Eight killed in Sudan as protesters rally on uprising anniversary

2022/6/30 
© Reuters


KHARTOUM (Reuters) -At least eight protesters were shot dead in Sudan on Thursday, medics said, as large crowds took to the streets despite heavy security and a communications blackout to rally against the military leadership that seized power eight months ago.

In central Khartoum, security forces fired tear gas and water cannon in the afternoon as they tried to prevent swelling numbers of protesters from marching towards the presidential palace, witnesses said.

They estimated the crowds in Khartoum and its twin cities of Omdurman and Bahri to be at least in the tens of thousands, the largest for months. In Omdurman, witnesses reported tear gas and gunfire as security forces prevented protesters from crossing into Khartoum, though some later made it across.

The protests in the capital and other cities marked the third anniversary of huge demonstrations during the uprising that overthrew long-time autocratic ruler Omar al-Bashir and led to a power-sharing arrangement between civilian groups and the military.

Last October, the military led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan toppled the transitional government, triggering rallies demanding the army quit politics.

Some of Thursday's protesters carried banners calling for justice for those killed in previous demonstrations. Others chanted, "Burhan, Burhan, back to the barracks and hand over your companies," - reference to the military's economic holdings.

In the evening, protesters in Bahri and Khartoum said they were starting sit-ins against Thursday's deaths, one of the highest single-day tolls to date.

June 30 also marks the day Bashir took power in a coup in 1989.

"Either we get to the presidential palace and remove al-Burhan or we won't return home," said a 21-year-old female student protesting in Bahri.

It was the first time in months of protests that internet and phone services had been cut. After the military takeover, extended internet blackouts were imposed in an apparent effort to weaken the protest movement.

Staff at Sudan's two private sector telecoms companies, speaking on condition of anonymity, said authorities had ordered them to shut down the internet once again on Thursday.

BRIDGES SHUT

Phone calls within Sudan were also cut and security forces closed bridges over the Nile linking Khartoum, Omdurman and Bahri - another step typically taken on big protest days to limit the movement of marchers.

On Wednesday, medics aligned with the protest movement said security forces shot dead a child in Bahri during neighbourhood protests that have been taking place daily.

Thursday's eight deaths, six in Omdurman, one in Khartoum and another child in Bahri brought the number of protesters killed since the coup to 111. There were many injuries and attempts by security forces to storm hospitals in Khartoum where they were being treated, the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors said.

There was no immediate comment from Sudanese authorities.

The United Nations envoy in Sudan, Volker Perthes, called this week on authorities to abide by a pledge to protect the right of peaceful assembly.

"Violence against protesters will not be tolerated," he said.

Military leaders said they dissolved the government in October because of political paralysis, though they are yet to appoint a prime minister. International financial support agreed with the transitional government was frozen after the coup and an economic crisis has deepened.

Burhan said on Wednesday the armed forces were looking forward to the day when an elected government could take over, but this could only be done through consensus or elections, not protests.

Mediation efforts led by the United Nations and the African Union have so far yielded little progress.

(Reporting by Khartoum bureau; Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Alex Richardson, Mark Heinrich and Daniel Wallis)

India's women water warriors transform parched lands

Agence France-Presse
June 30, 2022

India is struggling to meet the water needs of its 1.4 billion people -- a problem worsening as climate change makes weather patterns more unpredictable 

SANJAY KANOJIA AFP

As the monsoon storms bear down on India, a dedicated group of women hope that after years of backbreaking labour, water shortages will no longer leave their village high and dry.

The world's second-most populous country is struggling to meet the water needs of its 1.4 billion people -- a problem worsening as climate change makes weather patterns more unpredictable.

Few places have it tougher than Bundelkhand, a region south of the Taj Mahal, where scarce water supplies have pushed despairing farmers on the plains to give up their lands and take up precarious work in the cities.

"Our elders say that this stream used to run full throughout the year, but now there is not a single drop," said Babita Rajput while guiding AFP past a bone-dry fissure in the earth near her village.

"There is a water crisis in our area," she added. "All our wells have dried up."

Three years ago, Rajput joined Jal Saheli ("Friends of Water"), a volunteer network of around 1,000 women working across Bundelkhand to rehabilitate and revive disappeared water sources.

Together they carry rocks and mix concrete to build dams, ponds and embankments to catch the fruits of the June monsoon, a season which accounts for about 75 percent of India's annual rainfall.

Agrotha, where Rajput lives, is one of more than 300 villages where women are chalking out plans for new catchment sites, reservoirs and waterway revitalizations.

Rajput said their work had helped them retain monsoon rainwater for longer and revive half a dozen water bodies around their village.

Though not yet self-sufficient, Agrotha's residents are no longer among the roughly 600 million Indians that a government think-tank says face acute water shortages daily.

The women's efforts provide a rare glimmer of hope as national shortages worsen.

Water utilities in the capital New Delhi fail to meet demand in summer, with trucks regularly traveling into slums to supply residents unable to draw water from their taps.

India's NITI Aayog public policy centre forecasts that around 40 percent of the country's population could be without access to drinking water by the end of the decade.

'Government has failed'

Erratic rainfall patterns and extreme heat have been linked to climate change in Bundelkhand, which has suffered several long dry spells since a drought was declared at the turn of the century.

Civil society activist Sanjay Singh helped train women in Agrotha to harvest and store rainwater after the surrounding land was desiccated by drought.

By doing so he helped the village rediscover knowledge that was lost decades earlier, when water went from being a community-managed resource to one administered by India's government.

"But government has failed to ensure water to every citizen, particularly in rural areas, pushing villagers to go back to the old practice," he told AFP.

Before Agrotha's irrigation project began, women had to walk miles every day in a desperate and often fruitless search for a well that was not dry.

In India's villages, fetching water is traditionally the responsibility of women, several of whom have faced violence from their husbands after being unable to find enough for their households, Singh said.

He added that drought had brought big social changes to the region, pushing men to move to cities and leave their families behind.

But since it was founded in 2005, the Jal Saheli initiative has helped more than 110 villages become self-reliant for their water needs and aided in reversing the outward flow of people.

Dust bowl to oasis

In the nearby Lalitpur district, the elderly Srikumar has seen the initiative transform her community from a dust bowl into an oasis.

She heard about the volunteer group a decade ago after suffering through years of water shortages, by the end of which every well and hand pump in her village of 500 people had run dry.

Most of the farms in the area had turned barren because of a lack of irrigation, and dehydrated cattle herds were dying in summer temperatures close to 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit).

"Villagers suffered a lot during those days," Srikumar said. "Farming was impossible and men were fleeing their homes to cities to earn a living."

With the help of Singh's charity, Srikumar and a dozen other volunteers dug a football field-sized reservoir near the village that holds up to 10 feet (three meters) of water after the monsoon rains arrive.

The village now has enough water reserves to meet its needs year-round and replenish the earth that had dried out before their intervention.

"Things have changed for good. We have enough water now, not just for our homes but also for our cattle," she told AFP.

"Our lives would have been miserable without this pond," she added. "It would have been very difficult to survive."

© 2022 AFP

Mass shootings do seem to be an American phenomenon

Richard Sudan
June 28, 2022

Man holds gun in front of US flag (Shutterstock.com)

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The Buffalo and Uvalde massacres shocked the nation and have rightly reinvigorated the debate around tighter gun laws and gun controls.

But the problem isn’t just easy access to guns.

It’s the sheer number of them.
The United States is a country in which there are more guns than people. A 2018 study called The Small Arms Survey revealed that approximately 1 billion firearms were in global circulation. Of that number, 857 million were thought to be in civilian hands, with 393 million alone estimated to be in the hands of American civilians.

That number exceeds the country’s total population.

And that’s surely an undercount. The Small Arms Survey was conducted nearly half a decade ago. Who knows how many more weapons there are in circulation, including semiautomatic rifles?

While it might be tempting to see mass shootings solely through the lens of easy access to guns, it doesn’t explain the whole problem.

While the US leads the world in the number of guns in circulation (other nations don’t come close), the fact remains that many countries still do have huge numbers of guns in circulation.

Second to the US is India with more than 70 million. China is third with almost 50 million. You’d think such numbers would create conditions for mass shootings in those nations as in America, but that’s wrong.

That’s why the world is side-eyeing America.

Now, some people have attempted to explain mass shootings by pointing to what they argue is an inherently violent culture in the US.

To some extent this is true.

But at the same time, the US does not have a monopoly on violence.

India is run by an increasingly authoritarian regime with almost daily videos emerging that show deadly, violent and brutal crackdowns on Indian Muslims. But there are no mass shootings. Not like in the US. The same can be said of China despite its many, many problems.

Mass shootings do seem to be an American phenomenon.

Ted Cruz was recently cornered by a British journalist and asked to explain why the shootings seem to take place only in America. Cruz ducked the question by accusing the reporter of playing politics.

Cruz could have been honest. He could have said easy accessibility is a serious issue - and he’d have been right. He could have said the violent defense of white supremacy’ is the cause – and he’d have been right.

Because the thing that distinguishes the US from other countries is not simply its longstanding love of guns – other countries have an abundance of love, too – but the relationship with white supremacy.

It’s unclear how many mass shooters are white men, particularly young white men, who are motivated by some kind of white supremacist ideology. But some of the most high-profile mass shootings were certainly committed by men who fit that description. The shootings seem to be in line with the rise in hate crimes generally.

Naysayers will point to mass shootings committed by nonwhite men but how many of those were motivated by a racist ideology?

And how many such individuals are out there? Authorities are struggling to keep tabs. High profile cases where perpetrators openly identify with white supremacist ideology make headlines.

But we also know that not every white supremacist publishes a manifesto or has a swastika on their chest. The true number of white supremacists, incubating online, plotting the next massacre, might never be known. But one thing is certain. The number is growing.

Former federal agents have blown the whistle many times, warning of the growing number of white supremacist groups in the US, and of the corruption of law enforcement by white supremacist groups.

Director of the FBI Christopher Wray has spoken of how white supremacy is the fastest growing form of domestic terrorism.

Joe Biden echoed as much when he claimed domestic terrorism from white supremacists is the most lethal terrorist threat in the nation.

It’s not hard to join the dots.

Hate crimes are on the rise.

Mass shootings are on the rise.

White supremacy is on the rise

I believe that over time, the link between a surge in mass shootings and the growth of white supremacy will become ever clearer.

But those in power must not sit on their hands and wait for more carnage to get to grips with the problem. There’s no time for thoughts and prayers. Faith without works is dead, as the saying goes.

It won’t be possible overnight, and it may not even be possible, but white supremacy is the most important issue facing America. The past will continue to haunt the present unless a new course is charted.

Sections of the media, often framing young white men, who have internalized white supremacist ideology to the point that they want to murder, as misguided youth who went off the rails is as stupid as presenting Azov (Ukrainian neo-Nazis) as freedom fighters.

The United States has the most firearms in circulation in the entire world. I would bet too, that it is also home to the greatest number of white supremacists in the world. That’s a lethal combination.

Richard Sudan covers human rights and American foreign affairs. Based in London, his reporting has appeared in The Guardian, Independent and others. Find him @richardsudan.

'King Trump' dreams of a glorious return: It seems preposterous, but we laugh at our peril

Chauncey Devega, 

Salon
June 28, 2022

Former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally at the Canyon Moon Ranch festival grounds on Jan. 15, 2022, in Florence, Arizona. - Mario Tama/Getty Images North America/TNS

The House Jan. 6 Select Committee has Donald Trump dead to rights. Over the course of four public hearings — with a fifth unexpectedly scheduled for Tuesday — the committee has presented a compelling de facto indictment of Trump and his coup cabal for their crimes on and around Jan. 6, 2021, including treason. The evidence is so conclusive that if Attorney General Merrick Garland does not prosecute Trump, that choice will itself be a crime against American democracy and society.

Ultimately, if Garland refuses to act, future history books will forever connect him to Trump's coup attempt. Such hypothetical accounts may observe that after a defeated president and his confederates attempted to overthrow American democracy, the nation's top law enforcement official declined to hold him accountable — and that led directly to the collapse of democracy and the rise of a fascist regime.

How has Trump himself reacted to the Jan. 6 hearings and their devastating depiction of his gross criminality and bottomless ignominy? He is a criminal mastermind and apparent sociopath, who throughout his life has demonstrated a profound ability to evade responsibility for his misdeeds. He has learned from his experience in hundreds of lawsuits and dozens of accusations: He never accepts responsibility for any wrongdoing, always depicts himself as the real victim and always goes on the attack.

RELATED: Dr. Lance Dodes: Trump is a dangerous sociopath — but he's sane enough to stand trial

True to form, Trump has responded to the hearings by inciting violence against Democrats, liberals and other individuals and groups he deems to be his enemies — exactly the same offense he so clearly committed in connection with the coup attempt and Capitol attack on Jan. 6.

In a speech at the "Faith and Freedom" conference two Fridays ago in Nashville, Trump basically promised to pardon his followers who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6. He told the audience that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Liz Cheney should be prosecuted for investigating him and his cabal. Needless to say, he showed no contrition for willfully endangering the life of Vice President Mike Pence. As legal experts have observed, these statements offer more evidence of Trump's state of mind and malice aforethought in connection with the events of Jan. 6.
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Trump has no fear of speaking out in public, since to this point the Department of Justice has not shown any substantive indications that he will face prosecution. Trump also believes, with good reason, that he can command his followers to engage in acts of violence if he is indicted or prosecuted, and that they will obey.

On his Truth Social site, Trump has unleashed a number of enraged diatribes in response to the committee hearings:

The Fake News Networks are perpetuating lies, falsehoods, and Russia, Russia, Russia type disinformation (same sick people, here we go again!) by allowing the low rated but nevertheless one sided and slanderous Unselect Committee hearings to go endlessly and aimlessly on (and on and on!)

It is a one sided, highly partisan Witch Hunt, the likes of which has never been seen in Congress before. Therefore, I am hereby demanding EQUAL TIME to spell out the massive Voter Fraud & Dem Security Breach! I demand equal time!!!

For Trump to accuse anyone else of telling lies is of course massive projection He is a professional victimologist. Nonetheless, Trump's followers hear his repeated demands for violence (whether explicit or implied) for violence very clearly.

As such, Trump's Truth Social platform has also featured an increase in threats of assassination or other acts of political violence against members of the House Jan. 6 committee. CNN reports that users on Truth Social and other right-wing sites "are openly calling for the execution of committee members, with Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney appearing to be a specific target. Calls for former Vice President Mike Pence to be hanged ... continue to be echoed online":

An analysis by the group Advance Democracy, a not-for-profit that conducts public interest investigations, shared with CNN found posts on Truth Social calling for the execution of January 6 committee members and others. The researchers searched for specific terms on the platforms like "execute."

One post on Truth Social includes a picture of a noose and reads, "The J6 committee are guilty of treason. Perpetuation of a insurrection hang them all."

On another post referencing Cheney, a user posted a GIF of a guillotine with the message, "#MGGA #MakeGuillotinesGreatAgain."

Trump and his spokespeople continue to circulate the Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen by Joe Biden and the Democrats through "voter fraud" — effectively meaning any or all votes cast by Black and brown people. That is part of a larger propaganda strategy to justify Trump's coup attempt and the Capitol attack, as well as future right-wing political violence.

This propaganda is working: A new Quinnipiac University poll shows that a large majority of Republicans believe that "Trump bears not much of the responsibility (25 percent) or none at all (44 percent) for the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6."

As the Jan. 6 hearings continue, Donald Trump and his acolytes have ramped up their email messaging and fundraising campaign, urging supporters to send Father's Day cards to Trump, who will supposedly read a list of his "favorite" followers at a rally. He continues to seek constant validation and demands that followers boost his self-esteem by responding to polls asking if he is "the greatest president" of all time. He is also giving away "limited edition" autographed MAGA hats and photos of himself — for a donation, of course. Trump is also titillating his followers by offering to include them in a "top secret poll," which they must promise not to share with anyone else.

As always, Donald Trump wants more money. He asks and pleads for it. He browbeats and threatens his followers for it. The House Jan. 6 committee has shown that Trump raised more than $250 million from his followers, supposedly to investigate nonexistent voter fraud, by way of a fund that also did not exist. The money instead went to Trump's political action committee, his personal and family businesses and various other members of his inner circle. Trump's fundraising is in all likelihood an act of criminal fraud, although exceedingly unlikely to be prosecuted as such.

Those facts are of little importance to the Trumpists, they are cult followers who will continue to give him money as an act of love and loyalty. For them, the money is a way to become one of the chosen, the MAGA elect.

Trump's fundraising emails have become dangerously absurd. One recent example appears to describe Trump as a godlike authority with the power to confer "GREAT MAGA KING STATUS" on a fortunate few among his followers. Here is the explanation:

The Patriots that have reached this status are the ones that President Trump has always been able to count on to answer the call when the Left comes after us — his MOST RELIABLE and DEDICATED supporters.

It's too easy to dismiss such an email as buffoonish and ridiculous, or to declare that Trump's followers are "idiots" for responding to such a shameless grift. But that laughter and mockery are a form of defensive humor or contempt by liberals (and others) who are terrified of Trumpism and the larger American fascist movement.

Fascists and authoritarians can often be buffoonish, and sometimes highly entertaining. That is part of their power and charm over their followers, especially if they wield "populism" as one of their primary weapons. Adolf Hitler was described by a prominent magazine editor in 1930 as a "big mouth," a "half-insane rascal," a "pathetic dunderhead" and a "nowhere fool."

Donald Trump is a malignant narcissist and may be so mentally unwell that he actually believes that he is some type of king. Many of his followers are prepared to kill and die at his command, and a significant number believe that he is a divinely inspired ruler.

Under the European feudal system, kings had no regard for democracy, human rights or the rule of law. There was no contradiction: They were literally the state, and possessed the arbitrary power of life and death over their subjects. Donald Trump desires such power for himself.

The Trump movement's coup attempt and its ongoing assault on American democracy clearly resemble the actions of a would-be king, explicitly rejecting the idea that the legitimate majority will of the people should govern a democracy. Trump and his allies also reject other basic principles of democracy, such as that a government should be transparent and accountable to the people, and should be viewed as holding legitimate authority through the consent of the governed. None of that is important to Trump and his followers in the larger white right, who would prefer tyranny in the form of an Apartheid Christian-fascist plutocracy.

The framers of the U.S. Constitution personally understood the dangers of kings and their tyranny. Trump and his fascist insurgency represent exactly the type of authoritarian force that the framers rejected.

What will King Trump do if he (or another younger and more vigorous aspiring monarch) returns to power in 2024 or thereafter? Like the kings of old, the Trump regime will pursue violent retribution against everyone they believe has wronged them. Those who laugh at King Trump now are trying to find safety and comfort in gallows humor. It will not be enough. Such laughter will not save them.

Life in the abyss, a spectacular and fragile struggle for survival


Amélie BOTTOLLIER-DEPOIS

AFP
Tue, June 28, 2022 


Cloaked in darkness and mystery, the creatures of the deep oceans exist in a world of unlikely profusion, surviving on scant food and under pressure that would crush human lungs.

This extremely hostile environment, which will come under the spotlight at a major United Nations oceans summit in Lisbon this week, has caused its inhabitants to develop a prodigious array of alien characteristics and idiosyncratic survival techniques.

A vast assortment of animals populate the sunless depths, from the colossal squid, which wrapped its tentacles around the imaginations of sailors and storytellers, to beings with huge cloudy eyes, or whose bodies are as transparent as glass.

And the angler fish, with its devilish looks illuminated by a built-in headlamp, showing that the deep dark is alive with lights.

- 'Incredible' creatures -

Until the middle of the 19th century, scientists believed that life was impossible beyond a few hundred metres.

"They imagined that there was nothing, because of the absence of light, the pressure, the cold, and the lack of food," Nadine Le Bris, a professor at Sorbonne University, told AFP.

Between 200 and 1,000 metres (650 to 3,300 feet), the light fades until it vanishes completely, and with it plants; at 2,000 metres the pressure is 200 times that of the atmosphere.

From the abyssal plains to the cavernous trenches plunging deeper than Everest is high, aquatic existence continues in spectacular diversity.

"When people think of the deep sea they often think of the seafloor," said Karen Osborn of the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum.

"But all that water in between is full of incredible animals. There is a ton of life."

These open water inhabitants face a formidable challenge: they have nowhere to hide.

"There's no seaweed to hide in, no caves or mud to dig into," said Osborn.

"There are predators coming at them from below, from above, from all around."

- Masters of disguise -

One tactic is to become invisible.

Some creatures are red, making them difficult to distinguish in an environment where red light no longer filters through.

Others render themselves transparent.

Take the transparent gossamer worm, which ranges in size from a few millimetres to around a metre long and shimmies through the water by fluttering its frilly limbs.

"They look like a fern frond," said Osborn.

"They're beautiful animals and they shoot yellow bioluminescent light out of the tips of their arms. What could be better than that."

Bioluminescence is particularly common among fish, squid, and types of jellyfish, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which says around 80 percent of animals living between 200 and 1,000 metres produce their own light.

This chemical process might be helpful for defence, reproduction or to find food -- but no one knows for sure why so many creatures have evolved it, says NOAA.

- "Sea snow" -

With no plants around and animals scattered in the vastness doing their utmost to disappear, creatures in the ocean depths often have a hard time finding a live meal.

"If you happen to get lucky and hit a patch of your food, bingo! But you may not see another one for three weeks," said Osborn.

Another option is to feast on the dead.

Organic particles from the surface waters -- disintegrated bodies of animals and plants, mingling with fecal matter -- drift down in what is known as "marine snow".

This cadaverous confetti forms part of a process that sequesters carbon dioxide in the ocean depths.

It is also a lifeline for many deep sea animals, including the blood red vampire squid which, contrary to its reputation, peacefully hoovers up marine snow.

When giants like dead whales sink to the seabed, they are swiftly reduced to bone by scavengers.

- Final frontier -

With most of the oceans still unexplored, it is often said that we know more about the surface of Mars than we do about the seafloor on our own planet.

But unlike outer space, scientists keep finding life even under the most hostile of conditions.

Like the searing hydrothermal vents at the cracks between oceanic plates that spew chemical compounds such as hydrogen sulphide.

Microorganisms use this to create organic matter via "chemosynthesis", like plants use the sun for photosynthesis, which in turn feeds "exuberant" ecosystems, said Pierre-Marie Sarradin, head of the Deep Ecosystems department at the French research agency Ifremer.

These hydrothermal springs were totally unknown until the 1970s.

Scientists have so far identified some 250,000 marine species, though there could still be at least a million to be discovered.

Could there be an elusive sea monster lurking in the depths? Despite measuring more than 10 metres in length the colossal squid has only very rarely been seen.

"I don't think we're going to find a megalodon," said Osborn, referring to the giant ancestor of the shark.

Humans may not have explored much of the deep seas, but they have left their mark, via global heating, overfishing and pollution.

Oceans are acidifying as they absorb more and more CO2, there is a growing prevalence of "dead zones" without oxygen, while microplastics have been found in crustaceans at a depth of nearly 11 kilometres in the Mariana Trench.

Food reaches the bottom in smaller quantities.

Nadine Le Bris said species that "already live at the limits in terms of oxygen or temperature", are already "disturbed".

abd/klm/cdw/fg

HUGS ARE AGGRESSIVE?

Ted Cruz criticizes Elmo for ‘aggressively’ advocating COVID vaccine for kids in new ‘Sesame Street’ PSA

2022/6/29
© New York Daily News

Ted Cruz, R- Texas, speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on May 4, 2022, in Washington, D.C.. - Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images North America/TNS

Elmo, the beloved red Muppet character on the long-running children’s television show “Sesame Street,” is now vaccinated against COVID-19 — but not everyone is happy.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz took to Twitter to express his outrage at a public service announcement featuring Elmo and his dad Louie, which was designed to encourage parents and caregivers to get informed about COVID shots for younger kids.

“You were super duper today getting your COVID vaccine, Elmo,” Louie says during the 60-second spot. “Yeah, there was a little pinch, but it was OK,” the little furry red monster, who’s 6 1/2 years old, responded.

Not too long after the video was shared on social media on Tuesday morning, the Republican lawmaker thanked Sesame Street “for saying parents are allowed to have questions,” but also noted Elmo’s intentions.

“You then have @elmo aggressively advocate for vaccinating children UNDER 5,” he wrote. “But you cite ZERO scientific evidence for this.”

“Was it safe? Was it the right decision?’ I talked to our pediatrician so I could make the right choice,” Louie said in the PSA. “I learned that Elmo getting vaccinated is the best way to keep himself, our friends, neighbors and everyone else healthy and enjoying the things they love.”

The PSA — launched by Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind “Sesame Street” in collaboration with the Ad Council and COVID Collaborative’s COVID-19 Vaccine Education — followed recent FDA emergency use authorization and CDC recommendation of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID vaccines for children aged 6 months and older. It was produced in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

“Parents have been waiting a long time to vaccinate their youngest children and protect them from serious illness and hospitalization,” AAP President Moira Szilagyi said in a statement. “The months, and even years, of worry have been especially hard on these families as they adjusted their activities through the pandemic to keep their children safe. COVID vaccination for this age group is one more tool parents now have in their toolbox to help their children thrive.”

That was not the first time the Republican lawmaker objected to a “Sesame Street” character encouraging COVID vaccination on children.

Late last year, after fellow Muppet Big Bird — a 6 1/2-year-old, 8-feet-2-inches tall yellow bird — announced he had gotten his shot, Cruz slammed the news as “Government propaganda … for your 5-year-old!”

Nearly 5.7 million child cases of COVID-19 have been reported nationally in 2022 alone, making vaccination an important step to protecting both kids and their families against the highly contagious virus and its variants, Sesame Workshop said in a news release.

UMBRELLA'S FOR SUN SHADE NOT RAIN

As Tokyo's June flames out in record heatwave, a power plant shutdown stokes blackout concern
Reuters
June 30, 2022



TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's electricity grid creaked on Thursday under the strain of Tokyo's hottest June streak since 1875, as the sudden shutdown of a power plant left tens of millions of residents a step closer to blackouts that would bring air conditioners to a halt.

Temperatures of around 40 C were predicted in some areas in greater Tokyo, home to 37 million people, on the sixth day of a heatwave that kicked in after the earliest end to the capital's rainy season in decades. Maximum highs are not forecast to drop to 30 C before next Tuesday.

With power producers already scrambling to bring nearly 50-year-old turbines out of mothballs, the unexpected closure of a 600 megawatt (MW) plant in northern Japan that sends supplies to Tokyo came with reserve power capacity hovering around 3% - the level below which blackouts can kick in.

Operator Joban Kyodo Thermal Power Company cited unexplained technical issues for the closure, adding no schedule for restart had been decided. Industry ministry officials said they expected the plant to be back on line on Thursday evening.

A mid-morning estimate showed the reserve ratio of power generation capacity for the Tokyo area could fall as low as 3% between 4.30 p.m. and 5 p.m. local time on Thursday, according to national grid monitor OCCTO.

The industry ministry issued a power shortage warning for the fourth consecutive day in areas surrounding Tokyo, urging both households and businesses to conserve electricity as best they can - without stinting on air conditioning where it would endanger the health of the vulnerable, as heatstroke hospitalistions rise.

Some firms, like auto parts maker Yorozu Corp, have said they will scale back manufacturing shifts, while others, like retailer Seven & i Holdings and tech giant Sony, have asked employees to save power by turning off unnecessary lighting or devices among other steps.

Automaker Nissan Motor said it began operating in-house power generators at its Tochigi plant north of Tokyo from Wednesday through Friday this week, while calling on offices and factories to conserve energy where possible.

Japan's government and utilities had been preparing since spring to deal with tight power supplies during peak summer demand - but not until July kicks in on Friday.

That tightness was triggered by a series of known issues: the suspension of some power plants after March earthquakes in the Fukushima area; a long-term drop in the number of thermal power plants amid a push for decarbonisation; and delays to the restart of nuclear reactors because of stricter regulation following the Fukushima disaster in 2011.

To deal with that, the government and utilities had lined up the rebooting of ageing gas-fired power plants, and changing maintenance schedule for nuclear reactors.

Japan's biggest power generator JERA is restarting a 45-year-old gas-fired unit in Anegasaki, near Tokyo, on Thursday, followed by a 44-year-old unit at Chita in central Japan on Friday in a bid to provide extra electricity to make up for any shortfalls.

(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi and Nobuhiko Kubo; Additional reporting by Satoshi Sugiyama and Sam Nussey; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)

EXCHANGE VALUE

Francis Bacon painting of Lucian Freud sells for £43.3mn: Sothebys

Agence France-Presse
June 29, 2022

 CARLOS JASSO AFP

A painting by Irish-born British artist Francis Bacon of fellow UK painter Lucian Freud sold on Wednesday for £43.3 million ($52.5 million, 50.2 million euros), according to Sotheby's auction house.

The price is an auction record for a painting by Bacon sold in London and also for any single panel painting by the artist.

"Study for Portrait of Lucian Freud", painted in 1964, "exemplifies an iconic pairing of two of the most significant painters within the canon of twentieth-century art", said the auction house.

The figurative work depicts a restless, bare-chested Freud, with a distorted face, sitting on a bench.

"The present work is testament to Francis Bacon's capacity to provoke emotion and capture in paint the complexities of the human psyche," added Sotheby's.

The artists were close friends but also artistic rivals fascinated by the human figure and sat for each other on multiple occasions.

Bacon's 1969 triptych "Three Studies of Lucian Freud" sold in 2013 for $142.4 million, and held the record for the most expensive work of art at auction until being unseated by Picasso's "The Women of Algiers (Version O)" in 2015.

Snapped up by a New York gallery, it is composed of three panels or pieces which show the artist Freud sitting on the same chair but painted from different angles.

Bacon died in 1992 and Freud in 2011.

© 2022 AFP

Competition authorities fail to see the high levels of concentration among liners: Global Shippers Forum

 June 29, 2022

 Port of Long Beach

Current measures of competitiveness in the global liner shipping market are incomplete and therefore inaccurate and fail to take full account of the degree of co-operation between carriers which results in a more highly concentrated industry, claims a new report prepared by maritime economists at MDS Transmodal (MDST) in collaboration with the Global Shippers Forum (GSF).

The rhetoric against record profit-making liners shows little sign of easing, even as the first signs of the freight rate bonanza cooling off filter through. After the US recently introduced federal legislation to have greater oversight on liner activities, calls are growing for other jurisdictions, notably the UK, to follow suit.

The GSF has urged the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) in Washington DC and all other competition authorities to relook at the level of concentration across many trades, arguing that many of the most used data sets do not give a complete picture of the close cooperation between carriers and alliances.

“This breakthrough analysis lays bare the degree of dominance that many shipping lines actually have in the key global trades,” commented GSF’s director James Hookham. “Current measures of market concentration are only seeing part of the picture. Not only are there consortia operations within the three main alliances, the number of separate consortia that exist consisting of lines from different alliances is also significant.”

The report also argues that the lack of competition has contributed to the dire schedule reliability of all liners over the past two years as well as the shunning of less profitable regions with the number of port calls skipped continuing to grow.

Meanwhile, a new campaign to raise awareness of high shipping costs in the UK has been launched by Nick Glynne, the CEO of Buy It Direct Group, who is determined to get local politicians to take action. Buy It Direct is one of the UK’s largest online retailers.

According to Glynne, the price hikes in ocean shipping have resulted in £29bn ($35.4bn) being sucked out of the UK economy in 2021 alone and into the coffers of the shipping lines. This is equivalent to four pence on the UK value added tax (VAT) rate.

“In the US the shipping industry is regulated as it is considered an essential element of the US economy. Due to the obscene level of profiteering by the lines and the suspicion of cartel-like behaviour between the three global alliances during and after covid, president Joe Biden has just introduced new laws tightening regulation. It’s time for the UK to do the same,” Glynne said.

Investigations by the US, the EU and others have repeatedly dismissed cartel claims over the past two years of extreme profit making for global container lines, but shippers continue to fight their case – most recently a gourmet food producer from Illinois suing Asian carriers Yang Ming and HMM over collusion claims.

Shipper complaints come at a time where freight prices, while still four or five times their historical average, are now falling with many analysts suggesting the peak has passed.

“Shippers on the major trades are seeing spot rates and premium surcharges fall in many trades. Getting capacity allocations is becoming easier, and carriers are starting to adjust to no longer being all-mighty,” a new report from freight rate benchmarking platform Xeneta suggests.

Hydrogen: What's the big deal?

Hydrogen has been hyped as key to a global energy transition. After a slow start, it has received a boost from a Canada-Germany deal. So what does the future hold for the low-carbon fuel?

Hydrogen is being touted as the fuel to clean up our most carbon-intensive industries

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, which is probably why it deserves pole position on the periodic table. It’s a colorless, odorless and non-toxic gas that consists of a single proton and a single electron. It's also highly combustible. Each kilogram of hydrogen or H2 contains about 2.4 times as much energy as natural gas. Impressive, right? 

It is. Industry has long been in on the benefits and has been using hydrogen for decades in the petrochemicals sector —  mainly for oil refining, producing ammonia for fertilizers, and in the production of methanol and steel. But it has also been touted as a means of speeding up our transition to clean energy. Even the European Commission has described hydrogen as "the missing part of the puzzle to a fully decarbonized economy".

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also sees it as key to reducing reliance on Russian gas and reaching climate targets: the country has signed a deal with Canada to begin importing hydrogen on a large scale from 2025.  

Hydrogen is crucial in the oil refining process

What's so good about it?  

It's a clean, versatile fuel that doesn't produce any direct greenhouse gas emissions — all it takes to release the energy is oxygen, and the only byproduct is water.  

It could potentially help some polluting sectors slash their CO2 emissions. Think heavy-duty transport or buildings, where hydrogen could be blended into existing natural gas networks for heating. But it could also be used to store  renewable energy in the power sector and replace fossil fuels in chemicals and fuel production.  

Sounds like a green dream  

Let's not get carried away. Thing is, hydrogen doesn't exist on this planet in its pure form. It's great stuff once you can get your hands on it, but unlike fossil fuels, it's not just lying around waiting to be dragged from some ancient slumber. In fact, separating it from other substances so we can store and use it requires time and energy. Which also equates to money.   

4:05 min

H

There's a catch then...  

Yeah, afraid so. But isn't there always?   

The hydrogen catch is how it's made. From an environmental perspective, the energy-intensive ways of extracting it  become secondary if it's produced without CO2 emissions. But that is by no means always the case. Ranging from clean to dirty, the myriad H2 production methods are complicated. And what do we do when things get too complex?   

Bury our heads in the sand? 

Not advisable. No, we introduce a snazzy color scheme. So for the next couple of paragraphs, maybe try to forget that hydrogen is in fact a colorless gas. 

The most common form of H2 used today (ca. 95%) has been labeled gray hydrogen. If that calls to mind emissions, that's about right. Every ton of the gray variety comes with a footprint of about 10 tons of CO2 emissions because the production process — also known as steam methane reforming or SMR — relies on gas or fossil fuels.   

Blue hydrogen sounds a lot cleaner. But that's just color trickery because it is, in fact, also produced with methane. The only seemingly redeeming feature is that the CO2 emissions from the production process are captured and stored underground. 

Extracting green hydrogen requires a lot of energy

Pink hydrogen, which has a 1980s ring to it, relies on nuclear power. So while it might work in some countries where nuclear is big, it's not a global solution. It's also not pink.  

Other versions include brown, black, yellow, turquoise and green hydrogen. To cut to the chase, the only one that makes any real sense in terms of reducing our carbon footprint, is green. That's because green hydrogen is made via electrolysis (splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen) with the help of renewable energy. This means zero CO2 emissions and no mess to clear up. And it wouldn't harm global water supplies either.  

That said, it currently makes up less than 1% of global hydrogen production.  

What are we waiting for?   

In a nutshell, for prices to fall. At the moment, production of green hydrogen costs more than twice as much as its mucky grey counterpart. But things are changing.  

The more renewables we have — and global expansion is predicted to rise to 45% by 2040 — the more affordable green hydrogen will become. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), a surge in clean energy infrastructure could see  the cost of production fall 30% by 2030.   

4:05 min

Germany's hydrogen infrastructure

So once the prices have come down, we're sorted?  

Full disclosure, there's another catch. Hydrogen is much harder to store than fossil fuels because it has a very low density. It is the lightest gas in the universe, followed by helium. It's also highly explosive. All these special features mean the gas has to be trapped under vast pressure in special containers. Or stored as a liquid at a frigid minus 253 degrees Celsius. So, it's not exactly something that can be picked up at the local DIY store and kept in the garage for when gas supplies run low.  

The extremely low density of hydrogen also make it a challenge to transport on a large scale, so before it goes on the move it needs to be pressurized into a compressed gas or liquefied. It can then be exported either along pipelines or by trucks and ships. Germany plans to ship Canadian hydrogen, produced mostly by wind energy, across the Atlantic in the form of ammonia.

What's really sobering though is the sheer amount of electricity we would need to produce green hydrogen on a larger scale. Right now, about 70 million tons of hydrogen are produced globally each year — spewing some 830 million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere in the process. Which even more soberingly is roughly equivalent to the carbon emissions of the United Kingdom and Indonesia combined.  

And get this: replacing those 70 million tons with green hydrogen would require about 3,600 TWh, more than the annual electricity amount generated by the  entire European Union. We would need A LOT more to decarbonize sectors such as heavy-duty transport.

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Renewable energy makes up about 25% of global power generation

Where does that leave us? 

Good question. Green hydrogen certainly isn't the answer to our medium-term energy needs, but it can play a crucial role in decarbonizing sectors that are tricky to electrify by 2050 — such as heavy-duty transport and industry. In other words, the last 20% that are difficult to wean off fossil fuels.  

But it won't be cheap. According to the Energy Transitions Commission (ETC), to build a hydrogen economy that accounts for 15-20% of energy consumption we would need to fork out $15 trillion (€12.6 trillion) between now and 2050.  

And yes, that is more than a bit of loose change, but compared to predictions from leading economists who reckon failure to tackle climate change could cost us more than $50 trillion over the same period, green hydrogen actually sound like a steal.  

So it's ultimately cash talking?  

Cash certainly has its say, but the bottom line is that the case for green hydrogen is strongest when the supply of renewable energy outstrips demand. Might sound like science fiction, but it's where we're supposed to be heading.

Edited by: Tamsin Walker/Kathleen Schuster