Target cites employee safety in limiting Pride collection to select stores



 Citing a sense of safety among its 400,000 employees, Target will not offer its collection of Pride-related products at all of its retail stores.

 File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | 

May 10 (UPI) -- Citing threats affecting a sense of safety among its 400,000 employees, Target will not offer its collection of Pride-related products at all of its retail stores.

The Minnesota-based discount retail chain said in a statement issued Friday it will still participate in Pride Month festivities in June, but is making the move to reduce the availability of its assortment of products aimed at celebrating Pride Month because of safety.

"Since introducing this year's collection, we've experienced threats impacting our team members' sense of safety and well-being while at work," Target said in the statement.

"Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans, including removing items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior. Our focus now is on moving forward with our continuing commitment to the LGBTQIA+ community and standing with them as we celebrate Pride Month and throughout the year."

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In a separate statement, Target said the decision about which stores will offer its Pride product line would be "based on historical sales performance."

The retailer added its Pride+ Business Council will continue to host internal events and experiences for interested team members. Target has a long history of supporting LGBTQ+ initiatives and will once again participate in Pride events in its hometown of Minneapoli

Target was founded in 1902 and operates approximately 1,956 stores in the United States.

The company has faced criticism in the past for its LGBTQ+ merchandise.

Conservative activist groups have threatened employees in some locations and organized boycotts because of LGBTQ+ displays in stores, leading to Friday's news.

Last year, Republican governors from Indiana, Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and South Carolina also spoke out against Target's support of an organization that works to end bullying in schools based on sexual and gender identity.

The governors also suggested Target's Pride month clothes and merchandise might violate child protection laws in their states.

SPACE

NOAA warns of severe geomagnetic storm that could disrupt major systems


NOAA has issued a severe geomagnetic storm watch for Friday. It follows days of strong solar flares and coronal mass ejections. It could cause disruptions in power grids, radio, satellites and communications. It will also trigger spectacular Aurora Borealis light displays. Aurora Borealis seen in highlighting the Chicago area from the International Space Station. 

File Photo by NASA/UPI | License Photo

May 10 (UPI) -- The NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center warned of a severe geomagnetic storm Friday with wide-ranging impacts that could potentially disrupt communications, the electric power grid, navigation, radio and satellite operations.

The agency issued a Severe (G4) Geomagnetic Storm Watch for Friday evening, adding that "additional solar eruptions could cause geomagnetic storm conditions to persist through the weekend."

It's the most severe warning in 20 years.

NOAA said it's monitoring the sun after a series of strong solar flares and coronal mass ejections.

"CMEs are explosions of plasma and magnetic fields from the sun's corona," NOAA said in a statement. "They cause geomagnetic storms when they are directed at Earth. Geomagnetic storms can impact infrastructure in near-Earth orbit and on Earth's surface, potentially disrupting communications, the electric power grid, navigation, radio and satellite operations. SWPC has notified the operators of these systems so they can take protective action."

These storms can trigger "spectacular displays of aurora on Earth", according to NOAA. These aurora borealis "northern lights" could be seen as far south as Alabama and Northern California.

NOAA said a large sunspot cluster has produced several moderate to strong solar flares since Wednesday. NOAA and NASA space assets will be monitored for the onset of a geomagnetic storm.



According to SpaceWeather.com, "If geomagnetic storms were hurricanes, 'severe' would be category 4."

More solar eruptions could cause geomagnetic storm conditions to last through the weekend.

Scientists hope new data will shed light on how black holes consume matter


A NASA infrared composite image taken by the Spitzer Space Telescope shows a panoramic view of the Andromeda galaxy in 2006. New data from the galaxy is helping scientists understand the eating habits of supermassive black holes, they announced Thursday

. Image courtesy of NASA/UPI | License Photo

May 9 (UPI) -- Researchers are hoping that new images and data from NASA can help explain the voracious appetites of black holes and give scientists new information about why some of the massive and largely unexplained regions of immense gravity shine brighter than others when consuming space dust, researchers reported Thursday.

Space scientists are using data gathered from the retired Spitzer Space Telescope to analyze dust and gas that have been flowing toward the center of the massive black hole at the heart of the Andromeda galaxy.

The steams of gas and dust entering the black hole can help scientists understand how black holes, which are billions of times the mass of our sun, can remain what are known as "quiet" eaters.

"As supermassive black holes gobble up gas and dust, the material gets heated up just before it falls in, creating incredible light shows -- sometimes brighter than an entire galaxy full of stars," a release from NASA said. "When the material is consumed in clumps of different sizes, the brightness of the black hole fluctuates."

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The black holes at the center of the Milky Way and its galactic neighbor, Andromeda, are among the "quietest" eaters in the universe.

"What little light they emit does not vary significantly in brightness, suggesting they are consuming a small but steady flow of food, rather than large clumps. The streams approach the black hole little by little, and in a spiral, similar to the way the water swirls down a drain," NASA said.

Earlier this year, researchers simulated how dust and gas near Andromeda's black hole might behave over time.

Researchers found "that those streams [of gas and dust] have to stay within a particular size and flow rate; otherwise, the matter would fall into the black hole in irregular clumps, causing more light fluctuation," NASA reported.

The authors then compared their findings with data gathered from Spitzer and NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, and found spirals of dust previously identified by Spitzer that fit the necessary constraints. With that information, the researchers concluded that the spirals are feeding Andromeda's supermassive black hole.

"This is a great example of scientists re-examining archival data to reveal more about galaxy dynamics by comparing it to the latest computer simulations," said Almudena Prieto, an astrophysicist at the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands and the University Observatory Munich, and a co-author on the study published this year. "We have 20-year-old data telling us things we didn't recognize in it when we first collected it."

U$ FOR PROFIT HEALTHCARE
Insurance doesn't prevent many cancer patients from facing medical debt

By Ernie Mundell, HealthDay News


A new survey found that 47% of cancer patients had medical debt. Half of those respondents said that debt exceeded $5,000. 

Photo by Adobe Stock/HealthDay News

When cancer strikes, you could easily go into debt, even with health insurance in place, according to a new survey from the American Cancer Society.

The survey, based on responses from nearly 1,300 cancer patients and survivors from March 18 through April 14, found that 47% had medical debt. Half of those respondents said that debt exceeded $5,000.

Two-thirds had struggled with debt for more than a year and a third had dealt with it for more than three years.

Almost all -- 98% -- said they had health insurance when their debts began mounting.

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"While people are insured, sometimes they don't have very good insurance," Arthur Caplan, head of the Division of Medical Ethics at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City, told NBC News.

He said many cancer patients with medical debt have high-deductible insurance plans in which a lot of expenses need to be paid for out-of-pocket before coverage kicks in.

But cancer care can stretch even gold-plated insurance plans, Caplan added.

"These cancer treatments can go on and on," he said. "They can also cost a lot of money for diagnostic testing, genetic testing, and pretty soon you say, 'Well, I have a policy of a million dollars and it's gone.' "

Karen Knudsen is CEO of the American Cancer Society. Speaking with NBC News, she noted that the new survey uncovered significant disparities, with Black and Hispanic patients more likely to fall into medical debt than whites.

Medical debt also hits the young particularly hard: Nearly three-quarters of patients ages 35 to 44 were behind on healthcare bills, the survey found.

"We were really dismayed to see that," Knudsen said. "That strain has been shown to be durable in their lifetime, impacting their choices, their ability to take jobs and of their choice to have a life that they would like."

Besides the financial and emotional strain that debt incurs, healthcare can also suffer, she said. Many patients end up skipping cancer screenings or medications due to cost, Knudsen explained.

The bottom line, she said, is that even with insurance, "cancer care is really devastating to people's financial position."

More information

There's help on dealing with medical bill debt at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Copyright © 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.



Dangers firefighters face include higher cancer risks

By Lori Saxena, HealthDay News


Compared to the general public, firefighters have a 9% higher rate of certain cancers, likely due to their exposure to high levels of carcinogens released into the air as buildings burn. Photo courtesy of D Perez/HealthDay News

For 14 years, David Perez fought fires in South Florida, thinking he was in peak physical shape. Then a routine physical turned up anomalies in his blood work that turned his life upside down.

"The labs came back irregular. Everything was off," Perez, 44, recalled. "I went to a hematologist and it wasn't until I saw the word cancer on the side of the building that I realized I might have a problem."

That was in 2020. Since then, he has battled blood cancers twice -- first, multiple myeloma and then, mantle cell lymphoma. Six months ago, Perez had a stem cell transplant, and he's currently cancer-free.

But his risk remains.

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Compared to the general public, firefighters have a 9% higher rate of certain cancers, likely due to their exposure to high levels of carcinogens released into the air as buildings burn. The incidence of multiple myeloma -- the first cancer Perez developed -- is about 50% higher in firefighters than in the general population.

"The first doctor I saw actually told me that there was no relation between cancer and firefighters, which threw up a lot of red flags for me," he recalled.

Despite the known risks, Perez said many firefighters remain unaware or skeptical of the links between their work and cancer. Since his diagnosis, he has not returned to active firefighting and instead has adopted the role of educator and advocate.

He is working to make sure other firefighters understand the risks that go along with their work, sharing his knowledge about cancer prevention and health management at various events and training sessions.

Perez is also helping develop new health monitoring technologies, including biomonitors that can analyze sweat for indicators of exposure to carcinogens.

His efforts dovetail with studies underway at the Sylvester Myeloma Research Institute at the University of Miami. Researchers are working to understand risk factors for multiple myeloma, including age, race and family history.

Dr. C. Ola Landgren has been researching links between occupational exposures and multiple myeloma for a number of years -- particularly in first responders such as firefighters. At Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York and the National Cancer Institute, Landgren began to recognize patterns.

In New York, for example, Landgren had three myeloma patients who lived on the same block on Staten Island. Their houses had been covered by dust after the World Trade Center towers fell in 2001.

"Myeloma has a precursor condition known as MGUS, which is more common in the population, allowing us to identify risks earlier," Landgren said. "We've actually observed higher rates of MGUS in first responders compared to the general population."

MGUS -- which stands for monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance -- has also been linked to pesticide use among farmers and exposure to Agent Orange among veterans of the Vietnam War. Levels also were higher in firefighters, police officers and construction workers who were on-site immediately after the 9/11 attacks.

Perez applauds the research.

"These are things we need to know and talk about. It took me something like a cancer diagnosis in order to learn and look at the big picture for me and my colleagues," he said. "I don't want that to happen to them and their families."

When he was first diagnosed, Perez kept the news within a tight circle and didn't tell his children, who were 6 and 4 years old at the time.

"I didn't want them to worry about their dad being sick," Perez explained.

He adopted a plant-based diet, continued to exercise regularly and thought he would be back on the job in eight or nine months. But, shortly after completing treatment for multiple myeloma, he received another diagnosis: mantle cell lymphoma.

This second battle with cancer introduced new complexities and another series of treatments, including more chemo and a stem cell transplant.

"That was when I told my kids about the cancer," Perez said. "There was a 1 in 6 chance I would not survive the transplant, so they needed to know what was happening."

More than eight months out from his stem cell transplant, he is currently cancer-free and stepping up his efforts to build awareness about job-related cancer risks.

"I'm almost grateful for going through what I've been going through," he said. "Honestly, it's given me a perspective that I wouldn't have had otherwise if I wouldn't have had the perspective I do, or the chance to raise awareness and bring change to the culture in the fire service."

His efforts extend to collaborating on initiatives like Sylvester's Firefighter Cancer Initiative, where he participates in events aimed at raising awareness and promoting research into the links between firefighting and cancer.

Perez stresses the importance of preventive measures, regular health screenings and ongoing education to respond to the risks firefighters face.

Perez is also spearheading creation of a Health and Wellness Department at North Collier Fire Control and Rescue in Naples, Fla., where he worked for 14 years. Its aim is to teach firefighters how to maintain their health through lifestyle choices and changes that promote long-term well-being.

One thing he urges everyone to incorporate into their daily routine is a holistic approach to health he calls the "MEDSS System." The acronym stands for Mindset, Exercise, Diet, Sleep and Stress response -- a formula he shares with fellow firefighters and other high-risk professionals.

These issues not only affect firefighters, but also their entire families, Perez emphasized.

"My wife handled everything with such toughness, balancing care for our kids and supporting me through my treatments, but I was also always worried about what would happen to my family if anything happened to me," he said.

As such, he is establishing a nonprofit to provide financial support to families of firefighters and police officers who lose their lives in the line of duty and mentorship to their children.

"I feel like my experience was a call to action, to ensure that other firefighters understand their risks and know how to protect themselves," Perez said. "If there's one thing I would want them to know, it's that I want them to take responsibility and to take more control of their own life," he said.

More information

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has has cancer-prevention tips for firefighters.

Copyright © 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Federal government announces new initiatives to monitor, prevent bird flu

By Ernie Mundell, HealthDay News

The illness is typically not fatal in bovines, but monitoring and prevention on the nation's farms is costly, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture said the aid will make it cheaper and easier for farmers to deal with H5N1 when it is discovered infecting a herd.

 Photo by Adobe Stock/HealthDay News


H5N1 avian flu is now infecting U.S. dairy cows and the federal government on Friday announced myriad initiatives aimed at preventing the virus' mutation and spread in humans.

The illness is typically not fatal in bovines, but monitoring and prevention on the nation's farms is costly, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture said the aid will make it cheaper and easier for farmers to deal with H5N1 when it is discovered infecting a herd.

"Today, USDA is announcing assistance for producers with H5N1 affected premises to improve on-site biosecurity in order to reduce the spread," the agency said in a statement from the Department of Health and Human Services. "In addition, USDA is taking steps to make available financial tools for lost milk production in herds affected by H5N1."

USDA also wants to safeguard the health of dairy workers, who could become human reservoirs for the H5N1 virus.

Right now, its very tough to transmit bird flu person-to-person, and only one human, a Texas dairy worker, is known to have contracted a (mild) case of the disease during the latest outbreak.

But the threat of H5N1 mutating inside people so that it can be easily transmitted weighs heavily on the minds of infectious disease experts. That's because -- in the rare cases around the world where it has occurred -- the illness has killed half of those infected.

So, USDA said it plans to now give $2,000 "per affected premises per month" to supply personal protective equipment to farm staff to help keep H5N1 infection in people at bay.

Money will also be earmarked to help train farm workers in biosecurity, and to cover the costs of protecting people such as milk haulers, veterinarians, feed truckers and AI technicians who often move between various farms.

Another $2,000 will be earmarked to help farms pay for "heat treatment to dispose of milk in a bio secure fashion," USDA said. "Heat treatment performed in accordance with standards set by FDA is the only currently available method considered to effectively inactivate the virus in milk."

Finally, $10,000 per farm will be budgeted to pay for veterinary bills incurred because of the need for H5N1 monitoring and testing, and for the care of infected cows.

"Taken together, these tools represent a value of up to $28,000 per premises to support increased biosecurity activities over the next 120 days," USDA and HHS said in a joint statement.

Compensating farmers

If milk is deemed to be at risk for infection and must be dumped, USDA will help "compensate producers for loss of milk production," the agency said.

"While dairy cows that have been infected with H5N1 generally recover well, and there is little mortality associated with the disease, it does dramatically limit milk production, causing economic losses for producers with affected premises," the USDA said.

The agency also plans to put in place safeguards that would limit the movement of dairy herds state-to-state, to help prevent the spread of H5N1.

"USDA will make $98 million in existing funds available ... to fund these initiatives," the agency said. "If needed, USDA has the authority, with Congressional notification, to make additional funds available."

Viral monitoring

The Department of Health and Homeland Security has also earmarked more than $101 million to better understand and help fight H5N1.

"Public and animal health experts and agencies have been preparing for avian influenza outbreak for 20 years," the agency said. "Our primary responsibility at HHS is to protect public health and the safety of the food supply, which is why we continue to approach the outbreak with urgency."

H5N1 outbreaks in animals will be closely monitored, and there will also be "CDC monitoring of the virus to detect any changes that may increase risk to people," HHS said.

"CDC has also asked health departments to distribute existing PPE stocks to farm workers, prioritizing those who work with infected cows," the agency added.

Additional CDC funding totaling $93 million is targeted "to bolster testing and laboratory capacity, surveillance, genomic sequencing, support jurisdictions and partner efforts to reach high risk populations and initiate a new wastewater surveillance pilot," according to the news release.

This will include the production of "one thousand additional influenza diagnostic test kits (equaling nearly around one million additional tests) for virologic surveillance."

Another $14 million is earmarked to further the genomic sequencing of viral strains by the CDC. It's especially important to "analyze circulating H5N1 viruses to determine whether current Candidate Vaccine Viruses (CVVs) would be effective and develop new ones if necessary," the news release said.

Finally, $3 million in extra funding is being targeted to more widespread and better testing of wastewater -- a valuable tool in monitoring the development and potential spread of new strains of H5N1.

More information

Find out more about avian flu at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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Copyright © 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

At least nine arrested as police dismantle pro-Palestinian encampment at MIT


At least nine people were arrested at a pro-Palestinian encampment at MIT on Thursday after the university's president, Dr. Sally Kornbluth, ordered students to leave earlier in the week. File Photo by Will Oliver/EPA-EFE

May 10 (UPI) -- Authorities arrested at least nine Massachusetts Institute of Technology students as they dismantled a pro-Palestinian encampment on the Cambridge campus.

MIT President Sally Kornbluth warned student protesters, who had joined with hundreds of others to call for MIT to end research contracts with Israel's Ministry of Defense, to leave the Kresge lawn where the encampment was set up by Monday afternoon.

MIT had already suspended dozens of students with their cases being referred to its Committee on Discipline for refusing to clear the tent site when originally ordered.

Protesters returned to the encampment and held an "emergency" rally Thursday in support of those who faced punishment, organized by the MIT Graduate Student Union which some of the students arrested on Thursday belong to.

"We must fight back to defend our coworkers now," the message said.

"We are not going to stop acting," MIT student Quinn Perian told WCVB-TV. "We are not going to stop letting the institution know that there is no life as normal -- there is no life as normal in Gaza. We are going to continue showing everyone that this complicity in a genocide is not acceptable."


The MIT arrests are part of aggressive actions taken by college administrations to shut down encampments created by pro-Palestinian protesters at campus around the country. The encampments have picked up in the spring with many protesters calling on universities to divest from Israeli institutions.

Dozens arrested at Penn, MIT in latest U.S. crackdowns on Gaza protests



Police dismantled protest camps and arrested dozens of pro-Palestinian activists at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania on Friday, in the latest crackdowns on demonstrations roiling U.S. campuses.

Philadelphia officers in riot gear pushed reporters away from the encampment at the University of Pennsylvania before tearing down tents and tossing the belongings of protesters in a trash truck, the student newspaper reported. About 33 people were arrested on the Ivy League campus, Penn’s public safety department said.

A similar scene unfolded simultaneously at MIT near Boston, where student journalists reported that riot police arrested at least 10 student protesters before flattening the encampment and discarding their belongings.

The dawn raids were the latest efforts by school and local authorities to end such demonstrations at dozens of universities around the country.

Many university leaders have called the encampments safety hazards and sought to end them ahead of May commencement ceremonies, which draw large crowds of outside visitors to campuses.

Officials at Harvard University on Friday began issuing suspensions to students who were involved in an encampment on the Ivy League school’s Cambridge, Massachusetts, campus, according to an Instagram post by the school’s Palestine Solidarity Committee.

On Monday, Interim Harvard President Alan Garber said the encampment was disrupting the educational environment as students were taking final exams and preparing for commencement. He said participants faced suspension, restricting them from campus and possibly barring them from taking exams and residing in university housing.

“Disciplinary procedures and administrative referrals for placing protesters on involuntary leave continue to move forward,” a school spokesperson said in a statement on Friday, without specifying the number of students suspended.

‘INCREASINGLY UNTENABLE’

The protesting students are demanding a cease-fire in Israel’s incursion into Gaza and have demanded their schools divest from companies with ties to Israel.

One New York City school affiliated with Columbia University – where protests inspired the nationwide wave of demonstrations – said on Thursday that its board of trustees had endorsed students’ divestment calls.
Read more: Sangachal terminal exported 263 million barrels of oil last year

The Union Theological Seminary said in a statement it had decided “to withdraw support from companies profiting from the war” after months of research into its investment portfolio. It added that “our investments in the war in Palestine are small because our previous, strong anti-armament screens are robust.”

A similar step was taken by Evergreen State College in Washington state earlier this week, after officials agreed that a college committee would start proposing strategies for “divestment from companies that profit from gross human rights violations and/or the occupation of Palestinian territories.”

The agreement was signed by Evergreen representatives and students on Tuesday, and protesters cleared the encampment themselves on Wednesday, according to local news reports.

MIT President Sally Kornbluth said that the 10 individuals arrested on Friday peacefully had submitted to police, but that the arrests came after escalating clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters.

“It was not heading in a direction anyone could call peaceful,” she said in a statement, adding that “the cost and disruption for the community overall made the situation increasingly untenable.”
Read more: Azerbaijan warns of tough response to any provocation by Armenia

Penn Interim President J. Larry Jameson said earlier this week that “every day the encampment exists, the campus is less safe,” citing reports of harassing and threatening speech, the defacement of campus landmarks, and a video of a student being denied entry to the encampment.

Since the first mass arrests at Columbia on April 18, at least 2,600 demonstrators have been detained at more than 100 protests in 39 states and Washington, D.C., according to The Appeal, a nonprofit news organization. Some policing experts say such sweeping detentions can be counter-productive, fueling protests rather than deterring them.

Similar protests have sprung up at campuses in other countries. In western Canada, police removed protesters from an encampment at the University of Calgary on Thursday, using “non-lethal munitions,” according to a statement from the city, which said the number of arrests would be made public on Friday.

Reuters

May 10 (Reuters) - Police dismantled protest camps and arrested dozens of pro-Palestinian activists at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania on Friday, in the latest crackdowns on demonstrations roiling U.S. campuses.
Philadelphia officers in riot gear pushed reporters away from the encampment at the University of Pennsylvania before tearing down tents and tossing the belongings of protesters in a trash truck, the student newspaper reported. About 33 people were arrested on the Ivy League campus, Penn's public safety department said.

Cornell University President Martha Pollack resigns amid widespread campus turmoil


After a tumultuous last six months, Cornell University President Martha Pollack is resigning, ending a 7-year tenure at the Ivy League institution, as pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel demonstrations have taken hold on campuses (Columbia University pictured) across the United States. File Pool photo by Mary Altaffer/UPI | License Photo

May 10 (UPI) -- Cornell University President Martha Pollack announced she plans to resign, ending a 7-year tenure at the Ivy League institution.

Pollack, 65, confirmed that her last official day on the job will be June 30, in an open letter published Friday on the university's website.

"It is only after extensive reflection that I have determined that this is the right decision," Pollack wrote in the letter, adding she initially made the decision last December but pushed pause because of "events on our and/or on other campuses."

"But continued delay is not in the university's best interests, both because of the need to have sufficient time for a smooth transition before the start of the coming academic year, and because I do not want my announcement to interfere with the celebration of our newest graduates at Commencement in just a few weeks," she wrote.

She also downplayed any suggestion of being forced out.

"I understand that there will be lots of speculation about my decision, so let me be as clear as I can: This decision is mine and mine alone," Pollack wrote in the letter.

"After seven fruitful and gratifying years as Cornell's president -- and after a career in research and academia spanning five decades -- I'm ready for a new chapter in my life."

Pollack did not directly mention any incidents involving the university, but it was one of several placed on a list of institutions being investigated by the Department of Education for Discrimination.

In November, a Cornell student was arrested for posting anti-Semitic threats against the Ivy League school's Jewish community. Federal officials later charged the 21-year-old man with "posting threats to kill or injure another using interstate communications."

Cornell, along with fellow Ivy League institutions Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania, are being investigated after the department announced in November it was looking into five complaints alleging anti-Semitic harassment and two alleging anti-Muslim harassment.

Several American universities have canceled or toned down graduations as a result, to avoid potential unrest.

University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill resigned from her post a month later amid the fallout and harsh criticism.

Pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel demonstrations have taken hold on campuses across the United States, leading different reactions from different institutions.

"There is so much more to Cornell than the current turmoil taking place at universities across the country right now, and I hope we do not lose sight of that," Pollack wrote.

Pollack's resignation comes after University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill resigned in December following testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives on responding to anti-Semitism on university campuses. Harvard University President Claudine Gay who also testified at that hearing and faced accusations of plagiarism resigned in January.

"There will be plenty more to do over the coming months and years. Higher education has come under attack from many quarters, and our core values have faced enormous pressure," Pollack wrote.

"Indeed, if I have one piece of advice for the Cornell community going forward, it is this: We must develop more capacity to seek out different perspectives and be willing to listen to those with whom we differ, doing so with intellectual curiosity and an open mind; at the same time, we must always consider the impact of what we say to one another; and we must thoughtfully engage in debate."

Biden administration: It's 'reasonable' to suspect Israel violated international law in Gaza

By Ehren Wynder


Israeli bombing of Rafah can be seen from inside southern Israel. Israel entered Rafah and took over the Keren Shalom crossing this week in what appears to be a "limited" ground offensive against Hamas. Photo by Jim Hollander/UPI | License Photo

May 10 (UPI) -- The Biden administration on Friday said it is "reasonable to assess" that Israel used U.S. weapons to violate international law in Gaza, but it stopped short of issuing a full verdict.

A report by the State Department said investigations into potential violations are ongoing but there is not yet enough evidence to verify whether Israel used U.S. weapons in violation of international humanitarian law.

"Given Israel's significant reliance on U.S.-made defense articles, it is reasonable to assess that defense articles covered under NSM-20 have been used by Israeli security forces since October 7 in instances inconsistent with its IHL obligations or with established best practices for mitigating civilian harm," the report said.

The report also did not find Israel is blocking the delivery of humanitarian assistance into Gaza.

"If not for sustained engagement by the United States with the Israeli government at the highest levels, the humanitarian crisis that has persisted for the past several months would have been even more dire," the report said.

The report covers the period between the Hamas attack on Oct. 7 to late April. While it did not find Israel in violation of either terms of the memorandum, it was not sparing in its critique Israel due to the death toll of the Hamas war.

The report noted the United States' limitations in accessing information from Israel. While Israel has given some information related to targeting decisions and battlefield damage assessments "on request," more details are needed to make a formal judgment.

"In any conflict involving foreign partners, it is often difficult to make swift, definitive assessments or determinations on whether specific U.S. defense articles or services have been used in a manner not consistent with international law," the report said, while noting "there have been sufficient reported incidents to raise serious concerns."

The report was submitted to Congress Friday afternoon, and Biden is required to make a determination under a February national security memorandum, which he issued under pressure from Congressional Democrats.

This has been the first time the United States had to make an assessment about Israel's conduct since the beginning of the war in Gaza.

The State Department said the assessment is still ongoing.

"We will continue to monitor and respond to any challenges to the delivery of aid to Palestinian civilians in Gaza moving forward," the department said.

US says Israel’s use of US arms likely violated international law, but evidence is incomplete




U.S. President Joe Biden boards Marine One at Moffett Airfield in Mountain View, Calif., Thursday, May 9, 2024. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Pool Photo via AP)


Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, at a hospital in Rafah, Gaza, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)

BY ELLEN KNICKMEYER, AAMER MADHANI AND MATTHEW LEE
 May 10, 2024


WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration said Friday that Israel’s use of U.S.-provided weapons in Gaza likely violated international humanitarian law but that wartime conditions prevented U.S. officials from determining that for certain in specific airstrikes.

The finding of “reasonable” evidence to conclude that the U.S. ally had breached international law protecting civilians in the way it conducted its war against Hamas was the strongest statement that the Biden administration has yet made on the matter. It was released in a summary of a report being delivered to Congress on Friday.

But the caveat that the administration wasn’t able to link specific U.S. weapons to individual attacks by Israeli forces in Gaza could give the administration leeway in any future decision on whether to restrict provisions of offensive weapons to Israel.

The first-of-its-kind assessment, which was compelled by President Joe Biden’s fellow Democrats in Congress, comes after seven months of airstrikes, ground fighting and aid restrictions that have claimed the lives of nearly 35,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children.


READ MORE


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While U.S. officials were unable to gather all the information they needed on specific strikes, the report said that given Israel’s “significant reliance” on U.S.-made weapons, it was “reasonable to assess” that they had been used by Israel’s security forces in instances “inconsistent” with its obligations under international humanitarian law “or with best practices for mitigating civilian harm.”

Israel’s military has the experience, technology and know-how to minimize harm to civilians, but “the results on the ground, including high levels of civilian casualties, raise substantial questions as to whether the IDF is using them effectively in all cases,” the report said.

International human rights groups and a review by an unofficial panel of former State and military officials, academic experts and others had pointed to more than a dozen Israeli airstrikes for which they said there were credible evidence of violations of the laws of war and humanitarian law. Targets included aid convoys, medical workers, hospitals, journalists, schools and refugee centers and other sites that have broad protection under international law.

They argued that the civilian death toll in many strikes in Gaza — such as an Oct. 31 strike on an apartment building reported to have killed 106 civilians — was disproportionate to the value of any military target.

Israel says it is following all U.S. and international law, that it investigates allegations of abuse by its security forces and that its campaign in Gaza is proportional to the existential threat it says is posed by Hamas.

Rep. Michael McCaul, the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the review “only contributes to politically motivated anti-Israel sentiment” and should never have been done.

“Now is the time to stand with our ally Israel and ensure they have the tools they need,” he said in a statement.

But Sen. Chris Van Hollen, the Maryland Democrat who led the push in Congress, told reporters that even even though the administration had reached a general finding, “they’re ducking a determination on the hard cases. Politically inconvenient cases.”

The U.S. “treats the government of Israel as above the law,” Amanda Klasing of the Amnesty International USA rights group said in a statement.

Biden has tried to walk an ever-finer line in his support of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war against Hamas. The U.S. leader is a target of growing rancor at home and abroad over the soaring Palestinian death toll and the onset of famine, caused in large part by Israeli restrictions on the movement of food and aid into Gaza. Tensions have been heightened further in recent weeks by Netanyahu’s pledge to expand the Israeli military’s offensive in the crowded southern city of Rafah, despite Biden’s adamant opposition.

Biden, in the closing months of a tough reelection campaign against Donald Trump, faces demands from many Democrats that he cut the flow of offensive weapons to Israel and denunciation from Republicans who accuse him of wavering on support for Israel at its time of need.

The Democratic administration took one of the first steps toward conditioning military aid to Israel in recent days when it paused a shipment of 3,500 bombs out of concern over Israel’s threatened offensive on Rafah, a southern city crowded with more than a million Palestinians, a senior administration official said.

The presidential directive that led to the review, agreed to in February, obligated the Defense and State departments to conduct “an assessment of any credible reports or allegations that such defense articles and, as appropriate, defense services, have been used in a manner not consistent with international law, including international humanitarian law.”

Nothing in the presidential directive would have triggered any cutoff of arms if the administration had more definitively ruled that Israel’s conduct had violated international law.

The agreement also obligated the State and Defense departments to tell Congress whether they deemed that Israel has acted to “arbitrarily to deny, restrict, or otherwise impede, directly or indirectly,” delivery of any U.S.-supported humanitarian aid into Gaza for starving civilians there.

On this question, the report cited “deep concerns” that Israel played a significant role in preventing adequate aid from reaching starving Palestinians. However, it said Israel had recently taken some positive steps, although still inadequate, and the U.S. government did not currently find Israel restricting aid deliveries in a way that violated U.S. law governing foreign militaries that receive U.S. military aid.

Van Hollen accused the administration of glossing over what he said were clear Israeli blocks on food and aid deliveries during much of the war. “That’s why we have hundreds of thousands of Palestinians that have nothing to do with Hamas on the verge of starvation,” he said.

 A woman mourns Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 8, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem/File Photo

Lawmakers and others who advocated for the review said Biden and previous American leaders have followed a double standard when enforcing U.S. laws governing how foreign militaries use U.S. support, an accusation the Biden administration denies.

Their opponents argued that a U.S. finding against Israel would weaken it at a time it is battling Hamas and other Iran-backed groups. It’s not clear how much Friday’s more in-between verdict would add to pressure on Biden to curb the flow of weapons and money to Israel’s military or further heighten tensions with Netanyahu’s hard-right government.

At the time the White House agreed to the review, it was working to head off moves from Democratic lawmakers and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont to start restricting shipments of weapons to Israel.

Israel launched its offensive after an Oct. 7 assault into Israel, led by Hamas, killed about 1,200 people. Two-thirds of the Palestinians killed since then have been women and children, according to local health officials. U.S. and U.N. officials say Israeli restrictions on food shipments since Oct. 7 have brought on full-fledged famine in northern Gaza.

Human rights groups long have accused Israeli security forces of committing abuses against Palestinians and have accused Israeli leaders of failing to hold those responsible to account. In January, in a case brought by South Africa, the top U.N. court ordered Israel to do all it could to prevent death, destruction and any acts of genocide in Gaza, but the panel stopped short of ordering an end to the military offensive.

Biden in December said “indiscriminate bombing” was costing Israel international backing. After Israeli forces targeted and killed seven aid workers from the World Central Kitchen in April, the Biden administration for the first time signaled it might cut military aid to Israel if it didn’t change its handling of the war and humanitarian aid.

Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, in the 1980s and early 1990s, were the last presidents to openly hold back weapons or military financing to try to push Israel to change its actions in the region or toward Palestinians.

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Zeke Miller and Mike Balsamo contributed.

Toronto expected to be WNBA's first international expansion team

By Alex Butler


Toronto is set to host the WNBA's first international franchise. File Photo by Mauritz Antin/EPA-EFE


May 10 (UPI) -- The WNBA is expected to award Toronto with an expansion team, with the new franchise set to start play in 2026. The team will be the WNBA's first franchise based outside of the United States.

Sources told CBC Sports, the Toronto Star and Sports Business Journal about the move Friday. Those reports stated that Kilmer Sports Inc., a group headed by billionaire Larry Tanenbaum, was granted the franchise. An official announcement is expected later.

The league has yet to officially announce the move, which would require a vote from the WNBA and the NBA board of governors (team owners).

"We continue to engage in productive conversations with interested ownership groups in a number of markets and the granting of any expansion teams requires a vote of the WNBA and NBA board of governors," a WNBA spokesperson said Friday, when asked about the reported agreement.

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The new WNBA team is expected to play at Coca-Cola Coliseum, an 8,000-seat venue used by Toronto's Professional Women's Hockey League team.

The WNBA added a 13th team, based in San Francisco, that will start play in 2025. WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced in April that Toronto, Philadelphia, Portland, Denver, Nashville and South Florida were candidates to host a 14th WNBA team in 2026. She also said she hopes the league includes 16 teams within the "next few years."

Tanenbaum is a minority owner and chairman of Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment, which controls the NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs, NBA's Toronto Raptors, Toronto FC of MLS, CFL's Toronto Argonauts and AHL's Toronto Marlies.

The WNBA, which currently consists of 12 teams, will start its regular season campaign next week. The Washington Mystics will host the New York Liberty in the first game of the campaign at 7 p.m. EDT Tuesday in Washington, D.C.

Star rookie Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever will face the Connecticut Sun in the first nationally-televised game at 8 p.m. Tuesday in Uncasville, Conn. That matchup will air on ESPN2.

Chinese EV maker Zeekr launches on N.Y. Stock Exchange as it seeks expansion


Chinese EV Maker Zeekr joined the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, and its initial public offering sold 21 million shares to raise $441 million. Zeekr representatives (pictured) rang the opening bell at the exchange on Wall Street in New York City on Friday.

 Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

May 10 (UPI) -- Chinese electric vehicle maker Zeekr, owned by Geely, was listed on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday. Shares climbed some 38% for a potential $7 billion valuation in Zeekr's initial public offer.

EV fortunes can fall as far and fast as they rise, but Zeekr sold 21 million shares, raising $441 million as it seeks to expand beyond China.

The company is seen as a potential Tesla competitor.

"Our sales gap with Tesla keeps on narrowing," Zeekr CEO Andy An told CNBC in a translated interview.

Zeekr builds several luxury EVs.

An said Zeekr plans to expand to Europe and Latin America later this year. Right now, it sells EVs in Sweden and the Netherlands.

Zeekr's stock exchange debut in the United States is powered by Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch and China International Capital.

The company intends to set up business in eight countries by 2025.

So far the company hasn't revealed any EV launches in the United States, but it is partnering with Waymo to build a self-driving EV ride-hail vehicle through tech integration. The launch date is unknown.



In an SEC filing May 3, Zeekr said it will use stock exchange proceeds for "development of more advanced BEV technologies, as well as expansion of product portfolio; or selling and marketing, and expansion of our service and charging network; and for general corporate purposes, including working capital needs, to support our business operations and growth."

Tesla's expansion plans in Germany prompt clash between protesters, police

By Ehren Wynder

Police officers restrain environmental activists during a protest against Tesla's plans to extend its Gigafactory plant in Gruenheide, near Berlin, Germany, on Friday. 

Photo by Filip Singer/EPA-EFE

May 10 (UPI) -- Climate activists protesting the expansion Tesla's Brandenburg factory in Germany clashed with police after some attempted to storm the factory grounds on Friday.

Disrupt, a coalition of self-declared anti-capitalist groups, said in a statement on its website that about 800 activists showed up at the Berlin-Brandenburg Gigafactory on Friday as part of the Disrupt Tesla Action Days.

The group said the intention of the demonstration was "not to stop production for a weekend, but rather to prevent the factory expansion and initiate a traffic turnaround."

Brandenburg police in a release said some protesters attempted to break into the facility.

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"As they were in the immediate vicinity of the Deutsche Bahn railroad tracks at the time and partially entered them, rail traffic between Erkner and Fürstenwalde had to be temporarily stopped," the statement read.

Officers said they prevented the group from entering the Tesla grounds and arrested 16 people. Several people were injured, including 21 police officers.

Disrupt spokesperson Ole Becker told CNN the "unfortunate" police violence marred an otherwise good day for the activists.

"I saw a lot of injured people ... I have seen things today which I haven't seen for many years," Becker said.

Activists on Monday began setting up camp near the grounds of the Brandenburg plant, with participation growing up to its peak on Thursday, according to police.

Tesla shut down the factory Friday in anticipation of the protests. André Thierig, a senior manufacturing director, posted on X Tuesday that the factory would take a "one-day planned production shutdown."

Climate protesters opposed Tesla's expansion plans, which involve clearing about 250 acres of forest near a nature conservation area.

The plan includes a rail freight depot and storage facilities that would help Tesla's only European factory avoid reliance on third-party logistics and avoid production delays due to parts shortages.

Activists argued the expansion would also disrupt the local water supply.

Residents of the Grünheide municipality of Brandenburg in February voted down the proposed factory expansion, but because the vote was non-binding, Tesla and local officials pushed ahead with the project.

"The Gründheiders see how their vote is being circumvented and answered with deceptive packages," Disrupt spokesperson Lucia Mende said in a statement. "At the same time, a region is sold out to an openly right-wing entrepreneur. Instead of courting Elon Musk, politicians should implement democratic votes and referendums."

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has lashed out at protesters against his Brandenburg factory in the past. In a March post on X, he called activists "either the dumbest eco-terrorists on Earth" or "puppets of those who don't have good environmental goals."

Eight hundred protesters attempt to storm German Tesla factory

Demonstrators opposed to expansion of factory near Berlin claim it would damage environment


Kari Paul and agencies

Fri 10 May 2024 

THE GUARDIAN


Hundreds of protesters opposed to the expansion of a Tesla plant in Grünheide, near Berlin, clashed with police on Friday as some of them attempted to storm the electric vehicle manufacturing facility.

About 800 people took part in the protest, according to the organizing group Disrupt Tesla, which claims the expansion would damage the environment. Tesla has attracted intense backlash since the company opened the factory in March 2022, and later announced plans to expand into a nearby forest to increase its production capability.

In February, the town where the factory is located voted against the plans in a referendum that was not legally binding. Since then, protesters have been stationed in an encampment nearby in protest. The same facility was shut down for a week in March after suspected arson disabled its power. A separate protest collective called Volcano Group claimed responsibility for the fire, calling for the “complete destruction of the gigafactory”.



Video of Friday’s action showed dozens of people wearing blue caps and masks coming from a nearby wooded area and attempting to storm the company’s premises with police officers trying to prevent them, including by force. At least one protester was detained.

“Why do the police let the leftwing protestors off so easily?” the Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, wrote on his social medial platform X, adding that the demonstrators did not manage to break through. Tesla, which dissolved its press department in 2020, did not respond to request for comment.

The group also wants to highlight environmental destruction in countries such as Argentina or Bolivia brought about by lithium mining, according to a Disrupt Tesla spokesperson, Ole Becker. Lithium is a key resource for electric vehicle batteries.

“We are here today to draw attention to the Tesla factory in Grünheide for the environmental destruction here,” Becker told Reuters.

The police confirmed that the protesters tried to enter the plant’s premises, but were stopped, with several people taken into custody, and that it received a few reports of injuries.

“We protect the freedom of assembly,” said a Brandenburg police spokesperson, Mario Heinemann, “but we are also responsible for public order and safety. That means we will also intervene when necessary.”

Some of the demonstrators damaged a few Tesla cars using pyrotechnics and paint at a nearby car storage site, the police spokesperson added.

Tesla earlier this week said it would shut the factory for one day on Friday, without specifying a reason.

 

Dream Car examines the momentous economic, political and social changes in 1970’s North America

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO, ROTMAN SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT

 

IMAGE: 

A NEW BOOK BY A BUSINESS HISTORIAN AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO TELLS THE STORY OF ENTREPRENEUR MALCOLM BRICKLIN’S FANTASTICAL 1970S-ERA SAFETY VEHICLE-1 (SV1), AUDACIOUSLY LAUNCHED DURING A TUMULTUOUS BREAKPOINT IN POSTWAR HISTORY. THE TALE OF THE SEXY-YET-SAFE SV1 REVEALS THE INFLUENCE OF AUTOMOBILES ON IDEAS ABOUT THE FUTURE, TECHNOLOGY, ENTREPRENEURSHIP, RISK, SAFETY, SHOWMANSHIP, POLITICS, SEX, GENDER, BUSINESS, AND THE STATE, AS WELL AS THE HISTORY OF THE AUTO INDUSTRY’S BIRTH, DECLINE, AND REBIRTH. DREAM CAR: MALCOLM BRICKLIN’S FANTASTIC SV1 AND THE END OF INDUSTRIAL MODERNITY IS WRITTEN BY PROF. DIMITRY ANASTAKIS, WHO IS THE L.R. WILSON AND R.J. CURRIE CHAIR IN CANADIAN BUSINESS HISTORY IN THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY AND THE ROTMAN SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO.

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CREDIT: UNIVERISTY OF TORONTO PRESS

Toronto – A new book by a business historian at the University of Toronto tells the story of entrepreneur Malcolm Bricklin’s fantastical 1970s-era Safety Vehicle-1 (SV1), audaciously launched during a tumultuous breakpoint in postwar history. The tale of the sexy-yet-safe SV1 reveals the influence of automobiles on ideas about the future, technology, entrepreneurship, risk, safety, showmanship, politics, sex, gender, business, and the state, as well as the history of the auto industry’s birth, decline, and rebirth. Dream Car: Malcolm Bricklin’s Fantastic SV1 and the End of Industrial Modernity is written by Prof. Dimitry Anastakis, who is the L.R. Wilson and R.J. Currie Chair in Canadian Business History in the Department of History and the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto.

Written as an “open road,” the book invites readers to travel a narrative arc that unfolds chronologically and thematically. But Dream Car’s seven chapters have also been structured so that they can be read in any order, determined by whichever theme each reader finds most interesting. The book also includes a musical playlist of car songs from the era and songs about the SV1 itself.

Dream Car: Malcolm Bricklin’s Fantastic SV1 and the End of Industrial Modernity is published by University of Toronto Press, and is also available through Audible.

A Senior Fellow at Massey College the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History, Prof. Anastakis’s work addresses the intersection of business, the state and politics, particularly in the post-1945 period in Canada, and especially the development of the Canadian automotive industry.  He has published 11 books and edited collections, has appeared and been quoted in the media extensively, and has published articles in The Walrus, The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, National Post, Guardian Online, Literary Review of Canada, and American Prospect Online.   He is the former co-editor of the Canadian Historical Review, was the first chair of the Canadian Business History Association, and is a former Fulbright Chair (Michigan State University).

Advance Praise

“Innovative, engaging, and, like the car on which it focuses, eccentric in the best way, Dream Car convincingly puts Malcolm Bricklin’s SV1 at the pivot point of North American political economy in the 1970s. Anastakis expertly draws the reader through a narrative of utopian dreams and remunerative schemes gone awry, and he even provides a killer playlist for the journey.” -- Cotten Seiler, Professor of American Studies, Dickinson College

“Dream Car adroitly manages the unlikely feat of analysing the automotive industry’s transformation from industrial modernity to postmodernity through the lens of a mostly forgotten episode from the 1970s: the entrepreneur Malcolm Bricklin and the launch of his SV1. The analysis is insightful, and the book is an enjoyable read!” -- Thomas Klier, Economist

Bringing together high-impact faculty research and thought leadership on one searchable platform, the Rotman Insights Hub offers articles, podcasts, opinions, books and videos representing the latest in management thinking and providing insights into the key issues facing business and society. Visit www.rotman.utoronto.ca/insightshub.

The Rotman School of Management is part of the University of Toronto, a global centre of research and teaching excellence at the heart of Canada’s commercial capital. Rotman is a catalyst for transformative learning, insights and public engagement, bringing together diverse views and initiatives around a defining purpose: to create value for business and society. For more information, visit www.rotman.utoronto.ca

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For more information:

Ken McGuffin

Manager, Media Relations

Rotman School of Management

University of Toronto

E-mail:mcguffin@rotman.utoronto.ca