Webb spots a building block of life on Jupiter’s moon Europa

Ashley Strickland, CNN
Wed, September 27, 2023 

A building block of life may exist inside the global ocean on Europa, one of Jupiter’s icy moons.

Two independent teams of astronomers used the James Webb Space Telescope to observe the frozen surface of Europa, and each analysis of the space observatory’s detections revealed an abundance of carbon dioxide within a specific region of the frigid terrain. Both studies describing the findings were published September 21 in the journal Science.

“On Earth, life likes chemical diversity — the more diversity, the better. We’re carbon-based life. Understanding the chemistry of Europa’s ocean will help us determine whether it’s hostile to life as we know it, or if it might be a good place for life,” said Geronimo Villanueva, lead author of the first study and planetary scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, in a statement.

Europa is one of several ocean worlds in our solar system besides Earth where scientists believe life could exist. Beneath a thick ice shell, Europa harbors a subsurface global ocean that may contain twice as much water as our planet’s oceans.

But environments suitable for life need more than water — they also require a supply of organic molecules and an energy source, according to NASA.

Scientists have long questioned whether Europa’s ocean contained carbon and other chemicals necessary for life

.

Astronomers used the Webb telescope to observe Jupiter's icy moon Europa. - NASA/ESA/CSA

When Webb data revealed the presence of carbon on Europa’s surface, the researchers conducted an analysis to see whether it was delivered by meteorites, or if it originated within the internal ocean.

Carbon dioxide appears to be concentrated in a region of “chaos terrain” on Europa called Tara Regio. The geologically young area contains ice that has been disrupted and resurfaced, suggesting that material has been exchanged between the ocean and the surface.

Carbon dioxide isn’t stable on Europa’s surface, which also led the two teams to the same conclusion that it was supplied by the ocean.

“We now think that we have observational evidence that the carbon we see on Europa’s surface came from the ocean. That’s not a trivial thing. Carbon is a biologically essential element,” said Samantha Trumbo, lead author of the second study and a 51 Pegasi B Fellow at Cornell University, in a statement.

Previously, the Hubble Space Telescope detected ocean-derived salt in the same region.

“We think this implies that the carbon probably has its ultimate origin in the internal ocean,” Trumbo said.

Investigating Europa

Astronomers used data from Webb’s Near-Infrared Spectrograph to identify the signature of carbon dioxide on the moon’s surface.

“Scientists are debating how much Europa’s ocean connects to its surface. I think that question has been a big driver of Europa exploration,” Villanueva said. “This suggests that we may be able to learn some basic things about the ocean’s composition even before we drill through the ice to get the full picture.”

Previously, astronomers made tentative detections of plumes erupting from the surface of Europa using the Hubble Space Telescope. Webb did not detect any plumes during its observations of Europa, but that doesn’t mean they don’t occur, according to the researchers

.

Webb's Near-Infrared Spectrograph identified carbon dioxide on Europa's surface. - NASA/ESA/CSA

“There is always a possibility that these plumes are variable and that you can only see them at certain times. All we can say with 100% confidence is that we did not detect a plume at Europa when we made these observations with Webb,” said Heidi Hammel, a Webb interdisciplinary scientist and vice president for science at the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, in a statement.

Two future missions will be able to take a closer look at Europa in the future, including the European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer launched in April and NASA’s Europa Clipper, expected to lift off in October 2024.

Both will investigate Europa’s potential habitability to see whether the icy ocean world could be hospitable to life.

Future observations of Europa with the Webb Telescope could help astronomers determine whether there are other concentrated regions of carbon dioxide on the surface, Trumbo said.

“I am also very interested in whether there is any evidence for organic molecules anywhere on the surface,” she said. “Our upcoming JWST data will help with that as well, but Europa Clipper will be able to get up close and personal and really peer at some of the finer-scale and most promising geologic regions.”

Solomon Islands leader says he skipped Biden summit to avoid 'lecture'

HEGEMONIC HUBRIS AVOIDED

Reuters
Wed, September 27, 2023

78th UNGA General Debate at UN HQ in New York

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manesseh Sogavare said he skipped a Pacific Islands leaders summit at the White House this week to avoid a "lecture" and because he had more pressing issues at home.

Sogavare, who has built close ties with China, held a press conference on Wednesday after arriving back in Solomon Islands from the United States, where he spoke at the United Nations but did not join other Pacific Island Forum leaders in Washington for a two-day summit.

U.S. President Joe Biden met the Pacific island leaders for a second White House summit in just over a year on Monday, part of a charm offensive aimed at curbing inroads by China into a region Washington considers strategically crucial.

Sogavare said he attended the first summit last year and "nothing came out of it".

"They lecture you about how good they are", he said, according to a video of the press conference published by Solomon Islands media company Tavuli News on Wednesday evening.

A Biden Administration official said on Sunday they were "disappointed" Sogavare would not attend.

Sogavare said he returned because there were 10 weeks left of parliament at home in Solomon Islands, which was more important.

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape said in a statement on Wednesday the summit had seen the U.S. make a significant pledge for infrastructure investment, and the meeting was a "significant step towards making the Pacific more secure and prosperous".

Biden pledged to work with Congress to provide $200 million more in funding for projects in the region aimed at mitigating the effects of climate change, spurring economic growth, countering illegal fishing and improving public health.

At the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Sogavare had praised China's development cooperation as "less restrictive".

(Reporting by Kirsty Needham; Editing by Anil D'Silva)

Solomon Islands joins China-backed AIIB days after PM snubs Biden invite for Pacific summit at White House

South China Morning Post
Wed, September 27, 2023

Solomon Islands has joined the China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) days after its leader snubbed an invitation to meet US President Joe Biden at a Pacific summit.

Solomon Islands joins the bank alongside the Central American nation of El Salvador, which deepened its relationship with Beijing a few years after switching ties from Taipei.

Tanzania, another key Beijing ally and where China has vast interests, has also been admitted as a prospective member.

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The new admissions to the AIIB push the total number of countries that have joined to 109. While most are in Asia, the bank also has members outside the region, such as Britain, France and dozens of African countries, including Algeria, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Egypt.

The AIIB's board of governors approved the applications during the bank's eighth annual meeting in the Egyptian city of Sharm el-Sheikh on Tuesday - its first in-person annual gathering since 2019.

AIIB president and board chairman Jin Liqun said the members now "collectively account for 81 per cent of the world's population and 65 per cent of global gross domestic product".

"The addition of El Salvador, Solomon Islands and Tanzania strengthens the AIIB community and supports our collective mission to finance infrastructure for tomorrow," Jin said.

"Together, we will work on priority projects within our clearly defined thematic priorities to drive long-term sustainable growth."

The three prospective members will officially join the AIIB once they complete required domestic processes and deposit the first capital instalment with the bank.

"Our journey began with 57 founding members," AIIB vice-president and corporate secretary Ludger Schuknecht said.

He said the growth in membership to 109 showed "that many believe in our mission to achieve sustainable infrastructure development and economic growth, as well as our commitment to actively support infrastructure projects that contribute to climate change mitigation, adaptation and resilience".

China holds a 30 per cent stake in the bank, which started operating in 2016 as the brainchild of Chinese President Xi Jinping. It was billed as Asia's answer to the World Bank to provide infrastructure finance for its members.

China had expressed frustration at its lack of influence at the World Bank, which is dominated by the United States. The Asian Development Bank is dominated by Japan and the US.

But in June Bob Pickard, a Canadian citizen who resigned as global head of the AIIB's communications, claimed the Beijing-headquartered lender was infiltrated by the Communist Party.

Following the allegations, Canada said it would "immediately halt all government-led activity" with the AIIB.

The bank said Pickard's comments were "baseless and disappointing" while Beijing, through its foreign ministry, said the bank had "acted as a truly international, rule-based and high-standard institution".

David Shinn, a China expert and professor at George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs, said the three newest members hoped to obtain some of the infrastructure financing offered by the AIIB, which had a wide membership of countries representing various political persuasions.

"There is no significant downside to joining and the motivation is probably more practical than geopolitical," Shinn said.

President and chairman Jin Liqun addresses the opening of the eighth annual meeting of the AIIB in Egypt on Monday. Photo: Xinhua alt=President and chairman Jin Liqun addresses the opening of the eighth annual meeting of the AIIB in Egypt on Monday. Photo: Xinhua>

However, Aly-Khan Satchu, a geoeconomic ­an­­­­­­­­­­a­­­­­­­­­lyst, said Solomon Islands had decisively pivoted towards the East, with Honiara recently describing development cooperation with China as "less restrictive, more responsive and aligned to our national needs".

"Solomon Islands has made the geoeconomic calculation that a singular alignment with China at this time will have potentially an outsize pay-off, versus trying to balance the US and China, or pivoting towards the US. That signal is an overarching one and interesting for that," Satchu said.

Solomon Islands' Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare signalled that shift when he declined to attend the Pacific nations summit at the White House on Monday and Tuesday. Before the snub, he praised China for its development model in his speech at the UN General Assembly last week.

The Solomons' top export to China is timber but it also sells products such as processed fruit and nuts and in return buys mostly iron products from China.

Last year, China signed a security deal with Solomon Islands allowing Sogavare to request China's police and military officers, if required, to protect "Chinese personnel and major projects" in the Pacific nation.

The decision has raised concern in the US and Australia about Beijing's growing interests in the region, where Washington is also making inroads.

In July, Sogavare accused the US of interfering in the Pacific nation's "internal affairs" after Washington raised concerns about Honiara signing a security deal with Beijing.

In Central America, El Salvador, under President Nayib Bukele, has been thumbing its nose at Western financial architecture and probably feels the AIIB will be more receptive to its development needs, according to Satchu.

And Tanzania sought to straddle both sides - the US and China, with whom it has a long-standing relationship - but appeared to be seeking the potential for options.

"What all three countries affirm is China's meaningful pull effect, and that a security partnership [which remains the US' main offering] is one dimensional versus China's more multidimensional offering," Satchu added.

Cumulatively, the AIIB has financed more than 200 projects worth US$44 billion since 2016. It is positioning itself as the key financier of climate-related projects, promising in its newly launched climate action plan to allocate at least half of its annual financing approvals to climate finance.

Sultan Al Jaber, president designate for the UN's coming climate change conference, welcomed the AIIB's pledge on Tuesday, saying "it is a crucial step in the right direction and is in line with the objectives of our COP28 presidency".

"Bigger and better development banks, working together, are critical for closing the financing gap, especially when it comes to adaptation and operationalising the loss and damage fund," Al Jaber said.

However, a report released by civil society groups on Tuesday said that in seven years the AIIB was yet to accept a single complaint from people adversely affected by its investments.

The study released by Recourse, Inclusive Development International and Accountability Counsel, said nearly half of all AIIB projects were found to be ineligible for the accountability mechanism. Of 219 projects funded by the end of June, 46 per cent (101 projects) were not eligible for consideration.

Copyright (c) 2023. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

China-backed AIIB unveils US$50 billion loan plan for climate action

South China Morning Post
Tue, September 26, 2023 

The China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is positioning itself as a key financier of climate-related projects, with the unveiling of plans to triple its climate financing over the next seven years.

The multilateral lender - set up as an alternative to the World Bank in 2016 - aims to increase allocation for climate-related funding to at least US$7 billion annually by 2030, roughly a three-fold increase from last year's US$2.6 billion.

Cumulatively, the AIIB says it will advance US$50 billion for climate change mitigation and adaptation by the end of this decade, mobilising capital to support its members' efforts to fight the consequences of global warming.

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The Climate Action Plan (CAP) was released on the sidelines of the bank's board of governors' meeting in the Egyptian city of Sharm el-Sheikh on Monday - its first in-person annual gathering since 2019.

AIIB president Jin Liqun said the plan "outlines our ambition to bring capital, capacity and convening power to help our members in their efforts to address climate change", adding that it "builds on what is already a significant area of focus for our bank".

According to Jin, the CAP will build on the AIIB's 2020 pledge to stop bankrolling coal-powered projects and instead ramp up its investments in environmentally friendly schemes.

The Beijing-based bank - which is 30 per cent owned by the state - had fulfilled its promise to align all new financing with the Paris Agreement, the 2015 international treaty on climate change, he said.

Jin said the AIIB had also met its goal for annual climate financing to account for 50 per cent or more of its total approvals by 2025, with climate financing accounting for 56 per cent last year.

Since the bank was established in 2016, US$11.75 billion of its total financing approvals of US$25.25 billion have gone to climate projects, with US$8.29 billion dedicated to mitigation and the rest for adaptation.

Jin said the AIIB had financed 107 projects with climate components amid an ever-growing need to support members as they grappled with ever more frequent natural disasters, such as the recent tragedies in Morocco and Libya.

He told the meeting that the AIIB was working with other multilateral lenders, such as the World Bank, to co-finance some of the projects.

"The AIIB is working closely with our sister institutions to strengthen the family bonds that bind all multilateral development banks [MDBs] together," Jin said.

A recently announced joint financing arrangement with the World Bank for a US$1 billion guarantee over a selection of sovereign portfolios "is one such example of our quick and collaborative effort to strengthen the performance of the MDB system".

"We are also proud of our co-financing record as the largest co-financing partner of both the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, along with our close co-financing partnerships with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Investment Bank," Jin said.

The meeting also heard that three weeks earlier the AIIB had achieved early completion of its 2023 funding programme with the issuance of a US$2 billion three-year global bond.

With US$4.8 billion in orders, the bond recorded the largest order book for any bond issued by the AIIB since its inception, Jin said.

In May, the bank also placed Asia's first adaptation bond for US$321 million and is working with international asset managers to develop climate change investment frameworks.

At the opening of the meeting, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi urged the AIIB and other lenders to help emerging economies, especially in Africa, address the challenging global economic conditions caused by Covid-19 and the Russian war in Ukraine.

The banks "need to provide more low-cost financing", especially in light of the current financial and economic circumstances, he said.

Al-Sisi's plea comes at a time when some African countries have fallen into debt distress, exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, along with disruptions to global supply chains and food security.

In 2020, Zambia became the first African country to default on some of its debts during the pandemic, finally striking a precedent-setting deal with China and other foreign creditors in May, after 28 months of negotiation.

Lusaka's US$6.3 billion in loans - of which US$4.1 billion is owed to China - was restructured through the G20 Common Framework, with Beijing, Zambia's largest lender, providing the deepest level of debt relief among the bilateral creditors. Chad and Ethiopia also applied for debt relief under the same scheme.

Egypt, a founding member of the AIIB, has received US$1.3 billion in infrastructure funding, including US$300 million for water management and US$210 million to finance renewable energy.

The bank funded Egypt's Benban Solar Park power station, its first energy project investment outside Asia.

In July, the AIIB agreed to advance US$280 million for a new metro line in Alexandria. Egypt is a key destination for foreign direct investment, especially from China, whose companies have made vast investments in the Suez Canal Economic Zone.

The AIIB has also financed projects in Rwanda, advancing US$200 million through its Crisis Recovery Facility in 2021 for broadband access and an on-lending facility to support small and medium-sized enterprises.

In Ivory Coast, the AIIB recently signed a loan deal worth US$200 million for connectivity and rural infrastructure. The government of Ivory Coast and the World Bank are co-financing the project.

The AIIB, which has 106 members, has channelled US$44.6 billion to 233 projects in 35 countries, mostly in Asia, including India, Indonesia, as well as Oman, and China's own air quality improvement and coal replacement project.

According to the AIIB's action plan, the fight against climate change will be won or lost in Asia, which it described as an engine of global economic growth facing heightened vulnerability to climate hazards.

The bank pointed out that the region contributes more than half of global greenhouse gas emissions. Asia's effectiveness in addressing its unique climate challenges was of "paramount importance" to the sustainability of societies worldwide, it said.

The AIIB has vowed not to finance coal or projects related to the fossil fuel and has excluded oil sector investments, with limited exceptions to ensure basic energy access in remote island communities and hard-to-reach areas.

"The AIIB will only selectively finance natural gas projects that are transitional in nature [and] based on stringent criteria."

Copyright (c) 2023. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Media: Poll ahead of upcoming Slovak election shows divide on support for Ukraine

Nate Ostiller, The Kyiv Independent news desk
Thu, September 28, 2023 

A poll released ahead of parliamentary elections in Slovakia scheduled for Sept. 30 illustrate the split between the Slovak electorate on support for Ukraine and a slight lead for opposition leader Robert Fico, RF/ERL reported.

The poll, conducted by Ipsos for the Slovak newspaper Dennik N, found that the Direction-Social Democracy party (SMER), led by Fico, received 20.6% of support, compared to 19.8% for Progressive Slovakia (PS), the liberal challenger.

Fico, who previously served as Prime Minister of Slovakia from 2006 to 2010, has previously stated he would end Slovakia’s support of Ukraine if he returns to power.

In an interview with the AP, Fico said that "we won’t send any arms or ammunition to Ukraine anymore,” if SMER forms a government. He also opposes EU sanctions against Russia and wants Slovakia, a NATO member, to block Ukraine from joining the alliance.

Fico has also repeated the myth that the war in Ukraine began as a civil war, a narrative Russia used to try to conceal its involvement in Donbas.

On Aug. 30, he told a crowd of supporters that the war in Ukraine began "when the Ukrainian Nazis and fascists started to murder the Russian citizens in Donbas and Luhansk," repeating an unfounded claim common in Russian propaganda.

After Fico was re-elected as prime minister in 2012, he resigned in 2018 following a political crisis sparked by the murder of the investigative journalist Jan Kuciak.

Before he was killed, Kuciak had investigated corruption scandals in Fico's party and alleged ties between the Italian mafia and figures in Fico's network.

In contrast, Fico’s primary opponent Michal Simecka,who leads PS, has promised to maintain support for Ukraine. He stressed that a reversal of Slovakia’s current position of providing support would put the nation at odds with other EU and NATO countries, and could cause Slovakia to become isolated.

Due to the narrow split between the two parties, it is unlikely that either will gain an overwhelming majority and will have to form a governing coalition.

Opinion

GOP is no longer a political party. The Republican debate marked its soul leaving its body.

Rex Huppke, USA TODAY
Updated Wed, September 27, 2023 

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library – site of Wednesday night’s second GOP presidential primary – was an apropos place for the Republican Party’s soul to leave its body.

It was about time, if we’re being honest. And it happened early, as biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, two people who will never be president, began bickering and babbling over each other while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis tried, and failed, to scold them for not talking about “issues.”

Like the party they represent, that moment and much of the debate that followed was chaotic, unintelligible, irrelevant and frustrating.

The stage was clearly the kids’ table, filled with a noisy collection of also-rans spouting hackneyed right-wing nonsense – DEATH PENALTY! BORDER WALL! BURN COAL! – with no real policy prescriptions.
GOP debate also-rans prattle on as Trump stays away, also prattling on

Making the moment more tragic, the candidate leading the pack by about 40 points skipped the debate to give a rambling speech in the Detroit area that would put any sane voter to sleep.

Oh, and that leading candidate, former President Donald Trump, is facing 91 state and federal charges and was just found liable on business fraud in New York this week.

RIP GOP. Don’t worry, you’ll have time to shut the government down before you ascend.

The totality of Wednesday night’s display sparks a simple question: Is this really the best one of America’s two main political parties can offer?

The answer appears to be yes, though if I were a member of that party, I’d demand better.

Bad week for Republicans: The GOP gives America a debate, an impeachment hearing and a government shutdown. Oh my.
Trump makes show of UAW support ... by speaking at non-union plant

Trump, in keeping with his penchant for dishonesty, was in the Detroit area ostensibly to show support for striking United Auto Workers union members. But his speech was at a non-union plant in the suburbs in front of several hundred people who were invited.

NBC News reported that few striking workers were there, with one former autoworker saying, “I don’t know where they’re at. But there are several – a handful.”

It didn’t matter much. Trump prattled on about his various legal woes: “I never head of the word 'indictment,' now I get indicted like every other day.” (Humble brag.)

He talked generically about the president being the worst president in the history of the planet, saying Joe Biden’s “surrounded with radical left Marxists and crazy people, fascists. Bad people.” (Sounds bad.) Trump referenced “Barack Hussein Obama.” (No longer president.) And he expressed concerns about boats with electric motors, asking, “Do you get electrocuted if the boat sinks?” (No, you don’t.)
Why can't Republicans do better than Trump? GOP debate had no answers.

Over at the debate, which started while Trump was still woe-is-me-ing, the candidates were busily failing to convince anyone they have what it takes to overtake Trump’s bizarrely commanding lead.

Former Vice President Mike Pence said he’ll repeal the Green New Deal, which was never passed in the first place. DeSantis continued giving social media users a chance to make his forced, awkward smiles into viral GIFs. The lot of them hammered away cruelly at transgender youth and adults, dehumanizing them.

Can Swifties swing an election? Taylor Swift has power to swing the presidential election. What if nothing else matters?
GOP candidates at the debate should be dominating Trump, but no

Their main opponent is a guy sitting atop a veritable mountain of alleged illegality, and except for a few barbs here and there, the best they can muster is loose bickering, lame insults and rehashed tough-on-immigration, tough-on-crime, back-the-blue lines.

This group of seven candidates – particularly someone like Nikki Haley, a former South Carolina governor who's also a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, the only one grounded in some form of reality – should be grinding Trump into hamburger. He has weakness upon weakness, and he is, as his "union" speech reminded us, a raving nut ball.

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But no. You’ve got the madman and a coalition of cowards, and that fact was on vivid displayed Wednesday night.

The GOP is no longer a political party. It’s a loud, obnoxious mess, buoying a dangerous authoritarian figure who will soon be facing trials in multiple jurisdictions.

Reagan would smartly and undoubtedly avert his eyes.



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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why can't Republicans do better than Trump? GOP debate had no answers

Taiwan reveals first homegrown submarine in defence milestone

Carlos Garcia and Walid Berrazeg and Sarah Wu

Wed, September 27, 2023

KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Taiwan unveiled its first domestically developed submarine on Thursday, a major step in a years-long project aimed at strengthening the island's defence and deterrence against the Chinese navy.

Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, has made the indigenous submarine program a key part of an ambitious project to modernise its armed forces as Beijing stages almost daily military exercises to assert its sovereignty.

President Tsai Ing-wen, who initiated the plan when she took office in 2016, showed off the first of eight new submarines on Thursday in the southern city of Kaohsiung.

"In the past, a domestically developed submarine was considered an impossible task. But, today, a submarine designed and manufactured by our country's people sits before our eyes," Tsai said, adding that it would play an important role in strengthening the navy's "asymmetric warfare" capabilities.

"Even if there are risks, and no matter how many challenges there are, Taiwan must take this step and allow the self-reliant national defence policy to grow and flourish on our land," Tsai said, standing in front of the ship, named the Narwhal. Taiwan's red flag, featuring a white sun against a blue sky, was wrapped around the submarine's bow.

The programme has drawn on expertise and technology from several countries - a breakthrough for diplomatically isolated Taiwan.

Taiwan hopes to deploy at least two such domestically developed submarines by 2027, and possibly equip later models with missiles, the head of the program said this month.

The first submarine, with a price tag of T$49.36 billion ($1.53 billion), will use a combat system by Lockheed Martin Corp and carry U.S.-made Mark 48 heavyweight torpedoes. It will enter sea trials next month before delivery to the navy by the end of 2024.

Admiral Huang Shu-kuang, Tsai's security adviser leading the program, has described the submarines as a "strategic deterrent" that can also help maintain the island's "lifeline" to the Pacific by keeping ports along Taiwan's eastern coast open.

(Reporting by Carlos Garcia, Walid Berrazeg and Sarah Wu; Writing by Ben Blanchard)

Disney World government will give employees stipend after backlash for taking away park passes

MIKE SCHNEIDER
Wed, September 27, 2023 

Crowds fill Main Street USA in front of Cinderella Castle at the Magic Kingdom on the 50th anniversary of Walt Disney World, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., on Oct. 1, 2021. Facing backlash, Walt Disney World’s governing district will pay a stipend to employees whose free passes and discounts to the theme park resort were eliminated under a policy made by a new district administrator and board members who are allies of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. 

(Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel via AP, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)More

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Facing a backlash, Walt Disney World's governing district will pay a stipend to employees whose free passes and discounts to the theme park resort were eliminated under a policy made by a new district administrator and board members who are allies of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The stipend will be $3,000 a year, which is around the equivalent value of the theme park passes, Glen Gilzean, district administrator of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, told board members during a meeting Wednesday evening. The board then unanimously approved the stipend.

Board members said they had taken to heart the criticism of employees who said the free passes gave them lasting memories with their families and allowed relatives to see the fruits of their work. Without the free passes, the parks would be unaffordable, many employees said.

“We heard you and have worked to respond accordingly,” said board member Ron Peri.

Employees had enjoyed the perk for decades when Disney controlled the governing district. The district was taken over by DeSantis and the Florida Legislature earlier this year in retaliation to Disney’s opposition last year to a state law critics have called “ Don't Say Gay,” which banned classroom lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in early grades. Formerly known as the Reedy Creek Improvement District, the now renamed Central Florida Tourism Oversight District provides municipal services like mosquito control, drainage and wastewater treatment.

In justifying their elimination, board members claimed the $2.5 million in theme park season passes, as well as discounts on hotels, merchandise, food and beverages, that their Disney-supporting predecessors provided governing district employees amounted to unethical benefits and perks.

The arrangement was self-serving to the company because it funneled money back to Disney, with the district footing the bill, according to board members. Outside experts, though, have likened it more to an employee benefit rather than a taxpayer scam, similar to the way professors at a university may get free passes to athletic events or free tuition for family members.

“The old way this program was structured could no longer legally be continued,” board member Brian Aungst said Wednesday evening.

DeSantis, who is campaigning for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, took over the the governing district previously controlled by Disney allies through legislation passed by the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature and appointed a new board of supervisors to oversee municipal services for the sprawling theme parks and hotels. But the new supervisors’ authority over design and construction was restricted by the company’s agreements with Disney-supporting predecessors, which were signed before the new board took over.

In response, Florida lawmakers passed legislation that repealed those agreements.

Disney has sued DeSantis in federal court, claiming the governor violated the company’s free speech rights. The district has sued Disney in state court, seeking to nullify the agreements.

___

Follow Mike Schneider on X, formerly known as Twitter: @MikeSchneiderAP.

Israel's High Court hears challenge to law that makes it harder to remove Netanyahu from office

TIA GOLDENBERG and MOSHE EDRI
Thu, September 28, 2023 


Israelis protest against plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to overhaul the judicial system and in support of the Supreme Court ahead of Thursday's pivotal hearing, in Jerusalem, Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023. The hearing over a law that makes it more difficult to remove Netanyahu from office deepens a rift between the government and the judiciary amid months of turmoil in Israel. 

(AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s Supreme Court on Thursday was hearing a challenge to a law that makes it harder to remove a sitting prime minister, which critics say is designed to protect Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who has been working to reshape the justice system while he is on trial for alleged corruption.

The hearing is part of several pivotal court challenges against a proposed package of legislation and government steps meant to alter the country's justice system. It comes as Israel has been plunged into months of turmoil over the plan and deepens a rift between Netanyahu's government and the judiciary, which it wants to weaken despite unprecedented opposition.

The hearing is the second by the High Court on the law but was being heard Thursday by an expanded 11-judge panel, underscoring the importance of the deliberations.

Netanyahu’s governing coalition — Israel’s most religious and nationalist ever — passed the “incapacitation law” in March which allows a prime minister to be deemed unfit to rule only for medical or mental reasons. It also gives only the prime minister or his government the power to determine a leader's unfitness.

The previous law was vague about both the circumstances surrounding a prime minister being deemed unfit as well as who had the authority to declare it, leaving open the possibility that the attorney general could take the step against Netanyahu over claims that he violated a conflict of interest agreement.

Critics say the law protects Netanyahu from being deemed unfit for office because of his ongoing corruption trial and claims of a conflict of interest over his involvement in the legal overhaul. They also say the law is tailor-made for Netanyahu and encourages corruption.

Based on those criticisms, Thursday’s hearing is focusing on whether the law should come into effect after the next national elections and not immediately so that it isn't interpreted as a personalized law. A ruling is expected by January.

Dozens of protesters opposed to the overhaul gathered outside Netanyahu's private residence in Jerusalem ahead of the hearing, while Netanyahu's allies defended the law. Simcha Rothman, a main driver of the overhaul, told Israeli Army Radio that the court's decision to hear the case over the fate of a sitting prime minister was harmful to Israeli democracy and challenging the law was akin to throwing out the results of a legitimate election.

“The moment the court determines the laws then it is also the legislative branch, the judiciary and the executive branch,” he said. “This is an undemocratic reality.”

The government wants to weaken the Supreme Court and limit judicial oversight on its decisions, saying it wants to return power to elected lawmakers and away from what it sees as a liberal-leaning, interventionist justice system. The first major piece of the overhaul was passed in July and an unprecedented 15-judge panel began hearing arguments against it earlier this month.

The drive to reshape Israel’s justice system comes as Netanyahu’s trial for alleged corruption is ongoing. Netanyahu is charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate cases involving influential media moguls and wealthy associates. Netanyahu denies wrongdoing, seeing the charges as part of a “witch-hunt” against him orchestrated by a hostile media and a biased justice system.

Experts and legal officials say a conflict of interest arrangement struck after Netanyahu was indicted is meant to limit his involvement in judicial changes. After the incapacitation law was passed, Netanyahu said his hands were no longer tied and that he was taking a more active role in the legal changes underway. That sparked a rebuke from Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who said Netanyahu's remarks and any further actions were “completely illegal and in conflict of interest.”

Critics say Netanyahu and his government are working to upend the country’s delicate system of checks and balances and setting Israel on a path toward autocracy. The overhaul has plunged Israel into one of its worst domestic crises, deepening longstanding societal divisions between those who want Israel to be a Western-facing liberal democracy and those who want to emphasize the country’s more conservative Jewish character.

Netanyahu has moved forward with the overhaul despite a wave of opposition from a broad swath of Israeli society. Top legal officials, leading economists and the country’s booming tech sector have all spoken out against the judicial changes, which have sparked opposition from hundreds of military reservists, who have said they will not serve so long as the overhaul remains on the table. Tens of thousands of people have protested every Saturday for the last nine months.

___

Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel.

Israel top court weighs rules on removing prime minister

AFP
Thu, September 28, 2023 

Israel's Supreme Court president Esther Hayut and judges hear petitions against a law restricting how a prime minister can be removed from office (Menahem KAHANA)


Israel's top court debated appeals Thursday against a law restricting how a prime minister can be removed from office, as current premier Benjamin Netanyahu faces protests against the judicial overhaul.

Eleven of the Supreme Court's 15 judges sat to hear three appeals against legislation passed by parliament in March, which determined a premier can only be declared unfit for office due to health reasons.

The law also stipulated that a two-thirds majority in cabinet is required to take such a step, before the move is approved by at least 80 of the parliament's 120 members.

Opponents argue the legislative change was intended solely to benefit Netanyahu, because it removes the possibility of him being removed from office over corruption charges.

Netanyahu in May 2020 became the first sitting prime minister of Israel to stand trial over a series of graft allegations he denies.

Ahead of the Supreme Court session, dozens of protesters rallied outside his Jerusalem residence, where four people were arrested, according to the police.

Justice Minister Yariv Levin declared the hearing "an attempt to overturn the elections", in a statement published by his office.

He sits in cabinet alongside extreme-right and ultra-Orthodox allies who were elected in November.

Petitions tabled with the court demand the legislation either be scrapped or deferred until after the next elections.

The last time an Israeli prime minister was declared unfit for office was in 2006, when then incumbent Ariel Sharon was hospitalised and replaced by his deputy Ehud Olmert who held the post until the following elections.

The opposition subsequently sought to have Olmert removed from office, but the Supreme Court rejected their complaint.

Judges reached the same conclusion in 2021, when it ruled Netanyahu could stay in power despite the corruption charges against him.

He was subsequently booted out of office by the electorate, only to return to the premiership following November's election.

Since the start of the year, his government has been shaken by mass protests against its sweeping judicial reform programme.

The cabinet argues the overhaul is necessary to rebalance powers between elected officials and judges, while opponents say it paves the way for an autocracy.

Demonstrations held at least weekly since January have consistently drawn tens of thousands of protesters to the streets, making it one of the most significant protest movements in the country's history.


Israel’s Supreme Court to decide on law that could determine Netanyahu’s fate

Hadas Gold, CNN
Wed, September 27, 2023 

Abir Sultan/AP

Israel’s Supreme Court is having a busy month hearing challenges to actions by the government of Benjamin Netanyahu.

Within one month it will have heard arguments on three cases – including, this Thursday, petitions on one that affects Netanyahu most personally: an amendment making it more difficult to declare a prime minister unfit for office.

The law states that only the prime minister himself or the cabinet, with a two-thirds majority, can declare the leader unfit, and only “due to physical or mental incapacity.” The cabinet vote would then need to be ratified by a two-thirds majority in the parliament, known as the Knesset. The amendment is a change to one of Israel’s Basic Laws, the closest thing the country has to a constitution.

The amendment was passed before legislation started on a judicial overhaul package, pushed by Netanyahu’s right-wing government, that has split the country and led to months of protests by those who argue that it chips away at Israel’s democracy and weakens its judiciary.

The petitioners in Thursday’s hearing argue the amendment was passed solely for Netanyahu’s benefit – he faces an ongoing corruption trial – making it a “misuse of constituent authority.” That’s one of the bases on which the Supreme Court can, in theory, strike down amendments to a Basic Law. However, the court has never struck down a Basic Law or an amendment to one.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court heard arguments about another law, passed in July, that took away its ability to stop government actions justices rule to be “unreasonable.” It was also an amendment to a Basic Law. (The third petition is against Justice Minister Yariv Levin, who has refused to convene the committee that chooses judges, amid a dispute over its composition.)

Amir Fuchs, senior researcher at the Israel Democracy Institute’s Center for Democratic Values and Institutions, told CNN that never before have there been “so many challenges” in the Supreme Court to amendments to Basic Laws.

“(We’ve) never had so many hearings in the court so close together. This is a unique and unprecedented constitutional crisis,” Fuchs said.
What law was changed?

Until this law was changed, there was no written legislation that dictated how a prime minister could be removed from office for being “unfit” to serve, although Fuchs said there was some precedent with case law that indicated the attorney general could make that ruling.

“I do believe we did have a flawed arrangement before. It was too vague. It demanded an amendment,” Fuchs said. “But it’s very clear that the motive for this law was totally personal.”

That’s because there were petitions to declare Netanyahu unfit to serve because of his ongoing corruption trial. He is the first sitting Israeli prime minister to appear in court as a defendant, on trial for charges of fraud, breach of trust and bribery. He denies any wrongdoing.

As part of a deal with the court to continue serving as prime minister despite his ongoing trial, Netanyahu in 2020 agreed to a conflict-of-interest declaration.

The attorney general determined at the time that the declaration meant Netanyahu could not be involved in policy making that affects the judicial system – like the judicial overhaul. Certain aspects of the overhaul, Netanyahu’s opponents have argued, could make it much easier for him to get out of the corruption trial.

Earlier this year, when Justice Minister Levin announced the government’s plans for a judicial overhaul, Netanyahu said his hands were tied and he couldn’t get involved because of the conflict-of-interest declaration.

But in March, hours after the amendment making it more difficult to declare a prime minister unfit for office was passed, Netanyahu announced he was getting involved.

“Until today, my hands have been tied,” the prime minister said at the time. “We have reached an absurd situation in which if I’d intervened (in the judicial overhaul legislation) as my job required, I would have been declared unfit to serve … Tonight I inform you: Enough is enough. I will be involved.”
What happens in the hearing?

A preliminary hearing with three judges has already been held on this case. On Thursday, arguments will be heard again, this time in front of 11 of the 15 Supreme Court justices.

Normally the attorney general would put forward the government’s case in a Supreme Court hearing, but AG Gali Bahrav-Miara will not. She agrees with petitioners that the amendment should not stand, as she did earlier this month during the hearing on the “reasonableness” law.

The justices could strike down the amendment, declaring that the parliament carried out a “misuse of constituent power,” Fuchs said. That would be for passing legislation not for general purposes but for political purposes, to benefit a specific individual: Netanyahu.

Fuchs noted that the timing of the bill – raised and passed within just a few weeks – and on the record comments made during the discussions of the bill in parliament made it clear the purpose of the law was to protect Netanyahu.

The Supreme Court could also declare that the law “is not active right now,” and would only be active once the next parliament takes over. That could be a way out of a thorny constitutional situation.

“It takes away most of the problem because once you decide it’s only active next Knesset, it means it won’t solve any personal problem for Netanyahu and it gives time for the Knesset to re-think the arrangement,” Fuchs said.

The court decision must be made no later than January 12, 2024, due to the retirements of judges hearing the case.
What other challenges to the Israeli government’s judicial overhaul is the Supreme Court hearing?

The court must also decide by then on the petition against the law that struck down the court’s ability to declare government actions “unreasonable.” That is considered a much bigger challenge, and one where, for the first time, all 15 of the current Supreme Court justices took the case. The ruling on that petition is expected to take longer than the one being heard on Thursday.

Additionally, the Supreme Court is due to hear a challenge to the justice minister delaying convening the committee to select new Supreme Court justices. Netanyahu’s government wishes to re-formulate how justices are selected in Israel to give politicians more sway.

The committee was supposed to meet last week, but Levin postponed the meeting.

“It’s very important even though it is [an] administrative issue, not a petition against a basic law,” Fuchs said of the challenge, since Levin could be ordered to follow a court ruling on an essential element of the judicial overhaul.

But the real crisis could come after the Supreme Court issues all three rulings, Fuchs said, if Netanyahu and his government choose to defy them. Despite repeated questions from CNN among others, he has yet to commit to following them.

“This is in the hands of the government because they can accept the decision. Even though (Netanyahu is) avoiding the question on whether he will abide by the decision, doesn’t mean he won’t,” Fuchs said.

‘Once we win California, the nation is next’: what a caste discrimination ban means for Americans

Mary Yang
Wed, September 27, 2023 

Photograph: John G Mabanglo/EPA

California could soon become the first state to ban discrimination on the basis of caste, propelling a growing civil rights movement to its biggest stage yet.

In recent years, efforts to ban caste discrimination have become increasingly widespread. Pending approval from Governor Gavin Newsom, the ban in California would follow the likes of Seattle and dozens of college campuses nationwide – including the 23-school California state university system – to explicitly define “caste” and add it to a list of protected identities.

Related: California poised to become first US state to ban caste discrimination

Earlier this month, state legislators voted 31-5 to approve SB403, which amends California’s housing, labor and education codes to cover discrimination based on one’s ancestry. According to the bill, that specifically includes “caste”, a system of social stratification based on one’s inherited status with roots in south Asia, which spans India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.

Anti-caste discrimination activists say the law in California would empower caste-oppressed people while educating both south Asians and non-south Asians on an issue they say remains prevalent on the Asian continent and in the diaspora abroad.

“It has become psychological trauma that carries over, one generation to the other generation,” said Nirmal Singh, a physician from Bakersfield, California, who was born into a historically oppressed caste in south Asia. “This was a very important bill for us.”

The California bill defines caste as “an individual’s perceived position in a system of social stratification on the basis of inherited status”, which can be characterized by a number of factors including the “inability or restricted ability to alter inherited status; socially enforced restrictions on marriage, private and public segregation, and discrimination; and social exclusion on the basis of perceived status”, according to the text.

Introduced by the Democratic state senator Aisha Wahab, the first Afghan American elected to public office in the US, the bill would update the state’s housing and employment laws, as well as the state’s education codes, banning anti-caste bias at all public schools in California.

The impact of such a policy change on campus was immediate for Prem Pariyar, who is from Nepal and identifies as Dalit, the lowest caste in the Hindu social stratum and whose members were marginalized and referred to as “untouchables”.

You cannot imagine the mental health, the trauma associated with this caste

Prem Pariyar

“You cannot imagine the mental health, the trauma associated with this caste,” said Pariyar, who advocated for anti-caste discrimination as a graduate student studying social work at California State University East Bay.

Growing up Dalit in Nepal, Pariyar said he was bullied by upper-caste classmates at school and treated differently by his teachers. He said they punished him more harshly than they did the other students, claiming one of his teachers once spit out water after a classmate said he’d touched the glass.

One in three Dalit students said they experienced discrimination, according to a 2018 survey of just over 1,500 people who identified as south Asian by Dalit civil rights organization Equality Labs.

Pariyar moved to the US about a decade ago, expecting to be free of caste discrimination but encountering it first-hand after one of his professors invited him to speak about his experience of Nepal during class.

He said other Indian students’ attitudes toward him shifted after he revealed he was Dalit, and that they distanced themselves and excluded him from social events.

When the university announced the system-wide policy in January 2022, Pariyar called it his “new year’s gift”.

A handful of schools outside of California have also instituted policies identifying caste as a protected identity, which has elevated students’ awareness of the issue, according to faculty members involved with university policy changes.

In 2019, Brandeis University became the first US college to identify and define caste as a targeted identity after administrators amended the school’s non-discrimination policy.



Supporters of the bill staged a hunger strike outside the state capitol of Sacramento, California on 6 September 2023. Photograph: John G Mabanglo/EPA

“I often say caste is a hidden discrimination in America,” said Laurence Simon, a professor of international development who was part of administration-led conversations surrounding the policy change and whose research centers on social exclusion. “Most people not of south Asian heritage really don’t know anything about caste and wouldn’t see it in front of them because they’re not targets.”

Simon told the Guardian he believes it has “become visible on campus”, adding that all new students and faculty now learn about caste as its anti-discrimination policies are a part of orientation. “Visible in terms of why we have a policy of non-discrimination”.

At Brown University, which added a non-discrimination provision for caste in 2022, the push was student-led, according to Vincent Harris, an associate dean and director of the Brown center for students of color.

“Initially, I had to sharpen my own knowledge about the caste system,” said Harris, who received an email from a student asking about how they might cement caste as a protected class. “[Administrators] were able to play a pivotal role towards what the university did, but it was a student’s perspective that really galvanized this movement.”

Beyond college campuses, Seattle is so far the only government body in the US that has explicitly outlawed discrimination on the basis of one’s caste.

“There is a big, tangible shift where there is now a bold acknowledgment that caste discrimination not only exists but is actually quite pervasive,” said Kshama Sawant, the Seattle city councilmember who introduced the ordinance adding caste to the city’s anti-discrimination laws.

Sawant said that while discrimination “obviously” does not end overnight, the effort to pass the city ordinance, which garnered significant support among Dalit civil rights and south Asian advocacy groups, has already empowered caste-oppressed people.

“It’s actually the experience of fighting to win itself that starts bringing about that shift,” said Sawant.

It’s actually the experience of fighting to win itself that starts bringing about that shift

Kshama Sawant

Still, banning caste discrimination remains somewhat controversial. Opposition to anti-caste discrimination policies, including the pending bill in California, has been loud among Hindu Americans who say the bill is “racist” and unlawfully targets south Asians.

Suhag Shukla, the executive director of advocacy group Hindu American Foundation, said that the bill would give California businesses a “license to discriminate against South Asians”. The group has lobbied against the bill, saying its passage would trigger a rise in Hinduphobia.

“The bill, if signed into law, will deprive South Asians of their constitutional rights of equal protection and due process in the workplace, schools and in the housing sector. We’re hopeful that Governor Newsom will stand up for the rights of the South Asians minority and veto this bill,” said the Hindu American Foundation’s managing director, Samir Kalra, in a statement to the Guardian.

Proponents of the bill also point out that it bans all bias based on ancestry, protecting other marginalized groups outside of south Asia.

“Certainly one of the largest and casted communities is the south Asian community, which is why you’ve had so many south Asian people advocating for this bill,” said Thenmozhi Soundararajan, the founder of Dalit civil rights organization Equality Labs and who grew up in eastern Los Angeles. “But there are caste-oppressed communities in many countries with their own practices of discrimination based on work and descent.”

She listed, for example, the Roma people in Europe, Burakumin people in Japan, Midgan in Somalia and Indigenous peoples of Latin America.

“You see many people who suffer from this type of discrimination asking for remedy,” said Soundararajan.

Newsom has not yet confirmed that he will sign the bill into law. The Hindu American Foundation as of press time does not yet have an indication of the governor’s decision, according to Mat McDermott, the group’s senior communications director.

But Soundararajan and other advocates say they are confident they’ll have his signature.

“Once we win California, the nation is next,” said Soundararajan.

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