Climate change will cause global tensions, say US intelligence services

Issued on: 22/10/2021 

A wind-driven wildfire burns near power line tower in Sylmar, California, U.S., October 10, 2019. 

© Gene Blevins, REUTERS
Text by: NEWS WIRES

US intelligence services said Thursday for the first time that climate change poses wide-ranging threats to the United States' national security and stability around the world.

More extreme weather "will increasingly exacerbate a number of risks to US national security interests, from physical impacts that could cascade into security challenges, to how countries respond to the climate challenge," the White House said in a summary of the intelligence reports.

The prediction was made in the first official assessment by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, or ODNI, which oversees the sprawling US intelligence apparatus.

The document "represents the consensus view of all 18" elements in the intelligence community, the White House said.

According to the agencies, climate change is driving "increased geopolitical tension as countries argue over who should be doing more," cross-border "flashpoints" as countries respond to climate change impact by trying to secure their own interests, and fallout from climate on national stability in some countries.

On a practical level, US national security bodies will be integrating climate change effects into their planning, the White House said.

The Pentagon, for example, will consider climate change "at every level, which will be essential to train, fight, and win in an increasingly complex environment."

Migration, a politically sensitive issue on the US southern border, will also be seen partly through the lens of climate change, the White House said.

"This assessment marks the first time the US government is officially recognizing and reporting on this linkage."

The report was issued just ahead of the United Nations climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, which President Joe Biden will be attending.

"With more than 85 percent of global emissions coming from beyond US borders, we alone cannot solve this challenge. We need the rest of the world to accelerate their progress," a senior US official, who asked not to be identified, told reporters.

"It is definitely a security issue and a national security issue."

A separate government report issued later Thursday characterized climate-related risk as "an emerging threat to financial stability of the United States," according to the Financial Stability Oversight Council.

Recommendations included directives for regulators to require additional climate disclosures of companies and other regulated entities and consider mandates for them to undertake "scenario analysis" on climate outcomes.

"This report puts climate change squarely at the forefront of the agenda," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said at a meeting of the FSOC, which was set up after the 2008 financial crisis.

Yellen described the report as a "critical first step" as she called for immediate action, saying "the longer we wait to address the underlying causes of climate change, the greater the risk."

(AFP)

Gov't reports say climate change affecting immigration, national security in U.S.


Vehicles wait at the U.S.-Mexico border to enter the United States on March 21. File 

Photo by Ariana Drehsler/UPI | License Photo

Oct. 21 (UPI) -- The White House and the entire U.S. intelligence community each issued key reports on Thursday that underscore the harm posed by climate change as it relates to priorities like national security and immigration.

The White House report examines the climate impacts on migration, and the intelligence assessment weighs a broader scope of the potential damage.

The latter report -- which is the first to include a consensus on climate change from all 18 elements of the U.S. intelligence community -- outlines a number of areas of vital U.S. interest that are under threat from global warming.

"Geopolitical tensions are likely to grow as countries increasingly argue about how to accelerate the reductions in net greenhouse gas emissions," the 27-page National Intelligence Estimate on Climate states.

"Forecasts indicate that intensifying physical effects of climate change out to 2040 and beyond will be most acutely felt in developing countries, which we assess are also the least able to adapt to such changes."

The report also said the physical impact of climate change is likely to "exacerbate cross-border geopolitical flash points as states take steps to secure their interests."

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Defense Department, Homeland Security Department and National Security Council contributed to the assessment.

The White House said in its report that there's a definitive link between climate change and immigration, and that Thursday was the first time the U.S. government is recognizing the cause and effect.

"The accelerating trend of global displacement related to climate impacts is increasing cross-border movements ... particularly where climate change interacts with conflict and violence," the 37 page report, titled "The Impact of Climate Change on Migration," states.

Recommendations in the White House report include creating an interagency policy process on climate change and migration, improving analytics, establishing programs and investments into climate change mitigation and legislative action to address the crisis.

The recommendations in the reports reflect a pledge by President Joe Biden to make climate change a central tenet of foreign policy and national security.

"The climate crisis is reshaping our physical world, with the Earth's climate changing faster than at any point in modern history and extreme weather events becoming more frequent and severe," the White House added.

"We are already experiencing the devastating impacts that climate has wreaked on almost every aspect of our lives, from food and water insecurity to infrastructure and public health, this crisis is exacerbating inequalities that intersect with gender, race, ethnicity and economic security."

The sweeping assessments released on Thursday came one day after a study found that almost 100 of scientific studies agree that the cause of climate change is human activity.

"It's pretty much case closed for any meaningful public conversation about the reality of human-caused climate change," one expert in the study said.

US regulators endorse efforts to address climate risks


Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen listens as President Joe Biden speaks during a meeting with business leaders about the debt limit in the South Court Auditorium on the White House campus, Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. financial regulators on Thursday approved a series of steps toward addressing the dangers that climate change poses to the nation’s financial system.

The Financial Stability Oversight Council, which is headed by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and includes Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, acknowledged in a report that climate change is a serious economic threat.

“Climate-related impacts in the form of warming temperatures rising sea levels, droughts, wildfires, intensifying storms and other climate related events are already imposing significant costs upon the public and the economy,” the council’s 133-page report says. “It is the responsibility of the council and its members to ensure the financial system’s resiliency to climate related risks.”

The report includes more than 30 proposals aimed at improving efforts to the assess risks. It put forward recommendations to upgrade the collection of risk data and also ways of making sure the public has access to the data.

The report was released 10 days before a United Nations conference on climate change in Glasgow, Scotland. It signals the Biden administration’s intention to tell the broader international community that it is putting together the policy architecture to address climate change and improve the resilience of financial markets.

With the United States lagging behind the European Union and the United Kingdom in responding to climate change’s economic threats, the administration hopes to use the report to assert more leadership on the issue.

As recommended by the report, a special advisory committee would be established of scientists, Wall Street executives, business and labor leaders, environmentalists and others to help develop standards for monitoring the economic impacts of climate change.

The report also advises identifying and filling gaps in data for assessing how climate change could threaten the economy, including the sharing of data across the federal government and with international counterparts.

The council approved creation of two climate advisory panels that will report to the group on a regular basis to keep officials informed of progress being made.

Companies and government agencies would also have new standards for public disclosures about the climate, a move designed to make it easier for the markets to appropriately weigh the impacts of climate change and the potential savings from reducing those impacts through measures like the use of renewable energy.

Yellen called the changes approved by FSOC an “important first step” but said they were by no means the end of the group’s effort to better incorporate the assessment of climate threats into the regulatory process.

She said the severe weather events of this summer from the wildfires in the West to Hurricane Ida along the Gulf Coast demonstrated the need for action.

Powell, calling climate change a “significant challenge for the global economy and the financial system,” said the Fed was committed to doing its part in such areas as using more sophisticated analyses to better assess climate risks.

Yellen has made addressing climate change a top priority since joining the Biden administration.

Environmental groups, however, said they were disappointed that the FSOC did not make more ambitious recommendations.

“Financial regulators can and must act to rein in Wall Street’s contributions to the climate crisis,” said Ben Cushing, the manager of the Sierra Club’s fossil-free finance campaign. “This report is a step in the right direction, but bolder action from regulators is necessary in order to protect our economy from the climate crisis.”

FSOC is an umbrella panel made up of the heads of the government’s top financial regulatory agencies. It was created by Congress in 2010 to address serious problems in coordination between agencies that had been revealed by the 2008 financial crisis.

The report and its recommendations were approved by all members of the panel with the exception of Jelena McWilliams, the head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., who abstained on the grounds she felt more information was needed before reaching a conclusion. McWilliams was appointed to the FDIC by then-President Donald Trump.

US: More threats, more desperate refugees as climate warms

By JULIE WATSON, ELLEN KNICKMEYER and NOMAAN MERCHANT

In this Oct. 13, 2021, file photo, a firefighter watches as smoke rises from a wildfire in Goleta, Calif. Worsening climate change requires that the United States do much more to track and manage flows of migrants fleeing natural disasters. That's the finding of a multiagency study from the Biden administration. President Joe Biden ordered the assessment. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu, File)


WASHINGTON (AP) — The Earth’s warming and resulting natural disasters are creating a more dangerous world of desperate leaders and peoples, the Biden administration said Thursday in the federal government’s starkest assessments yet of security and migration challenges facing the United States as the climate worsens.

The Defense Department for years has called climate change a threat to U.S. national security. But Thursday’s reports by the departments of Defense and Homeland Security, National Security Council and Director of National Intelligence provide one of the government’s deepest looks yet at the vast rippling effects on the world’s stability and resulting heightened threats to U.S. security, as well as its impact on migration.

They include the first assessment by intelligence agencies on the impact of climate change, identifying 11 countries of greatest concern from Haiti to Afghanistan.

Another report, the first by the government focusing at length on climate and migration, recommends a number of steps, including monitoring the flows of people forced to leave their homes because of natural disasters, and working with Congress on a groundbreaking plan that would add droughts, floods and wildfires and other climate-related reasons to be considered in granting refugee status.

The climate migration assessments urge the creation of a task force to coordinate U.S. management of climate change and migration across government, from climate scientists to aid and security officials.

Each year, storms, the failure of seasonal rains and other sudden natural disasters force an average of 21.5 million people from their homes around the world, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees says. Worsening climate from the burning of coal and gas already is intensifying a range of disasters, from wildfires overrunning towns in California, rising seas overtaking island nations and drought-aggravated conflict in some parts of the world.

“Policy and programming efforts made today and in coming years will impact estimates of people moving due to climate-related factors,” said the report, one of dozens of climate change assessments President Joe Biden ordered from federal agencies. “Tens of millions of people, however, are likely to be displaced over the next two to three decades due in large measure to climate change impacts.”

The Biden administration is eager to show itself confronting the impacts of climate change ahead of a crucial U.N. climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, that starts late this month. That’s especially so as Biden struggles to get lawmakers to agree to multibillion-dollar measures to slow climate change, a key part of his domestic agenda.

As part of its push Thursday, the administration released the first-ever national intelligence estimate on climate change, a document intended to signal the importance placed on the issue. National intelligence estimates are benchmark documents created by U.S. intelligence agencies that are intended to inform decision-making and analysis across the government.

Notably, U.S. intelligence agencies concluded it was probably already too late to keep the warming of the planet at or below the level laid out in the 2015 U.N. Paris climate accord. While that level remains the official goal for the United States and United Nations, many scientists have concluded the Earth’s temperature will rise at least several more tenths of a degree, a level of warming that brings even more damage and threatens some nations’ existence.

“Given current government policies and trends in technology development, we judge that collectively countries are unlikely to meet the Paris goals because high-emitting countries would have to make rapid progress toward decarbonizing their energy systems by transitioning away from fossil fuels within the next decade, whereas developing countries would need to rely on low-carbon energy sources for their economic development,” the intelligence report said.

No nation offers asylum or other legal protections to people displaced specifically because of climate change. The United States has the opportunity to change that, which could prompt others to follow suit, refugee advocates said.

The administration said it is not seeking to change international agreements on refugees but rather create U.S. laws that would allow climate change effects to be part of a valid claim for refugee status.

It noted that activists persecuted for speaking out against government inaction on climate change may also have plausible claims to refugee status.

Ama Francis, who has been helping the International Refugee Assistance Project find ways to protect climate refugees, applauded the administration’s recognition that global warming should be taken into account.

“That’s a huge signal from the U.S. government that our refugee and asylum system can protect people right now, which is important because there are thousands of climate displaced people already on the move, including those showing up at the U.S. border,” Francis said.

It’s imperative the report turn into legislation that allows climate refugees the ability to resettle in the United States, and not just result in another task force, others said.

Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, one of nine U.S. agencies working to resettle refugees, said action is needed because the current U.S. humanitarian protection system “wasn’t engineered for cascading natural disasters, mass aridification or large swath of lands consumed by rising seas.”

According to the separate intelligence assessment, a warming planet could increase geopolitical tensions particularly as poorer countries grapple with droughts, rising seas and other effects, while they wait for richer, higher-polluting countries to change their behavior. Climate change will “increasingly exacerbate risks to U.S. national security interests,” according to the estimate.

The estimate identifies 11 countries of particular concern: Afghanistan, Colombia, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Iraq, Myanmar, Nicaragua, North Korea and Pakistan. It also lists two regions of concern: Central Africa and small island states in the Pacific Ocean.

Strains on land and water could push countries further toward conflict. In South Asia, much of Pakistan relies on surface water from rivers originating in India. The two countries are nuclear-armed rivals that have fought several wars since their founding in 1947. On India’s other side, about 10% of Bangladesh’s 160 million people already live in coastal areas vulnerable to rising seas and saltwater intrusion.

Intelligence officials who spoke on condition of anonymity under agency rules said climate change could indirectly affect counterterrorism by pushing people seeking food and shelter to violent groups.

The intelligence community needs more scientific expertise and to integrate climate change into its analysis of other countries, the officials said.

Rising temperatures could force almost 3% of the populations of Latin America, South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa — more than 143 million people — to move within their countries in the next 30 years, according to one forecast cited in the report.

____

Watson reported from San Diego. AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein contributed.

Harbor patrol searched, couldn’t find California oil spill

1 of 8

In this Oct. 7, 2021, file photo, workers in protective suits clean the contaminated beach in Corona Del Mar after an oil spill in Newport Beach, Calif. A group of environmental organizations is demanding the Biden administration suspend and cancel oil and gas leases in federal waters off the California coast after a recent crude oil spill. The Center for Biological Diversity and about three dozen organizations sent a petition Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2021, to the Department of the Interior, arguing it has the authority to end these leases. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu, File)

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Southern California harbor patrol boats picked up reports of a possible fuel spill off the coast on a marine radio emergency channel about an hour before the Coast Guard heard anything about oil on the water and about 15 hours before a large slick, which came from a leaking undersea pipeline, was confirmed, officials said Thursday.

Carrie Braun, a spokeswoman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, said harbor patrol boats off the coast of Huntington Beach picked up radio chatter among local boaters about an oily sheen and smell on the water at about 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 1. At least one of the boats, which were in the area to assist with a popular air show, checked on the spill reports but found nothing on the water, she said.

The Coast Guard, however, didn’t hear any radio chatter about a possible spill until about an hour later from a commercial vessel anchored off the coast, Coast Guard Lt. Commander Jeannie Shaye said. The federal agency asked the vessel to make a report to the National Response Center, which is staffed by the Coast Guard and notifies other agencies of emergencies for quick response, she said.

The spill of about 25,000 gallons (94,635 liters) of crude from a pipeline owned by Houston-based Amplify Energy that ferried oil from three offshore platforms forced the closure of some of the region’s signature beaches and fisheries and harmed animal and plant life.

In the days after the spill, Coast Guard officials gave at-times conflicting accounts of the timeline for the initial response.

On Thursday, Shaye confirmed that multiple calls about a possible spill came in over the marine radio channel but said her agency only acted after a call around 6:30 p.m. Oct. 1 from the anchored vessel. She said the Coast Guard had no prior knowledge that the harbor patrol actually searched for the spill that evening.

She said the Coast Guard reached out to state and local authorities about 7 p.m. but did not launch a search because darkness was falling. By then, Braun said the harbor patrol had completed its check.

It wasn’t until 8:22 p.m. that the commercial vessel’s report was called into the National Response Center by Colonial Compliance Systems Inc., which works with foreign ships in U.S. waters to report spills, according to reports compiled by the California Office of Emergency Services.

The next morning, Coast Guard hazardous materials investigators went out on a harbor patrol fireboat and located a miles-long black plume several miles offshore, according to a sheriff’s department memo that was obtained by the AP through a California Public Records Act request.

Pete Stauffer, environmental director for Surfrider Foundation, which is working as a liaison between non-governmental agencies and the unified command for the spill response, said a swift response to a spill is key to limiting damage.

“When there’s a report of a significant-sized oil slick on the ocean, it’s important to investigate,” Stauffer said. “What happens in the first hours and days during an oil spill is absolutely critical.”

The cause of the spill is under investigation. Federal investigators are examining whether the Panama-registered MSC DANIT, a 1,200-foot (366-meter) container ship, was dragging anchor during a Jan. 25 storm and snagged the pipeline and dragged it on the seabed.

It’s not known why the leak occurred eight months later, and authorities also are looking into whether other anchors hit and weakened the pipeline or if a preexisting condition with the line was to blame.

After the spill, blobs of oil and tar balls washed ashore, forcing a weeklong closure of beaches that disrupted the local economy and killed dozens of birds. Environmental advocates say the damage was less than initially feared. But the long-term impact on wetlands and marine life is unknown.

A group of environmental organizations this week demanded that the Biden administration suspend and cancel oil and gas leases in federal waters off the California coast.

The Center for Biological Diversity and about three dozen organizations sent a petition arguing that the Department of the Interior has the authority to end these leases and that the decades-old platforms are especially susceptible to problems because of their age. The agency declined to comment.

____

Melley reported from Los Angeles.

California proposes new oil drilling ban near neighborhoods

By KATHLEEN RONAYNE

1 of 4

California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks near oil fields by the Wilmington Boys & Girls Club Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021, in Wilmington, Calif. California's oil and gas regulator on Thursday proposed that the state ban new oil drilling within 3,200 feet of schools, homes and hospitals to protect public health in what would be the nation's largest buffer zone between oil wells and communities 

(Hunter Lee/The Orange County Register via AP)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California’s oil and gas regulator on Thursday proposed that the state ban new oil and gas drilling within 3,200 feet of schools, homes and hospitals to protect public health in what would be the nation’s largest buffer zone between oil wells and communities.

It’s the latest effort by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration to wind down oil production in California, aligning him with environmental advocates pushing to curb the effects of climate change and against the powerful oil industry in the nation’s seventh-largest oil producing state.

Studies show living near a drilling site can elevate risks of birth defects, cancer, respiratory problems and other health issues. More than 2 million Californians live within 3,200 feet (975 meters) of oil drilling sites, primarily low-income residents and people of color in Los Angeles County and the Central Valley. The proposal would not ban 

“This is about public health, public safety, clean air, clean water — this is about our kids and our grandkids and our future,” Newsom said in Wilmington, a Los Angeles neighborhood with the city’s highest concentration of wells. “A greener, cleaner, brighter, more resilient future is in our grasp and this is a commitment to advance that 

The rules are a draft that signal what the administration is seeking, but they could change and won’t take effect until at least 2023.

This would be the first time California has set statewide rules on how close drilling can be to homes, schools and other sites. Other oil and gas producing states such as Colorado, Pennsylvania and even Texas have rules about how close oil wells can be to certain properties. Colorado’s 2,000-foot setback on new drilling, adopted last year, is the nation’s strictest rule right now.

California’s plan, if adopted, would also go further than the 2,500 foot (762 meter) buffer environmental groups sought. A coalition of environmental justice groups that advocate for Black, brown and Indigenous communities in heavily polluted areas commended the ruling but pushed Newsom to more aggressively phase out existing neighborhood drilling.

“Oil and gas companies have been treating our communities as sacrifice zones for over a century,” Juan Flores, community organizer with the Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment, said in a statement. “Frontline community members have spoken in a clear voice, demanding an end to neighborhood drilling.”

The Western States Petroleum Association, an oil and gas interest group, blasted the proposed rules as an “activist assault on California’s way of life, economy and people” in a statement from President Catherine Reheis-Boyd.

Reheis-Boyd said the industry doesn’t oppose local setbacks but does not approve of a statewide rule. She said the rules would lead to less reliable energy and higher prices in an industry that employs about 150,000 people.

Robbie Hunter of the influential State Building and Construction Trades Council, a labor union, said the rule would increase California’s dependence on foreign oil, and said the state was “fast becoming a beached whale with no ability to meet its own needs.”

Newsom, who just survived a recall election, cast the proposal as the latest step in his efforts to ensure oil is not part of California’s future. He has directed state air regulators to make a plan to end oil and gas production by 2045 and curb demand by banning the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035.

He was joined in Wilmington by state lawmakers who have long pushed for setbacks and doctors who spoke about the dangers of oil pollution for people who live nearby, particularly expectant mothers and children.

“I am tired of my district being called ‘asthma alley,’” said state Sen. Lena Gonzalez, a Democrat who represents southeast Los Angeles County.

The rules were proposed by the California Geologic Energy Management Division, known as CalGEM, which regulates the state’s oil industry and issues drilling permits. Newsom directed it to focus on health and safety when he took office in 2019, specifically telling the division to consider setbacks around oil drilling to protect community health. The state received more than 40,000 public comments on the draft rules and convened a 15-member panel of public health experts to research the effects of neighborhood oil drilling on health and safety.

CalGEM has long faced criticism that it’s too cozy with the industry it regulates. Wade Crowfoot, secretary of the state natural resources agency, acknowledged the regulator needs to better enforce oil companies’ compliance with state law.

Wells within 3,200 feet of community sites account for about a third of the state’s oil extraction, Crowfoot said. There are about 32,400 wells in that zone, said Erin Mellon, a Newsom spokeswoman. Community sites include homes and apartments, preschools and K-12 schools, day cares, businesses, and health care facilities such as hospitals and nursing homes.

Existing wells would not be shut down but would be required to meet many new pollution control measures, including comprehensive leak detection and response plans, vapor recovery, water sampling and a reduction of nighttime lighting and dust. They are designed to limit health effects such as asthma and pregnancy complications, and cut nuisances like noise pollution.

Administration officials said they hope the new rules will be burdensome enough to prompt some drillers to close the wells. Operators would be financially responsible for meeting the requirements and have one to two years to do so.

Jared Blumenfeld, California’s environmental protection secretary, said the rules signal to existing drillers that “they’re going to have to invest a significant amount of time, money and attention in order to get into compliance.”

Alyssa Milano testifies before House committee on Equal Rights Amendment

By UPI Staff & Christina van Waasbergen, Medill News Service

Actress and activist Alyssa Milano speaks during a press conference calling for the certification of the Equal Rights Amendment during a press conference. 

Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo

Oct. 21 (UPI) -- Actress Alyssa Milano testified Thursday during a House committee hearing on the Equal Rights Amendment, stating that the Constitution "failed" the country by not including women.

Milano, a former Charmed star, encouraged the House Oversight and Reform Committee to pass legislation that would prohibit gender discrimination.

"The lack of constitutional protections for anyone who is not a cisgender man is a blemish on the very idea of Americanism," Milano told the committee.

"How can we be a free people when our governing document does not prohibit discrimination against more than half of the population?" she added. "The answer, of course, is that we cannot."

The ERA aims to amend the Constitution and add language ensuring equality of the sexes and grant Congress the power to enforce the amendment.

The amendment would read: "equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex."

House Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney called for the archivist of the United States to ignore the fact that the 38th state didn't ratify the amendment until decades after the deadline and certify the ERA.

"After 100 years, women cannot wait any longer for full constitutional equality," she said.

Originally written by suffragist Alice Paul in 1923, the ERA gained congressional approval in 1972 and then was sent to the states for ratification by March 22, 1979. However, by 1977, only 35 of the necessary 38 states needed to ratify the proposed constitutional amendment had done so. Though Congress voted to extend the ratification deadline by three years, no new states signed on. Since then, three more states have ratified the ERA, with Virginia becoming the pivotal 38th state in January 2020.

In March, the House passed a joint resolution removing the time limit for ratification.



Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., the top Republican on the committee, pointed out that five states have rescinded their ratification, but Maloney argued that doesn't matter. She said the 14th Amendment was certified even though multiple states had rescinded their ratification of it.
THE TALIBAN ARE CONSERVATIVE
Inez Feltscher Stepman, a senior policy analyst at the conservative Independent Women's Forum, told the committee that the Constitution and state and federal laws already guarantee "basic sex equality," and the ERA would prohibit the government from recognizing "the very real differences between males and females."

PHYLISS SCHAFLEY WANNABE

For instance, she said, the ERA would make single-sex prisons unconstitutional.

Georgetown University law professor Victoria Nourse disagreed, arguing the ERA would still allow the government to differentiate between the sexes for a compelling reason.

Nourse also noted that late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said the 14th Amendment does not prohibit sex discrimination.

"We now have a court of nine unelected men and women, six of whom idolize Justice Scalia," she said.

At a news conference before the hearing, Nourse said that with a conservative supermajority now on the Supreme Court, "almost all of the 1970s decisions that women take for granted" could be overturned without the ERA.

Milano, 48, was arrested outside of the White House during a voting rights rally Tuesday.

In a message on Twitter on Thursday, Milano said she was proud of the other women involved in the hearing and felt honored to participate.

From exile, former female Afghan leader keeps fighting
By THALIA BEATY

Fawzia Koofi, one of the Afghanistan's once-prominent female leaders — a former parliament member, candidate for president and a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize -- speaks during an interview with The Associated Press, Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2021, in New York. Koofi called for humanitarian aid sent to Afghanistan to be contingent on the participation of women in its distribution, as well as free and safe travel for Afghans into and out of the country. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

NEW YORK (AP) — Two months after the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, one of the country’s once-prominent female leaders — a former parliament member, candidate for president and a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize — is visiting the United Nations, not as a representative of her government but as a woman in exile.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Fawzia Koofi called for humanitarian aid sent to Afghanistan to be contingent on the participation of women in its distribution, as well as free and safe travel for Afghans into and out of the country.

Aid “should not be politicized. ... Women should be involved in every stage of it and they should be listened to. Women should not be only the recipients,” said Koofi, part of a delegation of Afghan women visiting the U.N. to urge member states not to compromise on inclusion and equal rights in Afghanistan.

Since fleeing Kabul in August, Koofi has been living in hotel rooms in Europe. She described the pain of separation from her country, of two decades of hopes dashed and of searching for permanent residence for herself and her two daughters.

“This is not an Afghanistan I fought for,” she told the AP. “The Afghanistan that I was hoping for was (that) women should not suffer as much as I suffered during my childhood, during the time that I was a teenager, when (the) Taliban took over.”

“I wanted other girls to enjoy at least the freedom of choosing which school they should go. But now, their choice is limited to which room in their houses they should spend during the day. This is heartbreaking.”

Koofi, a former deputy speaker of parliament, was one of only four women in talks to reach a power-sharing deal with the Taliban, which ultimately failed. She described watching the Taliban’s commitment to negotiations change after they signed a peace agreement with the United States in February 2020.

“After they signed the agreement, they were more extreme and they were more into buying time, preferring a military strategy,” she said.

Taliban fighters pursued that strategy in the summer, seizing province after province until they reached Kabul in August. When then-President Ashraf Ghani fled, the Taliban entered the capital, sparking panic among many who had opposed their rule and feared for their lives and futures.

That was the fatal blow to reaching a political settlement many had hoped would cement the gains women had achieved in access to education, work and the legal system, Koofi said.

She also blamed “world leaders,” seeming to point a finger at U.S. President Joe Biden. “As a superpower, the United States has a major responsibility and should be held accountable,” she said.

When he announced withdrawal plans, Biden said he was bound by the timetable set by the Trump administration and that the U.S. could not continue to extend the military presence in Afghanistan and expect a different result.

Still, Koofi said she thinks the breakdown of peace talks and the Taliban takeover could have been avoided. Pausing as tears ran down her face, she said: “I mean, every day we are actually dealing with this trauma.”

Her former female colleagues in parliament, female judges who used to sentence people affiliated with the Taliban and some journalists who spoke out against the group are now fearful, she said.

The Taliban must also be held accountable, she added, for their pledges that women would be able to go to school and work “within the principles of Islam.”

Each day, Koofi said she gets hundreds of text and voice messages largely from women still in Afghanistan, hoping she can help them.

“They’re very angry ... that I am not with them at these difficult times,” she said. “The women, especially, they keep sending me messages expressing their anger that, you know, ‘We need you to be here with us in the streets of Kabul,’ and they are right.”

Women she used to work with and who were the breadwinners in their families send her photos of themselves as reminders.

“Psychologically to process this and to be able to adjust and accept, it’s not been easy,” she said. “Not only for me, for every woman and man that I have met in the last two months after I left Kabul.”

For now, Koofi is focused on resolving residency status for herself and her daughters, ages 22 and 23. For security reasons, she declined to say where.

Some 100,000 Afghans have fled the country since the Taliban took power, though many were unable to leave in the final chaotic airlifts. The 38 million Afghans who remain are facing “ universal poverty ” within a year, the U.N. development agency said in September.

Koofi also warned of the threat from the Islamic State group in Afghanistan — known by its Arabic acronym Daesh — and called for renewed political negotiations because, she said, stability does not just come from the cessation of violence, but strong and inclusive institutions.

“If we think that one military extremist group, which is Taliban, is going to defeat Daesh — it’s not going to work that way,” she said.

“You need to continue to empower the nation, empower the people, educate them, support the political process.”

Taliban strike journalists at Kabul women's rights protest

The Taliban struck several journalists to prevent media coverage of a women's rights protest in Kabul

 BULENT KILIC AFP

Kabul (AFP)

A group of about 20 women marched from near the ministry of education to the ministry of finance in the Afghan capital.

Wearing colourful headscarves they chanted slogans including: "Don't politicise education", as traffic drove by shortly before 10 am.

The women held placards saying: "We don't have the rights to study and work", and" "Joblessness, poverty, hunger", as they walked with their arms in the air.

The Taliban authorities allowed the women to walk freely for around an hour and a half, AFP journalists saw.

However, one foreign journalist was struck with the butt of a rifle by one Taliban fighter, who swore and kicked the photographer in the back as another punched him.

At least two more journalists were hit as they scattered, pursued by Taliban fighters swinging fists and launching kicks.

Zahra Mohammadi, one of the protest organisers, told AFP the women were marching despite the risks they face.

"The situation is that the Taliban don't respect anything: not journalists -- foreign and local -- or women," she said.

"The schools must reopen to girls. But the Taliban took this right from us."

High school girls have been blocked from returning to classes for more than a month, while many women have been banned from returning to work since the Taliban seized power in mid-August.

"My message to all girls and women is this: 'Don't be afraid of the Taliban, even if your family doesn't allow you to leave your home. Don't be afraid. Go out, make sacrifices, fight for your rights'," Mohammadi said.

Afghans have staged street protests across the country since the Taliban returned to power, sometimes with several hundred people and many with women at forefront BULENT KILIC AFP

"We have to make this sacrifice so that the next generation will be in peace."

Children walked alongside the protest in downtown Kabul, although it was unclear if they were part of the organised group.

Some Taliban fighters policing the march wore full camouflaged combat gear, including body armour, helmets and knee pads, while others were wearing traditional Afghan clothing.

Their weapons included US-made M16 assault rifles and AK-47s.

Unthinkable under the hardline Islamist group’s last rule in the 1990s, Afghans have staged street protests across the country since the Taliban returned to power, sometimes with several hundred people and many with women at forefront.

But a ban on unauthorised demonstrations has meant protests against Afghanistan's new masters have dwindled.

© 2021 AFP

Afghan midwives vow to help mothers and babies under Taliban rule


Issued on: 22/10/2021 - 

The teachers at the midwifery college in Maidan Shar have continued working for the sake of mothers and babies in the rural community despite the danger to their lives BULENT KILIC AFP

Maidan Shar (Afghanistan) (AFP)

But they kept working for the sake of the mothers and babies in their rural community.

Now, with the Islamist hardliners in control of Afghanistan, the instructors are calling on the new government to allow them to continue their work in peace.

"I do my job because of a sense of humanitarianism and patriotism, and because I feel the need to serve my community and the most oppressed members of our society: women and children," teacher Shafiqa Bironi told AFP.

"Our demand now is that the Taliban provide a safe and open space for women to at least be able to help other women," the 52-year-old said.

The Community Midwifery Education School in Maidan Shar, the capital of the central Wardak province, has 25 students who will graduate in May 2022 after a stop-start two-year programme because of the unrest and the coronavirus pandemic.

At times during fierce fighting between the Taliban and former government forces the school would get caught in the crossfire, forcing teachers and students to bolt themselves behind steel doors.

During fierce fighting the school would get caught in the crossfire, forcing teachers and students to bolt themselves behind steel doors

 BULENT KILIC AFP

"It was hard work," said course director Khatool Fazly, whose office walls still bear bullet holes. "There were battles literally every day."

In 2013, the previous school site was completely destroyed in an explosion targeting a prison next door that housed Taliban fighters.
'Overcome the challenges'

The Taliban, known for their oppressive rule from 1996 to 2001, have effectively excluded many women and girls from education and work, while some healthcare workers, encouraged to return, have been too afraid.

In May, the Taliban began snapping up government-controlled districts in Wardak province, before the whole country finally fell to the group in mid-August.

Teachers at the midwifery college say they continue to work for humanitarian reasons and to help women in the community

 BULENT KILIC AFP

For now, the new rulers have not imposed any new rules that would impact the work of the midwifery college.

Fazly said local Taliban loyalists' wives and children are among those who rely on its services.

The biggest challenge facing the midwives, like many healthcare workers across the country, is that they have not received their salaries for four months because of Afghanistan's dysfunctional banking system.

Steep progress has been made over the past 15 years, thanks in part to international aid organisations supporting healthcare facilities and training programmes like the one in Maidan Shar.

But Afghanistan still has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world and thousands of Afghan women die every year from pregnancy-related causes, most of which should be easily preventable.

Fazly set up the centre in 2004 to "overcome these challenges, particularly in our province".

The trainees study in a room lined with posters raising awareness on obstetric care as well as Covid prevention.

During a visit by AFP, about 10 women wearing white lab coats and headscarves gathered around plastic models of female anatomy and medical equipment, discussing labour and emergency procedures.

Since its founding, 181 women have graduated from the school.

"It is important for every citizen to serve their country and community by any means in any area, be it education or health because our people really need it," Fazly said.

© 2021 AFP

Spanish researchers free massive sunfish from tuna nets

Oct. 21 (UPI) -- Spanish researchers shared video of a massive sunfish rescued from tuna nets that weighed at least 2,200 pounds -- and might weigh nearly twice that.

Researchers with the Estrecho Marine Biology Station of the University of Seville said the sunfish was found entangled in tuna nets Oct. 14 off the coast of Ceuta and it took two cranes to lift the fish out of the water to be freed from its predicament.

The researchers said they attempted to weigh the fish, but their scale topped out at 2,200 pounds. They estimated the sunfish, the largest species of bony fish in the world, could weigh up to 4,000.

The sunfish, which measured 10.5 feet long and 9.5 feet wide, is believed to be the largest ever found in the region, the researchers said.

The sunfish was returned to the water and set free.

California angler rescues whale entangled in lobster trap

Oct. 21 (UPI) -- A San Diego angler fishing with friends about 100 miles off the coast came to the rescue of a whale found entangled in a lobster trap.

Matt Capron said he and his friends were on a weekend fishing trip about 100 miles off the coast of Point Lima, in an area known as Tanner Banks, when they spotted a whale that they soon realized was caught in a lobster trap.

"It was probably between 4 to 7 feet down. The rope was attached to its body right before the fluke, and it was looped six or seven times," Capron told KGTV.

Another angler recorded video when Capron jumped into the water with a filet knife and cut through the ropes.

Capron said the freed whale initially swam off, but returned a few minutes later, a gesture he interpreted as gratitude.

"We're just so fortunate that we came upon it when we did," Capron said. "It was probably one of the highlights of my life. Honestly."

BAN THEM

US conducts 'successful' test of hypersonic missile technology

Issued on: 21/10/2021 - 

Hypersonic weapons Gal ROMA AFP

Washington (AFP)

The test, conducted Wednesday at a NASA facility in Wallops, Virginia, is a "vital step in the development of a Navy-designed common hypersonic missile," the navy said in a statement.

"This test demonstrated advanced hypersonic technologies, capabilities, and prototype systems in a realistic operating environment," it said.

THEY LIE SEE ARTICLE BELOW 

Hypersonic missiles, like traditional ballistic missiles, can fly more than five times the speed of sound (Mach 5).

But they are more maneuverable than their ballistic counterparts and can trace a low trajectory in the atmosphere, making them harder to defend against.

Ambassador Robert Wood, US permanent representative to the Conference on Disarmament, expressed concern earlier this week following reports that China had conducted a test in August of a hypersonic missile with nuclear capacity.

According to the Financial Times, China launched a hypersonic missile that completed a circuit of the planet before landing, missing its target.

"We are very concerned by what China has been doing on the hypersonic front," said Wood, who next week steps down from his post in Geneva after seven years.

China insisted that the test was a routine one for a spacecraft rather than a missile.

Wood said Russia also had hypersonic technology and while the United States had held back from developing a military capacity in this field, it now had no choice but to respond in kind.

"If you're a country that's the target of that, you're going to want to figure out a way to defend yourself from that," he said.

"And so we start looking at what other applications and defensive applications can you bring to hypersonic technology -- and so that continues to things to accelerate the arms race."

China unveiled a hypersonic medium-range missile, the DF-17, in 2019, which can travel around 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) and can carry nuclear warheads.

The missile mentioned in the FT story is a different one, with a longer range. It can be launched into orbit before coming back into the atmosphere to hit its target.

Russia recently launched a hypersonic missile, the Zircon, from a submarine, and since late 2019 has had the hypersonic nuclear-capable Avangard missiles in service. The Avangard can travel at up to Mach 27, changing course and altitude.

The Pentagon hopes to deploy its first hypersonic weapons by 2025 and has said their development is one of its "highest priorities."

© 2021 AFP

It's Time to Retire the ICBM | Ploughshares Fund

Pentagon's plans for hypersonic weapons sees setback after rocket fizzles


Airmen secure the AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon Instrumented Measurement Vehicle 2 as it is loaded under the wing of a B-52H during a test last August.

 Photo by Giancarlo Casem/U.S. Air Force

Oct. 21 (UPI) -- The Pentagon's hypersonic weapons program hit a stumbling block Thursday after a test of a booster rocket failed.

A booster rocket carrying a hypersonic glide body failed during a test at Pacific Spaceport Complex-Alaska in Kodiak, reports CBS News. The booster was not directly related to hypersonic technology, and instead just the booster, Lt. Cmdr. Tim Gorman told CBS News in a statement.

"The booster stack used in the test was not part of the hypersonic program and is not related to the Common Hypersonic Glide Body," he said. "The missile booster is used for testing purposes only."

The U.S. Department of Defense has prioritized developing hypersonic missiles, which are capable of traveling at speeds five times beyond the speed of sound and potentially carrying nuclear warheads. The missiles are also difficult to detect.

The Pentagon is still on track to field offensive hypersonic technology within the next few years, Gorman said.

But the Pentagon was unable to test the hypersonic glide body, a key part to the weapons system, because the rocket failed to launch, reports CNN. A related test failed in April, and China has successfully tested a hypersonic a glide vehicle -- although officials denied the report and insisted it was a "routine spacecraft experiment."

In June, the department said it was accelerating its hypersonic missile program while staying within its $6.6 billion budget. The move came as the department began a missile defense review to match its technology against rival countries including North Korea, Iran, Russia and China.

The Navy successfully tested a second-stage hypersonic rocket motor in August. A month earlier, the U.S. Air Force successfully detonated a hypersonic missile warhead for the first time.

Earlier this month, Russia's Defense Ministry said it successfully test-fired its hypersonic Tsirkon missile from a submarine.

However, the U.S. Army and Navy on Wednesday successfully completed tests of hypersonic missiles, according to a statement.

"During weapon system development, precision sounding rocket launches fill a critical gap between ground testing and full system flight testing," the Navy said in a statement. "These launches allow for frequent and regular flight testing opportunities to support rapid maturation of offensive and defensive hypersonic technologies."

Biden airs hypersonic missile fears as probable ambassador labels China 'untrustworthy'




Joe Biden is worried about China's reported missile program

US President Joe Biden voiced his concern over China's hypersonic missiles on Wednesday, just days after a media report said that Beijing had tested a hypersonic glide vehicle armed with a nuclear weapon.

The launch of the nuclear-capable rocket that circled the globe occurred in August and the development took US intelligence by surprise, according to a report in the Financial Times.

Asked by reporters whether he was concerned about China's hypersonic missile capabilities, Biden said: "Yes."

Hypersonic weapons travel in the upper atmosphere at speeds of around 6,200 kilometers per hour (3,853 miles per hour) — more than five times the speed of sound.

The Financial Times said at the weekend that the rocket flew through space and circled the globe before cruising down toward a target that it ultimately missed.

China's Pacific dominance 'not going to be accepted'

China or Russia with hypersonic missiles 'could be catastrophic'

The United States and its allies are hastening their pace in constructing hypersonic weapons — the next generation of arms that rob adversaries of reaction time — in order to keep up with potential adversaries such as China and Russia.

"Hypersonic weapons are strategic game-changers with the dangerous potential to fundamentally undermine strategic stability as we know it," Maine Senator Angus King said earlier this week. "The US cannot lag in this development or allow for blind spots as we monitor the progress of our competitors."

Hypersonic weapons are potential "nightmare weapons," King continued. "The implications of these weapons under development by China or Russia could be catastrophic."

Covid may have killed over 180 thousand health care workers, says WHO

Issued on: 22/10/2021 - 

Medical specialists transport a patient at the City Clinical Hospital Number 52, where people suffering from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) are treated, in Moscow, Russia October 21, 2021. 

© Maxim Shemetov, REUTERS


The WHO said Thursday that 80,000 to 180,000 health care workers may have been killed by Covid-19 up to May this year, insisting they must be prioritised for vaccination.

The World Health Organization said the fact that millions of health workers remain unvaccinated is an "indictment" on the countries and companies controlling the global supply of doses.

A WHO paper estimated that out of the planet's 135 million health staff, "between 80,000 to 180,000 health and care workers could have died from Covid-19 in the period between January 2020 to May 2021".

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said health care workers needed to be among the first immunised against the disease, as he slammed the global inequity in the vaccine roll-out.

"Data from 119 countries suggest that on average, two in five health and care workers globally are fully vaccinated. But of course, that average masks huge differences," he said.

"In Africa, less than in one in 10 health workers have been fully vaccinated. Meanwhile, in most high-income countries, more than 80 percent of health workers are fully vaccinated."

He added: "We call on all countries to ensure that all health and care workers in every country are prioritised for Covid-19 vaccines, alongside other at-risk groups."

'Duty of care'

Annette Kennedy, president of the International Council of Nurses, said the organisation grieved for all health care workers who had lost their lives in the pandemic -- "many needlessly; many we could have saved".

"It's a shocking indictment of governments. It's a shocking indictment of their lack of duty of care to protect health care workers who have paid the ultimate sacrifice," she said.

Kennedy warned: "They are now burnt out, they are devastated, they are physically and mentally exhausted. And there is a prediction that 10 percent of them will leave within a very short time."

The WHO wants each country to have vaccinated 40 percent of its population by the end of the year, but Tedros said 82 countries are at risk of missing that target, chiefly through insufficient supply.

In high-income countries, as categorised by the World Bank, 133 doses have been administered per 100 people. In the 29 lowest-income nations, the figure drops to five.

G20 risks 'moral catastrophe'

Former British prime minister Gordon Brown, now a WHO ambassador for global health financing, said the October 30-31 G20 summit in Rome would be a critical juncture in combating the pandemic.

If the world's richest countries cannot mobilise an immediate airlift of doses to the unvaccinated in poorer nations, "an epidemiological, economic and ethical dereliction of duty will shame us all", said Brown, who hosted the 2009 G20 summit.

He said that by February, wealthy nations could have built up an unused stockpile of one billion vaccine doses, and denying them to the unvaccinated would be "one of the greatest international public policy failures imaginable".

"It's a moral catastrophe of historic proportions that will shock future generations," he said.

The novel coronavirus has killed at least 4.9 million people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP, while nearly 242 million cases have been registered.

Brown said that without reallocating the growing stockpile, the WHO's latest forecast was that there could be 200 million more Covid cases, with five million lives hanging in the balance.

(AFP)

Cleaning bones: Maya community honors the dead

Issued on: 22/10/2021 -

Residents of the Maya community of Pomuch in southeast Mexico clean the bones of their relatives in an annual ritual before the Day of the Dead festival 

LUIS PEREZ AFP

Pomuch (Mexico) (AFP)

This year, the ritual, usually held in late October before Mexico's Day of the Dead festival, is taking place for the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Indigenous Maya residents of Pomuch in Mexico's southeastern state of Campeche carefully open graves and take out the bones of their relatives.

After they are cleaned, the burial shroud is changed for a new one and the remains are returned to their resting place, said Canche.

Canche, 74, spent the whole day cleaning the remains of his in-laws, his parents and an uncle.

After the bones are cleaned, the shroud is changed and the remains are returned to the grave LUIS PEREZ AFP

"For me it means joy and enthusiasm to do it," he said.

Between songs and anecdotes, the families watched over the remains for a few hours to give them some sun and fresh air.

"Come out, come out souls of grief," women sang in front of open boxes containing human remains and white clothes embroidered with the names of the deceased.

"It's a very beautiful tradition to remember our ancestors," said resident Jacinta Chi.

"We change their shrouds because the celebration is coming and we remember them with a lot of love and affection," he added.

It is customary for bones to be cleaned for the first time three years after death, and every year thereafter.

It is customary for bones to be cleaned for the first time three years after death, and every year thereafter 

LUIS PEREZ AFP

"Last year due to the pandemic, the ritual was not carried out. Many people were very afraid," said Sebastian Yam, Pomuch's cultural representative.

"The pandemic was worldwide, and definitely here in Pomuch as in all places there were many people who died because of Covid," he said.

This year one woman performed the ritual for the first time with the remains of her father. She had to open the coffin, remove the skeleton, divide it into pieces and place them in a wooden box.

Nobody knows exactly when the bone cleaning practice began, but Yam believes it to be centuries old, based on the accounts of the village elders.

After cleaning the remains of their relatives, the residents of Pomuch, like others Mexicans, will set up an altar in their homes with their favorite dishes and drinks for the Day of the Dead.

It is believed that their spirits will return from death to eat and drink on what is one of Mexico's most important festivals, celebrated at the start of November.

Orange marigold flowers are laid out to guide the spirits to the altar as part of this tradition recognized by UNESCO on the List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008.

© 2021 AFP

Chile violence a boost to far-right ahead of elections, say experts

Issued on: 22/10/2021 -

Protesters in Santiago marked the second anniversary of the October 2019 social movement that sparked constitutional change with a new demonstration that turned violent 

BECAUSE OF RIOT COPS

Santiago (AFP)

Some 15 million Chileans head to the polls on November 21 to elect a new president with four out of seven candidates vying for a place in the widely expected second round.

The big surprise has been the rise of far-right candidate Jose Antonio Kast, a fan of the late dictator Augusto Pinochet, who was neck-and-neck with leftist Gabriel Boric in a recent poll before a small drop.

And Monday's anti-government protests that left two dead, 56 injured and 450 arrested have boosted Kast, who just a couple of months ago was polling fourth.

"Violence always benefits the candidate offering order and a restitution of the rule of law. In this case, it is Jose Antonio Kast," Mauricio Morales, a political analyst at Talca university, told AFP.

"Sometimes fear is a greater mobilizer than hope. That's why it is very important to keep in mind the context around these elections, especially regarding violent actions."

Violent clashes between protesters and security forces on the streets of Chile this week could be playing into the hands of the far-right

BULLSHIT THE ULTRA RIGHT WILL ALWAYS USE DEMOS PEACEFUL OR NOT TO CALL FOR LAW AND ORDER  

Kast's popularity is bad news for Sebastian Sichel, a conservative candidate from outgoing President Sebastian Pinera's ruling coalition.

Having polled over 20 percent only a month ago, Sichel, 44, dropped to 7.5 percent in a survey by Pulso Ciudadano this week.

In the meantime, 55-year-old Kast has risen from single digits to second place with 16.3 percent, ahead of 51-year-old Yasna Provoste, the only woman in the field, who has 13.1 percent.
Credibility problem

Sichel's sliding popularity could be self-inflicted.

Chile's opposition-dominated Congress recently passed a measure allowing citizens to withdraw a portion of their pension funds to get through the coronavirus pandemic.

Sichel had spoken out against the measure and called it "terrible public policy," yet when the measure was approved, he himself withdrew the maximum allowed 10 percent of his savings.

"All this is reducing his credibility," Claudio Fuentes, an analyst at Diego Portales university, told local media.

The government's response to Monday's violence seems to have backfired too.

Interior Ministry Undersecretary Juan Francisco Galli blamed the violence on Boric and Provoste, who had supported pardons for detainees that "looted, destroyed everything and threw Molotov cocktails" during the 2019 protests.

Boric fired back, saying that the government was "trying to take political advantage of acts of violence rather than fulfilling its role" of maintaining public order.

Provoste accused Galli of inventing "a weak excuse to try to save their presidential election" hopes.

The unrest certainly has not helped Sichel.

"Monday's protests could sway voters, but it's more probable that next week's polls will indicate whether this has consolidated into a trend," said Raul Elgueta, a professor of political science at the University of Santiago.
'Uncertainty'

Boric, a 35-year-old lawmaker who only narrowly qualified as a candidate due to his age, is riding a wave of public support for a more progressive social system.

Two years ago, a major social movement broke out demanding greater equality.

It sparked political change and led to the start of a process to re-write the Pinochet dictatorship-era constitution.

But the past two years been turbulent, with numerous protests, including a recent march in the capital for greater autonomy for the indigenous Mapuche people and demonstrations in the north of the country against Venezuelan migrants.

That instability is reflected in the polls, some of which have recorded up to 50 percent of undecided voters.

"The second round is practically a certainty. The uncertainty is over who will reach the second round," said Morales.

While the top four candidates hope to end up in the second round, Javier Couso, an academic at Diego Portales university, says one of them is clearly ahead of the rest.

"It seems clear to me that Boric will go to the second round, but I don't discount it will be competitive between Provoste and Kast," Couso told AFP.

What is clear is that Kast's popularity is on the rise, especially since the anti-migrant protests on September 24 that were branded xenophobic by the United Nations.

© 2021 AFP