U.S. Senator blocks bid to close EV tax window

Tesla electric vehicles are shown at a sales and service center in Vista, California

Thu, January 26, 2023 
By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senator Debbie Stabenow thwarted a bid on Thursday by fellow Democrat Joe Manchin to pass a measure that would block some electric vehicles from receiving a $7,500 tax credit.

The $430 billion U.S. Inflation Reduction Act passed in August restricts the $7,500 consumer tax credits to North American-made EVs and imposes new battery sourcing rules and again made General Motors and Tesla eligible for EV tax credits.

The U.S. Treasury in December said it would not issue proposed guidance on battery sourcing rules until March, effectively giving some EVs not meeting new requirements a few months of eligibility in 2023 before the battery rules take effect.

That drew Manchin's ire, who proposed legislation on Wednesday to make the battery tax credit requirements retroactive to Jan. 1. Manchin, chair of the Senate Energy Committee, wants to shift the U.S. battery supply chain away from China.

"China has cornered the electric vehicle supply chain market," Manchin said. Treasury is "now continuing to let the $7,500 credit go without any concerns at all about the critical mineral requirements."

Manchin, joined by Republican Senator Mike Braun, sought unanimous consent to pass the proposal but Stabenow objected.

The EV credit is "complicated, it doesn't work for several years for American companies," Stabenow said. Automakers need more time to meet battery sourcing requirements, she said.

"It is not unreasonable what Treasury is doing ... they have been given an incredibly complicated task to try to figure out how this consumer credit will work," Stabenow said.

In a Reuters interview, Stabenow said Manchin's bill "would literally take away credits from people who are buying cars today ... Fundamentally, (Manchin) is not a fan of EVs."

The Treasury did not comment on Manchin's bill but said it did not act to give car companies a window of eligibility. The "March target release date for battery sourcing guidance reflects the time that has been needed to work through significant complexities."

(Reporting by David Shepardson; editing by Grant McCool)

Sen. Joe Manchin bill would cut off $7,500 EV tax credits allowed by loophole

He's angry that the battery sourcing requirement won't kick in until March

JOEL STOCKSDALE
Jan 25th 2023 at 11:03AM
15comments



Senator Joe Manchin, chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, has made it quite clear that he's upset about some of the loopholes left in the Inflation Reduction Act's (IRA) EV tax credit sections. And he's going to try to close them. His first bill is being proposed today, and it targets the rules about battery sourcing.

Part of the IRA's plug-in vehicle tax credit requirements stipulate that a certain amount of battery materials must be sourced from North America, in amounts that will go up over the next few years. But the U.S. Treasury has not yet written its rules pertaining to this part of the IRA, saying that it will issue those rules in March. This means that until March, plug-in cars otherwise meeting the battery size and price requirements are still eligible for the full $7,500 tax credit, even if their batteries were sourced overseas. Many of these vehicles would otherwise only be eligible for half of that $7,500 amount, as half is for final assembly in the U.S. and the other half is for North American battery content.

Manchin's proposed bill would amend the battery requirement section of the IRA to make the date for compliance January 1 of this year. As a result, any cars currently qualifying for the whole credit would have the battery requirement part revoked — potentially resulting in some much smaller credits for anyone who has already bought a car under current rules, or who is about to in the next couple of months.

In a statement accompanying the bill, Manchin said:

“It is unacceptable that the U.S. Treasury has failed to issue updated guidance for the 30D electric vehicle tax credits and continues to make the full $7,500 credits available without meeting all of the clear requirements included in the Inflation Reduction Act. The Treasury Department failed to meet the statutory deadline of December 31, 2022, to release guidance for the 30D credit and have created an opportunity to circumvent stringent supply chain requirements included in the IRA.


"The IRA is first-and-foremost an energy security bill, and the EV tax credits were designed to grow domestic manufacturing and reduce our reliance on foreign supply chains for the critical minerals needed to produce EV batteries. The United States is the birthplace of Henry Ford who revolutionized the automotive industry with the Model T. Being an automotive powerhouse is in our blood, which is why it is shameful that we rely so heavily on foreign suppliers, particularly China, for the batteries that power our electric vehicles.

"We cannot continue down this path. I’ve said it before, and it bears repeating that we can’t have national security without energy security and energy independence. The IRA and the EV tax credits must be implemented according to the Congressional intent to ensure the United States, as the superpower of the world, is not beholden to countries that don’t share our values."

The proposed bill doesn't apply to anything related to the other big loophole, which is around car leasing. That one allows foreign-built vehicles to still qualify for the full $7,500 credit as long as they're leased, not purchased outright. But considering Manchin's strong opposition to both the delayed battery rule making and the broad leasing interpretation, we bet he will introduce a bill to close the lease loophole, too.

Related video:

Trinidad offers to pay for Venezuelan gas with humanitarian supplies


A view of the Aban Pearl gas rig in the Caribbean sea, along the Venezuelan coast

Wed, January 25, 2023 
By Curtis Williams

PORT OF SPAIN (Reuters) - Trinidad and Tobago would pay Venezuela for natural gas produced at an offshore development with humanitarian supplies like food and medicine, Prime Minister Keith Rowley said, to comply with a U.S. license prohibiting cash payments to the government of President Nicolas Maduro.

The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday issued a license allowing Trinidad to co-develop the Dragon gas field, which holds 4.2 trillion cubic feet of reserves on the Venezuelan side of the maritime border with Trinidad. The project would have Trinidad import the gas and turn it into exportable liquefied natural gas (LNG).

"We have done that before. So we buy the gas and we pay for it in a variety of ways," Rowley told journalists late on Tuesday. Trinidad previously supplied Venezuela with about $50 million in humanitarian goods, he said.

Venezuela has resorted to swaps to make its economy work amid stiff U.S. sanctions prohibiting financial transactions or the use of dollars to pay Venezuela or the country's state companies.

Maduro has been pressing Washington and other governments to free over $3 billion frozen in foreign bank accounts - money which could be used to import food, medicine and other goods.

The United Nations has been called to administrate a fund that would be financed with those resources, but there has been no agreement between Maduro, the United States and the country's political opposition on how to implement it. The opposition controls most of the country's foreign assets.

NEW OPERATOR

Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA owns and operated the Dragon gas project when it was last active about a decade ago. A new operator would have to be appointed to bring new investment, said Latin American energy expert Francisco Monaldi.

"From the perspective of opportunities, PDVSA does not have better options at this time to sell that gas under sanctions," even if it means relinquishing operations, he said.

Shell, which operates the neighboring Hibiscus field in Trinidad, ideally could become the operator, said Trinidad's Rowley.

Trinidad and Venezuela would have to decide on how to compensate PDVSA for past exploration and infrastructure, said Monaldi, a director at the Center for Energy Studies at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy.

PDVSA did not reply to a request for comment. Shell declined to comment.

(Reporting by Curtis Williams, writing by Marianna Parraga, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)

U.S. Grants License To Trinidad And Tobago To Develop Venezuelan Gas Field

Editor OilPrice.com
Wed, January 25, 2023 

The U.S. Treasury has granted a license to Trinidad and Tobago, allowing the Caribbean nation to develop a gas field offshore Venezuela and do business related to the gas field with Venezuela’s state oil firm PDVSA, Reuters reports, quoting officials from the U.S. and Trinidad.

Trinidad and Tobago asked for a license from the U.S. Department of the Treasury in the middle of 2022, and the exemption was recently granted by the U.S. Administration.

Trinidad and Tobago expects to gain access to around 350 million cubic feet of gas per day from the offshore field Dragon, Prime Minister Keith Rowley told a news conference, as carried by Reuters.

Despite the license, the Venezuelan government of Nicolas Maduro will not receive any cash payments from the project, and all remaining U.S. sanctions on Venezuela’s energy industry will be left unchanged, an anonymous senior U.S. official told Reuters.

The license is aimed at boosting the energy security in the Caribbean basin and is another small step in the easing of the U.S. sanctions on Venezuela’s oil and gas industry.

The Biden Administration has recently eased part of the sanctions imposed on Venezuela – initially slapped by former President Donald Trump – including granting U.S. supermajor Chevron, the only American company still operating in Venezuela, a six-month license that allows Chevron to import some Venezuelan crude oil to the United States for sale to U.S. refiners.

Earlier this month, reports had it that Chevron Corp recently sold 500,000 barrels of heavy Hamaca grade to U.S. refiner Phillips 66 to be used in its Sweeny, Texas refinery, anonymous sources told Bloomberg. It would be the first such sale since the United States sanctioned Venezuela’s crude oil. Venezuela’s heavy crude oil is prized by U.S. refiners, who, until recently, looked to Russia’s heavy crude to replace it. In December, it was reported that several refiners were hitting up Chevron to get their hands on the rare Venezuelan crude oil.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Ex-chief of Venezuela’s highest court charged with diverting millions in bribes to Miami



Jay Weaver
Thu, January 26, 2023 

The former chief of Venezuela’s highest court was indicted Thursday in Miami federal court on charges of granting legal favors in exchange for bribery payments that he diverted through local bank accounts and spent on chartered private jets, expensive watches, luxury goods and real estate in South Florida.

Maikel Moreno, who was president of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice from 2017 to 2022, is charged with laundering money and related offenses stemming from $10 million in bribes that prosecutors say he accepted from politically connected white-collar defendants who sought breaks in their high-stakes fraud and financial cases in Venezuela.

Moreno, who remains a supreme court justice and is living in Venezuela, was initially charged by a criminal complaint in Miami in March 2020 — the same day that President Nicolás Maduro and others were charged in New York with narco-terrorism.

Federal prosecutors portrayed Moreno in court papers as a crooked judge who deployed his power to enrich himself at the expense of justice. Moreno spent millions of dollars in alleged bribery payments on luxury properties in Venezuela, Miami, the Dominican Republic and Tuscany, Italy, according to court records.

A prior affidavit filed in Moreno’s case said the judge spent $1 million on private jets and pilots in travel from Venezuela to Miami and other destinations, $600,000 in credit card purchases for Prada, Ferragamo and other designer goods at Bal Harbour Shops, $50,000 at a luxury watch repair shop in Aventura, and a $40,000 payment to a Venezuelan beauty pageant director.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Berger and agents with Homeland Security Investigations began focusing on Moreno’s alleged misconduct after digging into kickback and money-laundering schemes between officials with Venezuela’s national oil company, PDVSA, and contractors based in Miami and elsewhere. When Moreno once applied for a U.S. visa in 2016, he reported that he made $12,000 a year from his job in the Venezuela judicial system. But investigators with HSI’s El Dorado Task Force South later discovered that he had received about $3 million in his Bank of America account in Miami between 2012 and 2016.

According to the HSI affidavit filed in 2020, an unidentified Venezuelan described as a former criminal defense attorney who owned a TV media company in Caracas made two wire transfers into Moreno’s Miami account — the first for $500,000 from a Swiss bank and the second for $300,000 from an Austrian bank.

The Miami Herald learned that the person who wired the money was Raúl Gorrín, an influential businessman close to Maduro and to his predecessor, the late President Hugo Chávez. Gorrín is wanted in a separate 2018 money-laundering case in Miami on charges of bribing the former national treasurer, Alejandro Andrade, to embezzle hundreds of millions from Venezuela’s government. Andrade pleaded guilty in federal court in South Florida, paid a financial penalty of more than $250 million and served three years based on his cooperation with U.S. authorities.

In 2017, the U.S. Treasury Department froze Moreno’s bank account and other assets in the United States after the supreme court in Venezuela stripped away authority from the nation’s legislature. Two cooperating witnesses — an associate of Moreno’s and an attorney in Venezuela — told federal investigators that the chief justice accepted bribes in dozens of instances from parties in both criminal and civil cases, according to the affidavit.

In one civil case between a General Motors plant and Venezuelan GM auto dealers in 2017, Moreno ruled in favor of closing the $100 million GM facility rather than keeping it open for thousands of workers, the affidavit said. In exchange, he was promised by the auto dealers’ attorney a “significant percentage of the proceeds” from the eventual sale of the GM plant after its seizure.

A white-collar defendant had his criminal case dismissed by Moreno after he gave the judge a “luxurious residence” in the affluent neighborhood of Alto Hatillo in Caracas, according to the affidavit. The judge kept his watch collection in the house, including one timepiece worth $1 million, the affidavit said.

Although the defendant in the Venezuelan case was not identified, the Herald has learned he was Francisco Convit. He is the lead defendant in a $1 billion money-laundering case in Miami, accusing him and several others of making sham loans to the state-owned oil company, PDVSA, and receiving astronomical sums from the government in return. Most of the money was moved to Europe, but some ended up in U.S. bank accounts and Miami real estate.

Both cooperating witnesses told federal investigators that Moreno received $1 million in a bribe payment from Miami to ensure the release of an oil contractor from custody who was charged in a PDVSA corruption case in Venezuela, according to the affidavit.

Israeli justice reforms spark tech investor flight fears




Protests against Israel's right-wing government in Tel Aviv


Fri, January 27, 2023 
By Steven Scheer and Maayan Lubell

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Barak Eilam, a former Israeli intelligence officer who now heads cloud-based software provider NICE, says he has never had problems selling Israel as an investment destination.

But on a call last week, Eilam sensed this may be changing when major investors he had partnered with for years began asking pointed questions about a judicial overhaul.

"For now, they're not pulling out any investment but they are kind of watching it carefully," the 47-year-old said.

The proposals by the new hard-right government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to strengthen political control over judicial appointments while weakening the Supreme Court's ability to overturn legislation or rule against government action, have brought tens of thousands onto the streets of Tel Aviv and other cities. They fear the changes will politicize the judiciary and compromise its independence.

Yoav Tzruya, general partner at venture capital fund JVP, said investors were mainly worried about stability, corruption and a reliable judicial system.

"I think there will be some investors that, given concerns about stability about corruption or whatever might put more hurdles in front of especially a new fund manager," he said.

This week, an open letter from a group of more than 270 business and economy experts, including former central bank officials and Netanyahu advisers, said the judicial reforms represented "a danger to Israel's economy".

Netanyahu's office declined to comment to Reuters on Friday, but during a meeting with senior businessmen, he said the reforms would boost growth by cutting lengthy legal procedures, while the judiciary would remain independent.

"Not only will the reform not harm the economy, it will jumpstart it," he said, according to a spokesman.

An S&P Global Ratings analyst this month told Reuters that the planned changes could pressure Israel's sovereign credit rating.

On Friday, Moody's credit rating agency pointed Reuters to its Nov. 3 research report, published two days after Netanyahu's election victory. It noted some of the proposed judicial changes that are now being discussed in parliament.

"Implementation of such changes would clearly be negative for our assessment of the strength of institutions and governance, which we have so far considered to be a positive feature of Israel's sovereign credit profile," the reports said.

For Israel's tech companies, an independent legal system is crucial to protecting their main asset, intellectual property (IP), with some executives saying they may consider domiciling abroad as a result of the Netanyahu government's plans.

On Thursday, a day after Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich dismissed concerns that the proposals would harm the economy, Eynat Guez CEO of Papaya Global announced she was taking her payroll systems group's money out of Israel.

"Everybody knows Israel is never on safe ground because of the complicated diplomatic issues," Guez told Reuters. "But now we're adding this reform which is ultimately emerging as harming democracy, that's a fatal blow."

Netanyahu's administration says the overhaul is needed to rein in activist judges who it says have encroached into political decision making.

"Nobody will harm intellectual property rights and the honouring of agreements, values which are sacred to us and which are the critical test," Netanyahu said on Wednesday.

Hillel Fuld, a start-up marketing adviser, also dismissed the outcry as "unnecessary hysteria".

"We are still building the best tech in the world. Israeli tech isn't going anywhere. If people pull money then it's their loss, not ours", he said.

Israel's shekel, which weakened 1.1% against the dollar on Friday, is still 2.1% higher against the U.S. currency so far in 2023.

FIDUCIARY RESPONSIBILITY

In a country rife with divisions over the conflict with the Palestinians and matters of synagogue and state, Israel's tech sector has generally stayed out of sensitive political debates.

But for many in an industry that accounts for 15% of the country's overall economic output, 10% of its workforce, more than half of its exports and a quarter of its tax income, the judicial reform proposals have created palpable alarm.

"We worked really, really hard so that Israel is considered a top place to invest and it's not because of any government policy, or tax treatment, it was the entrepreneurs themselves," said Adam Fisher, a partner at investment firm Bessemer Venture Partners. "That can be lost very quickly."

Since 2015, globally-oriented Israeli high-tech firms have raised some $77 billion, mostly from foreign investors. Of that, $51 billion came between 2020 and 2022, with a record year of $26 billion in 2021.

Fisher said he worried a government that controlled the bench could defy world opinion, harm Israel's reputation abroad and make life less friendly at home for some.

There is also a deeper unease about the widening divisions between liberal Tel Aviv with its fast-paced style and plethora of tech start ups and the nationalist tone of the new government and its pro-settler and religious parties.

Netanyahu, who is on trial on corruption charges which he denies, was forced this week by the Supreme Court to sack the interior minister over a tax conviction.

For some of those running tech businesses in Israel the judicial reforms plans may have tipped the scales.

"I care very much about Israel," said Eilam, explaining the unease which prompted him to write to NICE's 8,500-strong workforce outlining his fears. But he added: "I have a fiduciary responsibility to my shareholders."

"If needed, we'll assess the situation and decide to do what's right for the company," Eilam added.

(Additional reporting by Rami Amichay and Emily Rose in Tel Aviv; Writing by Maayan Lubell; Editing by James Mackenzie and Alexander Smith)

Palestinians Cut Security Ties With Israel After Deadly Raid



Marissa Newman
Fri, January 27, 2023

(Bloomberg) --

The Palestinian Authority said it’s ending security ties with Israel after eight militants and one civilian were killed in a West Bank gunfight, in an escalation in violence that was later followed by a rocket attack from the Gaza Strip.

Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian government body, on Thursday announced three days of mourning following the clashes in the city of Jenin. Hamas, the Islamic movement that rules Gaza, warned Israel would “pay the price for the massacre.”

The hostilities, which resulted in one of the highest daily death tolls in years, showed little sign of abating on Thursday night into Friday morning.

Palestinian militants fired rockets on southern Israel and the Israeli air force carried out reprisal airstrikes in the Gaza Strip. No injuries were reported on either side and no one claimed responsibility for the rocket fire.

Violence is escalating just days ahead of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to the region next week. Abbas has previously threatened to end security cooperation and it was not immediately clear what immediate changes the latest statement would bring if any.

The uptick in the fighting came just a month after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government was sworn in after pledging to implement policies such as loosening open-fire rules for some security forces.

The new administration, which includes some far-right figures, has also proposed expanding or building more settlements in the West Bank, where Palestinians are seeking to establish an independent state.

The Israeli army said violence broke out as security forces entered the Jenin refugee camp to arrest members of Islamic Jihad, another Gaza-based militant group, who it said were planning multiple terror attacks including the shooting of soldiers and civilians.

Egypt, the United Nations, and Qatar are mediating in a bid to avoid an escalation, according to a statement from Islamic Jihad. The United Arab Emirates, which established diplomatic ties with Israel in 2020, condemned the Israeli raid.

‘Deeply Alarmed’

“I am deeply alarmed and saddened by the continuing cycle of violence in the occupied West Bank,” Tor Wennesland, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East peace process said in an email. “It is crucial to reduce tensions immediately and prevent more loss of life.”

Another Palestinian was killed in a clash elsewhere in the West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant instructed security forces to increase activity in the West Bank and along Israel’s borders, including the Gaza Strip. “Our security forces are prepared for any development,” he said in a statement from his office.

Overnight, the Israeli army said three rockets fired from Gaza were intercepted by air defenses, while another fell in a unpopulated area in southern Israel.

Israeli fighter jets early Friday carried out a series of airstrikes on facilities belonging to militant groups in the Gaza Strip in response, including a Hamas underground manufacturing facility, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

Palestinian eyewitnesses said that more than 14 missiles were fired at a military post that belongs to Gaza militant groups. Palestinian medical sources said that no injuries were reported during the strikes.

--With assistance from Gwen Ackerman and Saud Abu Ramadan.

Israeli, Gaza Fighters Trade Air Strikes, Rocket Fire After Deadly West Bank Raid

ISABEL DEBRE / AP
Thu, January 26, 2023 

Fire and smoke rise above buildings in Gaza City as Israel launched air strikes on the Palestinian enclave early Friday in response to militant rocket fire

JERUSALEM (AP) — Gaza militants fired rockets and Israel carried out airstrikes early Friday as tensions soared following an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank that killed nine Palestinians, including at least seven militants and a 61-year-old woman.

It was the deadliest single raid in the territory in over two decades. The flare-up in violence poses an early test for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government and casts a shadow on U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s expected trip to the region next week.

Of the five rockets fired at Israel, three were intercepted, one fell in an open area and another fell short inside Gaza, the military said. It said the airstrikes targeted an underground rocket manufacturing site for Hamas as well as militant training areas.

The rockets set off air raid sirens in southern Israel but there were no reports of casualties on either side.

Both the Palestinian rockets and Israeli airstrikes seemed limited so as to prevent escalation into a full-blown war. Israel and Hamas have fought four wars and several smaller skirmishes since the militant group seized power in Gaza from rival Palestinian forces in 2007.

Thursday’s deadly raid in the Jenin refugee camp was likely to reverberate on Friday as Palestinians gather for weekly Muslim prayers that are often followed by protests. Hamas had earlier threatened revenge for the raid.

Raising the stakes, the Palestinian Authority said it would halt the ties that its security forces maintain with Israel in a shared effort to contain Islamic militants. Previous threats have been short-lived, in part because of the benefits the authority enjoys from the relationship and also due to U.S. and Israeli pressure to maintain it.

The Palestinian Authority already has limited control over scattered enclaves in the West Bank, and almost none over militant strongholds like the Jenin camp. But the announcement could pave the way for Israel to step up operations it says are needed to prevent attacks.

On Thursday, Israeli forces went on heightened alert as Palestinians filled the streets across the West Bank, chanting in solidarity with Jenin. President Mahmoud Abbas declared three days of mourning, and in the refugee camp, residents dug a mass grave for the dead.

Palestinian Authority spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said Abbas had decided to cut security coordination in “light of the repeated aggression against our people.” He also said the Palestinians planned to file complaints with the U.N. Security Council, International Criminal Court and other international bodies.

Barbara Leaf, the top U.S. diplomat for the Middle East, said the Biden administration was deeply concerned about the situation and that civilian casualties reported in Jenin were “quite regrettable.” But she also said the Palestinian announcement to suspend security ties and to pursue the matter at international organizations was a mistake.

Thursday’s gun battle that left nine dead and 20 wounded erupted when Israel’s military conducted a rare daytime operation in the Jenin camp that it said was meant to prevent an imminent attack on Israelis. The camp, where the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group has a major foothold, has been a focus of near-nightly Israeli arrest raids.

Hamas’ armed wing claimed four of the dead as members, while Islamic Jihad claimed three others.

The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the 61-year-old woman killed as Magda Obaid, and the Israeli military said it was looking into reports of her death.

The Israeli military circulated aerial video it said was taken during the battle, showing what appeared to be Palestinians on rooftops hurling stones and firebombs on Israeli forces below. At least one Palestinian can be seen opening fire from a rooftop.

Later in the day, Israeli forces fatally shot a 22-year-old and wounded two others, the Palestinian Health Ministry said, as Palestinians confronted Israeli troops north of Jerusalem to protest Thursday’s raid. Israel’s paramilitary Border Police said they opened fire on Palestinians who launched fireworks at them from close range.

Tensions have soared since Israel stepped up raids in the West Bank last spring, following a series of Palestinian attacks.

Israel’s new national security minister, far-right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir, who seeks to grant legal immunity to Israeli soldiers who shoot Palestinians, posted a video of himself beaming triumphantly and congratulating security forces.

The raid left a trail of destruction in Jenin. A two-story building, apparently the operation’s target, was a charred wreck. The military said it entered the building to detonate explosives.

Palestinian Health Minister May Al-Kaila said paramedics struggled to reach the wounded during the fighting, while Akram Rajoub, the governor of Jenin, said the military prevented emergency workers from evacuating them.

Both accused the military of firing tear gas at the pediatric ward of a hospital, causing children to choke. Video at the hospital showed women carrying children into a corridor.

The military said forces closed roads to aid the operation, which may have complicated rescue efforts, and that tear gas had likely wafted into the hospital from nearby clashes.

The Israeli rights group B’Tselem said Thursday marked the single bloodiest West Bank incursion since 2002, at the height of an intense wave of violence known as the Second Intifada, or Palestinian uprising, which left scars still visible in Jenin.

U.N. Middle East envoy Tor Wennesland said he was “deeply alarmed and saddened” by the violence. Condemnations came from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and Turkey, which recently reestablished full diplomatic ties with Israel. Neighboring Jordan, as well as Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries also condemned the Israeli raid.

The Islamic Jihad branch in Gaza has repeatedly fought against Israel, most recently in a fierce three-day clash last summer that killed dozens of Palestinians and disrupted the lives of hundreds of thousands of Israelis.

Nearly 150 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank and east Jerusalem last year, making 2022 the deadliest in those territories since 2004, according to B’Tselem. So far this year, 30 Palestinians have been killed.

Israel says most of the dead were militants. But youths protesting the incursions and others not involved in the confrontations also have been killed. So far this year, not including Thursday, one-third of the Palestinians killed by Israeli troops or civilians had ties to armed groups.

Last year, 30 people were killed in Palestinian attacks against Israelis.

Israel says its raids are meant to dismantle militant networks and thwart attacks. The Palestinians say they further entrench Israel’s 55-year, open-ended occupation of the West Bank, which Israel captured along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians claim those territories for their hoped-for state.

srael has established dozens of settlements in the West Bank that now house 500,000 people. The Palestinians and much of the international community view settlements as illegal and an obstacle to peace, even as talks to end the conflict have been moribund for over a decade.

___

Associated Press writers Tia Goldenberg in Tel Aviv, Israel; Areej Hazboun in Jerusalem; Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, and Fares Akram in Hamilton, Ontario, contributed.

9 Palestinians killed after Israel storms West Bank refugee camp



JON HAWORTH
Thu, January 26, 2023 

Nine Palestinians were killed when the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) reportedly stormed the Jenin refugee camp on the West Bank early Thursday morning, ABC News has learned.

The IDF allegedly stormed the camp looking for a person of interest and Israel says that the resulting deaths came when clashes erupted between the IDF and Palestinians at the camp.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said that elderly women are among those who died in the early morning conflict.

In Ramallah, a spokesperson for Mahmoud Abbas -- the president of Palestine -- said that the Israeli army committed a massacre inside the Jennie refugee camp on Thursday.

 Palestinian stone-throwers gather amid clashes with Israeli troops during a raid in Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank January 26, 2023. 

(Raneen Sawafta/Reuters)

An Israeli army statement following the conflict said that the IDF targeted an active cell for the Palestinian Islamic jihad and killed some of the fighters but that they will be investigating any deaths of civilians that may have occurred.

"Earlier this morning, Israeli security forces, including the IDF, ISA, Israel Border Police and 'Yamam' police forces, conducted a counterterrorism operation in the center of the Jenin camp," read the statement from the IDF spokesperson regarding Jenin. "It has been cleared for publication that the security forces operated to apprehend a terror squad belonging to the Islamic Jihad terror organization. During the operation, the terror squad opened fire toward the Israeli security forces. A crossfire was instigated, during which three terrorists were neutralized."

No IDF injuries were reported in the conflict.

The IDF said that the Islamic Jihad terror operatives they were targeting were "heavily involved in executing and planning multiple major terror attacks, including shooting attacks on IDF soldiers and Israeli civilians."

Palestinian stone-throwers gather amid clashes with Israeli troops during a raid in Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank January 26, 2023. (Ali Sawafta/Reuters)

"During the operation, the security forces operated to surround the building in which the suspects were located. Two armed suspects were identified fleeing the scene and were neutralized by the security forces," the IDF confirmed. "One of the suspects who was in the building surrendered himself to the security forces. IDF combat engineering soldiers entered the building in order to detonate two explosive devices used by the suspects, where there was an additional armed suspect who was neutralized by the soldiers at the scene."

The IDF said "additional armed suspects opened fire toward the security forces" during their operation and that they responded with live fire.

"Claims regarding additional casualties during the exchange of fire are being looked into," the IDF said.

Saudi Arabia condemns Israeli raid in Jenin


Israeli troops, in Hebron

Thu, January 26, 2023 

(Reuters) - Saudi Arabia on Thursday strongly condemned a raid by Israeli commandos on the Palestinian town of Jenin that killed seven people and injured two, state news agency SPA reported.

The Saudi foreign ministry said it denounced Israeli forces' "storming of the city" that led to "the fall of a number of victims".

The ministry said Saudi Arabia rejected "serious violations of international law by the Israeli occupation forces" and called on the international community to take responsibility to "end the occupation, stop the Israeli escalation and aggressions, and provide the necessary protection for civilians," SPA said.

Kuwait and Oman also condemned the attack, their state news agencies said on Thursday.

The Israeli military said it sent special forces into Jenin to detain members of the Islamic Jihad armed group suspected of having carried out and planning "multiple major terror attacks", shooting several of them after they opened fire.

U.N. and Arab mediators said they were in talks with Israel and Palestinian factions in hope of heading off escalation after the clash in Jenin, among areas of the northern West Bank that have seen intensified Israeli operations in the last year.

(Reporting by Alaa Swilam in Cairo; Writing by Yousef Saba in Dubai; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)

‘That’s scary.’ Rattlesnake births gnarled two-headed baby, South African park says

Facebook video screenshotMark Price
Thu, January 26, 2023 at 5:25 AM MST·1 min read

A western diamondback rattlesnake went into labor and among her 11 babies was a startling creature with two heads.

The strange birth was reported Jan. 25 by the Venom Pit Snake Park, a snake and reptile sanctuary near East London on the South African coast.

“What luck we had with one of our pregnant female western diamondback rattlers dropping this 2-headed baby today,” the park wrote on Facebook.

“Too bad it was a still born but still amazing to see and actually be real.”

Western diamondback rattlesnakes give birth to live young, rather than laying eggs that hatch outside the womb.

A photo shows the two-headed snake appeared to be two vipers braided into a creature with one tail.

The same mother gave birth to 10 other babies that appeared to be normal, according to park officials, who shared images of the 10 other snakes.

Park officials didn’t report what became of their freakish two-headed carcass.

Reaction to the announcement has been a mix of fascination and horror on social media. Diamondbacks are not native to Africa, and have a venomous bite that immobilizes prey by attacking the blood system.

“That’s scary,” Bev Chandler wrote. “As if one head isn’t enough.”

“Couldn’t believe my eyes,” Lourens Barnard said.

The Venom Pit is “home to Africa’s most deadly snakes as well as the world’s rarest,” according to TripAdvisor.com. It is among the largest snake parks in Africa.

Western diamondback rattlesnakes are native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, according to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. They can reach 7 feet and live 20 years.

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New Fiji govt suspends police commissioner, scraps China policing arrangement

Thu, January 26, 2023 
By Kirsty Needham

(Reuters) - Fiji's president on Friday suspended the commissioner of police after a general election saw the first change in government in the Pacific island nation in 16 years, after the military earlier warned against "sweeping changes".

President Ratu Wiliame Katonivere said Commissioner of Police Sitiveni Qiliho had been suspended on the advice of the Constitutional Offices Commission, "pending investigation and referral to and appointment of, a tribunal".

The Supervisor of Elections Mohammed Saneem was also suspended by the commission, the statement said.

Qiliho declined to comment to local media because he said he will face a tribunal over his conduct. He was seen as being close to former prime minister Frank Bainimarama, who led Fiji for 16 years before a coalition of parties narrowly won December's election and installed Sitiveni Rabuka as leader of the strategically important Pacific nation.

The day before a coalition agreement was struck, Qiliho and Bainimarama called on the military to maintain law and order because they said the hung election result had sparked ethnic tensions, a claim disputed by the coalition parties.

The Pacific island nation, which has a history of military coups, has been pivotal to the region's response to competition between China and the United States, and struck a deal with Australia in October for greater defence cooperation.

On Thursday, Fiji Times reported Rabuka said his government would end a police training and exchange agreement with China.

"Our system of democracy and justice systems are different so we will go back to those that have similar systems with us," the prime minister was quoted as saying, referring to Australia and New Zealand.

The prime minister's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Republic of Fiji Military Forces Commander Major General Jone Kalouniwai earlier this month warned Rabuka's government against making "sweeping changes", and has insisted it abide by a 2013 constitution which gives the military a key role.

(Reporting by Kirsty Needham; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)

Tanzania squeezes Maasai by seizing livestock, report says


 Jonathan Mpute ole Pasha, national coordinator of the Maa Unity Agenda group, is surrounded by tear gas thrown by police to break up a small demonstration of Maasai rights activists outside the Tanzanian high commission in downtown Nairobi, Kenya, June 17, 2022. The Tanzanian government is seizing livestock from Maasai herders in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in its latest attempt to clear way for tourism and trophy hunting, a report released Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023, said. The Tanzanian government had been accused of using violence against Maasai people protesting their eviction, attracting heavy international criticism. 

(AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)

WANJOHI KABUKURU
Thu, January 26, 2023 

MOMBASA, Kenya (AP) — The Tanzanian government is seizing livestock from Indigenous Maasai herders in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in its latest attempt to clear way for tourism and trophy hunting, a report released Thursday said.

The update from the Oakland Institute, a U.S.-based environmental think tank, found that the government forcefully confiscated some 5,880 cattle and 767 goats and sheep from the Maasai in November and December last year and is demanding that owners pay heavy fines. Those failing to pay have their livestock auctioned and moved away.

“Livestock is central to the Maasai culture and livelihoods," Anuradha Mittal, executive director, The Oakland Institute told The Associated Press. "Losing cattle is therefore catastrophic for them. With this new tactic the government’s goal is clearly to drive them away from their ancestral lands.”

The government has remained adamant that the relocations will pave the way for safari tourism, conservation and trophy hunting for lions, elephants and other famous large species, aiding the country’s environment and economic development. It termed the Maasai’s displacement as “voluntary,” adding it would suit the lives of the semi-nomadic pastoralists.

But Mittal said the government’s assertions that the relocations would better the lives of the Maasai are “a blatant lie." He added that the government "continues to prioritize tourism revenues over everything else, including lives.”

Previously the government has been accused of denying access to essential health services, grazing lands, water points and salt licks to compel the Maasai to move out of the area.

Salangat Marko, a herder from Ololosokwan village in Loliondo where pastures are being cleared, is worried for the future of his family.

“We are in a bowl of economic suicide," he said. "A community depending on livestock without grazing land. I have cows with no grass and water. Herders intimidated and beaten ... where do we go and what do we feed our children?”

The Ngorongoro Conservation Area is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The Maasai villages occupy a small fraction of the site, within the Loliondo commune.

In June last year the Tanzanian government was accused of using violence against Maasai people protesting their eviction, attracting heavy international criticism. But the Maasais suffered a setback when a regional court ruled in favor of the evictions.

The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, normally based in Gambia, is currently in Tanzania to seek information on the human rights situation for Indigenous peoples in the Loliondo and Ngorongoro areas.

Several Tanzanian human rights agencies have urged the commission to be impartial and organize confidential private hearing sessions with victims of the displacement and civil society organizations well away from ongoing state-sponsored efforts.

___

Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Elusive and rare leopard — considered extinct for 45 years — caught on film in Turkey


Screengrab from Vahit Kirişci’s Facebook video

Aspen Pflughoeft
Thu, January 26, 2023 

Trail cameras in the mountains of Turkey captured a rare sighting of a leopard species previously considered extinct for decades, officials said.

The Anatolian leopard was filmed prowling around the mountains in two separate regions, Turkey’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry said in a Thursday, Jan. 26, news release. Vahit Kirişci, a ministry official, shared footage of the wildcat on Facebook.

The video shows the leopard walking through various mountainous terrains. Most of the videos were filmed during the day, but one clip shows the elusive animal moving through tall grasses at night.

Anatolian leopards are an endangered species, Turkish officials said. The last leopard was thought to be killed in 1974, and the species was considered extinct for 45 years. However, a male Anatolian leopard was spotted in 2019.

Researchers have traced the rare leopard species to four regions in Turkey, but little is known about the animal’s population size and distribution, according to the release. Anatolian leopards move frequently and can travel more than 15 miles a day.

Turkish officials did not specify where the leopard was seen or when the different videos were taken.

Experts estimate only 10 to 15 Anatolian leopards still live in the wild, according to Biology Online. The species was nearly driven to extinction because of trophy hunting.

Turkish officials will continue tracking the leopard caught on camera, Kirişci said

U.S. watchdog should step up oversight of crypto auditors, say Democratic senators



Thu, January 26, 2023 
By Hannah Lang and Douglas Gillison

(Reuters) - U.S. Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ron Wyden are calling on the country's accounting watchdog to increase oversight of firms that audit cryptocurrency companies in the wake of the collapse of crypto exchange FTX.

In a letter to the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) made public on Thursday, Warren and Wyden questioned the agency, which oversees registered public accounting firms around the world, as to why auditing firms working with FTX failed to identify corporate mismanagement and the lack of internal controls that federal prosecutors have alleged.

“When PCAOB-registered auditors perform sham audits – even for firms that may lay outside of the PCAOB’s jurisdiction – they tarnish the credibility of the PCAOB," Warren and Wyden wrote.

A PCAOB spokesperson confirmed the board had received the letter and said it would respond to the lawmakers directly.

"We look forward to working with them on our shared goal of protecting investors," the spokesperson said.

U.S. prosecutors in Manhattan have accused FTX founder and former Chief Executive Officer Sam Bankman-Fried of stealing billions of dollars in customer funds to plug losses at his hedge fund, Alameda Research. Bankman-Fried has previously acknowledged risk-management failures at FTX but has said he does not believe he has criminal liability.

Prior to its collapse and subsequent bankruptcy filing in November, FTX said it had undergone audits by PCAOB-registered firms Armanino and Prager Metis. Representatives for Armanino and Prager Metis did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

(Reporting by Hannah Lang and Douglas Gillison in Washington; Editing by Josie Kao)