians. Whoever wants to enter with a tourist visa is welcome. Whoever reaches Israel and, in accordance with the Population, Immigration and Border Authority’s questioning, is found to be someone who wants to be here for a month, as a tourist, can enter. Europe is absorbing all Ukrainian citizens for three years.”

The Interior Ministry also automatically extended the tourist visas of Ukrainians already in Israel for 60 days.

Korniychuk also expressed appreciation for Israel offering him and his embassy extra security at this time.

'Atlas of Human Suffering': New UN Climate Report Is Shockingly Grim

Molly Taft 

Climate change is already altering the planet, and the world will see catastrophic and unavoidable impacts over the coming decades, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said in a wide-reaching report released Monday. The warming we’ve already seen has pushed many of the planet’s ecosystems toward points that scientists on a press call Sunday repeatedly called the “hard limits” of human adaptation—the physical inability for society to adjust any further to oncoming changes in our world

.

© Photo: Noah Berger (AP) Bruce McDougal watches embers fly over his property as the Bond Fire burns through the Silverado community in Orange County, Calif., on Dec. 3, 2020.

“I have seen many scientific reports in my time, but nothing like this,” António Guterres, the UN secretary general, said. “Today’s IPCC report is an atlas of human suffering and a damning indictment of failed climate leadership.”

The world has already warmed 1.09 degrees Celsius (1.96 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels, thanks to our addiction to fossil fuels. Some of the things we’re already seeing with our current levels of warming, the report finds, include:

diseases migrating into new areas
extinctions of species across the world
local populations of plants and animals dying off or moving, which irrevocably alters local ecosystems
mass die-offs of trees, plants, and mammals thanks to droughts and heat waves
the beginning of the collapse of major food systems
the transformation of former carbon sinks, like the Amazon rainforest and permafrost in the Arctic, into greenhouse gas emitters.

“We’re seeing adverse impacts being much more widespread and being much more negative than expected in prior reports,” said Camille Parmesan, an ecologist at the University of Texas at Austin and one of the lead authors of one of the report’s chapters, during a press briefing Sunday.

The Paris Agreement set out goals of keeping warming under 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) and a stricter goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit). The world is already on track to meet the 1.5 degree target, which will bring with it an enormous amount of change. And while humans can still turn the tide and bring warming back down, even overshooting these targets by just a little will bring “irreversible” impacts to the world, as permafrost melts, heatwaves and droughts increase, and ecosystems are forever altered. The small 0.5 degrees Celsius difference between the 1.5 and 2 degree targets, for instance, means that another 65 million people would experience “exceptionally” extreme heatwaves each year.

“If regions are not prepared, then people die that don’t need to.”

“This [report] has opened up a whole new realm of understanding of what the impacts of overshoot might entail,” Parmesan said.

This more than 2,000-page report, written by 270 scientists who reviewed tens of thousands of separate studies, comes on the heels of another IPCC report released last summer. Both are exhaustive and comprehensive overviews of the body of science around climate change. Last summer’s report dealt with the physics of climate change—how warming is altering the world and increasing the risks of droughts, fires, storms and floods—while this report focuses on the impacts of that change on ecosystems, wildlife, and human society. Think of this update as the next installment in a thorough scientific series: the Empire Strikes Back of just how serious the planetary situation is.

The news from this sequel isn’t good, and there are all sorts of terrible examples of what is happening and what’s projected to happen as the planet keeps warming. Half of the world’s living organisms are currently moving habitat as a result of climate change, disrupting ecosystems around the world. Half of the world’s human population also faces water scarcity at least part of the year. Food systems are at major risk: Reaching that 1.5-degree target, which is increasingly likely under current trajectories, would render about 8% of the world’s farmland unusable. And in a worse-case scenario, up to 9 million additional people could die from exposure to climate-related illness by the end of the century.

The IPCC last released a set of reports like these in 2014. Since then, the attribution science behind climate change has made leaps and bounds, meaning that we now know a lot more about how specifically climate change is tied to these impacts than the last time it was released. Timing matters, too: The next time a comprehensive review will come out will likely be in another five to seven years. We’re on such a tight schedule that it may be too late to influence policy the next time a report like this is released.

But there’s still a chance of preventing the worst impacts, the report finds. Mitigation is going to be especially important in the coming decades, and leaders need to be increasingly aware of how climate change will affect their regions and understand that things are going to only get worse—especially for vulnerable populations.

“If regions are not prepared, then people die that don’t need to,” Kristie Ebi, an epidemiologist at the University of Washington and one of the lead authors of one of the report’s chapters, said during the press briefing, referencing the heat wave that hit the Pacific Northwest last year and killed hundreds of people. “Nobody needs to die in a heat wave. And it’s critically important to start looking at these increases in extreme weather and climate events, looking at the people in harm’s way, mostly the poor and the marginalized, and making sure that efforts are undertaken to protect and promote health and wellbeing in those communities. If we don’t, then you saw what the risks look like into the future.”

Throwing our all at reversing our fossil fuel use—something the world looks less and less likely to get on track to do—will be crucial.

“There isn’t a silver bullet that’s gonna solve our greenhouse gas emissions,” said Ebi. “It’s important to understand that every action matters.”