IMF fees on war-torn countries closer to elimination

By FATIMA HUSSEIN

yesterday



WASHINGTON (AP) — The International Monetary Fund is facing pressure to reevaluate how it imposes fees on loans it disperses to needy countries like war-torn Ukraine — which is one of the fund’s biggest borrowers.

The move comes as more countries will need to turn to the IMF, as food prices and inflation internationally continues to rise.

Surcharges are added fees on loans imposed on countries that are heavily indebted to the IMF.

Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in Aspen last month that finance ministers of several countries realize they have to pay a price for Russia’s war in Ukraine, especially with food prices going up.

“They’re going to have to go to the IMF, they’re going to need to find assistance,” Adeyemo said.

However, the IMF fee system could change through U.S legislation. An amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, otherwise known as the defense spending bill, would suspend IMF surcharges while their effectiveness and burden on indebted countries is studied.

That was passed by the U.S. House in July. The Senate is expected to vote on its defense bill in September. A representative of the Senate Armed Services Committee said an amendment may be offered in the next few weeks or even on the Senate floor.

As the largest IMF shareholder and member of the Fund’s executive board, the U.S. can push for policy decisions and unilaterally veto some board decisions.

Citing worsening financial crises in Sri Lanka and Pakistan as examples, some accuse China of engaging in debt trap diplomacy — or having countries falls so deeply in debt to that they are beholden to it on international issues.

Advocates and civil rights organizations lodge the same complaint against the Fund, who claim the organization undercuts its core lender-of-last-resort role with countries in vulnerable positions to pay back debt.

With an ever-worsening risk of a global debt crisis and rising interest rates, the issue has become more pressing for countries looking to reduce their deficits.

However, some economists and representatives of the fund say the surcharges amount to responsible lending behavior, as they provide an incentive for members with large outstanding balances to repay their loans promptly. This applies especially for countries that may otherwise may not be able to obtain financing from private lenders.

Maurice Obstfeld, a Berkeley economics professor and former IMF research department director said as a lender of last resort, the Fund’s ability to lend is important as low and middle income countries face rising interest rates.

“The Fund’s staff is small and in a crisis, its efforts are better deployed serving member countries’ needs,” he said in an email to The Associated Press. “Surcharges could be relaxed temporarily in the face of intense pressures on borrowing countries, but at the expense of the Fund’s ability to serve its membership in the longer term.”

Illinois Congressman Jesús “Chuy” García, who offered the defense spending amendment, told The Associated Press “it is unfair for the IMF to require countries like Ukraine that are already deep in debt to pay surcharge fees. These surcharges increase poverty and hold back our global economic recovery.”

Ukraine’s projected real GDP is expected to decline by 35 percent, due in large part to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to IMF data.

The country, engaged in a war with no projected end, has an outstanding balance of 7.5 billion SDRs — an IMF accounting unit valued at around $9.8 billion according to Ukrainian central bankers. The latest figures estimate that Ukraine will owe the IMF $360 million in surcharges between 2021 and 2023.

Economists Joseph Stiglitz at Columbia University and Kevin P. Gallagher at Boston University wrote earlier this year that “forcing excessive repayments lowers the productive potential of the borrowing country, but also harms creditors” and requires borrowers “to pay more at exactly the moment when they are most squeezed from market access in any other form.”

Serhiy Nikolaychuk, Deputy Chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine, said Ukraine is continuing to pay its debts “despite Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.”

“Our country will pay its debt and surcharges under previous programs and fulfill its obligations to the IMF,” Nikolaychuk said. “It will be difficult, but we will pay.”

For years, lawmakers, economists and civil rights organizations have called on the IMF, which has for decades loaned billions to low-income countries, to end its surcharge policy.

In January, 18 left-leaning lawmakers wrote to Treasury calling for the surcharge policy to be eliminated. And in April, a group of 150 civil society groups and individuals signed an open letter to the IMF, asking for the same, calling surcharges “regressive.”

A spokesperson for the fund says the surcharges are designed to discourage large and prolonged use of IMF resources.

“They only apply to countries with particularly large outstanding loans,” Mayada Ghazala said in an emailed statement, adding that poorest countries are exempt from the surcharges.

The fund’s executive board met in December 2021 and discussed the role of surcharges —it ultimately decided not to make a change to the fees, but said they would review them again in the future.

The IMF was created in 1944 at the United Nations Bretton Woods Conference — one of its missions is lending to maintain the financial stability of countries. Among its 190 countries, it lends around $1 trillion, according to the organization’s website.

An April review of the fund’s financial health for fiscal year 2022 and 2023 states that lending income excluding surcharges “remain strong and are expected to exceed expenses in FY 2023–2024.”

Andrés Arauz, a senior research fellow at the liberal Center for Economic and Policy Research says the IMF’s financial position shows “the surcharges are not necessary for sound finances.”

“There is no excuse for the IMF to be punishing countries under debt stress with surcharges,” he said. “There is also no logic to it, the amount of money that the IMF raises from surcharges is trivial relative to its income and capacity.”

Garcia said “I’m proud the House passed my amendment to support a pause and review of surcharges at the IMF, and I will keep up the fight until the President signs it into law.”

Separately, the U.S. has sent roughly $7.3 billion in aid to Ukraine since the war began in late February, including a new $775 million defense aid package announced Friday.

Chemical tanker, cargo ship crash near southwestern Japan

By YURI KAGEYAMA

yesterday

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This aerial photo shows Belize-registered cargo ship Xin Hai 99, after a collision, off Kushimoto, Wakayama prefecture, southwestern Japan, Saturday, Aug. 20, 2022. A Japanese chemical tanker ship crashed into the cargo ship off the coast of southwestern Japan, the coast guard said Saturday.

(Kyodo News via AP)

TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese chemical tanker ship crashed into a cargo ship off the coast of southwestern Japan, the coast guard said Saturday.

No one was injured among the six Japanese crew members aboard the tanker Ryoshinmaru and 14 Chinese crew members aboard the Belize-registered cargo ship Xin Hai 99.

The crash early Saturday was under investigation and both ships were anchored in the area, about 3.5 kilometers (2.2 miles) off the coast of Wakayama prefecture, according to a Kushimoto Coast Guard official.

Some oil leaked from the engine area of the cargo ship, which initially started to sink, but it was brought under control, the official said.

The tanker had left Kobe port to pick up chemicals from another Japanese port and did not have any chemicals on board at the time of the accident.

Divers were sent to the scene and GPS records pursued to determine the cause of the accident. The Chinese crew told the coast guard the tanker had suddenly veered toward them, the official said.

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Yuri Kageyama is on Twitter at https://twitter.com/yurikageyama

Statue honors once-enslaved woman who won freedom in court


This undated image shows a painting owned by the Massachusetts Historical Society of one Elizabeth Freeman. The story of the enslaved woman who went to court to win her freedom more than 80 years before the Emancipation Proclamation has been pushed to the fringes of history. A group of civic leaders, activists and historians hope that ends Sunday, Aug. 21, 2022 in the quiet Massachusetts town of Sheffield with the unveiling of a bronze statue of the woman who chose the name Elizabeth Freeman when she shed the chains of slavery 241 years ago to the day.

 ( Massachusetts Historical Society via AP)

The story of the enslaved woman who went to court to win her freedom more than 80 years before the Emancipation Proclamation has been pushed to the fringes of history.

A group of civic leaders, activists and historians hope that ends Sunday in the quiet Massachusetts town of Sheffield with the unveiling of a bronze statue of the woman who chose the name Elizabeth Freeman when she shed the chains of slavery 241 years ago to the day.

Her story, while remarkable, remains relatively obscure.

State Rep. William “Smitty” Pignatelli grew up not far from Sheffield in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts yet didn’t hear her story until about 20 years ago. He found that many of his colleagues in the Statehouse were also largely in the dark about the significance of her case, which set the legal precedent that essentially ended slavery in Massachusetts.

“She’s clearly a hidden figure in American history, and I really believe Black history is American history,” said Pignatelli, a Democrat. “But unfortunately, Black history is what we haven’t been told and taught.”

The enslaved woman, known as Bett, could not read or write, but she listened.

And what she heard did not make sense.

While she toiled in bondage in the household of Col. John Ashley, he and other prominent citizens of Sheffield met to discuss their grievances about British tyranny. In 1773, they wrote in what are known as the Sheffield Resolves that “Mankind in a state of nature are equal, free, and independent of each other.”

Those words were echoed in Article 1 of the Massachusetts Constitution in 1780, which begins “All men are born free and equal, and have certain natural, essential, and unalienable rights.”

It is believed that Bett, after hearing a public reading of the constitution, walked roughly 5 miles from the Ashley household to the home of attorney Theodore Sedgwick, one of the citizens who drafted the Sheffield Resolves, and asked him to represent her in her legal quest for freedom, said Paul O’Brien, president of the Sheffield Historical Society.

Sedgwick and another attorney, Tapping Reeve, took the case.

Women had limited legal rights in Massachusetts courts at the time, so a male slave in the Ashley household named Brom was added to the case.

The jury agreed with the attorneys, freeing Bett and Brom on Aug. 21, 1781.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, and his wife, Diane, are residents of the Berkshires and have been instrumental in fundraising and organizational efforts. They are leading Sunday’s ceremony.

“What I love about the story is that this remarkable woman, enslaved, sometimes brutalized, unable to read, listened carefully to the conversation around the table as the men she was serving discussed the concepts of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as ‘inalienable rights,’” Patrick, the state’s first Black governor, said in an email. “I love that this powerless woman could imagine these powerful ideas as her own, and could persuade others to test that question. And I love that the Massachusetts courts had the integrity of purpose to take her question seriously.”

Pignatelli was inspired to raise a statue of Freeman last year when he attended the unveiling of a statue of Susan B. Anthony in Adams, the Berkshire County community where the suffragist was born.

He brought together stakeholders and raised about $280,000, enough money for the roughly 8-foot statue, as well as a scholarship fund in Freeman’s honor for area high school students.

Gwendolyn VanSant, the CEO of BRIDGE, an area nonprofit that fosters racial understanding and equity, is overseeing the scholarships.

She called Freeman an icon and a trailblazer. “For me as an African American woman, it’s amazing to be walking in her footsteps,” she said.

After the court case, Ashley asked Freeman to return to his household as a paid servant, but she refused and instead went to work for Sedgwick, where she helped raise his children and was known by the affectionate name, Mumbet.

She was a healer, a nurse and a midwife, who bought her own property in nearby Stockbridge, VanSant said.

The Sedgwicks had such a deep respect for Mumbet that when she died in 1829 at about the age of 85 she was buried with them, the only non-family member in the family plot. Much of what historians know about her was written by one of Theodore Sedgwick’s daughters, the novelist Catharine Maria Sedgwick, O’Brien said.

The statue, cast by renowned sculptor Brian Hanlon, is being placed on the property of the First Congregational Church in Sheffield, not far from the Sedgwick home.

“We don’t know if Elizabeth Freeman went to the church, but we know Ashley did, and it was common for enslavers to bring enslaved people to look after their children at church,” said O’Brien.

Although some 200 people are expected to attend Sunday’s unveiling, the culmination of three days of celebrations, organizers have been unable to find any of Freeman’s descendants.

VanSant hopes a permanent memorial will spur interest into Freeman’s story. “Maybe her descendants will find us,” she said.

China plans cloud seeding to protect grain crop amid drought

A farmer stands above a deep crack in the dried mud of an earthen embankment in his rice fields on the outskirts of Chongqing, China, Sunday, Aug. 21, 2022. The government says it will try to protect China's grain harvest from record-setting drought by using chemicals to generate rain, while factories in the southwest waited Sunday to see whether they might be shut down for another week due to shortages of water to generate hydropower. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

CHONGQING, China (AP) — China says it will try to protect its grain harvest from record-setting drought by using chemicals to generate rain, while factories in the southwest waited Sunday to see whether they would be shut down for another week due to shortages of water to generate hydropower.

The hottest, driest summer since Chinese records began 61 years ago has wilted crops and left reservoirs at half of their normal water level. Factories in Sichuan province were shut down last week to save power for homes as air-conditioning demand surged, with temperatures as high as 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit).

The coming 10 days is a “key period of damage resistance” for southern China’s rice crop, said Agriculture Minister Tang Renjian, according to the newspaper Global Times.

Authorities will take emergency steps to “ensure the autumn grain harvest,” which is 75% of China’s annual total, Tang said Friday, according to the report.

Authorities will “try to increase rain” by seeding clouds with chemicals and spray crops with a “water retaining agent” to limit evaporation, Tang’s ministry said on its website. It gave no details of where that would be done.

The disruption adds to challenges for the ruling Communist Party, which is trying to shore up sagging economic growth before a meeting in October or November when President Xi Jinping is expected to try to award himself a third five-year term as leader.

A reduced Chinese grain harvest would have a potential global impact. It would boost demand for imports, adding to upward pressure on inflation in the United States and Europe that is running at multi-decade highs.

Also Sunday, thousands of factories in Sichuan province that make solar panels, processor chips and other industrial goods waited for word on whether last week’s six-day shutdown would be extended.

A document that circulated on social media and said it was from the Sichuan Economic and Information Industry Department said the closure would be extended through Thursday, but there was no official confirmation.

Phone calls to the economic agency and provincial government weren’t answered. A woman who answered the phone at the Sichuan branch of the government-owned power utility State Grid Ltd. said she had seen no notice about extending the shutdown. She wouldn’t give her name.

The governments of Sichuan and neighboring Hubei province say thousands of acres (hectares) of crops are a total loss and millions have been damaged.

Hubei’s government declared a drought emergency on Saturday and said it would release disaster aid. The Sichuan government said 819,000 people face a shortage of drinking water.

Sichuan has been hardest hit by drought because it gets 80% of its power from hydroelectric dams. The provincial government says reservoirs are at half of normal water levels. It earlier called on manufacturers to “leave power for the people.”

Offices and shopping malls in Sichuan were ordered to turn off lights and air-conditioning. The subway in Chengdu, the provincial capital, said it turned off thousands of lights in stations.

Meanwhile, other areas have suffered deadly flash floods.

Flooding in the northwestern province of Qinghai killed at least 25 people and left eight missing, the official Xinhua News Agency reported, citing local authorities.

Mudslides and overflowing rivers late Thursday hit six villages in Qinghai’s Datong county, the report said. Some 1,500 people were forced out of their homes.

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AP video producer Olivia Zhang contributed.

 

Chinese farmers struggle as scorching drought wilts crops


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Gan Bingdong uses a hose to water plants near a dying chili pepper plant at his farm in Longquan village in southwestern China's Chongqing Municipality, Saturday, Aug. 20, 2022. Drought conditions across a swathe of China from the densely populated east across central farming provinces into eastern Tibet have "significantly increased," the national weather agency said Saturday. The forecast called for no rain and high temperatures for at least three more days from Jiangsu and Anhui provinces northwest of Shanghai, through Chongqing and Sichuan in the southwest to the eastern part of Tibet. 

(AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

LONGQUAN, China (AP) — Hundreds of persimmon trees that should be loaded with yellow fruit lie wilted in Gan Bingdong’s greenhouse in southwestern China, adding to mounting farm losses in a scorching summer that is the country’s driest in six decades.

Gan’s farm south of the industrial metropolis of Chongqing lost half its vegetable crop in heat as high as 41 degrees Celsius (106 Fahrenheit) and a drought that has shrunk the giant Yangtze River and wilted crops across central China.

Gan’s surviving eggplants are no bigger than strawberries. A reservoir beside his farm has run dry, forcing him to pump groundwater.

“This year’s high temperatures are very annoying,” Gan said.

Drought conditions across a swath of China from the densely populated east across central farming provinces into eastern Tibet have “significantly increased,” the national weather agency said Saturday.

The forecast called for high temperatures and no rain for at least three more days from Jiangsu and Anhui provinces northwest of Shanghai, through Chongqing and Sichuan provinces to the east of Tibet.

Local authorities were ordered to “use all available water sources” to supply households and livestock, the weather agency said.

The biggest impact is in Sichuan, where factories have been shut down and offices and shopping malls told to turn off air-conditioning after reservoirs to generate hydropower fell to half their normal levels.

The province of 94 million people gets 80% of its electricity from hydropower dams.

Factories that make processor chips for smartphones, auto components, solar panels and other industrial goods were shut down for at least six days through Saturday. Some say output will be depressed while others say supplies to customers are unaffected.

The shutdowns add to challenges for the ruling Communist Party as President Xi Jinping, the country’s most powerful leader in decades, prepares to try to break with tradition and award himself a third five-year term as leader at a meeting in October or November.

Growth in factory output and retail sales weakened in July, setting back China’s economic recovery after Shanghai and other industrial centers were shut down starting in late March to fight virus outbreaks.

The economy grew by just 2.5% over a year earlier in the first half of 2022, less than half the official annual goal of 5.5%.

State-run utilities are shifting power to Sichuan from other provinces. Authorities used fire trucks to deliver water to two dry villages near Chongqing.

In Hubei province, east of Chongqing, 220,000 people needed drinking water, while 6.9 million hectares (17 million acres) of crops were damaged, the provincial government said Saturday. It declared a drought emergency and released disaster aid.

In Sichuan, 47,000 hectares (116,000 acres) of crops have been lost and 433,000 hectares (1.1 million acres) damaged, the provincial disaster committee said Saturday. It said 819,000 people faced a shortage of drinking water.

Authorities in Chongqing say an estimated 1 million people in rural areas will face drinking water shortages, the Shanghai news outlet The Paper reported.

Gan, the farmer south of Chongqing, said he has lost one-third of his persimmon plants.

Farmers in the area usually harvest rice in late August or September but plan to finish at least two weeks early before plants die, according to Gan.

A community reservoir beside Gan’s farm is nearly empty, leaving a pool surrounded by cracked earth. After supply canals ran dry, it sprang a leak and heat accelerated evaporation. Gan is pumping underground water for irrigation.

“If the high temperature comes every year, we will have to find a solution such as to build up nets, daily irrigation or to install a spray system to reduce the loss,” Gan said.

Meanwhile, other areas have suffered deadly flash floods.

Flooding in the northwestern province of Qinghai killed at least 23 people and left eight missing, the official Xinhua News Agency reported, citing local authorities.

Mudslides and overflowing rivers late Thursday hit six villages in Qinghai’s Datong county, the report said. Some 1,500 people were forced out of their homes.

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AP video producer Olivia Zhang contributed.

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Follow AP’s coverage of the Asia-Pacific region at https://apnews.com/hub/asia-pacific

Hawaii seeks end to strife over astronomy on sacred mountain

The sun sets behind telescopes on July 14, 2019, at the summit of the Big Island's Mauna Kea in Hawaii. For over 50 years, telescopes have dominated the summit of Mauna Kea, a place sacred to Native Hawaiians and one of the best places in the world to study the night sky. That's now changing with a new state law saying Mauna Kea must be protected for future generations and that science must be balanced with culture and the environment.

 (AP Photo/Caleb Jones, File)

LONG READ

HONOLULU (AP) — For more than 50 years, telescopes and the needs of astronomers have dominated the summit of Mauna Kea, a mountain sacred to Native Hawaiians that’s also one of the finest places in the world to study the night sky.

That’s now changing with a new state law saying Mauna Kea must be protected for future generations and that science must be balanced with culture and the environment. Native Hawaiian cultural experts will have voting seats on a new governing body, instead of merely advising the summit’s managers as they do now.

The shift comes after thousands of protesters camped on the mountain three years ago to block the construction of a state-of-the-art observatory, jolting policymakers and astronomers into realizing the status quo had to change.

There’s a lot at stake: Native Hawaiian advocates want to protect a site of great spiritual importance. Astronomers hope they’ll be able to renew leases for state land underneath their observatories, due to expire in 11 years, and continue making revolutionary scientific discoveries for decades to come. Business and political leaders are eager for astronomy to support well-paying jobs in a state that has long struggled to diversify its tourism-dependent economy.

To top if off, the new authority may offer a first-in-the-world test case for whether astronomers can find a way to respectfully and responsibly study the universe from Indigenous and culturally significant lands.

“We’ve been here for centuries. We are not gone; we are still here. And we have knowledge that would produce a feasible management solution that would be more inclusive,” said Shane Palacat-Nelson, a Native Hawaiian who helped draft a report that laid the foundation for the new law.

At issue is the summit of Mauna Kea, which sits 13,803 feet (4,207 meters) above sea level. In 1968, the state gave the University of Hawaii a 65-year lease for land that the school subleases to leading global research institutions in exchange for a share of observation time.

Astronomers like Mauna Kea’s summit because its clear skies, dry air and limited light pollution make it the best place to study space from the Northern Hemisphere. Its dozen huge telescopes have played key roles in advancing humanity’s understanding of the universe, including making some of the first images of planets outside our solar system. Astronomer Andrea Ghez used one to prove the existence of a supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy, for which she shared the 2020 Nobel Prize in physics.

But the telescopes have also changed the summit landscape and have increasingly upset Native Hawaiians who view the place as sacred. The 2019 protests by people calling themselves “kia’i,” or protectors of the mountain, were aimed at stopping the construction of the biggest and most advanced observatory yet: the $2.65 billion Thirty Meter Telescope, or TMT, backed by the University of California and other institutions.

Law enforcement arrested 38 elders, mostly Native Hawaiians, which only attracted more protesters. Police withdrew months later after TMT said it wouldn’t move forward with construction right away. Protesters stayed put but closed camp in March 2020 amid concerns about COVID-19.

 

 Native Hawaiian activists pray at the base of Hawaii's Mauna Kea,

 in the background on July 14, 2019.

 

 Officers from the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources prepare to arrest protesters, many of them elderly, who are blocking a road to prevent construction of a giant telescope on a mountain that some Native Hawaiians consider sacred, on Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii on July 17, 2019.

Kupuna Noe Noe Wong-Wilson dances a morning hula with other kupuna and ki'ai during the seventh day of protests against the TMT telescope on July 22, 2019 at the base of Mauna Kea on Hawaii Island.

The episode pushed lawmakers to seek a new approach.

The result is the new governing body, the Mauna Kea Stewardship and Oversight Authority, which will have a board of 11 voting members. The governor will appoint eight. Gov. David Ige hasn’t set a date for announcing his nominees, who will go before the state Senate for confirmation. He said more than 30 have applied.

Palacat-Nelsen said traditional Native Hawaiian knowledge could help the authority determine how large a footprint manmade structures like telescopes should have at the summit.

“Do we take heavy steps? Do we take light steps? When do we take steps? What seasons do we take steps?” Palacat-Nelsen said. “All that type of knowledge is embedded in the majority of our stories, our traditional stories that were handed down.”

The board will have this expertise because one member of the authority must be a recognized practitioner of Native Hawaiian culture and another a direct descendant of a Native Hawaiian practitioner of Mauna Kea traditions.

Central to the Native Hawaiian view of Mauna Kea is the idea that the summit is where gods dwell and humans aren’t allowed to live. A centuries-old chant says the mountain is the oldest child of Wakea and Papawalinu’u, the male and female sources of all life. To this day, the mountain draws clouds and rainfall that feeds forests and fresh water to communities on Hawaii’s Big Island.

Lawmakers drafted the law after a working group of Native Hawaiian cultural experts, protesters, observatory workers and state officials met to discuss Mauna Kea. Their report, which dedicated a large chunk to the historical and cultural significance of the mountain, formed the foundation of the new law.

Several kia’i who served on that working group support the authority. The House speaker has nominated one kia’i leader for the board.

But some longtime telescope opponents are critical, creating questions about how broad the authority’s community support will be.

Kealoha Pisciotta, who has been part of legal challenges against TMT and other observatory proposals since 1998, said Native Hawaiians should at minimum have an equal standing on the board.

“You don’t have a real say. It’s designed to create an illusion of having consent and representation in a situation where we really don’t,” said Pisciotta, a spokesperson for the groups Mauna Kea Hui and Mauna Kea Aina Hou.

Lawmakers said the pressure to address Hawaii’s telescope standoff isn’t just coming from within the state but also from the U.S. astronomy community.

State Rep. David Tarnas pointed to a report by a committee of astronomers from across the country declaring there’s a need to develop a new model of collaborative decision-making together with Indigenous and local communities.

“This is not just the Big Island issue, it’s not just a state issue, but I believe it’s a global issue,” said state Sen. Donna Mercado Kim. “I believe that the world is watching to see how we deal with this.”

From left state Sen. Donna Mercado Kim, activist Noe Noe Wong-Wilson, state Sen. Kurt Fevella and state Sen. Laura Acasio pose for photos at the end of the 2022 legislative session at the Hawaii State Capitol in Honolulu on May 4, 2022. 

The TMT matter, meanwhile, remains unresolved: Its backers still want to build on Mauna Kea, though they have selected a site in Spain’s Canary Islands as a backup.

The head of the University of Hawaii’s astronomy program said the authority could help his own institution if it “stabilizes the whole situation” for Mauna Kea astronomy.

But Doug Simons said he’s worried the authority might not get up and running in time to renew the summit master lease and subleases.

The master lease requires that all existing telescopes be decommissioned and their sites restored to their original state by 2033 if the state doesn’t authorize an extension.

Simons said it will take at least five or six years to dismantle the telescopes and associated infrastructure. That means new lease arrangements must be ready by 2027 or the observatories will have to begin winding down.

“There’s no obvious way around this,” Simons said. He said he’s pressing for the authority to be established as soon as possible to maximize time for negotiations and inevitable legal challenges.

Rich Matsuda, who works for W.M. Keck Observatory and served on the working group, urged the eventual board members to avoid being “stakeholders with narrow interests just trying to ensure that they get their piece of the pie.”

Tensions over telescope construction, he said, caused people to lock down and avoid discussing difficult issues surrounding Mauna Kea. The new law’s prioritization of the mountain’s well being may alter that, he said.

“My hope is that this gives us a chance, if we do it right, to change that dynamic,” Matsuda said.

RENTIER CAPITALI$M

Landlords try to stop rent control initiative in Florida

HOUSING IS A RIGHT

 In this  photo, swans swim in Lake Eola as the sun sets in Orlando, Fla. Ballots haven't even been printed yet, but already a group of landlords and real estate agents in Florida are trying to stop voters from deciding on a measure that would implement rent control for a year in the theme park hub that has been one of the fastest-growing metro areas in the U.S. (AP Photo/John Raoux, File)

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Ballots haven’t even been printed yet, but already a group of landlords, apartment managers and real estate agents in Florida want to stop voters from deciding on a measure that would implement rent control for a year in the theme park hub that has been one of the fastest-growing metro areas in the U.S.

The Florida Apartment Association and the Florida Association of Realtors last week sued Orange County, Florida, in an attempt to invalidate a ballot initiative aimed at limiting how much landlords can increase rents. If passed by voters in the fall, it would be the first such measure in decades in the Sunshine State.

The associations say that Florida law prohibits rent control ordinances except in an emergency, and the current situation in the county that is home to Orlando doesn’t rise to that standard. They also say that the ordinance could have the unintended consequence of making the situation worse by discouraging the construction of new apartment buildings and other housing.

“It is adverse and antagonistic to the public interest and to the interests of the Plaintiffs and their members to allow the Rent-Control Ordinance to be placed on the ballot or enforced by Orange County where the Ordinance is unlawful and invalid,” the associations said in court papers.

Earlier this month, Orange County’s Board of County Commissioners narrowly approved the rent control ordinance, which now goes to voters for approval in November. The ordinance limits rent increases in multiunit buildings to the annual increase in the Consumer Price Index. The ordinance doesn’t apply to luxury units, single family homes or vacation rentals.

Violators of the ordinance could face fines of up to $1,000 per day for a first violation, with fines not exceeding $15,000 per offense. Landlords would be able to request an exception to the limits under certain conditions.

According to the measure passed by commissioners, the asking-rent-per-unit in Orange County has grown from $1,357 in 2020 to $1,697 in 2021, the highest increase since 2006, and the county has a shortage of as many as 26,500 housing units.

“For years, renters have been asking this commission to do something about the upcoming emergency we are in right now,” Stephanie Porta, a cofounder of the social justice group Florida Rising, said last month during a commission meeting. “Corporate landlords, real estate investors and developers are raising prices and making record profits while hardworking Orange County residents are priced out of their communities.”

The city of Miami Beach in the 1960s and 1970s imposed rent control measures before the Florida law limiting them was passed. The Orange County ordinance would be the first such measure in the state in decades. Rent control measures have passed in California and Oregon, as well as in metro areas like St. Paul, Minnesota, and Portland, Oregon.

Orange County grew from 1.1 million residents to 1.4 million residents during the last decade, according to the 2020 census.

REST IN POWER
Dorli Rainey, symbol of Occupy movement, dies at 95

Dorli Rainey, 84, center, who was pepper-sprayed by police while taking part in an "Occupy Seattle" protest, smiles before speaking on Nov. 18, 2011, in front of police headquarters in downtown Seattle. Rainey, who became a symbol of the Occupy protest movement after she was pepper-sprayed by Seattle police in 2011, has died on Aug. 12, 2022, at age 95. Her daughter, Gabriele Rainey, said her mom was “so active because she loved this country, and she wanted to make sure that the country was good to its people.” (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)

SEATTLE (AP) — Dorli Rainey, a self-described “old lady in combat boots” who became a symbol of the Occupy protest movement when she was photographed after being pepper-sprayed by Seattle police, has died. She was 95.

The longtime political activist died on Aug. 12, the Seattle Times reported. Her daughter, Gabriele Rainey, told the newspaper her mom was “so active because she loved this country, and she wanted to make sure that the country was good to its people.”

Rainey was a fixture in the local progressive movement for decades, demonstrating for racial justice, affordable housing and public transit, and against war, nuclear weapons and big banks.

In November 2011, in the early days of the Occupy Wall Street movement, Rainey, then 84, joined protesters in blocking downtown intersections. She was hit when Seattle police used pepper spray to clear the crowd.

Fellow protesters poured milk over her face to ease the sting, and a seattlepi.com photographer, Joshua Trujillo, captured a stunning image of her staring defiantly into the camera, her eyes red and milk dripping off her face.


 Seattle activist Dorli Rainey, 84, reacts after being hit with pepper spray during an Occupy Seattle protest on Nov. 15, 2011 at Westlake Park in Seattle. Rainey, who became a symbol of the Occupy protest movement after she was pepper-sprayed by Seattle police in 2011, has died on Aug. 12, 2022, at age 95. Her daughter, Gabriele Rainey, said her mom was “so active because she loved this country." 

(Joshua Trujillo/seattlepi.com via AP, File)

The photo become a worldwide symbol for the protest movement. She was profiled by The Washington Post, The Atlantic, The Associated Press and The Guardian.

“It’s a gruesome picture,” she told the AP. “I’m really not that bad looking.”

Then-Mayor Mike McGinn apologized and ordered a review of the incident. Rainey was back out protesting a couple days later.

“Dorli is legendary, and deservedly so, for her activism,” McGinn said Friday. “She was just omnipresent and a conscience and a voice for change, and I deeply, deeply, deeply respected her.”

Rainey was born in Austria in 1926. She was a Red Cross nurse and then worked in Europe as a technical translator for the U.S. Army for 10 years. She married Max Rainey, a civil engineer who got a job with Boeing, and they moved to the Seattle area in 1956.

She worked as a court-appointed special advocate, representing children who have experienced abuse or neglect, and as a real-estate agent. She served on the Issaquah School Board and ran for King County Council a half-century ago, and she made a brief run for Seattle mayor in 2009.

She had three children, Gabriele, of Asheville, North Carolina; Michael, of Boston; and Andrea, who died in 2014. She was also preceded in death by her husband, Max.

Opinion: Much ado about nothing — Sanna Marin and a very Finnish scandal

Sanna Marin's latest "partygate" is in many ways a typical Finnish scandal. Politics there tend to be so uptight that it takes some creativity to stir up a controversy, says Minna Alander.

Sanna Marin reacted to the leaked video at a news conference

Once again, Finland's Prime Minister Sanna Marin made international headlines. But this time it was with a video showing her at a private party, dancing with friends.

What ensued was a very classic "Finnish scandal," which is actually not a scandal at all, but because Finnish politics tend to be so uptight and slightly boring, you have to get creative to stir things up every once in a while.

It is at the same time indicative of the very high moral standards that are applied to politicians and that they are expected to live up to. Consequently, the threshold is very low for Finnish politicians to resign over what seem like rather insignificant incidents elsewhere.

For example, in 2008 then-Foreign Minister Ilkka Kanerva was sacked over a text message scandal: he had been sending text messages to a controversial female celebrity. Sanna Marin herself became prime minister after her predecessor Antti Rinne resigned over a scandal related to a post office strike.

Minna Alander is a Finnish analyst specializing in foreign and security policy

Marin and her female-led government have been at the center of unusual international attention ever since taking office in December 2019. A 2021 study by the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence found that the female ministers of the Marin government receive disproportionate numbers of abusive messages and Marin herself has been frequently subject to domestic "scandals," such as posting certain selfies on Instagram or other party incidents that have earned her the nickname "party-Sanna" in the press.

Some of the more memorable Sanna "scandals" were "breakfastgate" over her breakfast expenses or the controversy over the revelation that she likes cleaning, even the official residence, herself.

Criticism sexist

Much of the rather absurd domestic controversies smack of misogyny, as Marin has been leading Finland steadfastly through several exceptionally difficult situations, starting with the pandemic and now the NATO membership process. It is a lot to take in that a competent prime minister can be a 36-year-old woman, mother of a small child, who despite having one of the toughest jobs in the country, also manages to have a social life, go to festivals, and even to party occasionally.

Usually, the domestic "scandals" do not make international headlines. What was different this time was the allegation that she would have possibly been doing drugs.

It was based on a sentence in the leaked party video that was misheard as "jauhojengi" ("flour gang") and interpreted to mean drugs. In fact, Marin and her friends seem to be singing along to the lyrics of a Finnish pop song that mentions "jallu," a Finnish alcoholic drink. No one would call drugs "flour" anyway in Finland, which makes the whole business even sillier.

Misinformation spreads quickly

Nevertheless, international media picked up on it in an unprecedented manner. In a series of pieces with unchecked facts, foreign media even alleged the word "cocaine" was being yelled in the background.

After a fringe member of one of the coalition parties suggested she should take a drug test, Marin told reporters on Friday that she had done so to clear any misconceptions about her behavior – although the burden of proof should not be on the accused.

While Marin also received strong messages of international support, the case shows how easily misinformation can start spreading like wildfire. It takes so little to do damage but so much work to set the record straight.

It is always the burden of a pioneer, which Marin is in many ways, to reform the image of an institution, such as what and who a prime minister can be. This will hardly be the last very Finnish scandal about the prime minister and, maybe, that's a good thing.

Minna Alander is a foreign and security policy analyst from Finland. She has worked at the German Institute for International Affairs (SWP) in Berlin and is about to return to her native Finland as a researcher at the Finnish Institute for International Affairs.

Finland asks: Does a prime minister have 

a right to party?

By KOSTYA MANENKOV and KARL RITTER

1 of 5

Prime minister of Finland Sanna Marin holds a press conference in Helsinki, Finland, Aug. 19, 2022. Marin, who in December 2019 became Finland’s youngest prime minister ever, said Friday she has taken a drug test “for her own legal protection” after a video was leaked of her at her private party dancing and mimicking singing. (Roni Rekomaa/Lehtikuva via AP)


HELSINKI (AP) — In a leaked video, Finland’s Prime Minister Sanna Marin is seen dancing and singing with friends at a private party. The 36-year-old leader poses for the camera. She sits on her knees, hands behind her head. She’s entangled in a group hug. She’s having a good time.

Countless similar videos are shared daily on social media by young and not-so-young people partying in Finland and all over the world. But the leak has triggered a debate among Finns about what level of reveling is appropriate for a prime minister, especially considering neighboring Russia’s attack on Ukraine, which prompted long-neutral Finland and Sweden to apply for NATO membership.

Marin, who leads the center-left Social Democratic Party, has faced a barrage of questions about the party: Were there drugs? Alcohol? Was she working or on summer vacation? Was the prime minister sober enough to handle an emergency had one arisen?

The video, clearly shot by someone at the party, was leaked on social media and caught the attention of Finnish media this week. Marin said she attended the party in recent weeks, but refused to say exactly where and when.

She also acknowledged that she and her friends celebrated in a “boisterous way” and that alcohol — but, to her knowledge, no drugs — was involved. She said Friday that she took a drug test to put an end to speculation about illegal substances.

“I hope that in the year 2022 it’s accepted that even decision-makers dance, sing and go to parties,” Marin told reporters. “I didn’t wish for any images to be spread, but it’s up to the voters to decide what they think about it.”

The prime minister, who is married and has a 4-year-old daughter, has often insisted that even though she’s the head of Finland’s government, she’s just like anyone else her age who likes a good time with friends and family in their leisure time.

In Helsinki on Friday afternoon, opinions were split.

Josua Fagerholm, who works in marketing, said the episode was potentially damaging to Finland’s reputation and to the public’s confidence in Finnish politicians.

“I think it’s important for our politicians to be respectable and enjoy the trust of the public. So I don’t think it’s a good look,” he said.

Mintuu Kylliainen, a student in Helsinki, disagreed. She said everyone was entitled to their opinion, but she felt the leaked video was getting too much attention.

“It’s normal to, like, party,” Kylliainen said. “She should have fun, too, in her life.”

Some supporters say the criticism against the prime minister smacks of sexism.

Marin became Finland’s youngest prime minister in 2019 at age 34. Even in the egalitarian Nordic country, Marin felt her gender and age sometimes received too much emphasis. She told Vogue magazine in 2020 that “in every position I’ve ever been in, my gender has always been the starting point - that I am a young woman.”

Anu Koivonen, a professor of gender studies at Finland’s University of Turku, said she didn’t think gender was a decisive factor in the uproar over the leaked video. She said the partying itself was not a big issue, but the fact the video leaked could be viewed as a judgment lapse by the prime minister in terms of the people she surrounded herself with.

“That she didn’t restrain herself in a company where she cannot trust everyone in the room,” Koivonen said. “I think that’s the main issue.”

Jarno Limnell, a cybersecurity expert and politician for Finland’s conservative National Coalition Party, said the partying incident was problematic from a security standpoint, noting that Finland’s top leaders are of interest to foreign security services.

“Information is gathered from a variety of sources, and even seemingly trivial pieces of information can be significant to a foreign power,” Limnell told Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat. “Top decision-makers are under close watch during the NATO ratification process.”

It’s not the first time that Marin’s partying has made headlines. In December, she apologized after going out clubbing until 4 a.m. and missing a text message advising her to avoid social contacts due to her proximity to someone infected with COVID-19. Marin said she didn’t see the message because she had left her phone at home. She tested negative for the virus.

Even in a progressive society like Finland’s, Marin breaks the mold of a typical politician. She grew up with a single mother who was in a relationship with another woman. Many Finns are proud of her modern approach to the office, including her casual attire. Marin set social media abuzz in April when she showed up to a press conference with her Swedish counterpart wearing a black leather jacket.

Marin and her female-majority Cabinet have also won praise in Finland and internationally for guiding the country steadfastly through the COVID-19 pandemic and the NATO application process.

“Our prime minister is super,” said Jori Korkman, a retiree in Helsinki. “She has taken her very difficult job during a very difficult time, and she has made a first-class job. What she’s doing in her free time is not our business.”

___ Ritter reported from Stockholm.

 

ALL THIS FUSS OVER HER PERSONAL LIFE WHEN 

THIS IS FAR MORE IMPORTANT: 

FINNS SAY YES TO NUCLEAR WASTE

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2022/08/wait-what-finns-say-yes-to-nuclear.html

45 years after launch, NASA's Voyager probes still blazing trails billions of miles away

Even after 45 years, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are still communicating with Earth as they explore interstellar space.


Voyager 2 lifts off at the Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Fla., on August 20, 1977. The probe was launched a couple weeks before Voyager 1 and ultimately became the second-farthest man-made object from the Earth. Photo courtesy NASA


Aug. 19 (UPI) -- Forty-five years ago, NASA launched the first part of its most ambitious deep space mission in its history -- a spacecraft called Voyager 2, which is still communicating with scientists on Earth at a distance of more than 12 billion miles away.

Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are both in interstellar space. In fact, they are one of only five space probes from Earth that have left the solar system.

Because of planetary alignment and the trajectory needed for its mission, Voyager 2 actually launched first on Aug. 20, 1977. Voyager 1 followed on Sept. 5, and the two space probes began charting the far reaches of the galaxy.

The two probes are still operating as NASA's longest international mission, and are expected to keep operating for at least a few more years before they finally run out of power.

Saturday will mark 45 years since the start of the mission.

Even though NASA has achieved a number of major victories in space, such as the Apollo moon landings and dozens of space shuttle missions, the Voyager spacecrafts are still fondly revered by scientists and the space-loving public.

Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, both launched in 1977, are graphically represented in their positions several years ago at the edge of the heliosphere, the barrier the sun creates around the planets in the solar system. Image courtesy NASA

The resilient machines have even become part of popular culture, fictionally appearing in a number of television programs and films. A fictional Voyager probe was a major plot point in the first Star Trek film in 1979 and one was responsible for bringing a benign alien life form to Earth in the 1984 film Starman.

"The Voyagers have continued to make amazing discoveries, inspiring a new generation of scientists and engineers," Suzanne Dodd, Voyager project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, said in a statement Wednesday.

"We don't know how long the mission will continue, but we can be sure that the spacecraft will provide even more scientific surprises as they travel farther away from Earth."




Following their launches, both probes became part of a "grand tour" to explore the outer planets in great detail for the first time, including Jupiter and Saturn, and to beam back data about the solar system's largest plants and their moons. Voyager 1, which was moving faster, ultimately overtook Voyager 2 and reached the outer planets first.

Later in the mission, Voyager 2 became the first -- and to date still the only -- spacecraft to fly exceptionally close to the two outermost planets, Uranus in 1986 and Neptune in 1989.

On its way out of the solar system in 1990, Voyager 1 turned its onboard camera around to take a snapshot of all the planets except Mercury, which was out of view. The image is now known as the "family portrait." At the time, the craft was almost 4 billion miles from Earth.

"Today, as both Voyagers explore interstellar space, they are providing humanity with observations of uncharted territory," Linda Spilker, Voyager's deputy project scientist at JPL, said in a statement.

"This is the first time we've been able to directly study how a star, our sun, interacts with the particles and magnetic fields outside our heliosphere ... and providing key information for future missions."

As Voyager 2 conducted its flybys, Voyager 1 was first to reach the boundary of the heliosphere, the protective bubble created by the sun's magnetic field and the outward flow of solar wind.

Both of the space probes captured stunning images of all the planets beyond the Earth, including many of their moons, and gathered surprising data about a lot of the celestial bodies.

For example, the Voyagers discovered that Enceladus, one of Saturn's moons, has a vast salt-water ocean beneath its surface and likely hydrothermal vents -- conditions that are exceptional for creating life. Large geysers emerging from the moon´s surface clued scientists to this fact.

Decades later in 2012, Voyager 1 reached the boundary of the heliosphere and exited the solar system and Voyager 2 followed in 2018.

Upon its exit, Voyager 1 discovered that the bubble-like heliosphere blocks about 70% of cosmic rays or energetic particles created by exploding stars.

Both Voyager probes are powered by radioisotope thermoelectric generators that contain plutonium, which gives off heat that is then converted into electricity to power the equipment. In a sign of the times, they also each carry an eight-track tape player to record and transmit data -- about 38,000 times slower than modern 5G Internet speeds.

SPECULATORS;HOMES FOR PROFIT

U.S. in recession for home sales and construction, but not for prices, industry report says


"We're witnessing a housing recession in terms of declining home sales and home building, however, it's not a recession in home prices," economist Lawrence Yun said.

 File Photo by Alexis C. Glenn/UPI | License Photo

Aug. 19 (UPI) -- Sales of existing homes in the United States tumbled almost 6% in July and were down 20% compared to a year ago, according to an updated industry report.

The National Association of Realtors said the monthly decline was the sixth straight for existing home sales, and mark what it says is a clear recession in homes sales and home building.

The median existing-home price, however, increased by about 11% over the past 12 months, to $403,800. Although that´s a year-over-year increase, it is down $10,000 from last month's record of $413,800.

Inventory of unsold existing homes increased to 1.31 million by the end of July, the NAR noted.

"We're witnessing a housing recession in terms of declining home sales and home building, however, it's not a recession in home prices," NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement Thursday.

"Inventory remains tight and prices continue to rise nationally with nearly 40% of homes still commanding the full list price."

Thursday´s report said that properties in July were typically on the market for two weeks -- basically unchanged from June and down from 17 days in July 2021. That´s the lowest average since NAR started tracking it in 2011.

The NAR noted that 82% of homes that were up for sale in July remained on the market for less than a month.

Additionally, the report said that first-time homebuyers accounted for almost 30% of the sales market in July and all-cash sales fell slightly from June to July.