Brazil greenlights study of Petrobras privatization, analysts remain skeptical

The logo of Brazil's state-run Petrobras oil company is seen on a tank in at Petrobras Paulinia refinery in Paulinia

Thu, June 2, 2022

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro's government said it aims to include state oil company Petrobras in its privatization program on Thursday, despite analysts calling it a long-shot for the far-right leader seeking reelection.

Rather than triggering privatization in itself, the move - not final until Bolsonaro signs a decree - would enable the country's Investment Partnerships Program (PPI) to start evaluating the project less than six months before presidential elections.

Bolsonaro has been a harsh critic of Petrobras fuel pricing policy amid a surge in the cost of gasoline stoked by war in Ukraine that has become a hot topic in the run-up to the elections. He also floated the idea of splitting Petrobras into various pieces as a prelude to privatizing it this week.

He argued that the company was not fulfilling its "social function" as outlined in the Brazil's constitution.

Analysts at BTG Pactual see the privatization as a "challenging task from a political perspective," adding that in the short to medium term "this should be viewed with a great deal of skepticism."

Petrobras' privatization would also need to be approved by Congress, forcing Bolsonaro to rally disparate parties to win backing to do it.

According to the PPI's special secretary, Bruno Leal, there is still no deadline for sending a Petrobras privatization bill to Congress and no defined schedule for any privatization process.

The company's inclusion in PPI's report was requested this week by the Mines and Energy Ministry.

(Reporting by Carolina Pulice and Peter Frontini; Editing by Chris Reese and Kenneth Maxwell)

Could an obscure provision of a Coast Guard bill threaten offshore wind energy?

Ben Adler
·Senior Editor
Tue, May 31, 2022

A bill that passed the House of Representatives in late March and is currently under consideration in the Senate could “cripple the development of the American offshore wind industry,” according to the industry’s trade association.

President Biden has set an ambitious goal of 30,000 megawatts of offshore wind electricity generation capacity by 2030, up from just 42 megawatts currently. As a core component of its strategy to slash the greenhouse gas emissions causing climate change in half by 2030, the Biden administration is eagerly approving offshore wind farms, typically along the East Coast.

President Biden in the Oval Office on Tuesday.

 (Oliver Contreras/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

But an amendment to the annual Coast Guard authorization bill that would require foreign-flagged ships installing wind turbines on the Outer Continental Shelf only if they have a U.S. crew or the crew of the nation from which the vessel is flagged. The intention is to protect U.S. workers from unfair competition from foreign vessels using lower cost labor from developing countries, but American Clean Power (ACP), the trade association for wind energy, says the amendment will have an unintended effect: grinding offshore wind development to a halt.

“If passed into law, this provision would prevent the U.S. from achieving the administration’s target of deploying 30,000 MW of offshore wind by 2030,” said ACP CEO Heather Zichal in a statement after the House passed the Coast Guard Authorization Act 378-46. (The amendment itself passed the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee by an even wider margin, 58-2.)

The amendment’s sponsor, Rep. Garret Graves, R-La., counters that he’s just trying “to level the playing field,” for American workers, who are currently competing with foreign workers in American waters.

“Proponents [of offshore wind] have been talking about all the American jobs the industry is going to create,” Graves told Yahoo News. “I find it ironic that people saying this transition to renewable energy is going to create all these jobs are out there fighting for foreigners to keep jobs.”

ACP argues that because the U.S. offshore wind industry is so new, not all functions can yet be performed by American crews. Wind turbines are enormous contraptions: taller than the Washington Monument, with blades the length of a football field. Assembling them in the ocean is a logistical challenge.

The U.S. lags far behind countries such as China, Germany and the U.K. in its offshore wind industry development, meaning it has less of the highly specialized labor available domestically.

Kayakers paddle near the Burbo Bank Offshore Wind Farm off the coast of Liverpool, England. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

“The majority of vessels used by [the] offshore wind industry are already based in the U.S. and crewed by 100% American mariners,” Claire Richer, ACP’s director of offshore wind, told Yahoo News. “However, there’s going to be certain specialized construction vessels that don’t exist in the U.S.-flagged fleet that would be needed to build offshore wind. Because these vessels are hyper-specialized construction vessels, they have very specialized crews that go on them that have vessel-specific expertise. It’s not just training and certificates, it’s ‘Have you operated one of the world’s largest cranes before and have experience utilizing that crane?’”

“If you require switching out this experienced crew with a crew that has never been on that vessel before, that poses unacceptable safety risks to both the vessel’s operations and the crew,” Richer said.

She argues that if the Senate adopts the same language as the House, it would simply stop offshore wind projects currently in the pipeline, as they won’t be able to hire the crews needed to complete them. The result would then be fewer American jobs, rather than more, according to industry advocates like Richer.

“Just as Americans from the Gulf of Mexico taught Europeans how to drill for oil and gas in the North Sea, the U.S. needs to learn from the Europeans that have over 20 years of experience in offshore wind,” Richer said.

ACP estimates that the measure could stop the development of 1,460 megawatts of offshore wind energy per year, which would save the equivalent carbon dioxide emissions of taking 1 million cars off the road each year.

Rep. Garret Graves of Louisiana. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images)

Graves noted that the language he proposed has a grace period in which already planned projects can move forward with foreign crews; this would give the offshore wind industry time to train American workers.

“It’s not our objective to stop or impede any project that’s under way,” Graves said. “Those folks [at ACP] need to hire a lawyer, because they don’t understand what [the amendment] does,” he added.

Some offshore wind proponents in Congress are worried, however. Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-Mass., whose state is home to a major offshore wind project currently under construction, voted against the amendment.

He and House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chair Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., agreed to negotiate a compromise that could go into the Senate version, which will be produced within the next few months. DeFazio has met with stakeholders, and his office said he is open to working out a compromise such as a longer delay in implementation, but no new language has been announced.

“Right now there is no compromise because members of leadership have dug in despite the red flags being raised,” said a source close to the issue, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing negotiations. “Senate Commerce, at the moment, is expected to include the House provision as-is in its version of the USCG [U.S. Coast Guard] bill, meaning there would be no opportunity to fix it during conference. House members are pushing with DeFazio staff but he’s still not actively cooperating.”

A United States Coast Guard crew member on duty near the Cutter James in Port Everglades, Fla. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

A spokesperson for the Democratic majority on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, chaired by Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington, did not respond to an inquiry. DeFazio’s office declined to comment, but noted that he has met with stakeholders such as environmental groups and is committed to finding a solution that would allow existing projects to be completed.

Auchincloss is apparently worried that such a deal won’t be reached. His office emailed a statement from him that reads like a shot across the bow of DeFazio and any other Democrat who would back the current provision: “This issue will make it plain who is and who is not serious about hitting President Biden’s goals for clean energy from offshore wind,” he said.

Graves said he is open to hypothetical compromises such as delayed implementation, but he warned against “​​drafting compromises that are solutions in search of problems.”

He added that slowing the build-out of offshore wind would be an acceptable alternative to building the industry with foreign labor, because clean energy sources such as wind will be supplanting existing fossil fuel industries.

“We have the biggest offshore oil and gas industry in the world,” Graves said. “Why would people want to replace American workers in conventional energy with foreign workers? Let’s make sure that [their workers] have a chance to compete” for jobs in offshore wind. “Otherwise, all you’re doing is taking away or eliminating American jobs.”

Experts: Iran disrupts internet; tower collapse deaths at 36


In this photo released by official website of the office of Iranian Senior Vice-President, on Friday, May 27, 2022, ruins of a tower at under construction 10-story Metropol Building remains after it collapsed on Monday, in the southwestern city of Abadan, Iran. Rescue teams at the site of the tower pulled five more bodies from the rubble on Friday, bringing the death toll in the disaster to 24.

 (Iranian Senior Vice-President Office via AP)

ISABEL DEBRE
Tue, May 31, 2022

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran disrupted internet access to the outside world as angry demonstrators rallied over the collapse of a tower in the nation's southwest that has killed at least 36 people, experts said Tuesday as outrage and grief continued to grow.

The disruption plunged the province into digital isolation, making it difficult for journalists to authenticate events on the ground and for activists to share footage and organize protests.

It's a tactic the Iranian government has repeatedly employed during times of unrest, rights activists say, in a country where radio and television stations already are state-controlled and journalists face the threat of arrest.

The internet interference in the oil-rich Khuzestan province started in early May, weeks before the fatal collapse, said Amir Rashidi, director of internet security and digital rights at Miaan Group, which focuses on digital security in the Middle East. The province, home to an ethnic Arab population that long has alleged discrimination, was a flashpoint in protests over the sinking economy and skyrocketing prices of food staples.

Disruptions then intensified in the area after the Metropol Building collapse last week, according to data shared by the Miaan Group.

The disaster ignited widespread anger in Abadan, where residents alleging government negligence gathered nightly at the site of the collapse to shout slogans against the Islamic Republic. Videos of the protests have circulated widely online, with some showing officers clubbing and firing tear gas at demonstrators.

The footage analyzed by The Associated Press corresponded to known features of Abadan, some 660 kilometers (410 miles) southwest of the capital, Tehran. The number of casualties and arrests remains unclear.

In response to the protests, Iranian authorities at times completely shut down the internet and other times allowed only tightly controlled use of a domestic Intranet, reported the Miaan Group.

During the day, authorities also appear to have restricted bandwidths to make it very difficult for people to share large files, such as video, without leaving Abadan altogether, said Mahsa Alimardani, a senior researcher at Article 19, an international organization that fights censorship.

Last Friday, as huge crowds took to the streets to chant against top officials, a digital barricade of sorts went up between Iran and the world, data showed. Only certain government-approved national websites could stream content but not websites based abroad.

“There has been a pattern that we’ve seen when it gets dark where Google isn’t working but the website of the Supreme Leader is working well,” Rashidi said.

The Iranian mission at the United Nations did not immediately respond to request for comment.

Meanwhile, rescue workers pulled three more bodies from the rubble Tuesday, bringing the death toll to 36 amid fears more people could be trapped in the ruins. Five of the victims were school-age children, the official IRNA news agency reported. An additional 37 people were injured in the collapse, with two still hospitalized.

Officials have blamed the building’s structural failure on shoddy construction practices, lax regulation and entrenched corruption, raising questions about the safety of similar towers in the earthquake-prone country. Authorities reported they evacuated residents from buildings near the disaster site out of fear of the remaining Metropol strucutre collapsing.

The rising political and economic pressures come as talks to restore Tehran's tattered nuclear deal with world powers have hit a deadlock. Hostilities have simmered as Iran accelerates its nuclear program far beyond the limits of the nuclear deal and last week seized two Greek tankers on a key oil route through the Persian Gulf.

In a sign of those rising tensions, Iran's Foreign Ministry sharply criticized the International Atomic Energy Agency on Tuesday over its quarterly report released the day before on Iran's nuclear program.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh rebuked the report's findings that Iran's highly enriched uranium stockpile had increased by 18 times since the 2015 nuclear deal as “not fair and balanced.”

The U.N. nuclear watchdog also said that Iran has still failed to explain traces of uranium particles that IAEA inspectors found at former undeclared sites in the country — long a sore point between Iran and the agency despite a recent push for a resolution by June.

Khatibzadeh said the agency's statements “did not reflect the reality of talks between Iran and the agency."

“The agency should be watchful and not destroy the path we walked down, with difficulty," he told reporters in Tehran.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian addressed the stalled indirect negotiations with the United States over the collapsed nuclear deal, telling reporters he communicated Iranian concerns to Vice President Kamala Harris through a third party when they were in Munich earlier this year.

Iran has repeatedly demanded guarantees that no future president could unilaterally abandon the agreement, as former President Donald Trump did in 2018. The White House has said it cannot make such a commitment.

Amirabdollahian said he had asked the mediator to "tell Ms. Kamala Harris if a group of rebels are going to take over the White House, could you please let us know."

“Even if rebels take over, they must be committed to international agreements,” Amirabdollahian said.

The White House has not acknowledged any such message.

In a recent interview with France’s Le Figaro newspaper, Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi said his country was “always glad to help” when asked if Muscat was hosting new secret talks between Iran and the U.S. Oman hosted the secret talks that led to the 2015 nuclear deal.

“I am hopeful that we can achieve a new dynamic to reach an agreement,” he said. “It is in the interest of our region and the world.”

Protesters chant 'death to Khamenei' over Iranian building collapse


Ten-storey building collapse in Abadan

Tue, May 31, 2022

(Reuters) - Protesters in several cities in Iran chanted anti-government slogans overnight, including "death to Khamenei", over a deadly building collapse in the southwest of the country, videos posted on social media showed.

Officials said the death toll had risen to 34 on Tuesday, with another 37 injured in the May 23 collapse of the 10-storey residential and commercial building in Abadan in the oil-producing region of Khuzestan. Rescue workers continued to search for victims under the rubble, they said.

Authorities are blaming the collapse of the Metropol Building on individual corruption and lax safety and say 13 people have so far been arrested for construction violations.

Iranian protesters, however, blame it on government negligence and endemic corruption.

Shouts of "death to Khamenei", a reference to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, are heard on an unverified video shared on Twitter, which gives the location as the south Tehran district of Nazi-abad.

Anti-Khamenei slogans are considered a red line for the Islamic Republic.

Another unverified video shows riot police roaming on motorcycles in the same area, apparently to disrupt or intimidate protesters.

In the southern port city of Bushehr, protesters are heard shouting "Death to the dictator", also a reference to Khamenei.

"They're lying that it's America; our enemy is right here," they shout. That is a common slogan during anti-government protests in Iran.

Videos of protests in other Iranian cities are also posted on social media.

Iranian police have used tear gas and fired shots in the air to disperse crowds and have clashed with demonstrators during the week-long protests.

In covering the disaster, official Iranian media have mainly shown religious mourning and funeral processions. Speaking on state television, Abadan's governor has warned people to solely follow official media and eschew "rumours" from social media.

Iranians are already frustrated with high food prices and economic problems at a time when efforts have stalled to achieve a revival of a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and, with it, relief from sanctions.

(dubai.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com)

Mexico agrees to review US workers' rights complaint


Tue, May 31, 2022

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Mexican government said Tuesday it has agreed to review a labor complaint filed by the United States under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade pact.

The complaint filed earlier this month said workers’ rights to freely choose their union may have been violated at a Panasonic Automotive Systems factory in Reynosa, across the border from McAllen, Texas.

Mexico’s Economy Department said in a statement it would meet with the parties in the dispute to determine if there were any violations of labor codes.

Activists say that even though employees at the plant voted in April to join an independent union, the company continues to work with the old union.

All three of the U.S. labor complaints filed against Mexico so far under the trade pact involve Mexican workers' efforts to replace old-guard unions that have long signed contracts behind workers’ backs and kept wages low.

In April, workers at the Panasonic Automotive Systems factory voted overwhelmingly to be represented by a new union.

Employees at the maquiladora, as the border plants are known, had long been represented by a union affiliated with the Confederation of Mexican Workers.

The new Independent National Industrial Union of Mobility Services won with 1,200 votes to 390 for the old union.

But the company has not respected that decision, said Susana Prieto, a federal congress member who is a lawyer and labor activist.

“Even though they chose a union, the company continues to work with the ‘protection’ union that they got in against the workers' wishes,” Prieto said.

Calls to Panasonic Mexico's headquarters for comment went unanswered.

Mexico has recently adopted laws saying employees have a right to vote by secret ballot on contracts and union representation.

In February, in another border city, Matamoros, employees at a U.S.-operated Tridonex auto parts assembly plant in Matamoros, across the border from Brownsville, Texas, overwhelmingly voted to have an independent union represent them.

Workers at a GM plant in the northern Mexico city of Silao voted to oust the old-guard Confederation of Mexican Workers and replace it with an independent union.

Such votes, while still scattered and few in number, could eventually stem the outflow of U.S. manufacturing jobs to Mexico, as it becomes harder for employers to guarantee low wages by signing contracts with the old-guard Mexican unions. Many Mexican workers make 10% to 15% of wages for similar jobs in the U.S.

Mexico accepts U.S. request for labor probe into Panasonic



Mon, May 30, 2022

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's Economy Ministry has accepted a U.S. request to probe alleged labor abuses at a Panasonic auto parts plant in the northern border city of Reynosa, it said on Monday.

The request from the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) earlier this month marked the third U.S. labor complaint under a new trade deal that aims to improve workplace conditions in Mexico.

Mexico's Economy Ministry said it sent its response on Thursday and will review the case with the Labor Ministry to determine if worker rights had been violated under the 2020 United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

The Mexican union that petitioned for the inquiry, SNITIS, has accused Panasonic of signing a union contract behind workers' backs and of firing several dozen employees who protested.


Panasonic Corp of North America said it "respects and supports" rights to free association and collective bargaining and that it did not believe they had been denied. The unit of the Japanese conglomerate added it would cooperate with Mexican authorities.

Record renewables output helps India ease coal shortage in May

Workers clean photovoltaic panels inside a solar power plant in Gujarat

Wed, June 1, 2022
By Sudarshan Varadhan

NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Record green energy output reduced Indian dependence on coal in May, despite 23.5% growth in power demand, contributing to a rise in utilities' coal inventories, a Reuters analysis of government data showed.

Surging supply from renewables will go some way towards mitigating India's coal shortage amid extraordinarily rapid growth in demand, which has forced the country to reopen mines and return to importing the fuel.

The share of renewable energy sources in power output rose to 14.1% in May from 10.2% in April. Coal made room for it, dropping to 72.4% of Indian generation from 76.8%.


Coal's share was still higher than 70.9% in May 2021, however.

Power shortages, driven entirely by demand and not declines in supply, narrowed to 0.4% of requirements in May. This compared with 1.8% in April, an analysis of daily load despatch data from federal grid regulator POSOCO showed.

Demand in the financial year to March 2023 is expected to grow at the fastest pace in at least 38 years.

Utilities' coal inventories at the end of April were at their lowest levels in years, but they rose 6.3% in May to 23.3 million tonnes, helped by renewables stepping up to carry more of the national electricity load.

Climate activists have blamed a delay in installation of renewable energy capacity for the April power shortfalls, the worst electricity crisis in more than six years. India, the world's third-largest greenhouse gas emitter, is 37% short of its target for end-2022 green electricity capacity.

Electricity demand in May was 23.5% higher than in the same month last year and up 11.9% on May 2019, the data showed.

Wind energy generation, which typically picks up from May and tapers in August, was 51.1% higher in May than a year before, while solar power output increased 37.8%, the data showed. Generation from all renewable sources rose 44.1% from a year before, the fastest pace in at least 30 months.

Analysts say the respite from power cuts in May is temporary and India's power crisis is unlikely to be resolved soon. India faced its worst power cuts in over six years in April.

"Officials also know very well that monsoons impact mining and transport. Yet, no preemptive action was taken to resolve this crisis," the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) said in a note last month.

"A lower pre-monsoon coal stock at power stations indicates the possibility of another power crisis in July-August 2022," the CREA said.

Because demand peaks during the daytime, higher generation from solar, India's main renewable energy source, is particularly important for easing the strain on an ageing fleet of coal-fired power stations. It also conserves coal for night-time generation and reduces pressure on the rail network.

(Reporting by Sudarshan Varadhan; Editing by Bradley Perrett and Bernadette Baum)

Enforcement begins on Alberta's K-Country pass; NDP Opposition promises to axe it

TAX BREAKS FOR THE RICH USER FEES FOR THE REST OF US

EDMONTON — The Alberta government has begun enforcing a pass for visitors to the popular Kananaskis Country mountain parks, but the NDP Opposition says it will scrap the fee if the party wins next year's election.



Leader Rachel Notley says having to pay $15 a day or $90 a year for personal vehicles is unfair to lower-income people and their families.

“These parks, they belong to all Albertans, and we won’t put up barriers or Albertans, regardless of their income, to experiencing this outdoor gem,” Notley said Friday.

“If (Albertans) elect an NDP government, we will repeal the Kananaskis pass and make sure K-Country is open and accessible to all.”

The fee was introduced a year ago with an extended grace period, but Environment Department spokesman Paul Hamnett said Friday the pass is now being enforced.

Staff will be scanning licence plates and issuing $150 tickets to anyone who doesn’t have the proper pass and who is not exempt from payment as are area residents and recipients of Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped.

The United Conservative government says the pass has generated $13.3 million, all of which is to be reinvested in the region.


It says the money has been used to hire more conservation officers, upgrade and operate facilities — including information centres and the Canmore Nordic Centre — groom trails and cover other expenditures.

The area gets about five million visitors a year.

"With increased visitation comes increased pressure on services, facilities, infrastructure and the landscape, and the Kananaskis Conservation Pass is having a real impact to support Albertans while protecting this special part of our province," Hamnett said in a statement.

Notley said an NDP government would continue to fund improvements.

In the meantime, she said, more clarity is needed to determine if current payouts are the promised upgrades or are simply fulfilling already scheduled budget increases.

“We have no way of knowing what they’re announcing these days are in fact incremental increases in investment to the park or in fact whether it’s just business as usual,” said Notley.

Environment Minister Jason Nixon introduced the fee a year ago. He said it was to pay for maintenance and wear-and-tear in the increasingly popular 4,200-square-kilometre wilderness area made up of several provincial parks west of Calgary.

The provincial election is scheduled for May 29, 2023.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 3, 2022.

Dean Bennett, The Canadian Press

Opinion: “It is what it is” — the quiet, progressive death of Alberta’s health-care system

Dr. Gabriel Fabreau - 
Calgary Herald

In real life, most hospital deaths look nothing like the dramatic accounts portrayed on TV. My patients generally die slowly, bit by bit.


Dr. Gabriel Fabreau is sounding the alarm about the declining state of Alberta's health-care system. He is a general internist at the Peter Lougheed Centre in Calgary and an assistant professor at the O’Brien Institute for Public Health at the University of Calgary.

Since the pandemic’s start, we’ve worried about the health system’s dramatic collapse but, like my dying patients, we’re witnessing a slower death; a system imperceptibly degrading until one day, like a cancer-riddled body, it just stops working entirely.

After two years of COVID-19, our hospitals have never been worse off. Recently, Dr. Vesta Michelle Warren, the Alberta Medical Association president, wrote to the province’s physicians: “ The system is in crisis .”

Hospital staff, past burnout, can’t provide the high-quality care we expect of ourselves. Instead, we are resigned. Staff shrug their shoulders and sigh, “It is what it is.” This defeated slogan symbolizes a fatalism I’ve never seen before.

The quality of care in Alberta is degrading, increasingly unsafe and often without dignity.

Patients wait hours, even overnight , for help after calling 911 — but there’s no one to come because paramedics are trapped in ambulance bays and hospital hallways caring for patients. Our emergency departments lack space to accept another sick person. They are clogged with admitted patients because the hospital is full and we’re out of beds .

Under constant pressure, emergency physicians send sick patients home instead of asking for admissions. Hospital managers, tasked with maximizing beds, beg physicians to discharge patients daily. We acquiesce and send home sick or frail patients to make room for others who are sicker. We know prematurely discharging patients increases their risk of bad health outcomes and readmissions. These patients return, often by ambulance. Thus, the tragic cycle starts anew.

In Alberta, 568 physicians left in 2021 and 461 fewer family physicians are accepting new patients. Alberta has the most unfilled family medicine residency positions in Canada at 32. A primary care physician shortage means people can’t see the doctors who manage their ambulatory care sensitive conditions — common conditions that can destabilize and cause preventable hospitalizations.

Most tragically, we’re seeing missed cancers, illnesses so advanced they are now incurable. We know delayed diagnosis and treatment increase cancer deaths . Canadian research predicts over 21,000 excess cancer deaths by 2030. Preventable deaths because patients couldn’t or didn’t have appropriate cancer screening.

COVID-19 is still straining our hospitals. “Mild” post-vaccine COVID-19 infections often suddenly worsen multiple chronic illnesses of the heart, lung and kidney, causing emergent hospitalizations. Further, new Canadian research shows one in nine patients hospitalized with COVID-19 is readmitted or dies within 30 days. These admissions and deaths are uncounted in public COVID-19 statistics .

But health care’s biggest threat is the constant shortage of nurses. The remaining staff are now often asked to work 16-hour shifts. To cope, some units at my hospital re-implemented emergency pandemic guidelines that allow nurse-to-patient ratios to increase to 1:8. This means providing only “essential care.”

My nursing colleagues are frustrated, disheartened and demoralized. I am watching them lose their commitment to go above and beyond for patients. Front-line nurses with 20 years of experience are impossible to replace but are retiring years earlier than planned . These nurses run our hospitals, train new nurses and guide our resident physicians. Hospitals are nothing but very expensive buildings without them.

Like my patients with life-threatening but still curable illnesses, our hospitals need aggressive treatment now to be resuscitated. The cure has two basic components: increase workforce supply and reduce hospital demand.

Canada has among the lowest physician and an average nurse supply per capita among high-income countries. Both workforces are running on empty: over half of physicians and more than 75 per cent of nurses in Canada are burnt out.

To increase supply, we must hire, train and recruit more health-care workers. First, we must invest in supporting, training and credentialing the estimated 250,000 foreign-trained health-care workers already in Canada who are desperate to employ their skills. We worked together successfully in community outreach during COVID surges and vaccine clinics . Second, we need pan-Canadian licensing for existing health-care workers to increase staffing flexibility. Finally, our provincial government must re-invest in and repair relationships with primary care as ever-more Albertans lack family doctors.

To reduce hospital demand, we must stop pretending COVID-19 is over. Wastewater surveillance shows Canadian COVID transmission is cresting. This gives us a short reprieve until fall to prepare. We must use this time to focus on improving indoor ventilation and uptake of booster doses.

Alberta lags woefully behind the rest of the country with the lowest booster rates. Unsurprisingly, we also share the highest infection rates and excess mortality in Canada, the latter despite our younger population.

To improve vaccination rates, health systems must invite communities and family members to participate. We did this in northeast Calgary , a joint effort with local agencies, health-care workers and community volunteers. In our hardest-hit , highly racialized and low-income neighbourhoods, we achieved near-universal first-dose vaccination. Then, inexplicably, the program was halted, and children’s and third-dose vaccination rates plummeted.

Most Canadians may not realize our health-care system is sick. But the day they need care, they will. On that day, inevitably and tragically, they or their loved ones will come in with an ailment or injury, and they will be shocked at the skeletal remains of a system that was once a source of national pride.

Our universal health-care system is failing. Its death will not be a loud, dramatic collapse but a slow, progressive, agonizing one.

Dr. Gabriel Fabreau is a general internist at the Peter Lougheed Centre in Calgary and an assistant professor at the O’Brien Institute for Public Health at the University of Calgary .

Starbucks closed a New York store 'illegally' after its workers unionized, a report says

stabahriti@insider.com (Sam Tabahriti) 

Starbucks workers have unionized in dozens of US stores. 

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Starbucks workers' union filed a complaint against the company, saying it closed a store illegally.

The workers accuse the coffee chain of retaliating against them for unionizing, Bloomberg reported.

The store being permanently closed is in Ithaca, New York state.

Starbucks' decision to permanently close a store in Ithaca, New York, has prompted its workers' union to accuse the company of retaliation for recent union activism, Bloomberg reported.

The union filed the complaint about the "illegal" closure to the National Labor Relations Board on Friday.

Reggie Borges, a spokesperson for Starbucks, told Insider that the closure was due to facilities, staffing, and "time and attendance" issues.

"We open and close stores as a regular part of our operations. With deep care and urgency, we continuously work to create the kind of store environment that partners and customers expect of Starbucks."

According to the report, Starbucks attorney Alan Model emailed the union to inform of the closure, saying: "As you know, there have been many issues with regard to the condition of the store (e.g., the grease trap) and it does not make sense to further operate the store."

One employee, Evan Sunshine, told Bloomberg: "Starbucks won't get away with retaliating against us like this. Whatever it takes, however long it may take, we will persevere."

Three Ithaca stores have voted to unionize in the past few months, along with more than 50 Starbucks stores nationwide.

Other workers from other giants have either attempted or succeeded in unionizing, such as Apple workers who filed to do so in April but later withdrew their request amid alleged intimidation.

Amazon, however, pulled off a surprise victory, marking the retail giant's first unionized warehouse.

Employees at the Ithaca store, near the Cornell University campus, voted to unionize in April. The drive was prompted by an overflowing grease trap that had spilled wastewater and oil onto the floor, according to Bloomberg.

Workers United, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union, has helped Starbucks workers to unionize, and they said it would support the staff.

Gary Bonadonna, a regional leader for the union, told Bloomberg that the closure was a "blatant act of war" against the union's members, adding: "We have their backs."

Marcos-Linked Stocks Post Windfall Gains in Election Month



Ian Sayson
Mon, May 30, 2022

(Bloomberg) -- Investors who bought stocks tied to Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his family ahead of the Philippines’ presidential election this month have enjoyed windfall gains as he coasted to victory.

Three of the nation’s five best performing equities in May were linked to Marcos. PhilWeb Corp., a gaming company owned by his brother-in-law Gregorio Araneta III, soared more than 60% in its best monthly gain in more than seven years. The businessman’s Araneta Properties Inc. returned about 50%, as did Prime Media Holdings Inc., owned by the family of Marcos’ cousin Deputy House Speaker Martin Romualdez.

Nickel miner Marcventures Holdings Inc. and its shareholder Bright Kindle Resources & Investments Inc., two other firms linked to Romualdez, also outperformed the country’s stock benchmark. Shares of both companies rose at least 8%, while the Philippine Stock Exchange Index climbed 1%.

Expectations the stocks would fare better under a Marcos presidency lured investors, like Kevin Khoe, 48, who started buying PhilWeb in January as surveys showed Marcos consistently leading by a wide lead over his rivals.

Khoe, a former stock analyst and who has been trading equities since 1994, named PhilWeb the best play among so-called “Marcos stocks” because he saw catalysts beyond politics. PhiWeb has strong earnings, liquidity and is poised to benefit from the economy’s reopening, he said.

Every election, investors focus on companies that might gain “accommodation” under a new president, according to Alex Timbol, a former stock broker who’s been an equities investor since 1987. Such firms are favorably valued by the market during a president’s six-year term, but are punished toward the end if they fail to show “they can thrive on their own ability,” he said.

“Speculators like empty companies because they can believe anything, it’s like pointing at the sky and imagining whatever they want,” said Timbol, who prefers Marcventures among the Marcos-linked stocks, citing its earnings recovery and rising nickel prices. “Traders should be astute to identify those opportunities and see where it’s going.”

SPACE WAR
China's military scientists call for development of anti-Starlink measures


SOPA Images via Getty Images

Mariella Moon
·Contributing Reporter
Wed, June 1, 2022

China must develop capabilities to disable and maybe even destroy Starlink internet satellites, the country's military researchers said in a paper published by the Chinese journal Modern Defense Technology. The authors highlighted the possibility of Starlink being used for military purposes that could aid other countries and threaten China's national security. According to South China Morning Post, the scientists are calling for the development of anti-satellite capabilities, including both hard and soft kill methods. The former is used to physically destroy satellites, such as the use of missiles, while a soft kill method targets a satellite's software and operating system.

In addition, the researchers are suggesting the development of a surveillance system with the ability to track each and every Starlink satellite. That would address one of their concerns, which is the possibility of launching military payloads along with a bunch of satellites for the constellation. David Cowhig's Translation Blog posted an English version of the paper, along with another article from state-sponsored website China Military Online that warned about the dangers of the satellite internet service.

"While Starlink claims to be a civilian program that provides high-speed internet services, it has a strong military background," it said. Its launch sites are built within military bases, it continued, and SpaceX previously received funds from the US Air Force to study how Starlink satellites can connect to military aircraft under encryption. The Chinese scientists warned Starlink could boost the communication speeds of fighter jets and drones by over 100 times.

The author warned:

"When completed, Starlink satellites can be mounted with reconnaissance, navigation and meteorological devices to further enhance the US military’s combat capability in such areas as reconnaissance remote sensing, communications relay, navigation and positioning, attack and collision, and space sheltering."

Between hard and soft kill, the researchers favor the latter, since physically destroying satellites would produce space debris that could interfere with China's activities. The country previously filed a complaint with the United Nations about the Tiangong space station's near-collision with Starlink satellites. Apparently, the station had to perform evasive maneuvers twice in 2021 to minimize the chances of collision. Destroying a few satellites also wouldn't completely take out the Starlink constellation, seeing as SpaceX has already launched over 2,500 satellites at this point in time.