Code Language Limitations: The Achilles’ Heel Of Autonomous Vehicles

By Kurt Cobb - Jul 03, 2023

• Autonomous vehicles, with their programming limited to their creators' understanding and coding abilities, fail to account for unpredictable elements of human driving and environmental factors, causing disruptions on the road.
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• Due to the limited and simplified nature of coding language, the complex subtleties of human driving experience, including intuition, cannot be fully encapsulated.
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• These vehicles pose a significant threat to other drivers and pedestrians, as there's no way for humans to communicate their intentions effectively to a machine.

Self-driving vehicles are stopping in traffic for no apparent reason and blocking emergency vehicles reports the Los Angeles Times. The writer alludes to a famous high-tech shibboleth: "Move fast and break things." But in this case the things that are being broken are the health and lives of California residents who are having to endure the growing presence of so-called autonomous vehicles on the state's streets and highways.

I have repeatedly warned that autonomous vehicles could only be truly safely operated on closed courses where the possible moves of all other vehicles would be known in advance and therefore predictable. Humans and the environments in which they drive will never be that predictable.

Beneath the bravado of the self-driving booster club is a completely obvious truth: Autonomous vehicles can only do what they are programmed to do, and that programming is limited to what their creators can put into words or, more precisely, that subset of language we call code.

As I keep repeating, language and the computer code derived from it is inherently limited in its ability to describe the reality that we all experience. Even a task as seemingly simple as driving a vehicle is fraught with subtleties and surprises. Our total experience as humans while driving does not narrow substantially when we get into a car or truck. We are still receiving signals from the total environment in which we find ourselves and that includes intuitions, hunches and a stream of thoughts projected onto our inner awareness.

Language of any kind cannot hope to capture that total experience. If it could, it would be experience itself rather than a description of it. Description always, always involves reducing complex perceptions into a sample of our experience.

With relatively low speeds on the city streets, mistakes made by autonomous cars may not be that destructive. Of course, there is no guarantee because low-speed accidents can result in death and injury. But since California seems determined to put autonomous trucks on its highways, we can look forward to some spectacular accidents when higher mass teams up with higher speeds and the nonhuman algorithms driving these trucks. These algorithms may fail to take into account crucial subtleties and changes in conditions and then misfire.

It's not just other drivers who are at risk. As I've previously asked, "[H]ow can you make your intentions known to a robot? How could a pedestrian communicate with a robot car in the way that approaches the simplicity of a nod or a wave to acknowledge the courteous offer from a driver to let the pedestrian cross the street?"

No matter how hard we try to accurately describe the situations a driver might encounter, "words are a surprisingly imprecise way to convey meaning, freighted as they are with nuance, cultural context, history and so many other interlocking dependencies for their meaning." And, of course, much of our experience is beyond words. How many times have you said the following about a strange, new experience: "I have no words to describe it. You just have to experience it."

Our tech barons seem to lack the literary education needed to understand these limits and so press ahead with ill-advised schemes to fill the roadways with autonomous vehicles.

Let me conclude with the final words of a previous piece that are even more relevant today than when I first wrote them:

If we reduce all of our efforts at addressing our problems to language a machine can understand, we will get machine solutions. What we need, however, are solutions that come from our deep connections to this planet as beings of this planet, connections that no machine will ever fathom.

That is the bigger issue.

By Kurt Cobb via Resource Insights

People on TikTok Are Disabling Self-Driving Cars in SF by Putting Traffic Cones On Their Hoods

Story by Mack Hogan • 6h ago

A video shared on TikTok shows Waymo and Cruise vehicles on the streets of San Francisco immobilized by common traffic cones.© Screenshot:Safestreetrebel on TikTok

An anti-car account on Tiktok has shared a novel way to immobilize self-driving cars. According to a new video from @safestreetrebel on Tiktok, placing a traffic cone on the hood of a Waymo or Cruise self-driving vehicle will disable it in its place.

Naturally, Road & Track does not endorse disabling a self-driving car by putting something on its hood. And it should be noted that these driverless vehicle companies can take over their cars remotely—as they do when a self-driving car is in a situation it doesn't understand—or dispatch an employee to fix it. But the post shows a variety of clips of self-driving cars confused, blocking crosswalks, and stuck in weird situations across San Fransisco, and highlights how easy it is to disable them.

The TikTok account gives a motive beyond simple mischief, noting that the companies behind these driverless vehicles have provided videos from their multitude of cameras to police. Vice led the news that the SFPD was working with Waymo and Cruise in May of 2022, and it has been backed up with a report in Bloomberg in June of 2023. Both companies told Vice that they provide footage to law enforcement when subpoenaed or shown a valid warrant, as required by law, but Waymo notes its "policy is to challenge, limit or reject requests that do not have a valid legal basis or are overly broad.” Police have broad power to secure footage from a variety of private camera sources, including CCTV cameras, when they believe a crime has been committed in the area.

This traffic cone prank is only possible because multiple companies are now testing self-driving vehicles without safety drivers on public streets.With no human in the car, even a vehicle with the a remote safety driver can't deal with external factors like a cone on its hood. Regardless, it's probably a good thing that the cars in the video put on their flashers and sit still when something like this happens. While the idea of an autonomous car slamming its brakes to throw a cone off certainly sounds entertaining to watch, we're glad these things aren't programmed to experiment in strange circumstances.

Road and Track reached out to Waymo and Cruise for their comments on this video. We'll update the story if we hear back.

Via Twitter.

Biodiversity, better forest management key to combat wildfire: experts

Story by Cindy Tran • 

A smoke column rises from wildfire EWF031 near Lodgepole, Alberta on May 4, 2023.

© Alberta Wildfire

With weather a clear factor in the historic wildfire season Alberta is experiencing, some researchers say better forest management would make fore less intense, easier-to-battle blazes.

As wildfire season persists ongoing debates about the leading cause of the fires is sparking tension among the already embattled Alberta, with some claiming arson while others saying climate change, researchers are pointing to weather and sharpening forestry management is a key to combatting future wildfires.

Devon Earl, a conservation specialist at Alberta Wilderness Association , says that fires are a natural part of forests in Alberta.

Some trees such as lodgepole pines, which use heat to release seeds, actually require forest fires in order to regenerate and over time forests have evolved with fires as the major natural disturbance.

Earl said that the provincial government and forestry companies have said the solution to managing wildfires is to cut down older forests because they are more susceptible to burning, but she disagrees.

“Old forests and mature forests are actually more resilient to wildfires than younger forests,” Earl said. “When they do burn, in a lot of cases, they actually burn at a lower intensity and so those fires don’t kill the whole land and they don’t travel as far.”

But with the amount of industrial clear cutting that is happening, there are more young forests regenerating that tend to be more dry than older forests, making them more susceptible to an intense wildfire.

Forestry companies are required to reforest areas after harvesting, in theory it is a good thing, however Earl’s concerns are with glyphosate, a herbicide that companies will often spray on a regenerating forest. The herbicide kills deciduous trees like broadleaf plants and grasses which are competing with the newly planted coniferous trees that the companies are trying to grow back.

So instead of getting a variety of species, including deciduous trees that are more resistant to fire, there are only single species conifers that can be very dry.

Focusing on forest management

Earl points to better forest management as a key solution to fighting future wildfires.

She said bringing in more prescribed burns where it’s safe to do so would help mitigate the intensity of the wildfire seasons. Prescribed fires are applied under select weather conditions and are managed to minimize smoke and maximize the benefit of the site, according to the provincial website.

Earl’s association is in the process of analyzing where various environmental policies and regulations are falling short and finding solutions to change them to better reflect conservation efforts when it comes to preserving forestry and wildlife.

“There’s all these values that forests provide that aren’t adequately being protected by the current legislation that we have,” said Earl.

When people think about what forests provide they often think it’s typically restricted to timber, however there is water filtration, flood mitigation and habitat for wildlife and for species at risk. She said this is a crucial step to providing a sustainable forest.

Ellen Whitman, a forest fire research scientist with Natural Resources Canada in the Canadian Forest Service , said that there’s been some misunderstanding about how fire causes are identified in the country. She said that a “human caused” fire does not immediately mean arson.

“Human caused fires happen all the time by accident for other reasons,” she said. “It can be things like, a power line or a start from a railway or people leaving campfires unattended.”

Her latest research showed how changing climate and increased wildfires are altering the makeup of North American Boreal forests. Whitman said they typical see trees return to a similar structure prior to a fire which is a common cycle of renewal when the forest is disturbed.

However with extreme fire weather in some cases forests are burning more frequently than they did historically, sometimes one after another which prevents trees from renewing and growing, which result in thick stands being replaced by grassy landscapes with just a few trees.

“If you have two fires in close succession, let’s say 15 years apart, the trees that were growing back as seedlings after that initial disturbance, haven’t had the time really to develop their seed banks, the resources and if you interrupt that cycle you don’t necessarily get that same resilient response where you’re returning to the same forest type that used to be there before,” said Whitman.

Whitman adds that the warm, dry and windy spring weather that the province has had this year explains why such severe fire events are happening across the country. She notes that climate change is a factor, but it is difficult to attribute it to a single event.

“The number of fires hasn’t really changed, but what is changing is the effects of those fires, how large they get and how much they burn.”

ctran@postmedia.com

Twitter: @kccindytran

Renewable energy projects not necessarily like oil and gas, hears County of Stettler

Story by The Canadian Press • 3h ago

The County of Stettler Agriculture Services Board (ASB) heard a provincial government representative describe some important details producers might want to keep in mind if they're thinking about leasing land for a renewable energy development.

The presentation was heard at the June 28 ASB meeting.

The ASB is comprised of members of county council and chaired by Coun. Dave Grover.

Board members heard a detailed presentation by Energy, Utility & Policy Specialist, Farmers and Property Rights Advocate Office (FAO) Agriculture and Irrigation representative Darcy Allen, who noted capturing all aspects of renewable energy developments in one discussion would be challenging.

He pointed out the FAO is neutral and doesn’t support or oppose renewable developments, but rather follows its mandate of empowering Albertans through the spreading of information, representing Alberta producers in matters of concern and acting as a facilitator when needed.

NDP RACHEL NOTLEY GOVERNMENT
Allen began by noting the Government of Alberta in 2015 passed the Climate Leadership Plan which mandated the elimination of coal plants by 2030 and guaranteed 30 per cent renewable energy in the province by 2030.

Allen pointed out renewable energy includes well-known technology such as wind and solar, but could also include less-profile ones such as hydro and geothermal.

Allen stated Alberta has some of the best potential wind and solar sites in Canada, pointing to an Alberta map illustration a very large section of the province ideal for renewable energy that includes much of the ECA Review’s coverage area.

He noted a rule of thumb claims five to seven acres of land are needed to generate one megawatt (MW) of solar power while one acre is needed to generate the same wind power.

It was noted the cost of renewable energy technology has dropped drastically over the past 10 years, meaning the cost of building and operating renewable developments may be comparable to some fossil fuel operations and may explain why so many of these developments are appearing in rural Alberta.

“I think what’s the growing concern that we’re hearing from landowners is related really to the sheer size and scale of the developments that they’re either being presented with or that they’re seeing popping up in their community,” said Allen.

Allen used as an example a solar development in the County of Vulcan that covers 3,680 acres and includes 1.3 million solar panels for a total coverage area of 23 entire sections of land.

He also pointed out the apparently increasing size of wind turbines, some of which have hubs that climb 185 metres into the sky and may have blade lengths up to 85 metres.

He concedes he’s heard producers voice concerns about the aesthetics of renewable energy developments as people can see them from farther and farther away. He added some producers are also concerned about extended parts of the development including roads, buildings and storage.

Allen spent a considerable amount of time discussing the various provincial government agencies that are affected by renewable energy developments.

He also spent a lot of time pointing out the differences between renewable energy project approvals versus oil and gas industry approvals. He stated the Surface Rights Act doesn’t apply to renewable energy developments and a renewable energy development lease is a private transaction between the company and the property owner.

Allen pointed out there is no damages claim remedy for renewable energy leases, nor recovery of compensation, but at the same time property owners can refuse renewable energy developments. However, he pointed out that same company could very well just go next door to the neighbour and sign a lease with them.

Allen also pointed out there are no standard renewable energy development lease agreements and the FAO encourages property owners get a legal opinion of such an agreement if they are considering signing one.

He stated there are many things to keep in mind in such agreements one being end of life considerations, for example: how will decommissioning, reclamation and remediation be handled?

During a question and answer session with board members Allen answered queries about land aggregators, enforcement and emergency response plans, where it was noted it is possible a municipality may need special emergency equipment and training to handle certain renewable energy developments.

Stu Salkeld, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, East Central Alberta Review

Judge in ruling says Indigenous police chiefs have strong human rights case against Canada

Story by The Canadian Press • 

Three First Nations police services in Ontario have had their funding reinstated, albeit for just a year, after being abruptly cut off by the federal government.

On June 30, a federal court granted an emergency motion to immediately reinstate funding to the Anishinabek Police Service, Treaty Three Police Service and the United Chiefs & Councils of Manitoulin (UCCM) Anishnaabe Police through the federal First Nation Inuit Policing Program.

Money to the three police services stopped flowing March 31 when they failed to successfully conclude negotiations with Public Safety Canada to renew their funding agreements under the policing program. The police services refused to comply with two clauses they called discriminatory within Section 6 of the Terms and Conditions that comprise the program.

The terms set out in these two clauses stated that First Nation Inuit Policing Program funding could not be used for amortization or interest on loans for policing infrastructure, nor for legal costs related to negotiations, disputes or funding concerns brought about through the agreement.

Federal court Justice Denis Gascon ruled that the three police services did not have to comply with the clauses for a 12-month period, and he ordered Public Safety Canada to immediately fund the police services in “at least” the same amount it was giving them through the previous agreement.

Gascon agreed with the argument put forward by the Indigenous Police Chiefs of Ontario (IPCO) organization that without immediate funding there would be “irreparable harm… to social order, public security and personal safety of Indigenous people residing in the communities serviced by” the three police services. They police 45 Indigenous communities with a combined population of about 30,000 people. The IPCO represents nine Indigenous police services that receive funding through federal program.

There is nothing in the Justice’s order, however, saying what is to happen during this 12-month timeframe. It may come down to the response to a complaint filed with the Canadian Human Rights Commission on March 29 by the IPCO.

It alleges discriminatory and systemic underfunding of Indigenous police services under Canada’s Indigenous policing program.

“Our services have always been forced to operate with less funding and less resources than those of municipal police services,” said Kai Liu, chief of police for Treaty Three Police Service and president of the IPCO.

“We have always had to do more with less. Not only does the decision of the federal court save our three services from being forced to cease operations, but the court also found that Canada has not been honourable in its dealings with us.”

In his decision, Gascon writes, “In my view, and without deciding the merits of the issues to be determined by the Commission on IPCO’s Complaint, the evidence on the record amply supports a conclusion that IPCO has a high likelihood that its underlying Complaint will ultimately succeed, given that it is predicated on numerous findings previously made by the CHRT and the courts on the (policing program) and its attributes.”

The commission has yet to decide whether to move the complaint forward to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.

However, Julian Falconer, legal counsel for IPCO, has no doubt that the commission will “be aware” of Justice Gascon’s 70-page decision.

He says it is “very rare” for a court to state so clearly the strength of a case as a human rights complaint.

The argument presented to Gascon by Falconer drew heavily on findings already made by CHRT and two other courts.

Related video: Chief justice says he takes 'pride’ in judicial review process (cbc.ca)

Duration 1:08   View on Watch

“Canada needs to actually take proactive steps to cease the discrimination. They haven't done that. Communities across the country operate under these funding agreements that are inherently discriminatory and the current state of affairs is absolutely unconscionable,” said Falconer.

In March, as the policing agreements were expiring, Public Safety Canada offered the three policing services an increase in funding, ranging from 40 per cent to 78 per cent, if they signed the agreement as presented and with out change to the disputed clauses.

Falconer expects that same increased dollar figure to still be available to the three police services.

“We're taking the position that Public Safety would be acting by way of reprisal if they fail to simply make the money available now without those offensive conditions being in place. So, it's our position that, in fact, the additional monies should be made available,” said Falconer.

“Canada always has an obligation to act in ways that maintain the honour of the Crown vis-à-vis Indigenous peoples and that are in line with the objective of reconciliation,” wrote Gascon in his decision.

“The court is quite clear that in…basically erecting a concrete wall in terms of any willingness to negotiate the underlying terms and conditions, Canada acted inconsistently with its obligations in reconciliation and acted dishonourably in terms of its honour of the Crown obligations…There's really no other way to interpret it,” said Falconer.

Gascon further stated that Public Safety Canada “did not consistently follow its duty to act honourably and in the spirit of reconciliation,” pointing out that the ministry, Canada, and Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino stated they were “constrained” by the Terms and Conditions of the policing program.

However, points out Gascon, on June 24, Mendicino unilaterally modified the program’s Terms and Conditions.

“At the stroke of a pen,” Mendicino removed the prohibition on specialized police services in section 6 of the Terms and Conditions, wrote Gascon.

He said the only constraints Canada had when it came to the program were constraints it imposed itself.

The Assembly of First Nations (AFN), which had intervener status in the case, lauded the federal court’s decision.

“This decision exemplifies why First Nations policing must be made an essential service. It’s time to stop making excuses and fund First Nations policing in an equitable manner,” said British Columbia Regional Chief Terry Teegee, who co-chairs the AFN taskforce on policing.

At the AFN’s annual general assembly in Halifax next week, the agenda includes a resolution to support equitable funding for First Nations policing. Among the actions being recommended is for AFN to support complaints and legal action brought forward by First Nations and First Nations national chiefs of police associations “with respect to (Public Safety Canada’s) discriminatory conduct.”

At this point, says Falconer, the message Canada is sending Indigenous people is that they’re “not worthy” of making their own policing decisions or signing funding agreements worth tens of millions of dollars.

“Minister Mendicino has a public safety ministry, and Prime Minister Trudeau and his Cabinet ministers have a Department of Justice that are completely, utterly misaligned with the rest of Canadian society on duties of reconciliation and the duties to act honourably towards Indigenous people,” said Falconer.

He says the best way for Canada to show true reconciliation would be to collaborate with First Nations on policing so that the complaint with the human rights commission can be dropped.

“But I want to emphasize, Public Safety has shown little or no inclination to rectify its discriminatory practices. It is a sad day that it took a court order to relieve these services of such racist and draconian provisions,” said Falconer.

Windspeaker.com

By Shari Narine, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Windspeaker.com, Windspeaker.com

BC Hydro ignoring green energy for decades

Story by The Canadian Press • 

Located in the historic mining town of Sandon, the Silversmith generating station is a marvel of engineering, brought online in 1897 - far predating BC Hydro.

Silversmith Power and Light owner Hal Wright has a lifelong history with the station and says they’ve been severely crippled by BC Hydro and their subsidiary, Powerex, which sells excess power from the BC grid to Alberta and the United States.

“I think the fundamental problem right now is that we have a government that does not want there to be anybody else here, they want it all for themselves and they’re looking at it as a cash cow, no different from the previous government,” said Wright.

Wright's original power contract was made with the BC Liberal government, and Wright noted that while the previous government may have disagreed with his criticisms and commentary, the door was at least open for conversation.

“The graphic difference to me is that I could talk to the previous government, I never had a problem,” said Wright, who's been met with silence by the NDP.

“As soon they were elected, they slammed the doors and we have never to this day been able to have a meeting with the Ministry of Energy,” he added.

The station was green certified in 1999, and one of the first in the province to do so, said Wright, an achievement he’s very proud of. He apprenticed as a youth mechanic at the station, became its manager in the 1980s, before he and family finally purchased Silversmith in 1996.

Following the purchase, $3 million dollars over twenty years was invested by Wright and his family through a bank loan to replace the pipe which drops water 186 metres down a mountain side into Silversmith, in addition to other repairs and maintenance.

The water to feed the plant is also not free, added Wright, who’s on the hook for a $20,000 bill, due to the province charging a water rental fee to producers - another expense BC Hydro isn’t subject to.

“I’ve been trying to fight this business of water rentals and the unfairness of that, because it’s a tax - no matter how you look at,” said Wright.

The station could supply 440 homes with power year-round, but its full capacity isn’t being used due to BC Hydro’s poor treatment of independent power producers - Powerex buys less than one quarter of what Silversmith could produce.

While a handful of buildings in New Denver and Nakusp are supplemented by Silversmith, the station can only afford to run at 60 percent of its capacity due to the low rates offered through Powerex, well below what’s financially sustainable.

“If we were to produce our full capacity, which we never do, because the way our prices system works, we’re getting paid less than what it costs to produce it,” said Wright. “The more we produce, the more we lose. We would just drive ourselves into bankruptcy.”

Wright is also confidentially bound by his contract with Powerex to not speak about his precise compensation and can only talk around what rate he’s paid, a secrecy he never wanted, nor agrees with.

Wright said he’s been compensated less than $20 per megawatt hour for Silversmith’s power since the early 2000s, a rate which will eventually force the station to close.

However, closing the station is not as simple as flipping a switch - they would be required by law to hold formal hearings and apply for abandonment, all while Wright and his family continue to bleed financially.

Ultimately, the value of BC Hydro’s grid has never lived up to the sales pitch, said Wright.

“Basically, the bill of goods was that the grid was going to bring prosperity and convenience and all these things to these communities - it didn’t pan out that way,” he said. “It’s a dream. The grid comes into these communities and it’s an economic drain on them because the energy is coming from somewhere else.”

Those energy sources include coal and gas power, essentially negating or muddying any green power being fed into the grid. The power is sold off the backs of independent power producers for far more, at an exported average of $87 per megawatt hour.

As the arm of a crown corporation, Wright feels all Powerex’s business dealings should be publicly available. He also feels BC needs legislation to fairly regulate the industry, perhaps closer to New Zealand’s, which forbids producers from being distributors, and vice versa, which would prevent monopolies like BC Hydro.

“You can be a distributor or a producer - you can’t be both. Because there’s an inherent conflict of interest in controlling both sides of the industry,” said Wright.

Nelson is one of the few places in the Kootenays that didn’t cave under BC Hydro’s political weight, Wright added, with the city independently operating the 16-megawatt Bonnington Falls Generating Station.

“They own their own generation, and they are the only municipality that didn’t give in,” said Wright, noting BC Hydro attempted to undercut them by accessing water above the falls by diverting water to the Kootenay Canal Generating Station, built in 1976.

“It’s not surprising that Nelson is such a well to do community. That’s a huge thing about money staying in their local economy rather than being siphoned out,” Wright said.

Now in his 60s and ready to retire, Wright says his heart isn’t in it like it used to be - his original dream was to see further stations installed in the Kootenays, providing power to local communities and the provincial grid.

“This is not the day and age where we should be enslaved by doing this. It’s a good service, it’s a good operation, I should at least be able to make a reasonable wage,” said Wright, who’s calculated that he only makes $1.37 an hour staying open.

Nakusp Mayor Tom Zeleznik says Wright has presented to the village council many times, and is sympathetic to his plight, noting the community is interested in advocating for green energy.

“It’s very frustrating to me, and I totally understand where Hal Wright at Silversmith is coming from, it’s not right,” said Zelenik.

With one BC Hydro line feeding into Nakusp, residents have no real choice in their power producer. A local mill is just one business affected by the limitation, said Zeleznik, with the owners forced to eat the cost.

“I think we have to start looking at green energy and many communities have a great opportunity to expand their green energy and I know that BC Hydro is doing a call out, and we’re going to UBCM, this is one item that we'd like to see in Nakusp,” said Zelenik.

Announced on June 15, the province says they’re committed to finding new sources of energy to make up shortfalls in BC and will seek out independent power producers starting in spring 2024 - a previous independent power producer program was suspended in 2019.

The province is seeking enough power to run 270,000 homes starting as early as 2028. Premier David Eby said the need for 3,000 gigawatt hours per year of renewable energy comes three years earlier than expected.

"This is a new process, a competitive process that will work with independent power producers to deliver the power that we actually need and that is cost competitive," said Eby.

In addition, the province has promised $140 million for a BC Indigenous Clean Energy Initiative, which will support smaller indigenous-led power projects, who don't have the capital to compete.

Tom Summer, Alaska Highway News, Local Journalism Initiative. Have a story idea or opinion? Email tsummer@ahnfsj.ca

Mass expulsions and mistreatment of migrants reported in Tunisia as tensions spike in port city



TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Tensions spiked dangerously in a Tunisian port city this week after three migrants were detained in the death of a local man, and there were reports of retaliation against Black foreigners and accounts of mass expulsions and alleged assaults by security forces.

The people suspected in the slaying of a 41-year-old Tunisian were under investigation for premeditated murder, according to Faouzi Masmoudi, spokesman for the prosecutor's office in the seaside city of Sfax.

Twenty-two migrants from sub-Saharan countries in Africa also were detained for questioning in connection with crimes in the area, Masmoudi said Wednesday.

Sfax, on Tunisia’s eastern coast, is a main departure point for migrants and refugees planning to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe. Thousands of people, mainly from sub-Saharan Africa, have poured into the city to set out in unprecedented numbers for dangerous crossings to Italy in small boats.

After the burial Tuesday of Nizar Ben Brahim Amri, the Tunisian man who was killed, residents blocked a main road, burned tires and called on authorities to return migrants to their homelands to keep the peace.

Videos posted on social media showed crowds of local men in Sfax attempting to knock down doors and set fire to a building in what appeared to be an attempt to chase Black migrants out. Other videos showed Black people being rounded up at night and taken to police vehicles.

Tunisian security forces put some migrants in shelters to avoid vengeance attacks, while some 200 others headed to the Sfax train station to escape to Tunis, the capital, according to Radio Mosaique.

The fate of hundreds more was grimmer. Migrants reported being taken to an isolated beach near Libya's border with armed men from both countries on each side.

A 29-year-old man from Ivory Coast said he was among 600 sub-Saharan migrants caught in what he described as a “no-man's land” between the Mediterranean Sea and the Tunisian-Libyan land border near Ben Guerdane.

The man, who spoke to The Associated Press in a video call and shared his GPS location via WhatsApp, said he was taken there Saturday evening - two days before the death of the Tunisian man - as he waited in a safe house to board a small boat to Italy.

More migrants were taken from their homes in Sfax in the middle of the night in the following days, he claimed. The name of the man, who said he entered Tunisia legally in 2019 and worked on a golf course, is being withheld for safety reasons.

Uniformed and armed men subsequently transferred the people in his group to several police stations and National Guard bases before dropping them on the beach Sunday, he said. The man spoke to the AP Wednesday and Thursday surrounded by other Black migrants, including women and small children.

He accused the Tunisian National Guard of beating them “like animals, like slaves," and assaulting women in the group.

“'Go to Libya. They will kill you,'” the man claimed security officials told the migrants. “'You’ll never see Tunisia again.'” He also claimed that Libyan security at the border fired shots into the air to keep the civilians at bay. A drone flew over them Thursday morning, he added.

Tunisian President Kais Saied railed at those who use his country as a stepping stone to Europe. The increasingly authoritarian president set off a crisis in February with a demand for urgent measures to crack down on Black Africans, claiming they were part of a plot to erase Tunisia's identity. Some countries airlifted their citizens back home. Other migrants tried to escape by sea to Europe.

Tunisia “doesn’t tolerate being used as a transit zone or a territory for people from numerous African countries to lay down roots,” Saied said in a statement Tuesday night. In an apparent dig at Italy and Europe, he added that Tunisia "also does not accept being the guardian of borders other than its own.”

The North African country is struggling through a serious economic crisis. In recent months, several European leaders have visited Tunisia and appealed for help stemming migration while pledging hundreds of millions of euros to prop up the country's crumbling economy.

In the first three months of 2023, Tunisia’s National Guard intercepted 13,000 migrants trying to make the journey. But more than 30,000 people who departed from Tunisia have reached European shores so far this year according to a report by the European Union’s executive commission which was seen by the AP.

___

Brito reported from Barcelona, Spain. Elaine Ganley contributed from Paris.

___

Follow AP's coverage of global migration at https://apnews.com/hub/migration

Bouazza Ben Bouazza And Renata Brito, The Associated Press

Man accused of following, posing with B.C. orcas, DFO investigating

By Simon Little Global News
Posted July 5, 2023 

A Vancouver Island photographer trying to snap a shot of a baby orca instead caught a boater driving right into the pod.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada has opened an investigation into reports of a man seen allegedly harassing orcas off the coast of Vancouver Island.

The incident happened in near Royston in Baynes Sound, between Vancouver Island and Denman Island on Monday.

Photographer TJ Campbell said he saw the orcas and rushed down to the beach in the hopes of getting some shots of the pod, when he noticed a man in an aluminum boat in the water near the animals.

“I didn’t think much of it because, you know, sometimes you just happen to be in the right place at the right time … but then as the orcas kind of pass by, he started up his engine again and and drove right to the middle of them again,” Campbell said.

“He brings out his fishing rod, whether it was just to get photos, trying to look like he’s catching the orca, I don’t know … then, you know, he just kept driving in between them and then trying to touch them.”

Campbell said the orcas, which had a calf with them, appeared none too pleased about the interactions, and eventually started slapping their tails at him.

Photographer TJ Campbell said he witnessed a man repeatedly following a pod of orcas near Royston, B.C. on Mon. July 3, 2023. Courtesy: TJ Campbell

Every time the pod moved away, the man would start his boat up and approach once again, Campbell said.

While it’s not clear what kind of orcas are seen in the photos, the waters are known to be frequented by British Columbia’s critically endangered southern resident killer whales, who numbered just 73 as of February.

Their plight has prompted a strict federal protection order, requiring boaters to stay at least 400 metres away from any orcas in southern B.C. coastal waters between Campbell River and Ucluelet.

People caught breaking the order can face up to 18 months in jail and a fine of $250,000.

“It was constant. Like for over 20 minutes, he kept doing it, and then everybody on the beach started yelling and screaming,” Campbell said.

Campbell said the man appeared to finally take the hint when another boat arrived in the area and killed its engine when it saw the orcas.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada confirmed the incident had been reported, and that fisheries officers from the Whale Protection Unit were “currently looking into it.”

It also thanked the public for reporting the encounter, and said anyone who observes whales being harassed, disturbed or in distress can report to to the DFO’s Observe, Record, Report/ Marine Mammal Incident Hotline at 1-800-465-4336.

Campbell said he hopes the man in the boat does the right thing and turns himself in to fisheries officials.

“It’s maddening to watch something like that. I mean, we all would love to be close to them — as a photographer, I want to get that great shot that everybody oohs and ahs over, but not at the expense of the animal,” he said.

“He could have had a really good experience if he would have just stopped his engine and just sat there — I mean, they would have probably come to him anyways, he didn’t need to go chase them down, he didn’t need to do any of that stuff, and it would have been a different story.”

RIP

The Man Behind The Success Of Modern Lithium Ion Batteries

By Robert Rapier - Jul 01, 2023

• Engineer John Goodenough, the founding father of modern day lithium ion batteries passed away at 100.
• 
  
• But Goodenough’s groundbreaking work began in the 1970s and led to the development of the first practical rechargeable lithium-ion battery.
• 
  
• Goodenough’s advancements in lithium-ion battery technology have had a profound impact on various industries.

I am sure many of us have entertained fantasies of making some remarkable discovery that changes the world for the better. For one reason or another, only a small percentage of people make an enormous impact that affects the entire world.

But John B. Goodenough was such a person. Dr. Goodenough passed away on June 25, 2023 at the age of 100. He was an American materials scientist and engineer who is renowned for his significant contributions toward the development of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.

He was born on July 25, 1922, in Jena, Germany to American parents. Goodenough’s family moved to the United States in 1923. He earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Yale University in 1944. He served in World War II and then earned a Ph.D. in physics at the University of Chicago.

But Goodenough’s groundbreaking work began in the 1970s and led to the development of the first practical rechargeable lithium-ion battery, revolutionizing portable electronic devices in the process. His research involved the use of lithium cobalt oxide as a cathode material, greatly enhancing battery performance and energy storage capacity.

He made several important contributions to battery technology. His team discovered that lithium ions could shuttle between the cathode and anode of a battery, enabling efficient and reversible energy storage. He also explored different materials, including lithium iron phosphate and lithium manganese oxide, which further improved battery performance.

Goodenough’s advancements in lithium-ion battery technology have had a profound impact on various industries, including consumer electronics, electric vehicles, and renewable energy storage. His work paved the way for the development of lightweight, high-energy-density batteries that power modern devices and contribute to the transition to cleaner energy sources.

His accomplishments have been widely recognized. In 2019, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, along with Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino, for their contributions to the development of lithium-ion batteries.

Goodenough has received numerous other prestigious awards, including the National Medal of Science, the Japan Prize, and the Enrico Fermi Award. John B. Goodenough’s research and innovations in battery technology have had a transformative impact on society, enabling the proliferation of portable electronics and advancing the shift toward more sustainable energy solutions.

His work exemplifies the power of scientific inquiry and its potential to shape our modern world. Regarding his lasting impact on the world, perhaps nobody ever had a more fitting name than “Goodenough.”

By Robert Rapier

New Advances In Lithium Air Batteries Promise Greener Future

By Brian Westenhaus - Jul 02, 2023

• The researchers created CoSn(OH)6 (CSO), a catalyst for oxygen evolution reactions necessary for lithium air batteries, in a single step within 20 minutes, significantly speeding up previous methods.
• 
  
• The synthesized CSO demonstrated excellent catalytic properties for oxygen evolution reactions, making it a promising material for high energy density batteries, such as those required for electric vehicles.
• 
  
• This breakthrough opens a new path towards the realization of next-generation electric batteries, potentially aiding in the transition to a new energy system independent of fossil fuels.

Shibaura Institute of Technology scientists have developed a faster more efficient way to synthesize CoSn(OH)6, a powerful catalyst required for high-energy lithium air batteries.

The research paper has been published in the journal Sustainable Energy & Fuels. CoSn(OH)6 (CSO) is an effective oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalyst, necessary for developing next-generation lithium-air batteries. However, current methods of synthesizing CSO are complicated and slow. Recently, an international research team synthesized CSO in a single step within 20 minutes using solution plasma to generate CSO nanocrystals with excellent OER catalytic properties. Their findings could boost the manufacturing of high energy density batteries.

There is pressure to reduce fossil fuel dependency and switch to alternative green energy sources. The development of electric vehicles is a move towards this direction.

However, electric vehicles require high energy density batteries for their functioning, and conventional lithium-ion batteries are not up to the task. Theoretically, lithium-air batteries provide a higher energy density than lithium-ion batteries. But before they can be put to practical use, these batteries need to be made energy efficient, their cycle characteristics need to be enhanced, and the overpotential needed to charge/discharge the oxygen redox reaction needs to be reduced.

To address these issues, a suitable catalyst is needed to accelerate the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) inside the battery. The OER is an extremely important chemical reaction involved in water splitting for improving the performance of storage batteries.

Rare and expensive noble metal oxides such as ruthenium(IV) oxide (RuO2) and iridium(IV) oxide (IrO2) have typically been used as catalysts to expedite the OER of metal-air batteries. More affordable catalytic materials include transition metals, such as perovskite-type oxides and hydroxides, which are known to be highly active for the OER.

CoSn(OH)6 (CSO) is one such perovskite-type hydroxide that is known to be a promising OER catalyst. However, current methods of synthesizing CSO are slow (require over 12 hours) and require multiple steps.

To address these issues, a suitable catalyst is needed to accelerate the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) inside the battery. The OER is an extremely important chemical reaction involved in water splitting for improving the performance of storage batteries. Rare and expensive noble metal oxides such as ruthenium(IV) oxide (RuO2) and iridium(IV) oxide (IrO2) have typically been used as catalysts to expedite the OER of metal-air batteries.

More affordable catalytic materials include transition metals, such as perovskite-type oxides and hydroxides, which are known to be highly active for the OER. CoSn(OH)6 (CSO) is one such perovskite-type hydroxide that is known to be a promising OER catalyst. However, current methods of synthesizing CSO are slow (require over 12 hours) and require multiple steps.

In a recent breakthrough, a research team from Shibaura Institute of Technology in Japan, led by Prof. Takahiro Ishizaki along with Mr. Masaki Narahara and Dr. Sangwoo Chae, managed to synthesize CSO in just 20 minutes using only a single step! To achieve this remarkable feat, the team used a solution plasma process, a cutting-edge method for material synthesis in a nonthermal reaction field. Their research was published in the journal Sustainable Energy & Fuels.

Related: Oil Prices Set For A Monthly Gain But Yet Another Quarterly Loss

The team used X-ray diffractometry to show that highly crystalline CSO could be synthesized from a precursor solution by adjusting the pH to values greater than 10 to 12. Using a transmission electron microscope, they further noticed that the CSO crystals were cube-shaped, with sizes of about 100-300 nm. The team also used X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to investigate the composition and binding sites of CSO crystals and found Cobalt (Co) in a divalent and Tin (Sn) in a tetravalent state within the compound.

Finally, the team used an electrochemical method to look at the properties of CSO as a catalyst for OER. They observed that synthesized CSO had an overpotential of 350 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm−2.

“CSO synthesized at pH12 had the best catalytic property among all samples synthesized. In fact, this sample had slightly better catalytic properties than that of even commercial-grade RuO2,” highlighted Prof. Ishizaki. This was confirmed when the pH 12 sample was shown to have the lowest potential, specifically 104 mV lower than that of commercially available RuO2 vs. reversible hydrogen electrode at 10 mA cm−2.

Overall, this study describes, for the first time, an easy and efficient process for synthesizing CSO. This process makes CSO practically effective for use in lithium-air batteries and opens a new avenue towards the realization of next-generation electric batteries.

Prof. Ishizaki concluded, “The synthesized CSO showed superior electrocatalytic properties for OER. We hope that the perovskite-type CSO materials will be applied to energy devices and will contribute to the high functionalization of electric vehicles. This, in turn, will bring us one step closer towards achieving carbon neutrality by enabling a new energy system independent of fossil fuels.”

***

Lithium-air battery chemistry seems to offer quite a step up from the lithium-ion field. The theoretical number look really encouraging. One does hope that the technology will serve to extend the lithium supply.

But the small fly in the future is the long term performance. Lithium-ion came to market all set, same as perfect and remains to this day much less than the ideal originally proposed.

As this technology gets so close now to marketable it might be time to get on with some real long term testing to see just what the technology offers beyond more capacity.

By Brian Westenhaus via New Energy and Fuel

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

“Mystery Middlemen” Make Billions From Sanctioned Russian Crude

By ZeroHedge - Jul 02, 2023

• Enterprising middlemen and gray oil merchants who facilitate the sale of Russian oil to India and China make almost a billion dollars per month on the trade.
• 
  
• The gap between Urals crude and Dated Brent has narrowed to $23 per barrel in June. 
• 
  
• More than half of the Brent-Urals spread ends up in the hands of middlemen.

One year ago, conventional wisdom was that Western nations would throttle Russian oil exports to starve Putin's war machine, depriving the Kremlin of much needed cash, tipping the scales of global oil markets into a state of demand imbalance, and sending the price of crude high in the triple digit stratosphere. It ended up being just the opposite, and despite the pompous rhetoric and countless "sanctions", Western government did everything in their power to enable Putin to export as much oil as possible to willing buyers such as India and China. A few days ago, none other than Goldman Sachs explained how the virtue signaling rhetoric of western "democracies" which spent much of 2022 vowing they would cripple Russian oil exports was nothing but one big lie, and meanwhile behind the scenes oil-starved western nations were doing everything in their power to prevent Russian oil from exiting the market, an outcome which they knew would send inflation soaring even more, to wit:

[Russian] production rebounded sharply by June 2022 as alternative vessels were quickly sourced from the global ‘dark’ and ‘grey’ fleet, that were not reliant on Western financial and logistical services. Eventually, the G7’s price caps on oil permitted any vessel to facilitate Russian oil flows if the cargo was priced below the caps. The key point is that the 2022 disruption was ultimately political in nature, and Western governments had the ability to take actions to reduce disruptions, which they did.

But while the end of the 2022 "political" disruption meant that Putin would gladly receive tens of billions in US Dollars in exchange for Russian oil every month, he was not the only beneficiary: it turns out the "dark" and "gray" fleet referenced by Goldman above - mostly various Greek tanker and shipowners - has also greatly rewarded.

As Bloomberg writes, while Russia’s main crude grade is still selling well below international benchmarks as a result of the G7-imposed price cap which is a tacit blessing for China and India to buy as much Russian oil as they want, and at a lower price than all other oil purchases around the world, a huge amount of money for delivering it continues to go into the hands of mystery middlemen.

The country’s flagship Urals grade averaged about $52 a barrel so far this month at the Baltic Sea port of Primorsk, according to data from Argus Media, a discount of about $20 compared to Dated Brent (a discount which was as wide as $40 at the start of the year). The G-7 only allows firms to provide key services such as insurance and tankers for Russian oil exports if the barrels cost $60 or less.

However, what Bloomberg noticed is that the gap between the export price and the import price in India stood at about $12 a barrel so far in June. The size of that spread matters because, multiplied by export volumes, it implies about about $900 million a month is going into the hands of a web of the abovementioned "dark" and "gray" intermediary firms — traders, shipbrokers and tanker owners — whose affiliations are unclear and who are willing to anger the US state department while transporting millions of Russian barrels of oil. The gap has nevertheless whittled down, having averaged $13 in May and $15 in April.  

Even so, Urals is still trading at hefty discounts to international prices. Large amounts of oil trades relative to Dated Brent, a physical price benchmark anchored in the North Sea. Urals averaged about $23 less than the marker so far this month, about the same as in May, but a slightly smaller discount than in April, according to Argus data.

The mystery "commission" delta means that more than half of this Urals to Brent spread is going to enterprising middlemen and "gray" oil merchants who facilitate the sale of Russian oil to India and China.

The European Union banned seaborne imports of Russian crude back in December, the same time as the price cap was introduced. The prohibition forced Russian barrels to discount to compete for buyers in Asia; however it has done nothing to actually halt Russian oil exports, and not only is "Russia Set to Overtake Saudi Arabia in Battle for China’s Oil Market", but Russian oil continues to flood global markets. In the process, those "mystery middlemen" are becoming extremely rich at the expense of ordinary European citizens who are being crushed by runaway inflation and who could be buying oil at a much lower price if only Russian crude was allowed to enter every market instead of just India and China, but thanks to their clueless politicians, Putin is keeping energy inflation in the two largest Asian nations subdued while Christine Lagarde continues to hike rates into what is now officially a technical European recession.

By Zerohedge.com