Japan govt approves state funeral date for slain ex-PM Abe, plan sparks protests

Mourners gather at the altar for the late former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in Tokyo

July 22, 2022

TOKYO (Reuters) -The Japanese government said on Friday it would hold a state funeral for former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Sept. 27, amid street and social media protests that the state shouldn't fund ceremonies for Japan's longest-serving, but divisive, premier.

Abe, prime minister for more than eight years over two terms and hugely influential in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) even after leaving office, was gunned down two weeks ago at a campaign rally, an incident that deeply shocked Japan.

His funeral was held soon after, but the cabinet decided on Friday that a state funeral will be held on Sept. 27 at the Nippon Budokan in central Tokyo.

"We made this decision, as has been said before, due to Abe's record as the longest-serving prime minister, during which he exerted leadership skills distinctive from others and bore heavy responsibility for dealing with a number of serious domestic and international issues," chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told a news conference on Friday.

The funeral will be fully paid for by state funds likely to be taken from the budget reserve, he said.

The last state funeral for an ex-prime minister paid for fully by state funds was in 1967, with successive funerals paid for partly by the state and partly by the LDP.

The current plan has triggered growing disquiet. Around 200 people gathered near the PM's office in Tokyo to protest the decision, according to the Kyodo news agency, and on social media objections ranged from the use of taxpayer funds, to complaints the government may seek to make political capital of Abe's death and cement his legacy.

On Thursday, 50 people filed for an injunction in a Tokyo court seeking a halt to the use of public funds for the event, saying there should have been more discussion before making a decision.

Only 49% supported the idea of a state funeral in a recent public opinion poll by public broadcaster NHK, and the topic was trending on social media on Friday.

On Twitter, a user with the handle 'Yuki no Imogai' posted, "(Prime Minister Fumio) Kishida always bragged he listens to the people, so why isn't he doing it now?"

Others contrasted the plan with the government response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with new cases surging to record levels in Japan this week. [L1N2Z20KK]

"Given they're doing next to nothing about the pandemic, how did they manage to decide this so quickly?", posted Twitter user 'Heron'.

"Take the money you'll use for the funeral and do something about the coronavirus."

(Reporting by Yoshifumi Takemoto and Elaine Lies; Writing by Chang-Ran Kim and Elaine Lies; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)

‘Manipulated’ Alzheimer’s data may have misled research for 16 years

Sarah Knapton
Thu, July 21, 2022 

Man points at brain scan images - David A White/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

The key theory of what causes Alzheimer’s disease may be based on ‘manipulated’ data which has misdirected dementia research for 16 years – potentially wasting billions of pounds – a major investigation suggests.

A six-month probe by the journal Science reported “shockingly blatant” evidence of result tampering in a seminal research paper which proposed Alzheimer’s is triggered by a build-up of amyloid beta plaques in the brain.

In the 2006 article from the University of Minnesota, published in the journal Nature, scientists claimed to have discovered a type of amyloid beta which brought on dementia when injected into young rats.

It was the first substance ever identified in brain tissue which could cause memory impairment, and seemed like a smoking gun.

The Nature paper became one of the most-cited scientific articles on Alzheimer’s ever published, sparking a huge jump in global funding for research into drugs to clear away the plaques.

But the Science investigation claims to have found evidence that images of amyloid beta in mice had been doctored, in allegations branded “extremely serious” by the charity Alzheimer’s Research UK.

Elizabeth Bik, a forensic image consultant, brought in to assess the images, told Science that the authors appeared to have pieced together parts of photos from different experiments.

“The obtained experimental results might not have been the desired results and that data might have been changed to … better fit a hypothesis,” she said.
‘Mislead an entire field of research’

Issues with the research were originally spotted by neuroscientist Dr Matthew Schrag of Vanderbilt University, Tennessee, who noticed anomalies while involved in a separate investigation into an experimental Alzheimer’s drug.

In a whistleblower report to the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), Dr Schrag warned that the research “has the potential to mislead an entire field of research”.

The journal Science looked separately into his claims, and said its own investigation “provided strong support for Schrag’s suspicions”.

Although the Minnesota authors stand by their research, the claims are now being studied by the NIH, who can choose to pass on the matter to the US Government’s Office of Research Integrity if deemed to be credible.

The journal Nature has also launched its own investigation and has placed a warning on the 2006 article urging readers to “use caution” when using the results.

If proven, such manipulation could mark one of the biggest scientific scandals since Dr Andrew Wakefield linked the MMR jab to autism in a 1988 Lancet article.

Plaques in the brain were first identified in dementia patients by the German psychiatrist Alois Alzheimer in 1906, and in 1984 amyloid beta was found to be their main component.

For the next 20 years, hundreds of trials were conducted into therapies targeting amyloid in the brain, but all failed, leading to the theory being largely abandoned until the Minnesota paper was published in 2006.

Since then, universities, research institutions and pharmaceutical companies have spent billions investigating and trialling therapies to clear the brain of amyloid, but none have worked.

Dennis Selkoe, professor of neurologic diseases, at Harvard University, told Science that there was “precious little evidence” that the amyloid found by the Minnesota team even existed.

Professor Thomas Sudhof, a Nobel laureate of Stanford University, added: “The immediate, obvious damage, is wasted NIH funding and wasted thinking in the field because people are using these results as a starting point for their own experiments.”

The authors of the Minnesota paper have defended their original findings claiming they “still have faith” that amyloid play a major causative role in Alzheimer’s.
Amyloid itself not in question

Commenting on the findings, Dr Sara Imarisio, head of research at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said: “These allegations are extremely serious. While we haven’t seen all of the published findings that have been called into question, any allegation of scientific misconduct needs to be investigated and dealt with where appropriate.

“Researchers need to be able to have confidence in the findings of their peers, so they can continue to make progress for people affected by diseases like dementia.

“The amyloid protein is at the centre of the most influential theory of how Alzheimer’s disease develops in the brain. But the research that has been called into question is focused on a very specific type of amyloid, and these allegations do not compromise the vast majority of knowledge built up during decades of research into the role of this protein in the disease.”

Dr Richard Oakley, associate director of research at Alzheimer’s Society, said: “There are many types of amyloid we know contribute to brain cell death in dementia. If what’s suggested here ends up being true we definitely would not need to throw the baby out with the bath water.”

Amid flood of Alzheimer's research, questionable conduct persists

By Judy Packer-Tursman
UPI

Beta-amyloid plaques and tau in the brain are two hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease, a topic spurring much research and some questions about scientific integrity. 

Photo courtesy of National Institute on Aging/NIH

WASHINGTON, July 21 (UPI) -- A probe by a prestigious science journal, published Thursday, raises questions about the integrity of some Alzheimer's disease research, including scientific evidence that helped launch an investigational drug into large, ongoing clinical trials.

The probe, which examined research into Cassava Sciences' lead Alzheimer's drug candidate, simufilam, was published in the American Association for the Advancement of Science's peer-reviewed academic journal, Science.

A range of Alzheimer's research -- particularly related to simufilam -- has been under dogged scrutiny by scientists, medical journals and some researchers' own institutions. The Food and Drug Administration has been asked to intervene.

It's a complex tale of medical intrigue, whistleblowers and accusations of faulty and deceptive research amid hope that scientists can make large strides in combatting Alzheimer's debilitating effects.

RELATED Greater risk of Alzheimer's may be linked to gut disorders, cholesterol, study says

As part of its probe, Science asked Elisabeth Bik, a California-based scientific integrity consultant, to serve as one of two independent image analysts.

She reviewed the findings of Dr. Matthew Schrag, a physician and neuroscientist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, who had explored potential errors in some Alzheimer's research by fellow neuroscientist Sylvain Lesné.

Lesné is a neuroscientist at the University of Minnesota.

Bik found Schrag's conclusions about possible image manipulation by Lesné in some of his research papers "compelling and sound," the magazine said.

Bik told UPI in an email she also has "serious concerns" about published research papers on simufilam from the Cassava-linked lab of Hoau-Yan Wang, an associate medical professor at the City University New York School of Medicine.

"It appears that some figures and other data from the Wang lab at CUNY, where Cassava's preclinical -- and some clinical -- work has been done, might have been falsified," Bik said.

RELATED One protein seen as 'critical factor' in development of Alzheimer's disease

Specifically, Bik questioned the Wang lab's presentation of "Western blots," used to detect Alzheimer's disease.

"Without public access to most original photos or data, it is hard to know what has really transpired," she said, "but the few purported original images that have been publicly shared appear to have been Photoshopped."

Remi Barbier, Cassava's president and CEO, told UPI in an email Wednesday, "It should go without saying that Cassava Sciences denies any and all allegations of wrongdoing. Any indication or inference that Cassava Sciences has engaged in any sort of misconduct is simply not true."

Jay Mwamba, CUNY's publications editorial manager, said the university "takes accusations of research misconduct very seriously" and its research integrity officer follows a specified policy after an accusation to determine whether misconduct occurred.

"While we cannot comment further at this time, we also recognize there is external interest in this process and where we can keep the public informed, we will," Mwamba told UPI in an email.

Vanderbilt's Schrag is the whistleblower whose expert findings led to Science's six-month investigation, according to AAAS.

Schrag said in the Science article his major concern is that the research by Cassava-linked scientists may be misleading and slow the race to find effective treatments for the neurodegenerative disease.

Neither Schrag nor Vanderbilt University Medical Center responded to UPI's requests for comment.

Yet, AAAS said in a news release summarizing the findings that the Science investigation "has found strong support for Schrag's suspicions, calling into question key lines of research in the quest to understand and treat Alzheimer's."

Schrag told Science that he sees "red flags" in some simufilam research by Cassava-linked scientists and broader Alzheimer's studies by Lesné, some of which were co-authored by Lesné's mentor, Karen Ashe.

"The university is aware that questions have arisen regarding certain images used in peer-reviewed research publications authored by university faculty Karen Ashe and Sylvain Lesné," Jake Ricker, a University of Minnesota spokesman, told UPI in an email Wednesday.

"The university will follow its processes to review the questions any claims have raised. At this time, we have no further information to provide," Ricker said. He confirmed that Lesné and Ashe "are currently university employees."

Schrag's deep dig began last summer when he was asked by Jordan A. Thomas, a Washington-based attorney with the law firm Labaton Sucharow, to investigate simufilam research findings to see whether he could spot any perceived irregularities.

Science describes Thomas's clients as "two prominent neuroscientists" concerned about the potential risks of simufilam without shown benefit.

Looking at published images related to simufilam, Schrag identified what Science describes as "apparently altered or duplicated images in dozens of journal articles."

Schrag doesn't use the word "fraud" or claim to have proven misconduct, according to Science, because such an assessment would "require access to original, complete and unpublished images and in some cases raw numerical data."

Aided by Schrag's work, Thomas filed a "statement of concern" last August with the Food and Drug Administration about the "accuracy and integrity" of data supporting ongoing clinical evaluation of simufilam.

It raised concerns about clinical biomarker data, "Western blot" analyses and analyses involving human brain tissue.

Thomas also filed a citizen petition alleging "grave concerns about the quality and integrity" of studies related to simufilam and its efficacy. He declined further comment in a phone call with UPI.

In February, the FDA dismissed the petition, which sought to halt clinical trials of simufilam. The drug agency said its decision was partly based on the petitioners' request that the agency "initiate an investigation," which is outside its scope of possible actions.

But, the FDA said, "We take the issues you raise seriously." The agency did not return UPI's requests for comment.

Meanwhile, Alzheimer's research has continued apace. Much of it centers on beta-amyloid, a protein that collects to form plaques in the brains of people with the disease -- the subject of Lesné's work.

This focus on reducing amyloid plaques, and figuring out how the tau protein contributes to Alzheimer's development, is seen by many as key to potential treatments.

"I think of amyloid as the fuse and tau as the bomb," Dr. Glen R. Finney, a professor of neurology at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine and director of the Geisinger Health Memory and Cognition Program, told UPI in a phone interview Wednesday.

While there are nearly 150 Alzheimer's drug candidates in the pipeline, Finney said the disease develops slowly, so finding a safe and effective treatment may take a decade.

In June 2021, the FDA gave accelerated approval to Biogen's infused monoclonal antibody drug Aduhelm (aducanumab), the first new Alzheimer's drug since 2003 and the first targeting amyloid beta plaques.

Cassava's drug candidate simufilam, an oral tablet, is taking a different approach, trying to stabilize a protein in the brain, altered filamin A, to improve cognitive functioning.

"With Alzheimer's, it seems that conventional science -- which has failed repeatedly -- continues to be met with optimism, while new approaches are attacked," Cassava's Barbier said. "I find this perplexing. There is an urgency to develop safe and effective treatments for people with Alzheimer's."

Finney said this "is a tough nut to crack" since "a lot of people [are] hungry for hope and sometimes that may lead to science not as strong being promoted."

Finney conceded "scientists are people, too, and may take shortcuts," necessitating institutional review boards and the need to replicate results in multiple labs.

However, he said, "The bigger problem isn't people massaging data. It is being careful we're not looking at studies with rose-colored glasses" and avoiding narrow research.

"It is not a time to despair or a time to pull back on Alzheimer's [research]," he said. "We need to have a 'moon shot' and accelerate it."

NASA chooses SpaceX for $255 million Falcon Heavy telescope launch from Florida


Emre Kelly, Florida Today
Thu, July 21, 2022 

SpaceX's three-core Falcon Heavy rocket will launch a new NASA space telescope from Florida in the coming years, the agency said in this week's announcement of the $255 million contract.

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, named after the first woman to hold an executive position at NASA, is slated to fly from Kennedy Space Center's pad 39A no earlier than October 2026. The roughly $255 million price tag includes launch-related costs; the telescope itself is expected to run up a tab between $3 and $4 billion.

So far, the Space Coast has hosted three Falcon Heavy launches since the triple-core rocket debuted in February 2018. It's a slower pace than expected for SpaceX's first heavy-lift vehicle that typically includes side boosters landing at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, but at least a dozen more are planned through 2026.

With an eight-foot primary mirror, Roman sits on the smaller end of the modern telescope spectrum. The recently launched James Webb Space Telescope, for example, has a 21-foot primary mirror but also works a different kind of mission. Roman will use a much wider field-of-view to dig into dark energy, exoplanet, and astrophysics investigations.

A rendering of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, formerly known as the Wide Field InfraRed Survey Telescope. It was later renamed for Roman's astronomy work and leadership at NASA.

More: Astronomers on Webb telescope images: 'Like a kid in a candy store'

More: At KSC, SpaceX Falcon booster exhibit is ready to wow guests

Roman's wider field-of-view also means it can observe areas much faster than the Hubble Space Telescope, for example, which could take years to collect images of the same areas due to its "zoom level" on the universe. With all three major telescopes – Hubble, Webb, and Roman – in play after 2026, NASA says future observations will be able to leverage the advantages of all three.

"WFIRST’s surveys don’t require that we know exactly where and when to look to make exciting discoveries," Julie McEnery, the Roman Space Telescope's senior scientist, said in a NASA technical document. "The mission will turn on the floodlights so we can explore the universe in a whole new way."

The telescope was previously known as the Wide Field InfraRed Survey Telescope, or WFIRST, but was renamed in honor of Roman and her astronomical work at NASA. She played key roles in the deployment of other space telescopes like Hubble, for example.

SpaceX's selection for the contract continues to push its manifest – past and present – beyond just communications satellites. The company has been selected for national security missions like GPS, delivering Artemis program payloads to the moon for NASA ahead of astronauts arriving on the surface, and now multibillion-dollar science investigations like the Roman telescope.

For the latest, visit floridatoday.com/launchschedule.

Contact Emre Kelly at aekelly@floridatoday.com or 321-242-3715. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @EmreKelly.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: NASA chooses SpaceX for Falcon Heavy telescope launch from Florida

Pentagon renames UFO office, expands mission to include ‘transmedium’ objects



Catherine Buchaniec
Wed, July 20, 2022 

WASHINGTON — After only eight months of existence, the Pentagon’s office tasked with investigating and tracking UFOs — or unidentified aerial phenomena — will look beyond the stars for objects of interest.

On Wednesday, the Pentagon announced that it renamed and expanded the authority of the government’s chief UFO office. Formerly known as the Airborne Object Identification and Management Group, the office will now be known as the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, or AARO.

With the new name comes increased responsibilities, the Defense Department said in a statement. While the group was mostly focused on airborne and threats in space, the renamed office will also look into unidentified objects that are submerged in water or deemed “transmedium.”

Transmedium typically refers to the ability of an object to fly across multiple environments. For example, an object could be considered “transmedium” if it could fly through Earth’s atmosphere in addition to another environment, such as space or underwater.

The office’s new scope and name result from a provision of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2022. The bill included a provision to establish an office with responsibilities that were broader than those originally assigned to the old office.

The renaming comes amid an uptick in interest in UFOs in Washington.
Congress takes renewed interest in issue

Earlier this year, Congress held its first hearing on UFOs in over a half century. During the hearing, lawmakers questioned Pentagon officials for more information about sightings of UFOs, with many lawmakers voicing criticism about a lack of transparency surrounding the issue.

The House voted last week to create a government system for reporting UFOs as an amendment to this year’s defense bill. The amendment would also compel current and former defense officials to reveal information about the phenomena.

In June 2021, the intelligence community released a long-awaited report on what it knows about a series of flying objects observed over the past few decades. The release of the report, while revealing little about the sightings, marked one of the first times the government acknowledged the mysterious sightings.

In addition to investigating objects, the renamed office will also be tasked with synchronizing efforts across the Department of Defense and with other U.S. federal departments and agencies to detect and identify objects of interest near locations pertinent to national security, such as training areas or military installations.

In cases where a relevant object is identified and deemed a hazard to national security, the office is also responsible for mitigating the threat.

LIKE BUY NOTHING DAY, WEEK, MONTH

Korea's growing ‘no-spend challenge’ trend has people saving more amid rising inflation



Jane Nam
Thu, July 21, 2022 

South Korea’s “no-spend challenge” trend has citizens saving more, with some boasting of their zero-expenditures on social media.

On Instagram, there are currently over 3,000 posts using hashtags such as “no spend,” “no-spend challenge” and “no-spend day.”

One user, @jjeon_bu, dedicates their entire account to posting what appears to be weekly updates on their ledgers.



Their bio reads, “a new employee in their 20s who dreams of financial freedom.”

Each post is broken down into “income” and “expenditures,” with an explanation of some of the costs, including “books,” “appointment with friend” and “former savings.”

For their report on Wednesday, which was payday, they start their day by gaining 63 won ($0.048) from their bank in interest before taking out a 22,000 won ($16.77) expense for a date with a friend and 14,320 won ($10.92) for books.

More from NextShark: 'You are kind and gentle': TikToker helping an elderly Asian woman cross the street warms hearts

“I couldn’t do ‘no-spending’ but I only bought what was absolutely necessary! My best friend left for language training so I met with him for a farewell meal. I also bought Ramkun’s book after only borrowing it and so I can finally underline it.”

They noted that they bought their book at a discounted price before concluding that, “the farewell was an unavoidable expense.”

Koreans, especially Millennials and Generation Z, are making an effort to cut out what they deem to be “unnecessary costs.”

More from NextShark: Chinese man teaches his dog how to start the rice cooker while he is away in viral video

Kim Ji-yeon, a 29-year-old elementary school teacher, restricts herself to only eating out on the weekends and, instead of going to cafes after lunch, she limits herself to the free instant coffees available in her office.

“I first heard about the ‘no-spend challenge’ on Instagram,” she told The Korea Herald. “[I] thought it was a good way to save money. I was able to save around 200,000 won ($153) in two weeks.”

While experts such as Inha University consumer science professor Lee Eun-hee warn that extreme saving habits can be harmful if conducive to “cutting off friends and isolating yourself,” inflation and high costs of living are leaving many people with no choice.

According to a report from Korea Statistics, the consumer price index has surged by 6 percent to 108.22 as of June this year, the highest point in the last 23 years and seven months.

The misery index was also reported to be the highest in seven years, relaying the economic distress citizens have been facing with rising unemployment and inflation rates.

The Korean won hit its 13-year low in June, making 1,300 won equal to a mere U.S. dollar. This especially affected students studying abroad, whose parents are experiencing firsthand the brunt of the weakening home currency.

Featured Image via Getty Images

U.S. pipeline companies eye nat gas infrastructure for growth


 The headquarters of U.S. energy exporter and pipeline operator 

Kinder Morgan Inc. is seen in Houston

Wed, July 20, 2022 
By Laila Kearney

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. midstream companies have set their sights on natural gas pipelines and export terminals as a key growth opportunity as investor pressures and political headwinds make new crude oil pipeline projects unpalatable.

U.S. pipeline operators are expected to have benefited from high oil and gas prices and rising domestic production in the second quarter, though some analysts warn that the decline in consumer demand late in the quarter could affect results.

Earnings per share for five of the top U.S. oil pipeline companies are expected to have grown about 15% from the year ago period, according to a Reuters analysis.

Natural gas projects are expected to be the mainstay of growth in coming years as production rises and shippers find new customers in Europe, which is trying to wean itself off of Russian energy, and in Asia, where many countries are boosting imports of LNG.

"The biggest opportunity right now is primarily in serving LNG, whether it's adding U.S. export capacity or building pipelines to bring the gas to LNG terminals," said Stephen Ellis, a strategist at financial services firm Morningstar.

Kinder Morgan Inc, which kicks off the midstream earnings season on Wednesday, recently received the green light to finance expanded capacity on its Permian Highway Pipeline, which ships gas from west Texas to Houston for export.

The Houston-based pipeline operator is expected to report earnings per share of 27 cents for the quarter ended June 30, compared to adjusted earnings of 23 cents per share from the same period a year ago.

The expansion followed several proposals to build liquefied natural gas (LNG) processing plants along the U.S. Gulf Coast, which have the potential for liquefaction of about 3.1 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) of new gas supply, to take advantage of rising European and Asian demand.

Total natural gas output in the largest U.S. shale basins is expected to increase 0.7 billion bcfd to a record 93.0 bcfd in August, according to an Energy Information Administration forecast. Other companies looking to add new gas pipelines, particularly in the Permian, include units of Energy Transfer LP and MPLX LP.

A major challenge for midstream operators in coming years will be whether they are able to build new pipelines in areas outside the U.S. Gulf.

"Everybody has pretty much given up on ever doing another long-haul pipeline anywhere outside of Texas and, maybe, Louisiana," said Bradley Olsen, lead portfolio manager for Recurrent Investment Advisors' midstream infrastructure strategy.

The industry is watching the ongoing legal and environmental battle over the completion of Equitrans Midstream Corp's natural gas Mountain Valley Pipeline from northwestern West Virginia to southern Virginia. That line is expected to be finished next year, but has been embroiled in legal battles that have kept it from completion.

In contrast to natural gas, crude oil pipeline capacity exceeds production. Currently, there are roughly 8 million barrels per day of Permian crude pipeline capacity and less than 5.5 million bpd of production, according to EIA and Morningstar figures.

(Reporting by Laila Kearney in New York. Additional reporting by Arathy Somasekhar in Houston; editing by David Evans)

Germany plans immigration reforms to attract foreign workers


FILE PHOTO: The sun sets behind the skyline of Frankfurt


Wed, July 20, 2022 


BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany, faced with labour shortages that are contributing to soaring inflation, plans reforms to its immigration system to make itself more attractive to skilled workers who currently lean towards other rich countries, ministers said.

Labour Minister Hubertus Heil and Interior Ministry Nancy Faeser wrote in an article for business newspaper Handelsblatt that they wanted to turn Germany into an immigration destination.

"If we want to attract clever people, we have to offer them more than just simpler processes," they wrote.

"We're competing in the search for skilled labour with countries like the United States, Canada and Australia. We're talking good jobs, jobs with collective wage bargaining."

Europe's largest economy's need for skilled labour continues unabated, exacerbated by the country's ageing population. In June, almost 40% of employers in the engineering sector experienced shortages, economic research institute Ifo said.

Competition for skilled labour has intensified around the world, especially in industries where the COVID-19 pandemic has normalised home working, leading to narrowing wage differentials between wealthy and emerging economies.

German politicians hope the country's strong labour protections and human rights laws can help to attract skilled foreign workers.

"Germany has for a long time struggled to make itself visible as an immigration country," said Misbah Khan, migration policy specialist and member of parliament for the Green party, which is part of the centre-left coalition government. "Our strong civic rights are an important plus point."

Legislation announced last week will allow migrants already in Germany more time to find a job, but the two ministers said they wanted to go further to attract people from outside the EU who do not have an automatic right to work in the bloc.

Among the promised changes is a measure allowing industry trade associations to recognise foreign qualifications, sparing applicants the lengthy process usually needed to check their equivalence with Germany's certifications.

The ministers wrote that other countries do not have this hurdle. "Qualified workers steer wide of Germany," they said.

Recognition by a trade association would entitle people coming to Germany from overseas to a one-year visa to look for a job, they said.

(Reporting by Thomas Escritt, editing by Rachel More and Jane Merriman)

UNITED SLAVE STATES OF AMERIKA

23-Year-Old Black Man Shot

'Execution-Style' By California Police

Danteé Ramos 

Thu, July 21, 2022

A 23-year-old man was fatally shot while running from the San Bernardino police in California. Surveillance footage shows an officer firing at Robert Adams just seconds after pulling up in an unmarked vehicle.

Security camera footage shows two officers driving up in an unmarked car around 8 p.m. as Adams stood in the parking lot. 

“Police in San Bernardino, CA, fatally shot 23-year-old Robert Adams execution-style! It’s reported Robert didn’t know there were police in the unmarked car before he ran for his life. We need a full investigation into this horrific execution!” Ben Crump, the lawyer representing George Floyd’s family, tweeted.

Adams ran from the officers when they stepped out of their vehicle car. The clip shows that within seconds of getting out of the car, one of the officers fired at Adams from a distance, causing Adams to hit the floor.

The two officers have not been identified, but Adams’s family asks for murder charges to be filed against them.

Since the video’s release, Adams’ family has been urging authorities to file murder charges against the officers who have not been identified.

The two officers were considered to be with a “specialized investigations unit” and were “conducting surveillance in an unmarked vehicle” after “receiving information that a Black male armed with a gun was in the parking lot,” the San Bernardino police department said in a statement.

The two police officers say they gave verbal instructions after stepping out of the unmarked car and that Adams had a gun in his hand as he ran.

Adams’ family argues that their loved ones probably did not know they were officers when they arrived.

Adams’ mother, Tamika Deavila King, said she wants criminal prosecution after losing her son.

“A part of me is gone now, and I can’t ever get it back. I want criminal prosecution and I want justice and I never want another mother to have to bear this pain. It hurts so bad,” Deavila told the Guardian.

Audwin King, Adams’ stepfather, is standing behind his wife and is demanding complete retribution for his stepson’s killing.

“We want full justice for our son. We want cops like that off of the force. Police are supposed to protect and serve, not hunt and kill, and we can see that is what that man did. My stepson didn’t have a chance to defend himself, and the officer jumped out with the intention to gun him down like a dog in the streets,” King said.

Adams did not fire at the officers, according to Jennifer Kohrell, a spokesperson for the police department. The video footage does not show a weapon in Adams’ hands and shows him running in the opposite direction.

Kohrell said Adams “fit the description” of a person of interest police were investigating, but she declined to say whether police confirmed Adams was the person they were looking for.

Police released additional bodycam footage on Tuesday night showing the officer drawing his gun and pointing at Adams before chasing him and quickly firing.

Adams can be seen lying on the ground in pain while an officer stands above and with his weapon pointed at Adams.

“The location has a history of criminal activity,” said the police chief, Darren Goodman, regarding the location where the incident occurred.

Goodman further explained that the officer fired because he was “fearing that bystanders or the officers’ lives were in danger.” However bodycam clips do not reveal Adams pointing any weapon at the officers, nor does it show any bystanders near the lot.

An ambulance took Adams to a hospital after the shooting, where he died.

On Tuesday, in a statement, Crump said that he and California attorney Bradley Gage were representing Adams’ family.

“It is unbelievable that another Black family has to bury their child due to police shooting first and asking questions later,” the two lawyers said. “Robert appeared to be simply walking around the parking lot when officers exited their unmarked vehicle firing their weapons at him immediately. Robert never even had a chance to explain himself.”

Ben Reynoso, a local councilman, said he stands behind the officers facing criminal charges.

“I’ve been grappling with it all day. To watch him flee and get killed, there’s no justification. It was like an execution,” he said. “How often do we deploy these tactics? And to what end? If this could happen one time, is it happening somewhere else in our city right now?,” questioning the unmarked car decision.

The two officers have not been placed on leave and are currently working.

Police bodycam video shows teen raising arms before shot

Thu, July 21, 2022 
CHICAGO (AP) — Police bodycam video of an officer shooting a 13-year-old boy appears to show the boy raising his hands in the air a moment before shots were fired, according to an attorney for the boy’s family.
The shooting May 18 on the city’s West Side left the boy paralyzed.
The video is from the body camera of an officer running after the 13-year-old believed to have been a passenger in a stolen car. The footage is from another officer involved in the chase.
“Let’s be clear," said Andrew Stroth, an attorney for the boy's family. "What the video shows is an unarmed Black boy, running away from the police, puts his hands up, obeying what he heard from the officers, and without cause or provocations is shot.”
The officer's name has not been released publicly, but WLS-TV said his attorney, Timothy Grace, issued a statement saying the officer believed the boy was armed with a gun. Investigators said they never found a gun at the scene.
“Police officers are required to make split-second decisions and the law not only understands that, but allows for it," Grace said. "Illinois law tells us that we are not supposed to look at these situations with 20-20 hindsight, but rather we should judge the actions of a law enforcement officers from the perspective of a reasonable officer.”

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability is continuing to investigate and has issued no determination. The officer has been restricted to desk duty.

The boy's family has filed a federal lawsuit against the city. The lawsuit identifies the boy only by the initials A.G.

Analysis: Ukraine war rekindles Europe's demand for African oil and gas


A girl walks on a gas pipeline running through Okrika community near Nigeria's oil hub city of Port Harcourt

Thu, July 21, 2022


By Noah Browning, Ron Bousso and Wendell Roelf

BRUSSELS/LONDON/CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Europe's thirst for oil and gas to replace sanctioned Russian supply is reviving interest in African energy projects that were shunned due to costs and climate change concerns, industry executives and African officials said.

Energy firms are considering projects worth a total of $100 billion on the continent, according to Reuters calculations based on public and private company estimates.

African countries that currently have little or no oil and gas output could see billions in energy investments in the coming years, including Namibia, South Africa, Uganda, Kenya, Mozambique and Tanzania.

Namibia alone could provide around half a million barrels per day in new oil production, following promising exploratory wells in recent months, according to unpublished estimates by two industry consultants.

Africa as a whole could replace as much as one-fifth of Russian gas exports to Europe by 2030, based on estimates by the International Energy Agency (IEA). The Paris-based watchdog said an additional 30 billion cubic metres (bcm) of African gas a year could flow to Europe by then.

"As the world seeks to replace Russian oil and gas volumes ... the industry is now focusing on the advantaged barrels Africa has to offer," said Gil Holzman, CEO of Canadian oil explorer Eco Atlantic Oil & Gas, which holds interests in oil licenses in nearly 30,000 square kilometers offshore Namibia.

"The majors have been building larger positions ... competitively bidding for exploration, development and production acreage," he told Reuters by e-mail, citing activity in the oil basins off Namibia and South Africa.

European sanctions on Russian oil supply and reduced gas flows have sent prices soaring and driven up inflation to 40-year records in some countries. Benchmark Brent crude in March reached near a 15-year high of $139 a barrel.

Investment in African energy has yet to recover from a plunge in oil and gas prices in 2014, the IEA said in a June report, highlighting Africa's potential to ease the supply crunch. Global oil output is set to rise from the pandemic but is then forecast to ebb in the late 2020s, it said.

"We are in the middle of the first truly global energy crisis and we have to find solutions to replace the loss of Russian oil and gas," IEA executive director Fatih Birol told Reuters in an interview in June.

The IEA shocked the oil industry last year by envisioning no investment in new fossil fuel projects in order to meet net zero emissions goals by mid-century.

Companies and countries eyeing oil and gas investments in Africa are aware they must move fast to profit from untapped reserves before the global transition to low carbon technology renders many fossil fuel projects unviable, the executives and officials said, as domestic fuel and power demand also rises.

Last month, Tanzania signed a liquified natural gas (LNG) framework agreement with Norwegian state energy giant Equinor and Anglo-Dutch oil major Shell that accelerates development of a $30 billion export terminal.

Patrick Pouyanne, CEO of French oil giant TotalEnergies, said on a visit to Mozambique's capital Maputo in January that, if security improves, the company aimed to restart a $20 billion LNG project this year that was halted by militancy.

Pouyanne said in May that TotalEnergies needed to make up for declining output and sanctioned Russian supply and was speeding up activity in Namibia, a promising oil frontier.

"Now there is a lot of activity to try to force forward these projects," said Gonçalo Falcão of global law firm Mayer Brown, which advises firms in the African energy space, citing East African gas projects worth tens of billions of dollars. "There is clearly a sense of opportunity to reinforce them."

BIRTH OF VENUS

For new African oil, nowhere looms larger than Namibia.

Not yet a producer, Namibia has had top companies sifting through geographical data and probing its waters for decades until Shell hit in February an "encouraging" supply of light oil - the kind coveted to produce scarce gasoline and diesel.

Nearly two months into the Ukraine crisis, with oil prices near record levels, Shell launched a "back-to-back" exploration well at the site - meaning one well immediately following another - for the first time in the company's nearly 150-year history, according to two industry sources, who declined to be named as exploration continues.

Shell said the quick progress followed the "promising" results of the first well but cautioned in a statement to Reuters that, due to its climate commitments, it would only advance projects "with a credible path to early development ... (that are) resilient and competitive in low- as well as high-price scenarios."

TotalEnergies completed an exploration well in the nearby Venus prospect in March, which it called "significant", with a more advanced appraisal well due in the third quarter.

On Namibia, TotalEnergies told Reuters it will "still have to determine if the volumes are commercially recoverable ... (but) investments remain necessary to satisfy demand".

A senior Shell official, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, estimated it will take around $11 billion to develop the two companies' blocs.

The discoveries could lead to oil production of around half a million barrels per day, according to projections by data firm IHS Markit and estimates from natural resources consultancy Wood Mackenzie shared with Reuters. Both firms cautioned the forecasts were preliminary.

Maggy Shino, petroleum commissioner at the Ministry of Mines and Energy told Reuters time may be running out as the global transition to clean energy looms: "There is a possibility for Namibia to be the last African giant."

"In the wake of the success in drilling off Namibia comes the Ukraine and Russian war ... what we are seeing (is) that currently more companies are looking to invest in Namibia in the search for hydrocarbons," she said, adding the country hopes to begin production from the Shell project by 2026.

STILL CONTENDERS

The efforts are an echo of the initial decades of the post-colonial era when European governments and energy majors like Total, Shell and Eni worked in closer tandem to put Arab North Africa and a gaggle of Sub-Saharan states on the energy map.

Renewed European thirst for gas looks set to help push African output to a peak of nearly 500 billion cubic meters by the late 2030s, according to consultancy Rystad, up from 260 bcm in 2022.

Less sanguine, the IEA projects a peak of natural gas output in its "sustainable Africa scenario" under 300 bcm in 2024. It forecasts oil output will peak this decade at around 6 million bpd of oil in 2022 - down from over 10 million in 2010, indicating a longer life span for gas projects than oil.

More than half of Italian oil major ENI's production comes from Africa and over half its investment in the last four years was there. Its drive to boost output there since the oil price rise sparked by the Ukraine war has dovetailed with initiatives by Rome.

Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi together with senior government delegations travelled to Algeria, Gabon and Angola in April and inked agreements to boost exports to Europe.

"Africa now has a huge opportunity. Following the recent crisis in Ukraine, the global context of the energy markets and supply were radically changed -- not for a matter or years but for decades," Eni's Chief Exploration Officer Luca Bertelli told the Africa Energies Summit in London in May. "Momentum should be captured now".

Top European gas importer Germany stepped up efforts to court Senegal with a state visit by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in May, offering help to tap vast gas resources, though no concrete project was agreed.

"The first thing Germany and Europe can do is buy our gas," said Abd Esselam Ould Mohamed Salah, ministry of petroleum, mines and energy of Mauritania - which shares a vast gas field with neighboring Senegal that is due online next year.

"We welcome the increased interest we are seeing from European countries and companies in developing our resources, which is in our mutual interest," he told Reuters, citing sales of offshore exploration blocs.

(Reporting By Noah Browning and Ron Bousso in London, Wendell Roelf in Cape Town, Andreas Rinke in Berlin, Helen Reid in Johannesburg and David Gaffen in New York; Editing by Daniel Flynn)

Europe Does A Complete U-Turn On African Oil And Gas

Editor OilPrice.com
Wed, July 20, 2022 

European governments are scouring the world for natural gas as they seek to reduce their overwhelming and increasingly uncomfortable dependence on Russia's Gazprom.

Besides the United States, which has done its best to supply as much LNG as possible to its European allies, several African countries have emerged as potential sources of additional gas supplies. But they are not exactly happy about it.

"The gas here goes to Bonny and Europe to power homes and industries but we have no benefits from it," one local community development activist from the Niger Delta told Bloomberg recently. "Nothing comes to us."

The comment was part of an in-depth analysis by Bloomberg on Europe's mad dash for gas that has seen Nigeria, for example, send millions of tons of LNG abroad while local communities use illegally made fuels and wood to stay warm. Nigeria is far from the only one.

Mozambique is one of the biggest LNG hopefuls in the world, and the current energy security anxieties of European leaders have made it even more important. But Mozambique is a troubled country. It is suffering extremist attacks on civilians that have, in addition to the tragedy of human deaths, delayed the development of the country's gas reserves.

Yet there is a much bigger problem with Europe and its thirst for African hydrocarbons. Hypocrisy.

For years, new oil and gas field development and pipeline construction projects across Africa have suffered setbacks because of Western banks and governments' unwillingness to fund new hydrocarbon projects as the crusade on carbon emissions gathered pace.

Now, suddenly, the tables have turned with a deafening crash. The G7 is suddenly all for new oil and gas investments abroad after committing to suspend these just last November at the COP26. And Europe, that same Europe that has been advising African countries to focus on renewable energy and keep the oil and gas in the ground, is now asking for gas.

The International Energy Agency has joined the discourse, too, adding urgency to the continent's hydrocarbon development outlook. In a report released last month, the IEA said African gas producers had limited time to commercialize their resources, saying these producers needed to act quickly because the world would only need gas for a while before going low-carbon.

Apparently, the large-scale development of African gas resources was not at odds with Paris Agreement targets, according to the IEA's secretary-general, Fatih Birol. He told Reuters back in June that "If we make a list of the top 500 things we need to do to be in line with our climate targets, what Africa does with its gas does not make that list."

He also said that if African countries with gas reserves turned all of these reserves into production, this production could reach 90 billion cubic meters per year by 2030, of which two-thirds could be used domestically and the rest exported.

That would be 30 billion cubic meters for exports, equivalent to what the United States and Qatar, taken together, can supply annually to Europe. For context, Russian gas exports to Europe totaled 158 billion cubic meters last year.

Of course, to do that, energy companies and other funding providers would need to strengthen their walk-back on emission reduction commitments. They will probably do just that, on the basis that 'it's only for a short while", as Germany's government said when it decided to restart coal plants.

But there are environmental concerns about the long-term viability of gas production in Africa itself.

"It's difficult to predict how long this opportunity will be there, especially in the context of the energy transition, the world moving away from the fossil fuels," Silas Olan'g, Africa co-director of the Natural Resources Governance Institute, a New York-based environmental NGO, told NPR recently. "I think they are kind of misleading most of the governments," he said.

The situation is pretty complicated. On the one hand, some, notably the leaders of African countries with oil and gas reserves, feel that these countries deserve the chance to exploit these reserves the way Western countries did, which was instrumental in their evolution into developed economies.

While a year ago, the West would have frowned at this argument, now it is in the West's interest to support it wholeheartedly, so it gets a piece of the gas—and oil, why not—pie.

But on the other hand, there are environmentalists in Africa, too, and they are concerned that the continent's gas-rich countries may be going into a trap of stranded gas assets. It is difficult to argue with this concern when so many think tanks active in the same area as the NRGI are warning about such stranded assets.

Of course, the current U-turn being made by Europe and the U.S. appears to counter the argument of stranded assets and suggests that gas-rich African countries such as Nigeria, Senegal, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea have sufficient time to monetize their resources. If the U-turners are willing to provide the money for it.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com