Where Change Is Coming for LGBTQ Rights Around the World




Olivia Konotey-Ahulu
Mon, January 16, 2023 at 10:00 PM MST·12 min read

(Bloomberg) -- If progress in 2022 is anything to go by, there’s reason to be optimistic about the global direction of travel when it comes to same-sex relationships, LGBTQ campaigners say.

In the second half of the year, there was a flurry of movement to decriminalize same-sex intimacy in Singapore, St Kitts and Nevis, Barbados, and Antigua and Barbuda. These were some of the last holdouts among countries with histories of colonial-era laws prohibiting such activity. “It feels like something of a tipping point,” says Neela Ghoshal, Senior Director of Law, Policy and Research for global advocacy NGO Outright International. Such developments “allows us to really say that there is a global norm that same-sex intimacy should not be criminalized.”

Marriage equality has come a long way too, with countries from Cuba to Slovenia passing legislation last year; 33 governments have now legalized same-sex unions, triple the number compared to a decade earlier according to data from the advocacy group ILGA World.

Greece is one of a handful of countries to introduce a ban on so-called conversion therapy for minors during the year; France, Israel and New Zealand also took steps to make the practice of aiming to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity illegal in 2022. In Brazil, LGBTQ campaigners hope the re-election of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva can row back some of the damage done by his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, while the US Congress rushed to pass the Respect for Marriage Act and protect statutory recognition of interracial and same-sex marriages.

But pockets of friction are growing over specific issues: one is the rights of transgender people. As of September, US lawmakers proposed more than 300 bills classed as anti-LGBTQ by the Human Rights Campaign; more than 40% of them targeted the trans community, the advocacy group said. The UK also saw its score on the ILGA-Europe Rainbow Index plummet more than any other country this year, partly due to its decision to exclude trans people from a ban on conversion therapy.

Conservative governments, especially those in Europe, have “weaponized” trans issues in recent years too to boost their political capital, said Julia Ehrt, executive director for ILGA World.

“The atmosphere, in particular in the UK but as well in Spain, has been quite hostile towards trans people,” she said. Although Spain passed a bill toward the end of the year that makes it one of the few places in the world where anyone over the age of 16 can easily change their gender on their ID card, the debate caused tensions to flare among its left-wing government and coincided with a jump in hate crimes in the country.

Read More: Spain’s Win for Transgender Rights Almost Tore the Country Apart

Meanwhile some governments actively sought to row back LGBTQ rights, such as Indonesia’s decision to ban sex outside of marriage, effectively criminalizing it for same-sex couples, as well as pushes in Russia and Ghana to crack down on so-called LGBTQ “propaganda.”

But overall progress on LGBTQ rights is moving forward, say Ehrt and Ghoshal, who are hopeful about what the new year could bring. “Ultimately I think the pendulum is swinging in the right direction,” Ghoshal said.

Here’s a snapshot of what that momentum looks like around the world.

India

India’s top most court is all set this year to consider the question of granting legal recognition to same-sex marriages. Some couples have knocked on the Supreme Court’s door with the argument that marriage equality is the logical next step for LGBTQ rights after consensual gay sex was decriminalized in the country in 2018.

Such a move could give India’s 1.4 billion people the right to have a same-sex marriage.

“The potential impact of such a ruling will be momentous,” said Kanav Narayan Sahgal, Communications Manager at Nyaaya, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy. A law ironed out on same-sex marriage is also likely to open discussion on related aspects such as domestic violence, adoption, child-custody, and inheritance for the LGBTQ community, Sahgal said.

But the path ahead isn’t straightforward. Narendra Modi’s ruling Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) only recently opposed same-sex marriage before a state court. Speaking before Parliament in December, BJP lawmaker Sushil Modi urged the government to oppose same-sex marriage before the Supreme Court saying that it goes against the traditional ethos of the country.

“If the court does decide that such matters are best left to Parliament to decide, then I am afraid same-sex marriage will not be recognized in India as long as the BJP holds a majority,” says Sahgal who is also an LGBTQ rights activist. Eight state level polls likely to be held this year will indicate the pulse of the nation before an election for the next premier in 2024.

Meanwhile the Madras High Court in the southern state of Tamil Nadu has taken significant strides in making laws and policy inclusive for the LGBTQ community. A string of progressive decisions concerning rights of sexual minorities have been taken by the state on orders passed by the high court. These include penalizing police harassment of the community and declaring so-called conversion therapy as a professional misconduct for medical professionals. In 2023, Tamil Nadu is expected to release its draft policy for the LGBTQ community, becoming the first Indian state to do so. —Shruti Mahajan

Brazil

After four years of what they consider a complete stall in their battle for equal rights, the LGBTQ community in Brazil is now pushing for an extensive legislative agenda including same-sex marriage.

Left-wing Lula was inaugurated as president on Jan. 1 and groups have already asked him to pass more than eight related bills and several other proposals such as creating a role for the first national secretary for public policy focused on LGBTQ rights.

“We want better education, to be represented at the Executive branch, improvements in the health system, public safety, culture, all of it,” said Toni Reis, director and president of the National LGBTI+ Alliance. His is one of more than 100 associations that signed a letter addressed to Lula.

More than anything, the community is impassioned about making sure that rights safeguarded by the country’s top court are put into law. For example, Brazil's supreme court allowed same-sex marriage more than 10 years ago but this is still to be confirmed by Congress. They also hope to pass bills allowing transgender people to change their official ID to match their gender without showing proof of a change-of-sex surgery.

Each of these could be difficult tasks. The majority of legislators elected last October supported Bolsonaro, known for an agenda centered on conservative family values. Still, Congress will now have six representatives of the LGBTQ community including two transgender lawmakers, a record so far in Brazil.

“Bolsonaro wasn’t able to tear everything down, he wasn’t strong enough but we also had the supreme court defending our rights,” said Reis. “Now is our time to convince liberals from the right wing, evangelicals... We’ll have to earn their votes.” —Maria Eloisa Capurro

Slovenia

When Slovenia’s Constitutional Court unexpectedly ruled in July that same-sex couples had the right to marry, Centrih Albreht and his now-husband became one of the country’s first such couples to tie the knot.

It was a victory for the 36-year-old marketing specialist, who had watched his community suffer two referendum defeats on legalizing same-sex marriage. A party planned earlier to celebrate their civil union turned into a full-blown wedding in August. “It was a very special day for us and our families,” he said.

The first eastern European country to legalize same-sex unions and allow couples to adopt children, Slovenia contrasts sharply with the more conservative countries in the region, whose politicians still embrace anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. The EU took legal action in 2021 against Hungary and Poland for violating the community’s rights.

Those attitudes have had a direct impact in Slovenia, where many gay couples — often locals with partners from Eastern Europe — choose to build a home in that country, which Centrih Albreht sees as “a beacon” for more accepting society. The trend could strengthen further in 2023.

According to Lana Gobec, the head of the LGBTQ activist organization Legebitra, same sex-marriages will increase in Slovenia in 2023 and eventually converge with the proportion of marriages in the overall population. Gobec knows of several gay couples who already applied for adoption but tempers expectations over when the first adoption by a same-sex parent might happen because of the long process.

While Centrih Albreht sees the change in Slovenia as an important step to more acceptance, he sees the need for a bigger push for transgender rights. Citing this year’s abortion ruling by the US Supreme Court, he also worries progress can be reversed.

“The fight must always continue,” he said. “Expanding human rights has never hurt anyone. If anything, all of society benefits.” —Jan Bratanic

Greece

With a general election scheduled by April at the earliest, the country’s LGBTQ community has one key priority for the next government: marriage equality.

Greece passed legislation to recognize same-sex civil partnerships in 2015 and gender identity in 2017 but same-sex marriage hasn’t seen similar progress. Any possible move to legalize marriage between two people of the same sex will require changes to family law so that the state recognizes both members of the couple as parents and guardians of children rather than just a biological parent.

The same-sex unions didn’t provide the same access to rights as equal marriage would do, said Giannis Papagiannopoulos, a rights activist and publisher of Antivirus Magazine, Greece’s only LGBT publication. Lawmakers voting for equal marriage for the LGBTQI+ communities in Greece “would be a direct recognition of our families, our basic human rights and our very existence,” he said.

Few expected such progress to come from Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the current prime minister and leader of the center-right New Democracy party. While he hasn’t officially announced plans to legalize same-sex marriage, the premier is expected to address the issue during his next term if he wins the national ballot.

If he does, it would carry on the momentum set by the Greek leader after he was first elected. In 2021, he appointed a committee to draft a national strategy for improving LGBTQ rights. That strategy, which runs through 2025, acknowledges that rights for LGBTQ people “would not be complete without addressing the issue of marriage equality which, if established, would resolve numerous other issues associated with family law in Greece.”

The main opposition Syriza party of former premier Alexis Tsipras supports same-sex marriage and submitted a proposal in July which also proposes related measures such as the legalization of assisted reproduction for all couples.

Mitsotakis has introduced a number of reforms since 2021, such as lifting a ban on homosexual men making blood donations, outlawing in 2022 so-called sex normalizing surgeries on children and in September approving the official use of pre-exposure prophylactic drugs, commonly known as PrEP, to focus on the prevention of HIV infection rather than just on the treatment of the virus.

Greece has seen one of the the biggest jumps in ILGA’s ranking of LGBTQ rights among European countries following adoption of the strategy.

The introduction of PrEP, “is a step in the right direction for reducing HIV infection in the LGBTQ community,” said Giorgos Papadopetrakis, the vice chair of Positive Voice, an association for HIV-positive people in Greece. “Now, we’re just waiting to see how the decision will be implemented — how it will pass into action,” he said. —Paul Tugwell

United States

Progress on LGBTQ rights in America were “a mixed bag” in 2022, said Ehrt, the executive director of Outright International.

On the one hand, the historic Respect for Marriage Act Congress passed in December safeguards the rights to same-sex and interracial marriage from being rolled back in the same way abortion access has this year. But one of the first openly gay Black members of Congress, Mondaire Jones, said the legislation doesn’t go far enough, and doesn’t ensure marriage equality in every state. (Jones lost his bid for reelection in November, though more LGBTQ politicians were elected to Congress this cycle than ever before.)

With hundreds of anti-LGBTQ laws introduced at state-level during 2022, campaigners are also worried about a particular focus on rolling back rights among young people and transgender people. That trend includes limiting the participation of transgender people in sports that affirm their gender identity, as well as Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law which prohibits discussion about sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade.

Pressure to ban books with LGBTQ characters and themes at schools and public libraries has also increased. In messaging rolled out ahead of the midterms, the GOP led by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy listed anti-trans sports bills and legislation on parental rights among the party’s priorities.

Legislators in at least seven states proposed anti-drag bills ahead of the 2023 legislative session. These bills are often broad in nature, and many target people defined as “male or female impersonators.” LGBTQ advocates say they’re worried such language could be used to target transgender people. Other proposed bills target gender-affirming healthcare, particularly for children. Sarah Warbelow, legal director for the Human Rights Campaign described it as a “very intentional attack on LGBTQ youth from conservative legislatures across the country.”

The latter part of 2022 saw a surge in hostility toward the community, including the mass shooting at a LGBTQ club in Colorado, where five people were killed. The suspect now faces more than 300 charges including hate crimes. Reported anti-LGBTQ incidents, such as demonstrations and violence, have risen twelve-fold to almost 200 since 2020, according to a report by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project in November. —

Kelsey Butler, Ella Ceron and Olivia Konotey-Ahulu

Rishi Sunak set to ban 'abhorrent' TRANS conversion therapy

Ben Riley-Smith
Sun, January 15, 2023 

protest - Hollie Adams/Getty Images

A law to ban all conversion therapy will be announced as soon as Monday, as Rishi Sunak reverses Boris Johnson’s decision to scale back the intervention.

Conversion therapy is the practice of attempting to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender. It often takes place in religious settings and has led to accusations of exploitation.

Mr Johnson vowed to ban homosexual conversion therapy when prime minister, but decided not to do the same for transgender conversion therapy.

This week, government ministers are set to make clear that they plan to implement a total ban on both forms of conversion and will make legal changes to enforce the new position.

'Abhorrent practice'

The decision is understood to have been made in principle by No 10, but hoops remain before the announcement is made, including a formal sign-off of the position.

A Government spokesman said: “The Government remains committed to banning conversion practices in this country.

“In order to ensure the ban is as effective as possible, we are currently analysing the responses to our consultation. We will set out our next steps in due course.

“To help ensure that victims of this abhorrent practice have the assistance that they need, we have already established a new victim support service.”
'No place in civilised society'

Mr Johnson had long spoken out against the practice, saying in July 2020: “On the gay conversion therapy thing, I think that's absolutely abhorrent and has no place in a civilised society, and has no place in this country.

“What we are going to do is a study right now on... where is this actually happening, how prevalent is it, and we will then bring forward plans to ban it.”

But he altered his position last spring. Leaked documents suggested the ban was being ditched, triggering a backlash.

Mr Johnson then promised to ban gay conversion therapy, but said he would not do the same for transgender conversion, arguing the latter issue was more complex.

Tory MPs on both sides of the debate pushed their case with Downing Street, with some critics of an outright ban raising concerns of unintended consequences, such as for teachers or doctors having discussions with teenagers who wish to legally change gender.

It is unclear when exactly the legal change will formally be tabled in Parliament.

Rishi Sunak facing ‘big backlash’ over trans conversion therapy ban

Daniel Martin
Mon, January 16, 2023 a

A demonstrator holds a placard during the No Ban Without Trans protest - Hollie Adams/Getty Images

Rishi Sunak faces a “big backlash” if he presses ahead with a ban on trans conversion therapy which campaigners and Tory MPs say could criminalise parents, teachers and doctors.

The Government has already committed to ban therapists from pressurising gay people to be straight – a move which is entirely uncontroversial.

But over the weekend, Whitehall sources indicated that the Prime Minister wants to extend the law in order to ban the use of conversion therapy around gender transitions – where an attempt is made to persuade children who want to change their gender that they should stay as they are.

Boris Johnson rejected extending the law to cover gender identity in this way, and – on Monday night – critics said that if Mr Sunak presses ahead, it could be used to criminalise those who question children who want to change gender.

Tim Loughton, the former children’s minister, said he was concerned doctors, teachers and parents could fall foul of any new law unless it were very carefully worded.

“It certainly needs to include some dispensation when discussing transition treatment with minors or there will be a big backlash,” he said.

Teachers and parents in the dock

Maya Forstater, the co-founder of Sex Matters, said banning conversion therapy could see teachers and parents in the dock if they question a child’s desire to change gender.

The group says it means teachers could find themselves in court if they tell children they cannot use opposite-sex toilets or prevent a boy from competing in girls’ sports.

And it says parents could fall foul of the law for refusing to use the correct pronoun or for taking children abroad to avoid people pressuring them into transitioning.

Ms Forstater said: “Proponents of the plan to outlaw conversion therapy in the UK have never been able to come up with evidence that there is a contemporary practice that can and should be banned.

“Already therapists who help people work through gender issues and not become fixed on the idea that they need to alter their body to be their true self are being accused of practising ‘conversion’.

“Any proposed legislation should be subject to pre-legislative scrutiny to make sure that it does not risk criminalising thoughtful therapists, and parents and teachers who don’t believe children can be ‘born in the wrong body’, or people practising their religion.”

Damian Green, the former deputy prime minister to Theresa May, urged Mr Sunak to be careful.

“The key is the definition of what should be outlawed,” he said. “Clearly any coercive or bullying interventions are completely unacceptable, but the definition should not be so wide that it excludes proper conversations with clinicians.

“This is an especially sensitive area when it involves children.”

In an article for The Telegraph, Kathleen Stock, a British philosopher who had to leave her university position after being targeted by trans activists, said: “Under the proposed legislation, doctors, counsellors and therapists could be forced to simply affirm any child who claimed to be trans, or face potential prosecution for attempting to change the child’s identity.”

Kathleen Stock - BPM Media

The law was originally designed to outlaw the cruel practice of attempting to “convert” gay children.

But under pressure from trans rights campaigners, it was extended to stop therapists trying to help children with gender dysphoria – a mismatch between biological sex and gender identity – to decide whether they really wish to transition.

After some 2,500 parents, teachers and therapists wrote to their MPs to protest against the changes, Mr Johnson’s government blocked the plans.

On Monday night, a spokesman for the Government’s Equality Hub said: “The Government remains committed to banning conversion practices in this country.

“In order to ensure the ban is as effective as possible, we are currently analysing the responses to our consultation. We will set out our next steps in due course.

“To help ensure that victims of this abhorrent practice have the assistance that they need, we have already established a new victim support service.

Library thrives in Pakistan's 'wild west' gun market town

Sajjad TARAKZAI
Mon, January 16, 2023 


When the din of Pakistan's most notorious weapons market becomes overwhelming, arms dealer Muhammad Jahanzeb slinks away from his stall, past colleagues test-firing machine guns, to read in the hush of the local library.

"It's my hobby, my favourite hobby, so sometimes I sneak off," the 28-year-old told AFP after showing off his inventory of vintage rifles, forged assault weapons and a menacing array of burnished flick-knives.

"I've always wished that we would have a library here, and my wish has come true."

The town of Darra Adamkhel is part of the deeply conservative tribal belt where decades of militancy and drug-running in the surrounding mountains earned it a reputation as a "wild west" waypoint between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

It has long been known for its black market bazaars stocked with forged American rifles, replica revolvers and rip-off AK-47s.

But a short walk away a town library is thriving by offering titles including Virginia Woolf's classic "Mrs Dalloway", instalments in the teenage vampire romance series "Twilight", and "Life, Speeches and Letters" by Abraham Lincoln.

"Initially we were discouraged. People asked, 'What is the use of books in a place like Darra Adamkhel? Who would ever read here?'" recalled 36-year-old founder Raj Muhammad.

"We now have more than 500 members."

- Tribal transformation -

Literacy rates in the tribal areas, which were semi-autonomous until 2018 when they merged with the neighbouring province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, are among the lowest in Pakistan as a result of poverty, patriarchal values, inter-clan conflicts and a lack of schools.

But attitudes are slowing changing, believes soft-spoken 33-year-old volunteer librarian Shafiullah Afridi: "Especially among the younger generation who are now interested in education instead of weapons."

"When people see young people in their neighbourhood becoming doctors and engineers, others also start sending their children to school," saidAfridi, who has curated a ledger of 4,000 titles in three languages -- English, Urdu and Pashto.

Despite the background noise of gunsmiths testing weapons and hammering bullets into dusty patches of earth nearby, the atmosphere is genteel as readers sip endless rounds of green tea while they muse over texts.

However, Afridi struggles to strictly enforce a "no weapons allowed" policy during his shift.

One young arms dealer saunters up to the pristinely painted salmon-coloured library, leaving his AK-47 at the door but keeping his sidearm strapped on his waist, and joins a gaggle of bookworms browsing the shelves.

Alongside tattered Tom Clancy, Stephen King and Michael Crichton paperbacks, there are more weighty tomes detailing the history of Pakistan and India and guides for civil service entrance exams, as well as a wide selection of Islamic teachings.

- 'Education not arms' -

Libraries are rare in Pakistan's rural areas, and the few that exist in urban centres are often poorly stocked and infrequently used.

In Darra Adamkhel, it began as a solitary reading room in 2018 stocked with Muhammad's personal collection, above one of the hundreds of gun shops in the central bazaar.

"You could say we planted the library on a pile of weapons," said Muhammad -- a prominent local academic, poet and teacher hailing from a long line of gunsmiths.

Muhammad paid 2,500 rupees ($11) for the monthly rent, but bibliophiles struggled to concentrate amidst the whirring of lathes and hammering of metal as bootleg armourers plied their trade downstairs.

The project swiftly outgrew the confines of a single room and was shifted a year later to a purpose-built single-storey building funded by the local community on donated land.

"There was once a time when our young men adorned themselves with weapons like a kind of jewellery," said Irfanullah Khan, 65, patriarch of the family who gifted the plot.

"But men look beautiful with the jewel of knowledge, beauty lies not in arms but in education," said Khan, who also donates his time alongside his son Afridi.

For the general public a library card costs 150 rupees ($0.66) a year, while students enjoy a discount rate of 100 rupees ($0.44), and youngsters flit in and out of the library even during school breaks.

One in 10 members are female -- a figure remarkably high for the tribal areas -- though once they reach their teenage years and are sequestered in the home male family members collect books on their behalf.

Nevertheless, on their mid-morning break schoolgirls Manahil Jahangir, nine, and Hareem Saeed, five, join the men towering over them as they pore over books.

"My mother's dream is for me to become a doctor," Saeed says shyly. "If I study here I can make her dream come true."

sjd/jts/ecl/axn

Yemen rebels, Saudis in back-channel talks to maintain truce


A Yemeni fighter backed by the Saudi-led coalition fires his weapon during clashes with Houthi rebels on the Kassara frontline near Marib, Yemen, June 20, 2021. Since the longest ceasefire between Yemen's warring parties ended without renewal late last year, Saudi Arabia and the Iranian-backed Houthis have once again been engaging in back-channel talks. While the negotiations have managed to achieve an immediate aim of maintaining an unofficial sort of temporary truce, they seem unlikely to help either side find a way out of the conflict.

 (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty, File) 

SAMY MAGDY
Mon, January 16, 2023 

 CAIRO (AP) — Amid Yemen’s longest-ever pause in fighting — more than nine months — Saudi Arabia and its rival, the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, have revived back-channel talks, hoping to strengthen the informal cease-fire and lay out a path for a negotiated end to the long civil war, according to Yemeni, Saudi and U.N. officials.

The quiet is fragile, with no formal cease-fire in place since a U.N.-brokered truce ended in October. It has been shaken by Houthi attacks on oil facilities and fiery rhetoric from Yemen's internationally recognized government, allied with Saudi Arabia, which complains it has so far been left out of the talks. Lack of progress could lead to a breakdown and a renewal of all-out fighting.

But all sides appear to be looking for a solution after eight years of a war that has killed more than 150,000 people, fragmented Yemen and driven the Arab world’s poorest country into collapse and near starvation in one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Saudi Arabia restarted indirect exchanges with the Houthis in September, when it became clear the U.N.-brokered truce wouldn’t be renewed. Oman has been acting as intermediary.

“It’s an opportunity to end the war,” a U.N. official said, “if they negotiate in good faith and the talks include other Yemeni actors.” Like other officials, the U.N. official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the fragility of the talks.

A Saudi diplomat said his country has asked China and Russia to exert pressure on Iran and the Houthis to avoid escalations. Iran, which has been regularly briefed on the talks by the Houthis and the Omanis, has so far supported the undeclared truce, the diplomat said.

Yemen’s war began when the Houthis descended from their strongholds in northern Yemen and seized the capital of Sanaa in 2014, forcing the internationally recognized government to flee to the south then into exile in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia entered the war in 2015, heading a military collation with the United Arab Emirates and other Arab nations. The coalition, which was supported by the United States, carried out a destructive bombardment campaign and backs government forces and militias in the south. The conflict became a proxy war between regional foes Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Neither side has made territorial gains for years. The Houthis maintain their grip over the north, Sanaa, and much of the heavily populated west. The government and militias hold the south and east, including the key central areas with most of Yemen’s oil reserves.

The war has bled beyond Yemen’s borders, with the Houthis attacking Saudi Arabia and the UAE with ballistic missiles and explosive-laden drones. The rebels also attacked vessels in the Red Sea. They used weapons from the stockpiles they seized in Sanaa and weapons supplied by Iran, according to independent and U.N. experts and Western nations.

Saudi Arabia and the Houthis have held indirect negotiations in the past, mainly for prisoner swaps or sporadic cease-fires.

The most ambitious talks, in 2019, helped stop a government’s advance on the Houthi-held port of Hodeida on the Red Sea. But Saudi officials accused the rebels of using an undeclared truce to make territorial gains and advance on the prized, government-held city of Marib. A monthslong battle for Marib ensued, in which the Houthis suffered huge casualties and were eventually repelled in late 2021.

The U.N. brokered a more formal truce that began in April 2022 and was extended twice. It ran out in October. Houthi attacks on oil facilities in government-controlled areas have been the most significant disruption in recent months — but so far, the warring sides have not resumed full-fledged fighting.

“An escalation would be costly on all fronts,” a Yemeni government official said. Still, “all are building up for the next round (of war) if U.N. efforts and the Saudi-Houthi talks collapse.”

One problem is that past attempts at resolution have been hampered by the conflicting interests of the powers involved in the war — Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Iran, said Abdel-Bari Taher, a Yemeni commentator and former Journalists' Union head.

“These talks won’t lead to concrete conclusions if they don’t include all Yemeni parties in the process,” Taher said.

The Houthis’ chief negotiator, Mohammed Abdul-Salam, said visits to Sanaa by Omani officials show the Houthis’ seriousness. The most recent visit ended Sunday.

“There is give and take with other parties,” he said, in an apparent reference to Saudi Arabia.

The kingdom has developed a phased roadmap for a settlement, which has been backed by the U.S. and the United Nations, said the U.N. official. In it, the coalition makes a number of key promises, including to further reopen the airport in Sanaa and ease a blockade on Hodeida, the official said.

The Houthis demand the coalition pay salaries of all state employees — including the military — from oil and gas revenues, as well as open all airports and ports under Houthi control. A Houthi official involved in the deliberations said the Saudis had promised to pay the salaries.

The Saudi diplomat, however, said paying military salaries is conditioned on the Houthis accepting security guarantees, including a buffer zone with Houthi-held areas along the Yemeni-Saudi border. The Houthis also should lift their blockade on Taiz, Yemen's third largest city, he said.

The Saudis also want the Houthis to commit to joining official talks with other Yemeni stakeholders, the diplomat said.

The Houthi official said his side has not accepted parts of the Saudi proposal, particularly the security guarantees, and refuses the resumption of oil exports from government-held areas without paying the salaries. The Houthis proposed a distribution of oil revenues according to a pre-war budget, the official said. That means Houthi-held areas receive up to 80% of the revenues since they are the most populated, according to the official.

The Saudi diplomat said both sides were working with Omani officials to develop the proposal to be “more satisfactory for all sides,” including other Yemeni parties.

All of this has left the internationally recognized government without a voice, a Yemeni government official said. He said the government’s presidential council worries Saudi Arabia “might give unacceptable concessions” to reach a deal.

But the Yemen anti-Houthi alliance remains riven with internal divisions so there is little room to maneuver.

“We have no option but to wait and see the conclusion of these negotiations,” the official said.

Eating one wild fish same as month of drinking tainted water: study

Daniel Lawler
Mon, January 16, 2023


Eating one freshwater fish caught in a river or lake in the United States is the equivalent of drinking a month's worth of water contaminated with toxic "forever chemicals", new research said on Tuesday.

The invisible chemicals called PFAS were first developed in the 1940s to resist water and heat, and are now used in items such as non-stick pans, textiles, fire suppression foams and food packaging.

But the indestructibility of PFAS, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, means the pollutants have built up over time in the air, soil, lakes, rivers, food, drinking water and even our bodies.

There have been growing calls for stricter regulation for PFAS, which have been linked to a range of serious health issues including liver damage, high cholesterol, reduced immune responses and several kinds of cancer.

To find out PFAS contamination in locally caught fish, a team of researchers analysed more than 500 samples from rivers and lakes across the United States between 2013 and 2015.

The median level of PFAS in the fish was 9,500 nanogrammes per kilogramme, according to a new study published in the journal Environmental Research.

Nearly three quarters of the detected "forever chemicals" was PFOS, one of the most common and hazardous of the thousands of PFAS.

Eating just one freshwater fish equalled drinking water with PFOS at 48 parts per trillion for a month, the researchers calculated.

Last year the US Environmental Protection Agency lowered the level of PFOS in drinking water it considers safe to 0.02 parts per trillion.

The total PFAS level in the freshwater fish was 278 times higher than what has been found in commercially sold fish, the study said.

- 'Greatest chemical threat' -

David Andrews, a senior scientist at the non-profit Environmental Working Group which led research, told AFP he grew up catching and eating fish.

"I can no longer look at a fish without thinking about PFAS contamination," said Andrews, one of the study's authors.

The findings were "particularly concerning due to the impact on disadvantaged communities that consume fish as a source protein or for social or cultural reasons," he added.

"This research makes me incredibly angry because companies that made and used PFAS contaminated the globe and have not been held responsible."

Patrick Byrne, an environmental pollution researcher at the UK's Liverpool John Moores University not involved in the research, said PFAS are "probably the greatest chemical threat the human race is facing in the 21st century".

"This study is important because it provides the first evidence for widespread transfer of PFAS directly from fish to humans," he told AFP.

Andrews called for much more stringent regulation to bring an end to all non-essential uses of PFAS.

The study comes after Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden submitted a proposal to ban PFAS to the EU's European Chemicals Agency on Friday.

The proposal, "one of the broadest in the EU's history," comes after the five countries found that PFAS were not adequately controlled, and bloc-wide regulation was needed, the agency said in a statement.

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Why Nigeria's central bank governor self-exiled abroad?



Faustine Ngila

Quartz
Mon, January 16, 2023 

Nigeria’s central bank governor Godwin Emefiele had been away from his home country for several weeks, reportedly self-exiling in an unknown country outside Africa.

Though the apex bank announced that he has resumed his duties (pdf) on Jan.16, without confirming whether he is back in the country, Emefiele has been alleged to be hiding to evade arrest by the country’s secret police over claims that he has been involved in corrupt activities and terrorism financing.

His absence raised eyebrows after he failed to turn up to explain the reason behind the redesign of Naira banknotes and cash withdrawal limits without consulting the finance ministry on Dec. 22, delegating that to deputy governor Aisha Ahmad. The redesign has been weakening the currency.

The case against Emefiele

At the time, he said he was hospitalized abroad, before it was reported that he was on the run to avoid being detained for economic crimes and threatening national security. Secret police want to hold him in a 60-day detention, which could be renewed for another 60 days pending investigations.

Emefiele went on leave before Christmas with the knowledge of President Muhammadu Buhari but on Jan. 15, said he could not come back to Nigeria because he was sick and undergoing treatment.

“First of all, he was accused of financing terrorism worth billions of dollars trough some secret accounts allegedly supervised by him” Janet Faden, an independent journalist based in Jos City, Plateau State and who runs Plateau News Online tells Quartz. She believes that his devaluation of the Naira right before the upcoming elections is not a coincidence.

In 2014, former central bank governor, Alhaji Sanusi Lamido was also accused of financing terrorism. “They made a show out of it but nothing tangible came out of the investigations. He sued them instead,” Faden says. Armed bandit attacks in Nigeria led to the loss of 2,600 lives in 2021, an increase of over 250% from 2020.

The Department of State Services (DSS) remains alert to arrest Emefiele on sight, despite a De. 29 ruling by Justice Maryam Hassan of the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja quashing the move by the DSS because it provided no concrete evidence to back up its allegations.

The court acted in response to a suit filed by a Nigerian civil society group, the Forum for Accountability and Good Leadership. Pressure has been piling from the country’s law society for the federal government to stop plans to arrest the governor.

“Has the government considered the enormous implication of the effect of a wanted governor of the central bank on the economy? I am completely flabbergasted that the president of the country has not intervened; either to call the state security to order or to call Emefiele to return to the country or be fired,” human rights lawyer Femi Falana said.

This has drawn attention from the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (Afcfta) Roundtable, with founder Warmate Jones Idikio telling Quartz that the absence of the governor of the central bank of Africa’s biggest economy “leaves room for a lot of speculation.”

Nigeria is at risk

While fiscal policy, anti-inflationary measures, the strength of the Naira, and the general economic outlook for Nigeria may not be affected by the absence of the governor according to Idikio, Nigeria risks being blacklisted by global financial bodies, according to the Center for Financial Surveillance and Illicit Transaction Tracking Group (CSITT).

“We received with disappointment the reports of discovery of a suit secretly filed by the state security service wherein it accused Godwin Emefiele of terrorism financing as well as other crimes it described as economic crimes of national security dimension,” reads a statement by CSITT.

It claims that the plan to arrest the governor is motivated by “political and pecuniary reasons” and is “against the ethics of the Egmont group” which blacklisted the country in 2017 for “lack of a legal framework and autonomy.”

Emefiele wanted to be Nigeria’s president

Last May, Emefiele was forced to drop his presidential ambitions after a high court in Abuja dismissed his request to not be prevented from contesting in the upcoming Feb. 25 elections.

He has been labeled Nigeria’s worst performing central bank governor in history for spearheading the implementation of unfavorable monetary policies that Nigerians feel have been hurting them.

In 2019, Emefiele could not explain how Nigeria’s treasury lost over $2.5 billion meant for the procurement of arms under his watch but was still reappointed as governor by president Buhari.

For now, Nigerian authorities may allow Emefiele back to the country without being arrested but he might be forced to resign from his position as allegations against him continue to tarnish the reputation of the country’s central bank.

CUTTING NOSE TO SPITE FACE

Help needed: Immigration crackdown worsens worker shortage for Florida businesses

Antonio Fins and Alexandra Clough, Palm Beach Post
Mon, January 16, 2023 

On the way to a business meeting in Fort Lauderdale, hotelier Jan Gautam dropped in on a Holiday Inn Express location in Boynton Beach. But Gautam wasn't there to check-in.

"I am going to make the beds," said Gautam, president and CEO of Orlando-based Interessant Hotels & Resort Management. "Our manager there needs help and if I don't go, what happens?"

Making beds, bussing tables and offering hands-on support to the hotel managers and employees at the 24 properties his company owns, plus the 75 others it manages — like the Holiday Inn Express off Interstate 95 in Palm Beach County — are Gautam's most important executive duties these days.

"The people staying at our hotels demand 100% service. They are paying for it," said Gautam, who was well into another 19-hour day before a drive back to Central Florida. "The rooms have to be clean. They have to be ready."

Gautam's plight speaks to a serious strain on the Sunshine State's largest industry — tourists are coming back, but the industry's workers are not.

Holiday Inn Express & Suites in Boynton Beach, Fla., on Wednesday, December 29, 2021.

VisitFlorida announced Dec. 27 that Florida drew 32.5 million tourists in the third quarter of this year. The state's travel promotion agency said that that total marked the "first time overall visitation has exceeded pre-pandemic levels" over a three-month period.

But while Florida is again the world's premiere travel destination, the labor it depends on has gone elsewhere.

The American Hotel & Lodging Association has reported that, nationally, 20% of leisure and hospitality jobs — or 3.5 million in total — were lost to the pandemic and had yet to return as of earlier this year. The organization projected U.S. hotels would likely end 2021 down 500,000 "direct jobs."

Thanks to its beaches, theme parks and other coveted attractions, Florida has a disproportionately higher number of leisure and hospitality businesses, including hotels and restaurants, and employers here say the worker shortage is inflicting a higher level of pain.

While the monthly jobless rate continues to drop, the gap between the growing number of available jobs and the shrinking pool of unemployed people available to fill them is widening.

Gautam said his company is down 50% from the pre-pandemic staffing of 4,500 — a number that would still be inadequate to handle the growth in business he is experiencing.
Advocates: Immigration crackdown has aggravated American worker shortage

Now, business groups like AHLA and the American Business Immigration Coalition, of which Gautam is a member, say the answer is more immigration, not less.

In a statement on its website, the hotel group said: "We have always been a major employer of immigrants, and we also rely on legal guest worker programs to augment our workforce. We believe that the United States can have both an effective and welcoming legal immigration process that enables hotels and other businesses to meet our workforce needs, while also protecting our national security."

Officials at ABIC blame, at least in part, the shallow labor pool for industries like tourism and agriculture on restrictive immigration policies, especially those of the Trump administration.

"We see a huge connection," said Rebecca Shi, the coalition's executive director. "Since the pandemic, and the crackdown of the last four years, the worker shortage has gotten worse."

The restraints on immigration were not simply relegated to border security and control. They also reflected a profound change in just who the United States wanted to welcome as new Americans. Specifically,people with professions, degrees and talents would be favored rather than Horatio Alger types.

"It is time to begin moving towards a merit-based immigration system — one that admits people who are skilled, who want to work, who will contribute to our society, and who will love and respect our country," former President Trump said in his 2018 State of the Union speech.

The change in policy direction was an error, Shi and others now say, and the monthly unemployment reports speak to the consequences for industries that depend on low-skilled immigrants willing to work their way to a better life in America.
Unemployment drops but there's a gap creating a headache for businesses

In fact, while the monthly jobless rate continues to drop, the gap between the growing number of available jobs and the shrinking pool of unemployed people available to fill them is widening, not narrowing.

Florida's jobless rate is back under 4%, the threshold economists have long said constitutes full employment.

In Southwest Florida, the monthly unemployment survey reported a 3.3% unemployment rate for the Sarasota-Manatee County area in November. The labor force increased by 8.1% to 388,327 people, and there were just 12,658 unemployed residents.

Palm Beach County, where CEO Gautam was making beds and cleaning rooms on Monday, reported a new low in November for unemployment in the post-coronavirus business shutdown era — 3.5%, down from 4% in October.

The telltale numbers, however, were 39,258 job openings versus 26,537 unemployed people. A gap of 12,721 that was almost twice the hole from the prior month. Meaning the worker shortage grew worse even as more people rejoined the workforce.

While unemployment is dropping lower in Florida, tourism-related businesses such as hotels and restaurants are having a difficult time filling openings.

"It's no surprise why that gap keeps growing," Shi said.

Not only are there millions of undocumented workers "in the shadows," Shi said, but a pivotal foreign visa program also has been restrained. As a result, the "demand is super high" for workers. And if a business has a capable worker it wants to promote, that's a no-go if that person is undocumented.

Shi said she has spoken with Orlando hoteliers who tell her they have 1,000 unfilled positions. A lot of those openings, Shi said, are ones usually filled by immigrants because they are the positions that established U.S. citizens and residents historically have not wanted to accept.

Increasing work permits for legal immigrant workers, and resolving the limbo of undocumented workers, Shi insists could help fill many of the 11 million U.S. jobs ABIC said are unfilled right now in construction, healthcare, hospitality, and other service industries.

Besides improving customer service at these locations, Shi said, immigration reform would also alleviate the spike in inflation that is at least partly driven by rising labor costs as desperate employers offer higher wages, pricey benefits and costly perks to lure employees.

And that crisis at the border, Shi said, is more fallout. If the United States had a functional immigration system to allow low-skilled labor to come to America, people would not be crashing the border to "try to game" the asylum system.

"We have people at the border literally wanting to come and work but we don't have a legal system to connect them with employers," she said.
Is immigration reform a long-term answer for employers who need help?

Gautam, who is an ABIC member, said he supports immigration reform but is skeptical it would provide the immediate relief he needs.

Yes, he said that he has hired immigrants from Venezuela and Costa Rica and they have been "some of the hardest workers" that he has ever employed. He also said that his company, in the past, has had internship-like programs that have successfully trained employees.

The downside is that those are long-term solutions and he needs workers now — right now. He would rather the Biden administration and states end unemployment subsidies to force even more people back into the workforce.

Even with Florida's relatively low 3.6% unemployment rate there are still close to 500,000 jobless residents, as of November, who could fill some of the demand for workers.

"It's not just us. It's everybody," said Gautam. "We are in bad shape. We need help and we need it now."

Economists have debunked the belief that unemployment benefits have dissuaded workers from returning to the job market, citing other factors such as lack of childcare stemming from school attendance disruptions and COVID health risks.

In Palm Beach County, CareerSource officials also say national trends, like accelerated Baby Boomer retirements and a shrunken working-age population owing to low birth rates in recent decades, are impacting the region's employment base.

Regardless, the result is the same: Employers are hurting for workers to meet demand for products and services, and healthy immigration flows could help.

Restaurateur Burt Rapoport said immigrant labor is vital to filling key jobs at his eateries, such as dishwashers. He is having some success hiring immigrant Haitians at Rapoport's Restaurant Group, which owns Deck 84, Pagoda Kitchen, Max's Grille and Prezzo eateries.

Rapoport said his company for years has used the E-Verify system to confirm the legal eligibility of job applicants. Now, at a time when restaurants already are struggling to find workers, "there are not many dishwashers out there that are legal and have the paperwork," Rapaport said.

The demand for dishwashers has gone up considerably during the past couple of years as new eateries throughout the county have opened. That's driving up the wage for dishwashers, who used to be paid about $10 an hour and now can fetch $15, Rapoport said.

Still, some people aren't interested in working as a restaurant dishwasher because they can get jobs at Amazon warehouses or in construction, "making a lot more money, and the hours are more convenient," Rapoport said.

But for other immigrants, working as a dishwasher still has its perks.

"The jobs are available, and they get fed," Rapoport said.

Restaurateur counsels kindness, and patience

Rocco Mangel, an owner of the popular Rocco's Tacos eateries, said his biggest hiring issue these days is finding staff willing or able to work amid the latest COVID-19 outbreak.

In some cases, staffing is thin because some employees have caught the virus.

The situation is so volatile, Mangel said he's placed signs in his restaurants explaining the staffing shortage. The signs ask customers to be patient and kind to the staffers who are working.

"It's very hard to successfully run a busy restaurant company these days," Mangel said. "Instead of having 10 waiters, we might have five. So be kind, be courteous. We're doing the best we can."

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Help needed: Immigration crackdown worsens worker shortage for Florida businesses

Foreign temp workers at Mar-a-Lago raise another security concern


Alexandra Clough and Antonio Fins, Palm Beach Post
Mon, January 16, 2023 

President Donald Trump stops in to Big Dog Ranch Rescue's 6th annual Wine, Women and Shoes Lunch and Fashion Show at Mar-a-Lago Club on March 9, 2019.

Like 38 other hospitality businesses in Palm Beach County, Mar-a-Lago is waiting to be told by the federal government just how many foreign temporary workers it can hire to serve members and guests during the winter tourist season.

Former President Trump's private Palm Beach club, and other locations such as the nearby Breakers Palm Beach Resort, for years routinely applied for these visas to fill low-wage, low-skilled jobs.

This year, the foreign visa program for temporary help — county-based private clubs, hotels and resorts have asked for a collective 2,266 workers — is especially important. The county's labor market, with unemployment hovering at just 3%, is especially tight with an almost 2-for-1 ratio in the number of open jobs to available unemployed workers.

Since Trump won the presidency, Mar-a-Lago was always a national security red flag

Mar-a-Lago's labor request comes as the private club is at the center of a political scandal

But Mar-a-Lago's labor request comes as the private club is at the center of a political scandal and legal firestorm over Trump's possession of top-secret documents. The discovery and seizure of those files, numbering hundreds of pages, has heaped scrutiny on the already fraught security risks presented by a private business that alternately serves as the official residence of a former commander-in-chief.

The presence of foreign workers, in the past and again starting this fall, adds to the glare on Trump's estate, which one national security analyst said already had an uncomfortable flow of people, access and volume.

Former president Donald Trump drops into the Daughters of the American Revolution Henry Morrison Flagler chapter luncheon at Mar-a-Lago Club on April 6, 2022.

Lindsay Rodman, a former White House fellow who was director for defense policy and strategy at the National Security Council, quips that Mar-a-Lago has the aura of "a classic James Bond" scene just waiting for "a heist" of secret files.

"Having tons of international guests coming back and forth from a poorly secured area puts any documents that might be found there at high risk," said Rodman, who now teaches national security, cybersecurity and foreign relations at George Washington University Law School. "It does not sound like the type of security precautions they were taking had anything to do with what we would have been seeing in the White House, the Pentagon or any of the other places I've worked with."
Mar-a-Lago asks for scores of foreign workers ahead of winter season

Mar-a-Lago this year requested to filla record 91 positions with foreign workersfor this coming year, up from 80 in 2019, according to CareerSource, the county's nonprofit job placement agency.

In addition to Mar-a-Lago, Trump also has two other Palm Beach County properties, Trump International Golf Club in unincorporated West Palm Beach and Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter.

This year, as in years past, Trump is requesting permission to hire seasonal foreign workers for these properties, too: 14 for Trump International and 10 for Trump National.

The Mar-a-Lago jobs include cooks, servers and housekeepers. The workers are needed through the balance of the winter social season — Mar-a-Lago generally operates between late October and mid-May.

The hired hands will cater to the club's members, including the many 1 percenters that descend on Palm Beach for the social season. And they will help handle what is a varied calendar of events.

Mar-a-Lago is a highly desired location for weddings, philanthropic galas, and political fund-raising luncheons and dinners.

The request for foreign workers is a two-step process involving two federal agencies.

Trump resort hired undocumented workers

Secret service agents stand at the gate of Mar-a-Lago after the FBI issued warrants on Aug. 8, 2022.

First, the U.S. Department of Labor reviews the ask by private businesses. A Labor Department spokesman said the agency is limited to evaluating whether the need for foreign labor is warranted, meaning Mar-a-Lago's request likely will be certified.

But approval by the Department of Homeland Security also is required before a business can secure foreign workers, the Labor Department spokesman said. DHS must approve the H2B visas for temporary foreign workers.

It's not clear whether DHS is giving added scrutiny to Mar-a-Lago's request, given the ongoing investigation into Trump and the location of all classified documents or presidential records.The department did not respond to a request for comment.

President Donald Trump stops in to Big Dog Ranch Rescue's 6th annual Wine, Women and Shoes Lunch and Fashion Show at Mar-a-Lago Club Saturday March 9, 2019 in Palm Beach. President Trump had just returned from golfing.

How might foreign workers seeking temp jobs in America be vetted?

But a specialist in private security, who has worked with former federal agents in various law-enforcement branches, said government agencies conduct fairly extensive vetting of foreign temporary workers. And in Palm Beach County, the employers hiring them will do some background checking, too.

"There are two stages to this," said Ross Thompson, a longtime professional in private security who is now CEO of COVAC Global in West Palm Beach.

Since 9/11, Thompson said, the foreign worker visa system has become exponentially more stringent. For example, a current passport contains all sorts of data, includingnames, aliases andaddresses, that will then be checked against databases run by the National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Interpol.

That search is largely handled by the National Vetting Center, a unit of U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, Thompson said. The U.S. embassy and the State Department's consular offices in the applicant's home country also will conduct thorough interviews.

"Based off that, the government is going to make a decision on whether you are a threat or not," Thompson said. "The second piece of that is whether or not you are going to actually do what you say you are going to do. Come here, work, get paid and leave. That's another big consideration they are looking at."

Thompson also notes that the choosing of employees by local hospitality businesses and companies is not a random act. He said most often the person who is being considered is a family member or a friend of an existing or former worker — or someone known to a U.S. citizen or green card holder.

"There's some degree of connection," Thompson said. "You can draw a line from one person to another."
Are hotel workers some of America's best spies?

Rodman's joke about a 007-like effort at Mar-a-Lago may not be out of the realm of possibility.

Thompson said U.S. intelligence officials and foreign governments often seek out hotel workers, whether a housekeeper or food-service worker, as gatherers of information because they have access to items with DNA on them.

"If you wanted to go spy on foreign nationals, if you wanted to get information on foreign nationals, if you wanted to collect DNA on foreign nationals, the first group of people you are going to recruit for you is hotel staff," he said.

A used cigarette butt, a table-setting utensil, and even a urine or stool sample can provide critical information on a foreign leader or official, such as whether they have a disease such as cancer or Parkinson's.

President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping of China shake hands during a dinner at Mar-a-Lago on April, 6, 2017. At left are Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, and Peng Liyuan, Xi's wife.

An example of a local data-gathering event, he said, was the visit of China's president, Xi Jinping to Palm Beach County in April 2017. Xi and his entourage stayed at the beachfront Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa in Manalapan, above seven miles south of Mar-a-Lago. Trump hosted Xi at Mar-a-Lago during the trip.

"If you don't think there wasn't any intelligence collection with the Chinese president and the delegation at Eau Palm Beach (hotel) by U.S. intelligence, you are sorely mistaken," he said.

President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania sit down for Christmas dinner in the ballroom at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Dec. 24, 2019.

Analyst: Straight line from divulging data to endangering an American

In that context,last month's search for classified documents at Mar-a-Lago raises fresh questions and concernsabout security at Mar-a-Lago.

An Aug. 29 federal court filing by the U.S. Department of Justice said classified documents at Mar-a-Lago were moved and hidden, and that some even ended up in Trump's desk in an office at Mar-a-Lago.

A warrant indicates the search was conducted in connection with, among other things, the Espionage Act. One statute states that people legally granted access to national defense documents or classified information are subject to punishment should they improperly retain that information.

That's what worries the U.S. national security community, said Rodman.

By their nature, security officials and analysts will not air their grievances, she said. But Rodman believes the national security workforce is worried "not just about the divulging of government secrets at a high level" but also those that involve intelligence gathering by people.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (seated, facing camera) is surrounded by aides after he and President Donald Trump, right, (blocked from view) learned of a missile launch by North Korea during a visit at Mar-a-Lago on Feb. 11.

 (Shannon Donnelly / The Palm Beach Post)

"Those have the potential to really harm individual lives," said Rodman, a U.S. Marine who served in Afghanistan. "Those are the ones in which you can draw a straight line from divulging that information to endangering an American who's currently putting their life on the line for the American people."

Contrast the potential accessibility of Mar-a-Lago to the National Security Council, or the White House's West Wing and Oval Office, where access is restricted according to various levels of security clearance.

She said security clearance there, and in Washington in general, is a painstakingly thought-out process to make sure "those at the very, very high levels of government, senior leadership" have the information they need to make "fully informed decisions that affect our national security for the American people."

"Trump" and "MAGA" purses sit on a poolside table as guests gather before the start of the Republican Party of Palm Beach County's Lincoln Day Dinner at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach Friday, March 16, 2018. (Bruce R. Bennett / The Palm Beach Post)

Concerns about security at Mar-a-Lago have been ongoing since Trump first became president.

During his presidency, Trump's Palm Beach visits resulted in the public display of photos showing administration officials, including Attorney General Jeff Sessions, photos of Trump and Japan's prime minister during a North Korean missile launch, and even photos of the briefcase containing U.S. nuclear launch codes.

At Mar-a-Lago, Social Security numbers of all visitors were not generally required in advance as they are at the White House. The names of Mar-a-Lago visitors are not entered into a public log.

Sometimes, guests overheard Trump family gossip or engage in chit-chat with the Secret Service, attendees said. It was easy to blend in with all the other scions in the room if one is wearing a tuxedo or gown, attendees said.

During the course of Trump's presidency, club members eventually were required to make reservations to step foot onto the club property, even for drinks.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, left, has dinner with President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago on March 7, 2020.

But once there, it was business as usual. Members could linger in the main living room or at patio dinner tables, watching Trump and his entourage move about the place. Club members could bring guests, too.

In 2019, congressional Democrats demanded to know the security set up at the president's self-described "Southern White House." In particular, they asked the FBI what additional steps would be "needed to detect and deter adversary governments or their agents" from conducting electronic surveillance or gaining access to Mar-a-Lago and other Trump properties.

The Secret Service issued a statement explaining that management at Mar-a-Lago, not Secret Service agents, decides who is welcome at the club.

"The Mar-a-Lago club management determines which members and guests are granted access to the property," according to the statement. "While the Secret Service does not determine who is permitted to enter the club, our agents and officers conduct physical screenings to ensure no prohibited items are allowed onto the property."
Trump blasts search with 'drain the swamp' refrain

Trump has railed against the FBI seizure, floating theories about papers related to former President Obama's nuclear agreement with Iran and assailing the FBI for a photograph Trump said is intended to make it look like he littered the secret documents on his carpet.

"This is the time, after many years of lawbreaking & unfairness, to clean things up," he posted on his social media platform. "All things for a reason. DRAIN THE SWAMP!!!"

President Donald Trump speaks to the media after making a Christmas Eve video conference call to members of the armed forces from Mar-a-Lago on December 24, 2019.

Last week, however, Trump attorney Alina Habba seemed tounderscore the laxity of Mar-a-Lago security, including in Trump's office, where several classified documents were found. During an interview with Fox News, she said she had been in Trump's office, and he “frequently” had guests in the room.

Rodman fears it could "damage morale" for the national security workforce to see court documents alleging in detail how the very documents they so zealously defend were treated with recklessness at the former president's club.

"There is a culture among national security professionals … where there is a very strong professional ethic about taking care of this information," she said. "They understand this not only has the potential to endanger the national security of the United States, which is what we have devoted our lives to protecting. Revealing sources and methods endanger individuals. Lives can be lost, livelihoods can also be lost, because of the disclosure of this information."

Alexandra Clough is a business writer at the Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at aclough@pbpost.com. Twitter: @acloughpbp. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Mar-a-Lago: Foreign workers at Palm Beach club upped security concerns

China Petrochemical Plant Shut After Huge Explosion

Editor OilPrice.com
Mon, January 16, 2023

China's Panjin Haoye Chemical Co Ltd’s entire oil refinery and petrochemical complex was shut down after a huge explosion killed five people and left eight missing on Sunday, Reuters has reported.

According to Chinese state television, the explosion occurred at 3:13 p.m. (0713 GMT) on Sunday while the plant was undergoing maintenance work at an alkylation facility. Xu Peng, has estimated that the Haoye facility was processing at 62.5% of its crude refining capacity of 130,000 barrels per day (bpd) through 2022. The plant processed ~110,000 bpd in December, according to another China-based trade source.

The explosion has come at a time when crude prices thanks to increasing demand in China following its latest re-opening. RBC energy strategist Michael Tran says the "Chinese consumption machine" appears to be ramping up after December crude imports totaled 10.9M bbl/day, up 830K bbl/day from the previous 11 months of 2022.

Meanwhile, China’s crude inventories are steadying but have fallen~30M barrels from the summer 2022 peak. Front-month Nymex crude for February delivery settled +8.2% to $79.86/bbl at the end of last week while March Brent crude closed +8.5% to $85.28/bbl, both posting their forth weekly gain in five weeks.

China's economic reopening has been the primary driver for higher oil prices, with signs of easing inflation in the latest CPI data also adding to the optimism about the U.S. economy either heading for a mild recession or a soft landing. Hedge fund trader Pierre Andurand has told Bloomberg that global oil demand could soar as much as 4% in the coming year if the world manages to fully emerge from Covid restrictions. Andurand has said that oil demand may increase by 3 million to 4 million barrels a day in 2023 helped by a switch to oil from gas.

RIP

Gina Lollobrigida, post WWII Italian film diva, dies at 95


Italian actor Lollobrigida attends the unveiling of her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles

Mon, January 16, 2023 at 4:47 AM MST·2 min read
By Philip Pullella

ROME (Reuters) - Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida, a sultry Mediterranean diva who came to represent Italy's vibrant rebirth after World War Two, has died aged 95, her former lawyer said on Monday.

After a humble upbringing, Lollobrigida played opposite Hollywood stars such as Humphrey Bogart, Rock Hudson, Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis and Frank Sinatra, becoming one of the most recognizable cinema icons of the 1950s and 60s.

But she never clicked with the Hollywood studio system and her best known films remain those she made with Italian directors before and after her American parenthesis.

"La Lollo", as she was affectionately known in Italy, died in a Rome clinic, her former lawyer, Giulia Citani said.

Lollobrigida became a photographer and sculptor after stepping away from the movie world. Last September, she failed in a bid to win a seat in the Italian parliament for a leftist political party at national elections.

A spokesperson for Sophia Loren, a superstar diva in her own right in Italy's heady post-war years, said Loren, 88, was "very shocked and saddened" by Lollobrigida's death.

"La Loren" and "La Lollo" had an ongoing rivalry in the 1950s and 1960, much of it encouraged, and some say even at least partly invented, by publicity agents.

"Farewell to a diva of the big screen, protagonist of more than half a century of the Italian film history. Her charm will remain immortal. Ciao Lollo," Italian culture minister Gennaro Sangiuliano wrote on Twitter.

When she stopped making films full-time, Lollobrigida developed new careers as a photographer and sculptor and was also a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and its Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

Between 1972 and 1994 she published six books of her photographs, including Italia Mia (My Italy), The Philippines, and the Wonder of Innocence, photographs of and for children.

In 1975 she made a documentary film "Portrait of Fidel Castro," and for years there were rumours that she had had an affair with the Cuban leader.

One of her last appearances was a cameo in an Italian film in 2011.

In her later years she spent much of her time divided between a secluded villa behind walls on Rome's ancient Appian Way in the southern part of the Italian capital and the Tuscan artists' colony of Pietrasanta, where she kept a sculptor's studio.

In an interview with Reuters in the Rome villa in 2006, she complained about intrusive photographers, saying they were still trying to invade her privacy.

She had a one-woman show in Pietrasanta in 2008 and dedicated it to her friend, the late opera singer Maria Callas.

When asked how she felt turning 90 in 2017, she said it was feeling like "30 plus 30 plus 30".

(Reporting by Philip Pullella, Editing by Crispian Balmer and Hugh Lawson)

Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida dies aged 95

Mon, 16 January 2023


Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida has died age 95.

She was one of the highest-profile European actresses of the 1950s and early 1960s, playing opposite Hollywood stars including Humphrey Bogart, Rock Hudson, Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis and Frank Sinatra.

Starting out from humble beginnings, she became one of the most recognisable faces of Italian post-war cinema.

An international sex symbol thanks to her sultry Mediterranean looks - and rivalled only by fellow Italian actress Sophia Loren - Lollobrigida was one of the last remaining stars of Hollywood's Golden Age.

Her agent said she died in Rome on Monday.

Known in Italy simply as "La Lollo", she starred in films such as The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, Solomon and Sheba, Beautiful But Dangerous and The World's Most Beautiful Woman during a five-decade acting career.

Lollobrigida found success as a photographer and sculptor in later life and also ventured into politics.

However, she failed to win a seat in parliament for Sovereign and Popular Italy (ISP), a left-wing party, during September's elections after they failed to reach the 3% threshold.

In 1975, rumours swirled about an affair with Cuban leader Fidel Castro after she secured exclusive access to him for a documentary she produced.

Lollobrigida also made headlines in 2006, at age 79, when she announced she was marrying a man 34 years her junior.

When she was 80, she said in an interview: "All my life I wanted a real love, an authentic love, but I have never had one. No one has ever truly loved me. I am a cumbersome woman".

Lollobrigida got her break in film after finishing third in the 1947 Miss Italia contest. One of her earliest roles was playing an adulteress in 1953's The Wayward Wife.

Leading roles followed in two Italian comedies, Bread, Love and Dreams, and Bread, Love and Jealousy.

A role opposite Humphrey Bogart in John Huston's Beat the Devil added to her exposure.

But it was 1955 movie The World's Most Beautiful Woman that sealed her worldwide fame and became one of her signature roles.

Despite making it in Hollywood, she preferred to work closer to home, making films throughout the 1960s with Italian directors such as Mario Bolognini.

Her last well-known film, the 1968 farce Buona Sera, Mrs Campbell - which also starred American actor Telly Savalas - earned her several award nominations.

Born Luigia Lollobrigida in July 1927, to a working-class family in Subiaco, a mountainous area east of Rome, she studied at the city's Academy of Fine Arts before working as a model under the stage name Diana Loris.

Tempestuous and impulsive, her on-screen success was accompanied by intense interest from Italian paparazzi and gossip writers.

At one point, in a bid to guard her private life, she retreated to an isolated villa on Rome's ancient Appian Way.

In 1950 she married a Yugoslavian doctor, Milko Skofic, who later became her manager. The couple had one son.

They separated after nearly 17 years, with Lollobrigida saying at the time that she had no intention of remarrying.

However, in 2006 she announced she would be marring close friend Javier Rigau, a Spanish man 34 years younger than her. She eventually called off the wedding, blaming the media for spoiling it.

She said in an interview that she felt responsible for Rigau's suffering after Spanish media labelled him an opportunist. In contrast, she said she was "more used to having falsehoods written about me".

During a later trip to the US, she asked Congress to pass stricter laws protecting the privacy of people from media intrusion.

Following her stellar acting career, Lollobrigida forged a successful second career as both a photojournalist and sculptor.

She was also a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and its Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

Additionally, she published six books of her own photographs, with subjects including Italy, the Philippines and children.

In 1975 she made the documentary Portrait of Fidel Castro and for years was surrounded by rumours that she'd had an affair with the Cuban leader.

She also spoke in interviews of being a "great friend" of India's first female prime minister, Indira Gandhi.

In her later years she threw herself into her sculpting, spending the summers living in an artists' colony in the Tuscan city of Pietrasanta.

She had a one-woman show there in 2008 and dedicated it to her friend, the late opera singer Maria Callas.

Exhibitions of her marble and bronze statues have been held in Paris, Moscow and America.

In 2013, when she was 85, an auction of her jewellery by Sotheby's in Geneva fetched $4.9m (£4.1m) and set a record for a pair of diamond and pearl earrings, which sold for $2.37m (£1.9m). The proceeds went to stem cell research.

She said of the sale: "Jewels are meant to give pleasure and for many years I had enormous pleasure wearing mine.

"Selling my jewels to help raise awareness of stem cell therapy, which can cure so many illnesses, seems to me a wonderful use to which to put them."