DUCK AND COVER

Solar Storm From Giant Hole in Sun's Atmosphere Heading Straight for Earth

Ed Browne - Yesterday 


Earth is expected to be hit by a moderate-strength geomagnetic storm on September 4 as solar wind escapes from a huge hole in the sun's atmosphere.


A NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory image of the sun on September 2, 2022.

 This image shows the dark coronal hole CH20+.

© NASA/SDO/AIA

On Thursday, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) warned that a G2-level geomagnetic storm was "likely" to occur this Sunday.

A geomagnetic storm is a major disturbance to Earth's magnetosphere—the region surrounding the Earth that is dominated by our planet's magnetic field.

The magnetosphere can be disturbed whenever the sun shoots material our way, such as a stream of charged particles known as solar wind.

These interactions between solar material and the magnetosphere produce intense currents and heat up the upper regions of our atmosphere. This can have all sorts of effects, including increasing drag on satellites in low-Earth orbit, altering the path of radio signals and creating satellite navigation errors, and even creating harmful currents in electricity grids on the ground. These interactions can also cause colorful auroras in the sky.

Solar Storm From Holes In Sun's Corona Headed Straight For Earth

Duration 0:57  View on Watch

Geomagnetic storms are measured in increasing strength from G1 to G5—minor to extreme.

The SWPC states that a G2 storm may involve changes to orbit predictions due to increased atmospheric drag, a fading of high-frequency radio propagation, possible voltage alarms in high-latitude power systems, and auroras possibly in states like New York and Idaho—though conditions will have to be right in order for people to see them.

A coronal hole high speed stream, or CH HSS, is behind the expected G2 storm. As the name suggests, a CH HHS is a stream of high speed solar wind that can interact with Earth's magnetosphere.

These streams are released from vast, open areas of unipolar magnetic fields on the sun, which allow the solar wind to escape easily into space. Because they are cooler and less dense than surrounding regions of the sun, coronal holes may appear as dark patches on the sun's surface depending on the imaging method.

As the streams of solar wind from coronal holes approach Earth, they catch up with and overtake the slower, ambient solar wind that already exists in the space between our planet and the sun. Intense magnetic fields can be produced at this interface between the fast and relatively slower solar wind streams.

Generally, geomagnetic storms aren't something that most people on Earth will notice, though people working in certain industries might want to keep track of them.

Geomagnetic storms are relatively common, occurring on about a monthly basis. Their frequency can increase or decrease depending on the sun's activity is increasing or decreasing as part of its roughly 11-year solar cycle.

Related Articles
The Sun's Solar Cycle and the Most Active Peak Ever Recorded
Geomagnetic Storm From 'Cyclops-Like' Hole in Sun to Hit Earth Today
Global Weirding: Humans Have Caused Chaos on Earth

CANADA
Banker making $200,000 salary was ‘oversensitive’ when she sued her firm over boss asking her to babysit his kids, judge rules

Chloe Taylor - Yesterday 


A banker’s bid to sue her employer for almost $1 million for discrimination was dismissed this week when a judge ruled she had been “oversensitive” to comments from her boss.

Zhuofang Wei’s lawsuit against the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) centered around allegations her boss had discriminated against her for being Chinese and for being a woman, The Telegraph reported on Thursday.

She claimed that he had asked her to babysit for him on three separate occasions, was dismissive of her in a meeting and referred to her as his “little sister,” which she argued was demeaning.

The court also heard that Wei felt her boss “looked down” on Chinese people and his nomination of her to take on certain responsibilities at a work event was “tokenistic,” according to The Telegraph.

During the hearing, Wei also accused another boss at the firm of commenting on her “figure-hugging dress” and saying she should dress differently because he “needed to focus.”

Wei, whose annual salary at the CIBC was reportedly £175,000 ($202,700) before she was laid off in 2020, had asked for damages of £800,000 ($926,630).

Unreliable witness

However, her case was dismissed by judge Holly Stout who ruled that Wei was “oversensitive.”


The judge also dubbed Wei an “unreliable witness” who “embellished the truth” after the court found that the comments about Wei’s attire never happened and her boss’s babysitting requests were made in jest.

“We consider that there were elements of the [CIBC’s] culture that were discriminatory towards and/or degrading of women, but that these elements were confined to 'office banter' or 'loose language' rather than being symptomatic of any general culture of less favorable treatment of women,” the judge said.

"We further find that [Wei’s boss] did not in general have a discriminatory attitude towards Chinese women.”

While Wei’s claims about gender and racial discrimination were dismissed, the judge agreed that Wei had been sexually harassed when her co-workers referred to her as “one of the boys” and a “ladette”—a derogatory British slang term that refers to women whose social behavior is considered typical of men, such as drinking heavily and frequently cursing.

However, Wei will not be granted any compensation for that ruling as the court said she had brought the claim too late.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

AN INVESTMENT OVERDUE

Edmonton's faulty compost digester needs $6.7 million to fix quality, stop plastic littering: City report

Lauren Boothby - Yesterday - 

Edmonton’s long-fraught digester facility needs millions of dollars in investment to keep poor-quality compost out of the landfill and from littering the environment with plastic.

Digestate produced by the high solids anaerobic digester when it arrives at the compost cure site.

© Source: City of Edmonton business case for digester upgrades

The high solids anaerobic digester, which fully opened just last year, needs up to $6.7 million more to build two screens and two mixers to filter out garbage and remove moisture, according to a staff report heading to city council Sept. 12. The original facility was budgeted for $30 million in 2013 but costs grew to $42 million by 2018 .

The facility uses microorganisms to degrade waste without oxygen and produces “digestate” and biogas. Digestate is put into aeration boxes to create compost. It was designed to process up to 40,000 tonnes of waste a year.

But a business case recommending the new upgrades paints a damning picture of what the long-awaited facility is producing.

The digester was designed to work in tandem with the Edmonton Composting Facility (ECF). ECF was shut down in 2019 for safety issues — it partially closed after a roof collapsed the year prior and had known structural issues since at least 2017. The previous city council voted in private last August not to build a replacement.

But without the screening provided at ECF, the digestate now arrives at the curing site full of garbage, littering the Edmonton Waste Management Centre (EWMC) site and the adjacent wetlands, the business case states. The compost quality is so poor it’s sent to line the dump.

“Status quo or doing nothing is not a practical option as continued cure site littering is considered a significant environmental problem that can’t be ignored,” the business case states.

“The compost is currently only being used as alternative daily cover for landfilling because it does not reach the quality level to have other uses. This compost usage results in a cost to waste services for disposal.”

In addition to limiting litter that blows off the cure site, upgrades promise to mix woodchips more effectively with digestate so it can be recycled instead of the city paying to dispose of it, and create a more marketable compost, a staff report states.



Digestate that’s been screened and cured at the Edmonton waste campus.

© Source: City of Edmonton, business case to upgrade anaerobic site

Compost from garbage

Neil Kjelland, director of sustainable waste processing with the city, said the compost from the anaerobic digester is poor quality because it’s made from organic waste extracted from the garbage stream.

The city sells other high-quality compost in bulk made from organics collected with seasonal yard waste which is far less contaminated, he said.

“As a compost suitable for all applications, we also provide limited quantities of this compost back to Edmontonians for free at Eco Stations,” he said in an email statement Friday. “In addition, the organics collected in green carts is also processed into good-quality compost, because it contains much less contamination.”

Kjelland said the new mixers will improve how all organics are processed.

“It will help screen contaminants (plastics, etc.) from the organics. It will also be used to pre-process organic waste that will be sent to processing partners, to help ensure they are receiving organic waste that is free of contaminants.”

The 2017 business case for three-stream source separation said organics from green bins would be processed at the anaerobic digestion site.

Last year, an estimated 40 per cent of waste was not diverted from the landfill.


Wood chips and plastic can’t be separated at the anaerobic digestion facility. This means these items go to the landfill, together, although wood chips can be recycled.

© Source: City of Edmonton, business case for digester upgrade

Plan was to make a profit

Producing something the city can sell for profit was part of the original plan when the anaerobic digester was first funded by council in 2013.

The digester captures methane gas which can be burned to produce heat elsewhere on the waste management campus, create electricity and be sold.

Whether or not the digester is meeting expectations is unclear from documents available on the city’s website. Answers provided by the city did not clarify the situation.

“Some gas has been used to generate electricity that has been used at our facility, put back into the grid or sold. The subject-matter expert who can provide revenue information is not available until next week,” Kjelland stated.

The 2021-2022 annual business plan shows an intention to do grading to better understand “the waste’s biomethane potential” which will create “expected electricity cogeneration key performance indicators.”

So far the city has made $235,000 from bulk compost sales this year, Kjelland said.

The digester site was built by Maple Reinders using BioFerm technology and is operated by Veolia, previously known as Suez.

Maple Reinders’ project website said the site can process 48,000 tonnes of waste although the city says its capacity is 40,000.

lboothby@postmedia.com

@laurby

HISTORICAL REVISIONISM
Culture minister bashes 'Laurentian elites' as Alberta celebrates birthday holiday

EDMONTON — Alberta celebrated its inaugural birthday party holiday with Culture Minister Ron Orr bashing the prime minster and “Laurentian elites” while asserting the province has received the short end of the stick in the federation for more than a century.


RON ORR, JASOM KENNEY

“The family compact of Laurentian elites have always skewed the deal in their favour,” Orr told assembled dignitaries, including Premier Jason Kenney, Indigenous leaders and Lt.-Gov. Salma Lakhani, on a sunny morning Thursday near the legislature grounds.

“There are many in our province who are frustrated … that Alberta has never really been granted that full fair deal with the federal government that was promised.”

Orr said Alberta has been treated unfairly from the start, noting it wasn’t granted provincial status until Sept. 1, 1905, almost 40 years after Confederation.

He said the unfairness continued with Alberta not gaining control of its natural resources until the 1930s, then facing a federal challenge to those resources in the national energy program of the 1980s, followed to this day with other policies deemed detrimental to the province’s golden goose industry.

“The attacks of our recent (Justin) Trudeau government on our energy, our resources, our wealth, our freedom — there are just so many ways that Albertans have struggled to achieve our full and our fair place in this Confederation," Orr said. "But you know what? Albertans will succeed."

He said Alberta has become one of Canada's economic powerhouses "and we truly are the envy of the world in so many respects."

“Happy Birthday, Alberta. That is what today is about," Orr said.

Earlier this week, the province announced it is projecting to take in a record $28.4 billion in non-renewable resource revenues this year, delivering a $13.2-billion surplus for a province of 4.5 million people.

Kenney, who is stepping down as premier early next month once his party selects a new leader, recently announced the creation of Alberta Day, which is not a statutory holiday, to celebrate the province’s heritage and culture.

Events, concerts, activities and fireworks are scheduled throughout the province over the weekend.

Thursday’s kickoff saluted Alberta’s Indigenous history, with speakers and First Nations musical performers.

Kenney told the audience, “In expressing gratitude for those who have gone before us, we of course must start with the people who first inhabited these lands, the Indigenous people … who created the first communities, who were the first entrepreneurs, who were the first custodians of this magnificent natural habitat.”

Kenney added that it's time to celebrate a province that has “unique culture, history and geography, but is also proudly part of the great Canadian federation.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 1, 2022.

Dean Bennett, The Canadian Press

WOULD THE LAURENTIAN ELITE INCLUDE THE CONSERVATIVE OPPOSITION PARTY IN OTTAWA OF WHICH ALL BUT ONE OF ALBERTA'S MPS BELONG TO, ALONG WITH THE TORIES IN THE SENATE? 

ASKING FOR A FRIEND

Danielle Smith says premier, Alberta Lt.-Gov. wrong to comment on sovereignty act

CBC/Radio-Canada - Yesterday 

United Conservative Party leadership candidate Danielle Smith called it "inappropriate" for both Alberta Lt.-Gov. Salma Lakhani and outgoing Premier Jason Kenney to criticize her proposed Alberta Sovereignty Act.


UCP leadership candidate Danielle Smith says it's inappropriate for Premier Jason Kenney to criticize her top priority legislation, the Alberta Sovereignty Act, before he has seen the bill.

© Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press, Dave Chidley/The Canadian Press

Smith made the remarks in a video posted to social media Friday and in an accompanying news release.

A day earlier, Lakhani said she would consult with legal experts before giving royal assent to a potentially unconstitutional piece of legislation.

Lakhani said her constitutional role is the most important part of her job and that Alberta must follow the rule of law.

The act, as described by Smith, would give Alberta the ability to ignore federal laws that aren't in the province's best interest.

Smith called on Lakhani to retract her statements.

The former Wildrose leader also took issue with Kenney's comments on 630 CHED Friday morning.

Kenney told host Shaye Ganam that Smith's act would put the lieutenant-governor in a very "awkward" position and hurt investor confidence in Alberta.

"This is unprecedented and entirely inappropriate political interference in our democratic processes," she said in a news release sent Friday.

In the video, Smith accused the premier of trying to tip the scales in favour of his "preferred" leadership candidate Travis Toews, who served as finance minister in Kenney's cabinet before stepping down at the end of May.

"You want to talk about creating a constitutional crisis," Smith says in the video.

"Having a caretaker premier in the position where he is acting the way he is is what's creating a constitutional crisis.

"I would ask him to stop. I would ask him to stop weighing in on this contest. And if he wants to continue in the position of being a caretaker, in the meantime, that's exactly what he should do."

Smith's supporters have criticized Lakhani for her comments on the sovereignty act. Peter Guthrie, the UCP MLA for Airdrie-Cochrane, claimed that the federal Liberals were influencing Lakhani. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau named Lakhani to serve as Alberta's lieutenant-governor in August 2020.

"It appears the Ottawa elites through Trudeau's appointed representative are interfering in the UCP leadership race on a piece of legislation that hasn't yet been written or debated in Alberta's legislature," he said on Twitter. "If Trudeau is against, it must be right."

Lakhani said she needs to see a bill first before deciding what action to take. She plans to raise the question of how to handle a potentially unconstitutional piece of legislation with her counterparts at vice-regal conference in Newfoundland next month.

Smith and Toews are among the seven candidates running to replace Kenney as UCP leader.

Kenney plans to step down as soon as a winner is announced on Oct. 6.

SEE 

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for SOCIAL CREDIT 

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Rebel Yell 

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for CANADA HISTORY 

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for FUR TRADE 

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for HUDSONS BAY COMPANY 

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for INTERNMENT 

TOO BAD, SO SAD

GOP sees 'financial hole' after Sheldon Adelson's widow stops shoveling big money to their candidates: report

Raw Story - Yesterday
By Brad Reed


Mitch McConnell (Photo via AFP)© provided by RawStory

Republicans for decades have relied on the late billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson to fund congressional and presidential races -- but now the money spigot he once provided appears to have dried up.

Bloomberg News reports that Adelson's widow, Miriam Adelson, has been hesitant to fork over the massive sums her husband provided prior to his death in early 2021, leaving what the publication describes as a "financial hole" for the GOP.

In fact, the only money Adelson has given this year has been a $5 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC dedicated to electing Republican candidates.

To put this into perspective, Bloomberg notes that the Adelsons gave more than a half a billion dollars to pro-GOP super PACs in the last decade alone.

READ MORE: Trump complains FBI made him look 'like a slob' with photo of stolen documents on office floor

In fact, the loss of Adelson money for the GOP is so great that the publication writes that "some Republicans worry they could face a cash crunch heading into the midterms" even as "its chances of controlling the Senate have deteriorated due to the fundraising struggles of candidates in battleground states."

Top GOP donor Dan Eberhart openly admitted that having no Adelson cash would be problematic for the party this fall.

"If Adelson is effectively sitting out the cycle, it leaves an awful big hole," he told Bloomberg.

Boris Johnson poised to give green light to Sizewell C nuclear plant funding during final days in office

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is poised to announce that he is giving the green light to funding for the Sizewell C nuclear power plant in Suffolk if finely poised negotiations conclude before his valedictory speech on energy security on Thursday.

The outgoing Prime Minister will say the Governments energy strategy 

will mean the UK can reduce its dependence on expensive foreign fossil fuels 

(Photo: Andrew Boyers/PA Wire)© Provided by The i

The Prime Minister is set to announce an initial Government investment decision despite senior supporters of Liz Truss’s bid to become prime minister raising concerns that committing billions of pounds to the project could tie her hands in power.

Mr Johnson’s speech comes during his final week in office, which he has used to try and burnish his legacy by highlighting what he sees as Government achievements on gigabit broadband, police recruitment and the Aukus defence deal with Australia and the US.

In his speech, the outgoing Prime Minister will say the Government’s energy strategy will mean the UK can reduce its dependence on expensive foreign fossil fuels that are helping to drive runaway inflation which has sparked a cost of living crisis.

Mr Johnson will also claim the plan will mean the delivery of eight nuclear reactors “at the pace equivalent to one a year”.

He will also hail plans to “go further and faster” on renewables such as wind, solar and hydrogen, claiming this could mean 95 per cent of electricity in the UK is low carbon by 2030.

Recommended video: Johnson commits funding to Sizewell C nuclear plant to 'get on' with project

Duration 1:18

View on Watch

 

Boris Johnson visits Sizewell C nuclear power station

Daily Mail


Boris Johnson compares nuclear energy investment to buying a new kettle

Daily Mail

Mr Johnson is expected to say: “The big decisions this Government has made on our energy future will bequeath a United Kingdom where energy is cheap, clean, reliable, and plentiful, and made right here on British soil.

“A future where families and businesses are never again at the mercy of international markets or foreign despots.”

When asked if he will sign off Sizewell C in its entirety before he departs next week, Mr Johnson told reporters on Wednesday: “Sadly, you are going to have to wait and contain your excitement on that until later this week.”

The Financial Times reported that the UK Government will take a 20 per cent stake in the project in a bid to give confidence to investors about the country’s commitment to new nuclear power stations.

French state-owned EDF, the project developer, is set to take another 20 per cent stake.

Private funding will be sought for the project estimated to cost £20bn-£30bn, with the Government’s stake costing up to £6bn.

The plant is thought to be critical to the UK’s energy independence amid rising demand on the grid and the threat of Russia limiting gas supplies, with a plan laid out by Mr Johnson in April warning that up to eight new reactors will be needed in the next decade to ensure clean and affordable energy. Sizewell C’s two reactors will provide 3.2 GW of generation capacity – around a 10th of the UK’s average energy demand.

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng, who is tipped to be Liz Truss’s chancellor if she wins the Tory leadership race, is said to be “massively” on board with the plan.

But some within Ms Truss’s camp have raised concerns amid fears a decision by Mr Johnson could tie the hands of his successor.

Development consent for Sizewell C was given the go-ahead by Mr Kwarteng in July, but negotiations over the financial investment decision were ongoing.

Downer, Turnbull, Trump and a poke in the Five Eyes

Just a diplomat doing his job? A new book puts the spotlight back on Australia, Russia and interference in the US election.

Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom Alexander Downer at Number 11 Downing Street, 24 January 2017 (Jack Taylor/Getty Images)

DANIEL FLITTON

THE INTERPRETER

Published 1 Sep 2022 Australia in the World
 Follow @danielflitton

“What he did would have got any other ambassador sacked. It was reckless and self-indulgent and put the Australian government in a very awkward position.”

Strong comments from Malcolm Turnbull. Even more remarkable considering that the former prime minister was reflecting on the performance of Alexander Downer, a fellow Liberal, Australia’s longest-serving foreign minister, a former UN special envoy and Australia’s one-time High Commissioner in London – the job where Turnbull’s barbs are aimed. “Foolish behaviour … blundering … blurting out political gossip … worst possible way to do it.”

Downer’s notorious 2016 drinks with Donald Trump aide George Papadopoulos have again hit the headlines, the wine bar chat said to have triggered an FBI investigation into Russian interference into the US presidential election that year. Or the “Rigged Witch Hunt”, as Trump would have it.

The latest adventure into this prickly history comes via extracts from a newly released book, The Secret History of the Five Eyes, by journalist and filmmaker Richard Kerbaj. And the book – canvassing the controversies and intelligence ties between Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand – has quickly caused a stir.

Some have described Downer’s actions as “those of a diplomat doing what he was paid to do: gather information in Australia’s national interest”.

Former UK Prime Minister Theresa May reportedly confessed doubts about continuing a “special relationship” with Washington after unfounded allegations of British eavesdropping on Trump. China, meanwhile, is complaining about details in the book of American pressure on Britain to force Huawei out of the country’s 5G network. Canadian spies are accused of knowing that an informant helped smuggle British teenager Shamima Begum into Syria to join Islamic State, a claim that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has now pledged to examine. (Begum is in a long-running legal stoush in a bid to return home after being stripped of citizenship.)

But back to Downer and concern that what Papadopoulos allegedly said at the drinks “should only have been passed on to the Americans via the most discreet intelligence community channels”, as Turnbull put it to Kerbaj.

To refresh the timeline: Downer met Papadopoulos at Kensington Wine Rooms in London in May 2016, hearing, he says, Papadopoulos claim Russia had a dirt file on Trump’s Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

“It sounded bad, but my attitude at the time was who would know whether this was even true,” Downer is quoted by Kerbaj.

Foreign policy adviser to US President Donald Trump’s election campaign, George Papadopoulos leaves the US District Courts on 7 September 2018. Papadopoulos was jailed for 14 days for lying to FBI agents over contacts with Russians that set off a federal probe into possible collusion with Moscow (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

Afterwards, Downer sent a cable back to Canberra reporting the conversation. Some six weeks went by until July when Trump was officially endorsed as the Republican candidate. Downer then decided to bring the Papadopoulos claims directly to the attention of the US chargé d’affaires in London, Elizabeth Dibble.

“He had no authority from Canberra to do this,” Turnbull wrote in his 2020 memoir, “and the first we heard of it in Australia was when the FBI turned up in London and wanted to interview Downer.”

Cue what is by now a long-standing debate.

Some have described Downer’s actions as “those of a diplomat doing what he was paid to do: gather information in Australia’s national interest”. Joe Hockey, who had to contend with the fallout in Washington as Australia’s ambassador at the time and warning it could have put intelligence sharing at risk, has also defended the actions of his former colleague.

Other questions have been raised about the urgency with which the information from Downer’s initial cable was passed on to the Americans (or whether it was passed on at all). Trump pressed Scott Morrison to examine Australia’s role. Papadopoulos, who spent a fortnight in prison for lying to investigators and was later pardoned by Trump, casts the whole episode in vastly conspiratorial terms.

Downer, while admitting he would have voted for Trump, has been dismissive:

I’ve had to put up with four years of Trump and some of his fringe cronies claiming I was part of a conspiracy with Hillary Clinton, the FBI, CIA, MI6, Italian intelligence, ASIS, Ukrainian spies and who knows who else, to bring him down. Twitter is full of demands from the hysterical right that I be sent to Guantánamo Bay.

So, rewind. In 2016 – before the Trump presidency, Brexit, “fake news”, the “deep state” and the passing parade of Putinistas that has turned modern politics into a circus – it might not have been obvious what was about to be unleashed. But in Turnbull’s view, Downer’s action brought into question “the discipline and professionalism of our foreign service”, which was enough for him to be sacked. Why wasn’t he?

“Alexander was a good friend of mine and the foreign minister, Julie Bishop. He is our longest-serving foreign minister, a former leader of the Liberal Party. And at the time we learned of his foolish behaviour we had every interest in keeping it confidential.”

But this raises another enduring and yet unanswered question about this whole messy episode. Why wasn’t Downer’s involvement kept confidential, given the Five Eyes intelligence sharing network is built on trust and secrecy?

Putin Brings India And China To Russia For War Games Defying US

India has also shelved moves to jointly produce helicopters and put on hold another plan to buy about 30 fighters from Russia.

 September 01, 2022 

India has avoided taking sides over Russia's war in Ukraine.

Russia is holding major military exercises involving China and India as President Vladimir Putin pushes back against attempts by the US and its allies to isolate him over his invasion of Ukraine.

More than 50,000 troops and 5,000 pieces of military equipment, including more than 140 aircraft and 60 warships, are due to take part in the week-long Vostok-2022 war games that start Thursday in Russia's far east, including naval drills in the Sea of Japan.

The regular exercises bring together member states and partners of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization of former Soviet republics.

Even as the US is wooing India as a defense partner and urging it not to undermine international sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine, the New Delhi government is sending a small 75-strong military detachment to the army drills. They include Gurkha troops and representatives from the navy and air force, though India isn't dispatching naval or air assets to Russia.

India, which has previously attended the exercises, has avoided taking sides over Russia's war in Ukraine, partly because of its reliance on Moscow as its main weapons supplier amid persistent border tensions with neighboring China and Pakistan. Still, the south Asian nation voted against Russia on the issue for the first time in a procedural vote last week at the United Nations Security Council that allowed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to address the body via video link.


Chinese service members take part in a ceremony opening Vostok 2022 military exercises at a firing ground in the far eastern Primorsky region, Russia, on Wednesday. | RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY / VIA REUTERS

India has also shelved moves to jointly produce helicopters and put on hold another plan to buy about 30 fighters from Russia.

The Defense Ministry in Beijing said China's army, air and naval forces are taking part in the drills, which aim to strengthen military coordination. The Chinese Communist Party-backed Global Times said the exercises this year will focus on possible threats, especially from the US in the Pacific region.

China has refused to criticize Russia for its six-month-long invasion of Ukraine and condemned US and European sanctions against Moscow. But it has steered clear of siding with Putin by providing technology and military supplies for Russia's war effort because of the risk of US secondary sanctions.

The Chinese role in the drills "cannot be seen as support" for Russia over the conflict, said Vasily Kashin, a Russian military expert at Moscow's Higher School of Economics. "It just shows us that the military-to-military ties are going on as usual."

Russia's ally Belarus is also taking part in Vostok-2022 along with the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Tajkistan and other states including Syria, Algeria, Mongolia, Laos and Nicaragua.

Watch: Police rescue 150 stolen pet cats from meat traders in China

The police in the eastern province of Shandong nabbed a gang stealing pet cats to sell their meat for human consumption.

Scroll Staff

Yesterday · 

‘Literal shipwreck treasure’ from famous doomed Dutch vessel the Batavia resurfaces in Australia

Tony Moore

Sep 01 2022

TONY MOORE/SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
Four priceless silver coins from the 1629 shipwreck have been taken from a diver in Queensland, Australia.

Four priceless silver Dutch coins from a ship that foundered off the West Australian coast in 1629 have resurfaced in Queensland.

The coins are from the wreck of the Batavia, which in 1628 set off for its maiden journey from Amsterdam to the capital of the Dutch East Indies, Batavia – near present-day Jakarta.

The doomed voyage of the Batavia is a tale of mutiny, murder and mayhem from the pre-colonial days.

And 363 years after the ship sank, the four coins were stolen by a diver.

They came to authorities’ attention when the diver moved to Queensland from West Australia and tried to get a permit to keep them.

Australian federal authorities alerted maritime archaeologist Celeste Jordan from the Department of Environment and Science, who explained the find on Wednesday.

“This is literal shipwreck treasure. I don’t know what more excitement anyone could have than literally touching shipwreck treasure.

“For Queensland to have coins from a WA shipwreck is very rare. They rarely cross state lines.

“So to be able to hold them, to be able to examine them is extremely rare,” she said.

Jordan said because the coins pre-dated European colonisation of Australia, “for a lot of people, these coins are literally the oldest thing they will see in history”.

The Dutch East India Company was “huge in the spice trade” at the time and the Batavia was one of seven ships making its way around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope before it was wrecked on June 4, 1629.

“Batavia is probably the most famous of the four Dutch East Indies shipwrecks off the Western Australian coast because of the mutiny.

“There were 115 people systematically murdered by Jeronimus Cornelisz and his cronies.”

Cornelisz subsequently had both hands cut off and died on the gallows on October 2, 1629.

Jordan said the Queenslander, who willingly gave over the coins after being told his prize was illegal, told her he had taken them from the Batavia wreck on Morning Reef, near Beacon Island.

She said the earliest coin was from the 1560s.

“The last digit is not there on this one.

“This next one is from 1614, and this one clearly says 1623. And this one, the fourth one, doesn’t have a date,” she said.

TONY MOORE/SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
Shipwreck expert Celeste Jordan says the oldest of the four coins dates to the 1560s, while the youngest is from 1623.

“On one coin from 1614 you can see whoever it is, I’m assuming it is potentially the Dutch king of the time, he has a sword, he is in armour and holding a shield or a bag and the shield actually has a small dragon on there,” she said.

“The dragon is roaring, his tongue is out, his wings are out, which is quite a fun detail,” she said.

Examining a coin from 1623, “you can see the detail in the feathers here and the other side of the coin also has quite beautiful detail in the gentleman’s armour”.

“You can also see the armour in the coin, you can see it is undated. But you can see the man’s hair and beautiful collar and all the metal of his armour.”

TONY MOORE/SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
One of four silver coins from the 1629 wreck of the Dutch East India flagship, the Batavia.

The oldest coin has silver detailing which looks part of a crown.

“If I turn it over you get part of the shield. It also has some cracking in the coin itself.

“I think one of the most interesting things about this coin here is that somebody has tried to clip a piece of silver from this coin.”

It has been illegal since 1976 to take objects from historic shipwrecks.

The coins will be returned within weeks to the Western Australian Shipwrecks Museum in Fremantle, which holds and displays a significant collection of Batavia artefacts.

READ MORE:
* Israeli archaeologists find treasure in ancient shipwrecks
* The cruel curse of shipwrecks: Money, misery and mystery
* New Zealand shipwrecks you can visit
* Colombia has billions in sunken treasure off its coast, but ownership is still disputed
* Treasure hunter found 3 tonnes of sunken gold, and can't leave jail until he says where it is