It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Thursday, December 24, 2020
Half of Russians skeptical Kremlin critic Navalny was poisoned - poll MOSCOW (Reuters) - Half of Russians believe that Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was either not poisoned, as he and Western governments contend, or that his poisoning was stage-managed by Western intelligence services, a poll showed on Thursday.
Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny takes part in a rally in Moscow
The poll, released by the Levada-Center, shows how hard it remains for Navalny to shape public opinion in Russia even as his case attracts wide media attention in the West and his own slickly-produced videos of what happened to him this summer rack up millions of views online.
Navalny, one of President Vladimir Putin's most outspoken critics, was airlifted to Germany for medical treatment in August after collapsing on a plane in Russia. Germany has said he was poisoned with a Soviet-style Novichok nerve agent in an attempt to murder him, an assertion many Western nations accept.
A joint media investigation last week named agents from Russia's FSB security service it said were behind the plot to kill him. Navalny on Monday released a recording of him speaking by phone to a man he described as a state security agent who told him, among other things, that the poison had been placed in his underpants.
The FSB has called that recording a fake designed to discredit it, however, and has said that foreign intelligence services helped Navalny make it while the Kremlin has mocked Navalny and tried to call his sanity into question.
The poll by Levada, which is regarded as more independent than state counterparts, showed only 15% of Russians believed what happened to Navalny was an attempt by the authorities to rid themselves of a political opponent. Video: Russian President Vladimir Putin refutes reports that Russia's security services were behind the poisoning of opposition figure Alexei Navalny, saying that if they had been, the opposition leader would not be alive. (AFP) Half of Russians sceptical Kremlin critic Navalny was poisoned - poll (msn.com)
HIS NOVICHOK HIT TEAM SEEMS TO BE ZERO FOR SUCCESS LEAVING
THEIR VICTIMS ALIVE THE NOVICHOK MAY BE EXPIRED!!!1
By contrast, 30% thought that the incident was stage-managed and that there was no poisoning, and 19% said they believed it was a provocation orchestrated by Western intelligence services. The same poll, which canvassed 1,617 Russians aged 18 or older, showed that 7% thought it was revenge by someone he had targeted in one of his anti-corruption investigations.
Denis Volkov, Levada's deputy director, said the results showed a split in opinion between older and younger Russians, whom Navalny has targeted with high-profile online investigations and by speaking to them directly in live internet broadcasts.
"Older generations receiving news on TV and trusting TV news, and supporters of the authorities mostly consider what happened as a stage-managed event and provocation of the West," Volkov wrote on Facebook.
"Young people, active internet users and critics of the authorities are much more likely to blame Russian authorities for the poisoning," he said.
Navalny is still convalescing in Germany, but has said he wants to return to Russia.
(Reporting by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
VIVA CUBA VENCEREM0S
Cuban doctors arrive in Panama to fight pandemic amid US opposition A group of 220 Cuban health care professionals arrived in Panama on Thursday to help fight the coronavirus pandemic despite objections from the United States, Panama's health ministry said.
The Cuban medics will "reinforce the health system in this fight against covid-19," the ministry said on Twitter.
Panama announced o0n December 15 it would hire doctors from Cuba, the US, Mexico, Venezuela and Colombia to tackle the pandemic despite a law restricting medical practice to locals.
Panama is the worst affected country in Central America with more than 220,000 Covid-19 cases and over 3,600 deaths among its 4.2 million population.
But the announcement had met resistance from Michael Kozak, Washington's acting assistant secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs.
"Governments that hire Cuban medical workers must ensure their fair and humane treatment -- in stark contrast to the Castro regime, which traffics in, and exploits, the workers' bravery for its own gains," Kozak tweeted on December 21.
"Make contracts transparent and pay workers directly."
The US is Panama's main political and economic ally.
Cuba's practice of hiring out its world-renowned health care workers has been branded "white coat diplomacy" by Havana's detractors, including Washington, which has accused Cuba of "forced labor" and using the medics as a propaganda tool.
"Our White Coat Heroes have arrived in Panama," Cuba's embassy in Panama said on Twitter alongside a video of people wearing white coats and carrying a Cuban flag.
Since reopening its economy in September and October, Panama has witnessed a spike in coronavirus cases that has left its hospitals saturated and their staff exhausted.
The government has imposed a total lockdown over Christmas and the New Year to try to slow the virus's spread.
Panama is due to receive 450,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine during the first quarter of 2021.
Panama President Laurentino Cortizo had announced plans to hire Cuban doctors in August but backed down following criticism from Washington and from within the country.
However, the government was forced into a change of heart as it was unable to hire enough health care professionals to tackle the virus crisis.
jjr/dga/bc/ft
A probe snaps 'great conjunction' photo of Jupiter and Saturn from the moon
By Chelsea Gohd Behold, the view from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter!
(Image credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University)
A moon-orbiting probe got a stunning up-close view of the "great conjunction" of Jupiter and Saturn from Earth's rocky satellite.
Monday (Dec. 21), Jupiter and Saturn appeared closer in the night sky than they had in about 800 years during what's known as a "great conjunction." People all around the globe watched and photographed the planets, which looked almost like a single, bright "star" in the sky. However, us Earthlings weren't the only ones who got a celestial show.
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), which launched in 2009 and has enough fuel to keep orbiting the moon for another six years, spotted the cosmic event all the way from the moon.
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera's (LROC) Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) captured an unbelievable image of the two planets just a few hours after the pair's point of closest separation (0.1 degrees), which occurred at TK. Now, while Jupiter and Saturn may have looked like one glowing orb to the naked eye, with the detailed view of the NAC, you can clearly resolve the individual planets. In fact, the image provides so much detail that you can even faintly see Saturn's rings.
Here on Earth, skywatchers were able to see Jupiter's moons with DSLR cameras and even basic telescopes, though Saturn's rings were usually only visible with higher-powered telescopes.
On Dec. 21, 2020, Jupiter and Saturn appeared just one-tenth of a degree apart, or about the thickness of a dime held at arm's length, according to NASA. During the event, known as a "great conjunction," the two planets (and their moons) were visible in the same field of view through binoculars or a telescope. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
When the NAC captured this image of the two planets, Jupiter was about four times brighter than Saturn, so the brightness of the original image was adjusted to make both equally visible.
While Jupiter and Saturn have a close conjunction once every 20 years, the planets haven't appeared this close since 1623. Additionally, the planetary alignment came just a few days before Christmas, with many dubbing the bright event a "Christmas Star," adding even more to the astronomical excitement.
Email Chelsea Gohd at cgohd@space.com or follow her on Twitter @chelsea_gohd. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
SPACE WEATHER
A dark storm on Neptune has reversed direction and scientists can't explain why
Astronomers were surprised to see two storms on Neptune. It’s possible the planet’s giant storm spawned another when it abruptly changed directions.
A dark storm on Neptune abruptly switched directions and started moving away from almost certain death, puzzling astronomers.
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope first spotted the vortex in 2018. A year later, the storm began drifting southward toward Neptune’s equator, following the path of several storms before it. Usually, these dark spots on Neptune live for a few years before either vanishing or fading away. However, the storm mysteriously stopped moving south and made a sharp u-turn, drifting back northwards. At the same time, astronomers spotted a second, smaller dark spot on the planet.
They theorize that this smaller “cousin” storm may be a piece of the original vortex that broke off and drifted away.
"We are excited about these observations because this smaller dark fragment is potentially part of the dark spot’s disruption process," Michael H. Wong of the University of California at Berkeley said in a NASA statement. "This is a process that's never been observed. We have seen some other dark spots fading away and they're gone, but we've never seen anything disrupt, even though it’s predicted in computer simulations."
Although Hubble has tracked similar storms on Neptune over the past 30 years, astronomers have never seen such unpredictable atmospheric behavior.
The current storm, which is 4,600 miles (7,403 kilometers) across (bigger than the Atlantic Ocean) is the fourth-darkest spot Hubble has tracked since 1993. These storms are high-pressure systems that rotate clockwise due to the planet’s rotation (unlike hurricanes on Earth, which are low-pressure systems that rotate counterclockwise).
Typically, as storms drift toward Neptune’s equator, the Coriolis effect that typically keeps them stable starts to weaken and the storm disintegrates. Yet, unlike past observed storms and computer simulations that show storms following a more-or-less straight path to the equator, this latest vortex didn’t migrate into this “kill zone.”
"It was really exciting to see this one act like it's supposed to act and then all of a sudden it just stops and swings back," Wong said in the same NASA statement. "That was surprising."
Spotting a smaller storm that potentially broke off from the larger vortex was also surprising. Astronomers informally call the smaller storm "dark spot jr." This "jr." is still quite large, stretching 3,900 miles (6,276 km) across. Although researchers can’t prove that the smaller storm broke off from the larger one, Wong said it’s possible that shedding that fragment was enough to stop the larger storm from continuing on towards the equator.
This latest giant storm on Neptune is the best-studied so far on the planet. For instance, when Hubble first spotted the storm in 2018, the telescope saw bright companion clouds around the vortex. Those clouds are now gone, having disappeared when the storm stopped drifting southward. It’s possible that the lack of these clouds could reveal some secrets about how the dark spots evolve.
There is still a lot of mystery surrounding storms on Neptune, but NASA’s Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) program is standing by to crack those mysteries. But, for now, astronomers will keep their eyes on this mysterious dark spot on Neptune.
Follow Kasandra Brabaw on Twitter @KassieBrabaw. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
MEET NEO
A huge asteroid potentially measuring more than double the size of the Statue of Liberty is set to sail past Earth on Christmas Day.
During its close approach, the space rock—dubbed 501647 (2014 SD224)—will come within 0.02019 astronomical units, or nearly 1.9 million miles, of our planet at 8:20 p.m. UTC (3:20 p.m. ET) on December 25, data from NASA's Center for Near Earth Studies (CNEOS) shows.
According to CNEOS, the asteroid is estimated to measure anywhere between 302 feet and 689 feet in diameter.
At the lower end of this range, the space rock would be almost exactly the same height as the Statue of Liberty. But at the upper end, it would be more than double the size of the famous monument in New York City.
While a close approach of 1.9 million miles sounds very far away, it is actually relatively near in astronomical terms. In fact, 1.9 million miles is just under eight times the average distance between the Earth and the moon.
As 2014 SD224 flies past our planet, it will be travelling at a speed of more than 22,000 miles per hour—which is roughly thirty times the speed of sound.
The space rock is one of many so-called near-Earth objects (NEOs) that orbit the sun in the vicinity of our planet.
Technically, the term NEO refers to any asteroid or comet that have orbits with the potential to come within 121 million miles of the sun, or 30 million miles of the Earth's own orbital path.
So far, researchers have spotted around 25,000 NEOs—the vast majority of which are asteroids. Scientists think most of the of the largest NEOs have been discovered, although there are likely to be many more smaller ones that are still undetected.
"By continually searching for asteroids, we expect to eventually find the majority of the hundred-meter-scale asteroids over time, as each happens to pass by our planet many years or decades before a possible potential impact," CNEOS director Paul Chodas previously told Newsweek.
"We have already inventoried over 95 percent of the really large asteroids (1 kilometer or 0.62 miles in size and larger) and we know that none of them has any chance of impacting over the next century."
NEOs that are thought to measure more than 460 feet in diameter and are in orbits that could potentially cross the Earth's own path within centuries or millennia—like 2014 SD224—are categorized as "potentially hazardous."
2014 SD224 will fly past Earth just a few days after the winter solstice on December, which marked the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.
The astronomical event was notable this year because it coincided with a "great conjunction" of Jupiter and Saturn during which the two planets appeared closer in the sky than they have done for around 400 years.
'Lasting honour': Battle for Hong Kong ended on Christmas Day 1941 and Capt. John Reid was among the Canadians there
THERE WAS A VETERAN OF HONG KONG WHO WAS A MEMBER OF MY PARENTS NORWOOD BRANCH 149 OF THE ROYAL CANADIAN LEGION YEG
“C” Force arrives in Hong Kong on November 16, 1941.
VIDEO AT THE BOTTOM On Christmas Day, 1941, Hong Kong surrendered to invading Japanese forces. The Canadian death toll was 290, and some 1,700 were taken prisoner. Among the PoWs was John Reid, a young Canadian doctor who volunteered for the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps after his medical training. He survived the war, but finding a peace of his own took 10 tumultuous years, with casualties of a different sort. This excerpt from the new book The Captain Was a Doctor describes Reid’s experience through the last three days of the battle for Hong Kong.
By December 22, Mount Cameron, several miles north of Reid’s Regimental Aid Post, had become the linchpin of West Brigade’s defensive line as the Japanese forced their way from the east. The position was held by only 100 Winnipeg Grenadiers, reinforced by a platoon of British Royal Engineers — all that could be spared. After raining Mount Cameron’s defenders with artillery and mortar fire, the Japanese attacked during the evening with 1,000 troops. The Grenadiers and Royal Engineers fought back ferociously, but a Japanese breakthrough on their right flank threatened to encircle their position and forced their withdrawal northward to Wan Chai Gap. In his postwar debriefing in October 1945, Reid recalls the confusion of this night:
(We were) still at Aberdeen Reservoir. This hill (where we had our aid post) continued to Wan Chai Gap. That part was held by the British and Canadians on our left flank. During the night we heard a lot of firing on this hill. We phoned (Grenadier Headquarters, northwest of Mount Cameron) to find out what was going on. They said, absolutely nothing — everything’s under control and quiet. In about ten minutes we got a call (from Grenadier Headquarters) in a great hurry and as soon as the phone was off (the hook) someone said the Japs are coming, we’re falling back on Mt. Gough, northwesterly, and for us to get up (to Mount Gough) any way we could … we would try to make a last stand there, then they banged down the phone. We picked it up again to ask, what’s this all about? Nobody was there.
Mount Cameron fell to the Japanese in the early hours of December 23. Except for Stanley Peninsula, where Canada’s Royal Rifles and the rest of East Brigade were cut off but still holding out, the Japanese now controlled the whole eastern half of Hong Kong Island, including the north-south corridor down the centre to Repulse Bay. West Brigade’s entire defence line from Leighton Hill in the north of the island to Bennet’s Hill in the south was under intense attack. On this day, another telegram was sent to Governor Mark Young by Prime Minister Winston Churchill:
There must be no thought of surrender. Every part of the island must be fought and the enemy resisted with the utmost stubbornness. The enemy should be compelled to expend the utmost life and equipment. There must be vigorous fighting in the inner defences and, if need be, from house to house. Every day that you are able to maintain your resistance you help the Allied cause all over the world, and by a prolonged resistance you and your men can win the lasting honour which we are sure will be your due.
With Mount Cameron overrun by the enemy, the Winnipeg Grenadiers north of the Aberdeen Reservoir, now dangerously exposed, were ordered to pull back to Aberdeen Village on the coast, Reid’s medical unit with them. On the morning of Tuesday, December 23, Reid deposited his wounded at the Aberdeen Naval Hospital and took stock of what he should do next.
At the beginning of hostilities, all of the garrison’s field ambulances, including the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps, were reorganized as the Combined Field Ambulance led by Lieutenant-Colonel Lindsay Ride of the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps, with the Winnipeg Grenadiers’ Major John Crawford as second-in-command. During the last three days of fighting, the Combined Field Ambulance Headquarters had been on the move and was out of touch with many of its medical units. When Reid finally made contact late on Tuesday afternoon, he was ordered to Pok Fu Lam on the west coast of the island. As he describes in his postwar debriefing, believing his short-lived military career was about to end, he persuaded the Field Ambulance Headquarters otherwise:
I hadn’t been in the army a very long time and I asked the British Colonel if I could be assigned somewhere else. I had just got into the army and here I was in Hong Kong only a few days and the war was almost done and I asked him if there wasn’t something I could be doing. There wasn’t anything to do at Pok Fu Lam and there wasn’t going to be. He phoned back (and) said, okay, you go to the War Memorial Hospital. That was on the Peak. So I went over there and gave anaesthetics for a day.
The Casualty Clearing Station at War Memorial Hospital was dealing with civilian wounded as well as a stream of British, Canadian, and Indian military casualties. Shortly after the invasion of the island, the hospital’s water supply and electrical system had been knocked out, although engineers from a scuttled British ship managed to rig a small dynamo to produce power for the operating room. Reid was a welcome addition to the medical team. Dr. Annie Sydenham, the hospital’s chief anaesthetist, later reported: “We benefited from the assistance of (Captain Reid) as he knew his own men and was able to give them confidence and cheer.”
Reid remembers the night of December 24 as the oddest of Christmas Eves:
In the basement of the hospital, whose floors above lay ravaged by shell fire, by the flickering lamps in the darkness gathered a varied group: nurses and volunteer nurses, the few daughters of the well-placed who had clung to Hong Kong despite the signs that the “balloon” was really going aloft this time, patched wounded, medical orderlies, officers, and the odds and sods drifting in from the hills — to all came the sudden realization of Christmas Eve. Pots of jam were brought out, loaves of bread, tins of plums, strong hot tea, and — almost surreptitiously — a song: “Silent night, holy night,” rising stronger, louder, fuller till every voice took it up. For an hour all the old sweet airs (were sung), faces gleaming, smiling, tear-dropped but buoyed by the general British “thumbs-up,” till finally fading, most slumped left or right in exhausted sleep.
By dawn of Christmas Day, the remaining elements of West Brigade were hemmed into the western third of the island, while those of East Brigade were trapped on Stanley Peninsula in the southeast. In Victoria that morning, the South China Morning Post, somehow still operating amid the battle, published its penultimate wartime edition with the headline: “Hong Kong Is Observing the Strangest and Most Sober Christmas in Its Century-Old History.” Governor Mark Young broadcast a Christmas message to the colony: “In pride and admiration I send my greeting this Christmas Day to all who are fighting and all who are working so nobly and so well to sustain Hong Kong against the assaults of the enemy. Fight on. Hold fast for King and Empire. God bless you all in this your finest hour. Let this day be historical in the grand annals of our empire. The Order of the Day is to hold fast.”
Practically the last action of the Battle of Hong Kong was a suicidal attack ordered on Christmas morning by Brigadier Wallis, British commander of East Brigade, to retake Stanley Village, a position at the top of Stanley Peninsula recently overrun by the Japanese. The unit chosen for the mission was “D” Company of the Royal Rifles, a force by now reduced through casualties to 120 men. Although Wallis promised artillery support for the attack, none materialized, and at 1:00 p.m. on Christmas Day, Company Sergeant Major George MacDonell and two other platoon leaders led the Canadians across open ground in a wild charge that by its sheer fierceness succeeded in evicting the larger enemy force from parts of Stanley Village while inflicting heavy casualties. But greatly outnumbered by Japanese reinforcements, who began to encircle them, and targeted by a sustained artillery barrage, the Rifles were soon ordered to retreat by Major Maurice Parker, “D” Company’s commanding officer, a tricky withdrawal by two’s and three’s, while MacDonell and Sergeant Lance Ross provided covering fire with their Bren guns before barely escaping themselves. Twenty-six Royal Rifles died during the action. With the 75 who were wounded, “D” Company suffered 84 percent casualties in the attack on Stanley Village. For all the men’s heroics, nothing was gained.
On the west side of the island, General Maltby, the garrison commander, had reached the same conclusion: holding Hong Kong was hopeless; fighting on only meant pointless loss of life, followed by inevitable defeat. Maltby’s final dispatch to London ended: “At 3:15 p.m. (Christmas Day) I advised his Excellency the Governor and Commander-in-Chief that no further useful military resistance was possible and I then ordered all Commanding Officers to break off the fighting and to capitulate to the nearest Japanese Commander, as and when the enemy advanced and the opportunity offered.”
The official surrender of Hong Kong to the Japanese took place at 4:30 on Christmas afternoon. Reid heard the news and its after-effect half an hour later:
The white flag went up about four in the afternoon. Now isolated pockets (of resistance) only, snarling hedge-hogs, but separate. About 5 p.m. the NOISE faded away, little and lesser noises, fewer and farther and, finally, still, still silence, even movement suspended from that hour.
With the silence (came) a bee-hive of thoughts buzzing in the brain: Hong Kong — how strange; home — so far and unreal; only small boats left, and where to go?; friends lost, found, and unknown. Fundamentally, a sense of de-personalization, as though floating in a limbo and seeing, but not fully comprehending, reality. The Captain Was a Doctor by Jonathon Reid, John Reid’s son, was published in October 2020 by Dundurn Press.
Quebec watchdog completes its probe into police-involved death of Chantel Moore
WHAT NO PEPPER SPRAY? NO TASER? NO BILLY CLUB?
Moore was shot by a member of the Edmundston Police Force during a wellness check on June 4, after the young woman had allegedly walked toward an officer with a knife in her hand.
The watchdog, known as the Bureau des enquetes independantes, said Wednesday it had forwarded its report to New Brunswick's Public Prosecutions Services and to the coroner in the case, on Dec. 16.
Quebec's independent police watchdog investigated the case because New Brunswick does not have its own police oversight agency.
New Brunswick's prosecutions office said Wednesday it will examine the Quebec watchdog's finding to determine whether it will lay charges.
The office says its examination could take several weeks.
Quebec's police watchdog says its investigation revealed a person made a call to the Edmundston police to ensure the safety of Moore at around 2 a.m. on June 4.
The watchdog says when police arrived, Moore allegedly opened the door to her apartment holding a knife and walked toward the policeman.
The police officer allegedly stepped back, asked Moore to drop the knife and when that didn't happen, he fired.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 24, 2020.
The Canadian Press
Family of Pakistan dissident Karima Mehrab urge thorough investigation into her death
TORONTO — The family of an internationally prominent Pakistani dissident urged a thorough investigation into her death, saying Wednesday they were having difficulty accepting a police conclusion she killed herself.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, Sameer Mehrab was careful to say the family had no evidence his sister, Karima Mehrab, was in fact the victim of foul play, but said they found it unlikely the Toronto resident would have drowned herself in the frigid waters of Lake Ontario.
"Police are saying it's like a textbook suicide," he said. "We are not suggesting anything but we want to be open to other possibilities due to the threats she was receiving."
Online posts showed hundreds of people rallying in the Pakistani region of Balochistan on Wednesday to protest what they saw as Karima Mehrab's killing. They urged a fair investigation into the death.
Toronto police have offered few details publicly about what happened to Mehrab, 37, widely known as Karima Baloch, who fled Pakistan for Canada in 2015.
She had been an activist on behalf of the often violent quest for Baloch separatism and continued her activism from Canada. Pakistan's military and government have steadfastly denied any rights abuses in the Baloch region.
While police said they were aware of the concerns around Mehrab's death, they had found no evidence of foul play after her body was pulled from the lake on Monday.
"The Toronto Police Service is aware of heightened community and media interest surrounding a missing person investigation," the force said in a statement on Wednesday.
"The circumstances have been investigated and officers have determined this to be a non-criminal death and no foul play is suspected."
Mehrab's brother, however, said the family has had little success in getting investigators to delve into the threats he said his sister and her husband had received. In one such threat, a person warned her husband that she would get a "Christmas gift" she would never forget, her family said.
"We actually tried to tell the police every time they call us that this is the history, but they refuse to be convinced because, according to them, they don't have any evidence (of foul play)," Sameer Mehrab said.
From what the family has learned, Karima Mehrab was anxious about an economic exam she was to write as a first-year student at the University of Toronto. Her doctor had prescribed mild medication to help her sleep, her brother said. The doctor saw no sign of severe depression, her family said he told them.
Mehrab left home alone on Sunday, her family said.
Transit records and surveillance video show she made her way to the Toronto Islands, a favourite place for her to clear her head, her brother said. Police found no indication anyone was with her, he said they told the family.
"Her being alone is not evidence that she was not harmed," her brother said.
Lateef Johar, a close friend, said Mehrab's belongings were found on the island.
Those close to Mehrab said she was a strong person for whom life was improving, and she would never have killed herself. She left no note or gave any indication she was planning self-harm, her brother said.
Sameer Mehrab, himself a refugee who now lives in Toronto, worked for years in the Middle East with another Pakistani dissident and exile, Sajid Hussain, editor in chief of the Balochistan Times. Hussain was found drowned in a river earlier this year in Sweden. Authorities said there was no indication of foul play but couldn't rule it out definitively.
The Canadian government expressed its condolences on Karima Mehrab's death Tuesday but refused further comment.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 23, 2020.
Colin Perkel, The Canadian Press
'White nationalist' Paul Fromm received federal COVID-19 relief money to fund his groups
Anti-hate groups are urging the federal government to reconsider which employers can apply for the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) after self-described white nationalist Paul Fromm received COVID-19 relief funds for two of his groups.
Vice first reported he received money for the Canadian Association for Free Expression (CAFE) after the government published a searchable registry of companies that have accessed CEWS.
CAFE is a non-profit that has intervened in several human rights cases across Canada, including on behalf of websites encouraging homophobia and Holocaust denial.
CBC News has since learned Fromm also received money for another group of his — Citizens for Foreign Aid Reform, which opposes foreign aid and multiculturalism.
Fromm has appeared in far-right protests, spoken regularly on the white nationalist radio show Stormfront, and is the subject of a Hamilton police investigation after complaints he shared the New Zealand mosque shooter's manifesto on the CAFE website. Stormfront describes itself as being "pro-white news, opinion and inspiration."
"I'm a white nationalist," Fromm said in an interview. "I'm proud of our European heritage and I want to keep it."
Still, he denies being labelled a neo-Nazi or white supremacist, and told CBC News on Wednesday that his organizations met all the requirements to receive CEWS funds.
"The criteria as I read it was not 'What are your politics?' The criteria is 'Are you an employer, do you have an employer number, have you been impacted by the COVID shutdown and if so, you qualify up to a certain amount," Fromm said.
"Given the rules, there's not much [the government] can do."
The government was unable to provide an interview.
Katherine Cuplinskas, press secretary for the office of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland said the government "categorically condemns white supremacy, far-right extremism, and racism in all its forms."
"Wage subsidy funds can only be used for employee remuneration. Should these funds have been abused, the penalties can include repayment of the wage subsidy, an additional 25 per cent penalty, and potentially imprisonment in cases of fraud," Cuplinskas wrote in an email. Anti-hate groups want government to review system
Bernie Farber, chair of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, said he was shocked to learn Fromm successfully applied to CEWS. Neo-Nazi groups getting taxpayer money is a "a glitch in the system" from a government trying to navigate a pandemic, he added.
"I don't think any of us can really blame the government for having a glitch in the system. I think we can blame the government if this glitch in the system isn't fixed immediately," he said.
"I think Canadians want to hear our government say 'Whoops, this was a mistake ... it's an outrage at a time when people are literally losing their homes and livelihoods and need this money badly, that it would be going to people like Paul Fromm."
Fromm would not reveal the number of employees in either organization, but acknowledged the number was "small and modest." He also didn't disclose how much money he received but said it was "small potatoes."
Cuplinskas wouldn't say whether the government plans to investigate the issue further, but Kojo Damptey, Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion's interim executive director, said he hopes it does.
"They should have a list of organizations that espouse racist rhetoric, xenophobic rhetoric, and not provide them with public funding," he said. "If our government are funding racist institutions, white nationalist institutions, what kind of society are we building and what does it say to many marginalized communities that have been affected by this sort of rhetoric?"
Venezuela's oil unions accuse government of persecution
Venezuela's vital oil industry is failing and the socialist government is feeling the pressure, and now the regime of President Nicolas Maduro is being accused of lashing out at the sector's unions.
In recent months, several union leaders have been arrested, accused of terrorism, sharing confidential information and inciting hatred.
Venezuela is in the midst of a crippling economic crisis that it is unable to escape because its oil industry is operating at just one eighth of its capacity from 12 years ago.
Critics say the government doesn't want anyone to know it's to blame for the demise.
"The idea is to neutralize the oil union movement by force," said Ivan Freites, director of the federation of Venezuelan oil workers, who has fled to neighboring Colombia.
Speaking to AFP by WhatsApp, the 57-year-old accused the government of "political persecution."
He slipped out of Venezuela secretly, using a false identity and by breaking through border fences put up due to the coronavirus pandemic.
"They were going to come for me," Freites said.
On November 18, military intelligence officers arrested another oil union spokesman, Eudis Girot. They accused him of terrorism and revealing secret information.
Four days before that, Guillermo Zarraga -- a colleague of Freites's at the Paraguana refinery, the largest in Venezuela -- was detained after an explosion at the refinery that the government claimed was a "terrorist attack.
Union leaders, however, said it was due to failed attempts to reactivate facilities amidst a chronic fuel shortage that has seen cars lining up for days at gas stations waiting to fill their tanks
In January, two other union members were arrested by members of the National Guard during a workers' assembly at the major El Palito refinery in the northern Carabobo state.
"In Venezuela the criminalization of critical opinion and social protests is a state policy, systematic and generalized," said the human rights NGO PROVEA in a 2019 report on the persecution of unions.
- 'Destabilizing action' -
Venezuela has been wracked by three years of hyperinflation and has been in recession for seven years.
Citizens have faced shortages of basic necessities such as food and medicine while public services regularly fail.
It is almost entirely dependent on its oil revenue but according to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) it is producing just 400,000 barrels a day compared to 3.2 million in 2008.
Maduro's government blames Venezuela's problems on US sanctions -- particularly those targeting state oil company PDVSA -- but analysts say the South American country's issues run deeper and are the fault of corruption and mismanagement.
PDVA employees once enjoyed salaries that were the envy of other sectors but inflation and currency depreciation mean they fluctuate from $3-$10 a month.
The collective agreement that protected workers' rights and conditions ran out in October 2019 and has not been renewed, said Jose Bodas, general secretary of the oil union workers' federation.
He said some workers had been forced to resign or retire.
Venezuela is using the law to "restrict the possibility of holding rallies, demonstrations or strikes," according to PROVEA, which accuses the government of being "anti-democratic."
"Any act of protest by the citizenry is considered a 'destabilizing action'."
All unions have come under fire but recently the government appears to have focused on the oil industry.
"Us oil (unions) are the most under attack because of what oil signifies .... their power base is there and they're not going to let the workers rise up," said Freites.
Until the industry collapsed, PDVSA brought in more than 90 percent of Venezuela's revenue.
"We'll keep going ... the workers' class exists regardless of repression and the jail cell," Bodas told AFP.
- 'Legal issue' -
Maduro's regime has its defenders, though, including the oil workers' federation president Wills Rangel.
He's a party loyalist and was elected as a legislator in December 6 parliamentary elections that were boycotted by the main opposition parties and denounced as neither free nor fair by the United States, European Union and several Latin American countries.
When asked about the arrest of two unionists accused of being CIA spies, Maduro told a foreign press conference that there were "full guarantees" for unions in Venezuela.
"It's a legal issue ... I'm not going to get involved," said Maduro, who insisted he was a "workers' president" due to his past as a Caracas metro industry unionist.
erc/jt/gma/bc/mjs
'Like water eroding rocks': Thai protesters prepare for long fight
By Patpicha Tanakasempipat, Chayut Setboonsarng and Matthew Tostevin
Protest leaders Panusaya "Rung" Sithijirawattanakul and Parit "Penguin" Chiwarak wearing crop tops ride on an escalator at Siam Paragon shopping centre, as they demonstrate against the monarchy, in Bangkok
BANGKOK (Reuters) - As they paraded through a Bangkok shopping mall in crop tops to mock Thailand's king, protesters made an incongruous sight among the festive decorations.
They brought stares, smiles and some muted cheers, but the few dozen activists were far short of the tens of thousands who joined earlier anti-government protests that broke the taboo on criticising King Maha Vajiralongkorn.
A demonstrator gestures during a pro-democracy rally demanding reforms on the monarchy and for the government to resign, in Bangkok
After months of street demonstrations that have shaken Thailand's establishment, the best-known figures of a movement that drew tactics and inspiration from protests in Hong Kong told Reuters they are at a critical juncture.
There are disagreements over strategy, fatigue, scores of charges brought in a royalist backlash and now a coronavirus outbreak that could make mass gatherings hard.
"I think most people are exhausted," said Parit 'Penguin' Chiwarak, 22, who helped lead the crop top protest, noting that exams at the end of the university term made it hard for students to join.
"We'll try again next year," he told Reuters. "We won't stop no matter what."
Government spokeswoman Rachada Dhnadirek said authorities were not against protesters expressing their views, but a rise in coronavirus cases meant there should be no large gatherings for any reason at the moment.
The crop top protest, however, showed just how far discussion has shifted in Thailand, with its defiance of the royal insult law by openly lampooning a king who has been pictured wearing a crop top in European tabloids.
But divisions between protesters have become more evident as they discuss how best to maintain their push next year to unseat former junta leader and Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, to rewrite the constitution and to curb the king's powers.
The main factions are student protesters linked to the Thammasat University, including Parit and Panusaya 'Rung' Sithijirawattanakul, and the Free Youth group, which kick-started the protests in July. Both have been allied, calling themselves the "People" movement.
But Parit and Panusaya, 22, have distanced themselves from the launch of Free Youth's Restart Thailand movement, with a logo whose RT letters resemble a hammer and sickle.
Critics of Restart Thailand say it risks putting some people off with apparent communist symbolism in a Southeast Asian country where a two-decade long communist insurgency ended in the 1980s.
"A lot of people are confused," said protester Kent Ruqsapram, who brought a sign to one event that said "We fight for democracy, not communism" to make his point.
DIFFERENT MEANS
Meanwhile, Free Youth's Jutatip Sirikhan, 22, said the group will focus on its own campaign next year despite the earlier alliance with the student leaders.
"We want to create more participation from all groups, whether labourers, farmers or those without access to social welfare," she told Reuters.
It is not the first time that divisions have surfaced and both groups say they have the same goals of breaking the decades-old hold on power of the army and palace.
"Both still go in the same direction, just use different means," said Arnon Nampa, 36, a rights lawyer who said he aimed to step up the push for reforms to the monarchy next year as the campaign for change continues.
"The longer this goes on, the more people will understand the problems and side with us - like water eroding rocks," he told Reuters.
There is little to show yet on the core demands.
Prayuth has dismissed calls to stand down, discussion on the constitution will only proceed on the government's terms and the Royal Palace is ramping up a PR campaign rather than entertaining any possibility of change.
"The protests are weakening," Warong Dechgitvigrom, 59, of royalist group Thai Pakdee told Reuters. "The government can just let the movement die on its own."
The royalists are behind a surge of lese majeste charges against protest leaders - with a coordinated effort described by Warong to bring complaints to police on charges that can lead to up to 15 years in prison.
Anyone can bring such a royal insult complaint. Grounds have included everything from using the king's own words disrespectfully to dressing in clothes that parody the royals.
At least 35 activists now face lese majeste charges - many of them multiple charges, according to data from Thai Lawyers for Human Rights: Parit alone faces eight. Total charges against all activists now number in the hundreds including those for sedition, computer crimes, illegal assembly and flouting coronavirus restrictions.
"It can drain a lot of time, resources, and energy," said Free Youth's Tattep 'Ford' Ruangprapaikitseree, 23, who faces six charges, including lese majeste and sedition. "It would be a lie if I said I didn't lose heart sometimes."
Like other prominent protesters, he is not currently detained, but is under police investigation to see if there is enough evidence for trial.
PROTESTS IN PANDEMIC
Thailand currently faces a new outbreak of coronavirus, with hundreds of cases reported among migrant seafood workers - a discouragement to mass gatherings if not the full lockdown the country went through early in 2020.
"We fought during the pandemic and did it without spreading the virus," said Parit. "We can do more online."
As in Hong Kong, online mobilisation has been a hallmark of Thailand's youth-driven demonstrations.
Demonstrating enough support to force change in the real world, however, is a bigger challenge. Provincial elections on Dec. 20 largely returned establishment politicians despite being contested for the first time by a movement with youth support.
And the Royal Palace's fightback is growing.
King Vajiralongkorn, 68, has begun an intensive public relations counter-offensive with Queen Suthida, 42, as a driving force in the campaign at visits around Thailand.
Also joining lavish public events have been the king's daughters and his 35-year-old royal consort, Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi.
Sometimes spoken to the crowds, sometimes signed on royal pictures, the mantra is one of national unity under the monarchy - whose power and prestige were strengthened during the seven-decade reign of the monarch's late father King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
"The monarchy and the people are inseparable," the king told crowds at one recent stop.
And while the numbers have rarely been as big as the tens of thousands who have joined the protests, the appearances play every night on the royal television news that remains popular with older Thais.
"This has won them many hearts and minds," said Termsak Chalermpalanupap, a visiting fellow with Singapore's ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute.
Having been absent in Europe for most of 2020, the king's return to Thailand in October marked the start of an intense round of appearances. A Reuters tally showed over 40 events, including more than a dozen at which the king spoke individually to members of the public - previously unheard of.
For protesters that is also a sign that they are having an impact and need to keep going even if it takes years.
"You think the government hasn't responded, but it has," said Arnon, the rights lawyer. "The king making unusual trips is a response. The government using the law to suppress or silence expressions is a response."
"Fire has caught. It will keep burning," he said.
(Additional reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat; Writing by Matthew Tostevin; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
Victims' families in Iraq furious over Trump's Blackwater pardons President Donald Trump's decision to pardon four Blackwater private security contractors convicted of a massacre in Baghdad has been met with fury by the victims' families in Iraq.
"How are these criminals released after they killed 17 innocent people?" Hussein Saheb Nasser, 35, told NBC News by telephone from his home in Baghdad on Wednesday.
"On what basis did Trump depend on to release them? Let us assume that I travel to America and kill 17 American citizens. Are they going to release me?"
Nasser's younger brother, Mahdi Saheb Nasser, was 22 and working as a taxi driver when he was killed in September 2007 alongside other unarmed civilians in Baghdad's Nisur Square.
Iraqi authorities say 17 people were killed; the Department of Justice has said the total was 14.
The deaths provoked international outrage and raised questions about the use of private security firms in war zones.
In 2014, four former government contractors who worked for Blackwater Worldwide, a security firm founded by Erik Prince — an ally of Trump and the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos — were convicted in federal court in Washington in connection with the killings.
Nicholas Slatten was sentenced to life in prison without parole after being convicted of murder, while Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard were convicted of manslaughter and weapons charges.
Prosecutors said the Blackwater convoy launched an unprovoked attack using sniper fire, machine guns and grenade launchers.
Defense lawyers for the four veterans, who were working as contractors for the State Department at the time of the killings, argued that they had returned fire only after being ambushed by Iraqi insurgents.
Nasser, who attended the 2014 trial in the United States, said his brother's death had broken his father's heart.
"Before he died, he went crazy as he used to go out into the street and whenever he saw a young man, he imagined that he was Mahdi," he said.
His mother also suffered a stroke, he added.
The pardons have reduced American talk of human rights to mere "slogans," he said, adding, "They prefer animals over humans, and then they talk about human rights, justice and humanity."
Jasem Mohammed Hashem, who was working as a police officer when he was shot in the head in the attack, was also disappointed by Trump's decision to free the men who, he said, "opened fire randomly at the citizens."
"I consider what the security company personnel have done is a terrorist act, as many civilians were martyred and wounded," said Hashem, 41, a father of five who was partially disabled and forced to retire after the incident.
Sarah Holewinski, Washington director at Human Rights Watch, said Trump's pardons were an insult to justice, "but it's also an insult to the victims."
"After years of waiting, the victims finally saw justice served when these men were convicted," she said in an email. "With those sentences reversed by the stroke of a pen, who will trust the American justice system again?"
Blackwater has been renamed and falls under the Constellis group of companies, a risk management business formed in 2010.
Constellis did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Iraqi government condemned the pardons, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs saying in a statement late on Wednesday that it would follow up with the U.S. through diplomatic channels to urge a reconsideration.
"The ministry believes that this decision did not take into account the seriousness of the crime committed and was inconsistent with the U.S. administration's declared commitment to the values of human rights, justice, and the rule of law, and regrettably ignores the dignity of the victims," it said.
More than 3,000 troops remain in Iraq, according to defense officials, with a drawdown scheduled for January.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
CP Rail to develop hydrogen-powered locomotive
Calgary-based Canadian Pacific Railway plans to develop North America's first hydrogen-powered freight locomotive.
Author of the article: Amanda Stephenson • Calgary Herald
Publishing date: Dec 18, 2020 •
A CP Rail locomotive is see in this file image.
PHOTO BY SUPPLIED
Calgary-based Canadian Pacific Railway plans to develop North America’s first hydrogen-powered freight locomotive.
The company announced Friday that it will be retrofitting one of its locomotives with hydrogen fuel cells and battery technology that will power the locomotive’s electric traction motors. It will then conduct a number of tests and rail service trials to evaluate if the technology can work for the freight-rail sector.
In a news release, CEO Keith Creel called the locomotive plan a “globally significant project” that positions the company at the leading edge of decarbonizing the freight transportation sector. Currently, nearly all of North America’s entire freight locomotive fleet consists of diesel-powered units, making locomotives the rail sector’s most significant source of greenhouse gas emissions.
Globally, hydrogen use for heating, transportation and electricity production is increasingly viewed as one possible solution as countries look to meet their climate targets. In Canada, Natural Resources Minister Seamus O’Regan introduced a long-awaited federal hydrogen plan earlier this month in an effort to cement Canada as a global supplier of the zero-emission fuel, help hit the country’s goal of net-zero emissions by 2050 and create up to 350,000 new jobs.
The Alberta government also has its own hydrogen plan. The province wants to use its plentiful natural gas reserves to become an exporter of hydrogen by 2040.
JUSTICE FOR ALL
No charges laid in Lethbridge police takedown of Star Wars Stormtrooper
Coco Vanilla Galactic Cantina owner Bradley Whalen told Postmedia Wednesday he was unsurprised by the results of the investigation
Author of the article:
Jason Herring
Publishing date:
Dec 23, 2020 •
A woman dressed in a Star Wars stormtrooper costume was confronted by Lethbridge police on May 4, 2020. She was released without charges at the scene.PHOTO BY @XEVIUSS/SCREENGRAB
The teen was dressed as a Stormtrooper and carrying a toy gun, part of a promotion for Star Wars Day on May 4 — a pun on the famous film franchise line, “May the force be with you.”
The woman suffered a minor injury from the police response, according to Lethbridge police.
The investigation was reviewed by the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) and the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service, and found criminal charges were not warranted, according to a news release from Lethbridge police Wednesday.
Lethbridge police will now begin an internal professional conduct investigation into the takedown.
A video of the encounter went viral worldwide, with police drawing criticism from many for their handling of the situation.
Coco Vanilla Galactic Cantina owner Bradley Whalen told Postmedia on Wednesday that he wasn’t surprised by the results of the investigation.
He said he had problems with the process of a nearby jurisdiction’s police force taking up the investigation, with ASIRT’s involvement limited to ensuring the investigation was conducted independently and objectively.
“It was pretty much a joke,” Whalen said. “We know that they know that they did wrong.”
Whalen said he talked with Medicine Hat investigators once, and said neither he nor the employee had received any contact or apology from Lethbridge police.
He questioned why the investigation took more than half a year, with the outcome released days before Christmas.
“I didn’t expect anything else. I don’t know why it took so long. It’s just to make people wait and forget, I guess,” Whalen said. “They didn’t want anybody asking questions and they didn’t want anyone to be available for comment this afternoon.”
The proposed Station Park by Beljan Development would offer dining, retail and event space on the southeast corner of Whyte Avenue and Gateway Boulevard. Currently, the site is the home of a city-owned pocket park backing onto the restaurant MKT in the former railway station.
Beljan spokesman Nathan Raju said the goal of the project is to revitalize the intersection and make it a destination for Edmontonians. Not only that, Raju said they want the site to stand out for visitors entering the city from the airport and tie into the history of the area where many Edmonton settlers arrived for the first time.
“We knew that this was a good opportunity for us to really make the most of a vacant parcel of land that’s just been sitting there north of MKT and really redefine that intersection to be the centre ice of Edmonton with it being the first spot that you come into from the airport after driving down Gateway Boulevard where you really get to see the true fabric of this city,” he said. “We really want to make this the awe moment for a lot of people coming into the city.”
The plan is to provide year-round space for community events and programming as well as short-term lease opportunities for local retailers.
With the idea just hitting the market late last week, Raju said the response from the public has already been overwhelming. Drawings of the unique pitch have been making the rounds on social media and catching the eye of residents as something new to the city.
“It’s been amazing. It just goes to show the need for really providing the canvas for a lot of Edmontonians who are very entrepreneurial in spirit and really focusing in on bridging that gap between being a creative thinker and coming up with really cool concepts and also being able to bring it to life,” he said. “It’s just great to hear what people have been saying about wanting to have a place like this in their city and a place to go and enjoy and boast about even, because it is few and far between across the world.”
Urban planner and YEGarden Suites president Ashley Salvador said she was really excited when she first saw the outside-the-box plan because it will provide an enticing space for both local entrepreneurs and consumers.
“It’s going to provide local entrepreneurs and new businesses with small-scale retail space, which is really missing in our city in a number of ways so giving local makers creative space like that where there is such high volume of pedestrian traffic is really going to be a boon,” she said.
Beljan is currently working with the city on the proposal and hasn’t yet received a development permit, Raju said. The city is considering leasing the parkland, but won’t be selling it at least until a planned report on open spaces in the area is completed.
Raju said the goal is to have the site open by July 2021.
A rendering for Station Park, a proposed retail space constructed from shipping containers on the southeast corner of Whyte Ave and Gateway Boulevard. (Supplied by Beljan Development)
