Broadcom planning to complete deal for $69 billion acquisition of VMWare after regulators give OK

November 22, 2023 



SAN JOSE, California (AP) — Computer chip and software maker Broadcom has announced it has cleared all regulatory hurdles and plans to complete its $69 billion acquisition of cloud technology company VMware on Wednesday.

The company, based in San Jose, California, announced the plan after China joined the list of countries that had given a go-ahead for the acquisition.

The announcement came soon after Microsoft acquired video game-maker Activision Blizzard for $69 billion, in one of the most expensive tech acquisitions in history. It took 18 months for Broadcom to get all the regulatory approvals.

The massive buyouts are occurring at a time of heightened anxiety because of turmoil on the global supply chain, war in Europe and the Middle East, and rising prices that have the potential to cool both business and consumer activity.

Broadcom's acquisition plan earlier gained approval from Britain’s competition regulator.

Countless businesses and public bodies, including major banks, big retailers, telecom operators and government departments, rely on Broadcom gear and VMware software. The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm and top antitrust enforcer, cleared the deal after Broadcom made concessions to address its concerns about competition.

Broadcom wants to establish a stronger foothold in the cloud computing market, and VMware’s technology allows large corporations to blend public cloud access with internal company networks. VMware, which is based in Palo Alto, California, has close relations with every major cloud company and provider, including Amazon, Google and Microsoft.

In a statement, Broadcom said it had legal greenlights in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, Israel, Japan, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and “foreign investment control clearance in all necessary jurisdictions.”

"There is no legal impediment to closing under U.S. merger regulations,” it said.

There has been a flurry of such deals after technology companies' shares fell from stratospheric levels attained during the pandemic, making such acquisitions more affordable.

Broadcom's CEO, Hock Tan, has been among the most aggressive buyers, building out the company with big acquisitions in recent years like Symantec for close to $11 billion in 2019, and CA Technologies for about $19 billion the previous year.

Kansas to appeal ruling blocking abortion rules, including a medication restriction

JOHN HANNA
November 16, 2023


TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Republican attorney general in Kansas is appealing a state judge’s ruling that has blocked enforcement of multiple abortion restrictions, including a new limit on medication and an older rule forcing patients to wait 24 hours before they can get the procedure.

Attorney General Kris Kobach filed a notice Thursday in Johnson County District Court in the Kansas City area, saying he will ask higher courts to overturn Judge K. Christopher Jayaram's decision last month. The judge concluded that abortion providers were likely to successfully argue in a lawsuit that the restrictions violate the Kansas Constitution.

“The attorney general has a responsibility to protect women against radicals who want to deny them the ability to make informed decisions about their own health and the welfare of their babies,” Kobach spokesperson Danedri Herbert said in an email.

Jayaram's order is set to remain in effect through a trial of the providers' lawsuit at the end of June 2024. Some of the blocked restrictions have been in place for years. The state imposed its waiting period in 1997.

The newest restriction, in place July 1, required providers to tell patients that a medication abortion can be stopped. But the regimen to do that has been described by major medical groups as inadequately tested, ineffective and potentially unsafe.

The legal battle in Kansas highlights the importance of state courts in attempts to preserve access after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson last year ended protections under the U.S. Constitution and allowed states to ban abortion.

The Kansas Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that the state constitution protects access to abortion as a “fundamental” right. In August 2022, voters statewide rejected a proposed constitutional change from Republican lawmakers to nullify that decision and allow greater restrictions or a ban.

Abortion opponents argue that even with last year's vote, the state can impose “reasonable” restrictions and ensure that patients are well-informed.

But Jayaram concluded there is "credible evidence” that up to 40% of the information that clinics were required to provide before an abortion was medically inaccurate.

“Kansans made it clear they don’t want politicians interfering with their health care decisions and the courts reaffirmed that right," said Anamarie Rebori-Simmons, spokesperson for Planned Parenthood Great Plains, which operates a Kansas City-area clinic that sued. "The attorney general continues to disregard the will of those he serves.”

CANADA

Top general worries about maintaining Pacific fleet on current budget 'trajectory'

BRING THEM HOME TO PATROL OUR OCEANS

The Canadian Press
Sat, November 18, 2023 



HALIFAX — Canada's top soldier says the military's ability to keep funding a "persistent presence" of warships in the western Pacific is facing challenges on the current budget.

Gen. Wayne Eyre was speaking during the Halifax International Security Forum Saturday during a panel discussion focused on China's emergence as a military superpower.

The chief of defence staff said Canada currently has three frigates operating in the region on joint naval exercises with Japan and the United States.

He noted, however, that those ships are reaching the end of their 30-year lifespan.

Eyre said while Canada is committed to keeping ships operating in the area, sustaining the frigates is "going to be a challenge ... as we balance resources around the world."

He added the Halifax-class frigates are in what he called desperate need of maintenance.

"If we take a look at the trajectory of our maintenance funding over the next few years, we're going to have a very, very hard time given the current path," Eyre said.

He also said he's concerned about keeping the country's maritime patrol aircraft flying, saying "serviceability" is below 50 per cent and they are in urgent need of replacement.

The comments from Eyre are just the latest concerns being expressed about what impact looming budget restraint at the Ministry of National Defence may have on the military. Deputy minister Bill Matthews told MPs on the House of Commons defence committee in September that the department is identifying “proposals for spending reductions” totaling more than $900 million over four years, while trying to minimize the impact on military readiness.

Defence Minister Bill Blair seemed to acknowledge the staff's worries on Friday when he appeared before the forum in the forum's opening panel discussion on the Ukraine war.

He told the roughly 300 delegates attending the forum that it is difficult for Canada to provide long-term ammunition commitments to Ukraine when it's own stockpiles are so low.

"The Canadian Armed Forces is in desperate need of reconstitution and resources and equipment and we're committed to doing that, and I'm asking them very often to make sacrifices and give up part of their own reserves and stockpiles to share with Ukraine," he said.

Outside experts have said finding almost $1 billion in savings will affect the Armed Forces' capabilities, although Blair has insisted his department's spending isn't being cut.

The most recent federal budget projected $39.7 billion for the department in 2026-27, up from $26.5 billion in the current fiscal year. Most of the budget for the next several years is tied up in long-term spending commitments, such as the purchase of 88 F-35 fighter jets.,

In the same budget, the government announced plans to find more than $15 billion in savings over five years by cutting consulting, professional services and travel by 15 per cent and departmental spending by three per cent.

The defence budget is about 1.3 per cent of Canada's GDP. The Liberal government has never laid out a plan to get to two per cent despite pressure to do so from some of its fellow NATO members and past commitments to reach the target.

On Saturday, Blair told reporters in Halifax his department is seeking "additional funding," adding the ministry must also work on spending the money already in hand.

"We're right in the middle of some very important fiscal discussions with Finance Department," he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 18, 2023.

Michael Tutton, The Canadian Press

WeWork has failed. Like a lot of other tech startups, it left damage in its wake

CBC
Sun, November 19, 2023 

WeWork co-founder and CEO Adam Neumann, centre, attends the opening bell ceremony at Nasdaq in New York in this Jan. 16, 2018, file photo. When the company went public in 2021, it was valued at more than $9 billion US. 

(Mark Lennihan/The Associated Press - image credit)

The worksharing giant WeWork was supposed to fundamentally alter the future of the office. It raised billions of dollars, signed leases in office towers across North America, but filed for bankruptcy protection last week.

Analysts say it collapsed, at least in part, because it never had a viable business model.

"It didn't really have a clear path to profitability. It never made any money," said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at the financial services firm Hargreaves Lansdown.

Streeter says WeWork is just the latest in a string of high profile, well-funded ideas that failed spectacularly.

"This is a lesson for would-be investors not to believe the hype," she told CBC News.

But the collateral damage of startups celebrated for "disrupting" traditional industries can go far beyond investors — hurting not just the old guard but also customers who are stuck with what's left.

The damage in its wake

WeWork's first location opened in New York in 2010, founded by tech entrepreneurs Adam Neumann and Miguel McKelvey.

They built the company on a promise to reshape office culture and used the funds from the sale of their previous co-working startup, Green Desk, to get started.

When it was launched as a publicly tradeable company in 2021 — after Neumann was ousted and McKelvey left — the company's stock shot up to a market value of $9.4 billion.

In a pre-pandemic world, the idea generated a lot of hype. Big institutional investor SoftBank pumped $6.5 billion US into WeWork, and eventually injected another $9.5 billion US in an attempt to save it.

But by then, WeWork was beyond saving. It had stacked up $16 billion US in losses and was paying 80 per cent of its revenues on rent and interest.

And as it failed, it left a lot of damage in its wake.

WeWork had more than 18 million square feet of rentable office space in the United States and Canada at the end of last year, according to a financial filing.

"It will be years before that space is occupied again," said independent commercial real estate consultant John Andrew.

He says in a weird twist, the WeWork model would actually make more sense now than it did five years ago, because there's more openness to flexible work arrangements. But because the company piled on so much debt and focused on growth over quality, it simply ran out of time.

"They were up to their eyeballs in debt and then we know what happened with interest rates," said Andrew.

Adam Neumann, CEO of WeWork, speaks to guests during the TechCrunch Disrupt event in New York City on May 15, 2017. (Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)

'How platforms die'

There's a model here that has played out repeatedly over the past 10 years.

Tech companies move in to disrupt an existing industry. There's a wave of hype about the innovation. The new service loses money in the hopes of eventually turning a profit.

But as often as not, those profits never materialize. But the experiment has fundamentally changed the existing industry.

The author and tech expert Cory Doctorow has coined a term for this process. He calls it "enshittification."

"Here is how platforms die," he wrote in an essay first published on his website earlier this year. "First, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die."

That essay went viral and was republished around the internet. Doctorow's latest book, The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation, rails against the way tech companies failed time and again to deliver on their promises to consumers.

Cory Doctorow, novelist, blogger and technology activist, coined the term 'enshittification' to describe how technology platforms make and break promises, then die. (Jason Vermes/CBC)

He points to Uber, Amazon and Airbnb as just a handful of examples.

In Uber's case, Doctorow says the company raised billions of dollars that allowed it to operate at a loss. He says the belief was that if the experiment didn't work, things could just go back to the way they were.

But that's not what happened.

"What actually happens during that period is both labour and capital are profoundly reshaped," he told CBC News.

The taxi industry was decimated. In some cases, public transit was reduced as well because prospective riders were simply taking an Uber instead.

He recently got off a train to find there was no connecting bus, no taxis and as Uber cuts back, there were no ride-hailing services available either.

"That's the lasting legacy here is that we don't just have this era in which, you know, small businesses are chased out of the industry, it's that we then go back to a status quo that's worse," said Doctorow.

The promise of streaming

The same story is playing out in the fight between cable TV and the upstart streamers. Netflix crashed onto the scene in 2007 offering a huge library of videos for less than $10 a month.

Customers exhausted and annoyed by what they saw as exorbitant prices for traditional cable flocked to the streaming service. Netflix's success brought in more and more competitors.

That disrupted business and revenue model became a major sticking point this summer during the Hollywood writer's strike.

Picketers carry signs on the picket line outside Netflix on Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023, in Los Angeles. Hollywood's writers strike was declared over Tuesday night when board members from their union approved a contract agreement with studios, bringing the industry at least partly back from a historic halt in production. How streaming companies paid writers was one of the biggest sticking points in the Hollywood writer's strike. (Chris Pizzello/Invision/The Associated Press)

"The whole promise was a lie," said Adam Conover, an executive producer of several hit TV shows and a board member of the Writers Guild of America.

He says Netflix has upended the industry in a lot ways regular consumers may not see. The way writers are paid has changed. The way shows are sold has changed.

"They're trying to turn us into gig workers," he told CBC.

For years, he says, all the streaming companies cared about was growth. As long as new subscribers were signing on in huge numbers, they could afford to lose a little money every quarter.

Now, growth has slowed and the streamers are looking for ways of cutting costs. They're adding lower tier options that include ads. They're starting to bundle options.

"Five years from now, it's just going to be cable," said Conover.

The end of cheap money

When you zoom out, all these industries are very different. And the startups that challenged them are unique in their approaches. But there's one common theme: Cheap money.

 REUTERS/Brendan McDermid 

For nearly 15 years the world was awash in cheap money. Extremely low interest rates made investors willing to indulge companies that lost money without a clear plan to profitability. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters)

Streeter says extremely low interest rates fuelled a willingness among big institutional investors like SoftBank (WeWork) or the investment arm of the Saudi royal family (Uber) to let the startups pile up losses even when the promise of profitability remained murky at best.

"All this was colliding with the fact that during this time we've been in an era of ultra cheap money that needed a place to land," she said. "Brand power is a really big pull. It's like a magnet."

Now, as interest rates have shot up, and the willingness to take on risk has plummeted.

"That's why you're seeing fewer IPOs particularly as interest rates ramped up. I think institutional investors are a lot more cautious about pushing money into ventures where the path to profitability isn't clear."

And that may well change the way these startups take on existing industries. But it won't undo the damage done along the way.

NS

Amherst police eye armoured vehicle. An expert isn't sure it's needed.

Pike said the former cash truck, which is listed for sale at two dollars ($2), could be a low-cost alternative.

CBC
Sun, November 19, 2023 

Amherst police are considering purchasing a cash truck to respond during critical incidents. (Paul Palmeter/CBC - image credit)

The Amherst Police Department is considering the purchase of an armoured vehicle, but a criminology researcher questions the necessity in a municipality with around 10,000 people.

Amherst Police Chief Dwayne Pike said the service is looking to purchase an armoured vehicle to improve public safety. He said the force is in discussions with a company about purchasing a former cash truck located in Atlantic Canada.

"It gives you an option for safety for your members and for the public when you're going into a serious situation where you're dealing with weapons," said Pike.

The vehicle would be bulletproof, but Pike said Amherst is not purchasing a military vehicle.

He said there have been many recent incidents in Nova Scotia and other provinces that have made police say: "If this ever happens here, it would be nice to have this piece of equipment."

Keeping up with police trends

Amherst's interest in an armoured vehicle is part of a broader trend, says Temitope Oriola, a criminology professor at University of Alberta and president of the Canadian Sociological Association.

He said there is a tendency in police services to want to keep up with other forces. "They want a tool, they want a weapon because all the police services want them."

Oriola said Canadian services are imitating police militarization found in the United States. He said there is a case to be made for armoured vehicles in larger cities, like Toronto, but not in every municipality.

"I think what each police service ought to do is a very sober analysis," he said.

Armoured vehicles in the region

The Nova Scotia RCMP used its tactical armoured vehicle 45 times in 2022. By comparison, the police service said the vehicle was used a total of 46 times from 2019 to 2021.

The RCMP vehicle is based in Halifax and there is also an armoured vehicle owned by the Miramichi Police Force.

Desiree Magnus, a spokesperson for Cape Breton Regional Police, said the service has an armoured SUV that is used by its emergency response team.

"It is primarily used for wounded recovery, so that police can safely extract a wounded civilian or officer," Magnus said. She said the vehicle can also provide tactical assistance to other police agencies.

"It's a matter of timing," Pike said. "When you're dealing with a critical incident, I might not have five hours to wait."

Halifax Regional Municipality backed away from a purchase of an armoured vehicle in 2020. Instead, the city reallocated the $368,000 in funding toward anti-Black racism programming, the office of public safety as well as diversity and inclusion initiatives.

Pike said the former cash truck, which is listed for sale at two dollars, could be a low-cost alternative. He said the vehicle would be operated by existing staff.

"I hope we never need it," Pike said. "If we never use it, I'd be more than happy."

Whitehorse Jewish , Muslim and Christian leaders hold joint fundraiser for Gaza

"Whitehorse came together. We're multicultural, we stand together. We know that we need to support the children, the women, the families in the Gaza Strip."

CBC
Mon, November 20, 2023 

Stuart Clark of the Whitehorse United Church, left, Israr Ahmed, president of the Yukon Muslim Association, centre, and Rick Karp, president of the Jewish Cultural Society of Yukon, right, at a fundraising event in Whitehorse on Sunday

. (Caitrin Pilkington/CBC - image credit)

Jewish, Muslim and Christian community leaders in Whitehorse combined their efforts on Sunday to support humanitarian relief in Gaza.

An event held at the United Church in downtown Whitehorse raised funds for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Hundreds of people attended to listen to live music, eat a traditional Jewish and Muslim feast, and support the cause.

Rick Karp, president of the Jewish Cultural Society of Yukon, said the idea for the event came from Israr Ahmed, president of the Yukon Muslim Association.

"He gave me a call and said, 'hey, would you like to go for coffee? I have to ask you something,'" said Karp. "And then he presented the idea of coming together to do a fundraiser, a humanitarian fundraiser for the people of Gaza. And how could anyone say no?"

For Karp, feeling and expressing concern for the welfare of those living in Gaza shouldn't be political.

"They need our help, and I hope that the rest of the country can see this as an example," said Karp.

"Whitehorse came together. We're multicultural, we stand together. We know that we need to support the children, the women, the families in the Gaza Strip."

Attendees shared home-cooked meals from a variety of cultures at the event.

Attendees on Sunday shared home-cooked meals from a variety of cultures at the event. (Caitrin Pilkington/CBC)

Israr Ahmed feels the same way. He, Karp and Stuart Clark, chair of the Whitehorse United Church's social justice committee, already keep in touch and have worked together before. While Ahmed said he knew the others well enough to guess that they would be interested in the idea, he said he was still touched by their enthusiasm.

"I'm extremely, profoundly grateful to all of them for being on board with this idea right from the get-go," he said.

The event drew a big crowd that packed into the basement of the United Church on Sunday afternoon. Attendees filled plates with biryani, matzo ball soup and traditional desserts, and listened to music performed by a local pianist and classical guitarist.

Nancy Husten was among the attendees. She said the moment she heard about the event, she started phoning up friends and spreading the word.

Attendees shared home-cooked meals from a variety of cultures at the event.
The event raised funds for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Hundreds of people attended to listen to live music and enjoy a traditional Jewish and Muslim feast. (Caitrin Pilkington/CBC)

"Living so far away in northern Canada, you feel that you can't do very much," she said. "But this was an opportunity to be supportive of both communities and to show the care and the love that many Yukoners are feeling for those affected by this."

Despite the physical distance between the Yukon and the Gaza Strip, for many living in Whitehorse, the bombing and violence has had a profound impact.

Anwar Tuhl is Palestinian-Canadian and works in Whitehorse as a psychologist. She says connecting with the Indigenous community in the Yukon and talking about the impacts of colonialism has inspired her to take a more active role to stand in solidarity whenever she can.

"It's helped me understand the importance of not just talking about trauma in my office, but to actually talk about it in the real world and stand as a collective with all of our communities, regardless of their religion."

"As a Muslim, it's been a really difficult time because it's created a divide between our Muslim community and our Jewish community, which is so painful," said Fatima Javed, another attendee on Sunday.

"If anything, we are more alike than we are different. So to see the Jewish community be here and the Muslim community come together and share a meal has been so important."

Anwar Tuhl, left, and Fatima Javed, right, at the event on Sunday.

 (Caitrin Pilkington/CBC)

While the conflict may be far away, Javed expressed that "one of the things that we can do here at home is bridge those gaps and and stand together "

Organizers raised $12,500 over the course of the event, more than double than what they expected.

The conflict between Israel and Hamas has polarized many Canadians. In parts of Canada, reports of hate crimes and violence at Muslim and Jewish institutions have been rising.

For Ahmed, those headlines only make events like the one on Sunday in Whitehorse more important. He called the Islamophobic and antisemitic incidents in the news "horrendous."

"I understand that this is a very emotionally charged subject," he said. "It is very painful to most of us. I also understand the importance of expressing your anguish and anger – within the bounds of the Constitution.

"But if we refuse to talk, if we prioritize shouting over talking, we won't be reaching any solution. There is no issue that cannot be resolved with dialogue."

Sask. legislature interrupted by protesters calling for ceasefire in Gaza

CBC
Mon, November 20, 2023 

Dozens of protesters fill the entrance to the Saskatchewan Legislative Building calling for a ceasefire and disrupting the legislature in Regina on Nov. 20, 2023.

 (Jeremy Simes/The Canadian Press - image credit)

Monday's session in the Saskatchewan legislature was interrupted by protesters calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

"Hopefully this shows our governments what we want, because if governments are for the people, why aren't they listening to the people?" said protester Tayyaba Farooq.

Following a rally Monday at 1 p.m. CST outside the legislature in Regina, several dozen people entered the public gallery. Partway through question period, they began to chant, "Ceasefire Now" and "Free Palestine."

The speaker asked them to be seated and comply with the legislature rules, which prohibit gallery members from speaking. The group continued.

Saskatchewan Party government MLAs then stood and walked out of the chamber. NDP MLAs, who have supported the calls for a ceasefire, eventually left as well.

Tayyaba Farooq and others rallied inside and outside the Saskatchewan legislature Monday, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. (CBC)

Security officials asked the protesters to leave and they did.

At some point Monday, someone draped a small banner featuring a Palestinian flag on a pole flying the Israeli flag, hung in the legislature following the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7.

"The Israel flag in the middle, how is that not provocative?" Farooq said. "If you want to have peaceful protests and to remain neutral, then you practise the same thing that you preach to us. Well, how are we supposed to walk in there and not feel provoked and not feel like there's already a bias as we're walking in there?"

This Israeli flag was put up in the Saskatchewan Legislature Building after Oct. 7. Some time Monday, someone draped a banner with the Palestine flag onto the flagpole. (Adam Hunter/CBC)

Another protester, Mohammad Abushar, said he will never forget seeing provincial government MLAs walk out of the legislature.

"We will remember that every single time they come to ask for our votes," he said.

The Saskatchewan government declined to comments on the protests Monday. On Oct. 10, Premier Scott Moe announced his government would send $100,000 to Isreal in emergency aid following the attack by Hamas.

Last week, the government said it continues to support Israel's right to defend itself.

The University of Saskatchewan's Muslim Student Association organized a similar rally Monday in Saskatoon. Roughly 50 people gathered in the U of S bowl area to call for a ceasefire.

"The Palestinian population in Gaza is defenceless. There is no need for them to suffer," said U of S veterinary college faculty member Ahmad Al-Dissi. "Events like this raise awareness and put pressure on politicians to act, and stop this madness."

Protesters gathered Monday on the University of Saskatchewan campus in Saskatoon to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. (Jason Warick/CBC)

Those opposed to the ceasefire include U.S. President Joe Biden.

"As long as Hamas clings to its ideology of destruction, a ceasefire is not peace," Biden stated in a Washington Post article. "To Hamas's members, every ceasefire is time they exploit to rebuild their stockpile of rockets, reposition fighters, and restart the killing by attacking innocents again."

In West Bank, Palestinian farmers face settler attacks in war over land


Taylor Luck

Christian Science Monitor
Mon, November 20, 2023 

The masked men arrived at Suleiman Muleihat’s caravan home at midnight, driving olive-green all-terrain vechicles and dressed in military fatigues, with what looked like brand-new M16 rifles slung over their shoulders.

Mr. Muleihat’s family, living under Israeli military occupation on the slopes above Jericho, was used to the army. But these men did not act like the army.

They demanded his ID and attempted to storm his home.

They threatened to kill him, he says, and were only repelled by his dog, who rushed in to defend him. The masked men shot and killed his dog before driving off.

For his Bedouin clan’s village, the incident last week characterized just another night.

Across the West Bank, Palestinian communities are being threatened daily by armed and emboldened Israeli settlers with violence, torture, death, or forced displacement.

No longer knowing who is a settler, who is an Israeli soldier, or where to turn, Mr. Muleihat and other residents say one thing is clear: Since Hamas’ attack on Israel Oct. 7, and with war raging in Gaza, it has become a life-and-death struggle to remain on their land.

“They are trying to wear us down and make our lives unbearable. We can’t sleep because that is when they will come, midnight, 1 a.m., 2 a.m.,” he says, rubbing his bleary eyes after a late-night shift as village watchman. “But we are steadfast. They will have to kill us to take us off our land. If no one is watching, they will try.”

Systematic campaign

West Bank settlers have been stepping up attacks and harassment for years. But the situation has exploded in the last six weeks.

The United Nations and international organizations have expressed alarm, and demand that Israel rein in settlers have gathered steam. France has condemned the violence as a “policy of terror.” And U.S. President Joe Biden, in a Washington Post op-ed Saturday, said militant settlers “must be held accountable,” and said his administration is “prepared” to start “issuing visa bans against extremists attacking civilians in the West Bank.”

Despite pledges from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel has responded only minimally. Attacks are mounting.

Coming on top of stepped up Israeli military raids across the West Bank, there is concern the attacks could provoke an outbreak of wider unrest and even a new war front.

More than revenge for Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault, the settler attacks mark the acceleration of a systematic campaign by Israel’s far-right to cantonize the West Bank and render any future Palestinian state unviable, say international organizations, Israeli nongovernmental organizations, and Western diplomats.

“For anyone who cares about a Palestinian state, these [village] populations are critical,” says Allegra Pacheco, head of the West Bank Protection Consortium (WBPC), a European Union-funded grouping of NGOs devoted to protecting West Bank communities from forcible transfer.

From Oct. 7 to Nov. 15, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs recorded 244 settler attacks resulting in the deaths of eight Palestinians, including one child, and 50 injuries.

In less than six weeks, settler violence displaced 1,149 people, including entire communities, compared with 1,105 people in the previous 21 months. An additional 6,000 Palestinians are at “imminent risk” of displacement, says the WBPC.

Emerging flashpoints include remote Bedouin encampments and farming villages scattered across territory that is under full Israeli military control, where the Palestinian Authority can only provide education and health services.

Bedouin communities, which move seasonally to graze their livestock, are now squarely in the crosshairs of militant settlers based in nearby illegal outposts.

In Farisiya, a remote community in the lush northern Jordan Valley, Ali Abu Hussein now keeps his 300 sheep penned, unwilling to venture out since Oct. 7.

After countless death threats and amid daily harassment, he and other shepherds in his community fear crossing the road to their adjacent lands.

“They are surrounding us and cutting us off from water and pastures. They won’t let us live or make a living,” says Mr. Abu Hussein.

To keep their flocks alive, he and other Bedouin herders are trucking in feed at $450 per ton, depleting their savings.

Blurred lines

With West Bank settlers called up as reservists since Oct. 7, Palestinians and Israeli activists say the line between settlers and soldiers is increasingly blurred. According to the Israeli NGO B’Tselem, the killer of a Palestinian harvesting olives last month was an off-duty reservist.

In half the recent settler attacks, Israeli forces accompanied or supported the attackers, according to the U.N.

The 60% of the West Bank that is under direct Israeli military control is now dotted with illegal settler outposts placed to create Palestinian-free zones that connect existing Israeli settlements and encircle Palestinian towns and villages, NGOs say.

“The outposts were strategically placed in areas to break up the Palestinian territorial continuity and disconnect Palestinian communities from each other,” says Ms. Pacheco.

The repeated targeting of certain communities “is not sporadic,” says Dror Sadot, a B’Tselem spokesperson. “They are doing what they dreamed of doing for so many years – to take more and more land.

“The settlers know no one is watching them, and all eyes are on Gaza.”

Attempts to speak with the armed settler groups were unsuccessful.

“The settlers are using the [Oct. 7] tragedy to advance their agenda; they couldn’t be happier,” says Guy Hirshfeld, an Israeli volunteer with a group that spends nights in Bedouin villages and accompanies shepherds, in the hopes that the presence of an Israeli with a camera will prevent violence. With settlers firing live rounds, activists no longer believe even they are safe.

“We are at the front lines”

Khan al-Ahmar is a ramshackle collection of tents and shacks on the eastern outskirts of Jerusalem between the settlements of Kfar Adumim and Maale Adumim. It’s populated by Bedouin from the Jahalin tribe who were pushed off their lands in 1948 and settled here under Jordanian rule.

“We are at the front lines,” Khan al-Ahmar community leader Eid Jahalin says as he points to a settler outpost a few hundred yards away.

“If we were to leave, Israel and Israeli settlers would completely encircle Jerusalem and cut the West Bank in half. All Palestinians will suffer and have their movements completely restricted,” he says.

Settler drones now fly into the village regularly, enter the schoolyard, and terrify livestock. Settler gunmen visit regularly.

The Israeli military has imposed a 5 p.m. curfew on the community, and settlers from the nearby outpost threatened to shoot youths who wander onto the main road, Mr. Jahalin says.

“Any street, any field in the West Bank can become a firing zone. We spend every waking moment looking over our shoulders,” says Khalid Allawi, who says he is being blocked by armed settlers from reaching his 124 acres of farmland adjacent to his village of Deir Jarir, deep in the West Bank.

Adding to the terror is the spike in kidnapping attempts, kidnappings, and torture of Palestinians carried out by settlers, the photographs of which are shared on social media.

With Israel seemingly unable or unwilling to stop the violence, Western embassies and Israeli human rights advocates say their material assistance and monitoring is no longer enough to prevent the displacement of unarmed Palestinians facing gun-toting settlers.

“We need security, armed guards, or police – the one thing the international community and the [Palestinian] Authority cannot provide us,” says herder Fathi Allawi.
Displaced Palestinians face “tougher future”

The uprooting of communities since Oct. 7 has had a domino effect.

“When families give in and leave, they make our lives a thousand times more difficult for the rest of us who remain,” says Mr. Muleihat in Jericho. “It convinces the settlers that their campaign is working and motivates them to increase the violence.”

The future of those who have been pushed off their lands is highly uncertain.

One year after they left their ancestral home of Ras al Tin, selling their flock of 300 sheep after settlers killed a relative, Omar Kaabneh and his family are living in makeshift shelters nearby. Last Sunday they were picking olives as farmhands.

“My daughter wanted to be a doctor; my son should be preparing for his university exams. But instead they are working with me in the fields,” he says.

As they harvest, they turn their eyes to the mountaintop home they were forced to flee. Just a mile away, it is always within sight, but out of reach.

“If you stay, your children’s lives are in danger, and if you leave, you lose a piece of your identity and your future,” Mr. Kaabneh says. “Your lives or your land. This is the choice we all face.”

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Buffy Saint-Marie documentary wins International Emmy Award
TAKE THAT CBC FIFTH ESTATE
CBC
Mon, November 20, 2023 

Canadian activist and musician Buffy Sainte-Marie performs during the 2019 CBC Music Festival in Toronto. (Vanessa Heins/CBC - image credit)

Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On won an International Emmy Award on Monday.

The documentary, which looks at the singer's career over six decades, was directed by Canadian filmmaker Madison Thomas and nominated in the arts programming category. It was the only Canadian nominee this year across 14 categories.

The 51st annual International Emmy Awards took place in New York City on Monday and the awards were announced on social media.

Earlier this month, some social media users asked the International Emmys to remove the project from the category following an investigation by CBC's The Fifth Estate in October that contradicts the songwriter's claims to Indigenous ancestry.

Sainte-Marie released a public statement before the investigation was released, saying she found the allegations deeply hurtful and that she would continue to claim her Indigenous identity.

The documentary, produced by Eagle Vision, White Pine Pictures and Paquin Entertainment, had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2022 and can be streamed on Crave and on PBS in the United States.

Melting ice reveals dozens of 7,000-year-old artifacts in Canada. Take a look

Aspen Pflughoeft
Mon, November 20, 2023 

Archaeologists surveyed melting ice patches in Canada and uncovered dozens of ancient artifacts spanning 7,000 years. Photos show the “unique” — and perishable — finds.

After two winters with “extremely low snowpack,” researchers set out to survey several melting ice patches in Mount Edziza Provincial Park in the summer of 2019, according to a study published Oct. 31 in the Journal of Field Archaeology.

Mount Edziza Provincial Park is a volcanic landscape that is “extremely significant” to the Tahltan, one of Canada’s indigenous First Nations, the study said. The Tahltan have used the mountains for seasonal hunts for centuries and continue to do so today.

Previous scientists had located many “vast obsidian quarries” and obsidian artifacts in the park, but the nearby ice patches had not been studied as extensively. Researchers said they were intrigued by the possibility of finding perishable ancient artifacts preserved in the ice.

So as the ice melted under the summer sun, researchers visited nine ice patches — and found 56 perishable artifacts, the study said.

“Most of the perishable artifacts were manufactured from wood, including birch bark containers, projectile shafts, and walking staffs,” researchers said. Other artifacts were made “using animal remains include a stitched hide boot and carved antler and bone tools.”

A 3,000-year-old pair of stick wrapped in animal hide found in the ice.

Archaeologists found two bark containers with stitching. A photo shows one of these containers. The 2,000-year-old piece of bark is folded with two rows of stitching along one side and some of the stitching material still left in the holes, the study said.

The other “unique” bark container has sticks stitched into its sides, suggesting it was part of a reinforced basket used for transporting heavy loads. Researchers said it dated back over 1,400 years.

A 2,000-year-old bark container with visible stitching found in the ice.

Archaeologists also uncovered an artifact made of stitched animal hide that they identified as the remains of a moccasin-like boot. A photo shows the 6,200-year-old fabric. It has “two different thicknesses of hide … which have been stitched in multiple places,” the study said.


The 6,200-year-old stitched animal hide as it looked in the melting ice (A) and after unfolding (C). A close-up photo (B) shows the knotted sinew and a stitch.

At another melting ice patch, a 5,300-year-old antler shaped like an ice pick was found. The three-pronged antler had one sharpened point, one blunted as if used as a hammer and one broken but presumed to be used as a handle, researchers said.


A 5,300-year-old antler shaped like an ice pick found in the melting ice.

“Every perishable artifact was found amongst a backdrop of millions of obsidian” artifacts, the study said. The artifacts were taken to a museum in British Columbia for “climate-controlled conservation” and further study.


One of the many obsidian artifacts found in the melting ice.

Mount Edziza Provincial Park is in British Columbia and near the Canada-U.S. border with Alaska. The park is about 660 miles northwest of Vancouver and about 155 miles southeast of Juneau.

The research team included Duncan McLaren, Brendan Gray, Rosemary Loring, Ts̱ēmā Igharas Igharas, Rolf Mathewes, Lesli Louie, Megan Doxsey-Whitfield, Genevieve Hill and Kendrick Marr.