‘Presidential palace’ built on occupied Jaffna land to be leased by government

 SRI LANKA

‘Presidential palace’ built on occupied Jaffna land to be leased by government

 24 October 2023

Photo courtesy of lanciburuwa.blogspot.com

The Sri Lankan government announced the so-called ‘presidential palace’ in Jaffna, which was constructed by the military in 2012 on land that it had seized from local Tamils, will now be leased out to a private university.

The five-star luxury ‘palace’ was built on occupied land in the Naguleshwaram and Valikamam area of Kankesanthurai in Jaffna, at a staggering cost of Rs. 3.5 billion.

It was built in 2012, on 12 hectares of land, owned by at least 17 private owners. The building itself spans 9.95 hectares and boasts 20 rooms, 2 swimming pools and was built by the Sri Lankan military. In 2015, former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakse who launched the construction, claimed the building would not be a residential palace but rather a “International Relations Center” constructed to host foreign diplomats and dignitaries.

The local Tamil community was roundly opposed to its construction. In 2021, the Valikamam North local council chairman said it had been built in an area adjacent to 64 critical venues, including temples, freshwater springs and ancient caves.

At least 62 acres of the land used for the ‘palace’ was also land that was part of the Kankesanthurai Cement Factory. “The lands adjacent to it are to be acquired by the Army for tourism development projects,” said TNA MP Mavai Senathirajah. “We are against this move at all costs. This land is historically important to our people.”

In 2019, the then Northern Province Governor Suren Raghavan admitted that around 16,000 people in the Northern Province remain landless, while 5,000 people are embroiled in various land disputes. 

Nevertheless, the construction continued. The Sunday Morning however revealed that it has since “remained abandoned and unused for many years, devoid of any official Government activities”.

Now, the palace is reportedly set to be leased to the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLITT), a private university on the island.

Your Navy

TRICARE won’t cover over-the-counter birth control pill

By Meghann Myers
Oct 24, 2023
(

Aaliyah Essex/Navy)

The first over-the-counter birth control pill available in the U.S. has been Food and Drug Administration-approved since July, but the military’s health insurance isn’t stocking or covering it, according to a letter several senators sent to the Defense Department on Monday.

The lawmakers hope that the non-prescription pill will increase access to contraceptives for service members and their dependents.

“Studies show that requiring prescriptions for contraception can be a barrier to access due to prolonged appointment wait times, difficulty scheduling time off from work, and challenges finding childcare during medical appointment times — hurdles that are exacerbated by the nature of military service,” the letter reads. “The prescription requirement in part contributes to the lower rate of contraception use among active duty service members compared to the national population.”

Defense Department data shows that in 2018, nearly two-thirds of service members who became unintentionally pregnant were not using birth control.

Unlike many private health insurance plans, TRICARE is not subject to the Affordable Care Act. Service members and their dependents, therefore, are not entitled to copay-free contraceptives.

“The Military Health System serves approximately 1.6 million women of reproductive age, including service members, retirees and their dependents,” the letter reads. “As part of the full spectrum of reproductive health care, contraception provides individuals control over their reproductive health and family planning. Access to contraception, as well as education about it, increases readiness and improves quality of life for our service members and their families.”

Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, a DoD spokesman, told Military Times that he could not confirm receipt of the letter, but said that, “as always, we will respond to Congress appropriately.”

In the wake of the overturn of Roe v. Wade, 40 percent of active duty women are stationed in a state with severely restricted access to abortions, or none at all. The Pentagon has authorized leave and reimbursements for travel expenses to go out of state, but those benefits still require approval of time off by one’s chain of command.

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DoD attempts to get its head around how the end of Roe affects troops
About 80,000 female troops live in states with restrictive abortion access.
By Meghann Myers

Sens. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., Maizie Hirono, D-Hawaii, Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., and Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., authored the letter, which was endorsed by 31 colleagues, including Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine.

The letter requests that DoD respond by the end of the month with its plan to stock and cover over-the-counter birth control without a copay at its pharmacies, or otherwise provide a reason why it can’t support the request.

Skelmorlie's Pennywise-style clown is back with a 'message and a game for the nation'

Sky News
Updated Tue, 24 October 2023 



A clown that has been stalking the streets of a Scottish village is back and has a "message for the nation".

The masked character, wearing a Pennywise-style outfit, has created a game "for the country to play in" after previously leaving riddles and clues for the villagers of Skelmorlie in North Ayrshire to solve.

In a video uploaded to Facebook at the weekend, the clown has highlighted a number of landmarks across Scotland and is urging people to visit them and take pictures of their "scariest faces".

The snapshots should then be shared online with the hashtag #Skelmorlieclown.

The Duke of Wellington statue in Glasgow - which is well known due to the iconic traffic cone on its head - is one of the hotspots singled out by the clown.

Edinburgh Castle, The Kelpies sculptures in Falkirk and Loch Ness were also mentioned. And for those more adventurous, the clown is challenging people to take a picture at the top of Ben Nevis - the highest mountain in Scotland at 1,345m (around 4,413ft).

The clown rhymed: "I have a message addressed to the nation. I've created a game for the country to play in.

"Robert Burns cottage, where the legend was from. The Bannockburn monument, where our king won.

"In the Loch Ness, home to our Nessie. In Falkirk the horses that go by the Kelpies.

"In Glasgow the man with the cone on his head. At Edinburgh Castle where kings and queens met.

"In Largs at the Pencil, where Vikings fought. And climb Ben Nevis right to the top.

"Skara Brae from times of old. And at the Calanais Standing Stones.

"All of these landmarks from the east to the west make up the country we know is the best.

"Your game is quite simple, at each of these places... go take a picture with your scariest faces.

"Post it online so your pic can be found and use the hashtag #Skelmorlieclown."

Read more from Sky News:

Florida's killer clown shooting case ends

The horrific crimes of Killer Clown and the Candy Man

The clown made headlines across the globe earlier this month for their "message to the media" and cheeky "dare" for the police to catch them - although there is no suggestion any crime has been committed.

Residents in Skelmorlie recently teamed up to solve one of the clown's riddles which led them to the village's community garden.

A small black cash box awaited their discovery. But instead of treasure inside, the villagers were greeted with their own reflection via a mirror that had the word "clown" written on it.

Isy Agnew was one of the villagers who solved the riddle after waking up on Friday 13th to find a red balloon and box that included a key outside her front door.

Ms Agnew told Sky News she loved the "clever" joke and said the clown's Halloween appearances "bring the community together".

The clown's games are expected to run up to Halloween.

The joker is dressed similarly to Pennywise the Dancing Clown from Stephen King's It.

The character stalks the streets of Derry in Maine, where he kills children roughly every 27 years.

The 1986 horror novel was made into a two-part mini-series in 1990 with Tim Curry in the role. Bill Skarsgard then played the villain in the Hollywood adaptations in 2017 and 2019.

A Facebook account for the Skelmorlie clown has been set up with the name Cole Deimos. The profile says the character "studied at Clown School" and lives in Skelmorlie.

Those that know the identity of the clown - who seemingly first appeared in the village two years ago - are so far keeping their lips sealed as to who's behind the mask.

Addressing their identity in the latest video, the clown rhymed: "Many have tried and all have failed. The Skelmorlie clown will never be unveiled."

McDonald’s Turkey sends million dollars to Gaza amid outcry over McDonald’s Israel's free meals for soldiers

Facing calls for a boycott of its outlets, McDonald's Turkey hurried to stress it has no connection to McDonald's Israel.

By Akin Nazli in Belgrade October 23, 2023

McDonald’s Turkey has donated a million dollars in humanitarian aid to Gaza to underline that it has no connection to McDonald’s Israel.

The move was on October 21 confirmed by McDonald’s Turkey (McDonaldsTR) in a statement amid simmering anger in Middle Eastern countries that back the Palestinian cause over how McDonald’s Israel has been delivering free meal boxes to Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers involved in Gaza Strip military operations and Israel’s besieging of the Palestinian territory.

McDonald’s Turkey is a local entity owned by Qatar-based Boheme Investment, the statement pointed out.

In all, McDonald’s franchises across the Middle East—including the franchises in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, the UAE, Jordan, Egypt, Bahrain and Turkey—have donated more than $3mn to Gaza in their bid to distance themselves from their Israeli counterpart, Aljazeera has reported.

As news of McDonald’s Israel’s generosity to IDF soldiers—including 50% discounts for soldiers visiting its restaurants—spread, there were calls in Turkey for a boycott of McDonald’s Turkey outlets. Responding to the backlash, McDonald’s Turkey said there was no operational or organisational connection between McDonald’s Turkey and McDonald’s Israel. The latter, said the former, makes its own business and communication decisions.

Since announcing its support for the Israeli army, McDonald’s Israel, after igniting anger among consumers in Arab and Muslim countries, has switched its Instagram account to “private”.

McDonald’s does not have any restaurants in Gaza or the occupied West Bank Palestinian territory, but Israel has been involved in clashes with Hezbollah fighters in neighbouring Lebanon, a country that does have the American chain.

McDonald’s (New York/MCD) Turkey, launched in 1986, operates 260 restaurants across the country.

In 2022, Boheme Investment acquired 100% of McDonald’s Turkey from Anadolu Group (AGHOL) for a consideration of $55mn.

Vienna-based Boheme Investment is owned by Kamal Saleh Al Mana, a Qatari investor. The investor also has a partnership that operates the McDonald's restaurants franchise in Qatar.

Obtained figures show dire surging debts of Turkish farmers forced to put land up as collateral

By bne IntelIiNews October 24, 2023

Turkish farmers are increasingly putting land up as collateral for surging debts.

More than 2.2mn have mortgages on their title deeds covering round 42.3mn decares of agricultural land, according to an October 24 BirGun report.

Since 2017, the newspaper said, the debts of farmers in Turkey have quadrupled to Turkish lira 391bn ($13.9bn), with the title deeds of 2.23mn farmers in all who cannot pay their debts mortgaged.

In Turkey, mortgages can secure various types of debts, while real property such as land plots or buildings can be used as collateral.

A lawmaker of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), Ahmet Vehbi Bakirlioglu, obtained information from the agriculture and forestry ministry on mortgaged agricultural areas and the current debts of farmers.

"From 2002 to June 2018, farmers' debts to banks grew from 2.4 billion lira to 97 billion lira, and as of now, they stand at 391 billion lira, marking a fourfold increase during the period of one-man rule," Bakirlioglu was reported as saying, referencing the two decades Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been the country’s leader.

"Konya, Izmir, Adana, Manisa and Sanliurfa [provinces] are in the top 10 in terms of the ratio of mortgaged agricultural areas to total agricultural areas in the province. These figures show us that even those who do not make a living from farming have their fields, vineyards and gardens under mortgage," he added.

Highest ranked for mortgaged agricultural land was the Central Anatolian Konya province, a crucial agriculture region for Turkey. Some 4.65mn decares belonging to 103,000 farmers were recorded as mortgaged agricultural land.

Due to raging inflation and rising costs, farmers have often opted to destroy their crops in recent years. Some have even dumped harvested crops on roads in protest at government policies.

Big banks linked to products with pangolin parts

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IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES

Image caption,

Leopard bone is used in traditional Chinese medicine

By Alex Binley

BBC News

Global banking giants are investing in companies which produce traditional Chinese medicines containing leopard and pangolin parts, a report has found.

Both species are classed as threatened.

The Environmental Investigation Authority (EIA) identified 62 banks and financial institutions which are investing in three pharmaceutical groups making nine products which they say contain leopard or pangolin.

The BBC has contacted the companies in question for comment.

The companies include UK financial services giants such as HSBC, Prudential, and Legal & General, as well as global investment firms including Goldman Sachs, UBS, Deutsche Bank and BlackRock.

Leopards and pangolins are threatened, which means they are likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future. Both are also listed on the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) treaty which prohibits international commercial trade in them and their parts, in a bid to ensure their survival in the wild is not threatened.

The three pharmaceutical companies, highlighted in the EIA report are Tong Ren Tang group, Tianjin Pharmaceutical group and Jilin Aodong Pharmaceutical Group.

Not all the companies listed in the EIA report invest in all three of them, but they all invest in at least one.

In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) leopard bone is used as a tiger bone substitute. Tiger bone is believed to strengthen bones and sinews, provide pain relief and help get rid of wind. Pangolin scales are said to aid blood circulation, lactation and help with rheumatic pain relief. These claims are not backed up by scientific fact.

Following the report's publication, EIA Legal & Policy Specialist Avinash Basker called on the Chinese government to "fulfil CITES recommendations and prohibit the use of the body parts of leopards, pangolins, tigers and rhinos from all sources for all commercial purposes in its domestic markets".

"The use of highly threatened animals such as leopards, pangolins, rhino and tigers in traditional medicine products disregards CITES recommendations made by the international community to protect these species. This is use on an effectively industrial scale which can only push these species ever-closer to extinction, simultaneously sending mixed messages to consumers, fuelling demand for their parts and derivatives and tainting the global reputation of TCM," he said.

IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES

Image caption,

Pangolin scales are said to aid blood circulation, lactation and help with rheumatic pain relief, in traditional Chinese medicine

"It's particularly disappointing to see so many major banks and financial institutions effectively endorsing this damaging exploitation, especially as so many have pledged to do otherwise," he added. "If their environmental credentials are to have any credibility, they need to divest from TCM manufacturers using threatened species at the soonest opportunity."

The EIA said it was unable to find how the leopard or pangolin derivatives were being sourced.

In a statement, HSBC said it is "not a direct investor and does not have direct exposure to these companies". It added that the EIA report includes a response from HSBC Global Asset Management Canada that the company's "investments in the TCM companies were limited to passive or 'tracker' funds rather than actively managed funds". This means that funds are automatically invested in shares based on a linked index - for example, the FTSE 100 - which they track.

Deutsche Bank said that the report focuses on asset managers and directed the BBC to DWS, the asset management company that was once part of DB but is now a separate listed entity.

In a statement, DWS said it has "different ESG-related [environmental, social and governance] policies that provide guidance on the integration of ESG information into our investment processes, engagement, and proxy voting activities, where we combine our voting rights for active and passive funds.

"Globally, there are no actively managed DWS funds invested in any of these three issuers," it said.

Legal & General Investment Management said it "manages many funds against a range of different index providers to meet a wide variety of different client demands".

"LGIM is aware that one of the key drivers of nature-loss, as identified by Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Service (IPBES), is 'natural resource use and exploitation', that covers exploitation of wild species," the firm said.

"As such, we are developing a 'nature framework' that targets these IPBES drivers, that includes integration and disclosure of high-quality, consistent, location-specific data, that relates to company behaviour around these key nature-related issues."

BlackRock declined to comment.

The BBC has approached UBS, Tong Ren Tang group, Tianjin Pharmaceutical group and Jilin Aodong Pharmaceutical Group, for comment.

CANADIAN MINER
Protesters march in Panama against the contract extension for a huge copper mine

Oct. 23, 2023

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Demonstrators pull down a barricade during a protest against a recently approved mining contract between the government and Canadian mining company First Quantum, outside the National Assembly in Panama City, Monday, Oct. 23, 2023.Arnulfo Franco/AP

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PANAMA CITY (AP) — Protesters blocked streets across Panama on Monday, demanding the government rescind a contract to continue copper mining in a biodiverse region.

Teaching and construction unions led calls against the contract with environmentalists, saying continued development threatens forested land and crucial groundwater just 75 miles (120 kilometers) west of the capital, in the state of Colon.

Across Panama City, peaceful protesters handed out fliers, but in some areas on the outskirts of the capital police met protesters with tear gas. In anticipation of the largest marches since a cost of living crisis last July, both the Department of Education and the University of Panama cancelled classes.

The government used social media to highlight the “enormous contribution” the mine — Panama's largest private investment ever — makes to the country's economy.

In March, Panama's legislature reached an agreement with Canadian mining company First Quantum, allowing its local subsidiary, Minera Panama, to continue operating a huge open-pit copper mine in central Panama for at least 20 more years. The mine was temporarily closed last year when talks between the government and First Quantum broke down over payments the government wanted to receive.

Protests began after President Laurentino Cortizo signed off on that contract on Friday after it was approved by the congress.

The president acted surreptitiously, according to Fernando Abrego, leader of Panama's Association of Teachers union. “The government decided this confrontation by quickly and expeditiously approving a contract they know is rejected by the people,” he said.

Teachers were joined by construction workers, who are one of country's most powerful labor groups. “The people are in the streets in defense of sovereignty," said union leader Saúl Méndez, "in the face of a contract that cedes self-determination by devastating the environment to steal resources.”

It is unclear how persuasive these arguments will prove against the economic boon of a single mining site that already brings in 3% of the nation’s gross domestic product. Minera Panama says the mine will employ thousands of Panamanians and that its shipments make 80% of the country's total exports.

The new contract, initially slowed by labor disagreements, secures Panama at least $375 million a year from Minera Panama, over 10 times more than the previous deal. It represents one of the largest national mining contracts in a region where other countries like Costa Rica regulate the sector more stringently and El Salvador which banned metal mining in 2017.

For teachers, however, Abrego said concession was not an option, and that the teachers' union would hold an assembly to plan their next actions. “We will remain in the streets,” he said.

Senators take Biden official to task over coups in West Africa 

WERE FORMER FRENCH COLONIES

BY LYDIA MCFARLANE - 10/24/23 

Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) arrives for an all Senators meeting to hear from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky discuss future aide for the war effort on Thursday, September 21, 2023.

Leading Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee were critical of the United States’ response to a series of coups in West Africa since President Biden took office, during a hearing on Tuesday.

There has been a wave of coups in the region, including in Niger, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Chad, Gabon, and Mali. Although the U.S. government initially refused to label the military takeovers in Niger and Gabon coups, it has deemed both a coup this month.

But senators including committee Chair Ben Cardin (D-Md.) said it was clear that the U.S. government needed a “critical evaluation” of its policies on handling coups.

“I would just argue the fact that we don’t have a consistent response to those who participate in coups has led to the view that you can commit a coup and still remain a relationship with the United States,” Cardin said.

In countries like Niger, where the United States has large military bases, the coup designation posed tricky questions about military ties with the new junta, likely contributing to the delay. And in places like Gabon, the US halted non-humanitarian aid even before officially acknowledging the coup.

Cardin said the U.S. must stop sending mixed messages and “take a principal stance when coups occur.”

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) also called out America’s “intelligence failure” in the region, noting that several US-trained military officials took part in the coup efforts, including in Niger, where American provided weapons and gear were used as well.

Appearing before the committee, Molly Phee, the State Department’s assistant secretary for the Bureau of African Affairs, admitted that those links were concerning, but said was not representative of the Department of Defense’s training program, which has trained thousands of foreign soldiers.

“I want to say that we all share the disappointment that military leaders with whom we have worked would make a decision to support a coup,” Phee said. “Generally speaking, they have positive results. It’s certainly something we can review.”

Several senators expressed concern over the delay in recognizing the coups in Niger and Gabon, and asked why the US was not hitting the new leaders with sanctions, as the European Union has done in Niger.

“Some of us think [the delay] may have shown the military authorities that the consequences of a coup are not going to be felt,” Cardin said. “They look at the fact that we have not imposed sanctions on any of the individuals involved in coups. To me, it’s giving the wrong signals… that the consequences won’t be there.”

Phee said U.S. allies in the region have asked to delay sanctions as they try to restore Niger’s democracy on their own.

“Our friends and partners in ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) all asked us to delay making our formal assessment because they were fully committed to trying to restore President Bazoum to power, and they thought that our statement would derail their efforts,” Phee answered. “We were trying to support the subregion in its efforts to promote democracy and the restoration of democracy.”

The official U.S. designation of a coup triggers the application of Section 7008, which bars direct aid to governments in countries where the “duly elected head of government is deposed by a military coup d’état or decree.”

However, in some cases the U.S. has sought to continue varying levels of humanitarian aid or, in the case of Mali, ongoing support for law enforcement. But Phee said the State Department had learned from that experience.

“We have adjusted our policy because what we did in Mali didn’t work,” Phee said. “So, what we are doing now in Niger and Gabon, we are applying 7008 but also incorporating other US government assistance and cooperation so there’s an across-the-board suspension.”

“We believe we were making a very positive impact in Niger, but we have suspended those activities because of the coup, and we have told the authorities that our partnership was making a difference and if they’d like to resume that partnership, they need to make changes,” Phee added.

Another challenge facing America’s present in West Africa is vacancies of ambassador posts, due largely to a hold from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).

According to Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), “In Africa alone there are 11 vacant ambassador posts.”

“When we are not there, we cannot compete with China and Russia,” Shaheen said, asking Phee to assess the impact of the vacancies.

“When we are missing that voice, we are diminished in all of our efforts,” Phee said.

“I ask you to support the administration’s budget requests and confirm ambassadors.”

Most Americans oppose GOP plan to raid climate funds for farm bill

BY SAUL ELBEIN - 10/24/23 

Young corn plants grow in a field in rural Ashland, Neb., Wednesday, May 30, 2018. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)

A striking majority of poll respondents oppose congressional Republicans’ plans to repurpose conservation funding for non-climate-related farm bill programs.

In a poll released exclusively to The Hill on Tuesday, voters across six leading agriculture states opposed those plans by a ratio of 3 to 1.

And despite the fact that the GOP is the party pushing to repurpose the conservation funds, likely Republican voters opposed doing so by a factor of 2 to 1.

“There aren’t many climate solutions that have broader support from voters than the work America’s farmers and ranchers are doing voluntarily on their land,” said Andrew Mills, director of the National Audubon Society Action Fund, one of the nonprofits that commissioned the poll.

The survey results “overwhelming validate this support,” Mills added.

The funds in question were passed as part of the Democrats’ 2022 climate and health care stimulus package, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which earmarked nearly $20 billion to pour much-needed cash into popular — and massively oversubscribed — voluntary federal programs that pay for farmers to adapt their lands to become more resilient in the face of extreme weather.

But Republicans and Democrats are now struggling over that money amid the slow collapse of the farm bill, which subsidizes vast swaths of the American food system.

As a deadlocked Congress struggles with how to pass the mammoth $1.5 trillion bill — which expired without being renewed in early October — Republicans are pushing to repurpose the new climate and conservation funding to patch gaps in that massive budget.

The programs that money is currently being put toward — like the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) — are popular across the political spectrum.

Four out of five poll respondents said they supported incentives and voluntary programs for farmers and other landowners “to conserve agricultural lands, wildlife habitat, wetlands and other natural areas.”

Among Republican poll respondents, that number was only slightly lower — 75 percent supported CSP and EQIP.

And more than 70 percent of respondents supported incentives for “climate-smart” agriculture — though the understanding of what that term means varies wildly depending on who is saying it, and the poll does not specify.

Republican leaders like Agriculture Committee Chair Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson (Pa.) have reportedly proposed taking the conservation money and using it for non-conservation purposes instead — for example, to fund increased subsidies for certain farmers.

With no new revenue incoming for the farm bill, Thompson told Politico that the team negotiating the bill would have to find existing line items to cut from it “because there is a real need for a safety net, for research, for expanded trade tools.”

The reported proposal was to slash conservation funding in the bill itself as part of a broader package of $50 billion in cuts — which include reductions in food aid — and put that money into other agricultural programs.

In a proposal leaked earlier this month, Thompson had also suggested taking the $20 billion in conservation funding passed under the IRA and using it to offer higher benchmark subsidies — or “reference prices” — to growers of commodities like corn, cotton and soy.

When market prices fall below the reference price, commodity growers get a check from the government to make up the loss — and commodity growers have long complained that reference prices are now so far below market prices that they’re taking losses anyway.

Raising those prices — and getting more money into the pockets of commodity growers — was one of Thompson’s three top priorities for this farm bill.

The problem, as he said in August, was finding the cash to do so — an endeavor he compared to “lifting rocks.”

But both mid-sized farmers and environmental activists argue that such a reference price increase — particularly at the price of the conservation programs — would redirect funds from all farmers to just a few.

According to a September report by the Environmental Working Group, if reference prices were increased, just 6,000 of the nation’s 2 million farmers — less than 0.3 percent of the total — would receive increased funding.

Meanwhile, the conservation programs are ailing. While funding to raise the money available to farmers for conservation projects increased in the 2018 farm bill, the actual amount of land covered fell, according to the American Farm Bureau.

On Monday, every Democrat in the House urged Thompson not to appropriate conservation funding for other purposes.

“Three out of four [Conservation Stewardship Program] applicants are turned away due to inadequate funding; moving the IRA funds from conservation would be denying farmers the support they need and want,” they wrote.

Rep. Nikki Budzinski (D-Ill.) told Politico that Democrats were a “‘united front’ to protect ‘100 percent’ of the IRA dollars in the conservation title.”

On an ironic note, one reason that budgetary gaps in the farm bill are growing is because of expensive damage caused by global warming: in particular, the expensive and protracted onslaught of droughts, storms and floods as fossil fuel and agricultural emissions heat up the planet.

Heavy rains have wiped out entire crops in an afternoon; intense heat has killed dairy cattle, sickened farm workers and forced some operations to sow and harvest by night; and droughts has left nearly three-quarters of the nation’s farmers facing reduced crop yields.

Insurance payouts to farmers after extreme weather have gone up fivefold since the early 2000s, and agricultural disasters cost the nation’s farmers $21.5 billion last year alone, according to Grist. (Crop insurance is a key part of the farm bill omnibus.)

A rise in spending for food aid under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) — demand for which surged during the COVID-19 pandemic — is another major cause of the shortfall.

More than 80 percent of the farm bill goes to SNAP funding, which — because it subsidizes the purchase of food — doubles as a back-door subsidy to the nation’s farmers.

Republicans pushed to cut this funding in the 2014 and 2018 farm bills, and Thompson’s leaked proposal also incorporates $30 billion in cuts to SNAP.

Conservatives have argued that many who get SNAP payments don’t need them or are using them for purposes they consider frivolous.

“My goal is preservation [of aid] for those truly in need,” Thompson said in a June hearing, according to agriculture magazine Successful Farming.

Thompson added that the bill should “foster self-sufficiency,” and one witness called for “commonsense restrictions on SNAP purchases,” which included banning the use of funds on soda.

These efforts would “jeopardize … the passage of a bipartisan farm bill,” congressional Democrats wrote to then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in August.

The House did ultimately fail to pass the legislation before the 2018 version expired — though the programs the bill supports will continue through the end of the year.

And the next iteration of the farm bill, which is supposed to be passed every five years to guarantee consistent coverage to the programs that support the nation’s food system, appears to face a tough road.

Following McCarthy’s removal from the Speakership, the House has been stuck at a standstill for weeks as Republicans have failed to marshal the necessary majority to elect a new leader for the chamber.

Republicans and Democrats also remain at odds over the big annual omnibus funding bills that keep the government running — and the contents of the farm bill itself, including the SNAP and conservation funding.

“This is a terrible time to do a farm bill,” Texas A&M professor Joe Outlaw told Maryland Matters earlier this month.

WW3.0 PENDING
Australia deploys more aircraft, personnel to Middle East

A view of the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, October 24, 2023. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

SYDNEY - Australia said on Wednesday it had deployed two more military aircraft and a "significant number" of defence personnel to the Middle East to help support its citizens there if the ongoing war between Israel and militant group Hamas escalates.

A deadly cross-border attack by Iran-backed Hamas on Oct. 7 stunned Israel, killing more than 1,400 people, while the Palestinian health ministry said at least 5,791 Palestinians had been killed by subsequent Israeli bombardments, including 2,360 children.

Australia sent a Boeing C-17 aircraft and an air refueler plane that has the capacity to carry passengers, taking the total to three, Defence Minister Richard Marles said.

He did not disclose the total number of personnel deployed and where the aircraft would be based due to security reasons but said they would not be based in Israel.

"It is a significant number of personnel, though, and they're there to support the aircraft and to support what that aircraft might ultimately have to do," Marles told Channel Nine.

"All of this is a contingency and the purpose of it is to be supporting Australian populations that are in the Middle East ... this is a very volatile situation and we just don't absolutely know which way it goes from here."

Since the conflict began, the Australian government has conducted repatriation flights for citizens stranded in Israel. It has been trying to rescue 79 Australians from the Israeli-besieged Gaza Strip and 51 from the West Bank.

Australians in Gaza should try to move toward the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, the main entry and exit point to Gaza that does not lead to Israel, Marles said.

Marles urged Australians in Lebanon who want to leave the country to use all options available after deadly clashes between Israel and Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group.

Australia on Wednesday also unveiled a new A$20 million ($12.7 million) military package for Ukraine, taking its total aid to A$910 million since Russia invaded in February 2022.

 REUTERS

S&P lowers Israel's rating outlook to negative on war risks

The New Arab Staff & Agencies
25 October, 2023

Amid growing concern that Israel's attack on Gaza could spark a wider regional conflict, Israel's credit outlook has been downgraded to negative.

Israeli soldiers move into the border region with Lebanon, with many predicting that Hezbollah could open up a second front with Israel 

S&P Global Ratings said Tuesday it was lowering Israel's credit outlook from stable to negative, citing risks that the Israel's war on Gaza could broaden, with a more pronounced impact on the economy.

In a notice, the credit rating agency said: "The negative outlook reflects the risk that the Israel-Hamas war could spread more widely or affect Israel's credit metrics more negatively than we expect."

"We currently assume the conflict will remain centered in Gaza and last no more than three to six months," it added.

On October 7, Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel from Gaza killing 1.400 people, following months of increasingly deadly Israeli raids in the occupied West Bank, as well as threats to the sovereignty of Al-Aqsa and within the wider context of the 17-year-long crippling Israel-imposed siege of Gaza.

More than 5,700 Palestinians, including over 2000 children, have been killed across the Gaza Strip in unprecedented Israeli bombardments, the territory's health ministry said.

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On Tuesday, S&P said it revised the outlook for its "AA-" long-term foreign and local currency ratings on Israel to negative.

S&P's decision comes less than a week after agency Moody's Investors Service put the Israeli government's A1 credit ratings on review for downgrade, pointing to the "unexpected and violent conflict between Israel and Hamas."

Fitch Ratings has also announced that it was placing Israel's A+ foreign- and local-currency issuer default ratings on negative watch over risks from the confli24.

This comes from security-related disruptions and reduced business activity, alongside the drafting of reservists and other factors like a confidence shock.

Added budgetary measures to help households and businesses, on top of a rise in defense spending, is also expected to raise the government deficit, said S&P.

Should the conflict widen "materially," S&P added that it could cut ratings on the country.