Third fuel tank collapses as helicopters battle Cuban blaze

Issued on: 08/08/2022 

The fire at a Cuban fuel depot has been raging for days 

YAMIL LAGE AFP

Matanzas (Cuba) (AFP) – Cuban army helicopters scrambled to contain a blaze that felled a third tank at a fuel depot on Monday after burning for days, as the search continued for 16 missing firefighters.

According an official update, the confirmed toll from the fire was one person dead, with 24 people receiving treatment in hospital -- five of them in a critical condition. Many others were treated for burn wounds.

The fire on the outskirts of Matanzas, a city of 140,000 people 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of Havana, broke out late Friday after lightning struck one of eight tanks at the depot.

On Monday, the governor of the western Matanzas province said the blaze had spread to a third tank, which collapsed like two others before it.

"The third tank also collapsed, after the second spilled its fuel" as it caved in on Sunday, governor Mario Sabines told state TV.

He said the blaze area was "very big" and the containment effort "very complex."#photo1

Aircraft, firefighters and other specialists and equipment arrived in Cuba from Mexico and Venezuela on Sunday after the island nation asked for help from "friendly countries."

Sabines said the teams were preparing an operation to attack the flames with foam, "but this could take a while."

Efforts 'intensifying'

Some 1,900 people had been evacuated from around the disaster site, officials have said.

"Work is intensifying to combat the fire," the Cuban presidency said on Twitter Monday, adding this was a "decisive day" for the effort.

After the first tank caught fire late Friday, the blaze spread to a second tank by the early hours of Saturday.

The first two tanks collapsed overnight Sunday, causing three more reported injuries and spilling their oil.

According to the Cupet state oil company, the first tank had contained about 26,000 cubic meters of crude, about half its capacity.

The second contained 52,000 cubic meters of fuel oil. It was not immediately clear how full the third tank was.#photo2

Firefighters had been battling to prevent the third tank from catching fire, dousing it with water to keep it cool, but ultimately to no avail.

The depot supplies the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, the largest in the communist nation.

The disaster comes at a time the island -- with an outdated energy network and persistent fuel shortages -- has faced mounting difficulties in meeting energy demands.

Since May, authorities have imposed energy blackouts of up to 12 hours a day in some regions -- sparking protests around the Portugal-sized nation of 11 million people.

© 2022 AFP

More than 100 injured, one dead, 17 missing after fire at Cuban oil facility

Officials in Cuba on Sunday said that 122 people were injured, at least one person had died and 17 people were missing after a fire at a crude oil storage facility. Photo by Ernesto Mastrascusa/EPA-EFE

Aug. 7 (UPI) -- More than 100 people have been injured and one has died after a fire sparked by a lightning strike at a crude oil storage facility in Cuba, officials said Sunday.

At least 122 people were injured in the blaze, with 24 still hospitalized, including five in critical condition, Cuban state-run media outlet La Prensa reported. The Ministry of the Interior later recovered a body at the scene.

In addition to the injuries and deaths, 17 people remained missing Sunday.

The fire began Friday night after lightning struck the Matanzas Super Tanker Base, about 60 miles east of Havana.

Two storage units, one containing about 918,000 cubic feet of petroleum and the other carrying about 1.8 million cubic feet of fuel oil, were impacted by the blaze.

Officials said the fire did not pose an immediate threat to the nearby Antonio Guterres power plant, one of the largest in the island nation.

Specialized fire crews from Mexico and Venezuela were on the scene trying to combat the blaze and prevent it from spreading to other tanks and installations.

"This morning was, once again, difficult," the Cuban presidency said. "Firefighters continue fighting the intense fire as help comes from friendly countries. Today will be a pivotal day in our fight for life."

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canal Bermudez expressed "deep gratitude" to Mexico, Venezuela, Russia, Nicaragua, Argentina and Chile for offering aid.

Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, vice minister of foreign affairs, also said that the Cuban government had accepted "technical guidance" offered by the United States to combat the fire.

"We deeply appreciate the condolences and expressions of help from people and organizations in the U.S. regarding the #Matanzas incident, including from the U.S. government, which offered technical advice, a proposal is already in the hands of specialists for proper coordination," he wrote on Twitter.

A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department told the Miami Herald that the Biden administration was "closely tracking the situation, including any humanitarian needs that may emerge."

"The U.S. embargo authorizes U.S. persons to provide disaster relief and response in Cuba," the spokesperson said.

Firefighters battle big blaze at Cuba tank farm for 2nd day

By ANDREA RODRÍGUEZ

August 7, 2022

1 of 12

People watch a huge plume of smoke rise from the Matanzas supertanker base, as firefighters work to douse a fire that started during a thunderstorm the night before, in Matanzas, Cuba, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022. Cuban authorities say lightning struck a crude oil storage tank at the base, sparking a fire that sparked four explosions that injured more than 121 people, one person dead and 17 missing.

 (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)


HAVANA (AP) — Cuban firefighters were joined by special teams sent by Mexico and Venezuela on Sunday as they battled for a second day to control a fire blazing at a big oil tank farm in the western province of Matanzas.

The blaze began Friday night when lightning struck a storage tank during a thunder storm, and the fire spread to a second tank early Saturday, triggering a series of explosions, officials have said.

“The mission of the day is to keep the third tank cold,” in hopes of preventing the flames from spreading into more of the site, provincial Gov. Mario Sabines said.

Most of the fuel held in the tank where the fire initially started was believed to have been consumed, officials said.

Authorities said a body found at the site Saturday had been identified as firefighter Juan Carlos Santana, 60. Officials previously said a group of 17 firefighters had gone missing while trying to quell flames, but there was no word if he was one of those.

Conditions were still too dangerous to mount a search for the missing firefighters, officials said.

A total of 122 people were treated for injuries, including five that officials said were in critical condition.

The governor said 4,946 people had been evacuated, mostly from the Dubrocq neighborhood, which is next to the Matanzas Supertanker Base in Matanzas city. The facility’s eight huge storage tanks hold oil used to fuel electricity generation.

Dense black smoke billowed up from the tank farm and spread westward more than 100 kilometers (62 miles) to Havana. The Ministry of Science and Technology said Sunday that the cloud contained sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide and other toxic substances.

The disaster comes as Cuba struggles with a severe economic and energy crisis, with frequent power blackouts hitting during a torrid summer. It was unknown how much fuel had been lost to the flames.

Cuba’s government had appealed for help Saturday from oil nations, and specialized firefighting teams began arriving with their equipment from Mexico and Venezuela late Saturday. They brought helicopters and specialized chemicals for fighting oil fire.

“The support (is) in the prevention of risks and also help to quell the fire by means of cooling based on water and foam,” Mexican Brig. Gen. Juan Bravo said upon arrival. “We hope that more support will arrive soon, such as chemical material.”

President Miguel Díaz-Canel met with the heads of the teams from Mexico and Venezuela to coordinate efforts for controlling the blaze. He later told Cuban media he appreciated the help, since Cuba doesn’t have experience or resources for dealing with fires of such magnitude.

Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío said Saturday evening that the U.S. government had offered technical help. On his Twitter account, he said the “proposal is in the hands of specialists for the due coordination.”

Minutes later, the president thanked Mexico, Venezuela, Russia, Nicaragua, Argentina and Chile for their offers of help.

___

Andrea Rodríguez on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ARodriguezAP

International Cat Day was founded by animal welfare group in 2002

International Cat Day, celebrated annually on Aug. 8, was started in 2002 by the International Fund for Animal Welfare. International Cat Care, a Britain-based nonprofit, took over custodianship of the holiday in 2020. 

File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

Aug. 8 (UPI) -- International Cat Day, celebrated annually on Aug. 8, was founded in 2002 by the International Fund for Animal Welfare to celebrate feline companions and raise awareness of their needs.

The holiday was created in 2002 by IFAW to raise awareness of felines in need around the world as well as proper care of cats in the home.

International Cat Care, a Britain-based nonprofit dedicated to promoting the health and welfare of pet cats around the world, took over "custodianship" of the holiday in 2020.

The organization said the theme of International Cat Day 2022 is "cat-friendly resources."

"This year we've teamed up with world-renowned animal artist and illustrator Lili Chin to design educational materials to help us humans make sure we're providing cats with the essential resources they need to stay physically and mentally healthy in a cat friendly way," International Cat Care said in a news release.

Other holidays and observances for Aug. 8, 2022, include Assistance Dog Day, Bullet Journal Day, Dalek Day, Happiness Happens Day, National CBD Day, National Dollar Day, National Frozen Custard Day, National Zucchini Day, Odie Day, Scottish Wildcat Day, Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor's Porch Night, The Date to Create, Universal & International Infinity Day and Wear Your Mothers Jewelry Day.

Court rules AI cannot receive patents on inventions


Artificial Intelligence systems are not able to patent inventions 

because they are not human beings, a U.S. Federal Circuit Court has ruled

. File Photo by Willyam Bradberry/Shutterstock

Aug. 8 (UPI) -- Artificial Intelligence systems cannot patent inventions because they are not human beings, a U.S. Federal Circuit Court has ruled.

The ruling is against plaintiff Stephen Thaler, who brought the suit against U.S. Patent and Trademark Office director Katherine Vidal

On more than one occasion, Thaler has attempted to copyright and patent the output of AI software tools that he created.

"The sole issue on appeal is whether an AI software system can be an 'inventor' under the Patent Act," Judge Leonard Stark wrote in the ruling, issued Friday.

"Here, there is no ambiguity: the Patent Act requires that inventors must be natural persons; that is, human beings."

Thaler serves as the CEO of Imagination Engines.

In 2019, he failed to copyright an image on behalf of an AI system. In 2020, the U.S. Patent Office ruled his AI system DABUS could not be a legal inventor because it was not a "natural person," with the decision later upheld by a judge.

The opinion isn't unique to the United States.

Both the European Patent Office and Australian High Court have recently issued similar rulings.

"The Supreme Court has held that, when used in statutes, the word 'individual' refers to human beings unless there is 'some indication Congress intended' a different reading," Stark wrote in the ruling.

"Nothing in the Patent Act indicates Congress intended to deviate from the default meaning. To the contrary, the rest of the Patent Act supports the conclusion that 'individual' in the Act refers to human beings."

Read More

FOR PROFIT PRIVATE HEALTHCARE
Inflation pushes many Americans to cut back on healthcare
By Dennis Thompson, HealthDay News


About 26% of Americans have put off medical care or prescription purchases due to higher prices, according to a recent poll. 

Photo by TBIT/Pixabay

Inflation is putting Americans' health at risk, with nearly 2 in 5 struggling to pay for the care they need, according to a new West Health-Gallup poll.

About 38% -- which translates to an estimated 98 million Americans -- said rising healthcare prices had caused them to skip treatments, delay buying prescription drugs or pay for their care by borrowing money or cutting back on driving, utilities or food in the past six months.

The poll was conducted online in June, the same month inflation reached a 40-year high of 9.1%, pollsters noted. In June, healthcare inflation hit 4.5%.

"We've known for decades that healthcare has been a financial pain for people, and that people have had to make trade-offs," said Timothy Lash, president of West Health, a nonprofit healthcare advocacy group. "When you layer inflation on top of that, it's like putting gasoline on a fire."

The poll revealed that

:One in 4 Americans (26%) have put off medical care or prescription purchases due to higher prices.

About 17% drove less, 10% cut back on utilities and 7% skipped a meal to cover medical costs.

About 6% had to borrow money to afford their care or pay medical bills.

What's more, inflation is influencing healthcare choices at every income level, the poll revealed.

More than half of U.S. households earning less than $48,000 a year have had to curb spending due to higher healthcare prices, results showed.

RELATED Staffing crisis leads to shortage of nursing home beds in U.S.

But nearly 20% of households pulling in more than $180,000 a year also have been forced to cut back, the poll found.

Women are more worried than men about medical costs, 42% to 36%. Lash said that probably reflects both the gender income gap and women's tendency to use healthcare more often than men.

These new results jibe with polling performed in the spring by the Kaiser Family Foundation, said Lunna Lopes, a KFF senior survey analyst for public opinion and survey research.

"We asked earlier this year if they or another family member had not gotten a test or treatment that was recommended by a doctor because of cost," Lopes said. "We found about a third of adults say that was the case in the past 12 months. And likewise, 4 in 10 adults say that they've put off or postponed getting healthcare they needed because of the cost."

Inflation likely has made things even harder on American families, she said.

"There's only so many dollars that people have to spend," Lopes said. "When they look at where to cut or potentially reduce spending, that's when you see people making these decisions of maybe not getting the healthcare that they need, because that's an additional expense that they'll have to budget into their monthly finances."

But Lash said the fact that healthcare costs are pinching people at every economic level and of every political stripe could make it more likely that policymakers will do something about it.

"It crosses party lines, with Republicans being more worried than Democrats," he said. The poll found that 44% of Republicans were concerned about their ability to cover needed healthcare costs over the next six months, compared with 33% of Democrats and 42% of independents.

"And so, in this sort of environment heading into the midterm elections, there's legislation right now on the table in Congress to lower the cost of prescription drugs by allowing Medicare to directly negotiate with pharmaceutical companies," Lash said.

"That would have a very significant impact over a six-year period on the cost of prescription drugs. My hope would be, with voters energized on this issue, that that puts pressure on our elected officials," he said.

The nationwide poll was conducted online June 2-16 with 3,001 adults. The overall margin of error is plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.

More information

Kaiser Family Foundation has more about healthcare costs.

Copyright © 2022 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Qantas asks 100 executives to fill in as baggage handlers amid staff shortage

FIRST HONEST DAY'S WORK

By Simon Druker

Qantas is asking dozens of its senior executives to fill vacancies among its baggage handlers as it attempts to cope with a staffing shortage, the airline confirmed Monday.

 File Photo by Dan Himbrechts/EPA-EFE

Aug. 8 (UPI) -- Qantas is asking dozens of its senior executives to fill vacancies among its baggage handlers as it attempts to cope with a staffing shortage, the airline confirmed Monday.

The Australian national carrier is asking for about 100 volunteers from its executive ranks to work as baggage handlers for three months amid a labor shortage.

The company is looking for volunteers to work at Sydney and Melbourne airports, two of its three primary hubs.

"The high levels of winter flu and a COVID spike across the community, coupled with the ongoing tight labor market, make resourcing a challenge across our industry," Qantas executive Colin Hughes said in a statement.

Staff will be expected to sort and scan bags, load them into aircraft and drive them around the airport. They will also need to be capable of lifting up to 71 pounds.

Volunteers will not be expected to carry out their ground handler role on top of their existing responsibilities.

The airline is in the grips of a staffing shortage. On Sunday, 19% of Qantas flights were delayed and 5% were canceled.

In July, Qantas Domestic and International CEO Andrew David penned an op-ed, detailing the challenges his company is dealing with

"Restarting an airline after a two-year grounding is complex and aviation labor markets, as with many others, are extremely tight," David wrote at the time.

"Some have pointed to Qantas' decision to outsource ground handling as a key reason the restart has been hard. This is not true. We had completed the ground handling changes before Easter 2021 when domestic travel was back to almost 100% and we didn't have the issues we had at Easter this year."

Qantas is far from alone in dealing with a lack of employees.

Sparked by rising passenger complaints over compensation for delayed and canceled flights, the U.S. Department of Transportation recently proposed stricter rules for airlines in how they define when redress is needed.

Traveler complaints have soared since the COVID-19 pandemic as the airline industry struggled with employee sicknesses and worker shortages overall. Passengers have often complained that carriers have not been properly compensating them for those inconveniences.

Surveillance of opposition leader was ‘unacceptable’: Greek PM


By AFP
Published August 8, 2022


Nikos Androulakis, leader of Greece's opposition Socialists, is taking legal action over the attempted surveillance via spyware Predator of his mobile phone - Copyright AFP Mahmud HAMS

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis acknowledged Monday that the intelligence service’s surveillance of the head of the socialist opposition’s mobile phone was “politically unacceptable”.

Speaking in a televised address three days after two key members of his conservative government resigned over the affair, he said the surveillance had been approved by supreme court prosecutors.

But, he added: “It was a mistake.”

Opposition politicians however said the prime minister’s statement still did not explain why the surveillance had been started in the first place — or who else had been targeted.

The scandal reignited on July 26 when Nikos Androulakis, leader of the opposition Socialists, told journalists about the attempted surveillance via spyware Predator, having filed a legal complaint.

Already this year, two Greek journalists have launched legal actions saying they have been victims of similar attacks on their phones.

Mitsotakis said Monday that he had learned a few days earlier that the national intelligence service (EYP) had started surveillance of Androulakis’s phone back in September 2021, when the opposition politician was already a European deputy.

“I didn’t know about it,” he said. “If I had known, I would never have authorised it.”

– ‘Endemic faults’ –

The surveillance had lasted three months then ended automatically — in accordance with the law — in December 2021, just after Androulakis had been elected to the leadership of his party, said Mitsotakis.

The decision by the EYP, Greece’s intelligence service, to launch the surveillance was “politically unacceptable”.

Referring to “endemic faults” in the agency, he promised a series of reforms to the EYP.

In response, Androulakis said the prime minister’s statement still had not explained why he had been put under surveillance in the first place.

He repeated his argument that “this is not a personal matter but a question of democracy”. Androulakis has already called for a special parliamentary investigation into the affair.

The main opposition leftwing Syriza party also argued Mitsotakis had still not explained why the EYP had thought it was okay to take “such an unprecedented action”.

“How many other politicians, journalists or citizens have been placed under surveillance under his administration?” asked the former Syriza prime minister Alexis Tsipras.

– Concern over media freedom –

Mitsotakis raised eyebrows when in July 2019 one of his first acts on assuming power was to attach the national intelligence service to his office.

On Friday, the head of the EYP, Panagiotis Kontoleon, and the secretary general of the prime minister’s office, Grigoris Dimitriadis — Mitsotakis’s nephew — both resigned over the affair.

Dimitriadis had been named by the investigative website Reporters United as being linked to the alleged spying scandals involving both Androulakis and Greek financial journalist Thanasis Koukakis.

In April Koukakis, a journalist specialising in financial affairs, went to the courts to denounce an attempt to hack his phone using the Predator malware.

In February, a suspected case of EYP surveillance of journalist Stavros Malichudis, a specialist on migration issues, was brought before the supreme court.

Journalists’ unions have denounced what they say is a deterioration in media rights in Greece.

Until Friday’s resignations, the government had denied any state involvement in such surveillance.

Predator, originally developed in North Macedonia and subsequently in Israel, can access both messages and conversations, experts say.

Androulakis has said he learned of the surveillance of his phone after using a special service for MEPs to check their phones for illegal surveillance software following hacks using a spyware similar to Predator called Pegasus.

Study shows environmental impact of 57,000 products sold in supermarkets

Mon, August 8, 2022

Eating fruits and vegetables is better for the planet than eating meat and cheese, but a new study by scientists released Monday showed chips and sugary drinks also have a very low environmental impact.

Scientists analyzed some 57,000 products sold in supermarkets in Britain and Ireland, in a large study published by the scientific journal PNAS.

The researchers, who hope that their study may allow consumers to shop more sustainably without sacrificing anything to their health, also compared the results with the nutritional qualities of these foods.

They found that juice concentrates, sodas or other fruit juices are among the products sold with the lowest environmental impact -- because they are mostly composed of water -- but their nutritional quality is poor.

Researchers believe that in general, the more sustainable a food is, the better it is from a nutritional point of view.

The study confirms what other previous reports had already advanced by analyzing single ingredients, such as fruits or red meat.

The novelty of the latest report is that its analysis relates to products made up of multiple ingredients, such as sauces, prepared meals, and others.

That task was complicated by the fact that the quantity of each ingredient is considered a trade secret, and therefore no real details are disclosed: Only about three percent of the more than 57,000 products sold by eight food retailers had their composition fully disclosed.

Scientists responded by developing an algorithm based on the few known pieces of information to evaluate the missing products -- in Britain and Ireland, ingredients are notably listed in order of quantity used.

To assess the environmental impact, four factors were considered: greenhouse gas emissions, use of limited water resources, land use, and eutrophication, which is when waterways are enriched with minerals and nutrients, mostly from fertilizers.

Bread, but also certain cereals and prepared meals or desserts, have a relatively low or intermediate environmental impact.

On the other hand, fish, cheese and meat -- especially red meat -- have a high impact.

"Replacing meat, dairy, and eggs with plant-based alternatives could have large environmental and health benefits," the study notes.

But "smaller" transitions can also help. For example, beef lasagna, with a high environmental impact, could be replaced by chicken or pork lasagna, or vegetarian.

In the future, better knowing the proportions and origin of different ingredients would help to determine more precisely their impact on the environment, the researchers said.

la/jh/wd

RENTIER CAPITALI$M

In New York, renters desperate as soaring rents exacerbate housing crisis

Ana FERNÁNDEZ
Mon, August 8, 2022 


In mid-May, Paula Sevilla and her roommates joined the many New Yorkers suffering under the city's crushing housing crisis, which has seen rents soar in the pandemic's wake.

The tenants argued their landlord had violated rules requiring sufficient notice but ultimately were told if they would have to pay an additional $800 per month if they wanted to stay at their Brooklyn rental.

Sevilla and one roommate began a grueling search for new housing in a market that over the past year has spawned countless apartment search horror stories.

After two months of searching, some 30 apartment visits and constant stress, they finally found a two-bedroom spot for $3,000 dollars per month.

Renting in New York has long been a struggle, but recently costs have skyrocketed, jumping an average 20.4 percent in the second quarter of this year alone, according to the housing search website StreetEasy.

And finding a home increasingly takes longer, with long lines of applicants vying for space.

"One time we lost an apartment because we turned in an application four minutes too late," recounted Sevilla, a 26-year-old originally from Spain.
- Boiling point -

Draconian prerequisites to rent in New York aren't new: earn income 40 times the monthly rent, have perfect credit history, present the last two years of tax returns and current bank balances.

And the city's housing crisis has been simmering for years, with construction of units lagging behind a growing population.

Now, as hundreds of thousands of people who fled the city during the pandemic's early days return -- along with the normal flow of transplants to America's cultural and economic nexus -- the situation is growing untenable.

There are "too many clients and not enough apartments," said Miguel Urbina, a real estate agent.

In some cases, it's not even enough to arrive first or offer more than the asking price to owners, which are often large firms or investment funds, especially in Manhattan.

Sevilla makes $75,000 annually, slightly more than the average salary in New York -- but it's not enough to rent on her own.

In New York, renters must often also pay significant broker fees to rental agents, generally at least between one month and 15 percent of the annual rental cost.

Many people who stayed in the city in 2020 and 2021 signed leases at a discount, but now many landlords are bumping those prices back up -- pushing out more than a third of tenants who can't afford the increases, according to StreetEasy.

Even New Yorkers lucky enough to live in rent-stabilized apartments -- approximately one million units and two million tenants, according to city data -- are not immune to the increases.

Those rents can only be raised based on a vote by the city's rent guidelines board, whose members are appointed by the mayor.

For eight years under Bill de Blasio, the highest increases were 1.5 percent for one-year leases -- but under the board appointed by new mayor Eric Adams, rents are set to see their sharpest rise in nearly a decade.

In June, the board approved a 3.25 percent increase for one-year contracts and five percent for two years, which will affect many of the city's residents with limited means and triggered outrage among housing rights advocates.

- 'Staggering financial burden' -

Manhattan families spend some 55 percent of their income on rent, a figure that is 43 percent in Queens and 60 percent in Brooklyn, according to StreetEasy data.

"Rent is becoming a staggering financial burden," read a recent report from the online real estate portal.

Gia Elika, the owner of a real estate agency, says average rent in Manhattan is some $5,000 a month -- but in a city of stark class division, some agencies are offering monthly rents of $140,000 on Fifth Avenue.

The shocking price tags are driving more middle-class families and young people like Sevilla to seek housing in neighborhoods historically occupied by immigrants, Latinos and African Americans, fostering relentless gentrification.

Elika told AFP that while "there is always a shortage of housing" in New York, "now it's magnifying" with unprecedented prices.

According to the Washington-based policy research group Up For Growth, in 2019, the New York metropolitan area needed some 340,000 more units.

Rising interest rates in the face of rampant inflation has aggravated the crisis by pushing would-be buyers to rent, in a market "hampered by historically low inventory," according to Lee's report.

Decades-old zoning restrictions limit building size in some areas is one barrier, along with construction costs, limited public housing and legislative foot-dragging that has seen state and local politicians largely put off solving an increasingly pressing problem.

And the outlook is grim: much of the skyscraper boom in Manhattan has been for luxury and commercial purposes, and despite high-rise construction in Brooklyn, Queens and New Jersey, agents don't foresee prices to quit rising any time soon.

af/mdo/to

Vegas-based rental firm faces probes over pandemic evictions

Wed, August 3, 2022 

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Las Vegas-based corporate owner of thousands of residential rental properties in several U.S. states is facing investigations about whether it improperly evicted tenants during the coronavirus pandemic, while it received millions of federal dollars aimed at keeping people in their homes.

Probes of The Siegel Group announced by Nevada state Attorney General Aaron Ford’s office and Clark County officials followed findings by a congressional oversight panel that company executives used "potentially unlawful" tactics last year to force tenants out.

“Siegel’s pandemic eviction practices were uniquely egregious,” the U.S. House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis said in its 41-page report. It said documents showed “harassment tactics and potentially unlawful lockouts to push tenants out of their homes without filing formal eviction actions.”

“Siegel received at least $5.5 million in federal assistance to offset pandemic costs and tenant rental arrears as it flouted tenant protections,” the report said.

Sean Thueson, Siegel Group executive vice president and general counsel, provided a company statement Wednesday saying Siegel was not “called or interviewed” for the House committee report.

“The Siegel Group has and always will try to run the most dignified rental housing business we can,” the statement said, adding that the company “has at all times been committed to abiding by the letter and the spirit of the law applicable to our operations.”

The congressional panel looked at evictions filed through July 2021 by subsidiaries of The Siegel Group and three other companies: Ventron Management, with apartments in Georgia, Florida and Alabama; Pretium Partners, corporate parent of Progress Residential and Front Yard Residential with rental homes in 24 states; and Invitation Homes, a publicly traded company with single-family rental houses in 11 states.

It said Siegel executives advised subordinates to “bluff” tenants out of their apartments by confusing them about protections they had under a federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eviction moratorium — including posting copies of a court order suggesting the CDC eviction moratorium was no longer in effect.

A national eviction moratorium enacted in September 2020 by the CDC was lifted in August 2021 after a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court.

In another case, the House panel said, a Siegel executive sent to employees in Texas a list of strategies to "‘get rid of’ a ‘past due’ tenant without obtaining an eviction order from a court," the congressional panel found.

Instructions included replacing the tenant’s air conditioning unit with one that didn’t work, asking state child welfare officials to investigate the tenant, and having security knock on her door “at least twice at night,” the report said.

Ford, the Nevada attorney general, characterized the report as “shocking and disturbing.”

"Evicting people from their homes during one of the most disastrous public health crises in our nation’s history is not only irresponsible, but offensive,” he said in a statement.

A Nevada eviction moratorium was first enacted in March 2020 amid business closures due to the pandemic by Gov. Steve Sisolak. The state moratorium was extended several times and ended in May 2021. Ford and Sisolak are Democrats.

Ford said the state “worked with tenants and landlords, including Siegel Suites, to ensure compliance with the directive."

County officials want to review rental assistance provided to Siegel Suites and Siegel Select hotel-apartment units in and around Las Vegas, and “remedy any wrongs," Dan Kulin, a county spokesman, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Monday.

Kulin did not immediately respond Wednesday to messages from The Associated Press.

Siegel Suites rents apartments beginning at $169 a week in states also including Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. It markets rentals as “flexible-stay” because it does not require a long-term lease.

The congressional panel noted the Federal Trade Commission and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau “warned against deceptive and unfair business practices" during the pandemic, but said it "is not clear that enforcement actions were prompt enough to deter such behavior from causing tenants to lose their homes.”

Ken Ritter, The Associated Press

UN holds emergency meeting on Gaza fighting

 

The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting Monday to discuss the situation in Gaza, with several members raising concerns despite the tenuous truce between Islamic Jihad militants and Israel after three days of deadly conflict.

Speaking via video at the start of the meeting, UN Middle East envoy Tor Wennesland warned that a resumption of hostilities will have “devastating” consequences.

“The ceasefire is fragile,” he warned.

Russian ambassador Vasily Nebenzia stressed the council is “deeply concerned by this turn of events, which could lead to the resumption of a fully fledged military confrontation and a further worsening of the already dire humanitarian situation in Gaza.”

Israel had since Friday launched a heavy aerial and artillery bombardment of Islamic Jihad positions in Gaza, leading the militants to fire over a thousand rockets in retaliation, according to the Israeli army.

The violence was Gaza’s worst fighting since an 11-day war last year.

An Egypt-brokered ceasefire reached late Sunday ended the intense fighting that killed 44 people, including 15 children, and wounded 360 in the enclave according to Gaza’s health ministry.

Both sides have reserved the right to respond if the ceasefire is violated.

Wennesland said that the UN’s assessment of the violence was ongoing, noting that “some 20 percent” of the approximately 1,100 rockets fired by armed Palestinian groups had fallen within the Gaza Strip.

Ahead of the meeting, Israeli ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan called for the council to place “full accountability” on Islamic Jihad, accusing the Iran-backed group of using Gazans as “human shields.

“There must be one outcome and one outcome only, to condemn the (Islamic Jihad) for its double war crimes while placing the full accountability ... for the murder of innocent Palestinians on the shoulder of the radical terror group,” he said at a press briefing.

“They fire rockets at Israeli civilians while using Gazans as human shields. This is a double war crime,” he said.

The United States’ UN ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield supported “Israel’s right to defend its people against terrorist threats.”

“This Council should be able to come together and unconditionally repudiate the terrorism of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, whose reckless actions have put the lives of civilians, on both sides, at risk,” she said.

But Palestinian ambassador Riyad Mansour slammed Israel’s “unjustified aggression.”

“Are you ready to say enough is enough? As the highest authority responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security?” he demanded. “How many more children do we have to bury until someone says enough is enough?”

The Security Council’s consultations took place at the UN headquarters in New York. No statement is expected after the closed-door meeting, which will follow the open debate, several diplomatic sources have said.

(AFP)

Guatemalan journalist critical of president charged with four felonies       

Author: AFP

|Update: 09.08.2022 

Guatemalan journalist Jose Ruben Zamora (C), president of the

 newspaper El Periodico, speaks to his lawyer (L) and his son Jose Zamora, 

during a break in his hearing at the Justice Palace in Guatemala City, 

on August 8, 2022 / © AFP

Guatemalan prosecutors on Monday charged journalist Jose Ruben Zamora with crimes including money laundering and blackmail.

Zamora was arrested last week and the offices of El Periodico, a newspaper he founded that has accused key political figures in the country of corruption, were raided.

The publication's staff denounced the actions as retaliation for its previous reporting on President Alejandro Giammattei, as well as Attorney General Consuelo Porras, whom the United States designated earlier this year for "significant corruption."


Prosecutor Cinthya Monterroso charged Zamora with money laundering, conspiracy, influence peddling and blackmail.

At the time of his arrest, a spokesman for the Public Prosecutor's Office told AFP Zamora was being investigated "not for his journalist work, but as a businessman."

According to Monday's charges, Zamora had asked a banker to help him deposit 300,000 Quetzals ($37,500) into the Guatemalan banking system in order to hide "the true origin" of the funds.

At the hearing, prosecutors presented as evidence the cash Zamora had allegedly delivered to the banker via a courier.


Prosecutors present as evidence the cash they allege Guatemalan journalist

 Jose Ruben Zamora tried to give to a banker to deposit / © AFP

Monterroso said the banker, Ronald Garcia, had told prosecutors that Zamora had possibly obtained the money from several businessmen whom he had "blackmailed" not to publish negative information about them.

Zamora has said that the case against him was a "set-up" by Giammattei and Porras.

The Guatemalan government has distanced itself from Zamora's arrest, which has sparked a wave of calls to respect freedom of expression, as well as warnings of attacks against independent media.

In June, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights added Guatemala to its list of countries where it has noted serious human rights violations, a charge Giammattei rejects. Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua are also on the list.

The public prosecutor's office, under the leadership of Porras, has been criticized for arresting and prosecuting several anti-mafia judges and prosecutors.