NO COLLABORATION WITH AGENTS OF THE STATE

Collaboration with police divides social workers across US

© Provided by The Canadian Press

CHICAGO — Rayshard Brooks was killed last June when Atlanta police responding to a report of a man asleep in a car blocking a drive-thru shot him as he tried to run away. Later that summer, a similar situation in Eugene, Oregon, ended much differently: A man reported sleeping in a car was sent home in a cab.

The key? A mobile crisis intervention team designed to be an alternative to police in nonviolent crises responded to the parking lot, calmed the man, contacted his family and called the taxi.

“I think all the time about how that could've ended differently if police responded instead,” said social work master’s student Michelle Perin, an EMT and crisis worker for the team known as CAHOOTS, short for Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets.


Social workers have long worked alongside law enforcement, often treating clients in prisons and jails, inpatient psychiatric facilities and immigration detention centres. A 2020 report on reimagining policing by the National Association of Social Workers suggests collaboration could strengthen public safety, reduce racist incidents and improve the relationship between law enforcement and communities of colour.

Perin said CAHOOTS works independently, but is fully funded by police with members dispatched through the Eugene police-fire-ambulance communications centre. Police and firefighters can call for CAHOOTS and, in some cases, CAHOOTS workers may call police if a person seems a danger to themselves or others.

Following high-profile police brutality cases, cities including Denver, New York City, Chicago and Seattle, are exploring similar programs with the philosophy that dispatching social workers and mental health professionals alongside — or in lieu of — law enforcement could prevent police brutality.

But as cities look to these alternatives in reimagining policing, many social workers are warning increased collaboration with law enforcement risks further harming communities of colour — and ignores the deep history of systemic racism within social work itself.

Leigh-Anne Francis, an associate professor of African American studies and women, gender and sexuality studies at The College of New Jersey, said offering social workers as a quick fix to systemic racism is flawed, considering the field’s own legacy, tied to its origins in the 1900s.

“The prevailing narrative was that Black people were genetically defective and couldn’t be helped through social work because they were morally corrupt, poisoned,” Francis said. “They were irredeemable.”

While she said many are quick to see social workers as inherently good, the ghosts of systemically racist policies — like the 1958 Indian Adoption Project to break up Indigenous families and the embrace of the eugenics movement to root out what social workers saw as undesirable traits, including being Black — linger in the predominantly white field today.

Social workers contribute to the criminalization and mass incarceration of people of colour, said Julia Lyon, a Pennsylvania social worker and member of Social Service Workers United. She sees racism almost every day in social workers’ evaluations of clients, saying they’re more likely to place blame on people of colour and advocate for their punishment.

“If you are a Black boy in Philadelphia who’s acting out, there are going to be very different explanations as to why you’re acting out compared to a white boy in the wealthy suburbs,” she said.

Social worker Deana Ayers from Minneapolis said, at its worst, a system in which social workers collaborate with police or replace them in certain situations would be policing with a different name.

“If we’re trying to have social workers solve all these societal problems and be some kind of Band-Aid, then we also have to be doing the work within social work to get rid of this deep-seated, baked-in racism,” Ayers said. “Otherwise, social workers are just going to be police without guns.”

But advocates of collaboration between social workers and police point to how ingrained law enforcement is into American society as evidence of the need for acting within that framework.

“I just think it’s difficult in the current society we live in to say we can’t work with police officers when they’re so embedded in our communities right now,” NASW North Carolina executive director Valerie Arendt said. “I think social workers can and do amazing work within these systems.”

Lucas Cooper, chief of Alexandria, Kentucky's police department, said the department hired its first social worker in 2016 and now employs two alongside 17 full-time officers. While Cooper at first opposed the plan, wanting more officers instead, he now sees the program as essential and a step in the right direction in confronting flaws within policing.

“They bring a different skillset to the table," he said. "We don't know the ins and outs of that world and what social services are available. They fill in a lot of gaps.”

But Leah Jacobs, an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh's School of Social Work, says there’s little research to suggest that collaboration between police and social workers is effective.

“In fact, there is some evidence saying that the opposite may be true, that when you have greater collaboration with police, it can lead to poorer outcomes and greater harm,” she said.

Instead of perpetuating what they see as punishment-based approaches, opponents of police and social workers recommend more investment in community-based intervention.

In her recent paper “Defund the Police: Moving Towards an Anti-Carceral Social Work,” Jacobs lists examples of these creative interventions, including restorative justice programs at schools that emphasize mediating conflict resolution and providing alternatives to detention and suspension.

Scott Roberts, senior director of criminal justice campaigns for Color Of Change — the nation’s largest digital racial justice advocacy group — said interventions should be tailored to the needs of individual communities and, as a result, may look completely different from one community to the next.

“When we say we want to change policing, we’re not saying to just plug in other institutions like social work,” he said. “We have to reimagine policing and public safety, including social work.”

Perin acknowledges she’s cautious when it comes to initiatives that are “pet projects within the police department with social workers tagging alongside,” but sees the need for immediate practical action.

“If we could tear down policing and build something different now, we should. But that’s not the reality," Perin said. “We need to work toward breaking down the system at the same time as preventing harm now.”

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Fernando is a member of The Associated Press’ Race and Ethnicity team. Follow her on Twitter at https://twitter.com/christinetfern.

Christine Fernando, The Associated Press

AMERICA'S DIRTY SECRET; THE CONFEDERACY WON

Four Tennessee Republicans vote against removing slavery from the state constitution

Swikar Oli 

3/19/2021

On the matter of removing ‘slavery’ as punishment from the state’s constitution, four Tennessee senate Republicans took exception

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© Provided by National Post Tennessee State Senator Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown, was one of four Republicans to vote against a bill that would remove 'slavery' as punishment for crimes from the state's constitution

Members Joey Hensley, Janice Bowling, Brian Kelsey, and Frank Nicely on March 15 voted against a bill put forward by Democrat Sen. Raumesh Akbari that would remove a constitutional clause allowing slavery as punishment for a crime.

“Slavery and involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted , are forever prohibited in this state,” states Article I Section 33 of the Tennessee constitution.

With Akbari’s bill, voters will have the option to remove that section and instead amend the constitution to make clear that slavery and involuntary servitude is banned throughout Tennessee.

A line in the bill further states, at the request of the Department of Correction, that “nothing in this section shall prohibit an inmate from working when the inmate has been duly convicted of a crime”.

Vermont lawmakers seek to remove slavery from constitution

Iowa Republicans ponder changes to anti-slave amendment

To make changes to the Tennessee constitution, the bill must pass two general assemblies each in the house and senate, first by a majority, then by two-thirds. Tennesseans will then vote in a ballot measure to ultimately decide whether to ratify the proposed amendment in a gubernatorial election.

Kelsey, a white Republican from Memphis, told WREG news he decided to vote against the bill because it added no further restrictions on slavery to the law.

Hensley said, “I didn’t think it was necessary because the constitution already says slavery will be forever prohibited.”

Akbari, a black Democrat also from Memphis, said the bill “closes [a] loophole.”

“There’s a difference between working and slavery,” she explained . “I’ve worked, I’ve never been a slave.”

Curiously, the 13th amendment of the U.S. federal constitution, which abolished slavery, created a similar loophole.

The amendment, passed in 1865, proclaims, “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”

Tennessee seceded from the Union in 1861, during the American Civil War, and was the 20th state, on April 7, 1865, to ratify the 13th amendment of the federal constitution. In 1860, nearly 25 per cent of the state population, or 275,719 people, were held as slaves.

Akbari said the reason for her provision is because “it will make an impact.”

“It will close a loophole that will forever eliminate any exception for slavery in the state of Tennessee, and I think that’s what we want, and that’s a strong message we can send as a state.”

German archbishop offers to resign after abuse criticism
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COLOGNE, Germany — A report commissioned by Germany’s Cologne archdiocese on church officials’ handling of past cases of sexual abuse found 75 cases in which high-ranking officials neglected their duties. The findings on Thursday prompted the archbishop of Hamburg to offer his resignation to Pope Francis.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The report commissioned by Cologne's archbishop, Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, absolved Woelki himself of any neglect of duty with respect to abuse victims

However, Woelki’s late predecessor, Cardinal Joachim Meisner, was accused of two dozen instances of wrongdoing such as failing to follow up on or report cases of abuse, not sanctioning perpetrators or not caring for victims. Meisner retired in 2014 and died in 2017.

Hamburg Archbishop Stefan Hesse, previously a senior church official in Cologne, was faulted for 11 cases of neglecting his duty.

Later Thursday, Hesse posted a video statement in which he conceded that he had made “mistakes” in the past, and said he very much regretted if he caused new suffering to victims or their relatives “through my action or omission.”

“I never participated in coverups,” he said. “I am nevertheless prepared to carry my part of the responsibility for the failure of the system.”

“To prevent damage to the office of the archbishop and to the Hamburg archdiocese, I am offering my resignation to Pope Francis, and I am asking him to relieve me of my duties immediately,” he said.

There was no immediate comment from the Vatican, and it was unlikely Francis would act quickly on Hesse’s offer. At 54 years old, Hesse is more than 20 years away from the normal retirement age for bishops. Francis has previously declined, at least initially, to accept resignations when they were offered to repent for mishandling sex abuse cases, though he has relented after time.

The lawyer in charge of the report, Bjoern Gercke, told reporters in Cologne that his investigation touched on the cases of 314 abuse victims — a majority of them boys under the age of 14 at the time of the abuse — and 202 people accused of abuse in the Cologne diocese since 1975.

The focus wasn’t so much on what the suspects did to the victims, but more on whether the church — former and current archbishops, vicars-general and other high-ranking church officials — responded correctly to accusations of abuse.

Altogether, the report found 75 cases in which eight high-ranking officials neglected their duties to either follow up on, report or sanction cases of alleged abuse by clergy and lay church employees, and failed to take care of the victims.

Woelki infuriated many local Catholics over recent months by citing legal concerns to keep under wraps a first report on how local church officials reacted when priests were accused of sexual abuse. He commissioned the new report — an 800-page investigation based on church files and put together by a German law firm.

Gercke said the first report, by a Munich law firm, also had concluded that the current archbishop wasn't guilty of any wrongdoing. The Cologne archdiocese has the most Catholics of any in Germany, some 1.9 million.

In a first response to the new report, Woelki said the investigation confirmed his fears that high-ranking officials were guilty of not having reported perpetrators and thereby preventing their prosecution.

“My predecessors, too, are guilty — as of today it is no longer possible to say 'We didn’t know,’” Woelki said, adding that he would send the report to the Holy See in Rome.

Woelki said he also would temporarily suspend two Cologne church officials based on the findings of the investigation. One of them, Auxiliary Bishop Dominikus Schwaderlapp, also said he had offered his resignation to the pope. The report found Schwaderlapp neglected his duty to inform and report abuse allegations in eight cases.

German Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht said the report demonstrated anew “what horrific sexual violence children and teenagers had to suffer in Catholic institutions.”

“Child abuse is not an internal church matter, but a crime that must be examined and decided by criminal courts,” the minister said.

Jens Windel, 46, the founder of a support group for clergy abuse survivors, watched a livestream of the news conference about the report on his laptop with other victims outside Cologne's landmark cathedral.

The report, he said, “trivializes the severity of the coverups that took place.”

There has been fierce criticism of Woelki's handing of the previous report. The head of the German Bishops’ Conference, Limburg Bishop Georg Baetzing, last month described the crisis management in Cologne as a “disaster.”

A Cologne court last month announced that it was raising the number of appointments available for people seeking to formally leave the church to 1,500 per month from 1,000 starting in March, amid strong demand.

Revelations about past sexual abuse have dogged the church in Germany and elsewhere for years.

In 2018, a church-commissioned report concluded that at least 3,677 people were abused by clergy in Germany between 1946 and 2014. More than half of the victims were 13 or younger when the abuse took place, and nearly a third of them were altar boys.

In January, a new system drawn up by the church to compensate abuse victims took effect. It provides for payments of up to about 50,000 euros (nearly $60,000) to each person. Under a previous system in place since 2011, payments averaged about 5,000 euros.

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Kirsten Grieshaber reported from Berlin. Geir Moulson in Berlin and Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed to this report.

Kirsten Grieshaber And Daniel Niemann, The Associated Press

#NOTOKYOOLYMPICS

Tokyo Olympics: Yet another scandal over sexist comments

A University of Oxford study says Tokyo is the most expensive Olympics on record.

3/19/2021


TOKYO — In yet another setback for the postponed Tokyo Olympics — and another involving comments about women — games' creative director Hiroshi Sasaki resigned on Thursday after making demeaning comments about a well-known female celebrity in Japan.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The Tokyo Olympics are scheduled to open in just over four months, dogged by the coronavirus pandemic, record costs, and numerous scandals. And all of this converges as the Olympic torch relay starts next week from northeastern Japan, a risky venture with 10,000 runners set to crisscross Japan for four months.

When the International Olympic Committee awarded Japan the games 7 1/2 years ago, Tokyo billed itself as “a safe pair of hands.” It has evolved into anything but that.

Japanese organizers did well with initial planning and organization. But they have been buffeted by the pandemic and seem snake-bitten with the Olympics causing new problems and more expenses almost daily. Support has plummeted with various polls suggesting about 80% of Japanese want the Olympics cancelled or postponed again. They cite the costs and the risks of holding the mega-event during a pandemic.

“The IOC and Japanese politics are male-dominated territories,” Dr. Barbara Holthus, deputy director of the German Institute for Japanese Studies in Tokyo, told The Associated Press. “Japanese politicians have a long history of furthering gender inequalities — besides many other inequalities.”

In February, the president of the organizing committee Yoshiro Mori was forced to resign after making sexist comments, saying women talk too much in meetings.

Two years ago, the head of the Japanese Olympic Committee Tsunekazu Takeda was also forced to step down in a bribery scandal connected to vote-buying involving IOC members.

Sasaki was in charge of the opening and closing ceremonies for the Olympics, which are scheduled to begin on July 23. He also designed the Tokyo handover ceremony at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, and arranged a one-year-to-go event in July at Tokyo's new National Stadium.

Last year he suggested to planning staff members in online “brainstorming exchanges” that well-known entertainer Naomi Watanabe could perform in the ceremony as an “Olympig.”

Watanabe is a heavy-set young woman, a fashion icon, and very famous in Japan. Sasaki's “Olympig” reference was an obvious play on the word “Olympic.”

The story was first reported by the weekly magazine Bunshun, and the corresponding controversy took off almost instantly.

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike called Sasaki's comments "extremely embarrassing,”

“When we are talking about what we deliver from Tokyo, or from Japan, we shouldn’t be sending a negative message," Koike said Thursday.

Sasaki released a statement saying he was stepping down. He said he had also called Seiko Hashimoto, the president of the organizing committee, and tendered his resignation.

“For Ms. Naomi Watanabe, my idea and comments are a big insult. And it is unforgivable," Sasaki said. "I offer my deepest regrets and apologize from the depth of my heart to her, and those who may have been offended by this.”

“It is truly regrettable, and I apologize from the bottom of my heart,"

Hashimoto said in a Thursday news conference that she had accepted his resignation. She said a replacement would come quickly, and also indicated she had tried to persuade him to stay.

“I did feel that way but he explained, and his intention was very strong,” Hashimoto said. “That is how I felt. For those reasons I decided to accept his resignation.”

Hashimoto also said she talked with IOC member John Coates, who oversees preparations for Tokyo.

“The IOC also received the (magazine) article and they were quite concerned," Hashimoto said.

Hashimoto, who has appeared in seven Olympics and won a bronze medal in 1992, took over a month ago when Mori made similar sexist comments and was forced out. Hashimoto has acted quickly and appointed 12 women to the organizing committee's executive board, increasing female membership to 42%. It had been 20%.

Sasaki formerly worked for the giant Japanese advertising company Dentsu Inc., which has been a key supporter of these Olympics. It is the official marketing partner and has helped to raise a record of $3.5 billion in local sponsorship, almost three times as much as any previous Olympics.

The torch relay for the Olympics kicks off next week from northeastern Japan and will be a severe test with 10,000 runners crisscrossing Japan for four months, heading to the opening ceremony and trying to avoid spreading COVID-19. Japan has controlled the virus better than most countries and has attributed about 8,700 deaths to the virus.

Organizers and the IOC insist the Olympics will go forward during the pandemic with 11,000 Olympic and 4,400 Paralympic athletes entering Japan. Official costs for Tokyo are $15.4 billion but several government audits show the real cost might be twice that much.

A University of Oxford study says Tokyo is the most expensive Olympics on record.

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AP reporter Mari Yamaguchi also contributed to this story.

__

P Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/olympic-games and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Stephen Wade And Yuri Kageyama, The Associated Press

NATIONALIZE BIG PHARMA

Pfizer CFO hints at raising COVID-19 vaccine price, but company says ‘too early’ to tell
A high-ranking Pfizer official touted "significant opportunity" for the pharmaceutical giant to increase the price of its COVID-19 vaccine once the spread of the virus shifts from pandemic to endemic, but Pfizer says it's "too early to speculate."

© Provided by Global News SLOVENIA - 2021/02/15: In this photo illustration vials containing Pfizer-BioNtech, Moderna and AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccines that are currently available in Slovenia. (Photo Illustration by Luka Dakskobler/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Speaking to investors during the virtual Barclays Global Healthcare Conference last week, Frank A. D'Amelio, Pfizer's CFO and executive vice-president of global supply, said the pharmaceutical giant was selling its vaccines at "pandemic pricing," indicating that could change once most of the world had received its first dose.

“So the one price that we published is the price with the U.S. of $19.50 per dose. Obviously, that’s not a normal price like we typically get for a vaccine, $150, $175 per dose,” he said.

Read more: Federal government to pay for COVID-19 vaccine costs as Canada’s death toll surpasses 13K

According to D'Amelio, current demand and current pricing has so far been driven by the "pandemic state that we've been in and the needs of governments to really secure doses from the various vaccine suppliers."

But once that demand dies down, he said factors like efficacy, booster ability and clinical utility will become "very important" and "normal market conditions will start to kick in."

"We view that as, quite frankly, a significant opportunity for our vaccine from a demand perspective, from a pricing perspective, given the clinical profile of our vaccine," D'Amelio said.

However, Pfizer has said that it's too soon to tell what the price of the vaccine could be once the spread of the virus was no longer labelled a pandemic, adding that they were "committed to the principle of equitable and affordable access" of its COVID-19 vaccine around the world.

"We have clearly stated in our public disclosures that we anticipate a pandemic phase that could last into 2022, where governments will be the primary purchasers of our vaccine," they said in an emailed statement to Global News.

Canada to receive 1M Pfizer vaccine doses per week until early May

"We recognize the urgent need for people all over the world to receive this vaccine and have accordingly set the price of our vaccine for the pandemic period to encourage broad access, rather than using traditional value-based pricing frameworks."

The pharmaceutical company's comments come as countries across the globe ramp up their vaccination campaigns and COVAX, a vaccine alliance initiative backed by the World Health Organization, works to deliver vaccines to low-income countries.

Read more: COVAX donates first AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccines to Nicaragua

In Canada, the cost of the vaccines is covered by the federal government. Even if the price of the vaccine increases, Health Canada told Global News "COVID-19 vaccines will be free."

"As more vaccines are made and distributed, we expect to be able to offer free vaccination to every Canadian who wants one," the agency said in an emailed statement to Global News.

"We know that we live in a global community, so we have committed to making sure low and middle-income economies around the world will also have access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine(s). Until we're all protected, we're still at risk of a resurgence of illness from COVID-19."

Read more: Moderna begins testing its COVID-19 vaccine on young children

The federal government has an agreement with Pfizer-BioNtech for up to 76 million COVID-19 vaccines. On Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that Canada would begin receiving at least one million doses from Pfizer per week between March 22 and May 10.

Kerry Bowman, a professor of bioethics and global health at the University of Toronto, told Global News that D'Amelio's comments raise some ethical questions.

"Can we really distinguish between what's an emergency and what's not? Is that going to be a clear definition or is that always going to be debatable and an element of struggle?" he said.





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COVID-19 vaccine rollout raises ethical concerns
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When asked if there was any point in which it would be ethical to increase the price of a COVID-19 vaccine, Bowman replied "not during a pandemic."

He said lower-income countries who aren't able to keep up with rising costs would be at the mercy of the virus, while higher-income countries footing the bill for vaccinations could be forced to make citizens pay for their shots.

"If the price were to really, really take off, we run the risk of some significant global inequalities," he said.

CULTURAL GENOCIDE THE REAL CANCEL CULTURE

Arizona Democrat reintroduces bill to protect sacred Apache site from planned copper mine

"It's like Mount Sinai for us. If it's destroyed the way it will be, a people and a religion will forever be destroyed," 

By Sahar Akbarzai, CNN 3/18/2021

An Arizona House Democrat reintroduced legislation this week to permanently protect a sacred Apache site in the state from a mining company that's planning to build a copper mine there

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© Kevin Cassadore Oak Flat in Superior, Arizona. A sacred site to the San Carlos Apache and several other Native American tribes, Oak Flat is threatened due to a land exchange provision included in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2015 that would open the site up to mining.

Rep. Raúl Grijalva introduced the Save Oak Flat Act on Monday to provide permanent protection for Oak Flat, or Chi'chil Bildagoteel, in the Tonto National Forest in Arizona. The congressman also introduced the act in 2015, 2017 and 2019; it's never made it to a House floor vote.

Oak Flat, utilized for religious and traditional ceremonies, is considered a sacred place for many Apache tribes, including the San Carlos Apache, which has been fighting the Resolution Copper project for years. Led by mining companies Rio Tinto and BHP, Resolution Copper would use Oak Flat land for an underground mine.

"I will work to move this bill forward, this land is going to be protected, and we're going to establish that you don't get to push around Native American communities just because you can make a profit," Grijalva, the chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, said in a statement on Monday.

The reintroduction of the bill comes two weeks after the Biden administration, facing mounting pressure from activists, put the brakes on a plan to transfer more than 2,400 acres of Oak Flat to Resolution Copper as part of a land exchange that was completed during the waning days of the Trump administration.

The land exchange was paused by the US Forest Service at the direction of the US Department of Agriculture, which said it wanted more time to review the concerns raised by tribes and the public, as well as to determine the mining project's impacts on environmental resources and to "ensure the agency's compliance with federal law."

© Anna Jeffery Wendsler Nosie Sr. and his daughter Vanessa Nosie

 in Oak Flat at the sixth annual march to protect the site, in 2020.

The department also cited President Joe Biden's recent "Memorandum on Tribal Consultation and Strengthening Nation-to-Nation Relationships," which, it says, "counsels in favor of ensuring the Forest Service has complied with the environmental, cultural, and archaeological analyses required," according to the USDA.

The land transfer was initially authorized under a late-night rider to the National Defense Authorization Act of 2015. Grijalva's bill would repeal the section of that law that authorized the land transfer.

The legislation would withdraw Oak Flat from being affected by public land laws and all laws pertaining to mining or mineral materials. It aims to ensure Oak Flat is preserved forever and to secure the land from any mining or digging. The bill highlights that Oak Flat is a place of worship for Native tribes in the region, and that Oak Flat is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

The planned mining on Oak Flat would be conducted through an underground method called block caving. Through this method, a section of ore is undercut, causing it to collapse under its weight, according to a spokesperson for Resolution Copper. The copper deposits range from 5,000 to 7,000 feet below the surface, according to Andrew Lye, Resolution Copper project director. The project is estimated to produce as much as 40 billion pounds of copper over 40 years.

But the project would come with significant negative environmental impacts, according to Grijalva's bill, which says the mining would destroy the sacred site.

The legislation says the project would also deplete and contaminate "precious water resources; and require significant quantities of water, which will likely affect the local hydrology, including the underlying aquifer; and result in polluted water that will seep into drinking water supplies."

In response, a Resolution Copper spokesperson said, "Resolution Copper has been monitoring surface and groundwater for more than a decade, and we will comply with all groundwater and surface water quality standards." The company didn't comment as to whether the mining would destroy the sacred site.

The spokesperson told CNN the company recognizes "the importance of balancing these outcomes with ongoing consultation with local communities and Native American Tribes to guide further shaping of the project, minimize impacts and build on the benefits it will deliver."

The Apache believe Oak Flat is holy ground because it's where angels and deities in their religion live. Sacred water, plants and ingredients that can't be reconstructed or replaced are also on the land, according to Apaches.

"It's really our identity, our religious identity, before we were exiled out of these areas (out of Oak Flat)," said Wendsler Nosie Sr., a former chairman of the San Carlos Apache tribe.

"It's like Mount Sinai for us. If it's destroyed the way it will be, a people and a religion will forever be destroyed," he added.

Apache groups have taken their fight to protect Oak Flat to the courts, filing three suits against the federal government earlier this year. All are still being litigated.

"This isn't the United States' land to give away. This is a great opportunity for us to begin reconciliation, which is the theme of the Biden administration," Michael Nixon, an attorney for Apache Stronghold, one of the groups that filed a lawsuit, told CNN.

There are "unresolved reconciliations to be made with Native Americans; this is an opportunity for leaders in Congress and for President Biden, his administration, to change and reconcile the inhumane and immoral treatment of Apaches and all Native Americans," he said. "This is a golden opportunity, not a copper one."

Apache Stronghold's lawsuit, filed in January, argues the US doesn't have the power to transfer Oak Flat because the federal government doesn't own the land, under the 1852 Treaty of Santa Fe, which guarantees land, property and rights in Oak Flat to Apache nations.

Nixon applauded the congressman's legislation, saying: "There's a justice endeavor to Rep. Grijalva's act and it is welcomed, and it's admirable."

Lebanon: Specter of civil conflict looms as economic meltdown gives way to violence

By Tamara Qiblawi, 

CNN 2 hrs ago


In Lebanon, fistfights break out in supermarkets on a nearly daily basis. Long lines snake out of the few gas stations that remain open. Pharmacies have threatened to shutter. Gunfights inexplicably erupt in various parts of the capital. Angry demonstrators have blocked roads around the country, tightening an already stifling economic stranglehold

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© ANWAR AMRO/AFP/Getty Images A makeshift roadblock set up by anti-government protesters next to the Mohammed al-Amin Mosque in Beirut's Martyrs' Square on March 8.

The infernal scenes threaten to take a turn for the worse.

Increasingly, Lebanon's officials and politicians raise the specter of internal conflict. This comes just 31 years after the end of the country's gruesome 15-year civil war. That black chapter was drawn to a close by a modus vivendi that critics say systematized government corruption, culminating in a financial meltdown that has brought Lebanon, once again, to the brink.

In a statement to CNN this week, Lebanon's caretaker interior minister Mohammed Fahmi said there was a heightened probability of "security breaches such as explosions and assassination attempts" in the country.

That fear is echoed by many high-profile politicians who cite conversations with intelligence agents. In a televised speech on Wednesday, Iran-backed Hezbollah's secretary general Hassan Nasrallah also warned of civil war, drawing a bleak prognosis of the security situation, and calling on the country's fractured political class to band together to stymy the financial tailspin.

But on Lebanon's streets, that same political elite is overwhelmingly unpopular. Even ardent supporters of mainstream parties call for an overhaul of the country's confessional power sharing system, which allots seats by sectarian group. MPs publicly admit their failures, and some of them say that they, too, ought to step down. Leftist groups, such as the communist party, have called for an "escalation" in the country's popular uprising, which began in October 2019 with the aim of overthrowing the ruling class.

But there is little to no agreement about the future of governance in the country. A cabinet formation process has been in deadlock for four months over disputes between Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri and President Michel Aoun. Hariri has promised that his future government would stop Lebanon's collapse and reengage with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which last year stopped negotiations with the government over a bailout.

But Hariri faces the grueling task of ushering in stinging economic reforms at a time when his popular mandate has greatly diminished. The fledgling parties that have cropped up in recent years in a bid to replace the elite also appear to lack the political clout needed to dislodge the status quo.

That crisis of leadership has exacerbated Lebanon's financial woes on a spectacular scale. In its Fall 2020 report, the World Bank described Lebanon's economic depression as "deliberate."

The report details exactly what that means: A rapid deceleration of economic growth, a tanking currency, small depositors bearing the lion's share of economic losses, a stunning depletion of the country's resources including its human capital, and a poverty rate surpassing 50% in 2021.

The catastrophe could have been largely avoided, the World Bank says. Lebanon's leaders have -- to the shock of even some of the most cynical observers -- steered clear of enacting policies that could mitigate the financial decline.

The state has done little to nothing to alleviate poverty. Formal capital controls have not been implemented, nearly a year and a half after banks began to limit cash withdrawals to depositors on a discretionary basis. That practice that prompted the capital flight of the super-rich, while the working and middle classes helplessly watched their deposits lost most of their real value.

© Bilal Hussein/AP Protesters in Beirut climb a wall installed to prevent them from reaching parliament on March 13.

The country also does not have an official exchange rate platform, leaving the plummeting lira at the mercy of shadowy black markets and the ever-present possibility of currency manipulation.

The economic outlook gets bleaker on a nearly daily basis. The country's currency on the black market has now lost 90% of its October 2019 value. As Lebanon burns through its foreign reserves, caretaker energy minister Raymond Ghajar raised the possibility of 24/7 power cuts during a presser this month, immersing the country in "total darkness."

The food, fuel, and medicine subsidies that served as the country's lifeboat may also soon disappear. This week, caretaker prime minister Hassan Diab said Lebanon would scale back those subsidies and added that most of them could only be maintained until June.

The loss of subsidies could be the watershed moment that threatens to tip Lebanon over to Venezuela-like scenarios, exacerbating the existing food, fuel and medical shortages.

Families living on a minimum wage -- now less than $50 a month -- will be unable to afford basic food staples as inflation skyrockets. Already strained security forces, which must contend with the frustrations of its newly pauperized rank and file, will have to deal with growing crime rates and the possibility of long-simmering political tensions coming to a head.

The only glimmer of hope is the possibility of an imminent political resolution which in turn produces an efficient an

Anti-coup protesters defy Myanmar junta's campaign of fear
AFP 31 mins ago


Protesters took to the streets across Myanmar again on Saturday, defying the junta which has increasingly sought to crush the uprising with a campaign of violence and fear.

© Handout Security forces remove a barricade across a road in Yankin township in Yangon as a crackdown on demonstrations against the military coup continues

The country has been in turmoil since the military ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi from power in a February 1 coup, triggering a nationwide uprising as protesters call for a return to democracy.

So far, more than 230 people have been killed in anti-coup unrest, according to a local monitoring group, as security forces have deployed tear gas, rubber bullets and live rounds against anti-coup protesters.

But the movement has pushed ahead -- albeit in smaller numbers.

Local media showed protesters in gas masks gathering in northern Shan state, while in the southern coastal city of Dawei, motorists hoisted posters of Suu Kyi and signs that said "end the dictatorship".

The protesters in Shan state hoisted home-made shields that said "protect unarmed civilians".

Outside of protests, crackdowns by security forces continue on the streets and residential areas across Myanmar, said the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners monitoring group.

"Casualties and unprovoked shootings are increasing day by day," it said.

Video: Five killed in Myanmar protests, civilian leader says people should defend themselves (Reuters) Anti-coup protesters defy Myanmar junta's campaign of fear (msn.com)


In the central ruby-producing city of Mogok, local media Myanmar Now reported that a small quarter's night guards were shot overnight.

"One died on the spot last night while two others are in critical condition in the hospital," a rescue team member confirmed to AFP, declining to give more details.

Commercial hub Yangon has emerged as a hotspot for unrest, as security forces armed with guns continue to root out protesters wielding homemade protection gear.

But the resistance movement remains defiant.

"Who says we have to give up because of unequal weapons? We are born for victory," tweeted prominent activist Ei Thinzar Maung, with the hashtag #SpringRevolution.

Tom Andrews, UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, said the junta could not defeat a population "united in peaceful opposition" against its rule.

"Desperate, it launches ruthless attacks to provoke a violent response to try and justify even more violence," he tweeted Saturday.

"It's not working. The world must respond by cutting their access to money & weapons. Now."

bur-dhc/jfx

PROLETARIAN DEFENSE OF BOURGEOIS DEMOCRACY
Myanmar garment workers urge global brands to denounce coup

3/19/2021

NEW YORK — Tin Tin Wei used to toil 11 hours a day, six days week sewing jackets at a factory in Myanmar. But she hasn't stitched a single garment since a coup in February.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Instead, the 26-year-old union organizer has been protesting in the streets — and trying to bring international pressure to bear on the newly installed junta.

Her union, the Federation of Garment Workers in Myanmar, and others have been staging general strikes to protest the coup and are urging major international brands like H&M and Mango, which source some of their products in Myanmar, to denounce the takeover and put more pressure on factories to protect workers from being fired or harassed — or worse arrested and killed for participating in the protests.

“If we go back to work and if we work for the system, our future is in the darkness, and we will lose our labour rights and even our human rights,” said Tin Tin Wei, who has been a clothing factory worker since age 13.

The response from companies so far has been mixed. Only a few have said they would curtail their business in Myanmar. Most others have put out statements that stop short of taking action, saying that while they denounce the coup, they want to support the workers by providing them with jobs.

Tin Tin Wei's union and the Confederation of Trade Unions in Myanmar have also been demanding comprehensive international sanctions — not the targeted sanctions some have imposed — to bring down the junta that ousted the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

As international sanctions were dropped in the mid-2010s when Myanmar began shifting toward democracy after decades of military rule and started to set some labour standards, Western brands looking to diversify their sourcing were attracted to the country's cheap labour. Broad sanctions now would cripple that burgeoning clothing industry, which has been growing rapidly in recent years before the coronavirus pandemic cut orders and eliminated jobs.

Comprehensive sanctions could wreck the livelihoods of more than 600,000 garment workers, but some union leaders say they would rather see massive layoffs than endure military oppression.

“I need to do some sort of sacrifice in the short term for the long term for our next generation," said Tin Tin Wei, who is the sole breadwinner in her family and has been receiving food donations.

The civil disobedience movement, or CDM as it is known, has included railway workers, truck drivers, hospital, bank employees and many others determined to stifle the economy.

The aim is “no participation with the junta at all," Sein Htay, a migrant labour organizer who returned to Myanmar from Thailand said in an emailed comment. “We believe that CDM is really working. So we are motivated to continue."

But violent crackdowns by Myanmar security forces against protesters including garment workers are escalating. Troops shot and killed at least 38 people Sunday in an industrial suburb of Yangon — an area dominated by clothing factories — after Chinese-owned factories were set on fire. Tens of thousands of workers and their families were seen fleeing the area in the days that followed.

The garment industry plays a key role in Myanmar’s economy, particularly the export sector. Roughly a third of Myanmar's total merchandising exports come from textiles and apparel, worth $4.59 billion in 2018. That's up from 9%, or $900 million, in 2012 as international sanctions were dropped, according to the latest data from the European Chamber of Commerce in Myanmar.

Myanmar’s apparel exports mostly go to the European Union, Japan and South Korea because of favourable trade agreements. The U.S. accounts for 5.5% of Myanmar's exports, with clothing, footwear and luggage representing the bulk of that, according to garment trade expert Sheng Lu.

But Myanmar still accounts for a tiny share — less than 0.1% — in U.S. and European Union fashion companies’ total sourcing networks. And there are plenty of other alternatives for brands.

Despite this, many are taking a wait-and-see stance when it comes to any long-term decisions. Experts note it’s not easy to shift products to a different country, nor is it easy to return to Myanmar once companies leave. Furthermore, some argue Western companies play a role in reducing poverty by giving workers in Myanmar opportunities to earn an income while also helping to improve labour standards there.

Factory working conditions were already poor before the February coup, but the labour unions had made some inroads and gave workers hope. And while the National League for Democracy, the party that was ousted in the takeover, wasn’t proactively protecting unions, it didn’t persecute or crack down on them, says Andrew Tillett-Saks, a labour organizer in Southeast Asia who previously was based in Myanmar.

Asian brands have so far remained quiet about the turmoil. The American Apparel & Footwear Association joined other groups like the Fair Labor Association in condemning the coup while urging members to honour existing financial contracts with factories there.

L.L. Bean CEO Steve Smith said he was saddened by the situation in Myanmar, which he visited in 2019. Bean uses several factories and suppliers for three product lines.

Smith said there’s backup production elsewhere, but it’s important not to abandon the country.

Other companies have been more forceful in their response. For instance, Hennes & Mauritz and The Benetton Group have suspended all new orders from factories in Myanmar.

“Although we refrain from taking any immediate action regarding our long-term presence in the country, we have at this point paused placing new orders with our suppliers,? H&M said in a statement. “This is due to our concern for the safety of people and an unpredictable situation limiting our ability to operate in the country.”

Spanish brand Mango said it would work with its trade and union partners, globally and locally in Myanmar, to ensure there’s no retaliation against any factory worker or union leader exercising their civil or union rights.

Moe Sandar Myint, chairwoman of the Federation of Garment Workers in Myanmar who organized small strikes on factory floors that later moved to the streets, said brands aren't doing enough to help workers. She wants to see “concrete action."

Nearly 70% of the garment factories in Myanmar are owned by foreigners, according to the European Chamber of Commerce in Myanmar, and a good chunk of them are Chinese-owned. International brands using the factories don’t directly hire the workers, often depending on a web of contractors and sub-contractors to produce goods for them.

But companies have “an enormous amount of influence in the industry," Tillett-Saks said. “They hold all the power over the supplier."

Tin Tin Wei says escalating intimidation by the military is scaring some employees at her factory. Located in the Hlaing Thayar industrial zone, it unionized five years ago. Out of 900 workers employed at the factory, 700 initially joined the protests but that number dropped to 500 by early March, she said.

Moe Sandar Myint, who’s in hiding and moving from one safe house to another after the police raided her home in early February, said she will keep fighting.

“I cannot allow my generation and my next generation to live through another military leadership,” she said. “This is unacceptable.”

___

Kurtenbach reported from Bangkok. Associated Press writers Grant Peck in Bangkok and Dave Sharp in Freeport, Maine, contributed to the report.

Anne D'Innocenzio And Elaine Kurtenbach, The Associated Press

As endangered birds lose their songs, they can't find mates

3/17/2021

WASHINGTON — Male songbirds usually learn their tunes from adult mentors. But when aspiring crooners lack proper role models, they hit all the wrong notes — and have less success attracting mates.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

For five years, ecologist Ross Crates has tracked the singing ability and breeding success of critically endangered regent honeyeaters. These distinctive black and yellow birds were once common across Australia, but habitat loss since the 1950s has shrunk their population to only about 300 or 400 wild birds today.

While male birds once formed large winter flocks, now they are sparsely distributed across the landscape, so many fly solo. That means fewer honeyeater mentors are nearby during young birds’ impressionable first year.

“Song learning in many birds is a process similar to humans learning languages — they learn by listening to other individuals,” said Crates, who is based at Australian National University.

“If you can’t listen to other individuals, you don’t know what you should be learning.”

The researchers found that a significant portion of male birds appear to be learning tunes exclusively from other species they encounter. About 12% of male regent honeyeaters wind up producing mangled versions of songs typically sung by noisy friarbirds and black-faced cuckooshrikes, among other species.

In some species, such as mockingbirds, song mimicry adds flourish to love songs. But the female regent honeyeaters aren’t impressed.

Unconventional male singers were less successful in wooing mates, the scientists found in research published Tuesday in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. “We think the females are avoiding breeding and nesting with males that sing unusual songs,” Crates said.

For a population already on the brink of extinction, that’s worrisome.

“This research suggests that the loss of a song language once the population reaches a very small size could accelerate their decline,” said Peter Marra, a conservation biologist at Georgetown University who was not involved in the paper.

The precise reason females remained aloof was not clear.

“When male birds sing, it’s like putting out an ad saying, ‘I’m over here, I’m species X, I’m Bob, and I’m really interested in finding a partner,'” said Scott Ramsay, a behavioural ecologist at Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario, who was not involved in the research.

It could be that female honeyeaters aren’t even recognizing these unconventional singers as potential partners, and so they’re not approaching them, he said. Or it could be that they approach, “but then things go wrong if the males get courtship signals wrong.”

Most male birds spend several months in their first year learning and refining the songs they’ll recite for the rest of their lives. Some birds learn from their fathers, but regent honeyeaters leave the nest before they learn to sing, so the males need to find other mentors.

“We need to be aware of the importance of preserving song culture in birds — it’s possible to have a population that's still genetically viable, but isn’t viable in terms of passing on cultural knowledge,” said Carl Safina, an ecologist at Stony Brook University who was not involved in the research.

“Some elements of what these birds need to do to survive isn’t instinctive, it has to be learned,” he said.

Crates’ team has begun putting their findings into action. To help young birds in captive breeding programs learn their notes, they’ve started playing male song recordings and also housed capable male singers next to young learners. The hope is that these veteran vocalists can pass on their songs to the next generation.

___

Follow Christina Larson on twitter: @larsonchristina

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Christina Larson, The Associated Press

Climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe has book out in September

3/18/2021

© Provided by The Canadian Press

NEW YORK — The new chief scientist at the Nature Conservancy, Katharine Hayhoe, has written a book about climate change.

One Signal Publishers announced Wednesday that Hayhoe's “Saving Us” will be released Sept. 21. Hayhoe will combine research and personal stories as she attempts to unite readers, including those who deny the overwhelming evidence of climate change, and motivate them toward action.

“So why aren’t we taking climate change seriously? The missing piece of the puzzle is communication,” Hayhoe said in a statement. “Because it’s so scary and so contentious, we don’t talk about it. And if we don’t talk about it, why would we care? In this book, I want to give people the tools to have constructive conversations about why these issues are relevant to all of us, and how we can work together for change.”

The Nature Conservancy is an international environmental organization founded in 1951. Hayhoe, a climate scientist who teaches public policy and public law at Texas Tech University, hosts the PBS digital series “Global Weirding” and was named a “Champion of the Earth” by the United Nations in 2019.

The Associated Press

Pre-embryos made in lab could /SHOULD/ WILL spur research, ethics debates

3/18/2021

WASHINGTON — For the first time, scientists have used human cells to make structures that mimic the earliest stages of development, which they say will pave the way for more research without running afoul of restrictions on using real embryos

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© Provided by The Canadian Press

Two papers published Wednesday in the journal Nature detail how two teams of scientists independently made such structures.

They stressed that their work is only for research, not reproduction, but it likely will pose new ethical questions.

“Studying early human development is really difficult. It’s basically a black box,” said Jun Wu, a stem cell biologist at the University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center.

“We believe our model can open up this field,” he said, if “you can test your hypothesis without using human embryos.”

Wu’s team used embryonic stem cells and the second team used reprogrammed skin cells to produce balls of cells that resemble one of the earliest stages of human development.

These balls, called blastocysts, form a few days after an egg has been fertilized but before the cells attach to the uterus to become an embryo. To differentiate their models from blastocysts created through fertilization, the researchers refer to the structures as “iBlastoids” and “human blastoids.”

“They shouldn’t be considered as equal to a blastocyst, although they are an excellent model for some aspects of biology,” said Jose Polo, an epigeneticist at Monash University in Australia who led the second research team.

Both groups stressed that the structures they made were not the same as naturally occurring embryos, and it’s unclear whether they could develop into viable embryos.

“The blastoids are less efficient in terms of generating structures mimicking later stage human embryos,” said Wu, whose team stopped growing the structure in a culture after four days.

Scientists previously generated similar structures of mouse cells in a lab, but this is the first time they have been made from human cells. The new models correspond to about three to 10 days after fertilization, Wu said. Last year, researchers unveiled structures that model cells 18 to 21 days after fertilization.

Research involving human embryos and blastocysts is currently ineligible for federal funding in the U.S., and several states prohibit it outright.

Some scientists now use blastocysts donated from fertility clinics for research into the causes of infertility and congenital diseases. The new work should allow them to do such research at much larger scales, Polo said.

“This capacity to work at scale will revolutionize our understanding of these early stages of human development,” said Polo.

The scientists stressed that their creations were not intended to be used for human reproduction.

“There is no implantation,” said Amander Clark, a stem cell biologist at the University of California, Los Angeles who co-authored the paper with Polo. “These structures are not transferred to a uterus or uterus-like structure,” she said. “There is no pregnancy.”

The distinction between blastocysts derived from fertilization and the structures created in a lab may not be so clear-cut, said Shoukhrat Mitalipov, a human embryologist at Oregon Health and Science University who was not involved in the research.

“Both groups show how closely they resemble real embryos,” he said. “If they are really as good as embryos, should they be treated as embryos?”

“This brings new ethical issues,” he said. “Are they going to be covered as human embryos? Should restrictions apply?”

Scientists previously tried to turn the lab-generated mouse cell structures into embryos, but they were not successful.

The optimal scenario for research is to “get as close to a real embryo as possible so you can learn from it, but not a real embryo so you don’t get into debates about the moral status of embryos,” said Alta Charo, a professor emerita of law and bioethics at University of Wisconsin who was not involved in the papers.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Christina Larson, The Associated Press

Research from N.S. prof suggests sperm whales taught each other how to avoid whalers

HALIFAX — New research from a team including a Dalhousie University biologist suggests sperm whales taught each other to avoid whalers in the 18th and 19th centuries

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© Provided by The Canadian Press

A research paper published in the journal Biology Letters Wednesday indicates that in the North Pacific the whales — the same species hunted in Herman Melville’s "Moby Dick" — quickly changed their habits to avoid open-boat whalers.

“What seems to have been going on is that the whales had been learning techniques to avoid this new threat that appeared, these guys in their boats,” Dalhousie University professor Hal Whitehead said in an interview. “They learned very quickly and they learned, it seems, from each other.”

During the 18th and 19th centuries, whalers from Europe and North America searched the world's waters to find new species to exploit, the paper says.

After discovering sperm whales, they searched for the mammals in large, sail-powered whaling ships, and once whales were sighted, hunters would go out in row boats and attempt to strike them with hand-thrown harpoons. If the trip was successful, the bodies were towed back to the ship for oil processing.

Whitehead, co-author of the study, said log books from American whalers in the North Pacific show that successful harpoon strikes fell by about 58 per cent over the first few years of hunting in a region.

“I didn't expect it to be that clear, frankly,” he said of the results. “I was pretty amazed when I looked at it.”

The Halifax university professor said the large mammals may have learned to adopt defensive measures from others in their close social units.

Some of the evasive methods noted in the log books by whalers during the 19th century included swimming upwind to evade the hunters' row boats and getting close enough to attack the vessels.

The biggest change noted in the logs, however, was that the whales abandoned the characteristic defensive behaviour they had adopted against what was previously their main predator: killer whales.

Whitehead said sperm whales gather their young and create a barrier around them while fending off killer whales using their jaws and tails.

"This is exactly the wrong thing when you're faced with Captain Ahab," Whitehead said in reference to the "Moby Dick" skipper, "because to gather in a tight group, it's a lovely, big target for someone throwing a harpoon."

The research paper said fleeing whales possibly made themselves more visible from a distance "by blowing hard and showing their bodies forcefully, so increasing the number of sightings with groups that were not easily struck."

The research also indicated sperm whales could likely sense and co-ordinate behaviour over several kilometres. Sperm whales are highly communicative, Whitehead added, using their massive nose to make powerful sounds.

It's likely a group of sperm whales that had experienced whalers before and figured out how to deal with them communicated their strategy to other pods in the region, he added.

"Since the sperm whales are so social and communal, it makes sense that they do this socially and communally," Whitehead said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 17, 2021.

- - -

This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

Danielle Edwards, The Canadian Press

Sharks, Turtles, and Penguins Are All Swimming in Circles. No One Knows Why.

Caroline Delbert 

3/19/2021

© Narazaki et al., Similar circling movements observed across marine megafauna taxa, iScience (2021) Sharrks, turtles, and penguins are all swimming in circles. No one knows why. Could it have something to do with Earth's magnetic field?

A new study shows marine animals swim in circles, and scientists are baffled.

Some circles are likely navigational, while others are for feeding.

Animals studied range from whales to sharks to penguins, making this a widespread behavior.

Scientists have discovered a confounding pattern in nature: Many marine animals are strangely swimming in circles.

The researchers modeled the animals’ behavior using a variety of math ideas and the navigational concept of dead reckoning. In a variety of animals, including turtles, penguins, and a solitary whale shark, the scientists spotted the behavior because of the advent of true 3D sensing of movement.

Why is this happening? No one is exactly sure.
➡ You think science is bad***. So do we. Let’s nerd out over it together.

Lead study author Tomoko Narazaki, of the University of Tokyo, first noticed the circles in a group of turtles she was studying, according to Vice. She and her team moved the turtles specifically to monitor how they would navigate back to their home waters, and even with a destination in mind, they still often swam in circles. Surprised, Narazaki encouraged her colleagues who studied different animals to look at their sensor data as well.

“Examining high-resolution 3D movements of sharks, sea turtles, penguins, and marine mammals, we report the discovery of circling events where animals consecutively circled more than twice at relatively constant angular speeds,” Narazaki and her coauthors write in their study, which appears in iScience.

The scientists gathered the data while the animals—located everywhere from the Cape Verde Islands to Okinawa, Japan—were foraging, swimming home, and returning after nesting. The circles ranged from just a few to dozens in a row. The scientists saw most of the recorded circles during foraging, especially among the sharks:
“For example, a total of 272 circling events were observed in four tiger sharks tagged off Hawaii. Sharks circled 2–30 times at wide-ranging depths but maintained relatively constant depth during each circling event. In addition, circling behaviors previously reported in bottom-feeding sandbar sharks occurred primarily close to the sea floor, suggesting a role in foraging.”

© Narazaki et al., Similar circling movements observed across marine megafauna taxa, iScience (2021) (A) Tiger shark, (B) Whale shark, (C) King penguin, (D) Antarctic fur seal, (E) Green turtle, (F) Cuvier’s beaked whale. The movement of a submarine during geomagnetic measurements is also shown in (G). The shaded area in (F) is displayed three-dimensionally in (H) showing how a Cuvier’s beaked whale circled during final ascent phase of a deep dive.Source: Narazaki et al., Similar circling movements observed across marine megafauna taxa, iScience (2021)

But feeding isn’t the only possible explanation for circling behaviors.“[M]any circling events appear unrelated to foraging,” the researchers report.“For example, a shark-mounted video showed a male tiger shark circling to approach a female for courtship.” And seals circled during the day when their primary foraging time was at night.

The study team suspects the circling of many animals has to do with navigating using the Earth’s magnetic field. The researchers explain:
“Animals might also be able to improve measurement accuracy by taking multiple samples by circling several times. Animals might circle to derive directional/positional cues from the geomagnetic field, especially in navigationally challenging situations.”

In the study, some animals were equipped with sensors and GPS tags, while the scientists themselves observed others. The technology to monitor animals this way, and humanely, is still very new and growing. The scientists say the ideal next step is to record a lot more data and analyze it in a simultaneous way to help identify patterns.

Long dormant volcano comes to life in southwestern Iceland
4 hrs ago

© Provided by The Canadian Press

REYKJAVIK, Iceland — A long dormant volcano on the Reykjanes Peninsula in southwestern Iceland flared to life Friday night, spilling lava down two sides in that area's first volcanic eruption in nearly 800 years.

Initial aerial footage, posted on the Facebook page of the Icelandic Meteorological Office, showed a relatively small eruption so far, with two streams of lava running in opposite directions. The glow from the lava could be seen from the outskirts of Iceland’s capital, Reykjavík, which is about 32 kilometres (20 miles) away.

The Department of Emergency Management said it was not anticipating evacuations because the volcano is in a remote valley, about 2.5 kilometres (1.5 miles) from the nearest road.

The Fa0 years, and the Reykjanes Peninsula hadn't seen an eruption of any volcano in 781 years.gradals Mountain volcano had been dormant for 6,00

There had been signs of a possible eruption recently, with earthquakes occurring daily for the past three weeks. But volcanologists were still taken by surprise because the seismic activity had calmed down before the eruption.

The Associated Press

Melting glaciers are triggering earthquakes

 in Alaska, study finds

Stacy Liberatore For Dailymail.com 

3/19/2021

© Provided by Daily Mail MailOnline logo

Alaska's melting glaciers may have set the stage for a magnitude 7.8 earthquake in 1958 that triggered a massive avalanche of about 90 million tons of rock down into the narrow inlet of Lituya Bay.

A new study from the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute found ice loss has influenced the timing and location of earthquakes with a magnitude of 5.0 or greater in the area during the past century.

Alaska is home to some of the largest glaciers in the world that weigh thousands of pounds that sink the land beneath.

When these giant glaciers start to melt, the once sunken land quickly rebounds and tectonic plates grind pass each other that results in a seismic event.

© Provided by Daily Mail Alaska's melting glaciers may have set the stage for a magnitude 7.8 earthquake in 1958 (pictured) that triggered a massive avalanche of about 90 million tons of rock down into the narrow inlet of Lituya Bay

Scientists have long feared Alaska's melting glacier could trigger catastrophic natural disasters, such as massive avalanches and landslides, but few have thought about earthquakes.

However, it has been known that ice loss has caused the events in otherwise tectonically stable regions, such as Canada's interior and Scandinavia.

In Alaska, this pattern has been harder to detect, as earthquakes are common in the southern part of the state.

This region is home to massive glaciers, with some thousands of feet thick that cover hundreds of square miles

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© Provided by Daily Mail The team determined there is a link between the expanding movements of the mantle with massive earthquakes across Southeast Alaska, where glaciers have been melting for more than 200 years

And with so much weight on top, the land beneath sinks.

When the ice slowly disappear, due to warmer than usual temperatures, the ground springs back like a sponge – moving the entire mantle.

Chris Rollins, the study's lead author who conducted the research while at the Geophysical Institute, said: 'There are two components to the uplift.'

'There's what's called the 'elastic effect,' which is when the earth instantly springs back up after an ice mass is removed.'

'Then there's the prolonged effect from the mantle flowing back upwards under the vacated space.'

The team determined there is a link between the expanding movements of the mantle with massive earthquakes across Southeast Alaska, where glaciers have been melting for more than 200 years.

Southern Alaska sits at the boundary between the continental North American plate and the Pacific Plate, which has lost more than 1,200 cubic miles of ice.

Researchers found the plates grind past each other at about two inches per year -roughly twice the rate of the San Andreas fault in California - resulting in frequent earthquakes.

The disappearance of glaciers, however, has also caused Southeast Alaska's land to rise at about 1.5 inches per year.

Rollins ran models of earth movement and ice loss since 1770, finding a subtle but unmistakable correlation between earthquakes and earth rebound.

When they combined their maps of ice loss and shear stress with seismic records back to 1920, they found that most large quakes were correlated with the stress from long-term earth rebound.

© Provided by Daily Mail Southern Alaska sits at the boundary between the continental North American plate and the Pacific Plate, which has lost more than 1,200 cubic miles of ice

Unexpectedly, the greatest amount of stress from ice loss occurred near the exact epicenter of the 1958 quake that caused the Lituya Bay tsunami.

While the melting of glaciers is not the direct cause of earthquakes, it likely modulates both the timing and severity of seismic events.

When the earth rebounds following a glacier's retreat, it does so much like bread rising in an oven, spreading in all directions.

This effectively unclamps strike-slip faults, such as the Fairweather in Southeast Alaska, and makes it easier for the two sides to slip past one another.

In the case of the 1958 quake, the postglacial rebound torqued the crust around the fault in a way that increased stress near the epicenter as well.

Both this and the unclamping effect brought the fault closer to failure.

'The movement of plates is the main driver of seismicity, uplift and deformation in the area,' said Rollins.

'But postglacial rebound adds to it, sort of like the de-icing on the cake. It makes it more likely for faults that are in the red zone to hit their stress limit and slip in an earthquake.'