newstfionline

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Thursday, April 25, 2024

World seeing near breakdown of international law amid wars in Gaza and Ukraine, Amnesty says (AP) The world is seeing a near breakdown of international law amid flagrant rule-breaking in Gaza and Ukraine, multiplying armed conflicts, the rise of authoritarianism and huge rights violations in Sudan, Ethiopia and Myanmar, Amnesty International warned Wednesday as it published its annual report. The human rights organization said the most powerful governments, including the United States, Russia and China, have led a global disregard for international rules and values enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, with civilians in conflicts paying the highest price. Agnes Callamard, Amnesty’s secretary general, said the level of violation of international order witnessed in the past year was “unprecedented.” “Israel’s flagrant disregard for international law is compounded by the failures of its allies to stop the indescribable civilian bloodshed meted out in Gaza,” she said. “Many of those allies were the very architects of that post-World War Two system of law.”

Canada hitting the brakes on immigration (Washington Post) Canada’s broad support for immigration has set the country apart. The country is growing fast, with about 98 percent of the rise coming from immigration last year. But now, amid a housing affordability crisis and strain on social services, Trudeau’s government is rolling up the welcome mat for some immigrants. It has capped the number of permanent residents it will welcome, announced a temporary limit on international student visas and pledged to shrink the proportion of the population made up of temporary immigrants.

Pro-Israel groups planning to spend millions in US elections (Guardian) A handful of pro-Israel groups fund political campaigns in support of individual candidates in US elections, led by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac), a powerful force in American politics. Before the 2024 election, Aipac plans to spend tens of millions of dollars against congressional candidates, primarily Democrats, whom it deems insufficiently supportive of Israel. Aipac and other pro-Israel lobby groups have recruited and supported challengers to a number of lawmakers and candidates—most notably members of the Squad, the group of progressive representatives who are particularly vocal in their criticism of Israel’s offensive in Gaza. The 2024 election will be bellwether of the enduring impact of these groups on US politics amid shifting US public opinion on Israel.

Cicadas are so noisy in a South Carolina county that residents are calling the police (AP) Emerging cicadas are so loud in one South Carolina county that residents are calling the sheriff’s office asking why they can hear sirens or a loud roar. The Newberry County Sheriff’s Office sent out a message on Facebook on Tuesday letting people know that the whining sound is just the male cicadas singing to attract mates after more than a decade of being dormant. Some people have even flagged down deputies to ask what the noise is all about, Newberry County Sheriff Lee Foster said. Trillions of red-eyed periodical cicadas are emerging from underground in the eastern U.S. this month. The broods emerging are on 13 or 17 year cycles. Their collective songs can be as loud as jet engines and scientists who study them often wear earmuffs to protect their hearing.

Made in Mexico, but made by China (BBC) As the trade war between the US and China shows no sign of ending, Mexico has become an effective backdoor for Chinese capital. Many firms relocate to northern Mexico to save on tariffs and on shipping. The reclining armchairs and plush leather sofas coming off the production line at Man Wah Furniture’s factory in Monterrey are 100% “Made in Mexico”. They’re destined for large retailers in the US, like Costco and Walmart. But the company is from China. As the company’s general manager, Yu Ken Wei, shows me around its vast site, he says the move has made economic and logistical sense. “We hope to triple or even quadruple production here,” he says in perfect Spanish. The firm only arrived in the city of Monterrey in 2022, but already employs 450 people in Mexico.

With public universities under threat, massive protests against austerity shake Argentina (AP) Raising their textbooks and diplomas and singing the national anthem, hundreds of thousands of Argentines filled the streets of Buenos Aires and other cities on Tuesday to demand increased funding for the country’s public universities, in an outpouring of anger at libertarian President Javier Milei’s harsh austerity measures. Students and professors coordinated with the country’s powerful trade unions and leftist political parties to push back against budget cuts that have forced Argentina’s most venerable university to declare a financial emergency and warn of imminent closure. In his drive to reach zero deficit, Milei is slashing spending across Argentina—shuttering ministries, defunding cultural centers, laying off state workers and cutting subsidies. On Monday he had something to show for it, announcing Argentina’s first quarterly fiscal surplus since 2008 and promising the public the pain would pay off. “We are making the impossible possible even with the majority of politics, unions, the media and most economic actors against us,” he said in a televised address.

Ukraine moves to cut off consular services for military-age men abroad (Washington Post) Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that it would restrict consular services for Ukrainian men of military fighting age who have left the country, potentially cutting off their ability to renew passports or access other essential citizen services. Thousands of Ukrainian men are believed to have left their country rather than risk being drafted to help defend against Russia’s continuing invasion, even though martial law bars men age 18 and over from traveling abroad. Thousands of others were already living abroad, typically to work or study, when Russia invaded in February 2022. The law is intended to help Ukraine overcome a severe shortage of soldiers on the front lines, in part by expanding the pool of men eligible to be drafted.

In Ukraine, Testing New American Technology (NYT) Six years ago, Google signed a small, $9 million contract to put the skills of a few of its most innovative developers to the task of building an artificial intelligence tool that would help the military detect potential targets on the battlefield using drone footage. Now Project Maven has grown into an ambitious experiment being tested on the front lines in Ukraine. So far the results are mixed. The American experience in Ukraine has underscored how difficult it is to get 21st-century data into 19th-century trenches. The war in Ukraine has, in the minds of many American officials, been a bonanza for the U.S. military, a testing ground for Project Maven and other rapidly evolving technologies. The American-made drones that were shipped into Ukraine last year were blown out of the sky with ease. And Pentagon officials now understand, in a way they never did before, that America’s system of military satellites has to be built and set up entirely differently, with configurations that look more like Elon Musk’s Starlink constellations of small satellites.

Martian skies over Athens? Greece’s capital turns an orange hue with dust clouds from North Africa (AP) Skies over southern Greece turned an orange hue on Tuesday as dust clouds blown across the Mediterranean Sea from North Africa engulfed the Acropolis and other Athens landmarks. Strong southerly winds carried the dust from the Sahara Desert, giving the atmosphere of the Greek capital a Martian-like filter in the last hours of daylight. The skies are predicted to clear on Wednesday as winds shift and move the dust, with temperatures dipping. On Tuesday, the daily high in parts of the southern island of Crete topped 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit), more than 20 degrees C higher than what was registered in much of northern Greece. The strong southerly winds over the past few days have also fanned unseasonal early wildfires in the country’s south.

Without fanfare, the Philippines is getting richer (Economist) Visitors to the Philippines have ample time to imagine ways to make its transport system less frustrating. When not queuing in rickety airports, they are often stuck in traffic. A typical commute from an outlying suburb to the centre of Manila, the capital, takes two hours, including nearly 30 minutes waiting for a bus to show up. Yet things are improving. Roads are being paved, bridges built. The Philippines is often an afterthought for investors: neither a giant like India nor a manufacturing superstar like Vietnam. But growth has been brisk since 2012 (except during the pandemic). The economy has quietly boomed under a variety of regimes, from the liberal President Benigno Aquino (2010-16) to President Rodrigo Duterte (2016-22). Now, under President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, growth is expected to be around 6% over the next few years. The World Bank says the Philippines will soon be an upper-middle-income country.

The U.S. is in retreat in a crucial part of the world (Washington Post) For boosters of U.S. security interests in Africa, the past few days carried grim tidings. At the end of last week, the United States informed the coup-plotting leadership of Niger that it would comply with its request to withdraw U.S. forces from the country, which had been operating in a counterterrorism role there for more than half a decade. Around the same time, reports emerged that authorities in Chad had sent a letter this month to the U.S. defense attaché based there, ordering the United States to cease activities at a base that also accommodates French troops. The potential withdrawal of a detachment of U.S. Special Forces based in Chad would mark yet another blow for the Western security presence in the Sahel—the vast arid region that stretches below the Sahara desert that has seen a wave of coups in recent years toppling fragile Central and West African governments. The U.S. exit in Niger follows the arrival of a detachment of Russian military trainers in the country this month. Some Nigeriens who spoke to my colleagues in the capital of Niamey see the junta exercising a new kind of sovereignty after years of overweening French interest. “Why is it a problem for the Americans and France that the Russians are helping us?” Abdoulaye Oussein, 51, said. “I think we’re free to make our own choices.”

Global defence budget jumps to record high of $2.44 trillion (Guardian) There’s something in the air this year, and according to the numbers, it’s the smell of war. In a new report, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) claims that global military expenditure reached a record high of $2.44 trillion in 2023, a 6.8% increase from 2022. The report also shows that defense spending rose in all five regions of the world, marking the first time a global defense spending increase has occurred in Sipri’s 60-year history. “The unprecedented rise in military spending is a direct response to the global deterioration in peace and security,” said a senior researcher at Sipri. “States are prioritizing military strength, but they risk an action-reaction spiral in the increasingly volatile geopolitical and security landscape.” The two biggest military spenders in the world were the U.S. ($916 billion) and China ($296 billion). Their defense spending made up 37% and 12% of the entire world’s total military budget. The Kremlin’s military expenditure rose 24% in 2023 compared to 2022.

#headlines #news

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Thought of the Day

“Isn’t it funny how day by day nothing changes but when you look back everything is different.”—C. S. Lewis

#quotes

[newstfionline]

Wednesday, April 24, 2024

Universities Struggle as Pro-Palestinian Demonstrations Grow (NYT) At New York University, the police swept in to arrest protesting students on Monday night, ending a standoff with the school’s administration. At Yale, the police placed protesters’ wrists into zip ties on Monday morning and escorted them onto campus shuttles to receive summonses for trespassing. Columbia kept its classroom doors closed on Monday, moving lectures online and urging students to stay home. Harvard Yard was shut to the public. Nearby, at campuses like Tufts and Emerson, administrators weighed how to handle encampments that looked much like the one that the police dismantled at Columbia last week—which protesters quickly resurrected. And on the West Coast, a new encampment bubbled at the University of California, Berkeley. Less than a week after the arrests of more than 100 protesters at Columbia, administrators at some of the country’s most influential universities were struggling, and largely failing, to calm campuses torn by the conflict in Gaza and Israel.

Haiti health system nears collapse as medicine dwindles, gangs attack hospitals and ports stay shut (AP) On a recent morning at a hospital in the heart of gang territory in Haiti’s capital, a woman began convulsing before her body went limp as a doctor and two nurses raced to save her. But the Doctors Without Borders hospital in the Cite Soleil slum was running low on key medicine to treat convulsions. “The medication she really needs, we barely have,” said Dr. Rachel Lavigne, a physician with the medical aid group. It’s a familiar scene repeated daily at hospitals and clinics across Port-au-Prince, where life-saving medication and equipment is dwindling or altogether absent as brutal gangs tighten their grip on the capital and beyond. They have blocked roads, forced the closure of the main international airport in early March and paralyzed operations at the country’s largest seaport, where containers filled with key supplies remain stuck. “Everything is crashing,” Lavigne said. Haiti’s health system has long been fragile, but it’s now nearing total collapse.

UK passes law to send asylum seekers to Rwanda (BBC) After months of wrangling, the British Parliament has passed a controversial bill, paving the way for asylum seekers to be sent to Rwanda. It’s a flagship immigration policy for the Conservative government of Rishi Sunak, who said it would make clear “if you come here illegally, you will not be able to stay". About 52,000 asylum seekers could be sent to the East African country. Yvette Cooper, who oversees interior policies for the Labour opposition, called the plan an "extortionately expensive gimmick". And charities describe it as a "breach of international law". In a statement, Mr Sunak said: "We introduced the Rwanda bill to deter vulnerable migrants from making perilous crossings." On Tuesday morning, after the passing of the bill, my colleagues witnessed about 30 migrants boarding a small boat on a beach in northern France. Five other people, including a child, died as they attempted to cross the Channel.

Russian Attacks Crush Factories and Way of Life in Ukrainian Villages (NYT) Its towering smokestacks once puffed out clouds of steam. In gigantic machine rooms, turbines whirled around the clock. Furnaces burned trainloads of coal. In the Soviet era, the Kurakhove Heating and Power Plant gave rise to the town around it in Ukraine’s east, driving the local economy and sustaining the community with wages and heating for homes. “Our plant is the heart of our city,” said Halyna Liubchenko, a retiree whose husband worked his entire career in nearby coal mines that fed the facility. That heart is barely beating now, partly destroyed by artillery. The plant is among the last still operating in Ukraine’s Donbas region, once the country’s center of heavy industry and now a focal point of Russian ground offensives that are ravaging towns and cities along the front line. War in eastern Ukraine has killed tens of thousands of people, reduced cities to ruins and displaced millions of people. It has also all but destroyed the factories and plants that were for years an important driver of Ukraine’s economy.

Modi Calls Muslims ‘Infiltrators’ Who Would Take India’s Wealth (NYT) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday called Muslims “infiltrators” who would take India’s wealth if his opponents gained power—unusually direct and divisive language from a leader who normally lets others do the dirtiest work of polarizing Hindus against Muslims. Mr. Modi, addressing voters in the state of Rajasthan, aimed his emotional appeal at women, addressing “my mothers and sisters” to say that his Congress opponents would take their gold and give it to Muslims. Implications that Muslims have too many babies, that they are coming for Hindus’ wives and daughters, that their nationality as Indian is itself in doubt are often made by representatives of Mr. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, or B.J.P. Mr. Modi’s use of such language himself, as he campaigns for a third term in office, raised alarm that it could inflame right-wing vigilantes who target Muslims.

Asia’s Heat Wave Scorches Hundreds of Millions (NYT) Hundreds of millions of people in South and Southeast Asia were suffering on Monday from a punishing heat wave that has forced schools to close, disrupted agriculture, and raised the risk of heat strokes and other health complications. The weather across the region in April is generally hot, and comes before Asia’s annual summer monsoon, which dumps rain on parched soil. But this April’s temperatures have so far been unusually high. In Bangladesh, where schools and universities are closed this week, temperatures in some areas have soared above 107 degrees Fahrenheit, or 42 degrees Celsius. Those numbers don’t quite capture how extreme humidity makes the heat feel even worse. The heat wave could lead to more cases of certain diseases, including cholera and diarrhea, said Be-Nazir Ahmed, a public health expert in Bangladesh. Mr. Ahmed said that people should ideally try to work earlier in the morning and later at night, when temperatures are lower. But that is easier said than done in a country where many people work outdoors.

Mama’s boys and marital strife are no joke in today’s China (Washington Post) Tales about evil mothers-in-law and marital bust-ups have landed China’s wildly popular ultrashort dramas in trouble with official censors. Beijing is cracking down on the format’s allegedly “inappropriate” plots about marital strife for fear they will hurt the government’s campaign encouraging families to stay together and have more children. Huang Zhongjun, a scholar at Zhejiang Normal University who has studied micro-dramas, says the format has proven harmful to society in part because viewers are fed unrealistic plots that “vilify people and amplify conflicts” within families. Young people, who spend more time with their screens than real people, are becoming “emotionally deficient” and “unwilling to get married or have children,” he added. Censors this month called out mother-in-law dramas for straying from “mainstream values” approved by the Chinese Communist Party. Since China’s population began to shrink in 2022, officials have stepped up controls on “unhealthy” portrayals of love and marriage in popular culture. At the same time, they have dialed up propaganda to encourage young couples to settle down and get busy having children.

Taiwan rattled by more than 200 quakes, but no major damage (Reuters) Taiwan’s quake-hit eastern county of Hualien was rattled by more than 200 aftershocks late on Monday and early on Tuesday, but only minor damage was reported and no casualties and major chipmaker TSMC said it saw no impact on operations. Largely rural and sparsely populated Hualien was hit by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake on April 3 that killed at least 17 people, and there have been more than 1,000 aftershocks since. Buildings across large parts of northern, eastern and western Taiwan, including in the capital, Taipei, swayed throughout the night, with the largest quake measuring a 6.3 magnitude. All were very shallow.

Iran’s Israel strike coincided with crackdown on dissent at home, activists say (Reuters) The same day Iran launched its first ever direct attack on Israel it embarked on a less-noticed confrontation at home, ordering police in several cities to take to the streets to arrest women accused of flouting its strict Islamic dress code. Iranian authorities insist that their so-called Nour (Light) campaign targets businesses and individuals who defy the hijab law, aiming to respond to demands from devout citizens who are angry about the growing number of unveiled women in public. But activists and some politicians say the campaign appears aimed not only at enforcing mandatory hijab-wearing, but also at discouraging any wider dissent at a vulnerable moment for the clerical rulers. Under Iran’s sharia, or Islamic law, women are obliged to cover their hair and wear long, loose-fitting clothes. Offenders face public rebuke, fines or arrest. The laws have become a political flashpoint since protests over the death of a young woman in the custody of the country’s “morality police” in 2022 spiralled into the worst political turmoil since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Israelis Prepare to Mark Passover, a Festival of Freedom, With Hostages Still in Gaza (NYT) Many Israelis were in a somber mood on Monday as they prepared to usher in Passover, the Jewish festival of freedom, saying they would mark the holiday rather than celebrate it, with more than 130 hostages remaining in Gaza. The number of hostages believed to be alive is unclear, and with negotiations with Hamas captors at an impasse, there is little prospect of their imminent release. The holiday is to start after sundown on Monday with the traditional Seder meal. By tradition, this is a joyful gathering of family and friends who follow a ritual order of blessings over symbolic foods as they retell the biblical story of the bondage and suffering of the ancient Israelites in Egypt and their exodus and liberation.

Report says Israel has not provided evidence of widespread militancy among UNRWA staff (Washington Post) Israel has not provided evidence that significant numbers of workers with the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees are tied to militant groups, but the agency must implement more robust vetting of staff members to ensure neutrality and work to reestablish trust with donors, a highly anticipated report said Monday. Former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna, who led the group, called the agency “indispensable and irreplaceable” in a news conference Monday. “As we speak, at this critical time, UNRWA has a vital role in the humanitarian response in Gaza,” she added. The findings released Monday will largely come as a relief to the embattled agency—pitched into an existential crisis in January after Israel alleged that a dozen of its 13,000 employees in Gaza participated in the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attacks and that more than 10 percent had ties to militant groups. Sixteen major donors, including the United States, promptly suspended funding worth about $450 million, nearly half of UNRWA’s budget for the year.

74 is the new 71 (Yahoo) New research suggests that 74 is the new 71. Our perception of when “old age” begins is shifting, with most people believing this phase of life begins later than they used to, according to a new study published in the journal Psychology and Aging. While the study didn’t look at why this shift has occurred, experts say it makes sense—and is probably a good thing; humans on average are living longer than ever, and examples of people living full lives well beyond retirement age abound. Experts on aging—some of whom are in their 70s and 80s themselves—aren’t surprised, and say it’s part of a promising shift away from negative stereotypes about what getting older means. “Now, in most people’s daily lives, they know somebody who is 100,” Ellen Langer, a professor of psychology at Harvard University who researches mindset and aging, tells Yahoo Life. In the past, “you didn’t know anybody who lived to 100.”

#headlines #news

[newstfionline]

Thought of the Day

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”—Ralph Waldo Emerson

#quotes

[newstfionline]

Tuesday, April 23, 2024

The Movie ‘Civil War’ Echoes Real Political Anxieties (NYT) One subject seems to be unifying the right and the left today: Disunion. From the multiplex to social media, the prospect of America collapsing into armed conflict has moved from being an idea on the tinfoil-hat fringes to an active undercurrent of the country’s political conversation. Voters at campaign events bring up their worries that political division could lead to large-scale political violence. Pollsters regularly ask about the idea in opinion surveys. A cottage industry has arisen for speculative fiction, serious assessments and forums about whether the country could be on the verge of a modern-day version of the bloodiest war in American history. And “Civil War,” a dystopian action film about an alternative America plunged into a bloody domestic conflict, has topped box office sales for two consecutive weekends. Of course, the notion of a future civil war remains a mere notion. But, as another presidential election approaches, it has suddenly become a hotly debated one, reflecting the bipartisan sense of unease that has permeated American politics. In polls and in interviews, a segment of voters have said they fear that the country’s divides have grown so deep that they may lead not just to rhetorical battles but actual ones.

Historical Markers (NPR) The United States has over 180,000 active historical markers throughout the country, but little in the way of a national policy or code regarding what and who ought to be considered historical, or for that matter what actually happened that was commemorated. For instance, three separate states claim to have the site of the invention of anesthesia, two states claim to have Daniel Boone’s bones, two states claim to have sent the first telegram, and Texas inexplicably claims to be the site of the first successful airplane flight. Not to mention that some are barely history to begin with, including 14 markers memorializing a ghost, two markers about a witch, one about a vampire, and one about a wizard. California had one commemorating a dead mastodon that, upon further analysis, turned out to be a dead circus elephant.

Haitians scramble to survive as gang violence chokes the capital (AP) Life in Port-au-Prince has become a game of survival, pushing Haitians to new limits as they scramble to stay safe and alive while gangs overwhelm the police and the government remains largely absent. Some are installing metal barricades. Others press hard on the gas while driving near gang-controlled areas. The few who can afford it stockpile water, food, money and medication, supplies of which have dwindled since the main international airport closed in early March. The country’s biggest seaport is largely paralyzed by marauding gangs. “People living in the capital are locked in, they have nowhere to go,” Philippe Branchat, International Organization for Migration chief in Haiti, said in a recent statement. “The capital is surrounded by armed groups and danger. It is a city under siege.” Phones ping often with alerts reporting gunfire, kidnappings and fatal shootings, and some supermarkets have so many armed guards that they resemble small police stations.

Mexico’s leading presidential candidate stopped by masked men who ask for help in stemming violence (AP) Masked men stopped a vehicle carrying Mexico’s leading presidential candidate while she was traveling between campaign stops Sunday to ask that she address the violence in the southern state of Chiapas if she wins the June 2 election. Former Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, the governing Morena party’s candidate, remained in the front passenger seat of the vehicle listening calmly with her window down. Masked men filmed the interaction on their cell phones and one shook her hand before letting her move on. The men, who identified themselves as local residents, said they felt “powerless” because the government has not done enough to provide security. They asked her to take action as president so that their township, Motozintla, along Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala, does not become a “disaster” like other communities in the region.

Ecuadorians vote overwhelmingly in referendum to approve toughening fight against gangs (AP) Ecuador’s fledgling president got a resounding victory Sunday in a referendum that he touted as a way to crack down on criminal gangs behind a spiraling wave of violence. An official quick count showed that Ecuadorians overwhelmingly voted “yes” to all nine questions focused on tightening security measures, rejecting only two more controversial economic proposals. Among the measures approved are President Noboa’s call to deploy the army in the fight against the gangs, to loosen obstacles for extraditing accused criminals and to lengthen prison sentences for convicted drug traffickers.

UK prime minister pushes for Rwanda deportation bill over objections from unelected upper chamber (AP) British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is calling on the unelected House of Lords to stop blocking legislation allowing authorities to deport some asylum-seekers to Rwanda, as he seeks to make good on a campaign promise to “stop the boats” that bring migrants to U.K. illegally. Sunak has scheduled a news conference for Monday morning to make his case directly to the public after vowing last week that Parliament would remain in session until the legislation is passed. The elected House of Commons will take up the bill later in the day, followed by consideration in the House of Lords. The bill has been stalled for two months as it bounced back and forth between the two houses of Parliament, with the Lords repeatedly offering amendments that were then rejected by the Commons. The Lords don’t have the power to kill the legislation, but they must give their assent before it can become law.

Chinese general takes a harsh line on Taiwan and other disputes at an international naval gathering (AP) One of China’s top military leaders took a harsh line on regional territorial disputes, telling an international naval gathering in northeastern China on Monday that the country would strike back with force if its interests came under threat. The 19th biennial meeting of the Western Pacific Naval Symposium opened in the port city of Qingdao, where China’s northern naval force is based, providing a vivid backdrop to China’s massive military expansion over the past two decades that has seen it build or refurbish three aircraft carriers. The four-day meeting has drawn representatives from partners and competitors including Australia, Cambodia, Chile, France, India and the U.S. and comes amid heightened tensions over China’s assertive actions in the Taiwan Strait and the East and South China seas, and as China’s navy has grown into the world’s largest by number of hulls.

April Showers Bring Historic Flooding in Guangdong (NBC News) The province of Guangdong, located in China’s southeast, is facing the threat of massive floods as a spike in rainfall has threatened to overwhelm local dams and reservoirs. The region has been pounded by heavy rainfall over the past week, with one neighborhood in the provincial capital of Guangzhou experiencing four inches of rain in just five hours. Today, some areas are predicted to see 10 inches of rain over 24 hours. Local officials have called the situation “grim.” Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated in the face of floods at the time of writing, and nine rivers are currently at risk of overflowing their banks. 1.16 million households in the region have had their power cut off so far, and over 1,100 schools have canceled classes today.

Papua New Guinea leader takes offense after Biden implies an uncle was eaten by cannibals (AP) Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape accused Joe Biden of disparaging the South Pacific island nation by implying that an uncle of the U.S. president had been eaten by “cannibals” there during World War II. The president spoke at a Pennsylvania war memorial last week about his Army Air Corps aviator uncle Ambrose Finnegan, who was shot down over Papua New Guinea, which was a theater of heavy fighting. “They never found the body because there used to be—there were a lot of cannibals for real in that part of New Guinea,” Biden said, referring to the country’s main island. Marape said in a statement on Sunday that Biden “appeared to imply his uncle was eaten by cannibals.” “President Biden’s remarks may have been a slip of the tongue; however, my country does not deserve to be labeled as such,” Marape said.

Israel Planned Bigger Attack on Iran, but Scaled It Back to Avoid War (NYT) Israel abandoned plans for a much more extensive counterstrike on Iran after concerted diplomatic pressure from the United States and other foreign allies and because the brunt of an Iranian assault on Israel soil had been thwarted, according to three senior Israeli officials. Israeli leaders originally discussed bombarding several military targets across Iran last week, including near Tehran, the Iranian capital, in retaliation for the Iranian strike on April 13, said the officials, who spoke on the discussion of anonymity to describe the sensitive discussions. Such a broad and damaging attack would have been far harder for Iran to overlook. In the end—after President Biden, along with the British and German foreign ministers, urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to prevent a wider war—Israel opted for a more limited strike on Friday that avoided significant damage, diminishing the likelihood of an escalation, at least for now.

A Slap On The Wrist And $26 Billion (Guardian) For the first time ever, the U.S. is preparing sanctions against the Israel Defense Forces. The sanctions will target the IDF’s Netzah Yehuda battalion, which operates in the occupied West Bank. The battalion has been accused of committing serious human rights violations against Palestinians, including torture and mistreatment of prisoners. According to ProPublica, the U.S. State Department has received a dossier full of such abuses by multiple Israeli military and police units, but Secretary of State Antony Blinken has declined to take action on that information. While one part of the U.S. government worked on preparing those sanctions, the House passed a $95 billion foreign aid bill that had been stuck in the lower legislature for weeks. $26 billion of the aid will go to Israel, though 37 left-wing Democrats opposed the funding because there were no conditions on how Israel should use the money. On Sunday, just one day after the House passed the funding bill, Israeli airstrikes pounded the southern Gaza city of Rafah, killing 22 people including 18 children.

Nearly 300 bodies found in mass grave at Gaza hospital (CNN) A mass grave with nearly 300 bodies has been uncovered at a hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, Gaza Civil Defense workers said Monday, following the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the area earlier this month. Col. Yamen Abu Suleiman, Director of Civil Defense in Khan Younis told CNN Monday that “today, 73 bodies were recovered” in the courtyard at the Nasser Medical Complex which brought the “total number to 283.” Suleiman alleged that some of the bodies had been found with hands and feet tied, “and there were signs of field executions. We do not know if they were buried alive or executed. Most of the bodies are decomposed.” CNN is unable to verify Suleiman’s claims and cannot confirm the causes of death among the bodies being unearthed.

A Palestinian baby in Gaza is born an orphan in an urgent cesarean section after an Israeli strike (AP) Sabreen Jouda came into the world seconds after her mother left it. Their home was hit by an Israeli airstrike shortly before midnight Saturday. Until that moment, the family was like so many other Palestinians trying to shelter from the war in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah. Sabreen’s father was killed. Her 4-year-old sister was killed. Her mother was killed. But emergency responders learned that her mother, Sabreen al-Sakani, was 30 weeks pregnant. In a rush at the Kuwaiti hospital where the bodies were taken, medical workers performed an emergency cesarean section. Little Sabreen was near death herself, fighting to breathe. Her tiny body lay in the recovery position on a small piece of carpet as medical workers gently pumped air into her open mouth. A gloved hand tapped at her chest. She survived. At least two-thirds of the more than 34,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza since this war began have been children and women, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

#headlines #news

[newstfionline]

Thought of the Day

“There never was night that had no morn.”—Dinah Maria Mulock Craik

#quotes

[newstfionline]

Monday, April 22, 2024

The Town at the Center of a Supreme Court Battle Over Homelessness (NYT) Inside a warming shelter, Laura Gutowski detailed how her life had changed since she became homeless two and a half years ago in Grants Pass, a former timber hub in the foothills of southern Oregon. “I never expected it to come to this,” Ms. Gutowski, 55, said. She is one of several hundred homeless people in this city of about 40,000 that is at the center of a major case before the Supreme Court on Monday with broad ramifications for the nationwide struggle with homelessness. After Grants Pass stepped up enforcement of local ordinances that banned sleeping and camping in public spaces by ticketing, fining and jailing the homeless, lower courts ruled that it amounted to “cruel and unusual punishment” by penalizing people who had nowhere else to go. Many states and cities that are increasingly overwhelmed by homelessness are hoping the Supreme Court overturns that decision. They argue that it has crippled their efforts to address sprawling encampments, rampant public drug use and fearful constituents who say they cannot safely use public spaces. That prospect has alarmed homeless people and their advocates, who contend that a ruling against them would lead cities to fall back on jails, instead of solutions like affordable housing and social services.

In New York City, Most Major Crimes Are Down, But Assaults Are Up (NYT) Just before noon last Saturday, a 9-year-old girl was with her mother at Grand Central Terminal when a man strode up to the child and, without warning, punched her in the face. The child, dizzy and in pain, was taken to the hospital. Jean Carlos Zarzuela, 30, a man who had been staying in a homeless shelter in East Harlem, was quickly arrested. It was among a number of recent assaults that have unnerved New Yorkers, who have seen a rash of attacks reported on the streets and on the subway. Police leaders and Mayor Eric Adams have trumpeted sharp decreases in the number of murders, rapes, robberies and burglaries since 2022. Still, assaults continue to vex police and city leaders. Felony assaults, a major crime category defined as an attack where a dangerous weapon is used or a serious injury results, are up in recent years. So are misdemeanor assaults, such as the one at Grand Central, in which a victim is punched, kicked or hit but no weapon is used.

Blinken will be the latest top US official to visit China in a bid to keep ties on an even keel (AP) Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to China this coming week as Washington and Beijing try to keep ties on an even keel despite major differences on issues from the path to peace in the Middle East to the supply of synthetic opioids that have heightened fears over global stability. The rivals are at odds on numerous fronts, including Russia’s war in Ukraine, Taiwan and the South China Sea, North Korea, Hong Kong, human rights and the detention of American citizens. The United States and China also are battling over trade and commerce issues, with President Joe Biden announcing new tariffs on imports of Chinese steel this past week. The State Department said Saturday that Blinken, on his second visit to China in less than a year, will travel to Shanghai and Beijing starting Wednesday for three days of meetings with senior Chinese officials, including Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Talks between Blinken and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected, although neither side will confirm such a meeting is happening until shortly before it takes place.

Ecuadorians head to polls to toughen fight against gangs behind wave of violence (AP) Ecuadorians head to the polls Sunday in a referendum touted by the country’s fledgling leader as a way to crack down on criminal gangs behind a spiraling wave of violence. The majority of 11 questions posed to voters focus on tightening security measures. Proposals include deploying the army in the fight against the gangs, loosening obstacles to extradition of accused criminals and lengthening prison sentences for convicted drug traffickers. Ecuador, traditionally one of South America’s most peaceful countries, has been rocked in recent year by a wave of violence, much of it spilling over from neighboring Colombia, the world’s largest producer of cocaine. Last year, the country’s homicide rate shot up to 40 deaths per 100,000, one of the highest in the region.

Wave of narco-violence stuns Argentina city (AP) The order to kill came from inside a federal prison near Argentina’s capital. Unwitting authorities patched a call from drug traffickers tied to one of the country’s most notorious gangs to collaborators on the outside. Hiring a 15-year-old hit man, they sealed the fate of a young father they didn’t even know. At a service station on March 9 in Rosario, the picturesque hometown of soccer star Lionel Messi, 25-year-old employee Bruno Bussanich was whistling to himself and checking the day’s earnings just before he was shot three times from less than a foot away, surveillance footage shows. The assailant fled without taking a peso. It was the fourth gang-related fatal shooting in Rosario in almost as many days. Authorities called it an unprecedented rampage in Argentina, which had never witnessed the extremes of drug cartel violence afflicting some other Latin American countries.

Thousands protest in Spain’s Canary Islands over mass tourism (Reuters) Thousands of people protested in Tenerife on Saturday, calling for the Spanish island to temporarily limit tourist arrivals to stem a boom in short-term holiday rentals and hotel construction that is driving up housing costs for locals. Holding placards reading “People live here” and “We don’t want to see our island die”, demonstrators said changes must be made to the tourism industry that accounts for 35% of gross domestic product (GDP) in the Canary Islands archipelago. Demonstrators say local authorities should temporarily limit visitor numbers to alleviate pressure on the islands’ environment, infrastructure and housing stock, and put curbs on property purchases by foreigners.

Moscow says 50 Ukrainian drones shot down as attacks spark fires at Russian power stations (AP) Ukraine launched a barrage of drones across Russia overnight, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said Saturday, in attacks that appeared to target the country’s energy infrastructure. Fifty drones were shot down by air defences over eight Russian regions, including 26 over the country’s western Belgorod region close to the Ukrainian border. Two people died during the overnight barrage. Ukrainian officials normally decline to comment about attacks on Russian soil. However, many of the drone strikes appeared to be directed toward Russia’s energy infrastructure.

Ukrainian and Western leaders laud US aid package while the Kremlin warns of ‘further ruin’ (AP) Ukrainian and Western leaders on Sunday welcomed a desperately needed aid package passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, as the Kremlin warned that passage of the bill would “further ruin” Ukraine and cause more deaths. Ukrainian commanders and analysts say the long-awaited $61 billion military aid package — including $13.8 billion for Ukraine to buy weapons — will help slow Russia’s incremental advances in the war’s third year — but that more will likely be needed for Kyiv to regain the offensive. In Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Saturday called the approval of aid to Ukraine “expected and predictable.” The decision “will make the United States of America richer, further ruin Ukraine and result in the deaths of even more Ukrainians, the fault of the Kyiv regime,” Peskov was quoted as saying by Russian news agency Ria Novosti.

Time Is Running Out for Rahul Gandhi’s Vision for India (NYT) Rahul Gandhi stood in a red Jeep, amid a churning crowd in Varanasi, trying to unseat the Indian government. It was the morning of Feb. 17—Day 35 of a journey that began in the hills of Manipur, in India’s northeast, and would end by the ocean in Mumbai, in mid-March. In total, Gandhi would cover 15 states and 4,100 miles, traveling across a country that once voted for his party, the Indian National Congress, almost by reflex. No longer, though. For a decade, the Congress Party has been so deep in the political wilderness, occupying fewer than a tenth of the seats in Parliament, that even its well-wishers wonder if Gandhi is merely the custodian of its end. Indian pundits and journalists bicker about many things, but on this point they’re unanimous: Only a miracle will halt the B.J.P. Still, it falls to Gandhi, steward of his enfeebled party, to try. One of Modi’s successes has been not just to trounce the Congress Party but also to persuade people that the party has weakened India and emasculated its Hindus. Through his cult of personality, Modi is fulfilling a century-old project, recasting India as a Hindu nation, in which minorities, particularly Muslims, live at the sufferance of the majority.

No let-up for Gazans while world focused on Iran attack (BBC) While the media’s glare in the Middle East this past week was diverted to Iran’s dramatic missile and drone attack on Israel, there has been no let-up in fighting in Gaza. Dozens of Palestinians were killed daily—including many children, according to figures from the Hamas-run health ministry. It now says Israel has killed more than 34,000 people in Gaza since the start of the war. As Israel’s forces continue with their efforts to destroy Hamas, they have conducted small-scale, often deadly operations, from the top to the bottom of the territory over the past week. On Tuesday, in the middle of Gaza, relatives clutching limp and bloodstained bodies of small boys and girls rushed from al-Maghazi refugee camp to al-Aqsa Martyrs’ hospital in nearby Deir al-Balah. Medics at the hospital said that at least 12 people were killed and some 30 injured by shelling in al-Maghazi. “They were playing in the street. Why were they struck? They weren’t in any position close to Israeli forces,” one man told the BBC.

Deadly heat wave surges through West Africa (AP) Street vendors in Mali’s capital of Bamako peddle water sachets, ubiquitous for this part of West Africa during the hottest months. This year, an unprecedented heat wave has led to a surge in deaths, experts say, warning of more scorching weather ahead. The heat wave began in late March, as many in this Muslim majority country observed the holy Islamic month of Ramadan with dawn-to-dusk fasting. On Thursday, temperatures in Bamako reached 44 degrees Celsius (111 Fahrenheit) and weather forecasts say it’s not letting up anytime soon. The city’s Gabriel-Touré Hospital reported 102 deaths in the first four days of the month, compared to 130 deaths in all of April last year. It’s unknown how many of the fatalities were due to the extreme weather.

#headlines #news

[newstfionline]

Thought of the Day

“Our doubts are traitors, And make us lose the good we oft might win, By fearing to attempt.” —William Shakespeare

#quotes

[newstfionline]

Sunday, April 21, 2024

The House passes billions in aid for Ukraine and Israel after months of struggle. Next is the Senate (AP) The House swiftly approved $95 billion in foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and other U.S. allies in a rare Saturday session as Democrats and Republicans banded together after months of hard-right resistance over renewed American support for repelling Russia’s invasion. With an overwhelming vote, the $61 billion in aid for Ukraine passed in a matter of minutes. Aid to Israel and the other allies also won approval by healthy margins, as did a measure to clamp down on the popular platform TikTok, with unique coalitions forming to push the separate bills forward. The whole package will go to the Senate, which could pass it as soon as Tuesday. President Joe Biden has promised to sign it immediately.

California is rolling out free preschool. That hasn’t solved challenges around child care (AP) A year before I-Ting Quinn’s son was old enough for kindergarten, she and her husband had the option to enroll him in “transitional kindergarten,” a program offered for free by California elementary schools for some 4-year-olds. Instead, they kept their son, Ethan, in a private day care center in Concord, California, at a cost of $400 a week. Transitional kindergarten’s academic emphasis was appealing, but Ethan would have been in a half-day program, and options for afterschool child care were limited. Investments that California and other states have made in public preschool have helped many parents through a child care crisis, in which quality options for early learners are often scarce and unaffordable. But many parents say the programs don’t work for their families. Even when Pre-K lasts the whole school day, working parents struggle to find child care before 9 a.m. and after 3 p.m.

Haiti’s former capital seeks to revive its heyday as gang violence consumes Port-au-Prince (AP) They call it Okap, home to Haiti’s kings, emancipated slaves and revolutionaries. Sitting on the shimmering north coast, the city of Cap-Haïtien was abandoned as a capital during the waning years of the French colonial era and again when the Kingdom of Haiti fell after its king died by suicide and his teenage son was slain. It was once known as the Paris of the Antilles, and now it is on the brink of becoming what some say is Haiti’s de facto capital as Port-au-Prince crumbles under the onslaught of powerful gangs. Business owners, anxious parents and even historic state ceremonies have been relocating here, and that began even before gangs started attacking key government infrastructure in Port-au-Prince in late February. Gunmen have burned police stations, stormed Haiti’s two biggest prisons to release more than 4,000 inmates and fired on the country’s main international airport, which hasn’t reopened since closing in early March. Right now, “Cap-Haïtien is the only city that connects Haiti to the world,” its mayor said.

Ecuador president declares state of emergency over energy crisis (Reuters) Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa declared a second state of emergency on Friday over an energy crisis that has already led to rationing in the South American country. His first emergency declaration, in January, sought to tame surging crime by allowing more coordination between the military and police. In Saturday’s 60-day state of emergency, Noboa deployed the military and police to guard energy infrastructure. A drought caused in part by the climate phenomenon known as El Nino has hit levels at hydroelectric dams, which produce most of Ecuador’s power.

Argentina asks to join NATO as President Milei seeks a more prominent role for his nation (AP) Argentina formally requested on Thursday to join NATO as a global partner, a status that would clear the way for greater political and security cooperation at a time when the right-wing government of President Javier Milei aims to boost ties with Western powers and attract investment. The request came as NATO’s Deputy General Secretary Mircea Geoana held talks in Brussels on regional security challenges with visiting Argentine Defense Minister Luis Petri. Geoana said he welcomed Argentina’s bid to become an accredited partner in the alliance—a valued role short of “ally” for nations that are not in NATO’s geographical area and not required to take part in collective military actions. NATO membership is currently limited to countries of Europe, Turkey, Canada and the United States. The designation could allow Argentina access to advanced technology, security systems and training not previously available to it, the Argentine presidency said.

As Russia edges toward a possible offensive on Kharkiv, some residents flee. Others refuse to leave (AP) A 79-year-old woman makes the sign of the cross and, gripping her cane, leaves her home in a quaint village in northeast Ukraine. Torn screens, shattered glass and scorched trees litter the yard of Olha Faichuk’s apartment building in Lukiantsi, north of the city of Kharkiv. Abandoned on a nearby bench is a shrapnel-pierced cellphone that belonged to one of two people killed when a Russian bomb struck, leaving a blackened crater in its wake. “God, forgive me for leaving my home, bless me on my way,” Faichuk said, taking one last look around before slowly shuffling to an evacuation vehicle. Russia seemingly exploited air defense shortages in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, to pummel the region’s energy infrastructure and terrorize its 1.3 million residents. Nearly 200,000 city dwellers remain without power, while 50% of the region’s population still suffers from outages, officials say. Some residents, like Olha, are leaving. Others still hang on amidst the blackouts.

Turkey Earthquake Trial Opens Amid Anger and Tears (NYT) The families addressed the court one by one, sobbing as they spoke the names of relatives who had been killed when their upscale apartment complex in southern Turkey toppled over during a powerful earthquake last year. One woman, whose son had died in the collapse alongside his wife and their 3-year-old son, lashed out at the defendants—the men who had built the complex and the inspectors charged with ensuring that it was safe. “Shame on you,” said the woman, Remziye Bozdemir. “Your children are alive, mine are dead.” The hearing on Thursday was the first aimed at seeking accountability for the collapse of Renaissance Residence, one of the most catastrophic building failures during the earthquakes of Feb. 6, 2023, which damaged hundreds of thousands of structures and killed more than 53,000 people across southern Turkey. More than 300 people died inside Renaissance, and many more were wounded. An investigation and forensic analysis by The New York Times found that a tragic combination of poor design and minimal oversight had left the building vulnerable, ultimately causing its 13 stories to smash into the earth.

Fighting flares at Myanmar-Thai border as rebels target stranded junta troops (Reuters) Fighting raged at Myanmar’s eastern frontier with Thailand on Saturday, witnesses, media and Thailand’s government said, forcing about 200 civilians to flee as rebels pressed to flush out junta troops holed up for days at a bridge border crossing. Resistance fighters and ethnic minority rebels seized the key trading town of Myawaddy on the Myanmar side of the frontier on April 11, dealing a big blow to a well-equipped military that is struggling to govern and is now facing a critical test of its battlefield credibility. Thai broadcaster NBT in a post on social media platform X said resistance forces used 40-milimetre machine guns and dropped 20 bombs from drones to target an estimated 200 junta soldiers who had retreated from a coordinated rebel assault on Myawaddy and army posts since April 5.

Israel’s Strike on Iran Highlights Its Ability to Evade Tehran’s Air Defenses (NYT) An Israeli airstrike on Iran on Friday damaged an air defense system, according to Western and Iranian officials, in an attack calculated to deliver a message that Israel could bypass Iran’s defensive systems undetected and paralyze them. The strike damaged a defensive battery near Natanz, a city in central Iran that is critical to the country’s nuclear weapons program, according to two Western officials and two Iranian officials. The attack—and the revelation on Saturday of its target—was in retaliation for Iran’s strike in Israel last week after Israel bombed its embassy compound in Damascus. But it used a fraction of the firepower Tehran deployed in launching hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel. The Friday attack appeared calibrated to send a warning about Israel’s military capabilities—but without further raising tensions as Israel continues to fight Hamas in Gaza. The two Iranian officials who discussed the Israeli attack said that Israel had struck an S-300 antiaircraft system at a military base in the province of Isfahan. Two Western officials said that a missile was fired from a warplane far from Israeli or Iranian airspace, and that the weapon included technology that enabled it to evade Iran’s radar defenses.

How would we know if World War Three had started? (The Week) The notion of a “first” world war only came into being retrospectively, upon the outbreak of the second. For nearly 20 years, the 1914-18 conflict that claimed millions of lives was known as the “Great War”. But when war broke out again in 1939, commentators began to refer to the Great War as the First World War, to differentiate it from the next. Now, we are again moving “from a post-war to pre-war world”, Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said in January. In a February survey, YouGov found that more than half of Britons believed another world war was “likely” in the next five to ten years. After Iran launched its first direct attack on Israel last week, world leaders are warning that any escalation could send the Middle East spiralling into bloody conflagration—drawing in allies from around the world or sparking nuclear warfare. Combined with the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, it’s clear “the potential for a spark that ignites World War Three already exists”, said Sky News’s security and defence editor Deborah Haynes. Parallels being drawn with the lead-up to the First World War are overblown, said The Washington Post columnist David Ignatius. Nevertheless, this moment “eerily evokes the dynamics of summer 1914, when a war that every power sought to avoid suddenly appeared inevitable, with consequences that no one could predict.”

U.S. agrees to withdraw American troops from Niger (Washington Post) The United States informed the government of Niger on Friday that it agreed to its request to withdraw U.S. troops from the West African country, said three U.S. officials, a move the Biden administration had resisted and one that will transform Washington’s counterterrorism posture in the region. The agreement will spell the end of a U.S. troop presence that totaled more than 1,000 and throw into question the status of a $110 million U.S. air base that is only six years old. It is the culmination of a military coup last year that ousted the country’s democratically elected government and installed a junta that declared America’s military presence there “illegal.” The United States had paused its security cooperation with Niger, limiting U.S. activities—including unarmed drone flights. But U.S. service members have remained in the country, unable to fulfill their responsibilities and feeling left in the dark by leadership at the U.S. Embassy as negotiations continued, according to a recent whistleblower complaint.

The Lyrid meteor shower peaks this weekend, but it may be hard to see it (AP) The Lyrid meteor shower is underway. But with a nearly full moon in the sky during the peak, it might be tough to see clearly. The Lyrids occur every year in mid-to-late April. This year’s peak activity happens Sunday into Monday, with 10 to 20 meteors expected per hour. Viewing lasts through April 29.

#headlines #news

[newstfionline]

Thought of the Day

“O God, give us the serenity to accept what cannot be changed, / The courage to change what can be changed, / and the wisdom to know the one from the other.”—Reinhold Niebuhr

#quotes

[newstfionline]

Saturday, April 20, 2024

Young People Get Their News from TikTok. That’s a Huge Problem for Democrats. (CJR) Democrats are doing the most awkward TikTok dance. The House’s attempt to force TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell the social media behemoth to an American entity has put Democrats from President Biden on down in a tough spot. Most are now on record backing a bill that could shutter a fast-growing platform that’s most popular with the young voters they so badly need. TikTok users aren’t just kids mindlessly scrolling dance videos. Roughly one-third of Americans aged 18–29 regularly get their news from TikTok, the Pew Research Center found in a late 2023 survey. Overall, TikTok claims 150 million American users, almost half the US population.

Russia Builds New Asia Trade Routes (Bloomberg) Russia is pressing ahead with construction of two new transport corridors linking Asia and Europe, seeking to weaken sanctions over its war in Ukraine at the same time as Middle East turmoil is disrupting global trade. The shipping and rail networks via Iran and an Arctic sea passage could strengthen Moscow’s pivot toward Asian powerhouses China and India and away from Europe. They have potential to embed Russia at the heart of much of international trade even as the US and its allies are trying to isolate President Vladimir Putin over the war. The routes could cut 30%-50% off transit times compared to the Suez Canal and avoid security problems plaguing the Red Sea as Houthi rebels attack international shipping over Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

An ISIS Terror Group Draws Half Its Recruits From Tiny Tajikistan (NYT) The mother of one of the suspects in the bloody attack on a concert hall near Moscow last month wept as she talked about her son. “We need to understand—who is recruiting young Tajiks, why do they want to highlight us as a nation of terrorists?” said the mother, Muyassar Zargarova. Many governments and terrorism experts are asking the same question. Tajik adherents of the Islamic State—especially within its affiliate in Afghanistan known as the Islamic State Khorasan Province (I.S.K.P.), or ISIS-K—have taken increasingly high-profile roles in a string of recent terrorist attacks. Over the last year alone, Tajiks have been involved in assaults in Russia, Iran and Turkey, as well as foiled plots in Europe. ISIS-K is believed to have several thousand soldiers, with Tajiks constituting more than half, experts said.

India’s Lok Sabha Election (1440) The world’s largest democratic elections begin in India today as nearly 1 billion voters head to the polls. Over the next six weeks, voters will determine the composition of the 543-member Lok Sabha, the lower house of India’s parliament responsible for nominating a prime minister. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party are seeking a third consecutive term against a coalition of parties called the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance. A simple majority of 272 seats is needed to rule for the five-year term—BJP won 303 seats last election. Economic concerns, particularly inflation and unemployment, are chief issues among voters. Modi, 73, is favored to win and maintains a 75% approval rating, particularly due to his government’s welfare programs and infrastructure projects.

Nearly half of China's major cities are sinking, researchers say (Reuters) Nearly half of China's major cities are suffering "moderate to severe" levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released on Friday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found 45% of China's urban land was sinking faster than 3 millimetres per year, with 16% at more than 10 mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China's urban population already in excess of 900 million people, "even a small portion of subsiding land in China could therefore translate into a substantial threat to urban life," said the team of researchers led by Ao Zurui of the South China Normal University. Subsidence already costs China more than 7.5 billion yuan ($1.04 billion) in annual losses, and within the next century, nearly a quarter of coastal land could actually be lower than sea levels, putting hundreds of millions of people at an even greater risk of inundation.

Iranians both nervous and relieved after narrow Israeli strike (Washington Post) An uneasy calm settled over Iran on Friday as residents took stock of Israel’s pre-dawn strike in the central province of Isfahan. The attack, which was narrow in scope, appeared aimed at de-escalating tensions, analysts and officials said, after a massive Iranian missile and drone attack against Israel last week. But Iranians in Isfahan, which hosts sensitive military and nuclear facilities, said the strike was a reminder of how close the country has come to an all-out war, after years in which Israel and Iran fought mainly in the shadows. Iranian officials and state media downplayed the attack, dismissing the strike as insignificant and saying the explosions reported in Isfahan, more than 200 miles south of Tehran, were from Iran’s air defenses intercepting drones. Israel has made no official public comment on the strike, and the primary target remained unclear. In Isfahan, a city famed for its ornate Islamic architecture, residents said life continued normally on Friday but that the streets were quieter than usual. The city is the third-largest in Iran with nearly 2 million residents.

Soldiers who lost limbs in Gaza fighting are finding healing on Israel’s amputee soccer team (AP) When Ben Binyamin was left for dead, his right leg blown off during the Hamas attack on the Tribe of Nova music festival, the Israeli professional soccer player thought he would never again play the game he loved. “When I woke up,” the 29-year-old said, “I felt I was going to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair.” Then Binyamin learned about a chance to be “normal” again: Israel’s national amputee soccer team. “It’s the best thing in my life,” said 1st Sgt. Omer Glikstal of the team’s twice-weekly practices at a stadium in the Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Gan. “It’s a very different game than I used to play, but in the end, it’s the same,” he said. Amputee soccer teams have six fielder players who are missing lower limbs; they play on crutches and without prosthetics. Each team has a goalkeeper with a missing upper extremity. The pitch is smaller than standard. At team practices, the Israeli players are undeterred by the absence of an arm or a leg. “We all have something in common. We’ve been through a lot of hard and difficult times. It unites us,” said Aviran Ohana.

Israel blames Gaza starvation on U.N. (CBS News) Under pressure from the U.S. and other allies to flood the Gaza Strip with humanitarian aid, Israel insists it’s doing everything it can, and it blames the United Nations for the starvation of thousands of Palestinians in the war-torn enclave. In a Wednesday morning social media post, the Israeli government said it had “scaled up our capabilities” and it included a video clip showing hundreds of white containers that it said were loaded with aid and waiting for collection inside Gaza. The United Nations says it’s not just about getting food into Gaza, but distributing it once it reaches the territory. U.N. aid agencies say those operations have been severely hindered by the almost total destruction of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure. Many roads have been blown up, along with health, water, sanitation and food production facilities. Humanitarian workers do what they can. The demand to fill bowl after bowl at emergency food distribution points is never ending. Still, a third of children under the age of two in Gaza are currently acutely malnourished, according to the U.N. children’s charity UNICE.

Drought Pushes Millions Into ‘Acute Hunger’ in Southern Africa (NYT) An estimated 20 million people in southern Africa are facing what the United Nations calls “acute hunger” as one of the worst droughts in more than four decades shrivels crops, decimates livestock and, after years of rising food prices brought on by pandemic and war, spikes the price of corn, the region’s staple crop. Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe have all declared national emergencies. It is a bitter foretaste of what a warming climate is projected to bring to a region that’s likely to be acutely affected by climate change, though scientists said on Thursday that the current drought is more driven by the natural weather cycle known as El Niño than by global warming. Its effects are all the more punishing because in the past few years the region had been hit by cyclones, unusually heavy rains and a widening outbreak of cholera.

A Little Bit of Dirt Is Good for You (NYT) Scientists have long known that a little dirt can be good for you. Research has suggested that people who grow up on farms, for instance, have lower rates of Crohn’s disease, asthma and allergies, likely because of their exposure to a diverse array of microbes. In the 1970s, scientists even found a soil-dwelling bacterium, called Mycobacterium vaccae, that has an anti-inflammatory effect on our brains, possibly both lowering stress and improving our immune response to it. When we’re touching soil or even just out in nature, “we’re breathing in a tremendous amount of microbial diversity,” said Christopher A. Lowry, a professor of integrative physiology at the University of Colorado Boulder. A recent Finnish experiment found that children attending urban day cares where a native “forest floor” had been planted had both a stronger immune system and a healthier microbiome than those attending day cares with gravel yards—and continued to have beneficial gut and skin bacteria two years later. It’s not just good for kids; adults can also benefit from exposure to soil-dwelling microbes, Dr. Lowry said. So this spring, make a little time to go outside and get grimy.

#headlines #news

[newstfionline]

Thought of the Day

“Do not stop thinking of life as an adventure. You have no security unless you can live bravely, excitingly, imaginatively; unless you can choose a challenge instead of competence.”—Eleanor Roosevelt

#quotes

[newstfionline]

Friday, April 19, 2024

Expanding the surveillance state (NYT) U.S. lawmakers are looking to expand America’s already-bloated surveillance programs by sneaking through an extension to a Bush-era wiretapping law. Last week, the House voted in favor of extending Section 702 for two years, allowing the government to collect the communications of people living abroad without a warrant, even if they’re communicating through American companies. The government can also wiretap those individuals’ communications with American citizens. Privacy advocates have pointed out that the expansion and extension of Section 702 could essentially turn American businesses into mass wiretapping operations. Nevertheless, surveilling Americans and foreigners seems to be a bipartisan topic for American lawmakers, as the Senate is expected to pass the bill with little issue.

European farmers’ discontent (AP) Inside the barn on the flat fields of the northern Netherlands, Jos Ubels cradles a newborn Blonde d’Aquitaine calf, the latest addition to his herd of over 300 dairy cattle. Little could be more idyllic. Little, says Ubels, could be more under threat. As Europe seeks to address the threat of climate change, it’s imposing more rules on farmers like Ubels. He spends a day a week on bureaucracy, answering the demands of European Union and national officials who seek to decide when farmers can sow and reap, and how much fertilizer or manure they can use. Meanwhile, competition from cheap imports is undercutting prices for their produce, without having to meet the same standards. Mainstream political parties failed to act on farmers’ complaints for decades, Ubels says. Now the radical right is stepping in. Across much of the 27-nation EU, from Finland to Greece, Poland to Ireland, farmers’ discontent is gathering momentum as June EU parliamentary elections draw near.

Frustration in Ukraine (Washington Post) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had reason for frustration Wednesday after Russian cruise missiles hit the downtown area of the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv. The strike—one of the deadliest single attacks carried out in recent months by Russia—killed at least 17 people and injured more than 60 others. “This would not have happened if Ukraine had received enough air defense equipment and if the world’s determination to counter Russian terror was also sufficient,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram. “There needs to be sufficient commitment from partners and sufficient support to reflect it.” In the aftermath of the attack on Chernihiv, which is close to the Russian border, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba lamented that his country lacked what was so readily provided for Israel. “These innocent people would not have been killed or injured if Ukraine had sufficient air defense capabilities,” Kuleba wrote on social media. “Three days ago in the Middle East, we saw what reliable protection of human lives from missiles looks like.”

Once a fringe Indian ideology, Hindu nationalism is now mainstream, thanks to Modi’s decade in power (AP) Hindu nationalism, once a fringe ideology in India, is now mainstream. Nobody has done more to advance this cause than Prime Minister Narendra Modi, one of India’s most beloved and polarizing political leaders. And no entity has had more influence on his political philosophy and ambitions than a paramilitary, right-wing group founded nearly a century ago and known as the RSS. “We never imagined that we would get power in such a way,” said Ambalal Koshti, 76, who says he first brought Modi into the political wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in the late 1960s in their home state, Gujarat. Modi was a teenager. Like other young men—and even boys—who joined, he would learn to march in formation, fight, meditate and protect their Hindu homeland. A few decades earlier, while Mahatma Gandhi preached Hindu-Muslim unity, the RSS advocated for transforming India—by force, if necessary—into a Hindu nation. (A former RSS worker would fire three bullets into Gandhi’s chest in 1948, killing him months after India gained independence.)

Just A Casual Military Flight Near Your Borders, No Worries! (NBC News) The U.S. Navy took a flight for freedom (or to escalate tensions with China) on Wednesday, just a day after a U.S.-China defense talk—the first time the two powers held a military-to-military discussion since 2022. The U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon aircraft, a patrol and reconnaissance plane, took its flight over the Taiwan Strait, a 100-mile-wide body of water that separates China from Taiwan. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations,” said the Navy in a statement. China scrambled fighter jets in order to “monitor the U.S. plane’s passage” in a response that was also “in accordance of laws and regulations,” according to a Chinese Navy spokesman. “Theater troops are on high alert at all times to resolutely safeguard national sovereignty and security as well as regional peace and stability,” he added.

Indonesians leave homes near erupting volcano and local airport closes due to ash danger (AP) Indonesian authorities closed an airport and residents left homes near an erupting volcano Thursday due to the dangers of spreading ash, falling rocks, hot volcanic clouds and the possibility of a tsunami. Mount Ruang on the northern side of Sulawesi Island had at least five large eruptions Wednesday. The crater emitted white-gray smoke continuously during the day Thursday. People have been ordered to stay at least 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) from the 725-meter (2,378 foot) mountain. More than 11,000 people live in the affected area and were told to leave.

Israel has carried out a strike inside Iran, US official tells CNN (CNN) Israel has carried out a military strike inside Iran, a US official told CNN Friday, a potentially dangerous escalation in a fast widening Middle East conflict that Iranian government officials have so far sought to play down. Iran’s air defense systems were activated in several locations after three explosions were heard close to a major military airbase near the Iranian city of Isfahan, state media reported early Friday morning. Iranian officials said air defenses intercepted three drones and there were no reports of a missile attack. Multiple state-aligned news agencies reported that sites associated with Iran’s nuclear program were “completely secure” and the attack appeared to be limited in scope. Iranian media appeared to further minimize the scale of the attack later Friday, broadcasting calm scenes from Isfahan showing residents walking through parks and visiting landmarks. Traffic was reported as normal and the airport was also reported to have reopened after flights were briefly canceled or suspended early Friday.

Qatar reassessing Gaza war mediator role (BBC) Qatar's Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani said his country is reassessing its role as a mediator between Israel and Hamas. The Qatari official said Doha had been exploited and abused by those trying to score political points, as weeks of ceasefire talks have so far proven inconclusive. Hamas rejected the latest proposal, which involved a six-week truce during which it would free 40 women, children and elderly or sick hostages. The group claimed it needed a ceasefire to locate all the living hostages and find those who met the criteria. Israel, meanwhile, is continuing its military operations in Gaza, while exchanging fire with Iran-affiliated Hezbollah fighters across the border with Lebanon.

U.N. Report Describes Physical Abuse and Dire Conditions in Israeli Detention (NYT) Gazans released from Israeli detention described graphic scenes of physical abuse in testimonies gathered by United Nations workers, according to a report released on Tuesday by UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees. Palestinian detainees described being made to sit on their knees for hours on end with their hands tied while blindfolded, being deprived of food and water and being urinated on, among other humiliations, the report said. Others described being badly beaten with metal bars or the butts of guns and boots, according to the report, or forced into cages and attacked by dogs. Israeli forces have arrested thousands of Gazans during their six-month campaign against Hamas, the Palestinian armed group. The Israeli military says it arrests those suspected of involvement in Hamas and other groups, but women, children and older people have also been detained, according to the UNRWA report.

Flooded UAE counts cost of epic rainstorm (Reuters) Emergency workers tried to clear waterclogged roads and people assessed the damage to homes and businesses on Thursday after a rare and epic rainstorm swamped the United Arab Emirates. Dubai International Airport, a major travel hub, struggled to clear a backlog of flights and many roads were still flooded in the aftermath of Tuesday’s deluge. The rains were the heaviest experienced by the Gulf state in the 75 years that records have been kept. They brought much of the country to a standstill and caused significant damage. Flooding trapped residents in traffic, offices and homes. Many reported leaks at their homes, while footage circulated on social media showed malls overrun with water pouring from roofs. Some vehicles, including buses, were almost entirely submerged in water.

The U.N. rights chief says eastern Congo’s escalating violence is being forgotten by the world (AP) The world is forgetting the escalating violence in eastern Congo as conflicts continue in places like Ukraine and Gaza, the U.N. human rights chief said Wednesday while visiting the region and calling for peace and support for millions repeatedly displaced. Eastern Congo has long been overrun by more than 120 armed groups seeking to control the region’s rich resources as they carry out mass killings. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced in recent months, worsening one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises. About 7 million people are displaced, many beyond the reach of aid. The humanitarian crisis must be taken “very seriously” to avoid further escalation, U.N. rights chief Volker Türk said after meeting with displaced people in Bulengo near Goma, the region’s largest city.

Sea dragons (1440) Researchers have identified remnants of what may be the largest marine reptile ever discovered. The species, ichthyotitan severnensis, was believed to reach over 80 feet long, twice the length of a city bus. The newly discovered species is a descendant of ichthyosaurs (sea dragons), which coexisted with dinosaurs. Like dolphins, the sea-bound creatures were capable of breathing air and subsisted off fish and squid. This particular fossil was discovered by a father-daughter duo in 2020 on the beaches of Somerset, England, and later corroborated by paleontologists. The duo uncovered part of the creature’s lower jawbone, known as a surangular, estimated to reach over 6 feet.

#headlines #news

[newstfionline]

Thought of the Day

“I place no value on anything I possess, except in relation to the Kingdom of God.”—David Livingstone

#quotes

[newstfionline]

Thursday, April 18, 2024

‘We’re a dead ship’: Hundreds of cargo ships lost propulsion in U.S. waters in recent years (Washington Post) Less than two weeks after Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge was destroyed by an out-of-control cargo ship, another huge container ship passed beneath a busy bridge connecting New York and New Jersey and then suddenly decelerated in a narrow artery of one of the nation’s largest ports. “We’re a dead ship,” said a voice over the maritime radio a short time later, invoking an industry term that often refers to a ship that is unable to move on it own. Three tug boats helped shepherd the APL Qingdao—a vessel more than 1,100 feet long and flying under the flag of Malta—from where it lost propulsion near the Bayonne Bridge to a safe location. The April 5 incident is one of hundreds in which massive cargo ships lost propulsion, many near bridges and ports, according to a Washington Post analysis of Coast Guard records. The findings indicate that the kind of failure that preceded the March 26 Baltimore bridge collapse—the 984-foot Dali is believed to have lost the ability to propel itself forward as it suffered a more widespread power outage—was far from a one-off among the increasingly large cargo ships that routinely sail close to critical infrastructure.

They criticized Israel. This Twitter account upended their lives. (Washington Post) Dani Marzouca was in bed trying to sleep when the phone started buzzing. An organization dedicated to publicly rebuking critics of Israel had posted on X a clip of Marzouca declaring that “radical solidarity with Palestine means … not apologizing for Hamas.” The 20-second clip, from an Instagram live stream, rapidly garnered more than 1 million views. Soon, the group, StopAntisemitism, was calling Marzouca a “Hamas terrorist supporter” and tagging their employer, the branding firm Terakeet of Syracuse, N.Y. Hundreds of people commented on X, LinkedIn and email, including one who asked: “Do you really have antisemites like this working for you, @Terakeet?” Within a day, Marzouca was fired. Marzouca, 32, is one of nearly three dozen people who have been fired or suspended from their jobs after being featured by StopAntisemitism, according to the group’s X feed, part of a wave of digital activism related to the Israel-Gaza war. Since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7 and Israel responded by attacking Gaza, groups have poured resources into identifying people with opposing political beliefs, sometimes deploying aggressive publicity campaigns that have resulted in profound real-world consequences.

US reimposes oil sanctions on Venezuela as hope for a fair presidential election fades (AP) The Biden administration on Wednesday reimposed crushing oil sanctions on Venezuela, admonishing President Nicolás Maduro’s attempts to consolidate his rule just six months after the U.S. eased restrictions in a bid to support now fading hopes for a democratic opening in the OPEC nation. A senior U.S. official, discussing the decision with reporters, said any U.S. company investing in Venezuela would have 45 days to wind down operations to avoid adding uncertainty to global energy markets. Wednesday’s actions essentially return U.S. policy to what it was prior to the agreement hammered out in the Caribbean island of Barbados, making it illegal for U.S. companies to do business with state-run oil producer Petróleos de Venezuela S.A., better known as PDVSA, without a specific license from the U.S. Treasury Department.

Ecuador rations electricity as drought persists in the northern Andes (AP) Ecuador on Tuesday began to ration electricity in the country’s main cities as a drought linked to the El Niño weather pattern depletes reservoirs and limits output at hydroelectric plants that produce about 75% of the nation’s power. The power cuts were announced on Monday night by the ministry of energy. “We urge Ecuadorians to cut their electricity consumption in this critical week,” the statement read. “And consider that each kilowatt and each drop of water that are not consumed will help us face this reality.” The power cuts in Ecuador come days after dry weather forced Colombia’s capital city of Bogotá to ration water as its reservoirs reached record lows, threatening local supplies of tap water.

U.K. votes on ‘smoke-free generation,’ but conservatives fear ‘nanny state’ (Washington Post) Britain is poised to launch a world-leading project to create a “smoke-free generation” by effectively banning the sale of cigarettes to anyone born in 2009 or after. The legislation would raise the legal smoking age each year so that the prohibition would follow the generation indefinitely. Vaping, however, would not be affected and instead would be subject to other restrictions. Smoking itself would not be subject to fines. Older smokers would be allowed to continue to buy tobacco until they quit—or die. Sunak, who does not drink alcohol or smoke, and who is reported to fast one day a week, argues that saving lives is the conservative thing to do. Leading figures in his party have expressed their opposition, arguing that if people want to smoke, it’s not the government’s job to stop them. Sunak’s predecessor, Liz Truss, has dubbed the bill the ill-considered work of a “nanny state.”

Ukraine’s Vulnerabilities (NYT) Ukraine’s top military commander has issued a bleak assessment of the army’s positions on the eastern front, saying they have “worsened significantly in recent days.” Russian forces were pushing hard to exploit their growing advantage in manpower and ammunition to break through Ukrainian lines, the commander, Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, said in a statement over the weekend. At the same time, Ukraine’s energy ministry told millions of civilians to charge their power banks, get their generators out of storage and “be ready for any scenario” as Ukrainian power plants are damaged or destroyed in devastating Russian airstrikes. With few critical military supplies flowing into Ukraine from the United States for months, commanders are being forced to make difficult choices over where to deploy limited resources as the toll on civilians grows daily.

Solomon Islands: The Pacific election being closely watched by China and the West (BBC) National elections Wednesday in the tiny Solomon Islands are being watched by world powers. With 420,000 voters deciding who will hold 50 national seats, the election in the small Pacific nation is being closely followed by China and the United States, five years after the Solomon Islands switched political alliances from Taiwan to China, with Prime Minister Manasseh Sogava signing a security pact with Beijing. Western concerns over the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the Pacific region prompted the U.S. to try to improve diplomatic relations with the island nation.

Iran president warns of ‘massive’ response if Israel launches ‘tiniest invasion’ (AP/Forbes) Iran’s president has warned that the “tiniest invasion” by Israel would bring a “massive and harsh” response, as the region braces for potential Israeli retaliation after Iran’s attack over the weekend. British Foreign Secretary David Cameron told reporters in Jerusalem: “It's clear the Israelis are making a decision to act…We hope they do so in a way that does as little to escalate this as possible.” Israeli officials have also made it clear that a response was necessary, with IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari saying: “We cannot stand still from this kind of aggression,” and allow Iran to get away “scot-free.”

Israeli tanks push back into northern Gaza, warplanes hit Rafah (Reuters) Israeli tanks pushed back into parts of the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday which they had left weeks ago, while warplanes conducted air strikes on Rafah, the Palestinians’ last refuge in the south of the territory, killing and wounding several people, medics and residents said. Tanks advanced into Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza and surrounded some schools where displaced families have taken refuge. Beit Hanoun, home to 60,000 people, was one of the first areas targeted by Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza last October. Heavy bombardment turned most of Beit Hanoun, once known as ‘the basket of fruit’ because of its orchards, into a ghost town comprising piles of rubble. Many families who had returned to Beit Hanoun and Jabalia in recent weeks after Israeli forces withdrew, began moving out again on Tuesday because of the new raid, residents said.

A storm dumps record rain across the desert nation of UAE and floods the Dubai airport (AP) The desert nation of the United Arab Emirates attempted to dry out Wednesday from the heaviest rain ever recorded there after a deluge flooded out Dubai International Airport, disrupting travel through the world’s busiest airfield for international travel. The state-run WAM news agency called the rain Tuesday “a historic weather event” that surpassed “anything documented since the start of data collection in 1949.” That’s before the discovery of crude oil in this energy-rich nation then part of a British protectorate known as the Trucial States. Rain also fell in Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. However, the rains were acute across the UAE. By the end of Tuesday, more than 142 millimeters (5.59 inches) of rainfall had soaked Dubai over 24 hours. An average year sees 94.7 millimeters (3.73 inches) of rain at Dubai International Airport. Some stranded passengers reported “living on duty-free.”

UN envoy lashes out at Libya’s feuding parties and their foreign backers (AP) The U.N. envoy for Libya, Abdoulaye Bathily, lashed out at the country’s feuding parties and their foreign backers at a U.N. Security Council meeting Tuesday and then confirmed he had submitted his resignation. The former Senegalese minister and U.N. diplomat, who has held the job for 18 months, said he had done his best to get the five key political actors in Libya to resolve contested issues over electoral laws and form a unified government to lead the country to long-delayed elections. But Bathily said his attempts “were met with stubborn resistance, unreasonable expectations and indifference to the interests of the Libyan people.” And he warned that these entrenched positions, reinforced by “a divided regional and global landscape,” may push Libya and the region to further instability and insecurity.

The Cloud Under the Sea (The Verge) The world’s emails, TikToks, classified memos, bank transfers, satellite surveillance, and FaceTime calls travel on cables that are about as thin as a garden hose. There are about 800,000 miles of these skinny tubes crisscrossing the Earth’s oceans, representing nearly 600 different systems, according to the industry tracking organization TeleGeography. The cables are buried near shore, but for the vast majority of their length, they just sit amid the gray ooze and alien creatures of the ocean floor, the hair-thin strands of glass at their center glowing with lasers encoding the world’s data. If, hypothetically, all these cables were to simultaneously break, modern civilization would cease to function. The financial system would immediately freeze. Currency trading would stop; stock exchanges would close. Banks and governments would be unable to move funds between countries because the Swift and US interbank systems both rely on submarine cables to settle over $10 trillion in transactions each day. In large swaths of the world, people would discover their credit cards no longer worked and ATMs would dispense no cash. As US Federal Reserve staff director Steve Malphrus said at a 2009 cable security conference, “When communications networks go down, the financial services sector does not grind to a halt. It snaps to a halt.”

Languages (Economist) Of the world’s 7,000-odd languages, almost half are expected to disappear by the end of the 21st century. Two culprits are usually considered responsible for this decline. The first is colonialism: when great powers conquered countries, they imposed their language in government and schools and relegated local ones (or banned them outright). The second is capitalism. As countries grow and industrialise, people move to cities for work. They increasingly find themselves speaking the bigger language used in the workplace rather than the smaller one used at home.

#headlines #news

[newstfionline]

Thought of the Day

“My own experience and development deepen every day my conviction that our moral progress may be measured by the degree in which we sympathize with individual suffering and individual joy.”—George Eliot

#quotes

[newstfionline]

Wednesday, April 17, 2024

Covid pandemic made poorest countries even worse off, World Bank warns (Guardian) According to research by the World Bank “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer” also applies to countries—and Covid-19 has made the problem even worse. In a report released in concert with the bank’s bi-annual meeting, the financial institution found that, over the past five years, income per capita in half of the world’s 75 poorest countries rose more slowly than incomes in developed countries, indicating a growing wealth disparity between rich and poor nations. The data also shows that one-third of the countries eligible for the bank’s International Development Association (IDA) loans were poorer than they were before the Covid-19 pandemic. “These countries now account for 90% of all people facing hunger or malnutrition,” the Bank said. “Half of these countries are either in debt distress or at high risk of it. Still, except for the World Bank Group and other multilateral development donors, foreign lenders—private as well as government creditors—have been backing away from them.”

Stamps and U.S. mail decline (NPR) The cost of a Forever U.S. postage stamp will rise from 68 cents to 73 cents in July, following a price hike just this past January and the sixth increase since January 2021. Still, could be worse: Comparing the U.S. to 30 other peer countries, there are just four countries with cheaper stamps than the United States, and the 26 percent increase from June 2018 to June 2023 is half the average stamp price increase of 55 percent of those countries. One driver of the price hikes for first-class mail is declining volume, with the number of mailed items down 68 percent since 2007.

Wave of pro-Palestinian protests closes bridges, major roads across U.S. (Washington Post) Pro-Palestinian demonstrators blocked roads, highways and bridges across the country on Monday, snarling traffic and sparking arrests from coast to coast in what some activists declared to be a coordinated day of economic blockade to push leaders for a cease-fire in Gaza. The disruption appeared to span the country over several hours. Protesters in San Francisco parked vehicles on the Golden Gate Bridge, stopping traffic in both directions for four hours Monday morning, while hundreds of demonstrators blocked a highway in nearby Oakland, some by chaining themselves to drums of cement, California Highway Patrol representatives told The Washington Post. In New York, dozens of protesters stopped traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge and held demonstrations on Wall Street, according to ABC7. Pro-Palestinian demonstrations were also reported in Philadelphia, Chicago, Miami and San Antonio.

Venezuelans living abroad want to vote for president this year but can’t (AP) Giovanny Tovar left Venezuela five years ago in search of a job after his country came undone under the watch of President Nicolás Maduro. He now sells empanadas and tequeños in the streets of Peru’s capital, where he pushes around a small cart outfitted with a deep fryer. Tovar wants nothing more than to vote Maduro out of office. He sees an opportunity for change in July’s highly anticipated presidential election but he won’t be able to cast a vote. Neither will millions of other Venezuelan emigrants because of costly and time-consuming government prerequisites that are nowhere to be found in Venezuela’s election laws. More than half of the estimated 7.7 million Venezuelans who have left their homeland during the complex crisis that has marked Maduro’s 11-year presidency are estimated to be registered to vote in Venezuela. Analysts and emigrants assert people who left Venezuela during the crisis would almost certainly vote against Maduro if given the chance.

In Ukraine’s West, Draft Dodgers Run, and Swim, to Avoid the War (NYT) The roiling water can be treacherous, the banks are steep and slick with mud, and the riverbed is covered in jagged, hidden boulders. Yet Ukrainian border guards often find their quarry—men seeking to escape the military draft—swimming in these hazardous conditions, trying to cross the Tysa River where it forms the border with Romania. That thousands of Ukrainian men have chosen to risk the swim rather than face the dangers as soldiers on the eastern front highlights the challenge for President Volodymyr Zelensky as he seeks to mobilize new troops after more than two years of bruising, bloody trench warfare with Russia. “We cannot judge these people,” Lieutenant Tonkoshtan said. “But if all men leave, who will defend Ukraine?”

Sydney’s second knife attack in days being investigated as terrorist act (Washington Post) The stabbing of a Sydney bishop during a live-streamed church service is being investigated as a potential act of terrorism, police said Tuesday. A 16-year-old boy is in custody after police were called to an Assyrian church in suburban Sydney on Monday evening. They found a 53-year-old man with lacerations to his head. Another man, 39, suffered lacerations and a shoulder wound after he tried to intervene, police said. The boy had been restrained inside the building by members of the public. Christ the Good Shepherd Church said in a statement Tuesday that the attacker approached Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel at the lectern as he was delivering a sermon at about 7:05 p.m. local time. The attacker lunged at the bishop with a concealed knife, delivering blows to his head and body. Parish priest Isaac Royel was also injured in the attack, the church said. The attack was captured on a live stream of the service on its Facebook page and on YouTube.

The Philippine president says he won’t give US access to more local military bases (AP) The Philippine president said Monday his administration has no plan to give the United States access to more Philippine military bases and stressed that the American military’s presence in several camps and sites so far was sparked by China’s aggressive actions in the disputed South China Sea. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who took office in 2022, allowed American forces and weapons access to four additional Philippine military bases, bringing to nine the number of sites where U.S. troops can rotate indefinitely under a 2014 agreement. Marcos’ decision last year alarmed China because two of the new sites were located just across from Taiwan and southern China. Beijing accused the Philippines of providing American forces with staging grounds, which could be used to undermine its security.

Israel’s War Leaders Don’t Trust One Another (WSJ) Six months into the conflict against Hamas, the Israeli public is deeply divided about how to win the war in the Gaza Strip. So, too, are the three top officials in the war cabinet meant to foster unity in that effort. Long-simmering grudges and arguments over how best to fight Hamas have soured relations between Israel’s wartime decision makers—Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and the former head of the Israeli military, Benny Gantz. The three men are at odds over the biggest decisions they need to make: how to launch a decisive military push, free Israel’s hostages and govern the postwar strip. Now, they also must make one of the biggest decisions the country has ever faced: how to respond to Iran’s first-ever direct attack on Israeli territory. Their power struggle could affect whether the Gaza conflict spirals into a bigger regional fight with Iran that transforms the Middle East’s geopolitical order and shapes Israel’s relations with the U.S. for decades. “The lack of trust between these three people is so clear and so significant,” said Giora Eiland, a former Israeli general and national security adviser.

Retaliation for retaliation (Washington Post) After the retaliation, comes the retaliation. Israeli officials Monday said they would respond to the astonishing assault carried out two days prior by Iran that saw hundreds of ballistic and cruise missiles and drones launched from Iranian territory toward targets in the Jewish state. The Iranian barrage was successfully fended off by Israeli air defenses, backed by the United States and a number of the regional partners and allies. Nearly all of the Iranian launches were intercepted before they reached Israel. They inflicted no casualties. For Tehran, the attack was a response to an Israeli operation that killed seven senior Iranian officers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps at an Iranian compound in Damascus, Syria. For Israel, the Iranian response demands its own reprisal. Gen. Herzi Halevi, chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, said Monday that “the launch of so many missiles and drones to Israeli territory will be answered with a retaliation.” What that would look like was unclear at the time of writing, though a new Israeli attack seemed in the cards. Iran and Israel have been locked for years in a tacit shadow war, punctuated by airstrikes, assassinations and acts of sabotage. But the current round of escalation has sharpened the prospect of open war between the two Middle East powers.

Ordinary Iranians Don’t Want a War With Israel (The Atlantic) You don’t need to be an expert on Iran to know some facts about Iranians in this moment: First, most are sick of the Islamic Republic and its octogenarian leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has been in charge since 1989, and whose rule has brought Iran economic ruin, international isolation, and now the threat of a war. You need only look at the majority of Iranians who have boycotted the past two nationwide elections, this year and in 2021, or the hundreds killed in the anti-regime protests of recent years to know that this government doesn’t represent Iranians. Second, the people of Iran have no desire to experience a war with Israel. Despite decades of indoctrination in anti-Israel and anti-Semitic sentiment by their government, Iranians harbor very little hostility toward Israel. In the past few months, many Arab capitals have seen mass demonstrations against Israel, but no such popular event has taken place in Iran. In fact, in the early stages of the Israel-Hamas war that broke out in October, many Iranians risked their lives by publicly opposing the anti-Israel campaign of the regime. Third, Iranians have a recent memory of how terrible war can be. I was born in Tehran in 1988, in the final throes of the brutal eight-year conflict that began when Iraq’s Saddam Hussein invaded Iran and continued for way too long because of the Iranian regime’s ideological crusade. The people of Iran know that their main enemy is at home, and that war will bring them only more repression and hardship.

Critics call out plastics industry over “fraud of plastic recycling” (CBS News) an Dell is a former chemical engineer who has spent years telling an inconvenient truth about plastics. “So many people, they see the recyclable label, and they put it in the recycle bin,” she said. “But the vast majority of plastics are not recycled.” About 48 million tons of plastic waste is generated in the U.S. each year; only 5 to 6 percent of it is actually recycled, according to the Department of Energy. The rest ends up in landfills or is burned. Dell founded a non-profit, The Last Beach Cleanup, to fight plastic pollution. Inside her garage in Southern California is all sorts of plastic with those little arrows on it that make us think they can be recycled. But, she said, “You’re being lied to.” Davis Allen, an investigative researcher with the Center for Climate Integrity, said the industry didn’t need for recycling to work: “They needed people to believe that it was working,” he said. “The plastics industry understands that selling recycling sells plastic, and they’ll say pretty much whatever they need to say to continue doing that. That’s how they make money.”

#headlines #news