Idaho lawmakers pass bills targeting LGBTQ+ citizens. Protesters toss paper hearts in protest


The Idaho state flag hangs in the State Capitol in Boise, Idaho, Jan. 9, 2023. Idaho lawmakers have passed a series of bills targeting LGBTQ+ residents this year, including two this week that prevent public employees from being required to use someone’s preferred pronouns and redefine “gender” as being synonymous with sex. (

AP Photo/Kyle Green, File)

April 3, 2024

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho lawmakers have passed a series of bills targeting LGBTQ+ residents this year, including two this week that prevent public employees from being required to use someone’s preferred pronouns and redefine gender as being synonymous with sex.

On Wednesday, the Senate approved a bill allowing people to sue schools and libraries over books deemed harmful to minors, sending it to Republican Gov. Brad Little. Another bill that Little signed into law last week prevents public funds — including Medicaid — from being used for gender-affirming care.

The efforts are part of an ongoing national battle over the rights of LGBTQ+ Americans. Many Republican officials have been actively trying to limit those rights over the past several years.

The legislation in Idaho was among at least nine bills directly targeting LGBTQ+ rights that have been proposed in the state so far this year, Rebecca De León, spokesperson for the ACLU of Idaho, told the Idaho Statesman. In response to the slew of actions, protesters sent more than 48,000 colorful paper hearts raining down from the fourth floor of the Statehouse to the first-floor rotunda on Tuesday, KTVB-TV reported.

The hearts symbolized the 48,000 Idaho residents who identified as part of the LGBTQ+ population in the 2020 census. The hearts were handmade and mailed to the ACLU from 18 cities across the state.

“We wanted specifically lawmakers to be able to see the hearts and to hear what we have been trying to tell them all session,” De León told the Statesman. “It feels like they have not been listening, so we wanted to come bring the hearts to them.”

Republican Rep. Julianne Young sponsored the bill redefining gender, which refers to social and self-identity, as being synonymous with sex, which refers to biological traits. At least 12 other states have considered similar legislation this year attempting to remove nonbinary and transgender concepts from statutes. Kansas enacted a law last year ending legal recognition of transgender identities.

Idaho’s library bill allows community members to file written requests to remove materials they consider harmful to minors to an adults-only section, and gives library officials 60 days to make the change. After that point, the community member could sue for damages.

The governor vetoed a similar bill last year, saying he feared it would create a bounty system that would increase libraries’ costs, ultimately raising prices for taxpayers.

The ACLU and other opponents of the new law preventing public money from being used for gender-affirming care say it most likely will lead to a federal lawsuit. Idaho is already embroiled in lawsuits over attempts to deny gender-affirming care to transgender residents and has not had much success so far in defending them.

 

Colombian Senate Shelves Flagship Health Care Bill as Petro Takes Over Top Insurer

Oscar Medina and Andrea Jaramillo, Bloomberg News

Private health insurance workers protest against the government’s reforms in Bogota last November. , Photographer: Santiago Mesa/Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Colombian lawmakers shelved President Gustavo Petro’s health care bill while the government stepped up its campaign against private medical care by taking control of the nation’s largest insurer.  

Senators voted Wednesday to ditch the law that represented one of the cornerstones of Petro’s attempt to overhaul the nation’s welfare state. 

According to state media, the regulator that oversees the insurers will take over the running of Nueva EPS, which has more than ten million users. On Tuesday, the regulator said it will run EPS Sanitas, the second-largest, for one year after it failed to meet financial reserve requirements. 

Petro is turning to direct intervention after his efforts to boost state control in health, energy and pensions have failed to prosper as his political coalition frayed. 

“The government is trying to forcefully implement this reform through arbitrary interventions,” opposition lawmaker Andres Forero said in a video posted on X, adding that the moves are certain to be challenged in the courts.  

After the Sanitas intervention, Health Minister Guillermo Alfonso Jaramillo urged users to remain calm, and said services will continue as usual. The government holds a 49.9% share in Nueva EPS through the finance ministry, while the rest is privately owned.  

The health insurers, known as entidades promotoras de salud, have warned that delays in payments and insufficient government transfers have put their financial viability at risk.  

ANDI, Colombia’s biggest business association, said in a statement that around half of the nation’s population now depends on the government for health care provision. 

Colombia’s Inspector General Margarita Cabello told reporters that her office received a request from Sanitas to monitor the process. 

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Lebanese PM defends himself after French money laundering complaint

Lebanon's caretaker prime minister has rushed to defend himself after being hit by a complaint accusing him of offences including money laundering.

The New Arab Staff & Agencies
04 April, 2024

Mikati has repeatedly denied the accusations against him and his family [Getty]

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Wednesday defended his "integrity" and "transparent" assets, following a complaint filed in France accusing him of money laundering and other offences.

Two associations filed a complaint against Mikati with France's financial prosecutor's office, accusing him of fraudulently building up assets in France and other countries, a source close to the case told AFP on Wednesday.

The complains said that the Lebanese public consider Mikati, his brother Taha and their entourage as "the embodiment... of the clientelism and conflict of interest that have led Lebanon to its downfall".

In a statement sent to AFP and other media, Mikati said: "We strongly reaffirm that the source of our family wealth is entirely transparent, legitimate, and in full compliance with the law."

The complaint lodged by the CVPFCL financial crimes victim's collective of Lebanon, and the Sherpa anti-corruption association, accuses Mikati of money laundering, concealment or complicity, and criminal conspiracy as part of an organised gang.

Mikati made his fortune in telecoms and in June 2022 became prime minister of Lebanon for the third time.

The two associations accuse him and his brother of having likely "acquired various properties in France and abroad, via multiple structures and through extremely large financial transfers".

Those include properties in Monaco and Saint Jean-Cap-Ferrat, on France's Mediterranean coast; a 79-metre yacht "acquired for 100 million dollars"; and two Falcon jets, valued at around 95 million dollars.

Taha Mikati also reportedly owns a yacht worth $125 million.

According to Forbes magazine, the two brothers are worth $2.8 billion, making them amongst the richest people in Lebanon.

In his statement, Mikati insisted that no family member nor business "has been found guilty by any court, whether in Lebanon or anywhere else in the world".

The statement added that "attempts to discredit" the family were "unfounded and often politically-motivated".

It said that a Beirut judge in February 2022 and a Monaco court in August 2023 had dismissed charges against the family.

But the plaintiffs claimed that "since the mid-1990s, corruption has been intimately linked to the functioning of the state", which the brothers have benefitted from.

"Mikati's systemic use of offshore accounts and tax havens" and the "culture of corruption and conflicts of interest" that he embodies, make him and his family "widely suspected of large scale laundering (and) tax fraud over many years", added the plaintiffs' lawyers William Bourdon and Vincent Brengarth.

Several of the Mikati brothers' children are suspected of receiving some of the allegedly laundered money.

Sherpa previously lodged a complaint against Riad Salameh, the former governor of Lebanon's central bank, who has faced French and German international arrest warrants since 2023, and is sanctioned by the US, Canada, and UK.

Scathing federal report rips Microsoft for response to Chinese hack

April 03, 2024
By Associated Press

In this Jan. 28, 2020 file photo a Microsoft computer is among items displayed at a Microsoft store in suburban Boston.

BOSTON —

In a scathing indictment of Microsoft corporate security and transparency, a Biden administration-appointed review board issued a report Tuesday saying "a cascade of errors" by the tech giant let state-backed Chinese cyber operators break into email accounts of senior U.S. officials including Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.

The Cyber Safety Review Board, created in 2021 by executive order, describes shoddy cybersecurity practices, a lax corporate culture and a lack of sincerity about the company's knowledge of the targeted breach, which affected multiple U.S. agencies that deal with China.

It concluded that "Microsoft's security culture was inadequate and requires an overhaul" given the company's ubiquity and critical role in the global technology ecosystem. Microsoft products "underpin essential services that support national security, the foundations of our economy, and public health and safety."

The panel said the intrusion, discovered in June by the State Department and dating to May, "was preventable and should never have occurred," and it blamed its success on "a cascade of avoidable errors." What's more, the board said, Microsoft still doesn't know how the hackers got in.

The panel made sweeping recommendations, including urging Microsoft to put on hold adding features to its cloud computing environment until "substantial security improvements have been made."

It said Microsoft's CEO and board should institute "rapid cultural change," including publicly sharing "a plan with specific timelines to make fundamental, security-focused reforms across the company and its full suite of products."

In a statement, Microsoft said it appreciated the board's investigation and would "continue to harden all our systems against attack and implement even more robust sensors and logs to help us detect and repel the cyber-armies of our adversaries."

In all, the state-backed Chinese hackers broke into the Microsoft Exchange Online email of 22 organizations and more than 500 individuals around the world — including the U.S. ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns — accessing some cloud-based email boxes for at least six weeks and downloading some 60,000 emails from the State Department alone, the 34-page report said. Three think tanks and foreign government entities, including a number of British organizations, were among those compromised, it said.

The board, convened by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in August, accused Microsoft of making inaccurate public statements about the incident — including issuing a statement saying it believed it had determined the likely root cause of the intrusion "when, in fact, it still has not." Microsoft did not update that misleading blog post, published in September, until mid-March, after the board repeatedly asked if it planned to issue a correction, it said.

Separately, the board expressed concern about a separate hack disclosed by the Redmond, Washington, company in January, this one of email accounts — including those of an undisclosed number of senior Microsoft executives and an undisclosed number of Microsoft customers — and attributed to state-backed Russian hackers.

The board lamented "a corporate culture that deprioritized both enterprise security investments and rigorous risk management."

The Chinese hack was initially disclosed in July by Microsoft in a blog post and carried out by a group the company calls Storm-0558. That same group, the panel noted, has been engaged in similar intrusions — compromising cloud providers or stealing authentication keys so it can break into accounts — since at least 2009, targeting companies including Google, Yahoo, Adobe, Dow Chemical and Morgan Stanley.

Microsoft noted in its statement that the hackers involved are "well-resourced nation state threat actors who operate continuously and without meaningful deterrence."

The company said that it recognized that recent events "have demonstrated a need to adopt a new culture of engineering security in our own networks," and added that it had "mobilized our engineering teams to identify and mitigate legacy infrastructure, improve processes, and enforce security benchmarks."

Far-Right Extremism In Europe: From Margins To Mainstream – Analysis

 Netherlands' Geert Wilders. 

Photo Credit: Peter van der Sluijs, 

Wikipedia Commons

April 4, 2024 

By Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA)

By Julia Jose

The first-ever electoral win of Geert Wilders’ Party for Freedom (PVV) in the Netherlands late last year, which saw it win 37 out of the 150 House of Representatives seats, highlights the growth of far-right extremism across Europe.

PVV is considered a far-right political party due to its extremist positions on issues such as border control, immigration, asylum and Islam. Wilders’ electoral success aligns with the region-wide ethno-nationalist and anti-globalist tilt and a retreating embrace of multi-culturalism, the rule of law, and liberalism, which formed the bedrock of the European political system since 1945. Similar scenarios have unfolded in other European countries like Sweden, Finland, Poland, France and Italy, where the far-right has established a prominent presence.
Key Drivers

Far-right extremist beliefs and conspiracy theories promote a hierarchical narrative wherein non-Whites are deemed inferior to the White race and disseminate a warning of the Islamisation of Europe. Europe’s restive immigrant population has contributed to exacerbating the far-right extremist threat across the continent. The influx of migrants over the decades has festered resentment within the local European population, who fear the undermining of ethno-national identities and access to adequate social and economic opportunities.

This has resulted in swelling support for exclusionary nationalist rhetoric,1 rising instances of Islamophobia, and dissemination of conspiracy theories such as eco-fascism and the Great Replacement, worsening the crisis. The Great Replacement Theory, endorsed by far-right political leaders such as Marine Le Pen, Viktor Orbán and Matteo Salvini, asserts that ‘replacist elites’ are purposely replacing White Christian communities with multi-ethnic and multi-religious groups through illegal immigration.2

Furthermore, conservative intellectuals and organisations have openly expressed xenophobic views. Douglas Murray, in his book The Strange Death of Europe, argued that rising immigration levels have resulted in the ‘streets in cold and rainy northern towns of Europe filled with people dressed with the foothills of Pakistan or the sandstorms of Arabia.’3 Many White supremacists and conspiracy theorists frequently highlight census data and express concerns that White European citizens will become a minority by 2044.4

Eco-fascists attribute environmental degradation to a surging immigration population. They advocate creating homogenous White Christian communities.5 This ideology has inspired incidents of far-right extremism, including the Christchurch shooting in March 2019. The Euro crisis, resulting in large-scale unemployment and the COVID-19 outbreak, which devastated economies and various industries, further deepened anxieties and the impact of continued immigration into their countries.

Additionally, self-radicalisation through technological advancements and social media has heightened the risks of lone-wolf extremist acts carried out by the far-right. Technological advancements have also facilitated the cultivation of online communities among the far-right on 8chan and Facebook, among other forums.
Right-Wing Extremist Incidents

One of the earliest physical manifestations of far-right extremism in Europe occurred when Anders Breivik, a neo-Nazi, killed 77 people in Norway in July 2011. His manifesto and actions, driven by his apprehension about the Islamisation of the predominantly Christian West, have been emulated by others years after his arrest.6 In June 2019, Walter Lübcke, a Christian Democratic Union leader, was fatally shot near the city of Kessel by Stephan Ernst, a neo-Nazi for his pro-immigration views.7

A few months leading up to this attack in Germany, Christchurch in New Zealand was devastated by mass shootings in March 2019, in which over 50 people were killed. These attacks were carried out on two mosques by another neo-Nazi, Brenton Tarrant, who was inspired by Breivik. Additionally, a boy based in Darlington was arrested in the United Kingdom as part of an investigation into far-right extremism. It was found that he was an active participant in racist online forums and possessed information useful for committing terrorist acts, such as manuals for making explosives.8

In December 2022, adherents of the far-right Reichsbürger movement attempted to violently seize power in Germany by overthrowing the democratically-elected government.9 However, their plan was thwarted by German officials following which mass arrests occurred. One of the detainees was Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, a former lawmaker associated with the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party. Raids and seizures were also carried out throughout the country across multiple properties.

More recently, following a stabbing incident near a school in Dublin in December 2023, far-right extremists damaged public infrastructure and targeted police forces. Following the attack, police concluded that unrest was driven by a ‘lunatic, hooligan faction driven by a far-right ideology’ and warned against ‘misinformation’.10 About 34 people were arrested as part of the investigations into the rioting carried out by the far-right.11
Counter-Measures

Various European countries have been taking countermeasures to tackle the scourge of violent extremism. Finland, for instance, since 2012 has put forward National Action Plans after extensive collaboration between governmental and non-governmental organisations, along with researchers and religious communities. These plans contain measures to identify recruitment methods of different radical extremist groups, steps to prevent participation of young people in radical activity, help promote safety and security of premises of religious communities, among other provisions.12

The Swedish Center for Preventing Violent Extremism, established in 2018, is primarily tasked with developing knowledge-based and cross-sector work involved in preventing violent extremism at national, regional and local levels. The Center works to promote the development of preventive work at the national, regional and local levels; strive to attain a high degree of coordination and effectiveness concerning preventive measures; provide support to agencies in addressing issues relating to VE and collect and disseminate information about preventing violent extremism.13 Sweden also appointed a National Coordinator to safeguard democracy against violent extremism in 2015.14

The Netherlands’ National Counter-terrorism Strategy for 2022–26 calls for ‘extra attention’ towards the threat posed by potentially violent, extremist lone actors, flags the need to privilege innovative (technological) solutions to facilitate the detection and combating of the dissemination of violent extremist and terrorist content and calls for measures designed to ensure the safe re-integration of individuals after detention.15 The United Kingdom’s ‘Prevent’ strategy supports police and security agencies in identifying individuals and groups at risk of radicalisation.16

Germany passed the Federal Government’s Strategy to Prevent Extremism and Promote Democracy in 2016 which calls for coordinated efforts by federal, regional and local authorities in association with civil society. More than 700 civil society organisations are funded by the federal government on measures to prevent extremism. Germany has established federal agencies for civic education and anti-discrimination.17 Germany also has initiatives such as Exit Germany which counsels families impacted by right-wing extremism.18

Despite these significant measures, far-right extremism continues to be a sociological challenge that has significantly undermined multi-culturalism, liberal democracy and rules-based order in Europe. Continuing and enhanced cooperation between intelligence agencies, NGOs and community activists is necessary for addressing this critical threat.

Views expressed are of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Manohar Parrikar IDSA or of the Government of India.

About the author: Ms Julia Jose, Intern, Counter Terrorism Centre, Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA), New Delhi.

Source: This article was published by Manohar Parrikar IDSA1.Prerna Singh, “How Exclusionary Nationalism Has Made the World Socially Sicker from COVID-19”, Nationalities Papers, Vol. 50, No. 1, 2022, pp. 104–117.
2.“How France’s Great Replacement Theory Conquered the Global Far Right”, France 24, 8 November 2021.
3.Doughlas Murray, The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam, Bloomsbury, May 2017.
4.Cassie Miller, “There is No Political Solution: Accelerationism in the White Power Movement”, Southern Poverty Law Centre, 23 June 2020.
5.Alistair Walsh, “Eco-fascism: The Greenwashing of the Far Right”, DW, 19 May 2022.
6.“Norway Mass Killer Anders Breivik Ordered to Stay in Jail”, BBC, 1 February 2022.
7.“German Far Right Gunmen Gets Life for Murder of Politician Lübcke”, BBC, 28 January 2021.
8.Daniel De Simone, “Darlington Boy Youngest to be Convicted of Terror Offence”, BBC, 19 January 2022.
9.Ido Vock, “Reichsbürger: German Far-Right Extremists Charged with Planning Violent Coup”, BBC, 12 December 2023.
10.“Far-Right Riots Erupt in Dublin Following School Stabbing Attack”, Al-Jazeera, 24 November 2023.
11.“Calm Restored to Dublin Streets After 34 Arrested for Riots”, Reuters, 25 November 2023.
12.“National Action Plan for the Prevention of Violent Radicalisation and Extremism is Progressing”,Ministry of the Interior, Finland, 21 July 2022.
13.The Swedish Center for Preventing Violent Extremism.
14.“Actions to Make Society More Resilient to Violent Extremism”, Stockholm, 13 August 2015.
15.“The National Counterterrorism Strategy for 2022-2026: Summary”, National Coordinator for Counter-terrorism and Security, Ministry of Justice and Security, The Netherlands, May 2022.
16.“Prevent Strategy”, HM Government, June 2011.
17.“Federal Government’s Strategy to Prevent Extremism and Promote Democracy”, July 2016.
18.Exit: Germany — We Provide Ways out of Extremism.




Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA)

The Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA), is a non-partisan, autonomous body dedicated to objective research and policy relevant studies on all aspects of defence and security. Its mission is to promote national and international security through the generation and dissemination of knowledge on defence and security-related issues. The Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA) was formerly named The Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA).

Helicopter rescues Taiwan miners as earthquake injuries top 1,000

A helicopter being used to rescue workers stranded in a quarry in Hualien, after a major earthquake hit Taiwan's east.

APR 04, 2024,


HUALIEN, Taiwan – A helicopter plucked to safety on April 4 six people stranded in a mining area after Taiwan’s worst earthquake in 25 years, while hundreds of aftershocks rocking the eastern region near its epicentre drove scores more to seek shelter outdoors.

The death toll from April 3’s 7.4-magnitud quake rose to 10, with the tally of the injured at 1,067, the authorities said, while most of the roughly 50 hotel workers marooned on a highway as they headed to a resort in a national park were located.

However, 660 people were still trapped, most of them in hotels in the park, after the road was cut off, the fire department said, as the discovery of a dead body on a hiking trail near the entrance to a gorge took the total number of deaths to 10.


A helicopter ferried to safety six miners trapped on a cliff in a dramatic rescue after the quake cut off the roads into Hualien’s soaring mountains, in footage shown by the department.

The Agriculture Ministry urged people to keep away from the mountains because of the risk of falling rocks and the formation of “barrier lakes” as water pools behind unstable debris.

April 4 was the start of a long-weekend holiday for the tomb-sweeping festival, when families traditionally return home to attend to ancestral graves, though others will also visit tourist attractions.

People in largely rural and sparsely populated Hualien county were readying to head to work and school when the earthquake struck offshore on April 3.

Buildings also shook violently in the capital Taipei, but damage and disruption there was minimal.

All those trapped in buildings in the worst-hit city of Hualien have been rescued, but many residents unnerved by more than 300 aftershocks spent the night outdoors.

“The aftershocks were terrifying,” said Madam Yu, a 52-year-old woman who gave only her family name. “They were non-stop. I did not dare sleep in the house.”

Too scared to return to her apartment, which she described as being in a “mess”, she slept in a tent on a sports ground being used as a temporary shelter.

Indonesian Hendri Sutrisno occupied a tent with his wife and two-month-old baby at an elementary school in the city.

“We have all the necessary stuff – blankets, toilet and a place to rest.”

The 30-year-old professor at Hualien’s Dong Hwa University and his family were among more than 100 people who chose to stay in tents set up at the elementary school.

Dr Hendri said he and his wife hid under a table with their baby when the first quake hit, before grabbing their things and fleeing the building.

Meanwhile, workers poured concrete at the base of the glass-fronted Uranus building, which is so badly damaged that it now tilts at a 45-degree angle. It has now become a symbol for the quake, but for 59-year-old Chen Hsiu-ying, it was her home.

Sheltering at the elementary school, she said she was on her way home from work when the earthquake occurred. “If I had gone back earlier, I would have been inside,” the carpenter said.

She also said she was shocked to see the road shaking and the food vendors on the streets shuddering during the quake.

Other residents queued outside a badly damaged 10-storey building in the city, waiting to get in and retrieve their belongings.

Clad in helmets and accompanied by government personnel, each was given 10 minutes to collect valuables in huge garbage bags, though some saved time by throwing belongings out of windows into the street below.

“This building is no longer liveable,” said Ms Tian Liang-si, who lived on the fifth floor, as she scrambled to gather her laptop, family photographs and other crucial items.

She recalled the moment the quake struck, with the building lurching and furniture sliding, as she rushed to save the four puppies she keeps as pets.

“I am a Hualien native,” she said. “I am not supposed to fear earthquakes. But this is an earthquake that frightened us.”

 REUTERS, AFP

Earthquake showed Taiwan was well prepared for a big one — more so than parts of U.S.

Following a devastating earthquake in 1999, Taiwan upgraded its seismic infrastructure. Experts said it offers lessons for the U.S. West Coast.


April 3, 2024
By Evan Bush


The powerful earthquake in Taiwan on Wednesday shook an island that was well prepared for a seismic catastrophe — likely more so than some regions of the U.S., several experts said.

Nine people have been reported dead, though Taiwanese officials said the death toll could rise in the coming days. More than 1,000 were injured and at least 100 were feared trapped. But given the size of the quake — magnitude 7.4 — seismology experts said it appeared the dense island had fared as well as could be expected in initial reports.


That’s no fluke: Taiwan uses a robust early-warning system and has modern seismic building codes, experts said, and its population is accustomed to frequent seismic activity. Following the devastating 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake, the island significantly upgraded much of its infrastructure

.

A partially collapsed building in Taiwan on Wednesday after a powerful earthquake.

VCG via Getty Images

“Two thousand four hundred people died. And this time, we only have nine people reported dead. You see the progress,” said Larry Syu-Heng Lai, a geologist and postdoctoral researcher at the University of Washington who grew up and studied in Taiwan. “Our buildings are stronger. Our facilities are better. You can say we take it seriously — but it’s part of life every day.”

Experts said U.S. cities in earthquake-prone areas along the West Coast are making varying levels of progress to prepare for temblors. But none measure up to Taiwan’s capital.

“Seattle isn’t doing as much to prepare — or Portland — as Los Angeles or San Francisco. And neither are doing as much to prepare as Taipei,” said Harold Tobin, the director of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network and a professor at the University of Washington.

A California Highway Patrol officer checks the damage to cars that fell when the upper deck of the Bay Bridge collapsed onto the lower deck after the Loma Prieta earthquake in San Francisco on Oct. 17, 1989.

George Nikitin / AP file

Officials and researchers in Taiwan are still evaluating the earthquake’s characteristics, impacts and casualties. The lessons they learn could provide U.S. scientists and political leaders a measuring stick for how buildings and communities here might fare.

“These events always give us information to evaluate how well we’re doing here in California,” said John Wallace, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles.

In a review of early images and reports from Taiwan after the earthquake, Wallace said it appeared that much of the damage was in older concrete buildings that were five to 10 stories tall and had first floors with open commercial space. Many were on street corners, where buildings can be subjected to twisting forces that heighten damage.

“There’s a weak first story that collapses. It concentrates the damage in that first story,” Wallace said.

A damaged building Tuesday in Hualien City, Taiwan.TVBS via AP

He added that older, concrete buildings would be expected to struggle with an earthquake and are the targets for retrofits in Taiwan and the U.S. Meanwhile, Taiwan’s tall buildings — which have a higher level of engineering — appeared to have performed admirably, as expected, Wallace said.

That includes Taipei 101, the island’s tallest tower, which features a 660-metric-ton steel ball suspended with cables in its upper stories — a system designed to dampen movement from heavy winds and earthquakes.

“If what looks like it happened holds up — for the magnitude of this earthquake and its proximity to land, overall they did quite well there. I hate to say that when people were killed,” Tobin said.

Nearly 25 years ago, the magnitude-7.7 Chi-Chi earthquake catalyzed Taiwan toward better preparation.

Lai was 11 when the quake struck and can still recall how the temblor shook him awake at his family’s apartment in TaiPei and nearly threw him out of bed.

After that, he noticed the island slowly transforming to better mitigate risk. At school, there was a new emphasis and training on earthquake safety. And over the next decade, political leaders instituted new building codes, reclassified seismic zones and designated emergency command centers in rural areas, Lai said.

Wallace flew to Taiwan a week after the Chi-Chi quake and helped inspect bridges in its aftermath. In the years that followed, he said, the island started by evaluating and retrofitting school buildings and then moved on to the oldest buildings most at risk for collapse.

The initiatives resemble Southern California’s, Wallace said: “We’ve basically been doing kind of the same thing.”

He added, though, that he thinks Taiwan has moved more quickly because frequent, smaller earthquakes kept the issue top of mind.

Other West Coast states lag behind California. Washington only began to systematically evaluate its schools in the past 10 years, and many of Seattle’s old brick buildings are not retrofitted and are likely to collapse in a large earthquake.

Taiwan’s sophisticated early-warning system is also an important part of its safety infrastructure. The system relies on a islandwide network of seismic instruments; when a large quake happens, the system sends messages to people’s phones and automatically cuts into live TV programming to give residents seconds of warning.

Some aspects of it are similar to the systems used in California, Oregon and Washington.

“In the U.S., our ShakeAlert system has the capability to send out an Amber Alert-style messages to all our phones, but it isn’t wired in broadcast media in the same way,” Tobin said.

Video on social media showed TV footage of Taiwanese news programming in which on-screen warnings arrived before shaking began, according to Tobin.

In Taiwan, “there is a more comprehensive warning capability,” he said.

The systems in both Taiwan and the U.S. work by detecting “P-waves” from an earthquake and calculating their strength before sending alerts through internet networks.

“Earthquakes send different waves — ripples on a pond — from the epicenter,” Tobin said. “The ripples that spread the fastest are not the damaging ones, they’re a harbinger, a Paul Revere rider.”

Lai said Taiwan’s progress on earthquake safety was gradual and required public education, as well as trust in government and faith in scientists.

“We took 25 years to get to this point,” he said.

US State Department staffer who resigned over Gaza says colleagues urged her to speak out

Annelle Sheline tells The National that many US government employees are unhappy

 over Washington's handling of Gaza war


Jihan Abdalla
Washington
Apr 03, 2024

Annelle Sheline initially planned to resign "quietly” from her job as a US foreign affairs officer in protest against Washington's unconditional support for Israel and the war in Gaza.

But after several of her colleagues – who also disapprove of President Joe Biden's handling of the conflict – urged her to speak up, she decided to resign publicly last week in an op-ed carried by CNN.

“Trying to promote human rights in the Middle East had just become so difficult as a result of US policy and US support for what Israel is doing in Gaza,” Ms Sheline told the National.

“I wasn't really able to do my job any more, the job I'd been hired to do. And on the other hand, I didn't want to be associated with this government any more."

Ms Sheline's resigation is the latest example of dissent among government employees over the Biden administration's refusal to put conditions on military aid to Israel, or use its significant influence to bring about a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and allow more aid into the besieged enclave.

Josh Paul, a State Department official involved in handling arms transfers, resigned in October, saying he could no longer back continued military assistance to Israel.

He earlier told The National that he was “in awe” of Ms Sheline's courage.

Ms Sheline, 38, began working for the State Department a year ago in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour, where her focus was North Africa.

 

'Trying to promote human rights in the Middle East had just become so difficult as a result of US policy,' said Annelle Sheline. Ahmed Issawy / The National

Growing up in North Carolina, Ms Sheline became interested in the Middle East after the 9/11 attacks. She studied Arabic at university and moved briefly to Egypt. She then went on to obtain a doctorate and worked in academia for several years. 

The work of her office at the State Department, she said, was directly affected by US support for Israel, because key partners refused to work with Washington owing to its arms policies regarding Israel.

“Members of civil society didn't want to be in touch with the US government, or it would just be extremely dangerous for them to be in touch with the US government,” she said.

About 33,000 Palestinians have been killed in the enclave since the start of the war, according to Gaza's health authorities.
War leaves Gazans hopeless during Ramadan - video

Amid Israel's refusal to ease the entry of humanitarian aid into the enclave, the UN says famine is imminent. At least 30 people, most of them children, have died of starvation in recent weeks, according to health authorities in the enclave.

On Tuesday, an Israeli air strike on Deir Al Balah killed seven aid workers, forcing the non-profit World Central Kitchen and at least one other organisation supplying critical food assistance to pause their operations in Gaza.

The staggering death toll and the worsening humanitarian crisis have caused intense anger around the world, including in the State Department.

Since the start of the conflict, dozens of staff members from various US agencies have signed dissent cables, written letters and planned walkouts in protest.

Feds United for Peace, a group that represents federal workers from 30 US government agencies and departments, has demanded a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

“There were certainly many people inside the State Department who are so distraught by what's happening,” Ms Sheline said.

Many of her former colleagues have worked on accountability measures that could be introduced, should the Biden administration decide to change course, she added.

“The hypocrisy of ongoing US support for Israel against the civilian population of Gaza, really, has just been very difficult for people who want to believe in what the US says it's supposed to stand for,” she said.

She added that many of her former colleagues were considering resigning but felt they could not due to personal, professional or financial reasons.

Spokesman Matthew Miller said State Department respected diverging opinions and that Secretary of State Antony Blinken has instructed his team to make sure that people had an opportunity to make their views known.

"There is a broad diversity of views inside the State Department about our policy with respect to Gaza, just as there is a broad diversity within the State Department about our policy in a number of important foreign policy issues, as there is a broad diversity of views and opinions throughout American society about this issue and others,” Mr Miller said at a news briefing last week.



Washington gives $3.8 billion a year in military assistance to Israel, its closest ally in the Middle East.

Mr Biden, a staunch supporter of Israel, twice bypassed Congress to facilitate additional arms sales to Israel. In February, the Senate passed a major supplemental package deal that includes $14 billion in additional aid.

In recent days, US media have reported that the Biden administration is pressing Congress to approve the transfer of $18 billion worth of F-15 fighter jets to Israel.

Ms Sheline said she wanted the US to follow its own legal provisions, known as Leahy Laws, that bar Washington from providing military assistance to foreign security forces if they are violating human rights.

This would mean "cutting off military assistance to Israel," she said.

Ms Sheline added that she has been encouraged by the many forms of protests in the US over its Gaza policy, which have included efforts by Arab and Muslim Americans in Michigan to get more than 100,000 voters to cast “uncommitted” ballots in the Democratic primary elections in February.

Activists in other states, including Minnesota, Illinois and Wisconsin, were later able to convince tens of thousands of voters to join the movement.

“I do think there's a shift happening,” Ms Sheline said. “I worry, it may be too little too late, given the numbers of people being killed, the fact that those numbers are likely to just keep going up, the levels of starvation and the likely impending invasion of Rafah.

“I hope that by my going public, I have contributed to some of this public pressure. But I don't think it's enough.”

Gaza protests in Washington - in pictures













Members of the anti-Zionist Jews group Neturei Karta join pro-Palestinians people blocking a street close to the US Capitol in Washington. 

Latest from the Israel-Gaza war - in pictures

A displaced Palestinian child holds a crying baby in a camp in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. Reuters


Updated: April 04, 2024

UN: ‘Shocking increase’ of children denied aid in conflicts

Thursday, 04 Apr 2024 

NEW YORK, April 4 — A growing number of children caught up in armed conflicts around the globe are being denied access to critical humanitarian aid, a United Nations official warned yesterday, as relief operations come under attack or are blocked by governments.

The last report by the UN secretary-general on the rights of children in conflicts, published in June 2023, recorded nearly 4,000 confirmed cases of aid being denied to children, from Gaza to Yemen, Afghanistan and Mali.

“Data gathered for our forthcoming 2024 report shows we are on target to witness a shocking increase of the incidents of the denial of humanitarian access globally,” Virginia Gamba, the secretary-general’s special representative for children and armed conflict, told the Security Council yesterday.

She said last year’s figure already represented an “exponential” increase since 2019.
“Cases of denial of humanitarian access are linked to the restriction of humanitarian activities and movements; interference with humanitarian operations and discrimination of aid recipients; direct and indiscriminate attacks on civilian infrastructure; disinformation and detention, violence against, and killing of, humanitarian personnel; and looting,” Gamba said.

She did not specify which countries would be singled out in the 2024 report, set to be released this summer.

Nearly half of the cases in last year’s report — 1,861 — were of Israeli forces denying aid to children in Gaza.

That report came before the October 7 attack by Hamas militants on southern Israel and the ensuing all-out war in Gaza.

The UN has since repeatedly denounced restrictions Israel has put on aid entering the war-torn territory.

“As a result of these constraints, children cannot access age-appropriate nutritious food or medical services and have less than two to three liters of water per day,” Unicef deputy executive director Ted Chaiban told the Council.

“The consequences have been clear,” Chaiban said, noting that one in three children in northern Gaza under two years old suffer from acute malnutrition, “a figure that has more than doubled in the last two months.”

Apart from Gaza, he also highlighted the threats to children’s access to humanitarian aid in Sudan and Burma.

In addition to access to humanitarian aid, the UN’s report on children and armed conflict also lists the number of children killed and wounded, as well as attacks on hospitals and schools.

From all the data points, the report draws up a “list of shame” of government forces and other armed groups responsible for the violations.

Last year’s report listed Russia’s military over its attacks on Ukraine, but excluded Israel, angering several NGOs which have called for its inclusion for years. — AFP

Palestinians eye UN membership vote in April as US pushes back

The US says the Palestinians should seek statehood through direct negotiations with Israel and not through the UN.

The New Arab Staff & Agencies
04 April, 2024

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas originally launched the statehood application in 2011 [Getty]

The Palestinian delegation to the United Nations is pushing for a vote to be recognised as a full member state next month, Ambassador Riyad Mansour said Wednesday, a move opposed by the United States.

"We are seeking admission. That is our natural and legal right," Mansour said, adding that he was pushing for an April 18 vote at the Security Council.

"Everyone is saying 'two-state solution,' then what is the logic of denying us to become a member state?" he added.

Any request to become a UN member state must first pass a vote by the Security Council - where Israel's ally the United States and four other countries wield vetoes - and then be endorsed by a two-thirds majority in the General Assembly.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas originally launched the statehood application in 2011. It was not considered by the Security Council, but the General Assembly the following year granted a more limited observer status to the "State of Palestine."

The Palestinian Authority submitted a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres asking for the Security Council to reconsider on Tuesday.

US opposition

Mansour's comments came as the United States earlier on Wednesday voiced its opposition for full Palestinian membership, saying it backed statehood but after negotiations with Israel.

"We support the establishment of an independent Palestinian state," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.

"That is something that should be done through direct negotiations through the parties, something we are pursuing at this time, and not at the United Nations," he said, without explicitly saying that the United States would veto the bid if it reaches the Security Council.

Miller said that Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been actively engaged in establishing "security guarantees" for Israel as part of the groundwork for a Palestinian state.

President Joe Biden's administration has increasingly signaled support for a Palestinian state, with a reformed Palestinian Authority in charge both in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza, as it looks for a way to end Israel's ongoing war on Gaza which has killed some 33,000 people, most of them civilians.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has for decades resisted a Palestinian state and leads a far-right government with members hostile to the Palestinian Authority, which holds limited autonomy in sections of the West Bank.

Under longstanding US legislation, the United States is required to cut off funding to UN agencies that give full membership to a Palestinian state.

The law has been applied selectively. The United States cut off funding in 2011 and later withdrew from the UN cultural and scientific agency UNESCO, but it rejoined it last year under President Joe Biden.

Robert Wood, the US deputy representative to the United Nations, said that recognition of a Palestinian state by the world body as a whole would mean "funding would be cut off to the UN system, so we're bound by US law."

"Our hope is that they don't pursue that, but that's up to them," Wood said of the Palestinians' bid.

US airman stages hunger strike outside White House in solidarity with Gaza

Inspired by the self-immolation of Aaron Bushnell, Larry Hebert left a naval base in Spain to stage a protest in Washington

Joshua Longmore
Washington
Apr 03, 2024
Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza

On a wet and chilly day outside the White House, Senior Airman Larry Hebert wears a placard decrying the plight of starving Palestinians in Gaza as he begins a hunger strike.

“I’m protesting the collective punishment of Gazans through bombing and starvation,” the active-duty military member The National.

The placard displays a photo of an emaciated child – a jarring image to see amid the hustle and bustle of tourists who have come to view the home of the US president.

While demonstrations and political signage are a common sight outside the White House, Mr Hebert, 26, attracts a lot of attention.

Between fielding interviews with television stations, a Lebanese woman who now lives in the US tearfully approaches the New Hampshire native to give him her blessing.

“The Gazans are starving, they are dying,” the woman, who gives her name as Fadia, tells The National.

In March, Mr Hebert left Naval Base Rota in Spain on authorised leave. He said he started his hunger strike on Monday, moved by the images coming out of Gaza, where about 33,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to local authorities.

The airman's action is a rare stand by a member of the armed forces against the policies of the US government, but he has found it impossible not to speak out.

“You can’t watch dead children every day,” Mr Hebert says. “Starving children, bloodied, injured and dismembered – it’s not normal.”

Larry Hebert's placard highlights the lack of food available in Gaza amid the war with Israel. Joshua Longmore / The National

He is demanding a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and an end of US weapons shipments to Israel.

Mr Hebert says he was inspired by the death of fellow airman Aaron Bushnell, who set himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington to protest against the war.

Mr Bushnell’s self-immolation led to an outpouring of support from pro-Palestine protesters around the world.

“People in Yemen and in Gaza were holding up his image and sending their condolences,” Mr Hebert says.

“But our government didn’t say anything about Aaron – they just swept it under the rug. It was a very big turning point for me to see that.”

Mr Hebert says there is no cut-off date for his hunger strike and acknowledges his actions may lead to disciplinary action from the US military.

“There is the impending call from my command,” Mr Hebert says.

“But I’ve already evaluated the situation and I’ve come to terms with the worst-case scenario.”

The Air Force declined to comment on Mr Hebert's situation but confirmed he is a senior airman who enlisted in 2018. He has been given various awards including a humanitarian service medal, a good conduct medal and a global war on terrorism service medal.