What happens when back-flipping futuristic robot technology meets capitalism? Yeah, it’s warehouse work

Boston Dynamics: From Terminator to Amazon worker replacement

Kieren McCarthy in San Francisco Tue 30 Mar 2021 

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ANALYSIS Those fearing a takeover of the human race by robots may have failed to adequately account for the drudgery of modern capitalism.

Supermachine maker Boston Dynamics – the same outfit that gave us videos of back-flipping, door-opening, prowling robots – has unveiled its latest creation and it’s, well, it’s a warehouse laborer.

“Stretch is a versatile mobile robot for case handling, designed for easy deployment in existing warehouses. Unload trucks and build pallets faster by sending the robot to the work, eliminating the need for new fixed infrastructure,” the robotics biz pitches, exciting warehouse managers across the nation and absolutely nobody else.

The sleep-inducing descriptions continue: “Automate case handling anywhere in the warehouse with advanced mobility, reducing the need for fixed infrastructure”; “Maximize pick rates with hardware and software optimized to go beyond a full shift”; “Handle package variability in challenging environments with state-of-the-art vision systems.”

Your job might be automated within 120 years, AI experts reckon

READ MORE

This is some distance from Boston Dynamics previous launches where millions of people alternatively marveled at and then feared the fact that modern technology had come so far that machines were able to perform athletic feats that many of us could not, as well as understand the world and think sufficiently well that they can come across a door handle and open it. The velociraptor nightmare come true.

Our long-held Dalek-defeating measure of adding steps suddenly seemed small and foolish as we imagined Atlas bounding along after us, followed at his heels by his fearless Spot dog.

I know kung... stacking

But the real-world and its overriding need to make money took over has intervened. Even moneybags Google dumped Boston after a few years because it wanted to make money more than cool new things. So instead of seeing the inevitable next step in Boston’s robot takeover - an automaton that can do kung fu or a machine that can hack systems by social engineering its own kind - what we have is a rotating set of arms that moves boxes without having to wear a waist belt.

Presumably Jeff Bezos is already doing the calculations, especially with the specter of unionized warehouse workers hovering over Amazon. Having a machine that doesn’t demand bathroom breaks, paid time off, or to be respected as a living being is likely to be an attractive prospect: but is it as quick? Based on the footage released, the answer is: probably not.

The other truth is: who cares? If there’s one thing we are all very comfortable with robots doing, it’s tedious physical labor. Shifting a pile of boxes from one place to another place is exactly the sort of thing we want machines to do. And if the horrifying addition of “artificial intelligence” only gives it the ability to spot a box, stick its stickers on it and then move it six feet away, then I think we can all get behind it.

More good ideas

Ideally, of course, we would use this vast freeing up of people’s minds and bodies from the tedium of manual work to encourage the extraordinary human traits of imagination and innovation. But in truth, society will likely just use the advent of Stretch to fire workers and then complain about them for drawing on unemployment benefit.

Still, at least our deaths at the hands of Terminator robots has been put off for a few years. And, by then, we may have perfected technology to obscure our atmosphere from the sun in order to counteract climate change: something that we are certain can only result in a positive outcome. ®

‘Treating Us Like Robots’: Alabama Amazon Workers Seek Union

By Kim Chandler | March 30, 2021

Linda Burns was excited at first to land a job at the Amazon warehouse outside Birmingham, Alabama. The former nursing assistant had always enjoyed ordering from the company, Now, she would be working for them.

A cog in a fast-moving assembly line, her job involved picking up customers’ orders and sending them down the line to the packers. Now she is a staunch supporter of getting a union at the Bessemer facility. She said employees face relentless quotas and deserve more respect.

“They are treating us like robots rather than humans,” said Burns, 51, who said she is out of leave after developing tendonitis.

Last week, Amazon workers and union advocates, including Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, made a last-minute push as voting comes to a close in the high-stakes union battle. If organizers are successful, it could lead to a chain reaction of other unionization pushes at Amazon facilities. If voted down, it would be another loss for organizers hoping to win a rare labor victory in the Deep South.

Amazon is fighting the union. The company argues the warehouse created thousands of jobs with an average pay of $15.30 per hour – more than twice the minimum wage in Alabama. Workers also get benefits including health care, vision and dental insurance without paying union dues, the company said.

Sanders spoke at a union rally in Birmingham on Friday, saying a labor victory against the tech and retail giant owned by the richest person in world – and in a historically anti-union state – would resonate across the country.

“What you are doing here is historical, historical, because all over this country people are sick and tired of being exploited, sick and tired of not having the dignity that they deserve. And your message to people all over this country is stand up and fight back,” Sanders said.

“This country belongs to all of us, not just a handful of billionaires,” the former Democratic presidential candidate said.



Ahead of Sanders’ visit, Amazon CEO Dave Clark tweeted that they “actually deliver” a progressive workplace with a $15 hourly minimum wage and good health benefits that Sanders said he supports.

“So, if you want to hear about $15 an hour and health care, Senator Sanders will be speaking downtown. But if you would like to make at least $15 an hour and have good health care, Amazon is hiring,” Clark tweeted.

Burns and Harvey Wilson, a 41-year-old who works as a “picker” at Amazon, both said they’re supporting the union because of poor working conditions at the warehouse. Employees face relentless quotas and the mammoth size of the facility makes it nearly impossible to get to the bathroom and back to your station during a workers’ break time, they said.

“How could you work for somebody who is trillion, billion whatever you want to call it, how can you work for them and they don’t want you to go to the bathroom?” Burns said.

Wilson said he is unsure how the vote would go because a number of younger workers are fearful they could lose benefits.

“A lot of people are scared to vote because they are afraid they are going to lose their jobs,” Wilson said.

Employees are seeking to be represented by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. Ballots on the vote must be returned by Monday.

The vote in Alabama comes after efforts to start unions at Southern auto plants came up short.

Emmit Ashford, a part-time Amazon worker, said that even if the vote fails, he believes the workers in Bessemer have ignited something.

“No matter what happens with this vote, the bell has been rung and it won’t stop here. We will not stop fighting,” Ashford said at a rally ahead of the vote.
Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistribu

White House to Review Federal Scientific Integrity Policies


By
Elizabeth Redden
March 30, 2021


The Biden administration will investigate Trump-era political interference in the federal government’s science decision making, The New York Times reported. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy sent a letter to leaders of all federal agencies Monday announcing the formation of a task force aimed at identifying past incidents of political interference and reviewing the effectiveness of federal policies aimed at protecting scientific integrity.

“We know that there were blatant attempts to distort, to cherry pick and disregard science -- we saw that across multiple agencies,” Jane Lubchenco, deputy director for climate and the environment at the White House science office, told the Times in an interview. She added that the Biden administration, is “ushering in a new era.”

Kelvin K. Droegemeier, the former head of the White House science office under Trump, declined the Times’ request for comment.

To Increase Offshore Wind Energy, White House Prioritizes East Coast Windfarm Approval

By Rain Jordan
Mar 30, 2021 

The Biden administration is working to significantly expand offshore wind energy along the US east coast, declaring that it is taking measures toward authorizing a major wind farm off the coast of New Jersey as part of a proposal to produce enough electricity to fuel over 10 million homes by 2030.

(Photo : Pixabay)

Job and Economic Opportunity

According to the White House, meeting the goal will result in more than 44,000 new jobs and 33,000 new jobs in related fields. The effort will also help stop 78 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year, a crucial move towards slowing the climate crisis.

Joe Biden, according to White House environment advisor Gina McCarthy, "believes we have an immense opportunity in front of us to not only resolve the challenges of climate change but to use it as an opportunity to generate millions of good-paying, union jobs that will boost America's economic recovery."

"The size of the potential is more precise nowhere than in offshore wind.

She went on to say that the pledge will "build paths to the middle class for people from all cultures and communities."

Related Article: Biden To Overhaul Offices to Promote Environmental Justice


Environmental Preparation

(Photo : robdimagery on Pixabay)

The administration has announced that it plans to prepare a comprehensive environmental report for the Ocean Wind project off the coast of New Jersey, clearing the way for it to become the US's third commercial-scale offshore wind project.

The Interior Department's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) said it searched for offshore wind projects in shallow waters between Long Island, New York, and New Jersey. According to a tweet, a new report showed that the city will accommodate up to 25,000 production and construction jobs by 2030.

OEM plans to sell industrial leases in late 2021 or early 2022, according to the company.

Ocean Wind will generate about 1,100 megawatts a year, enough to fuel 500,000 homes, 15 miles off the coast of southern New Jersey.

Environmental assessments for Vineyard Wind in Massachusetts and the South Fork wind farm about 35 miles east of Montauk Point in New York have been announced by the Interior Department. Vineyard Wind is projected to generate 800 megawatts, while South Fork will generate 132.

As part of his attempt to slow the climate crisis, Biden has pledged to double offshore wind capacity by 2030. The possible acceptance of the Atlantic coast schemes, which are the forerunners of at least 16 offshore wind projects along the east coast, represents a significant shift from the Trump administration's opposition to wind power on land and sea.

Related Article: US Gears Up To Reverse All Environmental Damages Caused by Previous Administration

Fixing Wind Power's Reputation

(Photo : PublicDomainImages on Pixabay)

Wind power has been vilified by Donald Trump as an expensive, bird-killing energy source, and his administration has battled or rejected initiatives like Vineyard Wind. To avoid a potential denial, the Massachusetts project's developer temporarily withdrew its submission. Soon after assuming office in January, Biden gave the project a new lease on life.

"We've put off the transition to renewable energies for years, and now we're facing a climate crisis," said Deb Haaland, the interior secretary.

"We must move to a better future for all while our world faces the interlocking pressures of a global pandemic, economic collapse, social inequality, and the climate crisis."

Vineyard Wind is set to go live in 2023, with Ocean Wind coming a year later.

Related Article: Wind Energy Company To Breed California Condors, Replace Those Killed by Turbines


Economic Potentials

(Photo : Luo Lei on Unsplash)

In the United States, offshore wind production is only in its infancy, lagging well behind Europe. A tiny windfarm is located in Rhode Island's territorial waters, and another is located off the coast of Virginia.

European companies or branches own the three main projects. Vineyard Wind is a partnership between a Danish company and a US unit of Iberdrola, a Spanish energy company. Orsted, a Danish corporation, is in charge of Ocean Wind and South Fork.

According to Erik Milito, president of the National Ocean Industries Association, wind entrepreneurs are on track to build tens of thousands of jobs and $100 billion in new investment by 2030, "but the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management must first open the door to new leasing."

Huge offshore wind developments have worried fishing communities from Maine to Florida, who fear that they will cut off large swaths of the ocean to their catch.

Also Read: Environmental Justice Goes Mainstream with Governmental Support

MYANMAR REPORT VIDEOS FRANCE 24

Report: Myanmar refugees flee country as Thailand prepares for crisis


Myanmar’s military crackdown against civilians is leading to an exodus of refugees, according to press reports. File Photo by EPA-EF


March 29 (UPI) -- Thailand could be preparing for an influx of refugees from Myanmar as Myanmar's military crackdown claims more casualties, including a record 100 people who died Saturday.

The Karen National Union, a rebel organization run by an ethnic minority group, said people from Myanmar were crossing the Salween river at the border into Thailand, the Financial Times reported Monday.

The KNU operates as a semi-autonomous region within Myanmar and supports the pro-democracy protests. The head of KNU's foreign affairs department, Padoh Saw Taw Nee, said more than 4,000 people have fled into nearby jungles after attacks. Myanmar's military launched air strikes Saturday, the report said.

"If the air strikes continue, they may find a way to cross the border and seek refuge in Thailand," he said.

Thailand's public broadcasting service, Thai PBS, said that approximately 3,000 people already has arrived in northwestern Mae Hong Son province in Thailand.

Earlier in March the broadcaster reported Bangkok has been "preparing facilities" to accommodate refugees. Among the facilities include four shelters for 2,000 refugees in Kanchanaburi province, the report said.

Thailand's Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has refrained from criticism of Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the commander-in-chief and leader of the coup in Myanmar.

The military leader is charged with killing at least 459 people since Feb. 1, and detaining more than 2,559, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.

Myanmar's military keeps soldiers under tight control through a system of constant monitoring, the New York Times reported Sunday.

Troops also are "brainwashed" through military education. Orders to kill unarmed civilians are often followed through without question, the report said.

Some soldiers who disobey go into hiding. Tun Myat Aung, captain of the 77th Light Infantry Division, told the Times that he fled for reasons of conscience as the killings continue in the country.

"The message I want to give my fellow soldiers is: If you are choosing between the country and the Tatmadaw, please choose the country," he said.

Johnson & Johnson agrees to give Africa 220M COVID-19 vaccine doses


A Missouri National Guardsman inspects a vial of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine at a senior living center in St. Louis, Mo., on March 4. Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI | License Photo

March 29 (UPI) -- Johnson & Johnson announced Monday its subsidiary Janssen has entered into an agreement with the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust to make available up to 220 million doses of its one-shot COVID-19 vaccine.

The company said delivery of the vaccine to the African Union's 55 member states will begin in the third quarter of this year, if the shot is granted approval by the various national regulatory authorities.

The vaccine has received approval in the United States and other countries.

"From the beginning of this pandemic, Johnson & Johnson has recognized that no one is safe until everyone is safe, and we have been committed to equitable, global access to new COVID-19 vaccines," Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky said in a statement.

RELATED Brazil's record-setting COVID-19 deaths, cases lead world surge

An additional 180 million doses will also potentially be available to AU member states through 2022, the company said.

The agreement was made months after Johnson & Johnson entered an agreement in principle in December with Gavi to supply its COVAX Facility -- the World Health Organization-led plan to provide worldwide equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines -- with up to 500 million doses through 2022.

The company said Monday that both sides expect to enter a finalized agreement, though no date or timeline was given.

RELATED U.S. COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations spiking despite expanding vaccine access

"Our support for the COVAX Facility, combined with countries and regions, will help accelerate global progress toward ending the COVID-19 pandemic," Gorsky said.

According to Oxford University, Africa has administered far fewer shots per 100 people than all other continents aside from Antarctica, for which the project did not provide data. North America led with nearly 26 doses administered per 100 people, compared to Africa at 0.74 doses.

The WHO has repeatedly called on rich nations to join its COVAX plan, share their extra doses and not fall into vaccine nationalism.

RELATED White House: Johnson & Johnson to deliver another 11M vaccines next week

On Thursday, the WHO said only 7.7 million vaccine doses had been administered throughout the entire African continent, though mainly to high-risk populations.

Those targeted may continue to go unvaccinated due to global supply chain constraints, it said, stating 10 African nations have not received a vaccine.

"While some high-income countries are seeking to vaccinate their entire populations, many in Africa are struggling to sufficiently cover even their high-risk groups," Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa, said in a statement. "Acquiring COVID-19 vaccines must not be a competition. Fair access will benefit all and not just some of us."

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has long warned rich countries against vaccine nationalism and early last week said inequitable distribution was "becoming more grotesque every day."

He also urged rich countries to share vaccines with poorer nations out of their own self-interest as the longer the virus spreads anywhere in the world the greater risk it mutates and the higher the risk it will evade vaccines.

COVAX has distributed more than 32 million doses to 60 participating countries, including at least 14 in Africa, according to its website.

upi.com/7085242

 

Crews free stuck container ship in Egypt's Suez Canal after nearly a week

By

Darryl Coote

The Ever Given container ship is seen after it was refloated in the Suez Canal, Egypt, on Monday. The head of the Suez Canal Authority announced that the large container ship, which ran aground in the Suez Canal on March 23, is now free floating after responding to the pulling maneuvers. Photo courtesy of the Suez Canal Authority/EPA-EFE

March 29 (UPI) -- Work crews have successfully refloated the jammed container ship in Egypt's Suez Canal, one of the world's most vital trade waterways, the canal's service provider said Monday.

The Suez Canal Authority said the 200,000-ton, 1,300-foot Ever Given cargo ship was freed from the shoreline in the canal after nearly a week. The Ever Given is one of the largest cargo ships in the worlThe SCA told CNN the Ever Given had been fully dislodged and images posted online showed the vessel on the move.

"This was the result of successful push and tow maneuvers which led to the restoration," the SCA said in a statement.

RELATED Officials preparing to remove cargo from ship blocking Suez Canal

The ship became stuck in the canal during a sandstorm last Tuesday when it drifted into shallow waters and ran aground. Crews have been trying to free the vessel since.

The SCA said earlier Monday that the beached vessel had been partially refloated.

Lt. Gen. Osama Rabie, chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, said crews were performing "tugging maneuvers" with 10 giant tug boats to free the grounded ship, which has close to 20,000 cargo containers on board.

RELATED Suez Canal blockage could be eased by favorable tides: officials

The blocked canal, which provides vital shipping access between the Mediterranean and Red seas, has led to some supply chain issues for products worldwide -- including Brent crude oil.

Authorities said earlier that the canal will reopen to traffic once the Ever Given was fully floated and towed to another part of the canal for inspection.

"Today, Egyptians have succeeded in ending the crisis of the delinquent ship on the Suez Canal despite the massive technical complexity surrounding this process on every side," Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi said early Monday in a statement posted to his Facebook page.

RELATED Suez Canal blockage further strains global supply chains

"Egyptians have proven today that they are always as responsible. I thank every sincere Egyptian who contributed technically and practically to ending this crisis."

The canal's operator, which is owned by the Egyptian government, earlier posted a video to its Facebook page that showed crews dredging and performing other salvage work to free the vessel.

Almost 400 vessels are awaiting transit through the canal, officials said.

WATCH THE AMAZING MOMENT AS THE GIANT SHIP FINALLY GETS UNSTUCK

HERE'S WHAT IT TOOK TO GET IT UNSTUCK.

MAXAR

WATCH THE AMAZING MOMENT AS THE GIANT SHIP FINALLY GETS UNSTUCK

HERE'S WHAT IT TOOK TO GET IT UNSTUCK.

Ever Given

After six days of being wedged in the banks of the Suez Canal, the giant container ship known as the “Ever Given” finally broke free on Monday afternoon local time.

It posed a massive disruption as it blocked the waterway, with hundreds of cargo ships waiting at either end of the canal. The canal accounts for an astonishing 12 percent of global trade.

But now, videos uploaded to social media show the skyscraper-sized container ship slowly making its way down the canal.

Tireless Effort

Salvage teams worked tirelessly to get the ship moving again for five days and nights. The stern — that’s the rear end — of the ship broke free first earlier this morning. Hours later, the bow, a massive bulb of steel that wedged itself head on into the side of the canal’s walls was also successfully dislodged.

Monday turned out to be the ideal time to break it free. That’s thanks to Sunday’s full moon providing teams with a few extra inches of tidal flow during high tide, as The New York Times reports.

It was a gigantic undertaking, involving countless operators, tugboats, and excavators working against the clock. Specialized dredgers, which are essentially colossal vacuum cleaners, sucked up 2,000 cubic meters of material per hour to dig out the Ever Given’s bow.

That was in addition to entire teams of divers who had a look beneath the ship to inspect it for damage, according to the Times.

Let My Containers Go

Egypt’s president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi claimed the event as a dramatic win for the Middle Eastern nation. “Egyptians have succeeded today in ending the crisis of the stuck ship in the Suez Canal despite the great complexities surrounding this situation in every aspect,” he wrote in a statement on Twitter.

The blockade is not over yet. Engineers will now be inspecting the chopped up canal for damage to ensure safe passage over the next couple of days, according to NYT.

The dramatic events will come as a huge relief to a vast number of industries relying on the canal to ship their wares internationally — except for one group: internet pundits, who are in firm belief the ship should get stuck again.

READ MORE: After days of struggle, salvage crews freed the giant container ship. [The New York Times]

Suez Canal blockage: What it takes to unwedge a megaship

by Stephen Turnock, The Conversation

MARCH 29, 2021

Credit: Suez Canal Authority

One of the world's largest container ships, named Ever Given, has been wedged across the Suez Canal since it was blown off course by high winds in the early hours of March 23, blocking one of the busiest maritime trade corridors in the world.

The incident has created a logjam of hundreds of tankers, the operators of which are now weighing up whether to wait for the stranded container ship to be cleared, or whether rerouting around the Cape of Good Hope, at the southernmost point of Africa, will hasten their arrival at port.

That decision hinges upon how long it'll take to refloat the Ever Given, tugging it away from the banks of the canal and back into operation. Several maritime salvage firms, with experience rescuing stricken vessels, are already in attendance at the scene—but it's unclear how much time they'll need to dislodge the ship.

The methods they'll use to do so, however, will be the roughly the same as past examples. A grounded ship of any size requires additional buoyancy to help salvage crews ease it from where it's stuck. And, in the case of the Ever Given, horizontal force—applied by tug boats—will be required to heave the ship from both banks of the Suez Canal.

How it happened

The Ever Given is 400 meters in length and has the capacity to carry over 20,000 20-foot containers. It was these containers, stacked high on the deck, that are suspected to have caught the gust of wind, like a sailboat's sail, that ultimately blew the ship off course.

It appears that the Ever Given lost control while heading northbound along the Suez Canal, diverting its course in such a way that one end struck one of the canal's banks. The momentum of the massive vessel will then have pulled it round until the other end struck the other bank—slowly, perhaps, but with a huge amount of force.

The precise way in which the Ever Given struck ground will be important for salvage teams to understand because, when refloating a grounded ship, it's usually easiest to extract it the way it went in—as with a splinter.

Salvaging ships

Salvaging has always been an important part of maritime operations, with specialist companies called in when large container ships or tankers run aground. The process of freeing grounded vessels is often referred to as refloating.

In 2016, a ship of similar size to the Ever Given, called the CSCL Indian Ocean, took six days to refloat after grounding on the bank of the Elbe River in Germany. The same salvage techniques used then will be used this time around—albeit in the more restrictive environment of a narrow canal.

There are two basic approaches to extracting a grounded ship. First, salvage crews will work to increase the vessel's vertical buoyancy force, which means the whole boat floats higher in the water.

Second, tug boats will apply sufficient horizontal force to overcome the static friction generated by whatever material the boat is resting upon. The larger and heavier the vessel, the more force required by the tug boats to refloat the ship.

Fleets of tugs

Swiftest to mobilize are a fleet of tugs, eight of which are already in position at the site of the stranded ship. But reports from the scene suggest that tugs have already attempted an unsuccessful operation to unwedge the ship.

That means the first priority of salvage teams will instead be to make the Ever Given float higher in the water—by dredging near the sections of the bank upon which the ship is stranded, and by increasing the ship's buoyancy.

In previous salvage operations, buoyancy air bags have been attached to the underwater section of the hull to encourage it to float. But in the case of the Ever Given, this will need to happen alongside the unloading of the ship's cargo, the removing of all on-board ballast water, and the draining of the ship's fuel, all in an effort to make the vessel lighter and more buoyant before the tugs attempt another horizontal pull.

The removal of cargo will be particularly challenging in this case. Seeing as land access will be difficult due to the Suez Canal's sandy surrounds, a floating crane may be required, which will take time to transport to the ship and which will only be able to remove one container at a time.

It might prove quicker to pump the fuel off the vessel instead of removing containers, which would require a small refueling vessel to pull alongside to take on the fuel. Those overseeing the salvage will have access to computer models of the vessel to tell exactly which load-lightening strategy will be most effective.

High tide

Despite all these measures, increasing buoyancy during salvage usually relies on a rising tide, which provides an extra boost in sea level for the ship to potentially refloat upon. Unfortunately, the tidal range within the Suez Canal is limited compared to coastal waters, which will hamper refloating attempts—though a promising "spring tide", which is higher than the usual high tide, is due over the weekend.

It's difficult to predict the rapidity with which the various components of the salvage puzzle can be brought to bear in the Suez Canal. This is not a standard salvage operation: the time pressure, with ships queuing at either end of the strait, will be weighing on everyone's minds.

But with expert salvage crews now on hand, and tried-and-tested refloating methods being put in place around the Ever Given, it's likely to be only a matter of days—rather than weeks—before the ship is unwedged from the Suez Canal.

Missouri Senate votes to ban police chokeholds

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MARCH 29, 2021 

JEFFERSON CITY, MO.

A bill that would ban police chokeholds in Missouri and allow Kansas City police to live outside the city passed the state Senate on Monday.

Senators voted 30-4 to send the measure to the House.

The bill's progress follows years of inaction by the GOP-led Legislature on police accountability following Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson.

Police chokeholds fell under public scrutiny after a white Minneapolis police officer last year pressed his knee against the neck of George Floyd, a handcuffed Black man, until he stopped breathing. Video of Floyd’s death sparked outrage and months of protests.

The Missouri bill's passage in the state Senate came the first day that the former Minneapolis police officer went on trial on charges of murder and manslaughter for Floyd's death.

University City Democratic Sen. Brian Williams said he doesn't everything in the compromise legislation but said it represents progress.

“George Floyd should still be alive today," Williams said in a statement. “We cannot bring him back, but we can ban police chokeholds to make sure deaths like his do not happen in Missouri. This bill will save Black lives, and its passage is a monumental step forward on an issue that has failed to make progress in Missouri until now.”

ANYTHING ELSE IS RED BAITING

Chinese lab leak unlikely, says WHO's coronavirus taskforce

By CNN Mar 30, 2021

COVID-19 probably came to people through an animal, and likely started spreading no more than a month or two before it was noticed in December 2019, a World Health Organisation draft report has found.
The least likely source: a laboratory leak, the WHO's joint international team concluded.
The WHO is scheduled to release the final report on its investigation into the origins of coronavirus today, but a draft version of the report obtained by CNN shows there's still no smoking gun and no evidence suggesting the virus was spreading any earlier than the very end of 2019.

READ MORE: WHO Wuhan mission finds possible signs of wider outbreakInvestigative team members of the World Health Organisation are seen visiting a Huanan seafood market in Wuhan. (Getty)
The report gives four possible sources for the virus and the most likely scenario is via an intermediate animal host, possibly a wild animal captured and then raised on a farm.
But the investigation has not found what other animal was infected by a bat - considered the most likely original source of the virus - and then may have transmitted it to a human.
"The possible intermediate host of SARS-CoV-2 remains elusive," it reads.
Next likely is direct transmission from one of the animals known to carry a similar coronavirus, such as a bat or a pangolin

Possible but not probable is transmission from frozen or chilled food, and least likely is an accidental laboratory release, the report finds.

Former US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr Robert Redfield told CNN's Dr Sanjay Gupta that his personal opinion was the virus was released from a lab.

Members of the WHO team visit the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China. (AP)

The report says this is "extremely unlikely".
"There is no record of viruses closely related to SARS-CoV-2 in any laboratory before December 2019, or genomes that in combination could provide a SARS-CoV-2 genome," it reads.
"In view of the above, a laboratory origin of the pandemic was considered to be extremely unlikely."
Independent researchers have been saying this for months.
Genomic testing of the virus indicates it was not engineered in a lab but passed naturally from animals - as did the SARS virus that infected 8000 people globally in 2002-2004 before it was stopped.
Frozen food is also not a likely source, the report indicates.
"There is no conclusive evidence for foodborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and the probability of a cold-chain contamination with the virus from a reservoir is very low," it says.
The role of the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan is also unclear.
It's possible the market was not the original source of the outbreak, but that the crowds that gathered at the market - which was densely packed, with a roof and open sewers - may have amplified the spread of the virus.

A plainclothes security person uses his umbrella to block journalists after the World Health Organisation team arrive at the Baishazhou wholesale market on the third day of field visit in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province on January 31. (AP)
Sampling at the market turned up the virus on surfaces but not in samples taken from animals or food sold at the market.
Plus, there is evidence the virus was circulating before the Huanan market outbreak - including at other markets.
"Many of the early cases were associated with the Huanan market, but a similar number of cases were associated with other markets and some were not associated with any markets," the report added.
"Transmission within the wider community in December could account for cases not associated with the Huanan market which, together with the presence of early cases not associated with that market, could suggest that the Huanan market was not the original source of the outbreak.
"No firm conclusion therefore about the role of the Huanan market in the origin of the outbreak, or how the infection was introduced into the market, can currently be drawn."
The report recommends more testing of blood samples taken and stored before the first outbreak in December, more testing of animals from Southeast Asia, and more in-depth study of mass gatherings that could have aided the spread of the virus.
READ MORE: WHO team heads to controversial China bat labA member from the World Health Organisation team of experts uses his smartphone to record after boarding a bus to leave at the end of a two weeks quarantine at a hotel in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province on January 28, 2021. (AP)
The report was written by a joint international team made up of 17 Chinese experts plus 17 experts from other countries, WHO, the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) participated as an observer.
"Following initial online meetings, a joint study was conducted over a 28-day period from 14 January to 10 February 2021 in the city of Wuhan, People's Republic of China," the report reads.
The team looked for evidence the virus was circulating in China before anyone noticed.
"The epidemiology working group closely examined the possibilities of identifying earlier cases of COVID-19 through studies from surveillance of morbidity (illness) due to respiratory diseases in and around Wuhan in late 2019," it read.Wuhan has no recorded COVID-19 cases of community transmissions since May 2020, life for residents is gradually returning to normal. (Getty)
"It also drew on national sentinel surveillance data; laboratory confirmations of disease; reports of retail pharmacy purchases for antipyretics (fever reducers), cold and cough medications; a convenience subset of stored samples of more than 4500 research project samples from the second half of 2019 stored at various hospitals in Wuhan, the rest of Hubei Province and other provinces. In none of these studies was there evidence of an impact of the causative agent of COVID-19 on morbidity in the months before the outbreak of COVID-19."
The report suggests further checks into farms as a possible source of the virus.
"Although the closest related viruses have been found in bats, the evolutionary distance between these bat viruses and SARS-CoV-2 is estimated to be several decades, suggesting a missing link," the report reads.
Animals such as mink and rabbits are susceptible to the virus, the report noted.
.Mink farms in several countries have been the cause of outbreaks of COVID-19.
"The increasing number of animals shown to be susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 includes animals that are farmed in sufficient densities to allow potential for enzootic circulation," the report says.
"High-density farming is common in many places across the world and includes many livestock species as well as farmed wildlife

French commission on Rwanda genocide finds France bears responsibility but was not complicit

Studiolarsen / Pixabay

Muskan Yadav | Institute of Law Nirma U., IN

MARCH 28, 2021 05:00:18 PM

The Research Commission on the French Archives relating to Rwanda and the Tutsi genocide (Duclert Commission) on Friday submitted its report to French President Emmanuel Macron finding that the country bears responsibility due to its inaction, but was not complicit with the regime that perpetrated the genocide.

Between April and July 1994, at least 800,000 people—Tutsis and moderate Hutus—were killed, and 250,000-500,000 raped, by Hutus. At the time, the Hutu ethnic group comprised 85 percent of Rwanda’s population. The Tutsi minority were the elite. The conflict between the two began in 1959, when Hutus ousted Tutsis from power.

In 2014, Rwandan President Paul Kagame, former commander of the Rwandan Patriotic Front, a rebel group formed by some Tutsi exiles in Uganda, accused France of involvement in the genocide “before, during and after.”

The 15-member Duclert Commission was set up in 2019 by Macron, and was led by Professor Vincent Duclert, a historian. In an unprecedented move, access was provided to all French archives relating to Rwanda, covering political, diplomatic and military domains.

The 991-page report looks into French responsibility over the Rwandan genocide between 1990 and 1994. The report states that then French President François Mitterrand had been closely associated with the ruling Hutu government in Rwanda, led by Juvénal Habyarimana, despite his “racist, corrupt and violent regime.” While it confirms allegations against France that it did not act as the Hutus made preparations for the genocide, it clears the country of complicity in the genocide. The report mentions, “If by this we mean a willingness to join a genocidal operation, nothing in the archives that were examined demonstrates this. Nevertheless, for a long time France was involved with a regime that encouraged racist massacres. It remained blind to the preparation of a genocide by the most radical elements of this regime.”

The UN authorized the deployment of the French military in southwest Rwanda, so-called Operation Turquoise, on June 22, 1994. On the subject of the operation, the report states, “[France] reacted belatedly with Operation Turquoise, which saved many lives, but not those of the vast majority of Rwanda’s Tutsis, who were exterminated in the first weeks of the genocide. The research therefore establishes a set of responsibilities, heavy and overwhelming.”

The Rwandan government welcomed the report, and stated that its own investigative report will be released “in the coming weeks, the conclusions of which will complement and enrich those of the Duclert Commission.”

Migrant workers leave en masse, changing life for Lebanese

Jobs like gas station attendant have been largely held by migrant workers in Lebanon. Now many of them are leaving amid the economic crisis. Photo by Wael Hamzeh/EPA-EFE

BEIRUT, Lebanon, March 29 (UPI) -- Lebanon, which has been relying heavily on migrant workers in recent decades, is no longer an attractive destination for them.

With the Lebanese pound losing 90% of its value and U.S. dollars scarce, migrant workers have departed in large numbers, leaving behind once well-off employers who are struggling to make ends meet.

The comfortable lifestyle enjoyed after the 1975-90 civil war came to an abrupt end with the outbreak of the country's worst economic crisis in October 2019. The number of migrant workers -- who handled low-skilled jobs that Lebanese never accepted, such as porters, concierges, house cleaners and gas pump operators -- has been declining rapidly.

According to Information International, a Beirut-based research and consultancy firm, the Lebanese General Security issued 9,780 work permits in 2020 compared to 57,957 the previous year, a decrease of 83 percent. The number of workers from Ghana dropped by 93.9%, the Philippines by 86.3%, Bangladesh by 85.3% and Egypt by 79.2 %.

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The cause is clear: Lebanese who have lost their jobs and savings at the banks and employers who were forced to close their businesses are no longer able to pay their migrant workers in hard currency with the depreciation of the Lebanese pound. The alarming spread of COVID-19 in the country and hyperinflation added to the plight.

Late last year, the evacuation of migrant workers accelerated, with Ethiopia and Sri Lanka sending planes to repatriate their national workers, mostly housekeepers, many of whom had been abandoned by their employers.

Betelhem Adane, a 35-year-old Ethiopian domestic worker, was not among them. She first came to Lebanon 13 years ago to work in a private household. She soon moved to a travel agency as a cleaner, earning $300 per month.

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Not anymore. Her current employer cannot afford to pay her more than 600,000 Lebanese pounds per month ($50 at the current black market rate of 12,000 LL for one U.S. dollar), having been also greatly affected by the economic deterioration.

With that salary barely covering her essential needs, Adane had to abandon the small room she used to rent for $150 and started to sleep at the office where she works in Beirut's main Hamra Street.

"I am stuck...I cannot stay here, but also I cannot leave," Adane told UPI, explaining that she was "too afraid" to go back to her home country, where the parents of one of her Ethiopian friends killed in a car accident in Lebanon years ago blame her for the death.
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Her sister, who worked for four years in Lebanon, had no option but to leave, although her employer, a bank worker, still owes her $1,500 in salary.

Figures compiled by the International Labor Organization for 2020 showed 152,289 regular migrant workers were still working in Lebanon, many coming from some of the world's most impoverished countries. Domestic workers, mainly women from Ethiopia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Ghana and Kenya, topped the list with 119,081.

Workers from Bangladesh were estimated at 19,541and Egyptians at 9,671, mostly men performing jobs as porters, cleaners, concierges and gas station attendants.
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ILO's figures do not include the number of illegal workers, estimated by unconfirmed reports to be around 80,000.

Zeina Mezher, ILO's Focal Person on Labor Migration, said the migrant workers are forced to leave Lebanon because "they have little incentive to stay" with the economic conditions getting worse by the day, dollars in short supply and weakness of the system to protect them.

"The Lebanese are losing their jobs and businesses, and this is affecting migrant workers, who could no longer send money to their families in their home countries," Mezher told UPI.

She voiced concern for those who are still in the country, pushed into irregularity and "cannot meet their basic needs or pay penalties to be able to leave or regularize their status."

The crisis has accentuated the ordeal of the migrant workers, especially housekeepers who were suffering from abuses -- non-payment