Senators reach $2B deal to boost conservation, parks

Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., speaks before an appearance 

by President Donald Trump at a campaign rally Thursday, 

Feb. 20, 2020, in Colorado Springs, Colo.

(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)


WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate leaders and the Trump administration have reached an election-year deal to double spending on a popular conservation program and devote more than a $1 billion a year to clear a growing maintenance backlog at national parks.

The deal, announced Wednesday by senators from both parties, would spend about $2.2 billion per year on conservation and outdoor recreation projects and park maintenance across the country.

If approved by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump, the bill “will be the most significant conservation legislation enacted by Congress in nearly half a century,″ said veteran Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.


Alexander was one of 12 senators from both parties who hailed the bill at a news conference Wednesday. The breakthrough, which is supported by the leaders of both parties, came as Trump tweeted support for the proposal despite repeatedly trying to slash spending for the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund in recent years.

The program uses federal royalties from offshore oil and gas drilling to pay for conservation and public recreation projects around the country. The 55-year-old-fund is authorized to collect $900 million a year but generally receives less than half that amount from Congress.

The plan announced Wednesday would fully fund the conservation program and add $1.3 billion a year for deferred park maintenance. The proposed $900 million for land and water conservation is nearly double the $485 million Congress approved this year and 60 times larger than the $15 million Trump proposed in his 2021 budget last month.

Trump credited Republican Sens. Cory Gardner of Colorado and Steve Daines of Montana for his change of heart. “ALL thanks to @SenCoryGardner and @SteveDaines, two GREAT Conservative Leaders!″ Trump tweeted.

Both Daines and Gardner are seeking reelection this year, and Gardner is considered one of the Senate’s most vulnerable incumbents. Gardner, who went to the White House with Daines last week to lobby Trump on the bill, denied that politics played a role in the president’s reversal. He and Daines said they showed Trump pictures and maps of their states and stressed the importance of conservation in the West. They also noted that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell backs the bill.

“I’m not going to try to play politics or point partisan fingers,″ Gardner told reporters Wednesday. “I’m going to focus on the good the great outdoors does.″

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said he didn’t care about the plan’s politics, only that it helped his state and others across the country. “Politics be dammed, let’s get this done,″ Manchin said, standing next to Gardner at a Capitol news conference.

Daines also downplayed the bill’s politics, saying, “This is a bipartisan moment.″

“This is about doing the right thing for America,″ added Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M.

Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, the Democratic front-runner to challenge Gardner, said in a tweet that Gardner supported cuts to the conservation fund as recently as 2018. Gardner also voted to confirm former oil and coal lobbyist David Bernhardt as interior secretary.

“Only President Trump would praise a record like this,″ Hickenlooper said.

Trump predicted Congress will approve the plan, which helps address a $12 billion backlog in maintenance of national parks. “When I sign it into law, it will be HISTORIC for our beautiful public lands,″ Trump said in a tweet.

Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., called Trump’s tweet “good news,″ but added, ”It’s almost too good to be true.″

At a budget hearing Wednesday, Bernhardt joked that Trump’s tweet caused “heart palpitations” at the White House budget office, but said he and the rest of Trump’s administration support full funding for the conservation program and for clearing the maintenance backlog, a longtime priority of interior secretaries of both parties.

“The president made his comment and I’m pretty 100% confident everybody’s getting in line,″ Bernhardt said. He called the proposal ”a tremendous opportunity for conservation in America” and urged Congress to “seize the day.″

Udall praised Trump’s political instincts, saying, “the president was right to sense that this is a popular issue.″ A recent poll found that 70% of Westerners, including majorities of both parties, support full funding of the conservation program.

“If the president is sincere in abandoning his administration’s previous attempts to gut” the fund, he and other Democrats are eager to work across party lines ”to get this done for the American people and for future generations,” Udall said.

Sen. Maria Cantwell , D-Wash., called the Land and Water Conservation Fund the nation’s most successful conservation program.

The late Washington Sen. Henry “Scoop” Jackson helped create the program in the mid-1960′s, “but over the years it has been shortchanged by more than $20 billion,″ Cantwell said. ”That’s why I am so grateful that our years of effort to get full and permanent funding for LWCF now has the bipartisan support we need to make it the law of the land.″

At the same time, the bill will address an “unacceptable” maintenance backlog at national parks like Olympic and Mount Rainier in her state, Cantwell said. “Passing this legislation will be a huge boost for the outdoor recreation economy,” she said.

Bills to boost the conservation fund and address the maintenance backlog have bipartisan support in the Democratic-controlled House.

Greens, Thunberg say EU climate law lacks ambition

ARE THOSE PLASTIC BOTTLES OF UNSUSTAINABLE WATER STOLEN BY NESTLE FROM LOCAL SOURCES 

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen rings a bell to signal the start of a weekly College of Commissioners meeting at the EU headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

BRUSSELS (AP) — Climate activists and Green members of the European Parliament are urging the European Union to be more ambitious as the bloc gets ready to unveil plans for a climate law to cut greenhouse gas emissions to zero by mid-century.

While the Greens urged the 27-nation bloc to raise its 2030 climate targets, a group of 34 youth climate activists, including Greta Thunberg, wrote an open letter Tuesday to EU leaders explaining why they think the planned law is “a surrender.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who has put climate change at the top of her priorities and pledged to make Europe the first climate neutral continent by 2050, will present her plans on Wednesday. To add luster to the event, she has invited Thunberg to discuss the climate legislation with her and EU commissioners.

n light of the tone of the letter, it’s unlikely that Thunberg will only sit and watch.

“Any climate law or policy that is not based on the current best available science and does not include the global aspect of equity or climate justice – principles at the very heart of the Paris Agreement – will do more harm than good,” the group said. “Such a law sends a strong signal that real, sufficient action is being taken when in fact it’s not.”

The group stressed that instead of setting long-term goals, the EU should focus on the “CO2 budget which applies for today.”

Such C02 budgets are used to measure the additional emissions that can enter the atmosphere without global warming exceeding a certain level. World leaders agreed five years ago in Paris to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit), ideally no more than 1.5 C (2.7 F) by the end of the century. But scientists say countries will miss both of those goals by a wide margin unless drastic steps are taken to begin cutting greenhouse gas emissions this year.

“Distant net-zero emission targets will mean absolutely nothing if we just continue to ignore the carbon dioxide budget – which applies for today, not a faraway future,” the climate activists said. “If high emissions continue like now, even for a few years, that remaining budget will soon be completely used up.”

According to a leaked draft of the proposals establishing the 2050 goal, the European Commission is proposing a mechanism for regularly raising the EU’s emissions reduction target over the next three decades, but there is no plan for an increase of the EU’s overall emissions goal for 2030.

In the draft, the European Commission said it will review the EU’s current target of a 40% greenhouse gas reduction and “explore options for a new 2030 target of 50% to 55% emission reductions compared with 1990 levels.”

Both environmental group Greenpeace and Green lawmakers in the European Parliament say that delaying an upgraded 2030 target will have damaging political consequences.

Michael Bloss, a lawmaker with the German Green Party, said it’s essential that the 2030 target should be fixed well ahead of the U.N climate talks that will be held in Glasgow in November if Europe wants to apply pressure on big-emitting countries such as China.

“We need our European goal published as soon as possible,” he said Tuesday. “The commission’s delaying tactics in putting forward the updated 2030 target is irresponsible. Emissions must be reduced by at least 65%by 2030 and could should be phased out by 2030 at the latest if we are to comply with the Paris Climate Agreement.”

Greenpeace said by failing to include a 2030 target, “there is a very real risk that the EU could go empty handed to the U.N. climate conference in Glasgow.”

Greenpeace also insists a 55% reduction target for 2030 wouldn’t be sufficient to limit global heating to 2 degrees Celsius.


To set a common trajectory and impose revised targets to member states every five years from 2023, the European Commission is also planning to adopt legally binding legislation that can enter into force if the European Parliament and European Council have no objections.

That mechanism could spark concerns among fossil fuel-dependent EU nations, which need to reorganize their economies in order to reach the 2050 target agreed last year by all EU members except Poland.

___

Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this story.

___

Follow all AP coverage of climate change issues at https://apnews.com/Climate

EU commission unveils climate law amid criticism
YEP THOSE ARE CLEAR PLASTIC BOTTLES OF UNSUSTAINABLE WATER STOLEN BY NESTLE FROM LOCAL SOURCES 

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Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, right, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen attend the weekly College of Commissioners meeting at EU headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, March 4, 2020. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who has put climate change at the top of her priorities and pledged to make Europe the first climate neutral continent by 2050, will present her plans on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

BRUSSELS (AP) — Amid fierce criticism from environmental activists, the European Commission unveiled plans Wednesday for its first ever climate law, which will act as the basis of the European Union’s aim to make the 27-country bloc climate neutral by 2050.

Under its Green Deal agenda, the EU’s executive arm wants to legislate to make its ambition of cutting greenhouse gas emissions to zero by mid-century irreversible, and legally-binding for all member states.

“This climate law will set in stone Europe’s position as a climate leader on the global stage,” said European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.


To establish the 2050 goal, the European Commission is proposing a mechanism for regularly raising the EU’s emissions reduction target over the next three decades. However, there is no plan to increase the bloc’s overall emissions goal for 2030.

This particular point has been criticized by climate activists, who claim that delaying the upgraded 2030 target is detrimental to the bloc’s credibility in the fight against climate change.

The commission only said it would present a “responsible” plan by September on how to raise its current 2030 target of reducing greenhouse gases by 40% from 1990 levels to “at least 50% and towards 55% .”

Environmental group Greenpeace voiced concerns that EU governments will “find it extremely difficult to agree a new target” before the next round of U.N climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland, in November.

A dozen of member states have also expressed their concern and have asked the commission to come up with a 2030 target “as soon as possible and by June 2020 at the latest in order to advance discussions in a timely manner.”

Climate activist Greta Thunberg, who attended Wednesday’s climate discussions with EU commissioners, dismissed the proposed law.

In an open letter, 34 youth climate activists, including Thunberg, stressed that instead of setting long-term goals, the EU should focus on emissions of carbon dioxide right now if the world is to meet the commitments made five years ago at the Paris climate summit.

Thunberg and her colleagues in the youth climate movement have been pressing governments to focus on so-called CO2 budgets — the amount of CO2 that can be emitted to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit), and ideally no more than 1.5 C by the end of the century.

But scientists say countries will miss both of those goals by a wide margin unless drastic steps are taken to begin cutting greenhouse gas emissions this year. The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts said Wednesday that Europe had “the warmest January on record, about 0.2 degrees Celsius warmer than the previous warmest January in 2007, and 3.1 C warmer than the average January in the period 1981-2010. Average temperatures were especially high over large parts of northeastern Europe, in some areas more than 6 C above the 1981-2010 January average.”


Greenpeace also insists a 55% reduction target for 2030 is insufficient in limiting global heating to 2 C. Environmental group WWF is recommending a cut of at least 65% and is urging the EU to ban subsidies and tax breaks for fossil fuels industries as well as setting up an independent scientific body to supervise the EU’s climate change plans.

Green members of the European Parliament accused von der Leyen of giving up her claim to lead in the global climate debate.

“In the face of Greta, she is breaking her promise to present ambitious climate targets for 2030,” Green lawmaker Michael Bloss said.

To set a common trajectory and impose revised targets to member states every five years from 2023, the commission is planning to adopt legally binding legislation that can enter into force if the European Parliament and European Council, the EU body that represents governments, have no objections.

That mechanism could spark concerns among fossil fuel-dependent EU nations, which need to rejig their economies to reach the 2050 target agreed last year by all EU members except Poland.

To finance the climate transition, the EU plans to dedicate a quarter of its budget to tackling climate change and to work to mobilize 1 trillion euros ($1.1 trillion) in investment over the next 10 years. The financial plan includes a mechanism designed to help the regions that would be most disrupted economically by the transition to cleaner industries.

Von der Leyen added that the commission started working on devising a “carbon border adjustment mechanism” aimed at avoiding a situation where EU countries reduce emissions as part of their ambition to make the continent carbon neutral by 2050, but at the same time import CO2 imbedded in goods.

French President Emmanuel Macron has been promoting the idea of a carbon tax at the bloc’s borders for countries that did not sign up to the 2015 Paris agreement and do not regulate CO2 emissions as strictly as the EU does.

GRETA BROUGHT HER OWN SUSTAINABLE WATER BOTTLE

`Sustainable gardening’ includes many eco-friendly practices

By DEAN FOSDICK March 3, 2020

This July 25, 2016 photo of blueberries growing in a container on a property near Langley, Wash., illustrates that gardeners operate on a much smaller scale than farmers yet can make some major sustainability impacts by growing their own food and planting things that don't need as much fertilizer or pesticides, minimizing risks to the environment. (Dean Fosdick via AP)

``Sustainable” is one of gardening’s trendiest buzzwords, yet it carries a range of definitions. Just what does it mean in practical terms, and how important is it to the average gardener?

Very important, according to a recent plant trends study by horticulturalists with the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS). It found strong interest in native plants, ``re-wilding” gardens, growing edibles, and going easy on wildlife, among other concerns.

``More and more people are supporting sustainability, where the social, environmental and economic factors balance,” said Mark Tancig, a horticulture agent with University of Florida Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension. ``That means planting things that don’t require as much water or fertilizer. Using plants that resist disease and insects. Choosing native plants in mixtures that attract wildlife.

``That not only saves you money, but they look good, too,” Tancig said. ``They’re restorative to the environment.”

Sustainable isn’t necessarily the same as organic, noted Erica Chernoh, an Oregon State University Extension horticulturist.

```Organic’ has become legally recognized,” Chernoh said. ``Sustainability is more of an open book, combining ecological, sociological and economic factors.”

Ross Penhallegon, a horticulturist emeritus with Oregon State University Extension, said sustainability requires that we all ``look at our garden and ask what we can do to reduce carbon imprint, reduce irrigation and use less products.”

Some simple sustainable gardening goals, he noted in a fact sheet, include:

— Starting compost piles rather than throwing away yard debris. ``Composting keeps all the nutrients stored in yard debris in your garden on site and feeds the soil,” he said. ``It also saves you money since buying compost isn’t necessary.”

— Shifting from standard sprinklers to drip irrigation or soaker hoses. ``You can reduce your water use by up to 80 percent,” Penhallegon said. ``Also, consider using drought-resistant plants to save water.”

— Lessening pesticide use by planting large seedlings that withstand pests and diseases better than small ones.

— Growing your own food by saving seeds from some of your healthiest plants for use the following year.

— Fighting bugs with Integrated Pest Management, which uses the least toxic methods, minimizing risks to humans, animals, pollinators and other beneficial insects. ``If you must use a pesticide, use a low-toxicity one,” Penhallegon said.


Gardeners operate on a smaller scale than farmers but still can have major impacts, Chernoh said.

``They can do that by not over-fertilizing, by eliminating any spraying that isn’t necessary,” she said. ``Their size may be unlike farmers’, but their goals are the same.”

This June 19, 2013 photo shows pollinator attracting blackberries growing on a property near Langley, Wash. Sustainable gardening means planting things that don't require as much water or fertilizer, using plants that resist disease and insects and choosing native plants like these blackberries shown here. (Dean Fosdick via AP)

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Online:

For more about sustainable gardening, see this fact sheet from Colorado State University: https://extension.colostate.edu/topic-areas/yard-garden/sustainable-landscaping-7-243/

You can contact Dean Fosdick at deanfosdick@netscape.net

Court allows Trump administration to block migrants in Texas, N.M.


The ruling means asylum seekers and migrants arriving at border points in California and Arizona will be allowed to await verdicts in the United States. File Photo by Art Foxall/UPI | License Photo

March 5 (UPI) -- A federal appeals court has allowed the Trump administration to keep its controversial "Remain in Mexico" policy in place in Texas and New Mexico while it readies a Supreme Court challenge.

The ruling Wednesday by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, however, prevents the government from enforcing the policy unless the Supreme Court intervenes before March 12.

The court said, though, its decision last week to block to the policy will remain in effect for California and Arizona, as both states are under its jurisdiction.

While again declaring the Migrant Protection Protocols policy illegal, the court's move leaves the issue to the Supreme Court to settle.
RELATED 19 states sue Trump over plan to divert more defense funding to build border wall



Wednesday's decision gave the government more time to fight its legal battle to save the policy, but also means asylum seekers and migrants arriving at border points in California and Arizona will be allowed to await the outcomes of their cases in the United States, which was the standard practice under previous administrations.

The appellate court last week upheld a lower court injunction stopping the policy, by which tens of thousands of asylum seekers remain in Mexico to await their U.S. hearings.

The Trump administration policy is an effort to restrict migrants' access to U.S. soil and reduce a surge of migration by Central American families. Last year, more than 470,000 migrants crossed the U.S.-Mexico border seeking asylum, and most were allowed to remain in the United States to await their hearings.
RELATED Supreme Court weighs due process rights of asylum seekers



The San Francisco court found, however, the policy contradicts federal laws that allow asylum-seekers to wait the United States unless they have criminal records. It also said the rule runs afoul of a binding treaty that bars sending immigrants to nations where their lives or freedom would be in danger.

U.S. contractor charged with sharing military secrets

(UPI) -- Prosecutors have charged a Minnesota woman working as a translator for the U.S. military in Iraq with giving classified defense information to a man connected to an Iran-backed group designated as a terrorist organization by the State Department.

In a statement issued Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Justice said Mariam Taha Thompson, 61, allegedly gave information, including the names of human assets, to a Lebanese man with ties to Hezbollah who she was romantically interested in. The prosecutors said by doing so she "placed the lives of the human assets and U.S. military personnel in grave danger."

"If true, this conduct is a disgrace, especially for someone serving as a contractor with the United States military," said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers. "This betrayal of country and colleagues will be punished."

If guilty, she faces a maximum sentence of life in prison for delivering defense information to aid a foreign government.

Thompson was arrested Feb. 27 at an overseas U.S. military facility where she worked and held a Top Secret government security clearance, prosecutors said. According to the complaint, she was assigned mid-December to a Special Operations Task Force facility in Erbil, Iraq.

Her arrest followed an investigation that revealed she began accessing classified information she had no need of within the Department of Defense systems on Dec. 30 -- a day after the U.S. military conducted airstrikes against Hezbollah in Iraq and the same day protesters stormed the U.S. embassy in the Middle Eastern country.

The complaint details that by Feb. 11, she had accessed roughly 57 files concerning eight human intelligence sources, including their real names, personal identification data, photographs and operations cables, among other information.

Federal Bureau of Investigation agents performing a court-authorized search of her Erbil residence on Feb. 19 discovered a handwritten note in Arabic under her mattress that contained the real names of three human assets who were collecting information for the U.S. government, prosecutors said.

"The note further instructs that the human assets' phones should be monitored and a named individual should be warned," read the complaint.

One of the assets, the complaint continued, is affiliated with a designated terrorist organization that is not Hezbollah.

"Agents also confirmed that the note contained national defense information classified at the SECRET level, meaning its unauthorized disclosure reasonably could be expected to cause serious damage to the national security," the complaint stated.

During an interview with an FBI agent, she said she gave the information to the man at his request and that she was romantically interested in him, the prosecutors said, adding that further investigation revealed the man to be Lebanese with connections to Hezbollah.

According to the complaint, Thompson memorized the classified information that she had viewed, wrote it down and then transmitted it to her co-conspirator using the video feature of a secure smartphone application.

The complaint details that data provided to the FBI by an Internet service provider contained an apparent screenshot from a messaging video chat of Thompson displaying a second handwritten Arabic note to her co-conspirator that explained how an asset was gathering information and contained the real name of an asset not on the note found under her mattress.

"The conduct alleged in this complaint is a grave threat to national security, placed lives at risk and represents a betrayal of our armed forces," said U.S. Attorney Timothy J. Shea. "The charges we've filed today should serve as a warning to anyone who would consider disclosing classified national defense information to a terrorist organization."


U.S. contractor charged with sharing military secrets

March 5 (UPI) -- Prosecutors have charged a Minnesota woman working as a translator for the U.S. military in Iraq with giving classified defense information to a man connected to an Iran-backed group designated as a terrorist organization by the State Department.

In a statement issued Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Justice said Mariam Taha Thompson, 61, allegedly gave information, including the names of human assets, to a Lebanese man with ties to Hezbollah who she was romantically interested in. The prosecutors said by doing so she "placed the lives of the human assets and U.S. military personnel in grave danger."

"If true, this conduct is a disgrace, especially for someone serving as a contractor with the United States military," said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers. "This betrayal of country and colleagues will be punished."

If guilty, she faces a maximum sentence of life in prison for delivering defense information to aid a foreign government.

Thompson was arrested Feb. 27 at an overseas U.S. military facility where she worked and held a Top Secret government security clearance, prosecutors said. According to the complaint, she was assigned mid-December to a Special Operations Task Force facility in Erbil, Iraq.

Her arrest followed an investigation that revealed she began accessing classified information she had no need of within the Department of Defense systems on Dec. 30 -- a day after the U.S. military conducted airstrikes against Hezbollah in Iraq and the same day protesters stormed the U.S. embassy in the Middle Eastern country.

The complaint details that by Feb. 11, she had accessed roughly 57 files concerning eight human intelligence sources, including their real names, personal identification data, photographs and operations cables, among other information.

Federal Bureau of Investigation agents performing a court-authorized search of her Erbil residence on Feb. 19 discovered a handwritten note in Arabic under her mattress that contained the real names of three human assets who were collecting information for the U.S. government, prosecutors said.

"The note further instructs that the human assets' phones should be monitored and a named individual should be warned," read the complaint.

One of the assets, the complaint continued, is affiliated with a designated terrorist organization that is not Hezbollah.

"Agents also confirmed that the note contained national defense information classified at the SECRET level, meaning its unauthorized disclosure reasonably could be expected to cause serious damage to the national security," the complaint stated.

During an interview with an FBI agent, she said she gave the information to the man at his request and that she was romantically interested in him, the prosecutors said, adding that further investigation revealed the man to be Lebanese with connections to Hezbollah.

According to the complaint, Thompson memorized the classified information that she had viewed, wrote it down and then transmitted it to her co-conspirator using the video feature of a secure smartphone application.

The complaint details that data provided to the FBI by an Internet service provider contained an apparent screenshot from a messaging video chat of Thompson displaying a second handwritten Arabic note to her co-conspirator that explained how an asset was gathering information and contained the real name of an asset not on the note found under her mattress.

"The conduct alleged in this complaint is a grave threat to national security, placed lives at risk and represents a betrayal of our armed forces," said U.S. Attorney Timothy J. Shea. "The charges we've filed today should serve as a warning to anyone who would consider disclosing classified national defense information to a terrorist organization."

House investigation denounces Wells Fargo as 'reckless megabank'


The report said the inquiry showed a bank run by "an ineffective board and management," one that's incapable of change and one that's still a risk to consumers. 

File Photo by David Yee/UPI | License Photo


March 5 (UPI) -- After a year-long investigation, the House financial services committee has concluded that Wells Fargo operated as a "reckless megabank" that's failed to change its culture of abusing customers -- even after major scandals and punishment.

The panel chaired by Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., released a 113-page report titled "The Real Wells Fargo," which details the examination of how the bank responded to five consent orders from federal regulators following the high-profile scandals.

One, in which the bank opened millions of customer accounts without permission, resulted in Wells Fargo agreeing last month to pay a $3 billion fine to settle investigations by the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission. Weeks earlier, former CEO John Stumpf was ordered to pay a $17.5 million fine for his role.

In a statement accompanying the report, Waters excoriated the bank's leadership, saying the inquiry showed an institution run by "an ineffective board and management," one that's incapable of change and one that's still a risk to consumers.

RELATED Wells Fargo to pay $3B to settle fake customer account scam

"Wells Fargo has clearly demonstrated an unwillingness and inability to stop harming its customers," she said. "So this committee is working overtime to make sure consumers are never subjected to the types of abuses and failures committed by this megabank again."

Rep. Al Green, D-Tex., chairman of the panel's investigations subcommittee, blamed federal regulators for not adequately enforcing their consent orders.

"Unfortunately, those who pay the price of these failures are those least able to pay and most in need of protection -- customers initially victimized by the bank," he said.

RELATED Former Wells Fargo CEO fined $17.5M in customer account scandal

Among the committee's findings were emails among top executives at Wells Fargo that investigators say show "an unwillingness to take seriously the bank's obligations" under the consent orders, and a reluctance to follow them. Other emails, they said, showed the executives' own doubts about their ability to make the ordered changes.

Wednesday's report also said financial regulators knew for years about "serious, enterprise-wide deficiencies" at Wells Fargo, but didn't take public enforcement action.

Wells Fargo CEO Charles Scharf and Chairwoman Betsy Duke are scheduled to appear before the committee next week. The hearing, set for 10 a.m EST on March 10, is titled "Holding Wells Fargo Accountable: CEO Perspectives on Next Steps for the Bank that Broke America's Trust."

RELATED Wells Fargo tabs Charles Scharf as new CEO to lead 'transformation'

Pakistan struggles to combat devastating locust plague

AFP / ARIF ALIThe crisis is so severe that the government has declared a nationwide emergency and urgently appealed for help from the international community

Pakistan's farmers are struggling to combat the worst locust plague in nearly three decades as insect swarms decimate entire harvests in the country's agricultural heartlands and send food prices soaring.

Heavy rains and cyclones sparked "unprecedented" breeding and the explosive growth of locust populations on the Arabian peninsula early last year, according to the United Nations.

The insects have since fanned out and wreaked havoc on farms from East Africa to India before making their way into Pakistan from the desert on the country's southwestern border with Iran.

The crisis is so severe that the government has declared a nationwide emergency and urgently appealed for help from the international community.

AFP / ARIF ALIClouds of the noxious gas envelop the nearby fields each morning, where villagers gather the husks of dead insects for an official bounty of 20 rupees (13 cents) per kilogramme bag

Officials in southern Sindh province fear the infestation will devastate the supply of cotton, the local cash crop, ahead of its harvest in the coming months.

Local surveys of the damage are continuing, but the Sindh Chamber of Agriculture says nearly half of all crops have been destroyed near the port city of Karachi.

"I have not seen an infestation like this one in my career," said Shehbaz Akhtar, an agricultural official charged with locust eradication efforts in the village of Pipli Pahar in central Punjab province.

- 'Combat operation' -

Local authorities had "launched a combat operation" to clear the area of infestation with pesticide sprays, he said.

AFP / Alain BOMMENELLocust swarms destroy Pakistan crops

Clouds of the noxious gas envelop the nearby fields each morning, where villagers gather the husks of dead insects for an official bounty of 20 rupees (13 cents) per kilogramme bag.

"We spray twice a day here," says Fayyaz Azeem, clad in a face mask and thick industrial gloves on top of a tractor discharging pesticide into rows of crops.

But the process is slow and time-consuming, and by the time locusts are killed off in one field they have often already destroyed the next.

The pesticides used by officials are also dangerous for consumption, so even when the locusts are dead the remaining crops have to be discarded.

Some farmers have been forced to opt for more desperate solutions while waiting for their fields to be sprayed and have attempted to scare off the swarms by shouting and banging pots.

AFP / ARIF ALIThe pesticides used by officials are also dangerous for consumption, so even when the locusts are dead the remaining crops have to be discarded

A team of Chinese experts has arrived in Pakistan to survey the crisis, food security ministry chief Muhammad Hashim Popalzai told AFP.

Beijing could also offer aerial spraying -- a much faster and more efficient method of pest control -- and Pakistan may also import pesticides from China.

Earlier reports circulating online suggested China was planning to send thousands of ducks to Pakistan to devour the scourge. Pakistani officials said no such plans were being considered.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization has also set up meetings between India and Pakistan to prevent the swarms from spreading, Popalzai said.

- 'What can I do?' -

Agriculture accounts for 20 percent of Pakistan's GDP but the sector has already struggled for years in the face of drought and dwindling water supplies.

The country is also experiencing 12-year inflation highs, with the cost of sugar nearly doubling and flour prices jumping 15 percent in the past year.

Years without a locust attack meant the government "had become complacent" about the risks of a new infestation, said Pakistan Farmers Bureau president Zafar Hayyat.

Though he applauded the steps being taken to fight the plague, Hayyat warned of the risk that swarms would return mid-year after the next locust breeding season.

For many farmers in Pipli Pahar, the extermination campaign has already come too late.

Sitting in the corner of a wheat field with her cow, Rafiya Bibi watches the flurry of pesticide spraying around her.

The locusts have already destroyed her crops of canola, sunflower, chili and tobacco, which she had bought after borrowing 45,000 rupees from the government.

With no harvest, she has no way to repay the loan.

"What can I do?" she said. "All I can do is cry, what else can I do?"

Air pollution 'pandemic' shortens lives by 3 years: study

AFP/File / Farooq NAEEMResearchers say the health impacts of air pollution from the burning of fossil fuels is significantly underestimated by authorities

A 'pandemic' of air pollution shortens lives worldwide by nearly three years on average, and causes 8.8 million premature deaths annually, scientists said Tuesday.

Eliminating the toxic cocktail of molecules and lung-clogging particles cast off by burning oil, gas and coal would restore a full year of life expectancy, they reported in the journal Cardiovascular Research.

"Air pollution is a larger public health risk than tobacco smoking," lead author Jos Lelieveld of the Max Planck Institute in Mainz, Germany told AFP.

"Much of it can be avoided by replacing fossil fuels with clean renewable energy."

Compared to other causes of premature death, air pollution kills 19 times more people each year than malaria, nine times more than HIV/AIDS, and three times more than alcohol, the study found.

Coronary heart disease and stroke account for almost half of those deaths, with lung diseases and other non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure accounting for most of the rest.

Only six percent of mortality stemming from polluted air is due to lung cancer.

"Our results show there is an 'air pollution pandemic'," said senior author Thomas Munzel of the Max Planck Institute's departments of chemistry and cardiology.

"Both air pollution and smoking are preventable, but over the past decades much less attention has been paid to air pollution than to smoking, especially among cardiologists."

The worst-hit region is Asia, where average lifespan is cut 4.1 years in China, 3.9 years in India, and 3.8 years in Pakistan.

In some parts of these countries, toxic air takes an even steeper toll, other research has shown.

In India's Uttar Pradesh -- home to 200 million -- small particle pollution by itself slashes life expectancy by 8.5 years, while in China's Hebei Province (population 74 million) the shortfall is nearly six years, according to the Air Quality Life Index, developed by researchers at the Energy Policy Institute of Chicago.

African lives are also foreshortened by 3.1 years on average, with people in some nations -- Chad, Sierra Leone, Central African Republic, Nigeria and Cote d'Ivoire -- losing 4.5 to 7.3 years.

Among wealthier nations, the Soviet Union's former satellite states have the deadliest pollution, especially in Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania.

"We show that about two-thirds of premature deaths are attributable to human-made pollution, mainly from fossil fuel use," Munzel said.

"This goes up to 80 percent in high-income countries," he added.

"5.5 million deaths worldwide a year are potentially avoidable."

- Impact 'significantly underestimated' -

Unavoidable excess mortality stems from natural dust storms, such as in central Asia and northern Africa, along with forest fires, though both phenomena are being amplified by manmade climate change, according to climate scientists.

The least-impacted regions of the world are the Americas, western and northern Europe, and small island states.

The figure of 8.8 million premature deaths from outdoor air pollution each year is double estimates from World Health Organization (WHO).

"The impact of air pollution on cardiovascular and other non-communicable diseases was significantly underestimated," Lelieveld explained, echoing a conclusion from other recent research.

Air pollution causes damage to the blood vessels through greater oxidative stress, leading to increases in blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, heart attacks and heart failure.

The revised number for China is 2.8 million premature deaths each year, two-and-a-half times the WHO estimates.

The researchers said there are signs in India, China and other emerging economies that people are growing intolerant of life-shortening toxic air.

"The realisation that air pollution is a major health risk can contribute to the willingness to phase-out fossil fuels -- with the co-benefit of reducing climate warming," Lelieveld said.

To assess the impact of air pollution on life expectancy, the researchers applied data on exposure to micro-particles (PM2.5) and ozone for the year 2015 to models that simulate how chemical processes in the atmosphere interact with natural and manmade pollutants, and data from the Global Burden of Disease.

Indoor pollution -- mainly from cookstoves fuelled by biomass or coal -- is also a major killer, but was not considered here.

Amnesty says Iran killed two dozen children in November crackdown

AFP / ATTA KENAREProtests broke out across Iran from November 15 after the announcement of a surprise petrol price rise

Human rights group Amnesty International on Wednesday accused the Iranian security forces of killing 23 children, mostly with live ammunition, during a November crackdown on anti-government protests.

Protests broke out across Iran from November 15 after the announcement of a surprise petrol price rise. The authorities responded with a crackdown that Amnesty has already said left 304 people dead, a figure vehemently disputed by Tehran.

Amnesty said in its new report it had evidence that at least 23 children were killed, with 22 of them killed by the security forces "unlawfully firing live ammunition at unarmed protesters and bystanders."

The children killed included 22 boys, aged between 12 and 17, and a girl reportedly aged between eight and 12.

"There must be independent and impartial investigations into these killings, and those suspected of ordering and carrying them out must be prosecuted in fair trials," said Philip Luther, Amnesty's research and advocacy director for the Middle East and North Africa.

- 'Quash dissent at any cost' -

Twelve of the 23 deaths -- recorded in 13 cities in six provinces across the country --- took place on 16 November, a further eight on 17 November, and three on 18 November, according to Amnesty.

"The fact that the vast majority of the children's deaths took place over just two days is further evidence that Iranian security forces went on a killing spree to quash dissent at any cost," said Luther.

Amnesty International said it had written to Iran's Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli with the names of the 23 children recorded as killed but had received no response.

It said relatives of some of the children killed described being subjected to harassment and intimidation, including surveillance and interrogations by intelligence and security officials.

It said this corresponded with a broad pattern of families of those killed in protests being intimidated by the state to prevent them talking openly about the deaths.

"Families of children killed during the protests are facing a ruthless campaign of harassment to intimidate them from speaking out," said Luther, denouncing a "state cover-up".

Its report was based on evidence from videos and photographs, as well as death and burial certificates, accounts from eyewitnesses and victims' relatives as well as information gathered from human rights activists and journalists.

In one child's case, there were conflicting reports on the cause of death, with one source referring to fatal head injuries sustained by beatings by security forces and another referring to the firing of metal pellets at the victim's face from a close distance, it said.

Coronavirus lingers in rooms and toilets but disinfectants kill it

National Institutes of Health/AFP/File / HandoutAn image of the SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19

New research from Singapore published Wednesday showed that patients with the novel coronavirus extensively contaminate their bedrooms and bathrooms, underscoring the need to routinely clean high-touch surfaces, basins and toilet bowls.

The virus was however killed by twice-a-day cleaning of surfaces and daily cleaning of floors with a commonly used disinfectant -- suggesting that current decontamination measures are sufficient as long as people adhere to them.

The research letter was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and comes after cases in China where the pathogen spread extensively through hospitals, infecting dozens of health care workers and other patients.

This led scientists to believe that, beyond catching the infection through coughing, environmental contamination was an important factor in the disease's transmission, but its extent was unclear.

Researchers at Singapore's National Centre for Infectious Diseases and DSO National Laboratories looked at the cases of three patients who were held in isolation rooms between late January and early February.

They collected samples from their rooms on five days over a two-week period.

The room of one patient was sampled before routine cleaning, while the rooms of the other two patients were sampled after disinfection measures.

The patient whose room was sampled before cleaning had the mildest symptoms of the three, only experiencing a cough. The other two had moderate symptoms: both had coughing and fever, one experienced shortness of breath and the other was coughing up mucus.

Despite this disparity, the patient whose room was sampled before cleaning contaminated 13 of 15 room sites tested, including a chair, the bed rail, a glass window, the floor, and light switches.

Three of the five toilet sites were also contaminated, including the sink, door handle and toilet bowl -- more evidence that stool can be a route of transmission.

Air samples tested negative, but swabs taken from air exhaust outlets were positive -- which suggests that virus-laden droplets may be carried by air flows and deposited on vents.

The two rooms that were tested after cleaning had no positive results.

"Significant environmental contamination by patients with SARS-CoV-2 through respiratory droplets and fecal shedding suggests the environment as a potential medium of transmission and supports the need for strict adherence to environmental and hand hygiene," the authors wrote.

SARS-CoV-R is the official name of the pathogen.

The virus, which was first identified in China's Hubei province in December, has now infected more than 95,000 people in 81 countries and territories, killing more than 3,200.

The World Health Organization said Wednesday the mortality rate among reported cases was 3.4 percent, revising upward previous estimates.

But there is likely significant underreporting around the world and the disease's true lethality will only be better understood over time.