Shale Gas Issues from Various Jurisdictions

Shale Gas Issues From Various Jurisdictions ...... 8 Foreword ...... 8 Calls for Moratoriums and Bans ...... 10 Contamination and Science ...... 11 Renewable Energy ...... 12 CRED New Brunswick - Solar Energy Development in New Brunswick: roundtable webinar ...... 12 Science and Health ...... 13 Economics, Legal, and Investigations ...... 14 Goldman Sachs settles 1MDB scandal with Malaysia for $3.9bn ...... 14 Canada court rules US 'not safe' for asylum seekers ...... 14 Gold surges to $2,000 record on dollar weakness, US-China woes ...... 15 US Dollar’s grip on global markets is slipping – Goldman Sachs ...... 15 Dollar crash will topple the entire US ‘house of cards’ economy by year end – Peter Schiff ...... 16 ‘The world is going back to a GOLD STANDARD as the US dollar is about to collapse’ – Peter Schiff ...... 16 Make no mistake, fundamentals for gold are ‘most bullish in history’ – Peter Schiff ...... 16 ‘This is the most unloved gold bull market I’ve ever seen’ – Peter Schiff ...... 17 $600 billion: Despite Covid-19 crisis & falling oil prices, Russia’s gold & foreign exchange reserves reach all-time high ...... 17 Regulations ...... 19 Environment and Enjoyment of Property ...... 20 How humans are altering the tides of the oceans ...... 20 A heat wave thawed Siberia's tundra. Now, it's on fire...... 20 60% of world's wildlife has been wiped out since 1970 ...... 20 Canada's last intact ice shelf collapses into the sea - VIDEO ...... 21 Government, Meetings, News, and Letters ...... 22 First Nations chiefs and N.B. premier meet to discuss systemic racism - Jun 17, 2020 ...... 22 Chiefs walk out of meeting after Higgs doesn't agree on inquiry into systemic racism ...... 22 Former Air Canada executive says province should consider closing an airport ...... 23 One new case / Public reminded of importance of protective measures - 09 July 2020 ...... 23 Military intelligence unit briefed Sajjan on COVID-19 risk on January 17: documents ...... 24 RCMP watchdog calls out 'unreasonable' use of force during wellness checks ...... 24 Long-delayed Sisson Mine facing environmental deadline, other problems ...... 24 Fermeture des urgences : le gouvernement Higgs n'aurait pas tout dit ...... 25 Emergency closure: the Higgs government wouldn't have said it all ...... 25 Four new cases of COVID-19 -05 August 2020 ...... 26 Two new cases of COVID-19 - 06 August 2020 ...... 26 New triggers and revised public health recovery alert levels unveiled / One new case ...... 27 NB’s recovery plan - The Levels ...... 27 Higgs proposes deal to avoid general election until 2022 or end of COVID-19 pandemic ...... 27 Details emerge of Vaccine Choice Canada lawsuit over coronavirus response ...... 28 Plaintiff Statement of Claim ...... 28 New Brunswick back-to-school plan includes mask details, outbreak management plan ...... 28 Liberals reject Higgs proposal to delay early election ...... 29 Four new cases of COVID-19 - 15 August 2020 ...... 29 Expected fall peak of COVID-19 in Canada could overwhelm health systems: Tam ...... 30 Return to School: Guide for Parents and the Public September 2020 ...... 30 Update on Return to School plan for September 2020 - 13 August 2020 ...... 30 Parents should be told about COVID-19 cases in child's school, epidemiologist says ...... 30 Information Fredericton - Are New Brunswickers Headed to the Polls - Aug. 17, 2020 ...... 31 Liberal Leader Kevin Vickers welcomed the premier's offer...... 31

1 Blaine Higgs calls New Brunswick election for Sept. 14, despite pandemic ...... 32 Back-to-school briefings to be rescheduled because of election ...... 32 Trudeau prorogues parliament, ending WE investigations and leaving Commons empty for weeks ...... 32 COVID-19 outbreak could stop election, says PC Leader Blaine Higgs ...... 33 School staff will be able to get tested for COVID-19 even without symptoms ...... 33 Higgs n'écarte pas l'idée de revoir les exigences linguistiques de la fonction publique ...... 34 Higgs does not rule out the idea of reviewing the language requirements of the public service ..... 34 COVID-19 tests will be available to asymptomatic teachers, school staff - VIDEO ...... 34 Higgs often impatient with legal, constitutional constraints ...... 34 3 N.B. political parties back calls for justice inquiry that Blaine Higgs doesn't want ...... 35 Elections NB refers 2018 campaign spending by two candidates to police ...... 36 Province 'opted out' of Ottawa's municipal transit relief program without knowing the facts - Aug 27, 2020 ...... 36 Ottawa should cut equalization to force provinces to develop resources, Higgs says - Dec 19, 2018 ...... 36 New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs abandons planned carbon tax court fight - Jul 08, 2019 ..... 37 Taxpayers hit with $31M in cancellation costs after Higgs stops 4 major projects ...... 37 Higgs promises he won't close emergency rooms in rural areas ...... 38 Blaine Higgs and francophones: the discomfort of the Progressive Conservatives ...... 38 3 N.B. political parties back calls for justice inquiry that Blaine Higgs doesn't want ...... 38 New Brunswick News ...... 40 Review Of Elements Of Proponent Application To Use Rotenone For The Purpose Of Eradicating Smallmouth Bass (Micropterus Dolomieu) From Miramichi Lake, New Brunswick ...... 40 Poisoned lake July 15, 2020, Information Morning - Fredericton with Terry Seguin ...... 40 Environmental impact July 17, 2020, Information Morning - Fredericton with Terry Seguin ...... 40 When the billionaire writes, you listen: archived James Irving letter slams NB Natural Resources Minister ...... 40 Information Morning - Fredericton with Terry Seguin - Effects of low water on Nashwaak River ... 41 CRED New Brunswick - Solar Energy Development in New Brunswick: roundtable webinar ...... 41 Internal RCMP reviews find illegal arrests, incomplete investigations ...... 42 Moncton-area residents urged to reduce water use because of blue-green algae risk ...... 42 Complaints filed against Edmundston police over fatal shooting of Chantel Moore ...... 43 Banned 25 years ago, rooming houses could play saving role in Fredericton housing ...... 43 Maritime News ...... 44 Irving travel exemption should never have been approved, says Strang ...... 44 Canadian News ...... 45 The Avro Arrow ...... 45 Police kill Canadian man during mental health check ...... 46 Support for anti-government, pro-gun Boogaloo movement growing in Canada ...... 46 Pamela Palmater on the AFN agreement witrh Ottawa ...... 47 RCMP watchdog calls out 'unreasonable' use of force during wellness checks ...... 48 RCMP watchdog calls for mandatory timelines to fix slow response to complaint findings ...... 48 Anti-masking groups draw from anti-vaccination playbook to spread misinformation ...... 48 COVID-19 and the 5G Conspiracy Theory: Social Network Analysis of Twitter Data ...... 49 The myth of band councils as First Nations ...... 50 A record number of companies have sought creditor protection under COVID-19 — and more are on the way ...... 50 CCAA (Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act) records list ...... 51 Canada slaps retaliatory tariffs on US aluminium goods ...... 51 Vancouver police put knee on man’s neck: witnesses - VIDEO ...... 51

2 Expected fall peak of COVID-19 in Canada could overwhelm health systems: Tam ...... 51 A Cool Trudeau Rebuffs Conflict Charges. Will Canadians Buy His Story? ...... 52 Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau testifies to Parliament amid ethics investigation ...... 52 Defund the CBC and shower parents with cash: Four things Erin O'Toole has promised to do ..... 53 The power players in Erin O'Toole's Conservative Party ...... 53 Pandemic recovery ...... 53 Climate plan ...... 53 Other News ...... 54 Other News – Covid-19 ...... 54 US secures world stock of key Covid-19 drug remdesivir ...... 54 Donald Trump Stock Portfolio - Note Gilead ...... 54 Almost a third of COVID-19 samples show mutation, but not worse disease – WHO ...... 55 Prevalent Eurasian avian-like H1N1 swine influenza virus with 2009 pandemic viral genes facilitating human infection ...... 55 City in China's Inner Mongolia warns of suspected bubonic plague ...... 55 What Is the Plague? ...... 56 Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro tests positive for coronavirus ...... 56 'A second Trump': Bolsonaro's offensive rhetoric adds to Brazil's discomfort ...... 57 Jair Bolsonaro says criminals will 'die like cockroaches' under proposed new laws ...... 57 Rio de Janeiro: killings by police hit a record high in Brazilian state ...... 57 Coronavirus updates: US sets another grim record with over 60,000 new cases in a day - 8 July 2020 ...... 58 Studies Report Rapid Loss of COVID-19 Antibodies ...... 58 Longitudinal evaluation and decline of antibody responses in SARS-CoV-2 infection ...... 58 Millions go back into lockdown around the world - VIDEO ...... 59 An mRNA Vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 — Preliminary Report ...... 59 8 world leaders seek equal access to Covid-19 vaccine, Justin Trudeau says it will save lives ..... 60 Trump 'offers large sums' for exclusive US access to coronavirus vaccine ...... 60 Forget Russian hackers: Real danger is the US hoarding UK vaccines, says head of Imperial College study ...... 60 ‘Extraordinary’ claim that Russia meddled in elections requires proof, UKIP leader says ...... 61 George Galloway: The UK govt’s ‘almost certainty’ of Russian interference is a dead cat for the media’s Pavlov’s dogs ...... 61 Military intelligence unit briefed Sajjan on COVID-19 risk on January 17: documents ...... 62 Pneumonia of unknown cause – China [World Health Organization] ...... 62 COVID-19 and the 5G Conspiracy Theory: Social Network Analysis of Twitter Data ...... 62 Abstract ...... 62 Google will let employees work from home until at least next summer ...... 63 VIDEO - Trump undermines his pandemic response with more misinformation and self-obsession ...... 63 VIDEO - Trump promoted a doctor. Watch what she said about demons ...... 64 Russia's COVID-19 vaccine 'ready,' says official ...... 64 First batch of Sputnik V, Russia's Covid-19 vaccine, to be supplied in September - 40,000 volunteers ready for 3rd-stage trials ...... 64 Hong Kong reports 'first case' of virus reinfection ...... 65 Other News ...... 66 Other US Racism ...... 66 US Military’s ‘Unprecedented’ Deployment to Asia-Pacific Risks Confrontation With China - Think Tank ...... 66 ‘They want to win’: NUCLEAR confrontation becomes likelier as US races for global domination, Russian FM says ...... 66

3 Russia Secretly Offered Afghan Militants Bounties to Kill U.S. Troops, Intelligence Says ...... 66 Trump & Pence never briefed on ‘Russian bounties for Taliban’, NYT story ‘inaccurate’ – US intelligence chief ...... 67 Pentagon says ‘no corroborating’ evidence to stand up NYT report on Russian bounties ...... 67 Caitlin Johnstone: It is the US intelligence’s job to lie to you. NYT’s Afghan bounty story is CIA press release disguised as news ...... 68 ‘Russian bounty’ story shifts: New York Times now claims Afghan CRIMINALS & not Taliban were paid, cites anonymous sources again ...... 68 New York Times has double standards & serves woke mob? Bari Weiss’ shocking resignation letter only states the obvious ...... 68 Bari Weiss, Resignation Letter ...... 69 Iran Quds Force commander killed in US strike on convoy at Baghdad airport – VIDEO ...... 70 UN Investigator Report On US Killing Of Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani ...... 70 UN Investigator Report On US Killing Of Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani ...... 70 US Army-funded ‘research project’ quietly tracked mobile phone movements at Russian military sites & govt buildings – media ...... 70 Trump won’t commit to accepting result if he loses election ...... 71 Trump foreshadows that he could refuse to accept the results of the 2020 election if he loses ..... 71 Russia now makes more money from gold than natural gas exports ...... 71 FAA: Check engines on 737s that could shut down mid-flight ...... 72 Noam Chomsky on Trump’s Troop Surge to Democratic Cities & Whether He’ll Leave Office if He Loses ...... 72 It’s not Russia, China or Iran who ‘undermine confidence’ in US democracy; for that, ODNI needs to look closer to home ...... 73 Nicolás Maduro Can’t Sell Venezuelan Gold at Bank of England, Court Rules ...... 73 Venezuela to challenge UK’s ruling that denies access to its gold stored in Bank of England vaults ...... 74 Canadian unions helped fund delegation that gave glowing review of Venezuela election widely seen as illegitimate ...... 74 Venezuelan Presidential Elections Canadian Delegation Observation ...... 74 Black Lives Matter: Arkansas senator describes slavery as 'necessary evil' ...... 74 Bill by Sen. Tom Cotton targets curriculum on slavery ...... 75 Revealed: oil giants help fund powerful police groups in top US cities ...... 75 Corporate Backers of the Blue: How Corporations Bankroll U.S. Police Foundations ...... 76 Fossil Fuel Industry Pollutes Black & Brown Communities While Propping Up Racist Policing ..... 76 LittleSis* is a free database of who-knows-who at the heights of business and government...... 76 Train derails on Arizona bridge that collapses, catches fire ...... 76 Kentucky town hires social workers instead of more officers - and the results are surprising ...... 77 Trump says US won’t protect Germany as it ‘pays Russia billions for energy’ in 1st tweet after Pentagon announces troop withdrawal ...... 77 Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline will significantly cut gas prices in Europe, energy consultancy says ...... 78 US expands draconian sanctions against Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline ...... 78 Trump Suggests Delaying 2020 Election as He Ramps Up Opposition to Mail-In Voting ...... 79 Trump floats idea of delaying Nov. 3 vote, but Congress controls election date ...... 79 Bye Bye Benjamin! Russia & China speed up de-dollarization process: most trade no longer conducted in greenbacks ...... 79 UAE becomes first Arab country to harness nuclear power following successful reactor launch .. 80 News Corp: Rupert Murdoch's son James quits company ...... 80 Dumping the dollar: Record gold price justifies Moscow's choice to abandon greenback & bet on precious metal ...... 81

4 UK government advisers issue stark warning: Avoid local lockdowns or unleash total anarchy ..... 81 18 officers injured in clashes with Berlin anti-mask protesters (VIDEOS) ...... 81 Thousands demand Netanyahu quit over coronavirus, corruption ...... 82 UK lobbies US to support controversial new nuclear warheads ...... 82 ‘We Will Coup Whoever We Want’: Elon Musk and the Overthrow of Democracy in Bolivia ...... 83 Can nuclear war be morally justified? ...... 83 John Pilger: Another Hiroshima is coming – unless we stop it now ...... 84 The US bombed Japan in 1945 to demonstrate its power to the USSR. Intimidation, NOT deterrence was, is and always will be the goal ...... 85 War with ChinaThinking Through the Unthinkable ...... 86 Saudi crown prince accused of sending hit squad to Canada ...... 86 “The World’s Most Dangerous Man”: Mary Trump on Her Uncle, President Trump, & Why He Must Be Ousted - VIDEO ...... 87 Mary Trump interview starts at 17 minutes 50 seconds ...... 87 Venezuela court jails two U.S. ex-soldiers for 20 years after failed incursion ...... 87 Statement by NCSC Director William Evanina: Election Threat Update for the American Public ... 88 Statement by NCSC Director William Evanina: Election Threat Update for the American Public ... 88 Physicists: 90% Chance of Human Society Collapsing Within Decades ...... 88 Deforestation and world population sustainability: a quantitative analysis ...... 89 Hiroshima and Nagasaki: 75th anniversary of atomic bombings - Pictures ...... 89 U.N. Security Council Rejects U.S. Bid to Extend Conventional-Arms Embargo on Iran ...... 90 Iran arms embargo: US has 'never been so isolated' ...... 90 American Airlines cuts 19,000 jobs amid travel slump ...... 90 Pandemic profiteer: Jeff Bezos’ fortune skyrockets to nearly $200 BILLION ...... 91 Trump praised the supporters of QAnon, a conspiracy theory the FBI says is a domestic terrorism threat ...... 91 FBI Labels Fringe Conspiracy Theories as Domestic Terrorism Threat ...... 91 Other News – Covid-19 ...... 92 Inside Trump’s Failure: The Rush to Abandon Leadership Role on the Virus ...... 92 Masks aren’t enough! Fauci says eye protection ‘MIGHT’ BE REQUIRED for ‘perfect’ Covid-proof set ...... 92 Johns Hopkins researchers urge US to 'reset' coronavirus approach ...... 93 Hydroxychloroquine with or without Azithromycin in Mild-to-Moderate Covid-19 ...... 93 Chomsky on Cuba’s “Internationalist” Response to Pandemic & Need to Make Vaccine Globally Accessible ...... 93 Okinawans ‘shocked’ & demand transparency after Covid-19 outbreaks at US bases increase Japanese prefecture’s case toll by 40% ...... 93 Coronavirus: Victoria declares state of disaster after spike in cases ...... 94 Coronavirus: Russia plans mass vaccination campaign in October - 1 August 2020 ...... 94 China Coronavirus Vaccine By CanSino Seems To Be Working ...... 95 Special Report: COVID opens new doors for China's gene giant ...... 95 Doctors sound alarm as deadly tick-borne virus re-emerges in China, kills 7 so far ...... 96 SFTS Virus ...... 96 American Academy of Pediactrics 97 thousand covid tests in children ...... 97 Children and COVID-19: State Data Report ...... 97 Putin says Russia’s Health Ministry has approved world’s FIRST Covid-19 vaccine – his own daughter has been vaccinated ...... 98 Number of children infected with COVID-19 is on the rise, CDC says ...... 98 There has been a 90% increase in Covid-19 cases in US children in the last four weeks, report says ...... 99 Children easily spread virus ...... 99

5 Number of children infected with COVID-19 is on the rise, CDC says ...... 99 There has been a 90% increase in Covid-19 cases in US children in the last four weeks, report says ...... 99 Work on Ebola and MERS helped Russia create Covid-19 vaccine in just 5 months – top official behind Sputnik V to RT ...... 100 Fighting Russia has become an existential necessity for NATO, if tensions are reduced alliance has no purpose – Russia FM Lavrov ...... 101 First Hurricane Laura, now a CHEMICAL FIRE: Louisiana towns told to stay indoors, turn off air conditioning (VIDEOS) ...... 101 FDA allows unproven plasma treatment for COVID-19 after political pressure from the White House ...... 101 FDA pulls emergency approval for antimalarial drugs touted by Trump as covid-19 treatment .... 102 The CDC has always been an apolitical island. That’s left it defenseless against Trump ...... 102 Alarm as FDA willing to issue Covid-19 vaccine before stringent safety testing ...... 103 Trump, without evidence, accuses FDA of delaying coronavirus vaccine trials and pressures agency chief ...... 103 Water ...... 104 Dry spell leaves Mactaquac dam water levels less than ideal ...... 104 Glacier loss will cause water shortages in Alberta: UBC study ...... 104 Fracking and Earthquakes ...... 105 Powerful 7.8 earthquake hits Alaska isles; tsunami threat over ...... 105 New study detects thousands of earthquakes in B.C. Peace region, most linked to fracking ...... 105 Oil and Pipelines ...... 106 Judge orders Enbridge to temporarily shut down Line 5 within 24 hours ...... 106 A Three Minute Tour of Line 5 Under the Straits of Mackinac ...... 106 The Dirty Secret at the Bottom of the Great Lakes: Oil & Water ...... 106 Oil spill off Philippines coast leads to evacuations ...... 106 Yemen: Decaying oil tanker in Red Sea threatens disaster ...... 107 Making Chevron pay for poisoning people in Ecuador, and the truth about Ghislaine Maxwell .... 108 Insurance company drops Trans Mountain policy, citing climate change ...... 108 The Covid-19 era oil crash is different, V-shaped recovery unlikely ...... 109 VIDEO - US fracking industry just a ‘TOXIC DEBT POOL’ to evaporate free money & cycle it through – RT’s Keiser Report ...... 109 'Very serious threats': US reportedly ramps up pressure on Nord Stream 2 contractors ...... 109 Suncor to pay up to $9 million settlement for air-pollution violations since 2017 - March 6, 2020 110 Is peak oil finally here? OPEC prepares for age of falling demand ...... 110 Total writes off $9.3B in oilsands assets, cancels Canadian oil lobby membership ...... 111 Deutsche Bank Immediately Ends Funding For Oil Sands And Arctic Oil Projects ...... 111 Syria says US ‘stealing’ oil after American energy firm signs deal with Kurdish rebels ...... 112 Mauritius declares emergency over oil spill from grounded ship ...... 112 Saudi Aramco profits crash 73% as coronavirus sinks oil market ...... 112 Oil Drilling Drops to 15-Year Low With Shale in Full Retreat ...... 113 Oil Spill Threatens Pristine Island Paradise of Mauritius ...... 113 The Bakken Boom Goes Bust With No Money to Clean up the Mess ...... 113 Mauritius oil spill: Wrecked MV Wakashio breaks up - VIDEO ...... 114 Canada supporting fossil fuels at 10 times the G20 average during pandemic ...... 114 Major investment firm dumps Exxon, Chevron and Rio Tinto stock ...... 116 Mining ...... 117 Long-delayed Sisson Mine facing environmental deadline, other problems ...... 117 Sisson Mine update: milking the pandemic in New Brunswick ...... 117 Sisson Mine update: milking the pandemic in New Brunswick ...... 118

6 “It’s important to have everyone involved”: Corbett calls for consultation before Sisson extension ...... 119 Forestry ...... 120 When the billionaire writes, you listen: archived James Irving letter slams NB Natural Resources Minister ...... 120 Physicists: 90% Chance of Human Society Collapsing Within Decades ...... 120 Deforestation and world population sustainability: a quantitative analysis ...... 121 WTO decision on softwood lumber cheered by Canadian producers, denounced in U.S...... 121 Video Links ...... 122 A Three Minute Tour of Line 5 Under the Straits of Mackinac ...... 122 The Dirty Secret at the Bottom of the Great Lakes: Oil & Water ...... 122 Pamela Palmater on the AFN agreement witrh Ottawa ...... 122 Poisoned lake July 15, 2020, Information Morning - Fredericton with Terry Seguin ...... 122 Environmental impact July 17, 2020, Information Morning - Fredericton with Terry Seguin ...... 122 Information Morning - Fredericton with Terry Seguin - Effects of low water on Nashwaak River . 122 CRED New Brunswick - Solar Energy Development in New Brunswick: roundtable webinar ...... 122 Oil Spill Threatens Pristine Island Paradise of Mauritius ...... 123 Vancouver police put knee on man’s neck: witnesses - VIDEO ...... 123 Information Fredericton - Are New Brunswickers Headed to the Polls - Aug. 17, 2020 ...... 123 Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau testifies to Parliament amid ethics investigation ...... 123

7 Shale Gas Issues From Various Jurisdictions

Foreword

The following documents have been collected by searching the web for information related to shale gas and from the Following web sites and

New Brunswick is NOT For Sale http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_132079906855023

New Brunswickers Concerned About Shale Gas http://www.facebook.com/ccnbshalegas

Ban Hydraulic Fracturing (hydro-fracking) In New Brunswick, Canada http://www.facebook.com/BanFrackingNB

Know Shale Gas NB – Support the legal action to stop Shale Gas in NB http://noshalegasnb.ca/news

NoShaleGasNB http://www.facebook.com/NoShaleGasNB

Shale Gas Info http://www.facebook.com/shalegas

Upriver Environment Watch http://www.facebook.com/groups/UpRiver/

Fracidental Drillers http://www.facebook.com/groups/133930663364584/

Fracking Research and New Brunswick, Canada http://nbfrackingresearch.com/

Facebook Groups: USA - A FACEBOOK FULL OF FRACTIVISTS: State-by-State Listings http://keeptapwatersafe.org/facebook-groups-usa/

Propublica – Links to many articles on Fracking http://www.propublica.org/series/fracking

Another good site: Fracking, Shale Gas and Health http://frackingandhealth.ca/

Is Our Forest Really Ours? http://isourforestreallyours.com/Isourforestreallyours/Welcome.html http://isourforestreallyours.com/Isourforestreallyours/Start_here.html https://www.facebook.com/groups/132079906855023/#!/groups/258525050949366/

More facebook information https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=617426124942641

8 United Opponents of Fracking International http://portjervisny.com/uaf.htm

SHALE GAS ALERTS NEW BRUNSWICK https://www.facebook.com/groups/112468105590081/? hc_location=stream#!/groups/112468105590081/

New Brunswick Anti-Shale Gas Alliance / anti-gaz de schiste du N.-B http://www.noshalegasnb.ca/our-resources/

Frack , facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/187245954789252/

9 Calls for Moratoriums and Bans

10 Contamination and Science

11 Renewable Energy

CRED New Brunswick - Solar Energy Development in New Brunswick: roundtable webinar

The Coalition for Responsible Energy Development in New Brunswick hosted a webinar on July 31, 2020 organized by MJM Solar Solutions.

We gathered solar experts and leaders from New Brunswick and across Canada to discuss how we can work together to increase NB’s Green Energy.

The webinar participants discussed solar installations, incentives, job creation, community engagement, technical and real world applications of solar in NB, training, and policy.

The panel: • Mark McCann (MJM Solar Solutions) • Chris Williamson (Solar Installers Canada) • Greg Macpherson (Senior Financial Advisor Manulife Securities) • Andrew Harvey (MLA for Carleton-Victoria) • Jenica Atwin (MP for Fredericton) • Pascal Giasson (Sustainable energy advisor for Minister Mike Holland) • Moderator: Dennis Atchison https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ipIvToZjy0

12 Science and Health

13 Economics, Legal, and Investigations

Goldman Sachs settles 1MDB scandal with Malaysia for $3.9bn

Goldman Sachs has reached a $3.9bn (£3bn) settlement with the Malaysian government for its role in the multi-billion-dollar 1MDB corruption scheme.

The deal resolves charges in Malaysia that the firm had misled investors when it helped raise $6.5bn for the country's 1MDB development fund.

Prosecutors say billions of dollars were ultimately stolen - including by some of the bankers involved.

Goldman said the deal was "an important step" towards resolving the matter.

"There are important lessons to be learned from this situation and we must be self-critical to ensure that we only improve from the experience," it added.

What is the 1MDB scandal?

The charges stem from bond sales that Goldman arranged in 2012 and 2013 which raised money for the state fund.

Authorities say billions of dollars were ultimately embezzled to buy art, property, a private jet and super- yacht - and even to help finance the Wolf of Wall Street film, starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

The scandal has prompted investigations around the world and played a role in the election defeat of Malaysia's former prime minister, Najib Razak, who was accused of pocketing $700m (£517m) from the fund he set up.

He has denied wrongdoing. A verdict is expected later this month. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-53529075

Canada court rules US 'not safe' for asylum seekers

Canada's federal court has ruled that an asylum agreement the country has with the US is invalid because America violates the human rights of refugees.

The Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA), in place since 2004, requires refugee claimants to request protection in the first safe country they reach.

But on Wednesday, a judge declared the deal unconstitutional due to the chance that the US will imprison the migrants.

The ruling marks a major victory for Canadian immigration activists.

Lawyers for refugees who had been turned away at the Canadian border had challenged the agreement, arguing that the US did not qualify as "safe" for asylum seekers.

14 Federal court judge Ann Marie McDonald ruled that the deal was in violation of a section of Canada's Charter of Rights that bans the government from interfering in the right to life, liberty and security.

"It is my conclusion, based upon the evidence, that ineligible STCA claimants are returned to the US by Canadian officials where they are immediately and automatically imprisoned by US authorities," Judge McDonald said in her ruling.

"I have concluded that imprisonment and the attendant consequences are inconsistent with the spirit and objective of the STCA and are a violation of the rights guaranteed by section 7 of the [Charter of Rights and Freedoms]," she continued. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53494561

Gold surges to $2,000 record on dollar weakness, US-China woes

Gold prices rocketed to a record high on Tuesday, with futures touching $2,000 an ounce, while the United States dollar plumbed two-year lows as investors wagered the Federal Reserve would reaffirm its policies to stimulate the economy this week.

The prospect of endless stimulus allowed Asian shares to shake off coronavirus concerns and China- US tensions to make early gains.

Countries around the world are announcing new travel curbs amid a fresh wave of the coronavirus, a setback to hopes for a "V"-shaped economic recovery.

Yet investors are taking comfort from the prospect of yet more fiscal spending and endless cheap liquidity, with US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell expected to sound reassuringly accommodative after a policy meeting on Wednesday.

Investors bet the US Federal Reserve will continue with measures to stimulate the economy, likely weakening the dollar. https://www.aljazeera.com/ajimpact/gold-surges-2000-record-dollar-weakness-china-woes- 200728030949003.html

US Dollar’s grip on global markets is slipping – Goldman Sachs

The growing concern over inflation in the United States could mean the US dollar is in danger of losing its dominant role on the global market, Goldman Sachs has warned. It is bullish on safe-haven gold, which has surged recently.

“Real concerns around the longevity of the US dollar as a reserve currency have started to emerge,” the bank’s strategists said.

According to them, with the debt level in the US now having exceeded 80 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, the government and the Federal Reserve may allow inflation to accelerate.

“The resulting expanded balance sheets and vast money creation spurs debasement fears,” they said, adding that this creates “a greater likelihood that at some time in the future, after economic activity has

15 normalized, there will be incentives for central banks and governments to allow inflation to drift higher to reduce the accumulated debt burden.”

Among other factors that could lead to an end of the dollar’s reign, the strategists named increased political uncertainty and growing concerns over another coronavirus infection spike. https://www.rt.com/business/496496-dollar-grip-is-over-goldman/

Dollar crash will topple the entire US ‘house of cards’ economy by year end – Peter Schiff

No one seems to be worried about the falling dollar, veteran stockbroker Peter Schiff writes on Twitter, as the US currency continues to slide versus major rivals amid gold and silver record growth.

The decline of the US dollar accelerated in recent weeks on a rise in coronavirus cases in the United States and indications of a pickup in global economic activity.

The ICE US Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, fell 0.4 percent on Friday to 92.635 and traded at its lowest since July 2018. Meanwhile, gold continued its rally to hit fresh all-time highs. https://www.rt.com/business/496719-us-economy-dollar-falling/

‘The world is going back to a GOLD STANDARD as the US dollar is about to collapse’ – Peter Schiff

As the world grapples with Covid-19, precious metals’ prices are pushing higher. Massive moves in gold and silver are coming, according to veteran stockbroker Peter Schiff.

The rise in gold and silver price is “about to explode” and this is just the beginning of a much bigger move, according to Schiff.

“We’re barely getting started,” the CEO of Euro Pacific said in his podcast. He explained that is also coinciding with what’s happening to the US dollar, because gold is the greenback’s “principle competitor” when it comes to reserve assets. https://www.rt.com/business/495482-gold-standard-return-dollar-collapse/

Make no mistake, fundamentals for gold are ‘most bullish in history’ – Peter Schiff

The price of gold dropped below the $2,000 level this week, in its worst single-day rout in seven years. That’s typical for a bull market, where the biggest daily moves tend to be down, says veteran stockbroker Peter Schiff.

Given the actions of the US Federal Reserve, with its unprecedented money printing, the government’s borrowing and resulting deficits, as well as the macroeconomic dynamics currently in play, we have “the most bullish fundamentals for gold in history,” Schiff said.

16 According to him, inflation is the driving factor for both the rising price of precious metals and falling bond yields. “And it’s going to continue to drive the price of gold higher, despite the reaction we got in the market today to the PPI number."

‘This is the most unloved gold bull market I’ve ever seen’ – Peter Schiff

Gold and silver continue to break record highs amid the coronavirus-driven global economic turmoil. However, there still seems to be a lot of skepticism about precious metals, says veteran stockbroker Peter Schiff.

In a new episode of his podcast, the economist noted that even with Friday’s corrective sell-off, where gold was down about $40 at one point and silver fell back below $28 for a time, bullion still closed well above $2,000 and was up three percent on the week. Silver ended up closing above $28 and saw a 15.5 percent weekly gain. Gold has closed higher for nine consecutive weeks.

“I’ve been talking about this phenomenon on this podcast the entire time — that gold stocks have not really confirmed the bull market even though the bull market is taking place anyway, we haven’t seen it in gold stocks,” Schiff said. https://www.rt.com/business/497668-most-unloved-gold-bull-market/

$600 billion: Despite Covid-19 crisis & falling oil prices, Russia’s gold & foreign exchange reserves reach all-time high

The value of Russia’s gold and foreign currency holdings has risen by almost $9 billion in a week. This means it’s sitting on $600 billion in forex reserves – an all-time record beating August 2008’s previous high of $598 billion.

That was just before the global financial crisis, or ‘Great Recession’, which wreaked havoc worldwide towards the end of the 2000s. Back then, the slush fund started to dwindle rapidly, due to the economic crisis, and lost over $100 billion in value in the following three months.

Lightning’s unlikely to strike twice, however, as Russia’s transformed its holdings in the intervening years. Moscow has aggressively de-dollarized and concentrated on building up gold, euro and yuan reserves instead.

In the first week of August, the value of its cash pile increased by $8.9 billion, or 1.5 percent, to $600.1 billion. The current growth is due to positive exchange rate changes and an increase in world gold prices, the Central Bank in Moscow said on Thursday. https://www.rt.com/russia/497956-russia-gold-exchange-high/

17 18 Regulations

19 Environment and Enjoyment of Property

How humans are altering the tides of the oceans

It was the muddy water that caught Stefan Talke’s eye. In the mid-2000s Talke was a postdoctoral scholar at Utrecht University, studying the river Ems that empties into the North Sea between Germany and the Netherlands. Decades earlier, engineers had begun dredging parts of the Ems so that newly built ships could navigate it from a shipyard upriver.

But those changes also changed the rhythm with which tides ebbed and flowed into the river from the sea. Those shifting tides stirred up sediment from the river bottom and muddied its waters. Over the last 120 years the tidal range – the distance between high and low tide – has quintupled in the Ems estuary.

“I had always assumed tides were constant,” says Talke, now an oceanographer at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. “That’s why we have tide tables.” He was amazed to discover, he says, that not only could tides undergo long-term changes, but that they could change by so much. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200703-how-humans-are-altering-the-tides-of-the-oceans

A heat wave thawed Siberia's tundra. Now, it's on fire.

A relentless, climate change-driven heat wave has caused a rash of fires on land normally too frozen to burn. Scientists fear it may become a regular occurrence.

For months, Siberia has been experiencing extreme heat due to a combination of persistent sunny weather and human-caused climate change.

In addition to producing Arctic temperatures that cracked 100 degrees in June, the heat has fueled an enormous outbreak of wildfires, including fires on tundra underpinned by permafrost—normally frigid soil that is likely becoming even less frozen this year.

This rash of fires on landscapes that are typically too cold, wet, and icy to burn is raising alarms for ecologists and climate scientists, who fear it’s yet another sign that the Arctic is undergoing rapid changes that could tip off a cascade of consequences both local and global.

If fire becomes a regular occurrence on Siberia’s thawing tundra, it could dramatically reshape entire ecosystems, causing new species to take over and, perhaps, priming the land for more fires.

The blazes themselves could also exacerbate global warming by burning deep into the soil and releasing carbon that has accumulated as frozen organic matter over hundreds of years. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/07/heat-wave-thawed-siberia-now-on-fire/

60% of world's wildlife has been wiped out since 1970

Well over half the world's population of vertebrates, from fish to birds to mammals, have been wiped out in the past four decades, says a new report from the World Wildlife Fund.

20 Between 1970 and 2014, there was 60 per cent decline, on average, among 16,700 wildlife populations around the world according to the 2018 edition of the Living Planet Report released Monday.

"We've had a loss of nearly two-thirds, on average, of our wild species," said James Snider, vice- president of science, research and innovation for WWF-Canada.

"The magnitude of that should be eye opening… We really are reaching a point where we're likely to see species go extinct. That's true in Canada and abroad." https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/living-plant-wwf-2018-1.4882819

Canada's last intact ice shelf collapses into the sea - VIDEO

The Milne ice shelf, Canada's last fully intact shelf at the northern tip of Nunavut, has become another casualty of climate change, after it collapsed into the sea last week - losing nearly half of its size. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAXKN3y4SYs

21 Government, Meetings, News, and Letters

First Nations chiefs and N.B. premier meet to discuss systemic racism - Jun 17, 2020

Representatives of the New Brunswick provincial government met with First Nations chiefs Wednesday morning to discuss the issue of systemic racism in the province's justice system and the need for broad structural change.

The meeting comes on the heels of the deaths of Rodney Levi and Chantel Moore at the hands of police officers, as well as the Crown's decision to not appeal the not guilty verdict in the hit and run death of Brady Francis.

First Nations leaders in New Brunswick are calling for an independent inquiry into systemic racism in New Brunswick's justice system.

Following the video-conference with the premier and his cabinet ministers, the Wolastoqey Nation in New Brunswick released a statement on behalf of the six Wolastoqey chiefs to express their disappointment in the discussions.

"We were very disappointed with Premier Higgs' response."

"The Chiefs raised our concerns about systemic bias and racism against Indigenous people in our police and justice systems. We reiterated our call for an independent inquiry into these problems that would be Indigenous-led and have tight timelines to ensure prompt action," the Wolastoqey Nation in New Brunswick statement said.

"Our people have participated in national inquiries and we have heard words spoken by governments, and still we come back to the same point we reached these past weeks. We need action now." https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/first-nations-chiefs-meet-new-brunswick-premier- systemic-racism-justice-1.5616548

Chiefs walk out of meeting after Higgs doesn't agree on inquiry into systemic racism

'As a collective, New Brunswick chiefs, we're losing faith in Premier Higgs,' said Chief Ross Perley of Neqotkuk First Nation at a press conference held following the meeting.

First Nation chiefs walked out of a meeting with Premier Blaine Higgs on Thursday afternoon after the premier refused to agree to an inquiry into systemic racism in the justice system and policing in New Brunswick.

"As a collective, New Brunswick chiefs, we're losing faith in Premier Higgs," said Chief Ross Perley of Neqotkuk First Nation at a press conference held following the meeting.

"His inaction is unacceptable. We have waited over three weeks for this meeting and we still have no firm commitment for an inquiry."

The chiefs had hoped the second meeting on the matter would have actionable results after they presented terms of reference for an inquiry, which Higgs asked for in a previous meeting.

22 Perley said the premier "wouldn't answer direct and kept wiggling around the question" during Thursday's meeting.

"Five weeks since the tragic killing of, Chantel Moore, Rodney Levi and, of course, the decision with Brady Francis, the premier's message is still the same, that 'our plans are better than your plans.'" https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/first-nations-chiefs-premier-systemic-racism-new- brunswick-1.5642537

Former Air Canada executive says province should consider closing an airport

The announcement by Air Canada to suspend multiple routes in New Brunswick and closing its Bathurst station left some people looking for an explanation, but the former chief operating officer of Air Canada thinks this presents an opportunity.

Duncan Dee said the province needs to look at what it really needs out of air travel and how we can make the most out of it in the future.

Dee said, even if you combined the three New Brunswick airports, the province would barely make the United States list of the top 200 air travel markets. He estimates that each airport serves about 150,000 people.

"Those in the New Brunswick context may well be large or somewhat reasonable sized markets. But when you take a look at it from a Canadian perspective or a world perspective, those are extremely tiny markets," he told Information Morning Fredericton.

He said the most obvious choice would be to look at why we have an airport in Saint John and in Fredericton when they are only an hour apart from each other. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/airports-new-brunswick-low-traffic-1.5643349

One new case / Public reminded of importance of protective measures - 09 July 2020

FREDERICTON (GNB) – Public Health reported one new case of COVID-19 today.

The new case is an individual between 40 and 49 in Zone 3 (Fredericton region). It is a travel-related case and the individual is self-isolating.

The number of confirmed cases in New Brunswick is 166 and 163 have recovered. There have been two deaths, and there is one active case. As of today, 45,522 tests have been conducted.

The state of emergency mandatory order was renewed today under the authority of the Emergency Measures Act. https://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/news/news_release.2020.07.0395.html

23 Military intelligence unit briefed Sajjan on COVID-19 risk on January 17: documents

A little-known medical unit within Canadian Forces Intelligence Command briefed Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan about the COVID-19 crisis on January 17, 2020, the government confirmed in a document presented to Parliament this week.

The briefing from the medical intelligence (MEDINT) unit came 17 days after the World Health Organization (WHO) China Country Office was informed of cases of pneumonia with an unknown cause in Wuhan, in China's Hubei province.

Between December 31, 2019 and January 3, 2020, 44 patients with an unknown form of "pneumonia" were reported to the WHO by authorities in China. Thousands more such cases would follow in the days ahead.

While the minister was briefed in mid-January about the new virus, the government's incident response group — led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and composed of cabinet ministers and other senior governmental officials — didn't meet to discuss COVID-19 until 10 days later, on January 27.

By that date, 82 people had died and more than 2,800 cases had been confirmed in mainland China. More cases were being reported throughout the rest of Asia and around the world. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/military-intelligence-unit-covid-19-briefing-1.5657796

RCMP watchdog calls out 'unreasonable' use of force during wellness checks

Civilian watchdog issues statement pointing to a 'general pattern of concern'

In response to some recent high-profile and controversial incidents involving the RCMP, the chair of the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission (CRCC) put out a statement today highlighting some of her agency's concerns about Mounties' actions.

"With respect to interacting with people in crisis, the commission's findings have consistently highlighted concerns about police adopting a 'command and control' approach — an authoritative style of dealing with a non-compliant person," said Michelaine Lahaie.

"The commission's reports have repeatedly found that this 'command and control' approach has led to the RCMP's unreasonable use of force in apprehending persons in crisis."

The CRCC is the independent body created to review Mounties' behaviour. It receives, on average, more than 2,000 complaints from the public every year, ranging from allegations of wrongful arrest and improper use of force to reports of bad driving. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/crcc-wellness-rcmp-force-1.5657866

Long-delayed Sisson Mine facing environmental deadline, other problems

Expected to begin construction years ago, 'generational opportunity' project still on the drawing board The Sisson project won federal environmental approval in 2017, two years after the province gave its own blessing.

24 Federal Liberal cabinet minister Dominic Leblanc predicted construction would begin in the spring of 2018, but it still hasn't.

"Northcliff has engaged with the province of New Brunswick to extend the deadlines under the provincial EIA (environmental impact assessment) and the process is ongoing," the company said in a quarterly management update for investors filed last month.

Northcliff received conditional environmental approval from the province to build its proposed $579 million mine on a 189-square-kilometre site near Sisson Brook, about 100 kilometres northwest of Fredericton, in December 2015.

But one of those conditions is that construction begin at the site by Dec. 3 of this year, the fifth anniversary of gaining permission.

Not starting by then requires a new provincial environmental application.

Northcliff did not immediately respond to a request for comment about its request for an extension of its environmental approval.

Lois Corbett with the New Brunswick Conservation Council said time limits are common in environmental assessments because of changing environmental conditions and technologies, and its important for First Nations communities and the public to be consulted before any extension is granted. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/sisson-mine-facing-deadline-1.5661068

Fermeture des urgences : le gouvernement Higgs n'aurait pas tout dit https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1723196/reforme-sante-fermeture-urgences-patients-reanimes-nuit- hopitaux

Emergency closure: the Higgs government wouldn't have said it all

Microsoft translation of above.

At least 181 patients were resuscitated at night in emergency departments that were to close.

Radio-Canada - Published yesterday at 9:47 p.m.

The Higgs government kept important information secret when it announced the closure of six night emergencieslast winter.

Through the Access to Information Act, the Liberal opposition has obtained data that indicate that a significant number of lives have been saved in the emergencies in question.

In February, when the Higgs government announced a health reform it wanted to implement, night emergencies at six hospitals were scheduled to close as early as March, according to the Progressive Conservatives' plan.

Nearly 200 patients resuscitated

25 The government's main argument was the low number of patients who attended emergency departments between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. According to the government,the majority of overnight visits to the six hospitals concerned were not urgent in nature.

However, documents obtained by Liberal MP Jean-Claude D'Amours, the opposition's health critic, indicate that the six emergencies in question saved a significant number of lives between midnight and 8 a.m.

https://www.translatetheweb.com/?ref=TVert&from=&to=en&a=https%3A%2F%2Fici.radio-canada.ca %2Fnouvelle%2F1723196%2Freforme-sante-fermeture-urgences-patients-reanimes-nuit-hopitaux

Four new cases of COVID-19 -05 August 2020

The new cases are all temporary foreign workers, between 30 and 39, who arrived in Moncton and began immediately self-isolating, prior to taking up their jobs in the Miramichi.

On day 10 these four workers were tested and subsequently diagnosed. They will continue to self- isolate until cleared by Public Health.

Because they were destined to work in the Miramichi region (Zone 7) they are considered Zone 7 cases by Public Health. https://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/news/news_release.2020.08.0425.html

Two new cases of COVID-19 - 06 August 2020

FREDERICTON (GNB) – Public Health reported two new cases of COVID-19 today.

26 The new cases are temporary foreign workers who arrived in Moncton and began immediately self- isolating. One case is an individual between 40 and 49 and another individual between 50 and 59, both in Zone 1 (Moncton region).

Four cases reported yesterday in Zone 7 (Miramichi region) will now be counted as part of Zone 1. These particular four temporary foreign workers were isolating and tested in Zone 1.

The number of confirmed cases in New Brunswick is 176 and 168 have recovered. There have been two deaths, and there are six active cases. As of today, 53,999 tests have been conducted. https://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/news/news_release.2020.08.0428.html

New triggers and revised public health recovery alert levels unveiled / One new case

FREDERICTON (GNB) – New triggers and revised public health recovery alert levels have been unveiled in preparation for a next wave of COVID-19 in the province. To reduce the impact of another possible wave of COVID-19, Public Health has reviewed all alert levels and associated measures in light of new scientific knowledge and of the effectiveness of previous control measures in Canada and other countries. Details associated with these levels are available online. • Yellow Alert Level • Orange Alert Level: • Red Alert Level: • Green Alert Level: https://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/news/news_release.2020.08.0436.html

NB’s recovery plan - The Levels https://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/corporate/promo/covid-19/recovery.html

Higgs proposes deal to avoid general election until 2022 or end of COVID-19 pandemic

Premier Blaine Higgs has made a dramatic offer to the three opposition parties, committing to put off a snap election and listening to their policy ideas if they agree to keep his minority government in power for another two years.

Higgs released a letter Monday to the other party leaders, asking that all four of them agree to avoid forcing an early election until the scheduled date in October 2022 or until the COVID-19 pandemic is over.

Higgs has been hinting for weeks that he would trigger a campaign, justifying the threat by saying the province needs stability to manage the pandemic and continue restarting the economy.

"If we can attain that" through this deal, Higgs told reporters, "we just keep moving forward."

27 The agreement would include a promise by the other parties to not defeat the government on confidence and supply votes such as the budget. A defeat there would normally trigger an election. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/new-brunswick-election-higgs-vickers-letter-2022- covid-19-1.5681053

Details emerge of Vaccine Choice Canada lawsuit over coronavirus response

CBC News has obtained an unredacted copy of a lawsuit launched by an anti-vaccination advocacy group against the government response to the coronavirus crisis, the details of which can now be independently verified and publicly reported for the first time.

The lawsuit was filed by Aylmer, Ont.-based Vaccine Choice Canada and seven individuals in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Toronto on July 6. The legal action is a challenge under Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms to the country's pandemic response measures, including compulsory face masks, the closure of businesses and the enforcement of physical distancing.

The plaintiffs are suing the governments of Canada and Ontario, the City of Toronto, senior politicians, a number of local Ontario health authorities, health officials and the CBC over their response to the pandemic.

The suit states that the closure of businesses to prevent the spread of the virus was "extreme, unwarranted and unjustified," that self-isolation measures imposed on individuals were "not scientific, nor medically based nor proven" and that the mandatory wearing of face coverings in some public spaces imposes "physical and psychological harm."

The lawsuit alleges that the measures violate Sections 2 (right of association), 7 (life, liberty and security of the person), 8 (unlawful search and seizure), 9 (arbitrary detention of enforcement officers) and 15 (equality before and under the law) of the charter.

"The measures ... are further not in accordance with the tenets of fundamental justice in their overbreadth, nor are they justified under S.1 of the charter in that they are demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society," the lawsuit states. https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/coronavirus-charter-challenge-1.5680988

Plaintiff Statement of Claim https://vaccinechoicecanada.com/wp-content/uploads/vcc-statement-of-claim-2020-redacted.pdf

New Brunswick back-to-school plan includes mask details, outbreak management plan

New Brunswick will make masks mandatory for students in grades 6 to 12 when they aren't in classrooms and will encourage younger students to wear them as well.

All students and staff will need to bring a mask to school every day, the province announced Thursday at a briefing on back-to-school plans held Thursday by Education Minister Dominic Cardy and Jennifer Russell, the chief medical officer of health.

28 Parents should not count on being told if a case of COVID-19 shows up at their child's school.

And no matter what recovery phase the province is in, learning will continue full time.

"Our intention is to keep the school systems open as long as Dr. Russell lets us," Cardy said.

"We've got to keep educating our kids. We cannot let years and years go by. Otherwise we would be creating a lost generation. I don't think any of us want that." https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/new-brunswick-back-to-school-covid-19-1.5683601

Liberals reject Higgs proposal to delay early election

New Brunswick appeared to be headed for a snap election Friday after the opposition Liberals pulled out of negotiations to delay a vote until October 2022.

But Premier Blaine Higgs said he would not trigger a campaign before Monday at the earliest.

"I am going to be thinking about this now over the weekend, about what the next steps should be. But this has made the path forward -- one could say clearer, one could say more difficult."

Earlier in the afternoon, Liberal Leader Kevin Vickers said he was walking away from four-party negotiations to avert an election because Higgs wanted unlimited powers for two years while insisting that other parties sign on for major reforms.

He said if New Brunswickers are sent to the polls now, it will be the premier's fault.

Higgs said he accepted that an election would be his decision and he would have to justify it to voters.

"I do, yes. I will, yes."

The premier sent a letter to the three opposition parties Monday asking them to agree to avoid forcing an early election until the scheduled date in October 2022 or until the COVID-19 pandemic is over. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/nb-liberals-reject-higgs-election-proposal-1.5687062

Four new cases of COVID-19 - 15 August 2020

The new cases consist of two individuals between 40 and 49 in Zone 1 (Moncton region) and are related to international travel. The individuals arrived in Moncton and are self-isolating.

The other two cases are individuals under the age of 10 in Zone 3 (Fredericton region) and are contacts of a previously-related case and they are self-isolating. https://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/news/news_release.2020.08.0449.html

29 Expected fall peak of COVID-19 in Canada could overwhelm health systems: Tam

OTTAWA — Federal health officials are preparing for surges in new cases of COVID-19, including an expected peak of the outbreak this fall that could temporarily exceed the ability of the health-care system to cope.

As Canada continues to reopen and as more people gather together indoors, including in schools, the federal government is planning for a "reasonable worst-case scenario."

National modelling projections released Friday show an expected peak in cases this fall, followed by ongoing ups and downs, which chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam says could overwhelm health systems in different parts of the country.

That's why health officials across Canada are now getting ready for outbreaks that could surpass the highest spikes of the virus experienced in March and April, to ensure they're ready for the worst.

"It's preparing for — something could happen to this virus, who knows? Something could change," Tam told reporters Friday in Ottawa.

"We don't know the seasonality of this virus, it's continued throughout the summer, that's for sure, but what if it demonstrates a certain type of acceleration under certain conditions?" https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/expected-fall-peak-of-covid-19-in-canada-could-overwhelm- health-systems-tam/ar-BB17Y8ou

Return to School: Guide for Parents and the Public September 2020

Table of Contents Letter from the Minister Letter from the Chief Medical Officer Guiding Principles Outbreak Management We Are All in This Together Schools Classrooms Learning https://www2.gnb.ca/content/dam/gnb/Departments/ed/pdf/return-to-school-guide.pdf

Update on Return to School plan for September 2020 - 13 August 2020 https://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/news/news_release.2020.08.0443.html

Parents should be told about COVID-19 cases in child's school, epidemiologist says

Public health has told parents they should not expect any kind of notification

30 An epidemiologist who's been following New Brunswick's COVID-19 response doesn't agree with the province's decision to not automatically inform parents about a positive test in their child's school.

"I can understand why they've made that choice.

It's not the choice I would have made though. I think I would err on the side of complete transparency at this point," said Raywat Deonandan, a global-health epidemiologist and an associate professor at the University of Ottawa.

He said all parents in that school should be alerted.

On Thursday, the province's chief medical officer of health said each situation will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

Dr. Jennifer Russell said parents should not count on being told if a case of COVID-19 shows up at their child's school. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/parents-should-be-told-of-positive-test-1.5687176

Information Fredericton - Are New Brunswickers Headed to the Polls - Aug. 17, 2020

Click Play Segment

Discussions to avert an election broke down when Liberal leader Kevin Vickers walked away from the negotiations.

To answer questions about what happened, we talk to Premier Blaine Higgs, Liberal leader Kevin Vickers, Green Party leader David Coon, and Kris Austin, leader of the People's Alliance. https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-25-information-morning-fredericton/clip/15792976-are-new- brunswickers-headed-polls

Higgs proposes deal to avoid general election until 2022 or end of COVID-19 pandemic

Higgs said he would be looking for "fundamental agreements … on how we would operate." His letter said he wanted "a mutually agreed-upon legislative agenda including proposals from each participating party."

Liberal Leader Kevin Vickers welcomed the premier's offer.

"I believe this is the right decision at this time," he said, adding he looked forward to meeting with Higgs this week to discuss a possible agreement on a "progressive program."

He said what he needs in order to sign on is "mutual trust and meaningful consultation" from the premier.

31 But he did say that if an election has to happen, "this is the time to do it" given the current lull in COVID- 19 cases.

Higgs's letter says he wants to formalize the all-party cabinet COVID-19 committee that was set up in March and that includes other party leaders.

He also said he was open to including Liberal, Green and People's Alliance MLAs as ministers in his cabinet as part of a possible deal. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/new-brunswick-election-higgs-vickers-letter-2022- covid-19-1.5681053

Blaine Higgs calls New Brunswick election for Sept. 14, despite pandemic

Premier Blaine Higgs has called a provincial election, the first that will be held in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic, for Sept. 14.

Higgs visited Lt.-Gov. Brenda Murphy at Government House in Fredericton on Monday afternoon and asked her to dissolve the legislature. She agreed.

The decision came three days after the Liberal opposition pulled out of four-party negotiations on a proposal from Higgs that would have allowed his government to stay in power until October 2022 or until the end of the pandemic.

The Liberals said that would hand too much power to Higgs and urged him not to go to the polls until the pandemic is over.

Liberal Leader Kevin Vickers said his party would not trigger an election during the COVID-19 pandemic, so Higgs doesn't need to call one now. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/possible-election-covid-19-pandemic-1.5689049

Back-to-school briefings to be rescheduled because of election

With the first day of school fast approaching, parents and students will not be getting twice weekly updates on the return-to-school plan from Dominic Cardy, the education minister, as expected. The plan for the briefings was dropped when an election was called on Monday for Sept. 14. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/new-brunswick-education-1.5691048

Trudeau prorogues parliament, ending WE investigations and leaving Commons empty for weeks

OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau prorogued Parliament Tuesday, ending damaging committee investigations into his government’s WE scandal and leaving the House of Commons on the sidelines during a global crisis.

32 Conservative leader Andrew Scheer slammed the move saying, “Justin Trudeau is walking out on Canadians in the middle of a major health and economic crisis, in a disgusting attempt to make Canadians forget about his corruption. https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/liberals-to-prorogue-parliament-until-fall/wcm/d0649671-0e12- 4646-a6f8-f12efc4a2c36/

COVID-19 outbreak could stop election, says PC Leader Blaine Higgs

Progressive Conservative Leader Blaine Higgs says he now has a legal opinion from provincial lawyers that the government could stop the provincial election if there were a serious COVID-19 outbreak.

Higgs said officials in the Office of the Attorney-General clarified that for him after he was unable to back up the claim when he first made it on Monday.

"I do believe through my discussions with OAG that it wouldn't be something that I would be able to declare myself during an election," he told reporters during a campaign stop in Saint John.

"But through Public Safety there would be a mechanism that, look, if we have a problem, we can deal with it."

A spokesperson for the Attorney-General's Office refused to explain what legal advice Higgs had been given. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/nb-covid-19-outbreak-stop-election-blaine-higgs- 1.5692431

School staff will be able to get tested for COVID-19 even without symptoms

George Daley, the deputy minister of the anglophone education system, said no additional educational assistants will be hired for the coming school year.

Teachers will be able to request COVID-19 testing — even if they're showing no symptoms, said Dr. Jennifer Russell, the province's chief medical officer of health.

The asymptomatic testing also covers educational assistants and other support staff but does not include students "at this time," Russell said Tuesday during a briefing on the province's back-to-school plan.

Russell said students, like the rest of the public, need only show one symptom to be tested.

Russell said the reopening of public schools "will be a test of our ability to live with the virus." But she is confident that the province is "ready for the challenge." https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/more-details-for-school-opening-1.5693338

33 Higgs n'écarte pas l'idée de revoir les exigences linguistiques de la fonction publique https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1727689/blaine-higgs-plan-relance-economie-elections-nouveau- brunswick

Google Translation

Higgs does not rule out the idea of reviewing the language requirements of the public service

The leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick, Blaine Higgs, does not reject the People's Alliance proposal to change the language requirements of bilingualism for public servants in the province.

Asked about this at a press conference in Moncton on Wednesday morning, the Progressive Conservative leader replied that even if it was not in his plans for the moment, he did "not know" if he would change the required level of bilingualism. to the hiring of civil servants in the province, criticizing in passing the language tests administered by the province, calling their results "random" . https://translate.google.ca/translate?sl=fr&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fici.radio-canada.ca%2Fnouvelle %2F1727689%2Fblaine-higgs-plan-relance-economie-elections-nouveau-brunswick

Two new cases of COVID-19 - 21 August 2020

The new cases are: • An individual between 20 and 29 in Zone 6 (Bathurst region) related to international travel and self-isolating. • An individual between 50 and 59 in Zone 3 (Fredericton region), related to travel and linked to previous cases. All close contacts of this case were already self-isolating. https://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/news/news_release.2020.08.0458.html

COVID-19 tests will be available to asymptomatic teachers, school staff - VIDEO

COVID-19 tests will be available to asymptomatic teachers and staff in New Brunswick schools, says Dr. Jennifer Russell, the chief medical officer of health. https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1778751043665

Higgs often impatient with legal, constitutional constraints

In late October 2018, Blaine Higgs was on the cusp of power, and he was ticked off.

Days before a confidence vote that would topple the Liberal government of Brian Gallant, a debate erupted in the legislature about the legal requirement that one paramedic on every ambulance crew be bilingual.

Higgs, impatient to address a staffing shortage at Ambulance New Brunswick, was insisting the province fix that problem first and deal with the right to bilingual service later.

34 He grew testy when reporters asked what he'd do if, as premier, he was told that he couldn't bypass the Constitution and a binding court order on the issue.

"I'm not going to go down a hypothetical trail," he said. "It seems like repeatedly when I give an opinion, I get burned on that, so I'm not going to give an opinion."

A few days later the Progressive Conservative leader told reporters he had obtained a legal interpretation backing his view that a fix could be "prioritized" ahead of bilingualism.

The two episodes are notable because they're examples of a premier with a reputation for strong management skills and attention to detail making confusing comments about legal and constitutional realities.

There are many other examples of the PC leader saying things that are wrong, or at odds with expert interpretation.

It never seems deliberate and often seems more like a political leader trying to wish certain facts into existence — or impatient with legalities that slow him down. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/blaine-higgs-impatient-legal-constitutional-constraints- 1.5695749

3 N.B. political parties back calls for justice inquiry that Blaine Higgs doesn't want

As the New Brunswick election campaign rolls on, calls by First Nations leaders for a public inquiry into the justice system continue, and they've drawn commitments from three political parties.

Allegations of systemic racism have grown louder since the fatal police shootings of two members of the Indigenous community this summer and Progressive Conservative Leader Blaine Higgs's rejection of appeals for a provincial inquiry.

Chantel Moore, 26, from Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation in British Columbia, was killed by Edmundston police during a wellness check on July 4. Eight days later, 48-year-old Rodney Levi or Metepenagiag First Nation near Miramichi was killed by RCMP.

Two party leaders say they'd make an inquiry in the justice system one of their first acts if they formed a government after the election Sept. 14.

"That is overdue now," Green Party Leader David Coon said. "We're talking about our neighbours, we're talking about our friends, we're talking about people who are part of the fabric of the overall society in New Brunswick, and we have a responsibility."

Liberal Leader Kevin Vickers's position showed a similar urgency.

People's Alliance Leader Kris Austin was contacted but did not respond. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/party-leaders-call-justice-inquiry-election-1.5699373

35 Elections NB refers 2018 campaign spending by two candidates to police

Campaigns of Liberal Bill Fraser in Miramichi, PC Marty Kingston in Moncton East spent more than legal limit https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/elections-spending-campaign-violations-2018- 1.5699307

Province 'opted out' of Ottawa's municipal transit relief program without knowing the facts - Aug 27, 2020

New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs misunderstood details of a federal program to rescue municipal transit systems after leaving discussions that created it and has been providing inaccurate information to the public about the program for the past month.

"There seems to be some real confusion around what I accepted or didn't accept," Higgs told reporters on Aug. 11 about the transit assistance offered by Ottawa for Moncton, Saint John, Fredericton and Miramichi and rejected by his government.

"The money that was being reported that I was not accepting was related to infrastructure funding for big infrastructure projects."

That claim, repeated several times over the last month, was not true.

Offer was to help with revenue losses related to pandemic https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/public-transit-funding-ottawa-new-brunswick- 1.5701567

Ottawa should cut equalization to force provinces to develop resources, Higgs says - Dec 19, 2018

New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs thinks the federal government should cut equalization payments to force provinces to develop their natural resources.

Higgs said in an interview with CBC New Brunswick's Harry Forestell that he proposed the idea during the first ministers' meeting in Montreal earlier this month.

"No one else really jumped on that, especially Quebec didn't jump on that because they got an increase of $1.4 billion [in equalization payments]," he said.

Higgs made the comments in the context of Quebec Premier François Legault's continued opposition to the Energy East pipeline, which would have carried western crude oil to an export terminal in Saint John.

Equalization is a federal program that is intended to minimize fiscal disparities between provinces. The program is enshrined in the constitution and the goal is that provincial governments can provide comparable levels of public services at comparable levels of taxation. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/nb-higgs-equalization-pipeline-1.4953187

36 New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs abandons planned carbon tax court fight - Jul 08, 2019

New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs is abandoning his government's plans to launch a legal challenge of Ottawa's carbon tax, adding the government will continue intervening in Saskatchewan's ongoing legal challenge of the federal carbon pricing backstop.

"Right now I won't be moving forward separately to have another court challenge in the province, but I will be working with Saskatchewan in their Supreme Court challenge," Higgs told CBC News Network's Power & Politics. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/blaine-higgs-carbon-tax-court-1.5204591

Taxpayers hit with $31M in cancellation costs after Higgs stops 4 major projects

Province must pay $31M this year after cancelling new Fredericton courthouse and other infrastructure projects

The cancellation of four major Liberal infrastructure projects represents higher costs for taxpayers in the short term, according to figures released by the Blaine Higgs government.

The Finance Department says the scrapping of the projects adds $31 million in expenses to the province's budget this fiscal year.

The cost of building a major piece of infrastructure is normally spread out over the life of the project. But if a project is cancelled after work begins, accounting rules require that the costs be added to the books at that time. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/infrastructure-budget-new-brunswick-1.5047546

37 Higgs promises he won't close emergency rooms in rural areas

Progressive Conservative Leader Blaine Higgs insisted Thursday that he will not close any emergency rooms or reduce hours in hospitals, despite trying to do so in February.

His PC government tried to cut emergency room services at six hospitals in the province, including the Sussex Health Centre.

But a week later, Higgs withdrew the plans, saying he "can't in good conscience move forward without addressing the concerns and fears that have been brought to light." https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/2020-provincial-election-covid-19-1.5702154

Blaine Higgs et les francophones : le malaise des progressistes-conservateurs https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1729995/blaine-higgs-mefiance-francophones-acadiens

Google Translation Blaine Higgs and francophones: the discomfort of the Progressive Conservatives

Mistrust or reserved support: the Progressive Conservative leader of New Brunswick, Blaine Higgs, arouses a certain unease among many francophone voters.

Testimonials from three longtime Progressive Conservative activists.

"Don't convince me that Blaine Higgs is like Richard Hatfield.

He will surely have difficulty getting a single francophone elected not only here in the Acadian Peninsula, but throughout the northern Miramichi to reach Edmundston.

They are all francophones. I have the impression that he will not have a single candidate."

Alban Duguay does not mince his words. At 92, this Progressive Conservative at heart is about to vote Liberal for the first time in over 60 years.

Former Progressive Conservative candidate and close associate of former minister Jean Gauvin, Mr. Duguay changes allegiance to indirectly support Robert Gauvin. https://translate.google.ca/translate?sl=fr&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fici.radio-canada.ca%2Fnouvelle %2F1729995%2Fblaine-higgs-mefiance-francophones-acadiens

3 N.B. political parties back calls for justice inquiry that Blaine Higgs doesn't want

As the New Brunswick election campaign rolls on, calls by First Nations leaders for a public inquiry into the justice system continue, and they've drawn commitments from three political parties.

38 Chantel Moore, 26, from Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation in British Columbia, was killed by Edmundston police during a wellness check on July 4.

Eight days later, 48-year-old Rodney Levi or Metepenagiag First Nation near Miramichi was killed by RCMP.

Two party leaders say they'd make an inquiry in the justice system one of their first acts if they formed a government after the election Sept. 14.

Libral Leader Kevin Vickers's position showed a similar urgency.

People's Alliance Leader Kris Austin was contacted but did not respond. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/party-leaders-call-justice-inquiry-election-1.5699373

39 New Brunswick News

Review Of Elements Of Proponent Application To Use Rotenone For The Purpose Of Eradicating Smallmouth Bass (Micropterus Dolomieu) From Miramichi Lake, New Brunswick

A non-government organization has submitted a request to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard to authorize the deposit of a deleterious substance (rotenone) to eradicate an aquatic invasive species (Smallmouth Bass) in Miramichi Lake, New Brunswick.

Pursuant to s. 19(3) of the Aquatic Invasive Species Regulations SOR / 2015-121 (AISR), fish toxicants could be authorized in New Brunswick by the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans to eradicate Smallmouth Bass because it is not an indigenous fish species to the Maritime provinces. https://waves-vagues.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/Library/40868916.pdf

Progression of Parkinson's Disease Pathology Is Reproduced by Intragastric Administration of Rotenone in Mice Public Library of Science (PLOS) https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0008762

Poisoned lake July 15, 2020, Information Morning - Fredericton with Terry Seguin

Click Play Segment.

Over the past year, Daniel Houghton and other cottage owners on Miramichi Lake have been concerned about the possible use of chemicals in the water and have been waiting for a decision. Some groups that are trying to protect salmon populations have proposed using noxfish in the lake. https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-25-information-morning-fredericton/clip/15787189-poisoned-lake

Environmental impact July 17, 2020, Information Morning - Fredericton with Terry Seguin

Click Play Segment.

A plan to use a pesticide containing the chemical rotenone to kill the invasive fish and help preserve Atlantic salmon has generated controversy over the past year.

Jeff Carr is New Brunswick's Minister of Environment and Local government. https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-25-information-morning-fredericton/clip/15787616-environmental- impact

When the billionaire writes, you listen: archived James Irving letter slams NB Natural Resources Minister

In the buildup to the forestry agreement, James D. Irving, Co-Chief Executive Officer of J.D. Irving, put intense pressure on the Alward Government, bypassing normal channels of communication between JD Irving and the government in order to chastise one of its top ministers.

40 In correspondence between James D. Irving and Premier Alward obtained by Halifax Media Co-op and the NB Media Co-op, Irving states in no uncertain terms his opinion that maintaining the 28% conservation forest will endanger jobs and investment and the competitive position of the province.

The Alward government would eventually capitulate to JDI, cutting the area of conservation forest to 23%, increasing industrial accessibility to pulp fibre amidst outcry from the environmental and scientific communities alike.

The letter from Irving to Alward, dated Feb. 27 2013, is written as a complaint against statements made by then Minister of Natural Resources Bruce Northrup, as overheard by a J.D. Irving employee, at a meeting of the New Brunswick Environmental Network on Feb. 14, 2013.

The J.D. Irving employee overheard Northrup say that his government was committed to maintaining provincial conservation areas at 28%. Clearly, this rubbed James Irving very much the wrong way – so much so that he took it upon himself to circumvent a direct conversation with Northrup himself about the matter, and instead wrote Northrup’s boss, former premier Alward, chastising Northrup’s words. https://nbmediacoop.org/2016/02/02/when-the-billionaire-writes-you-listen-archived-james-irving- penned-letter-slams-nb-natural-resources-ministers-comment

Information Morning - Fredericton with Terry Seguin - Effects of low water on Nashwaak River

Click Play Segment

Low water levels along the Nashwaak River means high stress for fish. Jillian Hudgins is a project coordinator with the Nashwaak Watershed Association. https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-25-information-morning-fredericton/clip/15789952-effects-low- water-nashwaak-river

CRED New Brunswick - Solar Energy Development in New Brunswick: roundtable webinar

The Coalition for Responsible Energy Development in New Brunswick hosted a webinar on July 31, 2020 organized by MJM Solar Solutions.

We gathered solar experts and leaders from New Brunswick and across Canada to discuss how we can work together to increase NB’s Green Energy.

The webinar participants discussed solar installations, incentives, job creation, community engagement, technical and real world applications of solar in NB, training, and policy.

41 • Pascal Giasson (Sustainable energy advisor for Minister Mike Holland) • Moderator: Dennis Atchison https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ipIvToZjy0

Internal RCMP reviews find illegal arrests, incomplete investigations

Internal reviews of RCMP investigations across New Brunswick in recent years found illegal arrests, failures to offer support services to domestic violence victims, and a lack of supervision that affects the quality of policing in the province.

RCMP reports called management reviews offer a previously undisclosed look at how the force itself viewed the quality of its criminal investigations over recent years across the province.

A review of the Campbellton RCMP district in 2014 showed officers went into homes to arrest people six times without a required warrant to do so, making the arrest illegal. A 2017 Hampton review found police bringing cases to the Crown that couldn't be supported by the evidence.

One stark report from 2012 of the policing district around Woodstock found: • 52 per cent of investigations reviewed met expectations, "well below" the average of 84 per cent across the province set in 2009; • 58 per cent of the investigations were considered complete or thorough; • 55 per cent of files showed suspects were arrested when they should've been; • 60 per cent of cases showed statements taken from victims when they could have been; and • Briefs prepared for the Crown prosecutor were "often incomplete" and returned for further work.

A Woodstock-area review from 2017 doesn't offer similar percentages and is generally favourable. It describes the overall thoroughness of investigations as meeting expectations with six of 32 files reviewed not meeting standards (it describes an unwillingness to charge female suspects of domestic assault as part of the problem).

Reports released years after requested CBC News obtained copies of reports completed between 2005 and late 2017 in New Brunswick through an access to information request filed in January 2018. The reports spanning 440 pages were released in late May 2020, making the 2017 reports the most recent ones available.

'No legal basis' to make arrests In six of the 12 Campbellton-area cases, "there was no legal basis to effect the arrest" because police lacked a required warrant, the review found. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/rcmp-management-reviews-police-investigations- 1.5670446

Moncton-area residents urged to reduce water use because of blue-green algae risk

Residents of the Greater Moncton area are being asked to stop all non-essential water use until further notice because their water quality is at risk because of blue-green algae.

42 There is a "high risk" of blue-green algae bloom in the Tower Road reservoir, which supplies water to the Turtle Creek reservoir, the primary drinking water supply for Moncton, Riverview and Dieppe since 1962, the City of Moncton said in an advisory on Wednesday.

Some blue-green algae bloom, also known as cyanobacteria, can produce toxins, which can be harmful to human health.

The water remains safe for drinking, as well as bathing, washing and cooking, but that could change if the reservoir levels drop too low, said city spokesperson Nicole Melanson https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/moncton-water-use-algae-tower-road-reservoir- quality-1.5683231

Complaints filed against Edmundston police over fatal shooting of Chantel Moore

Complaints have been filed with the New Brunswick Police Commission about the conduct of Edmundston Police Force officers related to the fatal shooting of Chantel Moore in early June.

One complaint names the officer who shot Moore. The 26-year-old was fatally shot early on June 4 during a wellness check. Police say Moore left her apartment and came at an officer with a knife. The officer then shot her.

Lawyer T.J. Burke, who represents Moore's estate, filed the complaints under the province's Police Act at the direction of Moore's family.

Burke told reporters the complaint was filed based on information gathered so far, but he is awaiting a use of force report that will lay out the officer's reasons for the use of deadly force.

"The family didn't want to wait, the family wanted to make sure the complaint was submitted and processed, so we keep the memory of Chantel at the forefront of everybody that is involved in this issue," Burke said. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/chantel-moore-shooting-police-complaint-1.5680675

Banned 25 years ago, rooming houses could play saving role in Fredericton housing

The chairs of Fredericton's affordable housing committee say they want bylaws allowing the construction of single-room occupancy residences to be in place by next year.

This comes after a single room occupancy residence, or rooming house, was shut down after the landlord decided to turn the downtown building into apartments.

The move left many low-income individuals scrambling for housing.

Coun. Kate Rogers, who co-chairs the committee, said city staff told her that 1,100 residents are on waiting lists for affordable housing, and rooming houses could be an answer for many of them. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/rooming-house-bylaw-fredericton-1.5693712

43 Maritime News

Irving travel exemption should never have been approved, says Strang

Nova Scotia's chief medical officer of health says he never should have approved a plan to allow three executives from Irving Shipbuilding to travel to America to meet with contractors and then return to work without having to self-isolate for 14 days.

The executives had approval from Dr. Robert Strang's office ahead of taking the trip. It included strict criteria they had to follow upon their return, including being tested for COVID-19 immediately. But when workers at the Halifax shipyard learned of the exception and complained to Strang's office, he revisited the situation.

On Wednesday, he ordered the three executives home to self-isolate for 14 days and said the company could no longer engage in business travel to America. An Irving spokesperson said Wednesday that the executives complied with all rules attached to the exception. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/nova-scotia-covid-update-july-9-1.5643280

44 Canadian News

The Avro Arrow

A decade after the end of World War Two, Canada built a jet which pushed technology to its limits. But its demise showed why smaller nations found it difficult to compete in the Jet Age.

On 4 October 1957, 14,000 people watched a large hangar on the outskirts of Toronto open to reveal a beautiful, large, white, delta-wing aircraft.

The plane was the Avro Arrow interceptor.

A third longer and broader than today’s Eurofighter Typhoon, the Arrow could fly close to Mach 2.0 (1,500 mph, or the maximum speed of Concorde), and had the potential to fly even faster. It was Canada’s Can$250m (US$1,58bn today) bid to become an aviation superpower.

The project was genuinely ground-breaking. Avro’s engineers had been allowed to build a record- breaker without compromise.

But Canadians would soon discover that the supersonic age had made aviation projects so expensive that only a handful of countries could carry them out – and Canada, unfortunately, wasn’t one of them.

The advert for Avro Aircraft celebrating the “first 50 years of powered flight in Canada 1909–1959” had only just been printed when on “Black Friday”, 20 February 1959, the loudspeaker of the Avro Aircraft factory on the outskirts of Toronto crackled to life.

45 Thousands of workers heard the company president announce “that f------prick in Ottawa” (the newly elected Canadian prime minister John Diefenbaker) had cancelled the entire Arrow programme.

Later that day, 14,500 skilled men and women lost their jobs. Many of these engineers joined the brain- drain to the United States. The "Avro group" of 32 engineers playing critical roles in Nasa's Apollo programme, which – ironically – beat the Soviets in the race to land a man on the moon. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200615-the-record-breaking-jet-which-still-haunts-a-country

Police kill Canadian man during mental health check

Ejaz Choudry, left, and Regis Korchinski-Paquet died less than four weeks apart in separate encounters with Toronto-area police A Canadian man in mental health distress was shot dead by Ontario police, intensifying demands for reform.

Ejaz Choudry, 62, was killed over the weekend when police responded to a call to "check on the well- being of a man".

In May, Toronto woman Regis Korchinski-Paquet, 29, fell from a balcony and died after police arrived to help her.

Ontario's police watchdog, the Special Investigation Unit (SIU), is investigating the two deaths. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53141449

Support for anti-government, pro-gun Boogaloo movement growing in Canada

An anti-government, pro-gun movement linked to recent violence in the U.S. is gaining supporters in Canada — prompting warnings from experts over their often hateful, violent remarks against protesters, police and Ottawa's new firearms restrictions.

In the U.S, Boogaloos have recently been in the spotlight, after some showed up heavily armed at anti- lockdown and Black Lives Matter demonstrations.

There are no reports of Boogaloos at Canadian protests. But online, the nascent movement has inspired at least two Facebook pages where followers have recently talked about killing protesters and RCMP officers alike.

The Facebook pages identified by CBC News were created in the past six months and in that time grew to around 800 followers each.

That kind of support is cause for concern, say experts like Alexander Reid Ross, a postdoctoral fellow with the Centre for the Analysis of the Radical Right in Portland, Ore.

"People need very little to do a whole lot of damage," Ross said. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/boogaloo-guns-government-facebook-1.5632056

46 Pamela Palmater on the AFN agreement witrh Ottawa https://www.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=1990980

2020 already a particularly deadly year for people killed in police encounters, CBC research shows

CBC’s Deadly Force database looks at role of race, mental health in deaths

It has already been a particularly deadly year in terms of people killed in encounters with police in Canada — and Black and Indigenous people continue to be over-represented among the fatalities.

There were 30 people killed after police used force in Canada in the first half of 2020, which is the full- year average for such deaths over the past 10 years (the deadliest year was 2016, when 40 people were killed). This is according to the Deadly Force database, updated and maintained by the CBC’s own researchers.

The database shows Black and Indigenous people are disproportionately represented amongst the victims compared to their share of the overall population.

The data also finds most of those killed in police encounters suffer from mental illness or substance abuse.

There is no government database listing deaths at the hands of the police available to the public in Canada, so CBC News created its own. https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/fatalpoliceencounters/

47 RCMP watchdog calls out 'unreasonable' use of force during wellness checks

Civilian watchdog issues statement pointing to a 'general pattern of concern'

"The commission's reports have repeatedly found that this 'command and control' approach has led to the RCMP's unreasonable use of force in apprehending persons in crisis."

RCMP watchdog calls for mandatory timelines to fix slow response to complaint findings

The RCMP watchdog is calling for statutory deadlines to ensure the Mounties respond to complaint findings in a timely way amid mounting concerns over excessive use of force by police.

The Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP makes findings and recommendations in complaint cases, but these are then sent to the police force for input before a report is finalized _ and that can take years.

Commission chairwoman Michelaine Lahaie told a House of Commons committee studying systemic racism in policing that the RCMP takes an average of 17 months to respond. https://globalnews.ca/news/7214163/rcmp-watchdog-complaints/

Anti-masking groups draw from anti-vaccination playbook to spread misinformation

Downplaying dangers of COVID-19, taking research out of context are common strategies, experts say

As more regions across the country adopt mandatory masking policies in an effort to minimize the spread of COVID-19, some anti-masking groups are joining forces with anti-vaccination proponents and adopting their techniques to spread misinformation and amplify their message.

The similarities between organized anti-masking and anti-vaccine movements are striking, said Maya Goldenberg, an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Guelph specializing in vaccine hesitancy.

48 At least one anti-masking group, Hugs Over Masks, actively partners with Vaccine Choice Canada, one of the country's most prominent anti-vaccination organizations.

Vladislav Sobolev, the anti-masking group's founder, has repeatedly praised the anti-vaccination group on social media and during protests.

Sobolev also told CBC News that high-profile U.S. anti-vaccination advocate Sherri Tenpenny, an osteopath who wrote Saying No To Vaccines, is providing online leadership training to his group.

Tenpenny, along with other anti-vaccination advocates in the U.S. and Canada, have embraced the anti-masking cause and opposed COVID-19 lockdown measures. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/anti-masking-group-tied-to-anti-vaccination-covid-19- 1.5661790

COVID-19 and the 5G Conspiracy Theory: Social Network Analysis of Twitter Data

National Institutes of Health, National Library of Medicine

Abstract Background: Since the beginning of December 2019, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has spread rapidly around the world, which has led to increased discussions across online platforms. These conversations have also included various conspiracies shared by social media users.

Amongst them, a popular theory has linked 5G to the spread of COVID-19, leading to misinformation and the burning of 5G towers in the United Kingdom. The understanding of the drivers of fake news and quick policies oriented to isolate and rebate misinformation are keys to combating it.

Results: Social network analysis identified that the two largest network structures consisted of an isolates group and a broadcast group.

The analysis also revealed that there was a lack of an authority figure who was actively combating such misinformation.

Content analysis revealed that, of 233 sample tweets, 34.8% (n=81) contained views that 5G and COVID-19 were linked, 32.2% (n=75) denounced the conspiracy theory, and 33.0% (n=77) were general tweets not expressing any personal views or opinions. Thus, 65.2% (n=152) of tweets derived from nonconspiracy theory supporters, which suggests that, although the topic attracted high volume, only a handful of users genuinely believed the conspiracy.

This paper also shows that fake news websites were the most popular web source shared by users; although, YouTube videos were also shared. The study also identified an account whose sole aim was to spread the conspiracy theory on Twitter.

Conclusions: The combination of quick and targeted interventions oriented to delegitimize the sources of fake information is key to reducing their impact. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32352383/

49 The myth of band councils as First Nations

In Canadian lore, the raconteurs of old spoke of La Chasse Galerie (the flying canoe) and among the Mohawk, the Raksothas (grandpas), told scary stories about the Flying Heads that roamed deep in the forests, but one of the most disturbing myths is the one in which Indian Act band councils are labelled as “First Nations.”

They are not.

Band councils were created from the 1876 Indian Act and designed to undermine and replace centuries of traditional governments across Canada. They were, and are extremely limited in their authority and entirely subject to officials in the federal government.

Band councils are not sovereign, do not abide by ancestral law, have no definitive connection with traditional culture and govern nothing outside of their respective reserves. If they do have police services the laws that are imposed and enforced come from federal regulations and provincial statutes.

Under international law a band council has no substance, no meaning, no standing. They cannot enter into treaty or trade compacts with a nation, they cannot abide by a distinct Native justice system, they cannot create their own banking system, they cannot design their own homes, they cannot buck the social service apparatus which has strangled any attempt by Indigenous people to rise above their oppressive circumstances.

No law can be passed, enacted or enforce by the band councils without the express consent of the federal government. They are colonial entities imposed upon native peoples, whose only source of support is the money channelled to them from the provinces and Ottawa.

The band councils have been effective in one instance: they have served the federal government by eclipsing the Indigenous entities that once exercised active jurisdiction across Canada and for generations prior to contact. https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2020/02/24/the-myth-of-band-councils-as-first- nations.html

A record number of companies have sought creditor protection under COVID-19 — and more are on the way

22 major Canadian companies sought creditor protection in May and June, almost 4 times the typical pace A record 10 companies began CCAA(Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act) proceedings in May — followed by a new record of 12 companies in June.

Both figures best the previous high of nine seen in December 2011 and the eight hit in in the depths of the financial crisis in October 2009.

The typical month since has seen about three per month, on average, according to a database maintained by the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Canada. https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/ccaa-insolvency-bankruptcy-1.5673566

50 CCAA (Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act) records list

Click Date of Initial Order to sort records going backwards in decending date order Click Show, 50 Entries to dee the 42 database entries in 2020. https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/bsf-osb.nsf/eng/h_br02281.html

Canada slaps retaliatory tariffs on US aluminium goods

Canada has announced a C$3.6bn ($2.7bn, £2.1bn) tariff on US aluminium products a day after US President Donald Trump imposed a 10% tariff on some Canadian aluminium products.

Canada and the US reached a deal last year to lift tariffs on steel and aluminium imports that had been imposed on grounds of "national security".

Mr Trump reintroduced them on Thursday to protect the US industry.

Friday's retaliatory tariffs by Canada will go into effect on 16 September.

The countermeasure was announced after deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland previously promised a "dollar-for-dollar" fight.

"At a time when we are fighting a global pandemic... a trade dispute is the last thing anyone needs - it will only hurt the economic recovery on both sides of the border," she said in a news conference.

Ms Freeland called the US tariffs "ludicrous" and denied Canadian aluminium is a threat to US national security. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53683569

Vancouver police put knee on man’s neck: witnesses - VIDEO

There are accusations of excessive force after an arrest in Vancouver where a man was punched, Tasered and had a knee put on his neck, but Vancouver Police are standing by the officers' actions. https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1775223875547

Expected fall peak of COVID-19 in Canada could overwhelm health systems: Tam

As Canada continues to reopen and as more people gather together indoors, including in schools, the federal government is planning for a "reasonable worst-case scenario."

51 National modelling projections released Friday show an expected peak in cases this fall, followed by ongoing ups and downs, which chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam says could overwhelm health systems in different parts of the country.

That's why health officials across Canada are now getting ready for outbreaks that could surpass the highest spikes of the virus experienced in March and April, to ensure they're ready for the worst.

"It's preparing for — something could happen to this virus, who knows? Something could change," Tam told reporters Friday in Ottawa.

A Cool Trudeau Rebuffs Conflict Charges. Will Canadians Buy His Story?

There was no corruption, just a government working to save lives during a pandemic.

That’s the message the prime minister delivered to skeptical lawmakers, and to Canadians.

The contract, made to the WE Charity, was to oversee hundreds of millions of government dollars for an emergency summer youth volunteer program. Mr. Trudeau defended the decision to give the charity the contract by presenting himself as a longtime champion of youths.

And he said he was following the advice of public servants to start a program that, like others his government has set up, would help thousands of people across the country.

Both Mr. Trudeau and Mr. Morneau have apologized for not recusing themselves from the cabinet decision. Both are under investigation by the country’s ethics commissioner.

But during Thursday’s testimony, Mr. Trudeau reinforced what others have said before him — that officials of Canada’s apolitical public service chose the charity and that his cabinet was given a “binary choice” of either agreeing to the plan, or having to abandon it altogether.

The perception of a conflict with his family, he added, caused him to put the decision on hold for two weeks and push the public service to “make sure that everything was done exactly right, because I knew there would be questions asked.” https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/30/world/canada/justin-trudeau-we-charity.html

Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau testifies to Parliament amid ethics investigation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tSMD3mE8KI&t=11m55s

52 Defund the CBC and shower parents with cash: Four things Erin O'Toole has promised to do

• Defund the CBC: On Valentine’s Day this year, O’Toole posted a video on Twitter accusing the CBC of being “out of control” and promising to slash its funding.

• Make it rain for parents: O’Toole’s “family action plan” calls for a $12 billion proposal to double- down on the Liberal government’s boost to the Canada Child Benefit.

• Reduce taxes and balance the budget: O’Toole wants a full review of government spending, a “pay as you go” program where each new dollar of spending must be accompanied by a dollar in savings, and a communications blitz that explains the importance of belt-tightening as Canada’s population ages.

• Fix equalization: So it’s no surprise to see a full page of the O’Toole platform dedicated entirely to Alberta, including a promise to “fix equalization,” an issue that is dear to Kenney’s heart. https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/defund-the-cbc-and-shower-parents-with-cash-four-things-erin- otoole-has-promised-to-do

The power players in Erin O'Toole's Conservative Party

Pandemic recovery Climate plan

O’Toole picks up the Conservative antipathy to the federal carbon tax, although his platform includes plans for a national price on greenhouse gas emissions. O’Toole’s platform says he would scrap the existing system in favour of a carbon price on industry alone — not on consumers through the tax on gas and other fuels. He also promises an effort to end energy imports from countries outside North America, to support the export of liquified natural gas, and to help oil and gas companies become carbon neutral. The platform doesn’t include targets for emissions reductions.

Criminalize rail blockaders Confront China Defund the CBC https://www.macleans.ca/politics/the-power-players-in-erin-otooles-conservative-party/

53 Other News

Other News – Covid-19

US secures world stock of key Covid-19 drug remdesivir

The US has bought up virtually all the stocks for the next three months of one of the two drugs proven to work against Covid-19, leaving none for the UK, Europe or most of the rest of the world.

Experts and campaigners are alarmed both by the US unilateral action on remdesivir and the wider implications, for instance in the event of a vaccine becoming available.

The Trump administration has already shown that it is prepared to outbid and outmanoeuvre all other countries to secure the medical supplies it needs for the US.

The drug, which was trialled in the Ebola epidemic but failed to work as expected, is under patent to Gilead, which means no other company in wealthy countries can make it. The cost is around $3,200 per treatment of six doses, according to the US government statement. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/30/us-buys-up-world-stock-of-key-covid-19-drug

Donald Trump Stock Portfolio - Note Gilead

http://smartdividendstocks.com/donald-trump-stock-portfolio

54 Almost a third of COVID-19 samples show mutation, but not worse disease – WHO

GENEVA (Reuters) - Almost 30% of genome sequencing data from samples of the COVID-19 virus collected by the World Health Organization (WHO) have shown signs of mutation, but there is no evidence this has led to more severe disease, a top WHO official said on Friday.

“I think it’s quite widespread,” Soumya Swaminathan, WHO chief scientist, told Reuters on the sidelines of a briefing held by the U.N. journalists’ association ACANU in Geneva.

The U.N. agency has so far collected 60,000 samples of the disease, she said. Scientists at Scripps Research this month found that by April the mutated virus accounted for some 65% of cases submitted from around the world to a major database.

The genetic mutation in the new coronavirus, designated D614G, significantly increases its ability to infect cells and may explain why outbreaks in northern Italy and New York were larger than ones seen earlier in the pandemic, they found in a study. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-who-strain/almost-a-third-of-covid-19-samples- show-mutation-but-not-worse-disease-who-idUSKBN244284

Prevalent Eurasian avian-like H1N1 swine influenza virus with 2009 pandemic viral genes facilitating human infection

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Abstract Pigs are considered as important hosts or “mixing vessels” for the generation of pandemic influenza viruses. Systematic surveillance of influenza viruses in pigs is essential for early warning and preparedness for the next potential pandemic.

Here, we report on an influenza virus surveillance of pigs from 2011 to 2018 in China, and identify a recently emerged genotype 4 (G4) reassortant Eurasian avian-like (EA) H1N1 virus, which bears 2009 pandemic (pdm/09) and triple-reassortant (TR)-derived internal genes and has been predominant in swine populations since 2016. https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/06/23/1921186117

City in China's Inner Mongolia warns of suspected bubonic plague

Authorities in a city in the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia have issued a warning after a hospital reported a case of suspected bubonic plague - one of the deadliest diseases in history.

The health committee of the city of Bayan Nur issued the third-level alert on Sunday, the second lowest in a four-level system.

The alert forbids the hunting and eating of animals that could carry plague and asks the public to report any suspected cases of plague or fever with no clear causes, and to report any sick or dead marmots.

55 Sunday's warning follows four reported cases of plague in people from Inner Mongolia last November, including two of pneumonic plague, a more dangerous variant of the disease. At least two of the cases then were diagnosed in the capital, Beijing. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/07/city-china-mongolia-warns-suspected-bubonic-plague- 200706043727142.html

What Is the Plague?

You may think that the plague, once called the Black Death, must be extinct, disappearing with knights in armor and village blacksmiths. But the disease that swept the world hundreds of years ago still lives. And it’s still dangerous. But unlike our ancestors, we know what causes the plague. And with quick treatment, it can be cured.

Bubonic plague. This is the most common type. It causes buboes, which are very swollen and painful lymph nodes under the arms, in the neck, or in the groin. Without treatment, the bacteria can spread to other parts of the body.

Septicemic plague. This type is more dangerous than bubonic plague. It’s when the bacteria have moved into the blood. Signs include:

Bleeding under the skin or from the mouth, nose, or bottom Blackened skin, especially on the nose, fingers, and toes Belly pain, diarrhea, vomiting, and shock

Pneumonic plague. This is when the bacteria are in the lungs. It’s the rarest form of the disease. It’s deadly without treatment. It’s also very contagious because the plague can spread through the air when a person coughs. https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/plague-faq#1

Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro tests positive for coronavirus

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro says he has tested positive for the coronavirus after months of downplaying the virus's severity.

Bolsonaro confirmed the test results while wearing a mask and speaking to reporters in the capital Brasilia.

Bolsonaro, 65, said he is taking hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin as a result of the positive test.

On Monday, Bolsonaro told supporters in Brasilia that he underwent an X-ray of his lungs that showed they were clean, and that he would be tested for coronavirus. On Tuesday, he told CNN Brasil that his fever had subsided.

Bolsonaro's response to the coronavirus has been highly criticized. His government has seen two health ministers depart since the beginning of the pandemic, which has hit Brazil with a vengeance since May.

56 Brazil, the world's sixth most populous nation, with more than 210 million people, is one of the global hot spots of the pandemic. More than 65,000 have died there so far from COVID-19, and more than 1,500,000 have been infected. Both numbers are the world's second-highest totals, and are considered to be undercounts due to the lack of widespread testing. https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/brazil-bolsonaro-coronavirus-1.5640391

'A second Trump': Bolsonaro's offensive rhetoric adds to Brazil's discomfort

Supporters say his tendency to speak freely is sincere – but detractors call it a PR disaster He parleyed his way to Brazil’s presidency with a vote-winning barrage of scaremongering and bombast.

But eight months into Jair Bolsonaro’s far-right tenure, there is growing discomfort over the president’s inability – or refusal – to mind his mouth, and the impact this is having on Brazil’s place in the world.

“The president has become a risk for the country,” the broadsheet O Globo pronounced this week in an editorial lamenting how Bolsonaro’s “verbal incontinence” was costing Brazil international friends.

Brazil’s president has long been notorious for his hateful and homophobic declarations – he once proclaimed that he would prefer a dead son to a gay one. But even by Bolsonaro’s loquacious standards, recent weeks have been notable.

Since the start of August, Bolsonaro has called for criminals to “die on the streets like cockroaches”, described Argentina’s likely incoming leaders as “leftie crooks”, called a Brazilian journalist a “plonker”, lashed out at Norway and mocked Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel for challenging him over a surge in Amazon deforestation. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/19/bolsonaro-offensive-rhetoric-brazil

Jair Bolsonaro says criminals will 'die like cockroaches' under proposed new laws

Brazil’s president calls for security forces and citizens who shoot alleged offenders to be shielded from prosecution

Last year Brazilian police killed nearly 6,200 people compared to 5,225 in 2017, official figures show. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/06/jair-bolosonaro-says-criminals-will-die-like- cockroaches-under-proposed-new-laws

Rio de Janeiro: killings by police hit a record high in Brazilian state

Rise comes under Governor Wilson Witzel, a Bolsonaro ally who has promised a zero-tolerance policy against criminals https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/03/rio-de-janeiro-police-killings-rise-brazil

57 Coronavirus updates: US sets another grim record with over 60,000 new cases in a day - 8 July 2020

Latest headlines: • US total case count nears 3 million • US sets another record with over 60,000 new cases in a day • Over a dozen contract coronavirus after high school graduation • Orlando Magic player tests positive for coronavirus, team official says https://abcnews.go.com/Health/coronavirus-updates-us-sets-grim-record-60000-cases/story? id=71665532

Studies Report Rapid Loss of COVID-19 Antibodies

The results, while preliminary, suggest that survivors of SARS-CoV-2 infection may be susceptible to reinfection within weeks or months.

A pair of studies published this week is shedding light on the duration of immunity following COVID-19, showing patients lose their IgG antibodies—the virus-specific, slower-forming antibodies associated with long-term immunity—within weeks or months after recovery. With COVID-19, most people who become infected do produce antibodies, and even small amounts can still neutralize the virus in vitro, according to earlier work. These latest studies could not determine if a lack of antibodies leaves people at risk of reinfection.

One of the studies found that 10 percent of nearly 1,500 COVID-positive patients registered undetectable antibody levels within weeks of first showing symptoms, while the other of 74 patients found they typically lost their antibodies two to three months after recovering from the infection, especially among those who tested positive but were asymptomatic. https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/studies-report-rapid-loss-of-covid-19-antibodies-67650

Longitudinal evaluation and decline of antibody responses in SARS-CoV-2 infection

Antibody (Ab) responses to SARS-CoV-2 can be detected in most infected individuals 10-15 days following the onset of COVID-19 symptoms. However, due to the recent emergence of this virus in the human population it is not yet known how long these Ab responses will be maintained or whether they will provide protection from re-infection.

Whilst some individuals with high peak ID50 (>10,000) maintained titres >1,000 at >60 days POS, some with lower peak ID50 had titres approaching baseline within the follow up period. A similar decline in nAb titres was also observed in a cohort of seropositive healthcare workers from Guy′s and St Thomas′ Hospitals.

We suggest that this transient nAb response is a feature shared by both a SARS-CoV-2 infection that causes low disease severity and the circulating seasonal coronaviruses that are associated with common colds. This study has important implications when considering widespread serological testing, Ab protection against re-infection with SARS-CoV-2 and the durability of vaccine protection. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.07.09.20148429v1

58 Millions go back into lockdown around the world - VIDEO

Second wave planning under way in parts of UK

As we have reported today, scientists are warning a second wave of coronavirus in the UK could be worse than the first.

Experts are concerned the NHS could come under extreme pressure, not just from a resurgence of coronavirus but also from seasonal flu and a backlog of regular, non-coronavirus workload.

Scotland's First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said the planning the report recommends is being "taken very seriously" by the Scottish government.

Scotland's Health Secretary, Jeane Freeman, adds: "That planning for autumn and winter is well under way in NHS Scotland and with our colleagues in social care.

"Our boards have been advised to hold a capacity to deal with an upsurge in Covid cases, both in beds and ICU [intensive care units]. "We are also factoring into that the viruses that come with autumn and winter - flu and other respiratory conditions."

5.4 million lost health insurance in US - study

An estimated 5.4 million US workers lost their health insurance between February and May, according to a new study by the nonpartisan advocacy group Families USA

UK formally announces compulsory face coverings in shops

Health Secretary Matt Hancock is briefing MPs. He says there are downward trends in cases, hospital admissions and deaths but it is not time to become complacent.

He says NHS Test and Trace is working well, and government and local authorities are successfully taking action on local outbreaks.

The government wants to make shopping easier but shop staff have been disproportionally affected by the virus, the minister says. https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-53399539

An mRNA Vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 — Preliminary Report New England Journal of Medicine

Methods We conducted a phase 1, dose-escalation, open-label trial including 45 healthy adults, 18 to 55 years of age, who received two vaccinations, 28 days apart, with mRNA-1273 in a dose of 25 μg, 100 μg, or 250 μg. There were 15 participants in each dose group.

Conclusions The mRNA-1273 vaccine induced anti–SARS-CoV-2 immune responses in all participants, and no trial- limiting safety concerns were identified. These findings support further development of this vaccine.

59 Vaccine Safety No serious adverse events were noted, and no prespecified trial halting rules were met. As noted above, one participant in the 25-μg group was withdrawn because of an unsolicited adverse event, transient urticaria, judged to be related to the first vaccination. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2022483

Medical Definition of Urticaria

Urticaria: Another name for hives. Raised, itchy areas of skin that are usually a sign of an allergic reaction https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=5919

8 world leaders seek equal access to Covid-19 vaccine, Justin Trudeau says it will save lives

Calling vaccine as the “most powerful public health tool”, the leaders said in an article that they cannot allow its access to increase inequalities between or within countries. https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/8-world-leaders-seek-equal-access-to-covid-19-vaccine- justin-trudeau-says-it-will-save-lives/story-Wh4IemM72v6IprU88mXoIO.html

Trump 'offers large sums' for exclusive US access to coronavirus vaccine

The Trump administration has offered a German medical company “large sums of money” for exclusive access to a Covid-19 vaccine, German media have reported.

The German government is trying to fight off what it sees as an aggressive takeover bid by the US, the broadsheet Die Welt reports, citing German government circles.

The US president had offered the Tübingen-based biopharmaceutical company CureVac “large sums of money” to gain exclusive access to their work, wrote Die Welt. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/15/trump-offers-large-sums-for-exclusive-access-to- coronavirus-vaccine

Forget Russian hackers: Real danger is the US hoarding UK vaccines, says head of Imperial College study

As researchers at Imperial College London begin round 2 of Covid-19 vaccine trials, the project’s head has revealed the UK government urged him to make the jab at home, lest the US attempt to hoard a shot manufactured there.

Professor Robin Shattock, director of Imperial’s coronavirus vaccine project, revealed his researchers had a “deliberate policy” of making their experimental jab in the UK, “something [they] were encouraged to do by the UK government, to make sure there is capacity in the UK for manufacturing.”

60 In a Friday interview with Sky News, he hinted officials were concerned a vaccine made in the US might be snapped up by the Trump administration, leaving none left even for the shot’s creators. https://www.rt.com/uk/495124-imperial-vaccine-made-uk-hoarding/

‘Extraordinary’ claim that Russia meddled in elections requires proof, UKIP leader says

London has yet to provide proof of Moscow's alleged election meddling, the leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) has noted, as a fresh torrent of unsupported accusations gets hurled at Russia by the British government.

Freddy Vachha said in an interview with Sputnik news agency that he was still waiting to see proof showing Moscow’s alleged hand in last year’s parliamentary elections.

It is a powerful and extraordinary claim and, just like with all extraordinary claims, requires extraordinary proof. I await seeing such proof, which I have not as yet.

He acknowledged, however, that some information and intelligence may be deemed too sensitive to release to the public. https://www.rt.com/news/495147-ukip-evidence-russian-meddling-proof/

George Galloway: The UK govt’s ‘almost certainty’ of Russian interference is a dead cat for the media’s Pavlov’s dogs

The UK government says it’s “almost certain” Russia interfered in British elections. Another step down the “highly likely” path of blaming foreigners for its woes, it shows No. 10’s desperation at losing control of the narrative.

Was that the ‘Russia Report’?

It was treated as such by the Pavlovian British media, right down to the doorstepping of former opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn. Poor Corbyn. Branded as a Czech, an East German and even a Soviet agent for the four ill-starred years of his leadership – right down to a backdrop of the Kremlin being photoshopped behind him on the BBC's flagship ‘Newsnight’ programme – and door-stepped again in retirement, because it was “almost certainly” “Russian actors” who had “amplified” TRUE information about the Conservatives on the internet.

“Almost certainly” is the new “highly likely.”

Virtually meaningless, but almost certainly very suggestive. And “Russian actors” is the new “GRU.” Evidence- and fact-free, the purpose is to send Pavlov's dogs off running, preferably in the wrong direction. https://www.rt.com/op-ed/495065-galloway-russia-interference-uk/

61 Military intelligence unit briefed Sajjan on COVID-19 risk on January 17: documents

Pneumonia of unknown cause – China [World Health Organization]

On 31 December 2019, the WHO China Country Office was informed of cases of pneumonia of unknown etiology (unknown cause) detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China.

As of 3 January 2020, a total of 44 patients with pneumonia of unknown etiology have been reported to WHO by the national authorities in China. https://www.who.int/csr/don/05-january-2020-pneumonia-of-unkown-cause-china/en/

COVID-19 and the 5G Conspiracy Theory: Social Network Analysis of Twitter Data

Abstract Background: Since the beginning of December 2019, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has spread rapidly around the world, which has led to increased discussions across online platforms.

These conversations have also included various conspiracies shared by social media users.

Amongst them, a popular theory has linked 5G to the spread of COVID-19, leading to misinformation and the burning of 5G towers in the United Kingdom.

The understanding of the drivers of fake news and quick policies oriented to isolate and rebate misinformation are keys to combating it.

Results: Social network analysis identified that the two largest network structures consisted of an isolates group and a broadcast group.

62 The analysis also revealed that there was a lack of an authority figure who was actively combating such misinformation.

Thus, 65.2% (n=152) of tweets derived from nonconspiracy theory supporters, which suggests that, although the topic attracted high volume, only a handful of users genuinely believed the conspiracy.

Google will let employees work from home until at least next summer

Google (GOOGL) will let employees work from home until at least July 2021, a company spokesperson said on Monday.

The company had previously said most employees would be working remotely through the end of 2020, with some employees being allowed back into the office sooner.

But the decision to extend the remote work policy well into next year indicates that one of the world's largest tech companies is bracing for a long pandemic — and could prompt other businesses to follow suit. https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/27/tech/google-work-from-home-extension/index.html

VIDEO - Trump undermines his pandemic response with more misinformation and self-obsession

President Donald Trump's return as the face of the Covid-19 response has deteriorated into a misinformation masterclass that explains why America is in such a mess.

In an extraordinary performance Tuesday, as the daily death toll again soared toward 1,000 and the number of Americans dead approached a tragic milestone of 150,000, Trump again foreswore the most basic requirements of national leadership in a crisis.

At a White House briefing that turned almost into a parody of his own mismanagement of the pandemic, he complained that the government's top infectious diseases expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, had better approval ratings than he did.

He painted a misleading picture of a viral surge still raging across Southern and Western states that is showing new signs of spreading deeper into the heartland, saying large portions of the country were "corona-free."

63 And he launched a stunning new pitch for hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria drug beloved by conservative media but that has not been shown in rigorous clinical trials to be an effective treatment for Covid-19.

Several credible clinical studies have shown that neither hydroxychloroquine alone nor hydroxychloroquine plus azithromycin appeared to affect the condition of coronavirus patients at the 15- day mark. https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/29/politics/donald-trump-coronavirus-response/index.html

VIDEO - Trump promoted a doctor. Watch what she said about demons

CNN's Anderson Cooper discusses President Donald Trump's response to the coronavirus and a video he retweeted featuring a group of doctors making false claims about the coronavirus. https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2020/07/29/donald-trump-coronavirus-doctor-kth-sot-vpx- ac360.cnn

Russia's COVID-19 vaccine 'ready,' says official

Russia plans to start mass production of vaccine against novel coronavirus in August

Russia’s first vaccine against the novel coronavirus is ready, a government official said on Tuesday.

Ruslan Tsalikov, the first deputy defense minister, said two groups of volunteers have successfully completed clinical trials, with all of them having “built up immunity.”

“At the time of discharge, all the volunteers, without exception, built up immunity to the coronavirus and felt well. Thus, the first domestic vaccine against a new coronavirus infection is ready,” he said in an interview with AiF newspaper.

The vaccine, he said, was jointly developed by the Gamaleya National Research Centre for Epidemiology and Microbiology and the Main Military Clinical Burdenko Hospital.

Tsalikov added that the Russian military has “significant scientific potential and extensive experience” in vaccine development, citing as an example its contributions to developing a vaccine against the Ebola virus. https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/russias-covid-19-vaccine-ready-says-official/1917666

First batch of Sputnik V, Russia's Covid-19 vaccine, to be supplied in September - 40,000 volunteers ready for 3rd-stage trials

Russia's Health Minister has announced that large-scale deliveries of the world's first registered coronavirus vaccine will start in September. Mikhail Murashko also said on Monday that the third-stage trials were ready to begin.

64 It is planned that, in total, 40,000 volunteers will participate, with more than 2,500 already chosen. "First of all, of course, the vaccines will be supplied for healthcare workers and teachers, [and] this will be absolutely voluntary," Murashko said. "The first large batches will be supplied as early as September."

He also added that currently several more vaccines against coronavirus are at the clinical trials or registration stage. "That is why I think that we’ll reach optimum volumes in November or December. We’ll need to do separate inoculations against flu and coronavirus infection," he said. https://www.rt.com/russia/499517-covid19-vaccine-third-stage-trials/

Hong Kong reports 'first case' of virus reinfection

Hong Kong scientists are reporting the case of a healthy man in his 30s who became reinfected with coronavirus four and a half months after his first bout.

They say genome sequencing shows the two strains of the virus are "clearly different", making it the world's first proven case of reinfection.

The World Health Organization warns it is important not to jump to conclusions based on the case of one patient.

And experts say reinfections may be rare and not necessarily serious.

There have been more than 23 million cases of coronavirus infection around the world. https://www.bbc.com/news/health-53889823

65 Other News Other US Racism

US Military’s ‘Unprecedented’ Deployment to Asia-Pacific Risks Confrontation With China - Think Tank

The US military is deploying “unprecedented” numbers of soldiers to the Asia-Pacific region, AFP reported Tuesday, citing a senior Chinese official.

"The US military deployment in the Asia-Pacific region is unprecedented," Wu Shicun, president of the National Institute of South China Sea Studies, a Chinese government think tank, told AFP.

"The possibility of a military incident or an accidental shot fired is rising," added Wu, whose think tank recently published a report regarding US military presence in the region.

Wu further noted to the outlet that the US has deployed around 375,000 soldiers and around 60% of its warships to the Indo-Pacific region, including three of its aircraft carriers.

In its recent report, the National Institute of South China Sea Studies recommends that the Chinese and US militaries “step up communication” so as to “prevent strategic misunderstanding and miscalculation.”

However, Wu’s report also noted that China does not “envisage a new cold or hot with the US” but did warn that “deteriorating military relations would substantially increase the possibility of a dangerous incident, a conflict or even a crisis.” https://sputniknews.com/military/202006231079701587-us-militarys-unprecedented-deployment-to- asia-pacific-risks-confrontation-with-china---think-tank

‘They want to win’: NUCLEAR confrontation becomes likelier as US races for global domination, Russian FM says

Washington is escalating the risk of a nuclear standoff among the world’s major powers in an effort to win back global domination, and brushing aside the last arms control pacts still standing, Russia’s chief diplomat has warned.

“I agree that the nuclear risks have increased substantially in the recent past,” Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told an audience at the high-profile Primakov Readings forum on Friday.

The reasons for that are “obvious,” the minister clarified. “The US wants to regain global dominance and achieve victory in what they call a great power competition.”

Lavrov said Washington refuses the notion of “strategic stability” and calls it “strategic rivalry” instead. “They want to win,” he added. https://www.rt.com/news/494350-nuclear-confrontation-us-global-domination/

Russia Secretly Offered Afghan Militants Bounties to Kill U.S. Troops, Intelligence Says

Published June 26, 2020 Updated July 1, 2020

66 WASHINGTON — American intelligence officials have concluded that a Russian military intelligence unit secretly offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killing coalition forces in Afghanistan — including targeting American troops — amid the peace talks to end the long-running war there, according to officials briefed on the matter.

Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. “If someone makes them, we’ll respond,” Mr. Peskov said.

Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban, denied that the insurgents have “any such relations with any intelligence agency” and called the report an attempt to defame them. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/us/politics/russia-afghanistan-bounties.html

Trump & Pence never briefed on ‘Russian bounties for Taliban’, NYT story ‘inaccurate’ – US intelligence chief

The US director of national intelligence has distanced himself from an NYT report claiming Russia paid money to the Taliban for killing US soldiers in Afghanistan. He said the White House was never briefed on the matter.

The claim published by the New York Times is, like many such stories, based on anonymous intelligence sources.

It says Russia paid “Taliban-linked militants” in Afghanistan to kill US military service members, and that President Donald Trump did nothing after learning about it.

The White House has denied that either Trump or Vice President Mike Pence were ever briefed on the alleged situation by US intelligence.

Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe backed the denial and said the original story and “all other subsequent news reports about such an alleged briefing are inaccurate.” https://www.rt.com/news/493152-odni-trump-taliban-bounties/

Pentagon says ‘no corroborating’ evidence to stand up NYT report on Russian bounties

The Defense Department said late Monday that there is “no corroborating evidence” to support the explosive New York Times report last week that said the Russian military offered bounties to Taliban- linked militants to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

The report sent shock waves through Washington and prompted President Trump to outright deny knowing anything about the intel cited in the report.

“To date, DOD has no corroborating evidence to validate the recent allegations found in open-source reports. Regardless, we always take the safety and security of our forces in Afghanistan—and around the world—most seriously and therefore continuously adopt measures to prevent harm from potential threats,” Jonathan Hoffman, the chief Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement.

67 https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pentagon-says-no-corroborating-evidence-to-stand-up-nyt-report-on- russian-bounties

Caitlin Johnstone: It is the US intelligence’s job to lie to you. NYT’s Afghan bounty story is CIA press release disguised as news

Whenever one sees a news headline ending in “US Intelligence Says”, one should always mentally replace everything that comes before it with “Blah blah blah we’re probably lying.”

To be clear, this is journalistic malpractice. Mainstream media outlets which publish anonymous intelligence claims with no proof are just publishing CIA press releases disguised as news.

They’re just telling you to believe what sociopathic intelligence agencies want you to believe under the false guise of impartial and responsible reporting.

This practice has become ubiquitous throughout mainstream news publications, but that doesn’t make it any less immoral. https://www.rt.com/op-ed/493121-nyt-afghan-bounty-cia-release/

‘Russian bounty’ story shifts: New York Times now claims Afghan CRIMINALS & not Taliban were paid, cites anonymous sources again

30 Jun, 2020

The New York Times is doubling down on claims that Russia offered bounties for the killing of US troops in Afghanistan, but now says local criminals and not the Taliban were the recipients, again offering no actual evidence.

The new article, published Tuesday, says that “electronic data showing large financial transfers from a bank account controlled by Russia’s military intelligence agency to a Taliban-linked account” was intercepted by US spies and “bolsters suspicions” that Russia offered bounties to militants – as claimed by the Times last week. https://www.rt.com/news/493407-afghanistan-russian-bounties-shifting-narrative/

New York Times has double standards & serves woke mob? Bari Weiss’ shocking resignation letter only states the obvious

Resigning from the New York Times, writer Bari Weiss lamented the degradation of language in service of ideology.

Yet for three years, she was all too happy to be the paper’s token centrist and demonize anyone to her right.

The letter was quickly praised by some on the right.

68 Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) called it“eloquent, profound, incisive—and true,” while the president’s son Donald Trump Jr. said it exposes the paper’s tendency to attack “anyone who breaks from the far-left narrative.”

In the resignation letter she made public on Tuesday, Weiss calls out the US paper of record for being more committed to the political narrative than the truth. Any piece that “does not explicitly promote progressive causes” gets published “only after every line is carefully massaged, negotiated and caveated,” she writes. Language itself is “degraded in service to an ever-shifting laundry list of right causes,” while some of her colleagues nod along, hoping that would protect them. https://www.rt.com/op-ed/494751-bari-wess-times-resignation/

Bari Weiss, Resignation Letter

But the lessons that ought to have followed the election—lessons about the importance of understanding other Americans, the necessity of resisting tribalism, and the centrality of the free exchange of ideas to a democratic society—have not been learned. Instead, a new consensus has emerged in the press, but perhaps especially at this paper: that truth isn’t a process of collective discovery, but an orthodoxy already known to an enlightened few whose job is to inform everyone else.

Twitter is not on the masthead of The New York Times. But Twitter has become its ultimate editor. As the ethics and mores of that platform have become those of the paper, the paper itself has increasingly become a kind of performance space. Stories are chosen and told in a way to satisfy the narrowest of audiences, rather than to allow a curious public to read about the world and then draw their own conclusions. I was always taught that journalists were charged with writing the first rough draft of history. Now, history itself is one more ephemeral thing molded to fit the needs of a predetermined narrative.

69 I do not understand how you have allowed this kind of behavior to go on inside your company in full view of the paper’s entire staff and the public. And I certainly can’t square how you and other Times leaders have stood by while simultaneously praising me in private for my courage. Showing up for work as a centrist at an American newspaper should not require bravery. https://www.bariweiss.com/resignation-letter

Iran Quds Force commander killed in US strike on convoy at Baghdad airport – VIDEO

The head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani, has been killed in a strike near Baghdad International Airport, along with senior leaders of the Iraqi Shia militia, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has confirmed.

News of the commander’s demise was carried by Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency, citing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

10 people, including Quds Force chief Soleimani and Iran-backed Iraqi militia officials, killed in US attack – Iranian envoy https://www.rt.com/news/477353-iran-quds-commander-killed-strike/

UN Investigator Report On US Killing Of Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani Human Rights Council https://apps.npr.org/documents/document.html?id=6982209-UN-Investigator-Report-On-US-Killing-Of- Maj-Gen

UN Investigator Report On US Killing Of Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/6982209/UN-Investigator-Report-On-US-Killing-Of-Maj- Gen.pdf

US Army-funded ‘research project’ quietly tracked mobile phone movements at Russian military sites & govt buildings – media

Mobile devices used by personnel at Russian military sites, government premises and foreign embassies in Moscow were reportedly shadowed by researchers who used commercially available software as part of a Pentagon-funded study.

According to the Wall Street Journal, a research team based in Starkville, Mississippi deployed a little- known spying tool called Locate X to snoop on as many as 48 mobile phones that were going online back on August 9, 2019 – a day after a powerful blast rocked the Russian Navy’s secretive testing ground near the northern city of Severodvinsk.

The tracking experiment, carried out for the Mississippi State University, was apparently to demonstrate to the US military how commercially available phone data could be turned towards other ends, including gathering valuable intelligence. https://www.rt.com/news/495203-us-tracked-phones-russian-military/

70 Trump won’t commit to accepting result if he loses election

WASHINGTON — President Trump refused again to promise he would accept the results of November’s presidential election and brushed aside public opinion polls that showed his standing with voters plummeting over his handling of the worsening coronavirus outbreak.

In an interview aired Sunday on Fox News, the president also boasted, inaccurately, that the United States had the “best” coronavirus mortality rate, asserted that the economy was rapidly bouncing back and denigrated the government’s top infectious-disease specialist, Dr. Anthony Fauci, as the president’s surrogates have done in recent days.

And as he did in 2016, Trump declined to guarantee that he would accept the election outcome, saying it was too soon. https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-07-19/trump-wont-commit-to-accepting-election-result

Trump foreshadows that he could refuse to accept the results of the 2020 election if he loses

President Trump refused to commit to accepting the results of the 2020 election and ensuring a peaceful transition of power in an interview with "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace aired Sunday.

In the interview, Trump repeated his frequent false claim that mail-in ballots are inherently "rigged" and said that he is "not a good loser."

"I have to see, look, I have to see, I'm not just going to say yes, I'm not going to say no, and I didn't last time either," Trump said when Wallace directly asked if he would accept the election results. https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-suggests-that-he-wont-accept-the-2020-election-results-if-he- loses-2020-7

Russia now makes more money from gold than natural gas exports

Russia’s surging gold exports have for the first time exceeded exports of natural gas, data from the Federal Customs Service and the central bank (CBR) shows.

According to the statistics, in April and May, Russian mining companies sold 65.4 tons of gold abroad worth $3.55 billion.

Russian gas exports for the same period stood at $2.4 billion.

According to the CBR’s preliminary assessment, in general, for the second quarter of 2020, exports of gas brought Russia $3.5 billion in revenue – less than that from gold exports in just two months. https://www.rt.com/business/494669-russia-gold-exports-gas/

71 FAA: Check engines on 737s that could shut down mid-flight

WASHINGTON -- Safety regulators issued an emergency order directing airlines to inspect and if necessary replace a critical engine part on popular Boeing 737 jets after four reports of engines shutting down during flights.

The Federal Aviation Administration said Friday that its order affected about 2,000 twin-engine passenger jets in the United States.

The FAA said operators must inspect any 737 that has been parked for at least seven days or been flown fewer than 11 times since being returned to service.

That's because of reports that certain engine valves can become stuck in the open position.

Corrosion of the valves on both engines could lead to a complete loss of power without the ability to restart the engines, forcing pilots to land somewhere other than an airport, the FAA said in the order, dated Thursday. https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/faa-check-engines-on-737s-that-could-shut-down-mid-flight- 1.5037817

Noam Chomsky on Trump’s Troop Surge to Democratic Cities & Whether He’ll Leave Office if He Loses

“President Trump is desperate,” says world-renowned dissident Professor Noam Chomsky in an extended interview that begins with President Trump’s vow to send a “surge” of federal agents into major Democrat-run cities across the United States.

“His entire attention is this one issue on his mind: that’s the election.

He has to cover up for the fact he is personally responsible for killing tens of thousands of Americans.

It’s impossible to conceal that for much longer.”

His chances of victory depend on his doing something dramatic.

He was trying very hard to set up military confrontations that you mentioned, martial law. It’s moving toward martial law. He might even be able to try to cancel the elections.

There is no telling what he would do. He is completely desperate. This is like the actions of some tin-pot dictator in a neo-colony somewhere, small country that has a military coup every couple of years.

There is no historical precedent for anything like this in a functioning democratic society. If he could send Blackshirts out in the streets, he would be happy to do that.

Exactly how this will eventuate is very hard to say.

The courts are unlikely to do anything.

72 We may even get to a point where the military command has to decide which side they are on. The man is desperate. He is psychotic.

He is in extreme danger of losing his position in the White House and will do anything he can to prevent it. https://www.democracynow.org/2020/7/24/noam_chomsky_on_trump_s_troop

It’s not Russia, China or Iran who ‘undermine confidence’ in US democracy; for that, ODNI needs to look closer to home

With 100 days to go before the November election, the US intelligence community issued warnings about foreign ‘influence measures’ such as media reports. The actual challenge to US democracy, however, comes from within.

Foreign countries “continue to use influence measures in social and traditional media in an effort to sway US voters’ preferences and perspectives, to shift US policies, to increase discord and to undermine confidence in our democratic process,” said a statement from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) on Friday.

China is seeking to “pressure political figures it views as opposed to China’s interests” which “might affect” the presidential race, says ODNI. Iran is trying to divide Americans by “spreading disinformation on social media and recirculating anti-US content.” And Russia “continues to spread disinformation in the US that is designed to undermine confidence in our democratic process” and “denigrate what it sees as an anti-Russia” establishment.

When you parse the political language of this, it boils down to all three countries offering news and opinions in the US media space that disagree with the mainstream US media coverage. How dare they! https://www.rt.com/op-ed/495813-foreign-meddling-elections-odni/

Nicolás Maduro Can’t Sell Venezuelan Gold at Bank of England, Court Rules

It would be unlawful to allow Mr. Maduro access to the gold, a British High Court judge said, because Britain’s government recognizes his rival, Juan Guaidó, as Venezuela’s rightful leader.

LONDON — A British judge ruled on Thursday that President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela cannot get access to $1.8 billion in gold in a Bank of England vault, because Britain does not recognize him as the leader of his suffering country.

Like many Western countries, including the United States, the British government has “unequivocally recognized” the opposition leader Juan Guaidó as the country’s interim president, a High Court judge in London, Nigel Teare, wrote in his ruling, adding that it was therefore unlawful to give the gold to Mr. Maduro. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/02/world/europe/venezuela-gold-uk-nicolas-maduro.html

73 Venezuela to challenge UK’s ruling that denies access to its gold stored in Bank of England vaults

Caracas has won the right to file a court appeal on the decision of the English High Court, which blocked the Maduro government from getting back $1 billion in gold held by the Bank of England.

Earlier this month, British judges said that they recognize self-proclaimed leader Juan Guaido and not Nicolas Maduro as Venezuela’s president. The decision was crucial for the long legal battle for the country’s bullion reserves stored in London, as both the Venezuelan government and opposition laid claim to the gold stockpile. https://www.rt.com/business/495838-venezuela-appeal-decision-gold/

Canadian unions helped fund delegation that gave glowing review of Venezuela election widely seen as illegitimate

OTTAWA — Four Canadian unions helped fund a private delegation to observe the Venezuelan presidential election last year, even as Canada, the United States and President Nicolas Maduro’s opponents decried the results as illegitimate.

The group of six Canadian observers, among them representatives of Common Frontiers, Unifor, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF), the United Church of Canada and Rabble.ca, lauded Venezuela’s “strong and vibrant democracy,” however, in a report published by Common Frontiers after the May 2018 trip. United Steelworkers and a Toronto personal injury law firm, Carranza LLP, also provided “delegation support,” according to the report. https://nationalpost.com/news/world/canadian-unions-helped-fund-delegation-that-gave-glowing-review- of-venezuela-election-widely-seen-as-illegitimate

Venezuelan Presidential Elections Canadian Delegation Observation

Our delegation participated in elections monitoring for the May 20, 2018 Presidential elections, and was composed of members of Unifor, the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, The United Church, Common Frontiers and Rabble.ca.

The consensus from all international observers was unanimous, the May 20th presidential elections were fair, transparent and and represented the will of the Venezuelan people. https://www.commonfrontiers.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Jun15_18-doc02.pdf

Black Lives Matter: Arkansas senator describes slavery as 'necessary evil'

A senator for the state of Arkansas has described slavery as a "necessary evil" on which the American nation was built.

In a local newspaper interview, Republican Tom Cotton said he rejected the idea that the US was a systemically racist country to its core.

74 He is introducing legislation to ban federal funds for a project by the New York Times newspaper, aimed at revising the historical view of slavery.

The project's founder expressed outrage at the remarks.

This comes amid the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. The death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, in Minnesota in May sparked huge protests across the US against police brutality and racism. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53550882

Bill by Sen. Tom Cotton targets curriculum on slavery

WASHINGTON — A New York Times-based school curriculum emphasizing American slavery instead of American independence has been targeted by U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton.

The Little Rock Republican introduced legislation Thursday that would prevent the use of federal tax dollars to spread the historical reinterpretation in the nation’s classrooms.

If the Saving American History Act of 2020 becomes law, however, school districts using the 1619 Project curriculum could face financial consequences.

Cotton’s legislation labels the project “a distortion of American history.”

“The 1619 Project is left-wing propaganda. It’s revisionist history at its worst,” he said in an interview Friday.

Hannah-Jones did not respond to a request for comment Friday. In a tweet, she said Cotton’s bill “speaks to the power of journalism more than anything I’ve ever done in my career.”

In a written statement, Times spokesman Jordan Cohen said the project “is based in part on decades of recent scholarship by leading historians of early America that has profoundly expanded our sense of the colonial and Revolutionary period. Much of this scholarship has focused on the central role that slavery played in the nation’s founding.” https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2020/jul/26/bill-by-cotton-targets-curriculum-on-slavery/?ne

Revealed: oil giants help fund powerful police groups in top US cities

Investigation portrays fossil fuel industry as common enemy in struggle for racial and environmental justice in America

Big corporations accused of driving environmental and health inequalities in black and brown communities through toxic and climate-changing pollution are also funding powerful police groups in major US cities, according to a new investigation.

Some of America’s largest oil and gas companies, private utilities, and financial institutions that bankroll fossil fuels also back police foundations – opaque private entities that raise money to pay for training, weapons, equipment, and surveillance technology for departments across the US.

75 The investigation by the Public Accountability Initiative, a nonprofit corporate and government accountability research institute, and its research database project LittleSis, details how police foundations in cities such as Seattle, Chicago, Washington, New Orleans and Salt Lake City are partially funded by household names such as Chevron, Shell and Wells Fargo.

Police foundations are industry groups that provide substantial funds to local departments, yet, as nonprofits, avoid much public scrutiny. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/27/fossil-fuels-oil-gas-industry-police-foundations

Corporate Backers of the Blue: How Corporations Bankroll U.S. Police Foundations Police foundations across the country are partnering with corporations to raise money to supplement police budgets by funding programs and purchasing tech and weaponry for law enforcement with little public oversight. Annual fundraising events and parties like the St. Paul Police Foundation’s “Blue Nite Gala” and the Chicago Police Foundation’s “True Blue” event are huge moneymakers. The NYC Police Foundation reported that it raised $5.5 million from its annual benefit in 2019. https://news.littlesis.org/2020/06/18/corporate-backers-of-the-blue-how-corporations-bankroll-u-s- police-foundations/

Fossil Fuel Industry Pollutes Black & Brown Communities While Propping Up Racist Policing As movements for racial and environmental justice escalate across the US, these struggles – which, as groups like the National Black Environmental Justice Network point out, must be seen as one – have a common foe: the fossil fuel industry. The same companies that drive environmental racism in Black and Brown communities through toxic and climate-changing pollution also fund police power in cities that stretch from Houston and Detroit to New Orleans and Salt Lake City. https://news.littlesis.org/2020/07/27/fossil-fuel-industry-pollutes-black-brown-communities-while- propping-up-racist-policing/

LittleSis* is a free database of who-knows-who at the heights of business and government. We're a grassroots watchdog network connecting the dots between the world's most powerful people and organizations. https://littlesis.org/

Train derails on Arizona bridge that collapses, catches fire

PHOENIX - A freight train travelling on a bridge that spans a lake in a Phoenix suburb derailed Wednesday, setting the bridge ablaze and partially collapsing the structure, officials said.

Video images showed huge flames and thick black smoke rising into the air and three train cars in a park next to Tempe Town Lake.

None of the train’s crew members were hurt but there was a report of someone suffering from smoke inhalation, said Tim McMahan, a spokesperson for Union Pacific Railroad.

Between eight and 10 of the train’s cars caught fire, McMahan said. Several carried lumber and the three that fell to the ground beneath the bridge were tank cars.

76 Two were carrying cyclohexanone, a pale and oily liquid that is toxic and flammable. McMahan said a third tank car was carrying a “rubber material“ but did not provide further details.

McMahan said the tank cars were not involved in the ensuing blaze and it appeared none of them had any leaks. https://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/ts/news/world/us/2020/07/29/arizona-train-derailment-causes- bridge-collapse-and-big-fire.html

Kentucky town hires social workers instead of more officers - and the results are surprising

ALEXANDRIA, Ky. (WAVE) – Faced with a tight budget and rising demands on its 17 officer police department, the City of Alexandria in Campbell County tried something different. Instead of hiring an additional officer and taking on the added expenses of equipping that officer, the police chief at the time hired a social worker to respond in tandem with officers.

Pompilio is the first to work a position of her kind in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Instead of working at another agency and waiting for a referral from a police department after a crisis, Pompilio works side- by-side with officers to respond as calls come in.

“Every day is different. We have no idea what’s going to come our way,” Pompilio said. “The main calls are domestic violence, mental health and substance abuse.”

After four years on the job, Pompilio said there has been a significant drop in repeat 911 calls with approximately 15 percent fewer people going to jail.

Now retired, former Alexandria Police Department chief Mike Ward said the results were immediate both for people in need and taxpayers. https://www.wave3.com/2020/07/28/kentucky-town-hires-social-workers-instead-more-officers-results- are-surprising

Trump says US won’t protect Germany as it ‘pays Russia billions for energy’ in 1st tweet after Pentagon announces troop withdrawal

US President Donald Trump has defended his decision to pull out almost 12,000 troops from Germany by invoking its gas imports from Russia. Washington has recently ramped up its efforts to block the deliveries.

“Germany pays Russia billions of dollars a year for Energy, and we are supposed to protect Germany from Russia. What’s that all about?” Trump tweeted, shortly after Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the US would move out some 11,900 US soldiers from Germany, as opposed to the initial plan to withdraw some 9,500 personnel.

Trump has also cited the long-running row over NATO contributions, accusing Germany of failing to fork out its fair share of the costs for the military alliance.

77 “Also, Germany is very delinquent in their 2% fee to NATO. We are therefore moving some troops out of Germany!” Trump added, referring to the alliance’s minimum spending requirement for member states.

In a statement on Wednesday, Esper announced that around 6,400 US troops would return to home soil from Germany, while another 5,600 would be redeployed to other European countries, namely Italy and Belgium. While that leaves a 24,000-strong US contingent in Germany, opponents of the drawdown have fumed over the proposal, blasting Trump for “fracturing a 75 year alliance for no reason.” https://www.rt.com/news/496584-germany-withdrawl-troops-gas/

Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline will significantly cut gas prices in Europe, energy consultancy says

European consumers will benefit from lower gas prices if the underwater pipeline from Russia to Germany, the Nord Stream 2, is completed, energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie said as the US is up in arms trying to stop the project.

Analysts expect the price for the blue fuel in Europe to drop by up to 25 percent after Russia starts pumping natural gas via the 1,200km route stretching across the Baltic Sea to Germany.

“If Nord Stream 2 remains unfinished, European benchmark TTF gas is expected to average about $4 per million British Thermal Units next year. But if the project can be completed as its backers hope early in 2021, then the average TTF price that year could drop to about $3, we estimate,” analysts at Wood Mackenzie wrote. https://www.rt.com/business/495823-nord-stream-gas-prices-europe/

US expands draconian sanctions against Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline

The US House of Representatives on Tuesday approved an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, setting out the imposition of new sanctions on companies involved in the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

The move comes despite Vice President of the European Commission Josep Borrell’s statement last week that the European Union opposes the use of sanctions by third countries against “European companies carrying out legitimate business.”

Referring to the Nord Stream 2 project, Borrell expressed concerns about the effect of Washington’s growing use or threat of sanctions on European companies and interests. The statement came after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the US’ plans to sanction the firms working on Nord Stream 2 under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA). https://www.rt.com/business/495403-us-sanctions-nord-stream/

78 Trump Suggests Delaying 2020 Election as He Ramps Up Opposition to Mail-In Voting

US President Donald Trump has suggested that the November presidential election should be delayed to prevent any fraud that might result from mail-in voting.

Trump tweeted on Thursday that mail-in ballots would lead to “the most inaccurate and fraudulent election” in US history.

“It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the election until people can properly, securely and safely vote,” he wrote. https://sputniknews.com/us-elections-2020/202007301080016192-trump-suggests-delay-in-us- presidential-election-over-covid-19-concerns/

Trump floats idea of delaying Nov. 3 vote, but Congress controls election date

U.S. President Donald Trump is for the first time floating a "delay" to November's presidential election, as he makes unsubstantiated allegations that increased mail-in voting will result in fraud.

The dates of federal elections — the Tuesday after the first Monday in November — are enshrined in federal law and would require an act of Congress to change. The Constitution makes no provisions for a delay to the Jan. 20, 2021, presidential inauguration. https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/trump-election-date-1.5668638

Bye Bye Benjamin! Russia & China speed up de-dollarization process: most trade no longer conducted in greenbacks

After years of talking about abandoning the US dollar, Russia and China are doing it for real. In the first quarter of 2020, the share of the dollar in trade between the countries fell below 50 percent for the first time.

To give an indication of the scale of the adjustment, just four years ago the greenback accounted for over 90 percent of their currency settlements.

79 According to Moscow daily Izvestia, the share has dropped to 46 percent, tumbling from 75 percent in 2018. The 54 percent of non-dollar trade is made up of Chinese yuan (17 percent), the euro (30 percent), and the Russian ruble (7 percent).

The dollar's reduced role in international trade can mainly be blamed on the ongoing trade war between the US and China. Relations between the two countries have deteriorated even further in 2020, after US politicians accused Beijing of hiding the severity of Covid-19 and President Donald Trump called disease the "China Virus" and "Kung Flu." https://www.rt.com/russia/496570-russia-china-dedollarisation-process/

UAE becomes first Arab country to harness nuclear power following successful reactor launch

The United Arab Emirates has become the first nation in the Arab world to produce nuclear energy, following the start-up of a newly constructed plant in Abu Dhabi.

The Barakah Nuclear Power Plant’s Unit 1 is now using nuclear fuel to produce energy after the facility successfully executed initial tests on Saturday.

Three other reactors are still under construction and the plant still needs to be connected to the country’s power grid, local media reported. https://www.rt.com/news/496835-uae-nuclear-energy-first-arab-world/

News Corp: Rupert Murdoch's son James quits company

James Murdoch, the younger son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, has resigned from the board of News Corporation citing "disagreements over editorial content".

In a filing to US regulators, he said he also disagreed with some "strategic decisions" made by the company.

The exact nature of the disagreements was not detailed.

But Mr Murdoch has previously criticised News Corp outlets, which include the Wall Street Journal, for climate change coverage.

In recent years James Murdoch has also found himself at odds - politically - with his father, BBC North America correspondent David Willis says.

Whilst Murdoch Senior has pledged support for Donald Trump, James Murdoch has reportedly contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to the campaign of Mr Trump's Democratic rival, Joe Biden. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-53617966

80 Dumping the dollar: Record gold price justifies Moscow's choice to abandon greenback & bet on precious metal

Washington's weaponization of the dollar in an effort to crush Russia’s economy seems to be backfiring. The policy encouraged Moscow to pivot to gold and this week the cost of an ounce broke the $2,000 barrier for the first time.

Russia's choice to move away from storing Benjamins as a reserve currency and to gradually replace the dollar in trade was accompanied by a relentless gold-buying spree. The moves were a reaction to US sanctions, the primary tool of America's economic war on the world's largest country.

On Thursday, an ounce of the precious metal traded at a maximum of $2,005.4 on the US COMEX Commodity Exchange. The growth in gold’s popularity is directly linked to global economic uncertainty due to the Covid-19 pandemic, with it being seen as protection against inflation as the US federal reserve money-printers work overtime.

The price might still be on its way up, with Goldman Sachs analysts predicting a rise to $2,300 within 12 months. https://www.rt.com/russia/496782-moscow-choose-gold-abandon-dollar/

UK government advisers issue stark warning: Avoid local lockdowns or unleash total anarchy

As Britain imposes local lockdowns, a newly released study suggests the UK is a hair’s breadth away from devastating riots.

However, the government was warned about this a long time ago, and apparently chose to proceed anyway.

When the British government’s policing and security advisers met in London on July 2, their tone was serious. Racial and societal tensions, they warned, had reached boiling point in the UK, and the re- imposition of coronavirus lockdown measures could ignite this powder keg and trigger riots unseen since the mass unrest of 2011.

If this happens, the advisers warned, police would be unable to contain the chaos, and “military support” would be required to restore order. https://www.rt.com/uk/496857-coronavirus-lockdowns-riots-uk/

18 officers injured in clashes with Berlin anti-mask protesters (VIDEOS)

A large protest in Berlin against mandatory mask rules and other anti-coronavirus measures ended in clashes and arrests, after police ordered the demonstrators to disperse for refusing to obey social distancing guidelines.

Police estimate up to 20,000 people attended Saturday’s march through the German capital, with some reports putting the figure far higher.

81 Demonstrators, most of them not wearing masks, carried placards with slogans against Covid-19 restrictions, vaccinations, and face “muzzles.” Officers intervened several hours into the protest, claiming that the participants were not adhering to social distancing rules. https://www.rt.com/news/496883-berlin-protesters-coronavirus-arrests-police/

Thousands demand Netanyahu quit over coronavirus, corruption

Rallies against Israeli prime minister the largest seen since 2011 protests against the country's high cost of living.

Thousands of demonstrators have gathered outside the official residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and thronged the streets of central Jerusalem, as weeks of protests against the Israeli leader appeared to be gaining steam.

The demonstration in central Jerusalem, along with smaller gatherings in Tel Aviv, near Netanyahu's beach house in central Israel and at dozens of busy intersections nationwide, was one of the largest turnouts in weeks of protests.

Thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets, calling for Netanyahu to resign, protesting his handling of the country's coronavirus crisis and saying he should not remain in office while on trial for corruption charges.

Though Netanyahu has tried to play down the protests, the twice-a-week gatherings show no signs of slowing. Israeli media estimated at least 10,000 people demonstrated near the official residence in central Jerusalem. Late Saturday, thousands marched through the streets in a noisy but orderly rally. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/08/thousands-demand-netanyahu-quit-coronavirus-handling- 200802000808674.html

UK lobbies US to support controversial new nuclear warheads

The UK has been lobbying the US Congress in support of a controversial new warhead for Trident missiles, claiming it is critical for “the future of Nato as a nuclear alliance”.

A letter from Britain’s defence secretary, Ben Wallace, seen by the Guardian, urged Congress to support initial spending on the warhead, the W93.

The letter, sent in April but not previously reported, draws the UK into a US political debate, pitting the Trump administration against many Democrats and arms control groups over whether the the $14bn W93 programme is necessary. The US navy already has two warheads to choose from for its submarine-launched Trident missiles.

The close cooperation on the W93 casts further doubt on the genuine independence of the UK deterrent – parliament first heard about it when US officials accidentally disclosed Britain’s involvement in February – and the commitment of both countries to disarmament. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/01/uk-trident-missile-warhead-w93-us-lobby

82 ‘We Will Coup Whoever We Want’: Elon Musk and the Overthrow of Democracy in Bolivia

On July 24, 2020, Tesla’s Elon Musk wrote on Twitter that a second U.S. “government stimulus package is not in the best interests of the people.”

Someone responded to Musk soon after, “You know what wasn’t in the best interest of people?

The U.S. government organizing a coup against Evo Morales in Bolivia so you could obtain the lithium there

” Musk then wrote: “We will coup whoever we want! Deal with it.”

Musk refers here to the coup against President Evo Morales Ayma, who was removed illegally from his office in November 2019.

Morales had just won an election for a term that was to have begun in January 2020.

Even if there was a challenge against that election, Morales’ term should rightfully have continued through November and December of 2019.

Instead, the Bolivian military, at the behest of Bolivia’s far right and the United States government, threatened Morales; Morales went into exile in Mexico and is now in Argentina. https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/07/29/we-will-coup-whoever-we-want-elon-musk-and-the- overthrow-of-democracy-in-bolivia/

Can nuclear war be morally justified?

Was the decision to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki morally wrong? 75 years later, the question is more difficult to answer than first appears.

In the early 1980s, the Harvard law professor Robert Fisher proposed a new, gruesome way that nations might deal with the decision to launch nuclear attacks. It involved a butcher’s knife and the president of the United States.

Writing in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, Fisher suggested that instead of a briefcase containing the nuclear launch codes, the means to launch a bomb should instead be carried in a capsule embedded near the heart of a volunteer.

That person would carry a heavy blade with them everywhere the president went. Before authorising a missile launch, the commander-in-chief would first have to personally kill that one person, gouging out their heart to retrieve the codes.

When Fisher made this proposal to friends at the Pentagon, they were aghast, arguing out that this act would distort the president’s judgement. But to Fisher, that was the point. Before killing thousands, the leader must first “look at someone and realise what death is – what an innocent death is. Blood on the White House carpet”.

Killing a person with a butcher’s knife may be a morally repugnant act, yet in the realm of geopolitics, past leaders have justified their atomic acts as a political or military necessity. Following the nuclear

83 bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki – 75 years ago this month – the decision was justified only in terms of its outcome, not its morality. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200804-can-nuclear-war-ever-be-morally-justified

John Pilger: Another Hiroshima is coming – unless we stop it now

Journalist, film-maker and author, John Pilger is one of two to win British journalism’s highest award twice. For his documentary films, he has won an Emmy and a British Academy Award, a BAFTA. Among numerous other awards, he has won a Royal Television Society Best Documentary Award. His epic 1979 Cambodia Year Zero is ranked by the British Film Institute as one of the ten most important documentaries of the 20th century

When I first went to Hiroshima in 1967, the shadow on the steps was still there. It was an almost perfect impression of a human being at ease: legs splayed, back bent, one hand by her side as she sat waiting for a bank to open.

At a quarter past eight on the morning of August 6, 1945, she and her silhouette were burned into the granite.

"No radioactivity in Hiroshima ruin" said The New York Times front page on 13 September, 1945, a classic of planted disinformation. "General Farrell," reported William L. Lawrence, "denied categorically that [the atomic bomb] produced a dangerous, lingering radioactivity." Lawrence received the Pulitzer Prize.

During the 75 years since Hiroshima, the most enduring lie is that the atomic bomb was dropped to end the war in the Pacific and to save lives. "Even without the atomic bombing attacks," concluded the United States Strategic Bombing Survey of 1946, "air supremacy over Japan could have exerted sufficient pressure to bring about unconditional surrender and obviate the need for invasion.

The US Secretary of War, Henry Stimson, told President Truman he was "fearful" that the US Air Force would have Japan so "bombed out" that the new weapon would not be able "to show its strength." Stimson later admitted that "no effort was made, and none was seriously considered, to achieve surrender merely in order not to have to use the [atomic] bomb".

Stimson's foreign policy colleagues – looking ahead to the post-war era they were then shaping "in our image," as Cold War planner George Kennan famously put it – made clear they were eager "to browbeat the Russians with the [atomic] bomb held rather ostentatiously on our hip."

Today, an unprecedented campaign of propaganda is shooing us all off like rabbits. We are not meant to question the daily torrent of anti-Chinese rhetoric, which is rapidly overtaking the torrent of anti- Russia rhetoric. Anything Chinese is bad, anathema, a threat: Wuhan .... Huawei. How confusing it is when "our" most reviled leader says so.

The current phase of this campaign began not with Trump but with Barack Obama, who in 2011 flew to Australia to declare the greatest build-up of US naval forces in the Asia-Pacific region since World War Two.

84 Suddenly, China was a "threat." This was nonsense, of course. What was threatened was America's unchallenged psychopathic view of itself as the richest, the most successful, the most "indispensable" nation.

The target is China. Today, more than 400 American military bases almost encircle China with missiles, bombers, warships and nuclear weapons. From Australia north through the Pacific to South-East Asia, Japan and Korea and across Eurasia to Afghanistan and India, the bases form, as one US strategist told me, "the perfect noose."

A study by the RAND Corporation – which, since Vietnam, has planned America’s wars – is entitled War with China: Thinking Through the Unthinkable.

Commissioned by the US Army, the authors evoke the infamous catch cry of its chief Cold War strategist, Herman Kahn – "thinking the unthinkable." Kahn’s book, On Thermonuclear War, elaborated a plan for a "winnable" nuclear war. https://www.rt.com/op-ed/497096-john-pilger-hiroshima-china-us/

The US bombed Japan in 1945 to demonstrate its power to the USSR. Intimidation, NOT deterrence was, is and always will be the goal

Scott Ritter is a former US Marine Corps intelligence officer and author of 'SCORPION KING: America's Suicidal Embrace of Nuclear Weapons from FDR to Trump.' He served in the Soviet Union as an inspector implementing the INF Treaty, in General Schwarzkopf’s staff during the Gulf War, and from 1991-1998 as a UN weapons inspector.

As the world reflects on the decision by the US to drop two atomic bombs on Japan at the end of World War II, the reality is that the US nuclear enterprise remains the greatest threat to world peace.

American historians have struggled with the morality of dropping weapons that could destroy a city and its population in one mighty blast. Over the years, a consensus has been reached that justifies the horror of using the atomic bomb on the grounds that it helped shorten the war with Japan and, in doing so, saved hundreds of thousands of American lives that would have been lost in any invasion of the main Japanese islands, along with the lives of millions of Japanese, who would have died defending their homeland.

The problem with this narrative is that it provides an inaccurate picture of what really transpired. Certainly, the math regarding expected casualties in the case of an invasion of Japan is factually accurate, as far as estimates go. However, the reality was that Japan was on the cusp of surrendering and, had the US offered conditional terms replicating the post-war arrangement eventually reached by General MacArthur (the retention of the Imperial family, and a modicum of Japanese self-governance), there is every reason to believe that the Japanese would have surrendered without the US resorting to a costly campaign of conquest.

The fact of the matter is Truman’s inner circle, including Secretary of State James Byrnes and Secretary of War Henry Stimson, were in favor of dropping the atomic bomb on Japanese cities not so much because it would shorten the current war with Japan, but primarily because it would help deter a future war with the Soviet Union.

85 Byrnes believed that “Russia might be more manageable” in a post-war reality shaped not by the theoretical possibility of an atomic bomb, but the demonstrated destructive capacity of the new weapon. As General Leslie Groves, the military director of the Manhattan Project that produced the two American bombs, relayed to the scientists involved, “the whole purpose of this project was to subdue the Russians.” https://www.rt.com/op-ed/497209-intimidation-deterrence-nuclear-bombing-japan/

War with ChinaThinking Through the Unthinkable

In the United States—as, evidently, in China—systematic analy-sis of war has been the province of war planners.

This is not good enough, for war planners are concerned mainly with how to gain mili-tary advantage, not how to avoid economic and political damage.

Yet the consequences of war could go far beyond military success and fail-ure: The world economy could be rocked, and international order, such as it is, could be shattered. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1100/RR1140/RAND_RR1140.pdf

Saudi crown prince accused of sending hit squad to Canada

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been accused of sending a hit-squad to Canada in order to kill a former Saudi intelligence official.

The failed plan to kill Saad al-Jabri was soon after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey, court documents filed in the US allege.

Mr Jabri, a veteran of the government of Saudi Arabia, fled into exile three years ago.

He has been under private security protection in Toronto since.

The alleged plot failed after Canadian border agents became suspicious of the hit-squad as they attempted to enter the country at Toronto's Pearson International Airport, court documents say.

The 106-page unproven complaint, which was filed in Washington DC, accuses the crown prince of attempting to murder Mr Jabri in order to silence him.

Mr Jabri says this is down to him possessing "damning information". The document says this includes alleged corruption and overseeing a team of personal mercenaries labelled the Tiger Squad.

Members of the Tiger Squad were involved in the murder of dissident journalist Khashoggi, who was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018, it says. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-53677869

86 “The World’s Most Dangerous Man”: Mary Trump on Her Uncle, President Trump, & Why He Must Be Ousted - VIDEO

“In my family, being kind was considered being weak,” says Mary Trump, President Trump’s niece, a clinical psychologist and author of “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man.”

We spend the hour with Mary Trump, discussing her book the president doesn’t want people to read, in which she describes his upbringing in a dysfunctional family that fostered his greed, cruelty and racist and sexist behaviors — which he is now inflicting on the world.

Mary Trump also discusses the president’s mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic, his long history of lies and misrepresentations, and the dangers of his reelection.

“I believe that this country is on the knife’s edge, and I don’t want anybody going to cast their vote in November being able to claim that they just don’t know who they’re voting for,” she says. https://www.democracynow.org/2020/8/7/mary_trump_how_dysfunctional_family_shaped

Mary Trump interview starts at 17 minutes 50 seconds https://publish.dvlabs.com/democracynow/360/dn2020-0807.mp4

Venezuela court jails two U.S. ex-soldiers for 20 years after failed incursion

CARACAS (Reuters) - A Venezuelan court sentenced two former U.S. soldiers to 20 years in prison for their role in a failed incursion aimed at ousting President Nicolas Maduro in early May, chief prosecutor Tarek Saab said late on Friday.

Former Green Berets Luke Denman, 34, and Airan Berry, 41, admitted to participating in the May 4 operation, Saab wrote on his Twitter account.

“Said gentlemen ADMITTED to having committed the crimes,” he wrote, adding that the trials were ongoing for dozens of others captured.

Denman and Berry were charged with conspiracy, terrorism and illicit weapons trafficking, Saab wrote. Alfonso Medina, a lawyer for the two, said their legal team was not allowed into the courtroom. The two men were not available for comment.

The sea incursion launched from Colombia, known as Operation Gideon, left at least eight dead.

U.S. special forces veteran Jordan Goudreau, who ran Silvercorp USA, a private Florida-based security firm, has claimed responsibility for the raid.

Denman appeared in a video on Venezuelan state TV days after their capture, saying they had been contracted by Silvercorp USA to train 50 to 60 Venezuelans in Colombia, seize control of Caracas’ airport and bring in a plane to fly Maduro to the United States. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-politics/venezuela-court-jails-two-u-s-ex-soldiers-for-20- years-after-failed-incursion-idUSKCN2540N8

87 Statement by NCSC Director William Evanina: Election Threat Update for the American Public

NCSC(National Counterintelligence and Security Center)

• CHINA – We assess that China prefers that President Trump – whom Beijing sees as unpredictable – does not win reelection. China has been expanding its influence efforts ahead of November 2020 to shape the policy environment in the United States, pressure political figures it views as opposed to China’s interests, and deflect and counter criticism of China. • RUSSIA – We assess that Russia is using a range of measures to primarily denigrate former Vice President Biden and what it sees as an anti-Russia “establishment.” This is consistent with Moscow’s public criticism of him when he was Vice President for his role in the Obama Administration’s policies on Ukraine and its support for the anti-Putin opposition inside Russia. • IRAN – We assess that Iran seeks to undermine U.S. democratic institutions, President Trump, and to divide the country in advance of the 2020 elections. Iran’s efforts along these lines probably will focus on on-line influence, such as spreading disinformation on social media and recirculating anti-U.S. content. https://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/item/2139-statement-by-ncsc-director-william- evanina-election-threat-update-for-the-american-public

Statement by NCSC Director William Evanina: Election Threat Update for the American Public NCSC(National Counterintelligence and Security Center)

CHINA – We assess that China prefers that President Trump – whom Beijing sees as unpredictable – does not win reelection. China has been expanding its influence efforts ahead of November 2020 to shape the policy environment in the United States, pressure political figures it views as opposed to China’s interests, and deflect and counter criticism of China.

RUSSIA – We assess that Russia is using a range of measures to primarily denigrate former Vice President Biden and what it sees as an anti-Russia “establishment.” This is consistent with Moscow’s public criticism of him when he was Vice President for his role in the Obama Administration’s policies on Ukraine and its support for the anti-Putin opposition inside Russia.

IRAN – We assess that Iran seeks to undermine U.S. democratic institutions, President Trump, and to divide the country in advance of the 2020 elections. Iran’s efforts along these lines probably will focus on on-line influence, such as spreading disinformation on social media and recirculating anti-U.S. content. https://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/item/2139-statement-by-ncsc-director-william- evanina-election-threat-update-for-the-american-public

Physicists: 90% Chance of Human Society Collapsing Within Decades

Deforestation coupled with the rampant destruction of natural resources will soon have devastating effects on the future of society as we know it, according to two theoretical physicists who study complex systems and have concluded that greed has put us on a path to irreversible collapse within the next two to four decades, as VICE reported.

88 The research by the two physicists, one from Chile and the other from the UK, was published last week in Nature Scientific Reports.

The researchers used advance statistical modeling to look at how a growing human population can cope with the loss of resources, mainly due to deforestation.

After crunching the numbers, the scientists came up with a fairly bleak assessment of society's chance of surviving the climate crisis.

"Based on the current resource consumption rates and best estimate of technological rate growth our study shows that we have very low probability, less than 10 percent in most optimistic estimate, to survive without facing a catastrophic collapse," the authors write in the study abstract https://www.ecowatch.com/human-society-collapse-deforestation-2646869167.html

Deforestation and world population sustainability: a quantitative analysis

Abstract In this paper we afford a quantitative analysis of the sustainability of current world population growth in relation to the parallel deforestation process adopting a statistical point of view.

We consider a simplified model based on a stochastic growth process driven by a continuous time random walk, which depicts the technological evolution of human kind, in conjunction with a deterministic generalised logistic model for humans-forest interaction and we evaluate the probability of avoiding the self-destruction of our civilisation.

Based on the current resource consumption rates and best estimate of technological rate growth our study shows that we have very low probability, less than 10% in most optimistic estimate, to survive without facing a catastrophic collapse. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-63657-6

Hiroshima and Nagasaki: 75th anniversary of atomic bombings - Pictures

It is 75 years since the US dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August, leading to the end of World War Two.

The recorded death tolls are estimates, but it is thought that about 140,000 of Hiroshima's 350,000 population were killed in the blast, and that at least 74,000 people died in Nagasaki.

The nuclear radiation released by the bombs caused thousands more people to die from radiation sickness in the weeks, months and years that followed.

Those who survived the bombings are known as "hibakusha". Survivors faced a horrifying aftermath in the cities, including psychological trauma. https://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-53648572

89 U.N. Security Council Rejects U.S. Bid to Extend Conventional-Arms Embargo on Iran

The United Nations Security Council on Friday rejected a U.S. proposal to extend a five-year ban on the sale of conventional weapons to Iran, leaving Washington isolated on an issue that once drew a broad consensus.

The resolution had been widely expected to fail, given opposition from China and Russia and other states. Still, the result serves as a rebuke to U.S. arguments that Washington had built broad-based support for its position through diplomacy. Trump administration officials have touted consensus among Israel and the Gulf Arab states on extending the conventional-arms embargo, but couldn’t secure sufficient backing in the council.

In a statement issued before the Security Council’s announcement, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the body had failed in its mission of “maintaining international peace and security.”

The top U.S. diplomat called the result inexcusable and pledged to prevent Iran from buying or selling conventional weapons. https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-n-security-council-rejects-u-s-bid-to-extend-conventional-arms-embargo- on-iran-11597445073

Iran arms embargo: US has 'never been so isolated'

Iran has hailed the UN Security Council vote that rejected a US bid to extend an arms embargo on the Islamic republic, saying Washington has "never been so isolated".

In the Security Council vote on Friday, the US got support only from the Dominican Republic for its resolution to indefinitely extend the arms embargo on Iran, leaving it far short of the minimum nine "yes" votes required for adoption.

Eleven members on the 15-member body, including France, Germany and the United Kingdom, abstained. "In the 75 years of United Nations history, America has never been so isolated," foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi tweeted. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/08/iran-arms-embargo-isolated-200815061617952.html

American Airlines cuts 19,000 jobs amid travel slump

The world's biggest airline said the cuts, on top of voluntary departures and leave, would leave its workforce 30% smaller than it was in March.

Other carriers have warned of similarly large cuts amid a slump in air travel. United last month said as many as 36,000 jobs were at risk.

Germany's Lufthansa has warned it may cut 22,000 positions, while British Airways is slashing 12,000 jobs. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-53910936

90 Pandemic profiteer: Jeff Bezos’ fortune skyrockets to nearly $200 BILLION

Amazon stock’s surge during the coronavirus pandemic is making its boss Jeff Bezos richer every week. He is now closer than ever to the historic title of first person to be worth $200 billion.

Amazon stock gained about 1.2 percent to close at $3,346 per share on Tuesday, and continued to climb higher after hours.

The rally pushed Bezos’ fortune higher again – he gained around $2.2 billion from the 11 percent stake he owns, and his net worth now stands at a record $199.7 billion, according to Forbes’ calculations. https://www.rt.com/business/499061-bezos-new-wealth-record/

Trump praised the supporters of QAnon, a conspiracy theory the FBI says is a domestic terrorism threat

President Donald Trump on Wednesday praised the supporters of QAnon, a convoluted, pro-Trump conspiracy theory, and suggested he appreciates their support of his candidacy.

Speaking during a press conference at the White House, Trump courted the support of those who put stock in the conspiracy theory, saying, “I heard that these are people that love our country.”

An FBI bulletin last May warned that conspiracy theory-driven extremists have become a domestic terrorism threat. The bulletin specifically mentioned QAnon. Earlier last year, the Southern Poverty Law Center warned that the movement is becoming increasingly popular with anti-government extremists. https://www.chicagotribune.com/nation-world/ct-nw-trump-qanon-conspiracy-theory-20200820- m6oeff7wojf77dyeupvl7u6xbu-story.html

FBI Labels Fringe Conspiracy Theories as Domestic Terrorism Threat

The Federal Bureau of Investigation believes conspiracy theories like QAnon and Pizzagate pose a domestic-terrorism threat, Yahoo News reports.

A previously unpublished FBI bulletin from May 30 says that for the first time the agency is labelling “conspiracy theory-driven domestic extremists” as a growing threat. https://www.thedailybeast.com/fbi-warns-against-qanon-pizzagate-in-report-highlighting-dangers-of- fringe-conspiracy-theories

91 Other News – Covid-19

Inside Trump’s Failure: The Rush to Abandon Leadership Role on the Virus

The roots of the nation’s current inability to control the pandemic can be traced to mid-April, when the White House embraced overly rosy projections to proclaim victory and move on.

WASHINGTON — Each morning at 8 as the coronavirus crisis was raging in April, Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, convened a small group of aides to steer the administration through what had become a public health, economic and political disaster.

Seated around Mr. Meadows’s conference table and on a couch in his office down the hall from the Oval Office, they saw their immediate role as practical problem solvers.

Produce more ventilators. Find more personal protective equipment. Provide more testing.

But their ultimate goal was to shift responsibility for leading the fight against the pandemic from the White House to the states.

They referred to this as “state authority handoff,” and it was at the heart of what would become at once a catastrophic policy blunder and an attempt to escape blame for a crisis that had engulfed the country — perhaps one of the greatest failures of presidential leadership in generations.

Over a critical period beginning in mid-April, President Trump and his team convinced themselves that the outbreak was fading, that they had given state governments all the resources they needed to contain its remaining “embers” and that it was time to ease up on the lockdown. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/18/us/politics/trump-coronavirus-response-failure-leadership.html

Masks aren’t enough! Fauci says eye protection ‘MIGHT’ BE REQUIRED for ‘perfect’ Covid-proof set

Top US immunologist Dr Anthony Fauci is now saying citizens are not “complete” in protecting themselves from the Covid-19 pandemic unless they go beyond wearing a mask and add in eye protection like goggles, too.

In an interview with Dr Jennifer Ashton, ABC News’ chief medical correspondent, Fauci was asked if we might reach a point where masks are not only mandated, but eye protection as well.

“It might,” he replied, going on to explain that the only way to have “perfect protection” from the virus is by protecting the eyes, as well as the mouth and nose.

“If you have goggles or an eye shield, you should use it,” he said. “It’s not universally recommended, but if you really want to be complete, you should probably use it.” https://www.rt.com/usa/496578-fauci-coronavirus-eye-protection/

92 Johns Hopkins researchers urge US to 'reset' coronavirus approach

Scientists in the United States have urged the government to reset its approach to the coronavirus pandemic, warning that the world's hardest-hit country was "not on course to get control" of an outbreak that has so far killed 150,000 people and infected 4.4 million.

Wednesday's call from researchers at Johns Hopkins University came as the US reported its highest single-day jump in COVID-19 deaths since May, with the states of California, Texas and Florida all setting one-day records for fatalities.

The scientists' policy brief said that while the US had managed to bring down cases in May by implementing stringent stay-at-home orders, the current spike in infections was overwhelming hospitals in many parts of the country and "stressing many sectors of society, from business to education to healthcare". https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/07/johns-hopkins-researchers-urge-reset-coronavirus-approach- 200730091140899.html

Hydroxychloroquine with or without Azithromycin in Mild-to-Moderate Covid-19

New England Journal of Medicine

Conclusions Among patients hospitalized with mild-to-moderate Covid-19, the use of hydroxychloroquine, alone or with azithromycin, did not improve clinical status at 15 days as compared with standard care. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2019014?query=featured_home

Chomsky on Cuba’s “Internationalist” Response to Pandemic & Need to Make Vaccine Globally Accessible

As the world races to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, Noam Chomsky says any successful treatment must be accessible to everyone, and he warns that President Trump’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization will hamper the international body’s efforts to distribute medicine in countries racked by poverty and war.

“There’s at least one country in the world that is showing genuine internationalism, providing medical aid and support for people that need it,” Chomsky says, and that is Cuba. https://www.democracynow.org/2020/7/30/noam_chomsky_international_coronavirus_response_cuba

Okinawans ‘shocked’ & demand transparency after Covid-19 outbreaks at US bases increase Japanese prefecture’s case toll by 40%

Dozens of US troops at two bases on the Japanese island of Okinawa have been confirmed infected with the coronavirus. Local authorities demanded transparency from the Pentagon, and an adequate response to the massive outbreak.

93 Rigorous contact tracing and isolation of those infected had so far allowed the island prefecture to keep the number of confirmed cases at about 150, with only seven fatalities. Overall, as of July 10, Japan reported about 20,700 cases and nearly 1,000 deaths.

Okinawa Governor Tamaki Denny said local authorities were therefore “shocked by what we were told” by the Pentagon about the scale of the latest outbreaks.

We have strong doubt about measures [taken by the US troops] to prevent the spread of the virus.

The US military demanded that the exact numbers not be publicly released, so Tamaki could only reveal that a “few dozen” new cases had been detected. Local media, however, reported there were at least 61 infections – including 23 at Camp Hansen and 38 at the US Marine Corps Futenma Air Station, the notorious base at the center of a relocation dispute and protests. https://www.rt.com/news/494506-okinawa-us-marines-coronavirus-outbreak/

Coronavirus: Victoria declares state of disaster after spike in cases

The Australian state of Victoria has declared a state of disaster and imposed new lockdown measures after a surge in coronavirus infections.

Under the new rules, which came into effect at 18:00 (08:00 GMT), residents of the state capital Melbourne are subject to a night-time curfew.

There will be further restrictions on residents' ability to leave home.

Australia has been more successful than many other countries in tackling Covid-19, but cases are rising in Victoria.

The state - Australia's second most populous state - now accounts for many of the country's new infections in recent weeks, prompting the return of lockdown restrictions in early July.

But on Sunday Premier Daniel Andrews said the measures were working but too slowly. "We must go harder. It's the only way we'll get to the other side of this," he told reporters.

The new rules will remain in place until at least 13 September, Mr Andrews added. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-53627038

Coronavirus: Russia plans mass vaccination campaign in October - 1 August 2020

Russian media quoted Mikhail Murashko as saying that doctors and teachers would be the first to receive the vaccine.

Reuters, citing anonymous sources, said Russia's first potential vaccine would be approved by regulators this month.

However, some experts are concerned at Russia's fast-track approach.

94 On Friday, the leading infectious disease expert in the US, Dr Anthony Fauci, said he hoped that Russia - and China - were "actually testing the vaccine" before administering them to anyone. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53621708

China Coronavirus Vaccine By CanSino Seems To Be Working

China’s attempt at making a vaccine to fight the SARS-CoV-2, better known as Covid-19, is moving along nicely with phase two trials showing an immune response in the majority of patients.

A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, trial of the vaccine known as Ad5 was conducted in the coronavirus’ home town of Wuhan, China. The vaccine was developed by CanSino Biologics. The company’s shares rose 1.74% on Tuesday and are up 183% year-to-date.

Healthy adults aged 18 years or older and who were SARS-CoV-2 infection-free were eligible to participate in the test. Some 603 volunteers were randomly assigned to receive either the vaccine in different doses, or a placebo. They did not know which one they were getting. The injections were given in mid-April.

“The phase 2 trial adds further evidence on safety and immunogenicity in a large population than the phase 1 trial,” Professor Fengcai Zhu from Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention told the People’s Daily on Tuesday. Phase three is underway. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2020/07/21/china-coronavirus-vaccine-by-cansino-seems-to- be-working/#54bfb8cd5161

The Lancet - Immunogenicity and safety of a recombinant adenovirus type-5-vectored COVID-19 vaccine in healthy adults aged 18 years or older: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 2 trial https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31605-6/fulltext

Special Report: COVID opens new doors for China's gene giant

SYDNEY (Reuters) - As countries scramble to test for the novel coronavirus, a Chinese company has become a go-to name around the world.

BGI Group, described in one 2015 study as “Goliath” in the fast-growing field of genomics research, is using an opening created by the pandemic to expand its footprint globally.

In the past six months, it says it has sold 35 million rapid COVID-19 testing kits to 180 countries and built 58 labs in 18 countries.

Some of the equipment has been donated by BGI’s philanthropic arm, promoted by China’s embassies in an extension of China’s virus diplomacy.

95 But as well as test kits, the company is distributing gene-sequencing technology that U.S. security officials say could threaten national security. This is a sensitive area globally. Sequencers are used to analyse genetic material, and can unlock powerful personal information.

In science journals and online, BGI is calling on international health researchers to send in virus data generated on its equipment, as well as patient samples that have tested positive for COVID-19, to be shared publicly via China’s government-funded National GeneBank.

As BGI’s foothold in the gene-sequencing industry grows, a senior U.S. administration official told Reuters on condition of anonymity, so does the risk China could harvest genetic information from populations around the world.

Reuters found no evidence that BGI is violating patient privacy protections where these apply. Responding to questions from the news agency, BGI said it is not owned by the Chinese government. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-bgi-specialreport/special-report-covid-opens- new-doors-for-chinas-gene-giant-idUSKCN2511CE

Doctors sound alarm as deadly tick-borne virus re-emerges in China, kills 7 so far

As if Covid-19 wasn’t enough, Chinese doctors are warning that the country’s population is threatened by yet another virus. The infection is passed by tick bites, but could also be transmitted between humans, experts say.

The SFTS virus has already infected around 60 people this year in China’s eastern Jiangsu and Anhui Provinces, and seven of them have died.

Symptoms of the potentially deadly infection include fever, cough, fatigue, nausea, and vomiting, as well as a decline in white blood cells.

SFTS isn’t exactly new, as the first cases of the tick-borne disease were reported in rural parts of the Hubei and Henan provinces back in 2009, and Chinese virologists isolated its pathogen in 2011.

The current case fatality rate of the re-emerging disease is between approximately 16 and 30 percent, according to the China Information System for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.rt.com/news/497471-china-virus-tick-sfts/

SFTS Virus

Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is an emerging infectious disease caused by Dabie bandavirus also known as the SFTS virus, first reported between late March and mid-July 2009 in rural areas of Hubei and Henan provinces in Central China. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_fever_with_thrombocytopenia_syndrome

96 The United States leads in coronavirus cases, but not pandemic response Science’s COVID-19 reporting is supported by the Pulitzer Center.

Where’s CDC? Some public health experts are dismayed that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which has prominently provided national leadership in past outbreaks, hasn’t been more visible. “In every other public health emergency this country has faced since the CDC was created 75 years ago, it has played a central role,” says Thomas Frieden, a former director of the agency under Obama.

“Not having a central role here is like fighting with one hand tied behind your back.

I’ll feel much safer if and when it becomes clear that [CDC] is playing a key role in developing policy options based on science and communicating the reasons for those policy decisions to the public,” Frieden says. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/04/united-states-leads-coronavirus-cases-not-pandemic- response

American Academy of Pediactrics 97 thousand covid tests in children

More than 97,000 children in the U.S. tested positive for COVID-19 in the last two weeks of July, report says

The report, published by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association, said in those two weeks, there was a 40% increase in child cases across the states and cities that were studied.

The age range for children differed by state, with some defining children as only those up to age 14 and one state -- Alabama -- pushing the limit to 24. https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/more-than-97-000-children-in-the-u-s-tested-positive-for- covid-19-in-the-last-two-weeks-of-july-report-says-1.5057843

Children and COVID-19: State Data Report

Fig 2. Cumulative Number of Child COVID-19 Cases: 7/30/20 • 338,982 total child COVID-19 cases (cumulative) • Six states with 15,000+ cumulative child cases • Half of states reported 5,000+ child cases • Ten states reported fewer than 1,000 child cases https://downloads.aap.org/AAP/PDF/AAP%20and%20CHA%20-%20Children%20and%20COVID- 19%20State%20Data%20Report%207.30.20%20FINAL.pdf

97 Putin says Russia’s Health Ministry has approved world’s FIRST Covid-19 vaccine – his own daughter has been vaccinated

Vladimir Putin announced on Tuesday morning that Russia has registered the world's first vaccine against coronavirus. He says the dose is effective in forming immunity against the deadly pathogen which has spread globally.

Putin insisted that vaccination in Russia should only be carried out on a voluntary basis, with nobody forced to accept immunization. He also revealed that one of his daughters has already been vaccinated.

"I know that it works rather effectively, forms a stable immunity, and, I repeat, it passed all the necessary inspections," the President added.

Putin asked Health Minister Mikhail Murashko to provide more detailed information about the plans for immunization. He said it is hoped the Russian vaccine will go into general circulation by January, but in the meantime medical workers and teachers will be given priority.

"We will begin the stage-by-stage civilian use of the vaccine. First and foremost, we would like to offer vaccination to those who come into contact with infected persons at work. These are medical workers. And also those who are responsible for children’s health - teachers," the minister said.

Last week, the Health Minister had stated that initial clinical trials of the vaccine developed by the Gamelei Research Center in Moscow had been completed.

“Why are all corporations following the rules, but Russian ones aren’t? The rules for conducting clinical trials are written in blood. They can’t be violated,” ACTO Executive Director Svetlana Zavidova told the American news outlet. “This is a Pandora’s Box and we don’t know what will happen to people injected with an unproven vaccine.” https://www.rt.com/russia/497671-putin-covid-19-vaccine-first/

Number of children infected with COVID-19 is on the rise, CDC says

The number of children infected with the coronavirus is on the rise, according to alarming new data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Kids now comprise more than 7% of all COVID-19 cases in the country and those statistics have been “steadily increasing” from March to July, CNN reported Saturday.

“Recent evidence suggests that children likely have the same or higher viral loads in their nasopharynx compared with adults and that children can spread the virus effectively in households and camp settings,” the CDC said.

The number of children being hospitalized is also increasing, officials said. Among those hospitalized, one in three children are admitted to intensive care, the same rate as adults. https://nypost.com/2020/08/15/number-of-children-infected-with-covid-19-is-on-the-rise-cdc/

98 There has been a 90% increase in Covid-19 cases in US children in the last four weeks, report says

There has been a 90% increase in the number of Covid-19 cases among children in the United States over the last four weeks, according to a new analysis by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association that will be updated weekly.

As the nation focuses on safety issues around going back to school during the pandemic, a new report found a sharp increase in the number of Covid-19 cases among children in the United States.

Children easily spread virus While some US leaders -- including President Trump -- have said the virus doesn't pose a large risk to children, one recent study suggests older children can transmit the virus just as much as adults.

Another study said children younger than 5 carry a higher viral load than adults, raising even more questions about their role in transmission.

"Children ages zero to five can be "highly infectious to other people.

It turns out they have a thousand times more virus in their nose than you need to infect, so they're very, very contagious," said William Haseltine, a former professor at Harvard Medical School during an interview Monday on CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/11/health/covid-19-children-cases-rising-wellness/index.html

Number of children infected with COVID-19 is on the rise, CDC says

The number of children infected with the coronavirus is on the rise, according to alarming new data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Kids now comprise more than 7% of all COVID-19 cases in the country and those statistics have been “steadily increasing” from March to July, CNN reported Saturday.

There has been a 90% increase in Covid-19 cases in US children in the last four weeks, report says

As the nation focuses on safety issues around going back to school during the pandemic, a new report found a sharp increase in the number of Covid-19 cases among children in the United States.

99 Children easily spread virus While some US leaders -- including President Trump -- have said the virus doesn't pose a large risk to children, one recent study suggests older children can transmit the virus just as much as adults.

Another study said children younger than 5 carry a higher viral load than adults, raising even more questions about their role in transmission.

"Children ages zero to five can be "highly infectious to other people.

Work on Ebola and MERS helped Russia create Covid-19 vaccine in just 5 months – top official behind Sputnik V to RT

Valuable experience from working on vaccines for Ebola and MERS made it possible to roll out a drug against the novel coronavirus a lot quicker than many expected, the head of the research center behind Sputnik V told RT.

Although the vaccine was created in just five months, it “wasn’t made from scratch,” Alexander Gintsburg, the head of the Moscow-based Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, told RT.

“A whole generation of biotechnicians, virologist, immunologists… have been for more than 20 years developing the technology that was used to create this vaccine along with at least six other drugs,” Gintsburg explained.

He added that the work on the Ebola vaccine GamEvac-Combi several years ago was particularly helpful is determining things like the composition of the drug and immunization doses.

On Saturday, health officials announced the start of production of the Gam-COVID-Vak vaccine, dubbed Sputnik V, after the drug was registered by Russia's health regulator. The news prompted questions if development of the vaccine was rushed, and if it is safe to distribute it before Phase III trials are complete.

Gintsburg responded to these concerns by saying that Sputnik V was developed in strict accordance with the country’s existing regulations. Russian law allowed shortening the development process due to the Covid-19 emergency. However, none of the safety procedures were sacrificed “in any way,” the researcher stated.

"Overall, more than 3,500 people have been inoculated with the vaccine. They showed no negative effects, apart from those that typically occur during any vaccination, like having a mild fever… that is relieved by a Paracetamol pill." https://www.rt.com/russia/498057-vaccine-ebola-mers-covid-19/

100 Fighting Russia has become an existential necessity for NATO, if tensions are reduced alliance has no purpose – Russia FM Lavrov

Confrontation with Russia has become the sole reason for NATO’s existence, and this encourages instability in Europe, creating artificial dividing lines on the continent. That's according to Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov.

The veteran diplomat told the Moscow daily Trud that everyone knows there are no real threats to security in Europe but that NATO needs to invent them in order to keep itself relevant. Lavrov also drew attention to the fact that Russia has repeatedly proposed measures to reduce tensions and reduce the risk of incidents on the continent.

“Now, just like during the Cold War, fighting Russia on all fronts, including information and propaganda, has become the alliance’s reason for existence,” he explained. “NATO has deployed extensive resources on the eastern flank, near our borders, including conducting exercises and improving military infrastructure.” https://www.rt.com/russia/498693-nato-fighting-russia-necessity/

First Hurricane Laura, now a CHEMICAL FIRE: Louisiana towns told to stay indoors, turn off air conditioning (VIDEOS)

Residents of an area just west of Lake Charles, Louisiana have been ordered to shelter in place, close all windows and turn off air conditioning, due to a fire at a chemical plant in the wake of Hurricane Laura.

Governor John Bel Edwards himself tweeted at the residents of Westlake, Moss Bluff and Sulphur to “shelter in place, close your windows and doors and TURN OFF YOUR AIR CONDITIONING UNITS.” “There is a chemical fire,” he added. “Stay inside and wait for additional direction from local officials.” https://www.rt.com/usa/499247-chemical-fire-louisiana-hurricane-laura/

FDA allows unproven plasma treatment for COVID-19 after political pressure from the White House

• The US Food and Drug Administration on Sunday announced an emergency authorization for the use of convalescent plasma to treat COVID-19. • The treatment, which has not been proved effective against the coronavirus in clinical trials, involves injecting plasma from people who have recovered into patients still fighting the virus. • The move came after political pressure from President Donald Trump, who claimed without evidence that the FDA was slow-walking approval of the treatment to help Democrats.

The US Food and Drug Administration has issued an emergency authorization for convalescent plasma to treat COVID-19, a move following evidence-free claims from President Donald Trump that a shadowy "deep state" had sought to block the treatment until after this year's election.

Speaking from the White House on Sunday, Trump asserted that the approval marked "a breakthrough" in the treatment of the coronavirus.

101 But, as the Associated Press reported, the FDA maintains that the use of plasma — taken from those who have recovered from the coronavirus and injected into those who are still fighting it — "should not be considered a new standard of care for the treatment of patients with COVID-19."

The emergency authorization is not full approval but reduces the bureaucratic obstacles to deploy the treatment, which has already been tried on some 53,000 patients in the US. It is still unclear, however, whether the treatment actually works. https://www.businessinsider.com/fda-approves-unproven-plasma-treatment-for-covid-19-2020-8

FDA pulls emergency approval for antimalarial drugs touted by Trump as covid-19 treatment

Critics credited the agency for changing course but said the initial decision ‘put political expediency ahead of scientific expertise’

The FDA had authorized the antimalarial drugs in late March for hospitalized covid-19 patients after small studies indicated they might provide a benefit.

But the decision quickly became a scientific flash point, with critics, including former FDA officials, calling the evidence scant and accusing the agency of buckling to political pressure from the White House.

Several argued that what was at stake was larger than just the emergency approvals, in terms of the public’s ability to trust the federal response to the pandemic was based on the best available evidence. https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/06/15/hydroxychloroquine-authorization-revoked- coronavirus/

The CDC has always been an apolitical island. That’s left it defenseless against Trump

WASHINGTON — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the country’s top public health agency, is being kicked around by the White House. And it doesn’t have much power to kick back.

As President Trump spars with nearly all of the federal agencies that have a hand in his administration’s much-maligned response to the coronavirus pandemic, he’s been particularly successful at sidelining the CDC.

There’s good reason. The CDC, far more than other agencies, struggles with a slew of structural and cultural issues that have left the agency ill-equipped to fend off political attacks, or even to build up the political capital that could have helped it navigate the stark spotlight it finds itself in now.

With nearly all of its staff — including its director — based in Atlanta, the agency relies on a tiny D.C. office, currently leaderless, to navigate interactions with the White House or Capitol Hill. https://www.statnews.com/2020/07/13/cdc-apolitical-island-defenseless/

102 Alarm as FDA willing to issue Covid-19 vaccine before stringent safety testing

Public health experts have reacted with alarm to remarks by the head of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that he might give the green light for a US Covid-19 vaccine before the normal clinical trial process had reached its conclusion.

As the US was on the verge of 6m coronavirus cases on Sunday, Stephen Hahn, the FDA commissioner, told the Financial Times in an interview published on Sunday that he was prepared to issue emergency use authorization for a Covid-19 vaccine before the end of Phase 3 human trials that put the drug through stringent testing for safety and efficacy.

He said the standard he would apply instead would be “that the benefit outweighs the risk in a public health emergency”. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/30/fda-covid-19-vaccine-fast-track

Trump, without evidence, accuses FDA of delaying coronavirus vaccine trials and pressures agency chief

(CNN)President Donald Trump on Saturday accused, without providing any evidence, the US Food and Drug Administration of deliberately delaying coronavirus vaccine trials, pressuring the man he had picked to head the agency.

"The deep state, or whoever, over at the FDA is making it very difficult for drug companies to get people in order to test the vaccines and therapeutics," Trump tweeted, continuing to push his unfounded theory that there is a "deep state" embedded within the government bureaucracy working against his reelection.

He accused the agency of delaying a vaccine for the virus until after the fall election, tweeting, "Obviously, they are hoping to delay the answer until after November 3rd. Must focus on speed, and saving lives!" Trump ended his tweet by tagging the Twitter account of FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn, who he nominated last year to take up the role.

Hahn assured Americans earlier this month that the agency "will not cut corners" to approve a vaccine. https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/22/politics/trump-fda-coronavirus-vaccine/index.html

103 Water

Dry spell leaves Mactaquac dam water levels less than ideal

"If we weren't to maintain any flows that come through the dam then essentially you would turn the bottom of the river into a lake, which is certainly not an environment that's desirable for species in the river," Phil Landry, the executive director of generation and engineering at NB Power.

Water levels at the dam west of Fredericton are sitting at 129.8 feet, Landry told Information Morning Fredericton.

Operating levels for the dam are between 128 and 133 feet, and the 133-foot level is preferred.

He said operating at any level lower than 128 feet could cause air to be pulled through the system, causing a vacuum in the pipes flowing to the turbine.

NB Power is also drawing water from Trousers Lake, Long Lake and Serpentine Lake to help get headpond levels up and meet its system requirements. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/mactaquac-dam-water-levels-lower-1.5668514

Glacier loss will cause water shortages in Alberta: UBC study

Four Alberta locations will experience future water shortages as climate change drives glacier retreat in the province, according to a new study from the University of British Columbia.

The four areas most vulnerable are Lake Louise, the towns of Hinton and Rocky Mountain House, and the Bighorn Dam, which is a water source for more than one million Albertans.

These sites all get most of their water from glacier-fed rivers, making them susceptible to unpredictable water levels in the late summer with a lower average supply of water. https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/glacier-loss-will-cause-water-shortages-in-alberta-ubc- study-says/wcm/9661c271-2e2f-4835-a483-42182028f138

104 Fracking and Earthquakes

Powerful 7.8 earthquake hits Alaska isles; tsunami threat over

A powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the Alaska Peninsula late Tuesday, triggering a tsunami warning that sent residents fleeing to higher ground before it was called off without any damaging waves.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the quake struck Tuesday at 10:12 p.m. local time. The quake was centred in waters 105 kilometres south-southeast of Perryville, Alaska at a depth of 28 kilometres, deeper than an earlier estimate.

The quake triggered tsunami warnings for South Alaska, the Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands that was called off early Wednesday, about two hours after the quake.

Hours later, a 5.1-magnitude earthquake struck 220 kilometres off the coast of Tofino, B.C., on the western edge of Vancouver Island. Earthquakes Canada said the tremor, registered at at 4:33 a.m. PT, was not felt and did not create a tsunami risk. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/earthquake-alaska-tsunami-1.5658406

New study detects thousands of earthquakes in B.C. Peace region, most linked to fracking

B.C.'s Peace region is experiencing roughly 1,500 small earthquakes a year and most of them are connected to fracking operations, according to a new study.

Researchers set up 15 earthquake detectors around the region and recorded 5,757 tiny earthquakes that were otherwise undetected between 2017 and 2019.

"The vast majority of them seem to be connected with hydraulic fracking operations," said Alessandro Verdecchia, one of the study's lead researchers, during an interview on CBC's Daybreak North. The research was published in the Seismological Research Letters journal in July.

According to the McGill University geophysicist, the connection was made by pinpointing the precise time and location of seismic events and comparing that data to information from fracking companies about their operations. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/new-study-detects-thousands-of-earthquakes-in-b-c- peace-region-most-linked-to-fracking-1.5668236

105 Oil and Pipelines

Judge orders Enbridge to temporarily shut down Line 5 within 24 hours

Ingham Circuit Judge James Jamo Thursday ordered Enbridge to fully shut down the Line 5 pipeline at the bottom of the Mackinac Straits within 24 hours.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel requested the shutdown after Enbridge reported damage to an anchor support.

Enbridge discovered the damage on an anchor support on the eastern stretch of the dual pipelines, and notified the state on June 18. The pipeline was shut down while the situation was investigated. After the state was informed, Governor Gretchen Whitmer requested Enbridge keep the pipeline shut down until they provided the state with details of how the damage occurred.

Nessel spokesman Ryan Jarvi says there are still a lot of questions about what happened.

“The cause of the damage is still unknown as far as I’m aware, and the risk to the state’s residents and natural resources is just too great to let that continue to be operated without knowing the answers.”

Jarvi says the ultimate goal is to have Line 5 permanently decommissioned. https://www.michiganradio.org/post/judge-orders-enbridge-temporarily-shut-down-line-5-within-24- hours

Enbridge Energy’s Line 5 goes right under Lake Michigan at the Straits of Mackinac. At the Straits, it splits into two pipelines. Both pipelines are 63 years old (they were installed in 1953). https://www.michiganradio.org/post/state-officials-want-details-enbridge-about-condition-oil-pipelines- under-lake-michigan#stream/0

A Three Minute Tour of Line 5 Under the Straits of Mackinac https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q00yEKWwJUs

The Dirty Secret at the Bottom of the Great Lakes: Oil & Water https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ic9NcKtEPGs&t=16s

Oil spill off Philippines coast leads to evacuations

More than 400 people have been evacuated from a coastal village in the central Philippines after some 250,000 litres of oil spilled from a power-generating barge into the sea, an official said on Monday.

“The stench was so bad we have to move people away to two schools and last night there was a request for a third evacuation site,” Jerry Trenas, mayor of Iloilo City, said.

The spill began on Friday when an accidental explosion on the barge blasted a hole in its hull. There were no reported injuries. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/philippines-ioilo-city-oil-spill-evacuation-a9603326.html

106 Yemen: Decaying oil tanker in Red Sea threatens disaster

The UN Security Council is to meet to discuss the threats posed by a rusting oil tanker off Yemen's Red Sea coast.

The FSO Safer is loaded with more than a million barrels of crude oil and experts have warned of an environmental catastrophe if the vessel breaks apart.

The tanker has had virtually no maintenance since the start of Yemen's devastating civil war five years ago.

Houthi rebels agreed on Sunday to let a UN team access the tanker, but there is a dispute over the sale of its oil.

The 45-year-old FSO Safer is anchored about 60km (37 miles) north of the rebel-held port of Hudaydah.

Water recently entered the tanker's engine room, increasing the risk that the vessel would sink or explode. A temporary fix was found, but the UN said it could have led to disaster. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-53417464

107 Making Chevron pay for poisoning people in Ecuador, and the truth about Ghislaine Maxwell

Paul Paz y Mino, the director of Amazon Watch, spoke to Lee with an update on a case that's playing out in Ecuador.

Chevron merged with Texaco after Texaco purposefully poisoned the land and people of the Ecuadorean Amazon while sacking oil resources.

Chevron then fought a court ruling finding them liable for the damages caused by Texaco, and they've managed to use judicial corruption to get the prosecuting lawyer, Steven Donziger, put under house arrest.

Paz y Mino explains the situation and details how you can help get Chevron to clean up the mess Texaco profited from. https://www.rt.com/shows/redacted-tonight-summary/494294-making-chevron-pay-poisoning-people- ecuador/

Insurance company drops Trans Mountain policy, citing climate change

One insurance company has dropped its coverage of the Trans Mountain pipeline, while another is expected to drop its coverage of the project in the near future, according to Stand.earth.

The news comes nearly a year after a petition calling on the pipeline’s largest insurer, Zurich Insurance Group, along with 26 other insurers for the project, to drop Trans Mountain.

That petition was organized by a coalition of 32 groups, including Stand.earth, but Zurich had declined at the time to drop its policy with the pipeline.

Now, as the project gains steam with the courts effectively settled on the approval of the project, Talanx is dropping its insurance policy with the Trans Mountain pipeline, according to Stand.earth.

The Vancouver-based NGO said in a news release it received confirmation from Talanx by email.

“As a matter of principle, Talanx no longer invests in companies that derive more than 25% of their revenue or generate more than 25% of their power from coal. In addition, oil sands have been added to the list of exclusion criteria for both investments and underwriting,” reads the insurer’s email to Stand.earth, quoted in a news release.

Munich Re is also expected to drop its coverage of Trans Mountain, according to Stand.earth, which also received Munich Re’s decision by email: https://www.burnabynow.com/news/insurance-company-drops-trans-mountain-policy-citing-climate- change-1.24164551

108 The Covid-19 era oil crash is different, V-shaped recovery unlikely

As the world economy slowly begins to recover from the Covid-19 crisis, the tremendous impact on the oil industry will see continued struggles with oversupply and permanent damage, meaning a quick recovery is unlikely.

This most recent drop in prices marks the end of the oil market’s supercycle that began in the early 2000s. For countries reliant on oil sales, this latest price collapse has created further political instability.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the demand for oil fell globally; this drop was triggered first by China, which came to a standstill in January. Then in February and March came the lockdowns of other major economies in Europe, the US, and Latin America.

The crash in oil demand brought prices below zero in April 2020, as storage for the commodity ran out, and though this issue was expected to be short-term, it might continue to drag on. https://www.rt.com/business/495100-covid-19-oil-crash-recovery/

VIDEO - US fracking industry just a ‘TOXIC DEBT POOL’ to evaporate free money & cycle it through – RT’s Keiser Report

The Great American Oil Bust started in mid-2014, economists say, when the price of crude-oil benchmark WTI began its long decline from over $100 a barrel to, briefly, minus $37 a barrel in April 2020.

America’s fracking companies never made money, Stacy Herbert says, noting that they didn’t make money at $100 a barrel, and they didn’t make it at a negative price.

The decline didn’t start on a certain day, says Max Keiser. All the fracking companies “were allowed to exist because it was a great way to sell junk bonds on Wall Street to pension funds at above interest rates… But that didn’t mean that any of those companies made any money.”

Max explains that “the fracking industry just became a toxic debt pool to evaporate all that free money they were printing and cycle it through…” https://www.rt.com/business/495371-us-fracking-industry-toxic-debt/

'Very serious threats': US reportedly ramps up pressure on Nord Stream 2 contractors

The US government has made further attempts to force European firms to ditch the Russian-led Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, Welt am Sonntag reported, citing people familiar with talks on the issue.

According to the newspaper, officials from US Department of State, the Treasury Department, as well as the Department of Energy approached European contractors to make sure they fully understand the consequences of staying in the project.

Up to a dozen officials reportedly held at least two online conferences with representatives of the firms in recent days.

109 Speaking in a “friendly” manner, the US side stressed that it wanted to prevent completion of Nord Stream 2, observers of the online talks said. “I believe the threat is very, very serious,” one of them revealed to the German outlet.

Those threats are consistent with comments by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last week, in which he warned that companies involved in the project had better “get out now” or risk facing penalties under Section 232 of the notorious Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).

Apart from Russia's energy major Gazprom, which is developing the project, five European companies have joined. Those are France's Engie, Austria's OMV, the UK-Dutch company Royal Dutch Shell, as well as Wintershall and Germany's Uniper. https://www.rt.com/business/495881-nord-stream-2-us-pressure/

Suncor to pay up to $9 million settlement for air-pollution violations since 2017 - March 6, 2020

Suncor Energy’s oil refinery exceeded the limit for hydrogen cyanide gas emissions set by its state- issued permit in 2018. The refinery is pictured in Commerce City on May 1, 2019.

Colorado public health officials announced the settlement Friday and said it’s an opportunity to “hit the reset button”

Suncor Energy will pay up to $9 million as part of a settlement for multiple air-pollution violations since 2017 at its oil refinery north of Denver, state public health officials announced Friday.

Only a bit more than $4 million of that penalty appears certain, however, because it’s not yet clear how much of the remaining “up to $5 million” will be spent improving the Canadian company’s facilities in the Denver area. https://www.denverpost.com/2020/03/06/suncor-energy-pollution-settlement/

Is peak oil finally here? OPEC prepares for age of falling demand

Oil producers' cartel is reportedly preparing for a permanent reduction in oil demand following coronavirus pandemic.

The coronavirus crisis may have triggered the long-anticipated tipping point in oil demand, and it is focusing minds in the world's biggest crude producers and exporters.

The pandemic drove down daily crude consumption by as much as a third earlier this year, at a time when the rise of electric vehicles and a shift to renewable energy sources were already prompting downward revisions in forecasts for long-term oil demand.

It has prompted some officials in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), oil's most powerful proponent since it was founded 60 years ago, to ask whether this year's dramatic demand destruction heralds a permanent shift and how best to manage supplies if the age of oil is drawing to a close.

110 "People are waking up to a new reality and trying to work their heads around it all," an industry source close to OPEC told the Reuters news agency, adding that the "possibility exists in the minds of all the key players" that consumption might never fully recover.

Reuters interviewed seven current and former officials or other sources involved in OPEC, most of whom asked not to be named. They said this year's crisis that sent oil below $16 a barrel had prompted OPEC and its 13 members to question long-held views on the demand growth outlook. https://www.aljazeera.com/ajimpact/peak-oil-finally-opec-prepares-age-falling-demand- 200728064859370.html

Total writes off $9.3B in oilsands assets, cancels Canadian oil lobby membership

French energy giant Total says it is writing off $9.3-billion worth of oilsands assets in Alberta and cancelling its membership in the Calgary-based Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.

Total now considers oil reserves with high production costs that are to be produced more than 20 years in the future to be "stranded" given its carbon reduction targets and because the resource may not be produced by 2050, the Paris-based company said Wednesday.

It will take writedowns worth $7.3 billion related to its 24.6 per cent ownership in the Fort Hills oilsands mine operated by partner Suncor Energy Inc., the company said, and its 50 per cent stake in the Surmont thermal oilsands project operated by partner ConocoPhillips.

Total will also write off $2 billion in other oilsands assets, it said, along with $1.07 billion on its liquefied natural gas assets in Australia. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/suncor-total-fort-hills-conocophillips-tim-mcmillan-1.5668095

Deutsche Bank Immediately Ends Funding For Oil Sands And Arctic Oil Projects

Deutsche Bank is ending financing for new oil and gas projects in the oil sands and the Arctic region effective immediately, becoming the latest major bank to reconsider lending money to fossil fuel projects in sensitive areas.

Deutsche Bank will no longer finance any new projects in the Arctic or the oil sands and will review all its existing business in the oil and gas industry, the bank said in a statement on Monday.

Deutsche Bank unveiled an updated Fossil Fuels Policy to set new limits on financing business activities that involve oil, gas, or coal, and pledged to end its global business activities in coal mining by 2025 at the latest “in order to help drive the transformation to a sustainable economy.”

“In its current form, the Policy sets us ambitious targets and enables us to help our long-standing clients with their own transformation. It will allow us to play our part in protecting the climate and helping the EU to achieve its goal of being climate neutral by 2050,” CEO Christian Sewing, who also chairs Deutsche Bank’s Sustainability Council, said.

111 Last year, Deutsche Bank and 129 other banks – representing a third of the world’s banks, worth a total of US$47 trillion in assets, committed to align ing their business to the Paris Climate Agreement, in the biggest pledge to climate sustainability from the banking sector yet. https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Deutsche-Bank-Immediately-Ends-Funding-For- Oil-Sands-And-Arctic-Oil-Projects.html

Syria says US ‘stealing’ oil after American energy firm signs deal with Kurdish rebels

The Syrian government has accused the US of “stealing” the country’s oil reserves, which Washington claimed to be protecting from terrorists. American lawmakers admitted that a deal has been signed with Kurdish rebels.

When President Donald Trump pulled US troops out of Syria last October, it was not the full withdrawal promised in his anti-interventionist campaign speeches. Instead, a contingent was left behind in areas of north Syria controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, ostensibly to protect the region’s oilfields from Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) terrorists.

However, the Syrian government has accused the US of pilfering the oil for itself. In a statement to the state-controlled SANA News Agency on Sunday, the Foreign Ministry condemned a deal signed between an unnamed American oil firm and the SDF, calling the oil extraction “stealing” and the rebels “a cheap puppet in the hands of the American occupation.” https://www.rt.com/news/496918-us-stealing-syria-oil/

Mauritius declares emergency over oil spill from grounded ship

Indian Ocean island nation declares environmental emergency as satellite images show a dark slick spreading in waters.

Anxious residents of the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius have stuffed fabric sacks with sugar cane leaves to create makeshift oil spill barriers as tonnes of fuel leaking from a grounded ship put endangered wildlife in further peril.

The government on Saturday declared an environmental emergency as satellite images showed a dark slick spreading in the turquoise waters near wetlands that the government called "very sensitive".

Wildlife workers and volunteers ferried dozens of baby tortoises and rare plants from an island near the spill, Ile aux Aigrettes, to the mainland as fears grew that worsening weather on Sunday could tear the Japanese-owned ship apart along its cracked hull. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/08/mauritius-declares-emergency-oil-spill-grounded-ship- 200808142800586.html

Saudi Aramco profits crash 73% as coronavirus sinks oil market

The world’s biggest oil exporter, Saudi Aramco, has reported massive losses for the second quarter, with its net profit nosediving 73.4 percent, as the Covid-19 outbreak crippled global demand for crude.

112 The oil giant’s net profit plunged to 24.6 billion riyals ($6.6 billion) for the three months to June 30, from 92.6 billion riyals ($24.7 billion) in the same period of 2019, according to a regulatory filing published at the Tadawul exchange where its stock trades.

For the whole first half of the year, Saudi Aramco said its net income plunged to 87.1 billion riyals ($23.2 billion) down 50 percent from 175.9 billion riyals ($46.9 billion) one a year ago. https://www.rt.com/business/497502-saudi-aramco-revenue-crashes/

Oil Drilling Drops to 15-Year Low With Shale in Full Retreat

Drillers cut exploration in U.S. oil fields to a 15-year low as billions of barrels from old discoveries became worthless and explorers abandoned growth plans.

The number of active oil rigs in the U.S. fell by four to 176, the lowest since 2005, according to Baker Hughes Co. data released Friday. Energy companies have been parking rigs on an almost uninterrupted streak for more than four and half months.

Stung by the pandemic-driven slump in demand and prices, oil explorers are fleeing from the very lifeblood of their business: Drilling for new discoveries. Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. have warned they probably will wipe billions of barrels of reserves from their books because weak prices have made them unprofitable to pump.

Instead of searching for new untapped deposits of crude, oil executives are channeling cash into dividends and other shareholder-friendly initiatives to appease investors fed up with years of poor returns. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-07/oil-drilling-shrinks-to-15-year-low-with-shale- spending-falling

Oil Spill Threatens Pristine Island Paradise of Mauritius https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXdHMr_hP0I

The Bakken Boom Goes Bust With No Money to Clean up the Mess

More than a decade ago, fracking took off in the Bakken shale of North Dakota and Montana, but the oil rush that followed has resulted in major environmental damage, risky oil transportation without regulation, pipeline permitting issues, and failure to produce profits.

Now, after all of that, the Bakken oil field appears moving toward terminal decline, with the public poised to cover the bill to clean up the mess caused by its ill-fated boom.

In 2008, the U.S. Geological Service (USGS) estimated that the Bakken region held between 3 and 4.3 billion barrels of “undiscovered, technically recoverable oil,” starting a modern-day oil rush.

113 This oil was technically recoverable due to the recent success with horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (fracking) of oil and gas-rich shale, which allowed hydrocarbons trapped in the rock to be pumped out of reservoirs previously unreachable by conventional oil drilling technology.

The industry celebrated the discovery of oil in the middle of North America but realized it also posed a problem.

A major oil boom requires infrastructure — such as housing for workers, facilities to process the oil and natural gas, and pipelines to carry the products to market — and the Bakken simply didn't have such infrastructure.

North Dakota is a long way from most U.S. refineries and deepwater ports.

Its shale definitely held oil and gas, but the area was not prepared to deal with these hydrocarbons once they came out of the ground.

Most of the supporting infrastructure was never built — or was built haphazardly — resulting in risks to the public that include industry spills, air and water pollution, and dangerous trains carrying volatile oil out of the Bakken and through their communities.

With industry insiders recently commenting that the Bakken region is likely past peak oil production, that infrastructure probably never will be built. https://www.desmogblog.com/2020/08/08/bakken-fracking-oil-boom-bust-hess-cleanup

Mauritius oil spill: Wrecked MV Wakashio breaks up - VIDEO

A Japanese bulk carrier that has leaked hundreds of tonnes of fuel oil off the Mauritius coast has broken apart, authorities in the island nation say.

The MV Wakashio ran aground on a coral reef on 25 July with 4,000 tonnes of the fuel, causing an ecological emergency.

Most of the fuel had already been pumped out, officials said, but on Saturday the ship's condition worsened.

Mauritius is home to world-renowned coral reefs, and popular with tourists.

The MV Wakashio ran aground at Pointe d'Esny, a known sanctuary for rare wildlife. The area also contains wetlands designated as a site of international importance by the Ramsar convention on wetlands. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-53797009

Canada supporting fossil fuels at 10 times the G20 average during pandemic

If we’re going to have economic stimulus, it ought to be green. That sentiment has achieved surprising levels of agreement around the world, and not just from the usual suspects.

114 Nobel-winning economists, financial experts and even the highly conservative International Energy Agency (IEA) are all pushing governments to use stimulus to decarbonize the economy.

It’s not just that economic stimulus is an opportunity to accelerate the transition to a net-zero economy. It’s crucial that we don’t accelerate deeper into danger, like we did after the last recession. After all, the climate doesn’t care how much clean technology we deploy, it only cares how much carbon builds up in the atmosphere from the fossil fuels we burn.

So, the question for every government becomes: how much money are you spending on fossil fuels during the pandemic recovery?

Fortunately, a new coalition has come together to track the answers from each of the world’s largest economies. We’ve taken this data compiled by Energy Policy Tracker and charted new government support for fossil fuels by each of the G20 countries since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis. (Note that to allow fair comparisons across countries, the charts list all values in USD per capita.)

As you can see in this first G20 chart, Canadians are at the top of the fossil support charts. Canada has committed nearly ten times the G20 average per capita — for a total of $12 billion so far this year in new fossil fuel support. Only France, with its massive bailout of Air France, has managed to spend more per person, at this point. https://www.nationalobserver.com/2020/08/12/analysis/canada-supporting-fossil-fuels-10-times-g20- average-during-pandemic

115 Major investment firm dumps Exxon, Chevron and Rio Tinto stock

Storebrand says corporate lobbying to undermine climate solutions is ‘unacceptable’

A Nordic hedge fund worth more than $90bn (£68.6bn) has dumped its stocks in some of the world’s biggest oil companies and miners responsible for lobbying against climate action.

Storebrand, a Norwegian asset manager, divested from miner Rio Tinto as well as US oil giants ExxonMobil and Chevron as part of a new climate policy targeting companies that use their political clout to block green policies.

The investor is one of many major financial institutions divesting from polluting industries, but is understood to be the first to dump shares in companies which use their influence to slow the pace of climate action.

Jan Erik Saugestad, the chief executive of Storebrand, said corporate lobbying activity designed to undermine solutions to “the greatest risks facing humanity” is “simply unacceptable”. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/aug/24/major-investment-firm-dumps-exxon-chevron- and-rio-tinto-stock

116 Mining

Long-delayed Sisson Mine facing environmental deadline, other problems

Federal Liberal cabinet minister Dominic Leblanc predicted construction would begin in the spring of 2018, but it still hasn't.

But one of those conditions is that construction begin at the site by Dec. 3 of this year, the fifth anniversary of gaining permission.

Not starting by then requires a new provincial environmental application.

Northcliff did not immediately respond to a request for comment about its request for an extension of its environmental approval.

Sisson Mine update: milking the pandemic in New Brunswick

It seems that mineral exploration companies sense the panic in the Higgs government and its desire to appear to be doing something, anything, to generate economic recovery amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

A number of flashy announcements have appeared in the news recently about extraordinary finds of silver and gold in Northern New Brunswick.

Now, it appears that Northcliff Resources, the proponent of the Sisson open-pit tungsten mine in the Upper Nashwaak Watershed, is using the pandemic as an excuse for applying for an extension to its December 31, 2020 deadline for commencement of construction of the Sisson mine.

If Northcliff fails to begin construction by that date, the company would be required to undergo a new Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). However, the Minister of Environment can grant an extension to that deadline.

117 The sad reality is that Northcliff has already been granted extension after extension on deadlines for non-compliance with conditions of its 2015 EIA approval:

• Northcliff has yet publicly filed a required Reclamation and Water Treatment Plan that was due June, 2016 • Northcliff has failed to do the required additional core drilling as part of assurance of tailing dam integrity • Northcliff has failed to provide the government and the public with an independent model of a worst case scenario of a tailing impoundment disaster • Northcliff has failed to post the required letters of credit for any bonding • Northcliff has failed to post bonds for fish habitat compensation as required by the Federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans for amendments to the Metal and Diamond Mining Effluent Regulations

The province has already refused to impose the newest Best Available Practice (BAP) and Best Available Technology (BAT) constraints on tailing disposal at Sisson. Those newer BAP and BAT constraints arose after the failure of the tailing facility at the Mount Polley Mine in British Columbia in 2014, and are required constraints to ensure the integrity of the Nashwaak Watershed now and into the future.

Meanwhile, time has shown that Northcliff’s economic feasibility study of 2013 has no relevance to reality.

Todd Minerals of New Zealand is the major partner in Northcliff’s bid to get the ill-fated Sisson Mine off the ground. Todd was also a major partner in the Drakelands open-pit tungsten mine in Plymouth, UK. That enterprise, with tungsten ore almost three times as rich as the ore as Sisson, opened in 2014 and proceeded to lose $150 Million over three years before closing in 2018. https://nbmediacoop.org/2020/07/25/sisson-mine-update-milking-the-pandemic-in-new-brunswick/

Sisson Mine update: milking the pandemic in New Brunswick

A number of flashy announcements have appeared in the news recently about extraordinary finds of silver and gold in Northern New Brunswick.

The sad reality is that Northcliff has already been granted extension after extension on deadlines for non-compliance with conditions of its 2015 EIA approval:

118 • Northcliff has yet to publicly file a required Reclamation and Water Treatment Plan that was due June, 2016 • Northcliff has failed to do the required additional core drilling as part of assurance of tailing dam integrity • Northcliff has failed to provide the government and the public with an independent model of a worst case scenario of a tailing impoundment disaster • Northcliff has failed to post the required letters of credit for any bonding • Northcliff has failed to post bonds for fish habitat compensation as required by the Federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans for amendments to the Metal and Diamond Mining Effluent Regulations

“It’s important to have everyone involved”: Corbett calls for consultation before Sisson extension

You’ll remember that Northcliff received conditional environmental approval from the province in December 2015—one of those conditions being a requirement to break ground on the project, a 189- square-kilometre site including an open pit metal mine and a risky tailings pond in the heart of the pristine Nashwaak watershed, within five years. Failing to start the project within five years means the project must undergo a new environmental impact assessment.

Jones reports that Northcliff has asked the province to extend the deadline so it can avoid triggering another environmental review.

A government spokesperson told Jones that the Department of Environment and Local Government is considering the request and will make a decision in due time.

Corbett says it is important that the government ensures all voices are heard as it makes that decision. She noted that time limits are common in environmental assessments because of changing environmental conditions and technologies. She said she would expect that First Nations communities and people living in nearby communities from Napadogan to Stanley, Taymouth to Marysville, are consulted before any extension is granted. https://www.conservationcouncil.ca/en/its-important-to-have-everyone-involved-corbett-calls-for- consultation-before-sisson-extension

119 Forestry

When the billionaire writes, you listen: archived James Irving letter slams NB Natural Resources Minister

In correspondence between James D. Irving and Premier Alward obtained by Halifax Media Co-op and the NB Media Co-op, Irving states in no uncertain terms his opinion that maintaining the 28% conservation forest will endanger jobs and investment and the competitive position of the province.

Physicists: 90% Chance of Human Society Collapsing Within Decades

The research by the two physicists, one from Chile and the other from the UK, was published last week in Nature Scientific Reports.

The researchers used advance statistical modeling to look at how a growing human population can cope with the loss of resources, mainly due to deforestation.

After crunching the numbers, the scientists came up with a fairly bleak assessment of society's chance of surviving the climate crisis.

120 Deforestation and world population sustainability: a quantitative analysis

WTO decision on softwood lumber cheered by Canadian producers, denounced in U.S.

The World Trade Organization dispute-resolution panel declared Monday that the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission were wrong in 2017 when they imposed countervailing duties on Canadian softwood lumber exports.

Canadian lumber producers cheered the latest decision Monday from the World Trade Organization on Canada's long-standing dispute with its largest trading partner over exports of softwood lumber — a finding the United States quickly denounced as unfair, biased and flawed.

The WTO dispute-resolution panel declared that the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission were wrong in 2017 when they imposed countervailing duties on Canadian softwood lumber exports, having concluded that Canada's regulated forestry industry amounts to an unfair subsidy for Canadian producers.

In particular, the panel agreed with Canada's argument that Commerce made a number of errors in determining the benchmark Canadian timber prices it used to determine whether producers north of the border were paying adequate stumpage fees to the provinces.

"For more than three years, our industry has paid billions of dollars in countervailing duties that [Monday's] decision confirmed should never have been paid in the first place," B.C. Lumber Trade Council president Susan Yurkovich said in a statement.

"This report is a scathing indictment of the U.S. Department of Commerce's subsidy findings and the biased process it followed in reaching them." https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canada-softwood-lumber-1.5698013

121 Video Links

A Three Minute Tour of Line 5 Under the Straits of Mackinac https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q00yEKWwJUs

The Dirty Secret at the Bottom of the Great Lakes: Oil & Water https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ic9NcKtEPGs&t=16s

Pamela Palmater on the AFN agreement witrh Ottawa https://www.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=1990980

Poisoned lake July 15, 2020, Information Morning - Fredericton with Terry Seguin

Click Play Segment. Over the past year, Daniel Houghton and other cottage owners on Miramichi Lake have been concerned about the possible use of chemicals in the water and have been waiting for a decision. Some groups that are trying to protect salmon populations have proposed using noxfish in the lake. https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-25-information-morning-fredericton/clip/15787189-poisoned-lake

Environmental impact July 17, 2020, Information Morning - Fredericton with Terry Seguin

Click Play Segment. A plan to use a pesticide containing the chemical rotenone to kill the invasive fish and help preserve Atlantic salmon has generated controversy over the past year. Jeff Carr is New Brunswick's Minister of Environment and Local government. https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-25-information-morning-fredericton/clip/15787616-environmental- impact

Information Morning - Fredericton with Terry Seguin - Effects of low water on Nashwaak River

Click Play Segment

CRED New Brunswick - Solar Energy Development in New Brunswick: roundtable webinar

The Coalition for Responsible Energy Development in New Brunswick hosted a webinar on July 31, 2020 organized by MJM Solar Solutions.

We gathered solar experts and leaders from New Brunswick and across Canada to discuss how we can work together to increase NB’s Green Energy.

The webinar participants discussed solar installations, incentives, job creation, community engagement, technical and real world applications of solar in NB, training, and policy.

122 The panel: • Mark McCann (MJM Solar Solutions) • Chris Williamson (Solar Installers Canada) • Greg Macpherson (Senior Financial Advisor Manulife Securities) • Andrew Harvey (MLA for Carleton-Victoria) • Jenica Atwin (MP for Fredericton) • Pascal Giasson (Sustainable energy advisor for Minister Mike Holland) • Moderator: Dennis Atchison https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ipIvToZjy0

Oil Spill Threatens Pristine Island Paradise of Mauritius https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXdHMr_hP0I

Vancouver police put knee on man’s neck: witnesses - VIDEO There are accusations of excessive force after an arrest in Vancouver where a man was punched, Tasered and had a knee put on his neck, but Vancouver Police are standing by the officers' actions. https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1775223875547

Information Fredericton - Are New Brunswickers Headed to the Polls - Aug. 17, 2020 Click Play Segment Discussions to avert an election broke down when Liberal leader Kevin Vickers walked away from the negotiations. To answer questions about what happened, we talk to Premier Blaine Higgs, Liberal leader Kevin Vickers, Green Party leader David Coon, and Kris Austin, leader of the People's Alliance. https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-25-information-morning-fredericton/clip/15792976-are-new- brunswickers-headed-polls

Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau testifies to Parliament amid ethics investigation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tSMD3mE8KI&t=11m55s

123