It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Sunday, January 29, 2023
Putin discusses Russia's claim to giant chunk of Arctic Ocean seabed
Fri, January 27, 2023
MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin held talks on Friday with top security officials about the status of Russia's efforts to legally expand the outer boundaries of its continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean.
Russia in 2021 filed a submission to the United Nations seeking to redefine its continental shelf, which is believed to contain vast untapped reservoirs of oil and gas. Moscow said at the time it wanted much more Arctic seabed, a move that has implications for Canada and Denmark who have their own claims.
A continental shelf is defined under international law as an area of typically shallow water bordering a country's shoreline that is considered an extension of its territory, allowing the country to exploit its natural resources.
"We have several important issues today, colleagues, concerning both the domestic agenda and the issue of the outer limit of Russia's continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean. Let's get to work," the Kremlin website cited Putin as saying.
The Kremlin did not immediately provide further details about the meeting, which was attended by several high-ranking officials, including Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Sergei Naryshkin, the foreign intelligence chief.
Russia's neighbours in the Arctic have become increasingly concerned about Moscow's ambitions in the strategically important region since it sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February last year.
NATO member states have ramped up Arctic military exercises in recent years, as Russia has expanded and renewed its military infrastructure in the region.
(Reporting by Caleb Davis and Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Andrew Osborn.)
‘I will not be silent’: Biden calls for end to hate in White House’s first Lunar New Year celebration
Carl Samson Fri, January 27, 2023
President Joe Biden hosted the White House’s first Lunar New Year reception on Thursday, assuring Asian Americans of his support on the heels of mass shootings that have affected the community in the past week.
“It's wonderful to see so many friends on this special holiday, even as we gather with such heavy hearts,” Biden said in his opening remarks. “Our prayers are with the people of Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay, and after yet another spree of gun violence in America.”
The president admitted to having doubts about proceeding with the celebration, but he was encouraged by Rep. Judy Chu — who represents Monterey Park — to push through.
“She said, ‘We have to move forward,’” Biden shared. “Her message was ‘Don't give into fear and sorrow. Don’t do that. Stand in solidarity — in the spirit of toughness that this holiday is all about.’”
On Monday afternoon, a pair of mass shootings at Half Moon Bay mushroom farms killed seven people, who were reported to be of Asian and Hispanic descent.
The suspect in the Monterey Park shooting was found dead from an apparent suicide, while the shooter in the Half Moon Bay massacre has been arrested and charged. Authorities are still determining the motives in both cases.
In his speech, Biden insisted that hate has no place in the U.S.
“Yet for all the progress, this community has experienced profound hate, pain, and violence and loss. As I’ve said before, hate can have no safe harbor in America. No person deserves to be treated in a hateful way,” he said.
The president signed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act in May 2021. Last week, the White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders launched the first-ever “National Strategy to Advance Equity, Justice and Opportunity for Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Communities.”
Civil rights groups file lawsuit to block Newsom's plan for treating people with mental illness
Hannah Wiley Thu, January 26, 2023 Gov. Gavin Newsom's CARE Court plan will order mental health and addiction treatment for thousands of Californians. (Office of the California Governor)
A coalition of disability and civil rights advocates filed a lawsuit Thursday asking the California Supreme Court to block the rollout of Gov. Gavin Newsom's far-reaching new plan to address severe mental illness by compelling treatment for thousands of people.
In their filing, representatives from three organizations — Disability Rights California, Western Center on Law and Poverty and the Public Interest Law Project — asked the state's high court to strike down as unconstitutional the program known as CARE Court (for Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment). The groups argue that the sweeping new court system will violate due process and equal protection rights under the state constitution, while "needlessly burdening fundamental rights to privacy, autonomy and liberty."
Newsom announced CARE Court in March as a new strategy to help an estimated 7,000 to 12,000 Californians struggling with severe mental health disorders like schizophrenia access housing, treatment and mental health services. It was signed into law in September as Senate Bill 1338.
In a statement, Newsom's deputy communications director Daniel Lopez said efforts to delay or block the law's implementation "would needlessly extend the suffering of those who desperately need our help."
“The governor — along with the majority of Californians — are beyond frustrated by the conditions seen daily on our streets. There’s nothing compassionate about allowing individuals with severe, untreated mental health and substance use disorders to suffer in our alleyways, in our criminal justice system, or worse — face death," Lopez said. "While some groups want to delay progress with arguments in favor of the failing status quo, the rest of us are dealing with the cold, hard reality that something must urgently be done to address this crisis."
CARE Court is scheduled to be rolled out in two phases: Orange, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, Stanislaus, Glenn and Tuolumne Counties have until Oct. 1 of this year to begin implementation, with Los Angeles County on track to join two months later. The rest of the state has until December 2024.
A funding measure for CARE Court initially set aside $88 million to begin implementation. Newsom included an additional $52 million in his budget proposal this year to help counties and courts kick start the program, with the eventual plan to ramp up funding to $215 million by fiscal year 2025-2026.
The governor's office has also pointed to billions of dollars more available in existing state spending accounts for housing, homelessness, behavioral and mental health programs, though counties have long questioned whether that will be enough.
Dozens of cities and mayors supported the plan, along with business organizations and groups representing families of affected loved ones who said CARE Court might finally offer them another option for help.
The new law will allow family members, first responders, medical professionals and behavioral health providers, among others, to petition a judge to order an evaluation of an adult with a diagnosed psychotic disorder. If a person qualifies, a CARE plan could include medication and treatment services and housing if needed. Newsom has been careful to distinguish CARE Court from the more restrictive conservatorship, because those who qualify could still technically refuse to participate.
But those caveats have done little to soften strong opposition from the coalition that filed the lawsuit, which joined the ACLU and several other racial and civil rights groups, homeless advocates and affordable housing organizations in trying to block the measure last year. Critics argued that CARE Court was a misguided approach for solving an issue that needed more significant investments in permanent housing and voluntary treatment services.
"The proposed solution is court orders that rob unhoused Californians of their autonomy to choose their own mental health treatment and housing and threatens their liberty," the filing stated. "This 'solution' will not work and will deprive thousands of people of their constitutional rights."
The coalition said it filed the lawsuit directly to the state Supreme Court in an effort to expedite timing for a decision. Lawsuits initially filed in lower courts can take more time given that rulings are often appealed.
But the groups could still refile their petition in a lower court should the Supreme Court decide not to take the case, said Sarah Gregory, senior attorney at Disability Rights California.
"[Disability Rights California] has considered all options on the table since the beginning," Gregory said, "and it will continue to consider all options depending on what the Supreme Court decides."
Mayor Adams claims right-to-shelter law does not apply to NYC asylum seekers; critics pounce
Chris Sommerfeldt, Michael Gartland, New York Daily News Wed, January 25, 2023 at 10:57 AM MST·6 min read
Just days before his administration is expected to open its newest migrant relief center, Mayor Adams rejected Wednesday the idea that asylum seekers are protected by the city’s right-to-shelter law.
His take on the issue, his firmest stance yet on how right-to-shelter rules affect the city’s management of its migrant crisis, prompted an almost immediate backlash from both elected officials and advocates.
Adams brought up the matter Wednesday morning during an appearance on WABC’s “Sid & Friends” show after being asked if he’d ever consider scrapping the Big Apple’s status as a sanctuary city for immigrants.
“When we talk about a sanctuary city, that is codified in law,” he said. “The courts ruled that this is a sanctuary city. We have a moral and legal obligation to fulfill that.”
But on the right-to-shelter question, Adams took a different tack.
“We don’t believe asylum seekers fall into the whole right-to-shelter conversation,” the mayor said. “This is a crisis that must be addressed based on what was created on this national platform.”
His assessment of the right-to-shelter question when it comes to migrants is perhaps his clearest public statement on the matter to date — and it comes as the city continues its struggle to accommodate more than 41,000 migrants, most of them Latin Americans, who have flooded into the five boroughs since last spring.
Last week, Adams’ administration announced it will “soon” open a new so-called Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal in Red Hook with capacity for 1,000 people. The exact timing for when the megashelter will open is unclear, but a source briefed on the matter said it could be as early as this week.
Immigration advocates have panned the Red Hook plan, noting the site is in a flood zone while also raising questions about whether the facility would be up to snuff with the right-to-shelter law. In addition to requiring the city to provide shelter to anyone who needs it, the law stipulates that beds must be at least 6 feet apart and people must have access to lockers and laundry services, among other requirements.
“Flouting the law would accomplish nothing and such a move would only land this administration in front of a judge for contempt,” the groups said Wednesday in a statement responding to Adams’ radio appearance. “The mayor must clarify his remarks from this morning immediately.”
Earlier in the day, Joshua Goldfein, an attorney with Legal Aid’s Homeless Rights Project, offered more specifics in pushing back against Adams’ claim that right-to-shelter standards don’t apply to housing migrants.
“The mayor’s statement is plainly wrong,” Goldfein told the Daily News, adding that the consent decree that established right-to-shelter does not include exceptions for asylum seekers. “The mayor’s frustrated. We’re all frustrated with the federal government’s slow pace of addressing this issue. But I’m hopeful that he misspoke and didn’t mean to say it in the way he said it. The law is very clear.”
Goldfein added that it’s also counterproductive for the city to task the Emergency Management Department with running the migrant relief centers and suggested the Homeless Services Department should be doing it instead.
“They have an agency that provides shelter, and for whatever reason they’ve decided to set up a new system that can accommodate some, but not all people,” he said. “They’re trying to reinvent the wheel, which is consuming a lot of time, energy and money.”
City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, a progressive Democrat who has been tempered in his criticism of Adams, also blasted the mayor’s comments.
“While it is clear that the current situation is unsafe, unsustainable, and in dire need of state and federal support, this is not a justification to abandon our legal and moral obligation to provide quality shelter to people — all people — most in need,” the public advocate said.
But after the latest round of criticism, Adams spokesman Fabien Levy said Legal Aid’s “suggestion that the city is flouting its legal obligations couldn’t be further from the truth.”
“If this humanitarian crisis was simply a right-to-shelter issue, then only New York City would bear the responsibility for providing for these individuals,” Levy said before renewing the mayor’s call for more help from the federal government to shelter and provide services for migrants. “New York City is doing its part; now we need everyone else to do theirs.”
During his radio spot Wednesday, the mayor was asked if he’ll ever start calling out President Biden by name while pointing fingers at the feds for the migrant crisis.
“Yelling and screaming is not going to solve the problem,” he responded. But he added that better coordination is needed at the border. “That is a responsibility that the White House must do,” he said. “I’ve made that clear over and over again.”
Adams elaborated on that idea minutes earlier during an appearance on MSNBC, saying it is still unclear to him who’s coordinating the federal response to the influx of migrants crossing over the southern border.
“I was told that we have an individual that’s coordinating the operation,” he said, without elaborating on who imparted that information. “And as I shared with White House officials, why don’t I know who that is?”
Adams didn’t mention Harris or Biden by name in relation to the migrant crisis during either of his Wednesday morning interviews. After they concluded, Levy clarified that Adams wasn’t referring to the position Harris now holds but a different post more focused on day-to-day operations and logistics.
Xcel to install Form’s long-duration batteries at retiring coal plants
Julian Spector Fri, January 27, 2023
Back in late 2018, utility Xcel Energy got out in front of its peers in pledging to eliminate carbon emissions from its electricity production by 2050. But the company made a crucial admission. It could cut 80 percent of emissions by 2030 with existing renewables and battery technology, but getting to 100 percent would require tools “that are not cost-effective or commercially available today.”
On Thursday, Xcel unveiled its first contract for one of those breakthrough clean-energy technologies. The eight-state utility signed “definitive agreements” to install two novel iron-air battery systems from extremely well-funded startup Form Energy, which aims to make clean power available for days on end. Xcel will place these long-duration energy storage systems at two different coal plants slated for retirement — Comanche Generating Station in Pueblo, Colorado, and Sherburne County Generating Station in Becker, Minnesota.
The scope and scale of the projects make them a crucial test case in the effort to shore up power grids that are adding cheap but variable wind and solar production while shutting down large fossil-fueled plants. It’s also the biggest proof point yet for Form, which launched in 2017 to invent storage devices that cost-effectively store and deliver clean energy over long periods of time, in a way that’s not possible with current battery technology.
“Getting started with Xcel early means we can start to deliver in a valuable way to their system before 2030,” Form co-founder and CEO Mateo Jaramillo told Canary Media Thursday. “We understand pretty crisply what their portfolio will look like getting to 2030, and we definitely see value as they get there and we build up our production capacity.”
Each Form project will provide 10 megawatts of instantaneous power for up to 100 hours, meaning they each will store a total of 1,000 megawatt-hours. That makes them small relative to other grid-scale batteries in terms of how much power they can deliver in one moment, but they’ll be among the largest in the world in terms of the total amount of energy they can store.
However enormous the size of the proverbial tank, this is still a trial run for the technology. To fully replace the outgoing coal plants, Xcel will need more power capacity. But these long-duration storage units are big enough to give Xcel a “meaningful” test of the technology in real field conditions, Jaramillo said.
“It allows them to put a first commercial demonstration at two very relevant sites in their service territory and think about scaling it from there,” he noted. The projects, slated to come online in 2025, are 10 times more powerful than Form’s first scheduled installation, for Minnesota utility Great River Energy in 2024.
Several things need to happen before this vision becomes reality, however. Form is still commercializing its product, so the company needs to wrap up its internal quality validation and complete external certification for relevant safety standards. Form also needs to build the factory that will produce the iron-air batteries; the company chose the former steel town of Weirton, West Virginia as the home for this facility. Gov. Jim Justice (R) endorsed the vision in a December press conference and supports a package of state incentives to get the factory online.
The deal with Xcel has been years in the making, Jaramillo said. “We knew that there was clear alignment from the executive team all the way down” after the company pledged to eliminate carbon emissions from its power production, he noted.
The two companies have another point of common interest: Xcel is a backer of Energy Impact Partners, a venture capital fund that raised money from utilities to invest in cleantech startups tackling important energy-related challenges. EIP has invested in Form multiple times, including the $240 million Series D from 2021. Form topped that beefy fundraise with $450 million raised in October 2022.
Many startups claim to be building long-duration storage, but Form has little competition in the realm of delivering clean energy for 100 hours or more. Another startup, Noon Energy, is in the early stages of pursuing this goal, and just raised a $28 million Series A to commercialize its laboratory prototype of a battery that uses carbon dioxide to store energy.
Analysis-Southern Africa calls the tune as great power suitors queue up South Africa-Russia bilateral meeting in Pretoria
Thu, January 26, 2023 By Tim Cocks and Carien Du Plessis
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa and its neighbours were at the centre of a tussle for influence this week when top Russian and U.S. officials visited, offering a rare moment of leverage for governments on a continent more used to being buffeted by events than wooed.
With a war in Europe pitting invading Russian forces against Ukraine's army supplied with Western arms, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen were both on the hunt for broader international support.
For the countries of southern Africa, which maintain strong ideological and historical sympathies for Russia but hold far more significant trade balances with the European Union and United States, that rivalry presents an opportunity.
"They have the opportunity to play one side off against the other to get concessions; to get more aid, more trade," said Steven Gruzd from the South African Institute of International Affairs. "That's precisely what we're seeing at the moment."
The war in Ukraine has intensified long-standing great power competition for access to Africa's abundant natural resources and the diplomatic prize of its 54 U.N. votes.
But Africa's voting patterns at the United Nations show a continent divided over which side to support in Ukraine's war.
Landlocked between South Africa and Mozambique and with a gross domestic product of less than $5 billion, the tiny kingdom of Eswatini doesn't often command the attention of world powers. No Russian diplomat is based there.
Nevertheless Lavrov made a stopover after visiting South Africa, which his counterpart Thulisile Dladla described as a "profound honour." The two sides signed a visa waver agreement.
Eswatini relies on the United States for aid, but its absolute monarchy has suffered U.S. criticism on human rights. 'MULTIPOLAR'
For South Africa, the continent's economic powerhouse and diplomatic heavyweight, it was an opportunity to thumb its nose at a Western alliance it regards as too bossy and hegemonic.
Receiving Lavrov in Pretoria, his counterpart Naledi Pandor defended joint military drills planned with Russia and China as a "natural course of relations" between "friends", and suggested South Africa no longer believed that Russia ought to withdraw from Ukraine, unless a peace deal is agreed.
South Africa, alongside Russia and China, is pushing for a "multipolar" world in which geopolitical power is less concentrated around the United States. For that reason, it is an enthusiastic exponent of a proposed political and trade alliance between Brazil, Russia, India, China and itself (BRICS) -- for which it is holding a summit later this year.
"A more inclusive multipolar world. This is the vision of the BRICS family and what we all subscribe to," Anil Sooklal, South Africa's official in charge of BRICS, told Reuters.
But South Africa's exports to Russia were $587 million in 2020, while its exports to the United States in the same year were $10.2 billion, data from The Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC) shows.
"South Africa takes BRICS very seriously, but reality is BRICS has (offered it) very little," said Tom Lodge, Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Limerick. "It hasn't delivered the kind of benefits South Africa was hoping to get."
Russia-ally China, a major trade partner, has been more interested in basics like wine and wool than the high-tech value -added products South Africa wants to sell, Lodge said, adding, "the United States provides better trading opportunities."
Yet despite South Africa's refusal to vote against Russia at the U.N. and its rejection of NATO's stance on Ukraine, Yellen met South African officials and on Thursday will visit mining sites that stand to lose jobs from the transition to green energy of which the United States is a major funder. 'TOO IMPORTANT'
While Angola's ageing political class still remembers Russia's support for its then-Marxist People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) in its 27-year civil war against Washington-backed rebels, there has been a marked shift towards the West since President João Lourenço took over in 2017.
"Angola is one of a few African countries to condemn Russia's actions – apparently under pressure from the EU," said South African political risk analyst Marisa Lourenco, noting "a strong pivot towards the U.S. and away from Russia."
Angola is also seeking to deepen ties with Germany, France and its former colonial ruler Portugal, she said. Lourenço even suggested in an interview with Voice of America in December that he would like to ditch Russian military assistance in favour of the U.S. military equipment programme.
That didn't stop Lavrov making courtesy call to Luanda on Wednesday, where he offered to double university scholarships to Angolan students to 300 next year in an exercise of Russian soft power. Russia's Alrosa, the world's largest diamond producer, has a 41% stake in a massive Angolan mine.
"The Russians do want to say very loudly that they are not isolated, and that they are welcome everywhere," said Irina Filatova, Emeritus humanities professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
"(That) will not endear (southern Africa) to the U.S. or the British, but it doesn't mean they will stop trading," she said. "It's too important."
(Editing by William Maclean)
Nigeria election 2023: Who is Bola Tinubu?
Nduka Orjinmo - BBC News, Abuja Fri, January 27, 2023 Bola Tinubu wields enormous power in western Nigeria politics
Bola Tinubu, 70, widely credited with reshaping Nigeria's commercial hub Lagos, will lead the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) into February's presidential election but he faces a reinvigorated opposition, allegations of corruption, and health issues as he eyes one of Africa's most daunting jobs.
Once forced into exile by military ruler Sani Abacha, Mr Tinubu knows the value of freedom and wears it as an insignia on his signature hat - a broken shackle that looks like a horizontal figure of eight.
A trained accountant, it was the activities of the pro-democracy National Democratic Coalition (Nadeco) group, where he was a member, that brought him into Abacha's crosshairs.
The opposition of groups like Nadeco, and Abacha's death in 1998, ushered in Nigeria's democracy in 1999 and in many ways, Mr Tinubu, a former Mobil oil executive, feels entitled to Nigeria's presidency.
He will be banking on his experience in politics and huge influence across the country to win the election, where he will face stiff competition from former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, who is standing for the main opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP), and a burgeoning campaign by the Labour Party's Peter Obi, who is hugely popular with urban voters.
If Mr Tinubu, known as "Jagaban" by supporters, gets the top job, he would be looking to unify a country divided across regional lines, tackle widespread insecurity, create jobs and bring down rising inflation.
But it is not a job that fazes him. He has pointed to his time as Lagos state governor between 1999 and 2007 to sell his candidacy Nigerians.
Under his tenure, Lagos massively grew its income through huge foreign investment, while a public transport scheme that saw new lanes created for rapid buses eased the notorious traffic jams faced daily by commuters.
Despite its enormous wealth, Lagos has not been able to solve its notorious traffic jams by completing a light rail project started by Mr Tinubu
But the city of around 25 million people has not lived up to its reputation as a megacity despite his claims of turning it around.
Public infrastructure is largely in a state of disrepair - basic amenities such as water and public housing are decrepit, while a light rail project started during his reign has not been completed almost 20 years later despite the riches of the state.
He has also been accused of keeping a grip on state finances despite leaving office in 2007.
There are also allegations of corruption against Mr Tinubu, which he denies.
Two years ago, Dapo Apara, an accountant at Alpha-beta, a firm where Mr Tinubu purportedly holds stakes through a crony, accused him of using the firm for money laundering, fraud, tax evasion and other corrupt practices.
Mr Tinubu was sued despite him and Alpha-beta denying the allegations but all parties decided to settle out of court last June.
Such allegations, including twice facing Nigeria's Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), on allegations of breaching the code of public officers - where he was cleared - make opponents say Mr Tinubu is not the right man for the job in a country where corruption is high.
In the last election, a brazen display of an armoured van used by banks to move money driving into his palatial compound in the Ikoyi area of Lagos fuelled suspicions that he was involved in vote-buying, which he made no great effort to deny.
"If I have money, if I like, I give it to the people free of charge, as long as [it's] not to buy votes," he said.
He is one of Nigeria's richest politicians but there are questions about his wealth.
In December, he told the BBC that he inherited some real estate which he then invested, but in the past he also said he became an "instant millionaire" while working as an auditor at Deloitte and Touche.
He said he had saved $1.8m (£1.5m) from his wages and other allowances, nearly the same amount found in accounts linked to him in a 1993 dispute with the US authorities.
In documents that are publicly available, the US Department of Justice alleged that from early 1988, accounts opened in the name of Bola Tinubu held the proceeds of sales of white heroin.
Kevin Moss, the special agent that investigated the operation, alleged that Mr Tinubu worked for their prime suspect Adegoboyega Akande.
While the court confirmed it had cause to believe the money in the bank accounts were the proceeds of drug trafficking, Mr Tinubu and the others denied the allegations, and the court never made a final order about the money's origins.
Mr Tinubu also faces questions about his health, once posting an eight-second video of him riding an exercise bike as proof-of-life.
Opponents say his age is catching up with him and point to videos of various gaffes at campaign rallies where it can be hard to understand what he's saying.
Many Nigerians are wary of another president with health issues after President Umaru Yar'Adua died in office in 2010 and a current president who has spent considerable time getting medical treatment abroad.
But his supporters say he has the stamina for the job and is not competing for a spot at the Olympics.
Mr Tinubu (L) claims to have helped both Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo (C) and President Buhari (R) into office
There has also been some controversy about his choice of a running-mate.
Mr Tinubu, a southern Muslim, picked former Borno state governor Kashim Shettima, a northern Muslim, as his vice.
This move was seen as appeasing Nigeria's Muslim-majority north which has the largest voting bloc in the country.
However, it drew the ire of many Christians who say it went against the tradition of mixed-faith tickets for the presidency.
He defended his choice, saying he went for competence over primordial interests.
He is seen as the political godfather of the south-west region and its most influential figure, who decides how power is distributed among his many acolytes.
In 2015 he described describes himself as a "talent hunter" that puts "talents into office".
His immense political influence led to the merger of opposition parties in 2013 and eventually wrestled power from the then-ruling PDP in 2015 - a rarity in Nigeria where incumbents are not often defeated.
During his party primary, when it looked as though Mr Tinubu's aspirations were flagging, he reminded Nigerians that he was largely responsible for installing President Muhammadu Buhari after the former military ruler had failed on several occasions to win the presidency.
Mr Buhari's associates have since tried to downplay the former governor's influence in the 2015 election, but it is unlikely that the current president would have emerged, twice, without the backing of Mr Tinubu.
That is why his supporters saw it as a betrayal when Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, who worked with Mr Tinubu as a commissioner in Lagos, ran against his former boss for the APC ticket.
If he wins February's election, which is likely to be tightly contested, he will have to tackle many issues left behind by Mr Buhari - widespread insecurity, high unemployment, rising inflation and a country divided along ethnic lines.
It is not an impossible job, but the task ahead is daunting.
Africa needs to learn to feed itself, says Senegal president Senegal and African Development Bank hosts food summit
Wed, January 25, 2023 By Bate Felix
DAKAR (Reuters) -Africa must produce more food instead of relying on imports and aid, Senegalese President Macky Sall told leaders gathered in the West African nation's capital for a summit on Wednesday.
The continent is facing its worst food crisis ever, with more than one in five Africans – a record 278 million people – facing hunger, according to United Nations estimates.
Heavy debt burdens from the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine which raised prices of fuel, grain and edible oils and diverted aid have added to long-term causes of food insecurity such as climate change and conflict, experts say.
"Africa needs to learn to feed itself and contribute to feeding the world," said Sall, who is also chairman of the African Union.
"We have the potential, with around 60% of arable land here that is not exploited," he said. "It is paradoxical that we still need to import the essentials of what we need."
Over the next three days of the summit, leaders will present their national priorities on food security to development banks and other international partners including the United States, the European Union and Britain.
The meeting is meant to mobilize political commitment, development partner support and private sector investment to increase food production in Africa, said the African Development Bank, which is backing the summit.
"It is time for Africa to feed Africa," said Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank, who said African countries spend around $70 billion annually on food imports.
The bank will commit $10 billion over the next five years to support development in food and agriculture, he said.
Sall urged countries to adhere to the 2003 Maputo declaration on agriculture, which calls on African states to allocate 10% of their national budgets to agricultural development.
While Senegal allocates around 12%, some countries are yet to meet the target, he said.
He also said countries must support smallholder farmers who make up the bulk of producers on the continent. Women and youth in particular need more access to finance and land, said Sall.
The United States has made food security a priority as it reasserts its presence on the continent, seeking to counter the influence of Russia and China.
The U.S. and the African Union last month signed a strategic food security initiative at Biden's African Leaders Summit. Among other things it will help African countries access fertilizer, which is becoming scarcer and more expensive.
(Reporting by Bate Felix; Writing by Nellie Peyton; Editing by Alex Richardson and Philippa Fletcher)
CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M; DISANTISLAND Florida, land of scams, strikes again. This time, it’s fake nursing degrees | Opinion
Rogelio V. Solis/AP
the Miami Herald Editorial Board Wed, January 25, 2023
When it comes to healthcare fraud in Florida, you’ve got to work awfully hard to stand out.
We’ve long been a hotbed of Medicare fraud. We elected governor — and then U.S. senator — Rick Scott, despite knowing that his hospital company had been slapped with a record-setting $1.7 billion fine for fraudulent billing and practices and that he’d been forced out. We spent years playing a starring — and shameful — role in the “pill mill” scandal, as Florida’s pain clinics became the scourge of the nation for pumping out opioids to addicts, helping fuel a crisis that remains with us today. Ground Zero
We keep making national headlines for this stuff. Just this month, a Palm Beach County doctor who served as medical director for more than 50 sober homes, treatment centers and testing labs got a 20-year sentence in the Justice Department’s largest addiction fraud case ever.
And now Florida nursing schools are in the glare of the spotlight. According to the feds, a network of nursing-school operators, based in South Florida, has been selling fake degrees, allowing unqualified people to become certified as nurses. They could bypass a nearly two-year nursing program requiring clinical work, national exams and certification and simply pay up between $10,000 and $17,000 for a falsified transcript.
Prosecutors said this was a scheme designed to capitalize on the nursing shortage that has been worsened by COVID, a particularly heartless calculation — even under the low standards of empathy-challenged Florida.
There were recruiters and coaches to help students pass the tests. Armed with bogus diplomas, the students took tests to be certified in Florida, New York, New Jersey and Texas. About a third of the estimated 7,600 students who took the tests passed, with the majority of them in New York.
We’d apologize to New York — except a certification there also allows the students to work in Florida.
At least 20 arrests
U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Markenzy Lapointe, who has been in office for less than a month, announced Wednesday that more than 20 people have been arrested. The joint investigation by the DOJ, the FBI and the inspector general’s office of the Department of Health and Human Services was called “Operation Nightingale” — a reference to Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing.
That’s because this scheme, if true, isn’t just criminal. It’s also a violation of the trust we put in the nursing profession. Patients, including children and the elderly, could have been harmed. Nurses perform some of the most important tasks in any medical setting. The damage to the nursing profession in a situation like this is severe.
As Lapointe said, when it comes to nurses’ credentials, “Shortcut is not a word we want to use.”
Not even in Florida.
Colorado baker loses appeal over transgender birthday cake
Colorado baker Jack Phillips
Colorado lawyer Autumn Scardina poses for photos outside the Ralph Carr Colorado Judicial Center in Denver, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022. Scardina, who is transgender, sued Colorado baker Jack Phillips after he refused to make her a cake intended to celebrate her gender transition.
(AP Photo/Colleen Slevin, File)
COLLEEN SLEVIN Thu, January 26, 2023
DENVER (AP) — The Colorado baker who won a partial U.S. Supreme Court victory after refusing to make a gay couple’s wedding cake because of his Christian faith lost an appeal Thursday in his latest legal fight, involving his rejection of a request for a birthday cake celebrating a gender transition.
The Colorado Court of Appeals ruled that that the cake Autumn Scardina requested from Jack Phillips and Masterpiece Cakeshop, which was to be pink with blue frosting, is not a form of speech.
It also found that the state law that makes it illegal to refuse to provide services to people based on protected characteristics like race, religion or sexual orientation does not violate business owners' right to practice or express their religion.
Relying on the findings of a Denver judge in a 2021 trial in the dispute, the appeals court said Phillips' shop initially agreed to make the cake but then refused after Scardina explained that she was going to use it to celebrate her transition from male to female.
“We conclude that creating a pink cake with blue frosting is not inherently expressive and any message or symbolism it provides to an observer would not be attributed to the baker,” said the court, which also rejected procedural arguments from Phillips.
Phillips, who is represented by Alliance Defending Freedom, maintains that the cakes he creates are a form of speech and plans to appeal.
“One need not agree with Jack’s views to agree that all Americans should be free to say what they believe, even if the government disagrees with those beliefs,” ADF senior counsel Jake Warner said in a statement.
John McHugh, one of the lawyers who represent Scardina, said the court looked carefully at all the arguments and evidence from the trial.
“They just object to the idea of Ms. Scardina wanting a birthday cake that reflects her status as a transgender woman because they object to the existence of transgender people,” he said of Phillips and his shop.
In 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission had acted with anti-religious bias in enforcing the anti-discrimination law against Phillips after he refused to bake a cake celebrating the wedding of Charlie Craig and Dave Mullins in 2012. The justices called the commission unfairly dismissive of Phillips’ religious beliefs.
The high court did not rule then on the larger issue of whether a business can invoke religious objections to refuse service to LGBTQ people, but it has another chance to do so.
Last year it heard another case challenging Colorado's anti-discrimination law, brought by a Christian graphic artist who does not want to design wedding websites for same-sex couples. Lorie Smith, who is also represented by ADF, claims the law violates her freedom of speech.
Scardina, an attorney, attempted to order her cake on the same day in 2017 that the Supreme Court announced it would hear Phillips’ appeal in the wedding cake case. During trial, she testified that she wanted to “challenge the veracity” of Phillips' statements that he would serve LGBTQ customers.
Before filing her lawsuit, Scardina first filed a complaint against Phillips with the state and the civil rights commission, which found probable cause that he had discriminated against her.
Phillips then filed a federal lawsuit against Colorado, accusing it of a “crusade to crush” him by pursuing the complaint.
In March 2019, lawyers for the state and Phillips agreed to drop both cases under a settlement Scardina was not involved in. She pursued the lawsuit against Phillips and Masterpiece on her own.
