Statues to hatchet-wielding colonist reconsidered

BOSTON — A pair of fierce monuments honour an English colonist who, legend has it, slaughtered her Native American captors after the gruesome killing of her baby.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

But historians and Native Americans say the monuments to Hannah Duston obscure a grim truth: most of the Indigenous people she killed and scalped likely weren’t warriors who killed her baby, but instead were children.

The statues -- one in Massachusetts where Duston grips a hatchet and another in New Hampshire where she clutches a bundle of scalps — are being reconsidered amid the nationwide reckoning on racism and controversial public monuments.

Historians, Native Americans and even some of Duston’s descendants argue Duston's 17th century tale became propaganda for European colonists as they decimated New England’s Indigenous population.

They say it served the same purpose generations later as the new nation expanded west. The Duston monuments were built in the late 1800s, as U.S. forces battled Indigenous peoples and forcibly removed them from their ancestral lands.

“The savages and this pioneer mother who stands up to them,” Craig Richardson, a Duston descendant who is on a committee reviewing the New Hampshire memorial, said Thursday. "That's really what they're trying to depict."

In Massachusetts this week, the Haverhill City Council voted to keep the city's memorial but remove Duston's hatchet and update the statue's inscription, which tells her tale and calls Native Americans “savages.”

Mayor James Fiorentini said Thursday he supports the council's recommendations, including adding a new memorial to Native Americans near the site. He's formed a commission headed up by members of the Native American community to pursue the idea.

But Peter Carbone, who chairs the city's historical commission, maintains the Duston monument should be moved to a museum or other place where more context could be provided, an idea some of her descendants supported during recent hearings.

In neighbouring New Hampshire, the advisory committee that Richardson serves on continues to weigh changes to a memorial on a small island in Boscawen, at the alleged site of Duston’s bloody revenge.

Native Americans on the committee say the 1874 memorial, which has been the subject of decades of debate, should reflect a fuller picture of the region's long Indigenous history and the conflicts with European colonists.

“We don’t want a statue that honours Hannah, but on the other hand, we need an outlet in order to share the true history of the region,” Denise Pouliot, a member of the Cowasuck Band of the Pennacook Abenaki People, told WBUR recently. “How many historical books have been written based on this false narrative?”

According to legend, Duston and another woman, Mary Neff, were taken captive in 1697 by Native Americans raiding the English settlement of Haverhill. Duston’s husband escaped with eight of the couple's children, but one of their babies died.

In the version popularized by Cotton Mather, the child's head was bashed against a tree, but historians have long wondered whether the influential Puritan minister, who also played a role in the infamous Salem witch trials, sensationalized those and other details.

What’s also often lost is that the Native American family that eventually took the women didn’t even keep them locked up or guarded, according to Barbara Cutter, a University of Northern Iowa professor who wrote about the Duston monuments and their controversial legacy for Smithsonian Magazine.

Still, Duston, Neff and another English captive set upon the sleeping family with hatchets, killing ten of them, including six children. They even removed their scalps to collect a reward in Massachusetts. At the time, English and French colonists and their Native American allies were embroiled in King William’s War, one of a number of conflicts between the rival settlers.

Cutter wonders if cosmetic changes, like removing the hatchet from Duston's Massachusetts monument, are enough.

“The message of two statues was that violence committed by the U.S. against Native Americans was innocent, defensive and justified violence,” she said Thursday. “Eliminating the hatchet doesn’t change that. It just makes Duston’s — and the country’s — violence a little less obvious.”

Philip Marcelo, The Associated Press

 CBS News

Black farmers at the crossroads of racial inequity and climate change

Duration: 04:32 1 day ago

Just 1.3% of farmers in the U.S. are Black. Over the last century, America's Black farmers have lost more than 90% of their land, because of systemic discrimination and a cycle of debt. "CBS This Morning: Saturday" co-host Michelle Miller spoke with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and visited a community of Black farmers in upstate New York.

 CLIMATE CHANGE 

 KameraOne Canada (EN)

Firefighters battle wildfire north of Los Angeles

Duration: 00:36 1 day ago

Canadian PPE manufacturers team up to lobby government to build industry standards

KELOWNA, B.C. — Some of Canada's largest medical mask manufacturers have joined forces to lobby government to establish industry standards for personal protective equipment.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The Canadian Association of Medical Mask Manufacturers says it was founded earlier this month to support and enhance Canada’s mask manufacturing industry.

Its founding members include Breathe Medical Manufacturing Ltd. in Kelowna, B.C., The Canadian Shield in Waterloo, Ont., and Inno Lifecare in Vancouver.

The group says it plans to work with the federal and provincial governments, health experts and suppliers to deliver safe and accessible medical masks for local and export markets.

Last month, Health Canada issued a recall on disposable masks containing a potentially dangerous material called graphene.

The masks have been used by thousands of Canadians, mostly in Quebec schools and daycares.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 29, 2021.

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

Mi'kmaq artist captures life — and the changing coastlines — on P.E.I"

Leader 

ONE of the nomads: The amazing journey of Bob Wells

Mike Smyth 

When Bob Wells decided to ditch his former life as a grocery-store worker to head out on the road as a real-life nomad, he knew he was embarking on an unpredictable journey.

NOMADLAND, 2020. © Searchlight Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection

But he could never have guessed where he ended up Sunday night: Gathered with his fellow highway wanderers to watch the film Nomadland win the best-picture Oscar.


It's a movie in which Wells has a memorable role, playing himself alongside the celebrated Frances McDormand, who took home the Oscar for best actress.

"I was thrilled and happy," Wells told me in an interview from his specially equipped van somewhere in the Nevada desert.

"It will be etched in my memory forever."

Read more: ‘Nomadland’ review: Frances McDormand shines in emotional wallop of a movie

Wells came to the attention of filmmaker Chloe Zhao (who won best-director Oscar) after he was featured in the 2017 book Nomadland: Surviving America in the 21st Century.

The book tells the story of the "van dwellers," a subculture of transient Americans living in their vehicles, trekking across the country in search of good weather, temporary jobs and free parking.

Many of these modern-day nomads are older, poor people seeking an affordable lifestyle on fixed incomes.

It's a description that fits Wells, 65, who quit his day job in Alaska after the failure of his marriage left him broke and miserable.

"I would drive into work every day past this old van that was for sale," he told me.

"I thought, 'I could live in that! It would solve all my problems. I wouldn't have to pay rent anymore.' So I bought it and moved in."

That was in 1995. Little did Wells know that he was on the cutting edge of a new social movement that's documented daily on social media under the #vanlife hashtag.

Sensing the growing interest, Wells started a YouTube channel called "Cheap RV Living" that has gathered half-a-million loyal followers.

He also started an annual gathering of nomads called the "Rubber Tramp Rendezvous" that has attracted thousands of fellow wanderers to the Arizona desert.

"You don't want a lonely life out here," Wells said.

"You want to live rich full life. And part of that is other people. So I've worked to build a community."

Read more: Oscars ratings hit all-time low as viewership plummets 58% from 2020

Along the way, he has come to embrace the nomad lifestyle, something that was originally a source of shame.

"Society tells us what life is supposed to look like," he said.

"We call it the American dream and I'm sure it's similar in Canada: Go to college, get an education, find a career, get married, have kids, get a house, work for the rest of your life and then retire in the golden years.

"But I was forced into a different choice. At first, there was a sense of shame attached to it. Then I discovered it was a choice that made me really happy."

His experience on the road has given him insight into America — and Canada, too.

"I've driven across Canada," he said. "British Columbia may be one of the most beautiful places in the world. And the Canadian Rockies are just breathtaking."

He said the lack of universal health care in the United States is one of the most glaring differences he has noticed.

Unexpected health-care crises — especially for under-insured Americans — are among the many stark aspects of life he sees up close in a nomad community he will never leave.

"We're living an alternative to a failing society," he said.

"I would never go back to my old life. It's my goal to never live in a house again."

Mike Smyth is host of ‘The Mike Smyth Show’ on Global News Radio 980 CKNW in Vancouver and a commentator for Global News. You can reach him at mike@cknw.com and follow him on Twitter at @MikeSmythNews​.

Magic & Demons Aside, Yasuke Is Historically Accurate

Ineye Komonibo 

REFINERY29  30/4/2021

Over the past few years, Netflix has been ramping up its anime vaults with old classics for fans of the beloved Japanese animation style; subscribers can watch anything from Naruto to Hunter x Hunter at any moment. Yasuke, the newest original anime offering from Netflix, will tackle the genre from a fascinating new perspective, blending fantasy and history to tell the story of Japan’s first Black samurai.

© Provided by Refinery29

Yasuke follows the extraordinary redemption story of Yasuke (voiced by Lakeith Stanfield), a lonely and wandering samurai who discovers his purpose when he crosses paths with a young girl gifted with supernatural powers. Together, he and his powerful mentee encounter frightening enemies, each new fight unlocking a level of strength neither of them knew they had.

It’s your standard anime fare — an Odyssean journey, epic fight sequences, and lots of bloodshed — but told through a unique vantage point because Yasuke is Black. His experience in 16th century feudal Japan is shaped by his Blackness, marked by microaggressions (“Did you tattoo your whole body?”) and blatant, in your face racism (“A person like you will never be anything more than a servant!”).

The plot of Yasuke is actually inspired by and loosely based on the true story of Yasuke, the first Black samurai in Japan. Historical accounts of his life (laid out in detail in Thomas Lockley and Geoffrey Giraud’s African Samurai: The True Story of a Legendary Black Warrior in Feudal Japan) reveal that Yasuke was born somewhere in East Africa (possibly Mozambique or Sudan) in the early 1500s before being trafficked and forced into slavery in India. There, he be trained to become a soldier and expert fighter until being hired to serve as a bodyguard for Jesuit missionaries.

In 1579, Yasuke arrived on the shores of Japan’s former capital Kyoto with the missionaries, stunning locals who had never seen a Black person before. Warlord Nobunaga Oda was impressed by Yasuke, believing him to be a god among men, and quickly took a liking to the new arrival; he became a member of Oda’s exclusive entourage of soldiers and would fight on behalf of the warlord in local military campaigns for power. As one of Oda’s samurai and the first Black samurai, Yasuke gained notoriety and status.

Unfortunately, Yasuke’s comfortable position within Oda’s ranks wouldn’t last long. When the warlord’s efforts to increase his power in came to a sudden end in the Battle of Honno-ji Temple, Oda decided to end his own life rather than admit his defeat, invoking the ancient samurai code of honor and impaling himself with his own sword. The death of Oda left Yasuke without a master and a leader, leaving him to wander the country as a ronin. Little to nothing is known of the samurai’s last days.

For people who aren’t already fans of anime, the idea of diving into the genre might be intimidating. However, creator LeSean Thomas hopes that the fact that Yasuke is based on a real person with a rich, but little-known, legacy will be the draw. Sure, it’s a cartoon full of demons, bloodshed, and explorations of the astral plane, but at its core, Yasuke is just a story about a Black man trying to find his own path as an outsider.

“We love fish-out-of-water stories,” Thomas explained in conversation with AnimeNewsNetwork.com. “And we just don’t really get to see that from a particularly Black lens because of the history of cinema, the history of animation, and where African-Americans were positioned at the beginning of that event at that time, historically.”

“I hope that people experience Yasuke as their first anime,” Thomas continued. “I want someone to say, ‘Yasuke was the first anime I watched. It had the Black Samurai, and it was entertaining! Are there more anime like this?'”

Yasuke is now available for streaming, only on Netflix.

GREEN CAPITALI$M
Copper flirts with all-time highs, topping $10,000 for the first time in over a decade as the economic rebound pushes metals higher

egraffeo@businessinsider.com (Emily Graffeo) 

© Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty Images Europe A worker inspects batches of processed copper at Mutanda Mining Sarl, Democratic Republic of the Congo Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty Images Europe

Copper prices briefly topped $10,000 Thursday, hitting the highest point in over a decade.

The global economic rebound out of the pandemic is sending copper prices soaring.
The metal has also seen a surge in demand as it becomes critical component to a green energy future.

Copper rallied above $10,000 a metric ton for the first time in over a decade as supply constraints and a surge in demand triggered a rally in the soft metal.

Prices rose as much as 1.3% to $10,008 a ton on the London Metal Exchange Thursday before paring back gains. Copper's all-time high was in February 2011 at $10,190, per Bloomberg.

Copper has rallied nearly 90% over the last twelve months as the global economic rebound and new green energy initiatives spark demand.

Copper is used in the production of electric vehicles, which require close to 200 pounds of metal in a single vehicle. On the other hand, gas-powered vehicles only require about 20-50 pounds of copper.

Goldman Sachs says copper is a "critical raw material for green infrastructure" and sees no sign of copper prices coming down any time soon. In a note Wednesday the firm upgraded its 12-month price target for copper to $11,000 per ton, a jump of over 10% from current levels.

"If the green capital expenditure is at the center of the commodity supercycle, they said copper is at the center of this trend," Goldman said.

RACIST AMERIKA SEGREGATION

People of colour more exposed than whites to air pollution

Across America, people of colour are exposed to more air pollution than whites from industry, vehicles, construction and many other sources, a new study has found.

Using government air pollution and census data, researchers found that disproportionate numbers of non-white people were exposed to potentially hazardous fine particle pollution from nearly all major U.S. emission sources, regardless of where they live or how much money they make.

The study, published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances, also found that Blacks were the only group disproportionately exposed to each of the pollution sources examined.

Researchers found that on average Black, Hispanic and Asian people were exposed to higher than average levels of fine particle pollution, while white people were subjected to lower than average levels.

“It doesn’t matter how poor, it doesn’t matter how wealthy, the racial disparities exist for all African-Americans and other people of colour,” said Paul Mohai, a professor of environmental justice at the University of Michigan who was not involved with the study. He's researched racial disparities in the distribution of hazardous waste dumps, industrial facilities and air pollution at schools — and why and how these disparities exist.

“When you look at the impact of air pollution in the U.S. from all the sources that contribute to fine particulate matter in the atmosphere, there is an overall systemic bias against people of colour,” said study co-author Jason Hill, a biosystems engineering professor at the University of Minnesota.

Fine particulate matter comes from a variety of sources, including coal-fired power plants, diesel trucks and farms. Past research shows associations between exposure to particulate matter and health problems such as premature death in people with heart or lung disease, heart attacks, irregular heartbeat and asthma.

While other studies have shown that non-white people are exposed to more air pollution compared to white people, and that Blacks and Hispanics breathe far more air pollution than they make, this new study breaks it down by source of pollution.

The researchers sorted the Environmental Protection Agency’s emissions inventory of over 5,000 types of fine particulate matter into 14 sources such as industry, passenger cars, diesel trucks, construction and agriculture. Then they modeled exposure to those pollution sources by calculating average ambient air quality levels for racial groups based on their residential locations in 2014.

“Given that we have this national inequity in pollution exposure, what (sources are) actually driving that?” Hill said. “What this paper shows is that it’s pretty much everything.”

When looking at exposure disparities in urban areas, researchers found a notable exception: Asians are less exposed to particulate matter than average in urban areas in California such as San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Jose. The study didn't examine the cause of this, said lead author Christopher Tessum, an environmental engineering professor at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

This study appeared days after President Joe Biden convened a summit of world leaders to discuss emissions reductions, as well as shaping policy to protect vulnerable communities like ones disproportionately exposed to air pollution.

Hill said policymakers can use the study's findings to help make the case for tougher federal and state standards for regulating air pollution. “This is something that needs to be done at a national level,” he said in an interview.

Said University of Virginia Economics Professor Jonathan Colmer: “By decomposing disparities in fine particulate matter into their component sources, their research shines a light on where researchers, policymakers, and communities might focus efforts going forward." Colmer, lead author on a 2020 paper about disparities in air pollution, was not part of the new study.

Other researchers said the study illustrates racial disparities in air pollution exposure that can't be explained by income level. Mohai said studies have shown race was a greater predictor of exposure than income, but he's unaware of any others that show racial disparities at each income level.

He said the disparities in air pollution exposure are part of “a long history of slavery and racial discrimination in the U.S.”

“We started to see a pattern with the history of racial discrimination and segregation of industry being located where people of colour are concentrated,” Mohai said. “Racism isn’t just about racial animus. It’s about not caring about the welfare of people of other races and I think that’s been a factor.”

___

Follow Drew Costley on Twitter: @drewcostley

___

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.

Drew Costley, The Associated Press

Landfill incinerator licence upheld by provincial appeals board


After a lengthy review, the Alberta Environmental Appeals Board has upheld the licence for the Crowsnest/Pincher Creek Landfill Association that would permit the construction and operation of an incinerator.

The hearing began June 2, 2020, and was originally scheduled for six weeks. Initially intended to be held virtually due to Covid-19 restrictions, the process switched to a written hearing since not all participants had access to a computer. All communications, including questions and answers and document review, were completed through the traditional mail system.


The appeals board found the licensing approval of the incinerator satisfied provincial regulations. One point the board raised, however, was that the landfill did not have an effective communications plan in place to address local residents’ concerns.

As such, Environment Minister Jason Nixon signed a ministerial order March 18 requiring the CNPC landfill to complete a communications plan before an incinerator becomes operational. The plan must include details of the landfill’s emergency plan and procedures, along with updated contact information on its website.

The board also recommended that a system for tracking public complaints be implemented and a newsletter be mailed to nearby residents for five years after the incinerator begins operations.

The recommendations will be in force only once the landfill builds the incinerator; for now, the licence simply keeps the option on the table for the landfill.

Building the incinerator, says Dean Ward, chairman of the landfill’s board of directors, would require municipal partners experiencing a change of heart, since no one currently on the board has any desire to begin the project.

“Five to six years ago there was a big push for the incinerator, as the landfill wanted to have options,” he says. “We only need the communications plan if it goes through, and there’s a lot of ‘ifs’ on there. Do I really think it’s going to happen? No.”

A specific obstacle Mr. Ward points to is that the estimated 250 to 300 tons of waste that would be burned doesn’t justify the incinerator’s price tag of $4 million to $5 million. Significant funding and effort, he says, would be needed to convince future board members the project would be worthwhile.

Even the slightest possibility the incinerator could be constructed, however, is too big a risk in the eyes of Diana Calder, who was one of the leading civilian opponents to the landfill. Though disappointed the board upheld the landfill’s licence to build and operate an incinerator, Ms. Calder says the effort was worth the opportunity to have her voice heard.

“I’m glad I saw it through and didn’t just drop everything,” she says. “There were several times during the process where people said to me just drop it, just let it go. And I said, I can’t do that. I’m going to see it through to the end.”

Participating in a written provincial hearing over mail had its challenges, especially in the time needed to participate. At one point, Ms. Calder says, she received six large boxes filled with so many documents she couldn’t lift one by herself and needed two days to organize all the papers.

“I never really knew what I was getting myself into, but I just kept plugging away at it,” she says.

Enduring through the appeal process was the only way Ms. Calder felt she could stick up for herself and her neighbours.

“I live within reach of said landfill, and it just made me really angry about the process and how the province was taking it for granted that they were going to do this and it didn’t matter whether anybody cared or not,” she says. “That bothered me; that made me angry. I just don’t think that was right.”

A full explanation of the board’s decision will be posted online at www.eab.gov.ab.ca/decisions.htm in the near future.

Sean Oliver, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Shootin' the Breeze

MAY DAY USA
Exclusive: U.S. Labor Secretary throws his support behind classifying gig workers as employees

© Reuters/ERIN SCOTT FILE PHOTO: Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh speaks during a news conference at the White House in Washington

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A lot of gig workers in the United States should be classified as "employees" who deserve work benefits, President Biden's labor secretary said on Thursday, suggesting a shift in policy that is likely to raise costs for companies that depend on contractors such as Uber and Lyft.

Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, a son of Irish immigrants and a former union member, has been expected to boost the Biden Administration's efforts to expand workers' protections and deliver a win for the country's organized labor movement.

"We are looking at it but in a lot of cases gig workers should be classified as employees... in some cases they are treated respectfully and in some cases they are not and I think it has to be consistent across the board," Walsh told Reuters in an interview, expressing his view on the topic for the first time.

"These companies are making profits and revenue and I'm not (going to) begrudge anyone for that because that's what we are about in America. But we also want to make sure that success trickles down to the worker," he said.

Shares of Uber fell as much as 8 percent while Lyft dived as much as 12 percent. Doordash fell nearly 9 percent and Grubhub was down 3.3 percent.

Walsh's work at the Department of Labor is expected to have a major impact on U.S. workplace laws and regulations, including vigorous enforcement of occupational safety and health rules, overtime payments and proper administration of employee benefit plans.

As many as 55 million people in the United States were gig workers - or 34% of the workforce - in 2017, according to the International Labor Organization, and the total was projected to rise to 43% in 2020.

Walsh's views on the issue could usher in new rulings from the department, which sets legal guidelines for how employers treat workers. Before his appointment, the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division proposed rescinding a rule adopted in January that would have made it easier to classify workers as independent contractors.

Walsh said the Department will have conversations with companies that employ gig labor in the coming months to make sure workers have access to consistent wages, sick time, health care and "all of the things that an average employee in America can access."

The Department's decision could have far-reaching implications on ride-hailing services such as Uber Inc, Lyft and food delivery apps such as Grubhub Doordash and Postmates.

An Uber spokesman said the United States should be advancing policies to improve independent work and not eliminating it. The company said an overwhelming majority of app-based workers want to stay independent, because it allows them to work when, where and how they want with flexibility no traditional job can match.

A Doordash spokeswoman said "dashers have overwhelmingly told us that they value the flexibility to earn when and how they choose. We’re committed to protecting their independence while providing greater security and benefits."

Gig workers are independent contractors who perform on-demand services, including as drivers, delivering groceries or providing childcare - and are one-third more likely to be Black or Latino, according to an Edison Research poll.

Walsh also spoke about the risks that result from not having gig companies paying unemployment insurance for such workers - a scenario that has played out during the pandemic, leaving the U.S. government to foot the bill.

"If the federal government didn't cover the gig economy workers, those workers would not only have lost their job, but they wouldn't have had any unemployment benefits to keep their family moving forward. We'd have a lot more difficult situation all across the country," he said.

The last decade has seen a surge in the number of gig workers, indicating broad economic and demographic shifts and raising concerns around long-term financial security for a growing share of the workforce, according to some experts.

WORKPLACE SAFETY

Walsh said the labor department's workplace safety arm, the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA), is also planning to hire 160 federal inspectors to step up checks and enforcement around the country.

"OSHA, over the last four years has been decimated," he said.

There are currently has 760 federal inspectors and the latest hiring plan represents a sizable jump at a time when the department has been losing inspectors every year.

OSHA and the Department of Labor have been heavily criticized for applying scant oversight and negligible penalties despite outbreaks of the coronavirus at workplaces such as factories and warehouses around the country.

Walsh is also part of a White House taskforce that was recently set up by President Biden to help promote unions and labor organizing around the country. He said the first taskforce meeting will be in a couple of weeks.

Walsh spoke at length about the work organized labor must do to reintroduce itself to America's younger generation. He also said the recent push to unionize an Amazon.com Inc. facility in Alabama, which the union did not win, is not a loss for the labor movement.

"The labor movement is like a political campaign. I think the younger generation in America seems to have a new interest in the labor movement," he said, adding that the Amazon campaign is an opportunity for unions and labor groups to discuss what organized labor is all about.

(Reporting by Nandita Bose in Washington; Editing by Chris Sanders, Heather Timmons and Dan Grebler)

MAY DAY
Crew members of infamous ‘Ever Given’ could be stuck on boat for years

Samantha Pope 

29/4/2021


The infamous ‘Ever Given’ ship might now be unstuck from the walls of the Suez Canal, but its crew members are not free from the vessel yet — and it’s unclear when that may happen.

Mohammed Aisha rows to shore from the MV Aman cargo ship, where he was stuck on for four years.

The ship stole the world’s attention on March 23 when it ran aground in the Suez Canal, leading to billions of dollars in losses globally before becoming unstuck six days later.

Despite the relief of having an unblocked vital trading route, the ship still hasn’t moved from its holding spot in the middle of the Suez Canal more than a month later. The crew is still onboard the ship amid a monetary dispute, with no agreement yet reached between Egypt and the Ever Given’s owners — and no end yet in sight.

A week stuck in the Suez Canal? Once, 14 ships and crew were trapped there for eight years

Why we shouldn't blame the pilot of the container ship stuck in Suez Canal

It’s a similar story to that of Mohammed Aisha, who was stuck on the MV Aman cargo ship for four years. He was marooned onboard the vessel as a legal dispute between Egyptian authorities and the ship’s owners played out thousands of miles away regarding expired safety equipment and classification certificates.

In that situation, the local court had made Aisha the ship’s legal guard, meaning he was bound to the vessel with no ability to leave. He spent two of the four years on the ship completely alone, eventually becoming malnourished and experiencing symptoms akin to prisoners held in poor conditions, the Guardian reported.

To get food and water and to charge his phone, Aisha had to row to shore — initially 8 kilometres away before a storm blew the Aman off its anchorage and brought it a few hundred metres from the shoreline in 2020.

“It’s not only loneliness, it’s mandatory loneliness combined with desperation,” Aisha told the CBC after finally returning home to Syria on April 23. “It will make you suicidal. So I don’t wish that on anyone.”

Now, the Ever Given is stuck in a dispute as well. The ship is being held by the Suez Canal Authority (SCA), which demands it must be paid $916 million for salvage costs and damages before the vessel is let go

.

© Mahmoud Khaled/Getty Images The ALMI ODYSSEY clears the Suez Canal on March 30, 2021, near Ismailia, Egypt, after the container ship “Ever Given” was finally freed.

The SCA says the sum will cover revenue lost during the maritime logjam, the cost of the rescue mission and will pay for the damage of the canal’s embankments. But the authority’s chairman, Osama Rabie, told local television the ship’s owners were contesting the huge sum and “they do not want to pay anything.”

This is because the SCA has not provided a justification for this “extraordinarily large claim,” the UK Club, an insurance company that represents the owners of the ship, told the Guardian. “We are also disappointed at comments by the SCA that the ship will be held in Egypt until compensation is paid and that her crew will be unable to leave the vessel during this time.”

The crew, meanwhile, are “relaxed but apprehensive,” according to Abdulgani Y Serang, the head of the National Union of Seafarers of India, which represents the crew. The hope is that they will remain untouched by the dispute swirling around them, he said.

“These are professionals who had nothing to do with this incident and should not be held to ransom,” Serang said. “They should not feel any heat at all from this whole incident.”

On Monday, the head of the SCA said it’s untrue that the 26 crew members of the Ever Given were unable to leave the ship and denied holding them to ransom.

Despite the SCA saying crew members are indeed allowed to come and go off the vessel, though, there are some exceptions. There must be enough sailors left behind to tend to the vessel and the captain cannot leave as he is the ship’s legal guardian, just as Aisha was designated on the Aman.

Cases of seafarers being stuck onboard ships are not uncommon. The International Labour Organization has an ongoing database of abandoned seafarers , with more than 250 active cases around the world where crews are left to fend for themselves. That number is on the rise, BBC reported, with eighty-five new cases reported in 2020 — twice as many as the previous year.

Though crew members are stuck onboard the Ever Given, their story may not play out as Aisha’s did. On Friday, the UK Club filed an appeal in an Egyptian court over the detention of the vessel, with a hearing to be held on May 4.

Meanwhile, Aisha’s case should be a moment for everyone in the shipping industry to reflect upon, Mohammed Arrachedi of the International Transport Workers Federation told the BBC. Though Aisha has returned home, many seafarers remain stuck out on the water.

“The case of Mohammed has to serve to open a serious debate to prevent these abuses to seafarers on ships,” Arrachedi said.

PSYCHOGEOGRAPHY  USA

 Black cemeteries reflect history of segregation

Duration: 02:26

Black cemeteries are scattered throughout the U.S., reflecting a deep past of cemetery segregation. Many Black Americans excluded from white-owned cemeteries built their own burial spaces. Their descendants are working to preserve the history. (April 29)

 FORTY DAYS & NIGHTS

Ethereal scenes as Fagradalsfjall continues erupting

Duration: 01:13 

Iceland's Fagradalsfjall volcano has been erupting continuously for the past 40 days. On Monday, dozens gathered around the mountain as it shot magnificent fountains of lava over 50 meters into the air.

 Joe Rogan isn't a doctor. He is dispensing bad medical advice nobody asked for.

Dr. Esther Choo and Dr. Megan Ranney and Dr. Anand Swaminathan  

APRIL 29, 2021

Advocates on battling language barriers amid COVID-19

There's a reason the GOP's ridiculous beef conspiracy won't go away

It has been a year of terrible takes on Covid-19. Despite the presumed universal goal of getting through this pandemic sooner rather than later, a surprising number of Americans have lent their voices and platforms to conspiratorial thinking, rumors and medical myths. Enter comedian and self-styled thought leader Joe Rogan, who, honestly, nobody asked but has nonetheless weighed in with harmful and misinformed opinions about whether young people should be vaccinated against Covid-19. Rogan may play for laughs on his podcast, but none of this is funny.

© Provided by NBC News

Rogan runs one of the most popular Spotify podcasts, getting tens of millions of downloads every month. In his episode Tuesday, he said that if asked, he would tell healthy young people not to get vaccinated against Covid-19. Noting first that he believes that vaccines are safe, Rogan argued that being young, exercising and eating healthily make the coronavirus (and coronavirus vaccines) a nonissue.

"But if you're, like, 21 years old and you say to me, 'Should I get vaccinated?' I'd go, 'No,'" he said. "Are you healthy? Are you a healthy person? Like, look, don't do anything stupid, but you should take care of yourself. If you're a healthy person and you're exercising all the time and you're young and you're eating well, I don't think you need to worry about this."

Rogan started off on the right track. The vaccines are safe. They're also highly effective, markedly reducing the risk of catching Covid-19, markedly reducing the risk of getting sick from Covid-19 and virtually eliminating the risk of dying of Covid-19. It's also true that the rate of severe illness and death in kids is lower than that in adults and that those with chronic diseases are at higher risk for severe illness and death. And "don't do anything stupid"? Very sound advice that we, as emergency medicine physicians, heartily endorse.

But beyond this, Rogan goes off the rails and into a sad abyss of generalizing from anecdotal personal experiences into the abandonment of pandemic-mitigation principles. He acknowledges and expresses sympathy for kids who have gotten sick and died from Covid-19, but not too much — since his kids had Covid-19, did just fine and were never "in agony." At one point, he even endorses the false narrative that Covid-19 is no worse than the flu. Based on his flawed understanding of the pandemic, he finally reaches the conclusion that healthy young people don't need to get vaccinated.

This conclusion isn't just misinformed; it's potentially dangerous.

Rogan failed to acknowledge that Covid-19 has already killed over 570,000 people in the U.S. — far more than the around 22,000 who died from the flu in 2019-20. And although 21-year-olds are less likely to be hospitalized or to die than, say, 60-year-olds who get Covid-19, their risk is not negligible. Healthy young adults and kids have suffered greatly and died from Covid-19, and this is meaningful.

Moreover, focusing on deaths is itself shortsighted. These numbers skip casually past the physical, neurological and emotional long-term effects of infection, even for younger adult

Most important, Rogan demonstrates that he lacks a simple, fundamental understanding about how infectious diseases — including Covid-19 — spread. They spread among those susceptible (i.e., not vaccinated). Rampant spread of Covid-19 among the millions of people under 21 in the U.S., if they remain unvaccinated, poses an enormous public health threat not just to young people, but to the entire population. Younger, healthier adults already seem to be the ones most responsible for Covid-19 transmission.

And as viruses spread, they not only can cause suffering, but they also can mutate; they adapt. The more they are transmitted, the greater the chance that a more transmissible variant or a more lethal variant or a variant that evades our vaccine-induced immunity will emerge. Some of those variants may have different epidemiologic patterns, including affecting young people more often and gravely.

Vaccines do protect the individual — but getting vaccinated isn't just about the individual. It's also about protecting everyone in our community, now and in the future. Indeed, a growing body of evidence suggests that those vaccinated against Covid-19 have a lower likelihood of spreading it.

Lots of funny people seem to understand this, by the way.

Why bother calling out Rogan's lousy take? His platform is enormous. Many people spend more time listening to Rogan than they do to health professionals. While scientists and doctors are generally more trusted, competing messages like Rogan's can be confusing and affect people's behaviors with regard to their health.

We don't expect everyone to be an expert. Still, those with influential platforms have a responsibility to be a little more careful and realize the ripple effects of misguidance and a casual piece of misinformation. A knowledgeable guest would have made all the difference — a celebrity message echoing expert interpretation can be a powerful reinforcement of the science. A little curiosity and humility go a long way, too: Acknowledging that you don't know why the CDC recommends vaccinations for younger, healthier people and asking the question of someone who does know would be helpful.

Indeed, this productive use of a platform is something other celebrities have already led the way on, from W. Kamau Bell to NFL star Patrick Mahomes.

Perhaps the best antidote to Rogan's comments is young people themselves. As Gabriel, a college student who falls in the category Rogan advised not to get vaccinated, told one of us: "Yes, I'd probably be fine if I got Covid, but I'd be spreading it to people who maybe aren't healthy and young. Getting it gives me peace of mind." (He also noted that news of healthy people who have fallen seriously ill — notably other NFL stars, like Von Miller — "really makes me question people who say that being in good shape and young will shield you completely.")

This feeling of responsibility tells us that the impact of Rogan's irresponsible statements may be mitigated by the fact that young people are, for the most part, savvy, diligent about Covid-19's risks and thoughtful about others' well-being during the pandemic.

Ultimately, the more people at every age get vaccinated, the greater our chances of getting the pandemic under control. Given that the vaccines are very, very safe and that we are all eager to get back out into society, the upsides fantastically outweigh the downsides. We are blessed to have effective and increasingly accessible vaccines. The response to early wins isn't to figure out how to stall out — it's to keep running and secure victory as soon as possible.

"Don't do anything stupid"? We stand by Rogan on that one. We recommend that people start by not taking health advice from his show.

Dr. Fauci Shuts Down Joe Rogan’s Comments on the Covid Vaccine

Podcaster Joe Rogan is facing an online backlash this week after comments made during the most recent episode of his show, The Joe Rogan Experience, in which he said that he does not believe people who are young and healthy need to get vaccinated against Covid-19."If you're like 21 years old, and you say to me,'Should I get vaccinated?' I'll go,'No,'" he said.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and chief medical advisor to President Joe Biden, has publicly responded to Rogan, calling his words"incorrect" and stating that such a point of view fails to consider the bigger picture.

Speaking to TODAY's Savannah Guthrie, Fauci said:"Well that's incorrect, and the reason why is you're talking about yourself in a vacuum then. You're worried about yourself getting infected and the likelihood that you're not gonna get any symptoms."

"But you can get infected and will get infected if you put yourself at risk," he continued."And even if you don't have any symptoms, you're propagating the outbreak because it is likely that you — even if you have no symptoms — that you may inadvertently and innocently then infect someone else who might infect someone who really could have a problem with a severe outcome."

Of course, this isn't the first time Rogan has caused a controversy with his remarks on the subject of the vaccine. Back in February, he stated that he would not personally take the vaccine, telling guest Jamar Neighbors:"No. I mean, I would if I felt like I needed it. I just feel like if you maintain your health—and I think for some people it’s important, for some people it’s good."

Throughout the pandemic, Rogan has maintained a stance that getting vaccinated is a personal choice. But as Fauci points out, such an individualist outlook ignores the fact that we live in communities, and that the decisions we make about our own health during a pandemic are almost certainly bound to affect others.

"If you want to only worry about yourself and not society, then that's OK," said Fauci."But if you're saying to yourself,'Even if I get infected, I could do damage to somebody else, even if I have no symptoms at all'... that's the reason why you've got to be careful and get vaccinated."

Rogan has also repeatedly implied that healthy eating and exercise can be enough by themselves to protect an individual from Covid: however, boosting your immune system is not the same as having immunity from coronavirus.

But while he has taken care not to generalize, and has only spoken to to his own experience and that of his family—his two daughters had mild cases of the virus—the fact remains that Rogan is one of the most popular podcasters in the world. The extent of his platform means that even an offhand, personal comment will reach millions of listeners, many of whom are passionately loyal fans. And to say that they aren't going to be influenced by his words would be disingenuous.

Forgotten for half a century, this rare bean could save Sierra Leone's coffee industry

By Rebecca Cairns, CNN  

29/4/2021

About 200 miles southeast of Sierra Leone's capital, agricultural researcher Daniel Sarmu made the discovery of a lifetime in the steep and humid Kambui Hills.

© E. Couturon/IRD/Reuters The coffee species Coffea stenophylla, which bears black fruit rather than the red fruit typical of the two coffee species that are widely grown commercially, is seen in Ivory Coast in this undated photograph. E. Couturon, IRD/Handout via REUTERS

© Courtesy Jeremy Haggar The stenophylla coffee plant was rediscovered by Daniel Sarmu (right) and researchers Aaron Davis (left) and Jeremy Haggar in 2018.

In 2018, Sarmu and two researchers from Kew Royal Botanic Gardens in the UK were on a mission to find the long-lost stenophylla coffee of Sierra Leone. The rare West African coffee plant hadn't been seen in the wild there since 1954, although it had been spotted sporadically in Guinea and the Ivory Coast over the years.

© Michael Duff/CNN Despite producing coffee, Sierra Leone isn't known for its local coffee culture. Many people opt instead for instant coffee from brands like Nescafe.

The rediscovery of Sierra Leone's highland coffee has renewed hopes that the uncommon crop could be cultivated and produced commercially -- and help to revive the country's floundering coffee industry, which was decimated by 11 years of civil war.

"Coffee could change the narrative for our farmers," Sarmu tells CNN.

A rediscovered plant

After discovering a wild garden of around 15 stenophylla plants growing in the hills, the research team gathered samples for testing.

In their new study published this month, it was confirmed that stenophylla coffee is of high quality and excellent flavor, comparable to the best Arabica beans.

"Coffee markets are very interested in anything that's different -- particularly if it has good flavor attributes," says Jeremy Haggar, an agro-ecologist at the University of Greenwich in the UK and one of the researchers who rediscovered the stenophylla coffee with Sarmu. "It's highly likely that the specialty coffee market will be interested in it, and they may pay very high prices."

Stenophylla coffee also grows in warmer temperatures, which means it could help the industry in its battle with climate change. Stenophylla can comfortably grow at temperatures up to 6.8⁰C higher than Arabica, which Haggar says could offer the industry a potential lifeline in a warming world.

© Michael Duff/CNN More local coffee producers are entering the domestic market, including Coffee Courier, Aromatic Coffee and Nina's Coffee.

This is good news for Sierra Leone, which is at the forefront of stenophylla's revival. But there's still a long road ahead before this rare bean makes its way into our coffee cups. The wild plant needs to be domesticated and further studied to develop better growth and management strategies.

Sierra Leone is one of the poorest countries in the world, so adding a high-value market could be a boon for its agricultural sector, which employs 75% of the population. One of the biggest challenges is funding, Sarmu says, but he's committed to seeing stenophylla in Sierra Leone's coffee farms once more.

A coveted coffee

"Coffea stenophylla" wasn't always a rare commodity.

While researchers say 99% of the coffee we consume today comprises of Arabica and robusta, there are actually 124 species of coffee. There used to be much more diversity in coffee types, and Sierra Leone's highland coffee was highly coveted.

"In the 1890s, it was stenophylla coffee that dominated the market," says Sarmu. It was the preferred coffee of the French, and traded frequently into the 1920s.

But in the 1950s, robusta coffee was introduced to Sierra Leone by the British. Robusta is a more productive plant but is generally considered lower quality. As both coffees sold for the same price, farmers started replacing the old native crop. Over time, stenophylla was forgotten.

At this point, coffee was more important to Sierra Leone's economy than cocoa (now one of the country's top exports). Until 1991, Sierra Leone was exporting up to 25,000 tons of coffee annually.

But in that year, conflict in the neighboring country of Liberia, led by Charles Taylor, spread to Sierra Leone, triggering an 11-year civil war. Farmers abandoned the fields, says Sarmu -- and the coffee industry disappeared.


A new coffee culture

When the civil war officially ended in 2002, many of Sierra Leone's agricultural industries had to start over. The coffee sector never recovered, with annual exports falling to around 2,000 metric tons -- while Ethiopia, the continent's top producer, exported 234,000 metric tons last year.

Perhaps because of this, Sierra Leone has not developed its own unique coffee culture like some other coffee-producing countries. Rather than drinking homegrown products, locals can be seen drinking instant coffee from imported brands like Nescafe in the street market on their morning commutes.

However, that culture is starting to change, says Hannah Tarawally, founder of Coffee Courier, a coffee producer and cafe in the country's capital, Freetown.

"Before, my friends don't drink coffee, but because I introduced it to them, they can see and taste the difference," she says. "So I think it will change for Sierra Leoneans, to start using our own local products."

Tarawally began hand-roasting her own beans in 2015, and says she was one of the first in the country to do so. Her brand, Salone Coffee, now exports to Liberia and she hopes to enter the European market soon. In 2020, Coffee Courier opened its first cafe in Freetown -- one of the country's first dedicated coffee shops, an indication of the changing attitudes to homegrown products.

Tarawally isn't the only one creating a domestic market for artisanal brews. Aromatic Coffee, a stall in a Freetown market, was one of the first in the city, and Nina's Coffee, another Freetown coffee shop, hand-roasts its beans in-house.

When it becomes commercially available, the rediscovered stenophylla coffee could strengthen this burgeoning coffee scene -- one that Tarawally hopes all Sierra Leoneans will take part in.

"We are not only targeting an international market, but we need to target our country," says Tarawally. "We need to target the layman in Sierra Leone who can drink coffee, and make it a part of us all."

SPACE RACE 2.0

China's 'space dream': A Long March to the Moon and beyond

The launch of the first module of China's new space station - "Heavenly Palace" - on Thursday underlined how far the country has come in achieving its space dream.

© CCTV The Jade Rabbit lunar rover surveyed the moon's surface for 31 months

The Tianhe core module houses life support equipment and a living space for astronauts, and is another key step in Beijing's grand plans to establish a permanent human presence in space

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© STR China has been carrying out experiments in a lab simulating a lunar-like environment in preparation for its long-term goal of putting humans on the moon

Beijing has poured billions into its military-run space programme, with hopes of having a crewed space station by 2022 and eventually sending humans to the Moon.

The country has come a long way in its race to catch up with the United States and Russia, whose astronauts and cosmonauts have decades of experience in space exploration

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 STR The launch of a rocket carrying China's Chang'e-5 lunar probe underlined how much progress Beijing had made towards its 'space dream'

But Beijing sees its space project as a mark of its rising global stature and growing technological might.

Here is a look at China's space programme through the decades, and where it is headed:

- Mao's vow -

Soon after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik in 1957, Chairman Mao Zedong pronounced: "We too will make satellites."

It took more than a decade, but in 1970, China launched its first satellite on a Long March rocket.

Human spaceflight took decades longer, with Yang Liwei becoming the first Chinese "taikonaut" in 2003.

As the launch approached, concerns over the viability of the mission caused Beijing to cancel a live television broadcast at the last minute.

But it went smoothly, with Yang orbiting the Earth 14 times during a 21-hour flight aboard the Shenzhou 5.

China has launched five crewed missions since.

- Space station and 'Jade Rabbit' -

Following in the footsteps of the United States and Russia, China is striving to build a space station circling the planet.

The Tiangong-1 lab was launched in September 2011.


In 2013, the second Chinese woman in space, Wang Yaping, gave a video class from inside the space module to children across the world's most populous country.

The craft was also used for medical experiments and, most importantly, tests intended to prepare for the construction of a space station.

That was followed by the "Jade Rabbit" lunar rover in 2013, which first appeared a dud when it turned dormant and stopped sending signals back to Earth.

It made a dramatic recovery, however, ultimately surveying the Moon's surface for 31 months -- well beyond its expected lifespan.

In 2016, China launched its second orbital lab, the Tiangong-2. Taikonauts who have visited the station have run experiments on growing rice and other plants.

- 'Space dream' -

Under President Xi Jinping, plans for China's "space dream", as he calls it, have been put into overdrive.

China is looking to finally catch up with the US and Russia after years of belatedly matching their milestones.

In addition to a space station, China is also planning to build a base on the Moon, and the country's National Space Administration has said it aims to launch a crewed lunar mission by 2029.

But lunar work was dealt a setback in 2017 when the Long March-5 Y2, a powerful heavy-lift rocket, failed to launch on a mission to send communication satellites into orbit.

That forced the postponement of the launch of Chang'e-5, which was originally scheduled to collect Moon samples in the second half of 2017.

Another robot, the Chang'e-4, landed on the far side of the Moon in January 2019 -- a historic first.

This was followed by one which landed on the near side of the Moon late last year and raised a Chinese flag on the Moon's surface.

The unmanned Chinese spacecraft returned to earth in December with rocks and soil from the Moon -- the first lunar samples collected in four decades.

And the first images of Mars were sent back by the five-tonne Tianwen-1 in February, days before it entered the Red Planet's orbit.

It includes a Mars orbiter, a lander and a rover that will study the planet's soil.

China hopes to ultimately land the rover in May in Utopia, a massive impact basin on Mars.

- Palace in the sky -

The Chinese space station named Tiangong -- meaning "heavenly palace" -- will need around 10 missions to bring up more parts and assemble them into orbit.

Once completed, it is expected to remain in low Earth orbit at between 400 and 450 kilometres above our planet for 15 years.

It would realise an ambition to keep a long-term human presence in space.

While China does not plan to use its space station for international cooperation on the scale of the ISS, Beijing has said it is open to foreign collaboration.

But it is not yet clear how extensive that cooperation will be in a project of national prestige and security.

As the rocket carrying the first module tore through the sky, state media was in triumphant mood.

"A palace in the sky will no longer be just a romantic fantasy of the ancients," the TV anchor said.