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Thursday, March 16, 2023
IT'S LEFT WING
Foreign policy of Brazil’s Lula takes shape, irking the WestBy ELÉONORE HUGHES and CARLA BRIDI
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva attends a meeting with mayors from all over the country to discuss public policy issues and the federal government's support for municipalities, in Brasilia, Brazil, Tuesday, March 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s new President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has so far shown little concern about defying consensus in the West on foreign policy -- even when it comes to dealing with authoritarian governments.
In recent weeks, Lula’s Brazil sent a delegation to Venezuela, refused to sign a UN resolution condemning Nicaragua’s human rights abuses, allowed Iranian warships to dock in Rio de Janeiro and flatly refused to send weapons to Ukraine, at war with Russia.
These decisions have raised eyebrows in the U.S. and Europe, but experts said Lula is reactivating Brazil’s decades-old principle of non-alignment to carve out a policy that best safeguards its interests in an increasingly multi-polar world.
Brazil’s foreign policy is based on its 1988 constitution, which establishes non-intervention, self-determination, international cooperation and the peaceful settlement of conflicts as guiding principles.
That involves “talking to all states at all times without making moral judgements, while respecting certain red lines,” said Feliciano Guimarães, a political scientist at the think tank Brazilian Center for International Relations. Lula’s red lines are not yet clear, he added.
Last week a delegation from Brazil headed by Celso Amorim, a special advisor to the presidency and former foreign minister, went to Venezuela in the first high-level official visit in years. Diplomatic relations with the neighboring nation were severed under Lula’s predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro. Venezuela’s leftist president Nicolás Maduro is accused of trampling freedom of speech and persecuting political opponents.
Amorim’s team met with both Maduro and the opposition. Maduro posted pictures of the meeting with Amorim on Twitter and praised the “pleasant encounter.”
Brazil intends to promote democracy in Venezuela and push for greater transparency in elections, which is why the delegation met with both sides, according to an official at the foreign ministry who was not authorized to speak publicly.
Brazil’s representatives at the United Nations in early March declined to sign a Human Rights Council declaration condemning Daniel Ortega’s regime in Nicaragua. Ortega’s government has cracked down hard on dissent, and last month deported and moved to strip Nicaraguan nationality from more than 200 dissidents -- drawing international rebuke over what was deemed a throwback and a form of banishment.
In an interview with Brazilian newspaper O Estado de S.Paulo, published March 10, Brazil’s Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira said the declaration was not signed due to “differences in language and approach.” Vieira pointed to Brazil’s historical position of seeking dialogue first.
But the controversy prompted the Brazilian government to later highlight that it was “extremely concerned” about reported human rights violations in Nicaragua and offer to welcome political refugees who have had their nationality stripped.
Lula made diplomacy a priority during his previous presidency from 2003 to 2010, and Brazil was widely respected on the international stage. The BRICS group composed of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa was established in 2006.
Lula and Amorim held talks with U.S. presidents and senior Iranian officials in an attempt to build peace, negotiating alongside Turkey to slow Iran’s uranium enrichment. The efforts ultimately failed, and Iran continued enriching uranium.
Lula is seeking to reinsert Brazil on the global stage after Bolsonaro, who showed little interest in international affairs beyond asserting his affinity for other right-wing nationalists such as Israel’s Benyamin Netanyahu and Hungary’s Viktor Orbán. He reserved special adulation for former U.S. President Donald Trump.
Bolsonaro’s trips abroad were few and far between. Lula quickly showed a different tack, heading to Argentina in the first month of his presidency to meet with his counterpart, Alberto Fernández.
The returning president also wants to create of a group of countries, possibly including India, China and Indonesia, to mediate peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said Moscow was studying Lula’s proposal, according to Russia’s Tass news agency in February. He also shared that proposal with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a March 2 video call.
But Lula’s refusal to send weapons to the invaded country has aggravated the West.
“Lula’s government is applying the same principle of autonomy as during his first terms, but the global scenario has changed,” said political scientist Leonardo Paz from the Getulio Vargas Foundation, a university and think tank.
The West’s tensions with Russia and China are sharper. But Russia is a key supplier of fertilizer to Brazil’s soybean plantations, and its exports have become dependent on China.
China surpassed the U.S. as Brazil’s main trading partner in 2009. Their economic relationship has since only strengthened. Between 2007 and 2020, China invested US$66.1 billion in Brazil, according to the Brazil-China Business Council.
“Brazil needs a strategy that allows it to maneuver. The principle of non-alignment allows it to have channels open with all states to protect itself,” Guimarães said.
Brazil showed its will to pursue a foreign policy independent of the US and European countries when it allowed two Iranian warships to dock, Guimarães added.
The move prompted rebukes from the US and Israel. “Hosting Iranian naval vessels sends the wrong message,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during a briefing on March 9.
She added: “But Brazil is a sovereign country and they are allowed to make their decision on how they’re going to engage with another country.”
Another sign of Lula’s budding foreign policy came this week with the announcement that as of Oct. 1 Brazil will reinstitute the requirement that citizens of the U.S. and three other nations obtain tourist visas, which Bolsonaro had scrapped even as the four countries continued demanding visas from Brazilians.
Bolsonaro’s decision had represented “a break with the pattern of Brazilian migration policy, historically based on the principles of reciprocity and equal treatment,” the foreign ministry said in a statement Monday.
___
Bridi reported from Brasilia.
NOT JUST NON UNION ITS AN ANTI UNION STATE
Dozens of workers reject union at big Nissan Tennessee plant
THE RULING IDEAS ARE THE IDEAS OF THE RULING CLASS
By JONATHAN MATTISE
FILE - Workers at the Nissan plant in Smyrna, Tenn., walk by a Nissan Altima sedan, May 15, 2012. A group of 75 employees out of the thousands who work at a Nissan assembly plant in Tennessee will finally vote Thursday, March 16, 2023, on whether to form a union. (AP Photo/Erik Schelzig, File)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Several dozen workers among thousands at a Nissan factory in Tennessee voted not to unionize Thursday, another loss in tough territory for organized labor at a foreign-owned auto assembly plant in the traditionally anti-union South.
The 62-9 vote against the union at Nissan’s Smyna plant followed two years of legal wrangling in front of the National Labor Relations Board that spanned two presidential administrations.
In a statement, the machinists union said the delayed decision from the federal labor board had a “chilling effect” on the campaign. A machinists union representative noted earlier this week that some employees from the original drive had quit, left for other jobs or retired since the push began.
“The IAM will continue to support these workers so we will be prepared for them to join our union when the time is right again. We want to thank our organizers for their tireless work in this campaign,” Thursday’s statement said.
In a statement after the vote, Nissan spokesperson Lloryn Love-Carter said the workers “elected to maintain their direct relationship with the company.”
Love-Carter has previously said Nissan believes its workplace is “stronger without the involvement of third-party unions” like the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. Still, she emphasized that employees have the right to decide whether to join a union — a right that has been enshrined in federal law since the 1930s
Nationwide, several high-profile unionization campaigns — at Starbucks, Amazon, Apple and other companies — have given organized labor a renewed spotlight of late, even as the union membership rate reached an all-time low last year. The number of workers belonging to a union actually increased by 1.9% to 14.3 million, but that failed to keep pace with higher overall employment rates.
Organizers cited a variety of reasons to unionize at the Nissan plant about 25 miles (40 kilometers) outside Nashville. Those include retirement, work-life balance and health care issues they want to negotiate.
Last month, organizers finally secured a vote after long arguing that the group of 75 tool and die technicians were eligible for standalone representation because they have extremely specialized skills for a job that can’t be done by others at the facility. The Japan-based company contended the employees are not sufficiently distinct from other plant workers to be eligible for their own unionized bloc.
Plant workers first reached out to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union in 2020. A federal labor official in June 2021 ruled against letting the dozens of workers vote on their own union. They would need to include thousands more employees. The facility currently has about 7,000 employees. The union didn’t pursue the facility-wide vote.
After that decision, control of the National Labor Relations Board switched from Republicans to Democrats. After reviewing the decision panel since December 2021, the board ultimately overturned the previous ruling last month, giving the union a green light for the vote.
Unions have run into opposition from Republican politicians when they attempt to organize at foreign automakers in the South, including in Tennessee. There were no immediate reports of that happening during the tool and die campaign at Nissan.
Nissan does work with organized labor in the rest of the world, but votes to unionize broadly at the two Nissan plants in the U.S. have not been close. Workers in Smyrna rejected a plantwide union under the UAW in 2001 and 1989.
The automaker’s other U.S. assembly plant in Canton, Mississippi, rejected facility-wide representation by the UAW during a 2017 vote.
The margin was much closer in 2014 and 2019 votes at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where workers twice rejected a factory-wide union under the UAW.
The year after the 2014 vote failed, 160 Chattanooga maintenance workers won a vote to form a smaller union, but Volkswagen refused to bargain. The German automaker had argued the bargaining unit also needed to include production workers. As a result, the 2019 factory-wide vote followed.
Tennessee already has a big union presence at an American automaker: The General Motors plant in Spring Hill has thousands of production and skilled trades workers represented by the United Auto Workers union.
There’s also an open question about whether workers will unionize at four sprawling new factories planned by Ford in Kentucky and Tennessee by 2025, with an aim of hiring nearly 11,000 workers. Three of the plants — two in Kentucky, one in Tennessee — will be built with Ford’s South Korean corporate partner, SK Innovation, to produce electric vehicle batteries. A fourth, in Tennessee, will make electric F-Series pickup trucks.
Dozens of workers reject union at big Nissan Tennessee plant
THE RULING IDEAS ARE THE IDEAS OF THE RULING CLASS
By JONATHAN MATTISE
FILE - Workers at the Nissan plant in Smyrna, Tenn., walk by a Nissan Altima sedan, May 15, 2012. A group of 75 employees out of the thousands who work at a Nissan assembly plant in Tennessee will finally vote Thursday, March 16, 2023, on whether to form a union. (AP Photo/Erik Schelzig, File)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Several dozen workers among thousands at a Nissan factory in Tennessee voted not to unionize Thursday, another loss in tough territory for organized labor at a foreign-owned auto assembly plant in the traditionally anti-union South.
The 62-9 vote against the union at Nissan’s Smyna plant followed two years of legal wrangling in front of the National Labor Relations Board that spanned two presidential administrations.
In a statement, the machinists union said the delayed decision from the federal labor board had a “chilling effect” on the campaign. A machinists union representative noted earlier this week that some employees from the original drive had quit, left for other jobs or retired since the push began.
“The IAM will continue to support these workers so we will be prepared for them to join our union when the time is right again. We want to thank our organizers for their tireless work in this campaign,” Thursday’s statement said.
In a statement after the vote, Nissan spokesperson Lloryn Love-Carter said the workers “elected to maintain their direct relationship with the company.”
Love-Carter has previously said Nissan believes its workplace is “stronger without the involvement of third-party unions” like the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. Still, she emphasized that employees have the right to decide whether to join a union — a right that has been enshrined in federal law since the 1930s
Nationwide, several high-profile unionization campaigns — at Starbucks, Amazon, Apple and other companies — have given organized labor a renewed spotlight of late, even as the union membership rate reached an all-time low last year. The number of workers belonging to a union actually increased by 1.9% to 14.3 million, but that failed to keep pace with higher overall employment rates.
Organizers cited a variety of reasons to unionize at the Nissan plant about 25 miles (40 kilometers) outside Nashville. Those include retirement, work-life balance and health care issues they want to negotiate.
Last month, organizers finally secured a vote after long arguing that the group of 75 tool and die technicians were eligible for standalone representation because they have extremely specialized skills for a job that can’t be done by others at the facility. The Japan-based company contended the employees are not sufficiently distinct from other plant workers to be eligible for their own unionized bloc.
Plant workers first reached out to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union in 2020. A federal labor official in June 2021 ruled against letting the dozens of workers vote on their own union. They would need to include thousands more employees. The facility currently has about 7,000 employees. The union didn’t pursue the facility-wide vote.
After that decision, control of the National Labor Relations Board switched from Republicans to Democrats. After reviewing the decision panel since December 2021, the board ultimately overturned the previous ruling last month, giving the union a green light for the vote.
Unions have run into opposition from Republican politicians when they attempt to organize at foreign automakers in the South, including in Tennessee. There were no immediate reports of that happening during the tool and die campaign at Nissan.
Nissan does work with organized labor in the rest of the world, but votes to unionize broadly at the two Nissan plants in the U.S. have not been close. Workers in Smyrna rejected a plantwide union under the UAW in 2001 and 1989.
The automaker’s other U.S. assembly plant in Canton, Mississippi, rejected facility-wide representation by the UAW during a 2017 vote.
The margin was much closer in 2014 and 2019 votes at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where workers twice rejected a factory-wide union under the UAW.
The year after the 2014 vote failed, 160 Chattanooga maintenance workers won a vote to form a smaller union, but Volkswagen refused to bargain. The German automaker had argued the bargaining unit also needed to include production workers. As a result, the 2019 factory-wide vote followed.
Tennessee already has a big union presence at an American automaker: The General Motors plant in Spring Hill has thousands of production and skilled trades workers represented by the United Auto Workers union.
There’s also an open question about whether workers will unionize at four sprawling new factories planned by Ford in Kentucky and Tennessee by 2025, with an aim of hiring nearly 11,000 workers. Three of the plants — two in Kentucky, one in Tennessee — will be built with Ford’s South Korean corporate partner, SK Innovation, to produce electric vehicle batteries. A fourth, in Tennessee, will make electric F-Series pickup trucks.
BNSF train derailment spills diesel fuel on tribal land in Washington
This photo provided by the Washington Department of Ecology shows a derailed BNSF train on the Swinomish tribal reservation near Anacortes, Wash. on Thursday, March 16, 2023. Two BNSF trains derailed in separate incidents in Arizona and Washington state on Thursday, with the latter spilling diesel fuel. There were no injuries reported in either. The derailment in Washington occurred on a berm along Puget Sound, on the Swinomish tribal reservation near Anacortes. (Washington Department of Ecology via AP)
ANACORTES, Wash. (AP) — Two BNSF trains derailed in separate incidents in Arizona and Washington state on Thursday, with the latter spilling diesel fuel on tribal land along Puget Sound.
No injuries were reported. It wasn’t clear what caused either derailment.
The derailment in Washington occurred on a berm along Padilla Bay, on the Swinomish tribal reservation near Anacortes. Most of 5,000 gallons (nearly 19,000 liters) of spilled diesel fuel leaked on the land side of the berm rather than toward the water, according to the state Ecology Department.
Officials said there were no indications the spill reached the water or affected any wildlife.
Responders placed a boom along the shoreline as a precaution and removed the remaining fuel from two locomotives that derailed. Four tank cars remained upright.
The derailment in western Arizona, near the state’s border with California and Nevada, involved a train carrying corn syrup. A spokeswoman for the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office, Anita Mortensen, said that she was not aware of any spills or leaks.
BNSF spokeswoman Lena Kent said an estimated eight cars derailed in Arizona and were blocking the main track. The cause of the derailment was under investigation, and it was not immediately known when the track will reopen.
The derailments came amid heightened attention to rail safety nationwide following a fiery derailment last month in Ohio and a string of derailments since then that have been grabbing headlines, including ones in Michigan, Alabama and other states.
The U.S. averages about three train derailments per day, according to federal data, but relatively few create disasters.
Last month, a freight train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, near the Pennsylvania border, igniting a fire and causing hundreds of people to be evacuated.
Officials seeking to avoid an uncontrolled blast intentionally released and burned toxic vinyl chloride from five rail cars, sending flames and black smoke high into the sky. That left people questioning the potential health impacts even as authorities maintained they were doing their best to protect people.
This photo provided by the Washington Department of Ecology shows a derailed BNSF train on the Swinomish tribal reservation near Anacortes, Wash. on Thursday, March 16, 2023. Two BNSF trains derailed in separate incidents in Arizona and Washington state on Thursday, with the latter spilling diesel fuel. There were no injuries reported in either. The derailment in Washington occurred on a berm along Puget Sound, on the Swinomish tribal reservation near Anacortes. (Washington Department of Ecology via AP)
ANACORTES, Wash. (AP) — Two BNSF trains derailed in separate incidents in Arizona and Washington state on Thursday, with the latter spilling diesel fuel on tribal land along Puget Sound.
No injuries were reported. It wasn’t clear what caused either derailment.
The derailment in Washington occurred on a berm along Padilla Bay, on the Swinomish tribal reservation near Anacortes. Most of 5,000 gallons (nearly 19,000 liters) of spilled diesel fuel leaked on the land side of the berm rather than toward the water, according to the state Ecology Department.
Officials said there were no indications the spill reached the water or affected any wildlife.
Responders placed a boom along the shoreline as a precaution and removed the remaining fuel from two locomotives that derailed. Four tank cars remained upright.
The derailment in western Arizona, near the state’s border with California and Nevada, involved a train carrying corn syrup. A spokeswoman for the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office, Anita Mortensen, said that she was not aware of any spills or leaks.
BNSF spokeswoman Lena Kent said an estimated eight cars derailed in Arizona and were blocking the main track. The cause of the derailment was under investigation, and it was not immediately known when the track will reopen.
The derailments came amid heightened attention to rail safety nationwide following a fiery derailment last month in Ohio and a string of derailments since then that have been grabbing headlines, including ones in Michigan, Alabama and other states.
The U.S. averages about three train derailments per day, according to federal data, but relatively few create disasters.
Last month, a freight train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, near the Pennsylvania border, igniting a fire and causing hundreds of people to be evacuated.
Officials seeking to avoid an uncontrolled blast intentionally released and burned toxic vinyl chloride from five rail cars, sending flames and black smoke high into the sky. That left people questioning the potential health impacts even as authorities maintained they were doing their best to protect people.
New analysis reveals dynamic volcanism on Venus
RELATED LINKS NASA's Magellan mission
"What we definitively can demonstrate is that a volcanic vent got larger and looks to have gone from conical and hundreds of meters deep in its interior to a flat, nearly filled interior," said Robert Herrick, a University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute research professor and lead author of the study published in the journal Science.
"Our interpretation is that there is a new influx of magma into a chamber underneath the vent, and that results in formation of a broader, irregular caldera (a large depression created when a volcano erupts and collapses) that still has an active lava lake in it when the second image is taken," Herrick said.
The vent is located on the north side of a larger volcanic structure just off the main summit of Maat Mons.
"Although it is possible the vent collapse was not associated with active volcanism, on Earth this large a collapse is usually associated with some sort of magmatic movement, and hence we think it likely to be the case here," said study co-author Scott Hensley, a senior research scientist specializing in radar remote sensing at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.
Venus is covered with craters, volcanoes, mountains and lava plains. Magellan imaged portions of Venus up to three times spanning 24 months from 1990 to 1992. Advances in computing capability have made analysing this data easier in recent years.
The new findings suggest there are eruptions on Venus about every few months, similar to some Earth volcanoes in places like Hawaii, the Canary Islands and Iceland, Herrick said.
This is the latest evidence that Venus, lacking the plate tectonics that gradually reshape Earth's surface, is not the geologically dormant world some scientists had once considered it. Another study published in 2020 identified 37 volcanic structures apparently active in the past 2 million to 3 million years.
Venus, with a diameter of about 7,500 miles (12,000 kilometres), is slightly smaller than Earth. Its thick atmosphere - mainly carbon dioxide - traps in heat in a runaway greenhouse effect, rendering Venus the solar system's hottest planet.
In our solar system, Earth resides comfortably within the "habitable zone" around the sun - the distance considered not too close and not too far from a star to be able to host life, with Venus near the inner boundary and Mars close to the outer edge.
"As we continue to discover new solar systems around other stars, understanding how Venus and Earth came to end up so different now is important to understanding what the conditions are for making a planet habitable," Herrick said.
"For instance, there are a lot of scientists who think Venus might have been habitable for a large fraction of its history, which would mean that the concept of a 'habitable zone' of a fixed distance around a star is an outdated concept. Maybe the distance is just one contributing factor and there is a bunch of other factors equally important," Herrick added.
(Reporting by Will Dunham, editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
As it sped away from Venus, NASA's Mariner 10 spacecraft on February 7, 1974, captured this seemingly peaceful view of the planet, nearly the size of Earth, wrapped in a dense, global cloud layer. Venus is a world of intense heat, crushing atmospheric pressure and clouds of corrosive acid.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Will Dunham
Reuters
Published March 15, 2023
WASHINGTON -
A fresh analysis of radar images obtained more than three decades ago has yielded new evidence indicating Venus, Earth's planetary next-door neighbour, is currently volcanically active - a dynamic world with eruptions and lava flows.
Researchers said on Wednesday radar images taken by NASA's Magellan spacecraft showed that a volcanic vent about a mile (1.6 km) wide on the Venusian surface expanded and changed shape over an eight-month span in 1991. The vent is situated on Maat Mons, which at about 5 miles (9 km) tall is the planet's highest volcano and second-highest mountain.
A February 1991 image showed the vent as a circular formation covering about one square mile (2.6 square kilometres). An October 1991 image showed the vent with an irregular shape covering about 1.5 square miles (3.9 square kilometres).
Reuters
Published March 15, 2023
WASHINGTON -
A fresh analysis of radar images obtained more than three decades ago has yielded new evidence indicating Venus, Earth's planetary next-door neighbour, is currently volcanically active - a dynamic world with eruptions and lava flows.
Researchers said on Wednesday radar images taken by NASA's Magellan spacecraft showed that a volcanic vent about a mile (1.6 km) wide on the Venusian surface expanded and changed shape over an eight-month span in 1991. The vent is situated on Maat Mons, which at about 5 miles (9 km) tall is the planet's highest volcano and second-highest mountain.
A February 1991 image showed the vent as a circular formation covering about one square mile (2.6 square kilometres). An October 1991 image showed the vent with an irregular shape covering about 1.5 square miles (3.9 square kilometres).
In a Magellan image dubbed the ‘Crater Farm’ the layering of volcanic activity and impact craters is seen. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
RELATED LINKS NASA's Magellan mission
"What we definitively can demonstrate is that a volcanic vent got larger and looks to have gone from conical and hundreds of meters deep in its interior to a flat, nearly filled interior," said Robert Herrick, a University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute research professor and lead author of the study published in the journal Science.
"Our interpretation is that there is a new influx of magma into a chamber underneath the vent, and that results in formation of a broader, irregular caldera (a large depression created when a volcano erupts and collapses) that still has an active lava lake in it when the second image is taken," Herrick said.
The vent is located on the north side of a larger volcanic structure just off the main summit of Maat Mons.
"Although it is possible the vent collapse was not associated with active volcanism, on Earth this large a collapse is usually associated with some sort of magmatic movement, and hence we think it likely to be the case here," said study co-author Scott Hensley, a senior research scientist specializing in radar remote sensing at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.
Venus is covered with craters, volcanoes, mountains and lava plains. Magellan imaged portions of Venus up to three times spanning 24 months from 1990 to 1992. Advances in computing capability have made analysing this data easier in recent years.
The new findings suggest there are eruptions on Venus about every few months, similar to some Earth volcanoes in places like Hawaii, the Canary Islands and Iceland, Herrick said.
This is the latest evidence that Venus, lacking the plate tectonics that gradually reshape Earth's surface, is not the geologically dormant world some scientists had once considered it. Another study published in 2020 identified 37 volcanic structures apparently active in the past 2 million to 3 million years.
Venus, with a diameter of about 7,500 miles (12,000 kilometres), is slightly smaller than Earth. Its thick atmosphere - mainly carbon dioxide - traps in heat in a runaway greenhouse effect, rendering Venus the solar system's hottest planet.
In our solar system, Earth resides comfortably within the "habitable zone" around the sun - the distance considered not too close and not too far from a star to be able to host life, with Venus near the inner boundary and Mars close to the outer edge.
"As we continue to discover new solar systems around other stars, understanding how Venus and Earth came to end up so different now is important to understanding what the conditions are for making a planet habitable," Herrick said.
"For instance, there are a lot of scientists who think Venus might have been habitable for a large fraction of its history, which would mean that the concept of a 'habitable zone' of a fixed distance around a star is an outdated concept. Maybe the distance is just one contributing factor and there is a bunch of other factors equally important," Herrick added.
(Reporting by Will Dunham, editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
Senegal rocked by more unrest as police clash with opposition protesters
PUBLISHED: THU, 16 MAR 2023
Bate Felix and Ngouda Dione
DAKAR, March 16 (Reuters) – Police fired tear gas at stone-hurling protestor during street clashes in Senegal’s capital on Thursday, ahead of a court case involving a prominent opposition politician that has triggered widespread anger among the West African country’s youth.
Protestor in Dakar burned tyres and set fire to buses and a large supermarket, the latest in a series of outbreaks of violence that have shaken Senegal’s reputation as a bastion of stable democracy, just months ahead of a presidential election.
Thursday’s clashes began when supporters of presidential hopeful Ousmane Sonko were blocked from accompanying his motorcade to the courthouse where he faces trial for libel.
Sonko, 48, who came third in the 2019 presidential election, is also charged with raping a beauty salon employee in 2021 and making deaths threats against her. He denies all wrongdoing and says the accusations are politically motivated to stop him running in the February 2024 polls.
Much of the anger on the street is targeted towards President Macky Sall, whose failure to rule out running for a third term in office has incensed many.
Senegal’s constitution only allows two terms, but some fear that Sall will use a recent tweak to the constitution to reset his mandate, repeating a tactic used by other rulers to extend power elsewhere in the region.
“We elected Macky Sall to work, not to establish a dictatorship. He must leave Sonko alone, if he does not leave him alone we will burn the country,” a Sonko supporter said.
Tensions have flared ahead of Sonko’s court appearance this week, with three days of protest. More than 10,000 supporters gathered at a field in Dakar on Tuesday to cheer on Sonko.
The former tax inspector urged his supporters to join him in court on Thursday for the hearing. But his convoy and supporters were stopped along a main road by police.
Sonko was forced out of his car and bundled into a police armoured personnel carrier and driven to court, triggering the clashes.
Sonko supporters accuse Sall of seeking to eliminate him from the competition with a guilty verdict.
The libel case was brought by Senegal’s tourism minister who said Sonko had allegedly accused him of embezzlement.
(Reporting by Bate Felix, Ngouda Dione and Diadie Ba; Writing by Sofia Christensen; Editing by Edward McAllister and Alex Richardson)
Supporters of Senegal opposition leader Ousmane Sonko clash with security forces ahead of their leader's court appearance for a libel case against him in Dakar, Senegal March 16, 2023. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra
Security forces clash with supporters of Senegal opposition leader Ousmane Sonko ahead of their leader's court appearance for a libel case against him in Dakar, Senegal March 16, 2023. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra
Israeli protesters paint 'red line' leading to Supreme Court after Netanyahu spurns compromise
2023/03/17
By Maayan Lubell
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Jerusalem woke on Thursday to the sight of a long red line painted by protesters along roads leading to Israel's Supreme Court, hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a compromise deal for his government's planned judicial overhaul.
Police said they had arrested five people who had disguised themselves as workers to carry out the protest action overnight.
Drone footage showed a small group of people in protective suits spraying a wide red stripe along mostly deserted roads leading from a police and magistrate's compound up to the Supreme Court in central Jerusalem.
A slogan stencilled in red onto the road in Hebrew, Arabic and English by the side of the road read: "Drawing the line."
The hard-right government's drive to limit Supreme Court powers while increasing its own power in selecting judges has caused alarm in Israel and abroad about the country's democratic checks and balances as protests have swelled for weeks.
In what they dubbed "a day of resistance," demonstrators blocked roads around commercial hub Tel Aviv and in other cities. At the Haifa port a few flag-toting protesters on boats, including former navy men, tried to block docking lanes.
"We are here to protest our democracy, our country, because we feel that our country is under brutal attack of the government, the Israeli government," said choreographer Renana Raz in Tel Aviv.
Netanyahu, upon departing late on Wednesday for a state visit to Germany which has voiced concern over the judicial plan, said a proposed compromise outlined by President Isaac Herzog would not restore balance to the branches of government.
His nationalist-religious coalition says the Supreme Court too often overreaches and intervenes in political matters it has no mandate to rule on. Defenders of the court say it is a bastion of democracy, protecting rights and liberties.
Economists, legal experts and former security chiefs have warned that the judicial plan, which has yet to be written into law, will wreak havoc on the country's economy and isolate Israel internationally.
Netanyahu, who is on trail for corruption charges he denies, says it will strengthen democracy and boost business. Members of his coalition driving the changes hope to win parliament's final approval of them by April 2.
(Additional reporting by Ari Rabinovitch in Jerusalem and Dedi Hayoun in Tel Aviv; Writing by Maayan Lubell; Editig by Raissa Kasolowsky)
© Reuters
2023/03/17
By Maayan Lubell
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Jerusalem woke on Thursday to the sight of a long red line painted by protesters along roads leading to Israel's Supreme Court, hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a compromise deal for his government's planned judicial overhaul.
Police said they had arrested five people who had disguised themselves as workers to carry out the protest action overnight.
Drone footage showed a small group of people in protective suits spraying a wide red stripe along mostly deserted roads leading from a police and magistrate's compound up to the Supreme Court in central Jerusalem.
A slogan stencilled in red onto the road in Hebrew, Arabic and English by the side of the road read: "Drawing the line."
The hard-right government's drive to limit Supreme Court powers while increasing its own power in selecting judges has caused alarm in Israel and abroad about the country's democratic checks and balances as protests have swelled for weeks.
In what they dubbed "a day of resistance," demonstrators blocked roads around commercial hub Tel Aviv and in other cities. At the Haifa port a few flag-toting protesters on boats, including former navy men, tried to block docking lanes.
"We are here to protest our democracy, our country, because we feel that our country is under brutal attack of the government, the Israeli government," said choreographer Renana Raz in Tel Aviv.
Netanyahu, upon departing late on Wednesday for a state visit to Germany which has voiced concern over the judicial plan, said a proposed compromise outlined by President Isaac Herzog would not restore balance to the branches of government.
His nationalist-religious coalition says the Supreme Court too often overreaches and intervenes in political matters it has no mandate to rule on. Defenders of the court say it is a bastion of democracy, protecting rights and liberties.
Economists, legal experts and former security chiefs have warned that the judicial plan, which has yet to be written into law, will wreak havoc on the country's economy and isolate Israel internationally.
Netanyahu, who is on trail for corruption charges he denies, says it will strengthen democracy and boost business. Members of his coalition driving the changes hope to win parliament's final approval of them by April 2.
(Additional reporting by Ari Rabinovitch in Jerusalem and Dedi Hayoun in Tel Aviv; Writing by Maayan Lubell; Editig by Raissa Kasolowsky)
© Reuters
Protests grip Israel after Netanyahu government snubs alternative judicial plan
By A.L. Lee
1/5
Israeli protesters blocked traffic during a demonstration against the government's planned judicial reforms during a 'Day of Disruption' in Jerusalem on Thursday.
RELATED Israeli protesters block roads in 'day of resistance' against judicial reforms
Throngs of Israeli reserve soldiers and navy veterans shut down the port in Haifa and choked off the city's main thoroughfare.
By A.L. Lee
1/5
Israeli protesters blocked traffic during a demonstration against the government's planned judicial reforms during a 'Day of Disruption' in Jerusalem on Thursday.
Photo by Debbie Hill/ UPI | License Photo
March 16 (UPI) -- Thousands of demonstrators blocked streets and major highways throughout Israel Thursday during a third day of nationwide protests over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to overhaul the country's judicial system.
Despite the widespread unrest, the conservative administration appeared determined to move forward with legislation that would upend Israel's legal system by handing Netanyahu's government full control over the country's judiciary, with the sovereignty of the Supreme Court also at stake.
The proposal has touched off deep political discord in Israel in recent weeks, with public turmoil reaching a fever pitch one day after Netanyahu and members of his right-wing coalition snubbed a proposal by President Isaac Herzog that was widely supported as a viable alternative to the controversial shakeup.
Herzog and protest leaders have continued to warn that political chaos gripping the nation had potential to ignite a civil war unless a compromise could be reached soon.
"As the president warned yesterday, we are one step away from civil war," protest organizers said in a statement Wednesday. "The one stirring up passions is Benjamin Netanyahu -- he is responsible."
Hundreds of thousands of protesters have swarmed the country all week as debate on Netanyahu's proposal continues in the national assembly.
The latest protests began before sunrise Thursday as demonstrators in Jerusalem painted a bright red line on the road leading to the Supreme Court -- which was intended to symbolize the people's solidarity with the nation's court system.
About 150 large demonstrations were expected to take place in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, and at Ben-Gurion International Airport. Protesters have also announced plans to rally outside the homes of lawmakers, including Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana.
Nearly a dozen people have been arrested on vandalism and disorderly conduct charges as protests raged across Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, with massive crowds blocking the Ayalon highway.
David Enoch, a prominent law professor at Tel Aviv University, was reportedly among those taken into custody while Israeli police used tear gas to fend off protesters outside the British Embassy.
March 16 (UPI) -- Thousands of demonstrators blocked streets and major highways throughout Israel Thursday during a third day of nationwide protests over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to overhaul the country's judicial system.
Despite the widespread unrest, the conservative administration appeared determined to move forward with legislation that would upend Israel's legal system by handing Netanyahu's government full control over the country's judiciary, with the sovereignty of the Supreme Court also at stake.
The proposal has touched off deep political discord in Israel in recent weeks, with public turmoil reaching a fever pitch one day after Netanyahu and members of his right-wing coalition snubbed a proposal by President Isaac Herzog that was widely supported as a viable alternative to the controversial shakeup.
Herzog and protest leaders have continued to warn that political chaos gripping the nation had potential to ignite a civil war unless a compromise could be reached soon.
"As the president warned yesterday, we are one step away from civil war," protest organizers said in a statement Wednesday. "The one stirring up passions is Benjamin Netanyahu -- he is responsible."
Hundreds of thousands of protesters have swarmed the country all week as debate on Netanyahu's proposal continues in the national assembly.
The latest protests began before sunrise Thursday as demonstrators in Jerusalem painted a bright red line on the road leading to the Supreme Court -- which was intended to symbolize the people's solidarity with the nation's court system.
About 150 large demonstrations were expected to take place in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, and at Ben-Gurion International Airport. Protesters have also announced plans to rally outside the homes of lawmakers, including Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana.
Nearly a dozen people have been arrested on vandalism and disorderly conduct charges as protests raged across Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, with massive crowds blocking the Ayalon highway.
David Enoch, a prominent law professor at Tel Aviv University, was reportedly among those taken into custody while Israeli police used tear gas to fend off protesters outside the British Embassy.
RELATED Israeli protesters block roads in 'day of resistance' against judicial reforms
Throngs of Israeli reserve soldiers and navy veterans shut down the port in Haifa and choked off the city's main thoroughfare.
01:10
Demonstrators march with Israeli flags in a rally against the government's controversial judicial overhaul bill in Tel Aviv on March 16, 2023. © Jack Guez, AFP
Text by: NEWS WIRES
16/03/2023 -
Israeli protesters pressed ahead on Thursday with demonstrations against a contentious government plan to overhaul the judiciary, pushing back against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after he rejected a compromise proposal that was meant to defuse the crisis.
Despite the effort by the country's figurehead president, Isaac Herzog, to seek a way out of the stalemate, the sides appeared to be further digging in. Netanyahu and his allies were set to barrel forward with their original plan despite weeks of mass protests and widespread opposition from across Israeli society and beyond as well as warnings by Herzog that Israel was headed toward an “abyss.”
Protesters were kicking off a third day of disruption since the crisis began, with roads set to close to make way for demonstrators. Protesters in Jerusalem drew a red streak on the streets leading to the country's Supreme Court and a small flotilla of boats was blocking the shipping lane off the coast of the northern city of Haifa.
Last week, Netanyahu had to be airlifted to the country's main international airport for an overseas state visit after protesters blocked the road leading there, holding signs that read “don't come back!” Tens of thousands have been attending weekly protests across the country each Saturday night.
The overhaul, advanced by a prime minister who is on trial for corruption and Israel's most right-wing government ever, has plunged Israel into one of its worst domestic crises. It has sparked an uproar from top legal officials, business leaders who warn against the economic effects of the plan, and from within the country's military, its most trusted institution, where reservists have pledged not to serve under what they see as impending regime change.
The government says the plan will correct an imbalance between the judicial and executive branches that they say has given the courts too much sway in how Israel is governed. Critics say the overhaul upends the country's system of checks and balances and gives the prime minister and the government too much power and strips it of judicial oversight. They also say Netanyahu, who is on trial for charges of fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes, could find an escape route from his legal woes through the overhaul.
Herzog had been meeting for weeks with actors on both sides of the divide to try to reach an acceptable middle ground and his proposal appeared to offer incentives to both sides.
But Netanyahu swiftly rejected the plan as he boarded a plane to Germany, saying it didn't rectify the issue of balance between the branches. Protests were also expected in Berlin during Netanyahu's official visit there.
The embattled Netanyahu, once a stalwart supporter of the independence of the courts, returned to power late last year after more than a year as opposition leader, amid a political crisis over his fitness to rule while on trial that sent Israelis to the polls five times in less than four years.
He cobbled together a coalition with ultranationalist and ultra-Orthodox allies who have long sought to curb the powers of the judiciary. Parties who support West Bank settlements see the court as an obstacle to their expansionist ambitions, while religious factions are driven to limit the court's ability to rule on matters they fear could disrupt their way of life.
But critics say there are also personal grievances involved in the effort. Beyond Netanyahu's charges, which he says are unrelated to the overhaul, a key Netanyahu ally was disqualified by the Supreme Court from serving as a Cabinet minister because of past convictions over tax violations. Under the overhaul, they each have laws that could protect their positions from any intervention from the courts.
(AP)
Israelis step up protests after Netanyahu rejects compromise
By TIA GOLDENBERG
A demonstrator waves the Israeli flag seated flanked by paramilitary border police during a protest against plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to overhaul the judicial system, in Tel Aviv, Israel, March 9, 2023. Israeli protesters are pressing on with demonstrations against a contentious government plan to overhaul the judiciary. The fresh demonstrations Thursday, March 16 come after Netanyahu rejected a compromise proposal that was meant to defuse the crisis.
Last week, Netanyahu had to be airlifted to the country’s main international airport for an overseas state visit after protesters blocked the road leading there, holding signs that read “don’t come back!” Tens of thousands have been attending weekly protests across the country each Saturday night.
The overhaul, advanced by a prime minister who is on trial for corruption and Israel’s most right-wing government ever, has plunged Israel into one of its worst domestic crises. It has sparked an uproar from top legal officials, business leaders who warn against the economic effects of the plan, and from within the country’s military, it’s most trusted institution, where reservists have pledged not to serve under what they see as impending regime change.
The government says the plan will correct an imbalance between the judicial and executive branches that they say has given the courts too much sway in how Israel is governed. Critics say the overhaul upends the country’s system of checks and balances and gives the prime minister and the government too much power and strips it of judicial oversight. They also say Netanyahu, who is on trial for charges of fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes, could find an escape route from his legal woes through the overhaul.
Herzog had been meeting for weeks with actors on both sides of the divide to try to reach an acceptable middle ground and his proposal appeared to offer incentives to both sides.
But Netanyahu swiftly rejected the plan as he boarded a plane to Germany, saying it didn’t rectify the issue of balance between the branches. Protests were also expected in Berlin during Netanyahu’s official visit there.
Herzog said Thursday that his proposal was meant to be a basis for further talks. “It’s not the end of the discussion but the beginning of it,” he said.
But it was not clear how much the coalition would be able to bend away from its original plan, parts of which it has pledged to pass before the parliament goes on recess for the Passover holiday early next month.
Yohanan Plesner, head of the Israel Democracy Institute, a think tank that consulted with the president on his plan, said the coalition was beginning to understand the toll its plan was taking on Israeli cohesion, on the country’s economy and on its own popularity. Still, he said the coalition hadn’t yet reached the point where it would back down.
“Perhaps we will have to pay a greater public price and reach a lower point until this would become the baseline for achieving a compromise,” he said of the president’s plan.
The embattled Netanyahu, once a stalwart supporter of the independence of the courts, returned to power late last year after more than a year as opposition leader, amid a political crisis over his fitness to rule while on trial that sent Israelis to the polls five times in less than four years.
He cobbled together a coalition with ultranationalist and ultra-Orthodox allies who have long sought to curb the powers of the judiciary. Parties who support West Bank settlements see the court as an obstacle to their expansionist ambitions, while religious factions are driven to limit the court’s ability to rule on matters they fear could disrupt their way of life.
But critics say there are also personal grievances involved in the effort. Beyond Netanyahu’s charges, which he says are unrelated to the overhaul, a key Netanyahu ally was disqualified by the Supreme Court from serving as a Cabinet minister because of past convictions over tax violations. Under the overhaul, they each have laws that could protect their positions from any intervention from the courts.
___
Associated Press reporter Ami Bentov contributed reporting from Tel Aviv, Israel.
By TIA GOLDENBERG
A demonstrator waves the Israeli flag seated flanked by paramilitary border police during a protest against plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to overhaul the judicial system, in Tel Aviv, Israel, March 9, 2023. Israeli protesters are pressing on with demonstrations against a contentious government plan to overhaul the judiciary. The fresh demonstrations Thursday, March 16 come after Netanyahu rejected a compromise proposal that was meant to defuse the crisis.
(AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, file)
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli protesters pressed ahead on Thursday with demonstrations against a contentious government plan to overhaul the judiciary, pushing back against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after he rejected a compromise proposal that was meant to defuse the crisis.
Despite the effort by the country’s figurehead president, Isaac Herzog, to seek a way out of the stalemate, the sides appeared to be further digging in. Netanyahu and his allies were set to barrel forward with their original plan despite weeks of mass protests and widespread opposition from across Israeli society and beyond as well as warnings by Herzog that Israel was headed toward an “abyss.”
Protesters were kicking off a third day of disruption since the crisis began, with roads set to close to make way for demonstrators. Protesters in Jerusalem drew a large red and pink streak throughout the city on streets leading to the country’s Supreme Court and a small flotilla of boats was blocking the shipping lane off the coast of the northern city of Haifa.
“The elected government is doing a legislative blitz that aims to give absolute power to the executive. And absolute power to the executive with no checks and balances is simply a dictatorship. And this is what we’re fighting against,” said Shlomit Tassa, a protester in Tel Aviv, waving an Israeli flag.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli protesters pressed ahead on Thursday with demonstrations against a contentious government plan to overhaul the judiciary, pushing back against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after he rejected a compromise proposal that was meant to defuse the crisis.
Despite the effort by the country’s figurehead president, Isaac Herzog, to seek a way out of the stalemate, the sides appeared to be further digging in. Netanyahu and his allies were set to barrel forward with their original plan despite weeks of mass protests and widespread opposition from across Israeli society and beyond as well as warnings by Herzog that Israel was headed toward an “abyss.”
Protesters were kicking off a third day of disruption since the crisis began, with roads set to close to make way for demonstrators. Protesters in Jerusalem drew a large red and pink streak throughout the city on streets leading to the country’s Supreme Court and a small flotilla of boats was blocking the shipping lane off the coast of the northern city of Haifa.
“The elected government is doing a legislative blitz that aims to give absolute power to the executive. And absolute power to the executive with no checks and balances is simply a dictatorship. And this is what we’re fighting against,” said Shlomit Tassa, a protester in Tel Aviv, waving an Israeli flag.
Last week, Netanyahu had to be airlifted to the country’s main international airport for an overseas state visit after protesters blocked the road leading there, holding signs that read “don’t come back!” Tens of thousands have been attending weekly protests across the country each Saturday night.
The overhaul, advanced by a prime minister who is on trial for corruption and Israel’s most right-wing government ever, has plunged Israel into one of its worst domestic crises. It has sparked an uproar from top legal officials, business leaders who warn against the economic effects of the plan, and from within the country’s military, it’s most trusted institution, where reservists have pledged not to serve under what they see as impending regime change.
The government says the plan will correct an imbalance between the judicial and executive branches that they say has given the courts too much sway in how Israel is governed. Critics say the overhaul upends the country’s system of checks and balances and gives the prime minister and the government too much power and strips it of judicial oversight. They also say Netanyahu, who is on trial for charges of fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes, could find an escape route from his legal woes through the overhaul.
Herzog had been meeting for weeks with actors on both sides of the divide to try to reach an acceptable middle ground and his proposal appeared to offer incentives to both sides.
But Netanyahu swiftly rejected the plan as he boarded a plane to Germany, saying it didn’t rectify the issue of balance between the branches. Protests were also expected in Berlin during Netanyahu’s official visit there.
Herzog said Thursday that his proposal was meant to be a basis for further talks. “It’s not the end of the discussion but the beginning of it,” he said.
But it was not clear how much the coalition would be able to bend away from its original plan, parts of which it has pledged to pass before the parliament goes on recess for the Passover holiday early next month.
Yohanan Plesner, head of the Israel Democracy Institute, a think tank that consulted with the president on his plan, said the coalition was beginning to understand the toll its plan was taking on Israeli cohesion, on the country’s economy and on its own popularity. Still, he said the coalition hadn’t yet reached the point where it would back down.
“Perhaps we will have to pay a greater public price and reach a lower point until this would become the baseline for achieving a compromise,” he said of the president’s plan.
The embattled Netanyahu, once a stalwart supporter of the independence of the courts, returned to power late last year after more than a year as opposition leader, amid a political crisis over his fitness to rule while on trial that sent Israelis to the polls five times in less than four years.
He cobbled together a coalition with ultranationalist and ultra-Orthodox allies who have long sought to curb the powers of the judiciary. Parties who support West Bank settlements see the court as an obstacle to their expansionist ambitions, while religious factions are driven to limit the court’s ability to rule on matters they fear could disrupt their way of life.
But critics say there are also personal grievances involved in the effort. Beyond Netanyahu’s charges, which he says are unrelated to the overhaul, a key Netanyahu ally was disqualified by the Supreme Court from serving as a Cabinet minister because of past convictions over tax violations. Under the overhaul, they each have laws that could protect their positions from any intervention from the courts.
___
Associated Press reporter Ami Bentov contributed reporting from Tel Aviv, Israel.
PRICE GOUGING
Sanofi to cut price of its most-prescribed insulin by 78% in US
March 16, 2023 —
Written by Patrick Wingrove and Pratik Jain for Reuters ->
March 16 (Reuters) - Sanofi SA SASY.PA said on Thursday it will cut U.S. list prices for its most-prescribed insulin product, Lantus, starting next year after a similar move by rivals Novo Nordisk NOVOb.CO and Eli Lilly and Co LLY.N.
The French drugmaker will also set a $35 cap on out-of-pocket costs for Lantus for all patients with commercial insurance.
The move comes as U.S. President Joe Biden has pushed to extend to most Americans the $35 cap on out-of-pocket insulin costs made available to Medicare recipients by the Inflation Reduction Act.
Sanofi will also cut the list price for a type of fast-acting insulin, Apidra, by 70%, that helps to lower blood sugar levels in patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly bowed to political pressure earlier this month to make these life-sustaining diabetes treatments more affordable.
(Reporting by Patrick Wingrove in New York and Pratik Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and Shounak Dasgupta)
Novo Nordisk hit with two-year suspension from UK pharma group after online marketing breaches
Late last year, Novo was indicted on 11 violations of ABPI code. Aside from potentially bringing “discredit” upon the industry, the majority of Novo’s breaches related to the company’s failure to adequately outline its involvement in the aforementioned obesity webinar.
RELATED
Ozempic takes center stage at the Oscars, but perhaps not in the way Novo Nordisk might have wanted
While Novo appears to be at the center of the ABPI scrutiny, it’s far from the only company to enter PMPCA and ABPI’s crosshairs in recent months. Back in December, PMCPA also chastised AstraZeneca, Biogen, Daiichi Sankyo, Lundbeck and UCB for marketing breaches.
As of yet, those other companies don't appear to be experiencing the same level of sanctioning from the national pharma group.
Mar 16, 2023
Before Novo’s membership can be reinstated, the company is on the hook to show it’s charting a “rapid return to industry compliance standards,” ABPI said. (Novo Nordisk)
Last month, Novo Nordisk’s general manager in the U.K. stepped down as president of a national pharma group as the company weathered fallout from an ill-fated LinkedIn campaign. Now, the other shoe has dropped.
Novo has been suspended from the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) for two years thanks to “serious breaches” of the organization’s code of practice, ABPI said in a press release Thursday. This marks the eighth time in 40 years ABPI has issued “such a significant sanction,” the group pointed out, specifically chastising Novo for behaviors “likely to bring discredit on, or reduce confidence in, the pharmaceutical industry.’”
Novo’s infractions revolve around a LinkedIn post about an obesity webinar. While the training was sponsored by Novo, the involvement of the company—which sells weight loss drug Saxenda in the U.K.—wasn’t immediately clear. The original complaint leveled against Novo suggested that the LinkedIn post did not say whether the webinar was promotional or non-promotional.
Back in December, the U.K.'s drug marketing regulator, The Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority (PMCPA), reprimanded Novo and several other pharma companies for various code breaches.
PMCPA and its appeal board were so concerned about Novo’s behavior that it reported the company to ABPI for an audit, ultimately prompting Novo's U.K. general manager Pinder Sahota to resign as ABPI president in February.
Novo Nordisk did not immediately respond to Fierce Pharma’s request for comment on the situation.
“The Board expressed significant concern about Novo Nordisk’s compliance activities and the very serious issues identified,” Susan Rienow, ABPI’s president-elect, said in a Thursday statement. Regarding the suspension, she noted “[s]uch measures are never taken lightly, but will ensure a rapid return to industry compliance standards as set out in the ABPI Code of Practice.”
RELATED
Novo Nordisk follows Eli Lilly's lead, slashing insulin prices in the US
Before Novo’s membership can be reinstated, the company is on the hook to show it’s charting a “rapid return to industry compliance standards,” ABPI added.
For the time being, Novo will remain beholden to ABPI code and the PMCPA’s jurisdiction, though it won’t be able to access the “wider benefits” of ABPI membership. The Danish drugmaker is temporarily exiled from all ABPI groups, including the organization’s board, and it loses access to “any ABPI information and briefing.”
Last month, Novo Nordisk’s general manager in the U.K. stepped down as president of a national pharma group as the company weathered fallout from an ill-fated LinkedIn campaign. Now, the other shoe has dropped.
Novo has been suspended from the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) for two years thanks to “serious breaches” of the organization’s code of practice, ABPI said in a press release Thursday. This marks the eighth time in 40 years ABPI has issued “such a significant sanction,” the group pointed out, specifically chastising Novo for behaviors “likely to bring discredit on, or reduce confidence in, the pharmaceutical industry.’”
Novo’s infractions revolve around a LinkedIn post about an obesity webinar. While the training was sponsored by Novo, the involvement of the company—which sells weight loss drug Saxenda in the U.K.—wasn’t immediately clear. The original complaint leveled against Novo suggested that the LinkedIn post did not say whether the webinar was promotional or non-promotional.
Back in December, the U.K.'s drug marketing regulator, The Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority (PMCPA), reprimanded Novo and several other pharma companies for various code breaches.
PMCPA and its appeal board were so concerned about Novo’s behavior that it reported the company to ABPI for an audit, ultimately prompting Novo's U.K. general manager Pinder Sahota to resign as ABPI president in February.
Novo Nordisk did not immediately respond to Fierce Pharma’s request for comment on the situation.
“The Board expressed significant concern about Novo Nordisk’s compliance activities and the very serious issues identified,” Susan Rienow, ABPI’s president-elect, said in a Thursday statement. Regarding the suspension, she noted “[s]uch measures are never taken lightly, but will ensure a rapid return to industry compliance standards as set out in the ABPI Code of Practice.”
RELATED
Novo Nordisk follows Eli Lilly's lead, slashing insulin prices in the US
Before Novo’s membership can be reinstated, the company is on the hook to show it’s charting a “rapid return to industry compliance standards,” ABPI added.
For the time being, Novo will remain beholden to ABPI code and the PMCPA’s jurisdiction, though it won’t be able to access the “wider benefits” of ABPI membership. The Danish drugmaker is temporarily exiled from all ABPI groups, including the organization’s board, and it loses access to “any ABPI information and briefing.”
Late last year, Novo was indicted on 11 violations of ABPI code. Aside from potentially bringing “discredit” upon the industry, the majority of Novo’s breaches related to the company’s failure to adequately outline its involvement in the aforementioned obesity webinar.
RELATED
Ozempic takes center stage at the Oscars, but perhaps not in the way Novo Nordisk might have wanted
While Novo appears to be at the center of the ABPI scrutiny, it’s far from the only company to enter PMPCA and ABPI’s crosshairs in recent months. Back in December, PMCPA also chastised AstraZeneca, Biogen, Daiichi Sankyo, Lundbeck and UCB for marketing breaches.
As of yet, those other companies don't appear to be experiencing the same level of sanctioning from the national pharma group.
Pfizer the biggest TV drug ad spender at the Oscars, as HHS also spends big on COVID messaging
By Ben AdamsMar 16, 2023
This is a reference to its frequent, off-label use as a weight-loss drug for celebrities. The drug is actually only licensed for diabetes; Novo’s actual weight-loss drug is Wegovy, so the pharma was likely not laughing along.
By Ben AdamsMar 16, 2023
While pharma and the government spent millions on ads Jimmy Kimmel gave Novo Nordisk's Ozempic some major free publicity. (Disney - ABC Television Group / CC BY-ND 2.0)
While Novo Nordisk’s diabetes drug Ozempic was the talk of the town, it was Pfizer that spent the most on TV drug ads at this year’s Oscars.
That’s according to new data out from real-time trackers at iSpot.TV, which estimates that the Big Pharma spent $5.7 million on its new COVID-19 drug ad: “If it’s COVID, it’s Paxlovid” during a single Oscars airing on Sunday, March 12.
This put Pfizer, which was also a sponsor of the event, at the top of list of five major companies and one government agency that spent big on TV ads during the biggest event in Hollywood.
Pfizer was also joint second with its second COVID ad of the night: “A Whole Different Ball Game,” featuring, fittingly, a load of celebrities, including P!nk, Questlove, Michael Phelps and Jean Smart.
Pfizer spent $3.8 million on that spot, the exact same figure ViiV Healthcare spent on its HIV PreP drug Apretude’s TV Spot, “Prep Without Pills."
In fourth was an unusual entrant: Not a pharma company, but the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and its TV Spot, “Updated COVID Protection.”
The agency spent $1.9 million on the 30-second COVID awareness ad that aims, with no pharma branding, to get people to think about signing up for the latest COVID boosters amid “fading protection”.
Last but not least is Novartis and its commercial for breast cancer drug Kisqali “Long Live”. The Big Pharma spent just shy of $1 million on the single spot.
In all we saw $14.2 million spent on these ads for the Oscars but it was, strangely enough, Novo’s Ozempic that took center stage when host and comedian Jimmy Kimmel singled out for one of his jokes, quipping: “When I look around this room, I can’t help but wonder, ‘Is Ozempic right for me?’”
While Novo Nordisk’s diabetes drug Ozempic was the talk of the town, it was Pfizer that spent the most on TV drug ads at this year’s Oscars.
That’s according to new data out from real-time trackers at iSpot.TV, which estimates that the Big Pharma spent $5.7 million on its new COVID-19 drug ad: “If it’s COVID, it’s Paxlovid” during a single Oscars airing on Sunday, March 12.
This put Pfizer, which was also a sponsor of the event, at the top of list of five major companies and one government agency that spent big on TV ads during the biggest event in Hollywood.
Pfizer was also joint second with its second COVID ad of the night: “A Whole Different Ball Game,” featuring, fittingly, a load of celebrities, including P!nk, Questlove, Michael Phelps and Jean Smart.
Pfizer spent $3.8 million on that spot, the exact same figure ViiV Healthcare spent on its HIV PreP drug Apretude’s TV Spot, “Prep Without Pills."
In fourth was an unusual entrant: Not a pharma company, but the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and its TV Spot, “Updated COVID Protection.”
The agency spent $1.9 million on the 30-second COVID awareness ad that aims, with no pharma branding, to get people to think about signing up for the latest COVID boosters amid “fading protection”.
Last but not least is Novartis and its commercial for breast cancer drug Kisqali “Long Live”. The Big Pharma spent just shy of $1 million on the single spot.
In all we saw $14.2 million spent on these ads for the Oscars but it was, strangely enough, Novo’s Ozempic that took center stage when host and comedian Jimmy Kimmel singled out for one of his jokes, quipping: “When I look around this room, I can’t help but wonder, ‘Is Ozempic right for me?’”
This is a reference to its frequent, off-label use as a weight-loss drug for celebrities. The drug is actually only licensed for diabetes; Novo’s actual weight-loss drug is Wegovy, so the pharma was likely not laughing along.
CATASTROPHE COLOMBIA
Colombia: Coal mine explosion death toll rises to 21
Colombian President Gustavo Petro said the gas build-up that caused the explosion at a coal mine in central Colombia had killed 21 people. Search and resuce efforts were called off as 10 missing miners were found dead.
The death toll from an explosion at a coal mine in central Colombia rose to 21 on Thursday, as authorities announced the end of search and rescue operations.
When news of the explosion was first announced on Wedensday, 11 miners were known to have died and a further 10 were still missing.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on Twitter that each fatality "is not only a business failure, but also a societal and governmental one."
The mine collapsed after a build-up of gas caused an explosion deep in the mine on Tuesday night.
All workers now accounted for, say officials
Officials said on Thursday that all workers at the mine at the time of the accident had been accounted for, after rescue teams worked nonstop for 30 hours.
The mining disaster, which blocked several entrances to the mine, happened in Sutatausa, a municipality in Cundinamarca department, about 45 miles or 75 kilometers from the capital city Bogota.
Coal from Colombia an alternative?
02:59
Nicolas Garcia, the governor of Cundinamarca province, said nine workers who were taken to hospital for treatment after the accident were released Thursday. Garcia said family members of victims were receiving psychological support.
Alvaro Farfan, captain of the Cundinamarca fire department, on Wednesday said that the explosion had a "wide" impact because it affected five mines that were interconnected by tunnels.
Mining accidents frequent in Colombia
Colombia exports a large amount of fossil fuels like oil and coal.
Mining disasters are common in the resource-rich country, especially in regions with illegal operations in the country's center and northeast.
This explosion took place at a legal, registered mining facility.
The National Mining Agency shows that 146 workers were killed in 117 accidents registered at mines last year alone.
rm/msh (AP, AFP)
Colombia: Coal mine explosion death toll rises to 21
Colombian President Gustavo Petro said the gas build-up that caused the explosion at a coal mine in central Colombia had killed 21 people. Search and resuce efforts were called off as 10 missing miners were found dead.
The death toll from an explosion at a coal mine in central Colombia rose to 21 on Thursday, as authorities announced the end of search and rescue operations.
When news of the explosion was first announced on Wedensday, 11 miners were known to have died and a further 10 were still missing.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on Twitter that each fatality "is not only a business failure, but also a societal and governmental one."
The mine collapsed after a build-up of gas caused an explosion deep in the mine on Tuesday night.
All workers now accounted for, say officials
Officials said on Thursday that all workers at the mine at the time of the accident had been accounted for, after rescue teams worked nonstop for 30 hours.
The mining disaster, which blocked several entrances to the mine, happened in Sutatausa, a municipality in Cundinamarca department, about 45 miles or 75 kilometers from the capital city Bogota.
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Nicolas Garcia, the governor of Cundinamarca province, said nine workers who were taken to hospital for treatment after the accident were released Thursday. Garcia said family members of victims were receiving psychological support.
Alvaro Farfan, captain of the Cundinamarca fire department, on Wednesday said that the explosion had a "wide" impact because it affected five mines that were interconnected by tunnels.
Mining accidents frequent in Colombia
Colombia exports a large amount of fossil fuels like oil and coal.
Mining disasters are common in the resource-rich country, especially in regions with illegal operations in the country's center and northeast.
This explosion took place at a legal, registered mining facility.
The National Mining Agency shows that 146 workers were killed in 117 accidents registered at mines last year alone.
rm/msh (AP, AFP)
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