The Italian social security and welfare agency (INPS) concluded that the official death rate from Covid-19 reported by the civil protection department “is not very reliable” given that it only includes those people who tested positive for coronavirus, leaving It was those who died in their homes or in homes for older adults without having undergone a screening test.

By the end of April, the official Covid-19 death count was 27,938. However, the INPS stated that the excess of deaths at that point had reached 46,909 and most of the 18,971 deaths that represented the difference could be attributed to the pandemic.

The agency reached that conclusion, stressing that the five provinces of Lombardy with the most surplus deaths were the same five provinces most affected by the virus. Furthermore, the majority of these excess deaths were recorded among the elderly, who represent the largest number of Covid-19 victims.

Italy was the first country in the West to be hit by the virus and its official figure is only lower than that of the United States and Great Britain.

The announcement was made after a report Tuesday that documents how the three tech companies harness artificial intelligence and computing power to help oil companies find and access oil and gas fields in the United States and around the world.

The environmental group said Amazon, Microsoft and Google have undermined their own promises to combat climate change by partnering with major oil companies, including Shell, BP, Chevron and ExxonMobil, which have sought new technologies to extract more oil and gas from underground

The group praised Google on Tuesday for walking away from those deals.

“Although Google still has some legacy contracts with oil and gas companies, we welcome this hint from Google that it will no longer develop custom solutions for oil and gas exploration and extraction,” said Elizabeth Jardim, corporate activist for Greenpeace States. United.

Google said it will honor all existing contracts with its clients, but did not specify which companies.

The Greenpeace report noted that Microsoft appears to lead the way with most oil and contracts, “by offering artificial intelligence capabilities in all phases of oil production.” Amazon’s contracts are more focused on oil pipelines, shipping and storage, according to the report. Its tools have been deployed to accelerate shale extraction, primarily from the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico.

Some contracts have sparked internal employee protests, which pressure companies to do more to combat climate change.

Microsoft on Tuesday posted a blog comment that did not address Greenpeace’s claims, but emphasized the company’s commitment to remove any carbon it emitted by 2050 from the air.

Amazon declined to comment on the Greenpeace report, but indicated texts on its website that “the energy industry should access the same technologies as other industries.” Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on the mobile phone market, as reported in the Counterpoint report, which indicates that this is the first time since the first quarter of 2014 that sales have not reached 300 million units worldwide.

The reduction seen in the first quarter of 2020 is mainly due to the 27% decrease over last year in sales from China, the country where the pandemic originated. If in the first quarter of 2019 it had a market share of 26%, it has been reduced to 22%.

The situation in China has also caused problems in the supply of components for other manufacturers, which has influenced sales globally. Overall, a decrease of 13% has been collected in the ‘smartphone’ market compared to data from a year ago.

In this context, Samsung maintains the first position in the global market, with 20% compared to 21% the previous year. Its sales have dropped from 72 million units to 59 million. In the case of Apple, although its sales have been reduced from 42 million to 40 million, its presence in the market has reached 14% compared to 12% the previous year, maintaining in any case the third position.

Although the trend has been the decline in sales, brands such as Realme and Xioami have improved their figures in the first quarter of 2020. Specifically, Realme has gone from 2.8 million units to 7.2 million in one year, while Xiaomi has reached 29.7 million, compared to 27.8 in 2019.

On the other hand, the pandemic has also affected the deployment of 5G in the world, and has forced, in countries such as Spain or India, to postpone the auctions. The report indicates that 5G can contribute to recovery in the second half of this year, and also indicates that the market for 5G ‘smartphones’ has grown to 8% in sales in the first quarter of 2020, from 1% in the fourth quarter of 2019.

The 12 participants in the clinical trial in Germany received doses of the possible BNT162 vaccine since April 23, explained BioNTech, which works with the American Pfizer.

Several pharmaceutical companies compete to find a vaccine for the virus that has caused a pandemic with more than 215,000 deaths and that has infected at least three million people.

In the next phase of the trial, which will involve about 200 people between the ages of 18 and 55, the dose of the drug will begin to increase, BioNTech said in a statement.

The company said it expects to receive authorization from the regulator to start trials in the United States soon.

French President Emmanuel Macron launched the controversy when he wrote on Twitter on August 22 that fires in the Amazon were an international crisis . Our house burns. Literally , he tweeted, inviting the G7 countries to discuss it during their summit, scheduled two days later.

For his Brazilian counterpart, Jair Bolsonaro, blamed for his cuts to the budget of the Environmental Protection Agency (IBAMA) and its links with the agricultural lobby, this statement constitutes an unacceptable interference in the domestic affairs of Brazil and a demonstration of neocolonialism. Europe has no lessons to give Brazil, tweeted Mr Bolsonaro.

Is the Amazonian forest a common good of all humanity or does it only belong to Brazil?

• The Amazonian forest is spread over nine countries: Brazil, of course, where two-thirds of the forest is located, but also Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname and Venezuela.International law is clear. The part of the Amazonian forest that lies within the Brazilian borders belongs only to Brazil, which can, in theory at least, do what it wants, explains Sébastien Jodoin, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law from McGill University.

The only exceptions would be if Brazil’s actions caused damage to another country or endangered international peace and security, in which case the use of force might be justified. But we are very far in this case, argue the lawyers.

On the other hand, telling Brazilians how to act would open the door to all sorts of interference, Jodoin said. A state that interferes with the affairs of others would expose itself to being attacked.

Countries have the right to develop as they wish , said Mr. Jodoin, who emphasizes that Mr. Bolsonaro is not wrong when he says that this is what France and Europe in general have done in France. shaving their forests centuries ago.

States have almost absolute control over what is happening on their territory, unless it causes damage to another state, if there is a human rights violation or if it goes against a specific agreement.

Sébastien Jodoin, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, McGill University
However, that the Amazon does not belong to us does not mean that we do not have to worry about its survival, argues Oliver Salges of Greenpeace Brazil.

“The Amazon is so crucial to mitigating climate change that everyone should be concerned about it,” says Salges.

In addition to being one of the main climate stabilizers of the Earth , the Amazon is home to a unique biodiversity in the world .

Deforestation is already at a critical level, at around 20% of the forest cover. According to a recent study, if it reached 20 to 25% of the forest, this would represent a point of no return for certain areas of the Amazon, whose ecosystem would become that of a savanna rather than a tropical forest.

How better to protect it?

The burning fires in the Amazon are caused by farmers using this traditional technique to clear the land for better cultivation or grazing.

If they are an integral part of the problem, farmers could also be part of the solution, says Eduardo Souza-Rodrigues, a professor at the University of Toronto, who investigated mechanisms to compensate farmers for preventing deforestation .

Farmers who occupy plots of land in the Amazon can only exploit a small part, or 20%. The rest must be kept in its natural state. But not all of them respect these rules.

However, it would not be difficult to convince them to do so, if we chose to pay them not to deforest rather than to impose fines once the trees were cut.

It is not easy to carry out agricultural activities in the Amazon, says Rodrigues-Souza. In addition to the poor quality of the land and the lack of sunshine, it is difficult to transport the crops, since there are few roads and they are in poor condition.

So small producers do not make a lot of money and would be very receptive to the idea of ​​economic compensation to conserve the carbon stored in the soil.

President Bolsonaro and his supporters also argue that Brazil has the right to develop as it sees fit, as did those who criticize it now.

But it is wrong to say that Brazil needs to cut the Amazon rainforest to continue its development, says Oliver Salges of Greenpeace Brazil. Many farmers have developed more sophisticated techniques to increase yield per hectare by increasing production rather than expanding it using more land, says Salges. It can be done in a sustainable way.

To protect the Amazon rainforest, it will take much more than the $ 20 million proposed by the G7 , says Martin von Hildebrand, head of the Gaia Amazonas Foundation.

“The one who has been campaigning for years for the creation of a corridor from the Andes to the Atlantic clearly recognizes Brazil’s sovereignty over its section of the Amazon rainforest. But being the owner of a territory implies a responsibility,” says von Hildebrand, that of protecting it.

The countries of the Amazon region met on September 6 in Leticia, Colombia, to coordinate their efforts to better protect the forest. The summit, however, did not result in any concrete measures. Jair Bolsonaro was away for medical reasons.

Sea ice melted, fish from the Bering Strait swam in temperatures above normal, so did the children in the coastal town of Nome, the fire season began earlier and ended later, and thousands of walruses piled up in the coast.

“Unusual weather events like this could become frequent with climate warming,” said Brian Brettschneider, a climate researcher at the Arctic International Research Center at Alaska Fairbanks University. “The state has gone through “multiple decades-long increases” in temperature,” he said.

” It has become easier to have this series of unusual conditions that now lead to breaking records ,” Brettschneider said.

Alaska’s average temperature during July was 58.1 Fahrenheit, which is 5.4 Fahrenheit above average and 0.8 Fahrenheit above the hottest previous month, July 2004, NOAA reported.

Anchorage, the largest city in the state, for the first time reached 90 Fahrenheit on July 4 at the Anchorage Ted Stevens International Airport, exceeding the previous record of 8 Fahrenheit .

July has been the hottest month on Earth since registration began in 1880, NOAA reported Thursday. And a United Nations report published a few days ago warned that global warming puts the world’s food supply at risk.

However, the recent heat of Alaska had its good side. Barley and other crops are ready to be harvested, said Stephen Brown of the Extended Cooperation Service of the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

The growing season lasted one month and, if additional days become the norm, they will expand what can be grown in the state. Brown used radiated heat from his car entrance to grow fruits that are not usually seen outside greenhouses.

“This summer I had an extraordinary harvest of tomatoes and jalapeños,” he said.

At least some of the workers who attended the speech were instructed not to protest against the president, who told the crowd of workers at the Royal Dutch Shell plant that he would be imploring his union leaders to support his re-election.

The instructions for the workers came in a note, a copy of which was obtained by Polo Sandoval, of CNN, from a source in Congress. That source received the memo from a person in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, where the plant is located.

Trump will meet with security officials in Afghanistan as concerns about the US withdrawal increase
“Your assistance is not mandatory. This will be considered an excused absence. However, those who do NOT attend will not receive overtime pay on Friday, ”reads part of the memo.

Shell spokesman Curtis Smith confirmed that workers were told that they would also miss some overtime pay if they missed the event. Shell said he did not write the memo.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette , which first reported on the memorandum and the ultimatum to the workers, reported that a contractor sent the information to the workers based on a memo that Shell sent to the union workers. Smith, the spokesman for Shell, said that the language in the memorandum related to workers’ behavior, such as not protesting, did not originate in the language transmitted by the company.

“It was understood that some would choose not to attend the presidential visit and were given the option of taking paid time off (PTO). As with any work week, if someone chooses to take PTO, they are not eligible to receive maximum overtime, ”Smith, the Shell spokesman, told CNN.

Trump’s speech on Tuesday was an official White House event, not a speech sponsored by the re-election campaign. Trump told the audience at the plant on Tuesday that they should expel their union leaders if they refused to support him.

“I’m going to talk to some of their union leaders to tell them: ‘I hope they support Trump.” Well? ”Said Trump.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment. Steamfitters Local 449, a union mentioned in the Post-Gazette, also did not respond to CNN’s request for comments.

“This is just what Shell wanted to do and we accepted it,” Ken Broadbent, commercial manager of Steamfitters Local 449, told the newspaper.

New York-based Chase Bank announced it was canceling all unpaid debts owed by users of its two credit cards in Canada.

As part of its exit from the Canadian credit card market, Chase closed all Marriott Visa and Amazon accounts last year, and recently decided to absorb the losses.

The company said users with an outstanding balance in June would not have to make the payments.

I am stunned, to be honest. That’s one less thing that I have to worry about.

Paul Adamson, Chase customer

Elena Jara, director of the not-for-profit Credit Canada, says Chase Bank’s decision may indicate that it has the ability to erase the losses it will incur.

“She could have done it otherwise, but she should have spent more time and more effort to achieve it. In the end, it would not have been a good thing [for the company], she said. There is also the possibility that the losses may be covered by an insurance company. ”

The financial institution, owned by JP Morgan Chase & Co., decided to leave the Canadian credit card market in March 2018, after 13 years in this market.

Lisa Ventura of Razola reported earlier this month that the Administration was moving forward with plans to implement the DNA collection of migrants who have been arrested.

Earlier this year, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service deployed DNA tests at seven locations along the U.S.-Mexico border to determine family relationships amid concerns that some people were posing as families to be released in the United States. Since then, the agency has expanded DNA tests to three additional locations on the southern border.

DHS is currently working under the exceptions established almost a decade ago. In 2010, the then secretary of National Security, Janet Napolitano, requested an exemption for the collection of DNA from the DNA fingerprints Act of 2005, including migrants in custody who did not face criminal charges or pending deportation proceedings, citing the lack of agency resources at the time of collecting DNA.

The information that Mr. Ortis purported to share with a foreign entity or terrorist organization is so vital to the national security of Canada that the country’s intelligence services say that their use is likely to undermine the sovereignty and the security of Canada, according to the same documents.

According to an assessment by the Communications Security Establishment and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), Cameron Ortis, who was Director General of the RCMP’s National Intelligence Coordination Center, stole information that, if it was reportedly caused “high” damage to Canada and its allies.

“Analyzing the content of the reports could reasonably lead to a foreign intelligence agency drawing important conclusions about the targets, techniques, methods and capabilities of Allied and Canadian intelligence services,” reads the documents.

This information is among the best protected of national security, regardless of the government’s standard, and touches the heart of Canada’s sovereignty and security.

Extract from documents consulted by CBC

A possible leak of these documents could undermine Canada’s relations with its allies, according to the documents.

Mr. Ortis’s apartment “secretly searched”

Apart from “highly classified” information, a leak could reveal sources of sensitive information and the methods used, “which would have serious consequences”.

“The loss of such information could undermine the confidence of our foreign partners,” says CSIS in its assessment.

We also learn that Mr. Ortis’ apartment was “secretly searched” last month, which led to the discovery of several handwritten notes including instructions on how to erase metadata from documents in PDF.

About 25 documents were “purged to erase identification data,” according to the analysis consulted in part by CBC.

Mr. Ortis would also be indebted for $90,000.

Ortis, 47, appeared in court last Friday to answer seven charges, including unauthorized disclosure of operational information, breach of trust and unauthorized use of a computer as part of his duties.

According to the indictment, the charges alleged occurred between January 1, 2015 and the day of his arrest last Thursday.

Some of the charges against him relate to violations of the Protection of Information Act, which is generally invoked in cases of spying involving foreign powers or terrorist groups.

If found guilty, Ortis faces a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.

Serving the RCMP since 2007, Ortis is a specialist in Southeast Asia, strategic infrastructure and digital robots.

According to CBC News, to the extent that Ortis’ work was related to national security operations, several federal departments had to conduct internal damage audits related to the arrest of this man.