'We have no oxygen': First journalist to access Yemen after Covid discovers major cover up in country of her birth


Nawal Al-Maghafi
Mon, December 14, 2020, 
Gravediggers in Alradhwan Cemetery in Aden told the BBC they did not have time to eat during the Coronavirus outbreak they had so many bodies to bury - BBC News Arabic/BBC

Like many others in March I was spending my days locked down in my London flat, listening to reports about how overwhelmed the NHS was and the struggle to get essential supplies.

However where I differed is that all I could think about was Yemen.

I am British, but I’m originally Yemeni, and regularly report from it for BBC News and the World Service.

If the UK was struggling to cope, I thought to myself, just how would the authorities in Yemen fare?

I was terrified for them: my family, my friends, the nation. But I mainly feared for my grandmother. She is in her late 70’s and ticked all the vulnerable categories.

I began calling my sister who lives in northern Yemen every day asking her if there were any cases. But while I was terrified, she, like so many others in the war-torn country was oblivious to the threat.

The Houthi authorities in the north hadn’t announced a single case.

From London I set about trying to find out what was truly happening, but it was near impossible. The Houthis had imposed a blanket restriction on all Covid reporting from areas they control.
Nawal Al-Maghafi in Yemen for BBC News Arabic - BBC News Arabic/BBC

Instead they were broadcasting propaganda videos about how they were disinfecting neighbourhoods to keep the virus at bay.

Undeterred, I spoke to Yemen’s UN humanitarian coordinator, and learnt that the entire country only had 200 ventilators. I was told that with world powers buying up all the supply, Yemen was at the bottom of the queue.

I immediately called my grandmother.

Over the phone from London I implored her to believe she was in danger, begged that she stop seeing anyone, cook for herself, and stay in her flat, alone.

The hardest part for her was sending my cousins back when they came to visit her. “We will meet after corona”, she would tell them.

By then I had collated hundreds of posts from Facebook showing how Covid was exacting its deadly toll. My father was mourning dozens of his friends who had died, and I was receiving news that members of my extended family had fallen ill with “flu like symptoms” and passed away.

I was desperate to get to Yemen to document what was happening. But with the world at a standstill it took weeks to find a way. Finally, in July, I was on one of the first flights in since Covid had hit.

I arrived in Sanaa, my home town; and a city in mourning.

A funeral procession through the northern city of Sanaa - BBC News Arabic/BBC

It took me two weeks to negotiate gaining access to hospitals, such was the resistance to coverage. But finally, with 6 Houthi minders in tow, I did it.

In the first one I went to, the doctor there wasn’t even allowed to tell me the exact number of deaths, but she said the hospital was overwhelmed. In most countries young people are considered to be at low risk – but not in Yemen.

“We started to get really young patients, 25, 30, 35, 40 years old”, she told me. “They had no underlying health issues. They would deteriorate quickly, they wouldn't last 1 to 2 weeks.”

Throughout my 2,000km trip, I worried desperately about the people I left behind me at each juncture – it wasn’t just the virus that endangered them.

Airstrikes and fighting continued throughout the pandemic. During my trip I visited the site of an attack which had hit a civilian home killing nine children.

Back in another Yemeni hospital, I also observed the impact of the US withdrawal of 73 million dollars worth of aid.

I met a doctor, Tariq Qassem, facing the task of treating Covid amidst these cuts.

He was just 26 years old, and told me the majority of the deaths were a result of the hospital lacking oxygen supplies.

Nawal at Alkuwait hospital in Sanaa - BBC News Arabic/BBC

“When the oxygen runs out, that's it, we watch them die”, he said.

Despite knowing that Yemen was ill prepared for Covid, I was still stunned to hear that he and his colleagues were working in the ICU with no protective gear.

He caught Covid, but he kept working – until he needed to be put on oxygen himself.

Tariq survived. But seeing all of this, I couldn’t stop thinking about my grandmother, hoping she was doing as I’d told her to over the phone from London.

At the end of my trip I decided I would visit her - from a safe distance. We sat metres apart in her garden. I complained to her about all the gatherings I’d seen still taking place - the weddings, the funerals.

But her response? “The people in this country have died many times: war, starvation, disease,” she said.

“Corona is the least of their worries”.

5 years and counting: Ex-treasure hunter still stuck in jail

ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS
Mon, December 14, 2020, 

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A former deep-sea treasure hunter is about to mark his fifth year in jail for refusing to disclose the whereabouts of 500 missing coins made from gold found in an historic shipwreck.

Research scientist Tommy Thompson isn't incarcerated for breaking the law. Instead, he's being held in contempt of court for an unusually long stretch — well past the normal maximum limit of an 18-month internment in cases of witnesses refusing to cooperate.

But nothing is usual about Thompson's case, which dates to his discovery of the S.S. Central America, known as the Ship of Gold, in 1988. The gold rush-era ship sank in a hurricane off South Carolina in 1857 with thousands of pounds of gold aboard, contributing to an economic panic.

Despite an investors lawsuit and a federal court order, Thompson still won't cooperate with authorities trying to find those coins, according to court records, federal prosecutors and the judge who found Thompson in contempt.

“He creates a patent for a submarine, but he can’t remember where he put the loot,” federal Judge Algenon Marbley said during a 2017 hearing.

Thompson's legal troubles stem from the 161 investors who paid Thompson $12.7 million to find the ship, never saw any proceeds and finally sued.

Back in 2012, a different federal judge ordered Thompson to appear in court to disclose the coins' whereabouts. Instead, Thompson fled to Florida where he lived with his longtime female companion at a hotel where he was living near Boca Raton. U.S. marshals tracked him down and arrested him in early 2015.

Thompson pleaded guilty for his failure to appear and was sentenced to two years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Thompson's criminal sentence has been delayed until the issue of the gold coins is resolved.

That April 2015 plea deal required Thompson to answer questions in closed-door sessions about the whereabouts of the coins, which the government says are worth $2 million to $4 million. Importantly, he must also “assist” interested parties in finding the coins under that deal.

Thompson refused several times, and on Dec. 15, 2015, Marbley found Thompson in contempt of court and ordered him to stay in jail — and pay a $1,000 daily fine — until he responds.

In late October of this year, Thompson appeared by video for his latest hearing.

“Mr. Thompson, are you ready to answer the seminal question in this case as to the whereabouts of the gold?” Marbley said.

“Your honor, I don’t know if we’ve gone over this road before or not, but I don’t know the whereabouts of the gold,” Thompson responded. “I feel like I don’t have the keys to my freedom.”

And with that, Thompson settled back into his current situation: housed in a federal prison in Milan, Michigan, he’s now spent more than 1,700 days in jail and owes nearly $1.8 million in fines — and counting. Thompson's attorney declined to comment.

Thompson, 68, has said he suffers from a rare form of chronic fatigue syndrome that has created problems with short-term memory. He’s previously said, without providing details, that the coins were turned over to a trust in Belize.

The government contends Thompson is refusing to cooperate and that there’s no connection between his ailment and his ability to explain where the coins are.

A federal law addresses individuals like Thompson, known as “recalcitrant witnesses.” The law holds that 18 months is generally the limit for jail time for contempt of court orders. But a federal appeals court last year rejected Thompson's argument that that law applies to him.

Thompson hasn't just refused to answer questions, the court ruled: He's also violated the requirement that he “assist” the parties by refusing to execute a limited power of attorney to allow that Belizean trust to be examined, as required under his plea deal.

“The order isn’t intended to solely seek information, it’s to seek information for the purposes of recovering these unique assets,” said law professor and legal analyst Andrew Geronimo, director of Case Western University's First Amendment Clinic.

Earlier this year, Marbley denied Thompson's request for release over concerns he's at risk for contracting the coronavirus behind bars. Marbley said Thompson didn't present proper evidence for his risk level, and also noted he remains a flight risk.

The investors still looking for their money say Thompson has no one but himself to blame for his incarceration.

“He would be out of prison by now if he had simply complied with his plea agreement and cooperated in locating missing assets when he was supposed to,” attorney Steven Tigges said in a March court filing.

___

This story has been corrected to show that the S.S. Central America sank in 1857, not the S.S. America.

30 US congressmen call for urgent action on UAE and Middle East Human Trafficking

International UN Watch
Mon, December 14, 2020

US lawmakers issue dear Colleague letter calling for urgent action on human trafficking
30 US congressmen call for urgent action on UAE and Middle East Human Trafficking

International UN Watch

London, UK, Dec. 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Washington, London - On Human Rights Day, thirty members of the U.S. House of Representatives signed a “dear colleague” letter to the U.S. government calling for an end to human trafficking and labor exploitation in the Gulf region of the Middle East. Representative Raúl Grijalva, who serves as Vice Chair in the International Workers’ Rights Caucus, led the effort. “I led my colleagues in a letter urging Sec. Pompeo to urge the Gulf States to uphold human rights for migrant workers and abolish the discriminatory Kafala System,” he tweeted. The letter was supported by International United Nations Watch, Just Foreign Policy, Amnesty International, Freedom Forward, South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT), Freedom Initiative, the Saudi American Justice Project, Win Without War, GLJ-ILRF, and Demand Progress.

In addition to highlighting on GCC region, the letter made particular focus on both Saudi Arabia and UAE due to the high levels of human rights abuses regarding the Kafala System (Modern Slavery) and human trafficking of female victims from east Europe to UAE.

“In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the number of sex trafficking prosecutions and convictions increased, yet authorities allegedly jailed unidentified trafficking victims for offenses of prostitution, extramarital sex, or absconding from their employers. Furthermore, there were no reported convictions of labor traffickers during the period of the recent TIP report, and cases of labor violations and forced labor were not treated as trafficking offenses. While labor trafficking offenses remain a primary concern in the country, the government took no “new steps to dismantle the [Kafala] sponsorship system.” In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Human Rights Watch and other prominent organizations expressed their concern about vulnerable low-paid migrant workers in the UAE and the cramped and unhygienic conditions of detainees. The UAE upheld a policy of no minimum wage for migrant workers, who comprise 90% of its population” said the letter

The letter which was signed by 30 congress members stated, “In Saudi Arabia, the Kafala system ensures that a migrant worker cannot leave the country without permission from their sponsor, paving the way for exploitative practices. The government continues to “fine, jail, and/or deport migrant workers for prostitution or immigration violations,” pertaining to cases of unidentified victims of labor or sex trafficking. Saudi Arabia miscategorized trafficking cases as administrative violations rather than criminal offenses. The TIP report further asserts that Saudi Arabia’s Kafala system has “continued to exacerbate trafficking vulnerabilities in the large migrant worker communities.”During the COVID-19 pandemic, Saudi Arabia also increased penalties and taxations imposed on migrant workers.”

It also added, “Similar requests have been recently spearheaded in the European Parliament and the U.K. Parliament. The United States and the international community must uphold human rights across the globe and protect victims of trafficking and exploitative working conditions in the Gulf. This letter requests that the Department of State urge the GCC to make significant and lasting improvements in regards to legal protections, gender equality, labor rights for migrant workers, and to completely reform or abolish the Kafala system in the region.”

Maya Garner, spokesperson for International United Nations Watch, stated: “It is encouraging to see progressive members of Congress stand up to human trafficking and labor exploitation in the Gulf Region. This letter is important for directly addressing the Kafala sponsorship system as a root cause of this abuse, and for looking at the contributing factors of gender inequality, and labor and migrant rights violations. Widespread reform is urgently needed, as is respecting the rights of domestic workers. I hope to see more members of Congress and American civil society urge GCC member states to fully comply with international human rights standards.”

The letter was initiated by International United Nations Watch is a London-based monitoring organization which issued a report “A Journey to the Unknown: Trafficking from the Fringes of Europe” which focused specifically on case studies of the sex trafficking of Moldovan women to the UAE, petitions in the EU parliament, UK parliament, as well as the French, German, Belgium, Danish and Swedish parliaments have accumulated more than 100 signatures from parliamentarians.

According to Amnesty International,” women continued to face discrimination in law and in practice. For example, the Personal Status Law of 2005 states that “a husband’s rights over his wife” include the wife’s “courteous obedience to him” (Article 56), and places conditions on a married woman’s right to work or leave the house (Article 72). Under Article 356 of the Penal Code, “debasement of honour with consent” is punishable by one year or more in prison. On the basis of this law, a Swedish-run hospital in Ajman Emirate was forced to report pregnant, unmarried women to the police. In some cases these referrals have led to prosecution and deportation. The government failed to adequately protect women from sexual and domestic violence. Under Article 53 of the Penal Code, “a husband’s discipline of his wife” is “considered an exercise of rights”, language that can be read as official sanction of spousal abuse.”

Letter endorsed by:

Lead: Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva

Co-signers:

Rep. Janice D. Schakowsky

Rep. Barbara Lee

Rep. James P. McGovern

Rep. Jamie Raskin

Rep. Jim Cooper

Rep. Deb Haaland

Rep. Hank Johnson

Rep. Ilhan Omar

Rep. Ro Khanna

Rep. Jared Huffman

Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton

Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney

Rep. Steve Cohen

Rep. Alan S. Lowenthal

Rep. David N. Cicilline

Rep. Ayanna Pressley

Rep. Mark Pocan

Rep. Jesús G. “Chuy” García

Rep. Pramila Jayapal

Rep. Bobby L. Rush

Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman

Rep. Joe Neguse

Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson

Rep. Peter Welch

Rep. Suzanne Bonamici

Pandemic nudging firms to address climate change, says Norway wealth fund


OSLO, Dec 14 (Reuters) - The coronavirus pandemic may be accelerating a shift among companies worldwide to make their operations more environmentally sustainable, a high-ranking official at Norway's $1.25 trillion sovereign wealth fund said on Monday.

The fund is one of the world's largest investors, channelling revenues from Norway's oil and gas production into the stocks of some 9,200 companies abroad, or 1.5% of the world's stocks. It also holds bonds and unlisted real estate.

"The pandemic has not weakened sustainability work, but perhaps strengthened it," Carine Smith Ihenacho, the fund's head of governance and compliance, told a news conference, citing a survey the fund had done among a sample of firms it invests in.

Some 67% of 1,521 companies it surveyed in 2020 said they had set long-term quantitative targets to cut their greenhouse gas emissions, up from 54% in 2019, when 1,500 firms were surveyed.

Some 48% of companies surveyed in 2020 had considered different climate scenarios in their business plans or strategy, up from 35% in 2019, the fund said.

"The head of a big European company told us that the pandemic has accelerated work on sustainability," Smith Ihenacho said. She did not name the firm or the executive.

She did not spell out why the pandemic was making more companies more inclined to sustainable operations.

Still, a majority of companies surveyed this year - 52% - has not considered different climate scenarios in their business plan or strategy.

The fund is canvassing companies because it wants to test the business model of the biggest CO2 emitters in its portfolio and see whether they have a business model that can survive in a low-carbon society.

The fund had previously said it was planning to publish, ahead of time, its voting intentions at the annual general meetings of the 9,200 companies it invests in.

On Monday, the fund said it would do so five days before the vote is scheduled, and that it would start doing so from next month, making the information searchable on its website nbim.no.

"We want to be world-leading on this," CEO Nicolai Tangen told a news conference.

(Reporting by Gwladys Fouche Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Europe's banks have a way to go on sustainability - BlackRock study

By Simon Jessop and Kate Abnett
Mon, December 14, 2020

The facade of the EU Commission headquarters is reflected in the windows of the EU Council building in Brussels

LONDON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Europe's banks are not integrating climate change and other sustainability concerns into their risk management systems as quickly as regulators expect, a study by BlackRock for the European Union showed on Monday.

In an interim report, BlackRock said it had analysed feedback from the region's lenders and found most were only just starting to reflect environmental, social and governance (ESG) related risks in their internal processes.


A final report, which will be used by Brussels to help develop new regulations, is due by April next year.

"While interviewed banks often state that they have initiatives in place to enhance the integration of ESG risks, the majority have not formalised an ESG risk integration strategy with clear timelines and responsibilities," it said.

"With respect to climate risk, many smaller banks stated that they have not yet started its integration into risk management," the report said.

It also found that only a minority of regulators provide guidance to banks on ESG risks or reflect it in their oversight processes, such as through climate-related stress tests.

"The majority of supervisors interviewed do not yet have any quantitative indicators in place to monitor and assess the exposure of supervised banks to ESG risks," the report said.

While some banks have begun to launch ESG-related products and make commitments to meet the terms of the Paris Agreement on climate, the report said that in the view of many civil society organisations, efforts by lenders so far fell short.

"The Commission is committed to transparency. As promised, we published BlackRock's interim report today," a European Commission spokesman said. "This report is only a preliminary analysis of data collected so far. The final report is to be submitted to the Commission at a later stage."

The EU's appointment in April of the world's biggest asset manager to help it plan future prudential regulations has raised concerns about conflicts of interest.

While the bloc's Ombudswoman said last month that the Commission had failed to consider such conflicts properly, she did not cancel the contract.

(This story corrects quotes attributed to the report throughout)

(Reporting by Simon Jessop and Kate Abnett; Editing by David Clarke)

Targeting Barclays, Climate Activists Fight Their Way to Draw

Alastair Marsh
Mon, December 14, 2020


(Bloomberg) -- Few people understand the seeming futility of getting big banks to do the right thing better than Catherine Howarth.

For three years, Barclays Plc, Europe’s biggest financier of corporate carbon emitters, ignored her entreaties. Then her non-profit, ShareAction, spent the best part of another year pushing a shareholder resolution -- the first of its kind in Europe -- for the lender to phase out funding for fossil-fuel companies.

The result: A pledge from Barclays to cut its net emissions to zero in three decades and, in the meantime, to ramp up its green financing activities.

“For the current directors of a company to commit to something that’s 30 years away does leave quite a lot of wiggle room,” the 46-year-old activist says.

It was better than nothing, but far less than Howarth wanted. While Barclays said in March that it planned to adjust its lending and capital markets activities to be compatible with the goals of the Paris climate agreement to limit global warming, the London-based bank didn’t commit to phase out financing to fossil-fuel companies that have no plans to contribute to those targets, the key objective of ShareAction’s resolution

The battle with Barclays, which Howarth insists isn’t over, highlights the gap between rhetoric and reality when good business and good intentions diverge.

“It’s not just a question for Barclays,” she says. “The global banking sector isn’t where we need it to be, and even though it’s moving really quite fast in the right direction, we’re in a climate emergency and so moving quite fast but not fast enough is what could take us over dangerous tipping points.”

The contest between ShareAction, a 55-person charity that until earlier this year was operating out of a re-purposed liquor warehouse on the edge of London’s financial district, and an institution with 80,000-plus employees and around $2 trillion in assets is the classic underdog story – but without the cinematic finale. Instead, it has provided a lesson in the limitations of shareholder activism on climate change.

Since the Paris climate agreement was signed in December 2015, Barclays has helped arrange $91.7 billion of bonds and loans for energy companies, excluding solar, wind and other renewable producers, more than any bank in Europe, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That includes $20.8 billion in 2020 for clients including BP Plc and Exxon Mobil Corp.JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co. and Citigroup Inc. have been the biggest lenders to corporate emitters, while HSBC Holdings Plc and BNP Paribas SA are among Europe’s largest financiers, Bloomberg data show. Since Barclays made its net-zero pledge, London-based HSBC and JPMorgan in New York have made similar commitments.

Barclays Chairman Nigel Higgins said Dec. 3 during a virtual conference hosted by the Financial Times that the company’s fossil-fuels business is commensurate with the scale of its overall investment-banking franchise and there’s no reason to think the bank took clients that its peers turned down. He wrote four days earlier in a letter to shareholders that the bank’s environmental journey “is far from complete’’ and it’s “committed to continuous improvement in our response to the climate challenge.’’

A spokesman for Barclays declined to comment for this story.

Howarth joined ShareAction in 2008 after several years campaigning for a living wage for low-paid workers. She credits her Irish mother for her passion for social justice, and for her thick red hair. For Howarth, the Barclays resolution is “one piece, one really exciting moment, in a much longer drama.”Just months after the Paris accord was announced, Howarth and a group of colleagues attended the general meetings of Britain’s largest banks to gauge their response. While some banks made board members available for discussion, what followed with Barclays was a series of fruitless meetings with its sustainability team, Howarth said.

Three more years of empty chat resulted in a more aggressive – but still courteous – strategy. It was time to force Barclays’s hand.Over the din of commuter trains winding into London Bridge station, Howarth and her team weighed the pros and cons of pursuing a resolution that would require Barclays to cease financing fossil-fuel companies that had no plan to reach the Paris agreement. They wanted the lender to set and disclose targets to wind down infrastructure funding, corporate loans and debt underwriting for oil and gas exploration, production, refining, marketing and storage, as well as for coal companies.

Signing up Barclays shareholders took time and effort. But by last Christmas, they reached the threshold of investors required to put a resolution on the agenda for the bank’s annual meeting in May. The supporters included more than 100 individual investors and a dozen institutions, including Brunel Pension Partnership Ltd. and Sarasin & Partners. The Church of England and Jupiter Asset Management also backed the proposal.

After the resolution became public, she finally did get an audience with the bank’s decision makers, including three meetings with Higgins. She declined to comment on the particulars of the discussions, citing confidentially agreements.

Dominic Burke, investment director at Lankelly Chase and part of the group that filed the resolution, attended some of the meetings and said Barclays didn’t engage with the substance of the group’s demands. Though the bank’s team suggested they shared the non-profit’s core concerns about climate change, they took issue with the wording of the resolution that requested a phasing out of fossil-fuel financing, he said. The bank’s alternative gave it more latitude to trumpet its green credentials and continue to finance polluters, Burke said.

While Howarth didn’t get what she wanted — only 24% of shareholders supported ShareAction’s resolution, which was far below the threshold required for Barclays to adopt it — she is playing the long game and considers the resolution to be a successful endeavor.If her experience of shareholder advocacy teaches her anything, it’s that patience pays. Seven years after ShareAction filed a resolution requesting that Royal Dutch Shell Plc stop investing in carbon-heavy tar sands projects, a proposal that received less than 15% shareholder support, the company said in 2017 it would sell most of its Canadian oil sands assets.

And Barclays has “moved an extraordinary distance in the last 12 months,” Howarth said. At the end of November, the bank said it joined an industry-wide group that measures emissions from lending and underwriting, developed its own methodology for calculating funded emissions, and affirmed its ambition to align its financing with the Paris agreement.

She also thinks she’s figured out the key to success for climate action in the finance industry: appeal to financiers’ animal spirits.

“You’re not going to get these people necessarily to do anything out of the goodness of their hearts, but if you can harness the competitive spirit between them, it can be extraordinarily productive,” Howarth said.

©2020 Bloomberg L.

Israel Should Heed Its New Arab Friends on Palestine

Seth J. Frantzman
Mon, December 14, 2020

(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Extraordinary opportunities are developing between Israel and the United Arab Emirates in the wake of the normalization deal the countries signed in September. At a recent technology conference in Dubai, more than 130 Israeli companies and a delegation of four hundred Israelis we able to explore trade opportunities. This, along with new interfaith initiatives, showcases rapidly developing relations between the two countries.

But Israel needs to listen to its new Arab peace partners and show that it is also serious about progress on talks with the Palestinians in the future.

The partnership between Israel and the UAE, underpinned by trade and travel initially, comes with assumptions from Abu Dhabi. The UAE said that it embraced the deal to “stop annexation and the potential of violence escalation.” It is also keen to maintain the viability of a two-state solution and increase stability in the region, especially in countries like Jordan that are very sensitive about changes to the status quo in Israel.

The Emirati Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said in a recent interview that the normalization agreement is not transactional but a strategic national choice. The deal, he said, is an important opportunity to show that prosperity and peace can be achieved for the region: “It should be bigger than the UAE and Israel.”

That means providing for a political solution between the Palestinians and Israelis.

The carefully worded statements from the Emiratis amount to a message that doesn’t always seem to get through to Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is heading toward his fourth election campaign in two years, hoping to extend a long tenure in office in which he has made lack of progress on the Palestinian issue a core value.

This approach may have worked for him in the past, but now Netanyahu has secured peace deals with several Arab nations — with Morocco joining the USE, Bahrain and Sudan in the camp — he can’t ignore the concerns and demands of his new friends.

Significantly, these new friends are making common cause with older partners Netanyahu has previously ignored: The UAE and Bahrain recently hosted Jordan’s king, showcasing their support for a ruler who has had a cold relationship with Netanyahu.

The UAE is seeking to change the playbook for normalization between Arab states and Israel. The first model was “land for peace,” the basis for the 1979 deal between Egypt and Israel. The second, defined by the Saudi-led Arab Peace Initiative of 2002, required Israel to withdraw from the West Bank and Gaza, and the creation of a Palestinian state. The new model is recognition and normalization first, and then a push for a peace process.

Saudi Arabia and other Arab states are watching closely to see if their quiet support for the new diplomatic openings result in progress between Israel and the Palestinians. But Israeli officials seem not to be paying attention.

Israel is sticking to its well-worn line that the Palestinians must stop their “rejectionism” as a precursor to peace. For many years there has not been a clear Israeli policy on what the Palestinians would receive if they do meet this demand. The key issues, such as Jerusalem as a shared capital city, or borders and compensation for refugees, are not on the table from Israel’s point of view.

There are other factors at play, of course. Adversaries of Israel and the UAE have been backing Palestinian groups, like Hamas in Gaza, that are opposed to any peace efforts. A divided Palestinian polity with an aging leadership presents many challenges. But these facts only strengthen the argument for Israel to work closely with the UAE and other Arab states on the next steps.

Israel’s new Arab partners aren’t demanding that a Palestinian state needs to emerge immediately, but they have been saying they want to see movement in that direction as part of their normalization deals. It is incumbent on Israel to show that its relationship with these states is about more than trade deals and interfaith dialogue. This is a multi-layered peace project and it needs a layer in which Israel listens to its new friends.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Seth J. Frantzman covers Middle East affairs for the Jerusalem Post. He is the author of "After ISIS: America, Iran and the Struggle for the Middle East" and executive director of the Middle East Center for Reporting and Analysis.

Morocco's police disperse protest against ties with Israel

Mon, December 14, 2020

RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Moroccan authorities on Monday dispersed a group of activists who tried to hold a protest outside the parliament building in the capital to denounce the country's recent decision to establish diplomatic relations with Israel.

Dozens of police officers in riot gear were mobilized to push protesters away from parliament in Rabat. Demonstrators wanted to show solidarity with Palestinians and reject the normalization of ties between Rabat and Tel Aviv.

The U.S. brokered deal was announced last week by President Donald Trump.

Sion Assidon, a Moroccan Jew and a human rights activist, told reporters while being escorted away by authorities that “whoever expresses disagreement must put duct tape on their mouths.”

Abdessamad Fathi, president of the Moroccan Instance for the Support of Ummah Affairs, a group affiliated with the outlawed Al Adl Wal Ihsane movement, said on Facebook that authorities' decision to ban sit-in is an indication that normalizing relations with Israel is “imposed on Moroccans."

On Sunday, Moroccan authorities allowed a large gathering outside the Parliament building to support the recent deal that also included U.S. recognition of Morocco’s claim over the long-disputed Western Sahara region.

Another large rally was organized on Sunday in the city of Laayoune in Western Sahara, where thousands of Moroccans had chanted slogans in support of the agreement.

The royal palace in Rabat said in a statement that king Mohammed VI had promised President Donald Trump he would facilitate direct flights to transport Jews of Moroccan origin and Israeli tourists to and from Morocco and re-open the liaison offices. The announcement was cheered by political parties and provoked despair among Islamist groups.

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Apple probes supplier after workers at Wistron plant in India rampage

An Apple logo hangs above the entrance to the Apple store on 5th Avenue in the Manhattan borough of New York City

By Sankalp Phartiyal and Chandini Monnappa

NEW DELHI/BENGALURU (Reuters) - Apple Inc said on Monday it is investigating whether a Taiwan contractor, Wistron Corp, flouted supplier guidelines at an iPhone manufacturing facility in India, after some workers ransacked the plant in a protest over unpaid wages.

Thousands of contract workers gathered on the grounds of the Wistron site on the outskirts of India's tech hub of Bengaluru on Saturday demanding unpaid wages and better working hours.

As police arrived, the crowd turned violent and video from the scene showed people armed with rods and sticks smashing equipment and vandalizing cars, causing what the company estimated at $60 million in damage.

"We have teams on the ground and have immediately launched a detailed investigation at Wistron's Narasapura facility," Apple said in an email, adding it was dedicated to ensuring everyone in its supply chain was treated with dignity and respect.

Apple said it was sending staff and auditors to the site and was cooperating with police in their investigation.

Wistron, one of Apple's top global suppliers, said in a regulatory filing in Taiwan it "always abides by the law, and fully supports and is cooperating with relevant authorities".

Wistron has been making iPhones in India for nearly four years and its operation has been seen as a success story for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government that is looking to boost manufacturing.

"The incident hurts the 'Make in India' label," said independent brand consultant Harish Bijoor, referring to the government promotion campaign slogan. "Such events are small scars left on India as a manufacturing facility."

Apple, under the leadership of Tim Cook, has been looking to not only step up its marketing and presence in India - one of the biggest smartphone markets in the world - but also expand its sourcing footprint in the South Asian nation.

A minister for the state of Karnataka, where the factory is located, said the government was talking to all parties and that the labour department was investigating any underpayment of wages and non-clearance of other dues.

The unrest comes as Modi's government is under pressure from protesting farmers opposed to reforms in the agricultural sector, which they say threaten their livelihoods.

MILLIONS IN DAMAGES

Videos taken by employees in the Wistron factory showed men, many wearing masks due to the coronavirus outbreak, destroying security cameras, windows and other equipment.

The crowd smashed four cars, two golf carts, stole laptops and smartphones and destroyed other office equipment, according to a police report filed by Wistron and reviewed by Reuters.

In the complaint, Wistron accused more than 5,000 contract workers and some 2,000 unknown people of destruction of property. It put the losses at 4.38 billion rupees ($60 million).

Police have arrested 149 people over the violence, a senior officer said, while a search was on to identify and arrest more perpetrators as the investigation continues.

Trade union leader M.D. Harigovind said the violence was a direct result of the "brutal exploitation of workers and sweatshop like conditions".

Wistron, whose workers are not unionized, did not respond to questions seeking comment on the allegations, but said in a statement earlier it was "deeply shocked" by the violence it blamed on "unknown persons ... with unclear intentions".

(Reporting by Sankalp Phartiyal in New Delhi, Ben Blanchard in Taipei and Chandini Monnappa in Bengaluru; Writing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee; Editing by Euan Rocha, Arun Koyyur and Stephen Coates)

SABOTAGE BY ELIZABETH GURLEY FLYNN

 IWW.ORG

Originally published as SABOTAGE, THE CONSCIOUS WITHDRAWAL OF THE WORKERS' INDUSTRIAL EFFICIENCY, in October, 1916, by the IWW publishing bureau, in Cleveland

Apple supplier Wistron puts India plant damage at up to $7 million

Mon, December 14, 2020,

Men wearing protective face masks walk past broken windows of a facility run by Wistron Corp in Narsapura


TAIPEI (Reuters) - The ransacking of an iPhone manufacturing facility in India caused up to T$200 million ($7.12 million) in damage though production facilities were not as badly hit as reported, its Taiwan-based operator Wistron Corp said on Tuesday.

Thousands of contract workers gathered on the grounds of the Wistron site on the outskirts of India's tech hub of Bengaluru on Saturday demanding unpaid wages and better working hours.

As police arrived, the crowd turned violent and video from the scene showed people armed with rods and sticks smashing equipment and vandalising cars. In a police report seen by Reuters, Wistron estimated damages worth $60 million.

However, in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange on Tuesday, the company said major production facilities and warehouses had not suffered as serious damage as reported by local media, and that it was initially estimating losses at T$100-200 million.

The company is doing its utmost to get the plant back up and running, it said. Wistron shares fell around 2.5% in early Asia trade, underperforming Taiwan's broader stock market.

"The company has cooperated with the relevant authorities and the police investigation and continues to negotiate with the insurance company," Wistron added, without elaborating.

Apple Inc said on Monday it was investigating whether Wistron had flouted supplier guidelines. Apple said it was sending staff and auditors to the site and was cooperating with police in their investigation. Wistron is one of Apple's top global suppliers.

It has been making iPhones in India for nearly four years and its operation has been seen as a success story for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government that is looking to boost manufacturing.

($1 = 28.1040 Taiwan dollars)

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Twinnie Siu in Hong Kong; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa)

Apple Probes iPhone Supplier After Worker Protests Over Wages, Working Hours Turn Violent In India
Shivdeep Dhaliwal
Sun, December 13, 2020


An Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) supplier’s factory has been attacked by workers in India who claim they were brutally exploited, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.

What Happened: Taiwan-based Wistron Corporation, whose factory near Bengaluru is often showcased by Indian authorities as an example of homegrown manufacturing, saw violence including arson by workers angry over wages and working hours, according to the Journal.

M.D. Harigovind, an official from an Indian union, attributed the agitation to “the brutal exploitation of workers and sweatshop-like conditions.”

Wistron said it was “deeply shocked” by the unrest with a spokesperson reportedly saying “we follow the law and are supporting the authorities with their investigation.”

An Apple spokesperson said the tech giant is “dedicated to ensuring everyone in our supply chain is treated with dignity and respect,” the Journal reported. The Cupertino-based company told the Economic Times that it is probing the allegations against Wistron.

Why It Matters: Last month, Apple put another Taiwanese supplier, Pegatron Corporation, on probation after it discovered cases of labor violations.

In mainland China, Apple employees have alleged that the Tim Cook-led company is complicit in the violation of the country’s labor laws.

 

Most Americans want stimulus checks, reject GOP's 'red line' on liability protections, poll shows

Denitsa Tsekova·Reporter
Mon, December 14, 2020,


While Congress remains gridlocked on the next relief deal, Americans know what they want: A second round of stimulus checks, please. Liability protections and student loan forbearance can wait.

Two in three Americans said stimulus checks were the most important provision of the next relief deal, according to the latest Yahoo Finance-Harris Poll of 2,027 people, while fewer than 1 in 4 (23%) support the liability protection for businesses and only 1 in 5 back student loan payment deferrals.

“The liability shield just doesn't make sense to people. People don't understand why that would be a priority,” Gbenga Ajilore, a senior economist at the Center for American Progress, a nonprofit for public policy research and advocacy, told Yahoo Money. “A liability shield is not going to put food on the table, it’s not going to keep people in their homes.”

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) arrive to watch the casket with the remains of Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) being carried from the U.S. Capitol building, in Washington, U.S., July 29, 2020. Brendan Smialowski/Pool via REUTERS

The liability shield would protect businesses, educational institutions, and other employers from coronavirus-related claims from workers who get sick while regularly going to work. It’s what Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called a “red line” for Republicans during stimulus negotiations, but could be left out of the next deal if Democrats agree to nix their key provision — aid for state and local governments.

Not only are stimulus checks the most important provision for Americans, but they should be included in the next deal, according to 7 in 10 of respondents from a second round of polling of 1,026 people. Under the CARES Act, around 160 million Americans received a stimulus payment of up to $1,200 — plus $500 for any child dependent.

Two of the main proposals on the negotiating table — McConnell’s (R-KY) around $500 billion package and the Democrat-backed $908 billion bipartisan proposal — don’t include a provision on direct payments. The White House’s $916 billion proposal is the only one that includes checks, but leaves out supplemental unemployment benefits, which Democratic leaders called “unacceptable.”

There’s also a standalone bill on direct payments introduced by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). But experts said it may not have enough votes to become law if a bigger deal on stimulus is not reached.

‘Saved money won’t last long when nothing's coming in’

Nearly 7 in 10 Americans expected and budgeted in the hopes that Congress would pass another bill providing extra financial aid between August and now, the poll also found.

“It wasn't an unreasonable assumption that Congress would pass some sort of relief,” Ajilore said. “What’s unreasonable is the fact that they haven’t.”

Nearly nine months after the CARES Act passed, many of its provisions have expired or are set to expire if no stimulus deal is reached by the end of the year.

Up to 12 million Americans are expected to lose unemployment benefits coverage when two programs enacted under the act expire on December 26. Additionally, the federal eviction moratorium, paid sick leave, aid to state and local governments, among other relief, will lapse.

Both the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) programs are set to expire on December 26 unless Congress reaches a stimulus deal.

“If people had known that Congress was going to be derelict in their duty, and not provide any relief after the CARES Act, people would have done things a lot more differently,” Ajilore said. “Still, people saved their money, but saved money won’t last long when nothing's coming in.”
‘Certain people are going to struggle a lot more’

More than half of respondents (53%) say they’ll need more than seven months for their household finances to return to pre-pandemic levels, with 1 in 3 saying it may take more than a year, the survey found.

“Certain people are going to struggle a lot more,” Alijore said. “People are taking on more debt now, because they have to pay the bills.”

More than a third of Americans (33.9%) reported they’ve had a somewhat to very difficult time paying basic household expenses in the first week of November, according to a recent report by the Census Bureau released last week.


While jobless workers more than doubled their liquid savings between March and July, according to a study from the JPMorgan Chase Institute, they spent two-thirds of those accumulated funds in August alone. That occurred as the extra $600 in weekly unemployment benefits expired at the end of July, followed by the September expiration of the extra $300 under the Lost Wages Assistance program.

“This is going to be really tough for them,” Alijore said. “The more debt you take on, the further it is going to be before you can become whole again.”

Denitsa is a writer for Yahoo Finance and Cashay, a new personal finance website. Follow her on Twitter @denitsa_tsekova.

     

 

   

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U.S. needs estimated $4.5 trillion in stimulus to recover, analysis argues

Denitsa Tsekova
·Reporter
Sat, December 12, 2020

VIDEO Flight attendant union president on the need for additional stimulus

The economy may need up to five times more money than what lawmakers are considering to return to pre-pandemic levels, according to a new analysis.

The Groundwork Collaborative, a progressive economic think tank, found that a stimulus package worth $3 trillion to $4.5 trillion would be required for American businesses and workers to work at their full potential and the real unemployment rate to fall to 3.5%.

“We need stimulus, and we need it fast,” Mark Paul, a political economist at the New College of Florida and co-author of the report, told Yahoo Money. “Every day that we wait, we risk disenfranchising more people from the economy. Every day that we wait, more people are facing evictions and falling behind on bills.”

The $3.4 trillion HEROES Act passed the Democratic-controlled House on October 1 but was never considered by the GOP-controlled Senate after Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) called the legislation a “socialist manifesto.”

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) speaks during her weekly news conference at the U.S. Capitol April 30, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The latest bipartisan stimulus proposal would cost $908 billion, though negotiations are in disarray as House Democrats, Senate Republicans, and the White House continue to disagree on key issues such as stimulus checks, aid for sate governments, and liability provisions for companies amid the pandemic.

Democratic leaders are backing the $908 billion proposal, McConnell stands by a roughly $500 billion proposal, and the White House floated a $916 billion proposal that was quickly rejected.

“Congress is debating a stimulus package right now that would leave our estimate of true unemployment still hovering around double digits,” Paul said. “We have the tools to put the economy back on track. Unfortunately, Congress lacks the political will to act.”

The analysis is based on an estimate that the current unemployment rate in November is 13%. While the official unemployment rate for November is 6.7%, economists warn the true number is much higher if adjusted for the fall in labor force participation since February.

“Taking 3.5 percent as the full employment level of unemployment and 13 percent as a better estimate of actual unemployment gives an unemployment gap of 9.5 percentage points,” the analysis asserts. “Taking this gap together with an estimate of current GDP in November of nearly $21.3 trillion, implies a potential GDP of more than $25.7 trillion, or an output gap of $4.5 trillion that fiscal policy needs to fill.”

Source: "How Much Emergency Relief Will it Take to Revive the US Economy?"

‘Costs of going too small ... far outweigh the costs of going too big’


The highest price tag of a Republican stimulus proposal was their $1 trillion proposal from July, while the White House’s highest proposal was around $1.9 trillion before the election. Both of those proposals are no longer being considered.

“The most frustrating aspect of this is that the macroeconomic policy community is essentially in full agreement that the costs of going too small on stimulus far outweigh the costs of going too big,” Paul said. “The worst that can happen is we end up with some additional public parks or hand out a few extra dollars to low and middle-income Americans that haven't seen a pay increase in a generation.”

And the risks of spending less than needed on stimulus are higher than spending more, economists warn.

“The risk of overdoing it is less than risk of under-doing it,” Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell told the Senate Banking Committee last week. “Fiscal support at this point will really move th

‘Too small today is better than no stimulus at all’

If no stimulus deal is reached by the end of the year, up to 12 million Americans are expected to lose unemployment benefits coverage when two programs enacted under the CARES Act expire on December 26. The federal eviction moratorium, paid sick leave, aid to state and local governments, among other relief, also will lapse.

“We're looking at critical programs that are just going to be running out of money,” Paul said. “These are just simple policy choices that are fully avoidable.”

Both the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) programs are set to expire on December 26 unless Congress reaches a stimulus deal.

Both McConnell and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) have said that if they reach a deal now, they can continue discussing another stimulus package after President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.

But the packages offered by Republicans have become progressively smaller in size as the economy appears to be recovering, even though millions of Americans are being pushed to the financial brink.

“I'm deeply troubled by the current bill on offer,” Paul said. “But I do think a stimulus that is too small today is better than no stimulus at all.”

Denitsa is a writer for Yahoo Finance and Cashay, a new personal finance website. Follow her on Twitter @denitsa_tsekova.