CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
Malaysia PM says Goldman Sachs must renegotiate 1MDB settlement


By AFP
September 13, 2023

Malaysia's prime minister vowed to chase a new settlement from Goldman Sachs for its role in the 1MDB scandal - Copyright AFP Adem ALTAN

Malaysia’s prime minister vowed Wednesday to chase a new settlement from US investment bank Goldman Sachs for its role in the billion-dollar corruption scandal at the 1MDB state fund.

Anwar Ibrahim said he would push to renegotiate a deal his predecessor agreed with the bank three years ago, warning it not to take advantage of the Southeast Asian nation.

Under that 2020 settlement, Goldman Sachs paid Malaysia $2.5 billion for its role in the financial scandal, while Kuala Lumpur agreed to end all criminal proceedings against the bank.

“I would convey clearly to Goldman Sachs that we have to put an end to this,” Anwar told a business conference in Singapore.

“We are a small nation, but you can’t take us for a ride.”

Anwar called the settlement unfair and vowed to “take a tougher line”, but stopped short of saying his government would file a lawsuit against the bank.

Last month, Anwar told CNBC in an interview that he was not discounting the possibility of filing lawsuits against the bank.

Goldman has always denied any wrongdoing in the case.

The 1MDB scandal led to investigations around the world, including in the United States, Switzerland and Singapore, into the use of their financial systems to launder money.

Cash plundered from state coffers bankrolled a global spending spree, and was used to buy everything from artwork, to real estate and a superyacht.

Goldman’s role came under scrutiny over bond issues totalling $6.5 billion it helped arrange for 1MDB, with Malaysia claiming large amounts were misappropriated.

“You can’t consider us as some banana republic that you can squander and then leave us alone,” Anwar said.

“I will not stop because it’s not my money. I owe it to my people.”

Anwar said he will be in New York for the United Nations General Assembly next week but would not be meeting bank representatives.

In March, a US judge sentenced former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng to 10 years in prison following his conviction in the scandal.

Another former Goldman banker Tim Leissner pleaded guilty in 2018 to violating US anti-bribery and money laundering laws, agreeing to pay $43.7 million in restitution.

Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak was ousted in 2018 and jailed for 12 years on corruption charges linked to the case.

Gabon’s squandered oil wealth under 55 years of Bongo rule

By AFP
September 13, 2023

A third of the population of oil-rich Gabon lives below the poverty line, says the World Bank 

- Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File MARIO TAMA

The toppling of Ali Bongo Ondimba brought the curtain down on 55 years of rule by a family accused of extracting fabulous wealth from Gabon’s major oil reserves.

Moments after being declared the winner in disputed elections, Bongo was abruptly ousted on August 30.

Many saw it as an act of liberation rather than a military coup.

Gabon, one of Africa’s richest countries in terms of per-capita GDP, boasts abundant oil and other natural resources.

A small fraction of the 2.3 million population live opulently while a third survives below the poverty line, according to the World Bank.

Once known as “central Africa’s little emirate”, experts, military leaders, the former opposition and even some within the ex-ruling party agree that more than half a century of Bongo rule marked a huge loss for Gabon.

– Run like ‘a private property’ –

In the affluent Libreville neighbourhood of Sabliere, many of the luxury villas belong to the extensive Bongo clan.

The distant suburbs, however, have no running water, little electricity and insanitary open sewers.

Ali Bongo, 64, who was seeking a third term in the election, took over when his father Omar died in 2009 after nearly 42 years in power.

“The big weakness of this regime was its bad distribution of wealth,” Axel Auge, a sociologist specialising in central Africa, said.

Wealth was in the hands of just one fifth of the population — the ruling elite, he said, adding there had been vast “mismanagement”.

“Ali Bongo’s mistake was to play down the economic and social frustrations of the population.”

Thierry Vircoulon, from the French Institute of International Relations, described a kind of “family autocracy” with Gabon “managed like the private property of a family”.


– Defunct schools, hospitals –


Travel from one town to another is virtually impossible due to the poor state of the roads.

There is only one private airline which operates several flights at prohibitive prices.

The sole train line is often out of bounds for passengers, monopolised and regularly damaged by constant heavily loaded trains carrying manganese.

Gabon is either the second or third biggest manganese producer depending on the mineral’s concentration.

Used in steelmaking and batteries, the manganese is mined almost exclusively by a local subsidiary of France’s Eramet group.

Public hospitals lack equipment and medicine and the school system is in ruins — the new military rulers say the two issues are among their priorities.

Gabon has failed to develop a real production or manufacturing sector.

It lives off imports, including fruit and vegetables, despite plentiful rainfall and fertile land.

Independence from France in 1960 was followed by an oil boom but today, “the country is struggling to translate large natural wealth into sustainable and inclusive growth”, the World Bank says.

Gabon has one of Africa’s highest unemployment rates, with one fifth of the active population out of work, rising to a third for under-25s, the United Nations said in 2020.

Under Omar Bongo, a close ally of France, Gabon was a pillar of “Francafrique” — a policy whereby Paris furthered its interests through cronyism.

– ‘Ivory tower’ –

French investigators in 2016 zeroed in on properties owned by Omar Bongo’s family in France.

They suspected several of his relatives knowingly benefitted from a fraudulently acquired real-estate empire worth at least 85 million euros ($87 million).

Ten of Omar Bongo’s 54 children have been charged with allegedly concealing the misappropriation of public funds, a Paris-based legal source told AFP.

As a sitting head of state, Ali Bongo had immunity.

The empire includes property in Paris and the Mediterranean resort of Nice, alongside a fleet of luxury cars.

An investigating judge last year determined that much of the money came from “undue commissions” paid by French energy giant Elf, now a part of TotalEnergies.

Omar Bongo’s children also have properties in Britain and the United States, bequeathed or acquired after his death.

Nostalgia for life under the elder Bongo remains strong among a small number of Gabonese who hark back to when at least some oil revenues trickled down.

But that has since dried up.

His son enjoyed no such boon as oil revenue fell from 2014, experts and coup leaders say, noting Bongo was surrounded by “traitors” and “profiteers” while locked in an “ivory tower”.

burs/emd/kjm/bp

South African township resists police over illegal power cables


By AFP
September 13, 2023

Cape Town police try to prise an illegally connected electricity cable from residents of an informal settlement 

- Copyright AFP Ivan PISARENKO

Julie BOURDIN

A woman in a black and white dress struggled, pulling fiercely on a long electrical cable as she tried to stop the police in anti-riot gear from carrying it away.

Used to illegally connect homes in a poor informal settlement south of Cape Town, it was one of many cables seized by South African police during a raid on Wednesday.

To the woman and other locals unable to pay utility bills it represented a lifeline.

But authorities in a country facing a severe energy emergency regarded it as a burden on public coffers and the overstretched energy grid.

“At the end of the day, what to do? Do you just lay up and die or you try like any human being, animal, to fight for survival?” said Fernando Williams, 58, who lives at Oasis Farm, the informal settlement.

“This time survival is connecting to the grid unlawfully.”

– Battered by blackouts –

South Africa has been battered by record blackouts that have hampered economic activity and angered the population, as problems at beleaguered power utility Eskom have mounted.

Operations to cut off illegal connections, which authorities blame for worsening the problem, are fairly common in the country.

“We cannot tolerate it because it’s illegal, it’s literally stealing from government, it’s stealing from our paying, law-abiding customers,” said Beverley Van Reenen, member of the municipal energy committee, who was at the scene.

The practice cost the city more than four million rand ($210,000) in the last financial quarter, she said, adding it was also dangerous.

“When it rains you can see the smoke coming from the ground,” said a resident, who preferred to remain anonymous, as officers unearthed kilometres of multicoloured cables hidden underground and zigzagging through fields, bushes and shrubs.

– Power for oxygen –

But Marina, a local woman who gave only her first name, said some elderly people needed the electricity to power oxygen tanks. “Do you think it’s fair as human beings to be treated like that?”

The raid came as blackouts intensified nationwide in recent days after a winter lull.

Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa on Sunday blamed the coincidence of planned power plant repairs with unplanned breakdowns.

But outages are expected to ease significantly in the coming months, as works to bring a giant coal power station back online continue, he told a press conference.

Four of six units at the Kusile plant are to become operational between October and the end of the year, Ramokgopa said, adding this would provide South Africa with a “critical path” out of the crisis.

Solving the electricity crisis is a crucial issue ahead of general elections next year, when the ruling African National Congress, in power since the advent of democracy in 1994, risks seeing its vote drop below 50 percent for the first time.

Kusile, the world’s fourth largest coal-fired generator, has produced relatively little energy since it was commissioned in 2007, suffering from design and construction problems, breakdowns and allegations of graft.

Only last week police arrested nine people at the plant for theft and fraud over allegations they charged the station for coal that was never delivered.

Rice price spike offers preview of climate food disruption

By AFP
September 12, 2023

India accounts for 40 percent of global rice exports 

— © AFP/File Narinder NANU

Sara HUSSEIN

A 15-year high in rice prices, prompted by top exporter India’s restrictions on overseas sales, should be a wake-up call on how climate change can disrupt food supplies, experts say.

Rice prices jumped 9.8 percent in August, bucking decreases in other staples, the Food and Agriculture Organization said last week.

That followed the July decision by India, which accounts for 40 percent of global rice exports, to ban the overseas sale of non-basmati rice.

The government cited soaring domestic prices for the staple, caused by geopolitics, the El Nino weather pattern and “extreme climatic conditions.”

This year is expected to be the hottest in human history, and the impacts of the seasonal El Nino weather pattern could make conditions even harsher.

Despite severe flooding in parts of northern India, this August was the country’s hottest and driest on record.

Chart showing FAO rice price index to August 2023

The monsoon season that brings up to 80 percent of the country’s annual rain has been far below normal levels.

India’s July restrictions followed a decision last September to ban exports of another variety of rice that is a staple in parts of Africa.

Up to eight percent of global rice exports for 2023/24 could now be taken out of the market, according to analysis by BMI, Fitch Group’s research arm.

– Drought fears –

For now, the crisis offers an opportunity for India’s rivals, including number two and three exporters, Thailand and Vietnam.

Both have increased exports this year, with Nguyen Nhu Cuong, an official with Vietnam’s agriculture and rural development ministry, touting a “bumper crop” and plans to increase planting.

But the dry conditions that tend to accompany El Nino mean smooth sailing ahead is unlikely, warned Elyssa Kaur Ludher, from the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute’s Climate Change in Southeast Asia programme.

“My question is whether they can continue to do this once El Nino comes into force towards the end of this year, when water becomes more scarce,” she told AFP.

“I think the end of this year and especially the beginning of next year will be very, very tough,” she added.

A naturally occurring weather phenomenon, El Nino typically lasts nine to 12 months and is expected to strengthen late this year.

Even before India’s latest restrictions, its effects were boosting rice export prices, according to BMI.

And in Thailand, national rainfall levels are currently 18 percent lower than expected for the time of year, the Office of National Water Resources said this month.

Late rains could still make up the difference, but the agency said it is “concerned about a drought caused by El Nino.”

– ‘New normal’ –

The consequence is one of price rather than supply, said Charles Hart, agricultural commodities analyst at Fitch Solutions.

“This is not a running out of rice moment,” he stressed, noting India’s restrictions have not been followed by other exporters.

Instead, the situation is likely to force the drawdown of stocks rebuilt after pandemic-era depletions, and prompt importers to seek new deals and impose local limits.

For now, India’s restrictions are proving a boon for farmers in Thailand and Vietnam. 

— © AFP

Top importer the Philippines this month signed a deal with Vietnam to help stabilise supply, days after announcing a national price cap.

For some though, unaffordable prices amount to the same as a lack of supply: less food.

“It’s not just a food availability issue, but it’s also a social stability issue, it’s a political issue,” said Ludher.

The current disruptions should be a wake-up call for policy-makers, she added, with more attention needed to the plight of farmers across various sectors.

Climate change can affect productivity, with lower crop yields as temperatures rise, but also increases the likelihood of extreme events like the 2022 Pakistan floods.

“Global grain export markets are relatively concentrated, so that kind of extreme weather risk accumulates in a few markets,” Hart added.

In India, policymakers need to develop better early-warning systems and new planting patterns, said Avantika Goswami, a climate change researcher at the Centre for Science and Environment.

“Erratic weather patterns are the new normal,” she told AFP.

“Now, it’s a case of early adaptation. In the long-term, global emissions have to come down.”

burs-sah/ssy

THIRD WORLD U$A

US household incomes fall for third straight year: Census Bureau

By AFP
September 12, 2023

US real median incomes fell for the third year in a row last year 

- Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File SPENCER PLATT

US inflation-adjusted incomes fell for a third straight year in 2022, but overall income inequality decreased, according to new Census Bureau data.

In a positive development, the poverty rate for the Black population declined to 17.1 percent — its lowest level on record — although it remained the highest among the racial groups counted by the Census Bureau.

The data published Tuesday by the Census Bureau paints a mixed picture of the US economy, with the overall decline in incomes falling more sharply for some people than for others, due largely to the impact of inflation.

Real, or inflation-adjusted, median household incomes in the United States fell by 2.3 percent in 2022 from a year earlier, with nominal gains canceled out by record-high inflation.

It was the third straight year in which real median household incomes declined, underscoring the importance of tackling inflation.

In response to rising inflation, the US Federal Reserve embarked on an aggressive campaign of interest rate hikes last year, lifting its key lending rate up to its highest level for 22 years.

The Fed’s policy has brought inflation down sharply this year, although it remains above its long-term target of two percent.

– Child poverty rate doubles –

The Census Bureau found that income inequality fell by 1.2 percent between 2021 and 2022, driven by a fall in real income at the middle and top of the income distribution.

However, inequality actually rises sharply once taxes are factored into the figures.

“The steeper relative declines in post-tax income at the bottom and middle of the income distribution are attributable to the expiration of a number of tax policies,” Cencus Bureau official Liana Fox told reporters.

These tax policies included the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit, she said.

The distinction between pre- and post-tax incomes also had a marked impact on child poverty rates, which declined according to the official figure, but more-than-doubled once tax policies were taken into account.

“This change reflects the expiration of refundable tax credits and the pandemic-era stimulus benefits,” Fox said.

President Joe Biden released a statement blaming Republican lawmakers for refusing to extend the enhanced Child Tax Credit put in place during the pandemic.

“The rise reported today in child poverty is no accident—it is the result of a deliberate policy choice congressional Republicans made to block help for families with children while advancing massive tax cuts for the wealthiest and largest corporations,” he said.

“No child should grow up in poverty, and I will continue to fight to restore the expanded Child Tax Credit to give tens of millions of families the tax relief and breathing room they deserve,” he added.

Child poverty in the US jumped and income declined in 2022 as coronavirus pandemic benefits ended


Jaqueline Benitez, who depends on California’s SNAP benefits to help pay for food, shops for groceries at a supermarket in Bellflower, Calif., on Feb. 13, 2023.
(AP Photo/Allison Dinner, file)

BY MIKE SCHNEIDER
September 12, 2023

Child poverty in the United States more than doubled and median household income declined last year when coronavirus pandemic-era government benefits expired and inflation kept rising, according to figures released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

At the same time, the official poverty rate for Black Americans dropped to its lowest level on record, and income inequality declined for the first time since 2007, when looking at pre-tax income, due to income declines in the middle and top income brackets.

However, income inequality increased when using after-tax income, another result of the end of pandemic-era tax credits, according to Census Bureau reports on income, poverty and health insurance.

The reports reflected the sometimes-conflicting factors last year buffeting U.S. households. Workers faced a robust jobs market, with the number of full-time employees increasing year over year, the share of women working full time year-round reaching an all-time high and an increase in income for households run by someone with no high school diploma. But they also faced rising inflation and the end of pandemic-era stimulus benefits.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which started in 2020, the federal government expanded the child tax credit and sent payments to people who had suffered from the pandemic, lowering poverty measures in 2021. The expansion of the child tax credit expired at the end of 2021, and other pandemic-related benefits have expired within the past year.

As a result, the supplemental poverty measure rate for children jumped 7.2 percentage points to 12.4% in 2022, according to the Census Bureau.

“This represents a return to child poverty levels prior to the pandemic,” Liana Fox, an assistant division chief at the Census Bureau, said during a news conference. “We did see the child tax credit had a substantial decrease in child poverty.”

In a statement, President Joe Biden blamed congressional Republicans for failing to extend the enhanced child tax credit and vowed to restore it.

“The rise reported today in child poverty is no accident,” said Biden, a Democrat.

Opponents objected to extending the credit out of concern that the money would discourage people from working and that any additional federal spending would fuel inflation, which climbed to a 40-year high.

Before the pandemic, the Rev. Mary Downey would received from 400 to 600 calls a month from people seeking assistance from the center that she operates for homeless people and those living in poverty in Osceola County, Florida. She is now receiving 1,800 calls a month.

The expiration of the child tax credit expansion has been “devastating” to the people she serves in metro Orlando, and addressing poverty should be a bipartisan issue, she said.

“There is no surprise here. The bigger question is, ‘What we are going to do?’” said Downey, CEO of Hope Partnership. “Hungry babies deserve to be fed and have roofs over their heads.”

The median household income in 2022 was $74,580, a decline of 2.3% from 2021, and about 4.7% lower than in 2019 before the pandemic’s start. Asian Americans had the highest median household income, at almost $109,000, while Black Americans had the lowest, at about $53,000. Regionally, it was highest in the West, at almost $83,000, followed by the Northeast at more than $80,000, the Midwest at more than $73,000 and the South at more than $68,000.

The official poverty rate in 2022 was 11.5%, not statistically different from 2021, and for Black Americans it was 17.1%, the lowest on record. The supplemental poverty measure was 12.4%, an increase of 4.6 percentage points from 2021.

The U.S. Census Bureau releases two poverty measures. The official poverty measure is based on cash resources. The supplemental poverty measure includes both cash and noncash benefits and subtracts necessary expenses such as taxes and medical expenses.

The rate of people lacking health insurance dropped almost half a percentage point to 7.9%, driven by workers’ getting health insurance and growth in the rate of people receiving Medicare due to an increase in the number of people aged 65 or older in the U.S. It declined for people in all age groups except those who were age 18 or younger, though that gain for children wasn’t statistically significant, according to the Census Bureau.

The uninsured rate of children who were foreign born was more than 20%, and it was almost 25% for children who weren’t citizens.

Anti-poverty experts worry the poverty rate will only get worse without a long-term, systemic solution, as the pullback from the pandemic-era benefits has coincided with housing cost increases, jumps in homelessness and a rising cost of living.

“We know better, and we should do better. To see the increase in poverty, particularly for children, is very worrisome,” said Kim Janey, a former mayor of Boston who now heads an anti-poverty nonprofit. “If we want to be a country where the American dream is within reach, then we have to invest in our children and try to eradicate poverty in our nation.”
___

France orders Apple iPhone 12 sales halted over radiation


By AFP
September 12, 2023

The French agency that regulates radio frequencies said the iPhone 12 emits more electromagnetic waves than permitted -

 Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File SPENCER PLATT

French regulators on Tuesday ordered Apple to halt sales of the iPhone 12 for emitting too much electromagnetic radiation, and to fix existing handsets.

The French agency that regulates radio frequencies, the ANFR, said testing found that the model emits more electromagnetic waves susceptible to be absorbed by the body than permitted.

The ANFR said it “ordered Apple to remove the iPhone 12 from the French market from September 12 due to the model exceeding the limit” for electromagnetic absorption by the body.

It said accredited labs had found absorption of electromagnetic energy by the body at 5.74 watts per kilogram during tests simulating when the phone was being held in the hand or kept in a pocket.

The European standard is a specific absorption rate of 4.0 watts per kilogram in such tests.

“Concerning phones already sold, Apple must in the briefest of delays take corrective measures to bring the affected phones into compliance,” said the ANFR in a statement on its website.

“Otherwise, Apple will have to recall them.”

ANFR noted that tests that measure the electromagnetic radiation absorbed at a distance of five centimetres was in compliance with the limit of 2.0 watts per kilogram.

ANFR said its agents would verify beginning Wednesday that that iPhone 12 models were no longer being offered for sale in France.

When contacted by AFP Apple did not have an immediate comment.

Regulators in a number of countries have limits on the amount of electromagnetic radiation mobile phones may emit to prevent adverse health effects.

The World Health Organization states on its website that following a large number of studies that “no adverse health effects have been established as being caused by mobile phone use”.

UN rights chief slams Musk ‘trolling campaign’ against anti-defamation group


By AFP
September 13, 2023




Musk who bought Twitter last year and rebranded it as X, has come under fire for liking posts with the hashtag "BanTheADL" - 

The UN rights chief decried Wednesday an online “trolling campaign” against a leading anti-defamation group, urging online platforms like X, formerly Twitter, to do more to battle hate speech.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk demanded that social media platforms “do far more to stop the circulation of hate speech and disinformation”.

“Those that do not take action need to be held to account,” he said, insisting “there is no excuse for purveying the voice of hatred”.

Speaking at an event on anti-Semitism on the sidelines of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Turk deplored in particular “the current trolling campaign of one online platform against the anti-Defamation League, after it called for action to limit its volume of hate speech”.

Turk did not mention names, but appeared to be referring to a barrage of abuse recently launched by X owner Elon Musk’s against the US-based Jewish organisation.

Musk has accused the ADL of making unfounded accusations of anti-Semitism that have scared away advertisers and hurt his company’s revenue, and has threatened to sue for billions of dollars.

Musk, who bought Twitter last year and rebranded it as X, has come under fire for liking posts on the platform with the hashtag “BanTheADL”.

The hateful campaign started after the ADL participated in a civil rights march marking the 60th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech, according to the group.

The ADL has for years accused the social media site of amplifying anti-Semitic hate speech, and has charged that problematic and racist speech has risen sharply on X after Musk completed his $44 billion takeover in October.

The organisation recently met with X top executives to discuss the problem.

Turk decried Wednesday that “new technologies and online media mean that racist caricatures and conspiracy theories can circulate now at a much greater speed and without regard to distance, making them a grave threat to our social fabric.

“Social media platforms have played a terrible role in metastasising of hatred from limited backwaters into multi-current mainstream trends,” he said.

Turk insisted that social media companies needed to “increase transparency about their hate speech policy”.

“And they must much more effectively put these policies into practice, including by ensuring that people can report hate speech easily and that those reports will swiftly lead to appropriate action,” he said.

The UN rights chief also urged all digital platforms “to vastly improve their efforts to combat hate speech in languages other than English, and pivot even greater attention to areas where early warning … shows that there is a rise in hate”.

UPDATE

NATO NATION BUILDING

Libyan flood death toll hits an estimated 6,000 as rescue efforts ramp up


A relative of an Egyptian man who died in the storm that hit Libya shows his picture at Kafr Sharif village in Beni Suef, about 120 km south of Cairo on Wednesday.

 Photo by Derna Khaled Elfiq/EPA-EFE

Sept. 13 (UPI) -- The official Libyan flood death toll rose to an estimated 6,000 Wednesday as rescue and aid operations ramped up. Roughly 10,000 more people were missing and hospital morgues were full even as many remained out of service to treat survivors.

"The death toll is huge and might reach thousands," said Tamer Ramadan of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

The Libyan interior ministry raised the official death toll to 5,300 Tuesday night after heavy rains destroyed two dams.

The number of deaths is expected to rise as more victims are discovered.

A quarter of the coastal city of Derna was destroyed, leaving dead bodies lying in the streets.

"They tell us that almost a quarter [of Derna] was vanished away by the hurricane. They tell us that the dead bodies, you can see them on the streets everywhere," Ramadan said, citing reports from aid workers.

The United Nations International Organization for Migration said more than 30,000 people were displaced by the flooding in Derna.

"The Martyrs' committee [has been set up to] identify the missing people and to implement procedures for identifying and burial in accordance with Sharia and legal laws and standards," said Adel Juma, Libya's minister of state for cabinet affairs.

The International Rescue Committee's Ciaran Donnelly said in a statement, "The challenges are immense, with phone lines down and heavy destruction hampering rescue efforts."

A Libyan reporter told the BBC people in flood-ravaged Derna are living through "doomsday" with entire families wiped put by flood waters.

Johr Ali said he has heard from survivors who describe a harrowing situation that is beyond catastrophic.

"People are hearing the cries of babies underground, they don't know how to get to them," Ali said. "People are using shovels to get the bodies from underneath the ground, they are using their own hands. There are photos of the city of people getting bodies out with their naked, bare hands."

Aid is being mobilized internationally from the European Union, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Tunisia.

The U.S. Embassy in Tripoli has made an official declaration of humanitarian need.

"The declaration of humanitarian need will authorize initial funding that the United States will provide in support of relief efforts in Libya, " Special Envoy Richard Boyce Norland wrote on X.

"We are coordinating with U.N. partners and Libyan authorities to assess how best to target official U.S. assistance. In addition, we have been contacted by many Libyan Americans anxious to make private contributions to relief efforts and we will work with Libyan authorities to direct those resources to where they are most needed."

Searchers race to recover bodies in Libya as death toll from flooding hits 5,100

BY SAMY MAGDY AND YOUSEF MURAD
September 13, 2023

DERNA, Libya (AP) — Search teams combed streets, wrecked buildings and even the sea Wednesday to look for bodies in a coastal Libyan city where the collapse of two dams unleashed a massive flash flood that killed at least 5,100 people.

The Mediterranean city of Derna has struggled to get help after Sunday night’s deluge washed away most access roads. Aid workers who managed to reach the city described devastation in its center, with thousands still missing and tens of thousands left homeless.

“Bodies are everywhere, inside houses, in the streets, at sea. Wherever you go, you find dead men, women, and children,” Emad al-Falah, an aid worker from Benghazi, said over the phone from Derna. “Entire families were lost.”

Mediterranean storm Daniel caused deadly flooding Sunday in many towns of eastern Libya, but the worst-hit was Derna. Two dams in the mountains above the city collapsed, sending floodwaters roaring down the Wadi Derna river and through the city center, sweeping away entire city blocks.

MORE ON THE LIBYA FLOODS

Cyclone that devastated Libya is latest extreme event with some hallmarks of climate change

How Libya’s chaos left its people vulnerable to deadly flooding

How to help those affected by the Morocco earthquake and Libya flood

As much as a quarter of the city has disappeared, emergency officials said.

Waves rose as high as 7 meters (23 feet), Yann Fridez, head of the delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Libya, told broadcaster France24.

Mohammed Derna, a teacher in the city, said he, his family and neighbors rushed to the roof of their apartment building, stunned at the volume of water rushing by. It reached the second story of many buildings, he said. They watched people below, including women and children being washed away.


A general view of the city of Derna is seen on Tuesday, Sept. 12., 2023. (AP Photo/Jamal Alkomaty

)
A general view of the city of Derna is seen on Tuesday, Sept. 12., 2023.

“They were screaming, ‘Help, help,’” he said over the phone from a field hospital in Derna. “It was like a Hollywood horror movie.”

Derna lies on a narrow coastal plain, under steep mountains. Only two roads from the south remain usable, and they involve a long, winding route through the mountains.

Collapsed bridges over the river split the city center, further hampering movement.

Search teams went through shattered apartment buildings and retrieved the dead floating offshore in the Mediterranean Sea, al-Falah said.



A general view of the city of Derna is seen on Tuesday, Sept. 12., 2023. (AP Photo/Jamal Alkomaty)

Ossama Ali, a spokesman for an ambulance center in eastern Libya, said at least 5,100 deaths were recorded in Derna, along with around 100 others elsewhere in eastern Libya. More than 7,000 people in the city were injured.

A spokesman for the eastern Libyan interior ministry put the death tally in Derna at more than 5,300, according to the state-run news agency.

The number of deaths was likely to increase since teams are still collecting bodies, Ali said. At least 9,000 people are missing, but that number could drop as communications are restored.

At least 30,000 people in Derna were displaced by the flooding, the U.N.’s International Organization for Migration said.





This satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC shows a dam collapse in Derna, Libya, on Sept. 2, 2023. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)

This satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC shows a dam collapse in Derna, Libya, on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)

The storm hit other areas in eastern Libya, including the towns of Bayda, Susa and Marj. Rescuers retrieved at least 150 bodies Wednesday from the sea off Bayda, bringing the death tally in the town to about 200, Ali said.

The startling devastation pointed to the storm’s intensity, but also Libya’s vulnerability. The country is divided by rival governments, one in the east, the other in the west, and the result has been neglect of infrastructure in many areas.

Ahmed Abdalla, a survivor who joined the search-and-rescue effort, said they were putting bodies in the yard of a hospital before taking them for burial in mass graves at Derna’s sole intact cemetery.

“The situation is indescribable. Entire families dead in this disaster. Some were washed away to the sea,” Abdalla said by phone.

Derna is 250 kilometers (150 miles) east of Benghazi, where international aid started to arrive on Tuesday.

Neighboring Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia, as well as Turkey, Italy and the United Arab Emirates, sent rescue teams and aid. The U.K. and German governments sent assistance too, including blankets, sleeping bags, sleeping mats, tents, water filters and generators.



This satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC shows Derna, Libya, on Sept. 2, 2023, before flooding. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)



This satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC shows flooding in Derna, Libya, on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)

U.S. President Joe Biden also said the United States would send money to relief organizations and coordinate with Libyan authorities and the United Nations to provide additional support.

Authorities transferred hundreds of bodies to morgues in nearby towns. More than 300, including 84 Egyptians, were brought to the morgue in the city of Tobruk, 169 kilometers (105 miles) east of Derna, the local Medical Center reported.

The victims’ lists reflected how Libya, despite its turmoil, was always a magnet for workers from around the region because of its oil industry.

More than 70 of Derna’s dead hailed from a single southern Egyptian village, el-Sharif. On Wednesday morning, hundreds attended a mass funeral in the village for 64 people.

Rabei Hanafy said his extended family lost 16 men in the flooding, 12 of whom were buried Wednesday. Another funeral for four others was held in a town in the northern Nile Delta.

Among those killed in Libya was the family of Saleh Sariyeh, a Palestinian originally from the Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp in Lebanon who had lived in Derna for decades. The 62-year-old, his wife and two daughters were all killed when their home in Derna was washed away, his nephew Mohammed Sariyeh said.

The four were buried in Derna. Because of ongoing gunbattles in Ein el-Hilweh, the family there could not hold a gathering to receive condolences from friends and neighbors, Mohammed said.

Derna, about 900 kilometers (560 miles) east of the capital, Tripoli, is controlled by the forces of powerful military commander Khalifa Hifter, who is allied with the eastern Libyan government. The rival government in western Libya, based in Tripoli, is allied with other armed groups.

Derna was once a hub for extremist groups in the years of chaos that followed the NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.
___

Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press Writer Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.

Libya floods: How political turmoil has left infrastructure crumbling

Issued on: 13/09/2023 

01:51

In Libya the Red Crescent says 10,000 are missing after heavy rains swept away two dams - causing massive flooding. The situation in the country has been made worse by the fact that over a decade of political instability has left critical infrastructure in a pitiful state. The country’s two rival administrations are also complicating relief efforts.

Fears mount of surging death toll in Libya flood disaster

13/09/2023 - 

01:32

Bodies were washing ashore in eastern Libya on Wednesday, swelling the death toll from a storm that swept whole neighbourhoods out to sea, with thousands already confirmed dead and many thousands more still missing.

SEE

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2023/09/storm-daniel-hits-libya-basic-needs-are.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2023/09/storm-daniel-flooding-in-libya-leaves.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2023/09/libya-closes-four-major-oil-ports-as.html

BP shares drop after CEO quits over relationships

London (AFP) – Shares in British energy major BP dropped Wednesday after chief executive Bernard Looney resigned unexpectedly over his failure to disclose past relationships with colleagues.

BP CEO Bernard Looney is leaving after less than four years in the role 

© Arun SANKAR / AFP/File

BP's stock fell nearly one percent to 518.20 pence at midday on London's falling FTSE 100 index, despite rising oil prices that normally boost energy firms.

The company announced late Tuesday that Looney, 53, resigned "with immediate effect" after admitting he had not been "fully transparent" about historical relationships with colleagues.

The Irishman is leaving after less than four years in the role, having steered the energy major through a tumultuous period that included huge swings in prices owing to the Covid pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"The higher oil price might limit some of the fallout from the shock resignation... but this is a highly unwelcome turn of events for investors given his long tenure at the company and his pivotal role at the helm as it navigates the tricky transition to greener energy," said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown.

"Change at the top is always unsettling and the abrupt nature of his departure will intensify reactions, particularly as it comes at such a sensitive time in the company's strategy," she said.

Looney took the top job in February 2020, shortly before the 10th anniversary of the explosion on the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico that triggered the worst oil spill in US history.

The disaster killed 11 employees and cost the British firm tens of billions of dollars in damages and compensation.

Looney's arrival came also shortly before oil prices briefly turned negative as Covid lockdowns slashed energy demand and slammed the sector.

Finance chief Murray Auchincloss will now act as interim CEO while the group seeks a permanent successor.

Other CEOs, too

"Compared to the multi-billion-dollar fines following the Deepwater Horizon spill, briefly negative oil futures prices and dividend cuts during the pandemic, the resignation is a surprise but perhaps not a major chapter in BP history," said Interactive Investor analyst Richard Hunter.

"With a temporary replacement now confirmed, BP will be hoping for markets to regard the situation as business as usual," he said.

"There will, however, inevitably be uncertainty until such time as a permanent replacement is found and the company clarifies whether there will be any changes to its current strategy."

Looney had also come under fierce criticism from environmentalists, who have accused BP and rivals of not going far enough in transitioning away from fossil fuels.

He is not the first head of a major global company to resign or be ousted over relationships with employees.

Steve Easterbook was ousted as CEO of McDonald's in 2019 for having a "consensual relationship" with an employee, in violation of company policy.

A year earlier, Brian Krzanich stepped down as chief executive of US computer chip giant Intel over a "past consensual relationship" with an employee in violation with the company's non-fraternization policy.


13/09/2023 
© 2023 AFP

BP chief Bernard Looney resigns ‘with immediate effect’

By AFP
September 12, 2023

Oil giaqnt BP is offloading its 19.75 percent share in Russian-owned Rozneft. 

Credit - Weixi Zeng, (CC BY-SA 3.0)

British energy giant BP said Tuesday that its chief executive Bernard Looney has resigned “with immediate effect”, after admitting that he had not been “fully transparent” about historical relationships with colleagues.

“Bernard Looney has notified the company that he has resigned as chief executive officer with immediate effect,” the company said in a statement, adding that finance chief Murray Auchincloss would act as interim CEO.

Looney, 53, is leaving the energy firm after less than four years in the role.

BP said that in May last year its board received and reviewed allegations from an anonymous source relating to Looney’s conduct “in respect of personal relationships with company colleagues”.

Looney disclosed “a small number of historical relationships with colleagues prior to becoming CEO” during the review, it added, while noting that no breach of the company’s code of conduct was found.

However, the board was given his assurances over his disclosures of past personal relationships, as well as his future behaviour, according to BP.

“Further allegations of a similar nature were received recently, and the company immediately began investigating with the support of external legal counsel,” it said, adding that the process was continuing.


Bernard Looney ‘accepts that he was not fully transparent’ – Copyright AFP/File Rodrigo BUENDIA

“Mr Looney has today informed the company that he now accepts that he was not fully transparent in his previous disclosures,” BP added.

“He did not provide details of all relationships and accepts he was obligated to make more complete disclosure.”

BP said the board expects all staff to behave in accordance with the company’s values.

“All leaders in particular are expected to act as role models and to exercise good judgement in a way that earns the trust of others,” the company said.

Looney has been at BP since joining the British energy behemoth in 1991, and was appointed chief executive in 2020.

The company said no decisions had yet been made regarding any remuneration payments.

Looney had vowed to reposition BP as a leader in clean energy technologies, and gradually cut oil and gas production to reduce carbon emissions, but environmentalists have criticised the firm for inaction in that regard during his tenure.

Like many of its rivals, BP earlier this year unveiled record annual profits for 2022, thanks to soaring oil and gas prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

However, earnings have fallen somewhat from those heights so far this year, as energy prices retreated for much of 2023.

Nonetheless BP said in August it was hiking its dividend and returning $1.5 billion to shareholders by repurchasing stock.

Stolen Van Gogh returned in IKEA bag 'damaged but restorable'

Groningen (Netherlands) (AFP) – The precious Vincent Van Gogh painting stolen then sensationally returned to a Dutch art sleuth in an Ikea bag has been scratched but should be reparable, its museum director told AFP Wednesday.

The Van Gogh work is scratched but should be recoverable 

© Handout / ARTHUR BRAND/AFP

Thieves snatched the Van Gogh masterpiece "Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring" in the middle of the night in 2020 while the painting was on loan to a museum near Amsterdam from its home at the Groninger Museum in the northern Netherlands.

The painting, worth up to six million euros ($6.45m), was then returned on Monday to Arthur Brand, known as the "Indiana Jones" of the art world for his work in researching and recovering stolen artworks.

Brand took possession of the painting bound in bubble wrap, a pillow case and stuffed in a blue Ikea bag, but the work still appears to have sustained some damage.

"It is damaged by scratches so it's not in a perfect state but it's restorable," Groninger Museum director Andreas Bluhm told AFP in an interview.

"When it's there in the IKEA bag, of course it was hot, so this is not ideal. It had already suffered for three and a half years," he said, adding: "But then bringing it in that same bag is quite safe because it's the least conspicuous way of moving it. Nobody would suspect anything."

The painting is now at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, where it is being examined, he said, adding that it could be some time before the work is available to the public.

"Even the restorer cannot tell you how long it will take. Probably months rather than weeks," he said.

What offers some hope for a successful restoration is that Van Gogh painted the work on paper glued to a thick wooden panel, rather than on canvas, so scratches should be superficial.

Bluhm said the time between the robbery and the recovery had been a rollercoaster of emotions. The piece had never before left his museum, so its theft came as a hammer blow.

"The painting is part of our museum's identity and our collective collection. So that hurt even more," he said.

Then came news last Thursday of a possible return, giving him sleepless nights.

"They said 'please come to Amsterdam to identify the painting'. I said 'OK, but I'll believe it when I see it'."

"You constantly keep on thinking about it but at the same time you don't want to hope too much because it could still fail," he said.

When the painting was finally identified, he went straight to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam to give them an almighty surprise.

"They didn't even know I was coming. I called and said 'I'm coming, are you there? Can you open the door and let me in. I have something for you'."

Issued on: 13/09/2023 -
© 2023 AFP

SEE

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2023/09/art-detective-helps-dutch-police.html