Piedmont Lithium looks abroad amid North Carolina uncertainty

Reuters | June 22, 2022 

Piedmont lithium project, North Carolina. Image from Piedmont.

Piedmont Lithium Inc’s first steps toward securing lithium supplies will be in Quebec or Ghana, not the United States, as an intensifying North Carolina regulatory review delays the miner’s goal of anchoring America’s electric vehicle battery renaissance.


The delay has forced Piedmont to expand its strategy beyond its proposed North Carolina mine – a project it has touted as the best way to help secure American energy independence, but one that now faces a regulatory quagmire – and fund mines abroad.

“We think two of our projects will happen faster than our Carolina Lithium project: Quebec and Ghana,” said Chief Executive Keith Phillips. “The (North Carolina) regulators are doing a very good job. It’s a rigorous process. It’ll happen when it happens.”

Piedmont was founded in 2016 in Australia but moved its headquarters last year to North Carolina, where it hopes to dig a 500-foot-deep (150 m-deep) open-pit mine in a $988 million project that would be one of the largest US lithium mines.

The relocation was designed to be closer to EV manufacturing plants being built across the US South by Toyota, SK Innovation and others.

Piedmont signed a deal in 2020 to begin supplying Tesla Inc with lithium sometime between July 2022 and July 2023 from the North Carolina mine, but last year delayed the first shipments without a definitive date for when deliveries could begin.

Reuters reported last summer that Piedmont’s chaotic roll out of that plan – in which it wooed Wall Street and Tesla before local residents – had fueled concerns about levels of dust, noise and vibrations in the area just outside Charlotte.

Those issues are now the focus of the state mining review process that officials and the company itself acknowledge has no clear end date. Piedmont does not have an expectation for when its North Carolina facility will open.

As opposition to the North Carolina mine grew, Piedmont invested last year in Quebec-focused Sayona Mining Ltd and Ghana-focused Atlantic Lithium Ltd.

Meanwhile, Albemarle Corp, the world’s biggest lithium miner, is hiring staff and buying land in a neighboring North Carolina county as it mulls re-opening a mothballed spodumene lithium mine that would compete directly with Piedmont.

Regulatory questions

North Carolina regulators asked Piedmont in January for more detail on 12 points they felt were not adequately explained in the company’s mining permit application, according to regulatory filings.

Regulators asked Piedmont to explain how the proposed mine could affect water table levels, as well as how to modify mine site blasting on cloudy days to limit dust that could affect a nearby airport’s operations.

The state additionally has “many concerns” about Piedmont’s plans to discharge chemicals into the public sewer system, according to the filings, and archaeologists have recommended that Piedmont erect a 25-foot buffer around four cemeteries at the mine site, a step that could force the company to change its development plans.

Piedmont has until July 13 to respond.

While investor appetite for lithium stocks has been high in recent years, Piedmont has outperformed even among peers, hitting a record high near $80 this past spring before softening. In March, it booked $130.8 million in a secondary stock offering.

Seven analysts rate Piedmont stock a “buy” with all expecting it to trade higher, according to Refinitiv Eikon.

Piedmont said it has applied for US Department of Energy loans, although the company would need to have its North Carolina permits before it would receive government support. The funds could not be used to dig mines in Quebec or Ghana.

In January 2021, Piedmont bought a roughly 20% stake in Sayona and its Quebec lithium projects. First production is expected next year.

Piedmont also took a 9% stake in Ghana-focused Atlantic Lithium, and committed to spending $17 million on a feasibility study and $70 million on building Atlantic’s Ewoyaa lithium project.

The market value of both investments has surged in the past year due in part to rising lithium prices. Piedmont will not operate the mines in Quebec or Ghana but has agreed to buy at least half of each company’s production of a lightly processed type of lithium known as spodumene concentrate.

“The potential for Piedmont to generate cash flow as early as 2023 is being overlooked by the market,” said Canaccord Genuity analyst Reg Spencer, referring to Quebec.

Albemarle looms

Pushback from residents and regulators is not Piedmont’s only problem in North Carolina.

Albemarle, which supplies Tesla, appears set to reopen its Kings Mountain, North Carolina, mine in a mining-friendly county near Piedmont’s proposed site.

In March, it bought 60 acres (25 hectares) that abut that mine site, hinting at the company’s future expansion plans. Albemarle has also recently posted job openings to help run the facility.

Albemarle is conducting initial geological tests and the project could open by 2027, spokesperson Kim Ronkin Casey said.

Lithium produced from spodumene rock can be used to make lithium hydroxide, which is prized by EV battery manufacturers partly because it holds a charge longer than the more-common lithium carbonate.

The United States does not have an active lithium spodumene mine, so the first one to open will garner huge interest from the country’s nascent battery sector.

Albemarle said it has been sharing its plans widely with the local community, taking the opposite tack from Piedmont, which purposefully did not approach local residents with its plans for years.

“There’s a lot of work we’re doing also with the community,” said Eric Norris, head of Albemarle’s lithium division. “We’ve engaged them very early on.”

(By Ernest Scheyder; Editing by Amran Abocar and Marguerita Choy)

Vale to spend $400 million in 2022 to remove tailings dams

Reuters | June 21, 2022 | 

Aftermath of Vale’s dam collapse in Brumardinho, Brazil. 

(Image by Vinícius Mendonça/Ibama, Wikimedia Commons.).

Brazilian miner Vale SA expects to spend $400 million in 2022 to decommission its tailings dams, aiming to have 12 of its 30 structures eliminated by the end of the year, the company told Reuters on Tuesday.


The dam elimination program, which began four years ago, has already cost the company $857 million of the $4 billion it projects to spend by 2035 in an effort to eliminate existing structures that could cause disasters like those in Brumadinho and Mariana, in Brazil’s Minas Gerais state.

Tailings dams are structures that contain mining waste. The breach of one in Brumadinho in 2019 killed 270 people and resulted in a wave of mining tailings impacting the region.

So far, seven structures have been eliminated, four in Minas Gerais and three in Para state. By the end of the year, another five in Minas Gerais will be decommissioned, according to the company.

The 12 dams Vale expects to eliminate by December represent a total volume of 46.9 million cubic meters of tailings.

(By Rafaella Barros and Peter Frontini; Editing by Bill Berkrot)

Electra begins talks on second cobalt refinery in Quebec

Staff Writer | June 22, 2022 | 

Electra Battery Material’s cobalt refinery site northeast of Cobalt, Ontario. 

Credit: First Cobalt

As part of its growth strategy in support of the onshoring of electric vehicle supply chains in North America, Electra Battery Materials (NASDAQ, TSXV: ELBM) has begun preliminary discussions with the government of Québec to build a new cobalt refinery in Bécancour that will integrate with an emerging battery materials park in the province.


Electra has been focused on creating North America’s first integrated battery materials park near the town of Cobalt, Ontario, which includes a hydrometallurgical cobalt refinery that is on track for commissioning by year-end. Once complete, it will be one of two major cobalt sulphate refineries located outside China, with target production of 6,500 tonnes of cobalt (from 32,500 tonnes of cobalt sulphate) annually.

The company will look to complete, in different stages, a battery materials recycling plant, a modular nickel sulphate plant and a battery precursor materials plant to complete its Ontario battery park.

“Given a forecasted deficit in domestic cobalt sulfate production by 2025, we have received significant interest from industry and government stakeholders to build a second refinery in North America,” Electra’s CEO Trent Mell said in a news release.

“The industrial park in Bécancour, Québec, is quickly becoming an important future hub for EV battery materials in North America given its numerous advantages, including a deep-water port, extensive infrastructure, hydro-electric power, strong support from the Québec government, and a qualified work force,” Mell said.

Global commitments

According to Electra, the Bécancour industrial park has already attracted commitments and investments from global automotive and chemical processing companies to establish facilities to produce precursor cathode active materials (PCAM) and cathode active materials (CAM) essential in the production of lithium-ion batteries.

In support of the preliminary discussions with the Québec government, the company plans to undertake a study to determine annual production requirements for the industrial park, capital costs for the refinery, flow sheet modifications for alternate sources of feed material, permitting requirements, synergies from integration with other battery materials companies in Bécancour, and potential funding opportunities from the federal and provincial governments. This study is expected to be completed by the end of 2022.

Earlier this year, the Canadian government earmarked C$3.8 billion towards the development of a Critical Minerals Strategy. Electra’s Ontario refinery – as well as other parts of its first battery materials park – has already received financial support from the provincial government.

De Beers sale shows stronger US and Chinese demand

Cecilia Jamasmie | June 22, 2022 

Prices for small rough diamonds, the type that would end up clustered around the solitaire stone in a ring, are climbing. (Image courtesy of Anglo American | Flickr.)

De Beers, the world’s top diamond producer by value, saw improved sales in its latest auction, despite moving into the summer, which is generally considered a weaker period for roughs demand.


The Anglo American unit sold $650 million of diamonds in its fifth sale of 2022, slightly up from $604 million at the previous event this year, but higher than the $477 million it sold this time last year.

De Beers sells its gems through 10 sales each year in Botswana’s capital, Gaborone, and the handpicked buyers — known as sightholders — generally must accept the price and the quantities offered.

Around 60 handpicked customers are given a black and yellow box each time. These contain plastic bags filled with stones, with the number of boxes and quality of diamonds depending on what the buyer and De Beers had agreed to in an annual allocation.

Prices for small diamonds, those that usually end up clustered around a solitaire stone in a ring, have soared since early April, when Russia’s Alrosa (MCX: ALRS) was targeted by US sanctions related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

De Beers chief executive Bruce Cleaver noted that diamond jewellery sales have been moving in the opposite direction to most other commodities on strong US demand and the reopening of retail outlets in China following covid-triggered lockdowns.

Youth in India protest army recruitment scheme and ‘economic distress’


Issued on: 24/06/2022 - 

Protesters block the tracks at a train station in Narwana, Haryana in northern India on June 17.Protesters block the tracks at a train station in Narwana, Haryana in northern India on June 17

Text by: Thaïs Chaigne

In India, young people who see the public sector as an avenue out of unemployment have been protesting a new army recruitment scheme that they say reduces job security. Videos of the protests on June 16 and 17 in the northeast show blockaded or destroyed railway stations as well as violent clashes with the police. Our Observer says these protests represent "the accumulated anger of the youth, at unemployment and economic distress".

The protests have been particularly violent in India's poorer northern states since the government unveiled a new army recruitment programme on June 14. In Telangana, where police opened fire on crowds, a 19-year-old man was killed on June 17. Numerous people have been injured in protests around the country.

Videos show protesters vandalising railway stations with stones and bamboo canes and setting trains on fire. The premises of the ruling BJP party in Bihar were also targeted on June 16 and 17.

Video from Secunderabad railway station, Telangana, during riots on June 17, when a 19 year old died.

The BJP office on June 17, in Madhepura, Bihar.

Several videos show protesters throwing stones at the police. Like here at Secunderabad Station, June 17

Nonviolent protests were held across the country, supported by opposition parties, including the Congress party. 

Several students who were preparing for recruitment into the army and had been found fit before the Covid-19 pandemic decided to march to Delhi from the city of Nagpur in West Bengal, about 1,000 kilometres away. They left on June 1, before the programme was announced.

Vidéo publiée par un des aspirant à l'armée qui marche vers Delhi, au 12ème jour de leur marche.

'Many young people relied on the military sector to get a job'

The new programme, called "Agneepath", was designed to make the army leaner and younger, as well as save money. It includes plans to recruit 50,000 young soldiers on four-year contracts, after which only a quarter of them would be retained in the armed forces. 

It breaks with the old recruitment process, which allowed for 15 years of service in the army with a fixed income and substantial pension.

Anupam is the leader of "Yuva Halla Bol", a nonviolent youth movement that has called for peaceful protests:

Many young people relied on the military sector to get a job. They prepared for it for several months, even years, physically and mentally. Recruitment stopped for more than two years, under the pretext of Covid.  Some had been waiting for a long time for recruiting to resume, there was a lot of anticipation and anxiety. But this new measure gives them a four-year contract, with no guarantees. For some of them it only postpones their arrival to unemployment.

'Youth unemployment is a national problem'

In February 2022, violent protests broke out in India after the country's largest employer, the public railway system, changed their hiring examination process. 

As Anupam explains, the anger following both of these events is linked to the same root anxiety over the lack of professional prospects for youth, threatened by unemployment. The youth unemployment rate in India reached 26 percent in early 2022, a staggering figure for a country where more than half of the population is under 30 years old.

Youth unemployment is a national problem, but the Modi government is turning its back on the problem. Due to the decline of the economy in India, jobs, even in the private sector, have shrunk considerably. This has led the youth to seek jobs in the public sector. But the state and central governments have failed to ensure these jobs in a fair and timely manner.

This is the reason why the youth are extremely angry and protesting on the roads. The protests related to the army and the railway sector [last February]. This is an expression of a larger anger, the accumulated anger of the youth, at unemployment and economic distress.

Bihar, a very poor state in the northeast of India, has become the epicentre of the protests. As of June 20, the internet was cut in 20 districts in Bihar and more than 900 people had been arrested.

In Bihar and other states, protesters burned at least 12 trains by June 17.

Anupam is originally from Bihar: 

This is a state where young people depend heavily on government employment. Most people who want to work in the private sector leave Bihar for a better life, but for those who are stuck here, the only opportunities are government jobs.

'We advocate nonviolence and respect for the constitution'

Anupam and several members of Yuva Halla Bol gathered in Delhi on June 16 to pay their respects to an aspiring soldier who had committed suicide that morning. He was arrested and detained for two days, during which time he says he was beaten and mistreated.   

We did not have a sound system, or big prepared speeches. And we advocate nonviolence and respect for the constitution. All we wanted that day was to pay tribute to this young man, who died because of this new policy that is anti-youth.

[The government] wants to push us to protest with violence and thus discredit our message. They don't want nonviolent movements, so they can say "look at these young people, they want to join the army, but they break everything, they have no respect". 

Yuva Halla Bol members protesting and getting arrested on June 16 in Delhi.

They cut off the internet in Bihar and put protesters in jail. But even if the government wants to muscle the youth, this sad series will continue until the government recognizes everyone's right to work, including low-skilled workers.

To appease some of the anger, the government said that 10 percent of jobs in the defence ministry as well as 10 percent in federal police forces would be reserved for people who complete four years of the new military scheme. 

On June 20, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said: "Several decisions look unfair at present. In time, those decisions will help in building the nation."

Congolese refugee powers Kenyan camp with solar plant 

Vasco Hamisi is checking on solar panels at Okapi Green Energy Limited, in north-western Kenya’s Kakuma refugee camp. The Congolese refugee is the brains behind this plant, which provides clean energy to 200 businesses in and outside the camp.

Germany abolishes Nazi-era 

abortion law

Bundestag session in Berlin\Fri, June 24, 2022

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany on Friday abolished a Nazi-era law forbidding doctors from providing information about abortions.

The Bundestag lower house of parliament voted to scrap the law, meaning doctors are now allowed to give out additional information about abortions without fear of prosecution.

Under the law, doctors in Germany had been allowed to say that they offered termination of pregnancies but they were not allowed to give any further details on the procedures involved.

Technically, abortion is illegal altogether in Germany. However, it is allowed under certain circumstances, and the procedure must be performed within 12 weeks of conception.

"For almost a century, doctors have been forbidden and punishable by penalty from providing factual information about methods and possible risks to women who are considering terminating a pregnancy," Justice Minister Marco Buschmann said in a statement.

"Today, this time of distrust in women and distrust in doctors is coming to an end."

Any criminal court sentences handed down based on the law since October 1990 will also be repealed, and any ongoing proceedings will be discontinued.

The new government had laid out its plans to eliminate the law in the coalition agreement signed in November.

(Reporting by Miranda Murray; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

Germany moves to reform abortion law

The government is following through on its pledge to decriminalize abortion. Officials plan to abolish a law that subjects doctors who publish information on abortion procedures to prosecution.

Women in Germany have been protesting for abortion to be decriminalized

"I really struggled to find information online," said Verena, who was 22 when she found herself dealing with an unwanted pregnancy. "There was no easy way to find out which doctors perform abortions, where they are or how the procedure is performed."

Abortion is illegal in Germany and punishable by up to three years in prison. But the women and their doctors do not face penalties if the pregnancy poses a health risk to the woman or in cases of rape. Otherwise, an abortion may be carried out within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy (14 weeks since the last period) after mandatory counseling. However, many barriers remain.

One of the biggest hurdles to obtaining an abortion in Germany was paragraph 219a of the criminal code, which has its origins in Nazi-era social policy. It stated that anyone who publicly "offers, announces [or] advertises" abortion services can face penalties of up to two years' imprisonment or a fine.

Gynecologist Kristina Hänel was found guilty of 'advertising' abortions under §219a

Although a reform three years ago allowed doctors to state that they perform the procedure on their websites, they were still banned from giving medical detail. 

But on Friday, Germany's coalition government of the center-left Social Democrats and Greens and neoliberal Free Democrats pushed the motion to scrap 219a through parliament.

Under 219a, Kristina Hänel, a gynecologist in the western German city of Giessen who has performed abortions for 30 years, was sentenced in 2017 to pay a fine of €6,000 ($6,926) for offering abortion services on her website. The case triggered a heated debate in the country.

"If 219a is scrapped now, Germany takes a step in the right direction of providing information for patients," Hänel told DW ahead of the decision.

Abortions don't have to involve surgery — many can be done with medication

Five years ago, Verena found that the lack of readily available information meant hours of fruitless searching before calling a local clinic, where she was cryptically told to get in touch with one of three doctors in her area. But then she found there was no way to get information such as: are these doctors well-rated by fellow patients? What is the difference between a medical and surgical abortion? What is the after-care process like, and what are the possible side effects?

"When you Google abortion, you're taken to websites that warn you you'll definitely be depressed, traumatized and infertile. That isn't medical advice — it just makes you feel like the worst person in the world," she said, emphasizing the emotional toll of seeking even the most basic information.

Verena said she had no idea about the many hurdles to abortion until she sought one herself

Jana Maeffert, a gynecologist with the reproductive rights organization Doctors for Choice Germany, said the dearth of information could create dire circumstances for patients, who may find out too late that a clinic doesn't offer what they are looking for. For example, doctors cannot state on their website "whether they offer medical or surgical abortions or both. They can't say that you only operate until the 10th week of pregnancy, so a woman might drive all the way to your practice only to find out she cannot obtain an abortion there anymore," because she has already passed that point in her pregnancy.

Jana Maeffert is a gynecologist with a reproductive rights organization

Less access to abortion

To perform an abortion, the doctor needs to see a certificate proving that the pregnant woman has undergone counseling at least three days prior in a state-approved counseling center. There are numerous organizations offering counseling, during which the woman is informed of her options, where she might find additional psychological and financial help if she decides to have the baby or how to go about adoption.

Verena said getting an appointment for the mandatory counseling was nearly impossible. She recalled making call after call. This can turn out to be so time-consuming that it risks taking the pregnant woman over the line of her first trimester.

Finding a counseling appointment and a doctor is far from a given for many German women. Since 2003, the number of doctors willing to perform an abortion in Germany has tumbled by 40% — there are now only 1,200 practices in the country where a woman can legally obtain one, down from 2,000 some 20 years ago.

"In Germany, abortion is a taboo topic. For patients, and for doctors, too," said Maeffert. "If you practice medicine in a small town, you may well decide not to offer pregnancy termination because then you're labeled the 'abortion doctor' in your small community."

"Only one in 10 gynecologists in Germany performs abortions," Maeffert said, "not necessarily because they're against it, but because the barriers are so high."

Some patients, Maeffert said, "must travel 150 kilometers" (90 miles) to find a doctor, especially in rural and Catholic regions such as Bavaria. But, even in some major cities, the situation is critical. According to local media reports, in Stuttgart, not a single hospital offers abortions. In the city of Münster, the last doctor who offered pregnancy termination went into retirement in 2019.

Abortion rates at 25-year low

As the number of practices providing legal abortions has dwindled, fewer and fewer women have gotten one. The year 2021 saw the lowest rate of abortions in Germany since 1996, the first year statistics were collected on the subject. According to the Federal Statistical Office, some 94,000 abortions were carried out in 2021, a decrease in 5.4% on the previous year and part of a decadelong downward trend.

Meanwhile, doctors who perform abortions in Germany have begun to face the onslaught of active anti-choice activists who protest outside clinics, hold marches across major cities, send hate mail and take to social media with aggressive comments.

Maeffert, in Berlin, said she herself had not yet experienced such attacks. "But, for example, in parts of Bavaria ... protesters stand in front of the clinic all the time. ... It's horrible for the patients and the doctors," she said.

Political will for change

Some medical students have taken matters into their own hands, and have found creative ways to get the relevant training on how to perform the procedure. The so-called "Papaya Workshops," for example, use the fruit as a model for the female reproductive system.

While attending such a workshop is not sufficient for a doctor to be certified to perform surgical abortions, it closes a gap in German medical education, where students say that abortion is "discussed for 10 minutes, if at all," according to the advocacy group Medical Students for Choice.

According to Berlin's public broadcaster, rbb, the workshops are fully booked. One participant told rbb that she felt the workshop had given her "a better idea of how the procedure goes, what tools you use. I had imagined it as being a lot harder. I'm not so scared of it now."

Some doctors in Germany are also now prescribing the pills needed for medical abortion in a telemedicine project where the pregnant person takes medications at home under supervision by a doctor to induce a miscarriage and negate the need for surgery. This is not to be confused with the morning-after pill, which has been freely available in Germany since 2015.

Edited by: Rina Goldenberg

AMERIKA GET READY

Woman who had miscarriage in Malta taken to Spain to abort

FRANCISCO UBILLA
Fri, June 24, 2022, 

Andrea Prudente, 38, who suffered an incomplete miscarriage while vacationing in Malta lies in her bed at the Mater Dei Hospital in Msida, Malta, comforted by her partner Jay Weeldreyer, left, Thursday, June 23, 2022. Prudente will be airlifted to a Spanish island on Thursday for a procedure to prevent infection because Maltese law prohibits abortion under any circumstances, the woman's partner said. (Jay Weeldreyer via AP)

PALMA DE MALLORCA, Spain (AP) — A pregnant American woman who suffered an incomplete miscarriage while vacationing in Malta was receiving treatment Friday in a hospital on the Spanish island of Mallorca because Maltese law prohibits abortion, the woman’s partner said.

Jay Weeldreyer told The Associated Press that doctors at the Son Espases University Hospital in Palma de Mallorca were preparing his partner, Andrea Prudente, for a procedure to remove the remaining fetal tissue because she was at risk of a life-threatening infection.

A medical evacuation flight transported the couple from Malta to Mallorca late Thursday.

Prudente, 38, experienced heavy bleeding on June 12, followed by a premature rupture of the amniotic sac and the separation of the placenta, Weeldreyer, 45, told The AP on Thursday.

The Malta hospital where she was treated carefully monitored her for any sign of infection but it could not perform the surgery to complete the miscarriage, he said.

Malta is the only European Union member nation that outlaws abortions for any reason.

The couple from Issaquah, Washington, a town near Seattle, arrived in Malta on June 5 for what they had planned as a “babymoon” vacation. A week into the trip, Prudente started bleeding and they encountered the “worst of all possible worlds, where there is no good choice,” Weeldreyer said. He indicated she was 16 weeks pregnant at the time.

Under Spanish law, abortion is permitted upon request through the 14th week of pregnancy and up to the 22nd week when a woman’s life or health is in danger.

The Women’s Rights Foundation in Malta filed a legal protest in court last week that demanded the legalization of abortion in the tiny island nation.

Woman who had miscarriage on Malta trip can’t get abortion

By FRANCES D'EMILIO

Andrea Prudente, 38, who suffered an incomplete miscarriage while vacationing in Malta is seen with her partner Jay Weeldreyer, right, in this undated photo taken in Deception Pass, WA, provided by the couple on Thursday, June 23, 2022. Prudente will be airlifted to a Spanish island on Thursday for a procedure to prevent infection because Maltese law prohibits abortion under any circumstances, the woman's partner said. (Jay Weeldreyer via AP)

ROME (AP) — A pregnant American woman who suffered an incomplete miscarriage while vacationing in Malta will be airlifted to a Spanish island on Thursday for a procedure to prevent infection because Maltese law prohibits abortion under any circumstances, the woman’s partner said.

Jay Weeldreyer told The Associated Press by phone from a hospital in the island nation that his partner, Andrea Prudente, is at risk of a life-threatening infection if the fetal tissue isn’t promptly removed.

Prudente, 38, experienced heavy bleeding on June 12, followed by a premature rupture of the amniotic sac and the separation of the placenta, according to Weeldreyer, 45. While the hospital is carefully monitoring her for any sign of infection, the facility cannot perform the surgery to complete the miscarriage, he said.

Malta is the only European Union member nation that outlaws abortions for any reason.

Contacted by The AP, Mater Dei Hospital, where Prudente is being treated, said it wasn’t allowed to give out patient information due to privacy regulations.

“The miscarriage is 80% complete,″ Weeldreyer said. ”Her waters are broken, the placenta has separated, but because of a (fetal) heartbeat,” the fetus cannot be removed, he said

In separate comments to other news outlets, the couple described the placenta as being partially detached.

The couple from Issaquah, Washington, a town near Seattle, arrived in Malta on June 5 for a long-awaited vacation. Prudente started bleeding and was hospitalized a week later, her partner said. He indicated she was 16 weeks pregnant when the bleeding began.

Along with worrying about the infection risk, the two fear Prudente might resume hemorrhaging during the medical evacuation flight they have arranged for Thursday evening to take them to Mallorca.

Like Malta, Mallorca is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. Originally, the couple aimed for a medical evacuation to Britain, but were told flying the longer distance was too risky.

“That entire time that you’re traveling, if anything goes wrong, it could end up being catastrophic,” Weeldreyer said in a subsequent, video interview with AP. “So our choices are, effectively: stay in Malta and be exposed to the risk of catastrophic and unstoppable infection that could set in at any point in time or take this risk in travel where you might bleed out.”

What had started out on what the couple thought would be a “babymoon” vacation was transformed into that dilemma, the “worst of all possible worlds where there is no good choice,” said Weeldreyer.

According to their plans, an ambulance will take Prudente to Malta’s airport. After the flight arrives in Mallorca, another ambulance will whisk her to a hospital that told the couple it could provide the care she needs.

Under Spanish law, abortion is permitted upon request through the 14th week of pregnancy and up to the 22nd week when a woman’s life or health is in danger.

Malta’s Mater Dei Hospital “has done a good job within the realm of what they are allowed to do” under that country’s law, Weeldreyer said. His partner is receiving antibiotics and being closely monitored for signs of infection, he said

The Women’s Rights Foundation in Malta filed a legal protest in court last week that demanded the legalization of abortion in the tiny island nation.

Lawyer Lara Dimitrijevic, an activist with the foundation, said abortion rights supporters in Malta have closely monitored the situation in the United States. Some states have enacted laws severely limiting or outlawing abortion that could be triggered if the U.S. Supreme Court reverses Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that recognized an individual’s right to choose abortion.

“We (in Malta) can’t be any worse, as we have a total ban, but we’re starting to see situations like in Poland and now America, where there is a reversal of laws, a stripping of women’s own bodily autonomy, that is heartrending,″ Dimitrijevic said in a phone interview.

Poland, like Malta a traditionally Catholic country, tightened its abortion law in 2020.

The lawyer described the Washington state couple as ”very brave to go public with this.” Since their case was publicized in Maltese media, “more women are coming forward to speak of their experience or that of family members.”

On Wednesday, an anti-abortion group in Malta, Doctors for Life, issued a statement on the Prudente case, saying it “firmly believes that the life of the mother always needs to be protected.”

It said that in similar cases, “careful assessment is made to assess the severity of the condition” and that if serious bleeding or infection occurs, “then the uterus is always evacuated” upon consultation with two experts.

If delivery is deemed necessary, “then this is done, even if the fetus is too young to survive outside the womb,″ the organization said, defending Malta’s abortion policy.

Earlier this year, the Council of Europe’s human rights commissioner said Malta’s blanket ban on abortion puts women’s rights at “significant risk” and urged the nation’s authorities to repeal provisions that make abortion a crime.

___

Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal, and Trisha Thomas in Rome contributed to this article.

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220624-us-supreme-court-strikes-down-constitutional-right-to-abortion

 

US Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, states can ban abortion

The Supreme Court has ended constitutional protections for abortion that had been in place nearly 50 years in a decision by its conservative majority to overturn Roe v. Wade. Friday's outcome is expected to lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states. FRANCE 24's Kethevane Gorjestani reports from Washington.

A post-Roe v. Wade America: Supreme Court overturns abortion rights landmark

The US Supreme Court on Friday took the dramatic step of overturning the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that recognized a woman's constitutional right to an abortion and legalized it nationwide, handing a momentous victory to Republicans and religious conservatives who want to limit or ban the procedure.

U.S. congressional panel calls for new trading rules after 'meme-stock' saga

© Reuters/ANDREW KELLYFILE PHOTO: A monitor displays stock market information on the trading floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in Manhattan, New York City

By Katanga Johnson and John McCrank

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Wall Street regulators need to do more to address market risks highlighted by the "meme-stock" trading frenzy of January 2021 that pitted individual investors in GameStop Corp against powerful hedge funds, a congressional report said Friday.

The report by the U.S. House of Representatives' Financial Services Committee singled out Robinhood's trading app for "troubling business practices" and said regulators need to step up scrutiny of the company.

The report also called for new brokerage liquidity rules and for regulators to hasten a crackdown on the "gameification" of trading, game-like features that prompt users to trade more.

"The meme stock saga has raised questions about how retail trading market infrastructure currently operates and whether it is appropriately designed and regulated," the report said.

Meme stock trading is still happening, with cosmetic company Revlon Inc the latest example.

The report, which was prepared following hearings in February 2021, analyzed how money was made and lost so quickly when GameStop shares surged more than 1,600% in January that year, then collapsed. It will increase pressure on regulators to prioritize the proposed fixes.

During the GameStop episode, retail investors banded together in online forums to push up the stock's price and force hedge funds that had bet against it, known as short selling, to unwind their trades.

The panel did not cast blame but instead proposed tightening regulatory gaps. The report called for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Wall Street's self-funded watchdog, to craft new rules to address what it called "a culture that prioritizes growth above stability."

Specifically, the panel recommends the SEC introduce a liquidity rule for clearing brokers, and for FINRA to establish a framework governing liquidity planning for clearing brokers, rather than current voluntary guidance.

Both FINRA and the SEC, which have stepped up scrutiny of "gameification," should also bolster regulations curbing the extension of margin trading to customers, the report said.

The panel also recommends that brokers that execute above a certain threshold of retail orders connect to a public market like NYSE or Nasdaq, rather than sending orders to wholesale market makers for a fee, a practice known as payment-for-order flow (PFOF), as Robinhood had been during the GameStop saga.

SEC Chair Gary Gensler, whose agency also last year issued a report https://www.sec.gov/page/sec-staff-release-gamestop-report#:~:text=The%20Securities%20and%20Exchange%20Commission,several%20questions%20about%20market%20structure on the GameStop saga, has said the agency would address gameification, PFOF and short selling disclosures, among other issues.

He recently unveiled a planned overhaul of trading rules that aim to ensure mom-and-pop investors get the best deal.

(Reporting by Katanga Johnson and John McCrank; Editing by Megan Davies and Jonathan Oatis)

The SEC is trying to reshape the US stock market - but that could mean retail investors will have to start paying fees on trades again


Carla Mozée
June 11, 2022

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler.Alex Wong/Getty Images

Proposed changes to market-structure rules could lead to retail investors paying commissions on trades again.

SEC Chairman Gensler Gensler is proposing the agency consider sending retail stock orders to auctions.

The payment for order flow system is back under scrutiny.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is aiming to shake up the mechanics of US stock trading in the wake of last year's meme-stock frenzy, and some experts in the markets say changes could lead to a shift back to retail investors paying commissions to make trades.

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler in a speech this week outlined six areas of market structure where rules could be updated to foster greater efficiencies, particularly for retail investors. Gensler is proposing the agency consider sending retail stock orders to auctions under which trading firms would compete to execute the transactions to ensure investors receive the best prices.

Such a move could alter the payment for order flow system, or PFOF, under which brokerage firms including Robinhood, TDAmeritrade, and E-Trade are compensated for sending customers' orders to market makers rather than sending them directly to an exchange. Among the biggest market makers are Citadel Securities and Virtu Financial. PFOF supports zero-commission trading at online brokers that serve amateur investors.

A significant PFOF change "may reset the entire playing field and cost individual investors more money because we'll have to go back to some sort of commission model," Sean Bonner, CEO of Guild Financial, a self-direct investment app that focuses on active and retired members of the military, told Insider. Guild, an early-stage business, doesn't use the payment for order flow system.

"I can guarantee you that commission model will be much higher than the rebates paying the payment for order flow — much higher, by a factor of 10s to 100s," said Bonner, who has more than 20 years of experience on Wall Street from floor trading to working as a mutual fund manager. "Retail investors are saving billions of dollars a year on the current payment for order flow model."

Major wholesalers such as Citadel, Virtu, G1X and Two Sigma provided $6.1 billion in price improvements in 2020 and 2021 combined, said BrokerChooser, based on its analysis.

Zero-commission trading in recent years has fueled a boom in activity among individual investors who no longer had to pay their brokers as much as $6.95 for each trade.

Proposed changes to shake up rules in the US stock market was met with criticism from Robinhood's chief legal officer Dan Gallagher this week. "It is a really good climate for retail, so to go in and muck with it right now, to me, is a little worrisome," Gallagher said at a conference in New York, according to The Wall Street Journal. Retail traders are benefitting from zero-commission transactions and fast execution of trades, he said.

Following last year's meme-stock frenzy, Gensler last year asked the SEC to review rules related to equity-market structure, including payment for order flow.

PFOF is banned in some countries. Gensler isn't proposing a ban but such a move would make it "almost inevitable" that retail investors return to a commission-based system, Kerim Derhalli, founder and CEO of investment app Invstr, told Insider.

"I don't think anyone is going to be willing to provide brokerage services on their own without having some form of revenue associated with it," he said. The Invstr app has 3 million users worldwide and the company doesn't use the PFOF system.

"If we return to a commission structure then you could argue that might discourage people from trading as frequently as they have been trading. You could, on the other hand, argue that if people start trading less, and investing more, they'll be better off," over the long term, he said.

"What would seem to be a simple solution would be [for Gensler] to say, 'We're going to make PFOF illegal and … retail trading needs to go through the exchange where it's transparent and the prices are transparent and people can have confidence in the system," said Derhalli.

Bonner at Guild said overall he sees a ban on PFOF hurting retailer traders. "To be honest, a lot of brokers would hope that they get rid of this payment for order flow model and get back to charging for commissions because there's a lot more revenue for the brokers in that."

Chimerix gets up to $25.3 mln contract from Canada for smallpox drug


June 24 (Reuters) - Chimerix Inc said on Friday it had been awarded a contract worth up to $25.3 million by Canada for its smallpox drug, likely to used to treat monkeypox as the viral infection spreads across the world.

There have been more than 3,200 confirmed cases of monkeypox and one death reported in the last six weeks from 48 countries where it does not usually spread, according to the World Health Organization.

The contract, awarded by the Public Health Agency of Canada, comes a day after Chimerix announced an order worth $9.3 million for the smallpox drug, Tembexa.

"This second international procurement contract highlights Tembexa's important role as a medical countermeasure and the need to have these types of medicines in strategic stockpiles for all age groups," said Chief Executive Officer Mike Sherman.

Chimerix, which in May agreed to sell the rights of the drug to Emergent BioSolutions, said the contracts are expected to be completed before the sale goes through. (Reporting by Mrinalika Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)