Mexico’s president revived dangerous form of coal mining

By FABIOLA SÁNCHEZ and MARK STEVENSON

August 28, 2022

1 of 6

FILE - Miners helping in the rescue operation of fellow trapped miners are interviewed in San Juan de Sabinas, Coahuila state, Mexico, May 4, 2011. The administration of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has resuscitated a form of coal mining so dangerous and primitive that both houses of Mexico’s Congress tried to ban it in 2012. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini, File)


MEXICO CITY (AP) — As hopes faded of rescuing 10 men trapped in a flooded Mexican coal mine, evidence mounted that the current administration’s populist policies have driven the revival of the dangerous, primitive mines that continue claiming lives.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador enacted a plan two years ago to revive coal-fired power plants in northern Mexico and give preference to buying coal from the smallest mines. The purchases were part of the president’s policies to give more income to the poorest Mexicans.

In doing so, the administration resuscitated a form of coal mining so dangerous that lawmakers in both houses of Mexico’s Congress had tried to ban it a decade ago.

Experts say that mines so narrow and primitive that only one miner at a time can be lowered into a narrow shaft — and only one bucket of coal extracted — are inherently unsafe. At some pits, known as “pocitos,” or “little wells,” air is pumped in and water pumped out through plastic hoses. Some don’t even have that. There are usually no safety exits or auxiliary shafts.

Fifteen men were working inside the Pinabete mine in Sabinas, Coahuila, about 70 miles (115 kilometers) southwest of Eagle Pass, Texas, on Aug. 3. A wall of water from an abandoned mine next door — and possibly wastewater pumped in from a nearby town — filled the single shaft about 40 meters (yards) deep. It blew out so many wooden supports that they have formed floating barriers to rescue crews.

Five workers managed to escape as the mine flooded, but there has been no contact with the rest.

Promoting coal is part of López Obrador’s effort to shore up the state-owned power utility, the Federal Electricity Commission, headed by old-guard politician Manuel Bartlett. Not only was the policy questioned by environmentalists; many also said it endangered miners.

“Manuel Bartlett’s brilliant idea of buying more coal from the smallest producers, and less from big producers, gave rise to a black market that wound up in the exploitation of mines that lack the safeguards needed to protect the lives of the workers,” Miguel Riquelme, the governor of Coahuila state and member of the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party, said after the accident.

The government utility had defended its decision to buy about two-thirds of coal for power generation from small mines.

“We had to have the mindset of favoring the smallest (producers) because we had to make their economic conditions more equal,” Miguel Alejandro López, the subdirector of purchasing for the company, said in July, describing the orders he got under López Obrador. “Because as he (the president) has said, one of this country’s main failings is inequality.”

López said small mine owners were required to submit proof they complied with labor laws, which in Mexico govern mine safety.

But even the president acknowledged that the Pinabete mine had not complied with the few existing safety and labor standards.

Accidents at small coal mines have been depressingly frequent.

In June 2021, seven miners were killed at a similar small mine in Muzquiz township, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) southwest of Eagle Pass, Texas. The shaft at the Micarán mine also flooded and partially collapsed, and it took days to recover the miners’ bodies.

The operations resemble wildcat mines from the U.S. Old West: Horizontal coal faces spread out from the bottom of the shaft and are shored up with wooden poles.

At some mines, the pit-head winches used to extract miners and coal are run off old car engines placed on blocks.

Lawmakers already knew the dangers of the narrow, unreinforced vertical shafts; explosive gas accumulations and flooding risks are common.

As far back as 2012, Mexican legislators tried to pass laws to do away with such primitive mines. The 2006 tragedy in the nearby Pasta de Conchos mine, where 65 miners died after a gas build-up caused a fire and explosion, was still fresh in their minds. That was a larger mine where gas monitoring proved to be insufficient.

A 2012 Senate bill proposed “the outright ban on vertical coal mines, also known as ‘pocitos,’ because that is where the greatest risks occur.”

In 2013, a bill in the lower house stated, “Coal mining activities have generalized risks, because their techniques are artisanal and rudimentary … Risky mining practices must be minimized or eliminated.”

It is unclear why those laws were never passed.

Mine safety activist Cristina Auerbach noted that coal is politically sensitive in Coahuila, especially among the impoverished communities that once made a living from it.

“Coal is a political issue in Coahuila, not an economic one,” said Auerbach.

She said that from 2006 through last year at least 80 miners had died in accidents in Coahuila. “The smallest businesses in the coal region are the most precarious, like Pinabete,” she said.

But small-scale coal mining appeared to be dying out in Coahuila until López Obrador directed the Federal Electricity Commission to ramp up purchases.

“The region was revived with the new purchase orders from the federal commission,” said Diego Martínez, a professor of applied earth sciences at the Autonomous University of Coahuila.

López Obrador wanted to eliminate subterfuge and corruption in coal purchases, but apparently failed at that; one man was arrested in connection with the Pinabete mine accident after it was found that the mine was apparently registered under different names or titles on purchase contracts and in labor department records.

No one has been sentenced for the 2006 deaths at the Pasta de Conchos mine.

It is not the first time that Coahuila coal mines have been accused of illegal practices; miners make as little as $200 per week, and even when the few government inspectors have found violations, it has been hard to shut them down.

López Obrador said that the Pinabete mine contract with the Electricity Commission said explicitly it could not be subcontracted, but apparently was anyway.

Auerbach, the mine safety activist, said that hundreds of “high risk” small mines continue operating.

“That’s why we’re asking that all of the coal concessions granted in high risk areas be cancelled, because (miners) are always going to die,” she said.

EXTREME WEATHER

Half a million homeless after deadly floods leave a third of Pakistan underwater

Issued on: 30/08/2022 -

01:36

A victim of the floods seen in Mehar, Pakistan, on August 29, 2022. 

Text by: FRANCE 24

Video by: Catherine CLIFFORD

Nearly half a million people crowded into camps after losing their homes in widespread flooding and the climate minister warned Monday that Pakistan is on the “front line” of the world's climate crisis, after unprecedented monsoon rains that began in mid-June wracked the country, killing more than 1,130 people.

A third of Pakistan was underwater as a result of flooding caused by record monsoon rains, Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman said Monday, creating a crisis of "unimaginable proportions".

"It's all one big ocean, there's no dry land to pump the water out," she said.

The rains stopped more than two days ago, and floods in some areas were receding.

But Pakistanis in many parts of the country were still wading through waters that filled their homes or covered their town's streets as they struggled with how to deal with the damage to homes and businesses.

In one of the worst single incidents of the flooding, at least 11 people were killed Monday when a boat that volunteer rescuers were using to evacuate two dozen people capsized in the flood-swollen waters of the Indus River near the southern city of Bilawal Pur, media reported. An unknown number were still missing from the capsizing.

Rehman and meteorologists told The Associated Press that new monsoons were expected in September. Monsoons have hit earlier and more heavily than usual since the start of summer, officials say – most recently with massive rains last week that affected nearly the entire country.

Pakistan is accustomed to monsoon rains and flooding, Rehman said, but not like this.

“What we saw recently in the last eight weeks is unrelenting cascades of torrential rain that no monsoon has ever brought with it ever before,” she said.

The heavy rains are the latest in a series of catastrophes that Rehman said are exacerbated by climate change, including heatwaves, forest fires and glacial lake outbursts. The damage reflects how poorer countries often pay the price for climate change largely caused by more industrialised nations. Since 1959, Pakistan is responsible for only 0.4 percent of the world’s historic CO2 emissions. The US is responsible for 21.5 percent, China for 16.5 percent and the EU 15 percent.

“Climate knows no borders and its effects can be disproportionately felt," Rehman said. "When you see low pressure systems coming from the Bay of Bengal, they hit us before anyone. So we’re on the front line of a global crisis.”

The National Disaster Management Authority said floods this summer have killed more than 1,136 people and injured 1,636 as well as damaging 1 million homes. At least 498,000 people in the country of 220 million are in relief camps after being displaced, it said. Many more displaced are believed to be living with relatives, friends or outside.
'I lost everything'

International aid was starting to flow into Pakistan, and the military was helping distribute aid to remote areas and evacuate those who had lost their homes. Authorities were starting the long effort of rebuilding roads and restarting railways. The floods destroyed more than 150 bridges and numerous roads have been washed away, making rescue operations difficult.

In the southeastern town of Shikar Pur not far from the Indus River, Rehan Ali dug up bricks from the collapsed walls of his home, nearly completely destroyed by lashing storms and waters that raged through. His family’s possessions were strewn around outside.

The 24-year-old labourer said he cannot rebuild without government help and can’t work now because of the turmoil. “I don’t even have anything to feed my family. I lost everything. I don’t know where to go. God help me,” he said.

Arif Ullah, an official at the Pakistan Meteorological Department, told the AP that more rains will continue to lash parts of Pakistan next month.

Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Monday said the rains so far have been the heaviest Pakistan has seen in three decades.

“I saw floodwater everywhere, wherever I went in recent days and even today,” Sharif said in the town of Charsadda in the northeast of the country. Some 180,000 people in the town have been evacuated after the Swat River overflowed and swamped nearby communities.

Sharif has said the government would provide housing to all those who lost their homes.

But many of the displaced have lost not just homes, but also crops and businesses.

“I am sitting with my family in a tent, and how can I go out to work? Even if I go out in search of a job, who will give me any job as there is water everywhere,” asked Rehmat Ullah, a flood victim in Charsadda.

Zarina Bibi said soldiers evacuated her by boat. She broke down in tears as she recounted how her house collapsed in the floods.

“We were given a tent and food by soldiers and volunteers,” she said. “Floodwater will recede soon, but we have no money to rebuild our home.”
UN to launch appeal for flood victims

At least 6,500 soldiers were deployed to help, and authorities said they were using military planes, helicopters, trucks and boats to evacuate marooned people and deliver aid to them.

However, many of the displaced complained they were still waiting for help. Some said they got tents but not food.

Pakistani authorities say this year’s devastation is worse than in 2010, when floods killed 1,700 people. General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Pakistan’s military chief, said Sunday that his country may take years to recover. He appealed to Pakistanis living abroad to generously donate to the flood victims.

Cargo planes from Turkey and the United Arab Emirates began the flow of international aid, landing in Islamabad on Sunday with tents, food and other daily necessities. The United Nations will launch an international appeal for Pakistani flood victims on Tuesday in Islamabad.

The flood wreckage has hit Pakistan at a time when the country faces one of its worst economic crises, narrowly avoiding a default.

The International Monetary Fund’s executive board on Monday approved the release of a much-awaited $1.17 billion for Pakistan, Pakistan's Information Minister Maryam Aurangez told the AP.

Pakistan and the IMF originally signed a bailout accord in 2019, but the release of a $1.17 billion tranche had been on hold since earlier this year, when the IMF expressed concern about Pakistan’s compliance with the deal’s terms under former prime minister Imran Khan’s government.

Last week, the United Nations in a statement said that it has allocated $3 million for UN aid agencies and their partners in Pakistan to respond to the floods and this money will be used for health, nutrition, food security, and water and sanitation services in flood-affected areas, focusing on the most vulnerable.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and AP)

'Third' of Pakistan under water as flood aid efforts gather pace

Ashraf Khan, with Zain Zaman Janjua and Emma Clark in Nowshera
Mon, August 29, 2022 


Aid efforts ramped up across flooded Pakistan on Tuesday to help tens of millions of people affected by relentless monsoon rains that have submerged a third of the country and claimed more than 1,100 lives.

The rains that began in June have unleashed the worst flooding in more than a decade, washing away swathes of vital crops and damaging or destroying more than a million homes.

Authorities and charities are struggling to accelerate aid delivery to more than 33 million people affected, a challenging task in areas cut off because roads and bridges have been washed away.

In the south and west, dry land is limited, with displaced people crammed onto elevated highways and railroad tracks to escape the flooded plains.

"We don't even have space to cook food. We need help," Rimsha Bibi, a schoolgirl in Dera Ghazi Khan in central Pakistan, told AFP.


Pakistan receives heavy -- often destructive -- rains during its annual monsoon season, which are crucial for agriculture and water supplies.

But such intense downpours have not been seen for three decades.

Pakistani officials have blamed climate change, which is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather around the world.


"To see the devastation on the ground is really mind-boggling," Pakistan's climate change minister Sherry Rehman told AFP.

"When we send in water pumps, they say 'Where do we pump the water?' It's all one big ocean, there's no dry land to pump the water out."

She said "literally a third" of the country was under water, comparing scenes from the disaster to a dystopian movie.

Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said Pakistan needed more than $10 billion to repair and rebuild damaged infrastructure.

"Massive damage has been caused... especially in the areas of telecommunications, roads, agriculture and livelihoods," he told AFP Tuesday.

The Indus River, which runs along the length of the South Asian nation, is threatening to burst its banks as torrents of water rush downstream from its tributaries in the north.

Pakistan as a whole had been deluged with twice the usual monsoon rainfall, the meteorological office said, but Balochistan and Sindh provinces had seen more than four times the average of the last three decades.
- International help -

The disaster could not have come at a worse time for Pakistan, where the economy is in free fall.


Appealing for international help, the government has declared an emergency.

Aid flights have arrived in recent days from Turkey and the UAE, while other nations including Canada, Australia and Japan have also pledged assistance.

The United Nations has announced it will launch a formal $160 million appeal on Tuesday to fund emergency aid.

Pakistan was already desperate for international support and the floods have compounded the challenge.


Prices of basic goods -- particularly onions, tomatoes and chickpeas -- are soaring as vendors bemoan a lack of supplies from the flooded breadbasket provinces of Sindh and Punjab.

There was some relief on Monday when the International Monetary Fund approved the revival of a loan programme for Pakistan, releasing an initial $1.1 billion.

Makeshift relief camps have sprung up all over Pakistan -- in schools, on motorways and in military bases.

In the northwestern town of Nowshera, a technical college was turned into a shelter for up to 2,500 flood victims.

They sweltered in the summer heat with sporadic food aid and little access to water.

"I never thought that one day we will have to live like this," said 60-year-old Malang Jan.

"We have lost our heaven and are now forced to live a miserable life."

bur-qan/fox/cwl/kma/leg

Army helps as desperation mounts in flood-hit cities

By Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: The military stepped up efforts on Monday to rescue hundreds of thousands of people marooned by floods and facing severe shortages of food in the southern and northwestern parts of the country.

An estimated one million have been affected by heavy rainfall, flash floods and landslides since July as Pakistan endured more than 60 percent of its normal total monsoon rainfall in three weeks.

With little aid from a weak civilian government, many flood victims are pinning hopes on the military as the only institution capable of helping them rebuild their lives.

Survivors of the nation’s worst rains and flash floods in history are increasingly impatient over a lack of food and relief goods, and are criticising the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for mismanagement.

Some villagers have been living on rooftops for days, while others are eating plants and leaves after exhausting food stocks.

An Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) statement said the Pakistan Army on Monday continued relief and rescue operation in flood-hit towns of Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan.

Its troops were engaged with the civil administration in assisting relief and rescue operations in the provinces hit by record rains and flash floods.

The chief military spokesperson said the troops were engaged in shifting affectees to safe areas besides also distributing rations among them.

In Sindh, it said soldiers reached the flood-hit town of Saim Nullah in district Khairpur to safeguard the victims after flooding damaged more than 200 houses.

Troops from the garrison city of Pano Aqil who took part in the efforts shifted the victims to safe locations and a group of military doctors provided immediate medical aid.

Whereas in Balochistan, soldiers from Pakistan Army and Frontier Corps continue to provide assistance to civil administration in their relief efforts in the cities of Quetta, Pishin, Qila Saif Ullah, Ziarat, Zhob, Loralai and Noshki.

“Teams of Pakistan Army, FC, PDMA [Provincial Disaster Management Authority] and civil administration are shifting people to safer places where they are being served with cooked food and other amenities.

Relief camps have been established in Naseerabad, Duki and Lasbela areas,” the ISPR said.

It further shared that free medical camps were also established in flood-affected areas while all-out efforts are being made to restore communication infrastructure at the earliest.

In Punjab, Pakistan Army is carrying out relief activities and providing medical care to the affected people in the cities of Vehari, Rajanpur and Dera Ghazi Khan.

Relief and desperation in Pakistan's makeshift flood camps

Zain Zaman Janjua and Emma Clark
Mon, August 29, 2022


Makeshift camps have sprung up all over Pakistan -- in schools, along motorways and at military bases -- to give shelter to millions of displaced flood victims.

But the relief at finding safety can turn to desperation for many.

In the northwestern town of Nowshera, a technical college was turned into a shelter for up to 2,500 flood victims, who sweltered in the summer heat with sporadic food aid and little access to water for bathing.

"We have been only eating rice for the past three days," 60-year-old Malang Jan told AFP.

"I never thought that one day we will have to live like this. We have lost our heaven and are now forced to live a miserable life."


Jan's family were rescued by boat when his home was submerged in the floods that have swamped a third of the country, killing more than 1,100 people and affecting tens of millions more.

The college gardens are lined with tents -- the classrooms are filled with the families who arrived first and grabbed the chance for privacy.


Others rest shoulder-to-shoulder in corridors with their meagre bundles of belongings.

Goats and chickens salvaged from the rising water graze in the campus courtyard.

The camp of 2,500 is managed by various charities, political parties and administrative officials overwhelmed by the scale of the disaster.

Volunteers hand out tents, mattresses, water, daal and naan.

"It's a situation of panic," said Mushfiq ur Rehman, a district court official who stepped in to oversee food delivery for the local administration.

"There is enough food, but people are getting desperate because they don't trust if they will get a meal again or not."
- 'We're humiliated' -

It is particularly difficult for women in this deeply conservative region of the country, where the all-covering burqa is commonly worn, and women rarely mix with men who are not relatives.


"We are Pashtun people; we don't come out of our homes often, but now we are forced to come out," said Yasmin Shah, 56, who is sheltered in a classroom with her family.

Young women with burqas pulled up over their heads watch from upper floors.

"I cannot come out of this classroom unless I have to," added another, looking after a blind uncle.

Older women take their place in queues to ensure they get a share of food handouts.

The heat is worsened when the few working fans stop working because of power cuts. There are no showers and only a few toilets available for the displaced.

"Our self respect is at stake... I stink but there is no place to take a shower," said Fazal e Malik, who is staying with seven family members in a tent.

"Our women are also facing problems and they too feel humiliated."

When food aid arrives at the college, desperate families mob the trucks, and are sometimes pushed back by police armed with long sticks.


"People send relief goods here but the distribution is not well organised at all," Yasmin said.

"There are routine scuffles and people have to fight to get some food. In the end, some people have a bigger share and others have nothing."

The largest camp in the town was set up at the Pakistan Air Force academy centre, sheltering a further 3,000 people in the accommodation usually reserved for training staff.

Nearby, armed members of a local political party have stepped in to protect abandoned homes, using rowing boats to navigate the flooded streets and watch for looters.

For some fleeing the deluge across the country, the only dry areas are elevated roads and railroad tracks, alongside which tens of thousands of poor rural folk have taken shelter with their livestock.

zz-ecl/fox/qan

IMF approves revival of massive Pakistan loan programme

Issued on: 29/08/2022 -

Islamabad (AFP) – The IMF has approved an agreement to revive a massive loan programme for Pakistan, the finance minister said Monday, as the country grapples with devastating monsoon flooding that has worsened an economic crisis.

"We should now be getting the 7th & 8th tranche of $1.17 billion," Miftah Ismail said on Twitter.

The original $6-billion bailout package with the International Monetary Fund was signed by former prime minister Imran Khan in 2019, but repeatedly stalled when his government reneged on agreed reforms on subsidies and failed to significantly improve tax collection.

The new agreement follows months of deeply unpopular belt-tightening by the government of Shehbaz Sharif, who took power in April and has effectively eliminated fuel subsidies and introduced new measures to broaden the tax base.

The government reached an agreement with IMF staff last month to restart the suspended aid package.

The board of the Washington-based crisis lender also was considering a request to extend the package through June 2023 and add about $1 billion to the total.

The IMF had not yet issued a statement on its decision.

The latest disbursement would bring the total received under the Extended Fund Facility from the IMF to just over $4 billion.
Desperate for aid

Pakistan is desperate for international support for its economy, which suffers from poor revenue collection and dwindling foreign reserves to pay its crippling debt.

The new government has slashed a raft of subsidies to meet the demands of global financial institutions but risks the wrath of an electorate already struggling under the weight of double-digit inflation.

A new coalition government -- which came to power after Khan was ousted by a parliamentary no-confidence vote -- has said it will make the tough decisions needed to turn the economy around.

Successive administrations blame their predecessors for the country's economic woes, but analysts say the malaise stems from decades of poor management and a failure to tackle endemic corruption and widespread tax avoidance.

In a bid to secure the IMF loan, Sharif has imposed three fuel price hikes -- cumulatively totalling 50 percent -- and raised the cost of electricity to effectively end the subsidies introduced by Khan.

Ismail told the national assembly last month that the steps were "essential" to preserve the country from default.

"We knew it would damage our political reputation, but still we did it," he said.

The latest budget has earmarked 3.95 trillion rupees ($18.8 billion) just to service the country's whopping debt of $128 billion.

Under the deal agreed with the IMF last month, policy priorities included steadfast implementation of the budget to reduce the need to borrow.

Pakistan also agreed to continue power sector reforms, introduce a proactive monetary policy to tackle inflation, strengthen governance, combat corruption and improve the social security net.

But the IMF warned that authorities should stand ready to take any additional measures necessary.

© 2022 AFP

Pakistan floods fuel 'back-breaking' food inflation

Kaneez FATIMA
Tue, August 30, 2022 


Catastrophic monsoon floods in Pakistan have sent food prices skyrocketing, putting many staples out of the reach of the poor as the cash-strapped nation battles shortages.

The floods have submerged a third of the country, killing more than 1,100 people and affecting over 33 million.

Recovery could cost more than $10 billion, according to the planning minister.

The rains -- which began in June, and whose unusual intensity has been blamed on climate change -- have also damaged vast swathes of rich agricultural land and crops. Parts of the mountainous north and breadbasket south have been cut off because roads and bridges have been washed away.


"Things are so expensive because of this flood that we can't buy anything," said Zahida Bibi, who had come to a market in the central city of Lahore to get vegetables for dinner.

She told AFP she had to forego some items on her shopping list because inflation had put them out of reach.

"What can we do? We don't make enough money to buy things at such high prices."

Onions and tomatoes -- common ingredients in most Pakistani meals -- have been affected the most.


The prices of both had increased by 40 percent, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics said Friday.

But on Monday, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail said the price of onions had shot up by more than five times, and that the government was trying to quickly implement policies to stabilise food prices -- including importing from arch-rival India.

"We need to consider getting some vegetables over the land border," he told broadcaster Geo News.

"We have to do it because of the kind of prices and shortages we are experiencing... Inflation has broken people's backs."

- Out of reach -

With millions of acres of farmland still under water and certain roads inaccessible, prices are expected to climb further.

"About 80 percent of the tomato crop in Pakistan has been damaged in the floods, and onion supply has been badly hit as well," Shahzad Cheema, secretary of the Lahore Market Committee, told AFP.


"These are basic items, and ultimately it is the average buyer who will be most affected."

Vegetable seller Muhammad Owais at a market in Lahore was struggling to find buyers at the current high prices.

"Prices have increased so much because of (the flood) that many customers leave without buying anything," he told AFP.

Pakistan was struggling with record high inflation even before the floods, because of rising global oil prices and a balance of payments crisis.

The government found some room to manoeuvre Monday when the International Monetary Fund approved the resumption of a massive loan programme for Pakistan, releasing $1.1 billion immediately.

Pakistan flooding deaths pass 1,000 in ‘climate catastrophe’

By ZARAR KHAN

August 28, 2022

1 of 15

This combination of March 24 and Aug. 28, 2022 photos provided by Maxar Technologies shows the Indus River in the aftermath of flooding in Rajanpur, Pakistan. Deaths from widespread flooding in Pakistan topped 1,000 since mid-June, officials said Sunday, as the country’s climate minister called the deadly monsoon season “a serious climate catastrophe.” (Maxar Technologies via AP)


ISLAMABAD (AP) — Deaths from widespread flooding in Pakistan topped 1,000 since mid-June, officials said Sunday, as the country’s climate minister called the deadly monsoon season “a serious climate catastrophe.”

Flash flooding from the heavy rains has washed away villages and crops as soldiers and rescue workers evacuated stranded residents to the safety of relief camps and provided food to thousands of displaced Pakistanis.

Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority reported the death toll since the monsoon season began earlier than normal this year — in mid- June — reached 1,061 people after new fatalities were reported across different provinces.

Sherry Rehman, a Pakistani senator and the country’s top climate official, said in a video posted on Twitter that Pakistan is experiencing a “serious climate catastrophe, one of the hardest in the decade.”

“We are at the moment at the ground zero of the front line of extreme weather events, in an unrelenting cascade of heatwaves, forest fires, flash floods, multiple glacial lake outbursts, flood events and now the monster monsoon of the decade is wreaking non-stop havoc throughout the country,” she said. The on-camera statement was retweeted by the country’s ambassador to the European Union.




Flooding from the Swat River overnight affected northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where tens of thousands of people — especially in the Charsadda and Nowshehra districts — have been evacuated from their homes to relief camps set up in government buildings. Many have also taken shelter on roadsides, said Kamran Bangash, a spokesperson for the provincial government.

Bangash said some 180,000 people have been evacuated from Charsadda and 150,000 from Nowshehra district villages.

Khaista Rehman, 55, no relation to the climate minister, took shelter with his wife and three children on the side of the Islamabad-Peshawar highway after his home in Charsadda was submerged overnight.

“Thank God we are safe now on this road quite high from the flooded area,” he said. “Our crops are gone and our home is destroyed but I am grateful to Allah that we are alive and I will restart life with my sons.”



The unprecedented monsoon season has affected all four of the country’s provinces. Nearly 300,000 homes have been destroyed, numerous roads rendered impassable and electricity outages have been widespread, affecting millions of people.

Pope Francis on Sunday said he wanted to assure his “closeness to the populations of Pakistan struck by flooding of disastrous proportions.” Speaking during a pilgrimage to the Italian town of L’Aquila, which was hit by a deadly earthquake in 2009, Francis said he was praying “for the many victims, for the injured and the evacuated, and so that international solidarity will be prompt and generous.”

Rehman told Turkish news outlet TRT World that by the time the rains recede, “we could well have one fourth or one third of Pakistan under water.”

“This is something that is a global crisis and of course we will need better planning and sustainable development on the ground. ... We’ll need to have climate resilient crops as well as structures,” she said.

In May, Rehman told BBC Newshour that both the country’s north and south were witnessing extreme weather events because of rising temperatures. “So in north actually just now we are ... experiencing what is known as glacial lake outburst floods which we have many of because Pakistan is home to the highest number of glaciers outside the polar region.”



The government has deployed soldiers to help civilian authorities in rescue and relief operations across the country. The Pakistani army also said in a statement it airlifted a 22 tourists trapped in a valley in the country’s north to safety.

Prime Minister Shabaz Sharif visited flooding victims in city of Jafferabad in Baluchistan. He vowed the government would provide housing to all those who lost their homes.

___

Associated Press writers Riaz Khan in Peshawar, Asim Tanveer in Multan, Pakistan, and Frances D’Emilio in Rome contributed.

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2022/08/help-pakistans-flood-victims-by.html

Hungary allows construction of Russian nuclear reactors

By Matt BernardiniHungary's Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto announced a new nuclear deal with Russia on Friday. Pool Photo by Mary Altaffer/UPI | License Photo

Aug. 27 (UPI) -- Hungary will allow the construction of two new nuclear reactors by the Russian state-owned company Rosatom, Hungary's foreign minister said.

Russia's nuclear industry has not been subjected to EU sanctions after its invasion of Ukraine. The deal is aimed at expanding the existing Paks nuclear plant, which currently generates 40% of Hungary's electricity.

"Let the construction begin!" said Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto in a Facebook post Friday, according to the BBC.

The project is expected to cost $12.4 billion, most of which Russia will pay for, the BBC reported. Hungary will pay for the rest. The two new reactors are scheduled to be operational by 2030.

"This will ensure the long-term security of Hungary's energy supply, protect the Hungarian people from extreme price fluctuations on the international energy market, and maintain our efforts to reduce the cost of electricity," Szijjarto said.

As many EU states have tried to lessen their dependency on Russia, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has continued to maintain a close relationship with the Kremlin.

Abbott restarts production of Similac baby formula at Michigan plant

By Adam Schrader

An Abbott employee working inside a production area of the Michigan infant formula manufacturing facility wears shoe covers to help prevent outside particles from entering production areas. Photo courtesy of Abbott

Aug. 27 (UPI) -- Abbott is restarting production of Similac, the company's most popular baby formula, at its plant in Michigan which was shut down in February over concerns of bacterial contamination.

The shutdown of the plant in Sturgis, as well as supply chain issues that limited ingredients necessary to make baby formula, caused a national shortage that sent parents frantically searching for ways to feed their infants.

Abbott said in a statement Friday that it expects Similac to begin shipping to retail locations in about six weeks while EleCare, a hypoallergenic formula made by the company, will begin to ship "in the coming weeks" after it began production in July.

"We know that the nationwide infant formula shortage has been difficult for the families we serve, and while restarting Similac production in Michigan is an important milestone, we won't rest until this product is back on shelves," Abbott CEO Robert Ford said in the statement.

"Making infant formula is a responsibility we take very seriously, and parents can feel confident in the quality and safety of Similac and other Abbott formulas. We are committed to re-earning the trust parents and healthcare providers have placed in us for decades."

The company said that it will supply the United States with more than 8 million pounds of infant formula in August after it upped formula production at its facility in Arizona and started making more liquid Similac Ready-to-Feed liquid formula at its plant in Ohio, among other production changes.

The Food and Drug Administration inspected the Sturgis plant in February after receiving complaints that two babies four babies became sick with bacterial infections, two of whom died, after consuming formula from the Michigan facility.

The FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that Cronobacter sakazakii was the source for the infections and that the bacteria was found in two finished Similac products and environmental samples during an inspection.

"We have a zero-tolerance policy for Cronobacter or any pathogen in our plants. Cronobacter is naturally and commonly found in the environment and our quality systems are designed to find it and destroy it when it's present, as it sometimes is with all manufacturers," Abbott said in its statement.

"That is why we test for it regularly and take steps to eliminate it if and when we find it, is why we took the steps we did in Sturgis in February, and is what guides our approach today."

Survey shows gay men cutting back on sex to avoid monkeypox

By Ernie Mundell HealthDay Reporter

A booth offers information on monkeypox at a fetish and leather festival in

 San Francisco on July 31. Photo by Terry Schmitt/UPI | License Photo

A survey conducted among American gay and bisexual men in early August found about half saying they'd cut down on sexual activity -- including one-night stands and app-based hookups -- in response to the global monkeypox outbreak.

The survey, conducted online Aug. 5-15, was led by Kevin Delaney, of the Monkeypox Emergency Response Team at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"These findings suggest that men who have sex with men are already taking actions to protect their sexual health and making decisions to reduce risk to themselves and their partners," Delaney's team reported.

The timing of the survey -- and its finding that America's gay male community reacted swiftly to the monkeypox threat -- coincides with a recent global decline in monkeypox cases.

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According to World Health Organization data released Thursday, the number of monkeypox cases around the world dropped by 21% over the prior week.

According to the CDC, nearly 17,000 cases of the viral illness have been reported in the United States. The vast majority of cases are occurring among gay and bisexual men.

Monkeypox typically requires skin-to-skin or skin-to-mouth contact with an infected patient's lesions to spread. People can also become infected through contact with the clothing or bedsheets of someone who has monkeypox lesions.

RELATEDWyoming confirms 1st monkeypox case; outbreak reaches all 50 states

A vaccine for monkeypox called Jynneos exists, but it is in short supply. Vaccines are being rationed and reserved for those most at risk, including gay and bisexual men with multiple sex partners, and for health workers, laboratory staff and outbreak responders.

In the meantime, gay and bisexual men appear to be modifying their behavior to lessen the risk for infection and spread, the new study finds.

The new survey involved 824 U.S. adult men, 90% of whom reported sexual activity with another man at least once over the past three months (in other words, during the monkeypox outbreak).

RELATEDBritain launches pilot monkeypox vaccine plan to stretch available doses

Just over 70% of respondents were White, and about half were under the age of 45. They came from all over the United States, with about half living in cities.

"Respondents reported changing sexual behaviors since they learned about the monkeypox outbreak," the CDC team reported.

Overall, "47.8% reported reducing their number of sex partners, 49.8% reported reducing one-time sexual encounters, and 49.6% reported reducing sex with partners met on dating apps or at sex venues," the researchers said.

Monkeypox can be transmitted whenever skin touches skin, and about 42% of men surveyed said they'd reduced their attendance at "social events with close contact," the study also found.

Of course, getting the vaccine is another way of protecting yourself from monkeypox.

According to the survey, by Aug. 15 nearly 19% of the men surveyed said they'd gotten at least their first dose of the two-dose vaccine.

"Receipt of vaccine was highest among Hispanic men [27.1%] and lowest among Black men [11.5%]," the survey found. Just under 18% of White men had received at least one dose of vaccine. More urban men got the shots compared to those living in rural areas, and vaccine uptake was highest in the Northeast (27.8%) and lowest in the South (13%).

Folks who had two or more partners were more likely to avail themselves of the Jynneos shot (about 30%) compared to people with one or no partners (about 14%).

Still, access to the vaccine remained a problem: According to the study, of the 662 people who said they had yet to get a vaccine, 28.5% said they'd tried to get one but had been unsuccessful.

By Aug. 15, actual cases of monkeypox were rare: Just 1.7% of the men responding said they'd become infected. And overall, America's gay community appeared to be taking the outbreak in stride: "82.3% reported feeling confident that they could protect themselves from monkeypox," Delaney's group said.

In tandem with the survey findings, another CDC study sought to predict the impact of changes in sexual behavior on the spread of monkeypox in the United States.

As context, the authors of the modeling study noted that "one-time partnerships, which account for 3% of daily sexual partnerships [among gay/bisexual men] and 16% of daily sex acts, account for approximately 50% of daily monkeypox virus transmission."

Within that framework, "a 40% reduction in one-time partnerships might delay the spread of monkeypox and reduce the percentage of persons infected by 20% to 31%," the researchers concluded. They were led by Thomas Gift, also from the CDC's Monkeypox Emergency Response Team.

Both studies were published Friday in the CDC journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

More information:

Find out more about monkeypox at the World Health Organization.

SOURCE: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Aug. 26, 2022

Copyright © 2022 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

How has Hong Kong weaponized its judiciary to target dissent?

The trial of media tycoon Jimmy Lai and a separate case against pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong are set to proceed without juries, according to media reports.

Media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai and many others face increasingly tough legal battles in Hong Kong

Two high-profile national security cases in Hong Kong will proceed without juries, according to the media in the former British colony, with some analysts interpreting this as another signal of failing judicial independence.

One of the cases concerns high-profile media tycoon Jimmy Lai, who faces charges of colluding with foreign forces and distributing seditious publications. The other one is aimed against 47 pro-democracy figures who were charged with "conspiracy to subversion" under Hong Kong's National Security Law (NSL).

Though trial by jury has been a long tradition in Hong Kong’s common law system, the NSL allows cases to be heard by government-appointed judges. The legislation was imposed by Beijing in 2020, following years of pro-democracy protests.
Fewer juries make government 'more confident'

Last month, a UN human rights committee expressed concerns about the practice of no-jury trials. Despite those concerns, however, Hong Kong's High Court set a precedent by hearing the national security case against activist Tong Ying-kit without a jury, and handing him a nine-year sentence.

"The move of not designating juries to these cases reflects the government's deep concern about the outcome of the trial," Eric Lai, the Hong Kong law fellow at Georgetown University's Center for Asian Law, told DW.

"If a criminal is tried by a jury, there would be many possibilities and greater uncertainties for the outcome," Lai said. "It's obvious that, when juries are absent, the government is more confident of the outcome of the trial. This implies that the judicial system in Hong Kong has become more like a tool for the government to achieve their political aim."

Other analysts are warning that an increasing number of cases may not be legitimate.

"The whole thing is another indicator showing that there is nothing left in regard to judicial independence in Hong Kong under the NSL," Chung-Ching Kwong, the Hong Kong campaign coordinator for the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, told DW.

According to a letter seen by the Hong Kong Free Press, the city's justice secretary cited safety concerns as the reason for not appointing a jury in the case against the 47 pro-democracy figures. The secretary, Paul Lam, said there were foreign elements in the case, raising questions on the "personal safety of jurors and their family members" and the risks of "perverting the course of justice if the trial is conducted with a jury," among other factors.

Are defendants pressured to plead guilty?

Following the revelation that their cases would be heard without juries, 29 defendants in the 47 pro-democracy figures' case are reportedly planning to plead guilty. Media tycoon Jimmy Lai is apparently sticking with the not-guilty plea in his own national security case.

Kwong said some defendants might choose to plead guilty to receive shorter jail sentences, but they might also think that arguing in court would not make a difference for the outcome.

"Since they have been remanded for more than a year, it makes more sense to just get out of jail as soon as possible," she said.

"They know they most likely will be found guilty and, under the current regime, it doesn't make any difference if you try to argue in court or not," she added. "I think it's both knowing that there won't be a fair trial while wanting to get out of jail as soon as possible."

Legal scholar Eric Lai said the practice of pretrial detention in NSL cases was very similar to pretrial detention in mainland China and under other autocratic regimes. At the same time, he noted that differences still remain between the former UK colony and rest of China.

"There are similarities between the judicial system in Hong Kong and China, but I can't say they are completely mirroring," he said.
Bail increasingly out of reach

Many defendants in national security cases have been detained for over a year, and some observers say the vague conditions for granting bail reflect the general lack of transparency in Hong Kong's judicial system.

"In the common law system, granting bail should be a right, as you can't hinder someone's physical freedom without sufficient justification," Kwong said.

"The threshold for granting bail is so hard to achieve now,"she added. It's very problematic to see that we are relieved when someone received bail, because it should be a norm that most defendants should receive bail as long as they don't have a high risk of hindering case development."

On Monday, a former lawmaker and former leader of the disbanded Hong Kong Alliance, which organized the annual Tiananmen Vigil in Hong Kong, was granted bail after being remanded last May. Albert Ho is accused of inciting subversion even though he has completed sentences under protest-related charges. Under his bail conditions he had to pay close to €90,000 ($90,000), while also reporting to the police three times a week and hand over all his travel documents, and with two of his family members also providing surety.

"While we celebrate some kind of good news that Ho is now granted bail, we shouldn't take it as a sign that others will be given bail," said Patrick Poon, a visiting researcher at the Institute of Comparative Law at Japan's Meiji University. "It’s not setting precedence."

Edited by: Darko Janjevic