Greece: UN calls for end to 'deplorable' migrant pushbacks

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees slammed not only Greece but all European governments, saying the "deplorable" and illegal acts towards asylum seekers were being "normalized."

Greece is one of the top destinations for migrants in Europe

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Filippo Grandi, said on Monday that his agency was "alarmed" by the "recurrent and consistent reports" claiming that the Greek coast guard is failing to assist refugees at sea.

At their worst, the reports suggest that some Greek sailors have left migrants in unsafe, overcrowded boats and in some cases even throwing people into the sea off the coast of the island of Samos, near the Greek-Turkish border. 

"Violence, ill-treatment and pushbacks continue to be regularly reported at multiple entry points at land and sea borders, within and beyond the European Union despite repeated calls ... to end such practices," Grandi said in a statement.

The UNHCR had recorded nearly 540 reported incidents of informal returns by Greece since the start of 2020. In his statement, Grandi said he feared that these "deplorable" acts were becoming "normalized."

Where else are pushbacks reportedly occurring? 

Pushbacks have also been occurring in other central and southeastern European countries, Grandi said.

"What is happening at European borders is legally and morally unacceptable and must stop. Protecting human life, human rights and dignity must remain our shared priority," he added.

The UNHCR has admonished all EU governments for failing to react to the violent reports, accusing them of preferring to erect walls and barriers than protect human life.

Grandi pointed out that not only does everyone have the right to claim asylum, but these measures would also do little to deter people fleeing war, persecution, or famine.

But, he said, they would surely "contribute to greater suffering of individuals in need of international protection, particularly women and children, and prompt them to consider different, often more dangerous routes and likely result in further deaths."

es/wd (AFP, dpa)

Italy: New Etna eruption spews ash and closes airport

Mount Etna, one of Europe's most active volcanoes, belched a pillar of smoke 12 kilometers high. The incident follows a spectacular eruption just days prior.

    

A tower of volcanic ash rose miles into the skies above Sicily, blanketing the countryside and

 disrupting air traffic

Mount Etna blasted a massive 12-kilometer-high (7.5-mile) pillar of volcanic ash into the sky over the Italian island of Sicily on Monday.

Scientists from Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) in Catania say activity centered on a lava flow on the mountain's southeast slope.

Ash from the eruption blanketed nearby towns according to Italy's civil protection agency but there have been no immediate reports of injuries or property damage.

Earlier Monday, authorities issued a warning for aircraft in the area.

Vincenzo Bellini international airport in nearby Catania closed at lunchtime Monday due to the eruption, the airport tweeted. Limited air traffic has since resumed but will be "restricted until the end of the #Etna emergency," the tweet said.

  

Why did Etna erupt?

Mount Etna sits on a 1,190 square km (459 square miles) base situated over the convergence of the African and Eurasian continental plates. It is one of Europe's tallest and most active volcanoes.

In Greek and Roman mythology, Etna was known as the home of Vulcan, arms supplier to the gods

Etna's volcanic activity has been well-documented throughout history. Perhaps its most-devastating eruption occurred in 1669, when lava consumed dozens of villages and proceeded to bury large sections of Catania, the biggest city in the eastern part of the island.

Earlier this February, a particularly powerful eruption spewed geysers of lava rocketing forth into the night sky over Sicily and the mountain has remained highly active ever since.

INGV scientists have recorded a gradual uptick in seismic tremors caused by escaping gases, which they say could be an indication that Etna is heading toward another spectacular burst of fiery lava fountaining, or paroxysmal volcanic activity.

Experts at INGV believe the eruption was caused by an accumulation of magma, noting that the same situation occurred about a year ago, albeit with more magma buildup. By October, Etna had erupted another 50 times.

Constant seismic activity have created new fractures in the mountain, opening new craters

js/wd (AFP, AP, dpa)

25 years of Dolly: What’s become of the world’s first cloned sheep?

Dolly the infamous sheep was cloned 25 years ago. Since then, major progress has been made in stem cell research. And lots of other animals have been cloned ― including, yes, pets.

    

Professor Sir Ian Wilmut, the scientist whose team created Dolly

Twenty-five years ago today, a sheep named Dolly became the first animal to be cloned, using an adult somatic cell.

The Dolly experiment blew up in the news across the globe. It changed the world of stem cell research ― and on a more personal level, kept the institute that hosted the experiment alive.

"From a personal point of view, one of the most important things that came from Dolly was the survival of the research institute that I work in," Alan Archibald, who was part of the 1996 experiment facilitated by the UK's Roslin Institute, told DW with a laugh.

"We were facing government cuts. And the money we made by selling the intellectual property to Dolly kept us going until we found alternative sources of money."

How Dolly was cloned

Dolly was cloned using a cell taken from another sheep's mammary gland. She was born in July 1996 with a white face ― a clear sign she'd been cloned, because if she'd been related to her surrogate mother, she'd have had a black face.

Researchers named her Dolly after Dolly Parton, who is known for her large "mammary glands" ― breasts.

Dolly was the only baby sheep to be born live out of a total of 277 cloned embryos.

She gave birth to six babies and died of lung disease at the age of six. 

Biggest developments since

"It changed the scientific world's view about how flexible [cell] development was," said Archibald. "There was a view that once a fertilized egg had developed into a multicellular animal, into liver cells and blood cells and brain cells, for those…cells, that was it, it was a dead end. There was no way back to alternative places for those cells to be. So the reprogramming that was critical to the Dolly experiment stood long-standing scientific dogma on its head."

Dolly's cloning helped lead to the Nobel Prize-winning discovery of iPS cells by a team led by Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka.

This is likely the most important development in stem cell research to result from Dolly's cloning, Dr. Robin Lovell-Badge, who heads the Stem Cell Biology and Developmental Genetics Laboratory at the Francis Crick Institute in London, told DW.

IPS cells offer a way to model human disease and are currently being used in biological research about premature aging, cancer and heart disease. 

Dolly the sheep was cloned 25 years ago today

Additionally, Archibald said the genetically modified heart that was used in the world's first pig-to-human heart transplant procedure in January was created using Dolly's technology. 

Cloning of humans

Although a human embryo was successfully cloned in 2013, there's been no progress made so far to clone an entire human being.

But monkeys have been replicated: in China, Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua became the first primates to be cloned using the Dolly technique in January 2018.

Out of nearly 150 cloned embryos, the monkeys' surrogate mothers were the only ones to deliver live babies. 

Some progress has also been made to clone animals on the verge of extinction. US researchers successfully cloned the black footed ferret in 2021 and the endangered Przewalski's horse in 2020.

Efforts are currently underway to clone the wooly mammoth, the giant panda and the northern white rhino.

ANIMAL CLONES: DOLLY, MINI-WINNIE AND CO.

          Dolly - the one who started it all 

This woolly miracle started out in a test tube and was born on July 5, 1996, to three mothers - one provided the egg, the second the DNA and the third was the surrogate. Dolly was the world's first mammal cloned from an adult cell. The sheep that made history lived to be six, when she was put down after developing a lung disease. Dolly is on display at Edinburgh's National Museum of Scotland.   12345678

Key to producing more food

Along with cell-cloning's ability to study diseases, animal cloning allows major industry farms to produce more food.

The US Food and Drug Administration allows the cloning of cattle, pigs and goats and their offspring for the production of meat and milk. In 2008, the agency said the food is as safe as food derived from non-cloned animals ― and thus doesn't need to be labeled. 

Dolly's body is now on display at the Royal Museum in Edinburgh

It's unclear how much meat and milk derived from cloned animals is sold in US markets.

The practice isn't allowed in Europe ― in 2015, the European Parliament voted to ban the cloning of all farm animals.

But that doesn't mean lab experiments aren't being facilitated on EU grounds, said Lovell-Badge.

"The field where the cloning procedures are actively being pursued (including in Germany) is for agricultural animals as a way to help generate or propagate pigs or cattle with valuable genetic characteristics," he told DW.

For example, he said, cells from an animal could be edited by scientists. Then the cloning methods could be used to derive animals carrying the new genetic trait, such as disease resistance, or to make them more suitable as organ donors for humans.   

Cloning of pets

A small industry has been created around the cloning of pets. Examples include the company ViaGen in the US, Sinogene in China, and ​​Sooam Biotech in South Korea.

Snuppy the dog was cloned in 2005 in South Korea, Garlic the cat in July 2019 in China, and US singer Barbra Streisand's Miss Violet and Miss Scarlett after her dog Samantha died in 2017.

"The justification for doing this is to ‘replace a lost much-loved pet'," said Lovell-Badge. "However, this is nonsense." 

Dolly's cloning accelerated stem cell research

He said that although it's true that the cloned animal will essentially have the same genomic DNA as the original pet, animals "aren't simply a product of [their] DNA."

Even if the cloning is successful, an animal's nature is partly determined by its genes, but also by its environment, which means a clone will never be the exact same as the original animal, he said.

Archibald added that although cloning technology is more efficient now than when Dolly was made, the process is still pretty inefficient.

"You would need a lot of female individuals to lay the eggs that would be used in the process," he said.

How landmines prevent Iraq's displaced people from returning home

With several million pieces of mines and explosives lying under the rubble and soil across Iraq, many internally displaced people prefer living in camps to returning home.


Iraq remains among the countries most contaminated by landmines and explosive remnants of war, despite decades of clearance efforts

"It happened to one of my uncles two years ago. As a shepherd, he used to take his flock out in the field. One day, he stepped on a landmine that was hidden under the soil. As a result, he was left severely disabled."

This is only one of the stories that Leyla Murad, a 22-year-old Iraqi woman, can recount about landmines destroying people's lives. "I have a dozen of them; stories of adults, children and animals shredded into pieces by mines," she told DW.

Originally from Sinjar, a region in northwest Iraq, Murad and her family have been living in the Essian camp for internally displaced people In Ninewa province for eight years. In August 2014, as the "Islamic State" (IS) was rapidly advancing in Sinjar, they left everything behind and ran for their lives.

Layla shares three smallish cabin rooms with her parents, three adult siblings and their grandmother. This has been their home for the last eight years. "It looks nothing like our village house, which we left behind," she said.

Leyla Murad's photo from Essian camp for internally displaced people, where she lives with her family

Even though the war ended five years ago, moving back to their village is not an option for the Murad family, as is also the case for thousands of other Iraqis living in such camps.

"There is nothing left there but ruins, full of explosives," Murad said. "My uncle returned home, but it was a big mistake."
The most mine-polluted country in the world

Scattered across almost every corner of Iraq are millions of landmines, buried in the farms, roads and fields.

The International Campaign to Ban Landmines classifies Iraq as the world's most contaminated country with mines.

Every year, dozens of Iraqis lose their lives due to explosion of mines and military debris; while about 8.5 million out of 41 million Iraqis live under this threat, UN Mine Action Service data shows.

Various conflicts have devastated the nation since the early 1980s, each adding to the extent and density of its mine pollution. The 1980s Iran-Iraq War, Saddam Hussein's war against the Iraqi Kurds, the 1991 Gulf War, and the 2003 US-led invasion left behind vast minefields and unexploded cluster munitions.

IS planted numerous improvised explosive devices or handmade mines, such as these pictured, in areas it once controlled

Most recent was IS's pervasive, industrial-scale use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), and many inactivated mortar and artillery ammunition remain amid the rubble from clashes between the insurgent group and Iraqi government forces.
A long way to go

Iraqis have been removing mines from their land for decades, but there has been a lack of clearance work in places where IS formerly had taken control, Paul MacCann, the communications manager of Halo Trust, a philanthropic organization that clears mines and explosive debris, told DW.

"The type of mines IS built tend to be a 20-liter (5.2 gallons) plastic cooking oil container filled with homemade explosives, a detonator, a battery and a switch," MacCann pointed out. "The switch is something that people could stand on or drive over that will initiate the explosion."

Recently, in a single minefield next to an oil refinery around the town of Baiji in northern Iraq, the organization removed about 700 IEDs, while another hundred pieces were collected in other parts of the town.

"In addition to the IEDs, we're also helping to clear buildings which may have been bombed in the fighting," MacCann said. "These buildings usually contain unexploded cluster munitions, shells that didn't go off during the war. They are covered by piles of concrete and rubble and need to be handled very carefully."

Due to the large scale of contamination, the organizations has had to "industrialize the process of clearing, using armored vehicles," MacCann noted.

Bombarded buildings like this one might house unexploded shells

But it takes months for a single minefield to be cleaned and years before Iraq's many minefields disappear. In December, Iraq's environment minister, Jassem Al-Falahi, was quoted by the state news agency INA as saying the nation will get rid of the minefields created during the war against IS by the end of 2028.

For Iraq's remaining 1.2 million IDPs, that means that camps are safer places to live for years to come.
War has ended, but peace has not been achieved

"Landmine contamination is not the only reason why Iraqis are reluctant to return home," Mustafa Laith Qassim, a journalist and aid worker with the Rafidain Youth Movement, an Iraqi charity for IDPs, told DW.

"For example, occasionally clashes break out between the militias that used to fight IS, both in Kurdish areas and the rest of Iraq, putting civilian lives in danger," he said. "Sometimes people feel they have nothing to return to, after seeing houses, schools and hospitals leveled to the ground."


mine pollution hampers reconstruction efforts, discouraging thousands of internally displaced families who hope to return home

"But the mine problem is particularly disheartening," he continued. "Because in addition to being serious safety risks, mines and explosives hinder the reconstruction and development of the contaminated areas."

Over a quarter of explosive ordnance contamination is located in Iraq's agricultural areas, preventing farmers from using their lands to feed their families, according to a UNMAS report. Another 20% affects infrastructure, interrupting reconstruction efforts to reopen businesses. An additional 20% have been planted along the roads, potentially isolating the nearby towns and villages from the rest of the country.

"When there are landmines and unexploded weapons, people don't believe that peace has fully been achieved," said MacCann. "It feels like the war is still continuing."

That is exactly how Leyla Murad feels.

"We have witnessed too many people getting killed in Sinjar in peacetime," she said. "Too many want to take the risk of returning home."

Leyla spends her days pursuing photography, making DIY crafts, and learning new skills. She has joined an NGO called Lotus flower, which focuses on the well-being of the camp's women and girls. "I have my whole life here now."

"My family and I would have loved to go back to our home one day, knowing we would be safe," she said." but honestly I don't see that coming."

Edited by: Rob Mudge

Anti-vaccine protesters camped outside New Zealand's Parliament are beginning to attack police


Peter Weber, Senior editor
Tue, February 22, 2022,

Protesters and police in New Zealand Dave lintott/AFP/Getty Image

Blasting "Baby Shark" and turning on the sprinklers didn't dislodge a group of protesters against COVID-19 vaccine requirements who have been camped outside New Zealand's Parliament building for two weeks, copying the tactics from Canadian "Freedom Convoy" blockades. So, as in Canada, police have started moving in to push back the well-organized protests. And on Tuesday, one protester nearly drove into a line of officers, police in Wellington said.

About 250 officers arrived at dawn to move concrete barriers and tighten the cordon around the protest encampment, The Associated Press reports. Hundreds of cars and trucks are blocking the streets of Wellington, the capital, and police have used the barriers to allow protesters to drive away but not enter the area. In video posted online, a white car is seen driving the wrong way toward a group of officers, then stopping short as police scramble out of the way.

Police said the officers, who jumped into the car and pulled out the driver, were lucky to have escaped unharmed. Three people were arrested, one for driving in a dangerous manner and two for obstructing police. Some other protesters sprayed an unknown substance at officers who are recovering in the hospital, Police Assistant Commissioner Richard Chambers told reporters. On Monday, police said, some protesters flung feces at officers.


"Our focus remains on opening the roads up to Wellingtonians and doing our absolute best to restore peaceful protest," Chambers said. "The behavior of a certain group within the protest community is absolutely disgraceful." Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said "what's happening in Wellington is wrong" and that it's time for the protesters to go home.

The protesters are seeking an end to some or all of New Zealand's COVID-19 mitigation measures, including requirements that certain workers get vaccinated and vaccine passes to get into many restaurants and shops. The country is experiencing its first big COVID-19 outbreak, with a new high of 2,800 cases reported Tuesday. Just one COVID-19 patient was hospitalized in the ICU, though, and New Zealand has reported a pandemic total of 56 coronavirus deaths, AP reports. About 77 percent of New Zealand's 5 million residents are vaccinated.

 

Forests Vital For Green Recovery In The Asia-Pacific Region

Tuesday, 22 February 2022
Press Release: UN FAO

22 February 2022, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia – The ways in which forests can contribute to COVID-19 pandemic recovery will be in focus as FAO’s Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission (APFC) meets this week.

Leading forestry experts and policy makers from 34 member countries will explore the immense opportunities for the forestry sector to promote a more inclusive, productive and greener economic recovery, and support the transition towards a healthier and more resilient Asia-Pacific region.

The 29th session of the APFC is being hosted online this year by the Government of Mongolia under the theme ‘Forests and green recovery in Asia-Pacific’.

"To build back better from the pandemic, we need to accelerate actions to turn the tide on deforestation and forest degradation, enhance sustainable use and production and restoration, and support the forestry sector’s contribution to agri-food systems transformation," said FAO Deputy Director-General Maria Helena Semedo, opening the meeting today.

Moving forward

Specific actions in the spotlight will include boosting forest and landscape restoration under the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030 and building sustainable forestry value chains by providing incentives and support for small-scale operators and local communities.

“There are many entry points for forests and forestry to contribute to green recovery by restoring and creating jobs and increasing social protection in the short term, and by supporting economic growth in the medium term,” said APFC Secretary Sheila Wertz-Kanounnikoff. “In the long run, the forestry sector can help the global economy transition toward a more equitable, resilient, sustainable and carbon-neutral future,” she added. 

The Chair of the 29th session of the APFC, Oyunsanaa Byambasuren, also highlighted that many countries in the region are now keen to accelerate economic recovery after the pandemic, and that forestry can offer important pathways to that end.

APFC-29 will also be an opportunity to review the state of forestry in the Asia-Pacific region and mainstream forestry into work on sustainable agri-food systems.

The meeting comes amid a global push to build back “better and greener” after the COVID-19 pandemic, and a renewed emphasis on the importance of forests and Indigenous People and local communities in the fight against climate change, as expressed at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 26) in November last year. 

More than 140 countries, including 23 APFC member countries, signed the Glasgow Leaders Declaration on Forests and Land Use, signalling strong commitment for action.

This week’s deliberations will feed into the FAO Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific to be held in March, particularly as regards to regional priorities for sustainable natural resources management for biodiversity conservation and climate action. Discussions will also contribute to shaping the XV World Forestry Congress, to be held in Seoul, Republic of Korea, in May, and the 26th Session of the FAO Committee on Forestry (COFO 26) in October. 

Forests in Asia-Pacific

The total forest area in APFC member countries in 2020 was 751 million hectares, 18.5 percent of the global forest area. The region’s forests provide homes and sources of livelihoods to hundreds of millions of people as well as generating national wealth and economic advancement through trade of forest products.

According to FAO’s Global Forest Resources Assessment, the forest area in the region increased by 31.3 million hectares over the period 1990-2020, largely due to a growth in planted forests.

However, gains in forest area were spread unevenly, with 17 countries reporting a decline in forest area during the same period. Although offset by areas of forest expansion, Asia-Pacific currently loses 2.2 million hectares of forest a year to deforestation.

Created in 1949, the Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission is one of six regional forestry commissions established by FAO to provide a policy and technical forum for countries to discuss and address forest issues on a regional basis. 

This year’s host country, Mongolia, has committed to supporting the fight against climate change and desertification with a pledge, announced at the UN General Assembly in September 2021, to plant one billion trees by 2030.  

https://www.fao.org/asiapacific/news/detail-events/en/c/1473130/

© Scoop Media

Australia wants ‘eyes on Antarctica’ with funding boost

Agence France-Presse / February 22, 2022

An Adelie penguin stands atop a block of melting ice near the French station at Dumont díUrville in East Antarctica in this January 23, 2010 file photo. 

| PHOTO: REUTERS/Pauline Askin/Files

SYDNEY — Australia on Tuesday announced plans to boost its presence and surveillance operations on Antarctica, unveiling a US$575 million package designed to match China’s growing interest in the pole.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the ten-year funding plan would give Australia “eyes on Antarctica” — by increasing the country’s ability to survey and monitor the frozen tundra and surrounding waters using drones, helicopters and autonomous vehicles.

Australia has territorial claims on 42 percent of Antarctica, the largest of any nation, but has lacked the capability to reach far-flung corners of the continent.

There has been concern in Canberra that the void could be exploited by Beijing or Moscow, both of which are becoming more active on the continent.

Nearly half of Australia’s new funding will be spent on capabilities to move around inland areas, map Antarctica’s remote east from the air using drones and the purchase of four new medium lift helicopters.

There are also a handful of environmental projects in the announcement, including US$5 million for research into climate change’s impact on Antarctic ice sheets and supporting Pacific nations in monitoring rising sea levels.

Morrison refused to be drawn on his specific concerns about China’s growing interest in Antarctica beyond saying, “They don’t share the same objectives as Australia does.”

China has built two year-round stations on Antarctica and its spending on Antarctic programs has steadily increased.

But Beijing’s footprint is dwarfed by the United States, which maintains the largest presence in Antarctica with about 1,400 personnel staffing its three all-year stations in summers before the pandemic.

The influential Australian Strategic Policy Institute recently warned in a report that Antarctica has become a venue for “geopolitical competition” and recommended steps to uphold a ban on military and mining activities.

Evan Bloom, the report’s author and a Polar expert at the Woodrow Wilson Center, noted that while China and Russia are “heedless at times of calls to compromise” it was important for the US and Australia to “carefully manage relations with strategic competitors.”

He said when it comes to the management of Antarctica, co-operation remained vital.

“Excluding China from science cooperation has the danger of giving credence to those within the Chinese Government who wish to argue that the ATS [Antarctic Treaty System] doesn’t benefit it and doesn’t deserve a long-term commitment,” Bloom said.

Black Farmers Fear Foreclosure as Debt Relief Remains Frozen

UNDERCUT BY WHITE REPUBLICANS

Alan Rappeport
Mon, February 21, 2022

Brandon Smith, a cattle rancher, in Bastrop, Texas, Feb. 10, 2022.

 (Montinique Monroe/The New York Times)

WASHINGTON — For Brandon Smith, a fourth-generation cattle rancher from Texas, the $1.9 trillion stimulus package that President Joe Biden signed into law nearly a year ago was long-awaited relief.

Little did he know how much longer he would have to wait.

The legislation included $4 billion of debt forgiveness for Black and other “socially disadvantaged” farmers, a group that has endured decades of discrimination from banks and the federal government. Smith, a Black father of four who owes about $200,000 in outstanding loans on his ranch, quickly signed and returned documents to the Agriculture Department last year, formally accepting the debt relief. He then purchased more equipment for his ranch, believing that he had been given a financial lifeline.

Instead, Smith has fallen deeper into debt. Months after signing the paperwork he received a notice informing him that the federal government intended to “accelerate” foreclosure on his 46-acre property and cattle if he did not start making payments on the loans he believed had been forgiven.

“I trusted the government that we had a deal, and down here at the end of the day, the rug gets pulled out from under me,” said Smith, 43.

Black farmers across the nation have yet to see any of Biden’s promised relief. While the president has pledged to pursue policies to promote racial equity and correct decades of discrimination, legal issues have complicated that goal.

In May 2021, the Agriculture Department started sending letters to borrowers who were eligible to have their debt cleared, asking them to sign and return forms confirming their balances. The payments, which also are supposed to cover tax liabilities and fees associated with clearing the debt, were expected to come in phases beginning in June.

But the entire initiative has been stymied amid lawsuits from white farmers and groups representing them that questioned whether the government could offer debt relief based on race.

Courts in Wisconsin and Florida have issued preliminary injunctions against the initiative, siding with plaintiffs who argued that the debt relief amounted to discrimination and could therefore be illegal. A class-action lawsuit against the USDA is proceeding in Texas this year.

The Biden administration has not appealed the injunctions but a spokesperson for the Agriculture Department said it was continuing to defend the program in the courts as the cases move forward.

The legal limbo has created new and unexpected financial strains for Black farmers, many of whom have been unable to make investments in their businesses given ongoing uncertainty about their debt loads. It also poses a political problem for Biden, who was propelled to power by Black voters and now must make good on promises to improve their fortunes.

The law was intended to help remedy years of discrimination that nonwhite farmers have endured, including land theft and the rejection of loan applications by banks and the federal government. The program designated aid to about 15,000 borrowers who receive loans directly from the federal government or have their bank loans guaranteed by the USDA. Those eligible included farmers and ranchers who have been subject to racial or ethnic prejudice, including those who are Black, Native American, Alaskan Native, Asian American, Pacific Islander or Hispanic.

After the initiative was rolled out last year, it met swift opposition.

Banks were unhappy that the loans would be repaid early, depriving them of interest payments. Groups of white farmers in Wisconsin, North Dakota, Oregon and Illinois sued the Agriculture Department, arguing that offering debt relief on the basis of skin color is discriminatory, suggesting that a successful Black farmer could have his debts cleared while a struggling white farm could go out of business. America First Legal, a group led by the former Trump administration official Stephen Miller, filed a lawsuit making a similar argument in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

Last June, before the money started flowing, a federal judge in Florida blocked the program on the basis that it applied “strictly on racial grounds” irrespective of any other factor.

The delays have angered the Black farmers that the Biden administration and Democrats in Congress were trying to help. They argue that the law was poorly written and that the White House is not defending it forcefully enough in court out of fear that a legal defeat could undermine other policies that are predicated on race.

Those concerns became even more pronounced late last year when the government sent thousands of letters to minority farmers who were behind on their loan payments warning that they faced foreclosure. The letters were sent automatically to any borrowers who were past due on their loans, including about one-third of the 15,000 socially disadvantaged farmers who applied for the debt relief, according to the Agriculture Department.

Leonard Jackson, a cattle farmer in Muskogee, Oklahoma, received such a letter despite being told by the USDA that he did not need to make loan payments because his $235,000 in debt would be paid off by the government. The letter was jarring for Jackson, whose father, a wheat and soybean farmer, had his farm equipment foreclosed on by the government years earlier. The prospect of losing his 33 cows, house and trailer was unfathomable.

“They said that they were paying off everybody’s loans and not to make payments and then they sent this,” Jackson, 55, said.

The legal fight over the funds has stirred widespread confusion, with Black and other farmers stuck in the middle. This year, the Federation of Southern Cooperatives has fielded calls from minority farmers who said their financial problems have been compounded. It has become even harder for them to get access to credit now, they say, that the fate of the debt relief is unclear.

“It has definitely caused a very significant panic and a lot of distress among our members,” said Dãnia Davy, director of land retention and advocacy at the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund.

The Agriculture Department said that it was required by law to send the warnings but that the government had no intention of foreclosing on farms, citing a moratorium on such action that was put in place early last year because of the pandemic. After The New York Times inquired about the foreclosure letters, the USDA sent borrowers who had received notices another letter late last month telling them to disregard the foreclosure threat.

“We want borrowers to know the bottom line is, actions such as acceleration and foreclosure remain suspended for direct loan borrowers due to the pandemic,” said Kate Waters, a department spokesperson. “We remain under the moratorium, and we will continue to communicate with our borrowers so they understand their rights and understand their debt servicing options.”

The more than 2,000 minority farmers who receive private loans that are guaranteed by the USDA are not protected by the federal moratorium and could still face foreclosure. Once the moratorium ends, farmers will need to resume making their payments if the debt relief program or an alternative is not in place.

Some Black farmers argue that the Agriculture Department, led by Secretary Tom Vilsack, was too slow to disburse the debt relief and allowed critics time to mount a legal assault on the law.

The Biden administration has been left with few options but to let the legal process play out, which could take months or years. The White House had been hopeful that a new measure in Biden’s sweeping social policy and climate bill would ultimately provide the farmers the debt relief they have been expecting. But that bill has stalled in the Senate and is unlikely to pass in its current form.

“While we continue to defend in court the relief in the American Rescue Plan, getting the broader relief provision that the House passed signed into law remains the surest and quickest way to help farmers in economic distress across the nation, including thousands and thousands of farmers of color,” Gene Sperling, the White House’s pandemic relief czar, said in a statement.

For Black farmers, who have seen their ranks fall from more than 1 million to fewer than 40,000 in the past century amid industry consolidation and onerous loan terms, the disappointment is not surprising. John Boyd, president of the National Black Farmers Association, said that rather than hearing about more government reports on racial equity, Black farmers want to see results.

“We need implementation, action and resources to farm,” Boyd said.

© 2022 The New York Times Company

GE Transportation announced plans for a hybrid locomotive in 2005; years later, it's finding a market


Jim Martin,
Erie Times News
Mon, February 21, 2022

More than 15 years have passed since General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt stepped to a microphone in Washington, D.C., to announce plans for a new hybrid locomotive to be built in Erie.

The announcement, which was covered by the national news media, was a big deal. The planned locomotive was to be a signature product of Ecomagination, the company's new environmentally focused initiative.

But the idea wasn't ready for prime time.

Related coverage: Wabtec wins major locomotive order; what will it mean for workers in Erie?

The battery technology available at the time couldn't generate enough power or last long enough to be an effective replacement for a diesel locomotive, said Alan Hamilton, a longtime engineer for GE Transportation who now serves as vice president of engineering for Wabtec, which bought the company in 2019.

In short, the idea of a hybrid freight locomotive did not move quickly into production.

All that has changed.

Orders are coming in

Just a year after testing in the California desert and Central Valley, the battery-electric FLXdrive locomotive, designed to form a hybrid train when paired with diesel locomotives, is being offered for sale.

And buyers are taking notice.

Related coverage: Manufacturing employment is down in Erie County, but opportunity abounds

Orders have been placed so far by two Australian mining companies and by Canadian National's Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad, which operates in western Pennsylvania and northeastern Ohio.

Hamilton said the company is in talks with several different customers and that he's hopeful more orders could be on the way.

Alan Hamilton, vice president of engineering for Wabtec, is shown in this 2017 file photo.

All about the battery

The 4,400-hp locomotive tested in California, powered by a battery pack that generated 2.4 megawatt-hours of power, did what it was designed to do, cutting emissions and reducing overall fuel consumption by 11%.

Newer models should improve on that performance. Updated battery packs now offer a capacity of 7 megawatt-hours, enough electricity to power more than 3,000 homes for a year, and enough to pull its share of a freight train.

All of that proved to be out of reach when GE Transportation's plans for a hybrid locomotive were first announced.

"From a practical standpoint, the battery wasn't up to the task for energy and reliability," Hamilton said.

Related coverage: Erie-built electric locomotive proved itself in the California desert; could it be headed to market soon?

Advances in lithium-ion batteries, led by the automotive industry, have changed the equation.

"We had this hypothesis that this (idea) was now ready for prime time, and over the course of the last couple of years we built that 1.0 version and had it tested in California," he said.

While Wabtec has been developing its own batteries, Hamilton said the biggest advances in battery technology are being made by automotive companies.

GM announced in 2021 that it had formed a partnership with Wabtec to commercialize GM's battery and hydrogen fuel cell systems for Wabtec locomotives.
Erie-based engineers made a difference

But better batteries aren't the only thing that made the development of the battery-electric locomotive possible.

Hamilton said the electric locomotive is backed by dozens of patents and the work of more than 400 Erie-based engineers who have had a hand in the project.

Developments over the years in AC traction technology and the Trip Optimizer, which uses computer modeling to increase fuel efficiency and reduce pollution, paved the way for the development of FLXdrive.

"It's all these investments over the decades that have led us to the point where we are today," Hamilton said. "It's not all new. It's something we have been thinking about for a very long time."

Similar technology also figures to be important to Wabtec in other applications.

New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority has placed a $233 million order for 25 hybrid shunter locomotives that will be powered by diesel-electric powerplants similar to the concept GE Transportation announced in 2005.

The locomotives are designed especially for usage in tunnels where exhaust emissions can be detrimental to both people and the machines.

"When it goes into a tunnel it will be in zero-emissions mode," Hamilton said.

Hamilton said that Wabtec is pleased by the early interest shown by companies interested in being the so-called first movers that are looking to adopt the new technology.

A statement from J.J. Ruest, CE of CN, hints at the level of interest among railroads.

“As part of our sustainability strategy to reduce freight transportation emissions through innovation, we plan to continue to lead the sector by deploying low and no carbon technologies,” he said. "As a mover of the economy, CN is committed to playing a key role in the transition to low-carbon economy.”

Hamilton, who was involved in the development of the top-selling Evolution locomotive, said the development of the FLXdrive might one day be measured on the same scale of significance.

"It's right up there with it," he said. "It's game-changing."

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Electric locomotive, designed and built in Erie, is drawing interest

NO ARRESTS

Cubans protest in Havana as Costa Rica tightens visa requirements




People take pictures using their mobile phones of a list with visa requirements for Cubans in front of the Costa Rica embassy, in Havana

Mon, February 21, 2022
By Nelson Gonzalez and Nelson Acosta

HAVANA (Reuters) - At least 200 Cubans protested near Costa Rica's embassy in Havana on Monday against tighter visa requirements for Cubans passing through the Central American nation on the way to Nicaragua.

Demand for Havana-San Jose flights has soared after Managua in November lifted visa requirements for Cuban nationals. Many flights include multiple connections in neighboring Latin American nations.

Costa Rica's decision last week to require that Cubans obtain a "transit visa" outraged many of the protesters.

"We are requesting a transit visa as citizens with the right to travel, and they are ... asking for requirements that no Cuban can comply with," said Redel Quevedo, who had traveled 600 km (372.82 miles) from Las Tunas, in eastern Cuba, to the embassy in Havana.

"All Cubans are giving everything to be able to make the trip," Quevedo said in an interview as he waited under the hot Caribbean sun for a response from Costa Rican authorities.

Applicants for a Costa Rica transit visa must provide criminal records spanning 10 years and prove "economic solvency," according to requirements posted outside the embassy in Havana, though it was not immediately clear what proof was required.

"We are going to be in Costa Rica for seven or eight hours," said Oliet Dominguez, of Havana, who said his flight to Nicaragua involved connections in Panama, Costa Rica and El Salvador. "I think that this is an act of xenophobia against us."

Costa Rica's embassy in Cuba did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Costa Rican authorities have previously said the decision to require the transit visa was aimed at assuring "orderly and dignified migration."

All the Cubans interviewed by Reuters at the embassy on Monday said they were traveling to Nicaragua to shop or for tourism.

Air ticket prices to the Central American nation have more than tripled to as much as $3,500 in the three months since Nicaragua lifted the visa requirement for Cubans, according to posts on classified service Revolico and several of those interviewed by Reuters at the embassy. That is several times the average annual salary in Cuba.

Cuba's economy has been battered by mounting U.S. sanctions and the COVID-19 pandemic, prompting widespread shortages of food and medicine and the largest anti-government protests since Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution.

The economic crisis has also spurred a growing wave of Cuban migrants seeking to enter the United States, according to U.S. immigration statistics.

Cuba says it advocates legal, orderly and safe migration, and has blamed U.S. policy for encouraging Cubans to risk their lives to leave the island.

Washington has discouraged Cubans from attempting to migrate to the United States.

(Reporting by Nelson Acosta and Nelson Gonzalez; Writing by Dave Sherwood; Editing by Richard Chang)