Ukraine to unleash robot dogs on its front lines


By AFP
August 8, 2024

A robot dog leaps into the air, controlled by its operator in Ukraine

 - Copyright AFP GENYA SAVILOV

Ukraine could soon unleash robot dogs on its front lines, replacing soldiers for perilous missions like spying on Russian trenches or detecting mines.

At a demonstration in an undisclosed part of Ukraine, the metallic dog known as model “BAD One” stood up, crouched, ran and jumped according to commands transmitted by its operator.

Stealthy and agile, they could soon become an invaluable ally on the front line for an Ukrainian army that is short on manpower to repel the Russian invasion, its makers said.

Low on the ground and therefore difficult to detect, the robot dogs can use thermal imaging to inspect enemy trenches or the inside of buildings in combat zones.

“We have surveillance soldiers who get sent on reconnaissance missions (who) are most of the time very highly trained people, very experienced people (and) always exposed to risks,” said the operator who called himself “Yuri”, as he showed it off to AFP journalists.

“This dog limits the risk for soldiers and increases operational capabilities. This is the core function of the dog,” said the operator, who works for a British company providing military equipment.

A more advanced model, known as “BAD Two” could not be shown for security reasons.

The device used in the demonstration has a battery that powers it for around two hours.

Useful for detecting mines or improvised explosive devices, the robot dog can also be used to carry up to seven kilos (15 pounds) of ammunition or medicines to hot spots on the battlefield.

“I can’t say how many we deployed” in Ukraine, Yuri said, adding: “But it will have a significant impact on the operations and increase the safety of soldiers.”

And if the robot dogs were ever to fall into Russian hands, he said, an emergency switch allows the operator to erase all its data.

Anti-whaling activist Watson says Greenland arrest ‘political’


By AFP
August 8, 2024


Watson's arrest has sparked a series of protests calling for his release

 - Copyright AFP Thibaud MORITZ

US-Canadian environmental activist Paul Watson considers his detention in Greenland and Japan’s extradition request to be political, his campaigning group Sea Shepherd said Thursday.

Lamya Essemlali, president of the organisation, who visits him “almost every day” in jail in Nuuk, capital of the autonomous Danish territory, told AFP he was “very clear about the situation”.

“He is aware that Japan is putting all its political weight behind him, that he is a political symbol,” Essemlali said.

Watson, who featured in the reality TV series “Whale Wars”, founded Sea Shepherd and the Captain Paul Watson Foundation (CPWF), and is known for radical tactics including confrontations with whaling ships at sea.

The 73-year-old campaigner was arrested on July 21 when the ship John Paul DeJoria docked in Nuuk to refuel.

The vessel was on its way to “intercept” a new Japanese whaling factory vessel in the North Pacific, according to the CPWF.

Watson was arrested on the basis of a 2012 Interpol “Red Notice” after Japan accused him of causing damage to one of its whaling ships in the Antarctic two years earlier and causing injury.

Japan asked Danish authorities to extradite him at the end of July.

The Nuuk court is due to rule on his detention on August 15. A decision on the extradition is up to the Danish government.

Watson’s supporters are due to demonstrate this weekend across France, before another protest in the Danish capital Copenhagen on Monday, August 12.

– ‘No regrets’ –

“Even if he were guilty, it is clear that there has never been an extradition on the basis of such minor offences,” Essemlali said.

“He has no regrets, he knows that what he did was right,” Essemlali said, adding she had “never imagined” that Denmark would arrest Watson and consider an extradition.

Watson would be “particularly poorly treated” in a Japanese prison, she said.

In Japan, Watson faces a charge of causing injury, which can carry up to 15 years in prison or a fine of up to 500,000 yen ($3,300).

He also faces a charge of forcible obstruction of business, which carries a penalty of up to three years in prison or a fine of up to 500,000 yen.

Only Japan, Iceland and Norway allow commercial whaling.

His arrest has sparked a series of protests calling for his release.

French film legend turned animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot has campaigned for Watson in the past, and on Thursday she called for his release in a telephone interview with French television channel LCI.

“He’s an extraordinary character, a hero who has spent his life defending whales against the Japanese, against the Japanese harpoons,” she said.

“If he is extradited to Japan, he’s dead.”

French President Emmanuel Macron’s office has asked Denmark not to extradite Watson, who has lived in France for the past year.

SPACE

Boeing Starliner astronauts might not return to Earth until next year, NASA says

JUST ANOTHER BOEING FUCK UP


Boeing Starliner astronauts Suni Williams (L) and Butch Wilmore (R), who have spent 63 days at the International Space Station on what had been scheduled to be weeklong test flight, may return to Earth on SpaceX in 2025, according to NASA. 

File Photo by Joe Marino/UPI | 

Aug. 7 (UPI) -- Boeing Starliner astronauts, stranded at the International Space Station after a weeklong test flight turned into a two-month stay due to thruster problems, may be forced to fly home on SpaceX in 2025, NASA has admitted.

NASA updated reporters Wednesday at a news conference, which Boeing did not attend, on the timeline for crew members Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. The astronauts have been in space for 63 days with no return date in sight.

Wilmore and Williams arrived at the ISS on June 6 on what was the first crewed test flight of Boeing's Starliner capsule. The mission was supposed to be the final step before NASA certified Boeing to fly crews to and from the space station, before faulty thrusters stranded the pair in June.

"We're in kind of a new situation here, in that we've got multiple options," Ken Bowersox, associate administrator for NASA's space operations mission directorate and a former agency astronaut, told reporters Wednesday.

"I would say that our chances of an uncrewed Starliner return have increased a little bit on where things have gone over the last week or two," Bowersox said. "But again, new data coming in, new analysis, different discussion -- we could find ourselves shift in another way."

"We don't just have to bring a crew back on Starliner, for example. We could bring them back on another vehicle," Bowersox added. The space agency is expected to make a final decision as early as next week.

"Our prime option is to return Butch and Suni on Starliner," Steve Stich, manager of NASA's Commercial Crew Program said. "However, we have done the requisite planning to make sure we have other options open, and so we have been working with SpaceX to ensure that they're ready to respond."

NASA said it is now considering sending only two astronauts, instead of four, on September's SpaceX Crew-9 mission to leave space for Wilmore and Williams to return to Earth on SpaceX Dragon in February 2025. SpaceX has been transporting astronauts to and from the ISS since 2020.

"We're not ready to share specific crew names for the contingency plan," ISS program manager Dana Weigel told Space.com. "We'll go look at future manifests and just see what makes sense for the overall crew compliments going forward."

On Tuesday, NASA announced SpaceX would delay the Aug. 18 launch of its Crew-9 mission, more than a month, to Sept. 24. The delay will give NASA and Boeing more time to repair Starliner's five of 28 reaction control thrusters which misfired during docking at ISS on June 6.

While NASA said Starliner can safely undock from ISS, there is still uncertainty over how its thrusters would operate during the ride back to Earth.

"Starliner ground teams are taking their time to analyze the results of recent docked hot-fire testing, finalize flight rationale for the spacecraft's integrated propulsion system and confirm system reliability ahead of Starliner's return to Earth," NASA said in a statement Tuesday.

Stich told reporters Wednesday that tests on the ground revealed that a small Teflon seal swells under high temperatures, which could be to blame for Starliner's thruster problems.

"That gives us a lot of confidence in the thrusters, but we can't totally prove with certainty what we're seeing on orbit is exactly what's been replicated on the ground," Stich added.

Despite not attending Wednesday's briefing, Boeing has maintained its confidence "in Starliner's return with crew."

"We still believe in Starliner's capability and its flight rationale," the company said in a statement Wednesday, as it also admitted the possibility that a different vehicle could bring the astronauts home.

"If NASA decides to change the mission, we will take the actions necessary to configure Starliner for an uncrewed return."

SpaceX delays Crew-9 astronaut launch amid uncertainty over Boeing Starliner


The Crew Dragon spacecraft sits on top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as it is prepared to launch NASA's Crew 8 to the International Space Station on March 2. On Tuesday, NASA announced the SpaceX launch of this month's Crew-9 mission has been pushed back to Sept. 24, to accommodate Boeing's Starliner which is currently stranded, along with two U.S. astronauts, at ISS. 

File Photo by Joe Marino/UPI | License Photo

Aug. 6 (UPI) -- SpaceX has delayed this month's Crew-9 astronaut launch to Sept. 24, to accommodate a traffic jam at the International Space Station as Boeing's Starliner remains stalled at the orbiting laboratory.

SpaceX was scheduled to launch its ninth operational flight for NASA with four astronauts to the ISS on Aug. 18, before the space agency announced the delay Monday.

"This adjustment allows more time for mission managers to finalize return planning for the agency's Boeing Crew Flight Test currently docked to the orbiting laboratory," NASA said.

Boeing's new Starliner capsule launched June 5, with NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore to the ISS. Despite plans to return Starliner and its crew to Earth a week later, NASA has repeatedly delayed the mission for two months so Crew Flight Test members can study Starliner's issues that include five failed reaction control system thrusters.

As SpaceX delays this month's launch, NASA will use the time to determine the flightworthiness of Starliner and whether it is safe to bring Williams and Wilmore home.

"Starliner ground teams are taking their time to analyze the results of recent docked hot-fire testing, finalize flight rationale for the spacecraft's integrated propulsion system and confirm system reliability ahead of Starliner's return to Earth," NASA said in a statement Tuesday. "NASA and Boeing continue to evaluate the spacecraft's readiness, and no decisions have been made regarding Starliner's return."

NASA could ultimately decide to tap SpaceX to bring Williams and Wilmore back to Earth, if the space agency determines that would be the safer route.

"There are a lot of good reasons to complete this mission and bring Butch and Suni home on Starliner," Steve Stich, NASA's commercial crew program manager, said last month.

"Of course, I'm very confident we have a good vehicle to bring the crew back with," Mark Nappi, Boeing's commercial crew program manager, added as the company weighed in with an update.

"Boeing remains confident in the Starliner spacecraft and its ability to return safely with crew. We continue to support NASA's requests for additional testing, data, analysis and reviews to affirm the spacecraft's safe undocking and landing capabilities," the company wrote.

"Our confidence is based on this abundance of valuable testing from Boeing and NASA. The testing has confirmed 27 of 28 thrusters are healthy and back to full operational capability," Boeing added.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said Tuesday he too is confident that NASA will make the right call, adding "I especially have confidence since I have the final decision."

As the Crew-9 mission waits another month to launch, liftoff will now take place from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida to "deconflict with pad preparations for NASA's Europa Clipper mission beginning this September."

The Crew-9 mission will mark the first-ever crewed launch from SLC-40.

Russian disinformation slams Paris and amplifies Khelif debate to undermine the Olympics

BY DAVID KLEPPER
August 6, 2024

WASHINGTON (AP) — The actor in the viral music video denouncing the 2024 Olympics looks a lot like French President Emmanuel Macron. The images of rats, trash and the sewage, however, were dreamed up by artificial intelligence.

Portraying Paris as a crime-ridden cesspool, the video mocking the Games spread quickly on social media platforms like YouTube and X, helped on its way by 30,000 social media bots linked to a notorious Russian disinformation group that has set its sights on France before. Within days, the video was available in 13 languages, thanks to quick translation by AI.

“Paris, Paris, 1-2-3, go to Seine and make a pee,” taunts an AI-enhanced singer as the faux Macron actor dances in the background, seemingly a reference to water quality concerns in the Seine River where some competitions are taking place.

Moscow is making its presence felt during the Paris Games, with groups linked to Russia’s government using online disinformation and state propaganda to spread incendiary claims and attack the host country — showing how global events like the Olympics are now high-profile targets for online disinformation and propaganda.

Over the weekend, disinformation networks linked to the Kremlin seized on a divide over Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, who has faced unsubstantiated questions about her gender. Baseless claims that she is a man or transgender surfaced after a controversial boxing association with Russian ties said she failed an opaque eligibility test before last year’s world boxing championships.

Russian networks amplified the debate, which quickly became a trending topic online. British news outlets, author J.K. Rowling and right-wing politicians like Donald Trump added to the deluge. At its height late last week, X users were posting about the boxer tens of thousands of times per hour, according to an analysis by PeakMetrics, a cyber firm that tracks online narratives.

The boxing group at the root of the claims — the International Boxing Association — has been permanently barred from the Olympics, has a Russian president who is an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and its biggest sponsor is the state energy company Gazprom. Questions also have surfaced about its decision to disqualify Khelif last year after she had beaten a Russian boxer.

Approving only a small number of Russian athletes to compete as neutrals and banning them from team sports following the invasion of Ukraine all but guaranteed the Kremlin’s response, said Gordon Crovitz, co-founder of NewsGuard, a firm that analyzes online misinformation. NewsGuard has tracked dozens of examples of disinformation targeting the Paris Games, including the fake music video.

Russia’s disinformation campaign targeting the Olympics stands out for its technical skill, Crovitz said.

“What’s different now is that they are perhaps the most advanced users of generative AI models for malign purposes: fake videos, fake music, fake websites,” he said.

AI can be used to create lifelike images, audio and video, rapidly translate text and generate culturally specific content that sounds and reads like it was created by a human. The once labor-intensive work of creating fake social media accounts or websites and writing conversational posts can now be done quickly and cheaply.

Another video amplified by accounts based in Russia in recent weeks claimed the CIA and U.S. State Department warned Americans not to use the Paris metro. No such warning was issued.

Russian state media has trumpeted some of the same false and misleading content. Instead of covering the athletic competitions, much of the coverage of the Olympics has focused on crime, immigration, litter and pollution.

One article in the state-run Sputnik news service summed it up: “These Paris ‘games’ sure are going swimmingly. Here’s an idea. Stop awarding the Olympics to the decadent, rotting west.”

Russia has used propaganda to disparage past Olympics, as it did when the then-Soviet Union boycotted the 1984 Games in Los Angeles. At the time, it distributed printed material to Olympic officials in Africa and Asia suggesting that non-white athletes would be hunted by racists in the U.S., according to an analysis from Microsoft Threat Intelligence, a unit within the technology company that studies malicious online actors.

Russia also has targeted past Olympic Games with cyberattacks.

“If they cannot participate in or win the Games, then they seek to undercut, defame, and degrade the international competition in the minds of participants, spectators, and global audiences,” analysts at Microsoft concluded.

A message left with the Russian government was not immediately returned on Monday.

Authorities in France have been on high alert for sabotage, cyberattacks or disinformation targeting the Games. A 40-year-old Russian man was arrested in France last month and charged with working for a foreign power to destabilize the European country ahead of the Games.

Other nations, criminal groups, extremist organizations and scam artists also are exploiting the Olympics to spread their own disinformation. Any global event like the Olympics — or a climate disaster or big election — that draws a lot of people online is likely to generate similar amounts of false and misleading claims, said Mark Calandra, executive vice president at CSC Digital Brand Services, a firm that tracks fraudulent activity online.

CSC’s researchers noticed a sharp increase in fake website domain names being registered ahead of the Olympics. In many cases, groups set up sites that appear to provide Olympic content, or sell Olympic merchandise.

Instead, they’re designed to collect information on the user. Sometimes it’s a scam artist looking to steal personal financial data. In others, the sites are used by foreign governments to collect information on Americans — or as a way to spread more disinformation.

“Bad actors look for these global events,” Calandra said. “Whether they’re positive events like the Olympics or more concerning ones, these people use everyone’s heightened awareness and interest to try to exploit them.”

 

Olympic boxer Imane Khelif said the wave of hateful scrutiny she faced over misconceptions about her gender “harms human dignity,” and she called for an end to bullying athletes after being greatly affected by the international backlash against her.

PETA protesters interrupt Pope Francis’ Vatican audience, call on him to denounce bullfighting


Two activists from animal rights group PETA interrupted Pope Francis’ general audience on Wednesday, shouting and holding up banners against bullfighting before being escorted out of Paul VI Hall.

 (AP video by Paolo Lucariello)

 August 7, 2024

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Two activists from animal rights group PETA interrupted Pope Francis’ general audience on Wednesday, shouting and holding up banners against bullfighting before being escorted out of Paul VI Hall.

The two were wearing t-shirts reading “Stop blessing corridas” and holding banners saying “Bullfighting is a sin.” PETA has been pleading with the Pope to cut the Catholic Church’s ties with bullfighting and condemn the “despicable blood sport.”

According to the organization, each year, tens of thousands of bulls are killed in bullfighting festivals globally, many dedicated to Catholic saints. In these events, mounted assailants thrust lances and banderillas into the bull, causing acute pain and restricting its movement.

“As numerous countries are wisely banning this sick form of ‘entertainment.’ Pope Francis must immediately denounce this blood sport and cut the Catholic Church’s shameful ties with bullfighting,” it said in a recent statement on its website.

The Vatican didn’t immediately comment on Wednesday’s protest.

British priest Terry Martin has recently criticized bullfighting in a campaign with PETA and called on Pope Francis to condemn it.


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The priest from West Sussex, UK, posed in a red chasuble next to a bull with the inscription: “It is a sin to torture animals.”

PETA has pointed out that Pope Francis wrote in his encyclical Laudato Si’ that “any act of cruelty to any creature is ‘contrary to human dignity’ and that, as early as the 16th century, Pope St. Pius V banned bullfights that were deemed ‘cruel’ and ‘far removed from Christian piety and charity.’”

Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest is down to lowest level since 2016, government says


Environment Ministry Executive Secretary Joao Paulo Capobianco presents Amazon and Cerrado deforestation data at the ministry headquarters in Brasilia, Brazil, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024.
(AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

Aug. 7, 2024

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest slowed by nearly half compared to the year before, according to government satellite data released Wednesday. It’s the largest reduction since 2016, when officials began using the current method of measurement.

In the past 12 months, the Amazon rainforest lost 4,300 square kilometers (1,700 square miles), an area roughly the size of Rhode Island. That’s a nearly 46% decrease compared to the previous period. Brazil’s deforestation surveillance year runs from August 1 to July 30.

Still, much remains to be done to end the destruction and the month of July showed a 33% increase in tree cutting over July 2023. A strike by officials at federal environmental agencies contributed to this surge, said João Paulo Capobianco, executive secretary for the Environment Ministry, during a press conference in Brasília.

 Smoke rises from a forest fire in the Transamazonica highway region, in the municipality of Labrea, Amazonas state, Brazil, on Sept. 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Edmar Barros, File)

The figures are preliminary and come from the Deter satellite system, managed by the National Institute for Space Research and used by environmental law enforcement agencies to detect deforestation in real-time. The most accurate deforestation calculations are usually released in November.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has pledged “deforestation zero” by 2030. His current term ends in January 2027. Amazon deforestation has steeply declined since the end of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro’s rule in 2022. Under that government, forest loss reached a 15-year high.

About two-thirds of the Amazon lies within Brazil. It remains the world’s largest rainforest, covering an area twice the size of India. The Amazon absorbs large amounts of carbon dioxide, preventing the climate from warming even faster than it would otherwise. It also holds about 20% of the world’s fresh water, and biodiversity that scientists have not yet come close to understanding, including at least 16,000 tree species.

During this same period, deforestation in Brazil´s vast savannah, known as the Cerrado, increased by 9%. The native vegetation loss reached 7,015 square kilometers (2,708 square miles) – an area 63% larger than the destruction in the Amazon.

The Cerrado is the world’s most biodiverse savannah, but less of it enjoys protected status than the rainforest to its north. Brazil´s boom in soybeans, the country’s second-largest export, have largely come from privately-owned areas in the Cerrado.

“The Cerrado has become a ‘sacrificed biome.’ Its topography lends itself to mechanized, large-scale commodity production,” Isabel Figueiredo, a spokesperson with the nonprofit Society, Population and Nature Institute told The Associated Press. Both Brazilians and the international community are more concerned about forests than savanna and open landscapes, she said, even though these ecosystems are also extremely biodiverse and essential for climate balance.

Brazilian Environment Minister Marina Silva gives a press conference to present Amazon and Cerrado deforestation data at her ministry headquarters in Brasilia, Brazil, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

To control deforestation in the long term, monitoring, such as with satellites, and law enforcement are not enough, said Paulo Barreto via email, a researcher with the nonprofit Amazon Institute of People and the Environment. New protected areas are needed, both within and outside Indigenous territory, as well as more transparency so that slaughterhouses track where their cattle are coming from. Cattle ranching is the leading driver of deforestation in the Amazon. Degraded pasture lands also need to be replanted as forest, Barreto said, and there must be stricter rules for the financial sector to prevent the funding of deforestation.

Brazil to allow miles of selective logging in effort to preserve the Amazon


Forest lines the Combu creek, on Combu Island on the banks of the Guama River, near the city of Belem, Para state, Brazil, Aug. 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres, File)

Timber from a woodmill sits next to the jungle near Vila Nova Samuel, Brazil, Aug. 27, 2019. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano, File)

BY FABIANO MAISONNAVE
 July 23, 2024

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — To combat ongoing destruction in the Amazon rainforest, Brazil announced a plan Tuesday to dramatically expand selective logging to an area the size of Costa Rica over the next two years.

In Brazil, vast forest lands are designated as public yet have no special protection or enforcement and are vulnerable to land grabbing and illegal deforestation. Criminals frequently take over land and clear it, hoping the government will eventually recognize them as owners, which usually happens.

“The main goal of forest concessions is the conservation of these areas,” said Renato Rosenberg, director of forest concessions for the Brazilian Forest Service, during an online press conference. “They also create jobs and income in parts of the Amazon that would otherwise have little economic activity.”

Companies that get timber concessions have to follow strict rules. They can log up to six trees per hectare (2.5 acres) over a 30-year period. Protected species, such as Brazil nut, and older, seed-producing trees are off limits.
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The idea is that granting permission to timber companies to take a limited number of trees gives them a stake in overseeing the forest, something the Brazilian government cannot afford to do. Several studies show that illegal deforestation in concession areas is significantly lower than outside them.

Eventually, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva plans to treat as much as 310,000 square kilometers (112,000 square miles) of public undesignated Amazon rainforest this way — an area the size of Italy.

A working group is assessing which areas should be designated as conservation areas, Indigenous territories or forest concessions.

Currently, there are 22 such timber lease areas in the Amazon, covering more than 13,000 square kilometers (5,000 square miles). Since the country initiated its first timber concessions, only two companies have declined to renew their leases, which shows the model works, according to Rosenfeld. Still, the program is much smaller than first envisioned when Brazilian legislation established it in 2006.

Brazil’s Forest Service is part of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change. It was created that same year to promote sustainable activities in public forests by private organizations.

The government plan is a partnership with two private institutions — Imaflora and Systemiq — that will help do research and design community forest management, according to an official statement.

Funding comes from Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions, the primary program of the United Kingdom´s International Climate Finance to address climate change.

The announcement was met with skepticism by the National Forum of Forest-Based Activities, representing some 3,500 companies with interests in the timber industry.

“Forest management is the best way to halt environmental crime, from land-grabbing to illegal logging,” Frank Almeida, president of the National Forum, told the AP. “But there is no use in creating a project that won´t become a reality,” he said, referencing recent government actions related to exports that have generated business uncertainty.

The main one is that two of Brazil´s leading timber products — ipe wood and tonka beans — were listed with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora for species requiring export permits. Unless Brazil meets a November deadline for submitting a so-called non-detriment finding, Almeida said exports of these species will be halted.

In a press statement, Brazil’s environmental law-enforcement agency, known as Ibama, said it will address this issue before the November deadline.

Maisa Isabela Rodrigues, a forest engineering professor at Brasilia National University, said the plan is the right approach, but needs some adjustment. Forest management is the best way to reconcile forest preservation and logging, she told the AP. But research indicates the 30-year period between timber harvests is not long enough for the recovery of some of the most valuable species. She said the program probably won’t work in remote areas, because sky-high transportation costs could make them economically unattractive.
___

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Amazon deforestation rises for the first time in 15 months


By AFP
August 7, 2024


Burned trees are seen after illegal fires were lit by farmers in Manaquiri, Amazonas state, Brazil in September 2023 - Copyright POOL/AFP/File TINGSHU WANG

Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest increased in July for the first time in 15 months, according to official data released Wednesday.

An area of 666 square kilometers (250 square miles) was destroyed in the Amazon last month, up 33 percent from the 500 square kilometers lost in July 2023.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has pledged to put a stop to illegal deforestation of the Amazon by 2030. The practice had dramatically worsened under his far-right predecessor Jair Bolsonaro.

Among the factors that contributed to the increase in July, according to the government, was a strike by public employees in the environmental agency IBAMA.

In addition, “in July last year the decrease (in deforestation) was very high,” Joao Paulo Capobianco, executive secretary of the environment ministry, said during a press conference explaining this July’s poor results.

During the last 12 months, deforestation decreased 45.7 percent compared to the previous period.

“Over the past year, the reduction has been extremely significant,” Capobianco said.

While deforestation destroyed 7,952 square kilometers between August 2022 and July 2023, it destroyed only 4,315 square kilometers in the same period in 2023-2024.

Deforestation is strongly linked to agricultural expansion and illegal mining.

The Amazon, the world’s biggest rainforest, covers nearly 40 percent of South America. In the last century, it has lost about 20 percent of its area to deforestation, due to the advance of agriculture and cattle ranching, logging and mining, and urban sprawl.

Tropical forests absorb carbon and are a vital ally in the fight against climate change, but they are also the most ravaged by deforestation.

ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY

Texas man who claimed intellectual disability is executed for 1997 killing of female jogger


This photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows death row inmate Arthur Lee Burton, who was condemned for the July 1997 killing of Nancy Adleman and was executed Wednesday evening, Aug. 7, 2024, at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. (Texas Department of Criminal Justice via AP)

BY JUAN A. LOZANO AND MICHAEL GRACZYK
August 7, 2024

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A Texas man who claimed an intellectual disability in a late attempt at a reprieve was executed Wednesday evening for the killing of a woman who was jogging near her Houston home more than 27 years ago.

Arthur Lee Burton, 54, received a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville and was pronounced dead at 6:47 p.m. local time. He was condemned for the July 1997 killing and attempted rape of Nancy Adleman, a 48-year-old mother of three.

Burton appeared nervous as he lay strapped to the death chamber gurney and a spiritual adviser prayed briefly over him, the inmate’s right leg twitching under a white sheet that covered him from his chest to his feet.

“I want to say thank you to all the people who support me and pray for me,” Burton said when asked by the warden if he had a final statement, his voice repeatedly cracking with a sharp breath after saying several words.
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“To all the people I have hurt and caused pain, I wish we didn’t have to be here at this moment, but I want you to know that I am sorry for putting y’all through this and my family. I’m not better than anyone. I hope that I find peace and y’all can too.”

He nodded to his brother, Michael, watching through a window nearby, took four gasps as the lethal dose of the sedative pentobarbital began taking effect, then appeared to yawn before all movement stopped. He was pronounced dead 24 minutes later.

Adleman had been brutally beaten and strangled with her own shoelace in a heavily wooded area off a jogging trail along a bayou, police said. According to authorities, Burton confessed to killing her, saying “she asked me why was I doing it and that I didn’t have to do it.” He recanted this confession at trial.

Hours before the scheduled execution time, the U.S. Supreme Court declined a defense request to intervene after lower courts had previously rejected Burton’s request for a stay.

Burton’s lawyers had argued that reports by two experts and the records showed Burton “exhibited low scores on tests of learning, reasoning, comprehending complex ideas, problem solving, and suggestibility, all of which are examples of significant limitations in intellectual functioning.” They had argued the evidence was a strong indication of an intellectual disability that made him “categorically exempt from the death penalty.”

Prosecutors, however, argued that Burton had not previously raised claims of an intellectual disability and that he had waited until eight days before his scheduled execution to do so.

An expert for the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted Burton, said in an Aug. 1 report that he had not seen any evidence Burton suffered from a significant deficit in intellectual or mental capabilities.

“I have not seen any mental health or other notations that Mr. Burton suffers from a significant deficit in intellectual or mental capabilities,” said the report by Thomas Guilmette, a psychology professor at Providence College in Rhode Island.

The Supreme Court in 2002 had barred the execution of intellectually disabled people. But it has given states some discretion to decide how to determine such disabilities.

Burton was convicted in 1998 but his death sentence was overturned by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in 2000. He received another death sentence at a new punishment trial in 2002.

In their petition to the Supreme Court, Burton’s lawyers accused the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals of rejecting their claims of intellectual disability because of “hostility” toward prior Supreme Court rulings that criticized the state’s rules on determining intellectual disability.

In its filing to the Supreme Court, the Texas Attorney General’s Office denied that the state appeals court was refusing to adhere to current criteria for determining intellectual disability.

Burton was the third inmate put to death this year in Texas, the nation’s busiest capital punishment state, and the 11th in the U.S.

On Thursday, Taberon Dave Honie is scheduled to be the first inmate executed in Utah since 2010. He was condemned for the 1998 killing of his girlfriend’s mother.
___

Lozano reported from Houston.

More US schools are taking breaks for meditation. Teachers say it helps students’ mental health

EASTERN MYSTICISM AS NEW AGE MANAGEMENT PRACTICE


School districts across the U.S. are adopting mental health practices as a part of their daily schedules and curriculums. Yoga, meditation, and mindfulness exercises are being implemented alongside traditional lessons. (AP Video: Sharon Johnson)

BY SHARON JOHNSON
, August 4, 2024


REX, Ga. (AP) — The third-grade students at Roberta T. Smith Elementary School had only a few days until summer vacation, and an hour until lunch, but there was no struggle to focus as they filed into the classroom. They were ready for one of their favorite parts of the day.

The children closed their eyes and traced their thumbs from their foreheads to their hearts as a pre-recorded voice led them through an exercise called the shark fin, part of the classroom’s regular meditation routine.

“Listen to the chimes,” said the teacher, Kim Franklin. “Remember to breathe.”

Schools across the U.S. have been introducing yoga, meditation and mindfulness exercises to help students manage stress and emotions. As the depths of student struggles with mental health became clear in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last year endorsed schools’ use of the practices.

Research has found school-based mindfulness programs can help, especially in low-income communities where students face high levels of stress or trauma.

The mindfulness program reached Smith Elementary through a contract with the school system, Clayton County Public Schools, where two-thirds of the students are Black.

GreenLight Fund Atlanta, a network that matches communities with local nonprofits, helps Georgia school systems pay for the mindfulness program provided by Inner Explorer, an audio platform.

This article is part of AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health. Read more Be Well.

Joli Cooper, GreenLight Fund Atlanta’s executive director, said it was important to the group to support an organization that is accessible and relevant for communities of color in the Greater Atlanta area.

Children nationwide struggled with the effects of isolation and remote learning as they returned from the pandemic school closures. The CDC in 2023 reported more than a third of students were affected by feelings of persistent sadness and hopelessness. The agency recommended schools use mindfulness practices to help students manage emotions.

“We know that our teenagers and adolescents have really strained in their mental health,” CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen told The Associated Press. “There are real skills that we can give our teens to make sure that they are coping with some big emotions.”

Approaches to mindfulness represent a form of social-emotional learning, which has become a political flashpoint with many conservatives who say schools use it to promote progressive ideas about race, gender and sexuality.

But advocates say the programming brings much-needed attention to students’ well-being.

“When you look at the numbers, unfortunately, in Georgia, the number of children of color with suicidal thoughts and success is quite high,” Cooper said. “When you look at the number of psychologists available for these children, there are not enough psychologists of color.”

Black youth have the fastest-growing suicide rate among racial groups, according to CDC statistics. Between 2007 and 2020, the suicide rate among Black children and teens ages 10 to 17 increased by 144%.

“It’s a stigma with being able to say you’re not OK and needing help, and having the ability to ask for help,” said Tolana Griggs, Smith Elementary’s assistant principal. “With our diverse school community and wanting to be more aware of our students, how different cultures feel and how different cultures react to things, it’s important to be all-inclusive with everything we do.”

Nationwide, children in schools that serve mostly students of color have less access to psychologists and counselors than those in schools serving mostly white students.

The Inner Explorer program guides students and teachers through five-to-10-minute sessions of breathing, meditating and reflecting several times a day. The program also is used at Atlanta Public Schools and over 100 other districts across the country.

Teachers and administrators say they have noticed a difference in their students since they’ve incorporated mindfulness into their routine. For Aniyah Woods, 9, the program has helped her “calm down” and “not stress anymore.”

“I love myself how I am, but Inner Explorer just helps me feel more like myself,” Aniyah said.

Malachi Smith, 9, has used his exercises at home, with his father helping to guide him through meditation.

“You can relax yourself with the shark fin, and when I calm myself down, I realize I am an excellent scholar,” Malachi said.

After Franklin’s class finished their meditation, they shared how they were feeling.

“Relaxed,” one student said.

Aniyah raised her hand.

“It made me feel peaceful,” she said.
___

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Harris and Walz are showing their support for organized labor with appearance at Detroit union hall

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, in Romulus, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz raise their arms at a campaign rally Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, in Romulus, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain speaks during an interview with The Associated Press on Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Mike Householder)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris greets supporters at a campaign rally Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, in Romulus, Mich. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris greets supporters at a campaign rally Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, in Romulus, Mich. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

BY DARLENE SUPERVILLE AND JOEY CAPPELLETTI
August 8, 2024

DETROIT (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, are set to play up their support for organized labor during an appearance at a Detroit-area union hall as the new Democratic ticket lavishes attention on a crucial base of support.

Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, and Walz, who joined the ticket on Tuesday, plan to speak on Thursday to several dozen United Auto Workers members.

After President Joe Biden ended his reelection campaign last month and endorsed his vice president, organized labor quickly rallied around Harris. The AFL-CIO endorsed her after having first backed Biden. The UAW formally backed her last week.

Harris and Walz have been highlighting their support for working people during their first joint appearances this week in some of the most closely contested states that will help decide whether she becomes the first female U.S. president or whether Republican Donald Trump returns to the White House and brings along Sen. JD Vance of Ohio as his vice president.

The Democrats visited Wisconsin and Michigan on Wednesday, hoping to shore up support among the younger, diverse, labor-friendly voters who were instrumental in helping Biden get elected in 2020.


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Two new polls of likely voters in Wisconsin and Georgia, another key state, show close races in both. Several Georgiapolls conducted earlier in the summer found Trump slightly ahead in the state, which Biden won narrowly in 2020.

UAW President Shawn Fain told The Associated Press last week that Harris’ leading the Democratic ticket boosts the party’s chances of winning Michigan and keeping the White House in November. Fain also spoke Wednesday at Harris’ campaign rally at a Detroit-area airport hangar.

Fain said in the interview that Trump is beholden to billionaires, knows nothing about the auto industry and would send the labor movement into reverse in a second term.

The UAW leader has become a top nemesis of the Republican presidential nominee, who frequently rails against Fain at rallies and in speeches.

Vance made his own stops in Michigan and Wisconsin on Wednesday, intent on showing that Republicans will compete in the “blue wall” of Midwestern states. He called Walz a “crazy radical” and said that Harris’ decision to pick him as a running mate shows that she “bends the knee to the far left of the Democratic Party.”

As Harris spoke to an estimated 15,000-person crowd at the airport, she was interrupted by protesters opposed to Israel’s war in Gaza with Hamas. At first, Harris said to those trying to disrupt her, “I am here because I believe in democracy, and everybody’s voice matters.”

But Harris lost patience as the shouting continued, with protesters accusing her of supporting genocide in Gaza. That led her to deliver a sharper rejoinder.

“If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that,” she said, talking over the protesters. “Otherwise, I’m speaking.”

Metro Detroit, home to one of the largest Arab American populations in the United States, has become a focal point of tension and unrest due to the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Shortly after her remarks Wednesday, Harris won the backing of Assad I. Turfe, the deputy Wayne County executive, who is the highest ranking Arab American official in Michigan’s largest county. Turfe told The Associated Press that he spoke with Harris backstage at the event before his endorsement.

“Kamala Harris embodies the America we deserve –- an America that stands for strength, inclusivity and unwavering commitment to justice,” Turfe said in a statement. “I wholeheartedly endorse Kamala Harris, as she represents the true spirit of our nation and the values we hold dear.”

Turfe also pressed the need for a cease-fire in Gaza, but said that Harris “gives us the best chance of achieving peace in that region moving forward.”

Union members attending the rally said they supported Harris.

Jeanne Ruff of Livonia, Michigan, whose husband is a longtime UAW member, said she hoped Harris would visit a union shop in Michigan to show her support.
“I want her to make sure skill trades are back in schools so that the next generation can understand what unions are about. What solidarity is and how strong we can be together, working as one,” Ruff said.
___

Cappelletti reported from Lansing, Michigan. AP Auto Writer Tom Krisher contributed to this report.

DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Darlene Superville covers The White House

JOEY CAPPELLETTI
Cappelletti covers politics and state government for The Associated Press in Michigan. He is based in Lansing.