Lawsuit challenges $1 billion in federal funding to sustain California's last nuclear power plant

An environmental group is challenging the U.S. Energy Department's decision to award over $1 billion to help keep California’s last nuclear power plant running beyond 2025

Michael R. Blood




An environmental group has sued the U.S. Energy Department over its decision to award over $1 billion to help keep California’s last nuclear power plant running beyond a planned closure that was set for 2025. The move opens another battlefront in the fight over the future of Diablo Canyon’s twin reactors.

Friends of the Earth, in a complaint filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, argued that the award to plant operator Pacific Gas & Electric last year was based on an outdated, flawed analysis that failed to recognize the risk of earthquakes or other serious events.

The complaint called the safety assessment “grossly deficient” and accuses the Energy Department of relying on a 50-year-old environmental analysis.

“The environmental impacts from extending the lifespan of this aging power plant at this point in time have not been adequately addressed or disclosed to the public,” the complaint said.

An email seeking comment was sent to the Energy Department.

Diablo Canyon lies on a bluff overlooking the Pacific midway between Los Angeles and San Francisco. It began operating in the mid-1980s and supplies up to 9% of the state’s electricity on any given day.

In 2016, PG&E, environmental groups and unions representing plant workers agreed to close the facility by 2025. But the Legislature voided the deal in 2022 after Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom reversed his position and said the power is needed to ward off blackouts as the state transitions to renewables and climate change stresses California's energy system.

Since then, disputes have swirled about the safety of Diablo Canyon's decades-old reactors, whether taxpayers might be saddled with hundreds of millions of dollars in additional costs and even if the electricity is needed in the age of solar and other green energy.

PG&E has long said the twin-domed plant is safe, an assessment endorsed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The Biden administration approved $1.1 billion in Energy Department funding in January. The financing came through the administration’s civil nuclear credit program, which is intended to bail out financially distressed owners or operators of nuclear power reactors as part of the administration’s effort to cut planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 compared with 2005 levels.

PG&E has said it wants to keep the plant open to “ensure statewide electrical reliability and combat climate change” at the direction of the state.

The utility is seeking a 20-year extension of its federal licenses, typical in the industry, but emphasized the state would control how long the plant actually runs. A state judge has conditionally approved a blueprint to keep it operating for an additional five years, until 2030.

California is the birthplace of the modern environmental movement and for decades has had a fraught relationship with nuclear power. The fight over Diablo Canyon is playing out as the long-struggling nuclear industry sees a potential rebirth in the era of global warming. Nuclear power doesn’t produce carbon pollution like fossil fuels, but it leaves behind waste that can remain dangerously radioactive for centuries.

 

Prisoners fight for right to watch solar eclipse claiming it’s a ‘religious event’

Jessica KwongPublished  Apr 4, 2024, 

Six New York state prisoners filed a lawsuit arguing their constitutional right to witness the April 8 solar eclipse (Picture: Getty Images)

Inmates who were offered solar eclipse viewing glasses to watch the rare phenomenon – only for the state prison to change its mind – are fighting for their right on the grounds that it is a ‘religious event’.

Six men incarcerated in New York state facilities are arguing that they have a constitutional right to witness the ‘religiously significant’ total eclipse on April 8, which last happened in the US in 2017 and won’t again until 2044.

This coming Monday afternoon, those in the path of totality including some viewers in New York state will experience a period of darkness as the Moon blocks the face of the Sun from the Earth.

The six prisoners of five different religions filed a lawsuit in federal court against the New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) on Friday.

‘A solar eclipse is a rare, natural phenomenon with great religious significance to many,’ states the complaint.

The inmates at Woodbourne Correctional Facility in Sullivan County ‘have each expressed a sincerely held religious belief that April’s solar eclipse is a religious event that they must witness and reflect on to observe their faiths’, it reads.

Jeremy Zielinski, who is an atheist, first requested that the solar eclipse be recognized as a religious event in late January, more than two months ahead of the date.

On March 5, he was ‘informed that the facility would buy and provide him with solar eclipse viewing glasses for use to watch the eclipse’, states the suit.

The last total solar eclipse over the US occurred on August 21, 2017 (Picture: Getty Images)

But six days later, the DOCCS acting commissioner issued a statewide ‘lockdown memo’ saying that the facilities would operate on a holiday schedule on April 8 and that inmates ‘will remain in housing units’ from 2pm to 5pm, which is their usual outdoor recreation window.

Each of the six prisoners expressed their own reasons for needing to see the solar eclipse.

‘Mr. Zielinski firmly believes that observing the solar eclipse with people of different faiths is crucial to practicing his own faith because it is a central aspect of atheism to celebrate common humanity and bring people together to encourage people to find common ground,’ states the suit.

Two of the co-plaintiffs are Christian, including Travis Hudson who is a Baptist and David Haigh who is a Seventh Day Adventist.

People watch the solar eclipse from the observation deck of The Empire State Building in New York City on August 21, 2017 (Picture: Reuters)

Hudson ‘believes that it is vital to his faith to observe the solar eclipse and reflect on what he believes Jesus saw moments before he died on the cross to forgive (his) sins,’ the suit reads.

Meanwhile, Haigh ‘sincerely believes that it is key to his faith to observe the solar eclipse and reflect on what he believes is the same phenomenon experienced by Jesus Christ before he died’, it states.

A fourth plaintiff, Jean Marc Desmarat, is Muslim and ‘sincerely believes observing the solar eclipse and saying a special prayer is critical to practicing his religion’, according to the suit.

The path of the sun during a total eclipse by the moon (Picture: AP)

Two more plaintiffs are followers of the Santeria religion. Prisoner Bruce Moses’ ‘sincerely held religious beliefs include the practice of witnessing the solar eclipse and making a spiritual offering’, per the suit.

Fellow Santeria follower Oscar Nunez’s ‘sincerely held religious beliefs include the practice of praying and chanting to the moon and the sun for blessings while they meet at the time of the solar eclipse’, it reads.

The prisoners’ lawyers are urging a judge to make a ruling on the matter before the end of the week.

 

Senior doctors in England accept new pay offer and end strikes

Health workers protest on a picket line as junior and senior doctors in England take part in a joint strike action for the first time, outside St Thomas’s Hospital in London September 20, 2023. — Reuters pic

Friday, 05 Apr 2024 

LONDON, April 5 — Senior doctors in England have voted to accept an improved offer from the government on pay and conditions, easing some of the pressure on Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) after months of disruptive strike action.

The British Medical Association (BMA) trade union said on Friday about 83 per cent of senior doctors, also known as consultants, voted in favour of the offer, on a 62 per cent turnout.

A separate long-running dispute with junior doctors, who staged five days of strikes in February, is ongoing.

Strike action over the last two years has heaped more pressure on the NHS, where more than seven million patients are on waiting lists for hospital treatment, leading to thousands of cancelled appointments and procedures.

It has also added to pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in an election year, with his Conservatives heavily trailing the opposition Labour Party in opinion polls.

“The end of consultant strike action in the NHS is excellent news for patients,” Sunak said. “It will mean we can continue making progress towards our goal of cutting the waiting lists, which have now fallen for the fourth month in a row.”

The pay deal for senior doctors, which includes changes to a doctors’ pay review body and a 2.85 per cent uplift for those who have been senior doctors for four to seven years, comes after senior doctors rejected a previous offer in a narrow vote in January.

“After years of repeated real-terms pay cuts, caused by government interference and a failure of the pay review process, consultants have spoken and now clearly feel that this offer is enough of a first step to address our concerns to end the current dispute,” BMA consultants committee chair Vishal Sharma said. — Reuters

 

Israel And The US Are Gangster States –

 OpEd

 April 4, 2024  

By Margaret Kimberley

Any sign of even tiny opposition is enough to send Israel into a frenzy of bloodletting. Hospital attacks, murders of aid workers, violations of the sovereignty of embassies, are all par for the Zionist course. Friends in Washington talk out of both sides of their mouths with condemnation but always end on the side of their partner in crime.

Every war crime committed by the state of Israel, no matter how horrific, is logical if one considers a few basic facts. First, one of Israel’s goals is to ethnically cleanse Gaza. They have to kill thousands of people in increasingly brutal ways, terrorize the survivors, and turn hospitals and universities and mosques and churches into military targets. The end game is to force the population out of Gaza and make it safe for Israeli settlers, gas exploration, and the construction of a canal to replace the Suez. Even the building of a pier to bring in humanitarian aid is a trojan horse meant to send Gaza’s population far away and expand the settler colony’s territory.

Because its idea of success is anathema to most of humanity, Israel is always fearful that the degree of fealty shown by the United States, its chief protector and partner in crime, may waiver. It doesn’t matter how many candidates for office grovel before the American Israel Political Action Committee (AIPAC), it doesn’t matter that Joe Biden circumvents congress to give them weapons or insists on aiding and abetting them, or that he joins in telling lies about beheaded babies or other tales of atrocity propaganda. It doesn’t matter that the state colludes with corporate media to defend Israel and marginalizes anyone who doesn’t go along with the scheme. Nor are they relieved when deep pocketed billionaires have university presidents axed from their positions as heads are symbolically stuck on pikes as a warning to anyone who might stray from official narratives. Israel will always be worried, because it is only the United States protection racket that allows it to exist in its current form. 

So what to do when the United States merely abstains from a United Nations vote requiring an all too brief two-week ceasefire? Israel then accelerates its criminality. Israel laid siege to the Al-Shifa hospital and killed doctors, nurses and patients. Some 300 dead bodies were discovered there, some of them bound, dumped, or crushed by Israeli tanks. As forces withdrew from the hospital, Israeli Defense Force missiles struck the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria and killed seven people, two of them generals in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The Vienna Convention is supposed to protect embassies and consulates but why should Israel or its benefactor the U.S. follow international law when they so often violate it with impunity? These acts weren’t sufficient for the Zionist entity. It needed another symbol, another high profile killing to guarantee that its putative sponsor still knows who is in charge.

Spanish-born chef José Andrés’ charity, World Central Kitchen , drew the short end of this stick in this phase of the Israeli crime spree. Seven aid workers traveling in a three vehicle convoy in Gaza were killed in drone strikes. One vehicle was hit, the second was hit after attempting to rescue passengers in the first car, and the third was hit after trying to rescue those in the second vehicle. To their credit, Palestinians believe in showing those who have been killed, and the bodies were displayed for all the world to see, lest Israel be able to minimize the carnage. 

José Andrés was an interesting choice as a target. He had vehemently and publicly defended Israel, and condemned a minister of the Spanish government who pointed out that Israel was committing war crimes. “You do not represent me or Spain. She does not deserve to be a minister….President @sanchezcastejon should remove her from her position…”

Andrés received a $100 million gift from Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, is a friend of Barack and Michelle Obama, and joined Doug Emhoff , Kamala Harris’ husband, in announcing a new food program in the U.S. Perhaps this official imprimatur made his organization an easy target. How better to prove one’s status as the worst thug in the neighborhood than to show that no one is safe. Andrés is now a critic and demands that Israel stop the “indiscriminate killing.” Of course the killings of his staff were targeted with great precision. There was nothing indiscriminate about the assassinations.

The Biden administration, the lead gangster, is still committed to sending weapons to Israel. Biden called Andrés to offer condolences but the State Department insists that Israel has not committed any war crimes. The winks and the nudges continue, as the client state shows that it is on an equal footing with its benefactor and should not be considered an underling of any sort.

Two months ago the International Court of Justice called South Africa’s charge of genocide against Israel “plausible” and ordered that country to stop killing Palestinians. It has done nothing of the sort and makes clear that it will invade the city of Rafah, the last place of refuge, and the U.S. makes clear that it has given the green light to this plan for the ultimate atrocity.

The ruling class are split and Joe Biden’s re-election prospects are in jeopardy but the commitment to the Zionist entity continues. The people must remain committed to fighting back in any way possible. Every action is important from protest demonstrations to defeating Biden to heckling the war criminals when they dare to appear in public. It is also important to call a criminal a criminal and to declare that the U.S. is a rogue state and that Israel, its chief client, is as well. They cannot hide it. People like José Andrés believed their connections made them safe. He discovered that was not true. No one is safe from the imperialists. It is best to proceed with courage and to name and shame the criminals. There is no other option.

Margaret Kimberley's is the author of Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents. Her work can also be found at patreon.com/margaretkimberley and on Twitter @freedomrideblog. Ms. Kimberley can be reached via e-Mail at Margaret.Kimberley(at)BlackAgendaReport.com."

Erdogan government allowed Turkish soldiers to be killed by ISIS despite being able to rescue them

April 2, 2024
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Captured Turkish soldiers Fethi Şahin and Sefer Taş were burned alive by ISIS in 2016.

Levent Kenez/Stockholm

The burning alive of two Turkish soldiers by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in 2016 has led to accusations against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for allegedly failing to capitalize on sufficient opportunities to rescue the soldiers. It has been alleged that the bodies were secretly buried in a region of Syria controlled by Turkish intelligence without being brought back to Turkey or informing the families.

The allegations were made by veteran journalist Adem Yavuz Arslan, who claimed to have spoken with officials with knowledge of negotiations between ISIS and Turkish intelligence. According to Arslan, Turkish intelligence officials negotiating with ISIS argued that the Turkish military was continuously experiencing casualties in the region and that the survival of two more soldiers was not of paramount importance. Consequently, they reportedly declined ISIS’s offers for a swap with members held in Turkish prisons.

Turkish soldiers Fethi Şahin and Sefer Taş were killed by ISIS in Syria.

Arslan recalled the negotiation with ISIS following an attack on the Turkish Consulate in Mosul, Iraq, on June 11, 2014, where 49 people, including the consul, were held hostage. He pointed out that during that negotiation, hostages were secretly exchanged for ISIS militants held in Turkish prisons and that the hostages were released on September 20, 2014. However, Arslan noted that a similar exchange was not pursued for these two soldiers.

Arslan also published interviews with the two kidnapped soldiers conducted by ISIS that appeared in the online Turkish-language journal Konstantiniye. Sefer Taş, one of the soldiers, said they were not considered important by the Turkish government because they were not part of a large group and were only two soldiers. Taş also added that perhaps they were not valued because he is Kurdish.

Following the release of a video documenting the deaths of Fethi Şahin and Sefer Taş on December 22, 2016, a significant public outcry ensued, leading the government to block access to websites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube while slowing down internet speeds.

The Turkish General Staff neither confirmed nor denied the authenticity of the video. However, on October 9, 2017, a delegation from the General Staff visited the Taş family, informing them that Sefer Taş had been declared a “martyr.” No information regarding the burial site or the body was provided to the family; instead, they were informed that a monument would be erected in his honor. As for the other soldier, Fethi Şahin, his fate remains unknown in official records. Court records from the trial of captured ISIS militants subsequently documented that both soldiers were burned to death.

Adem Yavuz Arslan published interviews given by the kidnapped soldiers to the ISIS magazine. Sefer Taş expressed frustration over the lack of concern on the part of the Turkish government.

According to information relayed by Arslan, Turkey’s Intelligence agency MİT staff member Kemal Eskintan, a 59-year-old former soldier, led the team that engaged in negotiations with ISIS. Eskintan previously served as a project officer in the General Staff Directorate for Counterintelligence and Security from July 2006 to June 2007. Initially tasked with providing protective services to high-value individuals, he was later appointed to head the Department for Special Operations in 2014. Under his leadership, Eskintan orchestrated significant operations, including the training and equipping of jihadist groups in Syria. Referred to by his alias, Abu Furqan, Eskintan deployed numerous armed jihadists in Syria, many of whom had affiliations with al-Qaeda and ISIS.

Mustafa Varank, a former minister and close ally of President Erdogan, was intimately involved in the government’s management of the situation. Varank played an important role in representing the government in negotiations with ISIS, along with Eskintan.

In 2014 a leaked conversation between Varank and an official from Turkish Airlines (THY) suggested that Turkey’s national airline and the government might have been implicated in transferring arms to Nigeria. According to the uploaded voice recording on YouTube, Mehmet Karataş, an executive assistant at THY, expressed concern about the transfer of weapons to Nigeria, stating, “I don’t know whether these [weapons] will kill Muslims or Christians.” Varank said he hadn’t yet spoken to the then-head of the National Intelligence Organization (MIT), Hakan Fidan, currently foreign minister, and promised to follow up with Karataş once he had communicated with the intelligence chief. This recording was considered by some as evidence of the Erdogan government’s involvement with armed jihadist groups in other countries, including Boko Haram militants in Nigeria.

Kemal Eskintan and Mustafa Varank

According to Arslan’s claims, ISIS demanded $10,000 for the soldiers’ remains, which MIT allegedly rejected. The soldiers’ remains were reportedly seized by the Free Syrian Army, and soldiers affiliated with the Turkish Special Forces buried them near the arms depot of the Sultan Murad Division in Syria. Arslan also adds that this information was kept hidden from the soldiers’ families.

Nordic Monitor previously published a report revealing that Jamal Abdul Rahman Alwi, a Syrian national who served as a judge for ISIS and issued death sentences, including for Fethi Şahin and Sefer Taş, had been living in Turkey for years. Alwi, also known as Abu Abdullah al-Sham, resided in Gaziantep, a province in southeastern Turkey where ISIS has active cells. Despite being known to Turkish authorities, especially the intelligence agencies, Alwi was not apprehended. An investigation into his involvement in the killings of the two Turkish soldiers was underway during his time in Turkey. Additionally, three Turkish ISIS members were implicated in carrying out Alwi’s orders.

Jamal Abdul Rahman Alwi, nom de guerre of Abu Abdullah al-Sham, who worked as a judge in an ISIS court and ruled for the execution of captive Turkish troops by burning them alive.

Alwi was arrested on June 15, 2020, reportedly following an anonymous tip received by the police. However, a review of the case file indicates that Turkish intelligence had long been aware of Alwi’s presence in Turkey and the timing of his arrest, orchestrated by the agency, coincided with the Erdogan’s efforts to project an image of his government combating ISIS. Once this objective was achieved, the court ordered that Alwi be released, on March 2, 2021, citing family commitments and personal reasons as the reasons. In an attempt to ingratiate himself with the government, Alwi’s lawyer argued that his client was associated with the Sultan Selim Brigade, a faction of the Syrian Turkmen Brigades, which receives arms and funding from the Erdogan government.

Furthermore, Alwi’s travel ban was lifted on June 26, 2021. Although he had the option of relocating to Syria or Iraq, he chose to remain in Turkey, presumably feeling safer due to the authorities’ favorable view of jihadist networks.

His quiet release allowed him to resume his life in Gaziantep until news broke in September 2021 that a man who was accused of ruling for the execution of the Turkish soldiers was free in Turkey. Embarrassed by the news, Turkish authorities scrambled to detain him again, on September 17, 2021. He was formally arrested on charges, and a Gaziantep court sentenced him to three consecutive life imprisonments on October 18, 2022.

Another Turk named Ömer Yetek, who was believed to have facilitated the dissemination of the video and worked for the ISIS media arm, fled after his mysterious release from jail in Turkey. He was detained on February 4, 2018 in the Turkish capital and imprisoned pending trial. But Turkish authorities let him go on April 16, 2020. He remains a fugitive to this day.

Turkey’s abuse of Interpol halts partnership with CAR, an organization that traced ISIS explosives to Turkish firms

April 4, 2024
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The Interpol Executive Committee concluded its 218th session in February 2023 in Lyon, France.


Abdullah Bozkurt/Stockholm

In another misuse of International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) mechanisms, the Turkish government effectively lobbied to halt a collaborative project between Interpol and reputable UK-based research organization Conflict Armament Research (CAR). This action followed a damning report by CAR that traced explosive materials obtained by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) back to Turkish firms.

The Turkish government’s endeavor to undermine a proposed project between Interpol and CAR was detailed in a recent report issued by Turkey’s Security Directorate General (Emniyet) in February and hailed as a success by Turkish authorities.

The 83-page report, acquired by Nordic Monitor, revealed that CAR had been flagged by the Turkish Foreign Ministry for an extended period subsequent to the organization’s investigation in February 2016, which exposed Turkish companies implicated in a fertilizer supply chain linked to ISIS.

During CAR’s two-year investigation into ISIS weapons in Iraq and Syria, it was discovered that the majority of ISIS improvised explosive devices (IEDs) consist of a blend of aluminum and nitrate-based fertilizers, such as ammonium nitrate. The report pointed to Turkey as “the most important choke point” for components utilized in ISIS’s IED manufacturing. These components include chemical precursors such as fertilizers as well as containers, detonating cords, cables and wires that were either produced or sold in Turkey before being acquired by ISIS in Iraq.

Established in 2011, CAR specializes in the documentation of weapons, ammunition and associated materials diverted to armed groups, including terrorist entities globally. Deploying field teams, the organization identifies weaponry and munitions, traces their origins and exposes vulnerabilities within supply chains and control systems. CAR boasts partnerships with prominent entities such as the European Union, United Nations, US State Department and the foreign ministries of the UK and Germany for the tracing of weapons.

Following its damning report, the organization attracted the ire of the Turkish government, resulting in strong opposition by Turkish government representatives to CAR’s proposed projects with intergovernmental organizations.

The proposal for collaboration aimed to facilitate data exchange between Interpol and CAR, thereby boosting efforts to trace supply chains associated with arms in conflict zones. This proposal was presented to the 13-member Interpol Executive Committee for discussion last year.

Upon instructions from the government, Turkish representative Selçuk Sevgel lobbied against the proposal at the Executive Committee and rallied the majority to decline the project. The proposal was subsequently rejected by a vote of 9 to 3, preventing its advancement to the General Assembly.

It came to light that the Turkish Foreign Ministry drafted a confidential report on CAR, asserting that the organization “publishes reports containing unfounded allegations against our country, and its reports based on unreliable sources could potentially harm the activities of our critical sector companies.” The ministry further recommended “preventing, if possible, the establishment of an official relationship with Interpol.”

Indeed, Sevgel, a police chief appointed to the Executive Committee for the 2021-2024 term, executed precisely what was outlined in the foreign ministry’s report, effectively terminating the project.

Turkey’s misuse of its position at Interpol is not unprecedented. Between 2016 and 2021, Interpol rejected 839 Red Notice submissions by Turkey for members of the Gülen movement, a group critical of the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Interpol cited violations of its rules as the basis for refusal and urged Turkey to refrain from resubmitting similar requests.

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.