Rohingya refugee food aid to be halved from next month: UN


By AFP
March 6, 2025


Huge numbers of the persecuted and stateless Rohingya community live in squalid relief camps in Bangladesh, almost entirely dependent on limited humanitarian aid to survive - Copyright AFP NICOLAS TUCAT

Rations will be halved for around one million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh from next month due to a lack of funds, the United Nations food agency has said.

Huge numbers of the persecuted and stateless Rohingya community live in squalid relief camps in Bangladesh, most arriving after having fled from a 2017 military crackdown in neighbouring Myanmar.

Successive aid cuts have already caused severe hardship among Rohingya in the overcrowded settlements, who are reliant on aid and suffer from rampant malnutrition.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said in a letter on Wednesday that “severe funding shortfalls” had forced a cut in monthly food vouchers from $12.50 to $6.00 per person.

“Unfortunately, we have still not received sufficient funding, and cost-saving measures alone are not enough,” the letter said.

Md. Shamsud Douza of Bangladesh’s refugee agency told AFP that his office would meet community leaders next week to discuss the cuts.

A decision by US President Donald Trump’s administration to make drastic cuts to foreign aid has sent shockwaves through humanitarian initiatives worldwide.

But WFP’s Kun Li said that the United States remained a donor for Rohingya aid and the ration cuts reflected a “funding gap across multiple sources”.

Funds raised were only half the $852 million sought by foreign aid agencies, she told AFP.

Wednesday’s letter comes days before a visit by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who is slated to meet Rohingya refugees to mark the annual Muslim Ramadan fast.

The 2017 crackdown in Myanmar — now the subject of a UN genocide investigation — sent around 750,000 Rohingya fleeing into neighbouring Bangladesh with harrowing stories of murder, rape and arson.

Bangladesh has struggled to support its refugee population. The prospects of a wholesale return to Myanmar or resettlement elsewhere are remote.

Rohingya living in the camps around Cox’s Bazar are not allowed to seek employment and are almost entirely dependent on limited humanitarian aid to survive.

Large numbers of refugees have attempted hazardous sea crossings in an effort to find a better life away from the camps, including more than 250 Rohingya who arrived in Indonesia in January.

Hamas says Trump’s ‘DEAD’ threat to Gaza undermines ceasefire

By AFP
March 6, 2025


Israelis raise cutout portraits of hostages during a protest in Tel Aviv calling for the implementation of the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire 

- Copyright AFP/File Lillian SUWANRUMPHA

AFP team in Gaza City, with Adel Zaanoun in Cairo and Shaun Tandon in Washington

Hamas said Thursday that Donald Trump’s threats would encourage Israel to disregard the fragile ceasefire, after the US president said that unless hostages are freed, the people of Gaza would be “DEAD”.

Trump’s warning came hours after his administration revealed it held unprecedented direct talks with Hamas, which it proscribes as a “terrorist” group, focused on American hostages in Gaza.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office confirmed Israel was consulted and said in a statement that it “expressed its opinion” on the direct talks.

Trump said later he was “sending Israel everything it needs to finish the job” as his administration expedites billions of dollars in weapons.

“Release all of the Hostages now, not later, and immediately return all of the dead bodies of the people you murdered, or it is OVER for you,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform after meeting freed hostages.

“This is your last warning! For the leadership, now is the time to leave Gaza, while you still have a chance.”

Trump also warned of repercussions for Gaza as a whole, where virtually the entire population has been displaced by Israel’s relentless military campaign in response to Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack.

“To the People of Gaza: A beautiful Future awaits, but not if you hold Hostages. If you do, you are DEAD!”

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qasim said Trump’s words pushed Israel to disregard the terms of a ceasefire in place since January 19.

“These threats complicate matters regarding the ceasefire agreement and encourage the occupation to avoid implementing its terms,” Qasim said in a statement, urging the United States to pressure Israel to enter the ceasefire’s second phase.



– ‘Catastrophic’ –



The first phase of the truce ended at the weekend after six weeks of relative calm that included exchanges of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

While Israel has said it wants to extend the first phase until mid-April, Hamas has insisted on a transition to the second phase, which should lead to a lasting ceasefire.

Israel has ramped up its rhetoric and halted the flow of goods and supplies into Gaza.

“Hamas has indeed suffered a severe blow, but it has not yet been defeated. The mission is not yet accomplished,” Israel’s new military chief Eyal Zamir warned Wednesday.

Also on Wednesday, France, Britain and Germany jointly called the humanitarian situation in Gaza “catastrophic,” and urged Israel to ensure the “unhindered” delivery of aid.

South Africa said Israel’s restriction of aid into Gaza amounted to using starvation as a weapon of war.

“We lack drinking water. People are complaining of lack of water in general. We cannot get rid of the waste, which affects the groundwater,” Abu Hammam al-Hasanat, a 34-year-old who lives in the Gaza Strip, told AFP.



– Talks with Hamas –



Trump’s hawkish language came after the United States confirmed unprecedented direct talks with Hamas, with the US envoy on hostage affairs, Adam Boehler, discussing American hostages.

“Look, dialogue and talking to people around the world to do what’s in the best interest of the American people is something that the president” believes is right, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said.

The United States had refused direct contact with the Palestinian militants since banning them as a terrorist organisation in 1997. But Leavitt said the hostage envoy “has the authority to talk to anyone”.

Five Americans are believed to remain among the hostages — four have been confirmed dead and one, Edan Alexander, is believed to be alive.

The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, most of them civilians, while Israel’s military retaliation in Gaza has killed at least 48,440 people, also mostly civilians, data from both sides shows.

Of the 251 captives taken during Hamas’s attack, 58 remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military has confirmed are dead.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged Hamas to take seriously Trump’s threats of retaliation.

“He doesn’t say these things and not mean it, as folks are finding out around the world. If he says he’s going to do something, he’ll do it,” he said.



– Doubts on Arab plan –



Trump triggered global outrage by suggesting the United States “take over” the Gaza Strip and turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East”, while forcing its Palestinian inhabitants to relocate to Egypt or Jordan.

Arab leaders have sought support for an alternative plan that would finance Gaza’s reconstruction through a trust fund, and would see the return of the Palestinian Authority to the territory.

Hugh Lovatt at the European Council on Foreign Relations said the Arab leaders’ plan was “far more realistic than what the Trump administration is proposing”.

But Ghassan Khatib, a Palestinian political analyst and former Palestinian Authority minister, was sceptical.

“It doesn’t make sense to expect Israel to drop the plan of Trump and to adopt the plan of the Arabs. There’s no chance.”

burs/ser/dv

Minerals, mines, hydrocarbons: Greenland’s key but limited resources


By AFP
March 6, 2025


Greenland holds untapped mineral and oil reserves

 - Copyright AFP/File Olivier MORIN

Luca MATTEUCCI

The vast autonomous Danish territory of Greenland, coveted by US President Donald Trump, is believed to hold untapped mineral and oil reserves, but on a global scale these amounts are modest and offer only minor potential for exploitation.

– Rare earths –

Greenland’s rare earths are estimated at 36.1 billion tonnes by the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS).

Demand for these 17 metals vital for the tech industry is expected to surge in the future, and they are also needed for drones, wind turbines, hard drives, electric cars, telescope lenses and fighter jets.

But the territory’s rare earths reserves — that is those that are economically and technically recoverable — amount to about 1.5 million tonnes, according to the latest report from the US Geological Survey (USGS).

This is modest compared to the reserves held by China (44 million tonnes) or Brazil (21 million tonnes), but sufficient enough to attract manufacturers looking to diversify from China’s dominance over supply.

– Lithium, graphite, uranium –

According to GEUS, Greenland’s soils also contain graphite, lithium, and copper, three minerals defined by the International Energy Agency (IEA) as critical for the energy transition.

The National Geological Survey has estimated graphite resources in Greenland at six million tons, or 0.75 percent of the global total calculated by USGS.

According to a May 2024 IEA report, China “dominates the entire production chain” of this mineral, which is used in both batteries and the nuclear industry.

For lithium, also a component in batteries and whose demand the IEA says could increase eightfold by 2040, Greenland’s resources have been estimated at 235,000 tonnes, or 0.20 percent of the global figure.

Greenland’s copper resources meanwhile are insignificant on a global scale, but its uranium reserves, a coveted nuclear fuel, could be of greater strategic interest. However, its exploitation on the island has been banned since 2021.

– One active mine, one restarting –

There is only one operational mine in Greenland — an anorthosite deposit on the west coast of the territory run by Lumina Sustainable Materials.

Production there is very limited and activity intermittent, with its ownership having changed many times over the years.

The Nalunaq gold mine on the south of the island, owned by the Canadian company Amaroq Minerals, is in a restarting phase.

“Several other projects are under development and some of these have been advanced to a feasibility stage and have been granted exploitation licences,” Jakob Klove Keiding, senior consultant at GEUS told AFP.

But, he added, these “still need significant additional investments and the final approvals to go into production.”

The European Union, which identified 25 of the 34 minerals on its official list of critical raw materials in Greenland, signed a memorandum of understanding with Greenland’s government in 2023 supporting the development of the island’s mineral resources.

This strategic partnership could offer new prospects in maritime transport and resource exploration, with the Arctic warming up four times faster than the rest of the world.

– Hydrocarbons –

The island could also hold hydrocarbons roughly equivalent to 28.43 billion barrels of oil, according to GEUS, Greenland’s National Oil Company (Nunaoil), and Greenland’s Mineral Resources Authority, based on industry data.

Although seemingly abundant, this has to be put in context. No industrial drilling for oil or gas has ever been exploited in Greenland, although three oil exploration licenses are active in the east of the territory.

The US, for example, consumed 7.39 billion barrels of petrol in 2023 alone, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

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Ukraine titanium mine hopes US deal will bring funds


By AFP
March 6, 2025


Workers operate machinery at an open-pit titanium mine in central Ukraine

 - Copyright AFP I-Hwa CHENG

Ania TSOUKANOVA

In a barren, yellow-and-grey moonscape, heavy machinery grinds away at a titanium mine in the heart of Ukraine.

Despite tensions between Ukraine and the United States, hopes are high that the two countries can strike a minerals deal that would bring much-needed investment.

“Ukraine is very rich in mineral resources and if we do not extract them, Ukraine will simply lose out on revenues that it could have obtained,” said Dmytro Golik, head of the mine operator.

Located in the Zhytomyr region in the western part of central Ukraine, the mine contains ilmenite, a titanium-iron oxide mineral which is widely used for pigments.

US President Donald Trump wants a share in revenues from Ukraine’s mineral wealth as compensation for the military and financial aid Washington has poured into Ukraine since the start of Russia’s invasion more than three years ago.

Ukraine, which has around five percent of global mineral resources, is the 11th biggest titanium producer in the world, according to World Mining Data.

Its mineral reserves could contain around 185 million tonnes of titanium, including as much as 65 million tonnes in the Zhytomyr region alone, Golik said.



– Fraught negotiations –



A Ukraine-US deal on minerals was due to have been signed at the White House last week, but the event was called off after a spectacular televised clash between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Even before the meltdown in Washington, negotiations on the document were fraught.

Zelensky rejected several versions, pointing to the risk of plunging “10 generations of Ukrainians” into debt.

Kyiv and Washington finally agreed on a framework agreement for the creation of a joint fund that would handle part of the revenues from Ukrainian mineral extraction.

In the last few days, Ukrainian and US officials have signalled a readiness to sign the agreement soon, but no date has been fixed and terms could change again.

Golik declined to speculate on what the deal could contain and does not know if his mine, which covers 400 hectares and employs 350 people, would be part of it.

But he is adamant that the sector “really needs investment” since Ukrainian companies are not putting money into it.

“Who would these investors be? I think our employees, our people, are less interested in that than in having stable jobs.”



– ‘Additional protection’ –



Golik said a “strong foreign investor” would be “a kind of additional protection for the country” and additional tax revenues would boost the army.

“It would not be just Ukraine’s responsibility, it would become the responsibility of Europe or the whole world,” he said.

While his mine is not directly affected by Russian strikes, its functioning has been hit by regular power cuts following Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy sector.

He said he hopes investors could be interested not only in exporting ilmenite but in producing the pigments inside Ukraine.

These could then be “easily sold in Europe and elsewhere in the world,” Golik said.

Not everyone views Washington favourable given the current political context.

Trump has engineered a stunning rapprochement with Russian President Vladimir Putin and this week suspended all military assistance to Ukraine.

US financial demands have also been seen as predatory by some commentators in Ukraine — a country ravaged by war.

Sergii, the operator of one of the huge excavators at the mine, said he was following the news with “concern”.

“Natural resources are the property of the people,” said Sergii, who has worked at the mine for 35 years.

They “must belong to Ukraine,” he said.

Panama president says Trump ‘lying’ about reclaiming canal


By AFP
March 5, 2025


The Panama Canal handles five percent of global maritime trade, and 40 percent of US container traffic - Copyright AFP/File MARTIN BERNETTI

Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino on Wednesday accused his US counterpart Donald Trump of “lying” about Washington taking back the Panama Canal.

“Once again, President Trump is lying. The Panama Canal is not in the process of recovery,” Mulino wrote on X.

“I reject, on behalf of Panama and all Panamanians, this new affront to the truth and to our dignity as a nation,” Mulino added, after Trump said that his administration had started to take back the vital waterway.

“To further enhance our national security, my administration will be reclaiming the Panama Canal, and we’ve already started doing it,” Trump said in a speech to Congress Tuesday. “We’re taking it back.”

Under mounting pressure from Washington, Hong Kong firm Hutchison said Tuesday it had agreed to sell its lucrative Panama Canal ports to a US-led consortium.

CK Hutchison Holdings said it would offload a 90-percent stake in the Panama Ports Company (PPC) and sell a slew of other non-Chinese ports to a group led by asset manager BlackRock.

The sellers will receive $19 billion in cash, the company said.

Hutchison subsidiary PPC has for decades run ports at Balboa and Cristobal on the Pacific and Atlantic ends of the interoceanic waterway.

But since taking office in January, Trump has complained that China controls the canal — a vital strategic asset that the United States once ran.

He has refused to rule out a military invasion of Panama to regain control, sparking angry protests and a complaint to the United Nations by the Central American nation.

Since 1999, the canal has been run by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) — an autonomous entity whose board of directors is appointed by Panama’s president and National Assembly.

The 80-kilometer (50-mile) long canal handles five percent of global maritime trade, and 40 percent of US container traffic.

Beijing has consistently denied interfering in the canal.

Trump tariffs reverberate through Mexico’s industrial belt


By AFP

March 5, 2025


Trucks queue near the Mexico-US border - Copyright AFP Guillermo Arias

Alexander Martinez

For decades, Mexico’s industrial borderlands boomed thanks to growing trade with the world’s largest economy next door. Today, US tariffs cast a long shadow over a region home to thousands of factories employing armies of workers.

Lower labor costs, tax incentives and a North American free trade pact dating back more than 30 years have long lured companies south of the US border.

But President Donald Trump’s 25-percent duties on Mexican goods have heaped doubt on the future of the trade agreement, which was renegotiated during his 2017-2021 first term.

Manufacturers of goods ranging from medical supplies to semiconductors and other electronic components will be hit by the tariffs, said Jose Luis Contreras, president of the Mesa de Otay Industrial Association in Tijuana, just south of California.

Some products like car parts cross the Mexican-US border several times during production.

In the Tijuana region, whose industrial parks are home to around 400 companies, a million cargo border crossings are made each year, according to official figures.

Following Trump’s imposition of tariffs, Mexico’s “domestic market must be reoriented,” Contreras told AFP in an interview.

He said that could mean replicating the production chains of the USMCA free trade deal between the United States, Mexico and Canada in the Latin American nation, home to 130 million people.

It also requires offering tax incentives and seeking new markets, he added.

“Action must be taken quickly” given the high stakes, notably 80,000 factory jobs just along the stretch of the border near Tijuana, said Contreras, a metalworking businessman.

The tariffs have dealt a heavy blow to Mexico’s hopes of attracting US-owned factories from Asia to its industrial north, a trend known as “nearshoring.”

President Claudia Sheinbaum warned Wednesday that Mexico would seek other trading partners besides the United States if needed.

She has vowed to respond to Trump’s tariffs with retaliatory duties, calling on supporters to mass in Mexico City’s main square on Sunday to hear details.

Sheinbaum has previously hailed the USMCA as “one of the best trade agreements in history” and “the only way we can compete with Asian countries, particularly China.”

She has proposed replacing Chinese imports with domestically produced goods — an apparent bid to ease Washington’s concerns that Chinese companies want to use Mexico as a backdoor into the United States.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday that Mexico had also proposed matching Washington’s tariff hikes on China.

– ‘Unfair trade practices’ –

In Mexico’s northeastern state of Nuevo Leon, business leaders who favor maintaining close ties with Washington pointed the finger at China as the trade tension culprit.

“The common problem that we have in the United States and Mexico is the position of China,” said Maximo Vedoya, president of CAINTRA, an organization that represents several thousand companies.

“China is the one that disrupts all world trade,” he told reporters Tuesday, accusing the Asian giant of “unfair trade practices.”

The answer was not US-Mexico trade barriers but “strengthening the North American region” to make it more competitive, added Vedoya, chief executive of a steel products maker.

The United States is Mexico’s top trading partner, buying more than 80 percent of its exports.

Analysts have warned the US duties could push Mexico’s economy, the second largest in Latin America, into recession.

Sheinbaum has accused Trump of violating the USMCA, which replaced the previous NAFTA accord in 2020 and is due for review next year.

“Are we to blame for companies deciding to come to Mexico to export to the United States? No, it’s the result of a good relationship since President Trump’s first term and the trade agreement that came before,” she said.

Contreras doubts the United States can quickly replace the labor and skills developed in Mexico during decades of trade.

“We may be less competitive, but in the end we will still be competitive,” he said.

Why Mexican manufacturers seem unfazed by threat of Trump tariffs

By AFP
March 1, 2025


The Tijuana region is home to hundreds of 'maquiladoras' -- factories that assemble imported parts into finished products for export - Copyright AFP Guillermo Arias

Eduardo JARAMILLO with Yussel GONZALEZ in Mexico City and Victor ALVAREZ in Monterrey

If US President Donald Trump is to be taken at his word, Mexican imports to the United States will be hit with 25-percent tariffs on Tuesday.

But exporters in Mexico, the United States’ biggest trading partner, remain upbeat about the future of the $840-billion business relationship.

Mexico’s economy has gone from strength to strength on the back of the free trade agreements it has enjoyed with the United States and Canada since 1994.

The value of its exports to the United States now far exceeds that of its imports from its northern neighbor — a major bone of contention for Trump.

On Tuesday, the tariffs he announced on all Mexican imports shortly after taking office are due to go into effect, after being suspended for a month.

Mexican manufacturers, however, are not as worried as you might imagine.

– Been there, done that –

Marco Antonio Lopez has experience when it comes to navigating economic upheaval, from the sudden devaluation of the Mexican peso in 1994 that sent the economy into meltdown to Trump’s first presidency, when the Republican threatened to pull the plug on the North America free trade deal.

In the end, the US leader renegotiated parts of the deal, but trade remains mostly tariff-free.

Lopez’s company SMK Electronica, based in the city of Tijuana on the border with the United States, manufactures electronic components for the automotive, audiovisual and telecoms industries.

The Tijuana region is home to hundreds of “maquiladoras” — factories that assemble imported parts into finished products for export, particularly to the United States.

“We have faced many crises. The previous Trump administration was not as drastic, but it was very similar and we learned to adapt,” Lopez said.

“The border industry is highly adaptable… and the investment is so great that there is no risk of it disappearing.”

The automobile industry is under particular threat from the impending tariffs.

A representative of an auto parts maker with operations in Mexico who did not want to be identified said that US-Mexico trade was too big to fail, but that tariffs could have an impact on production nonetheless.

“Products will become more expensive and there will be a clear loss in competitiveness,” the person told AFP.

– Interdependence –

Besides tequila and avocados, Mexico is one of the United States’ biggest suppliers of cars, car parts and mechanical and electronic equipment.

Free trade has made North America a seamless manufacturing platform, with products like car key fobs, which are assembled in Mexico, crossing borders on the continent several times during the manufacturing process.

The aerospace industry is another example: Mexican companies manufacture components for US partners such as Boeing and General Electric in the northern city of Monterrey as well as in the central state of Queretaro.

The mere development of a part for an aircraft engine can take between two and three years.

“Changing suppliers in this sector is a rather complicated process,” said Erik Palacios, director of the Monterrey aerospace cluster, which groups some 40 companies.

He predicted that US customers “will continue buying at a higher price” until they can develop a local supply chain.

Citing a recent conversation with an executive from US carmaker Ford, Mexican Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard said that the brand’s two most productive plants are in Mexico.

That fact alone, he said, suggested that there were no plans to relocate them north of the border.

– The long-term view –

Companies that AFP spoke to said that decisions to locate manufacturing plants in Mexico were taken years in advance, and would likely outlast Trump’s four years in office.

“Decisions in these companies are not made six months or a year in advance. They are made five or ten years ahead of time,” SMK Electronica’s Lopez said.

German automaker BMW, which has an assembly plant in the Mexican state of San Luis Potosi, subscribes to that view.

“We do not base our long-term strategic decisions on policies or political incentives,” a company spokesman told AFP.

The spokesman pointed to the company’s announcement in early 2023 of an 800-million-euro ($830 million) investment in the production of lithium batteries in Mexico and the decision to start producing electric vehicles in Mexico in 2027.

That, they said, was proof that BMW was banking on the Latin American country for years to come.

Critics Ask If Trump and Musk Are 'Intentionally Crashing the Economy'


"If you think back at the last economic crashes... the rich were able to buy up assets on the cheap and emerged even wealthier and more powerful than before," noted one progressive commentator.


Then President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk pose for a photo during the UFC 309 event at Madison Square Garden on November 16, 2024 in New York City.
(Photo: Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

Brett Wilkins
Mar 05, 2025
OMMON DREAMS

Are U.S. President Donald Trump, top adviser Elon Musk, and allied oligarchs deliberately trying to tank the economy in order to line their own gilded pockets?

More and more observers from both sides of the political aisle are asking the question this week as the U.S. president implemented steep tariffs on some of the country's biggest trade partners, threatened a global trade war, and is taking chainsaw to government spending and programs—policies that, while inflicting economic pain upon nearly everyone else, could dramatically boost their already stratospheric wealth.

Numerous observers have likened it to the " disaster capitalism" examined in Naomi Klein's seminal 2007 book, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism—politicians and plutocrats exploit the chaos of natural or human-caused crises to push through unpopular policies like privatization and deregulation that harm the masses while boosting the wealth and power of the ruling class.

Economic alarm bells were already ringing before Trump's 25% tariffs on most products from Canada and Mexico and an additional 10% on China—for a total of 20%—took effect on Tuesday, prompting retaliatory measures and threats of more to come.

Then, during his rambling joint address to Congress on Tuesday night, Trump threatened to impose reciprocal tariffs on every nation on Earth starting April 2 (because he "didn't want to be accused of April Fools' Day") if those countries did not lower barriers to trade with the United States.

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New York Times economic policy reporters Alan Rappeport and Ana Swanson called Trump's sweeping tariffs "one of the biggest gambles of his presidency," and a move "that risks undermining the United States economy."

But what if that's the whole point?

"I've been entertaining this theory a little bit more lately, because [Trump's] economic moves seem so stupid and terrible and counterproductive without thinking that he is intentionally trying to cause harm," progressive political commentator Krystal Ball—who also has a degree in economics and is a certified public accountant— said Tuesday on the social media site X.



Ball cited an X post by Saikat Chakrabarti, a progressive Democrat running for Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) House seat who worked on Wall Street for six years and helped found the online payment processing company Stripe, in which he accused Trump of "manufacturing a recession."


"But it makes sense when you realize his goal is to create something like Russia where the economy is run by a few oligarchs loyal to him," Chakrabarti added. "Creating that state is hard in a large, dynamic, powerful economy with too many actors who can oppose him. So he's accelerating concentrating money and power into the hands of his loyalists while he crashes the rest out."



Responding to this, Ball asserted that "at this point, until proven otherwise, the primary actor in the government and the economy is actually Elon, so I think it makes sense to think of Elon's incentives here and what he may actually want to accomplish."

"If you think back at the last economic crashes—both in Covid and in the 2008 financial crash—while initially everyone suffered, including the rich, out of both, the rich were able to buy up assets on the cheap and emerged even wealthier and more powerful than before," she noted.

"So in 2008, not only did they get their own custom bailout, but they were able to buy housing stock at absurdly low prices," Ball recalled. "The rich got richer than ever, inequality skyrocketed, and the big banks got bigger than ever."

"Same deal with the Covid-era recession," she continued. "So, while again, everyone suffered initially, there was a huge bailout package which, yes, did benefit ordinary people, but if you look at who came out really on top... you could see people like Elon Musk, people like Jeff Bezos, people like Mark Zuckerberg getting far wealthier. Their net worths, which were already very high, skyrocketed beyond anyone's wildest dreams."

Indeed, as Common Dreamsreported, 700 billionaires got $1.7 trillion richer during two years of pandemic. Between March 2020 and April 2022, Musk got 10 times richer, while Zuckerberg's net worth more than tripled and Bezos' grew by nearly $80 billion, according to Forbes.

"Here's the other piece that's worth thinking about as well," Ball added. "Crash and crisis leads to governments and authoritarian leaders claiming more power for themselves. They can use the crisis and the emergency as a justification for taking on extraordinary powers and for taking extraordinary measures... measures that can be custom fit to primarily benefit oligarchs like Elon Musk."

"So I don't know guys, while we're running around here going... 'can't they understand how this is going to be devastating for the economy,' maybe they do understand," she concluded, "and maybe that's kind of the point."

Deluge of Trump tariffs seen hitting household budgets


By AFP
March 5, 2025


Strawberries from Mexico displayed for sale in Hawthorne, California are among the items affected by new US tariffs - Copyright AFP Stefani Reynolds

Elodie MAZEIN

Consumer items ranging from avocados and strawberries to electronics and gasoline look poised for price hikes in the wake of President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China.

“The consumer will likely see some price increases over the next couple of days,” Target Chief Executive Brian Cornell said this week.

Fresh fruit and produce imported from Mexico during the winter months have a very short supply chain, Cornell told CNBC.

Of the agricultural products imported to the United States from Mexico in 2023, 72.5 percent were fresh fruit and vegetables and beer and other alcohol, according to the US Department of Agriculture.

Yale University’s Budget Lab has estimated the net impact of Trump’s tariffs will be between a 1.0 percent and 1.2 percent hike to consumer prices, a yearly toll of $1,600 to $2,000 per household.

The Yale analysis takes into account 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico and 20 percent tariffs on China. Canadian crude has a 10 percent US tariff.

The tariffs should also raise up to $1.5 trillion for the US government in 2025, but the Budget Lab characterizes the measures as regressive taxes because they hit low-income consumers disproportionately.

Recent surveys of shoppers point to a dip in consumer confidence, suggesting a possible pullback in spending.

“It is a highly dynamic situation,” said Corrie Sue Barry, CEO of electronics retailer Best Buy, who called price increases “highly likely.”

Speaking on an earnings conference call, Barry pointed to “uncertainty about the duration, timing, amount and countries involved in addition to the potential action of others in the industry as well as the potential reaction of American consumers.”

– Auto reprieve –

Automobiles have been seen as among the most hard-hit industries from tariffs on Mexico and Canada because of the deep integration of supply chains across the region.

Trump’s tariffs have ignited anxiety throughout the industry.

Ford CEO Jim Farley said last month that Trump has promised a revival in US manufacturing but has so far produced “lot of cost and a lot of chaos.”

The tariffs could add between $4,000 and $10,000 per auto assembled in North America, according to an Anderson Economic Group analysis that excludes Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum.

The industry has warned of slowed investment.

“Automakers, battery makers and suppliers are investing billions in American manufacturing and to modernize the industrial base,” said John Bozzella, president of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation.

“This isn’t hypothetical. All automakers will be impacted by these tariffs on Canada and Mexico.”

Jessica Caldwell, head of insights at Edmunds, said the tariffs as proposed would profoundly affect the North American auto universe.

“If the tariffs do hold, the automotive industry won’t be able to adjust overnight,” she said. “There’s no escaping the fact that higher costs will ultimately be passed on to consumers.”

On Wednesday, the Whites House announced that it would allow a one-month exemption from tariffs on auto imports from Canada and Mexico.

– Lumber, gasoline –

Gasoline prices are also set to rise as a result of 10 percent tariffs on Canadian crude. Prices at the pump could increase as much as 40 cents per gallon by mid-March, according to GasBuddy, a website for comparing prices.

The US aerospace and defense industries, which are major exporters, is “investigating mitigation strategies that would minimize the impacts of new tariffs on our industry,” said Dan Hardwick vice president of international affairs for the Aerospace Industries Association.

The construction industry will also be affected by new 25 percent tariffs on Canadian wood, on top of existing 14.5 percent levies on some items.

More than 70 percent of softwood lumber and gypsum, which is used for drywall, come from Canada and Mexico, said Carl Harris, immediately past chairman of the National Association of Homebuilders.

Home-improvement retailer Home Depot said a majority of its products are sourced from the United States, Canada and Mexico where the chain has stores.

“In general, any tariff would have a broad impact on our industry,” Home Depot said.

In El Salvador, a river without fish feeds fear of mining


By AFP
March 5, 2025


El Salvador's San Sebastian river has no fish -- a result of decades of gold mining nearby - Copyright GETTY IMAGES/AFP/File Anna Moneymaker

Marvin Recinos with Oscar Batres in San Salvador

El Salvador’s San Sebastian river has no fish. The runoff from a gold mine upstream, already shuttered two decades ago, has long killed them all.

Now, residents fear the same fate for other rivers — and the creatures and people depending on them — after Congress, at President Nayib Bukele’s request, reversed a ban on metal mining.

Bukele billed the move as a way of invigorating the Central American country’s stagnant economy, but environmentalists and river-side communities fear the potential harms far outweigh any benefits.

In the community of Santa Rosa de Lima, a two-hour drive from the capital San Salvador, wastewater still flows directly into the San Sebastian river from a nearby hill where a gold mine operated for 100 years until 2006.

The site is still being illegally exploited by artisanal gold miners.

On a recent expedition to survey the river with a group of environmentalists, community leader Graciela Funes took a sample of the water and shook her head as she examined its unnatural copper color.

“We cannot allow this situation… We are human and we all need this vital liquid,” the 67-year-old told AFP.

In 2016, a report by El Salvador’s human rights ombudsman found that runoff from Santa Rosa de Lima’s shuttered mine had “severely impacted the quality and availability” of water in the region.

People who relied directly on the river had no option but to buy bottled water for drinking and cooking, it said.

The report contributed to El Salvador becoming the first country in the world, in 2017, to outlaw metal mining due to the harmful effects of chemicals such as cyanide and mercury used in the extraction process.



– ‘Pollution, poverty’ –



Last December, the mining ban was overturned after Bukele claimed El Salvador, a country of 6.6 million people, had “potentially” the largest gold deposits per square kilometer in the world.

The president mentioned a study — written by unknown authors and which he did not share — which found that mining a mere four percent of the country’s gold deposits would bring in $131 billion.

This was equivalent to 380 percent of GDP, the president argued, and would “change the economy of El Salvador overnight.”

But activists point to the San Sebastian gold mine — one of the most productive in Central America for much of the 20th century — as a cautionary tale.

The mine was shuttered after US firm Commerce Group had its environmental license revoked over river pollution.

“The beneficiaries of mining here will be small groups of companies, whether national or transnational, powerful groups that will take the minerals and resources from our soil and leave behind… misfortune, pollution, poverty,” said anti-mining activist Vidalina Morales, who joined Funes and others for the San Sebastian river analysis.

Environmental defenders fear a return to metal extraction also threatens the Lempa river, which runs through several areas with mining potential and supplies water to 70 percent of the capital’s inhabitants.

While mining does have its supporters, including from Salvadorans who see it as a source of much-needed employment, others worry it could be a dangerous environmental gamble with paltry gains.

For economist Julia Martinez, it is hard to weigh the risks as “we do not see a study that explains if that gold really exists.”

And Ricardo Navarro of the Salvadoran Center for Appropriate Technology, an environmental NGO, said gold in the country was found in small concentrations of one gram per ton of rock: “much damage for little gold.”

Lithuania quits cluster bomb ban treaty despite outrage

JOIN NATO BECOME A WAR CRIMINAL

By AFP
March 5, 2025


Russia and Ukraine are not members of the convention and have both used cluster bombs in their three-year-long war - Copyright AFP YASUYOSHI CHIBA

Saulius JAKUCIONIS

Lithuania on Thursday quit an international convention banning cluster bombs, citing security concerns over neighbouring Russia in a move that has drawn criticism from human rights groups.

The formerly Soviet-ruled Baltic state of 2.8 million people has also signalled its intention to leave another international treaty prohibiting the use of anti-personnel land mines.

NATO member Lithuania has said it wants to strengthen its defences following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, fearing it could be next if Moscow succeeds.

But Amnesty International has called the decision “disastrous” and Human Rights Watch said it was “alarming”, with both organisations warning that it could put civilian lives at risk.

The Lithuanian parliament voted to leave the cluster munitions convention last July, but the cvountry had to wait six months after submitting exit documents to the UN for the decision to take full effect.

It is the first country to leave the convention, which was adopted in 2008, and the first European Union country to leave a multilateral arms regulation agreement.

Russia and Ukraine are not members of the convention and have both used cluster bombs in their three-year-long war.

“Russia uses all the instruments available in a conventional war, and this shows that we need to take action to ensure effective deterrence and defence,” Lithuania’s Deputy Defence Minister Karolis Aleksa told AFP this week.

“Withdrawing from the convention gives us the opportunity to increase the effectiveness of our defence against large-area targets,” he said.

The convention has 112 state parties and 12 other signatories, and prohibits the use, transfer, production and stockpiling of cluster bombs.

Cluster munitions can be dropped from aircraft or fired from artillery, exploding mid-air and scattering bomblets over a wide area.

“The most effective deterrence and defence is when you have them in your possession and know how to use them,” Aleksa said.



– ‘A dangerous trend’ –



Many countries have banned cluster bombs because they pose a lasting threat, as many fail to detonate on impact, effectively acting as land mines that can explode years later.

HI, a non-governmental group and founding member of the coalition against cluster munitions, asked Lithuania to reverse its move.

“Lithuania’s decision paves the way to a dangerous trend as it may encourage other states to reconsider their commitments to humanitarian disarmament treaties, particularly in times of heightened security concerns,” HI’s Alma Taslidzan said in a statement.

“The Oslo Convention has proven to be effective in protecting civilians from this indiscriminate weapon,” she said.

But Aleksa said Lithuania would take “all necessary measures” to minimise the negative effects of cluster munitions, including planning to collect unexploded ordnance as quickly as possible after any potential military operation.

“Cluster munitions have immense destructive power, and additional attention will be paid to internal rules on their use,” he said.

Lithuania is also considering leaving another convention that bans anti-personnel landmines.

The military and the defence ministry have supported the move, but government leaders have paused the decision, asking whether regional allies would take similar steps.

The president’s national security advisor, Marius Cesnulevicius, said in February that a final decision could take several months.

Finland’s armed forces have been evaluating since last summer whether anti-personnel landmines should be reintroduced, but no decision has been made so far.

Stemming from a desire to ban anti-personnel landmines due to their devastating impact on civilians, the 1997 Anti-Personnel Landmines Convention currently has 164 state parties.

OOPS, FRIENDLY FIRE

South Korea air force jet accidentally drops bombs, injures civilians


By AFP
March 6, 2025


South Korea's Air Force said one of its fighter jets had accidentally dropped eight bombs in the wrong place during a training exercise, resulting in civilian injuries - Copyright YONHAP/AFP -

Hieun SHIN

South Korea’s Air Force said Thursday that one of its fighter jets had accidentally dropped eight bombs in the wrong place during a training exercise, resulting in civilian injuries.

“Eight MK-82 general-purpose bombs were abnormally released from an Air Force KF-16 aircraft, landing outside the designated firing range,” the Air Force said.

The incident occurred around 10:00 am (0100 GMT) in Pocheon, around 25 kilometres (16 miles) south of the heavily fortified border with the nuclear-armed North.

“We deeply regret the unintended release of the bombs, which resulted in civilian casualties, and wish those injured a swift recovery,” the Air Force said in a statement.

It said it had established an accident response committee to investigate the incident, and said it would “take all necessary measures, including compensation for damages.”

The Air Force said the military jet had been “participating in a joint live-fire exercise involving both the Air Force and Army.”

South Korea was holding combined live-fire drills with the United States Thursday in Pocheon, the Yonhap news agency reported.

South Korea’s National Fire Agency said that the bombs were “presumed to have fallen on a village during a South Korea-US joint exercise.”

This resulted in “casualties and property damage, with many displaced residents,” it said, adding that four people had been seriously injured and three suffered minor injuries.

One church building and sections of two houses were damaged, according to the statement.



– ‘Like a thunderclap’ –



One local resident, who gave only his surname Park, told Yonhap that he had been at home, watching television when the accident happened.

“I suddenly heard an enormous explosion, like a thunderclap, and the whole house shook. When I went outside, everything was in chaos,” Park said.

Even at a senior centre about a kilometre away, the accident was felt.

“A sudden explosion shook the building. The windows shattered, and one of our teachers was injured and taken to the hospital,” the centre’s director, surnamed Yu, told Yonhap.

“Fortunately, none of the seniors were hurt, but they were so frightened that we sent them all home,” they added.

Joint South Korea-US “Freedom Shield” military exercises, one of the security allies’ largest annual joint exercises, are set to begin later this month.

The two Koreas remain technically at war since the 1950-1953 conflict ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.

The United States stations tens of thousands of soldiers in the South, in part to protect Seoul against Pyongyang.

In 2022, a South Korean Hyunmu-2 short-range ballistic missile accidentally crashed into a military golf course in the South’s eastern Gangwon province, after it was fired in response to a North Korean missile launch.

The missile did not explode and no one was injured in that incident.

Acquittal of Fukushima operator ex-bosses finalised


By AFP
March 6, 2025


Bags of contaminated soil from the 2011 tsunami-triggered accident Fukushima nuclear plant, seen here in February - Copyright AFP GREG BAKER

Japan’s top court said Thursday it had finalised the acquittal of two former executives from the operator of the Fukushima nuclear plant charged with professional negligence over the 2011 meltdown.

The decision concludes the only criminal trial to arise from the plant’s 2011 tsunami-triggered accident, the world’s worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.

Ichiro Takekuro and Sakae Muto, formerly vice presidents of Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), had been accused of liability for the deaths of more than 40 hospitalised patients, who had to be evacuated following the nuclear disaster.

Former chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata, who died last year, had also faced the same charges.

The men had faced up to five years in prison if convicted.

But the Tokyo District Court ruled in 2019 that the men could not have predicted the scale of the tsunami that hit the plant.

That verdict was upheld by the Tokyo High Court in 2023, but an appeal was then filed.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday “dismissed the prosecutors’ appeals regarding Takekuro and Muto”, a top court spokesman told AFP.

“Katsumata’s public prosecution was dismissed in November” after his death, he added.

In March 2011, a massive tsunami swamped the Fukushima Daiichi plant on Japan’s northeastern coast after an undersea 9.0-magnitude earthquake, the country’s strongest in recorded history.

The tsunami left 18,500 people dead or missing.

But no one was recorded as having been directly killed by the nuclear accident, which forced evacuations and left parts of the surrounding area uninhabitable.

Despite the non-guilty criminal court verdict, in a July 2022 verdict in a separate civil case, the same three men and another were ordered to pay a whopping 13.3 trillion yen ($90 billion) for failing to prevent the disaster.

Lawyers have said the enormous compensation sum was believed to be the largest amount ever awarded in a civil lawsuit in Japan — although they admit that is symbolic, as it is well beyond the defendants’ capacity to pay.