Suzanne Simard is a professor of forest ecology

Suzanne Simard is a professor of forest ecology and teaches at the University of British Columbia. Suzanne W. Simard Suzanne Simard.jpg Simard in 2018 Alma mater Oregon State University Scientific career Fields Forest ecology, mycorrhizal networks Institutions University of British Columbia Thesis Interspecific Carbon Transfer in Ectomycorrhizal Tree Species Mixtures (1995) Doctoral advisor David A. Perry She is a biologist and has tested theories about how trees communicate with other trees. She used radioactive carbon to measure the flow and sharing of carbon between individual trees and species, and discovered that birch and Douglas fir share carbon. Birch trees receive extra carbon from Douglas firs when the birch trees lose their leaves, and birch trees supply carbon to Douglas fir trees that are in the shade. Contents Mother trees Edit Simard helped identify something called a hub tree, or “mother tree”. Mother trees are the largest trees in forests that act as central hubs for vast below-ground mycorrhizal networks. A mother tree supports seedlings by infecting them with fungi and supplying them the nutrients they need to grow.[1] She discovered that Douglas Firs provide carbon to baby firs. She found that there was more carbon sent to baby firs that came from that specific mother tree, than random baby firs not related to that specific fir tree. It was also found the mother trees change their root structure to make room for baby trees.[2] Interspecies cooperation Edit Simard found that "fir trees were using the fungal web to trade nutrients with paper-bark birch trees over the course of the season".[3] For example, tree species can loan one another sugars as deficits occur within seasonal changes. This is a particularly beneficial exchange between deciduous and coniferous trees as their energy deficits occur during different periods. The benefit "of this cooperative underground economy appears to be better over-all health, more total photosynthesis, and greater resilience in the face of disturbance"

ACTU

900,000 people are unemployed and 1.2 million are looking for more hours according to data on unemployment released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. This comes after modelling from Deloitte showing that working Australians could be waiting up to five years for wage growth to reach 2 per cent, adding to 7 years of record low wage growth before the pandemic. The Morrison Government’s half-hearted recovery is leaving workers behind. JobSeeker is being decreased by $100 per fortnight as of January, and JobKeeper is set to finish in March. Meanwhile, proposed changes to IR legislation would make it easier to cut workers’ pay, and make it more difficult to negotiate better pay and conditions. Quotes attributable to ACTU President Michele O’Neil: “The recovery means nothing for the more than 2 million workers who are still looking for a job or for more hours, this Government is leaving millions of people behind. “We have heard a lot about economic recovery, but for many Australians this is still completely out of reach. Many sectors still badly effected by the pandemic, such as tourism, aviation and universities are being left struggling and without support. “A genuine recovery from the pandemic and the associated recession requires sector support, job creation and wage growth., It is more important than ever for the Government to look after working people, not set them back by cutting JobSeeker payments and ending JobKeeper. “The wage growth crisis started years before the pandemic and looks set to continue for years afterwards. Wage stagnation for many years ahead means any recovery is meaningless for millions of Australians. “The Morrison Governments plans to cut income support and introduce IR legislation which cuts workers pay and conditions will worsen unemployment, increase insecure work and further drive down wage growth.”

UK The Independent

More than 100,000 people in the UK have now died from Covid-19 – a heart-wrenching, incomprehensible figure that many experts and scientists believe to be rooted in the failures of a “reckless" government that has overseen one of the largest “avoidable” losses of lives in generations. Few ever envisioned the UK reaching such a grim milestone, yet nearly 12 months on from the beginning of the pandemic – and despite countless opportunities and warnings to take corrective action – the country stands alone with the highest daily death rate in the world. More than a quarter of all UK deaths have been reported in the last month alone, the culmination of the government’s failed tier system, pre-Christmas mixing and the emergence of the new coronavirus variant, critics say. Against this backdrop, the NHS has found itself overwhelmed by a surge of hospitalisations previously unseen throughout the pandemic. But the reality is that such statistics barely scratch the surface of suffering that has paralysed the UK over the course of the crisis. Each lost life was a mother, a father, a child, a friend, a neighbour, a colleague – someone known and loved by another.

NSW Teachers Federation

Welcome back to school year 2021. I hope you’ve had a restful break. To those teachers beginning work for the first time, thank you for choosing to make a difference in our public schools and TAFEs. There is no more consequential profession, and none more skilled and dedicated than the teachers you will meet and work alongside in your career in our public education system. I’m sure we are all grateful 2020 is behind us and we can start anew this year. This time 12 months ago, many of you were dealing with the aftermath of a summer of bushfires. In school communities across the state that meant great loss and ongoing trauma. With the lasting effects of those fires still on full display, it was only a short time until schools were shut down by the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, the pandemic is not behind us yet and it is impossible to know what this year will bring. What we do know is, the teaching service will be forced to deal with the legacy of the coronavirus for many years to come due to disruptions to student learning and the impact it has had on the mental health and wellbeing of many children and families, including ourselves. The intensive learning support funded by the NSW Government this year is welcome but it alone is not enough and there remains an urgent, and seriously overdue, need for additional school counsellors and specialist programs. Federation priorities in 2021 The central focus of Federation in 2021 is our salaries and conditions of work. It is indisputable that workloads cannot continue at the current unsustainable level and that salaries do not reflect your expertise and responsibilities or the value of your work. To inform our demands to improve salaries and teaching and learning conditions, in February last year we commissioned the first inquiry since 2003 into the changing nature and value of teachers work in schools. With extensive input from the profession and education experts, this independent inquiry examined the unprecedented changes that have affected the skills, responsibilities and workloads of teachers, executive staff and principals over the past 17 years. They include a constant stream of new government policies and prescriptions, unimaginable changes in technology and the curriculum, the rising expectations of parents and society, and the growing complexity of student needs. We await the findings and recommendations from the independent Inquiry, scheduled to be handed down on 20 February. The membership is to ready itself for an unprecedented campaign The need for an unprecedented campaign is only reinforced by the salaries announcement last November by the NSW Government. Not content with trying to implement a 12-month wage freeze, the Government unveiled a plan to cap salary increases for teachers and all other public sector workers at a maximum of 1.5 per cent for at least the next three years. This arbitrary cap ignores the need to significantly increase the salaries of the teaching service to recognise the increases in the skills and expertise required and the rapid intensification of the work done every day in our schools. In addition to a reduction in face-to-face teaching loads and a reduction in administrative burdens, our salaries must reflect the reality that the work of teachers, executive staff and principals is far more demanding than it has ever been. This is an essential part of making the profession more attractive so we can address the growing shortages of teachers and prepare for an unprecedented growth in student numbers over the next 20 years. A 25 per cent enrolment increase, much of it concentrated in the west and south west of Sydney, will only add to the needs and complexity of the student population and will require thousands of additional teachers to be employed every year. Campaigning together We must speak with one voice, loudly and proudly, if we are to achieve an overdue reset to our salaries and conditions of work and, ultimately, the learning conditions of our students. We have the opportunity to make a difference not only for teachers and students in schools across NSW now but also for all those who join the profession in the years ahead.

Russian police have arrested more than 3,000 people in nationwide protests demanding the release of opposition leader Alexey Navalny, the Kremlin’s most prominent foe. The unprecedented demonstrations in more than 60 cities – in temperatures as low as -50 Celsius (-58 Fahrenheit) – highlighted how Navalny has built influence far beyond the political and cultural centres of Moscow and St Petersburg. In Moscow, an estimated 15,000 demonstrators gathered in and around Pushkin Square in the city centre, where clashes with police broke out and demonstrators were dragged off by helmeted riot officers to police buses and detention trucks. Some were beaten with batons. Navalny’s wife Yulia was among those arrested. The protests stretched across Russia’s vast territory, from the island city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk north of Japan and the eastern Siberian city of Yakutsk, where temperatures plunged to -50C, to Russia’s more populous cities. Navalny and his anti-corruption campaign have built an extensive network of support despite official government repression and being routinely ignored by state media. Navalny was arrested on January 17 when he returned to Moscow from Germany, where he had spent five months recovering from an alleged severe nerve-agent poisoning that almost killed him, which he blamed on the Kremlin. Russian authorities have denied the accusation. Authorities say his stay in Germany violated terms of a suspended sentence in a 2014 criminal conviction, while Navalny says the conviction was for made-up charges.

The Independent How modern pet dogs originated from wolves in Ice Age Siberia

How modern pet dogs originated from wolves in Ice Age Siberia David Keys reports on new research into the early beginnings of cuddly canines – and the long intertwined history between man and his best friend New research appears to have traced the earliest dogs to around 21,000BC

Man’s best friend – our four-legged canine pets – originated as Siberian wolves, according to new scientific research. Until now, scientists only knew that dogs had evolved out of a wolf population somewhere in Asia or Europe – but the new research has now pinpointed the specific region where that occurred and the approximate date that the transformation took place. A combination of DNA and archaeological evidence has revealed that every poodle, dachshund, chihuahua, alsatian and every other type of dog in the world originated as grey wolves in eastern Siberia in around 21,000BC. What's more, it's likely that their initial domestication took place entirely naturally – and was not deliberately engineered by humans. The archaeological and DNA research has just been published in the US Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The new investigation, carried out by British, American and French scientists, suggests that the close relationship between dogs and humans was initially triggered by climatic challenges. At the height of the last Ice Age (around 21,000 to 17,000 BC), temperatures dropped and precipitation declined to such an extent in Siberia that many of the wolf's normal prey (animals like reindeer, musk oxen, wild horses, bison and others) became locally extinct or at least much less numerous. This appears to have forced some desperate yet enterprising wolves to start scavenging around human encampments – looking for bones and gristle, which the humans had discarded. Wolves have an ability to rapidly learn new skills and then develop new economic and cultural specialisms which can then be passed down through succeeding wolf generations. Wolves born into such economically specialist lineages tend only to mate with others from the same skill-set background. Genetic evidence shows that, as a result, after dozens of generations, their DNA begins to be group specific (ie different from other groups of wolves with other different skill-set economies and cultures). This is precisely what seems to have occurred to those Siberian grey wolves whose descendants were destined to gradually evolve into the first dogs.

Gabrielle Carey is a proud vagabond scholar. Her most recent book is Only Happiness

In a single year, Australian universities have farewelled, voluntarily separated from, or made redundant vast numbers of researchers and academics. A huge resource of knowledge and scholarship is now loose in the community. Researchers and research projects have been sacrificed in an effort to scramble out of a COVID-induced financial crisis. But as the American health advocate, Mary Lasker, once commented, "If you think research is expensive, try disease." After 2020, those words surely resonate more than ever. Then again, not all research is about disease or finding a pandemic vaccine or requires billions in investment. And not all researchers work in a lab or spend their days wearing a hairnet while leaning over a microscope syringing substances into vials. The reason why this stereotyped image of the white-coated researcher is the go-to whenever the subject comes up on television news is because medical and biological research is what we prioritise. This is real research, hard research. All the rest is soft. This stereotyped image of the white-coated researcher is the go-to whenever the subject comes up on television news.CREDIT:JOHN In Australia the vast majority of research funding goes to medical research with a traditional scientific and biological approach. Yet if we have learnt one thing from this pandemic it is how much our health, both physical and (especially) mental, is dependent on things that aren’t biological. Social things like connection with family and friends and work colleagues are also important –arguably as equally important as medications. The lesson is that social research – the so-called "soft" research – is also essential. And yet this is exactly the kind that is likely to be at risk following recent academic redundancies. For the past two years I have collaborated with an Australian medical anthropologist based at the University of California San Francisco on a project about schizophrenia, possibly the most misunderstood illness of all. In terms of medication, there have not been any medical advances for more than 50 years. Advertisement We still do not know what causes schizophrenia, how to test for it or how to treat it, except by administering powerful anti-psychotics, drugs which cause so many terrible side effects – including sexual dysfunction, weight gain, incontinence and drooling – that often the cure seems worse than the malady. For that reason, the study of what social measures can aid recovery is one of the few avenues of research that might possibly result in real practical help for the roughly 250,000 people living with the illness in Australia. A simple social measure, for example, might be a mental health peer worker who takes a person with a psychotic disorder out for a game of tenpin bowling. Which may prove to be just as therapeutic as an hour with a psychologist. It would definitely be cheaper and more fun. We still do not know what causes schizophrenia. We still do not know what causes schizophrenia.CREDIT:TANYA LAKE Over the past two years, my collaborator and I have gathered a database of people diagnosed with schizophrenia who are in various phases of recovery with the purpose of demonstrating that this condition, which has often been interpreted as a death sentence, is in fact recoverable if the right medical and social supports are in place. People with schizophrenia, for example, improve when they have friends and regular social interactions. Family support is also often essential for recovery. And yet because the importance of family in recovery from schizophrenia hasn’t been researched, measured and proved, support measures for families are practically non-existent. (Funded mental health research priorities rarely reflect those of people living with mental illness, or their carers.) Gathering a minimum number of participants for a project about schizophrenia and recovery has consumed hundreds of hours, largely because it is not easy to get people to volunteer to tell their stories about an illness that is so stigmatised, even when they’re anonymised. By the end of 2020, my colleague and I were finally ready to write up the first instalment of our findings – I would write the personal stories of recovery; my collaborator would write up the corresponding social and anthropological analysis. But then COVID-19 arrived, followed swiftly by redundancy offers. Now, as an "honorary visiting fellow" of my former employer – (a fancy phrase for unpaid) – I will continue this research in my own time and with my own resources. In other words, voluntarily and with zero funding. Universities have made many academics redundant in the face of COVID-19. Universities have made many academics redundant in the face of COVID-19.CREDIT:STEVEN SIEWERT Which made me wonder how many of the other thousands of sacked academics are doing the same. And just how much of Australian research is being undertaken free of charge. Even before COVID-19, it was suggested that up to 25 per cent of research publications submitted to Excellence in Research Australia (ERA) came from the emeritus faculty, long-term academic visitors and retired academics – all of whom are unsalaried. The researchers "let go" as a result of recent university redundancies will possibly become a sub-group of the Australian grey nomads, reminiscent of the European vagabond scholars of the medieval period. During the Black Death, these devoted intellectuals sheltered in courts and monasteries, doggedly pursuing their vocations and determinedly preserving knowledge, waiting for the day when civilisation would finally re-emerge from the ravages of a virus nobody understood (because of a lack of research). The "knowledge industry" was a phrase we used to hear a lot and for a brief period being a "knowledge worker" seemed to be a semi-respectable occupation. But now, in this period of pandemic-induced downturn, the focus is firmly back on the hard concrete, pub-test-passable occupations. "Jobs, jobs, jobs" might be the slogan but we all understand that is code for muscly men in hi-vis jackets driving utes. The image of a grey-haired woman with a furrowed brow in front of computer screen is not going to make it into any ad campaign about job creation. In a time of austerity, the job of creating new knowledge, which is the primary purpose of research, is considered an indulgence we can’t afford. But if you think research is expensive, try ignorance. We won’t really know how much knowledge we’ve lost until we go looking for it. When the small global health team in the United States that was responsible for leading a response in the event of a deadly pandemic was disbanded in 2018, few people could have predicted how much it would be needed two years later. Sometimes the loss is only felt when it’s too late. So if you happen to see a little old lady wandering the neighbourhood systematically rummaging through the local street libraries – (because she has not only lost her job, but also the borrowing rights to her former university library) – do help her across the road. That battered briefcase she’s clutching may well hold research we’ve yet to understand and that civilisation may one day need. Gabrielle Carey is a proud vagabond scholar. Her most recent book is Only Happiness

Tom Brosnahan Turkish Music

Turkish Music & Music in Turkey Turkish music is one of the world’s great undiscovered artistic treasures. From the mystical flute music of the whirling dervishesthrough Ottoman classical court compositions, Anatolianfolk tunes and the driving rhythm of the bellydance, to the latest multi-track techno-pop, Turkey is alive with sound. First-time visitors to Turkey used to marvel at the delicious cuisine, but the new surprise is the music. Be sure to open your ears when you go—you’re in for a treat! Most traditional Turkish music is based on quarter-tone modes or scales which makes the music sound strange and many notes sound flat to Western ears familiar with half-tone scales. They aren’t really flat, they’re quarter-tones (the tone between two half-tones). Once you’re used to them, they sound fine, and give an entirely different color to the music. This perceived discord of quarter-tones has kept many people from appreciating Turkish music, however. Classical Ottoman court music does sound slow, ponderous and lugubrious to me, but many kinds of Turkish folk music (such as Türkü) can be sprightly, upbeat, rhythmic and tuneful. Music for Turkish bellydance is upbeat and driving by nature! More… The slow, mournful, mystical music of the whirling dervishes is completely appropriate to the gravity of the Sufi sema (religious ceremony) at which it is performed.More… Then there’s Turkish popular music. When I first arrived in Turkey in 1967, most young Turks favored European and American pop musicians (especially the Beatles) because offerings of Turkish pop music were few and somewhat behind the times. Today, the Turkish pop music industry is rich in talent and sophistication, with hundreds of great bands, singers, composers and arrangers, and the music vies in sophistication with the best in Europe. CD shops abound on city shopping streets and Turkish music download services on the Internet. Turkish pop music boasts a rich variety of crossover sounds, blending traditional Turkish sounds with the latest from Europe and America. There’s even Turkish rap! You can even go on Turkish music tours. One such tour is organized by Dore Stein‘s Tangents world music radio program broadcast on KALW (91.7 FM, San Francisco CA). I can’t imagine a better way to explore the richness of Turkish culture than through its music. The Tangents Turkey Music Tour led by World Music expert Dore Stein is unforgettable. Dore opens doors that music-lovers who travel on their own don’t even know are there. More… —Tom Brosnahan

Weaving through the rooms of my Brisbane childhood home, carried on the languid, humid, sub-tropical air, was the sound of an Iranian tenor singing 800-year old Persian poems of love. I was in primary school, playing cricket in the streets, riding a BMX with the other boys, stuck at home reading during the heavy rains typical of Queensland. I had an active, exterior life that was lived on Australian terms, suburban, grounded in English, and easy-going. At the same time, thanks to my mother’s listening habits, courtesy of the tapes and CDs she bought back from trips to Iran, my interior life was being invisibly nourished by something radically other, by a soundscape invoking a world beyond the mundane, and an aesthetic dimension rooted in a sense of transcendence and spiritual longing for the Divine. I was listening to traditional Persian music (museghi-ye sonnati). This music is the indigenous music of Iran, although it is also performed and maintained in Persian-speaking countries such as Afghanistan and Tajikistan. It has ancient connections to traditional Indian music, as well as more recent ones to Arabic and Turkish modal music. It is a world-class art that incorporates not only performance but also the science and theory of music and sound. It is, therefore, a body of knowledge, encoding a way of knowing the world and being. The following track is something of what I might have heard in my childhood: Playing kamancheh, a bowed spike-fiddle, is Kayhān Kalhor, while the singer is the undisputed master of vocals in Persian music, ostād (meaning “maestro”) Mohammad Reza Shajarian. He is singing in the classical vocal style, āvāz, that is the heart of this music. A non-metric style placing great creative demands on singers, āvāz is improvised along set melodic lines memorised by heart. Without a fixed beat, the vocalist sings with rhythms resembling speech, but speech heightened to an intensified state. This style bears great similarity to the sean-nos style of Ireland, which is also ornamented and non-rhythmic, although sean-nos is totally unaccompanied, unlike Persian āvāz in which the singer is often accompanied by a single stringed instrument. A somewhat more unorthodox example of āvāz is the following, sung by Alireza Ghorbāni with a synthesised sound underneath his voice rather than any Persian instrument. It creates a hypnotic effect. Even listeners unfamiliar with Persian music should be able to hear the intensity in the voices of Ghorbāni and Shajarian. Passion is paramount, but passion refined and sublimated so that longing and desire break through ordinary habituated consciousness to point to something unlimited, such as an overwhelming sense of the beyond. The traditional poetry and music of Iran aim to create a threshold space, a zone of mystery; a psycho-emotional terrain of suffering, melancholy, death and loss, but also of authentic joy, ecstasy, and hope.

Western classical music amongst the Byzantine churches

When visiting Istanbul, it doesn’t seem obvious to search for Western classical music amongst the Byzantine churches, 17th-century mosques, and palaces. In terms of music, tourists get bombarded with Euro-pop or ersatz Turkish folk music. The more enterprising might search for genuine Turkish folk music, but few search for classical music, opera, or ballet. However, these art forms have an interesting history in Turkey, and recent developments have led to Turkish performers finding a place on the international stage, such as the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra at the BBC Proms in 2014. Haydn's The Seasons on stage at Lutfi Kirdar ICEC - Photograph Ozge Balkan Classical music in Turkey has a history going back to the late 18th century, when it was very much an aristocratic pursuit. The sultans first heard of opera through reports from their ambassadors, but in 1797 opera singers were actually brought to Turkey for performances in the courtyard of Topkapi palace. In 1828 Giuseppe Donizetti (brother of the composer) became Instructor General of the Imperial Ottoman Music at the court of Sultan Mahmud II, where he stayed until his death in 1866. He trained the European-style military bands of Mahmud’s modern army, taught music to the Ottoman royal family and was involved in the annual Italian opera season and court concerts in addition to playing host to a number of eminent virtuosi who visited Istanbul. In the 19th century, Italian opera companies were brought to Turkey and in 1840 a theatre was built in Istanbul, where performances continued intermittently until 1870. Whilst Sultan Abdulmecid was building the Dolmabahce Palace (which is now a national museum), the Dolmabahce Palace Theatre was built nearby in 1859. After this was destroyed by fire, performances continued in another theatre in the Yildiz Palace until 1908 with Italian performers joined by the tenor Mehmet Zeki, the first Turkish-trained opera singer. During the 20th century, Turkey also saw visiting classical companies from Germany and Austria. Sascha Goetzel and Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra All of this changed with the establishment of the Turkish republic in 1923. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk wanted to introduce more Western-style organisation to classical music and thus students were sent for study in the West, with a conservatory being established in Ankara and in 1936. Atatürk’s reforms introduced Western-style state orchestras in addition to classical music training, and this extended to state opera companies and a ballet company with Dame Ninette de Valois being involved in its creation.

The talks in Naqoura were held under UN auspices and mediated by the US Lebanon and Israel, which remain formally at war, have held a first round of talks to settle a long-running dispute over their maritime border. US officials mediated in the negotiations, which took place at the base of a UN peacekeeping force in the Lebanese town of Naqoura. Both sides insist the talks are not a sign of any normalisation of ties. But an agreement would allow them to exploit potentially lucrative natural gas fields under the Mediterranean Sea. Lebanon is in dire economic trouble and is in need of additional revenue. The negotiations come less than a month after the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain agreed to establish full relations with Israel after US-brokered deals.

Vale "Spitfire Woman" Eleanor Wadsworth, who was 103

One of the last surviving "Spitfire Women", who ferried aircraft to the front line in World War Two, has died. Eleanor Wadsworth, who was 103, was part of the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA), a civilian service that transported fighter aircraft and crew. The ATA Association said she was among 165 women who flew without radios or instrument flying instructions. Mrs Wadsworth, who lived in Bury St Edmunds, died in December after a month of illness. During the war, about 1,250 men and women from 25 countries transferred some 309,000 aircraft of 147 different typesIn 2020, the former pilot told her housing association's in-house magazine that she had been "looking for a new challenge" when she joined the service. "The thought of learning to fly for free was a great incentive [so] I put my name down and didn't think much about it," she said. She added that she had enjoyed flying Spitfires the most, which she did 132 times. "It was a beautiful aircraft, great to handle," she said.

The Morning Star

BORIS JOHNSON’S government was condemned for its incompetence today after Priti Patel claimed that she had unsuccessfully proposed the closure of Britain’s borders at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. The Home Secretary said that she had “advocated” shutting borders to incoming travellers in March last year, but the Prime Minister had dismissed the idea. Her comments, made during an online Conservative Friends of India meeting on Tuesday evening, broke with collective Cabinet responsibility and nullify her defence of the government’s decision not to close borders, as many other countries did. Labour shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds described her confession as “shocking.” He said: “Priti Patel’s admission, coupled with the complete lack of strategy for testing of travellers, means that the government has left our doors open to the virus and worrying mutations. “Ministers now need to urgently review and overhaul border policy, whilst taking responsibility for the huge damage their incompetence has done to our national safety and security.” Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer quizzed Mr Johnson at Prime Minister’s Questions on why he had overruled Ms Patel, but he evaded the issue and chose instead to criticise Labour’s policy on border controls, going on to claim that Britain had “instituted one of the toughest border regimes in the world” in requiring travellers to have a negative test before arrival and self-isolate for a period of time. A Home Office spokesman said: “We have strong measures at the border in place which are vital as we roll out the vaccine.” But lockdown measures will be in place for a while yet as the vaccine roll-outs have yet to do enough “heavy lifting,” according to chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance. Britain recorded 1,820 deaths linked to Covid-19 today, setting yet another grim record. Professor Calum Semple of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), which advises ministers, said that he agreed it was “not the time to relax” rules and some measures may be required next winter. The government has pledged to administer the first of two doses of the vaccine to 15 million of the most vulnerable people, including the elderly and front-line health and social care staff, by February 15, but Ms Patel has warned that there would be “inconsistencies” in vaccine supply due to changes at Pfizer’s factory in Belgium. Today, the British Medical Association criticised the government for a lack of transparency on vaccine supply, which is affecting the speed at which jabs are given.

ACTU The Morrison Government’s omnibus IR Bill will allow employers to make agreements that cut the wages and conditions of workers.

The Morrison Government’s omnibus IR Bill will allow employers to make agreements that cut the wages and conditions of workers. The Bill will allow the Fair Work Commission to approve agreements that do not meet the BOOT test for a period of two years. In addition, the Bill will significantly undermine and weaken the current protections and safeguards workers have to prevent employers imposing unfair agreements, the Bill weakens these tests. Currently the Fair Work Commission must ensure workers have access to an agreement for seven days and it must be properly explained to workers before voting, these requirements will be removed. Quotes attributable to ACTU Secretary Sally McManus: “These changes are dangerous and extreme. Workchoices allowed employers to cut wages, and this proposal will do that as well. When Workchoices was introduced employers rushed out to cut wages, the same will happen if this law passes. Some workers are still stuck with WorkChoices pay cuts some 13 years later. “These proposals were never raised during months of discussions with employers and the Government. The union movement will fight these proposals which will leave working people worse off. This was not the spirit of the talks with employers and the Government, this is not about us all being in this together. “Working people, essential workers, have already sacrificed so much during this pandemic, these proposed laws will punish them. “The economy, local businesses will not be able to recover if workers are facing pay cuts. Families need the confidence to spend. You can’t heal the economy by hurting working people.”

The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said on Wednesday

Russia has signed contracts to supply Bolivia and Algeria with its Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine, the country’s sovereign wealth fund has announced. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said on Wednesday the agreement would make it possible for more than 20 percent of Bolivia’s population to access the vaccine, which is administered in two doses. Russia admits COVID death toll third-worst in the world Argentina begins COVID vaccine campaign with Russian shots Sputnik V: What to know about the Russian vaccine, in 500 words Supply would be facilitated by the Russian fund’s international partners in India, China, South Korea and other countries. Bolivia’s population is 11.35 million and 20 percent would be 2.27 million people. The development marks the South American nation’s first major vaccine deal. Bolivian President Luis Arce said Russia would send 6,000 doses, meaning 3,000 treatments, in January to vaccinate its most vulnerable populations, 1.7 million doses by the end of March and the rest “between April and May”. In another international deal, the RDIF, which funds the vaccine, on Thursday announced it had signed an agreement to supply Algeria with Sputnik V. However, the RDIF did not say how many doses had been agreed. Algeria has said it plans to begin its vaccination campaign in January, and that the shots will be free for its citizens. The Sputnik V vaccine is 91.4 percent effective at protecting people from COVID-19, based on interim late-stage trial results. The Bolivia deal is the latest sign the Russian vaccine is making inroads in Latin American nations eager for more immunisation capacity, including neighbouring Argentina and Venezuela. On Monday, Reuters news agency reported that Russia’s first big international shipment of its vaccine last week – 300,000 doses sent to Argentina – consisted only of the first dose, which is easier to make than the second dose. To date, more than 50 countries have made requests for more than 1.2 billion doses of Sputnik V, according to RDIF.

Uyghurs in Australia have said they are elated and relieved after the United States released an official statement accusing China of committing genocide against the Muslim group and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang. Key points: Genocide is defined as the intent to destroy members of an ethnic or religious group The US made the accusation after seeing "an exhaustive documentation of [China's] own policies" Human rights groups have accused China of carrying out forced sterilisation of Uyghurs Fatimah Abdulghafur, a Uyghur who has been living in Sydney since 2017, told the ABC the US announcement is a "huge victory for the whole of humankind" and "not just for my people". "This means in this world, if someone including a global superpower, regardless of what they have done, even if it's something so evil and so criminal, it means they will be accountable," she said. Ms Abdulghafur suspects her father was detained in a re-education camp in the autonomous region of Xinjiang in 2017. Chinese authorities confirmed he died in Xinjiang in 2018, attributing his death to severe pneumonia and tuberculosis in 2018. "It's a very, very personal thing for me," she said. "From my personal point of view, my father's murderers will be in court sooner or later, just like with the Holocaust." US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Beijing is trying to "destroy" the ethnic group by committing "genocide and crimes against humanity". "I believe this genocide is ongoing, and that we are witnessing the systematic attempt to destroy Uyghurs by the Chinese party-state," he said. Fighting for their culture A woman adjusts a flower in another's braids. They are wearing traditional fur hats. China is perpetrating a "cultural genocide" against Uyghurs in Xinjiang, but in Australia, they are dancing in defiance in a bid to save their culture. Read more US officials said the statement followed "an exhaustive documentation of [China's] own policies, practices and abuse in Xinjiang" since at least March 2017. Genocide is defined as the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, members of an ethnic or religious group, and can include killing members of the group, preventing births, and causing serious bodily or mental harm to a group. Human rights groups have accused China of arbitrarily detaining Uyghur Muslims, of carrying out forced sterilisation, and of subjecting Uyghur Muslims to forced labour practices. China has repeatedly denied the facilities are "concentration camps" and describes them as vocational education centres akin to boarding schools. Uyghurs call on Australia to condemn China

500-year-old painting has been discovered in a flat in Italy and returned to a museum

A 500-year-old painting has been discovered in a flat in Italy and returned to a museum - where staff were unaware it had even been stolen. The copy of Salvator Mundi, which is believed to have been painted by Leonardo da Vinci, was found in a bedroom cupboard in Naples on Saturday. This copy is thought to have been painted by one of da Vinci's students. The 36-year-old owner of the flat was arrested on suspicion of receiving stolen goods, police said. "The painting was found on Saturday thanks to a brilliant and diligent police operation," Naples prosecutor Giovanni Melillo told the AFP news agency.

SBS Breach of human rights': Family finally reunited after 28-month wait for partner visa

'Breach of human rights': Family finally reunited after 28-month wait for partner visa Amy Alhashimi and her husband Karrar pictured with their son Mohammad and niece Harley-Rose. Amy Alhashimi and her husband Karrar with their son Mohammad and niece Harley-Rose. Source: Supplied After more than two years of waiting for an Australian partner visa, Amy Alhashimi's husband has finally been able to join her and their son in Queensland. For the past 28 months, Amy Alhashimi says she has lived her life hoping for the best and preparing for the worst. Amy has been waiting for more than two years for an Australian offshore partner visa to be approved for her husband, Karrar, who is originally from Iraq. It has meant she has been raising their young son Mohammad (Mo) Ali on her own in Gympie, Queensland, for most of his life. "Half of me has always believed that, yes, it will happen. But the other half has always felt it wouldn't surprise me if it doesn't," the 37-year-old told SBS News. "I've known legally and rationally that we should have had that visa by now. Because of that, I've always had hope that it would come very soon." Amy Alhashimi with her husband Karrar and son Mohammad. Couples separated for years are calling for change in Australia's partner visa system SBS News first spoke to Amy in August 2020, along with other Australians who were calling on the federal government to make the offshore partner visa processing system fairer and more transparent. They were desperate to know when they would be reunited with their partners. That moment came for Amy last month when she received a call from her migration agent saying Karrar's visa had been approved. She says the feeling was hard to put into words. "I was in shock. I thought to myself, 'does this mean I can start planning for my future? Can I start thinking about plans for my husband? Is my son going to see his father again?'" ‘The most amazing birthday present’ The 33-year-old's permanent residency visa (subclass 100) was approved on 14 December. Within 10 days, he was on a flight from Baghdad - narrowly avoiding a ban on flights from Iraq to at least eight countries, including Australia - and arrived in Brisbane on Christmas Eve. After completing 14 days in hotel quarantine over Christmas and New Year's Eve, Karrar was reunited with Amy and his son Mo earlier this month, on his wife's birthday. “It was the most amazing birthday present ever to go and collect Karrar,” she said. “It was the most beautiful thing ever,” Karrar added. “It was a special moment for me to see my family, and finally I’m with them.” But their path to being together hasn’t been easy. Meeting on Manus Island The couple first met at the Manus Island detention centre where Amy was working in welfare and Karrar was detained for four years after fleeing Iraq fearing political persecution. After returning to Australia, Amy kept in touch with Karrar and would go on to visit him several times in Papua New Guinea before they got married. But Karrar would soon need to go back to his homeland. “It has been really hard - a lot of suffering,” Karrar said.

The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1931 - 1954) Sat 27 Jun 1953 Page 7.

Vigorous Spanish Poetry "Lament for the Death of a Bullfighter," and Other Poems, by Federico Garcia Lorca. Translated by A. L. Lloyd. (Heinemann, Melbourne 13/6). WRITING of the great Spanish poet, Federica Garcia Lorca, his translator A. L. Lloyd, describes his world-wide appeal as fol- lows:—"I can recall him being ing spoken of with passion- ate regard by a Neath valley miner, a grocer's daughter in a Moravian village, and the manager of a little wooden picture-house labelled "Eu- rope's farthest north cinema in Hammerfest." Murdered only a few days after the Fascists started their uprising, Spain lost, at the age of 37, a poet who had already been recognised as ane of the greatest poets of our century, who commanded both popularity and highest literary praise. His poems are mainly in- fuenced by his native exotic region of Andalusia, and his works are therefore rich in passionate intensity. "The sun is always in Lorca's poetry," writes Mr. Lloyd in his pre- face, "but often it has that terrible glare with which it beats on the heads of the bullfighter crowds in the cheapest parts of the ring in midsummer. Love, par- cularly sexual love, is an ther ever-present theme in his verse, but it goes hand in-hand with death." "Lament for the Death of a Bullfighter" is considered one of his finest poems, in which there are the echoes of the great classical poets and less of the Andalusian gypsy, and Mr. Lloyd has translated it without losing too much of the easy grace of the original. The last verse of the poem could almost have been writ- ten as a lament for the author himself: "We shall shall long for the birth, if birth there is, of an Andalusian so bright, so rich in adventure. I sing his elegance in words that moan and I remeber member a sad wind through the olive trees."

The Morning Star Corbyn and Chomsky Rallying to tackle global inequality and Climate Emergency

by Matt Trinder JEREMY CORBYN issued a rallying cry for action to tackle global inequality and the climate emergency today as he launched his new Peace and Justice Project. The former Labour leader was joined at an online rally by prominent left figures including Unite general secretary Len McCluskey, academic Noam Chomsky and fellow Labour MP Zarah Sultana. Mr Corbyn said: “The pandemic is intensifying three deep, connected and global crises: the climate emergency, an economy that generates inequality and insecurity faster than prosperity and freedom — and a global order that holds back the vast majority of our planet’s people. “But we have both the ideas, and the power when we come together, to overcome these crises. What our movement does today will be felt for generations to come.” Partnering with a network of organisations, activists and volunteers, the project aims to support those suffering from austerity and fight for an affordable Covid vaccine by challenging intellectual property rights which can make jabs too expensive for many global south countries. The foundation will also campaign against media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s planned News UK TV channel as part of a demand for “just, free and accountable” news and develop “bold and concrete proposals” for a Green New Deal. “Our role will be to champion [these] ideas and support the movements that can turn them into reality. Because if you refuse to argue for your side, our opponents win by default,” Mr Corbyn added. “Our movement can turn the dial towards peace and justice.” Ms Sultana agreed, saying: “We win by building the bonds of solidarity, when we link our struggles and stand up for each other. “Friends, there is no time to despair because we have a world to win.” Mr McCluskey said: “This initiative can carry forward the best of Jeremy’s leadership. “The message of no more austerity, of solidarity with the poor and the vulnerable, tackling the dreadful inequalities in society, genuine internationalism, prioritising climate change, ending wars and addressing global poverty.” Mr Chomsky added: “It is most fitting that [this project] should honour Jeremy Corbyn, a man whose dedication to these values throughout his career is an inspiration to all of us. It is our task to carry [these] efforts forward.”

Aljazera

Groups that call Israel an “apartheid state” will be banned from lecturing at schools, Israel’s education minister has said. The move targets one of Israel’s leading human rights groups B’Tselem after it began describing Israel and its control of the occupied Palestinian territories as a single apartheid system. ‘This is apartheid’: Rights group slams Israeli rule Israel bans screening of ‘Jenin, Jenin’ after soldier’s lawsuit Israel announces new illegal settler homes in occupied West Bank Late on Sunday, Israel’s Education Minister Yoav Galant tweeted he had instructed the ministry’s director-general to “prevent the entry of organizations calling Israel ‘an apartheid state’ or demeaning Israeli soldiers from lecturing at schools”. In a report released last week, B’Tselem said that while Palestinians live under different forms of Israeli control in the illegally occupied West Bank, blockaded Gaza, occupied East Jerusalem and in Israel itself, they have fewer rights than Jews in the entire area between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. On Monday, the group said it would not be deterred by the announcement and that it gave a virtual lecture on the subject to a school in the northern city of Haifa. “B’Tselem is determined to keep with its mission of documenting reality, analyzing it, and making our findings publicly known to the Israeli public, and worldwide,” the group said in a statement sent to Al Jazeera. “Education minister … while ordering schools to ban B’Tselem, claims that he is against ‘lies’ and for a ‘Jewish and democratic’ Israel. But it is Minister Galant who is lying, as Israel cannot be considered a democracy, for it works to advance and perpetuate the supremacy of one group of people, Jews, over another, Palestinians, within a single, bi-national polity,” the statement read. “This is Israel’s apartheid regime. No one can censor reality.” ‘No legal authority’ Adalah, an Arab legal rights group, said it had appealed to the country’s attorney-general to cancel the directive, saying it was made without the proper authority and that it was intended to “silence legitimate voices”. It was not immediately clear whether Galant had the authority to ban speakers from schools. “The Israeli education minister has no legal authority to prevent human rights organisations from meeting with students simply because they have criticized the definition of Israel as a Jewish Zionist state,” Adalah said, in a statement sent to Al Jazeera. “Minister Galant’s order prevents students from receiving an education that exposes them to legitimate, diverse, pluralistic opinions and positions – particularly those from civil society and human rights organisations.” In 2018, Israel passed a law preventing lectures or activities in schools by groups that support legal action being taken against Israeli soldiers abroad. The law was apparently drafted in response to the work of Breaking the Silence, a whistle-blower group of former Israeli soldiers who oppose policies in the occupied West Bank. It was not clear if Galant’s decree was rooted in the 2018 law. Israel has long presented itself as a thriving democracy and purported that its Palestinian citizens, who make up about 20 percent of its population of 9.2 million, have equal rights. However, these Palestinians suffer from being treated as second or third-class citizens at the institutional level, with some 60 laws that actively discriminate against them in the housing, education and healthcare sectors among others. B’Tselem and other rights groups argue that the boundaries separating Israel and the occupied West Bank vanished long ago, at least for Israeli illegal settlers, who can freely travel back and forth, while Palestinians require hard-to-obtain permits to enter Israel. Israel adamantly rejects the term apartheid, saying the restrictions it imposes in Gaza and the occupied West Bank are temporary measures needed for security.

BBC

BT is facing a class action lawsuit over claims it failed to compensate elderly customers who were overcharged for landlines for eight years. In 2017, telecoms watchdog Ofcom found that BT had been overcharging 2.3 million landline customers since 2009. As a result of the review, the firm reduced the price of its landlines by £7 a month. However, campaigners are unhappy that "loyal customers" have still not been compensated for previous overcharging. "Ofcom made it very clear that BT had spent years overcharging landline customers, but did not order it to repay the money it made from this," said Justin Le Patourel, founder of consumer group Collective Action on Landlines (CALL) and a telecoms consultant who worked for Ofcom for 13 years. "We think millions of BT's most loyal landline customers could be entitled to compensation of up to £500 each, and the filing of this claim starts that process." Government denies 'snubbing' BT wi-fi pupil offer Openreach creating 5,300 jobs to aid fibre rollout BT said it "strongly disagrees" with the claim that it had engaged in anti-competitive behaviour and intends to defend itself "vigorously" in court.

10 Nepali climbers has set a new world record by becoming the first to reach the summit of K2

A team of 10 Nepali climbers has set a new world record by becoming the first to reach the summit of K2, the world's second highest mountain, in winter. Mountaineer Nimsdai Purja, a member of the group, said they reached the peak at 17:00 local time (12:00 GMT). Dozens of climbers have been on the 8,611m (28,251ft) mountain this winter hoping to achieve the same feat. But one Spanish mountaineer has died after suffering a fall this weekend while descending. K2, which is only 200m shorter than Everest, is part of the Karakoram Range that straddles the Pakistan-China border. One of only 14 mountains higher than 8,000m, it is widely considered the most demanding of all in winter. It has long been referred to as "the savage mountain", a name that stuck after US mountaineer George Bell said of his own attempt in 1953: "It is a savage mountain that tries to kill you." Among the most treacherous sections is the notorious "bottleneck", a couloir liable to icefalls. Eleven climbers were killed there in an avalanche in 2008.

Ireland is to remain exempt from stricter UK travel rules

Ireland is to remain exempt from stricter UK travel rules announced on Friday evening by prime minister Boris Johnson. Up to Friday, travellers to the UK from Ireland and certain other countries were exempt from automatic quarantine requirements under the “travel corridor” system. On Friday, Mr Johnson announced the system is being scrapped in light of increasing Covid-19 infection rates and a new variants of the virus being discovered in Brazil. The affected countries are mainly former British colonies and countries with low infection rates such as New Zealand. From Monday anyone travelling to the UK from these countries will have to self-isolate for ten days. This can be shortened to five days if they receive a negative Covid-19 test on arrival. Ireland will remain exempt from these restrictions, meaning people can still travel to Northern Ireland and the mainland UK without having to quarantine. However Irish travellers must still abide by local restrictions at their destination. Certain professions, such as lorry drivers, are also exempt from the quarantine rules. “It’s precisely because we have the hope of that vaccine and the risk of new strains coming from overseas that we must take additional steps now to stop those strains from entering the country,” Mr Johnson said at a press conference on Friday. “Yesterday we announced that we’re banning flights from South America and Portugal and to protect us against the risk from as-yet-unidentified strains we will also temporarily close all travel corridors from 4am on Monday. “Following conversations with the devolved administrations we will act together so this applies across the whole of the UK.” Also from Monday, travellers arriving in the UK will have to produce a negative test before leaving their point of departure. This will also not apply to people travelling from Ireland. Those in breach of the new rule may be fined up to £500.

China builds new quarantine centre as coronavirus cases rise

China builds new quarantine centre as coronavirus cases rise A city in northern China is building a 3,000-unit quarantine facility to deal with an anticipated overflow of patients as COVID-19 cases rise ahead of the Lunar New Year travel rush. CORONAVIRUS12 hours ago Professor Dominic Dwyer is a microbiologist and infectious diseases expert with NSW Health Pathology. Australian scientist in Wuhan investigating origins of coronavirus Professor Dominic Dwyer, a microbiologist and infectious diseases expert with NSW Health Pathology is the only Australian as part of a 13-strong team in Wuhan. CORONAVIRUS18 hours ago WHO team arrives in Wuhan to investigate pandemic origins The group sent to Wuhan by the World Health Organisation was approved by President Xi Jinping's government after months of diplomatic wrangling.

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi has offered an olive branch to the incoming Biden administration, saying a “new window of hope” is opening. In a wide-ranging interview with state news agency Xinhua published on Saturday, he urged the Biden administration to adopt a sensible approach and restart engagement with China to get bilateral ties back on track despite “unprecedented difficulties”. “China-US relations have come to a new crossroads, and a new window of hope is opening,” Wang said. “We hope that the next US administration will return to a sensible approach, resume dialogue with China, restore normalcy to the bilateral relations and restart cooperation.” Wang and other Chinese officials have appealed for a fresh start on several occasions after President Xi Jinping congratulated Joe Biden on his victory in late November. Relations between the two countries have deteriorated sharply amid growing economic and technological decoupling; clashes over Taiwan, the South China Sea, Hong Kong and Xinjiang; and rows over issues such as the origins of the coronavirus and US sanctions on Huawei. Joe Biden calls for stronger trade coalitions against China 29 Dec 2020 While China’s nationalist shift under Xi and its increasingly aggressive diplomatic approach are seen by many as contributing to the breakdown of bilateral ties, Wang put the blame squarely on deep-rooted bias and misperceptions about China’s rapid rise. “What has happened proves that the US attempts to suppress China and start a new cold war has not just seriously harmed the interests of the two peoples, but also caused severe disruption to the world. Such a policy will find no support and is doomed to fail,” Wang said. SCMP Global Impact Newsletter By submitting, you consent to receiving marketing emails from SCMP. If you don't want these, tick here By registering, you agree to our T&C and Privacy Policy He also sought to address fears among American elites about Washington’s relative decline as the world’s dominant superpower, which showed signs of accelerating under Donald Trump, especially in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. “[The] best way to keep one’s lead is through constant self-improvement, not by blocking others’ development,” he said. “We don’t need a world where China becomes another United States. This is neither rational nor feasible. Rather, the United States should try to make itself a better country, and China will surely become its better self.”

The Guardian

The American prosecutor seeking to put Julian Assange on trial in the US has said he is uncertain if Joe Biden’s incoming White House administration will continue to seek the extradition of the WikiLeaks co-founder. Zachary Terwilliger, who was appointed by Donald Trump, made the comments as it was announced that he was stepping down as the US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “It will be very interesting to see what happens with this case. There’ll be some decisions to be made. Some of this does come down to resources and where you’re going to focus your energies,” he told NPR. The departure of Terwilliger as the prosecutor in Virginia, where Assange would be tried on espionage and hacking charges if extradited from the UK, comes as the 49-year-old is hoping to be successful in a bail application on Wednesday at Westminster magistrates court in London. Assange’s lawyers are expected to press for bail on the basis that his chances of avoiding extradition to the US have been greatly boosted by a legal win on Monday at the Old Bailey, when a judge ruled that health grounds mean he should not be extradited. They will also emphasise new family ties here in the UK revolving around the two young children he has fathered with his partner, Stella Moris. Assange would be bailed to their home address and would wear an ankle tag. Lawyers for US authorities have indicated that they will appeal against Monday’s ruling by a district judge Vanessa Baraitser, who was sitting at the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales. While rejecting arguments that Assange would not get a fair trial in the US she blocked extradition on the basis that procedures in prisons there would not prevent him from potentially taking his own life. Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, Virginia, said that a pardon of Assange by Donald Trump was unlikely, adding that it was “more likely” that the US Department of Justice will file an appeal before the president leaves office on 20 January and attempt to refute the judge’s views on the US prison system. He added: “The major decisions will fall to Biden and the new administration, namely his attorney general and US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, where Assange was charged and would be tried, and those officials may not be confirmed for several months.” Assange was one of the first major issues that Biden and the new DoJ leadership were likely to face and assumed symbolic and actual importance, he said. “My sense is that Biden and his team will not allow the issue to be decided by attrition but will want to seriously consider all of the relevant issues and make the best possible decision.” The case against Assange relates to WikiLeaks’ publication of hundreds of thousands of leaked documents about the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, as well as diplomatic cables, in 2010 and 2011.

Morning Star CORBYN will take the first step towards a High Court battle with Labour’s administration next week over

JEREMY CORBYN will take the first step towards a The former party leader will have a pre-action disclosure application heard in London on Monday afternoon, court officials said today. Lawyers for Mr Corbyn are expected to ask a judge for disclosure of documents ahead of a possible legal challenge over his suspension. The case is expected to relate to the Islington North MP’s original suspension and the negotiation with the Leader of the Opposition’s office over the terms of his reinstatement. It has previously been reported that they will seek evidence proving that there was a deal with Sir Keir Starmer’s office to readmit him to the party. Mr Corbyn was suspended by officials in October for claiming that the scale of anti-semitism in the party was “dramatically overstated for political reasons.” Despite an NEC panel’s decision to readmit him, Sir Keir removed the whip despite the Equality & Human Rights Commission’s warning against political interference in such cases.

Global leaders will try to reignite international environmental diplomacy on Monday

Global leaders will try to reignite international environmental diplomacy on Monday with a biodiversity summit that launches a critical year for efforts to stem the devastating effects of global warming and species loss. Momentum on climate and biodiversity stalled in 2020 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, a health crisis that experts say illustrates the many diverse dangers of environmental destruction. Can the pandemic spur action on climate change? UN chief denounces ‘suicidal’ failure to tackle climate change Australia’s Great Barrier Reef ‘critical’ due to climate change The One Planet Summit, a largely virtual event hosted by France in partnership with the United Nations and the World Bank, will include French President Emmanuel Macron, UN chief Antonio Guterres, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Union head Ursula von der Leyen. Organisers want to lay the groundwork for crunch UN biodiversity talks – postponed because of the pandemic – set to be held in China in October and will see nearly 200 nations attempt to thrash out new goals to preserve Earth’s battered ecosystems. France hopes the summit will bring together issues around climate and the protection of ecosystems, a source from the Elysee Palace told AFP news agency, adding along with global warming, preservation of biodiversity is “our collective life insurance”. So far, efforts to protect and restore nature on a global scale have failed spectacularly.

NYT Donald Trump was impeached yesterday for a second time

Donald Trump was impeached yesterday for a second time, becoming the only president in United States history to face a Senate trial more than once. The House of Representatives voted to impeach the president on one count — incitement of insurrection — in response to the storming of the Capitol last week. Ten Republicans joined all 222 Democratic members of the chamber in voting to impeach. Just after the vote, the president posted a video condemning the violence at the Capitol in his clearest terms yet, and urging supporters to remain peaceful on Inauguration Day. But he said nothing about his role in having instigated the riot. Even some Republicans who opposed impeachment went out of their way to distance themselves from the president. Representative Kevin McCarthy, the House minority leader, said impeachment would be needlessly divisive, but he condemned Trump’s actions. “The president bears responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on Congress by mob rioters,” McCarthy said yesterday. “He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding.” Impeachment proceedings will now move to the Senate, but Mitch McConnell, the departing majority leader, said yesterday that he had no intention of bringing senators back early to hear the case. That means the Senate will return just a day before Trump leaves office on Jan. 20, making it virtually impossible that he would be removed before his term ends. Still, there could be more than symbolic significance to convicting him, even if it comes after his term ends. If Trump were convicted by a two-thirds majority in the Senate of inciting insurrection, a second vote could then be held on whether to bar him from public office permanently. That vote would require only a simple majority to pass. In a note to Republican colleagues yesterday, McConnell didn’t deny that he supported the impeachment push, but he said that he had “not made a final decision on how I will vote, and I intend to listen to the legal arguments when they are presented to the Senate.”

Solar panel called the "eArc"

Consumers could potentially see their power bills drop within years if Australia's latest bet on solar energy pays off. Key points: Taxpayers by extension of the money invested will own 14 per cent in Sunman The company has developed a new type of flexible solar panel The founder of the company Dr Zhengrong Shi is an Australian Chinese national With Australia-China relations showing no clear signs of improvement, the government-owned Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) has poured $US7 million ($9.6m) into a Shanghai-based company called "Sunman". This means taxpayers, by extension, will own a 14 per cent stake in Sunman, which also has offices in North Sydney and Hong Kong. The little-known company was founded in 2015 by leading solar scientist, Dr Zhengrong Shi, nicknamed the "Sun King" as he is widely regarded as a pioneer in the industry's development. Dr Shi has invented a new breed of solar panel called the "eArc" — which the CEFC's chief executive, Ian Learmonth, is betting will be "the next big thing" in the industry's evolution. Essentially, these are lightweight solar panels that Sunman says are "revolutionary" and can be glued "onto any surface". In contrast, traditional solar panels (made of heavy glass) can only be placed on flat rooftops, and often need holes to be drilled into rooftops during installation. "Already, we've got an incredible uptake of solar rooftops — there are 2.4 million roofs in Australia with conventional panels on," Mr Learmonth told the ABC. "I see this particular innovation in solar panels playing a huge role ... we're now going to open up a whole new market. It's very exciting." Dr Shi is the majority shareholder of Sunman, while Sydney-based private equity firm Southern Cross Venture Partners also has a significant stake. What is the eArc? Sunman says its eArc panels weigh "70 per cent" (or 14-17 kilograms) less than than traditional glass panels — since they are made from a plastic-like "polymer composite". This means they can easily be bent, making them easy to install on curved roofs, walls and even the tops of trains and caravans (or RVs). "Our technology will revolutionise the way Australians approach solar and save them money on energy bills," Dr Shi said. He also estimated that 40 per cent of commercial roofs are structurally "slender" and unable to "accommodate the weight or uplift of glass solar modules". Unbeknownst to many, these "new age" eArc panels have already been installed at some iconic Australian locations (and some that aren't well known). One of the better-known landmarks is the Australian National Maritime Museum.

ACTU briefs Super Trustees Forum on campaign against attacks on super

ACTU briefs Super Trustees Forum on campaign against attacks on super 4 December 2020 ACTU briefs Super Trustees Forum on campaign against attacks on super ACTU President will update superannuation trustees on preparations being made by the peak body for working people to defend workers’ retirement savings today at the ACTU’s Superannuation Trustees Forum. The Morrison Government is continuing its long-running campaign against superannuation by threatening to reverse the legislated increase to the superannuation guarantee at a time when the average Australian is expected to run out of super 10 years before they die. This comes at a time when 70 per cent of women have estimated super balances of less than $150,000 and almost a quarter have balances less than $50,000. Women retire with roughly half as much super as men, and older women are currently the fastest growing group of homeless Australians. In 2014 Tony Abbott delayed an increase in the superannuation guarantee, promising that wages would rise. Wages did not rise. In fact, at every point since 2014, annual wage growth has been lower than any other period since 1997. The ACTU is campaigning to defend workers’ legislated increase of the superannuation guarantee, which would mean $100,000 more in retirement for the average worker. There is reform needed in the super system – super should be paid on every dollar earned, including on parental leave, for all workers, no matter their age, income or how they’re employed. 2.1 million workers – many who work multiple jobs - earning less than $450 a month per job are excluded from earning superannuation. This must change. Quotes attributable to ACTU President Michele O’Neil: “In campaigning against the legislated rise in super the Morrison Government is punishing those hardest hit by the pandemic. Refusing to honour their election promise to increase the super guarantee would only cause further damage to working people, many of whom have had to raid their retirement savings to fund their own crisis response. “The pandemic cannot be used to justify an attack on super, the average worker is already expected to run out of super 10 years before they die. We need to reform the system to make it stronger, not gut it. “Older women represent the fastest growing group becoming homeless, they need a better deal on super in order to avoid poverty in retirement. Rather than doing anything to help, the Government is attempting to kick out the ladder from under them. “The union movement stands ready to resist any attacks on workers’ retirement savings. Like with Medicare, we need to improve and strengthen our retirement system, which is already the envy of the world – not tear it down.”

The Morning Star Cuba Hits out against Trump accusation of “state sponsor of terrorism”

CUBA hit out at being listed as a “state sponsor of terrorism” by the Trump administration today, countering that the island is itself a victim of terrorism financed and perpetrated by the US government. Foreign Ministry spokesman Carlos Fernandez de Cossio said Monday’s last-gasp move by departing US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was “an insult” to the socialist island, accusing the former CIA chief of “a calumny of lies.” Mr Pompeo cited Cuba’s support for the democratically elected government of Venezuela and its refusal to extradite guerilla fighters from Colombia’s National Liberation Army (ELN) as reason for its relisting. Mr de Cossio said the terrorism list was abused by the US, with countries that fall out of line with Washington’s aims being added to secure sanctions and other coercive measures. The US has maintained a crippling economic blockade — estimated to have cost Cuba some $753.69 billion — on the country since its 1959 revolution. In April 2020 Washington was accused of modern-day piracy after blocking a shipment of masks and ventilators from China from reaching Cuba as it battled the global coronavirus pandemic. Mr de Cossior insisted: “Cuba is a victim of terrorism, of terrorism that has been organised, financed and perpetrated by the government of the United States or by individuals and organisations that reside in the territory of the United States, or that operate from the territory of the United States with the tolerance of the authorities of that country.” The relisting of Cuba as a terror-supporting state is believed to be a bid by Mr Pompeo to hamper plans by president-elect Mr Biden to roll back the policies of his predecessor. During his election campaign Mr Biden pledged to reverse policies that “have inflicted harm on the Cuban people and done nothing to advance democracy and human rights.” Mr de Cossio said that Monday’s decision was rejected by the international community and the people of Cuba, along with many in the US, including religious institutions and members of Congress. “We insist that it is a calumny, an insult against Cuba and that the secretary of state deliberately lies when describing Cuba as a country-sponsor of terrorism,” he said.

Trump Impeached for "incitement of insurrection"

The US House of Representatives has impeached President Donald Trump for "incitement of insurrection" at last week's Capitol riot. Ten Republicans sided with Democrats to impeach the president by 232-197. He is the first president in US history to be impeached twice, or charged with crimes by Congress. Mr Trump, a Republican, will now face a trial in the Senate, where if convicted he could face being barred from ever holding office again. But he will not have to quit the White House before his term ends in one week because the Senate will not reconvene in time. Mr Trump leaves office on 20 January, following his election defeat last November to Democrat Joe Biden. The Democratic-controlled House voted on Wednesday after several hours of impassioned debate as armed National Guard troops stood guard inside and outside the Capitol. The FBI has warned of possible armed protests planned for Washington DC and all 50 US state capitals ahead of Mr Biden's inauguration next week. In a video released after the vote in Congress, Mr Trump called on his followers to remain peaceful but he did not refer to the fact that he had been impeached. "Violence and vandalism have no place in our country... No true supporter of mine would ever endorse political violence," he said, striking a sombre and conciliatory tone.

Boeing Crashes

Boeing to pay $2.5 billion to settle U.S. criminal probe into 737 MAX crashes By David Shepardson, Eric M. Johnson, Tracy Rucinski 6 MIN READ WASHINGTON/SEATTLE/CHICAGO (Reuters) -Boeing Co will pay more than $2.5 billion in fines and compensation after reaching a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice over two plane crashes that killed a total of 346 people and led to the grounding of its 737 MAX jetliner. The settlement, which allows Boeing to avoid prosecution, includes a fine of $243.6 million, compensation to airlines of $1.77 billion and a $500 million crash-victim fund over fraud conspiracy charges related to the plane’s flawed design. Boeing said it would take a $743.6 million charge against its fourth-quarter 2020 earnings to reflect the deferred prosecution agreement, a form of corporate plea bargain. The Justice Department deal, announced after the market close on Thursday, caps a 21-month investigation into the design and development of the 737 MAX following the two crashes, in Indonesia and Ethiopia in 2018 and 2019, respectively. The crashes “exposed fraudulent and deceptive conduct by employees of one of the world’s leading commercial airplane manufacturers,” acting Assistant Attorney General David Burns said in a statement. “Boeing’s employees chose the path of profit over candor by concealing material information from the FAA concerning the operation of its 737 MAX airplane and engaging in an effort to cover up their deception,” Burns said, referring to the Federal Aviation The crashes have cost Boeing some $20 billion. Lawyers for families of victims of the Ethiopian Airlines crash said the settlement strengthens civil litigation in Chicago, where Boeing is based. Boeing has already settled most lawsuits related to the Lion Air disaster in Indonesia. Because of the crashes, the U.S. Congress in December passed legislation reforming how the FAA certifies new airplanes. Representative Peter DeFazio, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, who oversaw a lengthy probe into the crashes, said the “settlement amounts to a slap on the wrist and is an insult to the 346 victims who died as a result of corporate greed.” He added: “Not only is the dollar amount of the settlement a mere fraction of Boeing’s annual revenue, the settlement sidesteps any real accountability in terms of criminal charges.” RELATED COVERAGE Boeing 737 crash victim families still suing planemaker after DOJ settlement Analysts noted the $1.77-billion airline compensation was already covered by accounting provisions and some had already been paid, meaning the remaining burden was relatively small. “At around 0.5% of Boeing’s current market value, this portion of the payments should not be a significant issue for the stock,” said Bernstein analyst Douglas Harned in a note. The 737 MAX was grounded in March 2019, and the grounding was not lifted until November 2020, after Boeing made significant safety upgrades and improvements in pilot training. Boeing, the largest U.S. airplane manufacturer and the world’s second largest behind Europe’s Airbus following the grounding, was charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States. It faces a three-year deferred prosecution agreement, with the charge dismissed if it complies. DPAs are corporate plea bargains that typically allow a company to avoid criminal charges that could disrupt activities such as access to public contracts, in return for a fine and admission of wrongdoing, as well as internal reforms. ADVERTISEMENT Access to public contracts is crucial for defense companies, such as Boeing, which depend on government business worldwide. REGULATOR ‘DEFRAUDED’ Boeing admitted in court documents that two of its 737 MAX technical pilots had deceived the FAA about a safety system called MCAS, whose gyrations have been tied to both crashes. The documents say Boeing belatedly cooperated with the probe but only after it initially “frustrated” the investigation. In a note to employees, Boeing Chief Executive David Calhoun said the agreement “appropriately acknowledges how we fell short of our values and expectations”. Reuters has reported tinyurl.com/y26h5xkv that Boeing managers told engineers working on the MAX, including MCAS, their designs could not trigger more comprehensive training designations from the FAA.

The Morning Star

ABORIGINAL groups condemned Australia’s acting prime minister today for comparing the Black Lives Matter movement with the riot at the US Capitol building last week. On Monday Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack, filling in for Prime Minister Scott Morrison who is away on holiday, said on Monday that the Washington DC insurrection that claimed five lives was “similar to those race riots that we saw around the country last year.” “Amnesty International and others — and I appreciate there are a lot of people out there who are being a bit bleeding-heart about this and who are confecting outrage — but they should know those lives matter too,” Mr McCormack told reporters on Tuesday. Amnesty International Australia’s indigenous rights lead Nolan Hunter said that Mr McCormack was “continuing to show his ignorance about what Black Lives Matter means and how it affects our mob right here in Australia.” “Ignorance of the issues that affect indigenous people in Australia is why we are behind the rest of the world and lock up little children as young as 10, [and] why indigenous children are 27 times more likely to end up in prison than their non-indigenous peers,” Mr Hunter said on Tuesday. The Aboriginal Legal Service of New South Wales state tweeted: “It’s a disappointment (to say the least) to see the Acting PM mischaracterise our fight for justice as ‘race riots.’” “Our demand that black lives be valued and defended against state-sanctioned violence is in no way comparable to attempts to violently overthrow an election,” it added.

The Morning Star

MORE than a year after Chinese scientists warned the world of a new and virulent virus that was overloading health systems in Wuhan, the British government has asked people to get negative Covid-19 tests before entering the country from overseas. As Labour points out, even now there is no testing on arrival while quarantine arrangements for new arrivals are patchy at best. Though people arriving from overseas are instructed to isolate, there is no cohesive support system to allow them to do so. The irony is that the government is only taking measures to keep infection out now that other countries have reason to see British visitors as the greater risk. London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan has declared a “major incident” and that the spread of Covid-19 in the capital is “out of control.” One in 30 Londoners is estimated to have the virus. Eight in 10 positive tests in the area are referred to the even more infectious new variant of Covid-19 that saw borders closed to British travellers over Christmas. Some will accuse ministers of locking the stable door after the horse has bolted. The analogy is not quite right, since new variants of the virus are emerging and travel restrictions are essential. Yet the findings published in the journal Science showing that coronavirus was introduced to Britain more than 1,000 times during the first wave do illustrate what a different place we could be in had the government acted on advice from the World Health Organisation last winter instead of downplaying the threat and delaying the lockdown. (For those still inclined to blame China for the spread of the virus internationally, the same study found the highest number of transmission chains in the first half of 2020 were from Spain — 33 per cent — followed by France at 29 per cent, with China responsible for only 0.4 per cent of introductions). Some countries have been able to return to normal, allowing ordinary economic and social life to resume, because they acted to suppress the virus from the start. Details of the “zero-Covid” strategies employed by countries which have successfully driven the virus down to very low levels such as China, New Zealand and Vietnam differ, but all involved making elimination the goal and using lockdowns to build mass testing systems backed with effective contact-tracing and support for those required to isolate. In Britain ministers have never made elimination the goal, pursuing a hotch-potch of half-measures to bring catastrophic infection levels down and then lifting them haphazardly without adequate systems in place to stop a rebound. A false choice between saving lives and protecting the economy has been ruinous, seeing Britain combine the highest death toll with the biggest economic contraction in Europe. We cannot allow the government to hide behind a vaccine roll-out — itself subject to chaotic changes of plan — while it continues to endanger lives by refusing to mobilise all national resources to suppress the virus. That means not just telling people to work from home if they can, but stopping non-essential work if it cannot be done from home and furloughing such workers on full pay. It means proper financial support for families whose children must be schooled from home, to stop the scramble for school places by parents who cannot afford to stop working. It means the urgent delivery of long-promised computer equipment to schools to allow remote learning. The left should be pressing for further measures, including on heating, water, electricity and broadband bills forced up as people are forced to stay at home. If such measures run up against our marketised utilities and public services, this can only strengthen the argument for a new normal after the pandemic — one in which democratic power is used to address the inequalities and inefficiencies created by our bargain-basement economy, corporate-captured state and sleaze-ridden political system. You can’t buy a revolution, but you can help the only daily paper in Britain that’s fighting for one by become a member of the People’s Printing Press Society. The Morning Star is a readers’ co-operative, which means you can become an owner of the paper too by buying shares in the society. Shares are £1 each — though unlike capitalist firms, each shareholder has an equal say. Money from shares contributes directly to keep our paper thriving. Some union branches have taken out shares of over £500 and individuals over £100. BUY HERE »

UK More than 1.1 million people had COVID-19 last week

More than 1.1 million people had COVID-19 last week, equivalent to one in 50 people in the country, the United Kingdom’s Office for National Statistics said on Friday, rising to one in 30 people in the capital London as a new, more contagious variant spreads. The UK’s total virus-related death toll is now 78,508. According to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University, the UK has the most COVID-related deaths in Europe and the fifth most in the world. A “major incident” is defined as being “beyond the scope of business-as-usual operations, and is likely to involve serious harm, damage, disruption or risk to human life or welfare, essential services, the environment or national security”. The last “major incident” in London was declared following the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017 when 72 people died in Britain’s worst blaze in a residential building since WWII. The mayor has written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson asking for greater financial support for Londoners who need to self-isolate. He has also requested daily vaccination data, the closure of places of worship and called on people to wear face masks routinely outside of the home. On Thursday, health secretary Matt Hancock said the UK was making preparations in case London was overwhelmed by COVID-19 infections, comments that came amid reports hospitals in the capital could be inundated with patients within two weeks.

New York Times There was one story Neil Sheehan chose not to tell.

There was one story Neil Sheehan chose not to tell. It was the story of how he had obtained the Pentagon Papers, the blockbuster scoop that led to a 1971 showdown between the Nixon administration and the press, and to a Supreme Court ruling that is still seen as a milepost in government-press relations. From the moment he secured the 7,000 pages of classified government documents on the Vietnam War for The New York Times, until his death on Thursday, Mr. Sheehan, a former Vietnam War correspondent and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, declined nearly every invitation to explain precisely how he had pulled it off. In 2015, however, at a reporter’s request, he agreed to tell his story on the condition that it not be published while he was alive. Beset by scoliosis and Parkinson’s disease, he recounted, in a four-hour interview at his home in Washington, a tale as suspenseful and cinematic as anyone in Hollywood might concoct. Neil Sheehan Dies at 84; Times Reporter Obtained the Pentagon PapersJan. 7, 2021 The Pentagon Papers, arguably the greatest journalistic catch of a generation, were a secret history of United States decision-making on Vietnam, commissioned in 1967 by the secretary of defense. Their release revealed for the first time the extent to which successive White House administrations had intensified American involvement in the war while hiding their own doubts about the chances of success.

ACTU Government’s omnibus IR Bill will allow employers to make agreements that cut the wages and conditions of workers.

The Morrison Government’s omnibus IR Bill will allow employers to make agreements that cut the wages and conditions of workers. The Bill will allow the Fair Work Commission to approve agreements that do not meet the BOOT test for a period of two years. In addition, the Bill will significantly undermine and weaken the current protections and safeguards workers have to prevent employers imposing unfair agreements, the Bill weakens these tests. Currently the Fair Work Commission must ensure workers have access to an agreement for seven days and it must be properly explained to workers before voting, these requirements will be removed. Quotes attributable to ACTU Secretary Sally McManus: “These changes are dangerous and extreme. Workchoices allowed employers to cut wages, and this proposal will do that as well. When Workchoices was introduced employers rushed out to cut wages, the same will happen if this law passes. Some workers are still stuck with WorkChoices pay cuts some 13 years later. “These proposals were never raised during months of discussions with employers and the Government. The union movement will fight these proposals which will leave working people worse off. This was not the spirit of the talks with employers and the Government, this is not about us all being in this together. “Working people, essential workers, have already sacrificed so much during this pandemic, these proposed laws will punish them. “The economy, local businesses will not be able to recover if workers are facing pay cuts. Families need the confidence to spend. You can’t heal the economy by hurting working people.”

Julian Assange will make a fresh appeal to be released from prison this week

Julian Assange will make a fresh appeal to be released from prison this week after a British judge ruled that he cannot be extradited to the US to face charges of espionage and hacking government computers. While district judge Vanessa Baraitser rejected arguments that Assange would not get a fair trial in the US, she blocked extradition on the basis that the WikiLeaks co-founder was at risk of taking his own life if he were to be held in isolation. She said it appeared to be impossible to prevent suicide where a prisoner was determined to go through with it, twice referencing Jeffrey Epstein, the US billionaire who took his own life in August 2019 at the New York Metropolitan correctional centre before a trial for sex trafficking and conspiracy charges. As US authorities prepare to appeal against the ruling, Assange will appear in court on Wednesday for a new bail application.

Boeing will pay some $2.5 billion to resolve criminal charges linked to two deadly crashes involving its 737 MAX aircraft, agreeing to hand over a small fraction of its yearly revenue as the DOJ charges it with “fraud conspiracy.” “The tragic crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 exposed fraudulent and deceptive conduct by employees of one of the world’s leading commercial airplane manufacturers,” Acting Assistant Attorney General David Burns said in a statement on Thursday. Boeing’s employees chose the path of profit over candor by concealing material information from the [Federal Aviation Administration] concerning the operation of its 737 Max airplane and engaging in an effort to cover up their deception. The department said the massive settlement will include a criminal penalty worth $243.6 million, $1.77 billion in payments to buyers of the 737 MAX, as well as a smaller $500 million contribution to a crash victim beneficiaries' fund, which will compensate the families of passengers who perished in the two accidents. The payments will have no impact on ongoing civil litigation against Boeing by relatives of crash victims, according to lawyers for the plaintiffs cited by Reuters, who noted that the settlement would only strengthen their case.

Nonviolent Action Lab Producing and disseminating knowledge on nonviolent action

Producing and disseminating knowledge on nonviolent action The Nonviolent Action Lab produces and disseminates up-to-date knowledge on nonviolent action, how it works, and global trends in success and failure. The world is facing numerous crises that demand urgent and effective nonviolent action. Movements worldwide are fighting global inaction on climate change, discrimination against refugee and immigrant communities fleeing war and hardship, and rising global inequality. At the same time, the very institution of democracy is under threat. Over the past decade, authoritarian backsliding has occurred in Hungary, Poland, Turkey, Brazil, India, the United States, and elsewhere. The rise of digital authoritarianism has created more opportunities for more sophisticated forms of repression, which has disrupted and undermined nonviolent movements that have relied on digital organizing and online activism to build their movements. Movements are fighting back against corruption, injustice, and violence in almost every country of the world. What remains to be seen is how effective they will be in challenging entrenched power in increasingly complex environments. Existing research shows that nonviolent resistance can be a highly effective pathway to defend democratic values and institutions, while also creating transformative change in many domains. Yet many people remain skeptical about the power of nonviolent resistance to effect change. Part of the reason for this skepticism is that information about the power of nonviolent resistance—and up-to-date data demonstrating its power—is inaccessible to many people in the world. By systematically studying and amplifying nonviolent resistance, and synthesizing lessons learned from global movements worldwide, the lab will make it easier for the public and practitioners to embrace nonviolent action as a means of transforming injustice.

The All India Drug Action Network stated that it was “baffled to understand what scientific logic has motivated the relevant oversight committee

The All India Drug Action Network stated that it was “baffled to understand what scientific logic has motivated” the relevant oversight committee to approve “an incompletely studied vaccine.” The medical group asserted that the lack of transparency and hasty approval “raises more questions than answers and likely will not reinforce faith in our scientific decision-making bodies.” Dr Gagandeep Kang, one of India's most distinguished medical experts, told the Times of India that she had "not seen anything like this before", and pointed out: “There is absolutely no efficacy data that has been presented or published.” Meanwhile, Indian MP Shashi Tharoor was among those who posted on Twitter to share their reservations. “The Covaxin has not yet had Phase 3 trials. Approval was premature and could be dangerous. @drharshvardhan should please clarify. Its use should be avoided till full trials are over. India can start with the AstraZeneca vaccine in the meantime,” he wrote. India's Drugs Controller General, VG Somani, said that Covaxin was “safe and provides a robust immune response.”

Doug Cameron on Assange

Doug tweeted: Great news for Julian, press freedom and the need to expose war crimes and govt criminal activities! Congratulations to Julian’s legal team.

The Morning Star

According to Title 52, Section 20511 of the United States Code, anyone who “knowingly and willfully deprives, defrauds, or attempts to deprive or defraud the residents of a state of a fair and impartially conducted election process” for federal office can be punished by up to five years in prison. Donald Trump certainly seems to have violated this law. He is on tape alternately cajoling and threatening Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, to “find 11,780 votes,” enough to give him a winning margin in a state that he lost. He may have also broken federal conspiracy law and Georgia election law. “This is probably the most serious political crime I’ve ever heard of,” Michael Bromwich, a former inspector general for the Department of Justice, told me. “And yet there is the high likelihood that there will be no accountability for it.” At this point, demanding such accountability feels like smashing one’s head into a brick wall, but our democracy might not be able to stagger along much longer without it. Republicans already often treat victories by Democrats as illegitimate. Their justification for impeaching Bill Clinton was flimsy at the time and looks even more ludicrous in light of their defenses of Trump. Trump’s political career was built on the racist lie that Barack Obama was a foreigner ineligible for the presidency. Now Trump and his Republican enablers have set a precedent for pressuring state officials to discard the will of their voters, and if that fails, for getting their allies in Congress to reject the results. True democracy in America is quite new; you can date it to the civil rights era. If Trump’s Republican Party isn’t checked, we could easily devolve into what political scientists call competitive authoritarianism, in which elections still take place but the system is skewed to entrench autocrats. Some are trying to constrain Trump’s lawlessness. Two Democratic members of the House, Ted Lieu and Kathleen Rice, asked the F.B.I. director, Christopher Wray, to open a criminal probe. In Atlanta, the Fulton County district attorney has expressed openness to bringing a case, saying, “Anyone who commits a felony violation of Georgia law in my jurisdiction will be held accountable.”

New York Times

According to Title 52, Section 20511 of the United States Code, anyone who “knowingly and willfully deprives, defrauds, or attempts to deprive or defraud the residents of a state of a fair and impartially conducted election process” for federal office can be punished by up to five years in prison. Donald Trump certainly seems to have violated this law. He is on tape alternately cajoling and threatening Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, to “find 11,780 votes,” enough to give him a winning margin in a state that he lost. He may have also broken federal conspiracy law and Georgia election law. “This is probably the most serious political crime I’ve ever heard of,” Michael Bromwich, a former inspector general for the Department of Justice, told me. “And yet there is the high likelihood that there will be no accountability for it.” At this point, demanding such accountability feels like smashing one’s head into a brick wall, but our democracy might not be able to stagger along much longer without it. Republicans already often treat victories by Democrats as illegitimate. Their justification for impeaching Bill Clinton was flimsy at the time and looks even more ludicrous in light of their defenses of Trump. Trump’s political career was built on the racist lie that Barack Obama was a foreigner ineligible for the presidency. Now Trump and his Republican enablers have set a precedent for pressuring state officials to discard the will of their voters, and if that fails, for getting their allies in Congress to reject the results. devolve into what political scientists call competitive authoritarianism, in which elections still take place but the system is skewed to entrench autocrats. Some are trying to constrain Trump’s lawlessness. Two Democratic members of the House, Ted Lieu and Kathleen Rice, asked the F.B.I. director, Christopher Wray, to open a criminal probe. In Atlanta, the Fulton County district attorney has expressed openness to bringing a case, saying, “Anyone who commits a felony violation of Georgia law in my jurisdiction will be held accountable.”