PETA protesters interrupt Pope Francis’ Vatican audience, call on him to denounce bullfighting


Two activists from animal rights group PETA interrupted Pope Francis’ general audience on Wednesday, shouting and holding up banners against bullfighting before being escorted out of Paul VI Hall.

 (AP video by Paolo Lucariello)

 August 7, 2024

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Two activists from animal rights group PETA interrupted Pope Francis’ general audience on Wednesday, shouting and holding up banners against bullfighting before being escorted out of Paul VI Hall.

The two were wearing t-shirts reading “Stop blessing corridas” and holding banners saying “Bullfighting is a sin.” PETA has been pleading with the Pope to cut the Catholic Church’s ties with bullfighting and condemn the “despicable blood sport.”

According to the organization, each year, tens of thousands of bulls are killed in bullfighting festivals globally, many dedicated to Catholic saints. In these events, mounted assailants thrust lances and banderillas into the bull, causing acute pain and restricting its movement.

“As numerous countries are wisely banning this sick form of ‘entertainment.’ Pope Francis must immediately denounce this blood sport and cut the Catholic Church’s shameful ties with bullfighting,” it said in a recent statement on its website.

The Vatican didn’t immediately comment on Wednesday’s protest.

British priest Terry Martin has recently criticized bullfighting in a campaign with PETA and called on Pope Francis to condemn it.


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The priest from West Sussex, UK, posed in a red chasuble next to a bull with the inscription: “It is a sin to torture animals.”

PETA has pointed out that Pope Francis wrote in his encyclical Laudato Si’ that “any act of cruelty to any creature is ‘contrary to human dignity’ and that, as early as the 16th century, Pope St. Pius V banned bullfights that were deemed ‘cruel’ and ‘far removed from Christian piety and charity.’”

Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest is down to lowest level since 2016, government says


Environment Ministry Executive Secretary Joao Paulo Capobianco presents Amazon and Cerrado deforestation data at the ministry headquarters in Brasilia, Brazil, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024.
(AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

Aug. 7, 2024

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest slowed by nearly half compared to the year before, according to government satellite data released Wednesday. It’s the largest reduction since 2016, when officials began using the current method of measurement.

In the past 12 months, the Amazon rainforest lost 4,300 square kilometers (1,700 square miles), an area roughly the size of Rhode Island. That’s a nearly 46% decrease compared to the previous period. Brazil’s deforestation surveillance year runs from August 1 to July 30.

Still, much remains to be done to end the destruction and the month of July showed a 33% increase in tree cutting over July 2023. A strike by officials at federal environmental agencies contributed to this surge, said João Paulo Capobianco, executive secretary for the Environment Ministry, during a press conference in Brasília.

 Smoke rises from a forest fire in the Transamazonica highway region, in the municipality of Labrea, Amazonas state, Brazil, on Sept. 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Edmar Barros, File)

The figures are preliminary and come from the Deter satellite system, managed by the National Institute for Space Research and used by environmental law enforcement agencies to detect deforestation in real-time. The most accurate deforestation calculations are usually released in November.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has pledged “deforestation zero” by 2030. His current term ends in January 2027. Amazon deforestation has steeply declined since the end of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro’s rule in 2022. Under that government, forest loss reached a 15-year high.

About two-thirds of the Amazon lies within Brazil. It remains the world’s largest rainforest, covering an area twice the size of India. The Amazon absorbs large amounts of carbon dioxide, preventing the climate from warming even faster than it would otherwise. It also holds about 20% of the world’s fresh water, and biodiversity that scientists have not yet come close to understanding, including at least 16,000 tree species.

During this same period, deforestation in Brazil´s vast savannah, known as the Cerrado, increased by 9%. The native vegetation loss reached 7,015 square kilometers (2,708 square miles) – an area 63% larger than the destruction in the Amazon.

The Cerrado is the world’s most biodiverse savannah, but less of it enjoys protected status than the rainforest to its north. Brazil´s boom in soybeans, the country’s second-largest export, have largely come from privately-owned areas in the Cerrado.

“The Cerrado has become a ‘sacrificed biome.’ Its topography lends itself to mechanized, large-scale commodity production,” Isabel Figueiredo, a spokesperson with the nonprofit Society, Population and Nature Institute told The Associated Press. Both Brazilians and the international community are more concerned about forests than savanna and open landscapes, she said, even though these ecosystems are also extremely biodiverse and essential for climate balance.

Brazilian Environment Minister Marina Silva gives a press conference to present Amazon and Cerrado deforestation data at her ministry headquarters in Brasilia, Brazil, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

To control deforestation in the long term, monitoring, such as with satellites, and law enforcement are not enough, said Paulo Barreto via email, a researcher with the nonprofit Amazon Institute of People and the Environment. New protected areas are needed, both within and outside Indigenous territory, as well as more transparency so that slaughterhouses track where their cattle are coming from. Cattle ranching is the leading driver of deforestation in the Amazon. Degraded pasture lands also need to be replanted as forest, Barreto said, and there must be stricter rules for the financial sector to prevent the funding of deforestation.

Brazil to allow miles of selective logging in effort to preserve the Amazon


Forest lines the Combu creek, on Combu Island on the banks of the Guama River, near the city of Belem, Para state, Brazil, Aug. 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres, File)

Timber from a woodmill sits next to the jungle near Vila Nova Samuel, Brazil, Aug. 27, 2019. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano, File)

BY FABIANO MAISONNAVE
 July 23, 2024

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — To combat ongoing destruction in the Amazon rainforest, Brazil announced a plan Tuesday to dramatically expand selective logging to an area the size of Costa Rica over the next two years.

In Brazil, vast forest lands are designated as public yet have no special protection or enforcement and are vulnerable to land grabbing and illegal deforestation. Criminals frequently take over land and clear it, hoping the government will eventually recognize them as owners, which usually happens.

“The main goal of forest concessions is the conservation of these areas,” said Renato Rosenberg, director of forest concessions for the Brazilian Forest Service, during an online press conference. “They also create jobs and income in parts of the Amazon that would otherwise have little economic activity.”

Companies that get timber concessions have to follow strict rules. They can log up to six trees per hectare (2.5 acres) over a 30-year period. Protected species, such as Brazil nut, and older, seed-producing trees are off limits.
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The idea is that granting permission to timber companies to take a limited number of trees gives them a stake in overseeing the forest, something the Brazilian government cannot afford to do. Several studies show that illegal deforestation in concession areas is significantly lower than outside them.

Eventually, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva plans to treat as much as 310,000 square kilometers (112,000 square miles) of public undesignated Amazon rainforest this way — an area the size of Italy.

A working group is assessing which areas should be designated as conservation areas, Indigenous territories or forest concessions.

Currently, there are 22 such timber lease areas in the Amazon, covering more than 13,000 square kilometers (5,000 square miles). Since the country initiated its first timber concessions, only two companies have declined to renew their leases, which shows the model works, according to Rosenfeld. Still, the program is much smaller than first envisioned when Brazilian legislation established it in 2006.

Brazil’s Forest Service is part of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change. It was created that same year to promote sustainable activities in public forests by private organizations.

The government plan is a partnership with two private institutions — Imaflora and Systemiq — that will help do research and design community forest management, according to an official statement.

Funding comes from Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions, the primary program of the United Kingdom´s International Climate Finance to address climate change.

The announcement was met with skepticism by the National Forum of Forest-Based Activities, representing some 3,500 companies with interests in the timber industry.

“Forest management is the best way to halt environmental crime, from land-grabbing to illegal logging,” Frank Almeida, president of the National Forum, told the AP. “But there is no use in creating a project that won´t become a reality,” he said, referencing recent government actions related to exports that have generated business uncertainty.

The main one is that two of Brazil´s leading timber products — ipe wood and tonka beans — were listed with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora for species requiring export permits. Unless Brazil meets a November deadline for submitting a so-called non-detriment finding, Almeida said exports of these species will be halted.

In a press statement, Brazil’s environmental law-enforcement agency, known as Ibama, said it will address this issue before the November deadline.

Maisa Isabela Rodrigues, a forest engineering professor at Brasilia National University, said the plan is the right approach, but needs some adjustment. Forest management is the best way to reconcile forest preservation and logging, she told the AP. But research indicates the 30-year period between timber harvests is not long enough for the recovery of some of the most valuable species. She said the program probably won’t work in remote areas, because sky-high transportation costs could make them economically unattractive.
___

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Amazon deforestation rises for the first time in 15 months


By AFP
August 7, 2024


Burned trees are seen after illegal fires were lit by farmers in Manaquiri, Amazonas state, Brazil in September 2023 - Copyright POOL/AFP/File TINGSHU WANG

Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest increased in July for the first time in 15 months, according to official data released Wednesday.

An area of 666 square kilometers (250 square miles) was destroyed in the Amazon last month, up 33 percent from the 500 square kilometers lost in July 2023.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has pledged to put a stop to illegal deforestation of the Amazon by 2030. The practice had dramatically worsened under his far-right predecessor Jair Bolsonaro.

Among the factors that contributed to the increase in July, according to the government, was a strike by public employees in the environmental agency IBAMA.

In addition, “in July last year the decrease (in deforestation) was very high,” Joao Paulo Capobianco, executive secretary of the environment ministry, said during a press conference explaining this July’s poor results.

During the last 12 months, deforestation decreased 45.7 percent compared to the previous period.

“Over the past year, the reduction has been extremely significant,” Capobianco said.

While deforestation destroyed 7,952 square kilometers between August 2022 and July 2023, it destroyed only 4,315 square kilometers in the same period in 2023-2024.

Deforestation is strongly linked to agricultural expansion and illegal mining.

The Amazon, the world’s biggest rainforest, covers nearly 40 percent of South America. In the last century, it has lost about 20 percent of its area to deforestation, due to the advance of agriculture and cattle ranching, logging and mining, and urban sprawl.

Tropical forests absorb carbon and are a vital ally in the fight against climate change, but they are also the most ravaged by deforestation.

ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY

Texas man who claimed intellectual disability is executed for 1997 killing of female jogger


This photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows death row inmate Arthur Lee Burton, who was condemned for the July 1997 killing of Nancy Adleman and was executed Wednesday evening, Aug. 7, 2024, at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. (Texas Department of Criminal Justice via AP)

BY JUAN A. LOZANO AND MICHAEL GRACZYK
August 7, 2024

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A Texas man who claimed an intellectual disability in a late attempt at a reprieve was executed Wednesday evening for the killing of a woman who was jogging near her Houston home more than 27 years ago.

Arthur Lee Burton, 54, received a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville and was pronounced dead at 6:47 p.m. local time. He was condemned for the July 1997 killing and attempted rape of Nancy Adleman, a 48-year-old mother of three.

Burton appeared nervous as he lay strapped to the death chamber gurney and a spiritual adviser prayed briefly over him, the inmate’s right leg twitching under a white sheet that covered him from his chest to his feet.

“I want to say thank you to all the people who support me and pray for me,” Burton said when asked by the warden if he had a final statement, his voice repeatedly cracking with a sharp breath after saying several words.
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“To all the people I have hurt and caused pain, I wish we didn’t have to be here at this moment, but I want you to know that I am sorry for putting y’all through this and my family. I’m not better than anyone. I hope that I find peace and y’all can too.”

He nodded to his brother, Michael, watching through a window nearby, took four gasps as the lethal dose of the sedative pentobarbital began taking effect, then appeared to yawn before all movement stopped. He was pronounced dead 24 minutes later.

Adleman had been brutally beaten and strangled with her own shoelace in a heavily wooded area off a jogging trail along a bayou, police said. According to authorities, Burton confessed to killing her, saying “she asked me why was I doing it and that I didn’t have to do it.” He recanted this confession at trial.

Hours before the scheduled execution time, the U.S. Supreme Court declined a defense request to intervene after lower courts had previously rejected Burton’s request for a stay.

Burton’s lawyers had argued that reports by two experts and the records showed Burton “exhibited low scores on tests of learning, reasoning, comprehending complex ideas, problem solving, and suggestibility, all of which are examples of significant limitations in intellectual functioning.” They had argued the evidence was a strong indication of an intellectual disability that made him “categorically exempt from the death penalty.”

Prosecutors, however, argued that Burton had not previously raised claims of an intellectual disability and that he had waited until eight days before his scheduled execution to do so.

An expert for the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted Burton, said in an Aug. 1 report that he had not seen any evidence Burton suffered from a significant deficit in intellectual or mental capabilities.

“I have not seen any mental health or other notations that Mr. Burton suffers from a significant deficit in intellectual or mental capabilities,” said the report by Thomas Guilmette, a psychology professor at Providence College in Rhode Island.

The Supreme Court in 2002 had barred the execution of intellectually disabled people. But it has given states some discretion to decide how to determine such disabilities.

Burton was convicted in 1998 but his death sentence was overturned by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in 2000. He received another death sentence at a new punishment trial in 2002.

In their petition to the Supreme Court, Burton’s lawyers accused the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals of rejecting their claims of intellectual disability because of “hostility” toward prior Supreme Court rulings that criticized the state’s rules on determining intellectual disability.

In its filing to the Supreme Court, the Texas Attorney General’s Office denied that the state appeals court was refusing to adhere to current criteria for determining intellectual disability.

Burton was the third inmate put to death this year in Texas, the nation’s busiest capital punishment state, and the 11th in the U.S.

On Thursday, Taberon Dave Honie is scheduled to be the first inmate executed in Utah since 2010. He was condemned for the 1998 killing of his girlfriend’s mother.
___

Lozano reported from Houston.

More US schools are taking breaks for meditation. Teachers say it helps students’ mental health

EASTERN MYSTICISM AS NEW AGE MANAGEMENT PRACTICE


School districts across the U.S. are adopting mental health practices as a part of their daily schedules and curriculums. Yoga, meditation, and mindfulness exercises are being implemented alongside traditional lessons. (AP Video: Sharon Johnson)

BY SHARON JOHNSON
, August 4, 2024


REX, Ga. (AP) — The third-grade students at Roberta T. Smith Elementary School had only a few days until summer vacation, and an hour until lunch, but there was no struggle to focus as they filed into the classroom. They were ready for one of their favorite parts of the day.

The children closed their eyes and traced their thumbs from their foreheads to their hearts as a pre-recorded voice led them through an exercise called the shark fin, part of the classroom’s regular meditation routine.

“Listen to the chimes,” said the teacher, Kim Franklin. “Remember to breathe.”

Schools across the U.S. have been introducing yoga, meditation and mindfulness exercises to help students manage stress and emotions. As the depths of student struggles with mental health became clear in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last year endorsed schools’ use of the practices.

Research has found school-based mindfulness programs can help, especially in low-income communities where students face high levels of stress or trauma.

The mindfulness program reached Smith Elementary through a contract with the school system, Clayton County Public Schools, where two-thirds of the students are Black.

GreenLight Fund Atlanta, a network that matches communities with local nonprofits, helps Georgia school systems pay for the mindfulness program provided by Inner Explorer, an audio platform.

This article is part of AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health. Read more Be Well.

Joli Cooper, GreenLight Fund Atlanta’s executive director, said it was important to the group to support an organization that is accessible and relevant for communities of color in the Greater Atlanta area.

Children nationwide struggled with the effects of isolation and remote learning as they returned from the pandemic school closures. The CDC in 2023 reported more than a third of students were affected by feelings of persistent sadness and hopelessness. The agency recommended schools use mindfulness practices to help students manage emotions.

“We know that our teenagers and adolescents have really strained in their mental health,” CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen told The Associated Press. “There are real skills that we can give our teens to make sure that they are coping with some big emotions.”

Approaches to mindfulness represent a form of social-emotional learning, which has become a political flashpoint with many conservatives who say schools use it to promote progressive ideas about race, gender and sexuality.

But advocates say the programming brings much-needed attention to students’ well-being.

“When you look at the numbers, unfortunately, in Georgia, the number of children of color with suicidal thoughts and success is quite high,” Cooper said. “When you look at the number of psychologists available for these children, there are not enough psychologists of color.”

Black youth have the fastest-growing suicide rate among racial groups, according to CDC statistics. Between 2007 and 2020, the suicide rate among Black children and teens ages 10 to 17 increased by 144%.

“It’s a stigma with being able to say you’re not OK and needing help, and having the ability to ask for help,” said Tolana Griggs, Smith Elementary’s assistant principal. “With our diverse school community and wanting to be more aware of our students, how different cultures feel and how different cultures react to things, it’s important to be all-inclusive with everything we do.”

Nationwide, children in schools that serve mostly students of color have less access to psychologists and counselors than those in schools serving mostly white students.

The Inner Explorer program guides students and teachers through five-to-10-minute sessions of breathing, meditating and reflecting several times a day. The program also is used at Atlanta Public Schools and over 100 other districts across the country.

Teachers and administrators say they have noticed a difference in their students since they’ve incorporated mindfulness into their routine. For Aniyah Woods, 9, the program has helped her “calm down” and “not stress anymore.”

“I love myself how I am, but Inner Explorer just helps me feel more like myself,” Aniyah said.

Malachi Smith, 9, has used his exercises at home, with his father helping to guide him through meditation.

“You can relax yourself with the shark fin, and when I calm myself down, I realize I am an excellent scholar,” Malachi said.

After Franklin’s class finished their meditation, they shared how they were feeling.

“Relaxed,” one student said.

Aniyah raised her hand.

“It made me feel peaceful,” she said.
___

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Harris and Walz are showing their support for organized labor with appearance at Detroit union hall

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, in Romulus, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz raise their arms at a campaign rally Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, in Romulus, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain speaks during an interview with The Associated Press on Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Mike Householder)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris greets supporters at a campaign rally Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, in Romulus, Mich. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris greets supporters at a campaign rally Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, in Romulus, Mich. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

BY DARLENE SUPERVILLE AND JOEY CAPPELLETTI
August 8, 2024

DETROIT (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, are set to play up their support for organized labor during an appearance at a Detroit-area union hall as the new Democratic ticket lavishes attention on a crucial base of support.

Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, and Walz, who joined the ticket on Tuesday, plan to speak on Thursday to several dozen United Auto Workers members.

After President Joe Biden ended his reelection campaign last month and endorsed his vice president, organized labor quickly rallied around Harris. The AFL-CIO endorsed her after having first backed Biden. The UAW formally backed her last week.

Harris and Walz have been highlighting their support for working people during their first joint appearances this week in some of the most closely contested states that will help decide whether she becomes the first female U.S. president or whether Republican Donald Trump returns to the White House and brings along Sen. JD Vance of Ohio as his vice president.

The Democrats visited Wisconsin and Michigan on Wednesday, hoping to shore up support among the younger, diverse, labor-friendly voters who were instrumental in helping Biden get elected in 2020.


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Two new polls of likely voters in Wisconsin and Georgia, another key state, show close races in both. Several Georgiapolls conducted earlier in the summer found Trump slightly ahead in the state, which Biden won narrowly in 2020.

UAW President Shawn Fain told The Associated Press last week that Harris’ leading the Democratic ticket boosts the party’s chances of winning Michigan and keeping the White House in November. Fain also spoke Wednesday at Harris’ campaign rally at a Detroit-area airport hangar.

Fain said in the interview that Trump is beholden to billionaires, knows nothing about the auto industry and would send the labor movement into reverse in a second term.

The UAW leader has become a top nemesis of the Republican presidential nominee, who frequently rails against Fain at rallies and in speeches.

Vance made his own stops in Michigan and Wisconsin on Wednesday, intent on showing that Republicans will compete in the “blue wall” of Midwestern states. He called Walz a “crazy radical” and said that Harris’ decision to pick him as a running mate shows that she “bends the knee to the far left of the Democratic Party.”

As Harris spoke to an estimated 15,000-person crowd at the airport, she was interrupted by protesters opposed to Israel’s war in Gaza with Hamas. At first, Harris said to those trying to disrupt her, “I am here because I believe in democracy, and everybody’s voice matters.”

But Harris lost patience as the shouting continued, with protesters accusing her of supporting genocide in Gaza. That led her to deliver a sharper rejoinder.

“If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that,” she said, talking over the protesters. “Otherwise, I’m speaking.”

Metro Detroit, home to one of the largest Arab American populations in the United States, has become a focal point of tension and unrest due to the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Shortly after her remarks Wednesday, Harris won the backing of Assad I. Turfe, the deputy Wayne County executive, who is the highest ranking Arab American official in Michigan’s largest county. Turfe told The Associated Press that he spoke with Harris backstage at the event before his endorsement.

“Kamala Harris embodies the America we deserve –- an America that stands for strength, inclusivity and unwavering commitment to justice,” Turfe said in a statement. “I wholeheartedly endorse Kamala Harris, as she represents the true spirit of our nation and the values we hold dear.”

Turfe also pressed the need for a cease-fire in Gaza, but said that Harris “gives us the best chance of achieving peace in that region moving forward.”

Union members attending the rally said they supported Harris.

Jeanne Ruff of Livonia, Michigan, whose husband is a longtime UAW member, said she hoped Harris would visit a union shop in Michigan to show her support.
“I want her to make sure skill trades are back in schools so that the next generation can understand what unions are about. What solidarity is and how strong we can be together, working as one,” Ruff said.
___

Cappelletti reported from Lansing, Michigan. AP Auto Writer Tom Krisher contributed to this report.

DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Darlene Superville covers The White House

JOEY CAPPELLETTI
Cappelletti covers politics and state government for The Associated Press in Michigan. He is based in Lansing.

In 60-year-old Tim Walz, Kamala Harris found a partner to advocate for reproductive rights

WALZ SAYS MIND YOUR OWN DAMN BUSINESS (MYOB)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz arrive at a campaign rally Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, in Romulus, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

BY AMANDA SEITZ
August 8, 2024

WASHINGTON (AP) — The makings of a presidential ticket began in an unusual spot six months ago: a Minnesota abortion clinic.

At the time, it was a historic visit for Vice President Kamala Harris — no president or vice president had ever made a public stop at one. But the visit laid the groundwork for Harris to connect with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and learn about his interest in reproductive health, an issue Harris has taken the lead on during her White House term.

At first glance, the 60-year-old governor might not seem the most likely of political surrogates to talk about abortion and pregnancy. But Harris found a partner who has a track record of increasing abortion access in his state and can speak comfortably about his own family’s struggles with infertility.

Already, Walz has captivated crowds in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan with the story of his daughter’s birth, made possible through in vitro fertilization treatments. The procedure involves retrieving a woman’s eggs and combining them in a lab dish with sperm to create a fertilized embryo that is transferred into the woman’s uterus in hopes of creating a pregnancy.

His wife, Gwen, went through seven years of fertility treatments before their daughter arrived. Phone calls in those years from Gwen often led to heartbreak, he’s said, until one day when she called crying with the good news that she was pregnant.


Harris and Walz are showing their support for organized labor with appearance at Detroit union hall

“It’s not by chance that we named our daughter Hope,” he told crowds in Philadelphia and again Wednesday in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

The couple also has a son, Gus.

Walz fired up the arena in Philadelphia on Tuesday, his first appearance as Harris’ vice presidential pick, with a warning to Republicans.

“Even if we wouldn’t make the same choice for ourselves, there’s a golden rule: mind your own damn business,” Walz said to a crowd that roared in response. Harris smiled, clapping behind him. “Look, that includes IVF. And this gets personal for me and family.”

Democrats have warned that access to birth control and fertility treatments could be on the line if Republicans win big in this election. The concern grew more frantic after an Alabama Supreme Court ruled in February that frozen embryos could be considered children, throwing fertility treatment for people in the state into question. Democrats and Republicans alike, including former President Donald Trump, condemned the ruling, although some conservatives have said they support it.

Most Americans — around 6 in 10 — favor protecting access to IVF, according to an AP-NORC poll conducted in June. However, opinion is less developed on whether the destruction of embryos created through IVF should be banned. About 4 in 10 neither favor nor oppose a ban on the destruction of embryos created through IVF, while one-third are in favor and one-quarter are opposed.

Walz’s experience on reproductive issues isn’t just personal.

After the U.S. Supreme Court removed the constitutional right to an abortion, Walz signed a state law declaring that Minnesotans have a “fundamental right” to abortion and contraception.

LIBERTARIAN DEMOCRAT SAYS MYOB 

OVER REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS

Thai court dissolves progressive Move Forward Party, which won election but was blocked from power

A court in Thailand on Wednesday ordered the dissolution of the progressive Move Forward Party, which finished first in last year’s general election, saying it violated the constitution by proposing an amendment of a law against defaming the country’s royal family. (AP video shot by Jerry Harmer)

BY JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI
August 7, 2024

BANGKOK (AP) — A court in Thailand on Wednesday ordered the dissolution of the progressive Move Forward Party, which finished first in last year’s general election, saying it violated the constitution by proposing an amendment of a law against defaming the country’s royal family.

The Constitutional Court said it voted unanimously to dissolve the party because its campaign proposal to amend the law amounted to an attempt to overthrow the nation’s constitutional monarchy.

The Move Forward Party was unable to form a government after topping the polls because members of the Senate, at that time a conservative military-appointed body, refused to endorse its candidate for prime minister.

The Election Commission had filed a petition against the party after the Constitutional Court ruled in January that it must stop advocating changes to the law, known as Article 112, which protects the monarchy from criticism with penalties of up to 15 years in jail per offense. Move Forward has insisted that it wants to keep the monarchy above politics and not be exploited as a political tool.

The court on Wednesday also imposed a 10-year ban on political activity for those who held the party’s executive positions while it campaigned for the proposed amendment. Among them are its charismatic former leader, Pita Limjaroenrat, and current chief Chaithawat Tulathon.


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Speaking to followers and the media Wednesday evening, Pita said although he had to say goodbye as a politician, he looks forward to continuing his work as an active citizen. He said people may be frustrated today, but he would like to ask them to vent their frustration at the ballot box in every election from now on.

He declared that he was “absolutely proud” of what he had achieved and had no regrets.

“I have left my dent in the universe. And I’ll make sure that I pass the baton to the next-generation leaders,” he said.

Lawmakers of a dissolved political party who are not banned from politics can keep their seats in Parliament if they move to a new party within 60 days.

Pita said party members will carry on “in a new vehicle” to be introduced Friday, although he will not be a part of it. The party declined to announce details of the changeover.

Move Forward had 148 lawmakers in Parliament. If they all move together, they will lose five seats belonging to the now-banned party executives.

“We’re going to stick to the same path. A political party is only a vehicle, so let’s wait and see the new party to which the MPs will be going,” said Attaphon Buaphat, who gathered with other party supporters at its headquarters in Bangkok.

“You can get rid of the agents, the representatives for these people’s beliefs, but you are not going to be able to get rid of the beliefs,” Attaphon, a 34-year-old political activist, told The Reporters, an online news service.

The court’s action was one of many that have drawn widespread criticism and are seen as part of a yearslong attack on the country’s progressive movement by conservative forces trying to keep their grip on power.

The party was denied power after the Senate refused to approve its then-leader Pita’s nomination as prime minister. Non-elected senators, who were given power to vote on prime ministerial candidates by the constitution adopted in 2017 under a military government, said they opposed Pita because of his intention to reform the royal defamation law. Move Forward was later removed from a coalition formed with the now-governing Pheu Thai party and became head of the opposition.

The court rejected Move Forward’s argument that it did not have jurisdiction to rule on the case and the petition filed by the Election Commission did not follow due process because Move Forward was not given an opportunity to defend itself before it was submitted to the court.

Human rights organizations and other advocacy groups expressed concern about the court’s ruling.

“The decision is not a surprise, and is unlikely to spur large-scale protests given that Move Forward MPs will remain a force in Parliament, albeit under a different banner,” Matthew Wheeler, a regional analyst for the Brussels-based Crisis Group, said in an email. “But the decision is a further illustration that the 2017 constitution, drafted at the behest of coupmakers and approved in a flawed referendum, was designed to curb the popular will rather than facilitate its expression.”

Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has maintained that the Thai justice system is fair and impartial, and that the government cannot interfere with the judicial process.

Thailand’s courts, especially the Constitutional Court, are considered a bulwark of the country’s royalist establishment, which has used them and nominally independent state agencies such as the Election Commission to issue rulings to cripple or sink political opponents.

Move Forward’s predecessor, the Future Forward party, was dissolved by the Constitutional Court in 2020 on charges of violating election laws on donations to political parties. The dissolution of Future Forward, whose promises of reforms were particularly attractive for younger people disillusioned after years of military rule, further highlighted the struggle between the progressive movement and conservative forces.

It was also one of the triggers for youth-led pro-democracy protests that sprang up across the country in 2020. The protests openly criticized the monarchy, an institution previously considered untouchable and a linchpin of Thai society.

The protests led to vigorous prosecutions under Article 112, which previously had been relatively rarely employed. Critics say the law is often wielded as a tool to quash political dissent.

Move Forward, formed as a new home for lawmakers from the dissolved Future Forward party, campaigned for an amendment of the article and other democratic reforms in the 2023 elections. Its first-place finish suggested many voters were ready for change.  

Heir apparent to Sri Lanka’s powerful Rajapaksa family will run in September’s presidential election


Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa sits for photographs, with his lawmaker son Namal by his side, following his election victory in the general election at his residence in Tangalle, Sri Lanka, Aug. 7, 2020

. T (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena, File)

BY BHARATHA MALLAWARACHI
, August 7, 2024

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — The man who is considered the heir apparent to the powerful Rajapaksa family in Sri Lanka will contest the presidential election in September, his political party said Wednesday, in an apparent bid to regain his family’s lost power after a humiliating setback two years ago during an unprecedented economic crisis in the Indian ocean island nation.

The Sri Lanka People’s Front said the 38-year-old lawyer Namal Rajapaksa, the eldest son of former strongman president Mahinda Rajapaksa, will be its candidate in the Sept. 21 election, the first since the nation plunged into its worst economic crisis.

The election is seen as key to Sri Lanka’s efforts to conclude a critical debt restructuring program and completing the financial reforms agreed to under a bailout program by the International Monetary Fund.

The nominations for polling will be accepted on Aug. 15.

The Rajapaksa family has dominated Sri Lankan politics since the country gained independence from Britain in 1948, producing a dozen lawmakers from three generations spanning seven decades. Mahinda Rajapaksa ruled as president from 2005 to 2015, appealing to the nationalist sentiment of the island’s Buddhist-Sinhalese majority.

Rajapaksa is revered by that majority for leading Sri Lanka to victory over ethnic Tamil rebels in 2009, ending a 26-year civil war.

In 2015, he lost to the opposition led by his former aide. But the family made a comeback in 2019, when Rajapaksa’s younger brother, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, won the presidential election on a promise to restore security in the wake of the Easter Sunday suicide bombings that killed 290 people.

But the Rajapaksa family lost power unexpectedly in 2022 when Sri Lanka was engulfed in its worst economic crisis that was largely caused by mismanagement and lack of accountability.

The resulting shortages of essential goods sparked riots in 2022, leading to a political crisis that forced four Rajapaksa siblings and two of their sons, including Namal, to resign from their posts as president, prime minister and cabinet ministers. Namal Rajapaksa had been minister of youth and sports. But they remained as lawmakers.

Parliament elected then-Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as president.

The economic situation has improved under Wickremesinghe. But public dissatisfaction has grown over the government’s effort to increase revenue by raising electricity bills and imposing heavy new income taxes on professionals and businesses as part of efforts to meet the conditions of the IMF, which approved a four-year bailout program in March.

Wickremesinghe has announced he will run in the September election, while main rivals will be opposition leader Sajith Premadasa and Anura Dissanayake, the leader of a leftist political party that has gained popularity after the economic debacle.

It’s not clear whether Rajapaksa would be able to win the election, as his Sri Lanka People’s Front is already split with some lawmakers having pledged support to Wickremesinghe.

Wickremesinghe’s party has only one seat in the 225-majority parliament, and he has been ruling with the support of lawmakers from the Rajapaksas’ party.

FAA has doubled its enforcement cases against Boeing since a door plug blew off a 737 Max


 This image taken Sunday, Jan. 7, 2024, and released by the National Transportation Safety Board, shows the section of a a Boeing 737 Max where a door plug fell while Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 was in flight. (NTSB via AP, File)

 This photo released by the National Transportation Safety Board shows the door plug that fell from Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 on Jan. 8, 2024, in Portland, Ore. (National Transportation Safety Board via AP, file)

BY DAVID KOENIG
August 7, 2024

A federal Aviation Administration official said Wednesday that the agency has 16 pending enforcement cases against Boeing, half of which have been opened since a door plug blew off a 737 Max in midflight.

The increase in cases was disclosed Wednesday during a National Transportation Safety Board hearing into the accident, which happened during an Alaska Airlines flight on Jan. 5.

Brian Knaup, who helps manage the FAA’s oversight of Boeing, said one of the open cases involves the removal of parts that have already been installed on airplanes in production.

That is apparently what caused the mistake that led to the Alaska Airlines accident: Bolts that were removed to open the door plug for maintenance workers were not replaced when the panel was closed and the plane left a Boeing factory near Seattle.

Knaup’s comment came near the end of a two-day hearing that included discussion of Boeing’s poor tracking of parts-removal jobs. The company failed to document who opened the door plug, and the missing bolts were never found.

Another FAA official overseeing Boeing, Bryan Kilgroe, said he is kept awake at night wondering “especially considering all that has happened since Jan. 5, is why is it so difficult to sustain a corrective action for the long term?”


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Boeing said it had no comment.

The safety board released released testimony by Boeing employees who said they were pressured to build planes too quickly and not raise safety concerns.

NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy cited two employees who worked on aircraft doors where the Alaska Airlines plane was assembled and claimed they were moved to other areas — “Boeing prison” and “a cage” — after the door-plug blowout.

“What sort of impression does that give your employees if you sideline them ...? It is retaliation,” Homendy said. She said “sidelining” the two workers runs against Boeing’s policy, which is not to retaliate against workers for unintentional mistakes.

Homendy said the NTSB will survey workers at Boeing’s factory in Renton, Washington, where the Alaska Airlines plane was produced, about the company’s safety culture.

Representatives from Boeing and key supplier Spirit AeroSystems described their “safety management systems,” which encourage employees to voluntarily report safety concerns without fear of punishment. Boeing officials touted their “Speak Up” program for reporting concerns about quality and safety.

However, the president of the machinists’ union local said Boeing often ignores safety concerns raised by the union until he lodges a complaint with federal regulators.

“It really sounds great,” the official, Lloyd Catlin, said of Boeing’s safety plan. “In action on the factory floor, it is not.”

The FAA has been roundly criticized for lax regulation of Boeing ever since two deadly Max crashes in 2018 and 2019 killed 346 people. Those charges gained new momentum after the Alaska Airlines accident.

The agency’s new chief, Mike Whitaker, told Congress in June that FAA oversight “was too hands-off” but is improving. Knaup, a California-based FAA manager, said inspections have increased since the blowout.

FAA safety inspectors “can talk to anyone that’s on the (Boeing factory) floor at any time when they are doing an audit, and we do that,” he told the NTSB.

Door plugs are installed on some 737s to seal a cutout left for an extra exit that was not required on the Alaska jet. The plug on the Alaska plane was opened at a Boeing factory to let workers fix damaged rivets, but bolts that help secure the panel were not replaced when the plug was closed.

The accident on Alaska Airlines flight 1282 occurred minutes after takeoff from Portland, Oregon, on Jan. 5. The blowout left a hole in the plane, oxygen masks dropped and the cockpit door flew open. Miraculously there were no major injuries, and pilots were able to return to Portland and land the plane safely.

A Boeing official said Tuesday that the company is redesigning door plugs so they cannot be closed until they are properly secured. Elizabeth Lund, who was named Boeing’s senior vice president of quality shortly after the blowout, said the company hopes to complete the fix within about a year, and that 737s already in service will be retrofitted.