EU calls on Israel to allow closed Palestinian NGOs to operate

Daniel Stewart - Yesterday 


The EU on Friday expressed its "concern" over the closure of six Palestinian NGOs and stressed that it is "essential" that the Israeli authorities allow them to continue to carry out activities that, in the eyes of the EU-27, are "legitimate and peaceful".


The EU High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, speaks at a conference at the Menéndez Pelayo International University (UIMP). - Juan Manuel Serrano Arce - Europa Press

Police raids on Thursday put an end to the activity of the NGOs, which the Israeli authorities have accused of having links with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), considered a terrorist organization.

The EU's External Action Service, headed by Josep Borrell, has stressed that the bloc always treats "with the utmost seriousness" any accusation of terrorism and has demanded "substantial information" from Israel to substantiate the accusations.

However, "for now", there would be nothing to justify allegations such as those alluding to a possible misuse of European funds by these NGOs, according to a communiqué from European diplomacy.

The EU has stressed in its note that "a free and strong civil society is indispensable to promote democratic values and move towards a two-state solution" between Israelis and Palestinians", so it "will continue to support civil society organizations that seek to promote respect for international law, human rights and democratic values".

The squirrels 'splooting' all over New York City are just fine, officials say

Zoe Sottile - CNN.com

If you see a squirrel splayed on its belly, you might be worried for the critter’s welfare. But don’t worry: It’s just “splooting,” as officials say – and it’s perfectly healthy.

The term splooting exploded on the internet shortly after the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation posted about the behavior on Twitter.

“If you see a squirrel lying down like this, don’t worry; it’s just fine,” wrote the department on Twitter alongside an image of a squirrel stretching out its limbs. “On hot days, squirrels keep cool by splooting (stretching out) on cool surfaces to reduce body heat. It is sometimes referred to as heat dumping.”

Charlotte Devitz, a biologist and PhD student studying squirrel behavior at the University of Minnesota, told CNN that she first noticed squirrels splooting while she was researching squirrels for her master’s degree.

“At the time I wasn’t really familiar with the term. We just called it ‘flop’ behavior,” she said. “I thought it was super cute. For a long time I tried to find published articles on what this behavior was, but I didn’t have a lot of success.”

Devitz says that splooting seems more common among larger, hairier squirrel species, like grey squirrels and fox squirrels. This dovetails with the scientific explanation for why squirrels sploot: It helps them cope with the heat, according to Devitz.

The more scientific name for splooting is “heat dumping,” Devitz said. “The squirrel is putting as much of their body surface as possible in contact with a cooler surface, frequently on concrete or pavement that’s been in the shade.”

“We’ve had quite record-breaking heat this summer, so this behavior has been very, very prominent,” she said.

Splooting is a “nice way for them to thermoregulate,” especially because squirrels don’t lose much body heat by sweating, Devitz said. The behavior, she said, is “also seen in other mammals. It’s just gained a lot of visibility because a lot of people see it and become worried when they see squirrels on their belly.”

Splooting may be especially common in cities like New York because of the way urban areas trap heat, Devitz says.

“It’s quite possible there’s a higher incidence of this type of behavior in squirrels that are in urban areas, just because they’re more in need of ways to cool down,” she said.

“With climate change,” Devitz said, “overall temperatures are rising. We’re seeing more of these heat spikes, more drought. I think it’s quite possible that this behavior will be more and more prominent and more and more necessary for the squirrel.”

Devitz notes that the cooling benefits of splooting are balanced by the possible risks squirrels face from predators. The prone pose “puts them in a somewhat vulnerable position” where they may be endangered by predators, she said.

Twitter's CFO warned employees they're on track to get 50% of their typical annual bonuses because of the company's financial challenges, report says

insider@insider.com (James Dean) -

© Provided by Business InsiderTwitter CEO Parag Agrawal (left) is at loggerheads with Elon Musk over the Tesla CEO's proposed $44 billion takeover. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images, 

Andrew Kelly/Reuters

Twitter CFO Ned Segal warned employees Friday their bonuses could be half the maximum, per The NYT.

Segal said the company's bonus pool was at 50% of where it could be if financial targets were being hit, per The NYT.

Twitter employees' bonuses are tied to the company's financial performance, which has declined of late.

Twitter says Musk is treating the merger process as "an elaborate joke."

In the filing, Twitter implies that Musk hasn't taken Twitter, its shareholders, or Twitter's threat of legal action seriously.

Twitter told employees Friday they're on course to get half their typical annual bonuses because of the company's financial challenges, The New York Times reported.

In an email to staff, Twitter CFO Ned Segal said the social-media company's bonus pool was currently at 50% of what it could be if financial targets were being hit, The NYT reported, citing as sources two employees who received the email.

Twitter didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. The NYT said a Twitter spokesperson confirmed the email's veracity and declined to comment further.

Twitter's warning on bonuses comes as it tries to force Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to complete his proposed $44 billion acquisition of the social-media group — something Twitter highlighted in its second-quarter earnings report as having had a detrimental impact on its finances.

Twitter, Meta, Alphabet, and other platforms that rely at least in part on digital advertising for revenue are grappling with a downturn in the ad market amid fears of recession.

Twitter employees receive annual bonuses based on the company's financial performance, which could improve before they are ultimately paid out.

Twitter and Musk are at loggerheads over their proposed $44 billion deal, which has culminated in a fractious legal battle between the parties. Musk argues Twitter won't provide him with necessary detail about the volume of spam bots on its platform.

In its second-quarter earnings report, published July 22, Twitter said "uncertainty" over Musk's proposed takeover of the company, as well as advertising industry headwinds, contributed to its first quarterly revenue decline since 2020. Twitter reported a net second-quarter loss of $270 million compared with a net income of $66 million in the same quarter in 2021.

Insider's Lara O'Reilly exclusively reported Friday that dozens of Google's external recruiters just lost their jobs amid its hiring freeze.

What’s our plan to stop China’s acquisition of America?

Thomas P. Vartanian, Opinion Contributor - Yesterday 


As I drove to baseball practice last week, the radio announced that President Biden may meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping this fall, but not before Xi is reportedly welcomed with open arms by our increasingly estranged ally Saudi Arabia.


© Provided by The Hill

At practice, my first basemen complained that his new baseball bat, though bearing the logo of a revered American baseball bat manufacturer, had been manufactured in China with a bamboo center. My glove, bat, spikes and baseballs all said, “Made in China,” as did my jersey, baseball pants, hat, sunglasses and wrist bands.

We explain this away as basic economics — workers in China are paid little, so products can be manufactured there must cheaper. But this situation is getting substantially more dangerous as China’s financial and technological capabilities grow. It makes me wonder, what’s our plan?

The economic contest between the United States and China is like the second coming of the Bretton Woods meetings, which established the financial standards for the reconstructed post-war world in 1944. As it was then, the privilege of determining the rules that support global trade in the 21st century always belongs to the country with preeminent economic, military and technological leadership and stability. China wants to be that country.

Michael Schuman recently wrote about what’s at stake. Western democracies broadly adhere to a “rule of law” that is intended to be impartial and applied evenly to all, while Chinese society is “ruled by law” that is intended to ensure continued Communist Party dominance.

Sure, China’s immediate economic future is not without serious challenges given significant missteps related to population control, over building and new rules on domestic corporations. Its relations with the European Union have dramatically deteriorated, emphasizing its obligation to address the world’s lack of trust in it if it is serious about becoming a financial leader.

But China has been achieving its long-term business goals over the last 50 years and is now on a trajectory to have the world’s largest economy by 2030.

Related video: U.S. and China agree to begin trade talks this fall

Duration 2:08

View on Watch

America is more and more resembling an economic subsidiary of China. Chinese companies are acquiring American businesses, buildings and land at will, with the government currently holding almost $1 trillion in U.S. Treasury notes. Coupled with the U.S. corporate debt that Chinese interests hold, China possesses potent political and economic power that it has not been shy about using.

Not surprisingly, U.S. companies are prohibited from enjoying those same investment opportunities in China, making it an economic one-way-street. A Chinese company recently acquired 300 acres of land near Grand Forks, N.D., which just happens to be about 20 minutes’ drive from the Grand Forks Air Force Base. Who’s watching the store?

China is furiously financing the sale of products, such as 5G technology, to countries around the world, hoping to make them economically and technologically reliant. In the corporate world, it equates to making a controlling equity investment in a company and placing your friends on the board of directors.

Meanwhile, the United States and China are engaged in a curious Kabuki dance as companies from both countries enthusiastically welcome each other as significant trading and investment partners while fretting about ongoing economic espionage and the existence of embedded chips collecting intelligence. The U.S. government has blacklisted dozens of Chinese technology companies like Huawei, limiting their operations and preventing investment by U.S. entities in them because of the security threats they pose. But it has been approving nearly every application to export semiconductors, aerospace components and artificial-intelligence technology to China.

China has no doubt seen what Russia has done in addicting Europe to its energy resources to neutralize those countries to it military aggressions. If it uses a similar script and attacks or occupies Taiwan, it could control more than 90 percent of the world’s semiconductor chip manufacturing capabilities. It is also intent on dominating the fields of artificial intelligence and quantum computing by 2030 and 2035, respectively, greatly outspending the United State to achieve those goals using a “catch-up ethos” that Kai-Fu Lee describes in “AI Superpowers” as making Silicon Valley look “lethargic.”

What will it mean to America if China can build trust in its state-controlled economy, use its market power to continue to erode the status of the dollar as the global reserve currency and convince the world to accept a digital yuan issued by its central bank as it achieves technological superiority? At a minimum, the cost of capital, liquidity and borrowings would necessarily increase in the U.S. But social ramifications may also follow.

In “We Have Been Harmonized,” Kai Strittmatter describes a frightening behavioral dystopia and police state where the Chinese government controls everything that can be seen or communicated. The internet is censored through control of the three digital pipelines that enter and leave the country, and approximately 300 million facial recognition cameras funnel data to the government every moment. Apps on mobile phones digitally monitor and transmit endless behavioral information about citizens, resulting in their receiving a social score from the government. If that score is too low, they may lose mass transportation or educational privileges, or ultimately be assigned to “reeducation camps.” Such technological repression can very easily become permanent, making change impossible.

Dealing with these threats will require financial, political and technological leadership supported by democratic countries around the world. It will also take enormous courage for countries to accept the short-term economic pain that will accompany reordering their financial and technological choices. I don’t know if my baseball glove will ever be made in America again. But I sure hope we have a plan to deal with all this.

Thomas P. Vartanian is the author of “200 Years of American Financial Panics: Crashes, Recessions, Depressions and the Technology that Will Change it All” and executive director of the Financial Technology & Cybersecurity Center.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.

Quiet quitting: What the workplace trend sweeping social media actually means
 
The idea is sweeping social media: “quiet quitting.” But for most advocates, the movement is quite different than what the name suggests.

Jessica Mundie - Yesterday - National Post

This trend, which is growing especially on the social media app TikTok, has nothing to do with leaving your job. Rather, it supports the idea of meeting expectations at work and nothing more — avoiding going above and beyond.

The divide is about whether this movement is suggesting slacking off to the point of not getting work done, or if it is just encouraging workers to fulfill the duties of their job description to the best of their abilities within normal working hours.

Some experts suggest it’s just a controversial name for doing your job with healthy work-life boundaries, while others say dedication is still important for advancing your career.

Developing a healthy work-life balance is important, but going above and beyond in your work is not always a bad thing, in fact having ambitious people on a team is important, said Mary Ann Baynton, workplace relations specialist and CEO of Mary Ann Baynton & Associates Corp.

“The problem comes when the going above and beyond is expected without compensation,” said Baynton.

If two people were to work the same job but one is very ambitious and works more hours for recognition, the other should not be punished for just doing the work they were hired for, she said.

It is important, said Baynton, that employees are doing the work they were hired to do to the best of their abilities.

High rates of COVID-19 burnout could lead to shortage of health-care workers
The folly of the work-life balance
Experts say Ontario's right to disconnect law too vague to help work-life balance

There’s another phrase in the conversation, too, and that one’s even more contentious: “retire on the job” refers to someone who shows up to work just to slack off and ends up offloading duties on to their coworkers.

“They do not get the work that is expected of them complete,” she said.

Victoria Grainger, founder of Wellness Works Canada, a not-for-profit workplace health and performance association, said the phenomenon of disengaging from one’s job has picked up pace and is disturbing in light of already dismal engagement rates.

“Employee engagement directly correlates with job performance,” she said, in an email. “And if employers want healthy, performing organizations, they need to step up to the task of meeting employee needs.”

Related video: What is 'quiet quitting'? Inside the viral trend sparking controversy
Duration 3:56 View on Watch

There is something to be said for going above and beyond in your work, said Grainger. Savvy employers will notice this and provide recognition, reward, compensation and opportunities for advancement that they deserve.

But, she said, it is also important for employees to be vocal about their needs and to set healthy boundaries that prevent harm to their psychological health.

Kelsea Warren, a workplace wellbeing coach and consultant, said she does not like the term “quiet quitting” for the ideology that it describes.

“It just puts a negative connotation around people doing their job descriptions,” she said.

The trend is not necessarily new, said Warren, who is pursuing a PhD in industrial and organizational psychology. The ideas behind work-to-rule and unionizing are similar to the quiet quitting ideology.

Warren said many times when people start a new job, they are excited by their role, engaged in the work, and want feedback on their progress. But when their hard work is not acknowledged by management, all they are told is what they are doing wrong, and job requirements keep changing, the employee starts to feel less valuable.

“People are just not as motivated to continue going above and beyond when they’re not seeing any benefits of doing so,” said Warren.

This may appear to management or people on the outside of an organization as employees not doing their jobs because they are no longer exceeding expectations, but in reality, they are just doing the minimum work they were hired to do, she said.

Quiet quitting is also about avoiding burnout, a state of total exhaustion caused by excessive stress, which became relevant especially during the pandemic.

“People who at one time felt being ambitious, having poor personal boundaries, and making work the centre of their life, have changed their mind,” said Baynton. “Maybe their sole desire in life is not to achieve at work, maybe it is family, friends, or their health.”

There were also shifts in the way we work, said Warren. Jobs are more remote and there is no need to commute to an office every day.

“Work is important and work can be fun, I do believe that people should love their jobs,” she said. “But post-pandemic I think people are realizing that there is more to life than just work.”

Some people on social media see this trend as overwhelmingly positive, like TikTok user Clayton Farris, who in a video said he still works just as hard and still gets just as much accomplished.

“I just don’t stress and internally rip myself to shreds,” he said, in his video.

Others, like user Shini Ko, who has a full-time job in tech while also running a farm in Perth, Ont., say quiet quitting has negative connotations as it suggests the idea of not going above and beyond is “quitting.”

In a video , Ko says there have been times in her career when she has gone above and beyond her job description and has “let work-related problems live rent-free in her brain.”

“But I don’t do that anymore because it’s so not worth it,” she said, in the video.

Ko said the idea of quiet quitting sounds like a “coping mechanism” and “disengaging.”

“I’m still showing up to my work, I’m still putting in a fair amount of effort to do my job right,” she said, in the video. “I’m just saying no to things that don’t bring value.”

Warren said that if employers see this trend happening in their workplace, they should look at what kind of processes and systems they have for wellbeing and engagement.

“I think identifying the values of the employees and trying to help combat those misalignments is important for organizations that want to keep talent,” she said.

Canada's Most Widely-Spoken Languages Have Been Revealed & Here's What's On The Rise

Janice Rodrigues - Thursday - Narcity

The stats are in and it's official: Mandarin and Punjabi are now some of Canada's most widely-spoken languages.

On August 17, Statistics Canada released new census data that brought some interesting facts to light.

For starters — and this one comes as no surprise — English and French remain the most commonly spoken languages in Canada, with 9 out of 10 people speaking one of the two at home on a regular basis.

However, 12.7% of the population – a whopping 4.6 million people — predominantly spoke another language at home, a proportion that has grown continually over the last 30 years.

According to the data, Mandarin and Punjabi were Canada's most widely-spoken languages after English and French in 2021.

The number of people speaking Mandarin grew 15% between 2016 and 2021, while the number of Punjabi speakers increased by 49% during that same period.

The census also found that the number of people who spoke predominantly South Asian languages, such as Gujarati, Hindi or Malayalam, "grew significantly from 2016 to 2021."

Some other languages increasingly spoken in Canadian homes include the East African language of Tigrigna, Turkish, Tagalog, Arabic, Spanish and some Persian languages.

In contrast, there's been a decline in the number of people who spoke certain European languages, specifically Italian, Polish and Greek.
A decline in French

The proportion of Canadians with French as their first official language decreased, falling from 22.2% in 2016 to 21.4% in 2021, according to census data.

To put that into context, French was the first official language for 27.2% of Canadians in 1971.

That isn't to say the language is being spoken less. French was spoken by 7.8 million Canadians in 2021 — up from 7.7 million in 2016.

However, because this growth is slower than population growth as a whole, the proportion of people whose first official language is French has fallen.

Statistics Canada noted that the "proportion of Canadians who spoke predominantly French at home decreased in all the provinces and territories, except Yukon."

This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.

Man who died in Alberta RCMP cell needed medical attention before his arrest, expert says


A man who died in an RCMP holding cell in Grande Prairie, Alta., last month should have been medically assessed before he was detained by police, a criminologist says.


© Submitted by Gregory Hartzler

Addison Hartzler, 30, died in a holding cell at the Grande Prairie RCMP detachment on June 3, hours after being arrested at his home in the city 460 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.

Addison Hartzler, 30, was arrested in the early hours of June 3 after calling 911 for what he believed was a break and enter at the home where he was living.

When officers found no evidence of a break-in was found, Hartzler was arrested for public mischief — roughly nine minutes after RCMP had arrived at the scene.

Nine hours later, he was found unresponsive in a cell at the Grande Prairie RCMP detachment.

His death is now being investigated by Alberta's police watchdog, the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team.

RCMP told Hartzler's family he had been acting in a psychotic and delusional manner before he was arrested, but that he was not medically assessed.

"If the individual is acting erratically, why didn't the officers on the scene request paramedic assistance to come and assess this individual?" said Doug King, a professor in justice studies at Mount Royal University.

The death raises questions about the way police make arrests, assess the medical needs of suspects and protect detainees, King said.

The arresting officer later told Hartzler's father his son had been unwilling or unable to provide his name to police. Because of that, they detained him until he could be identified and the mischief charge could be formally laid.

Hartzler's apparent confusion suggests he needed immediate medical attention, King said.

Officers will need to answer why they instead placed him alone in a cell, he said.

"The question then becomes an issue of police officer judgment.

"When the paramedics get involved, when the medical assessment happens, it is all triggered by one of these judgments. But that doesn't mean that those officers aren't accountable for the judgments that they make."

A patient report indicates RCMP last saw Hartzler alive at 9 a.m., more than two hours before paramedics were called to the detachment, despite an RCMP policy stating that cells should be checked at minimum every 15 minutes.
Speed of arrest questioned

Alberta RCMP were initially tasked with investigating the in-custody death. ASIRT took over the investigation last week after the Hartzler family fought to have the case reassigned.

Sandy Jung, a psychology professor and crime researcher at MacEwan University, said ASIRT's investigation should focus on what evidence RCMP used to detain Hartzler and determine that he was not in need of medical attention.

The speed of the arrest — nine minutes after officers first interacted with Hartzler — is disconcerting, Jung said.

"What kind of investigation even happened to kind of lead them to bring him to holding cells?

"I don't think there was enough time there to make that kind of decision."

Jung questions if responding officers made unfounded assumptions about Hartzler's mental state and motives.

She said Hartzler appeared compliant with officers in home security video of the arrest.

The video shows him sitting in the back of a police cruiser moments after officers arrive. He had not been handcuffed.

"Removing him from the premises and actually putting him in a holding cell? What evidence do they have to support that?" Jung said.

"I would say decisions were made fairly rapidly."

An EMS patient report states that by 11:17 a.m, Hartzler was "obviously dead" in his cell.

RCMP told responding paramedics they suspected he had been using cocaine.

Hartzler's father believes he was experiencing a medical episode unrelated to drugs and alcohol. A cause of death has yet to be determined.

King said that if detachment logs show Hartzler was left unattended for hours, it would be a clear violation of RCMP protocol. Officers involved could be found culpable in his death, he said.

"It has civil implications of negligence. And that can have monetary impact for the RCMP. It could also mean some form of reprimand or sanction against the officers at the scene.

"And I can well speculate that none of that would resolve the anguish that the family feels."

Hartzler's father said the family would consider pursuing a lawsuit against the RCMP if the ASIRT probe uncovers any wrongdoing. He said the family also wants a public inquiry.
Caseload high at ASIRT

The province's director of law enforcement initially said the investigation would remain with RCMP because there was no confrontation between RCMP and Hartzler, and because of the number of files that had been recently assigned to ASIRT.

ASIRT took over the investigation on Aug. 9 and received the case file earlier this week.

In an interview, ASIRT executive director Mike Ewenson said the agency's caseload is high.

"The workload, it ebbs and flows," Ewenson said. "We can become taxed quickly with a few case files that are assigned all at once."

ASIRT's active cases include an investigation into the death of another man in holding cells in Grande Prairie.

The 26-year-old was arrested for mischief on Feb.7, 2021, after police were called to a report of a man who had consumed drugs and was creating a disturbance at a home. He was found unresponsive in his cell the following morning.

Feds probe 'disturbing' tweets by consultant on government-funded anti-racism project


OTTAWA — The federal diversity minister says he's taking action over "disturbing" tweets by a senior consultant on an anti-racism project that received $133,000 from his department.


Ahmed Hussen has asked Canadian Heritage to “look closely at the situation" after what he called “unacceptable behaviour” by Laith Marouf, a senior consultant involved in the government-funded project to combat racism in broadcasting.

Marouf’s Twitter account is private but a screenshot posted online shows a number of tweets with his photo and name.

One tweet said: “You know all those loud mouthed bags of human feces, aka the Jewish White Supremacists; when we liberate Palestine and they have to go back to where they come from, they will return to being low voiced bitches of thier (sic) Christian/Secular White Supremacist Masters.”

Marouf declined requests for comment, but when asked about the post, a lawyer acting for Marouf asked for his client’s tweets to be quoted “verbatim” and distinguished between Marouf’s “clear reference to ‘Jewish white supremacists,’” and Jews or Jewish people in general.

Marouf does not harbour “any animus toward the Jewish faith as a collective group,” lawyer Stephen Ellis said in an email.

Last year, the Community Media Advocacy Centre received a $133,800 Heritage Department grant to build an anti-racism strategy for Canadian broadcasting.

Marouf is listed as a senior consultant on CMAC’s website and is quoted saying that CMAC is “excited to launch” the “Building an Anti-Racism Strategy for Canadian Broadcasting: Conversation & Convergence Initiative” with funding support from Heritage’s anti-racism action program.

He expressed gratitude to “Canadian Heritage for their partnership and trust imposed on us," saying that CMAC commits to "ensuring the successful and responsible execution of the project."

Hussen, who is based in the Heritage Department, said in a statement: “We condemn this unacceptable behaviour by an individual working in an organization dedicated to fighting racism and discrimination.”

“Our position is clear — antisemitism and any form of hate have no place in Canada. That is why I have asked Canadian Heritage to look closely at the situation involving disturbing comments made by the individual in question. We will address this with the organization accordingly, as this clearly goes against our government’s values,” Hussen added.

CMAC did not respond to a request for comment.

The NDP's heritage critic Peter Julian said such comments online were "completely unacceptable," adding that "tolerating hate speech is complicity — it must stop."

"We call on the minister of heritage to take drastic action and terminate his contract," the MP said. "The minister must also come clean about the vetting process in granting contracts. The lack of due diligence is concerning, and Canadians deserve transparency and accountability."

Julian said all Canadians have "a responsibility to act in the fight against antisemitism, racism and all forms of hate."

Irwin Cotler, a former Liberal justice minister who was appointed as Canada's special envoy on antisemitism by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, said Marouf's tweet referring to "loud mouthed bags of human feces" was “beyond the pale.”

Cotler said he plans to speak to officials working in the Heritage department on combating racism about the issue.

Shimon Koffler Fogel, president and CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, said Canadians "should be appalled" by his tweets.

“Canadian Heritage must review its oversight policies to ensure Canadian taxpayer dollars are provided to groups committed to cherished Canadian values and to combating racism, hate, and discrimination,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 19, 2022.

Marie Woolf, The Canadian Press

Federal government sinks $100M into Sudbury underground lab

Early Friday, members of the team at SNOLAB brought a group of partners, politicians and media down the shaft at Vale’s Creighton Mine to give a tour of their clean lab facility, where more than 100 staff members facilitate neutrino and dark matter studies.

In the depths of the facility, innovation, Science and Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne held what he called “the deepest news conference in Canadian history” to announce that SNOLAB would be one of 19 beneficiaries of federal totalling $628 million.

The funding will be provided through the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s Major Science Initiative Fund, and will support 19 projects across 14 Canadian institutions.

SNOLAB will receive $102 million over six years to support its work.

“The type of research they’re doing here is cutting edge,” said Champagne. “This is one of many research facilities we have across the country which not only aims to answer the big questions of our time, but also to solve our most unique challenge. That’s why we need facilities like this.”

Sustained funding from government bodies has allowed SNOLAB to become a global leader in astroparticle physics, and has helped put Sudbury on the map, according to SNOLAB executive director Jodi Cooley.

She said the money will go towards supporting its ongoing research projects and international staff. She said there are also in the process of bringing a new “next generation experiment” to an area of the lab called the Cryopit, and the funding will help fulfil preliminary processes.

“We have two experiments right now that could fill that space, and have listed (this location) in their initial proposals as the baseline choice,” said Cooley. “To host those experiments, we definitely need to be ramping up some of our infrastructure, and doing some hiring of expertise.

The funding announcement also comes as SNOLAB celebrates its 10th year of its facility. The underground lab — which was the culmination of decades of work dating back to the 1980s — originally opened in 2012, and has seen gained international recognition for its work, bringing in expertise from across the world.

Beyond its work in astropartical physics, the lab’s staff has also conducted genomics and metabolism studies, ultra-sensitive environmental monitoring, and quantum computing testing.

“For more than a decade, SNOLAB has been the centre for cutting-edge research,” said Marc Serre, MP for Nickel Belt, who was also in attendance. “(This funding) will attract world-class experiments to Greater Sudbury and Nickel Belt. I look forward to hearing about the advancements that will be made through this funding.”

Examples of other facilities being funded are:

Advanced Laser Light Source (ALLS): Based at the Université du Québec – Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS), Canada’s most powerful laser is operated at ALLS, the first facility of its kind in the world. Using lasers to investigate matter, ALLS enables leading-edge research in areas such as biology, medicine, chemistry, physics and telecommunications. Manufacturing more efficient batteries, using X-ray imaging for sustainable agriculture and detecting diseases at an earlier stage are some of ALLS’ numerous applications.

Canadian Cancer Trials Group Operations and Statistics Centre at Queen’s University: With about 20,000 members across the world, this is the only Canadian research facility with expertise and infrastructure capable of supporting the entire range of cancer trial proposals. Its patient engagement model has been extensively shared nationally and internationally. It was created by cancer researchers and aims to improve the survival and quality of life of cancer patients. The research supported by this facility develops innovative therapies, advances understanding of cancer resistance and reduces the burden of cancer treatment.

Coalition Publica: A partnership between Érudit and the Public Knowledge Project, Coalition Publica is an initiative led by Université de Montréal to advance research dissemination and digital scholarly publishing in Canada. Supporting the social sciences and humanities in fields such as Indigenous studies and education, Coalition Publica is developing a non-commercial, open-source national infrastructure for digital scholarly publishing, diffusion and research.

The Global Water Futures Observatories (GWFO): A network of 76 water monitoring sites across the country, GWFO encompasses lakes, rivers and wetlands in seven provinces and territories including six major river basins, as well as the Great Lakes. This network allows researchers to gain important insights into how changing climate and increased flooding, drought and contaminants are putting Canada’s freshwaters at risk.

Ocean Networks Canada (ONC): Operating a broad range of ocean observatories from the deep ocean to coastal waters, and on land, ONC provides unique technical capabilities to advance our understanding of the role of oceans on climate change and the impact it has on them. The knowledge generated by this unique facility enables scientists, governments, organizations and citizens to make informed decisions for healthy ecosystems, strong economies and resilient communities. ONC is hosted and owned by the University of Victoria.

The Local Journalism Initiative is made possible through funding from the federal government.
mjensen@postmedia.com
Twitter: @mia_rjensen
Mia Jensen, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Sudbury Star

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Vancouver Zoo: Missing wolf found safe after pack escaped


Fri, August 19, 2022 

Grey wolves, known by their scientific name Canis lupus, pictured at the Minnesota Zoo in 2022

A wolf missing from a zoo near Vancouver has been found safe and returned to its pack.

One-year-old Tempest, a grey wolf, was found on Friday morning after a three-day search and rescue mission.

Police and zoo staff believe a pack of nine wolves was set free from the Greater Vancouver Zoo by a vandal earlier this week.

One wolf has since been found dead. The remaining wolves were recovered, with Tempest being the last to be located.

Zoo staff said they believe the grey wolves escaped after someone deliberately cut the fence surrounding their enclosure overnight.

Police are now investigating what is believed to be a case of unlawful entry and vandalism.

There were nine wolves and six pups housed at the zoo - located 34 miles outside Vancouver.

A three-year-old wolf named Chia - the second oldest female of the pack - was found dead on the side of the road nearby the zoo on Thursday morning.

The zoo's deputy manager, Menita Prasad, told reporters on Thursday that staff are "heartbroken" over Chia's death.

At the time, Tempest was still missing, and Ms Prasad appealed to the public to help find her.

By Friday morning, Tempest was found near the zoo. Ms Prasad said in a statement that staff are "extremely happy and relieved" the wolf has been found.

Wildlife experts say wolves tend to be wary of humans, but some lose their fear of people if they are continuously exposed to them.

If a wolf is spotted, people are encouraged to stay calm, slowly back away and maintain eye contact. Nearby dogs should also be kept on a leash.

Ms Prasad called the apparent deliberate release of the pack a "senseless act".

"We watched these wolves grow up. We consider the animals at the zoo a part of our family", she said.

The zoo closed its doors to the public since the wolves escaped on Tuesday. It is set to reopen on Saturday.

"The public will now be able to see Tempest re-united with her family." Ms Prasad said.

Greater Vancouver Zoo wolf enclosure was damaged to let animals escape, RCMP say

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Ministry says one wolf still unaccounted for, but zoo has not confirmed how many escaped or remain missing

The Canadian Press · Posted: Aug 17, 2022 11:18 AM PT | Last Updated: August 17

Police and security outside the parking lot of the Greater Vancouver Zoo, which remains closed a day after at least one wolf escaped the facility. (Gian Paolo Mendoza/CBC)

Police say the wolf enclosure at the Greater Vancouver Zoo was damaged by someone who is suspected to have broken in and allowed the animals to escape. The facility remains closed for a second day.

There were nine adult grey wolves and six cubs at the zoo in Aldergrove, B.C., but it has not confirmed how many got loose or remain unaccounted for as conservation workers and zoo staff continue to search.

B.C.'s Environment Ministry said Tuesday that one wolf remains unaccounted for.

The zoo first announced without explanation that it was closed Tuesday morning via its Instagram and Facebook accounts and remained closed Wednesday.

When it announced the escape in a statement Tuesday afternoon, the zoo said it suspected "malicious intent'' and that a "small number'' of wolves were loose.

It said there was no danger to the public. The zoo has been working with the B.C. Conservation Officer Service to "contain'' the animals.

Langley RCMP are investigating what appears to be a case of unlawful entry and vandalism that involved damage to the wolves' enclosure.

"The RCMP is investigating the break and enter and the mischief to the zoo,'' Cpl. Holly Largy said in an interview Wednesday.

"I can just tell you that there was damage done to the enclosure to allow the wolves to exit. At this point, there's no surveillance, so we don't have any information to indicate how they got in or suspect information.''

The ministry said anyone who sees a wolf should keep their distance and report it by calling 1-877-952-7277.

Wolf found dead by roadside, another still missing after 'suspicious' B.C. zoo escape
Thursday



ALDERGROVE — One of the wolves that escaped its enclosure at the Greater Vancouver Zoo this week has been found dead on a roadside, and a second wolf is still missing, the zoo's deputy general manager said Thursday.


© Provided by The Canadian PressWolf found dead by roadside, another missing after B.C. zoo escape

Menita Prasad said both the zoo's perimeter fence and the grey wolf enclosure were deliberately "compromised" early Tuesday, allowing the zoo's nine adult wolves to escape while five cubs stayed inside the enclosure.

All but two of the adults were contained within the zoo's property, she said.

The zoo in Aldergrove, B.C., has been shut for three days as workers and conservation officers searched for the wolves, while Langley RCMP investigate the incident as a suspected case of unlawful entry and vandalism.

The fences had been cut, Prasad said. An earlier statement from the zoo said the escape was "suspicious, and believed to be due to malicious intent."

Searchers were "heartbroken" to find a three-year-old female wolf, Chia, dead by the side of 264 Street in Aldergrove on Thursday morning, Prasad told a press conference through tears.

It's presumed Chia was hit by a car, she said

A one-year-old female wolf named Tempest is still missing and believed to be in the vicinity of the zoo, Prasad said, adding that the animal, which was born at the facility, has a slim chance of surviving in the wild.

Prasad described Tempest as a "shy wolf" who poses no threat to public safety, though she said she could not say what the wolf might do if a person approached her. She urged anyone who sees the animal not to approach her and instead call authorities to report the location.

The wolf's prime motivation would be to get back to her family, she said.

"As a result of this senseless act, our wolf pack has lost two family members," Prasad said. "We watched these wolves grow up. We consider the animals at the zoo a part of our family."

She said the "search and rescue operation" would continue and is asking for the public's help "to reunite Tempest with her family.”

"She is a small wolf with grey brown puppy fur and white markings on her muzzle and her brow," Prasad said.

Anyone who spots Tempest is asked contact the Greater Vancouver Zoo, Langley RCMP or the BC Conservation Officer Service by calling 1-877-952-7277.

The zoo, which is about 55 kilometres outside Vancouver, is set to reopen on Saturday, Prasad said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 18, 2022.

The Canadian Press