‘Bring Julian home’: the Australian campaign to free Assange

Assange’s supporters say what Wikileaks revealed about power and access to information is as relevant today as ever.


By Lyndal Rowlands
Published On 19 May 2024

AL JAZEERA

Melbourne, Australia – At home in Australia, Julian Assange’s family and friends are preparing for his possible extradition to the United States, ahead of what could be his final hearing in the United Kingdom on Monday.

Assange’s half-brother Gabriel Shipton, who spoke to Al Jazeera from Melbourne before flying to London, said he had already booked a flight to the US.

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A filmmaker who worked on blockbusters like Mad Max before producing a documentary on his brother, Shipton has travelled the world advocating for Assange’s release, from Mexico City to London and Washington, DC.

Earlier this year, he was a guest of cross-bench supporters of Assange at US President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address.

The invitation reflected interest in his brother’s case both in Washington, DC and back home in Australia. Biden told journalists last month he was “considering” a request from Australia to drop the US prosecution.

Assange rose to prominence with the launch of Wikileaks in 2006, creating an online whistleblower platform for people to submit classified material such as documents and videos anonymously. Footage of a US Apache helicopter attack in Baghdad, which killed a dozen people, including two journalists, raised the platform’s profile, while the 2010 release of thousands of classified US documents on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as a trove of diplomatic cables, cemented its reputation.

Shipton told Al Jazeera the recent attention from Washington, DC had been notable, even as his brother’s options to fight extradition in the UK appeared close to running out.

“To get attention there on a case of a single person is very significant, particularly after Julian’s been fighting this extradition for five years,” Shipton told Al Jazeera, adding that he hoped the Australian prime minister was following up with Biden.

“We’re always trying to encourage the Australian government to do more.”
A test for US democracy

Assange’s possible extradition to the US could see freedom of expression thrown into the spotlight during an election year that has already seen mass arrests at student antiwar protests.

Shipton told Al Jazeera the pro-Palestinian protests had helped bring “freedom of speech, freedom to assembly, particularly in the United States, front of mind again”, issues he notes have parallels with his brother’s story.

While Wikileaks published material about many countries, it was the administration of former US President Donald Trump that charged Assange in 2019 with 17 counts of violating the Espionage Act.

US lawyers argue Assange is guilty of conspiring with Chelsea Manning, a former army intelligence analyst, who spent seven years in prison for leaking material to WikiLeaks before former US President Barack Obama commuted her sentence.

“It’s an invaluable resource that remains utterly essential to understand how power works, not just US power, but global power,” Antony Loewenstein, an independent Australian journalist and author, said of the Wikileaks archive.

“I always quote and detail [Wikileaks’s] work on a range of issues from the drug war, to Israel/Palestine, to the US war on terror, to Afghanistan,” Loewenstein said, noting that Wikileaks also published materials on Bashar al-Assad’s Syria and Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

“It’s just an incredible historical resource,” he said.

Loewenstein’s most recent book, the Palestine Laboratory, explores Israel’s role in spreading mass surveillance around the world, another issue Loewenstein notes, that Assange often spoke about.

“One thing that Julian has often said, and he’s correct, is that the internet is on the one hand an incredibly powerful information tool… but it’s also the biggest mass surveillance tool ever designed in history,” said Loewenstein.

Emma Shortis, a senior researcher in international and security affairs at the Canberra-based think tank The Australia Institute, told Al Jazeera that while she hoped Assange would not be extradited, if he was, his case might come to trial around November’s US election when Biden is hoping to beat off a challenge from presumptive Republican candidate Trump.

Prosecuting a First Amendment case against an Australian while presenting the election as “an existential test for American democracy” would be “politically irreconcilable” for Biden, Shortis said.

As the Biden administration struggles to attract young voters disenchanted over its support for Israel’s war on Gaza, Shortis noted that younger generations were aware of the underlying issues Assange’s case could bring up.

“I think young people, in particular, are deeply aware of those contradictions and the way that American power functions and the way it selectively bestows rights on people,” she said.

For Loewenstein, pursuing Assange would set “an incredibly dangerous precedent at a time where in so many countries freedom of the press is under attack”.

“This is not by any means a defence of Biden, I’ve been critical of him for 20 years, but a second Trump term would be a real acceleration of that authoritarian turn, including against the press and journalists and freedom of information,” Loewenstein added.

Demonstrators gather outside Australia House to protest against the extradition of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, in London [Alberto Pezzali/AP]

At home in Australia Assange’s supporters include the national journalist association the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) and a cross-bench alliance of parliamentarians, including independent Andrew Wilkie.

“Surely this man has suffered enough,” Wilkie implored the Australian parliament earlier this year.

“Who could possibly forget the grainy image, provided to WikiLeaks by a brave whistleblower, that subsequently was released under the title ‘collateral murder‘?”, Wilkie said.

“It was footage of a US attack helicopter gunning down and killing innocent civilians and Reuters journalists in a street in Iraq,” he added.

Many of Assange’s supporters fear his possible extradition to the US could come with serious personal consequences.

He was first arrested in London in 2010 on a Swedish warrant accusing him of sexual assault. Allowed bail pending the extradition case, Assange took refuge in Ecuador’s London Embassy in 2012 after a court ruled he could be sent to Sweden for trial.
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He spent the next seven years in the tiny embassy – during which Swedish police withdrew the rape charges – before UK police arrested him on charges of breaching his bail conditions.

Assange was jailed and the US filed its case for extradition.

“I worry that if Julian is extradited to the US, that he would never see the light of day again, barring a deal between Australia and the US, and he would die in prison,” Loewenstein told Al Jazeera.

As the hours to the UK court’s decision tick down, Shortis noted that Assange’s fate could still change.

“Biden could end it in a moment. It’s a political decision for the President to make, and he could do it in an instant if he chose to,” she said.
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SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

MAYDAY: Assange extradition decision tomorrow – get there if you can, watch live if not

SKWAWKBOX (SW)

19/05/2024

Wikileaks founder faces court tomorrow to find out if UK will give in to disgraced US extradition case – supporters have asked for you to join them at the High Court if possible and will be streaming live from London

Julian Assange faces the High Court tomorrow in London to find out whether judges will agree a disgraced US request to extradite the Wikileaks founder to the US to face 175 years in maximum-security jail. The US case fell apart when its main witness admitted he had been lying the whole time, but the UK state has continued to hold and punish Assange pending extradition for revealing US war crimes, despite known US plots to kill him – plots that the court has already refused to admit as new evidence.

His campaign has asked anyone who can get there to gather tomorrow at the High Court by 8.30am and will also be running a live-stream of developments from 6.30am, which will run below as soon as it goes live:

Video will go live from 6.30am on Monday 20 May

Freedom for Assange is a moral imperative, but it is also essential for all our freedom, as governments try to increase suppression of information vital to democracy and justice and to make Assange an example to intimidate other journalists into silence.

 Biden signs memorandum for new environmental protections in Antarctic

Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin, NASA and other research organizations have discovered two seafloor troughs that could allow warm ocean water to reach the base of Totten Glacier, East Antarctica's largest and most rapidly thinning glacier. President Joe Biden on Friday signed a national security memorandum that provides new policies regarding the Antarctic region, particularly in climate change research. Photo by NASA/UPI


May 17 (UPI) -- President Joe Biden on Friday signed a memorandum updating United States policy on the Antarctic region in an effort to protect it from the effects of climate change.

The national security memorandum replaces the 1994 policy on Arctic and Antarctic regions and establishes key objectives by which the United States will lead and participate in activities through the Antarctic Treaty System.

The new policy has four primary objectives:Protect the "relatively unspoiled" Antarctic environment and related ecosystems
Preserve and pursue opportunities for scientific research and understand Antarctica's relationship to climate change
Maintain the Antarctic as a region of peaceful international cooperation
Ensure the protection of living resources and ecosystems in the region

"We remain vigilant against actions by countries that could threaten U.S. national interests by bringing international discord to the Antarctic region," the White House said in a statement.

"The United States, represented by the Department of State at ATS bodies, will work with international partners through the ATS to promote peace and science in the region, and promote international cooperation while safeguarding U.S. national interests."

The U.S. National Science Foundation manages three year-round Antarctic research facilities.

The foundation collaborates with other federal science agencies on research in aeronomy and astrophysics, ecology, atmospheric sciences, biology and medicine, geology and geophysics, glaciology, ocean and climate systems, and living marine resources.

Research conducted by the United States and other countries continues to demonstrate the damages of global climate change on the Antarctic region, including through ocean warming and acidification, ozone depletion, rising sea levels, and air and water pollution.

American research also has revealed the risks and uncertainties of climate "tipping points" such as the collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet.

The United States said it will continue to encourage countries to set "ambitious" 2035 nationally determined contributions under the Paris Climate Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and establish a system of protected marine areas in the Antarctic.

The updated policy builds on the Biden-Harris administration's commitment to modernize outdated climate and environmental policies, according to the White House.

Colorful science behind Northern lights explains why green, red, purple emerge

By Brian Lada, Accuweather.com

The Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) seem to glow over American flags in a cemetary in Wadsworth, Ohio, in May. Green is the most common color for aurora and appears when charged particles collide with oxygen molecules up to 150 miles above the Earth's surface. 

File Photo by Aaron Josefczyk/UPI | License Photo

Seeing the Aurora Borealis dance in the night sky is a bucket list item for many, and just like snowflakes, no two displays are exactly the same, including the blend of colors.

The Northern lights glow to life when charged particles from the sun bombard Earth's atmosphere. The interaction of these particles with oxygen and nitrogen at different altitudes causes various colors to appear in the sky.

Green is the most common color for aurora and appears when charged particles collide with oxygen molecules up to 150 miles above the Earth's surface.

Red is also created by oxygen but in the highest part of the atmosphere at more than 150 miles above the Earth's surface.

Purple and blue are related to nitrogen, with purple lights appearing higher than 60 miles above the ground while blue hues glow below this threshold.

During intense outbursts of the Northern lights, onlookers may see three or four colors at the same time.

ICYMI

TikTok, creators challenge U.S. divest or ban law on First Amendment grounds

APPLE IPHONE IS HACKED BY NSA

By Joe Fisher
MAY 17, 2024 / 6:00 AM

Tiktok CEO Shou Zi Chew speaks with the press after meeting with Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on March 14. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | 

May 14 (UPI) -- TikTok's lawsuit against the U.S. government will task the federal court system with considering national security interests and First Amendment rights.

Legal experts tell UPI the argument by the social media company is the best it could make, but it is likely a losing argument.

TikTok parent company ByteDance filed a lawsuit earlier this month, challenging what it calls an "unprecedented step" taken by Congress to either force the sale of the app or ban it in the United States.

The lawsuit alleged that the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act is unconstitutional. It skirts the free speech rights of 170 million U.S. users without Congress showing a legislative finding that TikTok poses an actual threat to national security.

"Members of Congress and a congressional committee report merely indicate concern about the hypothetical possibility that TikTok could be misused in the future, without citing specific evidence," the lawsuit reads. "Even though the platform has operated prominently in the United States since it was first launched in 2017."

ByteDance, a Chinese-based company, claims that the United States is establishing a dangerous precedent by singling out TikTok, changing course from its history of supporting a "free and open internet."

"If Congress can do this, it can circumvent the First Amendment by invoking national security and ordering the publisher of any individual newspaper or website to sell to avoid being shut down," the lawsuit says.

Alan Rozenshtein, associate professor of law at the University of Minnesota, told UPI that the argument by ByteDance is strong but he is not convinced it will win the day.

"It's the best argument they could make," he said. "There are 170 million people in the United States that use TikTok. All of that activity is presumptively protected speech. More likely than not, ultimately the Supreme Court will allow this to stand. I'm not saying it's a slam dunk."

Rozenshtein said that of the many First Amendment cases in history, one that may be the most relevant to this one is the United States vs. Humanitarian Law Project case in 2010. In that case, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to uphold a law that prohibited organizations from providing material support or aid to foreign terrorists.

Rozenshtein added that TikTok has many cases it may draw from as well. However, he does not believe precedent weighs so heavily in this case.

Andrew Verstein, professor of law at UCLA, agreed that the court system will side with the interests of the government in the end.

"My gut says these arguments are all losers and that this divestiture can occur as Congress wants," Verstein told UPI.

Verstein explains that the First Amendment conflict can be avoided if ByteDance sells TikTok. He expects that second option will be key in unraveling the free speech argument.

"Here, with Congress having spoken, the question would only be would the Constitution prevent Congress from what it has purported to do?" Verstein said. "I'm pretty confident the Constitution doesn't prevent that."

ByteDance argues that it is not being given real options.

"They claim that the Act is not a ban because it offers ByteDance a choice: divest TikTok's U.S. business or be shut down. But in reality, there is no choice. The 'qualified divestiture' demanded by the Act to allow TikTok to continue operating in the United States is simply not possible: not commercially, not technologically, not legally."

ByteDance adds that it is not possible to complete a sale in the 270-day timeline required by the act. It also argues that it has taken "extraordinary" measures to respond to Congress' concerns, including investing $2 billion to build a network to store U.S. user data in the United States.

These measures came as part of an agreement between TikTok and the U.S. government.

"Congress tossed this tailored agreement aside in favor of the politically expedient and punitive approach of targeting for disfavor one publisher and speaker, one speech forum and one speech forum's ultimate owner," the lawsuit says.

The national security interests of the U.S. government will be the primary defense of the act. But the government may also argue that forced divestiture is not unprecedented at all.

The United States has a long history of forcing the sale of assets or limiting ownership by foreign investors in various forms of media.

"Given that we have divestiture and limitation on ownership in other media environments, television, newspapers -- the fact that it would be really easy to maintain the First Amendment rights of all of these 170 million people if the company would just sell its assets," Verstein said. "And the fact that it won't do it because its government tells it not to, that doesn't strike me as the kind of argument that is going to hold sway."

A group of eight content creators filed a separate lawsuit on Tuesday, also on free speech grounds.

Their lawsuit argues that the act to ban TikTok is "unconstitutionally over-broad" because it bans an entire mode of communication. It also says this ban is not based on any evidence that TikTok is used to transmit foreign propaganda or is a threat to data security


"The government cannot ban a medium for communication because it believes that medium is used to transmit foreign 'propaganda' or other protected content. Nor does the government have any actual, non-speculative evidence that banning TikTok in its current form enhances Americans' data security, or that its ban is narrowly tailored to accomplish that objective," the lawsuit says.

Norman Bishara, professor of business law and ethics in the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at Michigan, wrote in an email to UPI that he believes the ByteDance lawsuit will be the most comprehensive challenge to the legislation.

"Other similar litigation seems superfluous unless more issues come to light," Bishara wrote. "Still, with complex and high-stakes litigation like this there are always twists and turns with delays that could impact the timeline of a ban."

Bishara adds that while the lawsuits may fail to stop the ban or divestiture, they could still create some change to the act. They may also motivate other TikTok users to advocate for modifications to the act.

"The stakes for the outcome of these cases can reverberate beyond the fate of TikTok in the U.S. and can be seen as part of the story of what level of government intervention in trade, tech issues, and communications issues, which Americans are going to support or challenge," he said.

Biden delivers Morehouse commencement speech amid outrage over Gaza

STILL SEGREGATED BY GENDER
BIDEN BECOMES A MOREHOUSE MAN


 Members of the Morehouse Alumni wait for the commencement to begin at the 140th Morehouse College commencement exercises on Sunday, May 19, 2024. 

Photo by Megan Varner/UPI | License Photo

May 19 (UPI) -- President Joe Biden on Sunday gave is first commencement speech this year at Morehouse College while his administration has braced for anger from students over his support for Israel.

The historically Black, all-male college has not been immune to the tidal wave of outrage on college campuses across the United States over the Biden administration's handling of the Israel-Hamas war.

Biden in giving his commencement speech did not shy away from the controversy, condemning both the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks and the Palestinian death toll that has accumulated in the seven-months-long-war.

"I know it breaks your heart. It breaks mine as well," he said, adding his administration is working "around the clock" to "build a lasting, durable peace."


"Leadership is about fighting through the most intractable problems. It's about challenging anger, frustration and heartbreak. To find a solution. It's about doing what you believe is right, even when it's hard and lonely."

The president largely devoted his speech to highlighting his administration's work to advance racial equity and justice, including a historic $16 billion investment in historically Black colleges and universities.

Morehouse President David Thomas also conferred Biden with an honorary Doctor of Law degree and declared him an honorary "Morehouse man."

Biden's address went largely uninterrupted, but prior to that, class of 2024 Valedictorian DeAngelo Fletcher in his speech invoked the late civil rights leader and Morehouse alum Martin Luther King Jr. in his condemnation of the Gaza war.

"Dr. King was a global philanthropist of social justice, believing that injustice anywhere was a threat to justice everywhere," Fletcher said.

"For the first time in our lives, we heard the global community sing one harmonious song that transcends language and culture. It is my stance as a Morehouse man ... to call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the Gaza strip."

During Biden's speech, about six students in the crowd sat turned away from him, but there were no significant protests.

Last month's announcement that Biden would deliver the Morehouse commencement was met with outrage from some school faculty members over his administration's handling of the Israel-Hamas war.

The White House last week sent Public Relations Director Stephen Benjamin to speak with students in an attempt to smooth over the friction ahead of Biden's address.
"I think what's going to be most important are the words that the president articulates," Benjamin said Thursday after meeting with students. "And I know that he, he feels very deeply about what this means to these young men."

Biden has largely avoided giving speeches on college campuses since January when his remarks on abortion rights at Virginia's George Mason University were interrupted repeatedly by protesters against his support for Israel.

Biden's visit to Morehouse is the second during his presidency. He and Vice President Kamala Harris in 2022 spoke at the college about voting rights.

Exxon hit with $725.5 million verdict over mechanic's leukemia diagnosis

By Clark Mindock

May 10, 2024


May 10 (Reuters) - A Pennsylvania jury ordered ExxonMobil(XOM.N), opens new tab to pay $725.5 million to a former mechanic who claimed toxic chemicals in the company’s gasoline and solvents caused his cancer, according to attorneys for the plaintiff.

The 10-2 verdict came on Thursday, attorneys said, after a trial in a state court in Philadelphia, where former mechanic Paul Gill alleged he was exposed to benzene in ExxonMobil products while working at a gas station between 1975 and 1980.

Following the trial that lasted just over a week, the jury found Exxon liable for negligently failing to warn about the health risks of benzene, which the U.S. Environmental Protect Agency (EPA) has classified as a known carcinogen. The entire verdict was in compensatory damages, according to Gill's attorneys.

An Exxon spokesperson called the verdict “irrational” and said the company would ask the court to reverse it, and that it planned to “exhaust all available appeals.”

The 67-year-old former mechanic said in his 2020 lawsuit that he used petroleum products to clean car parts with his bare hands, which exposed him to benzene through direct skin contact and inhalation.

He was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, a type of blood cancer, in 2019.
"This verdict is important because it’s a finding that their gasoline causes cancer," said Patrick Wigle, an attorney for Gill, in a statement. "ExxonMobil has known for decades that benzene causes cancer, yet they resisted warning the public and taking basic precautions to warn the public and limit exposure."

And that's for comparison.

Benzene is widely used in the United States in motor fuels, as a solvent for resins and plastics, and for other industrial purposes.

The EPA, which limits the amount of benzene that is acceptable in fuels, says it also can be found in emissions from burning coal and oil, from car exhaust and from evaporation at gas stations, among other things.

Trapped cargo ship Dali will refloat to Baltimore Monday at high tide

Amanda Musa and Zoe Sottile, CNN
Sat, May 18, 2024 



Almost two months after its devastating collision with a Baltimore bridge, the trapped cargo ship Dali will refloat and travel to the Baltimore marine terminal on Monday morning, officials said.

After weeks of salvage operations, the Dali can finally be relocated thanks to a series of controlled explosions which broke apart a massive piece of the Francis Scott Bridge that had been stuck atop the ship’s bow, officials said. An estimated 500-foot section of the bridge weighing 8-12 million pounds was removed from the ship.

“The refloat and transit sequence is deliberately designed to ensure all response personnel around the M/V Dali maintain control of the vessel, from refloat, transit to, and berthing at a local marine terminal,” Unified Command said in a news release Saturday.


Conditions permitting, the massive ship’s journey will begin around 5 a.m. on Monday during peak high tide, according to Unified Command. Crews will begin prepping the ship about 18 hours before – about midday on Sunday – to take full advantage of the high tide, officials added.

Up to five tugboats will then tow and push the Dali about two and a half miles to the Seagirt Marine Terminal in Baltimore, the release said. It will take an estimated three hours to transport the 984-foot, 106,000-ton ship.

The cargo ship collided with the bridge in the early hours of March 26, killing six maintenance workers and causing most of the structure to collapse into the Patapsco River. The disaster shut down most shipping to and from the Port of Baltimore.

The crash has prompted multiple investigations, including by the FBI and the US Coast Guard.

The ship’s 21-member crew has remained onboard since the collapse, including during the planned explosions on May 13. The ship’s management company told CNN this week the crew will remain on the vessel for “the foreseeable future.”

CNN’s Yan Kaner contributed to this report.

Cargo ship at Baltimore Key Bridge collapse site to be refloated, moved

WDVM Hagerstown
Sat, May 18, 2024 



After Monday's controlled demolition of the piece of steel lying across the Dali, officials expected to refloat the ship about two days later. That time has come and gone. The complicated work is taking longer than anticipated. Newly released video from the Unified Command, which you can watch in the clip above, shows crews on board the Dali as they continue clearing the wreckage

Congressional panel debates who should foot the bill for rebuilding Baltimore bridge

Jacob Fischler
Sat, May 18, 2024 


Debris is cleared from the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge as efforts begin to reopen the Port of Baltimore on March 31, 2024, in Baltimore, Maryland. The bridge, which was used by roughly 30,000 vehicles each day, fell into the Patapsco River after being struck by the Dali, a cargo ship leaving the port at around 1:30 a.m. on March 26. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

Conservative members of Congress at a hearing on Wednesday raised questions about using federal dollars to pay for rebuilding a state tollway, as the head of the Federal Highway Administration reiterated that the Biden administration is seeking congressional approval to reimburse 100% of the costs of rebuilding the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore.

Congress has about six months left to adjust the federal share of costs to reconstruct the bridge before an automatic rate of 90% reimbursement kicks in, House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Sam Graves, a Missouri Republican, said at a hearing on the federal response to the March 26 collapse.

Early that morning, the container ship Dali lost power and struck the bridge, which collapsed into the Patapsco River and blocked access to the busy Port of Baltimore. Six people died.

Under the FHWA’s Emergency Relief Program, the federal government covers the first nine months of costs from a disaster.

Graves did not indicate whether he thought Congress should increase the federal cost-share. But Federal Highway Administrator Shailen Bhatt repeated President Joe Biden’s pledge that the federal government would cover all costs.

“The administration is asking Congress to join in demonstrating a commitment to aid in recovery efforts by authorizing a 100% federal cost-share for rebuilding the bridge, consistent with past catastrophic bridge collapses,” Bhatt told the panel.

The federal government reimbursed all the costs to rebuild the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis after it collapsed in 2007, Bhatt said.

The estimated cost of a rebuild for the Baltimore bridge is $1.7 billion to $1.9 billion.

The FHWA has asked permitting agencies to speed up approvals for a new bridge, noting that environmental and other reviews should consider that a bridge with a similar footprint was previously in the same location, Bhatt said.

Conservatives on the panel drew attention to the fact that the bridge, which was a toll facility on Maryland’s highway system, had never received federal funding. Revenue from the tolls go to the state, Pennsylvania Republican Scott Perry, noted.

Perry, a member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, said the comparison to the Minneapolis bridge collapse was not apt because it had not been a toll bridge.

He asked if the federal government could recoup toll money collected on the bridge when it reopens.

“I hope you would consider a plan to reimburse the taxpayer under horrific debt right now, who can’t afford their groceries, their gas bills, their day care bills, for the cost of this bridge, for which one state has been receiving all the money for its entire existence, and apparently is going to receive all the money from the tolls for the rest of its existence,” Perry said.
Interstate system

Bhatt and some Democrats on the panel said that an intact interstate system benefits the entire country.

Georgia Democrat Hank Johnson asked Bhatt to explain the bridge’s connection to interstate commerce, noting that there may be “people in the country who are not inside the state of Maryland who resent having to pay for this bridge reconstruction.”

“What is so critically important for a transportation system is that you can drive from New York to Los Angeles across a system that is completely uniform,” Bhatt responded.

The highway system is connected to ports, which are also economic drivers, Bhatt said.

“This is not just an issue for Maryland,” he said. “It’s an issue for the Northeast Corridor and for our national economy.”
Legal action

Florida Republican Brian Mast asked Bhatt if the government was seeking reimbursement from any insurance policies or the Grace Ocean Private Ltd., which owned the ship, or shipping company Maersk, which chartered it.

Bhatt responded that the U.S. Justice Department was leading efforts to seek to recover those types of funds.

California Democrat John Garamendi said he supported 100% of costs being reimbursed by the federal government, but that the committee should “carefully structure” legislation so that any funds from insurance payments or legal judgments against the shipping company would flow back to the federal government.
Rebuilding issues

Reconstruction plans will be written and updated as the project progresses in the coming years, Bhatt said. The most recent timeline estimates construction could be finished in 2028 and traffic could resume that year or in 2029.

The bridge should be rebuilt to comply with current standards, Bhatt told ranking Democrat Rick Larsen of Washington. The original bridge, constructed during the 1970s, was a truss design, which has been replaced in recent years by cable-stayed bridges.

But federal law does not allow for “betterments” that did not exist on the original bridge to be added to the rebuild, Bhatt added.

The post Congressional panel debates who should foot the bill for rebuilding Baltimore bridge appeared first on Michigan Advance


They’ve been stuck for 7 weeks on the ship that crashed into a Baltimore bridge. This is what life is like for the Dali crew

Holly Yan, CNN
Sat, May 18, 2024 

When the Rev. Mark Nestlehutt boarded the Dali cargo ship a week after it crashed into a Baltimore bridge, anxious questions emerged among the 21 crew members:

“When will I get off the ship? When will I be able to get home?”

More than a month later, crew members still don’t know the answers.

They’ve been confined to the ill-fated Dali ever since it lost power, veered off course and crushed the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26, killing six construction workers.

Since then, the 20 Indians and one Sri Lankan on board have mourned the deaths of those lives lost, had their cell phones confiscated by the FBI and endured a series of controlled explosions to break apart a massive piece of bridge stuck atop the ship’s bow.

“It has been tough for the seafarers, primarily (because) they know that there’s been loss of life,” said Gwee Guo Duan, assistant general secretary of the Singapore Maritime Officers’ Union, one of the unions representing crew members on the Singaporean-flagged ship.

“It is tough for them, being on board and having to look at the accident site every single day.”

But it could be weeks or even months before they can leave, due to an array of complications – including US visas that expired while they’ve been trapped. Here’s why they’re still stuck on board – and how they’re coping with unimaginable stressors:
Maritime rules say the ship must be staffed

A massive vessel like the 984-foot, 106,000-ton Dali requires constant care – even if it’s not moving. And a ship stuck on a river still faces a host of potential hazards, said Philip C. Schifflin Jr., director of the Center for Mariner Advocacy.

“You can take on water. There’s machinery running … anytime machinery is running, there’s a particular risk of something failing and causing a fire or something like that,” Schifflin said. “So seafarers need to be on board ready to respond to those various hazards. And that’s by law.”

The United States has “minimum requirements for the manning of vessels,” according to the Office of the Federal Register, and similar international regulations have been widely adopted.

“By international maritime regulations, there has to be some crew left on the vessel,” said Nestlehutt, president and executive director of The Seamen’s Church Institute, which promotes the safety and welfare of mariners.

The nonprofit responds to seamen in distress around the world, including those afflicted by hurricanes, pirate incidents or deaths at sea.

When Nestlehutt visited the Dali crew on April 1, he immediately noticed their “sense of great loss and sadness” about the construction workers killed, and the seamen “wanted to let their own family members know that they were safe,” he said.

But days later, the crew lost contact with their families when the FBI seized the crew’s cell phones on April 15 as part of its ongoing investigation into the crash.
‘Unfounded fear’ among the crew members

After the FBI boarded the Dali and seized the seamen’s cell phones, a wave of anxiety permeated the ship, according to a joint statement from the Singapore Maritime Officers’ Union, which represents the ship’s officers, and the Singapore Organisation of Seamen, which represents the other crew members.

The seafarers have since received new cell phones, Duan told CNN Thursday. But the FBI has only returned some of the crew members’ SIM cards, he said.

Although investigators have not blamed any individual for the power outages that led up to the fatal crash, seamen have felt an “Unfounded fear of personal criminal liability,” the two unions representing the crew members said.

“However long the investigation takes, the crew’s rights and welfare should not be infringed upon during its course,” Dave Heindel, president of the Seafarers International Union, said in a statement.

“We call on the authorities to be mindful that seafarers utilize mobile devices to conduct personal business for bill payments and more importantly, transfer money to their home country to sustain families,” he said. “Crew members are becoming demoralized without the basic tools we all take for granted.”

From left: Bro Chen Chuanyi, executive secretary of the Singapore Organisation of Seamen, and Gwee Guo Duan, assistant general secretary of the Singapore Maritime Officers’ Union, speak with seamen aboard the Dali on April 24, four weeks ater the cargo ship crashed into Balitmore's Key Bridge. - Singapore Maritime Officers’ Union/Singapore Organisation of Seamen/ITFMore

“The prolonged detention of MV Dali seafarers aboard their vessel and the failure by authorities to return their personal communication devices are unjust,” Don Marcus, president of the International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots, said in a statement last weekend. “Our hearts go out to the Master, Officers and Crew of the M/V Dali, who not only suffered a mortifying and tragic experience resulting in the loss of six lives, but who continue to remain in isolation from their loved ones.”
Stationary, but not sedentary

While they await news about their fates, the crew members are staying busy – not just with their ship duties but also by helping investigators and salvage crews.

“Obviously, this is not a normal environment for them. But they’re all professional seafarers, so they’re doing what they need to do,” said Darrell Wilson, spokesperson for Synergy Marine Group – the company that manages the Dali vessel. “Their days are full. They have normal duties on board. They need to look after the ship, look after equipment, make sure everything is working and functioning that needs to. They’re also assisting with the salvors.”

The Singaporean-flagged Dali cargo vessel is shown on March 26, hours after it destroyed Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge. - Julia Nikhinson/Reuters

The seafarers play a critical role in helping the salvage crews because “they know all the passageways. They know where everything is on the ship,” Wilson said.

“So if somebody has a question about where can we hook up to get running water,” the seafarers can help, Wilson said. “The crew is essentially just assisting in any way possible.”

As for who’s helping the crew members with food, toiletries and other day-to-day necessities, Synergy Marine “dispatched reps here immediately … making sure they have everything they need, helping bring extra supplies on board or arranging for extra supplies to be brought on board,” Wilson said.

In addition, “they have coordinated to have visits by some of the seafarers’ organizations. Some of the seafarers’ ministries have been on. The two respective embassies have been in contact with the crew and even made a visit to the ship,” he said.

Synergy has also provided mental health services for the crew, which Duan – the Singapore Maritime Officers’ Union official – credits for helping a seaman who was traumatized after he frantically tried to search for survivors the night of the deadly crash.

“One of them actually ran to the front of the vessel, which is the bow, to actually try to look for survivors from the accident” – despite the heaps of debris from the bridge that could fall at any moment, Duan said.

On Monday, after six weeks atop the bow of the Dali, a massive piece of the Key Bridge was blown apart in a series of controlled explosions – with the crew still on board.

Many hoped the removal would mean the crew might be able to set sail or at least get off the ship soon. But more hurdles loom.
Their visas expired while they’ve been stuck

In addition to the staffing regulations, the ongoing investigations and questions about whether the Dali is fit to sail, the crew members can’t even set foot on US soil. Their one-month visas expired during the nearly two months they’ve been trapped on the Dali, Duan said.

Even the ship’s management company doesn’t know when the crew can leave.

“They’re going to be on for the foreseeable future,” Wilson told CNN Wednesday. “We’re working to refloat the vessel in a few days and move it to a local terminal here. And then at some point in the future – and I don’t have that date – the company will look for guidance from the authorities on the next steps with the crew.”

Duan, who visited the crew April 24 and communicates with the captain regularly, said he doesn’t expect the ship to leave the Baltimore area until authorities have completed their investigation.

The National Transportation Safety Board released a preliminary report about the crash earlier this week, which did not include a probable cause. Those findings will be part of a final report that could take investigators up to two years to complete.

“Without the final report, I don’t think the vessel is going anywhere” far from Baltimore, Duan said.

In the meantime, he hopes nonessential crew members will be allowed to get off the ship and stay temporarily on dry land to “ease their mental stress.”

The crew members’ unions have publicly called for the extension or renewal of the seamen’s visas. Duan also hopes US authorities will re-evaluate who must stay on the ship, and who might be able to fly home.
‘We take their sacrifices for granted’

The plight of the Dali’s crew highlights the personal sacrifices made by workers who often leave their families for months at a time to provide goods that many consumers use every day.

“I think most of us think of the items that we use on a daily basis show up on Amazon or … Walmart, etc. The reality is 90% of the cargo in the world is carried on vessels,” said Schifflin, the director of the Center for Mariner Advocacy.

“Vessels are manned by seafarers. And to most of us – the vast majority of us – they’re invisible. We don’t even know they’re there. And I think a lot of times, we take their sacrifices for granted.”

CNN’s Gloria Pazmino contributed to this report.

Japan proposes expanding commercial whaling to fin whales, a larger species than the 3 allowed now

BOYCOTT JAPAN; WHALE SUSHI HUNT



People walk nearby a life size model of a whale displayed at the National Science Museum, Thursday, May 9, 2024, in Tokyo. Japan’s Fisheries Agency on Thursday said it has proposed a plan to allow catching fin whales in addition to three smaller whale species currently permitted under the country’s commercial whaling around its coasts. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)Read More

People walk nearby a life size model of a whale displayed at the National Science Museum, Thursday, May 9, 2024, in Tokyo. Japan’s Fisheries Agency on Thursday said it has proposed a plan to allow catching fin whales in addition to three smaller whale species currently permitted under the country’s commercial whaling around its coasts.

 (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

BY MARI YAMAGUCHI
May 9, 2024

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Fisheries Agency has proposed expanding commercial whaling along the country’s coast to fin whales, a larger species than the three currently permitted.

The proposal comes five years after Japan resumed commercial whaling within its exclusive economic zone after withdrawing from the International Whaling Commission in 2019. It ended 30 years of what Japan called “research whaling” that had been criticized by conservationists as a cover for commercial hunts banned by the commission in 1988.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, whose electoral district is traditionally known for whaling, said Thursday the government supports sustainable use of whales as part of Japan’s traditional food culture and plans to promote the industry.

“Whales are an important food resource and we believe they should be sustainably utilized just like any other marine resources, based on scientific evidence,” Hayashi told reporters. “It is also important to carry on Japan’s traditional food culture.”

The Fisheries Agency said it is seeking public comments until June 5 on the proposed plan and will seek its approval at the next review meeting in mid-June.

The agency decided to propose adding fin whales to the allowable catch list after stock surveys confirmed a sufficient recovery of the fin whale population in the North Pacific.

The plan is not meant to increase whale meat supply and whalers who catch fin whales do not necessarily have to meet a quota, an agency official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the issue. For this year, the agency has set a combined catch quota of 379 for the three other whale species.

Last year, Japanese whalers caught 294 minke, Bryde’s and sei whales — less than 80% of the quota and fewer than the number once hunted in the Antarctic and the northwestern Pacific under the research program.

Japan’s whaling has long been a source of controversy and attacks from conservationists, but anti-whaling protests have largely subsided after Japan terminated its much-criticized Antarctic research hunts in 2019 and returned to commercial whaling limited to Japanese waters.

Whale meat consumption in Japan was an affordable source of protein during the malnourished years after World War II, with annual consumption peaking at 233,000 tons in 1962. However, whale was quickly replaced by other meats and supply has since fallen to around 2,000 tons in recent years, according to Fisheries Agency statistics.

Japanese officials want to increase that to about 5,000 tons, to keep the industry afloat.

On a visit to the former Tsukiji fish market area in downtown Tokyo, Yuuka Fujikawa from Hokkaido, said she has hardly seen whale meat sold at supermarkets. “I’ve actually never tried it myself,” she said.

“I want more people to appreciate the taste of whale,” said Hideyuki Saito, from neighboring Saitama prefecture. “I want it to be more popularized.”

Carlos Sempere Santos, a 28-year-old tourist from Spain, said he couldn’t imagine eating whale as whales are special and smart animals.

Shirley Bosworth from Australia said she opposes whaling because whales “should be protected.” Whales often get beached in Australia, where people unite to try and “push them back in the sea.”

A whaling operator Kyodo Senpaku Co. last year launched whale meat vending machines. The company also completed construction of its new 7.5 billion yen ($48 million) Kangei Maru — a 9,300-ton mother ship — and pledges to use it for sustainable commercial whaling.
___

AP journalist Ayaka McGill contributed to this report.

Status of imprisoned Chinese blogger unknown five days after scheduled release

Zhang Zhan, 40, seen here in a screen capture of a video uploaded to YouTube on May 14, 2020, the same day she was arrested on charges relating to her coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic from Wuhan. Screen capture courtesy YouTube/video

May 16 (UPI) -- The status and location of a Chinese blogger who was imprisoned for her coverage of the COVID-19 outbreak remained unknown Thursday, five days after she was to be released from a Shanghai prison, raising worries about her safety.

Zhang Zhan, 40, had spent four years in a Chinese prison following her conviction in December 2020 for "picking quarrels and provoking trouble" with her early coverage of the COVID-19 outbreak from Wuhan, ground zero of the pandemic.

She was to be released from Shanghai Women's Prison on Monday, but no one has heard from her since, leading some to describe her as having been "disappeared."

"Day 5: it's poignant that #ZhangZhan, who inspires us to fight for transparency and the right to information, has been 'disappeared' and her family silenced once again," Jane Wang, a Chinese activist based in Britain who has been advocating for Zhang's release, said Thursday on X.

Wang initially publicized that there had been no confirmation that Zhang had left the prison as expected on Monday.

She said they should have either heard from her or her family by Monday night concerning her release.

"Instead, we are left wondering where she is, how she is doing physically and mentally, what's happened to her family and what the future holds for her," Wang said.

The U.S. State Department on Thursday said the Biden administration is "deeply concerned" over reports of Zhang's disappearance and urged the People's Republic of China to respect her human rights.

"The United States has repeatedly expressed our serious concerns about the arbitrary nature of her detention and authorities' mistreatment of her," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.

Zhang was arrested May 14, 2020, the same day she posted her final video of hundreds she had shared on social media, including YouTube, detailing the situation in Wuhan amid the pandemic and China's repressive response to it.

As she was serving her sentence, there were doubts raised that she would be released when the time came, with Reporters Without Borders stating last month that journalists detained for their work in China are often surveilled after release and banned from traveling abroad.

The non-government international journalism advocate said that she had undergone hunger strikes during her imprisonment in defense of her innocence, which resulted in her nearly dying. Authorities ended up force feeding her nasally with a tube, it said.

China has jailed more than prisoners and press freedom advocates than any other country with at least 119 detainees, RSF said, and is ranked 179th out of 180 countries in its 2023 world press freedom index.

ICJ: Israel rejects South African claims Rafah offensive is final phase of plan to wipe out Gaza


Israel's legal team (L-R) Gilad Noam, Tamar Kaplan Tourgeman and Avigail Frisch Ben Avraham on Friday rebutted arguments by South Africa at the International Court of Justice in the Hague that Israel's offensive on Rafah was the final step in the "destruction of Gaza and its Palestinian people." South Africa is seeking to persuade the court to order Israel to immediately halt its military operation in the city in southern Gaza. 

Photo by Lina Seig/EPA-EFE


May 17 (UPI) -- Israeli government lawyers opened day two of a South African bid to persuade the International Court of Justice to order it to halt its "genocidal" offensive on Rafah with a strong rebuttal, arguing that the military campaign would prove the savior of the Palestinian people.

Deputy Attorney General Gilad Noam told the court in The Hague that South Africa's premise that the offensive on the southern city was the final step of the "destruction of Gaza and its Palestinian people" turned reality on its head and that the truth was their future depended on escaping the clutches of Hamas.

"South Africa warns this court that, 'if Rafah falls, so too does Gaza.' Once again, however, the reality is exactly the opposite," said Noam.

"Only by bringing down Hamas's military stronghold in Rafah will Palestinians be liberated from the clenched grip of the murderous terrorist regime and the road to peace and prosperity may finally be paved."

South Africa also had an "ulterior motive" for seeking an Israeli pullback from Rafah, Noam alleged, saying the aim was to hand "a military advantage to its ally Hamas, which it does not want to see defeated."

Israeli Foreign Ministry principal deputy legal adviser Tamar Kaplan Tourgeman said that Israel was defending itself against Hamas and accused South Africa of "distorting statements" by Israeli leaders to "show genocidal intent that is simply not there".

She also rejected claims Israel had shuttered the Rafah and Kerem Shalom border crossings, the two main routes linking southern Gaza with the outside world.

"This is blatantly untrue. The truth is that Israel allows and facilitates the provision of more and more humanitarian aid through a number of crossings on a daily basis."

South Africa, which already has a case before the ICJ in The Hague alleging genocide by Israel in Gaza, opened its latest bid Thursday by accusing Israel of escalating its campaign of annihilation against the Palestinians and calling Rafah "the final stand" in a plan to "wipe Gaza from the face of the Earth" that was on the verge of being realized.

The urgent application by Pretoria requests the court to order Israel to "immediately withdraw and cease its military operations" in the Rafah governate "due to the continuing annihilation of the Palestinian people, with over 35,000 now killed and most of Gaza reduced to rubble".

It argues an all-out assault on Rafah would breach the clause of the 1948 Genocide Convention which prohibits "deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part."

The seven-member South African and international legal team upgraded the application it initially submitted May 10 from a request seeking to stop the Rafah offensive to an effort to halt all Israeli military operations in Gaza.

South Africa also asked the court to order Israel to immediately "ensure and facilitate unimpeded access" for UN and other humanitarian officials, fact-finding missions, investigators and journalists.

"Evidence of appalling crimes and atrocities is literally being destroyed and bulldozed, in effect wiping the slate clean for those who've committed these crimes and making a mockery of justice," said barrister Vaughan Lowe KC.

Max du Plessis, a lawyer for South Africa, said Israel's declared "safe zones" to which people are being urged to relocate from Rafah were far from being places of safety.

"There is nothing humanitarian about these humanitarian zones," he said. "Israel's genocide of Palestinians continues through military attacks and man-made starvation."

The hearing ended with the court requesting written clarification from Israel regarding existing humanitarian conditions in designated evacuation zones.

Judge Georg Nolte said the court wanted to know about al-Mawasi, north of Rafah, in particular, and how Israel would ensure safe passage to the zones, as well as the provision of shelter, food, water and other humanitarian aid and assistance to all those who opt to relocate.

Israel has until 4 p.m. Saturday to comply.