newstfionline

[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

[newstfionline]

Thought of the Day

“The most important person is the one you are with in this moment.”—Leo Tolstoy

#quotes

[newstfionline]

Tuesday, April 16, 2024

Are Americans feeling like they get enough sleep? (AP) If you’re feeling—YAWN—sleepy or tired while you read this and wish you could get some more shut-eye, you’re not alone. A majority of Americans say they would feel better if they could have more sleep, according to a new poll. But in the U.S., the ethos of grinding and pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps is ubiquitous, both in the country’s beginnings and our current environment of always-on technology and work hours. And getting enough sleep can seem like a dream. The Gallup poll, released Monday, found 57% of Americans say they would feel better if they could get more sleep, while only 42% say they are getting as much sleep as they need. That’s a first in Gallup polling since 2001; in 2013, when Americans were last asked, it was just about the reverse—56% saying they got the needed sleep and 43% saying they didn’t.

Trump’s New York jury selection a challenge in a city of strong opinions (Reuters) When prospective New York City jurors gather for Donald Trump’s hush money criminal trial on Monday, it may be tough to find ones who don’t have an opinion about the brash businessman-turned-politician who began building his real estate empire in Manhattan decades ago. They will be questioned by lawyers for the Republican presidential candidate and the state of New York seeking to uncover biases and possible political agendas before impaneling 12 jurors to hear what could be the only criminal case Trump faces before the November U.S. election. “There is almost nobody in New York who doesn’t have an opinion about Donald Trump,” said trial lawyer Paul Applebaum, who is not involved in the case. “A lot of people think he’s either Satan incarnate or the second coming of Jesus.”

Wolves (Les Echos/France) For the past 30 years, the number of wolves has steadily increased in France — great news for biodiversity but not for farmers. Eradicated from the country around 1930, wolves started returning to France in the early 1990s, arriving from Italy. The number of individuals has almost doubled in the past five years to reach 1,104, according to the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB). Wolf attacks have officially caused the death of just over 12,000 farm animals each year. Behind the issue of cohabitating with wolves lie fractures tearing contemporary European societies apart. A standoff is forming between two words that ignore each other geographically and sociologically and accuse each other of bad faith. Claude Font, general secretary of the National Sheep Federation, says that there are “two worlds that can’t agree with each other”: one, made up of “those who have to live alongside predators”; and the other composed of “those who dream of wolves and biodiversity while they go back home comfortably in the evening."

Far Right’s Ties to Russia Sow Rising Alarm in Germany (NYT) To enter a secret session of Germany’s Parliament, lawmakers must lock their phones and leave them outside. Inside, they are not even allowed to take notes. Yet to many politicians, these precautions against espionage now feel like something of a farce. Because seated alongside them in those classified meetings are members of the Alternative for Germany, the far-right party known by its German abbreviation, AfD. In the past few months alone, a leading AfD politician was accused of taking money from pro-Kremlin strategists. One of the party’s parliamentary aides was exposed as having links to a Russian intelligence operative. And some of its state lawmakers flew to Moscow to observe Russia’s stage-managed elections. “To know with certainty that sitting there, while these sensitive issues are discussed, are lawmakers with proven connections to Moscow—it doesn’t just make me uncomfortable. It worries me,” said Erhard Grundl, a Green party member of the Parliament’s foreign affairs committee. The AfD called such comments “baseless.”

Ukraine’s attacks on Russian oil refineries deepen tensions with U.S. (Washington Post) When Vice President Harris met privately with Volodymyr Zelensky at the Munich Security Conference in February, she told the Ukrainian leader something he didn’t want to hear: Refrain from attacking Russian oil refineries, a tactic U.S. officials believed would raise global energy prices and invite more aggressive Russian retaliation inside Ukraine. The request, according to officials familiar with the matter, irritated Zelensky and his top aides, who view Kyiv’s string of drone strikes on Russian energy facilities as a rare bright spot in a grinding war with a bigger and better equipped foe. Zelensky brushed off the recommendation. Instead of acquiescing to the U.S. requests, Ukraine doubled down on the strategy, striking a range of Russian facilities, including an April 2 attack on Russia’s third-largest refinery 800 miles from the front. The incidents have exacerbated tensions in a strained relationship with the U.S. The long-range Ukrainian strikes, which have hit more than a dozen refineries since January and disrupted at least 10 percent of Russian oil refinery capacity, come as President Biden ramps up his reelection campaign and global oil prices reach a six-month high.

In Modi’s India, opponents and journalists feel the squeeze ahead of election (AP) Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government are increasingly wielding strong-arm tactics to subdue political opponents and critics of the ruling Hindu-nationalist party ahead of the nationwide elections that begin this week. A decade into power, and on the cusp of securing five more years, the Modi government is reversing India’s decadeslong commitment to multiparty democracy and secularism. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has brought corruption charges against many officials from its main rival, the Congress Party, but few convictions. Dozens of politicians from other opposition parties are under investigation or in jail. And just last month, Modi’s government froze the Congress party’s bank accounts for what it said was non-payment of taxes. Peaceful protests have been crushed with force. A once free and diverse press is threatened. Violence is on the rise against the Muslim minority. And the country’s judiciary increasingly aligns with the executive branch.

A new equation (Washington Post) With its first-ever direct military attack on Israel, Iran crossed old red lines and created a precedent in its decades-long shadow war with the Jewish state. Iran “decided to create a new equation,” said the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami, in an interview with state-run television Sunday. “From now on, if Israel attacks Iranian interests, figures and citizens anywhere, we will retaliate from Iran.” As a show of force, the attack was unprecedented in scope, but analysts said it was also carefully choreographed—giving Israel and its allies time to prepare, and providing the Israeli government a possible off-ramp amid fears of a widening war. The assault was designed with the knowledge that Israel’s “multi-layer systems would prevent most of the weapons from reaching a target,” said Sima Shine, head of the Iran program at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv. “That outcome made space for Netanyahu and senior leaders to strike a more measured tone than they could if one of the missiles had taken out an apartment building or barracks.”       Tehran has consistently signaled it has no desire for a head-on conflict. However, after an Israeli airstrike on a diplomatic compound in Damascus killed two Iranian generals this month, the country felt compelled to respond. Over the past few months, Israel has stepped up its strikes on Iranian interests across the region. The attack in Damascus was especially provocative because of its target—a diplomatic compound, traditionally exempted from hostilities—and because it killed two senior generals in Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard Corps. There was a sense that “Iran’s passivity had encouraged Israel to push the envelope too far,” said Ali Vaez, the Iran project director for the International Crisis Group. Vaez said Iran’s rulers were under increasing pressure to respond to Israel directly.

Iran attack on Israel adds to airline troubles in Middle East (Reuters) Global airlines faced disruptions to flights on Monday after Iran’s missile and drone attacks on Israel further narrowed options for planes navigating between Europe and Asia. Iran’s attack on Israel by more than 300 missiles and drones, which were mostly shot down by Israel’s U.S.-backed missile defence system, caused chaos in the aviation industry. At least a dozen airlines have had to cancel or reroute flights over the last two days, including Qantas, Germany’s Lufthansa, United Airlines and Air India. This was the biggest single disruption to air travel since the attack on the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001, according to Mark Zee, founder of OPSGROUP, which monitors airspace and airports.

Gazans trying to return to their homes in the north say Israeli troops fired on them. (NYT) As thousands of displaced Palestinians tried to return to their homes in northern Gaza on Sunday, Israeli troops fired at the crowd, forcing people to turn back in panic, according to an emergency worker and two people who tried to make the journey. Wafa, the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency, reported that five people were killed and 23 wounded by Israeli gunfire and artillery in the incident on Al-Rashid Street south of Gaza City as a crowd of Gazans headed north to their homes. For months, the Israeli military has barred Palestinians who have been displaced by the war in Gaza from returning to their homes in northern Gaza. It has become a sticking point in negotiations between Israel and Hamas.

Sudan marks grim anniversary of civil war in shadow of other conflicts (Washington Post) Exactly a year ago, Sudan’s ruinous collapse began. Tensions between two powerful rival factions that had already carved out fiefdoms in the country—the Sudanese Armed Forces, headed by Lt. Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), headed by Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo—exploded into open war. Airstrikes hit civilian centers; militiamen and vigilantes set up checkpoints and looted neighborhoods. The capital, Khartoum, transformed into a sprawling battlefield. The conflict flared elsewhere in the African nation of close to 50 million people, including the already war-ravaged region of Darfur. Twelve months on, the humanitarian situation in Sudan is astonishingly grim. The country is the site of the world’s largest displacement crisis, with more than a fifth of its population forced out of their homes by the civil war, as well as earlier rounds of conflict. Nearly a third of the population is acutely food insecure, according to U.N. data. Some 19 million children are out of school; an estimated 3 million Sudanese children are malnourished. Yet the wars in Ukraine and Gaza—exacerbated furthermore by the recent escalation between Israel and Iran—have put Sudan’s tragedy in the shade.

Russian soldiers arrive in Niger as relationship with U.S. deteriorates (Washington Post) Russian military personnel arrived in Niger this week, according to Nigerien state television, less than one month after the military junta announced that it was ending military agreements with the United States. The arrival of the Russian men in military fatigues marked the first concrete step in a new security arrangement between Russia and Niger. State television identified them as “Russian military instructors,” and said they would be providing training and equipment to the Nigerien military.

#headlines #news

[newstfionline]

Thought of the Day

“There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm.”—Willa Cather

#quotes

[newstfionline]

Monday, April 15, 2024

As Trial Looms, Trump Plays to a Jury of Millions (NYT) The first criminal trial of Donald J. Trump will begin on Monday, and the 45th president thinks he can win—no matter what the jury decides. Mr. Trump will aim to spin any outcome to his benefit and, if convicted, to become the first felon to win the White House. Manhattan prosecutors, who have accused Mr. Trump of falsifying records to cover up a sex scandal, hold advantages that include a list of insider witnesses and a jury pool drawn from one of the country’s most liberal counties. Mr. Trump and some aides and lawyers privately concede that a jury is unlikely to outright acquit him, according to people with knowledge of the discussions. So Mr. Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican nominee, is seeking to write his own reality, telling a story that he believes could pave his return to the White House. He has framed his failed efforts to delay the case as evidence he cannot receive a fair trial, casting himself as a political martyr under attack from the prosecution and the judge.

Far fewer young Americans now want to study in China (AP) Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he sees interest among fellow scholars wane even after China reopened. Common concerns, he said, include restrictions on academic freedom and the risk of being stranded in China. These days, only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of close to 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at U.S. schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see as diminishing economic opportunities and strained relations between Washington and Beijing.

In a Global Cycling Capital, Riders Fear Becoming Crime Victims (NYT) Bicycles are an essential part of the Colombian identity—ubiquitous, cheaper and, in some urban communities, often a faster way to get around. No Colombian city embodies riding on two wheels more than the capital, Bogotá, where the metropolitan area of nearly 11 million inhabitants has no subway system and some of the world’s worst traffic jams. The city has over 1.1 million bicycles, according to officials, and records nearly 900,000 bicycle trips per day. On Sundays and holidays, more than 80 miles of major streets are shut down, a tradition that regularly draws two million people at a time. But a number of robberies and assaults of cyclists this year have left many riders in Bogotá on edge. A recent news report estimated that a bicycle was stolen in the capital every 42 minutes and small gangs of thieves have targeted cyclists. “The insecurity for cyclists is at a maximum high,” said Yim Ángel, a founder of the Bicycle Collective, an advocacy group. “We’re scared.”

‘We’re like Noah’s ark’ says animal shelter in flooded Russian city (Reuters) The roaring sound of water pumps filled the deserted streets of the flood-stricken Russian city of Orenburg on Friday as people heeded official warnings to escape. The city of 550,000, about 1,200 km (750 miles) east of Moscow, is grappling with a historic deluge after Europe’s third-longest river, the Ural, burst its banks. Swiftly melting snow has already forced more than 120,000 people to evacuate in Russia’s Ural Mountains, Siberia and Kazakhstan. It is the worst flooding seen in the areas in nearly a century. The Ural River, which cuts through Orenburg, rose to 11.43 metres (37.5 ft) on Friday, up from 10.87 metres (35.5 ft) a day earlier. Drone footage showed much of the city has turned into a vast lake, dotted with the roofs of houses—at least 12,000 of which have been flooded—peeking up above the brown water. A local animal shelter found itself hosting over 350 animals, a mix of strays and family pets dropped off by owners fleeing for dry ground. “We’re like Noah’s Ark,” shelter director Yulia Babenko told Reuters, rows of animal cages holding cats behind her.

Drones are crowding Ukraine’s skies, largely paralyzing battlefield (Washington Post) So many drones patrol the skies over Ukraine’s front lines—hunting for any signs of movement—that Ukrainian and Russian troops have little ability to move on the battlefield without being spotted, and blown up. Instead, on missions, they rush from one foxhole to another, hoping the pilots manning the enemy drones overhead are not skilled enough to find them inside. Expert drone operators, their abilities honed on the front, can stalk just a single foot soldier to their death, diving after them into hideouts and trenches.

China Had a ‘Special Place’ in Modi’s Heart. Now It’s a Thorn in His Side. (NYT) Narendra Modi once looked up to China. As a business-friendly Indian state leader, he traveled there repeatedly to attract investment and see how his country could learn from its neighbor’s economic transformation. China, he said, has a “special place in my heart.” Chinese officials cheered on his march to national power as that of “a political star.” But not long after Mr. Modi became prime minister in 2014, China made clear that the relationship would not be so easy. Just as he was celebrating his 63rd birthday by hosting China’s leader, Xi Jinping—even sitting on a swing with him at a riverside park—hundreds of Chinese troops were intruding on India’s territory in the Himalayas, igniting a weekslong standoff. A decade later, ties between the world’s two most populous nations are almost completely broken. Continued border incursions flared into a ferocious clash in 2020 that threatened to lead to all-out war. Mr. Modi, a strongman who controls every lever of power in India and has expanded its relations with many other countries, appears uncharacteristically powerless in the face of the rupture with China.

Water guns are in full blast to mark Thai New Year (AP) It’s water festival time in Thailand where many are marking the country’s traditional New Year, splashing each other with colorful water guns and buckets in an often raucous celebration that draws thousands of people, even as this year the Southeast Asian nation marks record-high temperatures causing concern. The festival, known as Songkran in Thailand, is a three-day shindig that starts Saturday and informally extends for a whole week, allowing people to travel for family celebrations. The holiday is also celebrated under different names in neighboring Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, which like Thailand have populations that are predominantly Theravada Buddhist. Songkran is immensely popular—predicted this year to attract more than 500,000 foreign tourists and generate more than 24 billion baht ($655 million) in revenue, according to the state tourism agency. Past Thai governments have been reluctant to call for dialing down the fun even during crises such as droughts and the pandemic.

Israel Conflict Spreads To 16 Nations (The Intercept) The regional war in the Middle East now involves at least 16 different countries and includes the first strikes from Iranian territory on Israel, but the United States continues to insist that there is no broader war, hiding the extent of American military involvement. And yet in response to Iran’s drone and missile attacks Saturday, the U.S. flew aircraft and launched air defense missiles from at least eight countries, while Iran and its proxies fired weapons from Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. The news media has been complicit in its portrayal of the regional war as nonexistent. “Biden Seeks to Head Off Escalation After Israel’s Successful Defense,” the New York Times blared, ignoring that the conflict had already spread. While the world has been focused on—and the Pentagon has been stressing—the comings and goings of aircraft carriers and fighter jets to serve as a “deterrent” against Iran, the U.S. has quietly built a network of air defenses to fight its regional war. “At my direction, to support the defense of Israel, the U.S. military moved aircraft and ballistic missile defense destroyers to the region over the course of the past week,” President Joe Biden said in a statement Saturday. “Thanks to these deployments and the extraordinary skill of our service members, we helped Israel take down nearly all of the incoming drones and missiles.” As part of that network, Army long-range Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense surface-to-air missile batteries have been deployed in Iraq, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and at the secretive Site 512 base in Israel. These assets—plus American aircraft based in Kuwait, Jordan, the UAE, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia—are knitted together in order to communicate and cooperate with each other to provide a dome over Israel (and its own regional bases). The United Kingdom is also intimately tied into the regional war network.

With French under fire, Mali uses AI to bring local language to students (Washington Post) As Mali’s relationship with French—the language of its former colonial ruler, France—has grown more fraught, an effort to use AI to create children’s books in Bambara and other local languages is gaining momentum. With political tensions high between the two countries, Mali’s military government last year replaced French as the country’s “official” language, instead elevating Bambara and 12 other native languages, though French will still be used in government settings and public schools. The vast majority of Africa’s roughly 1,000 languages are not represented on websites, which big generative AI platforms like ChatGPT crawl to help train themselves. But RobotsMali, a start-up, has used artificial intelligence to create more than 140 books in Bambara since last year, said an official in Mali’s Education Ministry.

Breaking from routine with a mini sabbatical (AP) If you daydream about getting a break from stress, you might picture a restful week of vacation or a long weekend away. But some people opt for something bigger, finding ways to take longer or more varied time away from the routine. Mini sabbaticals. Adult gap years. Or just gap months. The extended breaks range from quitting a job to taking a leave to just working remotely somewhere new to experience a different lifestyle. It’s about stepping out of the expected and recharging. That’s not entirely new, of course, but the pandemic’s upheaval of work life caused more people to question whether they really wanted to work the way they had. Barry Kluczyk, a public relations professional who lives in suburban Detroit, had long wanted to spend more time in Seattle. But it wasn’t until COVID pushed him to fully remote work that he felt able to spend a month there, along with his wife and daughter. “I wish we could have done it sooner,�� he said.

#headlines #news