Vibrations in cooling system mean new Georgia nuclear reactor will again be delayed
Thu, February 1, 2024 at 6:21 p.m. MST·2 min read
ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Power Co. said Thursday that vibrations found in a cooling system of its second new nuclear reactor will delay when the unit begins generating power.
Plant Vogtle's Unit 4 now will not start commercial operation until sometime in the second quarter of 2024, or between April 1 and June 30, the largest subsidiary of Atlanta-based Southern Co. announced.
The utility said in a filing to investors that the vibrations “were similar in nature” to those experienced during startup testing for Unit 3, which began commercial operations last summer, joining two older reactors that have stood on the site near Augusta for decades
In that case, the utility found that a pipe vibrated during testing because construction workers hadn't installed enough bracing. Georgia Power said the Unit 4 problem has already been fixed but too much testing remains to be done to make the March 30 deadline.
Georgia Power said it's likely to lose $30 million in profit for each month beyond March that Unit 4 isn't running because of an earlier order by state utility regulators. The five members of the Georgia Public Service Commission ordered that the company can't earn an additional return on equity through a construction surcharge levied on Georgia Power's 2.7 million customers after March 30.
The typical residential customer has paid about $1,000 in surcharges over time to pay for financing costs.
The company said its construction budget won't be affected if Unit 4 starts by June 30 but it would have to pay $15 million a month in extra construction costs if the project extends into July.
Regulators in December approved an additional 6% rate increase to pay for $7.56 billion in remaining costs at Vogtle, expected to cost the typical residential customer $8.95 a month. That's on top of the $5.42 increase that took effect when Unit 3 began operating.
The new Vogtle reactors are currently projected to cost Georgia Power and three other owners $31 billion, according to calulations by The Associated Press. Add in $3.7 billion that original contractor Westinghouse paid Vogtle owners to walk away from construction, and the total nears $35 billion.
The reactors were originally projected to cost $14 billion and be completed by 2017.
Units 3 and 4 are the first new American reactors built from scratch in decades. Each can power 500,000 homes and businesses without releasing any carbon. But even as government officials and some utilities are again looking to nuclear power to alleviate climate change, the cost of Vogtle could discourage utilities from pursuing nuclear power.
Georgia Power owns 45.7% of the reactors, with smaller shares owned by Oglethorpe Power Corp., which provides electricity to member-owned cooperatives; the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia; and the city of Dalton.
Some Florida and Alabama utilities have also contracted to buy Vogtle’s power.
Jeff Amy, The Associated Press
Thursday, February 01, 2024
House Republicans are moving forward with a bill that would overhaul student-loan repayment and make it harder for Biden to get relief to borrowers
Ayelet Sheffey
Updated Wed, January 31, 2024
Rep. Virginia Foxx.Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
House Republicans are reviewing a bill that would overhaul the student-loan system.
It proposes limits on the education secretary for getting new forms of relief to borrowers.
Democrats introduced their own package to address student debt, but it's unlikely to advance.
House Republicans are moving forward with a bill that could make it harder for student-loan borrowers to get new forms of relief.
On Wednesday, the House education committee is set to move forward with a review and debate over the College Cost Reduction Act, introduced in early January by the GOP chair of the committee, Rep. Virginia Foxx.
The legislation outlines various priorities, including strengthened guidelines for college accreditation, caps on certain forms of financial aid, and limits to the education secretary's authority to implement new repayment and relief programs for borrowers.
While Foxx said in a statement that there's bipartisan agreement that student debt in the country is spiraling, there's likely to be some Democratic pushback when it comes to her proposals to put an end to President Joe Biden's efforts to shorten student-loan repayment for many borrowers.
"Student-loan debt is skyrocketing, and completion rates are plummeting. There's bipartisan agreement that lasting reforms are needed to correct course," Foxx told Business Insider.
However, she said her plan was "a responsible alternative to the Biden administration's free-college agenda, which is placing an enormous burden on students and taxpayers." She added: "This bill offers reforms to the Higher Education Act that will lower college costs, rein in executive overreach, and prevent colleges from endlessly raising the cost of tuition."
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have offered solutions to combat the student-debt crisis, but there's disagreement on the best way to do so. The Education Department is in the process of implementing student-debt relief for borrowers after the Supreme Court struck down Biden's first attempt. Along with that, the department has carried out targeted batches of forgiveness through account adjustments and has set up upcoming relief through its SAVE income-driven repayment plan.
However, many Republicans have opposed the department's efforts to make new repayment plans and implement streamlined processes for relief, saying the burden of debt forgiveness falls on taxpayers. Here's how Foxx's legislation would change things for borrowers.
What the GOP bill means for student-loan borrowers
Caps student borrowing. According to the bill's fact sheet, the bill would cap student-loan borrowing at $50,000 for undergraduate students, $100,000 for graduate students, and $150,000 for students in graduate professional programs.
The legislation would also sunset the grad and parent PLUS loan programs, which offer sums graduate students and parents can borrow in their own names to cover up to the full cost of attendance.
BI has previously spoken with parents who have struggled to repay their PLUS loans because of the high interest rates that can leave them with balances far larger than what they originally borrowed.
Streamlines repayment plans. When it comes to student-loan repayment in particular, the legislation aims to put constraints on the Education Department's ability to implement new programs. Specifically, the bill would establish two types of repayment plans: a 10-year "mortgage-style" plan and an income-driven repayment plan.
Limits debt relief. The fact sheet said the bill would prohibit "the Secretary from creating new repayment plans and from modifying an existing repayment plan in a manner that increases costs to the government."
The legislation would also repeal the Education Department's efforts to streamline the process for borrowers who say they were defrauded by their schools to get relief, along with rules that would ensure debt forgiveness for borrowers whose schools abruptly shut down.
The education secretary would also be required to confirm that any new rules related to student-loan programs would not increase costs to the government — if they did, the rules couldn't be implemented.
What Democrats are proposing
A day before the markup on the GOP bill, House Democrats on the education committee introduced their plan to address college affordability: the Roadmap to College Student Success.
It consists of a package of Democratic-led legislation that addresses strengthening the Pell Grant, improving the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, and making student loans more affordable.
Other bills in the package touch on pricing transparency when students are applying for financial-aid packages, along with partnerships with states to bolster tuition-free community-college programs.
"This campaign has three main objectives: first, bring down the cost of college; second, help students access a quality degree; and third — once students are in school — provide them with the support they need to graduate," the top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Bobby Scott, said in a video about the package.
"A college degree is the best investment students can make for their future," he said. "And with our help, future generations may have the opportunity to enjoy the lifelong benefits that come with a college degree."
While Scott's proposal is unlikely to make headway in a GOP-controlled House, it's a reflection of where Democrats stand on college affordability — and where they differ with Republicans — ahead of the presidential election.
Ayelet Sheffey
Updated Wed, January 31, 2024
Rep. Virginia Foxx.Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
House Republicans are reviewing a bill that would overhaul the student-loan system.
It proposes limits on the education secretary for getting new forms of relief to borrowers.
Democrats introduced their own package to address student debt, but it's unlikely to advance.
House Republicans are moving forward with a bill that could make it harder for student-loan borrowers to get new forms of relief.
On Wednesday, the House education committee is set to move forward with a review and debate over the College Cost Reduction Act, introduced in early January by the GOP chair of the committee, Rep. Virginia Foxx.
The legislation outlines various priorities, including strengthened guidelines for college accreditation, caps on certain forms of financial aid, and limits to the education secretary's authority to implement new repayment and relief programs for borrowers.
While Foxx said in a statement that there's bipartisan agreement that student debt in the country is spiraling, there's likely to be some Democratic pushback when it comes to her proposals to put an end to President Joe Biden's efforts to shorten student-loan repayment for many borrowers.
"Student-loan debt is skyrocketing, and completion rates are plummeting. There's bipartisan agreement that lasting reforms are needed to correct course," Foxx told Business Insider.
However, she said her plan was "a responsible alternative to the Biden administration's free-college agenda, which is placing an enormous burden on students and taxpayers." She added: "This bill offers reforms to the Higher Education Act that will lower college costs, rein in executive overreach, and prevent colleges from endlessly raising the cost of tuition."
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have offered solutions to combat the student-debt crisis, but there's disagreement on the best way to do so. The Education Department is in the process of implementing student-debt relief for borrowers after the Supreme Court struck down Biden's first attempt. Along with that, the department has carried out targeted batches of forgiveness through account adjustments and has set up upcoming relief through its SAVE income-driven repayment plan.
However, many Republicans have opposed the department's efforts to make new repayment plans and implement streamlined processes for relief, saying the burden of debt forgiveness falls on taxpayers. Here's how Foxx's legislation would change things for borrowers.
What the GOP bill means for student-loan borrowers
Caps student borrowing. According to the bill's fact sheet, the bill would cap student-loan borrowing at $50,000 for undergraduate students, $100,000 for graduate students, and $150,000 for students in graduate professional programs.
The legislation would also sunset the grad and parent PLUS loan programs, which offer sums graduate students and parents can borrow in their own names to cover up to the full cost of attendance.
BI has previously spoken with parents who have struggled to repay their PLUS loans because of the high interest rates that can leave them with balances far larger than what they originally borrowed.
Streamlines repayment plans. When it comes to student-loan repayment in particular, the legislation aims to put constraints on the Education Department's ability to implement new programs. Specifically, the bill would establish two types of repayment plans: a 10-year "mortgage-style" plan and an income-driven repayment plan.
Limits debt relief. The fact sheet said the bill would prohibit "the Secretary from creating new repayment plans and from modifying an existing repayment plan in a manner that increases costs to the government."
The legislation would also repeal the Education Department's efforts to streamline the process for borrowers who say they were defrauded by their schools to get relief, along with rules that would ensure debt forgiveness for borrowers whose schools abruptly shut down.
The education secretary would also be required to confirm that any new rules related to student-loan programs would not increase costs to the government — if they did, the rules couldn't be implemented.
What Democrats are proposing
A day before the markup on the GOP bill, House Democrats on the education committee introduced their plan to address college affordability: the Roadmap to College Student Success.
It consists of a package of Democratic-led legislation that addresses strengthening the Pell Grant, improving the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, and making student loans more affordable.
Other bills in the package touch on pricing transparency when students are applying for financial-aid packages, along with partnerships with states to bolster tuition-free community-college programs.
"This campaign has three main objectives: first, bring down the cost of college; second, help students access a quality degree; and third — once students are in school — provide them with the support they need to graduate," the top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Bobby Scott, said in a video about the package.
"A college degree is the best investment students can make for their future," he said. "And with our help, future generations may have the opportunity to enjoy the lifelong benefits that come with a college degree."
While Scott's proposal is unlikely to make headway in a GOP-controlled House, it's a reflection of where Democrats stand on college affordability — and where they differ with Republicans — ahead of the presidential election.
DESANTISLAND
Florida House votes to loosen child labor laws a year after tougher immigrant employment law
Thu, February 1, 2024
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A year after Florida enacted a new law making it more difficult for employers to hire immigrants in the country illegally, the House passed a bill Thursday to let 16- and 17-year-olds work longer and later hours.
Supporters said teenagers and their parents know how to best manage their time and activities and lifting employment restrictions will help them build careers and earn money, especially with the current labor shortage. Opponents said the changes would make it easier for employers to exploit children and longer hours could negatively affect schoolwork.
“Nearly 1 million searches have been performed for ‘How can I get a job as a teen.’ They want to work. This bill gets government out of their way to choose a path that’s best for them,” said Republican Rep. Linda Chaney, who sponsored the bill.
The bill would remove restrictions prohibiting 16- and 17-year-olds from working more than eight hours when they have classes the next day and from working more than 30 hours a week when school is in session. The House passed it on an 80-35 vote.
Democrats opposing the bill argued that current law allows students plenty of time to work and attend school. Rep. Anna Eskamani questioned whether the measure was being proposed because the state's immigrant employment restrictions are making it more difficult to fill some jobs.
“The elephant in the room is that we see a labor shortage in different parts of the economy and part of that is tied to decisions this Legislature has made when it comes to immigration,” she said.
She also said employers should pay adults more for less desirable jobs rather than relying on children.
“I have concerns with saturating the workplace with cheap labor, which will make it harder for every person to be paid a wage they can live on,” Eskamani said.
The Senate has a similar bill that doesn't go as far as the House. Republican Senate President Kathleen Passidomo said she's heard too many concerns from parents about “young people working all hours of the day and night and not sleeping and not getting an education.”
The Senate bill needs approval from two more committees before reaching the full chamber.
"We want to allow students or kids that want to work to do that, but our number one priority is to make sure that they don’t sacrifice their education,” Passidomo said.
Brendan Farrington, The Associated Press
Florida House votes to loosen child labor laws a year after tougher immigrant employment law
Thu, February 1, 2024
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A year after Florida enacted a new law making it more difficult for employers to hire immigrants in the country illegally, the House passed a bill Thursday to let 16- and 17-year-olds work longer and later hours.
Supporters said teenagers and their parents know how to best manage their time and activities and lifting employment restrictions will help them build careers and earn money, especially with the current labor shortage. Opponents said the changes would make it easier for employers to exploit children and longer hours could negatively affect schoolwork.
“Nearly 1 million searches have been performed for ‘How can I get a job as a teen.’ They want to work. This bill gets government out of their way to choose a path that’s best for them,” said Republican Rep. Linda Chaney, who sponsored the bill.
The bill would remove restrictions prohibiting 16- and 17-year-olds from working more than eight hours when they have classes the next day and from working more than 30 hours a week when school is in session. The House passed it on an 80-35 vote.
Democrats opposing the bill argued that current law allows students plenty of time to work and attend school. Rep. Anna Eskamani questioned whether the measure was being proposed because the state's immigrant employment restrictions are making it more difficult to fill some jobs.
“The elephant in the room is that we see a labor shortage in different parts of the economy and part of that is tied to decisions this Legislature has made when it comes to immigration,” she said.
She also said employers should pay adults more for less desirable jobs rather than relying on children.
“I have concerns with saturating the workplace with cheap labor, which will make it harder for every person to be paid a wage they can live on,” Eskamani said.
The Senate has a similar bill that doesn't go as far as the House. Republican Senate President Kathleen Passidomo said she's heard too many concerns from parents about “young people working all hours of the day and night and not sleeping and not getting an education.”
The Senate bill needs approval from two more committees before reaching the full chamber.
"We want to allow students or kids that want to work to do that, but our number one priority is to make sure that they don’t sacrifice their education,” Passidomo said.
Brendan Farrington, The Associated Press
Florida Guard looks like DeSantis’ own militia —with no Legislature to keep him in check
THE NEW KINGFISHER
Opinion
the Miami Herald Editorial Board
Thu, February 1, 2024
After pulling the plug on his struggling presidential campaign, Gov. Ron DeSantis is again flexing his muscles in his home state with an announcement that he would send the Florida State Guard — custom created for him — to the Texas border.
The U.S. southern border crisis — and inaction by Congress and the White House to address the record numbers of people crossing it — have given DeSantis the perfect excuse to concentrate more power in his own hands via what looks more and more like his own taxpayer-funded militia.
The Legislature already revived the Florida State Guard and then expanded it at his request. Now lawmakers are working to give him even more power to deploy the unit while making it harder to hold its members accountable for on-duty acts.
DeSantis said Thursday State Guard members would be deployed to Texas alongside members of the Florida National Guard and Florida Highway Patrol troopers. Texas and the federal government are at a standoff over the state’s efforts to block migrants from crossing the border by setting up a concertina-wire barrier. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled the Biden administration could take down the barriers but Texas has vowed to continue erecting them — now with the help of Florida.
“The goal is to help Texas fortify this border, help them strengthen the barricades, help them add barriers, help them add the wire that they need so that we can stop this invasion once and for all,” DeSantis said at a press conference in Jacksonville.
In 2022, DeSantis pushed the Legislature to revive the State Guard, which had been inactive since 1947. The civilian volunteer force was originally planned as a non-military mission meant to provide relief after disasters like hurricanes but it has quickly evolved. Lawmakers expanded from 400 to 1,500 members and allowed DeSantis to deploy them out of state, while also allocating $100 million for planes and boats.
Following a surge of migrants arriving by boat in the Keys last year, a special unit took part in combat training in the Panhandle where trainees learned to use rifles, practice “aerial gunnery” and treat “massive hemorrhages.” Some military veterans who volunteered to be part of the State Guard quit over its militia-style training.
This is a far cry from handing out water bottles and hurricane relief supplies and closer to something resembling DeSantis’ own militia. That’s a realistic danger considering his authoritarian tendencies and how his rhetoric on immigration has grown more extreme with calls to shoot suspected drug smugglers “stone cold dead” at the Southern Border.
By granting DeSantis so much authority, the Legislature doesn’t seem to be considering what a future governor could do with the same powers.
And yet the Republican-led Legislature is now advancing a bill that would give the governor — whether that’s DeSantis or someone else — even more flexibility to activate the Guard. Under House Bill 1551, the governor could use the force during ”a declared state of emergency, period of civil unrest, or any other time deemed necessary and appropriate.” The legislation also would make it harder for people to sue members of the Guard for actions they committed while on duty by making plaintiffs pay for everyone’s attorney fees if they don’t prevail. Guard members would also be entitled to an attorney paid for by the taxpayers in criminal or civil court.
“Any other time deemed necessary” appears to be in the eye of the beholder. Let’s go back to the summer of 2020, when DeSantis proposed an “anti-riot” law following Black Lives Matter protests — despite the fact that, unlike in other parts of the country, the Florida protests were largely peaceful. What could the governor have done with a military-style State Guard that answers to him only?
DeSantis has used fear — of BLM protesters, “woke” culture and, now, an out-of-control Southern border — to justify spending millions of taxpayer dollars to make him more powerful. The Florida Legislature, so far, has shown no desire to keep him in check.
Click here to send the letter.
the Miami Herald Editorial Board
Thu, February 1, 2024
After pulling the plug on his struggling presidential campaign, Gov. Ron DeSantis is again flexing his muscles in his home state with an announcement that he would send the Florida State Guard — custom created for him — to the Texas border.
The U.S. southern border crisis — and inaction by Congress and the White House to address the record numbers of people crossing it — have given DeSantis the perfect excuse to concentrate more power in his own hands via what looks more and more like his own taxpayer-funded militia.
The Legislature already revived the Florida State Guard and then expanded it at his request. Now lawmakers are working to give him even more power to deploy the unit while making it harder to hold its members accountable for on-duty acts.
DeSantis said Thursday State Guard members would be deployed to Texas alongside members of the Florida National Guard and Florida Highway Patrol troopers. Texas and the federal government are at a standoff over the state’s efforts to block migrants from crossing the border by setting up a concertina-wire barrier. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled the Biden administration could take down the barriers but Texas has vowed to continue erecting them — now with the help of Florida.
“The goal is to help Texas fortify this border, help them strengthen the barricades, help them add barriers, help them add the wire that they need so that we can stop this invasion once and for all,” DeSantis said at a press conference in Jacksonville.
In 2022, DeSantis pushed the Legislature to revive the State Guard, which had been inactive since 1947. The civilian volunteer force was originally planned as a non-military mission meant to provide relief after disasters like hurricanes but it has quickly evolved. Lawmakers expanded from 400 to 1,500 members and allowed DeSantis to deploy them out of state, while also allocating $100 million for planes and boats.
Following a surge of migrants arriving by boat in the Keys last year, a special unit took part in combat training in the Panhandle where trainees learned to use rifles, practice “aerial gunnery” and treat “massive hemorrhages.” Some military veterans who volunteered to be part of the State Guard quit over its militia-style training.
This is a far cry from handing out water bottles and hurricane relief supplies and closer to something resembling DeSantis’ own militia. That’s a realistic danger considering his authoritarian tendencies and how his rhetoric on immigration has grown more extreme with calls to shoot suspected drug smugglers “stone cold dead” at the Southern Border.
By granting DeSantis so much authority, the Legislature doesn’t seem to be considering what a future governor could do with the same powers.
And yet the Republican-led Legislature is now advancing a bill that would give the governor — whether that’s DeSantis or someone else — even more flexibility to activate the Guard. Under House Bill 1551, the governor could use the force during ”a declared state of emergency, period of civil unrest, or any other time deemed necessary and appropriate.” The legislation also would make it harder for people to sue members of the Guard for actions they committed while on duty by making plaintiffs pay for everyone’s attorney fees if they don’t prevail. Guard members would also be entitled to an attorney paid for by the taxpayers in criminal or civil court.
“Any other time deemed necessary” appears to be in the eye of the beholder. Let’s go back to the summer of 2020, when DeSantis proposed an “anti-riot” law following Black Lives Matter protests — despite the fact that, unlike in other parts of the country, the Florida protests were largely peaceful. What could the governor have done with a military-style State Guard that answers to him only?
DeSantis has used fear — of BLM protesters, “woke” culture and, now, an out-of-control Southern border — to justify spending millions of taxpayer dollars to make him more powerful. The Florida Legislature, so far, has shown no desire to keep him in check.
Click here to send the letter.
Planned rollout of dental care will miss deadline in Liberals' deal with the NDP
The Canadian Press
Thu, February 1, 2024
OTTAWA — The New Democrats and Liberals are at odds over the rollout of the new federal dental plan, after the government announced it wouldn't fully expand eligibility until 2025 — contrary to the pact it signed with the NDP.
The dental-care plan will eventually cover all uninsured Canadians with an annual household income under $90,000, and is one of the main pillars of a Liberal deal with the NDP intended to prevent an election before 2025.
The deal calls for the program to be fully implemented by the end of the year, but on Wednesday, the government announced registration wouldn't begin for most adults between the ages of 18 and 65 until next year.
The announcement runs contrary to assurances NDP health critic Don Davies said he received from the health minister just last week.
"I got a clear answer that it would begin before the end of 2024," he said.
Davies said the pact between the two parties is "crystal clear" about when the program is supposed to be implemented.
"So we expect enrolment to begin for everybody this year," he said.
The minister's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about what assurances Davies was given.
So far, more than 400,000 people have begun the enrolment process to join the federal plan, which is set to start accepting claims in May.
Enrolment is now open to people over the age of 72, and will expand in May to people aged 65 and up. People with disabilities and children under the age of 18 will be able to apply in June.
"Everyone else who's eligible can apply online starting in 2025," Seniors Minister Seamus O'Regan said at a Parliament Hill press conference Wednesday.
When asked about the delay, Health Minister Mark Holland said enrolling as many as nine million Canadians to the program is complicated.
"Would I like to get there tomorrow? Yes, but physics and the laws of gravity and reality constrain us, and so our ambition has to be constrained with getting it right," Holland said.
The enrolment process can be a significant barrier to people, especially those who have never received oral-health care before, he said.
That's why the government wants to make it as seamless as possible. Right now, for example, wait times to get through to a government call centre to begin the process are "almost instantaneous," the minister said.
"We have to make sure, as much as we possibly can, that we get it right and that they have a positive experience," he said.
Davies said Sun Life, the private company contracted to administer the plan, can process up to 500,000 enrolment applications per month, and the money for full enrolment has already been budgeted.
"If there's any deviation from the confidence-and-supply agreement, the NDP will take the government to task over it," he pledged.
Holland's office did not respond to further questions before deadline Thursday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 1, 2023.
Laura Osman, The Canadian Press
The Canadian Press
Thu, February 1, 2024
OTTAWA — The New Democrats and Liberals are at odds over the rollout of the new federal dental plan, after the government announced it wouldn't fully expand eligibility until 2025 — contrary to the pact it signed with the NDP.
The dental-care plan will eventually cover all uninsured Canadians with an annual household income under $90,000, and is one of the main pillars of a Liberal deal with the NDP intended to prevent an election before 2025.
The deal calls for the program to be fully implemented by the end of the year, but on Wednesday, the government announced registration wouldn't begin for most adults between the ages of 18 and 65 until next year.
The announcement runs contrary to assurances NDP health critic Don Davies said he received from the health minister just last week.
"I got a clear answer that it would begin before the end of 2024," he said.
Davies said the pact between the two parties is "crystal clear" about when the program is supposed to be implemented.
"So we expect enrolment to begin for everybody this year," he said.
The minister's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about what assurances Davies was given.
So far, more than 400,000 people have begun the enrolment process to join the federal plan, which is set to start accepting claims in May.
Enrolment is now open to people over the age of 72, and will expand in May to people aged 65 and up. People with disabilities and children under the age of 18 will be able to apply in June.
"Everyone else who's eligible can apply online starting in 2025," Seniors Minister Seamus O'Regan said at a Parliament Hill press conference Wednesday.
When asked about the delay, Health Minister Mark Holland said enrolling as many as nine million Canadians to the program is complicated.
"Would I like to get there tomorrow? Yes, but physics and the laws of gravity and reality constrain us, and so our ambition has to be constrained with getting it right," Holland said.
The enrolment process can be a significant barrier to people, especially those who have never received oral-health care before, he said.
That's why the government wants to make it as seamless as possible. Right now, for example, wait times to get through to a government call centre to begin the process are "almost instantaneous," the minister said.
"We have to make sure, as much as we possibly can, that we get it right and that they have a positive experience," he said.
Davies said Sun Life, the private company contracted to administer the plan, can process up to 500,000 enrolment applications per month, and the money for full enrolment has already been budgeted.
"If there's any deviation from the confidence-and-supply agreement, the NDP will take the government to task over it," he pledged.
Holland's office did not respond to further questions before deadline Thursday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 1, 2023.
Laura Osman, The Canadian Press
Conservatives get more than $35M in donations during Poilievre's first year as leader
GOT RID OF THE GLASSES MADE HIM A NEW BRAND
The Canadian Press
Wed, January 31, 2024
OTTAWA — The Conservative Party of Canada raised more than $35 million during Pierre Poilievre's first full year as leader — and the federal Liberals brought in less than half that amount.
The party says its 2023 numbers show it couldn't be any clearer that Canadians are looking for change from the current government.
The Tories raised $12 million less in 2022, the year of the leadership race that elected Poilievre.
Filings with Elections Canada show one-third of the Conservatives' fundraising total last year came in during the last three months of the year, which included more than $7 million in December alone.
The Liberal Party of Canada closed out the year raising more than $15 million, with a similar bump in the fourth quarter.
New Democrats raised less than $3 million over the course of the year, and the Bloc Québécois brought in less than $1 million.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 31, 2024.
The Canadian Press
The Canadian Press
Wed, January 31, 2024
OTTAWA — The Conservative Party of Canada raised more than $35 million during Pierre Poilievre's first full year as leader — and the federal Liberals brought in less than half that amount.
The party says its 2023 numbers show it couldn't be any clearer that Canadians are looking for change from the current government.
The Tories raised $12 million less in 2022, the year of the leadership race that elected Poilievre.
Filings with Elections Canada show one-third of the Conservatives' fundraising total last year came in during the last three months of the year, which included more than $7 million in December alone.
The Liberal Party of Canada closed out the year raising more than $15 million, with a similar bump in the fourth quarter.
New Democrats raised less than $3 million over the course of the year, and the Bloc Québécois brought in less than $1 million.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 31, 2024.
The Canadian Press
Best for world if Netanyahu leaves office 'sooner rather than later': Liberal MP
The Canadian Press
Wed, January 31, 2024
OTTAWA — A Liberal member of Parliament says it would be in the best interests of the Middle East and the world if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leaves office.
Winnipeg MP Ben Carr says he has major concerns about the Israeli government and he hopes Netanyahu will be, in his words, "gone sooner rather than later."
Carr, who is Jewish, says he does not support politicians on the far right of the spectrum in Israel who display maps of Gaza with Israeli flags.
He made the comments following a conference last weekend in Jerusalem where far-right lawmakers called for renewing Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip.
Israel's national security minister declared it was time to encourage the emigration of Palestinians from the besieged territory — something the Canadian government has firmly opposed.
Governments change, says Carr, and Israel is still an ally that has an important security role to play in the region.
"It's very, very important that we remember that governments come and governments go and our relationships with states are deeper than the relationship that we may have with the current government in power," he said Wednesday.
"My hope is that Netanyahu will be gone sooner rather than later, because I think that's in the best interests of everybody in the region, and I think that's in the best interests of everybody around the world."
Carr also made the point that the Liberal party is a "microcosm of society," and there are various views about the Israel-Hamas conflict within his caucus.
The conflict began with a Hamas attack on Israel Oct. 7 that killed about 1,200 people. Militants took some 250 others hostage, and the Israeli government says it believes at least 100 of them are still being held in the Gaza Strip.
The Hamas-controlled territory has been under constant bombardment since the attack, with health authorities there saying the death toll has surpassed 26,000.
Throughout the conflict, a handful of Liberal MPs, including Carr, have been vocal about their opinions on Canadian government policy — and not always aligned with it.
"It makes sense that these conversations are happening and I don't think that it's a source of negativity or division," Carr said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 31, 2024.
The Canadian Press
The Canadian Press
Wed, January 31, 2024
OTTAWA — A Liberal member of Parliament says it would be in the best interests of the Middle East and the world if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leaves office.
Winnipeg MP Ben Carr says he has major concerns about the Israeli government and he hopes Netanyahu will be, in his words, "gone sooner rather than later."
Carr, who is Jewish, says he does not support politicians on the far right of the spectrum in Israel who display maps of Gaza with Israeli flags.
He made the comments following a conference last weekend in Jerusalem where far-right lawmakers called for renewing Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip.
Israel's national security minister declared it was time to encourage the emigration of Palestinians from the besieged territory — something the Canadian government has firmly opposed.
Governments change, says Carr, and Israel is still an ally that has an important security role to play in the region.
"It's very, very important that we remember that governments come and governments go and our relationships with states are deeper than the relationship that we may have with the current government in power," he said Wednesday.
"My hope is that Netanyahu will be gone sooner rather than later, because I think that's in the best interests of everybody in the region, and I think that's in the best interests of everybody around the world."
Carr also made the point that the Liberal party is a "microcosm of society," and there are various views about the Israel-Hamas conflict within his caucus.
The conflict began with a Hamas attack on Israel Oct. 7 that killed about 1,200 people. Militants took some 250 others hostage, and the Israeli government says it believes at least 100 of them are still being held in the Gaza Strip.
The Hamas-controlled territory has been under constant bombardment since the attack, with health authorities there saying the death toll has surpassed 26,000.
Throughout the conflict, a handful of Liberal MPs, including Carr, have been vocal about their opinions on Canadian government policy — and not always aligned with it.
"It makes sense that these conversations are happening and I don't think that it's a source of negativity or division," Carr said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 31, 2024.
The Canadian Press
Modi's party set to bring contentious common civil laws in India through states
Krishn Kaushik, Rupam Jain and Saurabh Sharma
Updated Wed, January 31, 2024
Muslim women are seen during a mass marriage ceremony, in which, 51 Muslim couples took their wedding vows, in Mumbai
Krishn Kaushik, Rupam Jain and Saurabh Sharma
Updated Wed, January 31, 2024
Muslim women are seen during a mass marriage ceremony, in which, 51 Muslim couples took their wedding vows, in Mumbai
By Krishn Kaushik, Rupam Jain and Saurabh Sharma
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - An Indian state ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party is set to introduce contentious new common personal laws that will apply across religions next week, a template other state officials say they will look to follow.
Currently, India's Hindus, Muslims, Christians and large tribal populations can follow their own personal laws and customs, or an optional secular code, for marriage, divorce, adoption and inheritance.
Framing a national common law has been one of the three core, decades-old promises of Modi's Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP). It has fulfilled the other two: building a fiercely contested grand Hindu temple, and removing the autonomy of the Muslim-majority region of Jammu and Kashmir.
The northern state of Uttarakhand, nestled in the Himalayan foothills, is expected to unveil a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) bill next week, officials said.
The move comes ahead of Modi's bid to win a rare third term in general elections to be held by May, and may further help consolidate the Hindu vote, analysts say.
The UCC is a divisive issue, as many minority Muslims who criticise the BJP for its hardline Hindu-first image see it as interference with centuries-old Islamic practices, including polygamy and instant divorce, which was outlawed by the federal government in 2019.
Calling the UCC a "trial balloon" ahead of the elections, federal lawmaker and a prominent Muslim voice Asaduddin Owaisi said Hindu nationalists professed to like non-uniformity, except when it came to Muslims.
Although no draft of the UCC has been presented, BJP leaders have said it primarily has to do with modernising Muslim personal laws.
A committee set up in Uttarakhand in 2022 to draft the code will submit its work to the state government on Friday. It is likely be presented to the state's legislative body next week, two officials said.
"Several state governments across India are looking at whether a uniform civil code could be implemented," Nalin Kohli, a national BJP spokesperson said. "The systematic process to get uniform civil code in several states has begun."
Uttarakhand's chief minister, Pushkar Singh Dhami, said on social media platform X that his ministers would study the draft and "start the process to make it into a bill and then an act".
Modi's government ended special privileges enjoyed by Kashmir in August 2019 and earlier this month unveiled a grand temple to Hindu deity Ram replacing a Mughal-era mosque razed by radical Hindu groups in 1992.
Personal laws can be legislated by both federal and state governments, and other BJP-ruled states have said they could use the Uttarakhand UCC draft as a template.
Earlier this month, BJP's Himanta Biswa Sarma, chief minister of Assam state, said: "I am waiting to see the UCC bill of Uttarakhand and once that is done, we will bring the same legislation" with some modifications.
A committee appointed by Sarma last year is also expected to submit a draft bill to ban polygamy in the state next week.
Keshav Prasad Maurya, Deputy Chief Minister of India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, told Reuters that "wherever the BJP is (in power) the possibility of bringing UCC has been and will always be there", adding it will introduced "at the right time".
(Reporting by Krishn Kaushik and Rupam Jain in New Delhi, Saurabh Sharma in Lucknow, Sumit Khanna in Ahmedabad, and Jatindra Dash in Bhubaneshwar; writing by Krishn Kaushik; editing by Lincoln Feast and Christian Schmollinger.)
EU Breaks Deadlock on €50 Billion for Ukraine After Orban Caves
Alberto Nardelli, Jan Bratanic and Ellen Milligan
Thu, February 1, 2024
(Bloomberg) -- European Union leaders clinched a deal on a €50 billion ($54 billion) financial aid package for Ukraine after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban caved to their demands and lifted his veto.
The agreement proves “that we stand by Ukraine and I think it will be an encouragement for the US also to do their fair share,” Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission president, said after the meeting in Brussels as US funding remains stalled in Congress.
As part of the accord, the member states agreed to debate the implementation of the Ukraine aid package every year and, “if needed,” the commission, the bloc’s executive body, could be asked to propose a review in two years. Orban’s demand for a veto was dropped.
The agreement was salvaged in a morning gathering Orban had with Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, according to people familiar with the meeting. Leaders at the extraordinary summit — some of whom accused Orban of “blackmail” — had braced for a deadlock after weeks of negotiations produced no result.
The moment is crucial for Ukraine, which has warned that its coffers are emptying as it grapples with a shortage of weapons to fend off the Russian military campaign. Kyiv is still awaiting more than $60 billion in assistance from the US, yet to be backed by Congress.
“We negotiated a review mechanism that guarantees that the money will be used rationally,” Orban said in a Facebook video after the agreement was reached. He also hailed the positive market reaction to the deal.
Thursday’s breakthrough avoided a messy split within the EU, papering over mounting concern that Western support for Kyiv is splintering. It also marks a significant boost for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The bloc’s leaders said the breakthrough should send a signal to Washington, where funds proposed by President Joe Biden are being held up over a fight with Republican lawmakers.
“The American president is a truly good friend and ally who’s trying to get approval in Congress,” Scholz told reporters after the meeting. “I hope that today’s message will help him to have it a bit easier at home for his agenda.”
Hungary’s forint gained 0.2% against the euro, reversing a drop earlier in the session. Ukraine’s international bonds were the top gainers across emerging-market dollar debt Thursday, with the Ukrainian dollar note due in Sept. 2034 up more than 1 cent on the dollar to 24.2 after the deal.
The agreement hinged on Orban, who angered his counterparts in the 27-member bloc by stonewalling a pillar of Europe’s security strategy aimed at containing Russian President Vladimir Putin. EU leaders made little effort to veil their frustration at the 60-year-old Hungarian leader.
“Viktor definitely wants to be the center of attention every time we’re here, but it shouldn’t be like this,” Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas told reporters earlier Thursday. “I don’t want to use the word ‘blackmail,’ but I don’t know a better word.”
Ukraine’s weapons inventories are diminishing as Russia’s invasion heads into a third year. Reports from the frontlines suggest Ukraine is struggling to hold Russian forces back, while an ugly dispute has broken out between Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and his commander-in-chief, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi — heightening the sense of crisis in Kyiv.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov sent a sharp warning to his EU counterparts this week that his country’s forces are now out-gunned three to one by the Russians. In a letter seen by Bloomberg, he added that Kyiv needs at least 6,000 artillery rounds daily, but is unable to shoot more than 2,000 shells along a 1,500-kilometer (932-mile) front.
The EU is still withholding two-thirds of the more than €30 billion in EU funding for Hungary on rule-of-law and graft concerns. Continued obstructionism also threatened to jeopardize Hungary’s rotating EU presidency from July and potentially scupper the bloc’s agenda in the second half.
Adding to the tense atmosphere inside the EU’s summit are protests by farmers, who staged a demonstration nearby — with Brussels’ city center full of tractors parked near EU institutions — to protest the bloc’s green policies and trade liberalization measures.
Some of the protests, which have spread across Europe over the past months, have been supported by organizations with ties to Orban.
--With assistance from Lyubov Pronina, Ewa Krukowska, Max Ramsay, Maria Tadeo, Katharina Rosskopf, Andras Gergely, Piotr Skolimowski, Natalia Ojewska, Milda Seputyte, Natalia Drozdiak, Jorge Valero, Samy Adghirni, Stephanie Bodoni and Zoltan Simon.
(Updates with comments encouraging US to move on funding, Ukrainian bonds, from second paragraph.)
Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek
Alberto Nardelli, Jan Bratanic and Ellen Milligan
Thu, February 1, 2024
(Bloomberg) -- European Union leaders clinched a deal on a €50 billion ($54 billion) financial aid package for Ukraine after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban caved to their demands and lifted his veto.
The agreement proves “that we stand by Ukraine and I think it will be an encouragement for the US also to do their fair share,” Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission president, said after the meeting in Brussels as US funding remains stalled in Congress.
As part of the accord, the member states agreed to debate the implementation of the Ukraine aid package every year and, “if needed,” the commission, the bloc’s executive body, could be asked to propose a review in two years. Orban’s demand for a veto was dropped.
The agreement was salvaged in a morning gathering Orban had with Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, according to people familiar with the meeting. Leaders at the extraordinary summit — some of whom accused Orban of “blackmail” — had braced for a deadlock after weeks of negotiations produced no result.
The moment is crucial for Ukraine, which has warned that its coffers are emptying as it grapples with a shortage of weapons to fend off the Russian military campaign. Kyiv is still awaiting more than $60 billion in assistance from the US, yet to be backed by Congress.
“We negotiated a review mechanism that guarantees that the money will be used rationally,” Orban said in a Facebook video after the agreement was reached. He also hailed the positive market reaction to the deal.
Thursday’s breakthrough avoided a messy split within the EU, papering over mounting concern that Western support for Kyiv is splintering. It also marks a significant boost for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The bloc’s leaders said the breakthrough should send a signal to Washington, where funds proposed by President Joe Biden are being held up over a fight with Republican lawmakers.
“The American president is a truly good friend and ally who’s trying to get approval in Congress,” Scholz told reporters after the meeting. “I hope that today’s message will help him to have it a bit easier at home for his agenda.”
Hungary’s forint gained 0.2% against the euro, reversing a drop earlier in the session. Ukraine’s international bonds were the top gainers across emerging-market dollar debt Thursday, with the Ukrainian dollar note due in Sept. 2034 up more than 1 cent on the dollar to 24.2 after the deal.
The agreement hinged on Orban, who angered his counterparts in the 27-member bloc by stonewalling a pillar of Europe’s security strategy aimed at containing Russian President Vladimir Putin. EU leaders made little effort to veil their frustration at the 60-year-old Hungarian leader.
“Viktor definitely wants to be the center of attention every time we’re here, but it shouldn’t be like this,” Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas told reporters earlier Thursday. “I don’t want to use the word ‘blackmail,’ but I don’t know a better word.”
Ukraine’s weapons inventories are diminishing as Russia’s invasion heads into a third year. Reports from the frontlines suggest Ukraine is struggling to hold Russian forces back, while an ugly dispute has broken out between Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and his commander-in-chief, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi — heightening the sense of crisis in Kyiv.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov sent a sharp warning to his EU counterparts this week that his country’s forces are now out-gunned three to one by the Russians. In a letter seen by Bloomberg, he added that Kyiv needs at least 6,000 artillery rounds daily, but is unable to shoot more than 2,000 shells along a 1,500-kilometer (932-mile) front.
The EU is still withholding two-thirds of the more than €30 billion in EU funding for Hungary on rule-of-law and graft concerns. Continued obstructionism also threatened to jeopardize Hungary’s rotating EU presidency from July and potentially scupper the bloc’s agenda in the second half.
Adding to the tense atmosphere inside the EU’s summit are protests by farmers, who staged a demonstration nearby — with Brussels’ city center full of tractors parked near EU institutions — to protest the bloc’s green policies and trade liberalization measures.
Some of the protests, which have spread across Europe over the past months, have been supported by organizations with ties to Orban.
--With assistance from Lyubov Pronina, Ewa Krukowska, Max Ramsay, Maria Tadeo, Katharina Rosskopf, Andras Gergely, Piotr Skolimowski, Natalia Ojewska, Milda Seputyte, Natalia Drozdiak, Jorge Valero, Samy Adghirni, Stephanie Bodoni and Zoltan Simon.
(Updates with comments encouraging US to move on funding, Ukrainian bonds, from second paragraph.)
Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek
Tom Porter
Wed, January 31, 2024
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gestures as he thanks MPs after his virtual address to the Greek Parliament in Athens on April 7, 2022.LOUISA GOULIAMAKI
Joe Biden is sending weapons to Greece, which is then sending its own to Ukraine.
Greece is reported to have missile-defense systems vital for Ukraine.
Republicans in Congress are blocking a large Ukraine aid bill.
Joe Biden appears to have found a way around the Republican Party's blockade of Ukraine aid using a little-known presidential power.
In a letter to Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, reported by Greek media, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US would send Greece a batch of weapons and equipment free of charge under the Excess Defense Articles law.
The rule states that the US president can authorize the transfer of weapons deemed to be surplus to US requirements to other countries for little or no money.
Under the deal, the US will send Greece two C-130H aircraft, 60 Bradley armored fighting vehicles, 10 engines for P-3 patrol planes, three Protector-class ships, and a consignment of transport trucks. That's in addition to selling Greece a fleet of 40 F-35 fighter jets for $8 billion.
The transfer was first reported by Forbes, citing Greek media reports.
But as a condition of the transfer, Blinken said, Greece should explore ways of providing weapons from its own arsenal to Ukraine, with Greek daily Kathimerini reporting that Greek military leaders have privately agreed to do so.
"We continue to be interested in the defense capabilities that Greece could transfer or sell to Ukraine," Blinken writes, and dangled the prospect of new, lucrative weapons deals if Athens agrees.
"If these capabilities are of interest to Ukraine, and pending an assessment of their status and value by the US government, we can explore opportunities for possible additional Foreign Armed Forces Financing of up to $200 million for Greece."
According to the report, Greece has weapons such as the S-300 missile-defense systems and Hawk surface-to-air missiles that would prove valuable to Ukraine in its war against Russia.
Kurt Volker, a former US Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations, wrote for the European Center for Policy Analysis recently that the Excess Defense Articles law was one of a number of tools available to Biden to keep weapons to Ukraine flowing.
But, said Volker, "none of these are ideal," and the best way to get Ukraine the support it requires is to pass a new Ukraine aid bill.
"These improvisations will not produce enough equipment or money to sustain Ukraine's war effort," noted Mark Cancian of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, of the Excess Defense Articles law and related measures, though can help plug equipment shortages.
To deal comes as Republicans in the House of Representatives continue to block a $66 billion aid package to Ukraine, amid partisan squabbling over linked border security measures.
The value of weapons that can be transferred under the Excess Defense Articles law is capped at $500 million.
According to reports, Ukraine is running low on vital supplies of ammunition and equipment as it battles a Russian offensive.
NOBODY MORE IGNORANT
Sen. Tom Cotton Repeatedly Asks Singaporean CEO If He's A Chinese Communist
Lydia O'Connor
Wed, January 31, 2024
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) repeatedly implied at a Senate hearing Wednesday that TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew has ties to the Chinese Communist party, forcing Chew to remind Cotton over and over again that he’s not Chinese.
“You said today, as you often say, that you live in Singapore. Of what nation are you a citizen?” Cotton asked Chew at the committee hearing on children’s online safety. When Chew replied that he’s a Singaporean citizen, Cotton continued to press him on his nationality.
“Are you a citizen of any other nation?” Cotton asked. “Have you ever applied for Chinese citizenship?” Chew once again replied no to both questions.
“Have you ever been a member of the Chinese Communist Party?” Cotton asked.
A visibly frustrated Chew responded firmly: “Senator, I’m Singaporean. No.”
But Cotton wouldn’t let up. “Have you ever been associated or affiliated with Chinese Communist Party?” he asked.
Chew replied: “No, senator. Again, I’m Singaporean.”
Neither China nor Singapore allow dual citizenship.
Cotton then repeatedly grilled Chew on Chinese geopolitics, including China’s treatment of the Uyghur ethnic group and whether he thought Chinese President Xi Jinping was a dictator. Chew said he was there to talk about TikTok.
Cotton has repeatedly been accused of anti-Asian racism in recent years. In 2020, he suggested that Chinese students be should be banned from studying in the United States out of concern they might be spies ― a sentiment that critics said was rooted in racial profiling and xenophobia.
Throughout 2020, he also repeatedly referred to COVID-19 as the “China virus,” all while the U.S. saw a stunning rise in anti-Asian hate crimes. The following year, he made a head-scratching remark saying that a statement from the White House advocating ending systemic racism in the U.S. was “approved by the Communist Party of China.”
Singapore Maps & Facts - World Atlas
Lydia O'Connor
Wed, January 31, 2024
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) repeatedly implied at a Senate hearing Wednesday that TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew has ties to the Chinese Communist party, forcing Chew to remind Cotton over and over again that he’s not Chinese.
“You said today, as you often say, that you live in Singapore. Of what nation are you a citizen?” Cotton asked Chew at the committee hearing on children’s online safety. When Chew replied that he’s a Singaporean citizen, Cotton continued to press him on his nationality.
“Are you a citizen of any other nation?” Cotton asked. “Have you ever applied for Chinese citizenship?” Chew once again replied no to both questions.
“Have you ever been a member of the Chinese Communist Party?” Cotton asked.
A visibly frustrated Chew responded firmly: “Senator, I’m Singaporean. No.”
But Cotton wouldn’t let up. “Have you ever been associated or affiliated with Chinese Communist Party?” he asked.
Chew replied: “No, senator. Again, I’m Singaporean.”
Neither China nor Singapore allow dual citizenship.
Cotton then repeatedly grilled Chew on Chinese geopolitics, including China’s treatment of the Uyghur ethnic group and whether he thought Chinese President Xi Jinping was a dictator. Chew said he was there to talk about TikTok.
Cotton has repeatedly been accused of anti-Asian racism in recent years. In 2020, he suggested that Chinese students be should be banned from studying in the United States out of concern they might be spies ― a sentiment that critics said was rooted in racial profiling and xenophobia.
Throughout 2020, he also repeatedly referred to COVID-19 as the “China virus,” all while the U.S. saw a stunning rise in anti-Asian hate crimes. The following year, he made a head-scratching remark saying that a statement from the White House advocating ending systemic racism in the U.S. was “approved by the Communist Party of China.”
Singapore Maps & Facts - World Atlas
Shou Zi Chew, CEO of ByteDance-owned TikTok, had to confront claims about ties to China in the U.S. Senate: ‘Senator, I’m Singaporean’
Lionel Lim
Thu, February 1, 2024
Alex Wong—Getty Images
TikTok was one of several social media companies present at Wednesday's U.S. Senate hearing on online safety for children. But CEO Shou Zi Chew had to face a barrage of questions on a different topic: his nationality.
U.S. Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) decided to probe TikTok's Singaporean CEO, Shou Zi Chew, on his nationality. Cotton asked the TikTok CEO if he had any citizenships besides Singapore, what passports he held, the nationality of his wife and children, and plans for future citizenship.
After Cotton asked Chew whether he was a member of the Chinese Communist Party, the TikTok CEO responded with an exasperated "Senator, I'm Singaporean. No."
Chew referred several times to his national service—the mandatory two years usually spent serving in the Southeast Asian country's military—in his responses to Cotton. Singapore does not allow for dual citizenship.
In his prepared remarks, Chew said TikTok will invest over $2 billion in trust and safety efforts this year. He noted that TikTok prevents users from directly messaging anyone under 16, and bars content from underage users from being downloaded or recommended to strangers. Chew also revealed that the average age of a TikTok user in the U.S. is over 30.
China connections
Chew has faced questions about his, and TikTok's, alleged ties to China before. In a Congressional hearing last year, lawmakers grilled Chew about the potential threat TikTok posed to U.S. national security. In that instance, Chew claimed that ByteDance was not an agent of China nor any other country.
TikTok, which is owned by Chinese social media giant ByteDance, has found itself entangled in the wider geopolitical battle between Beijing and Washington. The social media app is dogged by fears that user data might end up in the hands of Chinese authorities, or that TikTok's recommendations could be influenced by Beijing.
TikTok has tried to distance itself from its Chinese parent company, setting up offices in Los Angeles and Singapore. The social media company also has "Project Texas", a $1.5 billion project that will house U.S. user data and protect it from unauthorized foreign access. Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal reported that TikTok employees still transfer U.S. data to TikTok's Chinese parent; Chew disputed the article's accuracy on Wednesday.
Later on Wednesday, Cotton defended his line of questioning on Fox News. “Singapore, unfortunately, is one of the places in the world that has the highest degree of infiltration and influence by the Chinese Communist Party," he claimed.
Singapore has an ethnic Chinese majority, but the country's government tries to emphasize a multi-racial identity. Singaporean leaders have long maintained their wish to preserve ties with both the U.S. and China, with deputy prime minister Lawrence Wong saying last May that the country wants to "stay friends with both sides."
The Southeast Asian country has attracted interest from Chinese businesses hoping to avoid tensions between Washington and Beijing, as well as wealthy Chinese individuals hoping to park their fortunes outside of China.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Cotton defends pressing TikTok CEO on ties to Chinese Communist Party
Tara Suter
THE HILL
Wed, January 31, 2024
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) defended pressing TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew about potential ties to the Chinese Communist Party at a Senate hearing Wednesday.
“Singapore, unfortunately, is one of the places in the world that has the highest degree of infiltration and influence by the Chinese Communist Party,” Cotton said on Fox News’s “The Story With Martha MacCallum” Wednesday. “So, Mr. Chew has a lot to answer for, for what his app is doing in America and why it’s doing it.”
Chew, alongside other social media heads Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, X CEO Linda Yaccarino, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel and Discord CEO Jason Citron, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee during a hearing titled “Big Tech and the Online Child Sexual Exploitation Crisis” Wednesday.
At one point during the hearing, Cotton asked Chew if he has “ever been a member of the Chinese Communist Party.”
“Senator, I’m Singaporean, no,” Chew said.
“Have you ever been associated with or affiliated with the Chinese Community Party?” Cotton asked.
“No, senator, again, I’m Singaporean,” Chew said.
TikTok has faced scrutiny from both sides of the aisle for its China-based parent company ByteDance and its links to the Chinese government. In an attempt to calm fears from lawmakers about these links, the platform developed Project Texas to wall off U.S. user data from the parent company. Yet, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that people who work on Project Texas have occasionally faced requests to share data with different portions of the company or ByteDance.
Chew also faced pressure from other lawmakers like Republican Texas Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz during the hearing over the company’s connections with China. Cornyn pushed Chew on the report, but the CEO challenged it and said “there are many things about the article that are inaccurate.”
Lionel Lim
Thu, February 1, 2024
Alex Wong—Getty Images
TikTok was one of several social media companies present at Wednesday's U.S. Senate hearing on online safety for children. But CEO Shou Zi Chew had to face a barrage of questions on a different topic: his nationality.
U.S. Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) decided to probe TikTok's Singaporean CEO, Shou Zi Chew, on his nationality. Cotton asked the TikTok CEO if he had any citizenships besides Singapore, what passports he held, the nationality of his wife and children, and plans for future citizenship.
After Cotton asked Chew whether he was a member of the Chinese Communist Party, the TikTok CEO responded with an exasperated "Senator, I'm Singaporean. No."
Chew referred several times to his national service—the mandatory two years usually spent serving in the Southeast Asian country's military—in his responses to Cotton. Singapore does not allow for dual citizenship.
In his prepared remarks, Chew said TikTok will invest over $2 billion in trust and safety efforts this year. He noted that TikTok prevents users from directly messaging anyone under 16, and bars content from underage users from being downloaded or recommended to strangers. Chew also revealed that the average age of a TikTok user in the U.S. is over 30.
China connections
Chew has faced questions about his, and TikTok's, alleged ties to China before. In a Congressional hearing last year, lawmakers grilled Chew about the potential threat TikTok posed to U.S. national security. In that instance, Chew claimed that ByteDance was not an agent of China nor any other country.
TikTok, which is owned by Chinese social media giant ByteDance, has found itself entangled in the wider geopolitical battle between Beijing and Washington. The social media app is dogged by fears that user data might end up in the hands of Chinese authorities, or that TikTok's recommendations could be influenced by Beijing.
TikTok has tried to distance itself from its Chinese parent company, setting up offices in Los Angeles and Singapore. The social media company also has "Project Texas", a $1.5 billion project that will house U.S. user data and protect it from unauthorized foreign access. Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal reported that TikTok employees still transfer U.S. data to TikTok's Chinese parent; Chew disputed the article's accuracy on Wednesday.
Later on Wednesday, Cotton defended his line of questioning on Fox News. “Singapore, unfortunately, is one of the places in the world that has the highest degree of infiltration and influence by the Chinese Communist Party," he claimed.
Singapore has an ethnic Chinese majority, but the country's government tries to emphasize a multi-racial identity. Singaporean leaders have long maintained their wish to preserve ties with both the U.S. and China, with deputy prime minister Lawrence Wong saying last May that the country wants to "stay friends with both sides."
The Southeast Asian country has attracted interest from Chinese businesses hoping to avoid tensions between Washington and Beijing, as well as wealthy Chinese individuals hoping to park their fortunes outside of China.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Cotton defends pressing TikTok CEO on ties to Chinese Communist Party
Tara Suter
THE HILL
Wed, January 31, 2024
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) defended pressing TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew about potential ties to the Chinese Communist Party at a Senate hearing Wednesday.
“Singapore, unfortunately, is one of the places in the world that has the highest degree of infiltration and influence by the Chinese Communist Party,” Cotton said on Fox News’s “The Story With Martha MacCallum” Wednesday. “So, Mr. Chew has a lot to answer for, for what his app is doing in America and why it’s doing it.”
Chew, alongside other social media heads Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, X CEO Linda Yaccarino, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel and Discord CEO Jason Citron, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee during a hearing titled “Big Tech and the Online Child Sexual Exploitation Crisis” Wednesday.
At one point during the hearing, Cotton asked Chew if he has “ever been a member of the Chinese Communist Party.”
“Senator, I’m Singaporean, no,” Chew said.
“Have you ever been associated with or affiliated with the Chinese Community Party?” Cotton asked.
“No, senator, again, I’m Singaporean,” Chew said.
TikTok has faced scrutiny from both sides of the aisle for its China-based parent company ByteDance and its links to the Chinese government. In an attempt to calm fears from lawmakers about these links, the platform developed Project Texas to wall off U.S. user data from the parent company. Yet, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that people who work on Project Texas have occasionally faced requests to share data with different portions of the company or ByteDance.
Chew also faced pressure from other lawmakers like Republican Texas Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz during the hearing over the company’s connections with China. Cornyn pushed Chew on the report, but the CEO challenged it and said “there are many things about the article that are inaccurate.”
Journalists, lawyers and activists hacked with Pegasus spyware in Jordan, forensic probe finds
Thu, February 1, 2024
Israeli-made Pegasus spyware was used in Jordan to hack the cellphones of at least 30 people, including journalists, lawyers, human rights and political activists, the digital rights group Access Now said Thursday.
The hacking with spyware made by Israel's NSO Group occurred from 2019 until last September, Access Now said in its report. It did not accuse Jordan's government of the hacking.
One of the targets was Human Rights Watch's deputy director for the region, Adam Coogle, who said in an interview that it was difficult to imagine who other than Jordan's government would be interested in hacking those who were targeted.
The Jordanian government had no immediate comment on Thursday's report.
In a 2022 report detailing a much smaller group of Pegasus victims in Jordan, digital sleuths at the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab identified two operators of the spyware it said may have been agents of the Jordanian government. A year earlier, Axios reported on negotiations between Jordan's government and NSO Group.
“We believe this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the use of Pegasus spyware in Jordan, and that the true number of victims is likely much higher,” Access Now said. Its Middle East and North Africa director, Marwa Fatafta, said at least 30 of 35 known targeted individuals were successfully hacked.
Citizen Lab confirmed all but five of the infections, with 21 victims asking to remain anonymous, citing the risk of reprisal. The rest were identified by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International's Security Lab, and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.
NSO Group says it only sells to vetted intelligence and law enforcement agencies — and only for use against terrorists and serious criminals. But cybersecurity researchers who have tracked the spyware's use in 45 countries have documented dozens of cases of politically motivated abuse of the spyware — from Mexico and Thailand to Poland and Saudi Arabia.
An NSO Group spokesperson said the company would not confirm or deny its clients' identities. NSO Group says it vets customers and investigates any report its spyware has been abused.
The U.S. government was unpersuaded and blacklisted the NSO Group in November 2021, when iPhone maker Apple Inc. sued it, calling its employees “amoral 21st century mercenaries who have created highly sophisticated cyber-surveillance machinery that invites routine and flagrant abuse.”
Those targeted in Jordan include Human Rights Watch's senior researcher for Jordan and Syria, Hiba Zayadin. Both she and Coogle had received threat notifications from Apple on Aug. 29 that state-sponsored attackers had attempted to compromise their iPhones.
Coogle's local, personal iPhone was successfully hacked in October 2022, he said, just two weeks after the human rights group published a report documenting the persecution and harassment of citizens organizing peaceful political dissent.
After that, Coogle activated “Lockdown Mode," on the iPhone, which Apple recommends for users at high risk.
Human Rights Watch said in a statement Thursday that it had contacted NSO Group about the attacks and specifically asked it to investigate the hack of Coogle’s device “but has received no substantive response to these inquiries.”
Jordanian human rights lawyer Hala Ahed — known for defending women's and workers rights and prisoners of conscience — was also targeted at least twice by Pegasus, successfully in March 2021 then unsuccessfully in February 2023, Access Now said.
About half of those found to have been targeted by Pegasus in Jordan — 16 in all — were journalists or media workers, the report said.
One veteran Palestinian-American journalist and columnist, Dauod Kuttab, was hacked with Pegasus three times between February 2022 and September 2023.
Along the way, he said, he's learned important lessons about not clicking on links in messages purporting to be from legitimate contacts, which is how one of the Pegasus hacks snared him.
Kuttab refused to speculate about who might have targeted him.
“I always assume that somebody is listening to my conversations,” he said, as getting surveilled “comes with the territory” when you are journalist in the Middle East.
But Kuttab does worry about his sources being compromised by hacks — and the violation of his privacy.
"Regardless of who did it, it's not right to intervene into my personal, family privacy and my professional privacy.”
___
This story has been corrected to say that Access Now says the hacking occurred from 2019 until last September, not from early 2020 until last November.
Frank Bajak, The Associated Press
Thu, February 1, 2024
Israeli-made Pegasus spyware was used in Jordan to hack the cellphones of at least 30 people, including journalists, lawyers, human rights and political activists, the digital rights group Access Now said Thursday.
The hacking with spyware made by Israel's NSO Group occurred from 2019 until last September, Access Now said in its report. It did not accuse Jordan's government of the hacking.
One of the targets was Human Rights Watch's deputy director for the region, Adam Coogle, who said in an interview that it was difficult to imagine who other than Jordan's government would be interested in hacking those who were targeted.
The Jordanian government had no immediate comment on Thursday's report.
In a 2022 report detailing a much smaller group of Pegasus victims in Jordan, digital sleuths at the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab identified two operators of the spyware it said may have been agents of the Jordanian government. A year earlier, Axios reported on negotiations between Jordan's government and NSO Group.
“We believe this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the use of Pegasus spyware in Jordan, and that the true number of victims is likely much higher,” Access Now said. Its Middle East and North Africa director, Marwa Fatafta, said at least 30 of 35 known targeted individuals were successfully hacked.
Citizen Lab confirmed all but five of the infections, with 21 victims asking to remain anonymous, citing the risk of reprisal. The rest were identified by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International's Security Lab, and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.
NSO Group says it only sells to vetted intelligence and law enforcement agencies — and only for use against terrorists and serious criminals. But cybersecurity researchers who have tracked the spyware's use in 45 countries have documented dozens of cases of politically motivated abuse of the spyware — from Mexico and Thailand to Poland and Saudi Arabia.
An NSO Group spokesperson said the company would not confirm or deny its clients' identities. NSO Group says it vets customers and investigates any report its spyware has been abused.
The U.S. government was unpersuaded and blacklisted the NSO Group in November 2021, when iPhone maker Apple Inc. sued it, calling its employees “amoral 21st century mercenaries who have created highly sophisticated cyber-surveillance machinery that invites routine and flagrant abuse.”
Those targeted in Jordan include Human Rights Watch's senior researcher for Jordan and Syria, Hiba Zayadin. Both she and Coogle had received threat notifications from Apple on Aug. 29 that state-sponsored attackers had attempted to compromise their iPhones.
Coogle's local, personal iPhone was successfully hacked in October 2022, he said, just two weeks after the human rights group published a report documenting the persecution and harassment of citizens organizing peaceful political dissent.
After that, Coogle activated “Lockdown Mode," on the iPhone, which Apple recommends for users at high risk.
Human Rights Watch said in a statement Thursday that it had contacted NSO Group about the attacks and specifically asked it to investigate the hack of Coogle’s device “but has received no substantive response to these inquiries.”
Jordanian human rights lawyer Hala Ahed — known for defending women's and workers rights and prisoners of conscience — was also targeted at least twice by Pegasus, successfully in March 2021 then unsuccessfully in February 2023, Access Now said.
About half of those found to have been targeted by Pegasus in Jordan — 16 in all — were journalists or media workers, the report said.
One veteran Palestinian-American journalist and columnist, Dauod Kuttab, was hacked with Pegasus three times between February 2022 and September 2023.
Along the way, he said, he's learned important lessons about not clicking on links in messages purporting to be from legitimate contacts, which is how one of the Pegasus hacks snared him.
Kuttab refused to speculate about who might have targeted him.
“I always assume that somebody is listening to my conversations,” he said, as getting surveilled “comes with the territory” when you are journalist in the Middle East.
But Kuttab does worry about his sources being compromised by hacks — and the violation of his privacy.
"Regardless of who did it, it's not right to intervene into my personal, family privacy and my professional privacy.”
___
This story has been corrected to say that Access Now says the hacking occurred from 2019 until last September, not from early 2020 until last November.
Frank Bajak, The Associated Press
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