ICYMI
Mysterious hidden ‘structures’ hundreds of metres deep discovered on dark side of moon

Vishwam Sankaran
Mon, 21 August 2023 

Mysterious hidden ‘structures’ hundreds of metres deep discovered on dark side of moon

China’s Chang’e-4 mission rover has helped scientists visualise “hidden” structures deep below the surface of the moon’s far side – an advance that reveals billions of years of lunar history.

The Yutu-2 rover helped make the discovery through its Lunar Penetrating Radar (LPR) that imaged deep into the moon’s surface by listening to echoes of sound that bounced back off structures under the lunar surface and hidden from view.

The same rover and the mission’s lander had made history in 2019 as the first human objects to land on the far side of the moon – the side that faces away from the Earth.

Scientists had previously used the rover’s ground penetrating radar (GPR), but those earlier efforts could help map only the top 40m, or about 130ft, of the moon’s surface. This new discovery has found the “hidden” structures at depths of about 300m (984ft).

The new data suggests the first 130ft under the lunar surface is made up of layers of dust, soil, and rocks.

Radar analysis also revealed the presence of a buried crater that formed when a large object slammed into the lunar surface as well as helped map ancient lava flows under the moon.

“The GPR sends electromagnetic pulses into the lunar interior and receives echoes from subsurface layers. We use the high-frequency channel data to detect the structure of the upper 40 m along the rover’s path, primarily consisting of rock debris and soil,” researchers explained in the study.

Scientists speculate that the broken rocks surrounding this formation was likely debris produced by the impact.

“Through this investigation, we have discovered multiple layers in the upper 300 m, which likely indicate a series of basalt eruptions that occurred billions of years ago,” they wrote.

The new study, published recently in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, revealed lunar lava likely flowed across the landscape in this part of the moon billions of years ago.

Researchers found volcanic rock layers are thinner the closer they are to the lunar surface.

“The thickness variation of these lava flows suggests a decrease in eruption scale over time,” they noted.

Based on this evidence, they said the lunar volcanic activity cooled gradually since the moon’s formation over 4.5 billion years ago, when a Mars-sized object slammed onto Earth and broke off a chunk that eventually coalesced into the moon.

“The thickness of the strata decreases with the decreasing depth, suggesting a progressively smaller lava effusion rate over time,” scientists concluded.

Russia's first robotic moon mission in nearly 50 years ends in failure

Story by William Harwood •8h

Russia's Luna-25 probe crashed Saturday on the moon after a thruster firing went awry, cutting off communications and putting the spacecraft in the wrong orbit, the Russian space agency announced Sunday.

The misfire followed problems with an earlier orbit adjustment "burn," but this time around, contact was lost and flight controllers were unable to re-establish communications. Roscosmos, the Russian federal space agency, announced the failure via the Telegram social media platform.

"Due to the deviation of the actual parameters of the impulse (rocket firing) from the calculated ones, the device (spacecraft) switched to an off-design orbit and ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the lunar surface," the Russian-language post said, according to Google Translate.


An artist's impression of Russia's Luna-25 spacecraft on the surface of the moon. The probe crashed into the moon after an orbit-adjustment rocket firing went awry. / Credit: NASA© Provided by CBS News

The failure was a major disappointment for the Russian space program, which was attempting to up its game amid renewed interest in the moon's south polar region where ice deposits may exist in permanently shadowed craters. Ice offers a potential in situ source of air, water and even hydrogen rocket fuel for future astronauts.

NASA's Artemis program plans to send astronauts to the south polar region in the next few years and China is working on plans to launch its own astronauts, or "taikonauts," to the moon's south pole around the end of the decade.

India also has ambitious plans. It's Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft, consisting of a robotic lander named Vikram and a small rover named Pragyan, is in orbit around the moon and on track to touch down on the lunar surface Wednesday. The mission is a follow-up to Chandrayaan-2, which crashed to the moon in 2019 because of a software error.



Luna-25 was launched from the Vostochny Cosmodrome atop a Soyuz 2.1b rocket on August 10. It enter lunar orbit six days later, targeting a landing Monday, beating Chandrayaan-3 to the surface by two days. But it was not to be.



An image of the moon snapped by a camera on the Luna-25 probe after it reached lunar orbit shows off the power clarity of its imaging system. / Credit: Roscosmos© Provided by CBS News

The Russians have had little success with planetary exploration since the Luna-24 robot landed on the moon in 1976, scooped up about six ounces of lunar soil and returned it to Earth. That was Russia's third successful robotic lunar sample return mission.


Twelve NASA astronauts walked on the moon a half century ago in the agency's Apollo program, but no Russian cosmonauts ever made the trip. Russia's only previous post-Soviet deep space robotic missions, both targeting Mars, ended in failure.

Luna-25 was an attempt to pick up the torch, putting Russia back in a new space race of sorts as the United States, China, India, Japan and the private sector are planning multiple moon missions that could lay the foundations for lunar bases and eventual flights to Mars.

The next U.S. flight to the moon is a commercial mission funded by NASA. Intuitive Machines' Nova-C lander could launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket late this year. Another commercial lander, Astrobotic's Peregrine, will launch atop a new Vulcan rocket late this year or early next.

The next piloted flight to the moon, Artemis 2, is scheduled for launch late next year, sending four astronauts on a looping trajectory around the moon and back.

The first Artemis moon landing, putting two astronauts on the surface near the lunar south pole, is officially planned for late 2025, but time needed to build and test the SpaceX lunar lander threatens to push the flight into the 2026-27 timeframe.

Russian scientist who worked on Putin’s failed moon mission rushed to hospital

Namita Singh
Mon, 21 August 2023 


A leading physicist and astronomer who served as a key consultant in Vladimir Putin’s moon mission was hospitalised in Moscow after Russia’s first lunar expedition in 47 years failed.

Mikhail Marov, 90, was rushed to hospital following a “sharp deterioration” in his health after Luna-25 spacecraft spun out of control and crashed into the moon.

"It is so sad that it was not possible to land the apparatus," he said after the failure of Luna-25 was announced.

Russia’s state space corporation Roskosmos said it lost contact with the craft at 11.57am (GMT) on Saturday after a problem as the craft was shunted into pre-landing orbit. A soft landing had been planned for Monday.

"The apparatus moved into an unpredictable orbit and ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the surface of the Moon," Roskosmos said in a statement.

It said a special inter-departmental commission had been formed to investigate the reasons behind the loss of the Luna-25 craft, whose mission had raised hopes in Moscow that Russia was returning to the big power moon race.

Mr Marov told the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper that he hoped the reasons behind the crash would be discussed and examined rigorously.

"This was perhaps the last hope for me to see a revival of our lunar programme," he said, according to Reuters.

“There was a mistake in the algorithms for launching into near-lunar orbit,’ he was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail. “It must be found.”

A picture taken from the camera of the lunar landing spacecraft Luna-25 during its flight to the moon (Reuters)

“For the specialists who will be involved in the work of the commission, this will not be a big problem. I think the answer will be found in the foreseeable future.”

Sharing details on his medical condition, he told the outlet that he is currently “under observation” as he shared his exasperation over the failure of the mission.

“How can I not worry? This has been very much a matter of my life. It’s all very hard.”

The failure of Luna-25 underscored the decline of Russia’s space power since the glory days of Cold War competition when Moscow was the first to launch a satellite to orbit the Earth – Sputnik 1, in 1957 – and Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to travel into space in 1961.

A Soyuz-2.1b rocket booster with a Fregat upper stage and the lunar landing spacecraft Luna-25 blasts off from a launchpad at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the far eastern Amur region, Russia (Reuters)

It also comes as Russia’s $2 trillion economy faces its biggest external challenge for decades: the pressure of both Western sanctions and fighting the biggest land war in Europe since World War Two.

Though moon missions are fiendishly difficult, and many US and Soviet attempts have failed, Russia had not attempted a moon mission since Luna-24 in 1976, when Communist leader Leonid Brezhnev ruled the Kremlin.

Russia has been racing against India, whose Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft is scheduled to land on the moon’s south pole this week, and more broadly against China and the United States which both have advanced lunar ambitions.

Russian officials had hoped that the Luna-25 mission would show Russia can compete with the superpowers in space despite its post-Soviet decline and the vast cost of the Ukraine war.

Additional reporting by agencies

Astronauts are banned from drinking alcohol at work, but this hasn't stopped them sneaking everything from communion wine to cognac into space

Sawdah Bhaimiya
Sat, August 19, 2023

Buzz Aldrin held a secret communion service on the moon and consumed wine and bread.

NASA/Getty Images

NASA and other space agencies have banned alcohol in space because it can damage equipment.


But astronauts have found ways around this and smuggled alcohol onto spacecrafts for decades.


Russian cosmonauts have even hidden bottles of alcohol in their spacesuits and hollowed-out books.

Space agencies have, understandably, banned the consumption of alcohol in space, but astronauts have been finding ways around this for decades by smuggling booze onto spacecrafts and getting drunk.

NASA specifically prohibits alcohol and any product that contains it like mouthwash, perfume, or aftershave because it contains chemicals like ethanol that can damage equipment.

"Use of alcohol and other volatile compounds are controlled on ISS due to impacts their compounds can have on the station's water recovery system," Daniel G Huot, a spokesperson for NASA's Johnson Space Center told BBC Future in 2017.

But alcohol actually made it into space during the first moon landing in 1969 when Buzz Aldrin administered a secret communion service, The Guardian reported.

Aldrin had brought along a plastic container of wine and some bread from Webster Presbyterian Church near Houston where he was an elder. He consumed both.

Aldrin described the ceremony in a 1970 copy of Guideposts magazine, per The Guardian: "I poured the wine into the chalice our church had given me. In the one-sixth gravity of the moon the wine curled slowly and gracefully up the side of the cup. It was interesting to think that the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the first food eaten there, were communion elements."

Aldrin had intended to share the event publicly over the radio, but NASA kept it hushed up because it was tackling a lawsuit from an atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair who was trying to prevent the practicing of religion on earth, in space, and even in or around the moon, according to The Guardian.

NASA then officially clamped down on booze in space in 1972, but there have been at least two incidents where astronauts were cleared to fly with booze in their systems after consuming alcohol 12 hours before the flight, a 2007 review found.

The space agency has since banned astronauts from drinking 12 hours before they fly.

Russian space agencies have similar policies, but cosmonauts still found creative ways to hide contraband and sneak it onto spacecraft, Russia Beyond reported in 2017.

In 1971, one cosmonaut's birthday would occur whilst he was in orbit to the Salyut-7 space station. His friends decided to hide a bottle of Armenian cognac in a wristband used for measuring blood pressure before launch.

In 1984, cosmonaut Igor Volk lost two kilograms of weight a week before the launch of the Soyuz, so that he could hide pickled cucumbers and a bottle of cognac in his space suit, and avoid exceeding weight requirements.

Others would hide alcohol in thick books that were hollowed out by removing the pages inside.

One image posted by the Metro shows Russian crew members having a 'cognac party' aboard the Mir space station in 1997 just hours after a flash fire nearly resulted in disaster.

FREE ALL PRISONERS!

Beloved orca dies ahead of planned release from captivity

Story by By JERUSALEM POST STAFF AND REUTERS •1d

Lolita the Killer Whale is seen between shows at the Miami Seaquarium 

in Miami January 21, 2015.© (photo credit: ANDREW INNERARITY / REUTERS)

Lolita the orca, also known as Toki, died at the Miami Seaquarium on Friday, just months after a deal was reached to release her to an ocean habitat after over 50 years in captivity.

"Over the last two days, Toki started exhibiting serious signs of discomfort, which her full Miami Seaquarium and Friends of Toki medical team began treating immediately and aggressively," said the Seaquarium on Saturday. "Despite receiving the best possible medical care, she passed away Friday afternoon from what is believed to be a renal condition."

"Toki was an inspiration to all who had the fortune to hear her story and especially to the Lummi nation that considered her family. Those of us who have had the honor and privilege to spend time with her will forever remember her beautiful spirit," added the Seaquarium.

The Seaquarium was closed on Saturday to give the staff at the park time "to reflect on Lolita’s life and legacy."


Lolita the Killer Whale performs during a show at the Miami Seaquarium in Miami January 21, 2015. (credit: ANDREW INNERARITY / REUTERS)© Provided by The Jerusalem PostLolita the Killer Whale performs during a show at the Miami Seaquarium in Miami January 21, 2015. (credit: ANDREW INNERARITY / REUTERS)

Eduardo Albor, CEO of The Dolphin Company which owns the aquarium, tweeted "Not a single effort we made to give Lolita an opportunity was a waste of time and money. My heart is truly broken. Lolita captured me since [the] first day. Love at first sight. Thank you for making believe in what we do. The care team leaded by Mike Partica and Dr. Reiderson are true heroes."

Related video: Lolita, beloved orca held in captivity, dies at age 57 before planned release to sanctuary (NBC News)   Tonight, outside the Miami Seaquarium activist voicing their anger 

Duration 2:09   View on Watch

 

Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay, who had helped fund efforts to release Lolita, responded to the death as well on Saturday, tweeting "I am heartbroken that Toki has left us. Her story captured my heart, just as it did millions of others. I was honored to be part of the team working to return her to her indigenous home, and I take solace in knowing that we significantly improved her living conditions this past year. Her spirit and grace have touched so many. Rest in peace, dear Toki."

Lolita was set to be freed to ocean habitat

In March, the Miami Seaquarium said it had reached a "binding agreement" with nonprofit Friends of Lolita to return the whale, who recently retired from performances, to an ocean habitat in the Pacific Northwest within two years.

Lolita, a 57-year-old orca captured in 1970 in a cove off Seattle, was also known as Toki, a name that is short for the whale's Native American name of Tokitae, the Miami Herald reported at the time. The plan to return Lolita to her natural habitat required federal approval, according to the newspaper.

The process to return Lolita to her "home waters" was years in the making, beginning with the transfer of the aquarium's ownership to The Dolphin Co, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said at a news conference. The company later partnered with the nonprofit to provide medical care to the whale.

The Seaquarium's previous owner, SeaWorld Entertainment, phased out killer whale shows in 2016. Lolita, once a top attraction at Seaquarium, retired from shows in March 2022 after management changed hands.

The push to free Lolita gained momentum after the 2013 documentary Blackfish highlighted the captivity of orcas.

Animal rights advocates for years fought unsuccessfully in court to obtain Lolita's freedom after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration added orcas to the endangered species list in 2015.

Killer whales are highly social mammals that have no natural predators and can live up to 80 years.

https://libcom.org/article/beasts-burden-antagonism-and-practical-history

Beasts of burden - Antagonism and Practical History | libcom 

An attempt to rethink the separation between animal liberationist and communist politics. (Published 1999).

END FUR FARMING

Animal rights activists released 3,000 minks from a Wisconsin farm during a late-night heist

Story by khawkinson@insider.com (Katie Hawkinson ) 

Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters© Provided by INSIDER

Animal rights activists broke in to a Wisconsin farm and released 3,000 minks into the wild.

They took responsibility via anonymous message on a site run by the Animal Liberation Front.

Police told a local outlet that 90% of the minks had been recovered in five days.

Thousands of minks ran wild in western Wisconsin after animal rights activists held a late-night heist to bust them out of a fur farm.

The activists released 3,000 minks from Olsen Fur Farm in Independence, Wisconsin, last week by cutting a hole in a chain-link fence and opening cages, The Star Tribune reported. The owner did not discover the damage until the next morning, the paper reported.

While the Trempealeau County Sheriff's Office has not released information on any suspects, an anonymous group took responsibility for the act by sending a message to the North American Animal Liberation Press Office, a site run by the Animal Liberation Front, which the FBI has previously labeled as an extremist group



"It's operational for now, but maybe releasing several hundred mink has a chance to close it for good," the message reads. "We hope many of the mink enjoy their freedom in the wild and that this farm will be unable to breed thousands upon thousands of them in future years.

Challis Hobbs, president of the Fur Commission USA, said the break-in may have done more harm than good for the mink.

"They basically just die because there's nothing to eat, and they don't have burrows to find security from predator attacks," Hobbs told the Star Tribune. "It messes with the ecosystem."

Around 90% of the minks have been recovered as of Wednesday, a spokesperson for the Trempealeau County Sheriff's Office told the Star Tribune. The escapees constituted three quarters of the farm's 4,000 mink population.

When contacted for updates by Insider, the Trempealeau County Sheriff's Office said they could not give comment outside of business hours.

MINK ARE WEASELS

FRANK ZAPPA WEASELS RIPPED MY FLESH 1970

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for MINK 

Pollution in Venezuela's Lake Maracaibo threatens life in one of the world's oldest lakes


Pollution in Venezuela's Lake Maracaibo threatens life in one of the world's oldest lakes

© Provided by The Canadian Press

MARACAIBO, Venezuela (AP) — The fishermen of Lake Maracaibo say they face their worst nightmare everyday as fish stocks decline and pollution degrades the health of this great freshwater lake, one of the oldest — and largest — in the world.

Lake Maracaibo, which once was at the heart of Venezuela's oil boom, has turned into a polluted wasteland, according to environmentalists.

The pollution of the lake, located about 600 kilometers (372 miles) west of the capital, Caracas, is the result of decades of excessive oil exploitation, poor maintenance of the obsolete infrastructure and a lack of waste treatment plants in the area. Tens of thousands of kilometers of pipes lie at its bottom, where crude oil leaks and system failures are frequent.

The lake, which collects rainwater from more than a hundred tributaries, has also become the wastewater deposit for the western states of Zulia, Mérida and Trujillo, where 5.3 million people live. Waste from the Colombian department of Norte de Santander also ends up in it.

Fertilizers, sewage and other chemicals are discharged into Lake Maracaibo, causing high concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus that have led to the growth of cyanobacteria such as microcystin that produces 95% of what is locally called “verdin,” a greenish, toxic microalgae that occupies much of the lake's waters, according to Beltrán Briceño, a professor at the University of Zulia and head of the microbiology laboratory of the Institute of Agricultural Research in Maracaibo.

The proliferation of cyanobacteria can cause serious damage to both aquatic animals and human beings due to the toxins they generate, he said. Cyanobacteria can cause massive fish deaths


The fish no longer come near the shores of the lake because the microalgae “drowns them,” said José Aular, a 61-year-old fisherman who says he developed a skin rash because of the lake's contamination.

Environmentalists say oil pollution in Lake Maracaibo began at the beginning of the 20th century but worsened in the early 1930s, when a canal was excavated at the northern end of the lake to allow large oil tankers to navigate and connect the lake with the open sea. Seawater flowed in, killing freshwater wildlife, such as some plants and fish.

Before, “you would go out fishing and catch 700 kilos (about 1,500 pounds) of shrimp” almost all the time, said Yordi Vicuña, a 33-year-old fisherman. Now, he says, fishermen spend days at sea only to come back with about eight kilos (17 pounds) of shrimp.

Fishermen can't cast their nets anywhere because they will get damaged. Crude oil spilled into the lake smears fishing boats, clogs outboard motors and stains nets, said Vicuña.

The pollution of Lake Maracaibo is decades old, but now it's being felt on its coast with its bad smells, oil spills and microalgae, said Briceño, the professor at the University of Zulia.

"There is no magic formula” to rescue the lake if it continues to be used as a “septic tank,” he warns.

___

Associated Press writer Jorge Rueda contributed to this story from Caracas, Venezuela.

Ariana Cubillos And Juan Pablo Arráez, The Associated Press

Maui water is unsafe even with filters, one of the lessons learned from fires in California

Story by The Canadian Press •1d

The language is stark: People in torched areas of Maui should not try to filter their own drinking water because there is no "way to make it safe,” Maui County posted on its Instagram account this week.

The message reached Anne Rillero and her husband Arnie in Kula, who were eating yet another meal of frozen pizza. The couple feels incredibly lucky they and their home survived the fires that raced across Maui in recent days, wiping most of Lahaina off the map. The number of confirmed fatalities was raised on Friday to 114 people.

When a neighborhood organization alerted them not to drink their water and to air out the house even if they run the tap, the couple decided to eat off paper plates to avoid exposure. No washing dishes.

“It’s alarming that it may be in the water system for awhile,” said Rillero, a retired conservation communication specialist who has lived on the island for 22 years.

Brita filters, devices connected to refrigerators or sinks and even robust, whole-home systems are unlikely to address the “extreme contamination” that can happen after a fire.

“They will remove some of it, but levels that will be acutely and immediately toxic will get through,” said Andrew Whelton, a Purdue University researcher and expert in water contamination after wildfires in urban areas.

The Maui fires damaged hundreds of drinking water pipes, resulting in a loss of pressure that can allow toxic chemicals along with metals and bacteria into water lines.

“You can pull in contaminated or dirty water from the outside, even when those lines are underground,” said David Cwiertny, a civil and environmental engineering professor at the University of Iowa.

Hundreds of families could be in the same situation as the Rilleros in the Lahaina and Upper Kula areas, where people have been told to minimize any contact with county water including showers. In Lahaina alone, aerial imagery and damage assessment data generated by Vexcel Data show 460 buildings apparently undamaged by the fires. These are places where people are returning.

For now, the county has told people to use bottled water for all their needs or to fill jugs at tankers called water buffalos, which have been brought in near the burns.

The state health department's environmental health division told Maui County, which operates water delivery systems for most residents, to test for 23 chemicals. Those are just the ones for which the federal government has set limits for drinking water.

These warnings reflect new science and are intended to avoid the whiplash of conflicting information received by people impacted by the 2018 Camp Fire in California, who received messages from four different agencies.

Until a few years ago, wildfire was only known to contaminate drinking water at the source, such as when ash runs into a river or reservoir. California’s Tubbs Fire in 2017 and the Camp Fire “are the first known wildfires where widespread drinking water chemical contamination was discovered in the water distribution network,” according to a recent study published by several researchers including Whelton with the American Water Works Association.

After the Camp Fire destroyed Paradise, California, officials didn't initially understand that smoke and chemicals had leached into the water through broken and melted water pipes. So they did what was standard after other fires: they told people to boil water before use.

Concerned about benzene contamination, the Paradise Irrigation District water utility then changed the order and told people to avoid the water, district Assistant District Manager Mickey Rich said.

Four days later, the California State Water Resources Control Board announced people could drink it as long as it didn't smell. Two and a half weeks later, that agency announced there was benzene in the water.

Two months after that, a third agency, a county health department, told the public the water was unsafe and not to attempt to treat it on their own.

“There were a lot of unknowns,” Rich said. “When the scientists came six months into the recovery, they really answered a lot of questions that we wish we would have had at the beginning.”

New contaminants also have been discovered recently. The chemicals that Hawaii's state government told Maui County to test for are called volatile because they tend to become airborne, like gasoline that turns to vapor when it drips from the pump onto your car.

But Whelton’s new research on the Marshall Fire in Boulder County Colorado, shows a group of heavier compounds, called “semi-volatile,” can contaminate damaged water lines as well, even when benzene and other better-known chemicals are not there.

“We found SVOCs leaching from damaged water meters into drinking water,” Whelton said. “You can’t use VOCs to predict whether SVOCs are present.”

For people on Maui who get their water from private wells, now would be a good time to get it tested, said Steve Wilson, a groundwater hydrologist at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

If fire burns near a well, it can damage the cap, which keeps out debris. Plastic in the lining can even melt, releasing hazardous fumes into the well.

“In the case of a fire, it may look fine, but it’s hard to know,” Wilson said. “It might have affected something on the inside."

Experts caution complete restoration of safe water will take a long time.

“I would implore anybody not to make a decision about lifting the water safety order until you have repeated validation that there is no contamination that poses a health risk,” Whelton said.

___

Christopher Keller contributed from Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Mary Katherine Wildeman from Hartford, Connecticut.

___

The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment

Brittany Peterson, The Associated Press

Ecuador candidate backed by Correa will face banana heir in second round

ALEXANDRA VALENCIA AND JULIA SYMMES COBB
August 21, 2023 

QUITO (Reuters) - Two former lawmakers, leftist Luisa Gonzalez and business scion Daniel Noboa, will battle for Ecuador's presidency in an October run-off, after coming top in a first round of voting over the weekend.

Gonzalez, a protege of former President Rafael Correa who has promised to revive his social programs, won 33% support, while Noboa, son of prominent banana businessman and former presidential candidate Alvaro Noboa, was a surprise second-place with 24% of the vote.

The contest was darkened by the assassination of anti-corruption candidate Fernando Villavicencio earlier this month. The crime is still under investigation, but Villavicencio, who was replaced as a candidate by his friend and fellow investigative journalist Christian Zurita, came third with 16%. Villavicencio's name appeared on the ballot papers because they were printed before his murder.

Sharp increases in crime, which the current government blames on drug gangs, and the struggling economy, whose woes have caused a rise in unemployment and migration, were the top concerns among votes as they headed to the polls on Sunday.

Gonzalez has promised to free up $2.5 billion from international reserves to bolster Ecuador's economy and bring back million-dollar social initiatives implemented by Correa - who has since been convicted of corruption - during his decade in power.

Noboa seemingly gained support after performing well in the only televised debate of the campaign.

A lawmaker until current President Guillermo Lasso dissolved the national assembly and called early elections, Noboa has focused his campaign on job creation, tax incentives for new businesses and jail sentences for serious tax evasion.

Though Noboa is likely to look for alliances with candidates who have been knocked out of the race, any potential victory will depend on how well he articulates policy proposals, said political analyst Alfredo Espinosa.

"Noboa has tried to sell himself as a businessman and a young technocrat. He showed it when he talked about how to manage hydroelectric dams (during the televised debate)," said Espinosa. "If he can do that same exercise with the proposals of the (other) candidates that will give his rhetoric much more meaning."

"Politics is not comparable to managing a private business, it means generating consensus, generating spaces for dialogue," Espinosa said.

Gonzalez, backed by Correa's political machine, which has devoted loyalists, especially in working class sectors, is in a strong position as the "second round will be plagued with ideological content," the political analyst said.

Also on Sunday's ballot were two environmental referendums that could block mining in a forest near Quito and development of an oil block in the Amazon.

An effort to bar development of an oil block in the Yasuni reserve in the Amazon was winning 59% support, with about 37% of ballot boxes counted, while a ban on mining in the Choco Andino forest near Quito was also winning with 67% support.

Correa's Citizens' Revolution party was leading the count for seats in the national assembly, with about 40% support, while Villavicencio's Construye party tallied 22%, with about 57% of ballot boxes counted.

(Reporting by Alexandra Valencia and Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

Ecuador elections headed for run-off with leftist Gonzalez in lead

Ecuador’s presidential election appears headed to run-off vote in October between leftist candidate Luisa Gonzalez and business scion Daniel Noboa, according to partial results.

With 85 percent of the votes counted, Gonzalez, a protege of former President Rafael Correa who has promised to revive his social programmes, won 33 percent support, while Noboa, son of prominent banana businessman and former presidential candidate Alvaro Noboa, was a surprise second-place with 24 percent of the vote.

“Thank you, dear Ecuador, for this civic victory! We continue in this struggle, in which you have already given us a first victory and there will be a great and definitive second victory,” Gonzalez said.

Sharp increases in crime, which the current government blames on drug gangs, and the struggling economy, whose woes have caused a rise in unemployment and migration, were the top concerns among votes as they headed to the polls on Sunday.

President of the National Electoral Council Diana Atamaint said results showed no candidate had hit the threshold to win outright, after a tense day of voting under heavy security.

“We are heading to a second round election on October 15,” she told journalists on Monday.

Voting appeared to have been peaceful despite the crisis of insecurity, drug-related violence, and corruption in the country.

If no presidential candidate wins an absolute majority or at least 40 percent of the vote and a 10-percentage-point lead over the runner-up, a run-off is required.

Eight candidates were running for the highest office in Sunday’s snap elections, taking place as the country remains shaken by a wave of violence, including the assassination of anticorruption candidate Fernando Villavicencio earlier this month. The crime is still under investigation. Villavicencio’s replacement, investigative journalist Christian Zurita, came third with 16 percent.

Incumbent President Guillermo Lasso had called the snap election after he dissolved the opposition-dominated Congress in May to avoid an impeachment trial just two years after his election. Voters will also elect members of the 137-seat parliament.
Defender of Correa’s socialist legacy

According to Al Jazeera’s Latin America Editor Lucia Newman, the result would have surprised the 45-year-old Gonzalez, who is from the left-wing Citizen Revolution Movement party.

“Gonzalez did come in first as predicted, but by a far smaller margin than she would have hoped for as nine points behind her was Noboa – a 35-year-old businessman and the son of one of the richest men in the country, a banana magnate,” Newman, reporting from the capital Quito, said.



Left-wing presidential candidate Luisa Gonzalez, of the Citizen Revolution Political Movement, speaks to supporters after the polls closed in Quito

 [Carlos Noriega/AP]© Provided by Al Jazeera

Related video: Ecuador Elections 2023 | Ecuadorians Vote In Presidential Election | Equador News | N18V (News18)   Duration 3:18   View on Watch

“Noboa has been a congressman in the past but is still seen as an anti-politician,” she said, adding that most of the candidates who did not make it past the first hurdle are expected to vote for Noboa in the second round of voting.

“It puts the candidate in the leftwing party in a very difficult position for the runoff,” Newman said.

Despite the close contest, Gonzalez hailed her “triumph” in the first round.

Gonzalez, who sees herself as a defender of Correa’s socialist legacy, had long been leading opinion polls, with Villavicencio second until his murder. She has said that former President Rafael Correa will be a close advisor if she is elected.

Correa was sentenced to eight years in jail after an investigation by Villavicencio into corruption and fled to Belgium where he has been living in exile for six years.

Villavicencio was replaced at the last minute by a close friend and another journalist, Christian Zurita, who came in third with 16 percent of votes.

Hours ahead of the vote, Zurita said he was receiving death threats on social media.
‘Noboa appeals to the youth’

Meanwhile, Noboa said the “youth” had chosen him to beat Correa’s party.

His father, Alvaro Noboa, ran unsuccessfully for the presidency five times.

Political analyst Javier Farje said Noboa seems to have appealed to the young “disenfranchised” voters in the country, who are unhappy with the country’s current political system.

“Noboa is a young entrepreneur but he is also prepared to talk to Jan Topic, the hardline candidate who wants to implement harsh policies in relation to crime, to talk about security,” Javier told Al Jazeera.



Daniel Noboa, centre, his wife Lavinia Valbonesi and his team celebrate during a press conference in Guayaquil, Ecuador 

[AP Photo]© Provided by Al Jazeera

‘We are afraid’

According to Farje, Noboa has appealed to young voters and people who are concerned about the way crime has risen in the country, with the increased presence of guns that could “work for Mexican drug cartels”.

The small South American country has in recent years become a playground for foreign drug mafias seeking to export cocaine from its shores, stirring up a brutal war between local gangs.

In one of the world’s most biodiverse countries, a historic referendum also took place on whether to keep drilling for oil in an Amazon reserve that is home to three of the world’s last uncontacted Indigenous populations.

With only 30 percent of votes counted, the “yes” vote to halt drilling was leading with 58 percent of support.

The small country straddles the Andes and the Amazon and was best known as the world’s top exporter of bananas.

Al Jazeera

GOOD NEWS!  ¡qué buena noticia! 

Ecuador votes against drilling oil in protected area of Amazon rainforest

Yasuni National Park is home to 610 species of birds, 139 species of amphibians, and 121 species of reptiles

Associated Press
Published August 21, 2023 

Ecuadorians voted against drilling for oil in a protected area of the Amazon, an important decision that will require the state oil company to end its operations in a region that’s home to two uncontacted tribes and is a hotspot of biodiversity.

Yasuni National Park is inhabited by the Tagaeri and Taromenani, who live in self-isolation. In 1989, it was designated a world biosphere reserve by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, also known as UNESCO. Encompassing a surface area of over 2.5 million acres, it boasts 610 species of birds, 139 species of amphibians, and 121 species of reptiles. At least three species are endemic.

With over 90% of the ballots counted by early Monday, around six in 10 Ecuadorians rejected the oil exploration in Block 43, situated within Yasuni.

Waorani Indigenous people attend an event promoting a "yes" vote in a referendum on not extracting oil in Quito, Ecuador, on Aug. 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa))

The outcome represents a significant blow to Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso, who advocated for oil drilling, asserting that its revenues are crucial to the country’s economy. State oil company Petroecuador will be required to dismantle its operations in the coming months.

The referendum took place alongside the presidential election, which will be decided in a runoff between leftist candidate Luisa González and right-wing contender Daniel Noboa. The country is experiencing political turmoil following the assassination of one of the candidates, Fernando Villavicencio.

Ecuador votes to stop oil drilling in Amazon reserve

August 22, 2023

A Petroecuador oil platform is seen in Yasuni National Park in June 2023

Ecuadorans have voted to stop an oil drilling project in an Amazon reserve, according to the results Monday of a referendum hailed as a historic example of climate democracy.

The "Yes" vote to halt exploitation of an oil block in the Yasuni National Park, one of the most diverse biospheres in the world, won by 59 percent, with 98 percent of votes tallied.

"Today Ecuador takes a giant step to protect life, biodiversity, and indigenous people," the country's two main indigenous organizations, Confeniae and Conaie, posted on social media.

After years of demands for a referendum, the country's highest court authorized the vote in May to decide the fate of "block 43," which contributes 12 percent of the 466,000 barrels of oil per day produced by Ecuador.

The block is situated in a reserve which stretches over one million hectares and is home to three of the world's last uncontacted Indigenous populations and a bounty of plant and animal species.

Drilling began in 2016 after years of fraught debate and failed efforts by then president Rafael Correa to persuade the international community to pay cash-strapped Ecuador $3.6 billion not to drill there.

The government of outgoing President Guillermo Lasso has estimated a loss of $16 billion over the next 20 years if drilling is halted.

The reserve is home to the Waorani and Kichwa tribes, as well as the Tagaeri, Taromenane and Dugakaeri, who choose to live isolated from the modern world.

National oil company Petroecuador had permission to exploit 300 hectares, but says it is only using 80 hectares.

The Amazon basin -- which stretches across eight nations -- is a vital carbon sink.

Scientists warn its destruction is pushing the world's biggest rainforest close to a tipping point, beyond which trees would die off and release carbon rather than absorb it, with catastrophic consequences for the climate.

The fate of the reserve has drawn the attention of celebrities such as Hollywood star and environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio.

"With this first-of-its-kind referendum worldwide, Ecuador could become an example in democratizing climate politics, offering voters the chance to vote not just for the forest but also for Indigenous rights, our climate, and the well-being of our planet," he wrote on Instagram this month.

Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg also hailed the "historic referendum."

The NGO Amazon Frontlines said the vote was a "demonstration of climate democracy, where people, not corporations, get to decide on resource extraction and its limits."

Locals in Yasuni were divided, with some supporting the oil companies and the benefits that economic growth have brought to their villages.

sp/fb/bgs

Ecuador votes in historic referendum on oil extraction in the Amazon

Story by By Hannah Holland •

The people of Ecuador are heading to the polls – but they’re voting for more than just a new president. For the first time in history, the people will decide the fate of oil extraction in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

The referendum will give voters the chance to decide whether oil companies can continue to drill in one of the most biodiverse places on the planet, the Yasuní National Park, home to the last uncontacted indigenous communities in Ecuador.


Among the species found in the Yasuní National Park, is the harpy eagle, the second largest bird of prey in the world.

- Carl De Souza/AFP/Getty Images© Provided by CNN

The park encompasses around one million hectares at the meeting point of the Amazon, the Andes and the Equator. Just one hectare of Yasuní land supposedly contains more animal species than the whole of Europe and more tree species than exist in all of North America.

But underneath the land lies Ecuador’s largest reserve of crude oil.

“We are leading the world in tackling climate change by bypassing politicians and democratizing environmental decisions,” said Pedro Bermo, the spokesman for Yasunidos, an environmental collective who pushed for the referendum.

It’s been a decade-long battle that began when former President Rafael Correa boldly proposed that the international community give Ecuador $3.6 billion to leave Yasuní undisturbed. But the world wasn’t as generous as Correa expected. In 2016, the Ecuadorian state oil company began drilling in Block 43 – around 0.01% of the National Park – which today produces more than 55,000 barrels a day, amounting to around 12% of Ecuador’s oil production.


Aerial picture of the Tiputini Processing Center of state-owned Petroecuador in Yasuni National Park, June 21, 2023.

 - Rodrigo Buendia/AFP/Getty Images© Provided by CNN

A continuous crusade of relentless campaigning and a successful petition eventually made its mark – in May, the country’s constitutional court authorized the vote to be included on the ballot of the upcoming election.

It’s a decision that will likely be instrumental to the future of Ecuador’s economy. Supporters who want to continue drilling believe the loss of employment opportunities would be disastrous.

“The backers of the request for crude to remain underground made it ten years ago when there wasn’t anything. 10 years later we find ourselves with 55,000 barrels per day, that’s 20 million barrels per year,” Energy Minister Fernando Santos told local radio.

“At $60 a barrel that’s $1.2 billion,” he added. “It could cause huge damage to the country,” he said, referring to economic damage and denying there has been environmental harm.



Alberto Acosta-Burneo, an economist and editor of the Weekly Analysis bulletin, said Ecuador would be “shooting itself in the foot” if it shut down drilling. In a video posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, he said that without cutting consumption all it would mean is another country selling Ecuador fuel.

But ‘yes’ campaigners have ideas to fill the gap, from the promotion of eco-tourism and the electrification of public transport to eliminating tax exemptions. They claim that cutting the subsidies to the richest 10% of the country would generate four times more than what is obtained extracting oil from Yasuní.

“This election has two faces,” explained Bermo.

“On one hand we have the violence, the candidates, parties, and the same political mafias that governed Ecuador without significant changes.

“On the other hand, the referendum is the contrary – a citizen campaign full of hope, joy, art, activism and a lot of collective work to save this place. We are very optimistic.”

Among those campaigning to stop the drilling is Helena Gualinga, an indigenous rights advocate who hails from a remote village in the Ecuadorian Amazon – home of the Kichwa Sarayaku community.



A crude oil sample taken from an oil well in Yasuní National Park, where the referendum vote could mean leaving the crude oil in the ground indefinitely.

 - Rodrigo Buendia/AFP/Getty Images© Provided by CNN

“This referendum presents a huge opportunity for us to create change in a tangible way,” she told CNN.

For Gualinga, the most crucial part of the referendum is that if Yasunidos wins, the state oil company will have a one-year deadline to wrap up its operations in Block 43.

She explained that some oil companies have left areas in the Amazon without properly shutting down operations and restoring the area.

“This sentence would mean they have to do that.”

Those who wish to continue drilling in the area argue that meeting the one-year deadline to dismantle operations would be impossible.

The referendum comes as the world faces blistering temperatures, with scientists declaring July as the hottest month on record, and the Amazon approaching what studies are suggesting is a critical tipping point that could have severe implications in the fight to tackle climate change.

And according to Antonia Juhasz, a Senior Researcher on Fossil Fuels at Human RIghts Watch, it’s time for Ecuador to transition to a post-oil era. Ecuador’s GDP from oil has dropped significantly from around 18% in 2008, to just over 6% in 2021.

She believes the benefits of protecting the Amazon outweigh the benefits of maintaining dependence on oil, particularly considering the cost of regular oil spills and the consequences of worsening the climate crisis.

“The Amazon is worth more intact than in pieces, as are its people,” she said.

 CNN 

ALTERNATE CANDIDATE

Ecuador's Perez to review mining contracts suspected of polluting if elected

Story by By Alexandra Valencia • AUG. 17, 2023

Ecuadorean presidential candidate Perez during his closing campaign rally, in Quito© Thomson Reuters

QUITO (Reuters) - Ecuadorean Indigenous presidential candidate Yaku Perez would revise mining concessions that do not comply with environmental and social rules and would ask creditors for breathing room amid spiking violence, he told Reuters in an interview.


Ecuadorean presidential candidate Perez during his closing campaign rally, in Quito© Thomson Reuters

More than 13 million Ecuadoreans are eligible to head to polls on Sunday in a contest that has been marred by the murder of anti-corruption candidate Fernando Villavicencio, highlighting sharply deteriorated security which the current government blames on drug traffickers.


Ecuadorean presidential candidate Perez during his closing campaign rally, in Quito© Thomson Reuters

Candidates have pledged to fight crime and improve the struggling economy, amid unemployment woes which have increased migration.

Mining is a top contributor to Ecuador's economy, but Perez, an erstwhile water activist, said late on Thursday he would ask the country's comptroller to review contracts suspected of polluting, to define their continuity under Ecuadorean law.

Ecuador has abundant mineral reserves, but has lagged behind regional neighbors like Peru and Chile in developing large-scale projects because of resistance from Indigenous communities and judicial decisions that have stymied development.

"If there are audits that say they are contaminating the environment, that they are poisoning water, that they haven't done prior consultations (with communities)...they will need to be revised," Perez said. "If they have complied with social and environmental licenses they will continue."

"We are not going to premeditatedly pursue (miners), but there must be responsibility," he said. "I respect legal guarantees."

He would also push a constitutional reform to bar mining in areas with lakes, rivers and other water sources, first by sending it to the national assembly, and then, in case of failure, to voters via a referendum.

Perez supports two environmental efforts also on the ballot on Sunday - one to shutter an oil block in a megadiverse part of the Amazon and a local bid to bar mining in a forest near Quito.

Perez, who was polling in the top five of eight candidates, said he would trace corrupt funds through an expert commission backed by the United Nations, which will review contracts from the last 20 years.

"If we correct the distortions, the corruption, if we charge taxes to the defaulters we won't need new loans," said Perez, who came a surprise third in elections in 2021.

He would approach Ecuador's multilateral creditors and bondholders to ask for payment extensions because of the difficult economic and security situation, he said.

"We have to tell them that this is a very difficult time to pay foreign debt, that we recognize them and will pay...but first allow me to get the country started on economic growth and a reduction in poverty."

Ecuador has leaned on international financing since its economy was battered by the COVID pandemic. The country concluded a credit agreement for $6.5 billion with the International Monetary Fund at the end of last year.

"We are in a spiral of violence: there is no work, there is no education, people are fleeing the country," he said. "Hopefully they will understand."

Perez pledged to make agriculture - not oil, the country's top source of income - Ecuador's economic driver, creating 500,000 jobs.

Better social programs and data-based security programs are also on his agenda if elected, he said.

"We must get back control of the borders where drugs come through, get back control of the Ecuadorean coasts where drugs leave and get back control of the prisons from which crimes are ordered," he said.

(Reporting by Alexandra Valencia; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Sharon Singleton)