STATE SANCTIONED NEGLIGENCE 

At least 100 illegal miners have died while trapped in a South African mine for months, group says


Relatives and friends protest near a reformed gold mineshaft where illegal miners are trapped in Stilfontein, South Africa, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell, File)

Police officers and private security personnel stand by the opening of a reformed gold mineshaft where illegal miners are trapped in Stilfontein, South Africa, Friday, Nov.15, 2024. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell, File)

BY MOGOMOTSI MAGOME AND GERALD IMRAY
AP

January 13, 2025

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — At least 100 men who were mining illegally in an abandoned gold mine in South Africa have died of suspected starvation and dehydration after being trapped deep underground for months while police tried to force them out, a group representing the miners said Monday.

More than 500 others are still trapped, the group said.

Sabelo Mnguni, a spokesman for the Mining Affected Communities United in Action Group, told The Associated Press that a cellphone sent to the surface with some rescued miners on Friday had two videos on it showing dozens of bodies underground wrapped in plastic.

Mnguni said “a minimum” of 100 men had died in the mine in North West province where police first launched an operation in November to force the miners out. They were suspected to have starved to death or died of dehydration, Mnguni said. He said 18 bodies have been brought out since Friday.

Nine of those bodies were recovered in a community-led operation on Friday, he said. Another nine were recovered in an official rescue operation by authorities on Monday, when 26 survivors were also brought out, Mnguni said.


At least nine miners are trapped in a coal mine in India's northeastern Assam state

Indian army divers retrieve the body of one of at least 9 miners trapped in a flooded coal mine

Police spokesperson Brig. Sebata Mokgwabone said they were still verifying information on how many bodies had been recovered and how many survivors brought out after starting a new rescue operation on Monday. Authorities now hope to bring all of the miners out, they said.

Illegal mining is common in parts of gold-rich South Africa where companies close down mines that are no longer profitable, leaving groups of informal miners to illegally enter them to try and find leftover deposits.

The mine in question near the town of Stilfontein southwest of Johannesburg has been the scene of a standoff between police and miners since authorities first attempted to get the miners out and seal the mine two months ago. Police said the miners were refusing to come out of the Buffelsfontein Gold Mine for fear of arrest, but Mnguni said they had been left trapped underground after police removed the ropes they used to climb into and out of the mine.

Police also cut off the miners’ food supplies in an attempt to force them out, an action that was fiercely criticized by Mnguni’s organization, which is known as MACUA, and others. MACUA won a court case in December that ordered police and provincial authorities to allow food, water and medicine to be sent down to the miners.

The South African government also came under scrutiny last year when it refused to help the miners.

The cellphone videos purportedly from the depths of the mine and released publicly by Mnguni’s group show dozens of what appear to be dead bodies wrapped in plastic lying in darkened tunnels. A man filming on the phone in one of the videos can be heard saying, “this is hunger. People are dying because of hunger” as he records emaciated-looking men sitting on the damp floor of the mine. He adds: “Please help us. Bring us food or take us out.”

Mnguni said that the more than 500 miners still underground were in different places in the mine, which is one of the deepest in South Africa at 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) deep and has multiple shafts, many levels and is a maze of tunnels, he said. He said a preliminary autopsy report on a body that was previously brought out of the mine showed the man had died of starvation.

“What we understand is that there are different groups of miners underground and all of them have miners who have died,” Mnguni said. “So, we are estimating that the number of those who have died is very high.”

Large groups of illegal miners often go underground for months to maximize their profits, taking food, water, generators and other equipment with them, but also relying on others in their group on the surface to send down more supplies.

Mnguni said the miners who had previously managed to make it out had sometimes crawled through tunnels for 3-4 days risking their lives to make it to another shaft where they could escape.

Police have said they are uncertain exactly how many illegal miners remain underground, but also say it’s likely to be hundreds.

They said that delegations from the ministry of police and ministry of mineral resources would visit the mine on Tuesday “following the commencement of operations aimed at ensuring that all illegal miners resurface.” The operation to force the miners out of the Buffelsfontein mine that started last year was part of a larger one that resulted in more than 1,500 illegal miners surfacing from mines and being arrested across the North West province, police said.

South African authorities have long tried to crack down on illegal mining gangs, which are known as “zama zamas” — which means “hustlers” in the Zulu language — and have a reputation for being violent, often armed and part of criminal syndicates.


But Mnguni said these particular miners were not criminals but former mine employees who had been put out of work when mines closed and were left desperate.

“The miners go back to the mine because they live in poverty,” he said.
___

Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa.

THE DEEP STATE

Queen Elizabeth II wasn’t told about Soviet spy in her palace, declassified MI5 files show



Professor Anthony Blunt, former surveyor of the Queen’s pictures, photographed at the Courtauld Institute with Queen Elizabeth II on Nov. 15, 1979. 

(PA via AP, File)

Professor Anthony Blunt, former surveyor of the Queen’s pictures, photographed at the Courtauld Institute on Nov. 15, 1979. (PA via AP, File)


clockwise from top left, Anthony Blunt, Guy Burgess (who died in Moscow in 1963), Donald MacLean and Kim Philby, who tipped off Burgess and MacLean in 1951 forcing them to defect and then defecting himself in 1963. (PA via AP, File)


Harold “Kim” Philby, one of the Cambridge Ring of Soviet Spies, Aug. 11, 1955. (PA via AP, File)


BY JILL LAWLESS
 January 14, 2025


LONDON (AP) — Queen Elizabeth II wasn’t told details of her long-time art adviser’s double life as a Soviet spy because palace officials didn’t want to add to her worries, newly declassified documents reveal.

The files about royal art historian Anthony Blunt are among a trove from the intelligence agency MI5 released Tuesday by Britain’s National Archives. They shed new light on a spy ring linked to Cambridge University in the 1930s, whose members spilled secrets to the Soviet Union from the heart of the U.K. intelligence establishment.

Blunt, who worked at Buckingham Palace as Surveyor of the Queen’s Pictures, was under suspicion for years before he finally confessed in 1964 that, as a senior MI5 officer during World War II, he had passed secret information to Soviet agents.

In one of the newly released files, an MI5 officer notes that Blunt said he felt “profound relief” at unburdening himself. In return for information he provided, Blunt was allowed to keep his job, his knighthood and his social standing – and the queen was apparently kept in the dark.
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In 1972, her private secretary, Martin Charteris, told MI5 chief Michael Hanley that “the queen did not know and he saw no advantage in telling her about it now; it would only add to her worries and there was nothing that could done about him.”

The government decided to tell the monarch in 1973, when Blunt was ill, fearing a media uproar once Blunt died and journalists were able to publish stories without fear of libel suits.





Charteris reported that “she took it all very calmly and without surprise,” and “remembered that he had been under suspicion way back” in the early 1950s. Historian Christopher Andrew says in the official history of MI5 that the queen had previously been told about Blunt in “general terms.”

Blunt was publicly unmasked as a spy by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the House of Commons in November 1979. He was finally stripped of his knighthood, but never prosecuted, and died in 1983 at the age of 75.
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Files held by Britain’s secretive intelligence services usually remain classified for several decades, but the agencies are inching toward more openness. Some of the newly released documents will feature in an exhibition, entitled “MI5: Official Secrets,” opening at the National Archives in London later this year.

Two of the Cambridge spies, Donald Maclean and Guy Burgess, fled to Russia in 1951. A third, Kim Philby, continued to work for foreign intelligence agency MI6 despite falling under suspicion. As evidence of his duplicity mounted, he was confronted in Beirut in January 1963 by his friend and fellow MI6 officer Nicholas Elliott.

The declassified files include Philby’s typed confession and a transcript of his discussion with Elliott.

In it, Philby admitted he had betrayed Konstantin Volkov, a KGB officer who tried to defect to the West in 1945, bringing with him details of moles inside British intelligence – including Philby himself. As a result of Philby’s intervention, Volkov was abducted in Istanbul, taken back to Moscow and executed.

Elliott reported that Philby said that if he had his life to lead again, he would probably have behaved in the same way.

“I really did feel a tremendous loyalty to MI6. I was treated very, very well in it and I made some really marvelous friends there,” Philby said, according to the transcript. “But the overruling inspiration was the other side.”

Philby told Elliott that the choice faced now that he was exposed was “between suicide and prosecution.” Instead, he fled to Moscow, where he died in 1988.


The Cambridge spies have inspired myriad books, plays movies and TV shows, including the 2023 series “ A Spy Among Friends,” starring Guy Pearce as Philby and Damian Lewis as Elliott. Blunt featured in a 2019 episode of “ The Crown,” played by Samuel West.

Biden administration extends protected status for 937,600 migrants


Jan. 11 (UPI) -- President Joe Biden's administration has extended by 18 months the temporary protected status for nearly 1 million migrants from El Salvador, Sudan, Ukraine and Venezuela due to "extraordinary and temporary conditions" in those nations.

The extensions apply to up to 937,600 migrants from the four nations who have legally and illegally entered the United States due to conditions in their respective home nations, the Department of Homeland Security announced on Friday.

The extensions apply to undocumented as well as documented migrants from the respective nations and include extensions of their respective employment authorization documents to enable them to work in the United States.

An estimated 600,000 qualifying Venezuelans who have continuously resided in the United States at least since July 31, 2023, have their TPS extended to Oct. 2, 2026.

The TPS extensions for qualifying Venezuelans is needed due to the "severe humanitarian emergency the country continues to face due to political and economic crisis under the inhumane [President Nicolas] Maduro regime," DHS officials said Friday in a press release.

"These conditions have contributed to high levels of crime and violence, impacting access to food, medicine, healthcare, water, electricity and fuel," DHS officials said.

Those who have been convicted of a felony or at least two misdemeanors are excluded from the TPS extension.

Qualifying Venezuelans also have their work authorizations automatically extended through April 2, 2026.

DHS officials determined "continued political instability that has triggered human rights abuses, including direct attacks on civilians" require an extension of TPS for Sudanese migrants who have lived in the United States, with or without authorization, since at least Aug. 16, 2023.

"Militias have targeted fleeing civilians, murdering innocent people escaping conflict and prevented remaining civilians from accessing lifesaving supplies," DHS officials said Friday in a press release.

The TPS extension affects about 1,900 Sudanese migrants and automatically extends their employment authorization documents to continue working in the United States for another 12 months.

About 103,700 Ukrainian migrants who have lived in the United States since at least Aug. 16, 2023, also have their TPS automatically extended for 18 months.

The extension for Ukrainian migrants is needed due to the "expansion of the Russian military invasion into Ukraine," which is "the largest conventional military action in Europe since World War II," DHS officials said Friday in a news release.

"Russia's expanded military invasion has led to high numbers of civilian casualties and reports of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Russian military forces and officials," DHS officials said.

"This invasion has caused a humanitarian crisis, with significant numbers of individuals fleeing and damage to civilian infrastructure that has left many without electricity or access to medical services."

Ukrainian migrants who have lived in the United States since Aug. 16, 2023, qualify for the automatic 18-month TPS extension. Qualifying Ukrainian migrants also will have their EAD status extended by 12 months.

About 232,000 El Salvadoran migrants also received extended TPS status to Sept. 9, 2026, due to "environmental conditions in El Salvador that prevent individuals from safely returning," according to a DHS press release issued Friday.

DHS officials cited "continued conditions from environmental disasters that resulted in substantial, but temporary, disruption of living conditions in affected areas of El Salvador" as cause for extending the TPS for qualifying El Salvadorans.

Those environmental disasters include "significant storms and heavy rainfall in 2023 and 2024 that continue to affect areas heavily impacted by earthquakes in 2001," according to DHS.

DHS officials also have extended qualifying El Salvadoran migrants' employment authorization documents through March 9, 2026.

US Supreme Court agrees to hear challenge to ACA's preventative care mandate

 The Supreme Court indicated it will hear a case challenging the constitutionality of preventative healthcare coverage now mandated under the Affordable Care Act.  (OBAMA CARE)

Jan. 11 (UPI) -- The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a legal challenge targeting the preventative care mandates of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, in its upcoming term.

In an order issued Friday, the high court granted "certiorari" to Xavier Becerra vs. Braidwood Management Inc., meaning the case has been placed on the docket and is likely to get a hearing in March or April with a decision coming by the end of June.

The suit, which seeks to eliminate the current mandate to provide preventative healthcare insurance coverage under the ACA, has now reached the Supreme Court following a "mixed-bag" ruling by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in June.

The conservative businesses bringing the case cite religious objections to being made to purchase health insurance that includes coverage for "abortifacient contraception," PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) to prevent HIV transmission and screenings and behavioral counseling for sexually transmitted disease and drug use, stating they believe these interventions "encourage homosexual behavior, intravenous drug use, and sexual activity outside of marriage between one man and one woman."

They contend the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force -- a panel that determines what kinds of preventative coverage are mandatory under the ACA -- is unconstitutional because its members are not elected or appointed by Congress and thus should be eliminated.

The Biden administration describes the USPSTF as a 16-member independent group of national experts in prevention and evidence-based medicine that works to improve the health of all Americans "by making evidence-based recommendations about clinical preventive services such as screenings, counseling services, or preventive medications."

Its volunteer members come from the fields of preventive medicine and primary care, including internal medicine, family medicine, pediatrics, behavioral health, obstetrics/gynecology and nursing, and most are practicing clinicians.

The White House and the ACA's backers argue that the elimination of the panel would wipe out preventative healthcare coverage now enjoyed by millions of Obamacare recipients.

In its June decision, the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit upheld a lower court decision issued by a Texas federal judge finding that the USPSTF is unconstitutional. But they declined to issue any nationwide injunction of the preventative care mandate, thus keeping it in place for the time being while producing uncertainty about its legal future.

Both the plaintiffs and the Biden administration acted late last year to bring the case before the Supreme Court for clarification.


The law's proponents are warning that letting the 5th Circuit's decision stand would invalidate "a critically important provision of the Affordable Care Act that ensures more than 150 million Americans' access to essential life-saving tests and treatments."

In an amici brief submitted in October by the American Public Health Association, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and other public health advocates, the law's backers said that if the ruling is permitted to stand, "deadly diseases will not be detected and important treatments will be unavailable -- resulting in serious illnesses, chronic medical conditions, and deaths that otherwise would have been prevented."

ECOCIDE

German tugs towing stricken oil tanker thought part of Russia's 'shadow fleet'

Greenpeace says the fleet of 192 aging tankers carrying Russian oil around the world represent a threat to environment.


A photo made available by the Havariekommando (the German Central Command for Maritime Emergencies, or CCME) shows the oil tanker Eventin adrift off the coast of Rugen, Germany, on Friday. The Eventin was en route from Russia to Egypt when the crew lost control of the vessel in the Baltic Sea and is now drifting near the island of Rugen. Photo by Havariekommando/EPA-EFE

Jan. 11 (UPI) -- German maritime authorities said Saturday they are towing a disabled oil tanker in the Baltic Sea thought to be part of Russia's clandestine "shadow fleet" used to evade Western sanctions.

Germany's Havariekommando, or Central Command for Maritime Emergencies, told German media it is employing three tug boats to the tow the stricken tanker Eventin about 15 miles to the harbor of Sassnitz, where it is expected to arrive Sunday.

The progress was reported to be very slow due to waves of up to 13 feet and storm-force winds on the Baltic. The vessel is also very heavy, loaded with almost 100,000 tons of oil.

The Eventin lost engine and navigation power near the German island of Rügen and now needs to be brought to harbor for safety reasons, although there is currently no environmental threat from the vessel, the CCME said.

The 810-foot tanker, built in 2006, was sailing under a Panamanian flag while traveling from the Russian port of Ust-Luga to Egypt's Port Said, according to the ship tracking platform Vesselfinder.

The environmental advocacy organization Greenpeace has identified it as part of the "shadow fleet" of ships Russia is using to try to circumvent Western sanctions imposed after its invasion of Ukraine.

Greenpeace says the fleet of 192 aging tankers carrying Russian oil around the world represent a threat to environment.

"Of the 192 ships, 171 have passed through the German Baltic Sea and the area of the Kadet Channel in the Mecklenburg Bight at least once in the last two years," Greenpeace reported this year. "All the tankers are old, many have technical defects, have temporarily switched off their automatic identification systems or have transferred their cargo to other tankers at sea -- a particularly risky maneuver."

An accident in the Kadet Channel would put the entire German Baltic coast at risk, they warned, adding, "All tankers are inadequately insured against the consequences of an oil spill -- taxpayers would have to pay to repair any damage."

DOJ probe of Tulsa Race Massacre finds no one to prosecute, but chronicles tragedy


1 of 3 | Smoke is shown billowing over burning buildings in the predominantly Black Greenwood section of Tulsa, Okla., on June 1, 1921, during the Tulsa Race Massacre, when a white mob attacked the neighborhood. As many as 300 people were killed during the riots. Photo courtesy Library of Congress

Jan. 11 (UPI) -- The Justice Department has issued a report on its exhaustive probe of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre in which it concludes that while there is no longer any "avenue of prosecution," its findings provide a needed historic record of the tragedy.

The report, released Friday, documents the DOJ's findings made during its review and evaluation of the massacre, which it undertook under the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crimes Act.

It examines the events of May 31 and June 1, 1921, when the uniquely prosperous Black community of Greenwood in Tulsa was subjected to a violent attack by as many as 10,000 white Tulsans -- an assault "so systematic and coordinated that it transcended mere mob violence," the DOJ said.

As many as 300 people were killed and 1,200 homes, businesses, schools and churches destroyed in the deadly attack.




"The Tulsa Race Massacre stands out as a civil rights crime unique in its magnitude, barbarity, racist hostility and its utter annihilation of a thriving Black community," Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division said in a statement.

"In 1921, white Tulsans murdered hundreds of residents of Greenwood, burned their homes and churches, looted their belongings, and locked the survivors in internment camps.

"Until this day, the Justice Department has not spoken publicly about this race massacre or officially accounted for the horrific events that transpired in Tulsa. This report breaks that silence by rigorous examination and a full accounting of one of the darkest episodes of our nation's past," Clarke said.

The investigation has unearthed new information showing the massacre was the result not of uncontrolled mob violence, "but of a coordinated, military-style attack on Greenwood."

The review found that the trigger for the violence was an allegation by a white man against Dick Rowland, a 19-year-old Black man, who was accused of assaulting a white woman who operated an elevator Rowland had used.

After Rowland's arrest, a local newspaper "sensationalized the story," and shortly afterwards a mob of white Tulsans gathered outside the courthouse, demanding a lynching. After Black men from Greenwood were called in the by sheriff to protect the jail, the white mob grew more agitated.



The Tulsa police force deputized hundreds of white residents, many of whom had been drinking and agitating for Rowland's murder, then helped organize these special deputies into the forces that would eventually ravage the Greenwood community, according to the report.

The next morning, the organized cadres of white men "looted, burned and destroyed 35 city blocks" while Greenwood's residents tried desperately to defend their homes. As they fled for their lives, white residents chased them across the city and took men, women, children, the elderly and the infirm into custody, looting the homes they left behind, the report found.

In the aftermath of the massacre, the few avenues for federal prosecution that were available at the time were not pursued. And now, 103 years later, the statute of limitations has expired for all federal civil rights offenses, prosecutors noted.

The DOJ team said it could find no living perpetrators or live witnesses with sufficient knowledge of the events to prove a defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt -- thus foreclosing any legal action today.

However, the review "recognizes and documents the horrible events that occurred as well as the trauma and loss suffered by the residents of Greenwood," the DOJ said.

"While legal and practical limitations prevent the perpetrators of the crimes committed in 1921 from being held criminally accountable in a court of law, the historical reckoning continues." prosecutors said. "Legal limitations may have stymied the pursuit of justice, but work continues to ensure that future generations understand the scale and significance of this atrocity."

NAKBA 2.0

Illegal Israeli settlers continue West Bank violence


 Palestinians walk near the UNRWA, United Nations Relief and Works Agency, boys school in the Deheisheh Refugee Camp near Bethlehem, West Bank, on January 5, 2025. 

 Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI | License Photo

Jan. 12 (UPI) -- Illegal Israeli settlers in the West Bank are continuing to engage in violence against Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian enclave. Though violence by Israeli forces and illegal settlers in the West Bank has been ongoing for years, there has been a marked uptick in the past year.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported last week, during the first week of the year, the illegal settlers injured 18 Palestinians as Israeli occupation authorities demolished the homes of some 50 people as punitive measures.

Between January 2023 and October 7, 2023, the day the Palestinian militia Hamas in Gaza attacked Israel, some 204 Palestinians had already been killed in the West Bank alone with just eight deaths attributed to illegal settlers, data provided by the United Nations shows.

Some 816 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank alone since October 2023, of those, 13 have been directly attributed to illegal settlers, a sharp increase. Multiple U.S. citizens have also been killed in the West Bank.

Just 358 Israelis, excluding those killed by Hamas or attributed to Palestinians in Gaza amid the war, have been recorded by OCHA since the database began in 2008. Of those, 25 were recorded since the Israel-Gaza war began in 2023.

Last month, OCHA noted that 2024 had the highest number of incidents of Israeli violence against Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since the office began keeping records almost two decades ago, averaging "nearly four per day" throughout the entire year.

Those incidents included violent attacks causing injury and death, arson and the destruction of fruit trees impacting Palestinian farming. Some 4,700 people were internally displaced in the West Bank last year, more than half citing Israeli violence as the cause.

Bands of violent Israeli settlers on Sunday attacked Palestinians in the village of Madama, south of Nablus, and near the village of Al-Funduq, the official Palestinian News and Information Agency, better known as WAFA, reported.

Abdullah Ziyada, head of the Madama Village Council, said that Israeli settlers came from the nearby illegal settlement of Yitzhar to attack Palestinian homes, which led to Israeli troops storming the village to safeguard them from Palestinians seeking to stop them.

In the attack near Al-Funduq, Israeli settlers under the protection of Israeli forces threw stones at passing vehicles, shattering the windows of several cars. Though no injuries were reported, such actions in the United States in the past have led to murder charges. It remains unclear if the settlers would face any punishment for their alleged violence.

The United States government, which occasionally criticizes Israel's inaction to prevent West Bank settler violence, has done little else to persuade its ally to end it apart from some minor sanctions.

Under international law, the construction of Israeli settlements on the land is illegal and has led Palestinian resistance fighters to occasionally rise up against the continued occupation of the West Bank in clashes with Israeli authorities and security forces of the Palestinian Authority, which rules much of the West Bank.

Related

Israeli troops continue sexual violence against Palestinians, rights groups allege
Man accused of killing boy in West Bank shooting turns himself in to police
Residents of West Bank town say Israel plans to cut down olive trees

Los Angeles fires exacerbate housing crisis, experts say


 Firefighters keep a home from burning on the Pacific Coast Highway as thousands of structures were reduced to rubble by four Southern California wildfires in Los Angeles County in Los Angeles on Thursday.

 Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo

Jan. 12 (UPI) -- As California's seasonal Santa Ana winds are still fanning the flames of deadly wildfires that have killed at least 16 people and destroyed some 10,000 structures around Los Angeles, economists and real estate agents are warning of its effects on an already existing housing crisis.

The fires, with little containment, continued advancing toward yet more houses and other structures Sunday leading real estate agents like Jason Oppenheim, who stars in Netflix's reality series "Selling Sunset," to encourage people in the profession to "come together for the community."

"If you've lost your home in the Los Angeles fires and you need to find a place to rent until your home is rebuilt, all Oppenheim Group agents will represent you for free or credit you back any commission we receive in the transaction," Oppenheim said on social media.

Oppenheim, in comments to the BBC, alleged that one renter had been asked for thousands of dollars above the original asking price to rent a home. California has price-gouging laws that should protect against such instances.

In fact, a quick search confirmed that rental prices were on the rise in the tawny L.A. suburb of Bel Aire which, at one point, was at the epicenter of the fires, as first reported by the LAist.

The average price for a 4-bedroom rental was already pushing $20,000 a month before the blazes exploded, up 28% from 2023 prices, according to the real estate site Zumper.

Economists added in remarks to The New York Times that the fires will have a domino effect on the housing market, forcing people who have lost their homes to look for quick rentals, squeezing a housing supply in an already extremely tight and expensive real estate market, potentially devastating people from one end of the socioeconomic spectrum to the other.

"It's very possible that this event is going to cause a big increase in homelessness, even though the people who got pushed out of their homes are people of means," said Jonathan Zasloff, who lost his home in Pacific Palisades, and teaches land use and urban policy at UCLA.

California has been facing a tight market and inflated prices for well over a decade despite efforts at the state level to make housing more affordable. As recently as a month ago, the L.A. City Council voted to increase development in existing high-density residential neighborhoods and commercial corridors, but left zoning rules in single-family areas untouched.

Zasloff and others argue the fires will up the urgency, forcing policymakers to address the affordability issue head-on, potentially pushing them to make regulatory changes that allow home building to happen more quickly.

"This is such a devastating event that hopefully it rocks the system to the point where we can get real reform," Dave Rand, a land-use attorney at the firm at Rand Paster & Nelson in Los Angeles, told The New York Times.

Rand is also on the board of directors of the California Housing Partnership Coalition, focused on affordable housing.

The council has said it plans to build as many as half a million new housing units by the end of 2029. It's not clear yet how or whether fires will change the numbers, the timeline, or where some of those dwellings may be constructed.

THE LAST TRANCHE

Biden announces new student debt relief for 150,000


Jan. 13 (UPI) -- President Joe Biden on Monday approved student loan relief for more than 150,000 borrowers.

Biden said the new relief is going to 85,000 to attended schools that allegedly "cheated and defrauded" students, 61,000 borrowers with total or permanent disabilities, and 6,100 public service workers.

The president said the new student loan relief brings the total number of student borrowers receiving relief under his administration to more than five million.

"My administration has taken historic action to reduce the burden of student debt, hold bad actors accountable, and fight on behalf of students across the country," Biden said in a White House statement.

"Since Day One of my administration, I promised to ensure higher education is a ticket to the middle class, not a barrier to opportunity, and I'm proud to say we have forgiven more student loan debt than any other administration in history."

Biden has been able to do that against fierce Republican opposition. The U.S. Supreme Court blocked the president's initial COVID-19-related student debt that would have affected millions of borrowers.

Since then, Biden has gradually continued to loan forgiveness efforts by fixing and better managing the Education Department's existing debt relief program.

The latest GOP effort came last September when seven Republican-led states filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration for attempting to cancel debt. Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey accused the administration then of trying to skirt previous Supreme Court rulings about its past student loan relief efforts.

CAPPLETALI$M;  AGAINST THE GRAIN

Apple asks investors to keep DEI policies, among companies facing shareholder vote


The proposed DEI rollback plan "inappropriately seeks to micromanage the company's programs and policies by suggesting a specific means of legal compliance," Apple’s board of directors, which includes CEO Tim Cook (seen in August in Venice, Italy) argued. File Photo by Rune Hellestad/ UPI | License Photo

Jan. 13 (UPI) -- Tech giant Apple is asking investors to keep its diversity, equity and inclusion policies amid a sweeping reversal by other technology and business entities following President-elect Trump's November election win.

Claiming Apple's DEI efforts expose companies to "litigation, reputational and financial risks," the conservative think tank National Center for Public Policy Research called on Apple to nix its policy, but Apple leadership rejected NCPPR's proposal, according to a proxy filing.

"The proposal is unnecessary as Apple already has a well-established compliance program," the company wrote in part to investors.

It will be voted on Feb. 25 by shareholders at Apple's next annual meeting to be held virtually.

The rollback plan "inappropriately seeks to micromanage the Company's programs and policies by suggesting a specific means of legal compliance," argued Apple's board of directors.

It follows a similar effort by NCPPR at shopping conglomerate Costco, which recently reaffirmed support for its own DEI policy as it approaches a Jan. 23 shareholder vote roughly a month before Apple is set to vote on the same topic.

It's one of several other large companies -- including colleges, universities and states -- that swiftly lined up to re-examine or ditch DEI initiatives amid a cultural backlash and a 2023 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that effectively ended "affirmative action" policies.

According to Apple, its management team and board, which include CEO Tim Cook, "maintain active oversight of legal and regulatory risks and compliance for our global business."

The company added its approach to DEI "reflects careful determinations regarding our legal compliance and business practices that require complex analysis, extensive knowledge and understanding of the employment and other laws and regulations in multiple jurisdictions," the board wrote in its urge to shareholders to maintain its current policy approach.

Meanwhile, Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, announced last week it was ending its DEI programs.

"The legal and policy landscape surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the US is changing," Janelle Gale, Meta's vice president of human resources, wrote in an internal memo.

It joined others like Amazon, McDonalds, Alphabet, Walmart, Microsoft and Zoom in a reversal of DEI policies or other changes after threats of retaliation by right-wing groups.

Last year in March, Alabama enacted a law banning state and federal funding for DEI programs in the state's public schools and universities. Florida likewise banned the use of public money for DEI programming early last year in a long-standing fight against a so-called "woke" political agenda.

It came on the heels of CEO Mark Zuckerberg's announcement on Tuesday that Meta will, among other things, end its third-party fact-checking program in order to shift to a user-generated "Community Notes" format similar to Elon Musk's X over the coming months.

Meanwhile, Home improvement chain Lowe's revealed in August its plan to end participation in Human Rights Campaign-sponsored surveys, and that it will place its diversity resource groups under one umbrella, according to a leaked internal memo.

That arrived after Lowe's recently earned a "perfect" rating by the pro-LGBTQ+ HRC, and CEO Marvin Ellison was named last June the "Ethical Leader of the Year" by the Society for Human Resource Management.

Related

Meta to move away from third-party fact-checkers, adopt 'Community Notes'
5 ways anti-diversity laws affect LGBTQ+ people in higher education
Lowe's ditches DEI surveys, streamlines minority resources
Eliminating diversity programs at colleges and universities will have lasting effects

Anti-woke: With Trump returning, US firms back off on DEI

Laura Kabelka | Annika Sost both in Washington

DW

January 12, 2025

Backlash against diversity, equity and inclusion policy is surging in the US, and major companies are scaling back their efforts. Trump's second presidency is likely o intensify this trend. So why are experts hopeful?

Walmart said it will not renew a commitment to create a racial equity center, and has ended its supplier diversity goals.

Image: Scott Olson/Getty Images

In the United States, the terms diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) have become so politicized and partisan that big corporations such as Meta, McDonald's, Walmart, Boeing and Ford are dialing down their policies.

According to experts, this doesn't necessarily mean that businesses no longer care about these issues, but it shows they're rethinking their strategies to stay out of trouble. This follows rising lawsuits and online campaigns by conservatives claiming reverse discrimination.

"Every corporate leader is now dealing with the fact that DEI in 2025 is going to be a lot more controversial, is going to be more of a risk, and is something that they have to manage," DEI strategist and author Lily Zheng told DW.
What is DEI and who benefits from it?

In recent decades — and especially since the Black Lives Matter movement protests picked up following the police killing of George Floyd in 2020 — DEI has blossomed across the US. Many companies have implemented training to identify biases, mentorship programs for underrepresented groups, diverse hiring practices or transparent promotion criteria.

DEI policies aim to create fair environments not only in workplaces, but also in education and institutions. Addressing systemic inequalities and discrimination, they encourage representation and participation of people of different genders, races, abilities, sexual orientations and other identity markers.

David Glasgow, executive director of the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging at NYU, emphasizes that DEI is about "creating a level playing field for everyone."

Apart from moral reasons, there is also a business case to be made for DEI policies, Glasgow told DW. Studies show that tapping into a wider range of talent leads to more innovation and creativity. Plus: it can help companies reach a more diverse consumer base.

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Progress comes in waves

But far from everyone is cheering for DEI.

"Ever since the Supreme Court decision on affirmative action in June 2023, there's been a significant uptick in anti-DEI lawsuits," Glasgow said. The ruling declared race-based admissions in colleges and universities unconstitutional and had a ripple effect across sectors.

Anti-DEI activists like Robby Starbuck are attacking such initiatives around the clock. In November 2024, he even claimed credit for ending Walmart's DEI program.



Donald Trump's former policy advisor and new cabinet nominee, Stephen Miller, has already filed lawsuits, including against Meta and Amazon, alleging DEI initiatives discriminate against white people.

Some of these lawsuits have been successful. In September, the Fearless Fund agreed to permanently close its grant program for Black women entrepreneurs as part of a settlement with a conservative group led by activist Edward Blum. The lawsuit alledged the program violated the Civil Rights Act of 1866 by discriminating based on race.

When Trump takes office in January, such lawsuits could gain even stronger footing, Glasgow believes: "He's going to appoint more judges that have conservative interpretations of anti-discrimination law. So, some of the lawsuits that we're tracking, I expect to be resolved in anti-DEI ways."

Donald Trump has pledged to 'eliminate all diversity, equity and inclusion programs across the entire federal government.'

Image: Brian Snyder/REUTERS

Glasgow acknowledges some critiques of DEI, such as approaches that rely on blame and shame, or efforts that lack rigor and effectiveness. "But I think there's also a broader backlash to progress on issues of social justice," he added.

The United States largest private employer, retailer Walmart, did not respond to DW's inquiry why they decided to phase out their racial-equity training. Another big company that took a step back from DEI said they could not comment because of the backlash they receive.

DEI strategist Zheng believes some business leaders are already scared of this riskier environment fearing "they're making decisions that unfortunately are going to have a big impact on probably their bottom line, their brand reputation, their employee retention, their morale."


A matter of rebranding?

For now, a large majority of corporate America still has DEI policies in place, a study by nonprofit business research organization The Conference Board found. And around 80% of the companies surveyed plan to maintain or increase their DEI resources over the next three years.

Experts like Lily Zheng think that even companies that are rolling back and becoming quieter about their commitments might still uphold their values. "Maybe they're calling it belonging. Maybe they're focusing on fairness. But either way, the bulk of these existing commitments doesn't seem to be changing," Zheng said.

Indeed, just weeks after Donald Trump's election win, Walmart updated its website and replaced a section it called "Belonging, diversity, Equity and Inclusion" simply with "Belonging."

Commenting on Walmart's and other companies' shifting strategies, Glasgow believes they are not saying "we no longer care about having a diverse workplace," rather they're saying: "Here are certain kinds of DEI programs that we're no longer going to adopt."

However, Lily Zheng pointed out that the absence of clear goals around DEI "might result in reduced investments," and if leaders hesitate to take a stand and express their commitment to these values, Zheng warned, "we might lose control of the narrative."

Edited by: Uwe Hessler

Laura Kabelka is a multimedia journalist with a focus on politics, digital topics and human rights.