Biden signs order allowing transgender Americans to serve openly in military


President Joe Biden (C), joined by Vice President Kamala Harris (L) and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, signs an executive order reversing a Trump era ban on transgender serving in the military, in the Oval Office at the White House on Monday. Pool Photo by Doug Mills/UPI | License Photo

Jan. 25 (UPI) -- President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Monday to repeal a ban issued by former President Donald Trump that prevented transgender persons from serving openly in the U.S. armed forces.

In 2019, the Trump administration ordered that all military members must follow standards associated with their birth gender and prohibited those who have received transitional therapies from joining the military.

The new directive "immediately prohibits involuntary separations, discharges, and denials of re-enlistment or continuation of service on the basis of gender identity or under circumstances relating to gender identity."

"It is the policy of my administration to prevent and combat discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation, and to fully enforce Title VII and other laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation," Biden wrote in the order, which appeared in the Federal Register on Monday.

"It is also the policy of my administration to address overlapping forms of discrimination."

The White House said Biden's order sets a policy that "all Americans who are qualified to serve in the Armed Forces of the United States should be able to serve."

"President Biden believes that gender identity should not be a bar to military service, and that America's strength is found in its diversity," it said in a statement.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said he fully supports Biden's directive and the department will immediately implement policy to ensure those who identify as transgender are eligible to serve under their self-identified gender.

"This revised policy will also ensure all medically necessary transition-related care authorized by law is available to all service members and will re-examine all cases of transgender service members that may be in some form of adverse administrative proceedings," he said in a statement.

The U.S. Armed Forces is best equipped to protect the nation from foreign and domestic enemies when it represents the citizens it is sworn to defend, he said.

"I also believe we should avail ourselves of the best possible talent in our population, regardless of gender identity," he said. "We would be rendering ourselves less fit to the task if we excluded from our ranks people who meet our standards and who have the skills and the devotion to serve in uniform."

Susan R. Bailey, president of the American Medical Association, said they welcome the decision "because there is no medically valid reason to exclude" transgender individuals from the military.

"Transgender people have served our country with honor, and they should be allowed to continue doing so," Bailey said in a statement. "Ending this discriminatory policy is a win for all patriotic Americans who want to serve their country."

The reversal of the controversial Trump policy was widely expected once Biden took office.

Trump's order itself was a reversal of policy established by former President Barack Obama in 2016 that enabled transgender Americans to openly serve in the military.

Biden administration suspends some sanctions on Yemen rebels

Mon., January 25, 2021



WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Monday suspended some of the terrorism sanctions that former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo imposed on Yemen’s Houthi rebels in his waning days in office.

The Treasury Department said it would exempt certain transactions involving the Houthis from sanctions resulting from Pompeo's designation of the group as a “foreign terrorist organization” on Jan. 10. The exemption will expire Feb. 26, according to a statement from Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control announcing a general license for transactions that involve entities owned by the Iran-backed Houthis.

The sanctions Pompeo imposed had taken effect Jan. 19, just a day before President Joe Biden was inaugurated, and had been roundly criticized by the United Nations and relief organizations. Critics said the sanctions would exacerbate what is already one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises by barring aid deliveries to civilians in the war-torn nation.

Treasury's license does not reverse Pompeo's designations and does not apply to specific members of the Houthi group who have been otherwise sanctioned.

The Trump administration’s designation had sparked confusion in aid agencies and warnings from the U.N., as well as senior Republicans, that it could have a devastating impact on a conflict-wracked nation facing the risk of famine.

Several aid groups had pleaded for Biden to immediately reverse the designation, with Oxfam America’s Humanitarian Policy Lead Scott Paul saying, “Lives hang in the balance.”

The Iranian-supported Houthi rebels rule the capital and Yemen’s north where the majority of the population lives, forcing international aid groups to work with them. Agencies depend on the Houthis to deliver aid, and they pay salaries to Houthis to do so.

Six years of war between a U.S.-backed Arab coalition and the Houthi rebels have been catastrophic for Yemen, killing more than 112,000 people and reducing infrastructure from roads and hospitals to water and electricity networks to ruins. It began with the Houthi takeover of the north in 2014, which prompted a destructive air campaign by the Saudi-led coalition, aimed at restoring the internationally recognized government.

Most of Yemen’s 30 million people rely on international aid to survive. The U.N. says 13.5 million Yemenis already face acute food insecurity, a figure that could rise to 16 million by June.

The U.S. designation move was part of the Trump administration’s broader effort to isolate and cripple Iran. It also showed support to a close U.S. ally, Saudi Arabia, which leads the anti-Houthi coalition in the war. Saudi Arabia has advocated the terror designation, hoping it would pressure the rebels to reach a peace deal. Past rounds of peace talks and cease-fire agreements have faltered.

Matthew Lee, The Associated Press

US suspends sanctions on Yemen rebel dealings to boost aid

Issued on: 25/01/2021 

Supporters of Yemen's Huthi rebels march during a rally in the capital Sanaa to denounce the US designation of the movement as a terrorist group Mohammed HUWAIS AFP

Washington (AFP)

President Joe Biden's administration on Monday froze US sanctions on dealing with Yemen's Huthi rebels for one month as it reviews a terrorist designation that aid groups warn will aggravate a humanitarian crisis.

The Treasury Department in a notice said that all transactions with the group will be authorized through February 26 at 12:01 am (0401 GMT).

The order signed by Bradley Smith, acting director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control, said the United States was not unblocking any funds that have already been targeted.

The move comes after Antony Blinken, Biden's choice for secretary of state, said that the United States would quickly review the designation of the Huthis as a terrorist group and end military support to Saudi Arabia's bloody offensive in Yemen.

Former president Donald Trump's administration, closely allied with the Saudis and vociferously opposed to Iran, declared the Tehran-aligned group to be terrorists in a determination that took effect on January 19 -- one day before Biden's inauguration.

Trump's secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, announced the move despite months of warnings by aid groups that the decision would intensify suffering in a nation where more than 80 percent of the 29 million people need aid to survive.

Humanitarian groups argue that they have no alternative but to deal with the Huthis, who amount to a government in much of Yemen including the capital Sanaa.

Pompeo had insisted that the State Department was exempting humanitarian work, but Blinken said the effort was not enough as it pertained just to Americans.

The Treasury Department in revised guidance said that non-US entities would not be targeted.

Tens of thousands have died and millions displaced in Yemen's six-year civil war as the Saudis fight to dislodge the Huthis and prop up a fledgling internationally recognized government.

© 2021 AFP

Google workers announce new global union alliance


Tech workers check their phones as they wait for a bus to Silicon Valley. Google workers announced Monday a new global union alliance. File Photo by Terry Schmitt/UPI | License Photo

Jan. 25 (UPI) -- Google workers announced Monday a new global union alliance to hold the company accountable.

The new alliance called Alpha Global, in recognition of Google's parent company Alphabet, was formed in coordination with Union Network International Global Union, a global union that brings together 20 million workers from various sectors in the service economy, according to a UNI Global Union post.

Alpha Global comprises 13 different unions representing workers in 10 countries, with the United States, Britain and Switzerland, being among them, The Verge reported.

It seeks to make Google live up to its ideals.

"[Google] is a place where many workers came to change the world -- to make it more democratic -- only to find Alphabet suppressing speech and cracking down on worker organizing while consolidating monopolistic power," a joint statement announcing the alliance said.

"Alphabet has long lost its commitment of 'Don't be evil," but we haven't," the joint statement added. "Together, we will hold Alphabet accountable."

The alliance listed several commitments to achieve its mission. Among them, the alliance said it would fight for the rights of employees, build a common strategy to support one another's demands and collective goals, and call on other trade unions to support their movement for all tech workers.

"We know that organizing for justice at a global company like Alphabet does not stop at national boundaries, and that is why it is so important to unite with workers in other countries," Google software engineer Parul Koul said in a statement. "In a world where inequality is tearing us apart, our societies and corporations are hoarding more influence than ever, reclaiming our power through our unions has never been more important. Companies like Alphabet can have a huge, positive impact on the world if they are willing to listen to -- and negotiate with -- their workers."

Earlier this month, more than 200 Google employees formed a new Alphabet Workers Union in affiliation with Communication Workers of America that represents union workers in the United States and Canada, which has since grown to more than 700 members.

After the Alphabet Workers Union announcement, Google said in a statement that it supported employees' rights to organize.

Biden administration will revamp effort to put Harriet Tubman on $20 bill

Aarthi Swaminathan
·Reporter
Mon., January 25, 2021

The Biden administration is looking to revamp the effort to place Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill, replacing former president Andrew Jackson.

“I was here when we announced that, and it was very exciting and hasn’t moved forward yet,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, who also served in the Obama administration, told reporters during a briefing on Monday afternoon. “The Treasury Department is taking steps to resume efforts to put Harriet Tubman on the front of the new $20 notes. It’s important that our notes, our money... reflect the history and diversity of our country and Harriet Tubman’s image gracing the new $20 note will certainly reflect that.”

Psaki added that the administration is trying to find ways to “speed up that effort.”

The Obama administration had first proposed putting the iconic abolitionist on the paper currency in 2016. The goal was for the replacement of Jackson, the seventh U.S. president, to take place in 2020.

Tubman would be the first black woman and the first African American to appear on U.S. currency. Born around 1820, Tubman escaped slavery and later became a “conductor” for the Underground Railroad, where she led enslaved people to freedom before the Civil War.

Obama-era Treasury Secretary Jack Lew first announced the change in 2016 after a viral online campaign to feature a woman on the currency.

In 2020, Trump administration Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced that the new $20 bill would not be released until 2030, and the next administration’s secretary would make the decision on the change.—

Aarthi is a writer for Yahoo Finance. She can be reached at aarthi@yahoofinance.com. Follow her on Twitter @aarthiswami.

Union Lauds Biden Action on Slaughter Speeds Industry Calls Safe

Michael Hirtzer
Mon., January 25, 2021

(Bloomberg) -- A major food workers’ union praised President Joe Biden for withdrawing a rule that would have permanently allowed U.S. poultry producers to kill more chickens per minute. Industry trade groups said the speeds were safe.

Donald Trump’s administration in its waning days had pushed to install the rule, which would have upped potential chicken-slaughter rates to 175 birds per minute from 140. Just three days after Trump lost his re-election bid in November, the U.S. Department of Agriculture submitted its proposal to speed chicken lines by 25%.

Critics have said elevated line speeds, which were already in place in some plants that were given waivers to do so, increased already high rates of injuries for meat plant workers and also potential Covid-19 infection rates. Social distancing would require fewer workers on each line, which means it takes longer to process the animals.

The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union supported the move by Biden while the trade groups National Chicken Council and North American Meat Institute said plants operating at faster speeds were safe and effective.

“This policy change is a critical step to putting worker safety ahead of industry profits as these plants continue to face elevated risks while Covid-19 cases surge nationwide,” the UFCW, which represents 1.3 million workers in food plants, grocery stores and other front line industries, said in a statement Monday.

The National Chicken Council said not allowing the elevated line speeds would be ignoring science.

“The modernized system has been studied, debated, and reviewed in depth for 25 years to assure its effectiveness in further modernizing chicken inspection while improving food safety and protecting workers,” Ashley Peterson, senior vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs of the NCC, said in a statement. “While the poultry industry has been safely increasing line speeds over the past 25 years, our injury and illness rate has fallen 86% and is now at an all-time low.”

The meat institute said that it’s customary for a new administration to withdraw proposed rules so they can be reviewed.

“In this case, FSIS will have plenty of data from decades of experience that show establishments can operate at lines speeds of up to 175 birds per minute while maintaining exceptional food and worker safety standards,” Sarah Little, a spokeswoman for NAMI, said in a statement.

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

New Video Makes Powerful Case That Trump Incited His Followers To Storm The Capitol


Mary Papenfuss
·Trends Reporter, HuffPost
Mon., January 25, 2021, 

A dramatic new video makes a strong case that then-President Donald Trump incited the deadly storming of the U.S. Capitol, using his own words and featuring rioters convinced they were following Trump’s orders as they breached the building.

The 10-minute video, posted by Just Security, an online forum hosted by the Reiss Center on Law and Security at the New York University School of Law, is a compilation of scenes, many taken from the right-wing social media platform Parler.

“The videos, along with other information in the public record, provide strong evidence of a causal link between Trump’s messages to his supporters and their dangerous, illegal conduct,” Just Security noted in a statement on its website. They also demonstrate that “Trump placed the life of Vice President Mike Pence, among others, in grave danger,” it added. Five people, including a police officer, were killed in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters following his remarks at a rally near the White House.

“President Trump said we are not giving up the White House. He said we are going to fight,” said one supporter on the Just Security video. “We’re here to take our country back.” She added: “We’re not messing around.”

Trump urged the crowd to “fight like hell.”

The House has impeached Trump for “incitement of insurrection” and formally forwarded the charge Monday to the Senate for trial, which is scheduled to begin Feb. 9. Democratic lawmakers were studying the Just Security video to aid them in their trial strategy to highlight Trump’s incendiary comments and his supporters’ response, The Washington Post reported.

They believe such visuals will be the key to prosecuting Trump by clearly revealing his own compelling words, the violent response by his supporters and the peril lawmakers faced as they were trapped inside the Capitol during the insurrection.

Even Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Trump “provoked” the mob that moved on the Capitol with his words and his lies that the presidential election, which Democrat Joe Biden won, was rife with vote fraud.

'THIS IS ME': Rioters flaunt involvement in Capitol siege



Mon., January 25, 2021, 10:06 p.m.

WASHINGTON — These suspects weren't exactly in hiding.

“THIS IS ME,” one man posted on Instagram with a hand emoji pointing to himself in a picture of the violent mob descending on the U.S. Capitol. “Sooo we’ve stormed Capitol Hill lol,” one woman texted someone while inside the building. “I just wanted to incriminate myself a little lol,” another wrote on Facebook about a selfie he took inside during the Jan. 6 riot.

In dozens of cases, supporters of President Donald Trump downright flaunted their activity on social media on the day of the deadly insurrection. Some, apparently realizing they were in trouble with the law, deleted their accounts only to discover their friends and family members had already taken screenshots of their selfies, videos and comments and sent them to the FBI.

Their total lack of concern over getting caught and their friends' willingness to turn them in has helped authorities charge about 150 people as of Monday with federal crimes. But even with the help from the rioters themselves, investigators must still work rigorously to link the images to the vandalism and suspects to the acts on Jan. 6 in order to prove their case in court. And because so few were arrested at the scene, the FBI and U.S. Marshals Service have been forced to send agents to track suspects down.

“Just because you’ve left the D.C. region, you can still expect a knock on the door if we find out that you were part of criminal activity inside the Capitol,” Steven D’Antuono, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Washington office, said earlier this month. “Bottom line — the FBI is not sparing any resources in this investigation.”

In the last few weeks, the FBI has received over 200,000 photos and video tips related to the riot. Investigators have put up billboards in several states with photos of wanted rioters. Working on tips from co-workers, acquaintances and friends, agents have tracked down driver’s license photos to match their faces with those captured on camera in the building. In some cases, authorities got records from Facebook or Twitter to connect their social media accounts to their email addresses or phone numbers. In others, agents used records from license plate readers to confirm their travels.

More than 800 are believed to have made their way into the Capitol, although it's likely not everyone will be tracked down and charged with a crime. Federal prosecutors are focusing on the most critical cases and the most egregious examples of wrongdoing. And they must weigh manpower, cost and evidence when charging rioters.

A special group of prosecutors is examining whether to bring sedition charges against the rioters, which carry up to 20 years in prison. One trio was charged with conspiracy; most have been charged with crimes like unlawful entry and disorderly conduct.

Many rioters posted selfies inside the Capitol to their social media accounts, gave interviews to news outlets describing their experience and readily admitted when questioned by federal investigators that they were there. One man created a Facebook album titled “Who’s House? OUR HOUSE” filled with photos of himself and others on Capitol grounds, officials said.

“They might have thought, like so many people that work with Trump, that if the president tells me to do it, it’s not breaking the law,” said Michael Gerhardt, an expert on impeachment and professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law.

Others made blunders, like a Houston police officer, who denied he went into the Capitol, then agreed to let agents look at the pictures on his phone. Inside his deleted photos folder were pictures and videos, including selfies he took inside the building, authorities said. Another man was wearing a court-ordered GPS monitor after a burglary conviction that tracked his every movement inside the building.

A retired firefighter from Long Island, New York, texted a video of himself in the Capitol rotunda to his girlfriend’s brother, saying he was “at the tip of the spear,” officials said. The brother happened to be a federal agent with the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service, who turned the video over to the FBI. A lawyer for the man, Thomas Fee, said he “was not part of any attempt to take over the U.S. Capitol” and that “the allegation is that he merely walked through an open door into the Capitol — nothing more."

Another man who was inside the Capitol was willing to rat out another rioter who stole House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s lectern and emailed the video to an FBI agent, even signing his own name to it. “Hello Nice FBI Lady,” he wrote, “Here are the links to the videos. Looks like Podium Guy is in one of them, less the podium. Let me know if you need anything else.”

In another case, a man was on a flight leaving D.C. two days after the riot when he kept shouting “Trump 2020!” and was kicked off. An airport police officer saw the man get off the plane and the man was booked on another flight. Forty-five minutes later, the officer was watching a video on Instagram and recognized the man in a group of rioters. The man, who was wearing the same shirt as the day he stormed the Capitol, was arrested at the airport, authorities said.

Even defence attorneys have acknowledged that the evidence poses a problem for them.

“I’m not a magician,” said an attorney for the man seen in a photo carrying Pelosi's lectern. “We’ve got a photograph of our client in what appears to be inside a federal building or inside the Capitol with government property,” he told reporters.

Police at the Capitol planned only for a free-speech demonstration and were overwhelmed by the mob that broke through and roamed the halls of the Capitol for hours as lawmakers were sent into hiding. Five people died in the melee, including a Capitol police officer who was struck in the head with a fire extinguisher.

Trump was impeached after the riot on a charge of “inciting violence against the government of the United States.” Opening arguments will begin the week of Feb. 8. He is the first president to be twice impeached and the first to face a trial after leaving office.

Unlike criminal cases, impeachment trials do not have specific evidence rules so anything said and done that day can be used. And several of the people charged have said in interviews with reporters or federal agents that they were simply listening to the president when they marched to the Capitol.
___

Richer reported from Boston.

Michael Balsamo, Alanna Durkin Richer And Colleen Long, The Associated Press

Tractor rally: India farmers lead massive protest on Republic Day


Mon., January 25, 2021

Farmers say they want the government to roll back controversial farm reforms

Tens of thousands of protesting farmers have begun driving into capital Delhi on tractors on India's Republic Day.

They have been striking for months at the city's borders, demanding a roll back of recent market-friendly reforms.

They have been allowed to go ahead with the tractor rally on the condition that it will not disturb the official celebrations on Tuesday.

The government has offered to put the reforms on hold, but farmers say they want a repeal.

The rally was expected to begin from six entry points to Delhi and police barricaded all of them - farm groups were told to enter the city only after the Republic Day parade was over.

But farm groups at two different borders - Singhu and Tikri - have reportedly broken through barricades and and have begun their march, on foot and in tractors.

They have not been allowed in central Delhi where official celebrations are taking place. The annual parade involves armed forces showcasing their latest equipment and floats from several states presenting their culture on a national stage. The parade is shorter and more muted this year due to the pandemic.

Tractors carrying groups of farmers travelled to the city in the past few days, in addition to thousands that were already blocking several entrance points for more than a month.

How Narendra Modi misread the mood of India's angry farmers

India farmers: The viral image that defines a protest

Tuesday's rally is the latest episode in a months-long protest, one of the longest farmers' protest India has ever seen.

The laws, which seek to further open up agriculture to the free market, sparked protests even as they made their way through parliament in September. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party-led government defended the reforms, farmer groups likened them to a 'death warrant' that made them vulnerable to corporate companies.

The stand-off continued as tens of thousands of farmers from the northern states of Punjab and Haryana marched to Delhi in late November and began sit-ins at the border, many of which still continue.
What exactly do the laws propose?

Taken together, the laws loosen rules around sale, pricing and storage of farm produce - rules that have protected India's farmers from the free market for decades.

One of the biggest changes is that farmers will be allowed to sell their produce at a market price directly to private players - agricultural businesses, supermarket chains and online grocers.

More than 90% of India's farmers already sell their produce in the market - and only about 6% of them actually receive assured prices for their crops, guaranteed by the government.

Many farmers sell produce at large wholesale markets or mandis

But farmers are mainly concerned that this will eventually lead to the end of government-controlled wholesale markets (mandis) and assured prices, leaving them with no back-up option. That is, if they are not satisfied with the price offered by a private buyer, they cannot return to the mandi or use it as a bargaining chip during negotiations.

Most of the protesting farmers are from Punjab and Haryana, where the two biggest crops, wheat and rice, are still sold at assured prices in mandis.
Are these reforms necessary?

Most economists and experts agree that Indian agriculture desperately needs reform. But critics of the government say it failed to follow a consultative process and did not take farmers' unions into confidence before passing the laws.

For one, the bills were put to a hurried a voice vote in parliament, leaving little time for debate, which infuriated the opposition. And state governments, which play a crucial role in enacting such legislation, also appear to have been left out of the loop.

Hundreds of women farmers have joined the protests

Experts also point out that the reforms fail to take into account that agriculture still remains a mainstay in the Indian economy.

More than half of Indians work on farms, but the sector accounts for barely a sixth of the country's GDP. Declining productivity and a lack of modernisation have shrunk incomes and hobbled agriculture in India for decades. The government, meanwhile, provides farmers with generous subsidies, exempts them from income tax and crop insurance, guarantees a minimum price for 23 crops and regularly waives off debts.

"Now the government is saying, we will get out of the way, and asking us to deal directly with big businesses. But we didn't demand this in the first place! So why are they doing this to us?" Rakesh Vyas, a farmer, told BBC's Soutik Biswas recently.

Experts say any attempt to dismantle decades-old concessions must happen through dialogue because fear and suspicion will only derail the process.

Indian farmers ride caravan of tractors into capital ahead of Republic Day

FILE PHOTO: Rally to protest against the newly passed farm bills, on a highway on the outskirts of New Delhi


By Manoj Kumar
Mon., January 25, 2021

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Caravans of tractors clogged a key highway in northern India on Monday as tens of thousands of farmers protesting against agriculture reforms streamed into the capital ahead of Republic Day, and police said they were prepared to deal with the crowds.

India marks its founding as a republic on Tuesday with a military parade in the historic city centre, but the farmers, who are demanding a rollback of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's deregulation effort, plan their own peaceful show of strength.

Delhi's police said protesters have been told to use three main routes for the tractor procession, which had been agreed upon after six days of discussion with farmer leaders.

But there are lingering concerns that "anti-national people" may seek to foment trouble during the demonstration, Delhi Police Commissioner S.N. Shrivastava told reporters.

"We are aware of all this and we are taking whatever action is required," Shrivastava said, "I have trust that everything will go on peacefully."

On National Highway 44, loudspeakers blared anti-government songs as the lengthy procession of vehicles rolled down, fuelled by dozens of community kitchens that handed out hot meals and beverages in the winter cold.

"We will teach Modi a lesson that he will never forget," said one of the protesters, from the district of Ludhiana in Punjab, who drove his own tractor. The 35-year-old, who cultivates 10 acres (4 hectares), asked not to be identified.

Farmers mainly drawn from the breadbasket states of Punjab and adjoining Haryana have blockaded approaches into New Delhi for about two months to protest against three new farm laws they say will hurt their livelihoods and help big companies.

Their unions are pushing for repeal of the laws, after rejecting a government proposal to suspend the measures it says will usher in much-needed steps to boost farmer incomes.

Several rounds of talks with Modi's government have made little headway, and protesters now aim to up the ante with the procession set to follow Tuesday's military parade.

Top leaders and military officials attend the annual high-security parade to mark the day India's constitution took effect in 1950.

A farmers' group exhorted its members to refrain from violence in detailed instructions issued for Tuesday's event.

"Remember, our aim is not to conquer Delhi, but to win over the hearts of the people of this county," it said.

In the western state of Maharashtra, thousands of farmers were also on the move, flocking to a flag-hoisting ceremony on Tuesday in the heart of Mumbai, India's financial capital.

"We are here to support farmers in Delhi, to highlight that farmers across the country are against the farm laws," said Ashok Dhawale, a state protest leader.

(Reporting by Manoj Kumar; Additional reporting by Rajendra Jadav in Mumbai and Saurabh Sharma in Lucknow; Writing by Devjyot Ghoshal; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani, Clarence Fernandez and Bernadette Baum)

Angry Indian farmers prepare for massive Republic Day rally

SHEIKH SAALIQ
Mon., January 25, 2021

NEW DELHI (AP) — Thousands of tractors lined up on the outskirts of New Delhi on Monday, ready to swarm the Indian capital in a protest against new agriculture reform laws that have triggered a growing farmer rebellion that has rattled the government.

Tens of thousands of farmers have been blocking key highways connecting New Delhi with the country’s north for almost two months demanding a complete withdrawal of the laws. They plan to parade through the capital in a massive tractor rally on Tuesday, when India celebrates Republic Day.

The government “thought they would easily implement these laws and only a small amount of farmers would protest against it. But they had no idea that the entire country would come and occupy the borders of the capital," said Shailendra Choudhary, a farmer who traveled from Bijnor, a town in central Uttar Pradesh state.

Farmers say the legislation passed by Parliament last September will lead to the cartelization and commercialization of agriculture, make farmers vulnerable to corporate greed and devastate their earnings.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government insists the laws will benefit farmers and boost production through private investment.

Representatives of the government and farmers have failed to make progress in repeated negotiations over the farmers’ core demand that the laws be scrapped. The government has refused, but says it could make some amendments and suspend implementation of the legislation for 18 months.

Farmers insist they will settle for nothing less than a complete repeal.

A coalition of farmers’ unions urged participants to refrain from violence in Tuesday's tractor protest.

“Remember, our aim is not to conquer Delhi, but to win over the hearts of the people of this county,” Samyukta Kisan Morcha, or United Farmers’ Front, said in a statement.

Many of the protesting farmers are from the northern states of Punjab and Haryana, two of India’s largest agricultural areas. But the protests on the capital's outskirts — the biggest in years — have resonated with people elsewhere in the country.

In southwestern Maharashtra state, thousands of farmers joined a sit-in at a sports ground in Mumbai on Monday.

“I am opposed to these black laws introduced by Modi. They will spell doom for the farming community," said K. Prakash, a farmer who joined the sit-in with his family.

A day before, farmers in Maharashtra paraded on tractors and cars while waving flags of farmer unions and shouting slogans against Modi. Some rode in bullock carts or walked on foot for miles (kilometers).

Modi has tried to allay farmers’ fears about the legislation while dismissing their concerns. Some leaders of his party have called the farmers “anti-national,” a label often given to those who criticize Modi or his policies. Modi has repeatedly accused opposition parties of agitating the farmers by spreading rumors.

Farmers have long been seen as the heart and soul of India, and agriculture supports more than half of the country’s 1.4 billion people. But their economic clout has diminished over the last three decades. Once accounting for a third of India’s gross domestic product, farmers now account for only 15% of the country’s $2.9 trillion economy.

More than half of farmers are in debt, with 20,638 killing themselves in 2018 and 2019, according to the National Crime Records Bureau. Many factors are believed to contribute to the suicides, including poor crop yields, expensive farm chemicals and usurious money lenders.

___

Rafiq Maqbool in Mumbai and Rishabh R. Jain in New Delhi contributed to this report.


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India Farmer Protests
Indian farmers sit on their tractors after arriving at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border for Tuesday's tractor rally in New Delhi, India, Monday, Jan. 25, 2021. Thousands of farmers gathered on the borders of Delhi for a massive tractor rally on Tuesday against the three contentious farm laws when India will celebrate its Republic day with a military and cultural parade. The two-month-old old blockade of highways connecting the capital with the country's north continues as the talks have remained deadlocked with the government refusing to scrap the new agricultural reform laws which the farmers say will benefit large corporations. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

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India Farmer Protests
Indian farmers sit on their tractors after arriving at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border for Tuesday's tractor rally in New Delhi, India, Monday, Jan. 25, 2021. Thousands of farmers gathered on the borders of Delhi for a massive tractor rally on Tuesday against the three contentious farm laws when India will celebrate its Republic day with a military and cultural parade. The two-month-old old blockade of highways connecting the capital with the country's north continues as the talks have remained deadlocked with the government refusing to scrap the new agricultural reform laws which the farmers say will benefit large corporations. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

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India Farmer Protests
Indian farmers sit near their tractor after arriving at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border for Tuesday's tractor rally in New Delhi, India, Monday, Jan. 25, 2021. Thousands of farmers gathered on the borders of Delhi for a massive tractor rally on Tuesday against the three contentious farm laws when India will celebrate its Republic day with a military and cultural parade. The two-month-old old blockade of highways connecting the capital with the country's north continues as the talks have remained deadlocked with the government refusing to scrap the new agricultural reform laws which the farmers say will benefit large corporations. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)



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India Farmer Protests
Indian farmers sit on their tractors after arriving at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border for Tuesday's tractor rally in New Delhi, India, Monday, Jan. 25, 2021. Thousands of farmers gathered on the borders of Delhi for a massive tractor rally on Tuesday against the three contentious farm laws when India will celebrate its Republic day with a military and cultural parade. The two-month-old old blockade of highways connecting the capital with the country's north continues as the talks have remained deadlocked with the government refusing to scrap the new agricultural reform laws which the farmers say will benefit large corporations. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

5/8

India Farmer Protests
An Indian farmer erects the Indian flag after arriving at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border for Tuesday's tractor rally in New Delhi, India, Monday, Jan. 25, 2021. Thousands of farmers gathered on the borders of Delhi for a massive tractor rally on Tuesday against the three contentious farm laws when India will celebrate its Republic day with a military and cultural parade. The two-month-old old blockade of highways connecting the capital with the country's north continues as the talks have remained deadlocked with the government refusing to scrap the new agricultural reform laws which the farmers say will benefit large corporations. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

6/8

India Farmer Protests
Indian farmers rest after arriving at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border for Tuesday's tractor rally in New Delhi, India, Monday, Jan. 25, 2021. Thousands of farmers gathered on the borders of Delhi for a massive tractor rally on Tuesday against the three contentious farm laws when India will celebrate its Republic day with a military and cultural parade. The two-month-old old blockade of highways connecting the capital with the country's north continues as the talks have remained deadlocked with the government refusing to scrap the new agricultural reform laws which the farmers say will benefit large corporations. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)



7/8

India Farmer Protests
Indian farmers sit on their tractors after arriving at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border for Tuesday's tractor rally in New Delhi, India, Monday, Jan. 25, 2021. Thousands of farmers gathered on the borders of Delhi for a massive tractor rally on Tuesday against the three contentious farm laws when India will celebrate its Republic day with a military and cultural parade. The two-month-old old blockade of highways connecting the capital with the country's north continues as the talks have remained deadlocked with the government refusing to scrap the new agricultural reform laws which the farmers say will benefit large corporations. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

8/8

India Farmer Protests
Indian farmers sit on their tractors after arriving at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border for Tuesday's tractor rally in New Delhi, India, Monday, Jan. 25, 2021. Thousands of farmers gathered on the borders of Delhi for a massive tractor rally on Tuesday against the three contentious farm laws when India will celebrate its Republic day with a military and cultural parade. The two-month-old old blockade of highways connecting the capital with the country's north continues as the talks have remained deadlocked with the government refusing to scrap the new agricultural reform laws which the farmers say will benefit large corporations. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

White people least likely to wear masks consistently, study finds

Abby Haglage
Fri, January 22, 2021

A year into the COVID-19 pandemic, the virus continues to wreak havoc on the U.S., forcing schools and businesses in major cities to shutter. Now a new study from the University of Southern California is shedding light on one problem that may be contributing to the continued spread: inconsistent mask wearing.

The research, released on Thursday by USC’s Center for Economic and Social Research, comes from the group’s Understanding America Study, a nationally representative online sample of more than 6,000 respondents. While the vast majority of those polled agreed that masks are an effective way to combat COVID-19, just 51 percent said they consistently wear a mask when hanging out with people outside their household. The numbers become even more stark when divided by race.

White people, the researchers found, were the least likely of any race to wear a mask consistently, with just 46 percent reporting that they wear one while in close contact with people they do not live with. That was compared with 67 percent of Black people, 63 percent of Latinos and 65 percent of people from other races.

Dr. Uché Blackstock, founder and CEO of Advancing Health Equity and a Yahoo Life medical contributor, says the statistics aren’t unexpected. “It’s not terribly surprising,” Blackstock says. “The videos that we've seen on social media and television of people refusing to wear a mask or demonstrating against it have been predominantly white.”

Anti-mask protests have indeed been dominated by white people, many of them wearing T-shirts or waving flags that bear the name of Donald Trump. The former president was openly opposed to masks early on and did not publicly wear one until late July. He consistently devalued them throughout his presidency, saying, “maybe they’re not so good” in August and asking a reporter to take one off in September.
An anti-mask protester in Austin, Texas, in April 2020. (Sergio Flores/Getty Images)

His comments spurred large anti-mask demonstrations across the U.S. over the summer, including one in Austin, Texas, led by InfoWars’ Alex Jones. While major protests against mask-wearing seem to have died down, smaller groups continue to demonstrate against them, with one marching through a Los Angeles mall two weeks ago and another group trying to shop maskless at a Trader Joe’s in Oregon last week.

The groups operate under the belief that mandates requiring masks — which have been found to reduce COVID-19 spread by as much as 80 percent — are an infringement on their rights. Blackstock says that this line of thinking isn’t often shared by Black and brown people, who have long seen their rights stripped away through systemic racism. “I think for white Americans to be in a situation where they’re being told what to do, for some of them it's very difficult to hear because that is unusual,” she explains. “Whereas for many Black Americans, I can speak for myself as a Black woman ... we're used to being told what to do, or having restrictions placed on us.”

On top of the privilege that may be fueling the disparity, Blackstock says that Black Americans and Latinos have shared experiences that lead to a strong sense of community, which may not always be true for white Americans. Experts have noted that many who refuse to wear masks are operating more from an individualism stance than one of collective responsibility. In fact, one recent study by the Brookings Institution found that 40 percent of Americans who reported not wearing a mask said they chose not to because it was their “right as an American.”

“The essential values this country was founded on are individualism and personal responsibility — and this idea of community is not something that is necessarily inherent in American culture,” says Blackstock. She believes that for this reason, many white Americans may view mask-wearing from a narrower lens. “Even though wearing a mask is something that protects you and protects people that you love and other people in your community, it’s seen as an infringement of your rights,” she says. “Instead of being seen as something that could help others, it's being seen as a threat to your [freedom].”

Despite the damage this narrative has done, she and other experts in the COVID-19 sphere seem hopeful that President Biden’s administration will ignite a collective response that embraces mask wearing. One reason she’s optimistic is an executive order that Biden signed this week requiring federal employees to wear masks while on federal grounds.

“When you are in these buildings and institutions that are part of the government, you have to wear a mask. That is an expectation, and maybe that will translate to how people feel when they are outside of those institutions in the public as well,” says Blackstock. “I think that symbolically it was important for President Biden to execute that order. Although he can’t mandate it for every state, for every American he is making this symbolic gesture of saying, ‘Masks are important.’”