An Atmospheric Trick May Have Helped A Ukrainian Missile Battery Find And Sink The Russian Cruiser ‘Moskva’

Story by David Axe, Forbes Staff 

In days and weeks after a Ukrainian navy anti-ship missile battery sank the Russian Black Sea Fleet cruiser Moskva on April 13, a lot of rumors circulated.


'Moskva' sinking. Via social media© Provided by Forbes

Many of the rumors attempted to explain how a navy with virtually no big ships or aircraft could defeat a navy with lots of big—and heavily-armed—vessels and planes. Some of the rumors hinged on the assumption that the Ukrainians required foreign help in order to strike Moskva.

Did one of the Ukrainian navy’s Turkish-made Bayraktar TB-2 drones sneak up on Moskva and pinpoint her location, 80 miles south of Odesa, for the Neptune battery? Did a high-flying U.S. Navy Boeing P-8 patrol plane relay the critical coordinates?

Neither, apparently. According to an eyebrow-raising new story in Ukrainska Pravda, the Neptune battery—a quad launcher and its associated radar—found and hit Moskva mostly on its own.

The assistance the battery did receive ... came from nature. An atmospheric phenomenon called “temperature inversion” created a kind of channel for radar waves that allowed them to travel over the curve of the horizon and back,

“Nature itself unexpectedly helped Ukraine on April 13,” Ukrainska Pravda reporter Roman Romaniuk wrote. “The operators of the Neptune should not have reached Moskva with ordinary radar, but this is exactly what happened.”

On the afternoon of April 13, the Neptune battery’s radar operator registered, on his screen, a large blip south of Odesa. “There could be only one object of a similar size in this sector of the Black Sea—the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation, the cruiser Moskva,” Romaniuk wrote.


A Neptune battery. Ukrainian defense ministry© Provided by Forbes

“But how could an ordinary radar show an over-the-horizon target at such a distance?” Romaniuk asked. “As Ukrainian rocket engineers are convinced beyond doubt, nature itself sided with the defenders.”

An atmospheric inversion is a boundary layer in the air where the usual temperative dynamic—warmer air below, cooler air above—switches. Above the inversion, the air is warmer than it is below the inversion.

The inversion, which might occur hundreds or thousands of feet above the surface, is only so thick. A few hundred or thousand feet higher, the atmosphere reverts back to its usual temperature dynamic: higher is colder.

Think of the inversion as an invisible ceiling. Stuff tends to accumulate at the altitude where the temperature abruptly changes. Clouds and pollution, for instance. Electromagnetic waves, too.

When the weather is just so and an inversion forms at the right place and altitude, a radar that normally sees only as far as the horizon—30, 40 or 50 miles, depending on the radar’s height—might suddenly see over the horizon. That’s because the radar waves are channeled over the curve of the Earth by the inversion.

It’s hard to anticipate these conditions. So the Ukrainian radar operator was understandably confused when Moskva first appeared on his scope that April afternoon.

But not for long, Romaniuk explained. “After a few minutes of heavy hesitation and consultation, he gave the command ‘launch’—and two missiles flew towards the Russian cruiser.”

CUT NOSE TO SPITE FACE

No co-pilot? Airlines lobby for change in regulations

Story by Peter Greenberg • 


In the airline business, there are two cost factors the airlines can never control: fuel and labor. And as technology improves — and pilot salaries increase — there's been a controversial move lately by the industry to try to amend what's known as part 121 of the Federal Aviation Regulations. That's the federal air regulation that requires air carriers to have two pilots in the cockpit at all times.


miracle-on-the-hudson.jpg© Credit: CBSNews

The airlines have been quietly lobbying that the single-pilot approach would quickly solve the staffing problem caused by the pilot shortage and that technology has vastly improved to allow for safe operation of a single-pilot flight.

There's language in a new bill now introduced in Congress — the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill — asking the Federal Aviation Administration to reconsider part 121 and to allow the use of a single pilot operation, first in cargo aircraft.

Not surprisingly, airline pilots are loudly protesting this idea, claiming that it would diminish a safety discipline and culture that has been responsible for the safest 25 years in commercial aviation in the history of aviation. Pilots unions argue it's all about the airlines saving money and could compromise safety.

But many recent examples tend to confirm the unions' argument, including a 2015 crash in Europe. A co-pilot of a Germanwings flight locked the pilot out of the cockpit and deliberately crashed the plane, killing himself and 149 other people, giving credence to the ongoing argument that in an airborne crisis you need two pilots working in concert to save the aircraft — as was the case in the "Miracle on the Hudson," when pilots Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger and Jeffrey Skiles successfully ditched a U.S. Airways flight in New York's Hudson River after the plane hit a flock Canada geese on takeoff and subsequently lost power. All 150 passengers as well as the crew were successfully rescued.

And most recently, an incident about 10 days ago occurred on an American Eagle flight from Chicago to Columbus. Shortly after takeoff, the pilot became incapacitated. The co-pilot was able to regain the controls, declare an emergency, turn the plane around and make a safe emergency landing back in O'Hare, and the pilot died later at a hospital. Had there not been a two-person crew in the cockpit, the story would have had a tragic ending.

In any case, more than 40 countries have appealed to an international aviation agency to revise standards globally to give airlines the option for a one-person cockpit crew, so the fight is just getting started.

Fire department saves eagle impaled on lightning rod atop 120-foot radio tower

Saturday, Deec.10,2022

First responders rescued an eagle impaled by a lightning rod atop a 120 -foot radio tower at St. George Elementary in MacClenny, Florida.

Fire department crews responded to a call Friday about the eagle stuck on top of the tower and contacted wildlife authorities from the scene. It was determined that someone would need to go to the top of the tower to help the eagle, MacClenny Fire and Rescue Department said in a post on Facebook.


In this photo posted to the FaceBook account of the Macclenny Fire and Rescue Department, the impaled eagle is shown.© Macclenny Fire and Rescue Department/FaceBook

MORE: Video Bald eagle spotted going through airport security

Engineer Louis Castle and Lt. Garret Williams loaded up into a 100-foot tall tower and headed toward the elementary school, according to the fire department.

Crews gained access to the area by cutting a fence then went up 100-feet in the tower, the department said in a statement on Facebook.


In this photo posted to the FaceBook account of the Macclenny Fire and Rescue Department, the impaled eagle is shown being rescued.© Macclenny Fire and Rescue Department/FaceBook


In this photo posted to the FaceBook account of the Macclenny Fire and Rescue Department, the impaled eagle is shown being rescued.© Macclenny Fire and Rescue Department/FaceBook

Castle then exited the bucket of the fire department's ladder and hooked himself onto the tower, using safety equipment, and climbed the remaining 20-feet, according to the department.

The eagle was found in "obvious distress," according to the department

MORE: Why a bald eagle was seen traveling through a North Carolina airport this week

Once he was at the top, Castle was able to free the bird of its impalement. It then soared down and was captured by wildlife rescuers.

As of Saturday afternoon, the fire department did not have an update on the eagle's health status.

DECRIMINALIZE DRUGS

Is safe supply for opioid use effective? Here’s what the experts, data say

Story by Teresa Wright • Saturday, Dec. 10,2022

Front-line workers of Canada's opioid crisis say harm reduction approaches like safe supplies for those navigating substance use are clear even amid renewed political debate around the issue.


People hold a banner during a march to remember those who died during the overdose crisis and to call for a safe supply of illicit drugs on International Overdose Awareness Day, in Vancouver, on Tuesday, August 31, 2021.

© THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Debate around safe supply recently reignited after Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre posted a video to his Twitter account saying initiatives like safe consumption sites and offering a safer supply of drugs to people in the throes of addiction "will only lead to their ultimate deaths."

Read more:
Amid grim opioid death projections, Ottawa faces calls to move faster on safe supply

Global News spoke to experts who have been working on the frontlines of the opioid crisis to hear their experiences, and those who weighed in voiced concerns. A growing body of data, experts suggested, indicates initiatives like safe supply and harm reduction actually decrease overdose deaths and hospitalizations and help connect people to more health care and treatment options

“To describe safe supply as causing homelessness, as causing an increase in crime is really just the opposite of what we're seeing from the research itself,” said Mish Waraksa, clinical lead for the Parkdale Queen West Safer Opioid Supply Program in Toronto.

Here's what the data and experts say about the effectiveness of safe supply.

The video, “Everything is broken,” was shared in November on the Conservative leader’s Twitter account.

It shows Poilievre in the foreground, pointing behind him to a collection of tents along a shoreline in Vancouver, B.C., saying the people in the tents are “hopelessly addicted to drugs, putting poisons in their bodies.”

“The addictions that we see, that have terrorized these people and our communities, they are the result of a failed experiment,” Poilievre says in the video.

“This is a deliberate policy by woke Liberal and NDP governments to provide taxpayer-funded drugs, flood our streets with easy access to these poisons.”

The video drew criticism from many in Canada’s political realm, including a former adviser to former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper, Ben Perrin, who said it reflected “tropes that have long been discredited.”

Read more:
Safe consumption forefront of countering the overdose crisis, prime minister says

Federal Mental Health and Addictions Minister Carolyn Bennett, called the video “irresponsible.”

“Using (people living in tents) as props to peddle his snake oil was disgraceful,” Bennett said at a House of Commons committee meeting on Nov. 29, stressing that all federally-funded harm reduction initiatives are rooted in evidence-based outcomes.

“This is about creating a community of compassion… this is about the toxic drug supply, but (also) it’s understanding addiction.”

A request for comment from Poilievre for this story went unanswered.

Looking at the data on opioid deaths does paint a grim picture of the fatal and growing toll the opioid crisis is having on Canadians.

A total of 29,052 Canadians have died due to opioids since 2016, according to the latest federal data released in June.

In 2021, the number of deaths reached an all-time high: 21 Canadians per day died from opioids, which represents a 162 per cent increase from 2016, and a 101 per cent increase from the year before.

A total of 7,560 Canadians died from opioid use last year, up from 3,747 in 2020.

While these statistics are sobering, there is also data to suggest some harm reduction measures that have been implemented are saving lives.

For example, supervised consumption sites across the country received almost 2.2 million visits between 2017 and 2020, where nearly 17,400 overdoses were reversed without a single death at a site, federal data shows.

Video: Advocates say Alberta should revisit safe supply in light of new research

These visits also led to approximately 84,400 referrals to health and social services.

And when it comes to safer supply programs, where patients are given access to prescriptions of pharmaceutical-grade opioids, some recent studies have also shown positive outcomes.

A review of 10 federally-funded safer supply pilot projects in three provinces, commissioned by Health Canada and released earlier this year, cited participants reporting improvements in their lives and well-being.

Clients said having access to a safer supply of drugs saved their lives, created more stability, allowed them to become housed and employed and gave them hope for their future.

Another independent study published in September in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) found safe opioid supply programs can significantly cut down on emergency department visits and hospitalizations for people at high risk for overdose.

Read more:
Safer opioid supply program leads to drop in Ontario hospitalizations, ER visits: study

That study looked at individuals who used a safer supply program in London, Ont., for three years, and found ER visits and hospital admissions declined one year after participants entered the program.

It also found no increased risk of infections or overdoses and a decline in health-care costs unrelated to primary care or outpatient medications after a year.

In addition, there were no opioid-related deaths among those who were part of this program.

Video: Safe drug supply key recommendation in reducing toxic illicit drug-related deaths

The biggest driver of the overdose crisis in Canada since 2016 is the contamination of the street drug supply with more potent drugs like fentanyl, says Cheyanne Johnson, executive director at the B.C. Center on Substance Use.

But this has also shifted over time, notably accelerating as a problem during the pandemic, when closed borders and suspended treatment programs caused even more contamination and overdoses, she said.

For example, preliminary data for 2022 released by the B.C. Coroner’s Service has found that fentanyl or related drugs have been detected in 81 per cent of all illicit drug toxicity deaths in that province.

While Poilievre contrasted statistics on opioid use against data from before 2015, which is when the Liberals won government, Johnson said the spread of fentanyl has changed the realities on the ground.

Read more:
New study highlights effectiveness of Halifax safe supply drug program

“It's very difficult to compare pre-2015 levels of overdose to what's happening now because the supply chain has totally changed,” she said.

Blaming harm reduction programs that have reversed overdoses and that provide access to drugs that are not “poisoned” shows a misunderstanding of the realities of this crisis, said Rob Boyd, CEO of Ottawa Inner City Health, which runs a safer supply program and other harm reduction initiatives.

Virtually any front-line worker who supports programs for drug users would agree with Poilievre that more funding is needed for detox and in-patient rehabilitation treatment programs, he said.

But it doesn’t have to be a binary choice of “either” treatment programs “or” harm reduction initiatives like safer supply, he said.

Low-barrier programs that don’t require complete abstinence have proven effective at helping people who may not otherwise be able to receive help, Boyd said.

Read more:
More doctors are prescribing opioids to prevent their patients from dying of overdoses

“That is too high a threshold for somebody who is injecting fentanyl five or six times a day. We have to be able to start conceptualizing treatment, starting where people are at,” he said.

“In some cases, safer supply can be a treatment for somebody because it brings them a little bit of stability in that moment or in that day in their lives.”

Since most safer supply pilot programs across Canada have wraparound supports, such as housing, health and social supports, clients who regularly receive non-toxic drugs can gradually increase their capacity and motivation for change, he said.

Waraksa echoed this, saying safer supply “keeps people alive until they are able to access other forms of treatment.”

Overall, Johnson says she finds it “disheartening” to see the opioid crisis being politicized.

“It really further stigmatizes them and creates more shame around substance use.”

Tens of thousands protest in Bangladesh to demand resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina

Story by Vedika Sud • Saturday December 10, 2022.

Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Dhaka on Saturday calling for the dissolution of parliament to make way for new elections, and demand the resignation of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The mass protest in the capital was organized by the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which accuses Hasina of failing to address rising fuel prices and the cost of living.

Saturday’s protest comes amid a flurry of demonstrations in Bangladesh calling on Hasina to step down and demanding new elections.

Hasina has responded by calling the opposition leaders “arson terrorists” and warned people against allowing the BNP – the largest opposition party – back into power.

Several arrests were made in the lead up to Saturday’s protest.

Police arrested two top BNP leaders, including party secretary general Mirza Alamgir on Friday. Authorities said Alamgir was facing charges, without giving more information.

At least one man died during clashes between protesters and police on Wednesday when security forces fired tear gas to disperse people gathered in front of the BNP’s office in the capital.


Bangladeshi policemen disperse Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) activists on December 7, 2022. - Stringer/Reuters

Hasan Mahmud, Bangladesh’s Information and Broadcasting Minister, said authorities believe the man died after being injured by [Molotov] cocktails made by the activists and blamed the BNP for “creating chaos,” according to a report in state media outlet BSS.

The Bangladesh Election Commission has not announced a date for the next general election, which is due by the end of 2023.

The Bangladesh Awami League, led by 75-year-old Hasina, has been in power since 2009.

Hasina won a third consecutive term as Prime Minister in 2018 in a national election that was marred by deadly violence and allegations of rigged ballots.


Tens of thousands protest in Bangladesh to demand resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina© Provided by CNNSupporters of Bangladesh's opposition party protest against the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on December 10, 2022. - Mamunur Rashid/NurPhoto/AP

Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch, criticized the government’s response to the protests.

“Concerned governments should publicly call on the prime minister to allow Bangladeshis to freely engage in peaceful political activities,” she said.

“Sheikh Hasina should accept the challenge of democratic rule, not authoritarian abuse.”

US Ambassador to Bangladesh Peter D. Haas said in a statement Thursday that the embassy is concerned about reports of intimidation and political violence and urged authorities to investigate and protect freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly.

Mark, Albania's last 'restaurant bear,' arrives at sanctuary after over 20 years of captivity

Story by Zoe Sottile • Sunday

After over twenty years in captivity, Mark, the last of Albania’s “restaurant bears,” has safely arrived at his new home, an animal sanctuary in Austria, according to the animal rescue group Four Paws International.

So-called “restaurant bears” have historically been kept in tiny cages near restaurants or hotels, where they served as an attraction for tourists, according to Four Paws. In 2016, the nonprofit launched the “Saddest Bears” campaign in an effort to relocate the more than 30 bears being used as entertainment in the country.

Mark, a 24-year old brown bear, is the last known “restaurant bear” in Albania, according to a news release from Four Paws, although there are other bears in captivity in poor circumstances in the country. He was rescued on December 7 and arrived at his new home, “BEAR SANCTUARY Arbesbach” in Austria on Friday.



Mark, Albania's last 'restaurant bear,' arrives at sanctuary after over 20 years of captivity© Provided by CNNAnimal welfare activists move Mark from his cage in Tirana, Albania, on Dec. 7, 2022. - Gent Shkullaku/AFP/Getty Images

When Four Paws first encountered Mark, the animal was suffering from severe health problems. He was overweight, had broken teeth and displayed “abnormal” behaviors like pacing due to the lack of stimulation in his cramped cage, Four Paws said in a previous news release.

The bear embarked on a 44-hour journey to his new home, according to the organization. He traveled through North Macedonia, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary before finally reaching the sanctuary.

But he was “calm and relaxed” during the trek, according to Four Paws.

“We made regular stops for our accompanying vet to check on him and fed him with fruits and vegetables,” Magdalena Scherk-Trettin, who coordinates Four Paws’ wild animal rescue and advocacy projects, said in the release. “After receiving an inappropriate diet of restaurant leftovers and mainly bread for two decades, he was a little reluctant about the vegetables, but munched happily on the grapes we gave him.”

Mark was slow to explore his snowy new habitat, according to Four Paws. He hadn’t stepped outside a cage in over twenty years. He’ll stay in a smaller outdoor enclosure for the time being until he adjusts to his new environment and moves to a larger enclosure.

The sanctuary in Arbesbach has operated since 1988, according to its website. Mark will join three other rescued grizzly bears who live on 14,000 square meters of “natural surroundings.”

“With Mark’s rescue we ended the cruel practice of keeping him next to a restaurant to attract and entertain visitors,” Four Paws’ president Josef Pfabigan said in the release. “We are now one step closer to a world where people treat animals with respect, empathy and understanding.”

 

https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/subversive-energy-beyond-animal-liberation

Beyond Animal Liberation | The Anarchist Library 

Through study and discussion, we have developed a new understanding of domination, making this a critique not only of the animal liberation movement but also of ...

https://www.rootsofcompassion.org/Beasts-of-Burden-Capitalism-Animals-Communism_1

Beasts of Burden: Capitalism, Animals, Communism 

The development and maintenance of capitalism as a system that exploits humans is dependent upon the abuse of animals. Furthermore the movement that abolishes .

CANADA QUEBEC COLONY

Haitians rally for interim government, but split on military intervention: experts

OTTAWA — Though citizen and business groups in Haiti are split on the idea of a military intervention amid humanitarian and political crises, experts warned Canadian members of Parliament Friday that the country is in dire need.

Haitians rally for interim government, but split on military intervention: experts© Provided by The Canadian Press

As a senior Canadian envoy is deployed to Haiti to discuss possible solutions, human-rights researcher Gédéon Jean painted a stark picture for MPs, saying in French: "Haiti is on the edge of the precipice."

Jean was among witnesses who told the House of Commons subcommittee on international human rights that there must be a widely accepted plan for a transitional government in Haiti amid a debate over foreign help.

Haiti has not held elections since before the COVID-19 pandemic. Prime Minister Ariel Henry stepped in as president after the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.

Instability in the country has allowed violent gangs to take control of critical infrastructure, leading to power and water outages, massacres and a cholera outbreak.

In response, Ottawa has sanctioned a dozen high-ranking Haitian politicians and business leaders, accusing them of financing the gangs. And Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sent Canada's ambassador to the United Nations, Bob Rae, to the country to seek a path to consensus.

"When we put this pressure on the political and economic elite, we can eventually allow for a political dialogue, and that's why Bob Rae, right now as we speak, is in Haiti," Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly told reporters in French on Thursday.

"Our goal is to find solutions by and for Haitians."

Henry's unpopular government has asked for a foreign military intervention to create a humanitarian corridor, a move endorsed by the United Nations Secretary-General. United States officials namechecked Canada as a possible lead for such a mission earlier this year.

But some Haitians have pushed back on the idea, arguing that it would only lead to more chaos.

Monique Clesca, an activist with an opposition group that wants to form a two-year provisional government, argued that the president's request for a foreign intervention shouldn't be taken seriously.

"It is a crime of high treason, and this request demonstrates the failure of Henri's government and of the international diplomacy that installed it and continues to support it, despite its illegitimacy and disastrous governance," she said in French.

She argued that there is a gradual consensus building among politicians, religious groups and civil society for a security solution carried out by the Haitian National Police. But the country also needs humanitarian help and solutions to discourage youth from joining gangs.

"The issue goes beyond establishing a semblance of security, and it's not a cleanup that will solve the gang problems or the humanitarian needs," Clesca said.

Other witnesses told MPs that gangs recruit orphaned children, leading Liberal MP Anita Vandenbeld to ask whether a military intervention could put "Canadian soldiers face-to-face with armed gangs, potentially in a shooting battle with what are essentially child soldiers."

Yet the International Crisis Group says its conflict-prevention experts believe that a military intervention is the only way to establish humanitarian corridors to combat cholera and stop sexual violence.

Next would be a transitional government to re-establish essential services and hold fair elections, perhaps with an external country as a mediator if Haitians request it.

"The situation there is increasingly dramatic, and inaction may not necessarily be the best course of action," the group's regional director, Renata Segura, said.

"It is crucial that Haitians come together in a national dialogue of sorts to determine if they wanted the arrival of these troops, and if so, what exactly their mandate would be."

Segura said locals are afraid to voice support for an intervention, as they don't want it to be conflated with support for the current government.

Jean, head of the Centre d'analyse et de recherche en droits de l’homme, argued that the international community must intervene under the United Nations' "responsibility to protect" doctrine.

He argued that his country is approaching a "proto-state" akin to the so-called Islamic State group's takeover of parts of Syria and Iraq. He said in French that Haiti's justice system has collapsed into mayhem, and one of its main prisons "resembles Nazi concentration camps, and those of other similar regimes."

Another representative of the International Crisis Group, Diego Da Rin, said that a series of clashes in Port-au-Prince over the past year have seen rival gangs filming the sexual assaults of women in newly won territory in an effort to assert control and stoke fears.

A national director for Partners In Health Canada, a charity that operates hospitals and clinics in Haiti, told the committee that Canada can help in the short term, regardless of whether a military intervention takes place.

"Canada can help right now," said Mark Brender.

Haiti needs fuel and storage capacity, he said, and Canada could build supply warehouses for essentials and medical supplies outside of the areas cut off by gang wars.

In the medium term, he said Canada could also invest in solar panels so that Haiti isn't brought to its knees by blockades around its main fuel terminal. These have left hospitals operating on generators staff at the group's hospitals trekking six hours through the mountains to the Dominican Republic to get fuel, he said.

This week, some of the most important business groups in Haiti signed an open letter pledging to weed out corruption and help the country rebuild, if political actors take up the mantle of "patriotic realism" and allow for foreign help.

The French-language letter asks political leaders to "sign a political agreement establishing a government of national unity that strives to include as many stakeholders as possible, with a clear roadmap leading to the holding of honest, transparent, and fair elections within a reasonable timeframe."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 9, 2022.

Bob Rae heads to Haiti in attempt at political consensus, amid possible intervention

OTTAWA — Canada is trying to dislodge a political impasse in Haiti by sending one of its top diplomats to Port-au-Prince.


Bob Rae heads to Haiti in attempt at political consensus, amid possible intervention© Provided by The Canadian Press

Bob Rae, Canada's ambassador to the United Nations, started an in-person push for negotiations Wednesday.

Haiti is facing a series of crises as armed gangs block access to fuel and essentials, leading to water and power outages that are worsening a cholera outbreak.

The Haitian government has asked for a foreign military to intervene and push out the gangs, but opponents argue that might only prolong an unpopular government in a country that has not had elections since before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said Canada might be part of an intervention, but only if there is a consensus across Haiti's fractured political scene.

Rae's three-day visit will include talks with politicians, grassroots groups and United Nations officials on how Canada could play a role in what the Liberals say would be "Haitian-led solutions."

Defence Minister Anita Anand gave no sense of what that might look like.

"We are making sure to be prudent in this situation," she told reporters Wednesday.

"We are studying those contributions, potential contributions, and we will have more to say on that in short order."

This fall, Canada has sanctioned 11 prominent Haitians over alleged ties to gangs, sent military vehicles to the country, and had Trudeau's former national security adviser conduct an assessment mission.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 7, 2022.

Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press

Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press

A trash heap 62 meters high shows the scale of India's climate challenge

Story by Vedika Sud • Sunday. Dec. 11,2022

At the Bhalswa landfill in northwest Delhi, a steady flow of jeeps zigzag up the trash heap to dump more garbage on a pile now over 62 meters (203 feet) high.

She lives near a landfill. Now she has to bathe in salt water

View on Watch

Duration 4:21

Fires caused by heat and methane gas sporadically break out – the Delhi Fire Service Department has responded to 14 fires so far this year – and some deep beneath the pile can smolder for weeks or months, while men, women and children work nearby, sifting through the rubbish to find items to sell.

Some of the 200,000 residents who live in Bhalswa say the area is uninhabitable, but they can’t afford to move and have no choice but to breathe the toxic air and bathe in its contaminated water.

Bhalswa is not Delhi’s largest landfill. It’s about three meters lower than the biggest, Ghazipur, and both contribute to the country’s total output of methane gas.

Methane is the second most abundant greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide, but a more potent contributor to the climate crisis because methane traps more heat. India creates more methane from landfill sites than any other country, according to GHGSat, which monitors methane via satellites.

And India comes second only to China for total methane emissions, according to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Global Methane Tracker.


A trash heap 62 meters high shows the scale of India's climate challenge© Provided by CNNRagpickers at the Bhalswa landfill site on April 28, 2022, in New Delhi, India

. - Sanchit Khanna/Hindustan Times/Getty Images

As part of his “Clean India” initiative, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said efforts are being made to remove these mountains of garbage and convert them into green zones. That goal, if achieved, could relieve some of the suffering of those residents living in the shadows of these dump sites – and help the world lower its greenhouse gas emissions.

India wants to lower its methane output, but it hasn’t joined the 130 countries who have signed up to the Global Methane Pledge, a pact to collectively cut global methane emissions by at least 30% from 2020 levels by 2030. Scientists estimate the reduction could cut global temperature rise by 0.2% – and help the world reach its target of keeping global warming under 1.5 degrees Celsius.

India says it won’t join because most of its methane emissions come from farming – some 74% from farm animals and paddy fields versus less than 15% from landfill.

In a statement last year, Minister of State for Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate change Ashwini Choubey said pledging to reduce India’s total methane output could threaten the livelihood of farmers and affect India’s trade and economic prospects.

But it’s also facing challenges in reducing methane from its steaming mounds of trash.



A young boy in the narrow lanes of slums in Bhalswa Dairy Village

. - Rishabh Pratap/CNN

‘Here we are, with no relief’

When Narayan Choudhary, 72, moved to Bhalswa in 1982, he said it was a “beautiful place,” but that all changed 12 years later when the first rubbish began arriving at the local landfill.

In the years since, the Bhalswa dump has grown nearly as tall as the historic Taj Mahal, becoming a landmark in its own right and an eyesore that towers over surrounding homes, affecting the health of people who live there.

Choudhary suffers from chronic asthma. He said he nearly died when a large fire broke out at Bhalswa in April that burned for days. “I was in terrible shape. My face and nose were swollen. I was on my death bed,” he said.

“Two years ago we protested … a lot of residents from this area protested (to get rid of the waste),” Choudhary said. “But the municipality didn’t cooperate with us. They assured us that things will get better in two years but here we are, with no relief.”

The dump site exhausted its capacity in 2002, according to a 2020 report on India’s landfills from the Center for Science and Environment (CSE), a nonprofit research agency in New Delhi, but without government standardization in recycling systems and greater industry efforts to reduce plastic consumption and production, tonnes of garbage continue to arrive at the site daily.



A trash heap 62 meters high shows the scale of India's climate challenge© Provided by CNNNarrow lanes of the slum in Bhalswa Dairy Village. - Rishabh Pratap/CNN

Bhalswa isn’t the only dump causing distress to residents nearby – it is one of three landfills in Delhi, overflowing with decaying waste and emitting toxic gases into the air.

Across the country, there are more than 3,100 landfills. Ghazipur is the biggest in Delhi, standing at 65 meters (213 feet), and like Bhalswa, it surpassed its waste capacity in 2002 and currently produces huge amounts of methane.

According to GHGSat, on a single day in March, more than two metric tons of methane gas leaked from the site every hour.

“If sustained for a year, the methane leak from this landfill would have the same climate impact as annual emissions from 350,000 US cars,” said GHGSat CEO Stephane Germain.

Dangerous toxins in groundwater

Methane emissions aren’t the only hazard that stem from landfills like Bhalswa and Ghazipur. Over decades, dangerous toxins have seeped into the ground, polluting the water supply for thousands of residents living nearby.

In May, CNN commissioned two accredited labs to test the ground water around the Bhalswa landfill. And according to the results, ground water within at least a 500-meter (1,600-foot) radius around the waste site is contaminated.


A ground water sample from the Bhalswa landfill in northwest Delhi. 

- Vedika Sud/CNN

In the first lab report, levels of ammonia and sulphate were significantly higher than acceptable limits mandated by the Indian government.

Results from the second lab report showed levels of total dissolved solids (TDS) – the amount of inorganic salts and organic matter dissolved in the water – detected in one of the samples was almost 19 times the acceptable limit, making it unsafe for human drinking.

The Bureau of Indian Standards sets the acceptable limit of TDS at 500 milligrams/liter, a figure roughly seen as “good” by the World Health Organization (WHO). Anything over 900 mg/l is considered “poor” by the WHO, and over 1,200 mg/l is “unacceptable.”

According to Richa Singh from the Center for Science and Environment (CSE), the TDS of water taken near the Bhalswa site was between 3,000 and 4,000 mg/l. “This water is not only unfit for drinking but also unfit for skin contact,” she said. “So it can’t be used for purposes like bathing or cleaning of the utensils or cleaning of the clothes.”

Dr. Nitesh Rohatgi, the senior director of medical oncology at Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurugram, urged the government to study the health of the local population and compare it to other areas of the city, “so that in 15 to 20 years’ time, we are not looking back and regretting that we had a higher cancer incidence, higher health hazards, higher health issues and we didn’t look back and correct them in time.”

Most people in Bhalswa rely on bottled water for drinking, but they use local water for other purposes – many say they have no choice.

“The water we get is contaminated, but we have to helplessly store it and use it for washing utensils, bathing and at times drinking too,” said resident Sonia Bibi, whose legs are covered in a thick, red rash.

Jwala Prashad, 87, who lives in a small hut in an alleyway near the landfill, said the pile of putrid trash had made his life “a living hell.”

“The water we use is pale red in color. My skin burns after bathing,” he said, as he tried to soothe red gashes on his face and neck.

“But I can’t afford to ever leave this place,” he added.

Jwala Prashad, 87, at the handpump in front of his house in Bhalswa Dairy Village. 

 Rishabh Pratap/CNN
Waste target in doubt

More than 2,300 tonnes of Municipal Solid Waste arrive at Delhi’s largest dump in Ghazipur every day, according to a report released in July by a joint committee formed to find a way to reduce the number of fires at the site.

That’s the bulk of the waste from the surrounding area – only 300 tonnes is processed and disposed of by other means, the report said. And less than 7% of legacy waste had been bio-mined, which involves excavating, treating and potentially reusing old rubbish.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi deploys drones every three months to monitor the size of the trash heap and is experimenting with ways to extract methane from the trash mountain, the report said.

But too much rubbish is arriving every day to keep up. The committee said bio-mining had been “slow and tardy” and it was “highly unlikely” the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (which has now merged with North and South Delhi Municipal Corporations) would achieve its target of “flattening the garbage mountain” by 2024.

“No effective plans to reduce the height of the garbage mountain have been made,” the report said. Furthermore, “it should have proposed a long time ago that future dumping of garbage in them would pollute the groundwater systems,” the report added.

CNN sent a series of questions along with the data from the water testing questionnaire to India’s Environment and Health Ministries. There has been no response from the ministries.

In a 2019 report, the Indian government recommended ways to improve the country’s solid waste management, including formalizing the recycling sector and installing more compost plants in the country.

While some improvements have been made, such as better door-to-door garbage collection and processing of waste, Delhi’s landfills continue to accumulate waste.

In October, the National Green Tribunal fined the state government more than $100 million for failing to dispose of more than 30 million metric tonnes of waste across its three landfill sites.

“The problem is Delhi doesn’t have a concrete solid waste action plan in place,” said Singh from the CSE. “So we are talking here about dump site remediation and the treatment of legacy waste, but imagine the fresh waste which is generated on a regular basis. All of that is getting dumped everyday into these landfills.”

“(So) let’s say you are treating 1,000 tons of legacy (waste) and then you are dumping 2,000 tons of fresh waste every day it will become a vicious cycle. It will be a never ending process,” Singh said.

“Management of legacy waste, of course, is mandated by the government and is very, very important. But you just can’t start the process without having an alternative facility of fresh waste. So that’s the biggest challenge.”

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Louise Arbour accuses military of foot-dragging, blasts progress on misconduct reform


OTTAWA — Retired Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour accused military leaders of dragging their feet when it comes fighting sexual misconduct in the ranks on Tuesday, even as Defence Minister Anita Anand staked her reputation on their success or failure.


Louise Arbour accuses military of foot-dragging, blasts progress on misconduct reform© Provided by The Canadian Press

Arbour delivered her scathing indictment to the House of Commons defence committee six months after issuing dozens of recommendations to improve the military’s handling of inappropriate and criminal sexual behaviour.

Her testimony coincided with an update from Defence Minister Anita Anand on the progress on those recommendations, all of which have now been accepted.

While Arbour acknowledged some positive steps, such as the appointment of an external monitor to keep tabs on the military’s progress, she was exceedingly critical on many other fronts.

Chief among them was what she saw as resistance to one of her key recommendations: That the Canadian Armed Forces be permanently stripped of its jurisdiction over the investigation and prosecution of sexual assault and other related crimes.

“It’s very obvious to me that those involved in that process are dragging their feet on the military side,” said Arbour, who previously served as the United Nations high commissioner for human rights.

In her own update presented before Arbour’s committee appearance, Anand said the government is consulting with provinces and territories about transferring responsibility for sexual crimes from military police and prosecutors to civilian counterparts.

Military officials have also revealed there were difficulties transferring those cases. Anand issued an interim order to do so in November 2021, but civilian police declined to accept 40 out of 97 cases referred to them by military police over the past year.

This comes as some provinces and municipal police forces have complained about the need for more funding and other resources to absorb the military’s cases into their own systems.

However, Arbour suggested such requests for money amounted to “posturing,” given the number of alleged sex crimes involving military personnel each year represents a tiny fraction of the total in the civilian system.

During her appearance before the defence committee, Anand emphasized the importance of acting on the recommendation but rebuffed calls for immediate change, saying several challenges need to be addressed.

Those include how to handle cases outside Canada and the capacity of civilian police and courts to take on more files.

Anand also repeatedly referred to the amount of time needed to change the law to officially remove the military’s jurisdiction over sex offences, but refused to say when legislation would be presented to Parliament for approval.

“My officials will come and present options,” she told the committee. “It would be imprudent of me to simply provide a date to this committee and to Canadians.”

While acknowledging that amending legislation would take time, Arbour noted civilian police already have jurisdiction over such cases if the military decides not to take them.

“Therefore, all that needs to happen today is that the military system stops, and the civilian side takes on investigations of sexual assault and other forms of sexual offences committed by CAF members, on CAF bases or anywhere,” she said.

“So that requires no change whatsoever. Just this: The military side stops, and the civilian side takes it on.”

Anand later pushed back against suggestions that the government and military would repeat past failures by pretending to agree with Arbour’s recommendations only to let them gather dust on a shelf.

“The way that we ensure cultural change occurs in the military is by trying every single day to get it right,” she said. “And the gist of my tenure as minister of national defence is to ensure that that occurs.”

Arbour also took issue with the military’s failure to remove “the duty to report,” which requires that troops report inappropriate or criminal behaviour even if the victim doesn’t agree. That had been flagged as a major issue by victims’ groups.

The former judge also blasted the Armed Forces for not having launched a promised review on the costs and benefits of Canada’s two military colleges — and accused them of having already decided that closing the institutions isn’t on the table.

“We’re now seven months after the production of my report … and we’re still at a stage of examining parameters and terms of reference,” she said.

“All of that against the backdrop of a suggestion that the military colleges as they exist are ‘superior institutions.’ It doesn't suggest the kind of open mind with which I think this kind of exercise should be undertaken.”

Anand in her own testimony said the review will be focused on the quality of education, socialization and military training at the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ont., and its French counterpart in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que. — not whether they are required.

“These colleges attract some of the best that Canadian society has to offer,” she said. “But let's be clear: The culture at our military colleges must change significantly, and we will ensure that this occurs.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 13, 2022.

Lee Berthiaume, The Canadian Press

Canadians appeal for expansion of closed Afghan refugee sponsorship program

Story by Neetu Garcha • Friday, Dec. 9,2022


When the Taliban recaptured Afghanistan in August of 2021, Canadians wanted to help those fleeing for their lives and thousands of those Canadians remain at the ready to support those asylum seekers.


Children at a safe house for Afghans awaiting evacuation to Canada.© Stewart Bell/Global News

"We as a committee have all the resources to be able to support this family," said Shannon Hawke with First St. Andrew's United Church Refugee Sponsorship Committee in London, Ont.

Read more:

Afghan refugee and student at Western University in need of funds to bring family to Canada

But there's a major obstacle for private sponsorship groups to overcome before they can apply to bring over the eligible families – who often have relatives already in Canada.

In order to be privately sponsored, Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada requires most Afghans who've fled to other countries like Pakistan and Iran, to have official refugee recognition from that foreign state or from the United Nation High Commission for Refugees.

Though they meet the definition of a refugee, official status is something very few Afghans are able to obtain, in part because that status involves protections from states that are often unwilling to provide them.

"The family we've been trying to sponsor has not been able to get refugee status. We've been working with them for over a year," Hawke said.

Video: Saskatoon organization aiming to reunite Afghan refugees

Hawke says her private sponsorship group has been fundraising for the requirement of nearly $90,000 for a family of six currently in hiding in Pakistan where they face possible deportation back to Afghanistan.

That's why so many groups like hers across the country jumped at a temporary federal program that launched less than two months ago, waiving the need for that official refugee status, as long as the refugees meet the Canadian government's criteria to be privately sponsored.

"This program was really the thing we were excited about because it was going to allow us to finally get them here. We were scrambling over the last six weeks to get our application together. The application process is really onerous," Hawke said.

But in those six weeks after it launched, the program reached its cap of 3,000 refugees leaving many sponsors, like Stephen Watt, frustrated and wondering why an arbitrary limit exists when the need is so high. Watt, who co-founded a non-profit dedicated to supporting refugees called Northern Lights Canada, wrote a letter to the federal minister responsible and is waiting to hear back.

"It's a crushing blow to many people across the country who are still preparing these applications because it's their only hope to get people out," Watt said, adding, "There was no cap on Syrians when they could be sponsored without status or the Iraqi's in 2016 so I don't understand this cap."

"We know it started to fill up 20 or 30 minutes after it opened – there were messages that the inbox filled up so there is a very high demand," Iris Challoner, MOSAIC's refugee sponsorship program manager, told Global News.

Read more:

Afghan MP appeals to Canada to do more to help refugees: ‘Commitment is not done’

Challoner said she's pleased the government opened this temporary program and hopes there will be more refugees without official refugee recognition status who are accepted, highlighting Afghans are one of the largest refugee populations in the world.

For Farkhonda Rajabe, MOSAIC's Afghan Response Initiative coordinator, the plea is personal. Rajabe is from Afghanistan herself and came to Canada in 2017 as a refugee, having been targeted for her work as a prominent women's rights activist. Rajabe says the situation remains dire for Afghans, especially religious minorities, women, LGBTQ2 community members and girls, with frequent bombings targeting the most vulnerable.

"There was recently an attack with more than 100 Hazara girls killed and they were all 18 or younger and they were there to do a mock university entrance test," Rajabe said, adding, "Even those who made it to Pakistan, Iran and Turkey are living in fear of deportation because they can't get refugee status determination."

The hopeful-sponsorship groups are calling on Ottawa to remove the cap on the temporary program, but Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Sean Fraser told Global News that's not in the plan.

"We don't currently have plans to extend it to further numbers because it would eat away at the allocations committed to other people who are trying to sponsor as well," Fraser said.

First, St. Andrew's United Church Refugee Sponsorship Committee is urging other groups across the country to get in contact with them by email ( fsarefugeecommittee@gmail.com) as they continue appealing to the feds to accept applications under this temporary program for Afghans, for a full year without a cap.

"Funds are being raised by family and friends and other caring volunteers, it's not coming out of government's pocket, so I don't know why they would handicap it with a limit like this," Watt said.

Watt highlights how a similar program exempting the need for refugee status determination for those fleeing Syria and Iraq to be privately sponsored in 2015 and 2016 was not capped the way this temporary program for Afghans has been.

Video: Lethbridge Family Services resettling 44 Afghan refugees

"This program ran without limits from Sept. 19, 2015, and throughout 2016, and resulted in about 19,000 Syrians coming to Canada during that amnesty period. In 2017, that program was finally capped, with only the first 1,000 applications for those without refugee status determination being accepted," Watt said in an email.

Tens of thousands of people fled Afghanistan in the summer of 2021 after a 20-year war. Many who couldn't get out then have been desperately trying to find routes to new lives and thousands are stuck in neighbouring countries, without officially being declared refugees at risk of being deported.

Canada has welcomed more than 25,000 Afghans since August of 2021 and quietly launched the temporary program to help those without documents on Oct. 17.

Letter to Sean Fraser - Afg... by Global News