Saharan dust smothers Switzerland, France

Agencies Published March 31, 2024 

GENEVA: An exceptionally rare haze of Saharan dust cloaked Switzerland and southeastern France on Saturday, sparking health warnings as a yellow hue tinged the sky.

The phenomenon, which began in Switzerland on Friday, brings with it “a very clear worsening of sunlight and visibility. Added to that is an increase in concentrations of fine particles”, the MeteoSuisse weather service posted on X.

With the dust concentrated at lower than 3,000 metres (around 9,800 feet), air quality was especially affected, with Switzerland’s airCHeck monitoring application flagging high levels of pollution in a corridor stretching from the southwest to the northeast.

Calculations estimate that the amount of dust reached around 180,000 tonnes, double the levels recorded during recent similar events, SRF Meteo forecaster Roman Brogli told public radio.

Skies turn yellow, prompting health warnings

In neighbouring France, local authorities in the southeast and south announced that the air pollution threshold was breached on Saturday, with the Herault department asking residents to avoid intense physical effort, particularly those with heart or respiratory problems.

The Sahara desert releases 60 to 200 million tonnes of mineral dust per year. While the largest particles come rapidly back down to earth, the smallest can travel thousands of kilometres.

The sand gives an orange tint to snow and can impact melting processes, notably for glaciers, which are shrinking as average temperatures rise, by reducing the ice’s ability to reflect sunlight. The situation is due to improve in France and Switzerland on Sunday.

According to SWI website, the surge in dust was propelled by a robust southerly current, ferrying particles from the Sahara desert in northern Africa to Swiss skies as early as Friday.

The Sahara stands as the planet’s primary source of mineral dust, emitting between 60 to 200 million tonnes annually. While larger particles precipitate swiftly, smaller ones embark on journeys spanning thousands of kilometres, traversing entire continents, including Europe. These Saharan dust events significantly contribute to aerosol pollution, particularly in the transitional seasons of spring and autumn.

The presence of Saharan dust alters atmospheric dynamics, manifesting in a yellowish hue across the skies and enhancing the spectacle of sunrises and sunsets.

Moreover, when settling upon snow, it can impede outdoor activities like skiing.

While the influx of Saharan dust captures attention, its health implications remain minimal for the majority.

Published in Dawn, March 31st, 2024

SMOKERS’ CORNER: IN SEARCH OF THE 'NEW MAN'

Nadeem F. Paracha 

DAWN

Published March 31, 2024

Illustration by Abro

Till the 1960s, the idea of engineering an ideal society was an earnest endeavour. It did not draw the kind of cynical ridicule or even dread that it often evokes today. The concept of ‘social engineering’ is now understood as a rather sinister idea — but it just might be making a comeback.

The study of social engineering is often tied to the study of ‘ideologemes’ (a way of expression or representation of a particular ideology), such as the ‘New Man.’ The concept of the ‘New Man’ was a popular unit of various ideologies in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

The concept first emerged during the 18th century French Revolution, when radicals (the Jacobins) took control of the revolutionary regime and looked to create a whole new society by completely destroying the old. To do this, the regime felt it needed to shape a new kind of citizen through a new set of knowledge and morals. This pursuit led to excesses, in which hundreds of ‘bad citizens’ were brutally executed.

In the 19th century, two books — one in Czarist Russia and the other in Germany — would go a long way in popularising the idea of the New Man. The first was a novel written by the Russian philosopher Nikolay Chernyshevsky. He called it The Story About The New Man.

After gaining prominence in the 19th century and its proliferation in the 20th century, the concept of ‘social engineering’ in order to create an ‘ideal society’ seems to be on the rise once more

The protagonist of the novel sees himself as one of the “new breed of men” in Russia entirely dedicated to forming a new society. He is a self-appointed messiah, envisioning a utopia. He even suppresses his sexual urges for this and is inclined to treat women as equals, as long as they are willing to work towards creating a new society.

The second book was by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, called Thus Spoke Zarathustra. In it, a ‘prophet’ tells the people about the coming of a new kind of man, the Übermensch (or the ‘overman’).

The Übermensch was to rise by shattering established ideas of morality, destroying the ‘decadence’ of the modern world, and would fill the void created by the figurative “death of God” with a new set of morals. The Übermensch was passionate, intuitive and unabashedly egotistical in his pursuit for power and glory.

These two tomes went on to influence experiments in social engineering in the 20th century, mainly in the communist Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. The founder of communist Russia, Vladimir Lenin, was a great admirer of Chernyshevsky’s novel.

Lenin’s Bolshevik party set out to create the ‘New Soviet Man’ and the ‘New Soviet Woman.’ Lenin understood the Russian society to be ignorant and emotional due to the manner in which it was ‘brutalised’ by the old order.

Policies were launched to engineer a society that preferred consciousness over instinct and emotion, and worked towards creating classlessness. The ‘New Soviet Man’ had to be physically and mentally strong, disciplined by Marxist-Leninist ideology. He had to completely forgo his ethnic and racial identity.



The ‘New Soviet Woman’ was to be his equal — a fellow comrade, a securer of the Revolution but also a wife and mother. Lenin’s successor, Joseph Stalin, asked the party to become “engineers of the human soul.” He said that society needed to be remoulded, “just as a gardener cultivates a tree.”

To Stalin, this required rapid industrialisation. Plans to do this were put into action. But whereas the Soviet Union achieved industrialisation at an impressive pace, this was at the cost of millions of deaths in the countryside, due to food extortion by the state to feed the cities, and the introduction of forced labour to build factories, roads and dams. The period also witnessed the mass execution and exile of thousands of “socially harmful elements.”

In Nazi Germany (1933-45), initiatives were launched to create the ‘New Aryan Man.’ He was to use instinct and intuition over reason and consciousness. He was to be a man of sheer will — not as an individual, but as an extension of a collective striving to serve a new Aryan society. The New Aryan Woman was to be a mother, the breeder of children of “pure German blood.”

Crude experiments in eugenics were carried out, millions from “undesired races” were exterminated, brutal military invasions were undertaken, and a bloody world war was fought to hasten the creation and supremacy of the ‘New Aryan Man.’

Nietzsche’s Übermensch was an inspiration to the Nazis, especially the Übermensch’s amoral and passionate impulse for power through grand military means and an unabashed lust for glory, even if this meant causing outright destruction.

The Chinese communist ideologue Mao Zedong tried to create a ‘New Chinese Man.’ The New Chinese Man was to be engineered to construct a new Chinese society. For this, Mao launched a campaign of “thought reform” in the cities. “Bourgeois thoughts” had to be expelled from the mind and replaced with thoughts of communist ‘sages’, such as Mao.

Then, reforms were initiated to create ‘New Chinese Men’ in the countryside. For this, peasants were forcibly organised into large collectives. ‘New Chinese Women’ were to be equals of men. In fact, they were treated as men and given similar tasks.

In 1966, Mao launched a ‘Cultural Revolution’ to galvanise Chinese youth to lead the way in persecuting those who had supposedly retained “bourgeois thoughts” and habits. Some 30 million people starved to death due to the collectivisation policies in the countryside, and the death toll during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76) is said to have been two million. Many were killed by young men and women who were turned into fanatical believers of “the thoughts of Chairman Mao.”

In South Asia, the Muslim poet-philosopher Muhammad Iqbal wrote about the need to create a ‘New Muslim Man.’ Iqbal took the romanticised and mythologised dimensions of Islamic history to conceptualise the New Muslim Man, who was to be intuitive. He would passionately seek to shatter orthodoxy as well as ‘decadent’ modernity. A kind of Islamic Übermensch.

Iqbal’s ideas, in this context, went on to inspire Islamist ideologues such as Abul Ala Maududi, Islamic modernists such as Ghulam Ahmad Parvez, Islamist revolutionaries such as Ali Shariati and Ruhollah Khomeini, and populists such as Imran Khan.

The Hindu nationalist V.D. Savarkar sought to create a new kind of Hindu who was militant and proudly chauvinistic, or the opposite of the archetypal ‘peaceful Hindu.’ Decades later, Savarkar’s status suddenly rose to that of a ‘sage’ with the rise of populist Hindu nationalism in India.

A fascination with ideas of social engineering is clearly present in the political populism that has engulfed various regions of the world from 2010 onwards — a dreadful development.

Published in Dawn, EOS, March 31st, 2024

Japan, China experts discuss Fukushima water release

China has accused Tokyo of treating the sea as a “sewer”, but Japan insists the discharge is safe.

 
MAR 31, 2024

TOKYO - Japanese and Chinese experts held talks on treated wastewater from the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, Japan’s foreign ministry said late on March 30, the first such talks to be announced since Tokyo began releasing the water into the ocean in 2023.

Japan and China have been at loggerheads over the discharge of the wastewater, which was used to cool the reactors after the 2011 meltdown.

Japan insists it has been safely treated, but China has criticised the release and banned Japanese seafood imports.

“A dialogue between Japanese and Chinese experts on the discharge of... treated water into the ocean (by the Fukushima plant) was held in Dalian, China on March 30 to exchange views on technical matters,” Tokyo’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

The announcement comes after Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in November and said science-based discussions would take place at the expert level.

Japan began gradually discharging some of the 1.34 million tonnes of wastewater that have accumulated since the disaster into the Pacific in August, sparking a diplomatic row with China and Russia, both of which banned seafood imports.

China has accused Tokyo of treating the sea as a “sewer”, but Japan insists the discharge is safe, a view backed by the UN atomic agency.

Mr Kishida called on China at the November Asia-Pacific summit in San Francisco to make an “objective judgment” on the safety of Japan’s seafood, which is a major industry in the country.

Japan began releasing the treated wastewater because the nuclear facility was running out of space to build more water tanks, and it needed to make room for the much more hazardous task of removing radioactive fuel and rubble from the three stricken reactors. AFP

22 Injured As United Airlines Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner Hits Severe Turbulence

BY CHANNING REID

SIMPLY FLYING

PUBLISHED 9 HOURS AGO

Several passengers were treated for their injuries at an airport in Upstate New York.

Photo: Ronen Fefer | Shutterstock


SUMMARY

United Airlines flight 85 made an emergency landing due to extreme turbulence on Friday.

The 787-10 Dreamliner diverted to New York Stewart International Airport after hitting high winds on approach.

The FAA is investigating the incident, with United facing scrutiny over a series of recent safety issues.

A Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner operated by United Airlines made an emergency landing at New York Stewart International Airport (SWF) on Friday after reportedly experiencing “extreme turbulence.” More than 20 passengers were injured as a result, with seven taken to the hospital upon arrival.

It is believed that the aircraft hit high winds while on approach to Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR). Following the encounter, the aircraft aborted its landing at the airport, climbed a few thousand feet, and diverted north to SWF.
Flight details

United confirmed the incident to Simple Flying on late Friday, stating,

“On Friday, United flight 85 landed at Stewart International Airport (SWF) after reported high winds at Newark. One passenger deplaned due to a medical incident, and a few other customers were seen by medical personnel for possible motion sickness. The flight refueled and continued to Newark tonight.”

The aircraft, registered as N14016, operated as UAL85 from Ben Gurion Airport (TLV) in Tel Aviv, Israel, according to Flightradar24.com. The 787 departed from its gate at 11:30 but was not airborne until 13:05. It proceeded to an initial cruising altitude of 34,000 feet before jumping up to 36,000 feet. As it crossed over the North Atlantic Ocean, the plane subsequently climbed to 38,000 feet and continued west for the remainder of its cruise, which appeared to be uneventful.

Approaching EWR

Around 10 hours and 51 minutes into the flight, N14016 had begun its initial descent. Ten minutes after beginning its descent, the aircraft was around 20,000 feet. Flying over Albany, the Dreamliner turned south. Its rate of descent had slowed as it passed west of Poughkeepsie. At around 17:25 EDT, the 787 was flying around 4,200 feet and turned back north before turning east, traveling closer to EWR. Five minutes later, the plane turned slightly southeast to intercept the approach path.



Photo: Flightradar24.com

At 17:35, the aircraft had lined up for final approach on Runway 22L and was descending through 3,000 feet. It then continued for what appeared to be a normal approach. Flight data shows that the plane was only 350 feet in the air over the runway at approximately 17:37. It then climbed 3,200 feet and continued flying south of the airport before turning northwest. The Dreamliner eventually reached 4,200 feet before descending and landing at SWF. N14016 landed safely on Runway 27 at around 18:00, according to Flightradar24.com.


A slew of safety incidents

It is unclear when the aircraft encountered the severe turbulence, but the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it would investigate the incident. The agency told Simple Flying that the crew reported a passenger emergency, which prompted the diversion. According to Blaise Gomez, a reporter at News 12 Westchester, 312 passengers were onboard. Fifteen were treated by paramedics at SWF, while seven were taken to St. Luke's Cornwall Hospital.



After sitting on the ground for over two hours, UAL85 continued to EWR. The aircraft departed from SWF at 20:16 and landed at EWR at 20:34.

The incident was the second United aircraft to make an emergency landing in about 24 hours. On Thursday, UA990 was enroute from San Francisco to Paris when it diverted to Denver following engine issues. United has been under the spotlight for experiencing a slew of safety incidents in the past few weeks. Last week, the FAA said it would increase its oversight of United’s operations to ensure safety compliance.

Obama, Clinton and Hollywood big names help Biden raise record $26m for his reelection



Bill Clinton (R) watches as Barack Obama (L) and Joe Biden shake hands during a campaign fundraising event at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on Thursday night. AFP

Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and some big names from the entertainment world teamed up on Thursday night to deliver a rousing New York embrace of President Joe Biden that hauled in a record-setting $26 million-plus for his reelection campaign.

The mood at Radio City Music Hall was electric as Obama praised Biden's willingness to look for common ground and said, "That's the kind of president I want.” Clinton said simply of the choices facing voters in 2024: "Stay with what works."

Biden himself went straight at Donald Trump, saying his expected GOP rival's ideas were "a little old and out of shape.”

Moderator Stephen Colbert, in an armchair conversation with the trio, called them "champion talkers” and joked that the three presidents had come to town "and not one of them is here to appear in court,” a dig at Trump’s many legal troubles. The eye-popping fundraising haul was a major show of Democratic support for Biden at a time of persistently low poll numbers. The president will test the power of his campaign cash as he faces off with Trump, who proved with his 2016 win over Democrat Hillary Clinton that he didn’t need to raise the most money to seize the presidency.

During the nearly hourlong conversation, Obama and Clinton explained just how hard Biden's job is. They spoke of loneliness and frustration over policies that work but aren’t immediately felt by the public. They gave an insider's view of the office as they sought to explain why Biden was best for the job.

"It is a lonely seat,” said Obama, who had hitched a ride to New York on Air Force One with Biden.

 

Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Bill Clinton during a campaign fundraising event at Radio City Music Hall. Reuters


The talk was by turns humorous and serious, ending with all three donning sunglasses in the mostly dark music hall, a nod to the trademark Ray-Ban sunglasses that Biden often wears.

The sold-out Radio City Music Hall event was a gilded exclamation mark on a recent burst of campaign travel by Biden, who has visited several political battlegrounds in the three weeks since his State of the Union address served as a rallying cry for his reelection bid. Thursday's event also brought together more than three decades of Democratic leadership.

The music hall's marquee advertised the big-dollar night as "An Evening with Joe Biden Barack Obama Bill Clinton.” NYPD officers lined surrounding streets as part of a heavy security presence.

PROTESTERS DISRUPT EVENT

Protesters angry at Biden’s handling of the war in Gaza and strong support of Israel briefly disrupted the show, drawing a pledge from Biden to keep working to stop civilian deaths, particularly of children. But he added, "Israel’s existence is at stake.” Hundreds more protested outside in the drizzling rain, many demanding a cease-fire and waving Palestinian flags.



Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, was up first to warm up the crowd of about 5,000 supporters. Entertainers, too, lined up to make the case for Biden. Lizzo belted out her hit "About Damn Time” and emcee Mindy Kaling joked that it was nice to be in a room with "so many rich people,” adding that she loved that they were supporting a president who openly promises to "raise your taxes.”

Obama laid out the choice for the audience, saying that "at the end of the day, you do have to make a choice about who sees you and cares about you. I’m pretty confident the other guy doesn’t.”

At one point, Colbert said he suspected some Americans had forgotten some of the more concerning aspects of Trump's presidency, including Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob of Trump supporters violently stormed the US Capitol in a failed effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.

Biden said concerns over the riot reverberated outside the US, with foreign leaders questioning the stability of the U.S. democracy. That democracy is still fragile, he said.

The fundraiser had different tiers of access depending on a donor's generosity. Other participating celebrities included Queen Latifah, Ben Platt, Cynthia Erivo and Lea Michele. Tickets sold for as low as $225.

More money got donors more intimate time with the presidents. A photo with all three was $100,000. A donation of $250,000 earned donors access to one reception, and $500,000 got them into an even more exclusive gathering. First lady Jill Biden and DJ D-Nice hosted an afterparty at the music hall with 500 guests, the campaign said.

Obama and Clinton were helping Biden expand his already significant cash advantage over Trump. Biden had $155 million in cash on hand through the end of February, compared with $37 million for Trump and his Save America political action committee.

The more than $26 million tally for the New York City event includes money from supporters who handed over cash in the weeks before the fundraiser for a chance to attend. It raised $6 million more than Trump raised during February.

"This historic raise is a show of strong enthusiasm for President Biden and Vice President Harris and a testament to the unprecedented fundraising machine we’ve built,” said campaign co-chair Jeffrey Katzenberg. "Unlike our opponent, every dollar we’re raising is going to reach the voters who will decide this election - communicating the president’s historic record, his vision for the future and laying plain the stakes of this election."

Trump’s campaign is expecting to bring in $33 million at a big fundraiser next week in Palm Beach, Florida, according to a person familiar with the details who spoke on condition of anonymity to confirm a number first reported by the Financial Times.

  

US signs off on more bombs and warplanes for Israel

WAR CRIMES OF THE HEGEMON

John Hudson | The Washington Post

The Biden administration in recent days quietly authorized the transfer of billions of dollars in bombs and fighter jets to Israel despite Washington’s concerns about an anticipated military offensive in southern Gaza that could threaten the lives of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians.

The new arms packages include more than 1,800 MK84 2,000-pound bombs and 500 MK82 500-pound bombs, according to Pentagon and State Department officials familiar with the matter. The 2,000 pound bombs have been linked to previous mass-casualty events throughout Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. These officials, like some others, spoke to The Washington Post on the condition of anonymity because recent authorizations have not been disclosed publicly.

The development underscores that while rifts have emerged between the United States and Israel over the war’s conduct, the Biden administration views weapons transfers as off-limits when considering how to influence the actions of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“We have continued to support Israel’s right to defend itself,” said a White House official. “Conditioning aid has not been our policy.”

Some Democrats, including allies of President Biden, say the U.S. government has a responsibility to withhold weapons in the absence of an Israeli commitment to limit civilian casualties during a planned operation in Rafah, a final Hamas stronghold, and ease restrictions on humanitarian aid into the enclave, which is on the brink of famine.

'Use leverage effectively'

“The Biden administration needs to use their leverage effectively and, in my view, they should receive these basic commitments before greenlighting more bombs for Gaza,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said in an interview. “We need to back up what we say with what we do.”

The Israeli government declined to comment on the authorizations.

Four Hamas battalions remain in Rafah, say U.S. and Israeli officials. More than 1.2 million Palestinians have sought shelter there after being forced from their homes during Israel’s extensive bombing campaign over the past five months. Biden suggested that a scorched-earth invasion of the city along Gaza’s border with Egypt would cross a “red line” for him.

Biden requested that Netanyahu send a team of security officials to Washington this week to listen to U.S. proposals for limiting the bloodshed. Netanyahu canceled the visit after the United States refused to veto a United Nations Security Council resolution that called for a temporary cease-fire in Gaza and the release of hostages, but which did not condemn Hamas.

Israeli officials have not allayed U.S. concerns about the impending operation in Rafah, but they agreed to reschedule the meeting in Washington, the White House said.

The increasingly public spat has not dissuaded Biden from rushing weapons and military equipment into the conflict. Last week, the State Department authorized the transfer of 25 F-35A fighter jets and engines worth roughly $2.5 billion, U.S. officials said. The case was approved by Congress in 2008, so the department was not required to provide a new notification to lawmakers.

The MK84 and MK82 bombs authorized this week for transfer also were approved by Congress years ago but had not yet been fulfilled.

More transparency

Washington’s marginalization on the world stage over its support for Israel has rankled some Democrats in Congress, some of whom have called for more transparency in arms transfers and raised questions about whether the authorization of older unfilled cases is an effort to avoid new notifications to Congress, which could face scrutiny.

When asked about the transfers, a State Department official said that “fulfilling an authorization from one notification to Congress can result in dozens of individual Foreign Military Sales cases across the decades-long life-cycle of the congressional notification.”

“As a matter of practicality, major procurements, like Israel’s F-35 program for example, are often broken out into several cases over many years,” the official added.

The 2,000-pound bombs, capable of leveling city blocks and leaving craters in the earth 40 feet across and larger, are almost never used anymore by Western militaries in densely populated locations due to the risk of civilian casualties.

Israel has used them extensively in Gaza, according to several reports, most notably in the bombing of Gaza’s Jabalya refugee camp Oct. 31. U.N. officials decried the strike, which killed more than 100 people, as a “disproportionate attack that could amount to war crimes.” Israel defended the bombing, saying it resulted in the death of a Hamas leader.

Israeli officials deny that their military campaign has been indiscriminate and say civilian casualties are the fault of Hamas for embedding its fighters among the population in Gaza.

Biden’s decision to continue the flow of weapons to Israel has been strongly supported by powerful pro-Israel interest groups in Washington, including the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which is spending tens of millions of dollars this election cycle to unseat Democrats it views as insufficiently pro-Israel.

AIPAC, alongside congressional Republicans and several Democrats, oppose any conditions on U.S. military assistance to Israel. “The U.S. can protect civilians, on both sides of the conflict, by continuing to ensure Israel receives as much U.S. assistance as is needed, as expeditiously as possible, to keep its stockpiles full of lifesaving munitions,” Reps. August Pfluger, R-Tex., and Don Davis, D-N.C., and Michael Makovsky, president of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, wrote in a recent column. “Doing so is also morally right and in the U.S. interest.”

‘Assault on the rule of law’

Biden’s recurring approvals of weapons transfers are an “abrogation of moral responsibility, and an assault on the rule of law as we know it, at both the domestic and international levels,” said Josh Paul, a former State Department official involved in arms transfers who resigned in protest of Biden’s Gaza policy.

“This is a policymaking process that is fundamentally broken, and which makes everyone from policymaking officials to defense manufacturers to the U.S. taxpayer complicit in Israel’s war crimes,” he said.

The Post’s reporting on the new weapons authorizations follows a visit to Washington by Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant this week in which he requested that the Biden administration expedite a range of weaponry.

Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters Thursday that Israeli officials have been asking for weapons they consider important “in pretty much every meeting” he has been in with them.

Israel has “not received everything they’ve asked for,” Brown said. The United States has withheld some, he said, either due to capacity limits or because U.S. officials were not willing at the time. Brown did not identify the weapons.

Hours later, the Pentagon clarified Brown’s remarks, highlighting the issue’s sensitivity. Navy Capt. Jereal Dorsey, a spokesman for the general, said there has been no change in policy and that the United States assesses its stockpiles as it provides aid to partners. “The United States continues to provide security assistance to our ally Israel as they defend themselves from Hamas,” Dorsey said.

Taking longer than anticipated

Advocates of the policy inside the administration say behind-the-scenes discussions with the Israelis have succeeded in delaying the country’s Rafah operation, which they now don’t expect to happen until May. But at least part of that delay is due to Israel’s military operations in Khan Younis taking longer than anticipated.

More than 32,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, since the war began in response to the Oct. 7 cross-border attack in which Hamas militants killed 1,200 people in Israel and took at least 250 hostage.

Any increase in fighting in Rafah, a key transit point for humanitarian aid, risks exacerbating conditions across the enclave that the United Nations and aid groups say is suffering from chronic shortages of food, water and medicine. A massive influx of aid trucks is required to remedy the situation, but U.S. officials say Israel has imposed onerous restrictions on deliveries, which are deeply unpopular inside Netanyahu’s far-right coalition government.

The Biden administration does not see that its words and actions are in conflict with respect to weapons transfers, Van Hollen said.

“They do not see the contradiction between sending more bombs to the Netanyahu government even as it is ignoring their demands with respect to Rafah and getting more humanitarian assistance to starving people,” he said. “If this is a partnership it needs to be a two-way street.”

PETTY CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Police raid Peruvian President Boluarte's home in luxury watch investigation

Agence France-Presse
March 30, 2024 

Peru's President Dina Boluarte speaks as she meets with foreign press, in Lima, Peru January 24, 2023. © Angela Ponce, Reuters


Peruvian authorities raided President Dina Boluarte's home on Saturday as part of an ongoing corruption investigation related to undisclosed luxury watches.



According to a police document obtained by AFP, about 40 officials were involved in the raid, which was searching for Rolex watches that Boluarte had not publicly declared.

The raid "is for the purpose of search and seizure," police said.

The embattled president did not appear to be home at the time.

Authorities launched an investigation into Boluarte this month after a news outlet drew attention to pictures of her sporting luxury watches at public events.

Saturday's raid, a joint operation between the police and the prosecutor's office, was broadcast on local television channel Latina.

Government agents could be seen surrounding the house in the Surquillo District of the capital Lima while officers blocked oncoming traffic.

The surprise, early-morning raid was requested by the public prosecutor and authorized by the Supreme Court of Preparatory Investigation.

It came after prosecutors refused Boluarte's request for more time to respond to a subpoena demanding she furnish proof of purchase for her watches.

'Clean hands'

Already facing declining approval ratings, Boluarte has been plunged into a fresh political crisis with the launch of the probe into whether she has illegally enriched herself while in office.

If she is indicted in the case, a trial could not take place until after her term ends in July 2026 or she is impeached, according to the constitution.


Dozens of journalists descended on the president's house on Saturday but prosecutors and officials at the scene did not respond to questions.

The Peruvian president's office also did not react immediately.

The scandal erupted after local news outlet "La Encerrona" reported in mid-March that Boluarte had worn various Rolex timepieces at official events.

The outlet drew attention to the watches with pictures dating from December 2022, when Boluarte took office.

The government comptroller later announced it would review Boluarte's asset declarations from the past two years to search for any irregularities.

Boluarte, 61, has staunchly defended herself.

"I entered the Government Palace with clean hands, and I will leave it with clean hands," she said last week.

Responding to questions about how she could afford such expensive timepieces on a public salary, she said they were a product of working hard since she was 18 years old.

The lawyer and former vice president became Peru's first woman president after leftist leader Pedro Castillo tried to dissolve Congress and rule by decree, leading to his quick ouster and arrest.


Violent protests demanding Boluarte step down and fresh elections be held followed, with almost 50 people killed in the ensuing crackdown.

(REUTERS)

Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro indicted over Covid-19 vaccine data fraud

The Supreme Court released the police’s indictment on Tuesday that alleges Bolsonaro and 16 others inserted false information into the public health database to make it appear as though the then-President, his 12-year-old daughter and several others in his circle had received the Covid-19 vaccine

AP/PTI 

Sao Paulo 

Former Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro in Rio de Janeiro

Sao Paulo: Brazil’s federal police have accused former President Jair Bolsonaro of criminal association and falsifying his own Covid-19 vaccination data, marking the first indictment for the embattled far-Right leader with others potentially in store.

The Supreme Court released the police’s indictment on Tuesday that alleges Bolsonaro and 16 others inserted false information into the public health database to make it appear as though the then-President, his 12-year-old daughter and several others in his circle had received the Covid-19 vaccine.

During the pandemic, Bolsonaro was one of the few world leaders railing against the vaccine, openly flouting health restrictions.

His administration ignored several emails from pharmaceutical company Pfizer offering to sell Brazil tens of millions of shots in 2020 and openly criticised a move by Sao Paulo state’s then-governor João Doria to buy vaccines from Chinese company Sinovac when no jabs were otherwise available.

Brazil’s prosecutor-general’s office will have the final say on whether to use the police indictment to file charges against Bolsonaro at the Supreme Court. It stems from one of several investigations targeting Bolsonaro, who governed between 2019 and 2022.

Bolsonaro’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.

AP/PTI

 GLOW IN THE DARK GREEN ENERGY 

$1.52B loan guarantee issued in effort to restart Michigan nuclear power plant


The Energy Department Wednesday announced a $1.52 billion loan guarantee for Holtec Palisades to finance the restoration and restart of Michigan's Palisades nuclear power plant near Lake Michigan. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said it will support 100,000 jobs nationwide.  (MORE LIKE 10,000)

Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo


March 27 (UPI) -- The Energy Department Wednesday announced a $1.52 billion loan guarantee for Holtec Palisades to finance restoration and restart of the Palisades nuclear power plant in Michigan.

The plant's reopening is subject to Nuclear Regulatory Commission approval.

"Nuclear power is our single largest source of carbon free electricity, directly supporting 100,000 jobs across the country and hundreds of thousands more indirectly," said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm in a statement. "President Biden's Investing in America agenda is supporting and expanding this vibrant clean energy workforce here in Michigan with significant funding for the Holtec Palisades nuclear power plant."

According to the Energy Department, the project will create 600 good-paying, high-quality jobs.

Related

Ex-regulatory chief, 2 execs indicted in sprawling Ohio nuclear power bribe case

IEA forecasts global surge in electricity demand amid shift to clean energy

Energy Department grants $2.26B loan for Nevada lithium project

The plant stopped operating in May 2022.

"Once open, Palisades will be the first successfully restarted nuclear power plant in American history, driving $363 million of regional economic impact and helping Michigan lead the future of clean energy," Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in a statement. "I am so grateful to my bipartisan partners in the Michigan Legislature, the Biden-Harris administration, Holtec, and labor for coming together to get this done."

During the plant's projected additional operation once back online, the Energy Department said the project will "avoid 4.47 million tons of CO2 emissions per year for a total of 111 million tons of CO2 emissions during the projected 25 years of operations-an amount roughly equivalent to the annual emissions of removing more than 970,000 gasoline-powered cars from the road."

Whitmer added that the plant will power 800,000 homes.

Holtec Palisades already has signed power purchase agreements for the rejuvenated plant's power output with rural electric co-ops Wolverine Power Cooperative and Hoosier Energy in Michigan, Illinois and Indiana.

This is the first project with a conditional commitment under the Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment program under the Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act.

In 2007 the NRC authorized the Palisades plant in Covert near Lake Michigan for 20 more years operation.

Nuclear waste is stored at the plant near Lake Michigan, prompting safety concerns from environmental groups. A coalition of local, state and national organizations had petitioned to stop the NRC from allowing Palisades to operate for 20 more years due to those safety concerns.

New EPA rules to curb heavy-duty vehicle emissions starting with 2027 models


New heavy-duty vehicles like freight trucks and buses will now be subject to new greenhouse gas pollution standards, the Environmental Protection Agency announced Friday. 

File Photo courtesy of Wikimedia

March 29 (UPI) -- New heavy-duty vehicles like freight trucks and buses will be subject to enhanced greenhouse gas pollution standards, the Environmental Protection Agency announced Friday.

The standard will apply to vehicles beginning in the 2027 model year, running through 2032 and will avoid producing 1 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions or the equivalent of the emissions from more than 13 million tanker trucks' worth of gasoline, according to the EPA.

"In finalizing these emissions standards for heavy-duty vehicles like trucks and buses, EPA is significantly cutting pollution from the hardest working vehicles on the road," EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan said in a statement released by the agency.

"Building on our recently finalized rule for light- and medium-duty vehicles, EPA's strong and durable vehicle standards respond to the urgency of the climate crisis by making deep cuts in emissions from the transportation sector."

The agency also estimates the new regulations will "provide $13 billion in annualized net benefits to society related to public health, the climate, and savings for truck owners and operators."

The third and final phase of the EPA's Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards for Heavy-Duty Vehicles aligns with its ​​Clean Trucks Plan announced in 2021. The agency's plan represents the most protective set of EPA regulations ever for the on-road sector.

The EPA unveiled the second phase of the standards in 2016.

The transportation sector is the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States with heavy-duty vehicles accounting for 25% of all emissions in that sector.

"EPA's standards complement President Biden's unprecedented investment in our workers and communities to reduce harmful emissions, while strengthening our manufacturing capacity for the transportation technologies of the future," national climate adviser Ali Zaidi said in the EPA statement issued Friday.

"By tackling pollution from heavy-duty vehicles, we can unlock extraordinary public health, climate, and economic gains."

The news is the latest move by President Joe Biden's administration to curb emissions generated by traditional combustion engines and promote green technology.

Earlier in March, the White House finalized a new EPA rule leaning heavily on the automotive sector to bring more electric and hybrid cars to market.

The new rule pushes the auto industry to have electric vehicles make up 56% of new cars or trucks entering the market with hybrids constituting another 13%.

Arizona lawmakers sue Biden administration over EPA pollution rule

March 27 (UPI) -- Arizona's Republican legislative leaders and the state's Chamber of Commerce sued the Environmental Protection Agency over new pollution standards.

The filing in a Washington appeals court on Monday said the new EPA standards were "arbitrary, capricious and an abuse of discretion" that would damage the economy and called on the court to vacate it. Arizona's Senate President Warren Peterson, released a statement saying it is being joined by House Speaker Ben Toma and the chamber in the lawsuit.

"The Biden administration should be rewarding American businesses for being the most environmentally friendly in the world," Peterson said in a statement. "Instead, they are doubling down on their left-wing agenda. Their rule will create unnecessary hardships for job creators and hardworking Arizonans."

Peterson said new construction that would improve safety would be stopped, permits in Maricopa, Pinal and Pima counties would be blocked and small businesses would be forced to pay for expensive new equipment and

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He added that eight counties would be now ruled out of compliance with EPA guidelines and it would force jobs to go overseas.

"The EPA should focus on mitigating wildfires, the primary source of pollution," Peterson said. "It will detrimentally impact our power grid and create even more red tape for both small and large businesses. We have no choice but to ask the courts to provide relief from this tyrannical, arbitrary and illegal move by the EPA."

The EPA's new rule targets PM 2.5, which researchers say can get into the bloodstream and cause everything from strokes to heart attacks and asthma. The 2.5 microns particles can come from wildfires, fireplaces, wood-burning ovens, burning coal and other manufacturing processes,

The EPA finalized the new rule in February, saying it would prevent 4,500 premature deaths and 290,000 lost workdays, to $46 billion in health benefits by 2032.

Biden administration tightens restrictions on imports of African elephants

WHAT ABOUT ASIAN ELEPHANTS?!


Illegal ivory trinkets and creations are on display along with a tun of ivory before being destroyed as an ode to end the illegal trafficking and brutal mistreatment of elephants in Central Park, New York City in Aug. 2017. On Friday, the federal government took steps to protect the African elephant in dwindling decline. 

Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo


March 29 (UPI) -- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Friday finalized a rule to improve conservation and other protections of African elephants imported to the United States.

Friday's rule change "will strengthen protections of internationally traded live African elephants, increase transparency of the Service's permit decision-making, and more closely align U.S. requirements with guidance from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Fauna and Flora," the agency said in a news release.

"The Service values collaborative conservation of wildlife all around the world and is committed to improving implementation of international conservation law," U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Martha Williams said.

The changes require that countries that import elephants to the United States implement laws to increase conservation and protection including barring illegal trade and that authorized imports of both live elephants and "trophies" will contribute to conservation efforts and not cause the species to decline.

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It also requires that elephants only be sent to facilities that are equipped to house and care for them when they arrive in the United States.

Lastly, the rule clarifies import regulations on sport hunting and permit requirements.

In 2017, the Trump administration lifted an Obama-era ban on the import of endangered elephant remains from Africa. This comes as the Biden administration has been taking steps to strengthen many animal conservation policy reversals under Trump.

"Our actions today will help support range countries' efforts to manage and conserve African elephant populations and will further protect African elephants that are imported to the United States," Williams added. "We are optimistic that with this final rule and by continuing to work in partnership with range countries, wild African elephant populations will be sustainable into the future."

The agency says the African elephant in the wild has been reduced down to an estimated 415,000 from roughly 26 million at the end of the 18th century.