Panera Bread franchise owner — and Newsom's donor — is going to raise wages after all

Grace Eliza Goodwin
Mar 6, 2024

BUSINESS INSIDER
Gov. Gavin Newsom (left) and a California Panera Bread storefront.NBC, Gado/Getty Images


The franchise owner of dozens of Panera Breads in California said he'll raise the minimum wage for staff.
The owner is a major donor to Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Newsom faced blowback last week for appearing to carve out an exemption in a new law for Panera.

A billionaire donor to California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he's raising pay at his Panera Bread locations after it was widely reported that they'd be exempt from a new state law boosting the minimum wage.

Greg Flynn, the franchise owner of 24 Panera Breads in the state, announced on Tuesday that he would raise the minimum wage at his locations from $16 to $20.

Newsom and Flynn have known each other for years, and Flynn has been a longtime donor to Newsom's campaign, Business Insider previously reported. That connection brought Newsom under fire last week because the state's new law appeared to have a potential, specific exception for Panera Bread.

The new law requires fast food chains with 60 or more locations to increase the minimum wage for their workers beginning on April 1. But, the law includes an exemption for restaurants that bake bread and sell it as a stand-alone item.

(If you're wondering, bagels or croissants don't count as "bread" under the law.)

A spokesperson for the governor told Business Insider that Panera may not be exempt from the new law because the chain prepares its dough at an off-site location before stores bake it.

Flynn said last week that although he had suggested excluding fast-casual restaurants from the bill, he never asked for special considerations and never met directly with Newsom about the bill, Bloomberg reported.

After the backlash, Flynn said his restaurants would follow the law — even if they didn't have to.

"Regardless of whether the bakery exemption in AB1228 applies to our bakery-cafes, California locations owned and operated by Flynn Group will increase all hourly pre-tip wages to $20 per hour or higher effective April 1," Flynn said in his Tuesday statement, according to KCRA.

Flynn's pay bump for Panera workers won't affect workers at the remaining 164 locations in California not owned by the Flynn Group — unless the governor's office confirms that no Paneras are exempt.

The Flynn Group did not immediately respond to BI's request for comment.

Gov. Newsom argues Panera is not exempt from California's wage increase after backlash over a franchisee owner's campaign donations

Ana Altchek and Dominick Reuter
Mar 1, 2024

Governor Gavin Newsom is getting heat because of his ties to Panera restaurant owner.

Gado/Getty


Panera appears to be exempt from California's new minimum wage increase for fast-food chains.

Gov. Gavin Newsom is getting heat because Panera franchise owner Greg Flynn is a campaign donor.

Newsom's office said in response to the controversy that its legal team believes Panera may not be exempt.

California's minimum wage increase from $16 to $20 an hour for fast-food restaurant workers, set to go into effect in April, caused a stir among fast-food chains — especially since the new rule included language that seemed likely to give Panera an exemption.

Now, California Gov. Gavin Newsom is pushing back against criticism following revelations of his connection to billionaire restaurant owner Greg Flynn — who happens to be a campaign donor and owns 24 Panera locations in California.

Flynn is the founder and CEO of Flynn Group, which has over 2,600 US locations for Applebee's, Taco Bell, Panera, Arby's, Pizza Hut, and Wendy's. The group also owns 80 Applebee's in California, but the law does not apply to full-service restaurants.

The news — first reported by Bloomberg on Wednesday — has already prompted calls for an investigation by top Republicans in the state, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, and lots of angry posts on social media.

The two have known each other for years and apparently attended the same high school, Bloomberg reported.

Flynn has been donating to Newsom's campaigns since 2014, and Flynn Properties Inc. gave about $164,800 in 2021 and 2022 toward causes for Newsom, campaign finance records show. That includes $64,000 toward his reelection and $100,000 toward the "stop the Republican recall of Governor Newsom" campaign.

"The Governor never met with Flynn about this bill and this story is absurd," spokesperson Alex Stack said in a statement to Business Insider, referring to Bloomberg's report. "Our legal team has reviewed and it appears Panera is not exempt from the law."

The spokesperson said the governor's lawyers believe Panera may not be exempt due to the chain preparing dough at an off-site location before stores bake it. BI reached out to Panera Bread for comment on the governor's office statement.

Neither Flynn Group nor Panera immediately responded to requests for comment.

When asked last year about the bread exemption that baffled many, including a specific mention of Panera, Newsom said, "That's part of the sausage-making," declining to elaborate on the reasoning.

Flynn told Bloomberg he did not have a hand in the bread exemption, and Newsom's office told the outlet the law was the "result of countless hours of negotiations with dozens of stakeholders over two years."

In a statement to the Associated Press, Flynn denied asking for any "special considerations" and that he was surprised to see the exemption in the final legislation.

California's wage increase in September includes a clause that excludes any establishment that sells bread as a stand-alone menu item — not bagels, not croissants, just bread as defined by the US Food and Drug Administration.

Nor does the exemption apply if the bread is available for sale as part of another menu item, say as a footlong Subway sandwich.

Nor can sub shops start selling loaves or burger shops baking their buns in-house in order to get their labor costs down — the rule only applies to restaurants that have been doing so as of September 15 last year.

In short, that seems to exclude most major fast-food chains besides Panera. A few smaller brands appear to benefit from the carve-out, including Paris Baguette and Great Harvest Bread Co, Bloomberg reported.

Now, the Governor's lawyers appear to be scrutinizing the legal definition of the word "produces" as it appears in the law, which they argue may render Panera ineligible for the exemption.

Flynn's statement to the AP also said his restaurants will likely need to raise wages, regardless of the rule.

"Such a narrow exemption has very little practical value. As it applies to all of our peer restaurants in the fast-casual segment, we will almost certainly have to offer market value wages in order to attract and retain employees," he said.

The new minimum wage rate is set to increase to $20 an hour in April for fast-food workers in California. Restaurants with 60 or more locations will have to implement the new pay rate and chains like McDonald's, Chipotle, and Jack In the Box have already planned for an $250,000 extra annual cost and say they will raise menu prices at their California stores.

Update, March 1, 2023: This story was updated to include and reflect statements from Gov. Newsom, which dispute Panera's eligibility for the exemption, and from Greg Flynn.

Correction, March 1, 2023: An earlier version of this story stated that Flynn's group owns 12 Panera locations in California. The company owns 24.

Power lines ignited the largest wildfire in Texas history, officials say

utility provider Xcel Energy said its equipment appeared to have sparked the  fire

Firefighters battle the Smokehouse Creek Fire north of Canadian, Texas, 

Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024 

Credit: AP/David Erickson

By The Associated Press

 March 7, 2024 

Power lines ignited massive wildfires across the Texas Panhandle that destroyed homes and killed thousands of livestock, officials said Thursday, including the largest blaze in state history that the utility provider Xcel Energy said its equipment appeared to have sparked.

The Texas A&M Forest Service said its investigators have concluded that the Smokehouse Creek fire was ignited by power lines, as was the nearby Windy Deuce fire.

The utility provider Xcel Energy said Thursday that its equipment appeared to have played a role in igniting the Smokehouse Creek fire, though it did not believe its equipment was responsible for the Windy Deuce fire.

The Smokehouse Creek fire burned nearly 1,700 square miles (4,400 square kilometers) and destroyed hundreds of structures. The Minnesota-based company said in a statement that it disputes claims that “it acted negligently” in maintaining and operating infrastructure.

“Based on currently available information, Xcel Energy acknowledges that its equipment appear to have been involved in an ignition of the Smokehouse Creek fire,” the company stated.

Downed power lines and other utility equipment have led to other major wildfires, including the deadly blaze in Maui last year and a massive California wildfire in 2019.

The Smokehouse Creek fire was among a cluster of fires that ignited in the rural Panhandle last week and prompted evacuation orders in a handful of small communities. That wildfire, which also spilled into neighboring Oklahoma, was about 44% contained as of Wednesday.

A helicopter carries a bucket as it flies over homes burned by the Smokehouse Creek Fire, Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024, in Canadian, Texas. Credit: AP/Julio Cortez

Officials save said that as many as 500 structures may have been destroyed in the fires.

A lawsuit filed Friday in Hemphill County had alleged that a downed power line near the town of Stinnett on Feb. 26 sparked the blaze. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Stinnett homeowner Melanie McQuiddy against Xcel Energy Services Inc. and two other utilities, alleged the blaze started “when a wooden pole defendants failed to properly inspect, maintain and replace, splintered and snapped off at its base.”

Dale Smith, who operates a large cattle Ranch east of Stinnett said he lost an estimated 30 to 50 head of cattle out of the 3,000 that graze on his property.


“We’re still trying to tally up the cattle losses,” Smith said. “It burned probably 70-80% of the ranch.”

Aud the Dinosaur still stands after the Smokehouse Creek fire, on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, in Canadian, Texas. Credit: AP/David Erickson

Smith said much of the grazing land will grow back quickly with the proper rain and moisture, but he said they also lost several 100-year-old Cottonwood trees that dotted the ranch. Firefighters were able to save three camps on the ranch that included barns and other structures.

Smith said he believes a faulty power line sparked the blaze which quickly spread because of high winds.

“These fires are becoming a regular occurrence. Lives are being lost. Livestock are being lost. Livelihoods are being lost. It’s a sad story that repeats itself again and again, because public utility companies and oil companies responsible for these power lines aren’t keeping them maintained.”

Turks mark  anniversary of conquering the 'Queen of Cities'

On May 29, 1453, the ancient Roman city of Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Turks. Many historians consider the event – and this day – as marking the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of Europe's early modern period.


Illustration depicting the conquest of Istanbul.

Five hundred and sixty-seven years ago today, an Ottoman army led by Sultan Mehmet II did what no other Muslim commander or army had been able to do for centuries. Not only did the Turks capture the "Queen of Cities," but also effectively dissolved the last remnant of Eastern Roman – also known as Byzantine – rule and brought an end to one of the greatest empires the world has ever seen.

The conquest paved the way for the growth of the Ottoman Empire and spread of Islam in the Balkans; it also affected the course of human history in ways which can still be seen today.

Historical impact

When Constantinople fell Christopher Columbus was just a baby in Genoa, but the conquest of the city would play a strong role in his legacy. European kingdoms relied heavily on Constantinople for much of their trade, as the city was the commercial link between Europe and the Silk Road.

At that time, much of medieval Europe's economy was dependent on the spices and silk coming in through this trade route.

After conquering the city the Ottomans consolidated their power across the Middle East, practically ending Christian Europe's access to the Silk Road. Europe started experiencing a recession. The demand for goods coming from Asia increased.

The Portuguese came up with the idea of reaching East Asia, known then as the Orient, by sea. Going on the basis of what they knew about the world at that time, they planned to sail east around the horn of Africa to reach India and China. It can be argued that the conquest of Constantinople practically started the Age of Exploration.

Columbus had a different idea: why not sail west to reach the Orient? The commonly repeated idea that the majority of people in the period believed the world was flat is false. It had been theorised since the time of the ancient Greeks that the world was round.

Columbus sold the idea to the two rulers of Spain at the time, Ferdinand and Isabella, and with their financial support set sail in August 1492. His ships did not lower their sails again until they reached the New World.

Interestingly, the Byzantines believed in a prophecy that predicted the end of the world would be in 1492. The Byzantine Empire ended in 1453, but in a way, Columbus's discovery of the New World really did end the old one.


Painting by Fausto Zonaro illustrates Mehmet II entering Istanbul.


Key dates in Constantinople's history

330 AD: Roman Emperor Constantine I relocates the capital of the Roman Empire from Rome to Byzantium and renames the city Constantinople.

413-414 AD: Theodosius II orders the construction of 18-metre (60-foot)-tall triple-wall fortifications, which weren't breached until the introduction of gunpowder.

537 AD: Hagia Sophia is built. Upon seeing its magnificence, Emperor Justinian proclaims, "O Solomon, I have outdone thee!" Hagia Sophia employs 600 people, including 80 priests and costs 20,000 pounds of gold to build.

1182 AD: The Massacre of the Latins (Roman Catholics) by the Eastern Orthodox population of the city further worsens relations and increases enmity between the Western and Eastern Christian churches.

1197 AD: Constantinople is struck by a destructive fire, which burns down the Latin Quarter and the area around the Gate of the Droungarios on the Golden Horn.

1202 AD: The Fourth Crusade sacks Constantinople. Crusaders loot, terrorise, and vandalise the city for three days. Many ancient and medieval Roman and Greek works are either destroyed or stolen. Legendary bronze horses from the Hippodrome are sent back to adorn the facade of St Mark's Basilica in Venice, where they remain. Works of immeasurable artistic value are destroyed. One of the most valuable works of art to suffer such a fate is the giant bronze statue of Hercules. The great Library of Constantinople is also destroyed. Crusaders stole or destroyed all they could lay their hands on, even the tombs of the emperors inside the St Apostles Church were looted. Thousands of civilians are killed. Women, including nuns, are raped by the Crusaders. Churches, monasteries and convents are sacked, altars of these churches are smashed and torn to pieces for their gold and marble. The sacking of Constantinople in 1204 is a blow from which Byzantines never fully recover.

1261 AD: After 57 years of Crusader rule, the Byzantines retake their capital.

1453 AD: The city is besieged and captured by Ottoman forces led by Mehmet II. Under the Ottomans the city was called both Konstantiniyye and Istanbul in Turkish.

1459 AD: The construction of Topkapi Palace begins. It would serve as the primary residence of the Ottoman sultans for almost 400 years. It is now a museum and a major tourist attraction. It also contains important holy relics of the Muslim world, including the Prophet Muhammad's cloak and sword.

1460 AD: The Grand Bazaar, one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world, is built. It has been listed No 1 among the world's most-visited tourist attractions with 91,250,000 annual visitors.

1509 AD: A devastating earthquake strikes Istanbul. A tsunami and 45 days of aftershocks follow the quake. Over 1,000 houses and 109 mosques are destroyed, and an estimated 10,000 people die.

1918 AD: Allied forces occupy Istanbul in accordance with the Armistice of Mudros, which ended Ottoman participation in the First World War. Along with the occupation of Izmir, this mobilised the establishment of the Turkish national movement and led to the Turkish War of Independence.

1923 AD: The occupation ends and the city becomes part of the newly formed Republic of Turkey. The capital is changed from Istanbul to Ankara.

1930 AD: The city is officially renamed "Istanbul."


Painting by Gentile Bellini depicts Mehmet the Conquerer.


Mehmet the Conqueror

Mehmet II was born on March 30, 1432, in Edirne, the capital of the Ottoman Empire before the conquest of Constantinople. In August 1444 his father Murad II abdicated the throne to Mehmet. He was 12 years old.

During Mehmet II's first reign as sultan, a series of battles took place between 1443 and 1444 known as the Crusade of Varna. At this time, Mehmet asked his father Murad to reclaim the throne, but he refused. Angry, Mehmet wrote a letter to his father saying "If you are the Sultan, come and lead your armies. If I am the Sultan I hereby order you to come and lead my armies." After receiving the letter, Murad returned to lead the Ottoman Army and won the Battle of Varna in 1444. Murad II then returned to the throne.

Mehmet II ascended to the throne again in 1451. His first order of business was to strengthen the Ottoman Navy and make preparations for conquering Constantinople. His great-grandfather Beyazid I had built the fortress of Anadoluhisari on the Asian side of the Bosphorus Strait. On the European side, Mehmet erected another fortress called Rumelihisari. By gaining complete control of the straits Mehmet was able to start his siege of Constantinople.

Preparations, siege and conquest of Constantinople

The pair of forts gave the Turks complete control of sea traffic on the Bosphorus, preventing help from Genoese colonies on the north of the Black Sea from reaching the city.

Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI, seeing Mehmet's true intentions, turned to Western Europe for help. But centuries of war and hatred between the eastern and western churches had taken their toll.

Constantine wrote to the Pope and pleaded for help. Pope Nicholas V did not have the influence the Byzantines believed he had over the western European kings and princes. Some had become wary of increasing Papal power and were also not in any condition to contribute to the effort.

France and England were in a weakened state from the Hundreds Years' War. Spain was carrying out the final stage of the Reconquista. German Principalities and their internecine fighting and Hungary and Poland's defeat at the Battle of Varna in 1444 resulted in many leaders being unwilling to help Constantine.

Help did arrive from mercantile city-states in Northern Italy, and some Western individuals did come to help defend the city. Among them was Giovanni Giustiniani, a soldier from Genoa. He arrived with 700 armed men. The emperor immediately gave him overall command of the defence of the land walls. Additionally, Venetian ships present in the Golden Horn offered their services to the emperor.

To prevent a possible naval attack along the shores of the Golden Horn, Emperor Constantine Xi ordered a defensive chain placed at the mouth of the harbour. The chain, which floated on wooden logs, was strong enough to prevent any Turkish ship from entering.

The defending army numbered over 7,000 men. The army's Genoese troops were very well trained and equipped. The rest of the army consisted of soldiers, armed civilians, sailors and volunteer forces from foreign communities. Additionally, the defenders were well-equipped with a fleet of 26 ships. The rest of the city was tasked with repairing walls, standing guard on observation posts, collecting and distributing food provisions.

The Ottoman Army was larger. Studies and Ottoman archival data indicate there were about 50,000-80,000 Ottoman troops, including more than 5,000 Janissaries, an elite infantry corps.

Estimates show the fleet Mehmet built to besiege the city from the sea consisted of 126 ships, including six large galleys, 10 ordinary galleys and 15 smaller galleys.


Sultan Mehmet II has the boats transported during the siege of Constantinople.

The Ottomans had the ability to cast medium-sized cannons, but the range of some cannons they deployed was far greater than the defenders' expectations. Ottoman advances in arms production were greatly helped by a master founder named Orban. A cannon named "Basilica," designed by Orban, was 8.2 metres long, and able to hurl a 272 kilogram stone ball over 1.6 kilometres away.

Orban at first attempted to offer his services to the Byzantines, but they were unable to secure the funds he wanted. He left the city and approached the Sultan, stating that his weapon could blast "the walls of Babylon itself." He was given ample funds and materials and was able to build the gun within three months in Edirne. The cannon was dragged to Constantinople by 60 oxen. It did have several drawbacks – it took three hours to reload, cannon balls were in very short supply, and it could only be fired seven times a day because of the time it took to cool down after each shot.

Turks planned to attack the Theodosian Walls, a series of walls and ditches protecting Constantinople from an attack from the west – the only part of the city not surrounded by water. The Ottoman army encamped outside the city on April 2, 1453. The majority of the army encamped south of the Golden Horn. Karadja Pasha led regular European troops who were stretched out along the entire length of the walls. Troops from Anatolia were commanded by Ishak Pasha and were stationed south of the Lycus down to the Sea of Marmara. Mehmet's tent was erected near the Mesoteichion, where elite regiments of Janissaries were also positioned.

Constantinople boasted around 20 kilometres of walls, the strongest set of fortified walls in existence at the time. This gave the defenders reason to believe that they could hold out until other countries sent help or until the Turks abandoned the siege.

On April 5, the Sultan himself arrived with the last of the troops. Due to the length of the city's walls, the defenders decided that only the outer walls would be manned.


This picture shows the restored walls of Constantinople.

The Ottomans' massive cannon fired on the walls for weeks, but because of its imprecision and very slow rate of reloading the defenders were able to repair most of the damage after each shot.

The Ottoman fleet could not enter the Golden Horn because of the defensive chain the defenders had laid across the entrance. The fleet's primary task was to prevent ships from entering the Golden Horn. But on April 20, four ships managed to slip in after fierce fighting. The event gave the defenders morale and angered the sultan. To get his ships past the defensive chain Mehmet ordered the construction of a road of greased logs across Galata on the north side of the Golden Horn and was able to roll his ships across on April 22.

This presented a serious threat to the supply flow from Genoese ships from the colony of Pera and demoralised the defenders. An attempt was made on April 28 to destroy the Ottoman ships already in the Golden Horn using fire ships, but the Ottomans were ready and forced the defenders to retreat with heavy losses.


Following inconclusive frontal offensives, between mid-May to May 25, the Ottomans tried to break through the walls by constructing underground tunnels.

However, with the help of a German engineer, the defenders dug counter-mines, allowing Byzantine troops to raid the mines and kill Turkish workers. The first tunnel was intercepted on May 16. Other mines were raided on May 21, 23, and 25 and promptly destroyed.

On May 21, Mehmet sent an ambassador to Constantinople. He offered to end the siege if they gave him the city. He promised to allow the emperor and all inhabitants of the city to leave with their possessions. Lastly, he guaranteed the safety of everyone who would remain in the city. In response to this, Constantine XI offered to pay higher tributes to the sultan and said he would recognise the status of all conquered lands in the hands of the Turks as Ottoman possession. But refused to hand the city over.

Mehmet held a final war council with his advisers. The Ottoman plan now was to overpower the walls by sheer force, believing Byzantine defences had been weakened by the prolonged siege and were worn out. The Turks started preparations for a final all-out offensive.

Final assault preparations were started on May 26. The Turks mobilised their manpower and prepared for the attack. Prayers and rest were granted to the soldiers on May 28th.

The all-out offensive began on May 29.

The Turks performed their morning prayers and then advanced with Mehteran (Ottoman military band) consisting of trumpets, pipes, flutes, castanets, tambourines and cymbals.

A few hundred years later this manifestation of Ottoman military music motivated Mozart to write some of his most moving compositions.

Ottoman Christian troops attacked first, followed by wave after wave of irregulars known as Azaps, who were poorly equipped, and troops from Anatolia, who focused on a section of the walls in the northwestern part of the city. The cannon had damaged this section, and Anatolian troops were able to breach it and enter the city but were immediately pushed back. Finally, as the battle raged on, the last wave, the elite Janissaries were ordered to attack the city walls. Giovanna Giustiniani, the Genoese general in command of the land troops, was severely wounded during the Janissary attack. His evacuation from the ramparts resulted in panic in the ranks of the defenders. Guistiniani was taken to Chios, where he died a few days later from his wounds.

Genoese troops abandoned their posts and headed towards the harbour to escape. Constantine and his forces were left to their own devices, and could not stop the Janissaries from entering the city.

When the remaining defenders saw Turkish flags flying above a small postern gate, the Kerkoporta, panic ensued, and the defence completely collapsed. Venetians ran to the harbour to attempt to board their ships and the rest of the defenders either committed suicide by jumping off the city walls or surrendered.

It is thought the emperor led the final charge against the incoming Janissaries, dying in the ensuing battle just like his troops had in the streets. But Nicolo Barbaro, a Venetian witness to the siege, wrote in his diary that Constantine hanged himself when the Turks broke through at the San Romano gate. His ultimate fate is still not known.

After the assault, the Turks fanned out along the thoroughfare of the city and past the Chuch of the Holy Apostles. Mehmet II had dispatched an advance guard to protect key buildings such as the Church of the Holy Apostles from looting.

The sultan had promised three days of plunder to his soldiers, but on June 2 when he entered the city he found it to be almost deserted and in ruins. Houses were destroyed, churches stripped and shops emptied. He is famously reported to have been moved to tears by this, saying "What a city we have given over to plunder and destruction."

Mehmet ordered all looting stopped and sent the troops outside the city walls. Eyewitness to the fall of Constantinople, Byzantine historian George Sphrantzes, said this about the sultan's actions:

"On the third day after the fall of our city, the sultan celebrated his victory with a great, joyful triumph. He issued a proclamation: the citizens of all ages who had managed to escape detection were to leave their hiding places throughout the city and come out into the open, as they remained free and no question would be asked. He further declared the restoration of houses and property to those who had abandoned our city before the siege, if they returned home, they would be treated according to their rank and religion, as if nothing had changed."




After the conquest, the Greek Orthodox Church was allowed to remain intact, and the Hagia Sophia was converted into a mosque.

The capture of Constantinople gave the Turks a natural capital for their budding empire. The conquest sent shockwaves throughout Europe. The pope called for an immediate response in the form of a crusade. When no European monarch came forward to lead the crusade he decided he would go himself, but his early death put an end to that plan.

The fall of the city and Turkish encroachment in the surrounding region severed the overland trade route between Europe and Asia. As a result, Europeans had no choice but to try to reach Asia by sea. This was the reason for Columbus's expedition and Vasco da Gama's circumnavigation of India and Africa in 1498.

The conquest of the "Queen of Cities" closed the Middle Ages, kickstarted the Age of Exploration and played a significant role in journey to Americas by Columbus in 1492.

SOURCE: TRT WORLD

Acute water shortage in India's Bengaluru hurts businesses

The shortage is forcing residents to ration water use and pay almost double the usual price to meet their daily needs.


A view shows parched banks of Nallurahalli Lake, located on the eastern edges of India's tech hub of Bengaluru that is facing water shortages. / Photo: Reuters Archive

Bengaluru's acute water shortage is slowing production at its garment factories, doubling restaurant water bills and forcing managers at some global firms in "India's Silicon Valley" to accommodate unusual employee demand.

The southern Indian city is home to about 14 million people, thousands of startups and international firms from Walmart to Alphabet's Google.

"My team is skipping meetings to chase water tankers," a senior employee at Dell said on condition of anonymity, lamenting the hit to productivity.

The shortage, caused by weak southwest monsoon rains that failed to replenish depleted groundwater and the Cauvery River basin reservoirs, has already forced residents to ration water use and pay almost double the usual price to meet their daily needs.

"This is just the beginning of summer, we don't know how it is going to turn out," said Chethan Hegde, head of the Bengaluru arm of the National Restaurants Association of India.

Some restaurants are considering using disposable plates to save on washing-up, while others are putting up advisories in restrooms and training staff on how to operate with less water.

Slow production

Larger companies are changing tack too.

Microsoft is using tap aerators to control water flow and recycling water in the washrooms at its office in Bagmane Constellation Business Park, an employee said, citing a memo sent to workers.

Walmart, which implemented similar water conservation measures well before the crisis, said it was also encouraging landlords to use recycled water for landscaping and gardening.

Some employees who live in water-scarce areas prefer to work in the office, a senior Accenture employee said.

Microsoft, Dell and Accenture did not respond to requests seeking comment.

The crisis has reached Bengaluru's factories too. "Manufacturers cannot afford to stall production, they are trying their best to go on, but work has slowed down," South India Garment Association President Anurag Singhla said.

Price hike

The situation worsened this week when some providers of water tanks — which the city relies on when river and groundwater levels are too low — went on strike after the state government moved to regulate them.

Dealers hiked prices for a 12,000-litre tanker of water to as much as 2,000 rupees ($24.19) in February, from 1,200 rupees ($14.51) in January, Reuters found last month.

The city has capped the price of such tankers commissioned by the government at 1,200 rupees per unit, according to a March 6 order seen by Reuters.

The government has also allocated 5.56 billion rupees ($67.24 million) to deal with the water shortage but some industry captains are not very hopeful.

"(The water board) had promised us treated water, but we don't expect to get that until next year," Peenya Industries Association President H M Arif said.

"Already, micro industries are on oxygen and higher costs will lead to losses and they will have to be closed if the situation continues."

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Astrologers Advise Russians Not to Give in to Calm but Remain Panic-Stricken

 

Astrologers Advise Russians Not to Give in to Calm but Remain Panic-Stricken

            Staunton, Mar. 7 – Moscow astrologers are urging Russians not to give in to calm but rather to remain panic-stricken, an attitude that better reflects the situation that they increasingly find themselves in Putin’s Russia as his war in Ukraine continues, some Russians are reportedly telling each other.

            This is only one of the anecdotes now circulating in Russia that have been collected and posted on line by Moscow journalist Tatyana Pushkaryova (publizist.ru/blogs/107374/47940/-). The best of the rest include the following:

·       The number of Russians who attended Navalny’s funeral is not only remarkable for the capital of the Reich at the height of war but most importantly, it gives everyone some hope for change.

·       Everything Putin is promising to do in the next six years could have been done over the last two decades. The question has to be asked: why didn’t he do that?

·       The Russian justice ministry has declared the International LGBT Social Movement an extremist organization, and so it is likely it will soon find LGBT central committees and all the other elements of the old CPSU.

·       85 percent of Russians say Putin has a clear plan for the development of Russia, but no one, including Putin, can say what it consists of.

·       Russians have not yet learned that the death of Navalny and food shortages are closely interconnected.

·       The Kremlin is following in the footsteps of Hamas. It proclaims it is ready to make peace with its enemy Ukraine and then only in the footnotes says that its demands include the doing away with Ukraine altogether.

·       The Duma is about to approve a bill that will leave to Russians only dying stumps. Everything else will either be stolen by NATO or already is controlled by the oligarchs or the Chinese.

·       Serfdom was abolished in Russia in March 1861, but slavery has not yet been.

Oilmen step up Arctic drilling south of the ice edge

An upcoming well drilling by Equinor is part of a bigger petro-push into Norwegian Arctic waters. Ice maps show that the polar sea-ice this winter stretched almost to the Bear Island.

Sea-ice around Bear Island in year 2020. Photo: The Norwegian Coast Guard on X

By Atle Staalesen
March 07, 2024

Despite its commitment to cut climate gas emissions and reduce hydrocarbon dependence, Norway continues to expand exploration in the Barents Sea.

In early March, drilling rig Transocean Enabler made its way into Arctic waters towards a drill site located about 200 km north of the Norwegian mainland.

The operation is part of Equinor’s exploration of licence area 1080. A drilling permit was in February this year issued by the Norwegian Offshore Directorate. Drilling is due to take place in April.

Equinor is one of several companies that now expand exploration in the Barents Sea.

Also Vår Energi, the company previously known as Eni Norge, is boosting its presence in the region.

The COSL Prospector will over the next years drill for Equinor and Vår Energi in the Barents Sea. Photo: COSL.no

“We believe the potential for additional growth and generation of values in the Barents Sea is significant,” company CEO Torger Rød said in a statement.

Vår Energi and Equinor last year joined efforts in a new drilling program in the Barents Sea. The companies will together hire Chinese rig COSL Prospector for a two-year period. Cooperation with the Chinese might ultimately be expanded until 2029.

The push into the Barents Sea has the full support of the Norwegian government, and the country’s oil minister Terje Aasland has repeatedly called on oil companies to explore opportunities in the Barents Sea.

But drilling in the far northern waters includes serious environmental risks.

Normally, the lion’s share of the Barents Sea is ice-free during the whole year, but there are major seasonal divergences.

This year, the sea-ice in the northern parts of the Barents Sea embraced almost all eastern and southern ends of the Svalbard archipelago. In January, the extension of the sea-ice almost reached the Bear Island.

Sea-ice concentration in the Barents Sea in February 2024. Map by osisaf-hl.met.no

According to Signe Aaboe, a geophysical scientist at the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, there is a generally negative trend in the extension of the sea-ice, but variations are significant.

“Although the long-term trend is clearly negative irrespectively of the season, there are big variations of the trend,” she says in a comment to the Barents Observer.

In March-April 2020 there was exceptionally much sea-ice in the region, while it was exceptionally little in for example January-February 2023, she explains.

The researcher explains that the Barents Sea in 2023/24 generally had less sea-ice than normal for the period 1991-2020, and that the northeastern parts were significantly below the norm. At the same time, the concentration of sea-ice between Svalbard and the Bear Island in January and Februar was close to normal.

Sea-ice frequency in the Barents Sea in April in the period 1993-2024. Map by the Norwegian Polar Institute


However, Aaboe underscores that the charts and indexes of sea-ice extension applied by the Meteorological Institute do not cover areas with less than 15 percent concentration, as well as drifting icebergs.

Regularly, there is ice on the water also far south of the Bear Island. Ice maps from the Norwegian Polar Institute show that there can be sea-ice in April also in the area where Equinor now prepares to spud its next well.

The Barents Observer has reached out to Equinor for a comment, but the company has not responded to questions related to the upcoming well drilling.

UN chief calls for Ramadan ceasefire in Sudan


By AFP
March 7, 2024

Supporters of the Sudanese armed popular resistance, which backs the army, ride on trucks in Gedaref in eastern Sudan on March 3, 2024 - Copyright AFP -

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Thursday for warring parties in Sudan to agree to a ceasefire during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, warning that the country’s humanitarian crisis is reaching “colossal proportions.”

“In just days, the holy month of Ramadan will commence. So from this chamber today, I am making an appeal. I call on all parties in Sudan to honor the values of Ramadan by honoring a Ramadan cessation of hostilities,” he told a Security Council meeting.

Deputy British Ambassador James Kariuki announced a draft Council resolution calling for an “immediate ceasefire before the holy month of Ramadan and urging all parties to allow for unhindered cross border and cross line humanitarian access.”

He said he hoped for a vote on Friday.

Sudan has been rocked by a brutal war that has killed thousands — including up to 15,000 in a single Darfur town, according to UN experts — and displaced millions since last April.

The war between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, has also destroyed infrastructure and crippled Sudan’s economy.

It has also uprooted more than eight million people, in addition to two million who had already been forced from their homes before the conflict — making it the world’s largest displacement crisis.

The UN’s World Food Programme had warned on Wednesday that the nearly 11-month war risks triggering the world’s largest hunger crisis.

“The humanitarian crisis in Sudan is reaching colossal proportions,” Guterres told the Council on Thursday.

Some 25 million people, half the population, need life-saving assistance, he said.

“Water and sanitation systems are breaking down. Diseases are multiplying. Hunger is stalking Sudan. Some 18 million people are acutely food insecure. This is the highest number ever recorded during a harvest season, yet numbers are expected to surge even higher in the coming months,” he continued.

“We are already receiving reports of children dying from malnutrition.”

He repeated fears about civilians mobilizing, and new armed groups entering the fray, and cited reports of systemic sexual violence including rape, gang rape and human trafficking.

“All these dangerous developments are pouring fuel on the fire for an even more serious fragmentation of the country, a deepening of intra- and inter-communal tensions, and more ethnic violence,” he said.

Red Army Faction member Klette appears in court

Chris Nelson
7 March 2024

Daniela Klette, a member of Germany’s notorious Red Army Fraction (RAF) militant group who was arrested recently, as reported by Brussels Signal, made an initial appearance the country’s Federal Court of Justice, a spokesperson for the Attorney General said.

Her appearance before justices on March 7 came after Klette was detained in Berlin after three decades on the run, and is facing charges of armed robbery and at least one attempted murder allegedly committed between 1999 and 2016.

A woman was seen being escorted out of a blue federal police helicopter in Karlsruhe, the city in South Germany where the country’s federal prosecutor sits and the court is located. A spokesperson later confirmed that Klette appeared in front of a judge but did not give further details.

Klette’s court appearace comes shortly after Brussels Signal reported she had been arrested last month.

Klette, 65, a member of the so-called third generation of the militant group, has long been sought alongside two other members of the group, Burkhard Garweg and Ernst-Volker Staub.

“Late yesterday evening, police succeeded in detaining Daniela Klette in a Berlin apartment,” Brussels Signal reported Friedo de Vries, head of the criminal investigation department in Lower Saxony, as saying, on February 27 at a news briefing.

“She offered no resistance.”

The RAF, which arose out of the student protests of the late 1960s, was suspected of killing 34 people between 1972 and 1991. The group formally disbanded in 1998 with many members slipping back into ordinary lives.

Police are still searching for two other members of the so-called third generation of the group, Ernst-Volker Staub and Burkhard Garweg. Both men are wanted for the same charges as Klette.

En.wikipedia.org

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Army_Faction

Red Army Faction - Wikipedia 

The Red Army Faction also known as the Baader–Meinhof Group or Baader–Meinhof Gang was a West German far-left militant group founded in 1970 and active ...

Red Army Faction fugitive Daniela Klette appears in German court

Reuters

March 7, 2024



Daniela Klette, a 65-year-old member of Germany's notorious Red Army Faction (RAF) militant group, who has been arrested after decades on the run for armed robbery and attempted murder is brought to a helicopter, on the day of her appearance before German Federal Public Prosecutor, in Karlsruhe

KARLSRUHE, Germany, March 7 (Reuters) - Daniela Klette, a member of Germany's Red Army Faction (RAF) militant group who was arrested last week after three decades on the run, made an initial appearance on Thursday at the country's Federal Court of Justice, the Attorney General's office said.
Klette, 65, a member of the so-called third generation of the RAF, had long been sought alongside two other members of the group, Burkhard Garweg and Ernst-Volker Staub. She was arrested in a Berlin apartment on the evening of Feb. 26.

A statement from the Attorney General's office, citing the arrest warrant, said Klette took part in three RAF attacks between February 1990 and March 1993.

Founded by Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof among others, the far-left RAF's first generation emerged from German student protests of the late 1960s.
The group took hostages and murdered more than 30 people, including public officials, police officers, business leaders and U.S. soldiers. The group formally disbanded in 1998 with some members slipping back into ordinary lives.

Klette faces two separate legal cases.

One, in the state of Lower Saxony in northern Germany, relates to robberies, including armed robbery, and attempted murder, to finance her livelihood after she went underground.

The Attorney General's arrest warrant centres on suspected RAF crimes.

These include an attempted explosion in an administrative building of Deutsche Bank in which three security staff were present, a gun attack on the U.S. embassy in Bonn with at least 10 people present, and an explosives attack on a newly built, unoccupied prison, the Attorney General's office said in a statement.

Police are still searching for two other members of RAF's third generation, Staub and Garweg. Both men face charges of armed robbery and at least one attempted murder committed between 1999 and 2016, the same charges Klette faces in Lower Saxony.

Berlin police raid fails to find suspects in decades-old Red Army Faction case

German police briefly detained several people on Sunday in Berlin during a manhunt for two members of the far-left militant Baader-Meinhof gang, who have been on the run for more than 30 years.

Issued on: 03/03/2024 

German police secure the area where two men were arrested in the hunt for fugitive members of the Red Army Faction (RAF) militant group in Berlin on March 3, 2024. 

© Christian Mang, Reuters
By:NEWS WIRES


Police have been seeking Ernst-Volker Staub, 69, and Burkhard Garweg, 55, from the radical anti-capitalist group also known as the Red Army Faction (RAF).

The search for the two men had intensified in the last days, after Monday's arrest of Daniela Klette, 65, the third member of the long-sought-after trio from RAF that carried out several bombings, kidnappings and killings that traumatised Germany in the 1970s and 1980s.

Police initially announced the arrests of two men on Sunday but later said that further arrests had been made.

However, subsequent identity checks have confirmed that "they are not the people sought," a police spokesman said, adding that those arrested have been released.

Since the RAF disbanded in 1998, Klette and the two fugitives were believed to have been financing their lives on the run through robberies of money transporters and supermarket cash heists.

Klette, the only woman tagged as "dangerous" on Europol's most-wanted list, was arrested on Monday in Berlin on suspicion of attempted murder and various serious robberies between 1999 and 2016.

Following the breakthrough, police said they believed the two remaining fugitives were also hiding in the German capital.

Police on Saturday published new photos that they said were very likely recent photos of Garweg.

Among the photos believed to have been taken between 2021 and 2024 was a clear frontal view of the alleged fugitive, sitting in between two dogs on a sofa.

Police said it "could not be ruled out" that Garweg and Klette had maintained "personal and direct" contact.

(AFP)

'They want to provoke': Mexican president responds as protesters break down palace door

Mar 7, 2024  #mexico #president #protest

A group protesting the disappearance of 43 students in Mexico in 2014 knocked down a door to the country's presidential palace, video from local television stations showed.

The protesters rammed down the door using a white pickup truck from Mexico's state electrical company, while President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was giving his daily morning press conference inside

Hawley bill gives radiation exposure victims another chance at expanded compensation

BY ZACK BUDRYK - 03/07/24 

Greg Nash
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) speaks to an aide as he arrives for a Senate Republican Conference meeting to discuss Ukraine aid and border security bill on Wednesday, January 24, 2024.

The Senate is set to vote Thursday on a stand-alone bill introduced by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) to expand and renew a 30-year-old law compensating Americans exposed to radiation by the federal government.

The expansion has seen nearly a year of false starts and unsuccessful amendments, which have caused Hawley to openly vent frustration with outgoing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). With a vote scheduled for Thursday afternoon, advocates are hopeful the measure has the votes to pass on its own now.

The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA), initially passed in 1990, provides compensation for people exposed to radiation by the federal government through nuclear testing or uranium mining during World War II and the Cold War. However, the scope of the original law does not cover New Mexicans exposed to the effects of the 1945 Trinity atomic bomb test or those exposed to contamination from St. Louis-area uranium processing, which prompted Hawley’s interest in the matter.

The RECA is set to expire later this year, after President Biden signed an executive order extending it two years in 2022. A stand-alone bill extending the law another five years and expanding its coverage to Missouri, Idaho, Montana, Guam, Colorado, Tennessee, Kentucky and Alaska will receive a Senate vote this week under the terms of a unanimous agreement, Hawley confirmed Monday.

A bipartisan amendment to the Senate’s version of the National Defense Authorization Act that would have expanded and reauthorized the law passed the Senate with a supermajority earlier this year, but it was ultimately removed during the conference process, for which Hawley blamed McConnell and Republican leaders. That amendment would have extended the law another 19 years.

“That was a serious mistake. I have told [McConnell] that to his face,” Hawley said during a Monday call with reporters. The Missouri Republican said last week that he walked out of a meeting with McConnell over his role in stripping the amendment from the bill.

“He brought up the cost and I said I didn’t hear a lot of grousing about the cost when we were voting on Ukraine funding or anything else for that matter. He called it an entitlement. I said it’s not an entitlement, it’s a compensation program for people the government has poisoned,” Hawley said last week following the meeting. “I was very direct.”

Hawley’s push comes amid uncertainty about who will succeed McConnell as leader of the Senate GOP caucus, with Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) and former Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) in the mix so far. Hawley said he has yet to decide whom he’ll back for the top spot, but said their respective votes on the RECA bill will factor into his decision.

“I’ve talked to all the members of my caucus about RECA expansion, so we’ll see,” Hawley told The Hill on Wednesday.

The vote also comes the week before Sunday’s Oscars telecast, where Christopher Nolan’s biopic of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the “father of the atomic bomb,” is considered the favorite for best picture. Hawley, who has urged the telecast to acknowledge the struggle of downwinders, or those exposed to radiation due to being “downwind” from nuclear facilities or test sites, called the timing “fortuitous.”

“I hope that the real heroes here will get the attention they deserve,” Hawley said.

Proponents of the expansion have frequently sought to use public interest in the film, which depicts the first detonation of an atomic bomb in the Manhattan Project’s Trinity test, as a springboard to advocate for the measure.

Under the extension Biden signed, June 7 is the “go-dark date” for the law, Hawley said, and as such “there is a sense of urgency.” However, he added, “we’ll do it over and over and over again if that’s what it takes.”

Hawley said Monday that “we have every reason to believe” Biden would sign the bill if it reached his desk, and the White House made it official Wednesday, saying in a statement that “the President believes we have a solemn obligation to address toxic exposure, especially among those who have been placed in harm’s way by the government’s actions.”

For many of the people directly affected by radiation exposure, time and resources are in short supply. In addition to Hawley’s constituents and residents of several other states not covered by the original law, the proposed expansion would extend the window of coverage for uranium miners active between 1971 and 1990, as opposed to the current statute, which cuts off after 1971.

The federal government ended uranium procurement for atomic weapons development after 1971, but the industry continued production throughout the 1980s, and the uranium mines themselves remained major national security assets, according to the Navajo Nation, which has lobbied heavily for expansion.

Phil Harrison, a Navajo Nation member who worked as a uranium miner and a remediation worker for the Energy Department, noted that he and fellow advocates spend their own money for lobbying-related costs.

“Since 2009, we’ve been going back and forth, trying to get Congress to be sympathetic about the First Americans and Native Americans that protected this country’s national security,” he told The Hill in an interview.

Harrison, an Air Force veteran, told The Hill that at least 400 men in his community associated with uranium mining have died of lung cancer or other lung ailments. Cancer comprises 11.5 percent of all deaths among members of the nation, the third-leading cause of death, according to an October 2023 report from the Navajo Epidemiology Center.

Harrison testified before Congress in favor of RECA amendments in 2018 and 2022, and each time compensation has failed to pass has heightened the sense he was a David figure taking on the Goliath federal government.

“This is all on a voluntary basis — we sell fry bread on the streets to pay for our travel,” he said. “We’re fighting Star Wars with a golf club.”