Hyundai Motor's South Korea union approves wage deal - union official

Heekyong Yang
Mon, September 18, 2023 

 2022 World Car Awards at the New York International Auto Show, in New York City

By Heekyong Yang

SEOUL (Reuters) -Hyundai Motor Co and a union representing its South Korean workforce on Monday sealed a wage deal that will boost annual pay by about 12%, avoiding a strike and production losses at the company's biggest manufacturing base.


The union, one of the biggest in South Korea with more than 44,000 members, said on Monday that a total of 58.81% of its voting members had approved the tentative agreement reached last week.

Unionised workers voted last month for a possible strike over demands for higher wages, a performance bonus and an increase to the mandatory retirement age to 64 from 60.

The union demand to increase the retirement age - which would have allowed workers to stay in their jobs, reducing reliance on the pension system, for longer - was not accepted.

Workers at Hyundai Motor, the No.3 global automaker by sales with its affiliate Kia Corp, last went on strike in 2018.

Unionised workers at Hyundai in South Korea held a four-hour strike for one day in July in support of a general strike, but it was not related to the union's wage negotiations with the management.

(Reporting by Heekyong Yang; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Jan Harvey)

Sunak’s Tories, Starmer’s Labour: Britain is stuck in a doom loop of failed economics. Here’s the way out

We rely on too many old ideas. Governments must foster growth that is innovative and sustainable

‘Potential to leverage school meal procurement to transform food supply chains has already been recognised in Sweden.’ 

Illustration: Julia Louise Pereira/The Guardian

Mariana Mazzucato

Mon 18 Sep 2023 

Politicians from across the UK’s political spectrum seem to agree on one thing: growth. But for all the talk of resuscitating the UK’s flagging economy, there is little evidence (yet) to suggest that any party will succeed in charting a new course. Political leaders of all persuasions are – to echo the words of John Maynard Keynes – captive to defunct economic theory.

Rishi Sunak is advancing a piecemeal industrial strategy while painstakingly avoiding this label, focusing on wooing companies such as Jaguar Land Rover to base operations in the UK and on building the competitive strength of certain sectors. On the other side of the aisle, Keir Starmer is framing Labour as “economically responsible”, with a focus on growth rather than “big spending”, and is scaling back or delaying previous commitments, including a green prosperity fund. While Sunak’s plans show a lack of confidence in the state’s role in the economy, Starmer’s are falling victim to a false dichotomy between spending and growth.

By taking a forward-looking, ambitious approach to how they spend and invest, governments have significant power to foster and direct growth to be innovation-driven, inclusive and sustainable. Setting bold objectives that require public-private collaboration can work to expand private sector investment, stimulating jobs, training and productivity growth. These benefits are a byproduct of this mission-oriented investment; they are not the core objective. Done well, this approach can bring economic, social and environmental priorities into alignment.

For example, in addition to contributing to better health, education and economic outcomes for young people, well-structured investments in healthy and sustainable school meals can create a massive market opportunity for UK agriculture and food industries. This potential to leverage school meal procurement to transform food supply chains has already been recognised in Sweden. In the UK, Starmer has so far avoided committing to free school meals for all primary schoolchildren, citing spending constraints and a focus on fixing a broken economy. Not only has Sunak ignored calls for free school meals, he is also battling claims that underinvestment in infrastructure has led to schools that are crumbling.

Instead of seeing spending on education, school meals and other priorities – such as tackling the climate emergency, health crises or the digital divide – as an expense, it should be recognised as an investment. And one that can drive innovation.

In my 2013 book, The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking Public Vs Private Sector Myths, I made the case for governments to invest (rather than cut) their way to growth – and to do so in an entrepreneurial way that embraces the collective risk-taking needed. But, as I warned, it is vital to ensure that both risks and rewards are socialised. What was the point of government investing in the technologies that make our smartphones smart (yes, the internet, GPS, touchscreen and Siri are all fruits of government investment) if we don’t ensure that the resulting wealth is distributed rather than absorbed into massive excess profits in the private sector? A decade later, governments around the world are advancing industrial strategies, notably in the US, where the government has compared the scale of its ambitions to that of the Apollo space programme and is investing $2tn into its economy through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Chips and Science Act and Inflation Reduction Act. But most still shy away from maximising the potential of these investments by bringing social and environmental objectives into alignment with industrial strategy goals. Realising this potential requires four shifts in thinking.

First, it requires setting a clear direction. Governments can orient industrial strategy investments around bold goals – such as healthy, sustainable and tasty school meals for all children – to shape economies that not only grow, but grow in ways that are designed to benefit people and the planet.

Second, governments should approach the relationship between government, business and labour in such a way that risks and rewards are equitably shared. This is about establishing a new social contract. While public-private partnerships can and should create private value, the government’s role is to maximise public value. This requires setting conditions on any benefit granted to the private sector – through grants, loans, procurement deals, tax incentives or other means – to, for example, ensure affordable prices (as with the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine during the pandemic), share profits or IP rights, require fair labour practices and carbon emissions reductions, or limit shareholder buybacks (as was done with the US Chips and Science Act) and require reinvestment in research and development or worker training.

Third, it requires citizen engagement. At a time when public disenchantment with government leadership is rife, it is all the more vital for economic strategies to benefit and resonate with the people they are ultimately for. As politicians closely watch the polls and refine their policy agendas, they should be looking for ways to meaningfully engage in a ground-up conversation with the people of Britain and really listen to them.

Finally, directing and shaping growth requires investments in dynamic public sector capabilities, tools and institutions – to build back the state’s entrepreneurial capacity. Conversely, it means avoiding the pitfalls of over-reliance on consulting firms, a tendency that the UK has repeatedly fallen victim to and is the subject of my new book, The Big Con: How the Consulting Industry Weakens our Businesses, Infantilizes our Governments and Warps our Economies. The language of cost-saving and fiscal responsibility can lead to downsizing and gutting the capacity of governments to advance ambitious strategies. This becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy: when governments outsource critical functions, they do not develop the internal skills and knowledge to manage these functions.

The importance of taking an active hand in the UK economy is not about big v small government; rather, it is about advocating for smart, capable governments that understand their role in directing growth. Unless this direction is aligned with sustainability, health and inclusion goals, a thriving, resilient economy will remain elusive.

Mariana Mazzucato is a professor in the economics of innovation and public value at University College London and the founding director of the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose

I’m an Uluru youth ambassador because I don’t want to tell my grandchildren how close we got to real change

The Indigenous voice will be the first time many young Australians vote in a referendum. Photograph: William West/AFP/Getty Images

Australian people shouldn’t be taken for fools – they are turning up to information sessions hungry for factual information about the Indigenous voice

Kishaya Delaney

GUARDIAN AUSTRALIA
Mon 18 Sep 2023

As adults, many of us have voted in our first election, bought our first car or house, or had our first baby (or fur baby). Each of these “firsts” comes with a level of excitement and trepidation about the unknown. For those of us under the age of 41, a new “first” is coming: on 14 October we will participate in our first referendum.

Next month, all voting Australians will be asked to vote on creating a constitutionally protected Indigenous voice to parliament. The voice would enable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to have a say on the law and policy that affects their lives every day, through an advisory body representing the diversity of First Nations communities. It’s an exciting proposition, an opportunity to take part in making a permanent change to our political system to properly recognise the unique history, culture and experience of First Nations people.

As the referendum looms, loud voices on all sides of politics and the media take up space in the news cycle. Many Australians are searching for answers about what it actually means to vote in a referendum.

Since 2017, the Uluru dialogues have been leading community education about the Uluru statement from the heart. The Uluru statement youth dialogue, a collective of First Nations youth across the country, has been working since 2019 to build community understanding about the reforms. As the generations who would be most affected by the establishment of the voice, we are committed to helping our communities understand the need for the voice.

We don’t want to be telling our grandchildren how close we got to real, substantive change only to fail to get it over the line. We are working to make sure that doesn’t happen.

As ambassadors for the Uluru youth dialogue, we’ve been hosting community information sessions around Australia explaining constitutional recognition, the regional dialogue process that led to the Uluru statement from the heart, and the voice referendum question and amendment. These sessions offer people an opportunity to ask questions that they feel they can’t find the answers for.

My cousin, Alisha Agland (also an ambassador), and I have been delivering sessions together in recent months around regional New South Wales, and others from the Uluru dialogues and Uluru youth dialogue have been engaging with communities on the ground across the country. From the Kimberley to Adelaide, Perth to Townsville, dialogue teams have been working closely with Aboriginal communities and the broader public to help people access accurate factual information.

Alisha and I get a mix of people at our sessions. Some are keen supporters, eager to learn more. Others are on the fence, hoping for some clarity. And we’ve usually got quite a few self-proclaimed no voters. But without a doubt, all leave the session with a lot more clarity and understanding of what the referendum is actually about.

Yes campaign ramps up with new $20m ad campaign and rallies around Australia

Many voice and Uluru statement-related events have been held in the cities in recent years, but there have been far fewer opportunities for people in the regions to engage. Being from Orange, my cousin and I felt strongly that we needed to engage our own community in the conversation, and we knew we needed help. Earlier this year, we brought together what is now known as the Orange region voice working group, a collective of Indigenous and non-Indigenous representatives from the region committed to educating the community about the referendum. Building on this experience and wanting to engage parts of the state where there hasn’t been as much access to face-to-face information, Alisha and I have been travelling from Port Macquarie to Lennox Heads delivering sessions.

The most valuable part of the sessions is the Q&A. Most people have questions they can’t find an answer to with a Google search, partly because the internet is flooded with confusing news articles, but also because it’s not always easy to identify factual, reliable information relating to the referendum in general.

The yes campaign’s messaging and information has remained consistent over the past year, but I’ve seen the frequently asked questions at sessions evolve as the no campaign’s arguments have changed. First it was about the lack of detail, then it was the impact on executive government and slowing down the government. More recently it’s been the question of treaties or the length of the Uluru statement. People come to our sessions to get clarity about what they’re reading online or hearing from their friends.

Fortunately, these types of questions can be answered with factual responses that can help put people’s mind at ease. This is why people come along.

And it is why Alisha and I will be delivering online information sessions and Q&As every Tuesday until the referendum, to ensure the greatest access to factual information no matter where you are.

While “Don’t know? Vote no” seems like a catchy slogan, my experience is that the Australian people shouldn’t be taken for fools in this debate. With over a month before the vote, people are taking the time to find out.

Kishaya Delaney is a Wiradjuri woman and Uluru Youth Dialogue Ambassador

Read our voice referendum explainer and see the latest voice poll results

The truth about nitro-meats: my seven-year search for better bacon

Like so many Britons, I love a bacon butty or a plate of ham and eggs. But most of these pork products are made with nitrates – and rated as carcinogenic by the World Health Organization. So I’ve been investigating the alternatives …

 

We’re a nation of bacon bap breakfasters. 

Photograph: zkruger/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Amy Fleming
Mon 18 Sep 2023

I didn't realise quite how much I loved bacon, pancetta, chorizo and ham until the World Health Organization added processed meats to its list of carcinogens in 2015. Those salty, chewy pancetta chunks that send a mushroom risotto stratospheric – if I can resist scoffing the lot before the rice is cooked. The crumbly grain of Christmas ham carved off the bone. Translucent chorizo slices on holiday with a sip of red wine, or fried with potatoes, coating them with red umami oil. I am that disgusting person who dips her fingers in the pan after cooking bacon, to savour the salty melted fat.

Perhaps the health risks aren’t as scary as they sound as long as you’re not eating the stuff every day. But plenty are. Britain is a nation of bacon bap breakfasters, with ham sandwiches a lunchbox staple. We serve these foods in our hospitals and our schools, and once I’d read the cancer news I couldn’t unknow it. I went from thinking of charcuterie as traditional and natural – the stuff of bustling Saturday farmers’ markets – to shunning it as toxic. Once I started checking the ingredients, I saw that even the farmers’ market stuff contained nitrates and/or nitrites. When meat with these additives is cooked and eaten, carcinogenic N-nitroso compounds (NOCs) such as nitrosamine are formed.

Even unprocessed red meat (which includes pork) contains heme iron, which is involved in the formation of NOCs. This is why the World Cancer Research Fund recommends no more than three portions of red meat a week – but, when it comes to processed meat, “very little, if any”.

The additives that make processed meats so much worse are the synthetic compound sodium nitrite (E250), along with sodium nitrate (E251) and potassium nitrate (E252). The latter two are both naturally occurring minerals – although they can be industrially synthesised – and have been used in meat curing for centuries, to give it colour and protect it from deadly bacteria. Other bacteria, during the curing process or in our mouths when we chew the meat, convert the nitrates into nitrites – which is why, collectively, these additives are often referred to simply as nitrates or nitrites.

Even before the WHO’s announcement, I was on board with the idea of reducing meat consumption for the sake of the planet. But I was far from being a vegetarian. So I began to look for nitrate-free pork products. That quest led me to an online seller having a stab at an additive-free ham, but it arrived grey, overly salty and distinctly unham-like. I was bitterly disappointed. My partner tried River Cottage’s traditional dry-cure bacon recipe – using salt and sugar – but the result was too sweet for my tastes, and a very different animal from conventional British wet-cure bacon.

In 2022, the stakes rose. March saw a group of cross-party MPs and eminent scientists writing to the government, urging a phasing out of nitrates. They argued that the additives were linked to the development of breast, prostate and bowel cancer. What’s more, food technology had caught up, they said, and nitrates were no longer needed to make the meats look and taste how consumers expect – the era of grey nitrate-free ham was potentially over.

In July 2022, France announced it would be phasing out nitrates, and in December, research led by Chris Elliott, professor of biological sciences at Queen’s University, Belfast, demonstrated that mice fed on Herta frankfurters (freeze-dried and made into feed pellets) developed 82% more tumours in the colon than those given a balanced rodent feed. Today Elliott and his colleagues are campaigning for schools and hospitals to stop feeding nitrates to children and patients.

Most big stores do now offer an own-brand nitrate-free bacon. 

Photograph: sergeyryzhov/Getty Images/iStockphoto

The WHO lists processed meat as a “known human carcinogen” along with smoking, alcohol and asbestos, but clearly these substances don’t all carry the same risk. Smoking is the biggest cause of lung cancer, which leads to 35,000 UK deaths per year. Alcohol is linked to seven kinds of cancer, and comes with other health risks such as heart and liver disease, along with serious accidents. Nevertheless, Denis Corpet, professor of food safety and human nutrition in Toulouse, says he never buys so-called nitro-meats. He used to pack charcuterie when he hiked up mountains, but now, he says, “I don’t buy it because we’ve learned so much.” Not that an occasional slice of ham as part of a healthy varied diet is that risky, he says, if it’s anything like the traditional plant-heavy diet of Mediterranean peasants who “couldn’t afford meat very often”. His own research has found that consuming calcium alongside your processed meat can block the carcinogenicity – although this hasn’t been demonstrated in large cohorts yet, so mandatory cheese and ham combinations is nowhere near the official-medical-advice stage.

In the meantime, British supermarket offerings remain disappointingly nitrate-heavy. Most big stores do now offer an own-brand nitrate-free bacon. In my local I can also find one ring of nitrite-free chorizo, Unearthed’s prosciutto and serrano hams, and Finnebrogue Naked’s nitrate-free bacon and ham. Finnebrogue Naked’s bacon is among the most expensive per kilo. And that’s largely it, among shelves upon shelves of nitrates.

France is a little further ahead, says Corpet: “I would say a quarter are nitrate-free now,” and they are only “a little more expensive”.

It was Finnebrogue Naked that first demonstrated in the UK in 2018 that nitrate-free bacon butties were possible. Based in Northern Ireland, the company started out making sausages for M&S, but the WHO’s 2015 report on processed meat gave them an idea. “We thought: we’ve got all this volume of pork; why don’t we step in and try and do this the ‘proper’ way?” says Jago Pearson, chief strategy officer at Finnebrogue. In 2018, the company launched its Naked Bacon (now renamed Better Naked) brand and began producing M&S’s own label nitrate-free bacon. Now it’s supplying Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Waitrose, Asda and Morrisons.

The secret ingredient Finnebrogue adds instead of nitrates is simply “fruit and spice extracts” according to Declan Ferguson, the firm’s research, development and technical director. It was developed by the Spanish food technology company, Prosur and it is also used in Waitrose Made without Nitrite bacon, made by Pilgrim’s UK.

According to Ferguson, the only reason there has to be any additive at all is to keep the meat pink. A protein in meat called myoglobin naturally turns red and then brown as it oxidises, and the nitrates stop this happening. If the bacon went grey-brown, he says, you couldn’t legally sell it as bacon. The Prosur additive is high in antioxidants, which, says Ferguson, also “stops that myoglobin going brown”. It doesn’t slow the curing process or affect shelf life. “To the naked eye it looks like normal bacon,” he says, “but it actually isn’t the same pink as nitrate bacon and ham – it’s more red.”

Before bacon was made industrially, he says, “it would have been done either through salting or salt plus drying”. Parma and Serrano ham are made similarly: “The more traditional producers only use salt and drying.” Fermented products like salami, for which microbes are essential, can easily be made without nitrates, too, he says. “Nitrates have been introduced over time to help speed up that process and to create something that looks pink and fresh,” says Ferguson.

After the carcinogen story broke in 2015, many in the meat industry claimed that nitrates protected charcuterie-lovers from contracting botulism, a rare but serious disease caused by toxins produced by Clostridium botulinum bacteria. When Finnebrogue started making nitrate-free bacon and ham, it had to spend a lot of time and money debunking this. “We’ve done ‘challenge-testing’, where we put the clostridium botulinum bugs in the bacon,” Ferguson says. “We tested whether it grew and we were able to prove that it didn’t.”

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) says that nitrates and nitrites “have undergone a safety assessment prior to being authorised” and are “important preservatives which hinder the growth of harmful organisms, in particular the bacteria responsible for botulism”. However, the agency doesn’t insist on their use. “They are one of the ways manufacturers can choose to protect against growth of these harmful organisms,” says Adam Hardgrave, head of additives at the FSA, “but other methods include using pH, water activity [essentially, how much water is available for the bugs to grow], salt, other food additives …”

Cured meats … ‘There are a lot of new nitrate-free trials going on behind the scenes.’ Photograph: carlosgaw/Getty Images

“The other misconception,” says Ferguson, “was that nitrates contribute to flavour, when they don’t give you flavour compounds in themselves. We have won multiple awards for the flavour of our bacon.”

In the US, there has been a clampdown on bacon marketed as “uncured”, which has been spiked with celery or other vegetable extracts instead of the E numbers. It may sound healthy, but it’s not. Like many vegetables, celery is a source of nitrate, and a concentrated extract can indeed stand in nicely for the usual additives. But the end product still contains harmful levels of nitrates, and can now no longer be labelled as “uncured”, or “no nitrate or nitrite added”.

Prosur’s secret ingredient isn’t the only nitrate-free colour enhancer on the market. Ferguson says he is aware of producers in Spain, France and Germany using similar additives, “or different ingredients to make something look red or pink through, say, cherry extracts or green tea”.

David Lindars, technical operations director of the British Meat Processors Association, is surprisingly on board with a nitrate-free future, and says he’s found decent nitrate-free salami at his local Tesco. He also says there are a lot of new nitrate-free trials going on behind the scenes.

“They do take quite some time,” he says, “because you have to be absolutely certain there is going to be no risk to human health.” And the products have to match consumer expectation and shelf life. “It’s really expensive, too. You’re looking at circa £15,000 with one of the highly reputable labs.” Still, that’s small change compared with the cost of new production lines: Finnebrogue spent £20m to get its up and running.

In the meantime, Lindars says, in conventionally cured meats, “there has been a big push over the past 18 months or so to reduce the level of nitrates from 150 parts per million, which is the maximum. Two retailers that I know of have reduced their standard product to 60 parts per million: Co-op and Waitrose.”

While I have cut my meat consumption, I can report that as an occasional treat, Finnebrogue Naked bacon is just as good as regular sliced bacon and, yes, I still dip my fingers in the hot fat. The Artysan Chorizo Riojano IGP ring is equally good, although I wish there was a more spicy version available. Like most packaged ham, I find Finnebrogue’s slices too slimy and grainless. There’s still a frustrating lack of choice. “There will be new nitrite-free stuff coming down the line later this year,” Pearson promises, though he won’t say what.

“Where developments tend to lag the most,” says Lindars, “is in food service,” ie takeaways and restaurants. “Because your bacon roll - or whatever it may be - is cooked in the sandwich shop, the legislative requirements on displaying consumer information is very different.” Customers, in turn, are often less rigorous in seeking nutritional information when eating out. “You tend to be in a different frame of mind,” says Lindars. “It’s kind of an impulse buy.”

But the sense is that change is in the works, largely because, he says, “the consumer dictates, ultimately. You and me, we’re going to buy what we want and what we believe to be good for us.”

‘I want to see the first African woman in space’: the Kenyan stargazer bringing astronomy to the people


Susan Murabana’s passion for astronomy was only sparked in her 20s as science was just ‘for boys’. Now she tours Kenya with a telescope on a mission to reveal the cosmos to all children

Sharon Machira

THE GUARDIAN
Mon 18 Sep 2023 

Susan Murabana estimates that she has shown the wonders of the night sky to more than 400,000 people since she set up her social enterprise, Travelling Telescope. ‘We hope these experiences can widen their views about the world and the opportunities beyond Kenya,’ she says.

Photograph: Daniel Chu Owen

It’s 1.30am in Kenya’s parched and sparsely populated north, and 50 people are lying on their backs on the shore of a dried-up river, staring up at the night sky. Thousands of stars create a vast, glittering canvas with the ghostly glow of the Milky Way clearly visible.

These stargazers have travelled 250 miles (400km) overland from Nairobi to Samburu county to witness the Perseid meteor shower – a celestial event that happens every July and August. They are not disappointed: every few minutes, arrows of light shoot across the sky like silent fireworks, prompting gasps and arm-waving as people try to pinpoint individual shooting stars.

‘There’s something about the sky that makes you want to experience it with other people,’ says Susan Murabana.

 Photograph: Daniel Chu Owen

The Star Safari is organised by a Kenyan astronomer, Susan Murabana, who has brought the SkyWatcher Flextube – a 50kg, 170cm-long telescope – to allow the group to view Jupiter, Saturn, Mars and Venus, and deep-sky objects such as the Orion and Trifid nebulae, star clusters and galaxies such as Pinwheel and Andromeda.

But here in Samburu, where light pollution is minimal and the air is warm and full of anticipation, the Perseid meteors – visible with the naked eye – steal the show.

“There’s something about the sky that makes you want to experience it with other people,” says Murabana, who launched Star Safaris in 2021. But this is not the only way she is sharing her passion and knowledge.

The proceeds from the £136 two-night trips, as well as monthly overnight excursions to the outskirts of Nairobi, fund the Travelling Telescope, a social enterprise set up by Murabana in 2014 that aims to educate remote communities and inspire a love of science and astronomy among young people, particularly girls.

Every two months, Murabana and her husband, Daniel Chu Owen, a photographer, load their telescope and an inflatable planetarium on to the roof of their 4x4 and set off to rural communities, where they give up to 300 children a chance to view the planets and learn about constellations and the basics of astrophysics.

“The challenge is that most children, especially in Kenya, have not had a chance to look through a telescope or visit a planetarium, and we are trying to change that. We hope these experiences can widen their views about the world and the opportunities beyond Kenya,” says Murabana who also runs kids’ space camps in Nairobi.
Most children, especially in Kenya, have not had a chance to look through a telescope, and we are trying to change thatSusan Murabana

She estimates that she has shown the wonders of the night sky to 400,000 people since the launch of the Travelling Telescope. They primarily targets schools in remote areas because of the quality of the night sky and because of her mission to give children an opportunity that she wishes had been available to her.

“When I started this work, I didn’t see people who looked like me. I was a lone ranger and I wanted to change that,” says Murabana.

“There is a common misconception in Kenya that astronomy – and science in general – is hard, boring, for the west, and only for boys,” she adds. “I’d like to teach young girls that science is neither of these things and that they, too, can become astronomers like me.”

Murabana’s passion for astronomy began in her early 20s when her uncle invited her to join a similar outreach session at a school in Mumias, the small rural town in west Kenya where she was living. It was facilitated by Cosmos Education, a charity dedicated to improving science education in developing countries.

The shooting-star safari in Kenya’s remote Samburu county, where the lack of light pollution makes for perfect views of the Perseids. 

Photograph: Daniel Chu Owen

“That was a gamechanger. Looking through the telescope that day sparked my passion for the cosmos. If an outreach group had come to me when I was a young teenager, my attitude towards a career in science and astronomy would have been positive. I ended up studying sociology and economics, but maybe I would have aspired to be an astronomer.

“I now want to give children, especially African girls, the opportunity I missed,” she says.

Inspired by the Cosmos Education session, she joined the organisation as a volunteer; five years later she was invited to join Global Hands-On Universe, an educational programme set up by the International Astronomical Union. In 2011, she completed an online master’s degree in astronomy with the James Cook University in Australia.

Schoolchildren take turns to look at the night sky in Kisaruni, in Narok, south-west Kenya. 

Photograph: Daniel Chu Owen

When she met Chu Owen in 2013, during a Star Safari she was running, they decided to set up their own outreach programme.

Astronomy for development is an ambitious goal, she admits. It has been challenging to secure funding for her projects, especially in a country that has more pressing developmental needs such as access to healthcare, water and sanitation. About 90% of the Travelling Telescope costs are self-funded.

But its impact has gone beyond educating communities. In 2021, Murabana was selected as a Space4Women mentor, a UN programme that pairs women in the space sector with young girls aspiring to careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Murabana looked to Dr Mae Jemison, a former Nasa astronaut and the first black woman in space, as a role model when she was studying astronomy. Now she hopes her own work will inspire a generation of female African space scientists.


Giant leap for women: early ‘lady’ astronomers have asteroids named in their honour

“I hope that one day, through this work, I will spark a chain reaction that leads to the first African woman in space.”

‘Forever chemical’ exposure linked to higher cancer odds in women

New research finds evidence that exposure to PFAS and phenols increases odds of certain ‘hormonally driven’ cancers for women

Carey Gillam

THE GUARDIAN

Mon 18 Sep 2023 

An estimated 97% of Americans have PFAS in their blood, and 45% of US drinking water is contaminated with the chemicals. Photograph: Morsa Images/Getty Images

Women exposed to several widely used chemicals appear to face increased odds for ovarian and other certain types of cancers, including a doubling of odds for melanoma, according to new research funded by the US government.

Using data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a team of academic researchers found evidence that women diagnosed with some “hormonally driven” cancers had exposures to certain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which are used in thousands of household and industrial products, including in stain- and heat-resistant items.

They found similar links between women diagnosed with cancer and high exposures to phenols, which are commonly used in food packaging, dyes and personal care products.

PFAS have been dubbed “forever chemicals” due to their longevity in the environment.

The study, published late on Sunday in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology, did not find similar associations between the chemicals and cancer diagnoses in men.

PFAS chemicals, in particular, may disrupt hormone functions specific to women – a potential mechanism for increasing their odds of hormone-related cancers, the researchers determined. Hormonally active cancers are common and hard to cure, making deeper inquiry into potential environmental causes critical, the researchers said.

“People should care about this because we know that there is widespread human exposure to these chemicals and we have documented data on that,” said Max Aung, assistant professor of environmental health at the USC Kreck School of Medicine and a senior author of the study.

“These chemicals can increase the risk of various different health outcomes and they can alter your biological pathways … That is important to know so that we can better prevent exposures and mitigate risks,” Aung said.

It’s nearly impossible to avoid exposure to PFAS, because the chemicals are so widespread in the environment. Sometimes called “forever chemicals” because they do not naturally break down, PFAS residues can persist in water, soil, air and food. An estimated 97% of Americans have PFAS in their blood, according to the CDC. The US Geological Survey (USGS), a unit of the US Department of Interior, says that 45% of US drinking water is contaminated with PFAS.

In our blood: how the US allowed toxic chemicals to seep into our lives

Notably, the research team found differences in women from different racial groups – links between PFAS and ovarian and uterine cancers were seen mainly in white women, while associations between chemicals known as phenols and breast cancer were seen largely in non-white women.

The researchers said it was not clear exactly why such differences exist, but could be due to dietary habits and proximity to contaminated drinking water sources, among other factors.

The new study is based on analysis of data collected through a CDC biomonitoring program from 2005 to 2018 involving more than 10,000 people. Researchers looked at prior cancer diagnoses and levels of PFAS and phenols in blood and urine collected from study participants.

The researchers said the data showed that women with higher exposure to a long-chained PFAS compound called PFDE had double the odds of having a prior melanoma diagnosis, while women with higher exposure to two other long-chained PFAS compounds, PFNA and PFUA, had nearly double the odds of a prior melanoma diagnosis. Researchers said they also found a link between PFNA and uterine cancer.

The work does not prove that exposure to PFAS and phenols led to these cancer diagnoses, the researchers said, but is a strong sign that the chemicals play a role and should be studied further.

The study is part of ongoing research funded by the National Institutes of Environmental Health to “better understand” how PFAS chemicals are affecting human health. There are thousands of different types of PFAS, and research on their health effects is still evolving, though certain types of PFAS have already been linked through prior scientific research to multiple health problems including cancer, decreased fertility and kidney disease.

In addition to Aung, the study was conducted by researchers affiliated with the Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment at the University of California, San Francisco; the University of Southern California; and the University of Michigan.

This story is co-published with the New Lede, a journalism project of the Environmental Working Group

ABOLISH BREXIT

Labour will seek major rewrite of Brexit deal, SIR  Keir Starmer pledges


Party leader says he will pursue a closer trading relationship with the EU and much better terms for the UK than Boris Johnson managed

Keir Starmer and Justin Trudeau at the Gobal Progress Action Summit in Montreal on Saturday. Photograph: Canadian Press/Shutterstock

Jem Bartholomew

THE GUARDIAN

Sun 17 Sep 2023 

Keir Starmer has committed to pursuing a major rewrite of the Brexit deal with the EU if Labour is elected, citing his responsibility to his children and future generations.

As the Labour leader begins to unveil his blueprint for power if the party wins the next general election, he told the Financial Times he would seek a closer trading relationship with Brussels when the agreement negotiated by then-prime minister Boris Johnson comes up for review in 2025.

“Almost everyone recognises the deal Johnson struck is not a good deal – it’s far too thin,” Starmer said. “As we go into 2025 we will attempt to get a much better deal for the UK.”

Starmer made the comments in Canada at a conference of centre-left leaders, the Global Progress Action Summit, in Montreal, where he had a bilateral meeting with the country’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau. The trip is part of a wider tour of the international stage: Starmer visited The Hague last week and will arrive in Paris to see the French president, Emmanuel Macron, on Tuesday.

The Labour leader said there is “more that can be achieved across the board” between the UK and EU in a revised deal – on business, veterinary compliance, professional services, security, innovation, research and other areas. He ruled out rejoining the EU, the customs union and the single market.

Johnson’s deal is up for review in 2025 but the process is seen more by Brussels as an ironing-out procedure. European appetite for renegotiating a deal that commenced in 2021 is uncertain.

“We have to make it work,” Starmer told the paper. “That’s not a question of going back in. But I refuse to accept that we can’t make it work. I think about those future generations when I say that.

“I say that as a dad. I’ve got a 15-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl. I’m not going to let them grow up in a world where all I’ve got to say to them about their future is, it’s going to be worse than it might otherwise have been. I’ve got an utter determination to make this work.”

His comments join other recent interventions in which the leader – who has frustrated some for being tight-lipped – has started to outline what Starmer’s Britain might look like, as Labour begins to plan for power.

The party is consistently polling above the Conservatives. Last week Starmer sat down to dinner with union leaders gathered for the Trades Union Congress, with one official present summing up Starmer’s message as “eyes on the prize”.

In Paris on Tuesday, Macron and Starmer are expected to discuss post-Brexit relations, as well as a potential returns agreement with the EU to stop people travelling across the Channel in dangerously small boats.

Peak China? Jobs, local services and welfare strain under economy’s structural faults

Faced with record high youth unemployment and bankrupt local councils, the country’s population is beginning to feel the weight of the economy’s flaws

Amy Hawkins

senior China correspondent

THE GUARDIAN

Mon 18 Sep 2023

When finding a job feels as unlikely as winning the lottery, playing the actual lottery may seem like a more productive use of time. In the first half of 2023, faced with a struggling economy, Chinese consumers spent 273.9bn yuan ($37bn/£30bn) on lottery tickets, an increase of more than 50% on the same period in 2022.

It’s just the latest symptom of an economy in distress. A record high youth unemployment rate of 21.3% in June prompted the government to stop publishing data on the issue – along with other areas such as the consumer confidence index – all which showed China’s economy was struggling.



Global economic fears deepen as service sector dips in China and Europe

Several factors have contributed to the unusually high youth unemployment rate. Education, real estate and technology – industries that graduates previously flocked to – have been hit by a regulatory storm in recent years which annihilated millions of jobs. And during the Covid-19 pandemic, more students stayed in education while the jobs market was all but frozen, leading to a pent-up supply of recent graduates on the jobs market.

But the bigger problems for the Chinese economy may be structural. Most of the people in the youth unemployment cohort are not recent college graduates but school leavers who are unable to get the types of service-sector jobs that have previously kept China’s cities buzzing. Millions of would-be hospitality workers, security guards, couriers and nannies are unemployed. Educated, creative college graduates going without work is a problem for a “politically significant part of the workforce”, says Eli Friedman, a professor who focuses on Chinese labour issues at Cornell University, but the fact that people are not finding more low end jobs is the “big concern”.

Since 2013, as factories have moved to countries with cheaper labour, the number of people employed in manufacturing has been in decline. That has led to an “era of polarisation”, according to a study published by economists at Stanford and Wenzhou universities, in which wages have risen for high-skilled professionals, while the surplus of workers at the low-skilled end of the economy has driven down wages.



Between 2004 and 2019, the share of people working in China’s cities in the informal sector – that part of the economy that is neither taxed nor picked up in government data – grew from 33% to about 60%. As well as contributing to yawning inequality, this hampers China’s ability to boost its productivity rates. “You don’t turn yourself into a high-income country with [close to] 70% of your economy in the informal sector,” says Scott Rozelle, an economist who led the wage polarisation study.

China’s economic model is faltering – does it have the political will to fix it?
George Magnus

‘A peculiar time to be cutting entitlements’

Another problem created by the explosion in China’s informal sector is that it inhibits the ability of local governments to collect taxes. Personal income tax accounts for just 6% of China’s total tax revenues, compared with 24% in OECD countries. Only a tiny fraction of the country’s population pay any income tax at all.

As a result, local governments are forced to rely on non-tax sources of revenue, such as land sales. Between 2012 and 2021, the share of local government revenues that came from land sales increased from 20% to 30%.

But in 2020, armed with the mantra that “houses are for living in, not for speculation”, the government unleashed a wave of regulatory shocks to the real estate sector, prompting a record number of defaults and the worst slump in the housing market in the 21st century. That was bad news for local governments, which saw their land sale revenues fall by nearly a quarter in 2022.

Residential buildings under construction in Beijing. 

Photograph: Tingshu Wang/Reuters


The slumping revenues exposed a problem that has been brewing for years. China’s provincial governments have all but run out of money. Local government debt is estimated to total $23tn, and 22 municipalities are at medium or high risk of default, according to MacroPolo, a thinktank. The effects are already being felt across China.


Yang Huiyan: Country Garden owner who was once Asia’s richest woman

In Hegang, a frosty coal-producing town near the Russian border, residents were left without heating, which is normally subsidised by the government, after the city made history by becoming the first to undergo fiscal restructuring in December 2021.

In February, the public bus operator in Shangqiu, a city of 7 million people in Henan province, said it was suspending services as it had run out of money to pay wages, insurance contributions or even to charge the electric buses.

In a bid to balance the books, Beijing has encouraged local governments to slash welfare payments, prompting pensioner protests earlier this year. With a rapidly ageing population and an already weak social safety net, it is a “peculiar time to be cutting entitlements”, Houze Song, a MacroPolo fellow, has noted, especially because reducing benefits encourages people to stash away their money, hurting consumption.

And so China’s economic problems risk falling into a vicious circle, where weak demand drags down employment and public revenue, which – in the absence of a free market – undermines the ability of the state to support jobs and economic confidence.

This is the second in a series of articles that examine the challenges facing China’s government and its population – at a time of upheaval for the country’s economy

PART 1  Peak China? How the booming middle class hit a brick wall

The forgotten Australian hero who saved thousands from the Nazis’ crimes

Bruce Dowding’s war exploits were never recognised. Now in a new book his nephew says it’s time to give him the honour he deserves

Dalya Alberge

THE GUARDIAN

Sun 17 Sep 2023

Bruce Dowding volunteered as an interpreter for the British army after war broke out while he was studying in France. Photograph: Pen & Sword

A young Australian who joined the French Resistance, worked undercover for British intelligence, and helped to save thousands of lives in war-torn France was guillotined by the Gestapo in 1943 after he was betrayed by a British double agent.

Yet Corporal Bruce Dowding’s bravery and ultimate sacrifice have been largely forgotten because France’s attempt to award him its highest national honours – the Croix de Guerre and Légion d’honneur – came up against his own country’s bureaucracy.

Now Dowding’s family are calling for him to receive the honours that he deserves and for Australia to recognise him as one of its heroes, after he aided the escape from France of allied servicemen and Jews fleeing the persecution of the Third Reich.

His nephew, Peter Dowding, told the Observer that the family had been astonished to discover that Australia seemed to object to a foreign government bestowing posthumous honours on an Australian citizen.

“Protocol had required only the approval of the Commonwealth of Australia, but bureaucratic indifference in his home country derailed the process,” he said.

“The Australian government inquired whether he had been an Australian serviceman. When they found out he had fought for the British, they just simply responded to the French: ‘Well, he wasn’t an Australian serviceman.’ ”

It is only in recent years after archives were opened up that the family have pieced together Dowding’s full story. His nephew said: “We just didn’t know much of what had happened to him. Suddenly, over the last five or 10 years, archives have released materials which were never available before.”

He will present the evidence in a forthcoming book, co-written with Ken Spillman. Secret Agent, Unsung Hero: The Valour of Bruce Dowding tells the story of a young teacher in Melbourne who took a year off in 1938 to take up a scholarship at the University of Sorbonne in Paris.

He fell in love with France and its culture, refusing to leave even after the start of the war. In a 1938 letter home, he wrote: “Should ‘la guerre’ break out by any chance while I’m over here in Paris, you would assure everybody that I’d soon get out of harm’s way.”

While raised as a pacifist, Dowding wanted to support France and so he volunteered as an interpreter with the British army in Boulogne. He was taken prisoner there in 1940, after the Nazis attacked the town. But he escaped by crawling through a sewer beneath the prisoner of war camp.

He managed to reach Vichy France, where he joined the French Resistance. Under the code name André Mason, he helped to smuggle escaped or shot-down allied servicemen out of Nazi-occupied France and on to Spain.

French Resistance fighters. Bruce Dowding was active in an escape line supported by British intelligence but was betrayed by a double agent.

 Photograph: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

On an escape line supported by MI9 and the Special Operations Executive in London, he helped to move escapers to the foothills of the Pyrenees and others from a safe-house holding area in Lille. Dowding also worked with Varian Fry’s celebrated American rescue mission, which saved thousands of Jews.

In the book, his nephew writes: “He had utilised his gifts – intuition, intelligence and a gift for languages – to solve complex logistical problems in a hostile wartime environment.”

But Dowding was eventually betrayed by Harold Cole, one of the second world war’s most notorious traitors. Arrested by the Gestapo, he was executed by guillotine in Dortmund prison in 1943, shortly after his 29th birthday.

Peter Dowding, a lawyer turned politician who served as the premier of Western Australia at the end of the 1980s, has had little joy persuading his government to give his uncle the prominence he feels he deserves.

Last week the minister for veterans’ affairs, Matt Keogh, wrote to Dowding that “it appears the award may not have progressed as Cpl Dowding did not serve in the Second Australian Imperial Force”.

He added: “It is the consistently held position of Australian governments that representations are not made to other countries regarding foreign awards for Australians. However, this in no way diminishes Australia’s respect and acknowledgment of the important contributions Cpl Dowding made.”

Refusing to give up, Peter Dowding said: “I want the Australian government to tell the French it is their error that led to the impasse. I would like to see the French acknowledge we are not asking them to consider an award but to complete the offer they made.”

Then he will turn his attention to Britain, he added: “The British gave Bruce a mention in despatches – but before the full details of his service was known.”

In his book, he writes: “War is indiscriminate in the way it inflicts pain and suffering …

“Part of life is due remembrance … I remain determined that [Bruce] and the others who died with him – for France, and for freedom – will not be forgotten.”

Assisted dying

‘I don’t want to suffer’: the case for assisted dying in Scotland

Ani, who has motor neurone disease, and Suzie, who watched her husband die in agony, share their reasons for wanting change

Majority of Scottish voters support assisted dying bill, poll reports


Severin Carrell Scotland editor
@severincarrell

Sun 17 Sep 2023 

Theresa George, known to most as Ani, says she has no fear of dying but does have a fear of how she dies. She has a degenerative, incurable condition, and when her defences are down, the upsurge of stress and anxiety can at times feel overwhelming.

“I can have panic attacks,” she said. “All of my effort at this point is on trying to keep a positive mental attitude and enjoying what life I have left.”

Ani: ‘All of my effort at this point is on trying to keep a positive mental attitude.’ Photograph: Jennifer MacPhee-Campbell/Dignity in Dying

George, 63, has lived for 20 years on the west coast of North Uist in the Outer Hebrides with her partner, Maire Coniglio. Originally from Maine in New England, George had been working in home care when late last year she was diagnosed with motor neurone disease.

“When I came home and told my partner, she said ‘No, no, no, it can’t be that,’” George recalled.

The progressive disease began with loss of mobility in her left ankle and foot; it spread to affect her leg and now her left side is subject to tremors and weakness. A trained massage therapist, George now uses a motorised wheelchair.

Living with accelerating physical deterioration, she has the very real fear of “being trapped in my own body”, she said. “I’m slowly watching myself deteriorate, really, and it just brings up all that anxiety and fear and the stress of it all. I don’t have a fear of dying but I do have a fear of how I die – I think most people can relate to that.

“I don’t want to die but more so, I don’t want to suffer.”

George considered travelling to the Dignitas assisted dying clinic in Zurich. Faced with the significant costs of doing so – estimated by the pro-assisted dying campaign group Dignity in Dying at about £15,000 – and the logistics of travelling there, she quickly dropped the idea.

For her, dying at home on her own terms would be far preferable than the added stress of dying in an anonymous room abroad. “To have that at home, with people that you love around you, that would be amazing,” George said.

Suzie Mcallister, whose husband, Colin, died this year. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

Suzie McAllister, 47, a primary school teacher in Fort William, empathises. She cared for her husband, Colin, a very fit and active climber and kayaker, as he died in enormous pain from an aggressive and untreatable stomach tumour earlier this year.

Colin considered Dignitas clinic. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian


The sedatives and pain relief he was given simply failed to alleviate his suffering and distress, she said. The cancer made it impossible for him to eat. He would wake up crying out in pain.

For McAllister, it is incomprehensible the law cannot allow someone in that degree of pain to voluntarily end their suffering. Colin considered Dignitas; towards the end, he pleaded for her to find the drugs to end his life on the internet.

“He had no control, no right to choose, and that’s what made him angry” she said. “You can’t tell me that the way Colin died was moral in any way. The autonomy, the will of the patient, has to be considered.

“It wasn’t tolerable, not for me having to watch it and certainly not for him.”