China says Biden plan to shut it out of US battery supply chain violates WTO rules

Joe Cash
Thu, December 7, 2023 

BEIJING (Reuters) — China said on Thursday that Biden administration plans to limit Chinese content in batteries eligible for generous electric vehicle tax credits from next year violate international trade norms and will disrupt global supply chains.

The plans will make investors in the U.S. electric vehicle (EV) supply chain ineligible for tax credits should they use more than a trace amount of critical materials from China, or other countries deemed a "Foreign Entity of Concern" (FEOC).

"Targeting Chinese enterprises by excluding their products from a subsidy's scope is typical non-market orientated policy," said He Yadong, a commerce ministry spokesperson.

"Many World Trade Organization members, including China, have expressed concern about the discriminatory policy of the U.S., which violates the WTO's basic principles," he said.

China's dominant position in the global battery supply chain has prompted United States and European officials to take action over fears that cheap Chinese EVs could flood their markets.

The European Commission is currently investigating whether Chinese manufacturers benefit from unfair state subsidies.

Washington has already passed two laws explicitly excluding investors from being able to benefit from a $6 billion allocation of tax credits for batteries and critical minerals, as well as subsidies of $7,500 for every new energy vehicle produced, should they include FEOCs in their supply chains.

The term applies to China, Russia, North Korea and Iran. The rules will come into effect in 2024 for completed batteries and 2025 for the critical minerals.

President Joe Biden's administration is also proposing tough criteria, including a 25% ownership threshold, for determining whether a company is controlled by a FEOC.

"By establishing 'glass barriers', the U.S. is doing more harm than good to the development of EV technologies and the industry more broadly," He said, warning that the plans would "seriously disrupt international trade and investment".

China accounts for almost two-thirds of the world's lithium processing capacity and 75% of its cobalt capacity, both of which are used in battery manufacturing.

Analysts, though, have questioned whether China's position in global battery supply chains warrants the U.S. and EU rhetoric over the potential risks.

"There is a lot of hyperbole around this. And I'm not sure the measures the EU or the U.S. are considering match the scale of the risk," said Dan Marks, a research fellow for energy security at the Royal United Services think tank.

"What we should be saying is these strategies in Europe and the U.S. are really industrial strategies. They're just about having competitive industries that can survive."

Myanmar's junta wants China's support. Analysts expect 'cautious pragmatism' from Beijing


South China Morning Post
Thu, December 7, 2023

Myanmar's ruling junta has called for China to support its path to stability, a month after it was rocked by renewed clashes with militant groups, but analysts expect "cautious pragmatism" from Beijing.

The call came on Wednesday, when China's top diplomat Wang Yi met Myanmar's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Than Swe in Beijing ahead of a regional summit.

"Myanmar still faces many domestic challenges and hopes to continue to receive support and help from China to achieve domestic peace and stability," Than Swe told Wang, according to a Chinese foreign ministry statement.

Wang Yi and Than Swe hold talks ahead of a regional summit in the Chinese capital. Photo: Xinhua 

Wang said China would not interfere in Myanmar's internal affairs, but hoped the country could "achieve national reconciliation" and "continue its political transformation process under the constitutional framework as soon as possible".

Multiple armed groups launched a coordinated offensive in late October across Myanmar's northern provincial administrations of Shan State, Kachin State and the upper Sagaing Region.

China's southwestern province of Yunnan shares a 2,000km (1,250-mile) border with Myanmar's Shan and Kachin states.

Analysts said that while Beijing was willing to support regional stability, it would not intervene in Myanmar's situation beyond the need to tackle telecoms scams that have targeted Chinese nationals.

Andy Mok, a senior research fellow at the Beijing-based Centre for China and Globalisation, said the Chinese approach to Myanmar's political situation "leans towards advocating stability while respecting sovereignty".

"While China maintains its principle of non-interference, it indicates a willingness to offer strategic support, balancing regional security interests."

Than Swe's call was the first public request made by Myanmar's military government for China to assist in its political situation. Beijing has stepped up cooperation with the junta, as well as armed ethnic groups in the country's north, in order to crack down on cybercrime.

According to Kalvin Fung Ka-shing, who conducts research on Southeast Asian politics at Waseda University in Tokyo, the junta is trying to strengthen ties with China, as well as India and Russia, after losing ground in the northern states from the rebel offensive.

He said the junta "might want to secure Beijing's friendship in hopes of isolating the ethnic armed organisations from diplomatic backing".

On Wednesday, Wang said the two countries should work together to eradicate the "cancer" of online gambling and electronic fraud, adding that they had already "achieved remarkable results" on telecoms scams and "effectively deterred criminals".

Last month Myanmar handed over 31,000 telecoms fraud suspects to China, including 63 "financiers" and ringleaders of crime syndicates that Beijing's public security ministry says swindled Chinese citizens out of large sums of money.

According to the Chinese statement, Than Swe said Myanmar attached great importance to developing relations with China and was willing to deepen bilateral cooperation in various fields.

Fung said Beijing's "top priority" was to prevent the conflicts in Myanmar's northern Shan State from spilling over the border.

"Beijing has tried to mediate the ethnic conflicts, and the Chinese special envoy plays an important role in that respect," he said, referring to Deng Xijun, who met two junta ministers in September.

Koh King Kee, president of Malaysian think tank the Centre for New Inclusive Asia, said the junta was becoming more reliant on China given its isolation from the West and the region.

He said the junta needed China's help "to act as a mediator to broker a truce with the ethnic armed alliance in order to sustain its regime, as China has considerable influence over the alliance".

Koh said the military government was "in danger of collapse" amid attacks from the armed groups.

Members of an ethnic armed forces group, one of the three militias known as the Three Brotherhood Alliance, check weapons allegedly seized from a Myanmar army outpost in Shan state, Myanmar. File photo: The Kokang online media via AP alt=Members of an ethnic armed forces group, one of the three militias known as the Three Brotherhood Alliance, check weapons allegedly seized from a Myanmar army outpost in Shan state, Myanmar. 

File photo: The Kokang online media via AP>

"China is unlikely to intervene directly ... but will exercise its influence to help maintain peace and security in Myanmar and ensure that cyber scam activities don't re-emerge under the patronage of the military regime," he said, adding that many cybercrime operations headquartered in the border regions were destroyed by the ethnic armed alliances.

According to Swaran Singh, an international relations professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, Beijing has sought to distance itself from the junta over the years and has been "very cautious" lately given its concerns over telecoms fraud and online gambling.

"So what we see is cautious pragmatism determining China's engagement with Myanmar," Singh said.

In Beijing on Wednesday, Wang also met his Thai counterpart, Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara, and again stressed the need to combat cybercrime.

"The two sides should maintain a stable and unimpeded system of production and supply chains, jointly crack down on transnational crimes such as online gambling, telecoms fraud and human trafficking, and push for new development of China-Thailand relations," Wang said, according to official news agency Xinhua.

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

JOHN BIRCH SOCIETY REDUX
Sen. Mike Lee calls on the US to withdraw from the United Nations

Derick Fox

KTVX
Thu, December 7, 2023 



SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Utah Sen. Mike Lee (R) introduced a bill to Congress on Wednesday, Dec. 6 which called for the complete withdrawal of the United States from the United Nations.

The bill, titled Disengaging Entirely from the United Nations Debacle (DEFUND) Act, would see the U.S. stop participating in U.N. peacekeeping operations including providing funding, personnel and equipment. it would also see diplomatic immunity in the U.S. revoked for U.N. employees and officers

The bill further prohibits the U.S. from re-entering an agreement with the U.N. without the consent and ratification of the Senate after it withdraws. In addition to a complete withdrawal from the United Nations, Lee’s DEFUND Act would also see the United States withdraw from the World Health Organization.

Lee said the DEFUND Act confronts “imperative issues” of national sovereignty and fiscal accountability.

Palestinian Authority working with US on postwar plan for Gaza - Bloomberg News

Reuters
Updated Fri, December 8, 2023 

Palestinians inspect the site of Israeli strikes in Khan Younis

(Reuters) -The Palestinian Authority is working with U.S. officials on a plan to run Gaza after the war is over, Bloomberg News reported, citing Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh.

The preferred outcome of the conflict would be for the Hamas militant group which controls Gaza to become a junior partner under the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), helping to build a new independent state that includes the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, Ramallah-based Shtayyeh said in an interview with Bloomberg News on Thursday.

"If they (Hamas) are ready to come to an agreement and accept the political platform of the PLO, then there will be room for talk. Palestinians should not be divided," Shtayyeh said, adding that Israel's aim to fully defeat Hamas is unrealistic.

Israel has vowed to wipe out Iran-backed Hamas after the Islamist militants attacked Israeli towns and villages on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and dragging about 240 hostages back into Gaza, according to Israel's count.

"The fact that this is what the Palestinian Authority is suggesting only reinforces my policy: the Palestinian Authority is not the solution," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a social media post in response to Shtayyeh's remarks.

More than 17,170 Palestinians have been killed and 46,000 wounded since Israel began bombarding Gaza in response to the cross-border rampage, according to the Gaza health ministry.

(Reporting by Baranjot Kaur in Bengaluru; Editing by Stephen Coates, William Maclean)

BACK TO PRE ROE

Missouri lawmakers propose allowing homicide charges for women who have abortions

DAVID A. LIEB and GEOFF MULVIHILL
Fri, December 8, 2023 

FILE - Abortion-rights supporters take part in a protest Thursday, May 30, 2019, in St. Louis. Some Republican state lawmakers have proposed a measure that would allow women who have abortions to be charged with homicide. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)


JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Some Missouri lawmakers are renewing a call for the state to take an anti-abortion step that goes further than prominent anti-abortion groups want to go and that has not gained much traction in any state so far: a law that would allow homicide charges against women who obtain abortions.

Republicans in both the state House and Senate have introduced bills to be considered in the legislative session that begins next month to apply homicide laws on behalf of a victim who is an “unborn child at every stage of development.”

The bills would offer exceptions if the suspect is a woman who aborts a pregnancy after being coerced or threatened, or an abortion is provided by a physician to save the life of the pregnant woman.


“To me, it’s just about protecting a baby’s life like we do every other person’s life,” state Rep. Bob Titus, a first-term Republican who is sponsoring one of the measures, told The Associated Press. “The prosecution is just a consequence of taking an innocent human life.”

Titus said no charges would need to be brought under the bill, so long as people abide by the law already on the books that makes Missouri one of 14 states with bans in effect on abortions at all stages of pregnancy, with limited exceptions.

Titus said he has not discussed his bill with legislative leaders and did not base it on any model legislation, though it is aligned with a bill by Republican state Sen. Mike Moon, who represents the same area in southwestern Missouri.

Two groups are trying to get measures on ballots in Missouri in 2024 to legalize abortion in more cases. One would bar the government from infringing on abortion rights during the first 24 weeks of pregnancy. The other, being crafted by moderate Republicans, would scale back restrictions to a lesser degree.

Abortion-related measures could be before voters in several states next year. Since last year, voters have sided with abortion rights in all seven states where the questions have been on the ballot.

The abortion landscape in the U.S. has been shifting quickly since a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June 2022 overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling and ended a nationwide right to abortion.

Most Republican-controlled states have adopted bans or restrictions and most Democrat-run states have taken steps to protect access.

Prominent anti-abortion groups have generally opposed measures that would subject women who get abortions to charges.

Still, identical legislation was introduced earlier this year in Missouri and similar bills were introduced in 2023 in other states including Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Kentucky and South Carolina. None was advanced by a legislative committee.

The Kentucky measure died after it was opposed by the state's Republican attorney general and legislative leaders. At the time, GOP House Speaker David Osborne said the Republican majority in his chamber had never contemplated passing an abortion ban without any exceptions.

In South Carolina, more than 20 GOP lawmakers signed on as sponsors of a bill that would have classified abortion as homicide. As the bill garnered attention, several lawmakers withdrew their support. Lawmakers later adopted a ban on abortions when cardiac activity can be detected, generally around six weeks into a pregnancy – and often before women realize they are pregnant.

___

Mulvihill reported from Cherry Hill, New Jersey.

Missouri Republicans propose bills to allow murder charges for people who get abortions

Kacen Bayless
Fri, December 8, 2023





Reality Check is a Star series holding those in power to account and shining a light on their decisions. Have a suggestion for a future story? Email tips@kcstar.com.

Missouri Republican lawmakers are pushing a pair of bills that would allow for women to be charged with murder for getting an abortion in the state.

The pieces of legislation would give fetuses the same rights as human beings, which would allow for criminal charges to be filed against anyone who gets an abortion, helps someone get an abortion or provides abortion care in the state, which implemented a near-total ban on the procedure after last year’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

Republicans state Sen. Mike Moon from Ash Grove and state Rep. Bob Titus from Billings pre-filed the bills last Friday ahead of next year’s legislative session, which begins next month.

The bills, both called the “Abolition of Abortion in Missouri Act,” do not state explicitly whether getting an abortion in another state would be illegal. While abortion is banned in Missouri in nearly all circumstances, the procedure is still available in bordering states Kansas and Illinois.

The bills do allow for a “duress” defense if a woman is charged with murder for getting an abortion. They also do not allow for criminal charges for “lawful” medical procedures performed by a doctor and if an abortion is performed to save the patient’s life or if a doctor accidentally aborts a fetus during a life-saving procedure.

The Republican-led bills come as abortion rights advocates in Missouri try to get a measure restoring some form of abortion on the state ballot in 2024.

The legislation indicates that some Missouri Republicans are pushing forward on expanding the state’s near-total ban on abortion in the next legislative session even as the ban has been criticized for ushering in a chaotic and uncertain era for women and doctors.

While Missouri remains staunchly conservative, abortion rights remain popular. Polling conducted last year by Saint Louis University and British pollster YouGov showed that a majority of Missourians were in favor of some level of legal abortion and disagreed with the state’s ban on abortion.

“While the mainstream anti-abortion movement tries to publicly distance themselves from the politically and socially unpopular insistence to criminally punish people for accessing abortion care, these bills are a stepping stone for a small fringe group of extremists to intentionally criminalize people seeking abortions,” said Mallory Schwarz, the executive director of Abortion Action Missouri.

Schwarz, in a statement, pointed to a group called Abolish Abortion Missouri, which she said was behind the bills. This group, she said, “is also the source of threatening harassment targeted at abortion patients, providers, and Abortion Action Missouri clinic escorts on a daily basis.”

The bills, Schwarz said, create new ways to police people based on their pregnancy outcomes, arguing that “pregnant people around the country are being targeted, prosecuted, and jailed in instances of abortion and even miscarriages.”

If Missouri lawmakers approve Titus’ bill, it would go into effect if signed by Republican Gov. Mike Parson. Moon’s bill would have to be approved by Missouri voters.

Titus, in a phone interview, said the “taking of an innocent is the taking of innocent life,” arguing that the goal of his bill was not about punishing anybody. But, he said, “if you’re going to treat babies as humans and people then the penalties for taking an innocent life should be commensurate with that.”

“That a mother would take her own child’s life to me is unconscionable,” he said. “I’m not a mother but I have ten children and I value them greatly. It’s inconceivable that a mother would knowingly do that. If it’s not an act of murder, then what is it?”

Moon did not respond to calls and requests for comment on Thursday.

While advocates are pushing for an abortion rights proposal in 2024, they have not unified behind one version of the measure and face a tight deadline to get it on the ballot.

Both Republican-led bills will face a steep climb during this year’s legislative session as the state’s abortion ban faces intense criticism and has energized abortion rights supporters. They also don’t have the backing of at least one prominent anti-abortion lobbyist in Jefferson City, Sam Lee. One of the state’s top anti-abortion groups, Missouri Right to Life, also opposed a nearly identical bill from Moon last session.

“There is nothing pro-life whatsoever about legislation that would allow the death penalty for a woman who undergoes an abortion or any other person who performs an abortion on her,” Lee said in a text to The Star.

If the bills get committee hearings, Lee said, “we will vigorously testify against them and strongly urge other members of the legislature to vote them down.”

Moon, a hard-right senator, is known for his extreme and fringe views within the General Assembly, including comments this year suggesting that children as young as 12 should be able to get married as he pushed legislation that would ban gender-affirming care for minors.

With the upcoming 2024 election in November, the issue of abortion rights and the state’s ban on the procedure could be major flashpoints during next year’s legislative session which begins Jan. 3.

Another Republican, state Rep. Brian Seitz from Branson also pre-filed a bill that would give fetuses the same protections as human beings — but his bill does not explicitly address criminal actions.

Missouri Democrats have also pre-filed bills to repeal the state’s ban on abortion or to clarify that the ban does not affect access to birth control.

Canada's opposition filibusters overnight against PM Trudeau's carbon tax

Fri, December 8, 2023 

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks as Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Poilievre listens during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa

By Steve Scherer

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's main opposition Conservative Party forced the House of Commons to sit overnight in a filibuster that it says will end when Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau drops his carbon pricing system that it blames for fueling inflation.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre brought bags of fast food to his caucus after midnight and stood to move motions to "axe" the carbon tax until 6 a.m. ET (1100 GMT) - all of which failed.


Trudeau and much of the Liberal caucus also voted through the night to defeat the Conservative motions and slowly make progress on the passage of budget-related legislation that funds the various government departments.

"We have successfully killed a day of government business," Conservative House leader Andrew Scheer told reporters on Friday, his eyes puffy from lack of sleep.

"We are voting against the budget. We're just doing it in a little bit of a different way this time to highlight the fact that Justin Trudeau is going to radically increase the carbon tax," Scheer said. The carbon tax is set to increase over time.

Poilievre would win a majority if a vote were held today, polls show, and he has gathered momentum by accusing Trudeau of failing to protect Canadians from cost-of-living increases. Inflation exceeded 8% last year but in October it was just a notch above 3%. An election is not due until 2025.

The federal carbon tax, in effect since 2019, is Trudeau's signature climate policy and is intended to discourage use of fossil fuels and accelerate a switch to clean energy.

"We're not axing the tax," Trudeau told reporters in the House on Friday.

Canadians receive quarterly rebates to make the carbon tax revenue neutral, but Trudeau offered in October a three-year carve-out for home heating oil under pressure from Liberal lawmakers on the Atlantic coast.

That move appeared to confirm the Conservative view that the carbon tax was a burden on households and reignited debate over the policy.

Voting on the government supply legislation is about half over, Scheer said, so the filibuster is not likely to last into next week. The House will close on Dec. 15 for the holidays.

"Mr. Poilievre continues to gaslight Canadians for clickbait," Liberal House leader Karina Gould told reporters.

"They are literally trying to shut down the government, which is the page out of the extreme-right Republican handbook in the United States. Canadians have seen the dysfunction in Washington. They don't want that here in Ottawa."

(Reporting by Steve Scherer; Additional reporting by Dale Smith; Editing by Richard Chang)

Liberals, NDP criticize Poilievre's absence during late-night House sitting

CBC
Thu, December 7, 2023 

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre addresses the National Conservative Caucus in Ottawa on Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press - image credit)

The Liberals and NDP are criticizing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre for being absent from the House of Commons as his party works to delay government legislation.

Poilievre said Wednesday his MPs will pitch "thousands of amendments" to legislation to keep Parliament sitting over Christmas if the Liberal government doesn't scrap parts of its carbon tax.

"You will have no rest until the tax is gone," Poilievre said in a message to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Liberal MPs.

The Tories are forcing delays by prompting 135 votes in the House, most of them on the government's estimates. The party said this will result in round-the-clock voting that likely will last until Friday evening and stall the Liberal agenda.

Poilievre held a fundraiser in Quebec on Thursday evening before spending time with members of the Montreal Jewish community at a synagogue that was recently hit by Molotov cocktails, a spokesperson told CBC News on background.

That didn't stop MPs from taking note of his absence from the House on Thursday evening. Some began chanting "Where is Pierre?" at the Conservative benches.

Conservatives responded with chants of "Where is Trudeau?" — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was also absent. Deputy Speaker Chris d'Entremont promised to have MPs removed if the chanting continued.

Karina Gould, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons rises during question period in the House of Commons, in Ottawa, Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023.

Karina Gould, leader of the government in the House of Commons, rises during question period on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

Speaking to reporters before the voting marathon began Thursday evening, Government House Leader Karina Gould criticized Poilievre for his absence.

"Here he is yesterday claiming to Canadians that he's going to hold this government to account," she said. "Well, let's see if he shows up to vote."

Rules adopted in the wake of the pandemic allow MPs to vote virtually through an app; Poilievre, Trudeau and other MPs did that a number of times on Thursday evening. Poilievre's spokesperson told CBC the Conservative leader will be participating in every vote.

NDP House Leader Peter Julian also spoke to reporters about Poilievre's absence.

"The fact that Mr. Poilievre doesn't even have the courage to be here with the members of Parliament that are here all night shows how artificial his latest blocking tactic is," Julian said.

The Conservatives maintain they will carry out their obstruction tactics until the Liberals lift the carbon tax from all home-heating energy sources, pass a bill to grant carbon tax relief to some farmers and exempt all First Nations from the carbon levy, as some chiefs have demanded.

Poilievre put forward a motion calling on the government to meet those demands on Thursday but it was defeated.

Senate set to vote on carbon tax bill

The late-night House sitting comes as the Senate is set to have a final vote on a carbon tax carve-out bill that has been a lightning rod for controversy in the upper chamber.

Bill C-234 would remove the carbon tax from most natural gas and propane used on farms — other farm fuels like diesel and gasoline are already exempt under the Liberal tax regime. It's expected to be put up for a third vote in the Senate on Thursday evening.

The Conservative private members bill was passed in the House — without the support of the governing Liberal Party — without much fanfare. But the bill began to receive more attention after the Liberals announced a three-year carbon tax exemption for heating oil.

Conservatives used the Liberal exemption as a rallying point to call for C-234 to pass.

The ensuing debate in the upper chamber resulted in accusations of bullying and harassment by some senators.

The Senate voted 40-39 to amend the bill to limit the exemption only to propane used for grain drying. If the bill is passed with the amendment, the carbon tax would still apply to heating barns and greenhouses.

Ben Lobb, the MP who brought forward the bill, said Wednesday that he was "disappointed" with the Senate's change.

Ben Lobb, Conservative MP-elect for Huron-Bruce.

Conservative MP Ben Lobb, who sponsored Bill C-234, said the Senate's amendment was disappointing. (CBC News)

"The amendment that was passed last night in a way guts the bill and really diminishes the opportunity that was there, so close to have a good result for Canadian farmers," the Ontario MP told reporters.

Sen. Pierre Dalphond, who proposed the amendment, defended the change.

"The amendment rests on the fact that alternatives and efficiencies are readily available to reduce emissions related to heating and cooling of farm buildings, as compared to grain drying," he said in a media statement.

If the bill passes the third reading in the Senate, it will go back to the House for MPs to consider the changes made by the upper chamber.

Temple linked to Hercules and Alexander the Great discovered in ancient megacity in Iraq

Jennifer Nalewicki
Thu, December 7, 2023 

A digital replica of a temple.
Archaeologists in Iraq have unearthed twin temples built on top of each other. The newer, Hellenistic temple dates to the fourth century B.C. and may have a link to Alexander the Great.

The temple contained a fired brick with an Aramaic and Greek inscription that references "the giver of two brothers" — a possible reference to the Macedonian king, who conquered much of the known world during his 13-year-reign from 336 B.C. to 323 B.C.

Archaeologists from the British Museum in London discovered the older temple while conducting excavations at Girsu, a Sumerian city now known as Tello in southeastern Iraq. The excavations are part of an ongoing venture conducted by the museum known as The Girsu Project that focuses on learning more about the city’s storied history.

Remnants of the older, Sumerian temple were found buried "on the exact same spot" as the newer construction, which was dedicated to the "Greek god Hercules and his Sumerian equivalent, the hero god Ningirsu [also known as Ninurta]," Sebastien Rey, an archaeologist and curator of Ancient Mesopotamia at the British Museum who led the excavation, told Live Science in an email.

The fact that a temple was raised on the same site where one stood 1,500 years earlier was no coincidence, and the site must have held some significance to the people of Mesopotamia, the researchers said.

Related: 2nd-century Alexander the Great statue with lion's-mane hairstyle unearthed in Turkey

"It shows that the inhabitants of Babylonia in the [fourth] century B.C. had a vast knowledge of their history," Rey said. "The legacy of the Sumerians was still very vibrant."

While exploring the dual temple site, archaeologists discovered a silver drachm (an ancient Greek coin) buried beneath an altar or shrine, as well as a brick with the two brothers inscription.

"The inscription is very interesting because it mentions an enigmatic Babylonian name written in Greek and Aramaic," Rey said. "The name 'Adadnadinakhe,' which means 'Adad, the giver of brothers,' was clearly chosen as a ceremonial title on account of its archaizing tone and symbolic connotations. All the evidence points to the fact that the name was extraordinarily rare."

A tablet with an inscription

The inscription itself is a nod to Zeus, the Greek sky god, who is often symbolized by a lightning bolt and an eagle. Both of these symbols can be found on the coin, which would've been struck in Babylon "under Alexander the Great's authority," Rey said. "It shows Hercules in a youthful, clean-shaven portrait that strongly recalls conventional representations of Alexander on one side, with Zeus on the other."

Zeus also "famously acknowledged Alexander as his son through the agency of the Ammon oracle,” Rey said. "He became quite literally the 'giver of brothers' because he affirmed a fraternal bond between Alexander and Heracles."

However, researchers don't yet know whether the Macedonian king actually visited the site.

"But he might have had the opportunity to go there, either during his stay in Babylon, or by taking a detour on the way to [the city of] Susa," he said. "Significantly, he was able to pay his soldiers after taking Babylon because the city's coffers were surrendered to him. This meant that Alexander and his generals had control of the region's wealth, and they presumably used Babylonian silver to mint the many coins that were struck in the city."

RELATED STORIES

—2,300-year-old grave in Israel contains remains of Greek courtesan who may have accompanied Alexander the Great's army

—AI is deciphering a 2,000-year-old 'lost book' describing life after Alexander the Great

—4,500-year-old Sumerian temple dedicated to mighty thunder god discovered in Iraq

In addition to the artifacts, researchers also found offerings normally given after a battle, including clay figurines of soldiers.

"The recovered figurines, which originated in a range of places in the Hellenistic world, must in many instances have been carried to the temple by visitors," he said. "Among these are the Macedonian riders on horseback, which have strong associations with Alexander. However, they could also be associated with a cult of warlike heroism.

"Combined with the clear signs of an Alexandrian presence in the shrine, this raises the intriguing possibility that Alexander was directly and actively instrumental in [the temple's] re-establishment, and (or) that it came to include a memorial to the departed Macedonian after his early death," Rey concluded.

High-profile attacks on Derek Chauvin and Larry Nassar put spotlight on violence in federal prisons

MICHAEL R. SISAK and MICHAEL BALSAMO
Fri, December 8, 2023 

Derek Chauvin was stabbed nearly two dozen times at a federal prison in Arizona. Larry Nassar was knifed repeatedly at a federal penitentiary in Florida.

The recent assaults of two high-profile federal prisoners by fellow inmates have renewed concerns about whether the crisis-plagued federal Bureau of Prisons is capable of keeping inmates safe.

In the shadow of gangster James “Whitey” Bulger’s 2018 beating death and financier Jeffrey Epstein’s 2019 suicide, the agency is again under scrutiny for failing to protect high-profile prisoners from harm.

Chauvin, 47, the ex-Minneapolis police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd in 2020, was assaulted Nov. 24 in the law library at a medium-security federal prison in Tucson, Arizona — the same complex where an inmate tried to shoot a visitor last year with a contraband gun.

Chauvin’s suspected attacker, an ex-gang leader, told correctional officers he would have killed him if they hadn’t responded when they did, prosecutors said. He is charged with attempted murder and was moved to a federal penitentiary next door.

Chauvin’s family is “very concerned about the facility’s capacity to protect Derek from further harm,” his lawyer, Gregory Erickson, said.

Nassar, 60, the ex-U.S. women’s gymnastics team doctor who sexually abused athletes, was ambushed in his cell on July 9 at a federal penitentiary in Coleman, Florida. Other inmates stopped his attacker before officers arrived.

The attacks are symptoms of larger problems within the Justice Department’s largest agency that put all 158,000 federal prisoners at risk. They include severe staffing shortages, staff-on-inmate abuse, broken surveillance cameras and crumbling infrastructure.

The violence has challenged a perception that federal prisons are far safer than state prisons. The inmates suspected of attacking Chauvin and Nassar both have violent histories.

“No one’s sentence, regardless of their offense, includes being subjected to violence while they’re in prison," said Daniel Landsman, deputy director of policy at Families Against Mandatory Minimums, a criminal justice advocacy group. “The attack on Chauvin is the latest in a long list of incidents that highlight the urgent need for comprehensive independent oversight of our federal Bureau of Prisons.”

An ongoing Associated Press investigation has uncovered deep problems within the Bureau of Prisons, including rampant sexual abuse and other staff criminal conduct, dozens of escapes, violence, deaths and understaffing that has hampered responses to emergencies, including inmate assaults and suicides.

The agency, with more than 30,000 employees, 122 prison facilities and an annual budget of about $8 billion, has drawn increased oversight from Congress and scrutiny from government watchdogs.

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz has cited management failures, flawed policies and incompetence as factors in Bulger’s killing and blamed “negligence, misconduct and outright job performance failures” for Epstein’s suicide as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges.

The “serious deficiencies” connected to their deaths were "especially concerning given that the BOP would presumably take particular care in handling the custody and care of such inmates," Horowitz wrote.

Bureau of Prisons Director Colette Peters said lessons learned would be “applied to the broader BOP correctional landscape.” But the agency declined last week to tell the AP what changes have been made, saying it does not “discuss specific security practices.”

Peters also promised a security review after the gun breach last year. Asked for an update, the agency said it “does not comment on matters related to investigations.”

A spokesperson, Benjamin O’Cone, said the agency “takes seriously our duty to protect the individuals entrusted in our custody, as well as maintain the safety of correctional employees and the community.”

“We review safety protocols and implement corrective actions when identified,” O’Cone said.

Chauvin began his incarceration in solitary confinement at a maximum-security Minnesota state prison, “largely for his own protection,” his former lawyer wrote in court papers.

He transferred to FCI Tucson in August 2022 after agreeing to simultaneously serve all his punishment for Floyd’s murder in federal prison — a 21-year federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights, later reduced by seven months, and a 22½-year state sentence for second-degree murder.

Chauvin’s sentencing judge was optimistic he'd fare better with fewer restrictions in federal prison.

Rather than solitary or protective custody, the Bureau of Prisons placed Chauvin in the “dropout yard” — a housing unit for former police officers, ex-gang members, sexual abusers and other high-risk prisoners.

Though generally thought to be safer for such inmates, those units still see violence, like Nassar’s stabbing in a “dropout yard” unit at the U.S. Penitentiary in Coleman, Florida.

Nassar was attacked after purportedly making a lewd comment while watching women’s tennis on TV. An inmate, identified as Shane McMillan, stabbed him repeatedly before four other inmates pulled him away.

McMillan was convicted of assaulting a Louisiana federal prison officer in 2006 and attempting to kill another inmate at the federal Supermax in Colorado, in 2011. He has yet to be charged with attacking Nassar. Court records didn't list a lawyer for him.

Prior to Chauvin’s stabbing, there were no public reports of violence toward him — but he too was at risk.

John Turscak, a former Mexican Mafia gang leader and one-time FBI informant charged with attacking Chauvin, told investigators he thought about stabbing him before attacking, federal prosecutors said.

Turscak stabbed Chauvin 22 times with an improvised knife, prosecutors said. FCI Tucson has struggled with staffing in the past, but the Bureau of Prisons said nearly every officer position is now filled.

Turscak told the FBI he attacked Chauvin because of his high profile, prosecutors said. Turscak said he chose the day after Thanksgiving — Black Friday — as a symbolic connection to Black Lives Matter and the Mexican Mafia’s “Black Hand” symbol, prosecutors said.

Turscak, 52, led a Mexican Mafia faction in the 1990s. He was due to be released from federal prison in 2026 after serving more than 30 years for racketeering and conspiring to kill a gang rival. Court records didn't list a lawyer for him.

Despite Turscak’s arrest, Erickson said he and his client’s family have more questions — and concerns.

“Why was Derek allowed into the law library without a guard in close enough proximity to stop a possible attack? the lawyer said. “His family continues to wonder.”

POLITICAL PRISONER

RIP

Ex Black Panther who maintained innocence in bombing that killed an officer dies in Nebraska prison

JOSH FUNK
Updated Fri, December 8, 2023 

This undated photo provided by Nebraska Department of Correctional Services shows Ed Poindexter, the second of two former Black Panthers who always maintained their innocence in the 1970 bombing death of a white Omaha police officer, has died Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023, in prison. A spokesman for the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services said Friday that Poindexter had died a day earlier at the age of 79. 

(Nebraska Department of Correctional Services via AP) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)More

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The second of two former Black Panthers who always maintained their innocence in the 1970 bombing death of a white Omaha police officer has died in prison.

A spokesman for the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services said Friday that Ed Poindexter had died a day earlier at the age of 79. David Rice, the other man convicted in the death of Omaha Police Officer Larry Minard, died in prison in 2016.

The pair argued that they were targeted because of their membership in the Black Panthers by an FBI program that undermined radical political groups, and they questioned the legitimacy of crucial testimony that helped convict them. Some of their supporters called them political prisoners.


Poindexter and Rice both doubted the key witness in the case who implicated them in the bombing plot, but they were unsuccessful in numerous appeals. A recording of the phone call that lured Minard to a vacant house before a homemade explosive detonated appeared to have been made by an adult man even though a teen testified he made the call.

And a voice expert who analyzed it years later as part of one of Poindexter's appeals said it was “highly probable” that the recording didn't match the voice of the witness, who was granted immunity in exchange for his testimony. That teen testified that Poindexter and Rice directed him to plant the suitcase loaded with dynamite.

The recording of that police call was never played at trial, and in one of his appeals Poindexter said his lawyers at the time never even requested a copy of it.

But various judges decided the doubts about the recording raised later weren't enough to warrant a new trial, and Poindexter and Rice's life sentences were upheld. The Nebraska Pardons Board also refused to commute their sentences despite pleas from advocates.

The executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska, Mindy Rush Chipman, said Poindexter deserved a new trial because of the “credible reports of significant misconduct in the prosecution" of the case.

“Ultimately, you cannot separate this case from the circumstances at the time which continue to this day, namely law enforcement agencies targeting people and groups calling for racial justice,” she said. “Nebraskans can and should acknowledge the tragedy of Larry Minard’s death while also recognizing the haunting possibility that an innocent man just died in prison.”

Poindexter's death will be investigated by a grand jury, as required by state law, though officials said he was being treated for an unnamed medical condition before he died. In an appeal to Nebraska's newly elected governor a year ago, Poindexter's advocates said he had advanced kidney disease and had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
View comments (732)

Clouded leopard: The cat with saber-like teeth that can walk upside down in trees

Megan Shersby
Sat, December 9, 2023 

leopard lies relaxed on the branch of a tree.


Name: Clouded leopard, also known as the mainland clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa)

Where it lives: Southeast Asia

What it eats: Mammals, including ungulates, primates and rodents


Why it's awesome: Unlike lions and cheetahs in Africa, which stalk or race across the open plains in pursuit of prey, clouded leopards have a more arboreal approach to life, having adapted to living in the tropical forests of southeast Asia.

This tree-dwelling lifestyle has pushed them to possess remarkable ankles, which they can rotate by nearly 180 degrees.

Such incredible flexibility in these joints enables them to descend tree trunks headfirst. In captivity, these cats have been observed climbing upside down along horizontal branches and hanging down by their hind feet, enabling them to jump down onto prey below — although scientists believe they mainly hunt on the ground.

Clouded leopards have short, stocky legs, small bodies — between 27 and 42.5 inches (69 to 108 centimeters) long — and long tails, which are the longest of all cats relative to body size, and help them to balance in trees. They can weigh between 25 and 50 pounds (11 to 23 kilograms).

Clouded leopards also have the largest upper canines of all living cats, in proportion to their body size. A study published Oct. 6 in the journal Science Advances noted their teeth proportions are similar to some extinct sabertooth species.

Related: Cats' dazzling eye colors may come from 1 unusual ancestor

When taking down large prey, these big cats don't kill with a bite to the throat, unlike their large feline cousins. Instead, they bite the back of the neck to kill their prey, severing the spinal cord.

RELATED STORIES

—Takins: Strange, mountain-dwelling mammals with mythical golden fleeces

—1st of its kind footage shows guard dogs saving sheep from puma attack on a pitch black mountain

— Cheetahs battle raging river in stunning photo. Did they survive?

In 2006, researchers discovered that clouded leopards are actually two distinct species, with the now-named Sunda clouded leopards (N. diardi) endemic to the Sumatran and Bornean islands.

Both N. diardi and N. nebulosa are considered vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.

"The mainland clouded leopard lives in the dense forests across South and Southeast Asia showcasing remarkable adaptations for life in the tree tops," Wai-Ming Wong, director of small cat conservation science for Panthera, the global wild cat conservation organization, told Live Science in an email.

"However, deforestation and agricultural expansion threatens much of the available habitat across their range. It is crucial to develop effective conservation management plans that include a range of stakeholders from local communities to government agencies to safeguard the future of this charismatic species," Wong added.