Women's hockey struggling in Canada

Marion Thibaut and Anne-Sophie Thill

Mon, 6 June 2022,


In Canada, hockey is king but there are few queens. In many regions, women's teams do not exist and there is no women's professional league. But many are fighting to change that.

"The next five years will make up for the last 15. I think now is the time," said Daniele Sauvageau, former Canadian national team coach and now director of the high performance center.

"We're going to see changes and more visibility, probably more women's sports on TV than we've seen," she added.

It's quite the paradox that despite another Olympic gold medal in Beijing, Canadian female hockey players are still not very visible in their country and hockey remains mainly a sport for men. Women still represent less than 20 percent of players in Canada (less than 10 percent in Quebec).

The introduction in 2017 of a form of salary in the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL) could have marked a turning point. But barely two years later, the announcement of its bankruptcy put an end to the professionalization movement that seemed to have begun.

"We come back to the forefront with the Olympic Games. But everything has to be redone every four years," said Marie-Philip Poulin, captain of the Canadian team and three-time Olympic champion.

The latter founded, together with other Canadian and American players, the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association (PWHPA). Their goal: to create a cross-border league where female athletes can be paid as professionals without having to work on the side.

"We believe in it. We are fighting to create a league not only for ourselves, but for the next generations of players. It takes patience," she added.

- 'Boys can be mean' -

In the women's clubs, the girls know little about these champions.

"There's still the perception of only boys playing hockey, but I think it's started to change now," said Kim McCullough, head of a women's hockey club in Toronto.

According to a recent poll, more than 92 percent of Canadians believe that girls should be encouraged to play sports as much as boys, but more than 33 percent still consider that certain sports are not suitable for women.

In recent years, "we've seen growth at a lot of different levels, which I think is awesome. The more players we can get, the better it is for our sport," added McCullough, wearing a red Team Canada cap.

On the ice, beginners aged seven to 14, green or pink jerseys on their backs, skated at full speed from one end of the rink to the other, forwards and backwards, sometimes falling, under the watchful eyes of their parents, who capture the moment in images on their smartphones from behind the safety glass that surrounds the rink.

Jamie Bliss, 43, accompanied his daughter Kira, 12, to training: "It's great having all the girls on ice but also having the coaches being women. I think it's great for them to see others girls and women coaching them, encouraging them, that really helps to build their confidence."

Having a role model is what motivated 10-year-old Hallae. "I was inspired by my dad's girlfriend, she did a lot of hockey," she said, adding that she loves the sport.

At this all-girls club in Toronto, many say it makes them feel more comfortable.

"It's easier because some boys can sometimes be mean when you mess up," said eight-year-old Riley.

But not all provinces offer the opportunity for girls to play on women's teams to discover hockey. In Quebec, most of the time the girls are integrated into the boys' teams.

A recent report, commissioned by the Quebec government on the hockey system of the French-speaking province, focused in particular on the promotion of women's hockey and recommended better supervision of the development and career of players. And for more women in key positions within Hockey Quebec.

ast-tib/amc/jh

Black Fire could soon become second largest blaze in New Mexico history. Here's the latest.

Leah Romero, Silver City Sun-News
Mon, June 6, 2022

The glow from the Black Fire in the Gila National Forest is visible in the morning hours of May 30, 2022.

GILA NATIONAL FOREST – The Black Fire grew steadily over the weekend — gaining over 20,000 acres in size — and is on its way to being the second largest fire in New Mexico’s history.

As of Monday morning, the wildfire had consumed 287,283 acres of mostly uninhabited Gila National Forest land.

However, fire crews increased containment considerably over the weekend, from 29% on Friday to 49% on Monday.

Gila's Whitewater-Baldy Fire of 2012 was the state's largest before this year, having burned 297,845 acres. If the Black Fire burns another 10,000 acres, it will become the largest fire ever in the Gila and the second largest in the state's history.

The Calf Canyon-Hermits Peak Fire in the Santa Fe National Forest surpassed 300,000 acres last month to become the state's largest ever blaze.

Flames from the Black Fire have been charring timber and tall grass since first reported May 13. The exact cause is still under investigation but is reported to be human caused. Over 800 fire personnel are currently working on suppression.

Crews from the Yoder Volunteer Fire Department out of Wyoming work on the Black Fire in the Gila National Forest May 30, 2022.

According to the U.S. Forest Service’s daily update Monday, the increased containment was largely achieved on the northeast and northwest sides of the wildfire. The most active area of the fire is along the southeastern edge near Round Mountain and McKnight Canyon.

Fire crews are working near Round Mountain, Dunn Place, Apache Peak and the Seco Creek drainages. A hotshot crew also built a hand line along the trail system by hiking into the Rabb Park area. Other ground crews are continuing with chipping debris along containment lines.

More: Black Fire moves quickly through the Gila National Forest in New Mexico

Only two structures have been lost to the fire. To protect the Wright’s, Noon Day cabins and Hillsboro Peak Lookout, firefighters covered the building in aluminum wrap.

A temporary fire spike camp was established in Kingston with an increase in personnel working in the area. Drivers are asked to use caution when driving on Highway 152 as fire crew traffic has increased, but the roadway is not closed.

Highway 59 remains closed from Mud Hole to the 59/150 intersection. Forest Road 150 is closed at the North Star Helispot. Portions of the Gila National Forest are closed due to fire danger. The temporary flight restriction also remains in place. Violators will face potential criminal charges.

Dry weather and warm temperatures are anticipated for Monday. Relative humidity is expected to be in the mid to single digits. Southwest winds may bring gusts up to 30 miles per hour. Overnight humidity recovery will continue to be poor.

An updated map shows the distance the Black Fire in the Gila National Forest is from surrounding communities June 6, 2022.

The blaze is now about 12 miles north of Mimbres, about seven miles north of Kingston, 21 miles west of Truth or Consequences and 26 miles from Silver City.

Real-time updates to evacuation orders can be found online at https://nifc.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=d375d3d880a649aa914f693db309b892 via an interactive map. Communities near the northern end of the fire are in the planning and Ready stages while communities in Sierra and Grant counties south of the fire are in Set and Go stages. More localized questions can be directed to local jurisdiction’s emergency management agencies, including county sheriff’s offices.

U.S. Forest Service personnel will hold a community meeting Monday night at 6 p.m. at Camp Thunderbird, 3951 Highway 35, Mimbres at mile marker 13.5.

Biden to visit New Mexico in wake of historic wildfire season. A look at this year's blaze

Leah Romero, Las Cruces Sun-News
Mon, June 6, 2022,

NEW MEXICO – President Joe Biden will be traveling to New Mexico this week in the wake of multiple record-breaking wildfires scorching hundreds of thousands of acres of the state’s forest land this year.

Biden will meet in Santa Fe Saturday, June 11 at the New Mexico State Emergency Operation Center with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, first responders and emergency personnel.

New Mexico is still battling two of the largest wildfires in its history — the Calf Canyon-Hermits Peak Fire in the Santa Fe National Forest and the Black Fire in the Gila National Forest. They are burning over 605,000 acres collectively and are the first and third largest wildfires in the recorded history of the state.

The Calf Canyon-Hermits Peak Fire started out as two separate fires and merged in mid-May. The Hermits Peak Fire started as the Las Dispensas prescribed burn in the Pecos/Las Vegas Ranger District. Strong winds caused the fire to jump containment lines and then grew exponentially. The Calf Canyon Fire was traced back to a pile burn holdover from January. The collective fire is still showing moderate fire behavior, though containment has increased to 65%.

Lujan Grisham has been critical of the federal government, calling on the Biden Administration to take responsibility for initiating a natural disaster that has destroyed at least 330 homes and left a financial toll in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Black Fire started in mid-May due to human causes, though the specifics are still under investigation. When this wildfire started, the northern New Mexico fire was already reaching historic acreage. However, the Black Fire, in a mostly uninhabited part of the Gila National Forest, grew at an even faster rate than the Calf Canyon-Hermits Peak Fire.

View above the Black Fire on May 16, 2022.

By the time Biden visits, the Black Fire will likely be the second largest in state's history. Though its growth has slowed, it's possible the Black Fire will have burned more acreage than its northern New Mexico counterpart. As of Monday, 49% of the Black Fire's perimeter was contained.

Apart from these two historically large fires, New Mexico has also experienced several other notable wildfires.

The McBride and Nogal fires in the Lincoln National Forest threatened Ruidoso and surrounding communities in mid-April — early for the New Mexico fire season. Hundreds of homes were burned and families were displaced. Community members are still working to recover from losing everything in the blazes.

Two people were reported to have died in the McBride Fire, making it the only fatal wildfire in the state so far this year.


South Baptist Disaster Relief New Mexico volunteers clean up a mobile home that was destroyed in the McBride fire in Ruidoso on Friday, May 6, 2022.

The Cerro Pelado Fire started in late April in the Santa Fe National Forest near Bandelier National Monument, Jemez Pueblo and Los Alamos National Laboratory is now 95% contained. The blaze has burned over 45,000 acres and required evacuations of nearby areas.

West of Socorro, in the Cibola National Forest, the Bear Trap Fire started in early May and has burned over 38,000 acres of land and is 98% contained.

More recently, the Foster and Cinnamon Fires ignited in the New Mexico bootheel at the end of May. They have collectively burned over 8,500 acres of land and are contained or nearly contained.

The most recent wildfire to gain attention is a small 37-acre fire ignited in the Lincoln National Forest June 3 by a lightning strike. The Cienegita Fire is only about four miles northwest of the already hard-hit Village of Ruidoso.

An aerial view of the Foster Fire May 30, 2022 burning in New Mexico's bootheel in the Coronado National Forest near the border of Arizona.

While containment percentages may be increasing, this does not mean that the fires are extinguished. Rather, fire crews have portions of the perimeters contained and under control. The state’s fire season is still underway and while the North American monsoon season technically begins in mid-June, New Mexico will likely not experience the precipitation that comes with it until later in the summer.

As the rainy season approaches, officials are worried about flash flooding, landslides and destructive ash from burn scars, according to reporting from the Associated Press. Lightning strikes brought to the area by thunderstorms also may very well start new fires New Mexicans will have to deal with.

Biden will travel to New Mexico following the Summit of the Americas held in Los Angeles from June 8-10.

More wildfire coverage:

Black Fire could soon become second largest blaze in New Mexico history. Here's the latest.


Two of the largest wildfires in New Mexico history are burning right now. Here's a look at the 10 largest.


Foster Fire reassessed at 7,500 acres in the New Mexico bootheel


This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Joe Biden to visit New Mexico in wake of historic wildfire season

Israeli nationalists (ZIONISTS) wage battle against Palestinian flag


A Palestinian man argues with Israeli soldiers during a demonstration against the removal of Palestinian flags by Jewish settlers in Hawara checkpoint, near the West Bank city of Nablus, Friday, May 27, 2022. In recent weeks, Israeli authorities have gone out of their way to challenge the hoisting of the Palestinian flag. Palestinian citizens of Israel see the campaign against the flag as another affront to their national identity and their rights as a minority in the majority Jewish state.

 (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed, File)More

TIA GOLDENBERG
Mon, June 6, 2022, 

JERUSALEM (AP) — It’s not a bomb or a gun or a rocket. The latest threat identified by Israel is the Palestinian flag.

Recent weeks have seen a furor by nationalists over the waving of the red, white, green and black flag by Palestinians in Israel and in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.

Yet the fracas over the flag tells a broader story about how much hopes for peace with the Palestinians have diminished and about the stature of the fifth of Israelis who are Palestinian. They for long have been viewed as a fifth column because of their solidarity with the Palestinian cause.

Palestinian citizens of Israel see the campaign against the flag as another affront to their national identity and their rights as a minority in the majority Jewish state.




“The Palestinian flag reminds Israelis that there is another nation here and some people don’t want to see another nation here,” said Jafar Farah, who heads Mossawa, an advocacy group promoting greater rights for Palestinian citizens of Israel.

In recent weeks, Israeli authorities have gone out of their way to challenge the hoisting of the Palestinian flag. Police at a funeral in east Jerusalem last month for the well-known Palestinian-American Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh snatched Palestinian flags from mourners, reportedly following an order from a district police chief to make sure the Palestinian colors don’t fly at the politically-charged event.

Two Israeli universities were slammed by nationalists for allowing Palestinian flags to be waved at campus events. Israel Katz, a senior opposition lawmaker, urged flag-waving Palestinian-Israeli students to remember the war leading to Israel's establishment in 1948, saying Jews “know how to protect themselves and the concept of the Jewish state.”

A group promoting coexistence between Palestinians and Israelis raised the Palestinian flag alongside the Israeli one on a high-rise outside Tel Aviv, only to have authorities remove the Palestinian flag hours later.




Those events culminated in a push by opposition legislators to ban the waving of the Palestinian flag at institutions that receive state funding, which would include universities and hospitals, among others. The bill passed overwhelmingly in its first reading on Wednesday, 63-16, although several parties in the governing coalition were absent and the coalition may seek to block the bill from moving forward.

“In the state of Israel there is room for one flag: the Israeli flag, this flag,” Eli Cohen, the legislator who sponsored the bill, said from the dais of Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, as he pointed to an Israeli flag hung behind him. “This is the only flag there will be here,” he said to applause from some legislators.

According to Adalah, a legal rights group for Palestinian Israelis, waving the flag is not a crime under Israeli law. A police ordinance grants officers the right to confiscate a flag if “it results in disruption of public order or breach of peace.”

Israel’s Palestinian citizens make up 20% of the population and they’ve had a turbulent relationship with the state since its creation in 1948, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were forced to flee in the events surrounding the establishment of the state.

Those who remained became citizens, but have long been viewed with suspicion by some Israelis because of their ties to Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war. That sense deepened last year when mob violence erupted in mixed Jewish-Arab cities, with looting and attacks scarring residents on both sides.

Palestinian citizens have carved a life for themselves in Israeli society, reaching the highest echelons in various spheres, including health, education and public service. An Arab Islamist party for the first time in history is now a member of a governing coalition. But Palestinians in Israel are generally poorer and less educated than Jewish Israelis and they have long suffered discrimination in housing, government funding and public works.

While there have been efforts in recent governments to address that socio-economic gap, the nationalist rights of Palestinians have been slowly eroded over the years, especially as Israeli nationalist sentiment has grown.

“It is our right to raise our Palestinian flag,” said Alin Nasra, an activist and student at Tel Aviv University. “This is something that distinguishes us as a minority inside Israel.”

Yitzhak Reiter, president of the Middle East and Islamic Studies Association of Israel, said the uproar against the flag is part of a feeling by nationalists and some mainstream Israelis that they are “losing the state,” to Palestinian nationalism from within Israel's borders.

He cited previous laws that bar municipalities or institutions from marking Israel’s Independence Day as a day of mourning or the Jewish state law that tried to strengthen Israel’s character as a Jewish state but which Palestinian citizens saw as a further downgrade of their status and a blow to their national identity. Israel’s national symbols — a biblical candelabra, the star of David on its flag — do not include Palestinian or Arab emblems and Israel's anthem speaks of the yearning of the Jewish soul.

The flag, Reiter said, “symbolizes the enemy, but waving the flag, for those who oppose it, is harmful to Israeli sovereignty.”

Israel once considered the Palestinian flag that of a militant group, no different than the Palestinian Hamas or the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah. But after Israel and the Palestinians signed a series of interim peace agreements known as the Oslo Accords, the flag was recognized as that of the Palestinian Authority.

The left-leaning daily Haaretz chided the bill against the flag, saying Israel had an “obsession” with it because it reminds the country of “the sin of the occupation” of lands the Palestinians want for a future state.

With peace talks a distant memory and the occupation dragging on, the battle over the flag shows how far from reality Palestinian statehood is, with the nationalist narrative in Israel increasingly going mainstream.

Ronni Shaked, of Jerusalem's Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, said he remembers a time when politicians wore lapel pins that bore both the Israeli and Palestinian flags and that even hawkish former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the current head of the opposition and Israel’s longest serving leader, had a Palestinian flag hanging behind him during events with the Palestinian leadership when relations between the sides were less frosty.

“If we are afraid from the Palestinian flag,” he said, “it means that we are afraid to make any kind of peace with the Palestinians.”

Palantir CEO travels to Ukraine for Zelensky meeting


Olafimihan Oshin
Mon, June 6, 2022

Alex Karp, the CEO of American software company Palantir Technologies, traveled to Ukraine to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other officials as Russia’s invasion of the country continues.

Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov shared the news of Karp’s visit with Zelensky, saying that both sides agreed on principles such as a Palantir office opening in Ukraine and digital support of the army.

“Today me and President @ZelenskyyUa hosted Alex Karp CEO @PalantirTech. Alex is the first CEO, who came to Kyiv after the start of the full-scale war,” Fedorov wrote in a tweet on June 2. “Impressive support and faith in credibility of investments: agreed on office opening and digital support of Army.”

In a separate statement, Palantir confirmed the meeting between the two sides, noting that discussions were based on the invasion and how Western security can play a pivotal role.


“We are honored to have met with @ZelenskyyUa, @FedorovMykhailo and other officials in Kyiv today to discuss the ongoing war in Ukraine, and the pivotal role of software to Western security,” the software company said in a tweet.

Dire climate report, skies soon full of smoke. Will Idaho lawmakers do anything?


Darin Oswald/doswald@idahostatesman.com

Bryan Clark
Mon, June 6, 2022

A report released last month by the International Energy Agency detailing global carbon emissions is dire. Last year, the world released 36.3 billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. That was an increase of more than 2 billion tons from 2020, the largest absolute increase in CO2 released ever. Part of that was the bounce-back from pandemic-induced emissions declines, but the IEA pointed particularly to an increase in coal use as the main driver of increasing emissions.

As the New York Times noted, global temperatures have already risen about 1.1 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The espoused goal of the Paris Climate accords is to limit temperature increases to 1.5 degrees. Day by day, as we fail to face this problem head-on, that goal recedes from our grasp.

The Paris accords set a target of 2050 for carbon neutrality in order to limit warming to 1.5 degrees, but it assumes we will make steady progress toward that goal along the way. The U.S. is making little, though there are some bright spots in the report.

Renewable energy sources such as wind and solar continue to be adopted quickly, both in the U.S. and around the world. Combined with nuclear power, they now make up a larger portion of global energy production than coal, the report noted.

But those bright spots remain vastly inadequate to the scale of the problem.

If there is a defining characteristic of our current political era, it is paralysis in the face of real problems.

The filibuster in the U.S. Senate has led to more than a decade of paralysis in federal policy — and it’s not even clear whether that’s good or bad. If the Senate had not been twiddling its thumbs all this time, would it have made the problem worse by expanding oil and gas production or cutting renewable energy programs?

At the state level, it’s even worse. Lawmakers have done nothing, and the Republican majority shows no signs of taking the matter seriously.

As our politics is consumed by fights about porn in libraries and transgender athletes and other engineered controversies, the world is lurching ever closer to a tipping point beyond which our children’s and grandchildren’s future begins to look untenable. There is little question we will be remembered as the most irresponsible generation in history.

As Kelcie Moseley-Morris of the Idaho Capital Sun reported in January, the effects of climate change on Idaho agriculture could be quite dramatic. Hotter temperatures are expected to make potato and onion storage more difficult, leading to more spoilage. Maybe just use refrigeration? That’s going to be hard since lower snowpacks will mean less water to generate hydropower — or to grow potatoes in the first place.

Our current drought may be nothing compared to what’s coming, and the time for the Legislature to prepare for it was 10 years ago.

It’s easy to forget this generational, species-level crisis when our politics is centered on manufactured outrage. But it won’t be long until our skies are again clogged with smoke to remind us of the consequences of our inaction.

Will we ignore those skies again this year?

Boris Johnson Badly Wounded but Narrowly Survives Jubilee Coup

Almost 75% of all Tory MPs not dependent on his patronage voted against him. 

Philippe Naughton
Mon, June 6, 2022


One of Boris Johnson’s predecessors as Tory leader once described the Conservative Party as “an absolute monarchy moderated by regicide.” When the king or queen is no longer a winner, then out come the knives.

Johnson, the tousle-headed Old Etonian classicist, narrowly survived his own ‘Et tu, Brute?’ moment on Monday after securing the votes of 211 of 359 Conservative lawmakers in a no-confidence vote triggered by backbench anger at his scandal-ridden leadership.

“The result of the ballot held this evening is that the parliamentary party does have confidence in the prime minister” said Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee, which represents the interests of Tory backbenchers, as he announced the results to lawmakers.

Make no mistake, however: Johnson is mortally wounded, despite officially surviving the Tories’ jubilee coup. Caesar was stabbed 23 times in that fateful meeting of the Roman Senate on March 15, 44 A.D. On June 6, 2022, Johnson was stabbed 148 times; 41 percent of Tory lawmakers voted against him. He clings to power, but the die is cast.

Scotland Yard Accused of Massive ‘Cover Up’ to Save Boris Johnson’s Job

Born Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson in New York in 1964, Johnson’s first stated ambition as a child was to be “world king.” He never quite managed that but did manage to climb the greasy pole of British politics after a career in journalism, serving two terms as mayor of London and correctly judging the mood of the disaffected working class in the 2016 vote on U.K membership of the European Union.

Since assuming the top job in 2019, he has done his very best to demean the nation’s highest office, suspending parliament without consulting Queen Elizabeth to get his Brexit legislation through, and then partying through lockdown at Downing Street despite passing laws stopping ordinary citizens from even burying their dead in a civilized manner. It was that scandal, dubbed “Partygate,” which has done him the most damage.

Brady called the no-confidence vote early Monday morning after confirming that 15 percent of the Tory parliamentary party—54 Members of Parliament (MPs)—had sent in letters triggering a contest. The clinching factor for some of those objectors appeared to be that Johnson and his wife had been so loudly booed as they arrived at St. Paul’s Cathedral last Friday to celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s platinum jubilee.

Of the 14 prime ministers the queen has dealt with through her 70-year reign, starting with Winston Churchill, Johnson is widely thought to be her least favorite, disrespectful of national institutions and an inveterate liar to boot.

Having Johnson booted out the day after her jubilee weekend might have been the perfect jubilee present for the 96-year-old monarch. But even though she missed much of the celebrations for health reasons, she still looks like a good bet to welcome her 15th prime minister before the end of her historic reign.

In an interview with BBC News, Johnson described the voting numbers as an “extremely good, positive, decisive result” that would allow the government to “move on and focus on the stuff that matters.”

But few would agree. Johnson's performance was markedly worse than that of his predecessor, Theresa May, when she faced a confidence vote in December 2018. May was supported by two-thirds of Tory MPs but was forced from office only months later.

The saving grace for Johnson, if we can come back to the Caesarean analogy, is that this remains an assassination attempt without a clear assassin. No clear successor to Johnson has yet emerged; the frontrunner, former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, is an unlikely Brutus.

Rory Stewart, the former diplomat, adventurer, and Tory MP who now serves as a fellow at Yale, pointed out that most of those who voted for Johnson were on the government's payroll—parliamentary secretaries, junior ministers, and ministers.

He tweeted: “Remove the 'payroll' vote—and look at the free vote from backbenchers. Almost 75% of all Tory MPs not dependent on his patronage voted against him. This is the end for Boris Johnson. The only question is how long the agony is prolonged.”

Boris Johnson may have won, but the vultures are circling

Boris Johnson won Monday's no confidence vote with 211 to 148 votes 

Camilla Tominey
Mon, June 6, 2022

 ANDY RAIN/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

When Boris Johnson once joked that he had discovered “there are no disasters, only opportunities for fresh disasters”, he appeared to be channelling Churchill’s quote about an optimist finding opportunity in every difficulty.

While there is no doubt the Prime Minister is a glass-half-full kind of politician, the bruising nature of Monday's 211 to 148 confidence vote will have taken the trademark spring from his step.

Winning by a majority of just 63, short of his 80-seat general election majority, represents one of the worst ever confidence "victories" for a sitting prime minister, calling his authority into serious question.

And those who best know Mr Johnson understand that while he may have won this particular battle, he is not going to willingly lead the Conservatives into a war he cannot win.

Having defied the odds to secure the London mayoralty - not once but twice - before triumphing in the EU referendum and going on to deliver the Conservatives’ biggest mandate in 40 years at the last general election, losing simply isn’t something “Big Dog” does. It is why he pulled out of the 2016 leadership race and why it still rankles that he didn’t get a first at Oxford.

Until Monday, it was suggested that the Prime Minister would have to be dragged out of Downing Street “kicking and screaming”, but if he fears this “win” will soon translate into a “loss”, then he is unlikely to give himself the opportunity for a fresh disaster.

As Sir Winston’s biographer, Mr Johnson needs no lessons in voters’ penchant for punishing even those who have delivered world peace. A cost of living crisis already stands in the way of possible victory come 2024 - now he must add a mutinous and divided party into the mix.

An optimist’s 12-month reprieve is a pessimist’s death sentence, not least when we all know a week is a long time in politics.

The rebels may not have landed the fatal blow they intended, but history shows losing the confidence of even a minority of MPs can prove mortally wounding.

Jacob Rees-Mogg may argue that “just one vote is enough”, but it wasn’t long ago that he declared it a “terrible result” that a third of Theresa May’s MPs had voted against her in 2016. “Under all constitutional norms she ought to go and see the Queen urgently and resign", he insisted.

Theresa May resigned months after she won her own confidence vote in December 2018

 - Stefan Rousseau

Six years on and Mr Johnson on Monday found himself in the unenviable position of not even having enough publicly declared supporters by the time the voting began at 6pm. He was 33 votes short of the 180 needed to save his premiership.

By comparison, Mrs May went into her confidence ballot safe in the knowledge that she could guarantee victory (albeit short-lived).

As the Downing Street spin machine went into overdrive to fortify the Prime Minister’s fanbase on Monday, it must have worried No 10 that so few Tories were willing to give their patronage on the record.

The Prime Minister sitting with Mike Tindall on Sunday as he watched the Platinum Pageant in London - the day before the confidence vote - CHRIS JACKSON

The Cabinet and payroll might have rallied (although Priti Patel’s tweet of support was conspicuous by its absence), but the numbers suggest the MPs who did secretly "back Boris" were unwilling to admit to it.

Even the so-called “greased piglet” is going to struggle to let that one slip, no matter how Teflon-coated he may be.

Mrs May, Sir John Major and most famously Margaret Thatcher all found to their cost that once Conservatives smell blood, a slow and painful death normally ensues.

Whether Mr Johnson can successfully apply a tourniquet appears to rely on several factors.

While his approval ratings may be at an all time low - even among ConHome readers - pollsters have been at pains to point out that his unpopularity is not unusual for a midterm Prime Minister. Downing Street could argue that a YouGov survey suggesting more than half of Tory voters (53 per cent) want to keep him as PM - not to mention the fact that Labour is only six points ahead - shows this result has finally burst the Westminster bubble. Cue much more talk of this “drawing a line” under partygate (despite the ongoing Privileges Committee investigation) and “focusing on what really matters to people.”

Lack of viable alternative only thing keeping PM in place

If, like the local elections, the two imminent by-elections are not as catastrophic as CCHQ is frantically briefing then that could also help. (Seriously heavy defeats could prompt the 1922 Committee to change the rules on not holding another confidence vote for 12 months).

A reshuffle seems unlikely following such a show of ministerial loyalty but a policy blitz – including a reverse ferret on the universally despised Health and Social Care Levy – could help win over the growing number of Tories upset by the Government’s tax-and-spend approach to the cost of living crisis.

A speech, laying out his vision for how Britain might “take advantage of our news freedoms, cut costs and drive growth,” as he stated in his begging letter to colleagues, would not go amiss either.

As it stands, the only thing really keeping the Prime Minister in place right now is the lack of a viable alternative. The vultures, however, are circling. It is going to take a unique amount of doggedness to bring this disobedient party to heel.

 

Boris Johnson wins no-confidence vote, stays on as U.K.’s prime minister

Eric Stober and Sean Boynton 

© AP Photo/Matt Dunham

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves 10 Downing Street to attend the weekly Prime Minister's Questions at the Houses of Parliament, in London, Wednesday, May 25, 2022.

Boris Johnson narrowly won a no-confidence vote Monday and will remain as the U.K.'s prime minister, despite more than 40 per cent of his party's MPs voting against him.

Johnson received support from 211 Conservative MPs — just 30 more ballots than the 180 needed to survive the vote. Every Tory MP cast a ballot. Forty-one per cent of the caucus, or 148 MPs, voted against the prime minister.

He still called the result "decisive" and claimed it proved more of his party's MPs support him now than they did when he was elected in 2019. He added he is not interested in holding a snap election.

"I think it's a convincing result, a decisive result and what it means is that as a government we can move on and focus on the stuff that I think really matters to people," he told reporters.

The margin was tighter than the one Johnson's predecessor Theresa May received when a no-confidence vote was held on her leadership in 2018, when 37 per cent of MPs voted against her. She resigned six months later.

Johnson was then elected prime minister in a landslide vote that was the party's biggest election win in decades.

Monday's vote comes after it was discovered he and his staff held several parties in 2020 and 2021 against the COVID-19 restrictions in place.

‘I take full responsibility’: British PM Boris Johnson answers to Partygate after new independent report

At least 54 Tory legislators had called a no-confidence vote, according to the party, clearing the 15-per cent threshold needed to trigger it.

Johnson's Downing Street office said that the prime minister welcomed the vote.

"Tonight is a chance to end months of speculation and allow the government to draw a line and move on, delivering on the people’s priorities,” it said.

Video: U.K.’s Johnson says he takes responsibility for lockdown breaches following Sue Gray report

Yet the result pointed to a deep divide within the party that critics said left Johnson politically wounded at a critical moment, as the country works to rebuild the economy from the COVID-19 pandemic amid inflation and impacts from Russia's war in Ukraine.

"At a time of huge challenge, it saddles the U.K. with an utterly lame duck PM," said Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, a vocal critic of the U.K. government who has pushed for Scotland's independence from the U.K.

The Opposition Leader, Keir Starmer of the left-of-centre Labour Party, took advantage of the results to promote his "united" party to voters.

The next national election is not expected until 2024, but a pair of by-elections is scheduled for the end of this month.

Conservatives may lose those special elections, which were called when incumbent Tory lawmakers were forced out by sex scandals. Polls give the Labour Party a lead nationally.

Johnson has been able to dodge scandals and gaffes as prime minister and in previous jobs, including mayor of London, which range from offensive comments about Muslim women to shutting down Parliament during heated Brexit negotiations.

But concerns came to a head after an investigator's report late last month that slammed a culture of rule-breaking inside the prime minister's office in a scandal known as ``partygate.''

Video: U.K.’s Boris Johnson apologizes after getting fined for attending party during COVID-19 lockdown

Civil service investigator Sue Gray described alcohol-fueled bashes held by Downing Street staff members in 2020 and 2021, when pandemic restrictions prevented U.K. residents from socializing or even visiting dying relatives.

Gray said the ``senior leadership team'' must bear responsibility for ``failures of leadership and judgment.''

Johnson was also fined 50 pounds ($78) by police for attending one party, making him the first prime minister sanctioned for breaking the law while in office.

The prime minister said he was "humbled" and took "full responsibility," but insisted he would not resign.

—With files from Reuters and the Associated Press

British Mothers Miss Out on Almost £70,000 in Decade After Birth



David Goodman
Mon, June 6, 2022, 

(Bloomberg) -- British mothers lose out on almost £70,000 ($88,000) in wages in the 10 years after having a baby, according to new research.

In a report published Monday, the Social Market Foundation said a woman who had her first child in 2010-11 has on average suffered a total pay cut of £66,434 over the following nine years, compared to the amount she would have earned if she remained childless.

The SMF said the findings, which do not take into account the additional spending faced by parents, show the penalty inflicted by the high cost of child care with mothers unable to work as much as they want to. Britain has some of the most expensive early years care in the world, typically costing families more than 7% of their income.

Poorer households pay and even higher share, while lower-paid women also see a bigger drop in their earnings after giving birth, the SMF said. The group has launched a commission with UK MPs to analyze the impact of poor child-care provision on wages and poverty, and examine ways to improve the system.

“With child-care costs prohibitive, many either have to stop working, or work reduced hours, in order to look after children,” said Scott Corfe, SMF Research Director. “This means derailed career paths, missed promotion opportunities, and tens of thousands of pounds of foregone earnings over the course of a decade.”

The headline figure is based on a typical career progression, which saw women aged 25-35 benefit from an earnings increase of around a third over the 2010s. In contrast, someone who became a mother at the start of the decade was earning 10% less.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Gupta Brothers Accused of Defrauding South Africa Arrested in UAE



Antony Sguazzin and Renee Bonorchis
Mon, June 6, 2022

(Bloomberg) -- Two members of the Gupta family have been arrested in the United Arab Emirates, the biggest step yet in South Africa’s fight to bring to account the kingpins accused of orchestrating the looting of its state companies.

Rajesh and Atul Gupta were detained by UAE law-enforcement authorities and discussions are taking place on the way forward, South Africa’s Justice Ministry said in a statement on Monday.

A judicial inquiry into state graft spanning more than three years detailed close links between the brothers and former President Jacob Zuma, with numerous witnesses alleging that they worked hand-in-hand to siphon money out of state transport, power and arms companies and jointly decided who was appointed to the cabinet. The government has said at least 500 billion rand ($32 billion) was stolen during Zuma’s nine-year rule.

The Gupta brothers and Zuma have always denied the allegations.

The arrests come a year after the UAE ratified an extradition treaty with South Africa. President Cyril Ramaphosa’s administration first asked the Emirati authorities to extradite members of the Gupta family in 2018, and the US imposed restrictions ranging from visa bans to asset freezes on them the following year. The UK followed suit last year and Interpol placed the two brothers on its most-wanted list in February.

Corruption scandals involving the Guptas and people linked to them are blamed for damaging indebted state power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. and rail and ports company Transnet SOC Ltd. McKinsey & Co. has paid back money to both companies after working on contracts with Gupta-linked companies. The US-based consultancy has denied intentional wrongdoing.

South African authorities filed charges against the Guptas in 2018 in connection with a questionable tender to undertake a feasibility survey on a dairy project in the central Free State province, in which a company they controlled was paid 21 million rand.

In December 2015, the Guptas were accused of playing a part in Zuma sacking then-Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene, and replacing him with little-known lawmaker Des Van Rooyen, a move that caused the rand to crash. Van Rooyen was removed four days later and replaced by Pravin Gordhan, who had formerly served in the post, after an outcry from business, the public and members of the ruling African National Congress.

Ramaphosa won’t comment on the arrests, his spokesman Vincent Magwenya said by text message.

“We’ve always said that fighting corruption in SA requires resilience, that if the rule of law is allowed to take its course, those implicated will eventually get their day in court,” said Stefanie Fick, executive head of accountability for the non-profit Organization Undoing tax Abuse. “It seems like that day is around the corner for the Gupta kingpins.”

CDC raises monkeypox alert to level 2, recommends masks during travel

Anders Hagstrom
Mon, June 6, 2022
The CDC raised its alert level for monkeypox to level 2 on Monday, recommending that travelers wear masks, among other health measures.

While not on the level of COVID-19, monkeypox has spread across the globe out of Africa since March. Monkeypox symptoms begin as relatively flu-like but soon expand to the swelling of lymph nodes and a rash across the body and face. Ultimately, painful lesions form on rash areas, leaving severe scarring.

"Cases of monkeypox have been reported in Europe, North America, South America, Africa, Asia, and Australia," the CDC wrote in its alert.

"Some cases were reported among men who have sex with men. Some cases were also reported in people who live in the same household as an infected person," it added.

MONKEYPOX CONTINUES TO PUZZLE SCIENTISTS AS IT SPREADS TO MORE COUNTRIES

As of June 3, there have been 21 recorded monkeypox cases in the U.S. connected to the current outbreak, according to the CDC.

Test tubes labeled 'Monkeypox Virus Positive' are seen in this illustration taken on May 22, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

The disease may have gone undetected in Western countries under the guise of an STI, according to Dr. Amesh Adalja. There are a number of STIs that have similar symptoms to monkeypox.

"What's likely happened is an endemic infectious disease from Africa found its way into a social and sexual network and then was greatly aided by major amplification events, like raves in Belgium, to disseminate around the world," Adalja told NBC News.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gives an opening statement during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing to examine the federal response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and new emerging variants at Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S. January 11, 2022. Greg Nash/Pool via REUTERS

Exclusive-Biden to waive tariffs for 24 mths on solar panels hit by probe -sources


U.S. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden return to the White House in Washington

Sun, June 5, 2022
By Jeff Mason

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden will declare a 24-month tariff exemption on Monday for solar panels from four Southeast Asian nations after an investigation froze imports and stalled projects in the United States, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The move comes amid concern about the impact of the Commerce Department's months-long investigation into whether imports of solar panels from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam are circumventing tariffs on goods made in China.

Biden's action would allay companies' concerns about having to hold billions of dollars in reserves to pay potential tariffs, one source familiar with the White House's plans said.

"There is going to be this safe harbor timeout on the ... collection of duties, and that's at the heart of what's going to save all of these solar projects and ensure that they are going forward," the source said.

Biden also will invoke the Defense Production Act to drive U.S. manufacturing of solar panels and other clean energy technologies in the future, with the support of loans and grants, the sources said.

State governors, lawmakers, industry officials and environmentalists have expressed concern over the investigation, which could have led to retroactive tariffs of up to 250 percent.

The issue created a unique dilemma for the White House, which is eager to show U.S. leadership on climate change, in part by encouraging use of renewable energy, while respecting and keeping its distance from the investigation proceedings.

Using executive action and invoking the DPA, which gives presidents some authority over domestic industries, allows Biden to take advantage of the tools available to him without stepping on the Commerce Department inquiry.

A second source said Biden's proclamation, relying on authority from a 1930 trade law, would apply only to the four countries and run in parallel with the investigation.

Depending on its outcome, tariffs could be levied on panels imported after the 24-month period, but the threat of retroactive payments would be off the table, the source added.

"If you bring the stuff in during that 24-month period, regardless of the outcome of the investigation, there will not be those additional duties," the second source said.

The investigation essentially halted the flow of solar panels that make up more than half of U.S. supplies and 80 percent of imports.

It had a chilling effect on the industry, according to clean energy groups, some of which asked Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to dismiss it. Raimondo has said she had no discretion to influence it.

"The president’s action is a much-needed reprieve from this industry-crushing probe," Abigail Ross Hopper, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association, said in a statement.

"During the two-year tariff suspension window, the U.S. solar industry can return to rapid deployment while the Defense Production Act helps grow American solar manufacturing."

Announced at the end of March, the investigation could take 150 days or more to complete.

Biden has previously invoked the DPA to tackle a shortage of infant formula in the United States, ramp up domestic output of key minerals for electric vehicle batteries, and fight the COVID-19 pandemic through tests and vaccine production.

"It is a tool to do what we obviously desperately need to do, which is rapidly grow the domestic manufacturing capacity" of solar panels," the second source familiar with the matter said.

The administration was "very focused on making sure there's reliable and resilient supply chains at this critical moment for our energy sector, for our ability to support our consumers and to tackle the climate crisis," he added.

Ramping up renewable energy such as solar is crucial to Biden's goal of cutting U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 50% to 52% by 2030, versus 2005 levels, as well as decarbonizing the U.S. power grid by 2035.

The Commerce Department inquiry has prompted 19 state governors, 22 U.S. senators, and dozens of members of the House of Representatives to express concern in letters to Biden.

"Initiation of this investigation is already causing massive disruption in the solar industry, and it will severely harm American solar businesses and workers and increase costs for American families as long as it continues," said one letter signed by senators including Martin Heinrich, a Democrat from New Mexico, and Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Additional reporting by Nichola Groom; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

Biden takes aggressive executive action to protect solar industry expansion

Ben Adler

·Senior Editor

Mon, June 6, 2022, 

The Biden administration announced a set of executive actions to boost the domestic deployment of solar power on Monday morning.

The White House announced it is taking steps under the Defense Production Act to increase domestic production of clean energy technologies such as solar panels and their components, as well as directing the federal government to develop plans to buy domestically produced solar products. It is also delaying for two years any imposition of tariffs on solar panels from four countries in Southeast Asia that supply the vast majority of photovoltaic cells to the United States.

“Just on the strength of the president’s vision, the clarity of his vision, and this nation’s commitment to a clean energy future, we’ve seen the private investment and private commitment to growing domestic solar manufacturing capacity triple — or be on pace to triple — by 2024,” said a senior administration official on a Monday morning press call. “But we know that’s not enough, and that’s why the president is taking bold action today.”

President Biden gestures during a speech on June 3 in Rehoboth Beach, Del. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

The overarching purpose of these moves is to build up a domestic manufacturing supply chain for solar panels without impeding the booming business of installing solar panels. Increasing U.S. installation of solar power is a key element of the president’s plan to combat climate change, but an ongoing Commerce Department investigation has been threatening to block solar deployment, as it could result in heavy tariffs being applied to solar panels and their parts imported from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. The solar installation industry has issued dire predictions about the effect these tariffs would have on U.S. jobs, and Biden’s move has the industry breathing a sigh of relief.

Some American solar panel manufacturers have complained that they are undercut on price by imports from those countries — which they say are actually produced by Chinese companies benefiting from Chinese government subsidies that violate trade agreements. The combination of a two-year grace period for U.S. solar installers to keep importing those products while simultaneously building up the domestic solar manufacturing industry is meant to bolster the U.S. industrial sector and U.S. energy security, so that the American solar industry can keep up with growing demand without relying on products from an adversarial nation.

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) immediately issued a statement praising the measures on Monday.

“We applaud President Biden’s thoughtful approach to addressing the current crisis of the paralyzed solar supply chain,” said SEIA president and CEO Abigail Ross Hopper. “The president is providing improved business certainty today while harnessing the power of the Defense Production Act for tomorrow. Today’s actions protect existing solar jobs, will lead to increased employment in the solar industry and foster a robust solar manufacturing base here at home.”

Westlands Solar Park, near the town of Lemoore in the San Joaquin Valley of California, is the largest solar power plant in the U.S. and could become one of the largest in the world. (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

The administration also garnered praise from environmental activists, who had been fretting that the impending tariffs would stop the ongoing solar expansion, though some also argued that the ambitious and aggressive use of executive authority should not be limited to just one clean energy industry. (The wind energy industry, which Biden also seeks to boost, is currently fearing a proposal in Congress that could make it more difficult to build offshore wind farms.)

“Today’s executive action by the Biden administration to help unlock the potential of clean energy is what we need more of to address the climate crisis, create a better future for our communities, support domestic manufacturers, and aid our allies abroad by weakening the fossil-fueled war in Ukraine,” said Anusha Narayanan, climate campaign director at Greenpeace USA. “This announcement demonstrates President Biden’s ability to ramp up the transition to renewable energy. Now he needs to go even further by invoking the Defense Production Act across all clean energy sectors, declaring a climate emergency, and addressing the root of the climate crisis by beginning an immediate and equitable phaseout of domestic fossil fuel production.”

Solar power is central to Biden's plan to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change by 50% by 2030 and to reach zero net emissions by 2050. The administration wants solar to go from just 4% of U.S. electricity generation currently to nearly half of the U.S. electricity portfolio by 2050. To get there, it would have to double by 2025 the rate at which solar is being installed and double it again by 2030.

Sens. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., catch an elevator to go to the Senate Chamber to vote.

 (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

While the executive actions announced Monday may help with solar deployment, the large subsidies for rooftop solar purchases in Biden’s proposed budget reconciliation package remain stuck in the Senate due to opposition from Republicans and Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.

Auxin Solar, the San Jose, Calif.-based solar manufacturer that filed the complaint with the Commerce Department that raised the specter of new tariffs on imported solar panels, was sharply critical of the administration's delay in any potential tariffs.

"President Biden is significantly interfering in Commerce’s quasi-judicial process," Auxin Solar CEO Mamun Rashid said in a statement shared with Yahoo News. "By taking this unprecedented — and potentially illegal — action, he has opened the door wide for Chinese-funded special interests to defeat the fair application of U.S. trade law. Since filing this case, Auxin has been well under way to scaling up. If the President will follow through on his stated intent to support the U.S. domestic industry — including grants to scale and produce upstream inputs like cells and wafers — Auxin is ready, willing, and able to meet that challenge."