In The News for April 24 : Federal public-service worker strike enters sixth day

National President Chris Aylward says Ottawa presented an offer Saturday afternoon, which the union countered with its own proposal that same day.

Yet the office of Treasury Board President Mona Fortier says it made a second proposal Saturday that the union had not responded to by late Sunday.

Earlier this weekend, the two sides accused each other of poor communication as bargaining teams sort out how much to increase wages to account for inflation and whether civil servants have a right to work remotely.

The two parties have been at odds since negotiations began in June 2021, and the union insists it can find other financing if it depletes the strike fund it’s been using to pay those on the picket line since Wednesday.

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Also this …

New federal research suggests greenhouse gas emissions from the Alberta oilsands may be significantly underestimated, adding to a growing pile of studies that say our understanding of what is going into the atmosphere is incomplete.

In a paper published last week in a prominent U.S. science journal, Environment and Climate Change Canada researchers used new ways of measuring oilsands emissions that resulted in figures at least 65 per cent higher than those reported by industry.

“We found that (emissions) are higher than the CO2 estimates that are reported in the greenhouse gas reporting program,” said lead author Sumi Wren of Environment Canada.

The paper, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, describes how the researchers combined measurements from overflights, satellites and historical data to reach their conclusions.

In 2018, the team made 30 flights over the oilsands region to establish the ratio of nitrogen oxides to carbon dioxide in the industry’s emissions. That ratio matched one derived from similar flights in 2013. They then developed estimates for nitrogen dioxide emissions from 2005 to 2020 by combining satellite data with industry-reported values.

Using that historical record and the constant ratio of those gases to carbon dioxide, the team could then calculate how much carbon dioxide had been released over the years.

Their figures suggest the oilsands could be releasing about 31 million tonnes of unreported carbon dioxide into the atmosphere a year. As well, that potential under-reporting goes back to at least 2018.

Their margin of error is eight million tonnes either way.

But the difference between their numbers and the industry-reported figures is big enough to suggest something is going on.

“The discrepancy is quite large,” said Wren. “It’s large enough to point to the need to understand why we’re seeing this.”

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What we are watching in the U.S. …

PITTSBURGH _ Jury selection will begin Monday in the federal death penalty trial of a truck driver accused of shooting to death 11 Jewish worshippers at a Pittsburgh synagogue in the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history.

Robert G. Bowers, who is from the Pittsburgh suburb of Baldwin, faces 63 counts in the Oct. 27, 2018, attack at the Tree of Life synagogue while members of three Jewish congregations were holding Sabbath activities in the building. The charges include 11 counts of obstruction of free exercise of religion resulting in death and 11 counts of hate crimes resulting in death.

If convicted, Bowers, 50, could get the death sentence. He offered to plead guilty in return for a life sentence, but federal prosecutors turned him down. His lawyers also recently said he has schizophrenia and structural and functional brain impairments.

During the trial, prosecutors are expected to tell jurors about incriminatory statements he allegedly made to investigators, an online trail of antisemitic statements that they say shows the attack was motivated by religious hatred, and the guns recovered from him at the crime scene where police shot Bowers three times before he surrendered.

The families of those killed were divided over whether the government should pursue the death penalty, but most were in favour.

Prosecutors indicated in court filings that they might introduce autopsy records and 911 recordings during the trial, including recordings of two calls from victims who were subsequently shot to death. They have said their evidence includes a Colt AR-15 rifle, three Glock .357 handguns and hundreds of cartridge cases, bullets and bullet fragments.

Bowers also injured seven people, including five police officers who responded to the scene, investigators said.

In an filing earlier this month, prosecutors said Bowers “harboured deep, murderous animosity towards all Jewish people.” They said he also expressed hatred for HIAS, founded as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, a non-profit humanitarian group that helps refugees and asylum seekers.

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What we are watching in the rest of the world …

KHARTOUM, Sudan _ Foreign governments evacuated diplomats, staff and others from Sudan on Sunday as rival generals battled for a ninth day with no sign of a truce that had been declared for a major Muslim holiday.

While world powers like the U.S. and Britain airlifted their diplomats from the capital of Khartoum, Sudanese desperately sought to flee the chaos. Many risked dangerous roads to cross the northern border into Egypt.

“My family _ my mother, my siblings and my nephews _ are on the road from Sudan to Cairo through Aswan,” prominent Sudanese filmmaker Amjad Abual-Ala wrote on Facebook.

Fighting raged in Omdurman, a city across the Nile River from Khartoum, residents said, despite a hoped-for ceasefire to coincide with the three-day Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr.

“We did not see such a truce,” Amin al-Tayed said from his home near state TV headquarters in Omdurman, adding that heavy gunfire and thundering explosions rocked the city.

Over 420 people, including 264 civilians, have been killed and over 3,700 wounded in fighting between the Sudanese armed forces and the powerful paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces. The RSF said the armed forces unleashed airstrikes on the upscale neighbourhood of Kafouri, north of Khartoum. There was no immediate army comment.

The ongoing violence has affected operations at the main international airport, destroying civilian planes and damaging at least one runway, and thick, black smoke rose above it. Other airports also have been knocked out of operation.

Sudan experienced a “near-total collapse” of internet and phone service Sunday, according to the monitoring service NetBlocks.

“It’s possible that infrastructure has been damaged or sabotaged,” said NetBlocks director Alp Toker. “This will have a major effect on residents’ ability to stay safe and will impact the evacuation programs that are ongoing.”

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On this day in 1928 …

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that women were not persons under the British North America Act and therefore could not hold office. In 1929, the ruling was overturned by the British Privy Council.

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In entertainment …

NEW YORK _ Jury selection and opening statements are set to begin Monday in a trial that mashes up Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” with Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.”

The heirs of Ed Townsend, Gaye’s co-writer of the 1973 soul classic, sued Sheeran, alleging the English pop star’s hit 2014 tune has “striking similarities” to “Let’s Get It On” and “overt common elements” that violate their copyright.

The lawsuit filed in 2017 has finally made it to a trial that is expected to last a week in the Manhattan federal courtroom of 95-year-old Judge Louis L. Stanton.

Sheeran, 32, is among the witnesses expected to testify.

“`Let’s Get It On” is the quintessential, sexy slow jam that’s been heard in countless films and commercials and garnered hundreds of millions of streams, spins and radio plays over the past 50 years. “Thinking Out Loud,” which won a Grammy for song of the year, is a much more marital take on love and sex.

While the jury will hear the recordings of both songs, probably many times, their lyrics _ and vibes _ are legally insignificant. Jurors are supposed to only consider the raw elements of melody, harmony and rhythm that make up the composition of “Let’s Get It On,” as documented on sheet music filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Sheeran’s attorneys have said the songs’ undeniable structural symmetry points only to the foundations of popular music.

“The two songs share versions of a similar and unprotectable chord progression that was freely available to all songwriters,” they said in a court filing.

Townsend family attorneys pointed out in the lawsuit that artists including Boyz II Men have performed seamless mashups of the two songs, and that even Sheeran himself has segued into “Let’s Get It On” during live performances of “Thinking Out Loud.”

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Did you see this?

OTTAWA _ Canada suspended consular services in Sudan on Sunday amid reports of allied countries evacuating Canadian diplomats and as armed conflict escalated in the East-African country.

Global Affairs Canada said Canadian diplomats would “temporarily work from a safe location outside the country” while still trying to help citizens in Sudan.

The Associated Press reported more than 420 people, including 264 civilians, have been killed and over 3,700 wounded in the fighting between the Sudanese armed forces and the powerful paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF.

Those deaths occurred in just nine days after power-sharing negotiations between the two groups deteriorated.

Global Affairs said there were 1,596 Canadian citizens formally registered as being in Sudan as of Saturday.

But Nicholas Coghlan, Canada’s former top envoy to Sudan, said in a Sunday interview that the number is likely “considerably higher,” with many being dual nationals.

He said many Canadians abroad see registering as a needless hassle, while others believe their information will be shared with other branches of government such as the Canada Revenue Agency, despite laws preventing such data transfers.

The Associated Press reports that fighting at the country’s main international airport in the capital city of Khartoum has destroyed civilian planes and damaged at least one runway.

Canada’s embassy sits near that airport, making it one of the most dangerous areas in the country, Coghlan said.

The New York Times reported Sunday that U.S. special forces evacuated six Canadian diplomats, along with 70 American diplomats and some from other countries.

The BBC, meanwhile, reported Canadians were among a group evacuated by sea to Saudi Arabia. Global Affairs did not immediately confirm those reports.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 24, 2023.

The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

In The News for April 24 : Federal public-service worker strike enters sixth day

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