NCL, Oceania and Regent Seven Seas Cancel Voyages Through May 31 – Travel Agent

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Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH) announced that voyages for Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises are cancelled through May 31. It's an extension of the cruise company's previously announced suspension of global voyages. The latest"pause" impacts all voyages on more than two dozen ships representing 59,150 cruise berths.

In a press release, NCLH said the extension of the operational "pause" comes as it "continues to work through its return to service plan to meet the requirements of the 'Framework for Conditional Sailing' Order issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)."

Guests who are currently booked on cancelled voyages on Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises or Regent Seven Seas Cruises are asked to contact their travel advisor or the cruise line for more information.

NCLH said it will continue to work in tandem with global government and public health authorities, as well as its Healthy Sail Panel of expert advisors to take all necessary measures to protect its guests, crew and the communities visited.

The Healthy Sail panel of medical, scientific, hospitality and operations experts was created in a joint effort last summer by NCLH and Royal Caribbean Group. Those experts sifted through the latestmedical research and findings about the COVID-19 virus and suggested numerous best health/safetypractices so the cruise lines could develop a"bubble-like" concept onboard cruise ships and ashore to protectguests, crew and the communities visited.

The panel's recommended health/safety protocols were submitted lastfall to the CDC. While the CDC did not renew its "No Sail Order" the end of October, it instead issued a "Framework for Conditional Sailing Order" that remains in effect and includes steps needed for resumption of mid- to large-sized cruise ship operations from U.S. ports.

Cruise lines, however, areawaiting more detailed information from the CDC on how to proceed further.

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NCL, Oceania and Regent Seven Seas Cancel Voyages Through May 31 - Travel Agent

Fall Armyworm: New Invasion in Africa, Asia, and Oceania Require Targeted Chemistries and Cultural Practices – Agribusiness Global

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Today were talking about fall armyworm spread and control around the world with Dr. Robert Bertram, Chief Scientist with USAIDs Bureau of Resilience and Food Security, which is charged with advancing nutrition and food security around the world. In that capacity hes working with the FAOs recently established Global Action for Armyworm Control program, for which he serves as Chair of the technical committee.

AgriBusiness Global: Lets start by defining the problem. Fall Armyworm was once relegated to the Americas and has since spread to Asia and Africa. How big is this problem, and what regions are being affected the most?

Dr. Bertram: Thats right. It was a pest in the Americas that we know how to handle. We call it fall armyworm because it migrates long distances. For example, it is endemic in Florida year-round, and it reaches Minnesota by the fall. That fact is the key to the situation in Africa. Once it was introduced there 4-5 years ago, its been able to spread across Africa, up to the Middle East through Egypt, east into South Asia, and eventually into East Asia, and just this year into Australia.

It is a remarkably mobile pest. It can travel up to 700 kilometers, and the generations are rapid. This makes it a new challenge for many parts the world, and in some of those parts of the world, farmers are poorest and least able to adapt to a new pest. And of course its unknown there, so its causing huge losses. Fall armyworm can cause just as much damage, but it affects a larger area because its not a single swarm. Its much more diffuse kind of problem but a very large one that is affecting livelihoods, food security, and food safety and affecting millions of people across Africa and Asia, people who are in many cases the least able to adapt to any additional threat to their food security and wellbeing.

AgriBusiness Global: And this problem is endemic for them now?

Dr. Bertram: Yes, its not going anywhere so were not talking about eradication. The pest is there, and weve been actively partnering with researchers and institutions in both the public and private sectors in the Americas, where the bulk of expertise is on this pest, and also now in the countries where it is endemic.

Our first efforts were about leveraging the knowledge in places like Brazil, the tropics, Florida, and experts from universities and agencies like the USDA and help bring that to their counterparts in sub-Saharan Africa and subsequently in Asia.

Now as time goes on, its more about adapting to the pest now that we know more about it in these new contexts where it is.

AgriBusiness Global: The FAO says Africa is loosing as much as 18 million tonnes of corn annually, accounting for $4.6 billion in economic loss. Do we have any other metrics that can tell us how widespread or pervasive this is?

Dr. Bertram: We can say overall that its taking out about 10% of sub-Saharan Africas maize crops. The valuation of that is variable, and thats about the same as the hit from the locusts. 10% [collectively] might not sound like its a wipeout, but it can be in areas, and thats the problem. If you have a lot of rain, then its not as severe of a pest. If you theres not as much rain, then you can have a very severe outbreak, and one of the challenges we have with it is that it is a very insidious pest. When it shows up, you really have to know what to look for, and then it gets inside the plant in the whorl or in the ear where you cant get at it so you have to be fast on the draw. This is where in many cases access to information, biocontrols, and chemical controls might be lacking. [Crop damage] is certainly in the billions of dollars [in Africa]. I dont think we have estimates yet for Asia, but again its going be very large.

The other thing that is important is that this isnt restricted to just maize. It goes after sorghum, too. There is also a rice biotype of the pest and many of us are fearful that either the current pest could adapt rice in Asia and Africa or the rice biotype could become introduced. That would be a terrible blow because the rice crop is such a staple for so many parts of the world.

AgriBusiness Global: Lets talk about how were working to help control this. The FAO started the Global Action for Armyworm Control program in December 2019. What is that program focused on and hows it going?

Dr. Bertram: It is FAO and this is something that USAID and other counterparts around the world had advocated for the FAO to play a key role as they have with other pests. So the global action is basically trying to equip those countries where this pest is new with the information they need to combat it. I talked earlier about leveraging the knowledge that exists in North and South America, and several years ago we started a Research for Development Alliance, which is a partnership between universities, governments, and the FAO, and that was intended to build the evidence base in Africa and then Asia and the Middle East. And what weve done under the global action is distill the knowledge both from what we know in the Americas and also what were learning overseas. What kinds of varieties are resistant? Transgenic maize is totally resistance. Farmers in South Africa, Vietnam, and Philippines are growing biotech maize and they dont need to spray for the pest.

We information on biological controls and good agricultural practices, so the technical committee that I lead has worked this year to pull this all together and synthesize it in a way thats going to make it accessible to sophisticated partners, and we also want to have that information available to farmers because you need millions of smallholder farmers acting on good information and access to control.

Early warning is not a big deal in this because its endemic. But in the areas where its migratory, then being able to say when it has migrated in is important. So all this knowledge is important to access control methods, including chemistries.

[In terms of chemical controls] we need to think about the policies surrounding access. Some of the new chemistries that are available are safer than some of the older pesticides, especially in the developing countries where pesticides are not well regulated often. People might not have all the knowledge or be able to interpret a label. So our work is giving better options, sooner to equip countries and also the farming communities within them to adapt to this new pests.

AgriBusiness Global: Lets get deeper into some of those recommendations coming out of the technical committee. Youre providing support to national task forces and coming up with specific protocols and IPM strategies: Can you discuss some of the hallmarks of some of those programs, given that some of them are region-specific.

Dr. Bertram: Its fair to say that a lot of this is a work in progress. We have this Research Development Partnership that is going after a range of approaches to agro-ecological management practices that include biological controls, chemical controls using both biopesticides and synthetic pesticides, and better germ plasm. So what were done is aggregated those in a table that is soon to be available and we categorize them in three ways:

Weve also categorized them by safety, efficacy, compatibility with biological control, cost, and access in terms of policy (approved registrations). Some countries have more restrictions than other on the ability to bring a new product to market. Were trying to allow people to benefit from the global knowledge thats there instead of reinventing their own system.

AgriBusiness Global: You touched on this briefly already: How available are control options? Some legacy chemistries might be applicable but some new ones might be more affective. You talked about the fragmentation in regulatory systems. What is the role of private enterprise in helping to make technologies available to combat these emerging pests?

Dr. Bertram: Its very important and we have seen development of new chemistries and approaches, seed treatments, for example, that confer resistance for the first six weeks to two months of the plants life. Thats an extremely critical period to protect the plant from attack. That allows the crop to get off to a good start. Its not necessarily widely available yet as in some places, and because its new and has to go through a regulatory review in some countries [it is harder to access]. In a continent like sub-Saharan Africa, you have a lot of small countries with a lot of hurdles. So some of the work we do at USAID is working with partner countries in regions to try to harmonize systems so that if a sed variety is approved in two countries in East Africa, then the rest of the countries will adopt it, and the same thing can be applied in this space.

There is a virus-based spray out of California that is really exciting, but its expensive and not available everywhere. But these things are far preferable to some of the legacy chemistries. Often these are chemistries that are no longer used in North America, Europe, or Australia, for example. So that combined with misuse or misapplication or lack of personal protective equipment. Everyone knows what PPP is now, but in the plant protection business it has been a household term for a long time, and thats often lacking in the context where we are.

Good agricultural practices, good seed. We are getting non-transgenic based sources of resistance. Theyre not as good as the transgenic resistance that farmers in the Americas use but they help. So there is a range of things that can be done and it requires judgement and the farmer being able to see the problem and use an appropriate approach, and for a number of reasons, farmers choices are limited.

AgriBusiness Global: Are you seeing private enterprises increasing registrations for new products in some of these markets that need them? Are they answering the call?

Dr. Bertram: Yes some of them are. Its a good business practice. They want to grow the business and they want to bring these better products to the farmers. We are also working to try to enhance the regulatory enabling environment so that it will be more cost effective for the private sector to come and invest. And of course they dont just invest in the products, they then invest in the value chain by investing in agro-dealers to make the information and the product available. The industry has responded. There are new products getting used. But getting them to through the last mile to the farmers, like a family in Malawi where a woman is raising five children and has about an acre of land, thats a tough one, and thats where unfortunately people need to fall back on whatever control methods are available.

AgriBusiness Global: Are there a handful of active substances that you with you could make available to regions being affected? You mentioned the biological viral spray and seed treatments:

Dr. Bertram: Yes, and in our work at FAO well be listing the active ingredients. The policy is not to list brand names, but there are safer ingredients that can be used, yes.

AgriBusiness Global: There are a litany of AIs that treat this in the US, are ones that are most applicable to sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia?

Dr. Bertram: Were still compiling the list of specific chemistries, but I can say that there are effective Bacillus Theringiensis, which is a biological pesticide that is commonly used in organic production in the US. There is interest in some of the new biopesticides. The new or modern AIs are in the families of pyrethrins and the like.

AgriBusiness Global: Can you characterize the adoption. Were just getting the guidelines and IPM protocols through the value chain through the agro-dealers and down to the farm level, so whats the response been like and hows it working so far?

Dr. Bertram: We are making progress each year as people become more prepared, more familiar, and have better access to whats happening. One of the challenges is to understand where and how severe these outbreaks are. We do have some work in a digital approach to try to track these outbreaks with colleagues at Pennsylvania State University. That kind of information is very helpful in getting a sense for the extent and the severity of outbreaks. It is variable. We do see as a problem in one location one year and less so in another. So you could say there is a capriciousness about it.

Clearly countries where we have more privates sector activity, such as Kenya, South Africa, Ethiopia is taking it very seriously, you see a better public awareness and uptake of control methods that were proposing. The germplasm piece has a built-in lag of getting access to new seed, except for some of the biotech seed. But even there were working with seven countries in the region with private sector partners that are in the lead to develop resistant varieties, which are by the way also more drought tolerant, which is huge issue in sub-Saharan Africa maize production.

And in Asia generally its a better situation because the national and private sector institutions are stronger and have better established means of getting information out and probably more sophisticated value chains. So you are seeing more rapid adoption in control approaches in places like India, Thailand, Vietnam and countries that are better positioned to adapt to this pest.

AgriBusiness Global: Can you talk a bit about how programs like these are introducing new good agricultural practices and standards for emerging economies. Are programs like these helping to modernize production systems for the slew of pests that are known and unknown that we will need to face in the coming years?

Dr. Bertram: Thats one of the big challenges. We dont want to lurch from pest to pest. We know these kinds of problems exist with insects, diseases and weeds. So we do very much try to work in a way to build systemic capacity while we do this and link it to that broader effort of understanding good agricultural practices, clean seed, better post-harvest storage and a range of things that is going to have a positive effect.

So yes, it has to be that way. We talk about it a lot. Sometimes you have a threat like this and people mobilize, and locusts are a great example. We havent had locust plagues in a long time, partly because the control methods were working so well. This past year, because of the war in Yemen, they werent able to do those early control methods. You want to have something that makes the system more resilient. And that involves the public and private sectors, as well as farmer organizations. Anything you do that succeeds and adds value for people by increasing efficiency, lowering cost, using less active ingredients whatever it might be these things have a positive effect on a system that is then better able to stay connected because its delivering value and getting good information in and its integrating innovation out of R&D. That can come out of the private sector that has a big role here, and out of the public sector, particularly in the area of seed and biological controls.

Another thing that is a challenge here on some of these approaches is that the knowledge content is very demanding. Planting a seed is one thing. Managing pest releases or pheromone traps with the proper timing is a different undertaking. But were continuing to make progress.

AgriBusiness Global: We look forward to talking to you again about the progress youre making.

Dr. Bertram: Thank you

David Frabotta is Editorial Market Development Director for Meister Media Worldwides Global Precision Initiative, editor of AgriBusiness Global, and contributor to CropLife. Contact him to any time to discuss new technologies, adoption, input supply trends, and ag economics in your region at [emailprotected]

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Fall Armyworm: New Invasion in Africa, Asia, and Oceania Require Targeted Chemistries and Cultural Practices - Agribusiness Global

MyndVR Partners with TADWA and Expands Operations to Australia, New Zealand, & Oceania – PRNewswire

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BASSENDEAN, Western Australia, Feb. 16, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --MyndVR, the premier provider of virtual reality (VR) solutions for seniors in the United States, announced today that it has signed a partnership with Technology for Ageing & Disability (TADWA), a not-for-profit enterprise that's been dedicated to making a positive difference in the lives of Western Australians since 1984.

MyndVR's partnership with TADWA marks its expansion into Australia, New Zealand, and Oceania. It will enable occupational therapists and technicians to utilize customized headsets, care tablets, and MyndVR's expansive content powered by Littlstar, a leading global content distribution network, to help older people, people with disabilities, and their caregivers do what is important to them.

"We're incredibly proud to begin our expansion abroad with TADWA, an award-winning and innovative Australian provider of technological solutions," said Chris Brickler, co-founder and CEO of MyndVR. "We're looking forward to a partnership that will help lift spirits and improve quality of life through the use of immersive technology."

MyndVR has previously partnered with researchers in the United States to study how virtual reality helps improve happiness and reduce social isolation in aging residents at long-term care facilities and is excited to deliver their award-winning technology and content to the aging and disabled in Australia, New Zealand, and Oceania.

TADWA's occupational therapists and technicians work with thousands of people every year to help them live life to the fullest. TADWA is a 'team of teams', operating across six different disciplines and generating a range of innovative solutions to the challenges faced by older people and those with disabilities.

TADWA CEO, Steve Pretzel, says the team is thrilled to be partnering with MyndVR: "At TADWA, our focus is on significantly improving the quality of life of our clients, their caregivers, and families through compassion, technological excellence, and innovation," he said. "Age and disability should not define a person's future or detract from leading a meaningful life. When physical mobility is limited, virtual reality can provide a sense of exploration, adventure, and fun. The MyndVR system provides great content as well as great control functionality. With the benefits of VR becoming better understood, we see a huge opportunity for families and particularly residential care facilities to reduce the impacts of isolation and improve the quality of life for residents."

About MyndVR

MyndVR is the leading provider of Virtual Reality solutions for senior living communities, home health care agencies, State and Federal Veteran homes, and individual adults aging in their own homes. The company has licensed a vast library of VR content and created MyndVR Studios to produce therapeutic experiences that positively impact the lives of seniors, veterans, and other groups. Their technology enables older adults to interact with the outside world in genuinely innovative ways that foster engagement, cognitive wellness, and above all, joy and happiness. MyndVR is committed to conducting extensive research to measure the therapeutic effect of VR. These studies will continue to measure the health care outcomes, including cognitive, visual, emotional, and physical effects on older adults. For more, visithttp://www.myndvr.com.

About Technology for Ageing and Disability (TADWA)

TADWA's goal is to help people do what is important to them. Spearheaded by specialist Occupational Therapists, TADWA works with people to understand their challenges and aspirations and to find and implement the best solutions.

TADWA's services include occupational therapy, home modifications and automation, technology support, assistive technologies, custom equipment, recreational and vehicle mobility solutions.

TADWA has been assisting older people and people with disability for over 35 years. For more, visithttps://tadwa.org.au/

Contact: Michael Vaughan, 813-210-1706, [emailprotected]

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https://www.myndvr.com

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MyndVR Partners with TADWA and Expands Operations to Australia, New Zealand, & Oceania - PRNewswire

10 CrossFit Semifinal Events Announced: Semifinals Are the New Regionals – BOXROX

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CrossFit announced the 10 events that will hold Semifinals for the 2021 season last night.

Semifinals are part of the brand new CrossFit Games season design, which starts with the Open and is directly followed by the Quarterfinals. From there, top athletes in each recognised continent advance to the in-person Semifinals and ultimately the best compete at the CrossFit Games.

CrossFit Semifinals will take place over four consecutive weekends in May and June, and will have a similar feel to Regionals, with the exception that each event is independently run.

Semifinals are Regionals and Sanctionals kind of combined, taking the best of both worlds and bringing them together, said Dave Castro, CrossFits General Manager of Sport, in aninterviewexplaining the later stages of the new CrossFit Games qualifying format.

Each Semifinal event will host 30 men, 30 women, and 20 teams, with all six recognised continents hosting at least one Semifinal event and sending at least one man, one woman, and one team from that continent to the CrossFit Games.

There will be four CrossFit Games qualifying events in North America for the top 120 men, 120 women, and 80 teams on the continent. They are:

The top five men, top five women, and top five teams will advance to the Games from each Semifinal, for a total of 20 men, 20 women and 20 teams from North America at the 2021 CrossFit Games.

There will be two CrossFit Games qualifying events in Europe for the top 60 men, 60 women and 40 teams on the continent. They are:

The top five men, top five women, and top five teams will advance to the Games from each Semifinal, for a total of 10 men, 10 women and 10 teams from Europe at the Games.

There will be one CrossFit Games qualifying event in Oceania for the top 30 men, 30 women, and 20 teams on the continent. That event will be:

The top three men, top three women, and top three teams from Oceania will advance to the Games.

There will be one CrossFit Games qualifying event in Asia for the top 30 men, 30 women, and 20 teams on the continent. That event will be:

The top two men, top two women, and top two teams from Asia will advance to the Games.

There will be one CrossFit Games qualifying event in South America for the top 30 men, 30 women, and 20 teams on the continent. That event will be:

The top two men, top two women, and top two teams from South America will advance to the Games.

There will be one CrossFit Games qualifying event in Africa for the top 30 men, 30 women, and 20 teams on the continent. That event will be:

The top man, top woman, and top team from Africa will advance to the Games.

The number of Semifinals and qualifying spots for each event were based on historic Open participation data for each continent.

The deeper the field goes and the more participants you have in any given continent or area, the more opportunities for events and the more opportunities for sports at the Games you have, explained Castro.

Representation was a priority when establishing the continental boundaries and rules for the Semifinals.

CrossFit will determine who qualifies to the Semifinals based on athletes performance in the Quarterfinals. Each Semifinal event will be able to design its own programming and scoring system with the guidance of CrossFit.

CrossFit recognizes regulations related to the COVID-19 pandemic vary by location. CrossFit is regularly monitoring the changing circumstances and working closely with the Semifinal event organizers as we approach the competition season.

If a live, in-person Semifinalis cancelled or cannot be held, the competition will move to an online format hosted by CrossFit, LLC. All athletes and teams from the respective Semifinal competition will compete in the online format with an opportunity to advance to the CrossFit Games. The online Semifinalwill take place on the same weekend as the original date of the in-person competition.

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10 CrossFit Semifinal Events Announced: Semifinals Are the New Regionals - BOXROX

Vaccination Hesitation: How the Lack of Access Affects Trust from the Pacific Islander Community – Hawaiipublicradio

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Hawaiis Pacific Islander communities have been hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it is not clear if they are actually receiving the vaccine.

It was a rainy day outside Kalihi Palama Health center as people over the age of 65 sat in front of the facility waiting to get their COVID-19 vaccination. It was part of a clinic put on by We Are Oceania, a Micronesian advocacy group.

It takes trust, said Josie Howard, the organizations program director.

When they see familiar faces, when they hear people who can speak their language, and who can understand the culture, and the language makes it really easy for them to trust. And I think because we have a relationship established already, that it made it easier for us. And having staff from each community on our team made it really easy.

Pacific Islanders account for about a quarter of the states COVID-19 deaths despite making up only about four percent of the states population.

A survey by the state department of health showed that Black, Pacific Islander and Samoan communities are least likely to trust the vaccine--and advocates say that may be due to a lack of access.

The Pacific Empowerment and Advancement Executive Director at the University of Hawaii, Tina Tauasosi-Posiulai worried that the COVID-19 vaccine was not reaching Pacific Islander communities.

There was a lot of people that were interested in getting the vaccine and then we found out later that you have to be 75-years-old to get the vaccine, she said.

My concern is that this Pacific Island population, it's a very young population compared to the Asians and the whites. So if you're looking at them starting at age 75 getting the vaccine, they leave left out a lot of Pacific Islanders.

According to the state Department of Business and Economic Development those over the age of 65 make up less than 5% of the Pacific Islander community in Hawaii. In comparison, 22% of Japanese and 12% of white residents are over the age of 65.

In fact, only 2% of Marshallese residents are in that elderly age group.

That means even fewer are over the age of 75-- the age group the Department of Health is currently vaccinating.

These population counts are why Dr. Emmanuel Kintu at Kalihi Palama Health Center is willing to vaccinate those 65 and above.

It gave me the strength and ammunition to go to the state and say, Well, you know what, I learned something myself as well. As we talked to the community. They presented this situation, we checked it out, he said.

There are very few people in this community who are 75 and above in the Pacific Islander community, so for them, I think we need to be a little bit more flexible when it comes to age.

Tauasosi-Posiulai was concerned that if she continued to push people to get the vaccine, but theres no place for them to get it, it will degrade long-built relationships.

We're trying to do more education, why COVID-19 testing is very important for our population. But that trust, I don't want to lose that trust, she said.

She thought another barrier was the lack of many Pacific Islander non-profit groups beyond We Are Oceania, the Marshallese Community Organization of Hawaii and newly developed Pacifica Empowerment and Advancement. She noted that many of the positions are volunteer-based and not paid.

It is not yet known who has been vaccinated because DOH has not yet released that information.

A department spokesperson said they are still working on getting their vaccination partners to consistently enter data into the federal Vaccine Administration Management System.

Hawaii Public Radio will continue to explore the states vaccine hesitancy and how to fix it.

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Vaccination Hesitation: How the Lack of Access Affects Trust from the Pacific Islander Community - Hawaiipublicradio

Club World Cup in Qatar: Oceania representative Auckland cancels participation – no change for Bayern – theinformant.co.nz

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The Club World Cup should be held without Oakland City FC. The New Zealanders canceled their participation in the tournament from February 1 to 11 in Qatar, in which Bayern Munich is also participating as the winner of the Champions League. International Football Confederation (FIFA) announced Auckland City on Friday. The reason for this is the quarantine regulations in New Zealand due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

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FIFA stressed that the cancellation would not change the format. As UEFA representative, Bayern Munich will only join the semi-finals on 8 February. The final will take place on February 11th.

Auckland was nominated by the Executive Committee of the Confederation Responsible for the Club World Cup as the representative of Oceania. It wasnt possible to play the Champions League there until the end due to the pandemic last season. It was the clubs tenth participation in the World Cup. Initially, Auckland will play Al Duhail hosts in the first round on February 1.

Since the isolation and quarantine regulations of the New Zealand authorities are outside FIFAs control, no solution has been found in the past few days despite regular discussions between FIFA, the club, the New Zealand Football Association and Oceania, FIFA said. .

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Club World Cup in Qatar: Oceania representative Auckland cancels participation - no change for Bayern - theinformant.co.nz

Coca-Cola donates $50,000 to assist Fijians affected by TC Yasa and Ana – Fijivillage

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Coca-Cola donates $50,000 to assist Fijians affected by TC Yasa and Ana

Coca-Cola Amatil Fiji and Coca-Cola Oceania have donated $50,000 to the Fiji Red Cross Society. Photo: Fiji Red Cross Society

Fijians who have been affected by Tropical Cyclones Yasa and Ana can expect more assistance after Coca-Cola Amatil Fiji and Coca-Cola Oceania have donated $50,000 to the Fiji Red Cross Society.

Coca-Cola Amatil Fiji General Manager Pacific Islands, Roger Hare says Fijians are stoically recovering from Tropical Cyclone Yasa and Tropical Cyclone Ana but need further assistance.

Hare says this donation will assist the Red Cross Society to set up water tanks for communities after the cyclones destroyed homes and buildings as well as crops and livestock.

Photo: Fiji Red Cross Society

Fiji Red Cross Society Director General Ilisapeci Rokotunidau, acknowledged Coca-Cola Amatil Fiji and Coca-Cola Oceania for their support in the humanitarian efforts underway to address the needs of communities affected by TC Yasa and TC Ana.

She says this assistance will help them address the different needs of a large number of people still requiring assistance in Vanua Levu following the devastation of TC Yasa and TC Ana.

Stay tuned for the latest news on our radio stations

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Coca-Cola donates $50,000 to assist Fijians affected by TC Yasa and Ana - Fijivillage

North America And Oceania Industrial Hemp Market Size, Top Key Players, Applications, Business Statistics, Trends and Forecast 2021-2027 Express…

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The report is insightful documentation and provides significant insights to customers, business owners, decision-makers, providers, distributors, suppliers, policymakers, manufacturers, investors, and individuals who have a keen interest in the North America And Oceania Industrial Hemp market.

How Reports Globe is different than other Market Research Providers:

The inception of Reports Globe has been backed by providing clients with a holistic view of market conditions and future possibilities/opportunities to reap maximum profits out of their businesses and assist in decision making. Our team of in-house analysts and consultants works tirelessly to understand your needs and suggest the best possible solutions to fulfill your research requirements.

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North America And Oceania Industrial Hemp Market Size, Top Key Players, Applications, Business Statistics, Trends and Forecast 2021-2027 Express...

Freshman Rep. Madison Cawthorn Schools Pope On First Amendment – Above the Law

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Weirdly, this is relevant.(TIZIANA FABI/AFP/Getty Images)

Its been quite a morning for the Congressional brain trust, with dueling tweets from GOP freshmen Reps. Madison Cawthorn and Lauren Boebert splaining to the Real Murikans about CONSTITUTION, HOW DOES IT GO.

First off, the 25-year-old wunderkind from North Carolina would like a word with the Pope on employment practices at the Holy See.

Does Mr. Cawthorn think Vatican City is in Massachusetts? In which godless liberal enclave outside San Francisco or Boston does the good congressman believe its located?

Hes also wrong as a matter of American law. But then again, the EEOCs reach doesnt extend to the Vatican so probably best that we move on to whatever this nonsense is.

Ah yes, the sacred Constitution. Handed down by Jesus on Mount Sinai, unchanged since dinosaurs walked the earth.

If Ms. Boebert could take just a moment out of arranging loaded firearms into a crche, she might just peruse Article V of said Constitution, which sets out a procedure to rewrite the parts you dont like.

To wit:

The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application of the legislatures of two thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress;

And by the Congress, they mean that place where she works thanks to her fellow Colorado voters.

Or Ms. Boebert can just read this ATL article we wrote in September when Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn tweeted, We will never rewrite the Constitution of the United States, in apparent ignorance of the 27 times we did just that, and having forgotten all those stupid marriage and flag-burning amendments she herself proposed.

Reps. Cawthorn and Boebert will have to up their game if they want to top Sen. Blackburn in the Congressional Dumbassery Olympics. But theyre off to a roaring start!

Wait, wait! Cawthorns back for another try.

Dont sleep on this kid hes really going places.

Elizabeth Dye lives in Baltimore where she writes about law and politics.

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Freshman Rep. Madison Cawthorn Schools Pope On First Amendment - Above the Law

The removal of the First Amendment from the Newseum building is a disheartening sight – Poynter

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One of the cool things about Poynters beautiful offices in St. Petersburg, Florida, is something you see just before you step into the building. On the sidewalk, embedded in marble, is the First Amendment:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The First Amendment also had a prominent place on another building. It was embedded on a giant wall at the Newseum the interactive museum in Washington, D.C., that celebrated the media, the freedom of the press and expression and the First Amendment. But the Newseum closed to the public at the end of 2019.

And now, in a heartbreaking symbol, the First Amendment on the Newseum building is being dismantled. A troubling reminder of how many Americans now view the media and the freedom of the press, wouldnt you say?

No announcement has been made, but there is hope it will be reassembled at another location.

Heres a little more information on the First Amendment wall by the company that built it.

This piece originally appeared in The Poynter Report, our daily newsletter for everyone who cares about the media. Subscribe to The Poynter Reporthere.

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The removal of the First Amendment from the Newseum building is a disheartening sight - Poynter

Opinion | Kim McGahey: It’s time to demand our First Amendment freedoms – Summit Daily News

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The complicit, liberal media is full of themselves with their hyperventilating over the record-setting second impeachment attempt brought on by the Trump-hating Democratic congressional leadership. And even though it might make for some good political theater, like a Greek tragedy playing out on a modern stage, it has little basis in reality and even less direct effect on Summit County.

It would be easy to digress into an expose of the Dems double standard on display with their rules for thee but not for me hypocrisy. For example, its OK for Maxine Waters tirade exhorting her mob to harass Trump officials or Obamas Attorney General Eric Holders reference to street violence in the fight against conservatives. Yet when President Donald Trump encourages supporters to exert their Bill of Rights freedom of assembly, freedom of speech and freedom to petition the government, hes blamed for an insurrection.

But Id rather focus on the main issue at hand that affects all of us in Summit County:

The No. 1 priority should be lifting the lockdown under which we have been suffering. What started out as a two-week drill that we all accepted to flatten the curve has evolved into a full years worth of unauthorized, totalitarian emergency powers curtailing our First Amendment civil liberties.

Its time for our local town councils and county commissioners to say enough is enough and reject the governors continued power play, which is being used to move the goal posts and keep us under Big Brothers control.

At the risk of being impeached for inciting violence or calling for an overthrow of the government, I ask all patriots to peacefully and patriotically march on the Summit County courthouse and let your county commissioners know how deeply you object to the current lockdown of local businesses, Main streets, schools and resort life in general. Be numerous, be vocal and be peaceful, but above all, be adamant about demanding that you are mad as hell, and youre not going to take it anymore.

Our great American republic operates best when decisions are made closest to we the people. A one-size-fits-all policy from a dictatorial White House or governors mansion misses the true heartbeat of the local citizens whose needs should be represented at the town and county levels of government.

Admittedly, this is no easy task for local town council members and county commissioners to defy autocratic, and likely unconstitutional, mandates issued from authorities on high. Yet we the people have suffered enough at the footstool of these draconian emergency powers, and we need courageous representatives to stand up and protect our rights to operate our businesses at 100% capacity, fully open our schools for in-person learning and run our towns without the dehumanizing mask mandates. We need our town councils and county commissioners to shed their protective bureaucratic insulation and boldly do what we elected them to do: protect our civil liberties and give us back our freedom!

Anecdotally, we are on the verge of losing more bar and restaurant businesses as these owners can barely make ends meet under a 25% or 50% occupancy restriction. Remove the shackles and get the big government knee off our throats so we can once again breathe the fresh air of American capitalism and get back to providing for our struggling families. No more government-imposed censor, cancel or control.

The current occupants residing in the White House would like to keep us under their thumb with 40-plus executive orders that place government control over our daily decisions, tank the robust Trump economy and replace it with dependency on their elite largesse, e.g., airline passengers are now being threatened with civil or criminal charges for failure to obey Bidens national mask mandate. This is our destiny unless we have the moral and political courage to resist their totalitarian ideology.

The resistance begins locally with our elected town and county representatives. They need to exert their power, endorsed by a grassroots popular movement, to tell the state and national elitists that we vehemently object and will no longer silently comply. We need to put boots on the ground and protesters in the streets to demand the guarantee of our First Amendment freedoms.

Otherwise, we are a sad bunch of deplorable subjects content to willingly sacrifice our liberties for a sense of perceived security. As Ben Franklin observed, a nation willing to sacrifice individual freedom for temporary government security is sure to have neither.

Kim McGaheys column Conservative Common Sense publishes Tuesdays in the Summit Daily News. McGahey is a real estate broker, tea party activist and Republican candidate. He has lived in Breckenridge since 1978. Contact him at kimmcgahey@gmail.com.

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Opinion | Kim McGahey: It's time to demand our First Amendment freedoms - Summit Daily News

Comments on: Flirting with the First Amendment – Jewish Journal

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In the aftermath of the January 6 riots on the Capitol, we have witnessed a change in how tech companies view, regulate speechand control speech. In the days and weeks since January 6, multiheaded pseudo private actors have fundamentally altered the bedrock of American democracy free speech. No longer can private companies like Facebook, Twitter, Google, Instagram, Snapchat and others hide behind the veil of their private shield, because they created themselves for the sole purpose of being thrust into the mitochondria of all that is public.

According to a CRS Report prepared for members and committees of Congress, the Supreme Court will only apply the First Amendment against private parties (companies) if they have a sufficiently close relationship to the government. This will occur where a private company finds itself under extensive state regulation.

While some plaintiffs have argued that various internet companies should be treated as state actors for the purposes of the First Amendment, when those companies decide to dispose of or restrict access to their speech, courts have rejected their claims. In other words, just because social media companies hold themselves open for use by the public, that is not enough to make them subject to the First Amendment.

But the Constitution of the United States together with its deafeningly powerful First Amendment did not foresee the age of social media and what it would do to the public, how it would intertwine public and private interests of communities and how the lines between state actors and private actors would not only become blurry but also almost invisible. The existing doctrine doesnt fit the times; it teases, it mercilessly flirts with the laurels of the First Amendment.

We all marvel at the Constitutions elasticity, designed for us by those who knew nothing of Facebook, but everything about the abyss of the futures unpredictability. After all, what was the intent behind the First Amendment? So that American citizens would never feel the imposition of powerful actors infringing on one of their inalienable rights, their freedom of expression.

In the 1700s and 1800s, the most powerful actors in the country were the state actors. America had just freed itself from the clutches of the British monarch. The government itself was the most powerful actor that was connected to the public. Therefore, within the amendment, people were protected not from actions of private parties but from actions of the State.

It is not so today. The world, and especially America, is controlled by private monopolies of social media giants, which regulate our entire existence (as well as the governments existence). The internet, along with social media, did not just shake up the old world: it remolded it. All of this was done for the public. These social media titans not only provide services for the public, such as search engines, they also serve as vessels through which the public carries its thoughts and influences the thinking of others.

David L. Hudson Jr. writes in his article In the Age of Social Media, Expand the Reach of the First Amendment that two key justifications for robust protection of the First Amendment right to freedom of expression are the marketplace of ideas and individual self-fulfillment. These justifications dont require government presence. Powerful private actors can infringe on free expression rights as much as public actors. This is exactly what Facebook, Twitter and others were guilty of when they decided to silence President Trump after the January 6 riots.

David L. Hudson, Jr. continues, when an entity like Facebook engages in censorship, individuals dont get to participate in the marketplace of ideas and are not allowed the liberty to engage in individual self-fulfillment just like when the government entity engages in censorship.

In his article, Hudson also states that even though the state action doctrine traditionally limits the application of the First Amendment to private actors, that classification is outdated. He cites a 2017 case in which the U.S. Supreme Court recognized the new reality of identifying the new kind of public space. A new reality has been molded, where, when a private actor has control over communications and online forums, these private actors are analogous to a governmental actor.

The ogres of social media have erected platforms for exchange of public information. In his article, The Great Tech Panic, Nicholas Thomson writes about the role of social media on freedom of expression: In 2009, Facebook declared its mission to make the world more open and connected. In her essay, The Free Speech Black Hole: Can The Internet Escape the Gravitational Pull of the First Amendment? Ann Marie Franks writes, This free speech rhetoric has for years been employed to justify [tech] companies laissez-faire approach to controversial content, from terrorist training videos to revenge porn.

So why is it that suddenly, in the wake of the events of January 6, the entire tech industry decided to ban Trump from their sites? They do so by the cowardly act of taking refuge under the protective shield of their private status, knowing full well that under modern circumstances, their private actor status is a fiction, no more than a smoking mirror.

Tech companies private actor status is a fiction, no more than a smoking mirror.

These companies behave dishonestly when on the one hand they take advantage of the fruits of the First Amendment and give Holocaust deniers, criminals, terrorists, porn stars, law professors, comedians, addicts, movie stars, pop musicians, politicians, reality TV stars and many others the opportunity to present their uncensored sentiments and ideas, but then at the same time decide to silence a particular individual. The tactic is liable to have the most severe consequences.

The First Amendment is not a device that we can use as a cherry-picking mechanism. The First Amendment is not a neat amendment; it is not a kind amendment; its a messy amendment. It is not about people, its about substance; it isnt even about speech itself, it is about self-expression, it is about the individuality not of one person, but of a country, and therefore of each person individually.

Social media companies have become public actors, and, as such, they have no right to censor those who post or otherwise express unpopular opinions. Afterall, there are always ways to contradict those unpopular, dubious, immoral views; this is one of the great strengths of social media.

I knew the words of the Declaration of Independence and the First Amendment in Russian and English even before I began school. I understand that media companies are trying to appease, to do what sells best; when Trump sold best, they sold him too. But social media insulted American democracy when it silenced one individual capriciously and arbitrarily. Social media must stop playing games. It is either for all people which is why it is free and available to all who have access to it or for the privileged few, like a private club, in which case a club owner is within his rights to impose specific rules for his club members.

America ceases to be America when it not only denies peoples ability to self-express but also when it does so by taking advantage of the publics trust in its democratic values. American freedom of speech protects, it frees, it tantalizes, but it also bites. There can be no compromise about it.

The First Amendment was created to oppose tyranny because within it is hidden, just like in all law perhaps, the power of balance. Everyone wants to be heard, everyone wants to tell a story their own story and so as long as no-one is muted (even if some decide to remain deaf) there will be balance, and where there is balance there is a chance that tyranny may be avoided.

Anya Gillinson is a published author of poetry in Russian and English. She practices law in New York, where she lives with her husband and two daughters.

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Comments on: Flirting with the First Amendment - Jewish Journal

This kind of activity will not be tolerated: Local lawmakers react to ETSU players kneeling during anthem – WJHL-TV News Channel 11

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JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) Many in the Tri-Cities are expressing anger and frustration over the ETSU mens basketball team kneeling during the national anthem.

ETSU President Dr. Brian Noland addressed the action for the first time on Friday afternoon, saying he and the university have faced tremendous pushback from the community.

Several local lawmakers expressed their disappointment regarding the kneeling as well on Friday, saying theyve heard significant outcry from their constituents.

The team was photographed kneeling ahead of Mondays game at Chattanooga.

Following ETSUs Board of Trustees meeting, Noland addressed whether players on the mens basketball team would be allowed to kneel during the next game against VMI, a military college, next Wednesday.

I do not anticipate that we will take any actions during that game that would reflect negatively upon our opponents. We value our colleagues across the Southern Conference. And we deeply respect the sacrifices that the student-athletes at VMI are making, and that they will make upon graduation, said Noland.

Speaking to News Channel 11, state Sen. Rusty Crowe (R-Johnson City), Rep. Rebecca Alexander (R-Jonesborough), and Rep. Tim Hicks (R-Gray) expressed their disappointment in the teams decision to kneel.

This kind of activity will not be tolerated, Crowe said.

As a former ETSU athlete and veteran, Crowe said he was ashamed to see the image of the team kneeling.

When you wear the uniform, youre not just representing your team, your school, your state. Youre representing the entire community. I think we should make sure those young athletes understand what it means, he said.

Alexander is also an ETSU graduate.

I think the university is basically in shock right now. I dont think they were expecting that out of their players, she said. When donors call and say, Im not going to give money anymore to the school, Im not coming to any more games, those are things that hurt ETSU.

Alexander said she supported First Amendment rights, but didnt think the national anthem was an appropriate time to kneel.

There are Black people that have died in this country for our freedom. This is Black History Month. We should be celebrating those men, and not dampering by taking a kneel, and not respecting the flag theyve died for, she said.

Hicks said he was also disappointed in the kneeling, but he also wants to hear the personal stories of the athletes.

I would just like to hear exactly what happened in life to bring them to kneel at that ballgame that night. Until we start hearing peoples stories, and get to the truth about this, and get to whats really real, I think its extremely hard for anybody to judge, said Hicks.

Hicks said further, I have full faith in the trustees and Brian Noland. Im sure that theyre upset. Im sure theyre trying to figure out what to do.

Noland said the matter will continue to be addressed.

Ill meet with Coach Shay again here over the course of the next couple of days. And were going to continue to work through this as a community, said Noland.

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This kind of activity will not be tolerated: Local lawmakers react to ETSU players kneeling during anthem - WJHL-TV News Channel 11

The Trump impeachment and the First Amendment – NationofChange

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Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. is widely considered, along with Justice Louis D. Brandeis, to be one of the guardians of the First Amendment. He authored many of the seminal decisions that explained why our country should protect freedom of speech. For example, he first used the terminology clear and present danger 100 years ago to help draw the line between protected and unprotected speech in Schenck v. United States(1919).

But Holmes produced another phrase in his Schenck opinion that may be even better known a phrase deeply enmeshed in our cultural lexicon: shouting Fire in a theatre. The case involved the prosecution of Charles T. Schenck and Elizabeth Baer for distributing leaflets urging people to refuse to comply with the draft. Schenck, the general secretary of the Socialist Party, opposed U.S. involvement in World War I and believed that conscription was akin to slavery.

In the leaflets, Schenck and Baer mentioned the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which outlawed slavery and involuntary servitude. In other words, the political dissidents believed that conscription into the armed forces amounted to a form of indentured servitude. The leaflets urged no violence and included the phrase Assert Your Rights.

Nevertheless, Justice Holmes affirmed the convictions for a unanimous Supreme Court. He explained:

We admit that in many places and in ordinary times the defendants in saying all that was said in the circular would have been within their constitutional rights. But the character of every act depends upon the circumstances in which it is done. The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting Fire in a theatre and causing a panic The question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent. It is question of proximity and degree.i

In other words, Justice Holmes and his colleagues found that passing out leaflets against conscription in the armed forces created a clear and present danger during wartime and thus was not protected under the First Amendment.

Lets measure this against what President Trump did on January 6, 2021. He knew that there would be a crowd of his supporters in Washington, D.C., supporting his false claims that he had won the election in November 2020 and that the election had been stolen from him. He invited the crowd to go down with him to the Capitol and make their and his views known. Although he did not go with them, he knew with the hour that the crowd had broken into the Capitol and put Senators and Congressmen at risk of injury. He knew specifically that he had called out Mike Pence. He learned that Mike Pence was in danger and did nothing about it. And he did nothing to dissuade the crowd from violence in the Capitol and against members of Congress. The result was five deaths in the building.

Measure this against the crime of passing out leaflets and arguing that Congress was enslaving men through conscription. The clear and present danger was that the defendants might convince a significant number of men to refuse conscription and thereby undercut American war efforts. But a lot of that was based solely on guesswork. The defendants did not know that they would be successful. Nor did they know how successful they might be. Yet the fact that they might be successful with detriment to the society was enough to convict them, at least in time of war.

Trump, on the other hand, was clearly guilty of attracting the crowd to the Capitol and sending them down to the Capitol. He may not have known that he would be successful in convincing them to attack the Capitol, but that was his goal. He was happy when the crowd acted with violence and refused to try to dissuade them from their acts. What he did and did not do was a clear and present danger to the Capitol and the people in it, far more than the defendants in the case Holmes was writing about.

Then, too, a President has taken an oath of office to protect and defend the nation. I do not think that his acts must constitute a clear and present danger to the government which he has sworn to protect and defend. He is permitted to speak his mind, but not in a manner which would place the government in any danger. Trump could have written and published his speech without putting the government in danger. He could exercise his First Amendment rights in a manner which would not be likely to lead to violence.

The defense posed by his lawyers was clearly incorrect, and those who voted for him (many of whom were lawyers) were just doing party politics. Trump had violated his oath of office, and nothing in the constitution protected him from impeachment.

FALL FUNDRAISER

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The Trump impeachment and the First Amendment - NationofChange

Bill bans diversity training in schools, universities implying ‘Iowa is fundamentally racist or sexist’ – The Gazette

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An Iowa legislator is proposing to bake into state law an executive order from the Trump administration that banned publicly funded institutions from diversity training that involves race or sex stereotyping or scapegoating which incited criticism from University of Iowa leaders that in turn incensed GOP lawmakers.

Though the federal order has been rescinded by the Biden administration, state Sen. Amy Sinclair, R-Allerton, this week introduced Senate Study Bill 1205, which was advanced by an education subcommittee.

It would bar all K-12 public schools and public universities from offering diversity training that, among other things, says a person, based on his or her sex or race, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive.

The bill also bans any training implying that the State of Iowa is fundamentally racist or sexist. And it prohibits training suggesting that a person bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex; or that he or she should feel psychological distress due to his or her race or sex.

The proposed legislation which also would set provisions for discrimination complaints against the public universities and penalties for faculty or K-12 instructors who restrict free speech comes amid a swirl of bills this session aimed at cracking down on Iowas public universities, which Republican lawmakers have slammed for First Amendment violations.

In the fall, an Iowa State University professor came under fire for crafting a syllabus that warned students not to take positions in class opposing things like abortion, Black Lives Matter or same-sex marriage. The University of Northern Iowas student government rejected a student organization applicant that opposed abortion rights, calling it a hate group. And the UI and its dental college issued statements condemning the White House order banning many common diversity training programs.

In a mass email exchange, a UI dental student questioned his dean for condemning the executive order.

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A Legislative Oversight Committee this session slammed all three campuses for those incidents, and lawmakers have proposed bills that would among other things eliminate tenure, require the campuses to poll employees political affiliation and make all instructors post online their class syllabi.

Sinclairs bill also addresses concerns with student government actions on the campuses.

It would order universities to make a student government organizations access to and authority over any moneys distributed to the student government organization by the institution contingent upon the student government organizations compliance with the First Amendment.

If a university determines its student government knowingly and intentionally violated a person or groups First Amendment rights, administrators would have to suspend the student government organizations authority to manage and disburse student fees for two years.

The campus would take over that job during the suspension, according to the bill.

Board of Regents President Mike Richards in November established a group charged with evaluating the boards free speech policy and recommending changes.

After meeting for the last several months, the committee has generated 10 recommendations the regents are scheduled to discuss next week.

Those changes would:

Mandate campuses use a course syllabus statement like ISU imposed in the fall, committing to uphold the First Amendment and vowing that students wont be punished for the content or viewpoints of their speech so long as its germane and expressed appropriately;

Require faculty and instructors review the free speech syllabus statement at the beginning of each course;

Reaffirm university resources wont be used for partisan activities;

Permit universities including their presidents, vice presidents, deans and directors to only take an institutional position on policy matters, in conjunction with the board;

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Bar the universities from allowing discrimination or denial of educational benefits due to a student organization or students viewpoint;

Make the universities post the regent and campus policies and procedures, including how to appeal to the board regarding violations of free expression;

Charge the campuses with adding policies and procedures that include penalties for violations of free expression to its current process for violations of university or board policies;

And mandate annual free speech training for students, faculty and staff.

The committee also recommended establishing a group to review campus free speech complaints, annually evaluate free speech policies, consider training improvements and every two years conduct a campus free speech survey.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com

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Bill bans diversity training in schools, universities implying 'Iowa is fundamentally racist or sexist' - The Gazette

Mars Is Radiating Gravity Waves, Which Is Bad News For Human Settlers

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New NASA research suggests that Mars' dust storms make the planet give off gravitational waves that push its already-scarce atmosphere out into space.

Keep Out

Bad news for any future Mars settlers: New research used data from NASA spacecraft to show that gravity waves emanating from the planet are making it even more inhospitable to life as time goes on.

Mars is home to some pretty gnarly dust storms. It turns out that these storms can actually trigger the planet into giving off gravity waves, The Academic Times reports. That, in turn, makes Mars’ atmosphere leak gas out into space, according to the research published this month in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. That’s an unfortunate development, and one that any plans to settle or otherwise travel to Mars will need to take into account.

Forbidden Planet

These storms are unpredictable, cover vast portions of Mars at a time, and can last for months.

Aside from the bigger challenge of mitigating atmospheric escape, that would mean that any human settlers or explorers would need to hunker down for months at a time, having to wait the storms out with very little advance warning. Given that settling on Mars is already a perilous idea, that doesn’t bode well for human exploration.

Mega Maid

The storms themselves would be a problem for any short-term human expeditions, but the gravity waves releasing the planet’s already-scarce atmosphere out into space are problematic for any long-term settlements or especially geoengineering attempts on the Red Planet.

To clarify, gravity waves have a similar name to gravitational waves, but are actually a totally separate phenomenon in which waves travel upward through a planet’s atmosphere.

Settling on Mars, study lead author and George Mason University physicist Erdal Yi?it told The Academic Times, “is going to be very difficult.”

While some scientists suspect Mars was once a wet and hospitable world in the ancient past, its leaking atmosphere suggests a dry and hostile future.

Editor’s note 2/19/2021: This story originally conflated gravity waves and gravitational waves, which are two distinct phenomena in physics. It has been updated.

READ MORE: Humans colonizing Mars? Not so fast, NASA research says. [The Academic Times]

More on Mars settlements: Scientists Say They’ve Found the Perfect Spot for a Mars Colony

The post Mars Is Radiating Gravity Waves, Which Is Bad News For Human Settlers appeared first on Futurism.

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Mars Is Radiating Gravity Waves, Which Is Bad News For Human Settlers

Russian Scientist Proposes Using Lasers to Melt Space Junk

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Russian physicist  Egor Loktionov is suggesting to use space-based lasers to melt non-operational satellites into plasma as a way to clean up Earth's orbit.

Satellite Melt

As we speak, thousands of small pieces of debris are cluttering Earth’s orbit. Even entire derelict satellites are drifting through space, having long fulfilled their purpose. In fact, an astonishing 60 percent of our planet’s roughly 6,000 satellites are no longer in operation.

That’s a problem, as any collision could end in disaster — or the dreaded knock-on effect known as Kessler syndrome, a cascade of collisions generating new pieces of dangerous space debris that could render Earth’s orbit uninhabitable.

That’s why Russian physicist Egor Loktionov is suggesting a highly unusual intervention: using space-based lasers to melt non-operational satellites into plasma, the Academic Times reports.

Zap! Zap!

As detailed in a paper soon to be published in the journal Acta Astronautica, Loktionov has been testing several different spacecraft materials and how they react to pulses of laser emissions.

“Many ways to capture debris have been suggested to date, few are tested and none really practiced,” Loktionov told The Academic Times. “Laser space debris removal, to my mind, should provide a cheaper, more reliable and flexible way to do the job.”

Space Clean Up

“If shot from space, lasers would pose close to zero hazards,” Loktionov told the Academic Times. “We suggest considering more precise impacts with space-borne lasers or our recycling concept.”

The concept, as Loktionov suggested in research published 2019, would reuse space debris in the form of melted plasma as fuel for laser thruster-powered spacecraft.

The proposal is as relevant as ever because our space debris problem is about to get a lot worse with the likes of SpaceX and Amazon planning to launch extensive constellations of broadband internet-beaming satellites. That means no stone should be left unturned in the quest to find a way to make a dent in our growing space junk problem — no matter how far out the concept.

READ MORE: Orbital lasers could melt defunct satellites without polluting space [The Academic Times]

More on space debris: Europe Is Launching a Giant Claw to Grab Space Junk

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Russian Scientist Proposes Using Lasers to Melt Space Junk

NASA Scientists Need to Live and Work on “Mars Time”

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When Perseverance lands, NASA engineers will need to start living and working on Mars time to make the most of the mission's beginning.

Mars Time

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover is currently approaching the surface of Mars, where it’s expected to touch down in the next few hours.

Assuming it lands successfully, the Perseverance mission team at NASA is going to need to make some major lifestyle changes, Space.com reports. Most notably? They’re going to have to start living and working on what’s called “Mars time,” meaning they’ll shift their schedule to match what’s happening on the Red Planet instead of back home on Earth.

Sunrise, Sunset

A day on Mars lasts about 24 hours and 37 minutes, meaning that the NASA teams’ shifts will actually start and end at different Earth times each day, since the two planets aren’t in perfect sync with one another.

“2PM will be our start time and then that will adjust by 40 minutes every day,” deputy project manager Jennifer Trosper said during a Tuesday news conference. “While it works, we only ask people to do this for three months.”

Remote Sleepover

During past rover landings, NASA engineers would often set up cots and sleep at work as they adjusted to their constantly-shifting schedules, Space.com reports. But because of the pandemic, many of the team members will be working from home and have to sort out their calendars on their own.

But thankfully, the engineers will only go through three cycles of Mars time — each just over a month on Earth — before they can return to a normal working schedule, Space.com reports. Then, they’ll finally be able to live on their own planet’s local time and recover from what Trosper said will feel a whole lot like constant jet-lag.

READ MORE: NASA’s Perseverance rover team will have to live on ‘Mars time’ after landing on the Red Planet [Space.com]

Watch the Perseverance landing: How to Watch NASA’s Perseverance Rover Land on Mars

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BREAKING: NASA Successfully Lands Perseverance Rover On Mars

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NASA's Perseverance Mars rover has successfully landed in the Jezero crater, a region believed to be an ancient dried up river delta.

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover has successfully landed in the Jezero crater, a region believed to be an ancient dried up river delta. Touchdown was confirmed at 3:56 pm Eastern time.

The news was met with loud cheering and whooping at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab mission control.

It was a daring landing as the crater is lined with cliffs, sand dunes, and boulders. Thanks to Perseverance’s sophisticated landing instruments, the rover was able to take pictures of the surface below, deciding where to land on its own while out of radio communication with Mission Control.

It’s the agency’s fifth robotically operated Mars rover to have successfully landed on the Martian surface following Sojourner in 1997, Opportunity and Spirit in 2004, and Curiosity in 2012.

Perseverance weathered the daunting Seven Minutes of Terror as it slowed its descent from a screaming 12,100 mph to just 2 mph first using a massive 70.5-foot supersonic parachute and then a rocket-powered “sky crane” as it approached its landing spot.

Now, Perseverance’s journey truly begins. The rover will use seven suites of scientific instruments to search for signs of ancient microbial life in the Jezero crater, an ancient delta that scientists believe contains clay deposits full of potential biosignatures.

NASA is also hoping to lay the groundwork for a future sample return mission. Perseverance will scoop up and stow samples of Martian rock, each about the size of a piece of chalk, inside special tubes for recovery during future missions to the Martian surface.

Perseverance can also cover three times the distance, an average of 650 feet a day, compared its predecessor Curiosity thanks to a sophisticated autopilot system.

The rover will even release a Mars Helicopter, called Ingenuity, that was strapped to its belly during its journey to Mars. Once it’s powered up for the first time later this year, Ingenuity could end up making history by becoming the first time a human-made aircraft to fly on another planet.

So far, only two countries have completed successful landings on Mars — the United States and the Soviet Union — but a third country may soon have a shot of joining that very exclusive list. China’s Tianwen-1 Mars lander will attempt to plunge through the Martian atmosphere in May — meaning that the Red Planet has never, at least in human history, been this crowded.

More on Perseverance: How to Watch NASA’s Perseverance Rover Land on Mars

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WANTED: Three North Korean Hackers For Trying to Steal $1.3B In Crypto

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The US Department of Justice indicted three state-backed North Korean hackers for stealing a massive pile of cryptocurrency.

Wanted Poster

The United States Department of Justice just indicted three state-backed North Korean hackers who, it says, conspired to steal more than $1.3 billion worth of cryptocurrency.

The three hackers are part of North Korea’s military intelligence group known as the Reconnaissance General Bureau, according to The New York Times. The trio reportedly made off with a serious haul of crypto, which is part of a larger operation to quietly funnel money to the North Korean government, which has been struggling financially due to sanctions.

“Cryptocurrencies are completely changing the way that sanctions are done and their effectiveness,” Stephanie T. Kleine-Ahlbrandt, a fellow at a think tank called the Henry L. Stimson Center, told the NYT.

Laundry List

The NYT reports that the trio successfully stole at least $112 million, according to the government, about $11.8 million of which came from an unnamed financial company in New York. They also targeted the entertainment industry as payback for the 2014 Seth Rogan film “The Interview,” hacked ATMs, and launched spear-phishing campaigns and their own cryptocurrency scams, according to a Department of Justice press release.

“North Korea’s operatives, using keyboards rather than guns, stealing digital wallets of cryptocurrency instead of sacks of cash, are the world’s leading bank robbers,” John C. Demers, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s National Security Division said in the press release.

Cat And Mouse

The nature of the hacks — all digital, with intangible digital currencies as the bounty — reflects a changing landscape of crime that can be difficult to adapt to, especially as they blur the line between cybercrime and acts of cyber warfare.

“This case is a particularly striking example of the growing alliance between officials within some national governments and highly sophisticated cyber-criminals,” US Secret Service Assistant Director Michael R. D’Ambrosio said in the release. “The individuals indicted today committed a truly unprecedented range of financial and cyber-crimes: from ransomware attacks and phishing campaigns, to digital bank heists and sophisticated money laundering operations.”

READ MORE: U.S. Charges 3 North Koreans With Hacking and Stealing Millions of Dollars [The New York Times]

More on crypto thieves: North Korea Is Using Hackers to Steal Money for Nuclear Bombs

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WANTED: Three North Korean Hackers For Trying to Steal $1.3B In Crypto