France shooting: Policeman charged over teen's traffic stop death

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Protesters march in honor of the mother of Nahel, a 17-year-old boy shot dead by a police officer after refusing to obey a traffic stop in Nanterre, France. Photo: VALERIE DUBOIS / HANS LUCAS / AFP

By Kathryn Armstrong for the BBC

A French policeman has been charged with homicide and is in custody over the killing of a teenager near Paris on Tuesday local time.

The 17-year-old, named as Nahel M, was shot at point-blank range as he drove off and crashed soon afterwards.

Anger at his killing has sparked violence across the country. A march led by the boy's mother was marred by clashes on Thursday afternoon.

In a third night of unrest, protesters were arrested in Lille and Marseille.

In the town of Nanterre, where the teenager was killed, a huge fire engulfed the ground floor of a building where a bank is located.

Video and pictures on social media also appear to show piles of rubbish ablaze in several places.

Bus and tram services in Paris and the wider region stopped operating in preparation for further violence. Some suburbs have declared night-time curfews.

Transport services have also been disrupted in the cities of Lille and Tours.

Some 40,000 police have been deployed across France in an attempt to deal with the unrest, after cars and buildings were damaged in rioting in several French cities on Tuesday and Wednesday night.

Gérald Darmanin, the country's interior minister, said 170 officers were injured in Wednesday night's clashes alone and 180 people were arrested.

Cars in Nanterre are set on fire during a protest following the death of a French teenager in a traffic stop. Photo: AMAURY CORNU / HANS LUCAS / AFP

Officers were injured on Thursday afternoon as well, during violence in Nanterre that followed a largely peaceful march calling for justice. It was attended by more than 6000 people.

Élisabeth Borne, the French prime minister, said she understood the outpouring of emotion following the 17-year-old's death, but condemned the riots.

"Nothing justifies the violence that's occurred," she said.

The teenager's death has sparked a wider conversation about the power of the police and the relationship between the authorities and those from France's suburbs, who feel segregated from the country's prosperous city centres.

"We have a law and judicial system that protects police officers and it creates a culture of impunity in France," Nahel's lawyer, Yassine Bouzrou, told the BBC World Service's Newshour programme.

But Nahel's mother said she did not blame the police in general, or the system, for the killing - just the officer who fired the lethal shot that killed her son.

The officer accused of killing him said he had fired because he felt his life was in danger. His lawyer told French radio station RTL that his client discharged his firearm "in full compliance of the law".

- BBC

* This story was first published by the BBC.

Watch Putin draw a weird face on a smart board as Russia tries to act like everything is normal after Wagner went rogue

Erin Snodgrass
Jun 29, 2023,

Russian President Vladimir Putin draws on a multimedia blackboard as he tours an exhibition of perspective Russian brands before the plenary session of the Strong Ideas for a New Time forum, in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, June 29, 2023.

 (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Putin made two public appearances this week just days after the Wagner Group staged a revolt.

The Russian president's sudden accessibility seemed to be an effort to maintain a facade of control.

But military experts told Insider that the coup could be the beginning of the end of Putin's reign.

Putin appears to be on the prowl for good publicity in the aftermath of the Wagner Group's armed uprising.

The Russian president made two public appearances this week just days after the Wagner mercenary group, led by former Putin-ally Yevgeny Prigozhin, staged an armed revolt against the country's defense ministry.

The sudden over-saturated public presence of Putin seems to be part of Russia's strategic attempt to pretend everything is totally fine as it fights a flailing war in Ukraine and tries to manage its own civil strife back home.

Thousands of Wagner troops-for-hire marched toward Moscow on Saturday before Prigozhin eventually turned his forces around, saying he wanted to avoid bloodshed. The Kremlin agreed to drop criminal charges against Prigozhin in exchange for his exile to neighboring Belarus, though the specifics of the tenuous peace-deal remain uncertain.


Military experts told Insider that the Wagner coup could very well be the beginning of the end for Putin's multi-decade reign.

On Thursday, the Russian president attended the Agency for Strategic Initiatives forum, where he toured an exhibition of award-winning concepts for new national brands that can substitute Western products, according to Russian state media agency Tass.

In a Telegram post, Russian state news agency TASS shared video of Putin interacting with the NexTouch interactive touch screen.

With pen in hand, the president doodled a bizarre human face replete with squiggly-lined skin, three strands of hair, and giant ears.

Then, he signed his name beneath the masterpiece.

The Thursday appearance came one day after Russian state television broadcast Putin meeting "hundreds of people" in Derbent, Dagestan.

Putin's unusually-friendly behavior — shaking hands with civilians and posing for photographs — stands in stark contract to the chaos that gripped Moscow on Saturday

Putin receives rockstar welcome in Dagestan after quelled mutiny

Russia’s Putin greets adoring supporters during Derbent trip seen as an attempt to boost ratings after an armed insurrection.

Putin kisses a participant of a meeting in a street in Derbent 

[Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Kremlin via Reuters]
Published On 29 Jun 2023

President Vladimir Putin has received a rockstar welcome in Russia’s Dagestan region that some are interpreting as the 70-year-old leader’s attempt to boost his popularity days after quelling an armed insurrection.

The Kremlin said on Thursday that footage, which could not be verified, apparently showing Putin greeting adoring supporters in Derbent proved that he has “astounding” support.

KEEP READINGlist of 3 itemslist 1 of 3

The Wagner rebellion revealed Putin’s weaknesslist 2 of 3

US officials see weakened Putin as Russia tumult reveals ‘cracks’list 3 of 3

Qatar emir talks to Putin after Wagner mutiny in Russiaend of list

Moscow has insisted that Putin’s long rule has not been weakened after Wagner mercenaries marched hundreds of kilometres, almost reaching Moscow, and captured military facilities in southern Russia, appearing to gain some support. The Kremlin has not mentioned the name of Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin since the mutiny was halted.

Putin is rarely seen meeting the Russian populace, especially since the coronavirus pandemic, which saw him observe strict isolation rules, with some of those restrictions still in place.

Moscow on Wednesday evening released footage of Putin walking up to a cheering group of mostly women in Derbent.

“In Derbent, there was an astounding demonstration of support and happiness of the local population,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.

He said Putin “could not refuse” to greet the crowd.
Surrounded by men in suits and a cameraman, the Russian leader reached out over a barrier to shake people’s hands.

Then, with his jacket off, he waved goodbye and blew a kiss to the crowd, before getting in a car.

“The data we have show the prevailing and dominating support of the president and the special military operation,” Peskov said on Thursday, using Moscow’s official term for the conflict in Ukraine.

Putin has insisted that the mutineers did not galvanise support during their rebellion.
He initially condemned the rebelling Wagner fighters as traitors and promised tough punishment, but after the mutiny was halted, Putin allowed the fighters to go back to their homes, join the regular army or go into exile in Belarus.

Putin chairs a meeting dedicated to tourism development in Derbent 

[Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Kremlin via Reuters]

“I did not doubt the reaction in Dagestan and in all of the country,” Putin said as he met Sergei Melikov, the head of the Caucasus region, according to an extract of the meeting aired on Russian television.

Putin was replying to Melikov who had said that “there was not a single person in Dagestan who did not support decisions made by the leaders of the Russian Federation” over the aborted rebellion.

The short-lived rebellion represented the most serious challenge to Putin since he came to power in Russia on December 31, 1999

Putin receives the Quran as a gift during his visit to the Juma Mosque in Derbent

 [Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Kremlin via Reuters]

SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES

Health effects of aspartame draw new scrutiny from WHO experts

By Giri Viswanathan and Jamie Gumbrecht, CNN
Thu June 29, 2023

The FDA calls aspartame “one of the most studied food additives in the human food supply.”Peter Dazeley/The Image Bank RF/Getty Images
CNN —

Decades after aspartame was approved for use in the United States, the sweetener’s safety is getting another look by global health bodies assessing its potential links to cancer.

The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer analyzed the potential carcinogenic effects of the sweetener this month. A separate WHO and United Nations committee, the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives, is now updating its risk assessment, including what it considers to be an acceptable daily intake. Their findings have not been made public; they will be released together July 14.

Don’t use sugar substitutes for weight loss, World Health Organization advises

Aspartame is a common sweetener used in beverages like Coke Zero Sugar, Diet Coke, Sprite Zero, Pepsi Zero Sugar and Mountain Dew Zero Sugar. It’s also found in chewing gum, cough drops and even some toothpastes, among other products. The sweetener has been reviewed multiple times by the US Food and Drug Administration, which says aspartame is safe for the general population.

The FDA updated its website on aspartame and other sweeteners ahead of the WHO analysis; it says it monitors the latest science and levels of consumer exposure to sweeteners and calls aspartame “one of the most studied food additives in the human food supply.”

Both WHO committees are made up of independent health experts from around the world. The International Agency for Research on Cancer looked at existing research to assess whether aspartame is hazardous, and the report from the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives will provide recommendations for how much aspartame a person can safely consume.

The cancer research committee’s range of carcinogens is broad, according to Qi Sun, an associate professor of nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health. For example, it considers mobile devices “possible carcinogens,” he said, a classification that indicates that a product has “limited” links to cancer in humans.

But Sun says consumers don’t necessarily need to be worried. Whether aspartame can be considered a carcinogen “boils down to what kind of evidence we have,” he said.

“I feel the evidence is pretty sparse to say either way to say ‘aspartame is cancerous’ or to suggest that aspartame is not as carcinogenic,” he said.

Which drink is best for hydration? Hint: It isn’t water

“I think you just have to be aware that there’s a question over this,” James Farrell, a gastrointestinal oncologist at the Yale School of Medicine, said of aspartame’s safety. “And the people who’ve raised this question have an objective reason for raising this question. They’ve looked at it from a medical and scientific perspective … so I think it would be foolish to ignore.”

US health officials raised concerns about WHO having two separate reviews long before the meetings this month.

In a letter in August, the US Department of Health and Human Services said WHO’s simultaneous reviews of aspartame could potentially draw conflicting determinations that would “seriously undermine” confidence in the scientific process and “inflame the current climate of public skepticism about the validity of science and scientific process.”

HHS argued in its letter that the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives should be the sole reviewer of cancer risk of aspartame in food.

In response, WHO said the groups’ reviews would be complementary. The cancer research committee, which has not previously analyzed aspartame, would assess its potential cancer hazard. The food additive committee would update its risk assessment, including what it considers to be acceptable daily intake of aspartame. The first group’s conclusion “represents only part” of the second group’s assessment, WHO said.

Both letters were posted online by the FDA.

The WHO committees are international bodies, but the FDA will make its own decision on aspartame guidelines. After the reports’ release in July, the agency will probably consider the evidence, Sun said, but is under “no obligation” to change its current regulations.

The American Beverage Association – a group that represents beverage makers such as Coca-Cola and PepsiCo – said in a statement Thursday that safety is a priority.

“The fact that food safety agencies worldwide, including the FDA, continue to find aspartame safe makes us confident in the safety of our products,” it said.

Last month, WHO said people should not use sugar substitutes to lose weight, saying they might have a short-term impact but don’t lead to sustained reduction in obesity.

“Like anything in life, you’ve got to start with everything in moderation,” Farrell said. “If they release data that suggests or questions the safety of [aspartame] … if you’re able to limit your intake, why wouldn’t that be a reasonable thing to think about?”

In Sun’s perspective, artificial sweeteners like aspartame can temporarily be a good choice for people trying to reduce their sugar intake. In the long run, he said, there are much better options for beverage consumption, including water, unsweetened teas or reduced-fat milk, whose health benefits are supported by ample research.

“I think consumers could easily switch to those household beverages to improve their health rather than get concerned about consuming artificially sweetened beverages and cancer,” Sun said. “We don’t have evidence either way.”

NZ / AEROTOA

Report explores 'Māori foreign policy' and China relations

Christine Rovoi

Jun 30 2023


Using te ao Māori principles in our foreign policy provides a fundamental difference in how Kiwis see the world, a new academic paper has found.

The report, released on Wednesday, comes amid concerns about China’s growing influence and power in the Indo-Pacific region.

Titled “New Zealand's Maori foreign policy and China: a case of instrumental relationality?”, the study explored the implications of using te ao Māori principles in the face of increasingly great power tensions.

Co-author Dr Nicholas Ross Smith, at the University of Canterbury, said with the competition between China and the United States, there was an “emerging fear” that New Zealand would be forced to choose a side.


READ MORE:
* As Chris Hipkins prepares to meet President Xi, Nanaia Mahuta denies being 'harangued' by Chinese counterpart

* Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta raised China's position on Ukraine war with diplomats in Beijing

* The Treaty of Waitangi, and a Māori worldview are taking a greater role in shaping how we interact with the world

* Nanaia Mahuta lays out vision for NZ foreign policy: China for trade, US for defence, and Pacific at the centre

The paper is one of the first contributions to global international relations literature based on an ao Māori perspective, Smith said.

The study was also conducted by Victoria University Masters student Bonnie Holster (Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Whakaue and Ngāti Rangiwewehi).

The new study examined Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta’s use of a kaupapa Māori foreign policy based on four tikanga.

The findings were published in the International Affairs journal by Oxford University Press.

Smith, a senior research fellow at UC, said the study examined Minister of Foreign Affairs Nanaia Mahuta’s use of a kaupapa Māori foreign policy, based on four tikanga Māori: manaakitanga (hospitality), whanaungatanga (connectedness), mahi tahi and kotahitanga (unity through collaboration) and kaitiakitanga (guardianship and the protection of intergenerational wellbeing).

“Using te ao Māori principles in our foreign policy provides a fundamental difference in how we see the world,” Smith said.

“It takes a relational and intergenerational approach that offers a more complex and sophisticated way of looking at these relationships, which is radically very different to how many countries approach geopolitics.”

Assessing the communications of Mahuta and other officials, the study found that through the instrumental use of a kaupapa Māori framework, Aotearoa had been able to develop a mature relationship with China when other countries were pushing back.

In April last year, China sealed a security deal with the Solomon Islands which allowed Solomons Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare to call on Beijing at any time for police or defence assistance.

During a visit to New Zealand in October 2022, Solomons foreign minister Jeremiah Manele​ assured Mahuta that the security pact with China would not result in a Chinese military base in the Pacific.

MARK SCHIEFELBEIN/AP
Despite signing a security agreement with China in 2022, Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, here with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, left, says that the pact will not lead to a Chinese military base in the Pacific. 

Manele also said the Solomon Islands would not “choose sides” in a geopolitical struggle over the Pacific, and would partner with both Beijing and Washington. ​

Smith said New Zealand’s predicament was that, while we had strong and hard security links with the US, China was easily our most important trading partner

“Australia has taken a conventional balancing approach by deepening ties with the US at the expense of its relationship with China,” he said.

“By moving towards a more relational view based on te ao Māori principles, we have arguably been able to choose a more ambitious and independent option of attempting to maintain good relationships with all.

“The challenge with this is it does make us an outlier, particularly in the Five Eyes security alliance, and there is the risk that this approach may isolate and put us in a vulnerable position,” Smith said.

Mahuta this week denied she was being “harangued” by her Chinese counterpart Qin Gang at their meeting in Beijing in March – the first visit to China by a Cabinet minister since 2019.

The discussions included trade, human rights and security challenges such as Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. Mahuta also met business and women leaders while in Beijing.

“China is integral to New Zealand’s economic recovery, but our relationship is far broader – spanning cultural, educational and sporting links,” she said.

UNIVERSITY OF CANTERBURY
Dr Nicholas Ross Smith says there is increasing competition between the United States and China, with an "emerging fear" that New Zealand will be forced to choose a side.

Mahuta has said the conversation she had with Qin in March was merely “robust”.

Smith said that while the upcoming general election may result in a change of minister at Foreign Affairs, he was confident that aspects of the Māori foreign policy would continue.

“Nanaia Mahuta has undoubtedly been a key driver of this, so a change in personnel could see us revert to a more conventional foreign policy approach.

“However, there is also an evolutionary aspect that reflects New Zealand's growing embrace of te ao Māori perspectives, together with the continued role of Te Tiriti o Waitangi in public policymaking, which I believe is here to stay.

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins on Tuesday met Chinese President Xi Xingping at Bejing's Great Hall of the People near Tiananmen Square, where student-led demonstrations from April-June in 1989 – demanding greater political freedom and a more democratic government – left several thousand people dead and thousands more injured.

Hipkins' week-long agenda includes Aotearoa's ongoing economic relationship with issues like trade, international students and tourism.

Hipkins returns to New Zealand on Friday.

Missouri locals sidestep pro-gun lawmakers to put limits on firearms

ASSOCIATED PRESS
BY SUMMER BALLENTINE
June 29, 2023Share

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Ater years of failed attempts to convince Missouri’s Republican-led Legislature to enact stricter gun laws, St. Louis locals are trying to sidestep lawmakers altogether.

A former judge, state lawmaker and criminologist filed initiative petitions on Wednesday that would amend Missouri’s Constitution to allow St. Louis and other local governments to adopt their own gun policies.

“The use of guns for hunting in rural Missouri is very different than the use of guns in urban areas,” Rick Rosenfeld, a retired University of Missouri—St. Louis criminology professor, said in a statement.

The effort comes after Republican lawmakers rebuffed requests this year from St. Louis’ mayor and new police chief to make it harder for minors to carry firearms or to allow urban areas to adopt stricter gun policies compared to the rest of the state.

In February, the GOP-led House voted down a bipartisan proposal to put limits on when and where minors may carry guns, despite pleas from St. Louis lawmakers who told stories about teenagers toting rifles downtown.

St. Louis officials renewed calls for action when one teenager was killed and 10 others were hurt at a downtown party that devolved into a shootout on June 18. Survivors range from ages 15 to 19, and injuries include multiple gunshot wounds and grazings.

St. Louis police said a 17-year-old who had a gun at the party was arrested but was released to a parent because it’s not illegal for teenagers to carry a firearm in Missouri. Police haven’t been able to tie the teen to the shooting.

In voting against limits on teenagers carrying firearms, Republican House members argued this year that doing so would be an unneeded infringement on gun rights and would not solve the crime problem facing St. Louis.

“While it may be intuitive that a 14-year-old has no legitimate purpose (carrying a firearm), it doesn’t actually mean that they’re going to harm someone,” Rep. Tony Lovasco, a Republican from the St. Louis suburb of O’Fallon, said during a February House debate.

Two proposals by Sensible Missouri would give St. Louis, St. Louis County, Kansas City and Jackson County the power to impose local gun rules. Another petition would allow any local government to adopt gun regulations if approved by local voters.

Missouri lawmakers passed a law in 2014 preventing cities and counties from enacting any gun policies.

Sensible Missouri would work around that law by restoring local governments’ right to act on firearms through the state constitution, which also would make it harder for state lawmakers to undo.

The secretary of state is collecting public comments on the three proposals.

Legislating Love for the Ruling Party

China’s new draft law on “enhancing patriotic education” looks to add to the leadership’s legislative toolbox for repression and ideological control.

TRACKING CONTROL

JUN 30, 2023 | RYAN HO KILPATRICK

A wide-ranging new law to “enhance patriotic education” has come before China’s top legislative body, offering a new means to tighten ideological controls both online and beyond the country’s borders. Despite its emphasis on “promoting the spirit of patriotism,” the text of the law makes clear that the broader goal is to legislate love and devotion to the Chinese Communist Party and the top leadership.

“Patriotic education adheres to the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party,” the text reads, adding that it “integrates love for the country, love for the Party, and the love of socialism.”

Submitted for review this week to the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, the draft bill lays out nine “main content” points of patriotic education. Six of these are explicitly political: they cover Marxism; Maoism; the theories of Xi Jinping; the leadership, achievements, and history of the CCP; revolutionary and socialist culture; national unity; and revolutionary martyrs.

In keeping with Xi Jinping’s rhetorical appeals to “Chinese civilization” to legitimize his growing power, “cultural traditions” like the Lunar New Year, Qingming, and the Dragon Boat Festival are identified as vehicles to promote patriotism. No cultural or political values beyond upholding CCP rule are clearly identified, however.

The “main contents” of patriotic education, according to the draft bill.

Closing articles in the draft lay out a litany of offenses that range from “undermining the dignity” of the national anthem, flag, and emblems to “denying the deeds of national heroes” and “denying acts of aggression” by foreign countries.

Departments of education, press and publication, film and broadcasting, culture and tourism are expected to “promptly stop and eliminate the impacts” of any violation, then “impose punishments” on violators whether or not they constitute criminal behavior.

In spirit, the draft bill reads like a return to the Patriotic Education Movements of the 1990s — a conservative backlash to the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests that stoked “national humiliation” resentments and patriotism to restore the CCP’s damaged legitimacy in the wake of its bloody crackdown on the protestors and its move away from Communist orthodoxy in favor of market reforms.

In scope, however, it adds significantly to both the technologies and jurisdictions affected. It requires internet content and service providers — as well as broadcasters and publishers — to strengthen the creation and dissemination of patriotic content and to develop new platforms and products to actively promote patriotism online.

This requirement, which comes amid an ongoing crackdown to “clean up” online content and accounts that do not fully align with Xi’s ideology, is a mandate not just for the state-run media to actively promote Party-led patriotism, but for privately-run internet platforms also to demonstrate their obedience with related content and technology innovations.

Party Patriotism Beyond the PRC

Significantly, it is the first patriotic education bill that specifically targets Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and overseas Chinese. Article 22 of the draft requires the state “take measures […] to strengthen identification with the country and China’s excellent traditional culture” on all four fronts, although how they will do so in Taiwan, which they have never controlled, remains unclear.

Protest against “brainwashing education” in Hong Kong, 2012.

Wong Kam-leung, chairman of the pro-Beijing Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers, said yesterday that the Education Bureau in the special administrative region should guide students to safeguard socialism and the leadership of the Communist Party of China. (The federation’s pro-democracy counterpart, the older and larger Hong Kong Professional Teachers’ Union, was disbanded in 2021 following a coordinated smear campaign by the Education Bureau and Chinese state media.)

Hong Kong’s government met widespread public resistance when it tried to introduce a “moral and national education” curriculum in 2012. The student movement that rose up in opposition to what it called “brainwashing education” catapulted teenage activist Joshua Wong to international attention. That movement is seen as a precursor to the 2014 pro-democracy Umbrella Movement. Wong is now jailed and the major groups that comprised the Civil Alliance Against National Education — including Scholarism, the Civil Human Rights Front, and the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China — have all been dissolved in the national security law crackdown.

The draft law is a mandate not just for the state-run media to actively promote Party-led patriotism, but for privately-run internet platforms also to demonstrate their obedience with related content and technology innovations.

When passed, the law will not immediately apply to Hong Kong; however, pro-Beijing legislators have pointed out that Article 18 of the city’s Basic Law empowered the National People’s Congress Standing Committee to directly apply national-level laws by adding them to Annex III of the law. This was the mechanism used in 2020 to push through the national security law which has decimated Hong Kong’s once-vibrant civil society. With Hong Kong’s Legislative Council purged of all opposition lawmakers, it offers a convenient constitutional backdoor to enact direct rule by Beijing.

The law could also have global implications. Even those far beyond China’s real or claimed borders are included in the law, with the same article mandating protection of “the rights and interests” of overseas Chinese and the “providing of services to enhance their patriotism and promote patriotic traditions.” At a time when Chinese communities are increasingly viewed with scrutiny as potential agents of the CCP abroad, such moves to tighten and enforce ideological controls on overseas Chinese may in fact prove detrimental to their “rights and interests.”

First-of-its-kind reparations panel issues report in California

"slavery was 250 years of wage theft.”

A nine-member task force in the US has published a 1,075-page report identifying ways to redress the harms of slavery.

From left: State Senator Steven Bradford, Secretary of State Shirley Weber, task force member Lisa Holder and Assembly member Reggie Jones-Sawyer present Thursday's final report

 [Haven Daley/AP Photo]

Published On 30 Jun 2023

A California task force has released a 1,075-page final report outlining proposals for how the state can make reparations for the harms done to Black families throughout the history of the United States.

The report, released on Thursday, coincided with the task force’s final meeting, culminating nearly three years of research and community panels.

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It also marked the most ambitious effort to date to redress the long legacy of slavery and racial discrimination in the US.

“We must believe that reparations can come to fruition. We’ve come such a long way, and this work must not be in vain,” Monica Montgomery Steppe, a San Diego City Council member and task force appointee, told an audience of hundreds at the final meeting.

The report itself does not specify a dollar amount for how much its proposals cost, but it suggests calculations for estimating financial losses due to discriminatory policies.

It also calls for actions like a formal apology from the state of California and safeguards to ensure further abuses do not occur.

With the task force set to dissolve, it is now up to the California state legislature to evaluate the report and enact its recommendations — or not.

“This task force makes numerous worthy and important recommendations on what reparations could include,” said state Senator Steven Bradford, also a member of the task force.

“It could include cash payments. It can include free tuition to our UCs [University of California campuses] and CSUs [California State University campuses]. It can be a first-time homebuyer assistance down payment. Interest-free loans. State tax relief. Free health care.”

But Bradford brushed aside anticipated criticism about the costs of such measures. He pointed out that California had recently passed a $310.8bn budget — and that the state has allocated billions for controversial initiatives like a long-delayed high-speed rail system.

“Let’s be clear and honest: The cost of reparations will be high,” Bradford said. “But make no mistake. The harms that are done are just as high. And the harms and the disparities it created continue to this day.”

A crowd rallies for reparations outside San Francisco’s city hall on March 14, 2023 

[File: Jeff Chiu/AP Photo]

It remains unclear how much political backing the report’s recommendations will have in the legislature, despite outward support from Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom.

Earlier this year, Newsom called the task force’s recommendations “a milestone in our bipartisan effort to advance justice and promote healing”.

But he declined to go further in his comments, instead highlighting efforts already under way to minimise barriers to voting and reform the criminal justice system.

“Dealing with the legacy of slavery is about much more than cash payments,” Newsom said, leading some critics to speculate he may not embrace monetary compensation as an option.

The task force made headlines earlier this year when an economist presented a rough estimate that reparations could cost California $800bn, a sum more than twice the state’s annual budget.

But for the members of the nine-member panel, numbers like those emphasise the grave injustice done to Black people in the US.

“I’ve lost count of the number of bills that we dealt with regarding wage theft,” Bradford said of his time in the legislature. “Well, slavery was 250 years of wage theft.”

Governor Gavin Newsom, seen on Thursday in Grass Valley, California, has called the task force’s work a ‘milestone’

 [Adam Beam/AP Photo]

Montgomery Steppe, the San Diego City Council member, likewise pushed for concrete action to come from the report.

“We are not asking for performative justice but demanding reparations in all categories: satisfaction, restitution, compensation, apology and guarantee of non-repetition,” she said, listing off sections of the report.


“It is not unreasonable. It is not unattainable. And it is not unjustifiable for this state to address the immense harm done to descendants of enslaved people.”

The report illustrates that harm by offering a wide-ranging discussion of discrimination in the US, from the effects of mass incarceration to the unequal health care treatment many Black people receive.

It also tries to pin a dollar amount to how much those acts of discrimination cost Black families over the long run. One section about redlining — the practice of exclusionary real estate tactics — estimates that the average Black family in California lost $161,508 in homeownership wealth as a result.

The task force had previously voted in March 2022 to limit reparations to recipients who can trace their lineage to enslaved people, rather than opening any potential benefits to all Black Californians.

Task Force Chair Kamilah Moore listens to public comment during a meeting on December 14, 2022 [File: Jeff Chiu/AP Photo]

But that too came under scrutiny in Thursday’s final meeting, as families presented their experiences with discrimination before the panel.

Yvette Porter Moore, a San Diego-based genealogist, explained that she was adopted — and it was only through research that she came to understand her family’s history with enslavement and disenfranchisement.

Part of her family, she explained, had been enslaved on a plantation in Noxubee County, Mississippi. Other members of her family were born free, only to have their property seized by the government through eminent domain.


“Since qualification for reparations is going to be determined through lineage-based research, there needs to be legislative law changes to open sealed birth and adoption records,” Moore said.

“We as adoptees do not have access to our original birth certificates. We as adoptees have been cut off from our legal rights of claiming our heritage and ancestry. So then what?”

She also explained that DNA and lineage tracing could be “costly” for families — and proposed that be covered through reparations as well.

DUNKIN DONUT ON MARS

Image captured by Mars rover shows a mysterious ‘doughnut’ on the planet’s surface

By Kristen Rogers, CNN
Thu June 29, 2023

NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover captured this image June 23 in the red planet's Jezero Crater using its SuperCam Remote Micro-Imager camera.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES/IRAP

An image captured by the Mars rover Perseverance shows a mysterious doughnut-shaped rock on the red planet’s surface.

Launched in July 2020, the Mars Perseverance rover continues to explore the planet’s 28-mile-wide (45-kilometer-wide) Jezero Crater for signs of ancient microbial life, according to NASA. The rover collects samples of rock and broken rock and soil (called regolith) for possible return to Earth by a future Mars mission.

The Mars “doughnut” is one of the latest objects captured about 100 meters (roughly 328 feet) away in the delta of the Jezero Crater by the SuperCam Remote Micro-Imager — one of the rover’s cameras helping scientists see what’s on the planet’s surface.

The Perseverance team hasn’t made the rover go closer to the doughnut-shaped rock to examine or sample it, so its exact makeup and origins are unknown, said Jim Rice, an assistant research scientist in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University. Rice, who is on the rover’s Mastcam-Z imaging team, first spotted the rock on June 14.

Scientists have a few hypotheses as to where the rock came from — and where it didn’t.

“I can’t say with absolute, 100% certainty it’s not a meteorite, but I think it’s highly unlikely,” Rice said. “The reason I say that is because, this region we’re in, we see a lot of rocks that have these kind of hollowed-out interiors.”

The typical rocks in this region are sedimentary sandstones that are likely a few billion years old, Rice said. “Those were brought in by floods by this big river channel, the Neretva Vallis — that’s the channel that brought all the water and the rocks and sediment in there.”

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The river channel likely transported the doughnut-shaped rock from another area, he added. The rock is larger than 25 centimeters (nearly 10 inches) wide, but exactly how much larger is unknown, Rice said.

Another rock could have been embedded in the center of the doughnut-shaped rock before weather eroded it, leaving a cavity, he added. Wind can also gradually enlarge any small pits or cavities that were already there. Or the rock could have just been weaker in its center.

“Really, scientifically, it’s not anything special,” Rice said.

Pascal Lee, a senior planetary scientist at the SETI Institute, said he thinks the rock could be a meteorite, given past sightings of meteorites on Mars, and the planet’s proximity to the asteroid belt and capacity to preserve meteorites.

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The rock is surrounded by smaller rocks or fragments, “so maybe (it’s) a meteorite that broke up upon landing,” Lee said. In this case, the doughnut shape could have been created by weaker materials in the rock eroding upon entering Mars’ atmosphere, he added.

It’s also possible that the rock was “thrown away from another part of Mars by the impact of a large asteroid,” Lee said. “It’s called an ejecta block. … I would recommend that Perseverance divert from its current course to check it out.”

The rover team has no plans to do so, as it’s currently driving Perseverance in the opposite direction toward boulders it will eventually sample, Rice said.

The Mars doughnut isn’t the only pastry-shaped rock that has been found on the planet. In 2014, NASA’s Opportunity rover spotted a small rock that’s white on the outside, with a red interior — like a jelly doughnut, Lee said.

IAEA chief to visit Fukushima nuclear power plant next week, Japan says

REUTERS
30 June, 2023
(

c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2023

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s foreign minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said on Friday the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi will visit Japan during July 4-7 to see the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Japan plans to release the water from Tokyo Electric Power Co’s Fukushima plant, which was destroyed during the 2011 nuclear disaster, into the sea this summer, raising concerns in neighbouring countries.

(Reporting by Kantaro Komiya; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)

Indonesian radioecologist concerned about Japan's nuclear-contaminated water release plan

CGTN

30-Jun-2023

People protest against the Japanese government's plan to discharge nuclear-contaminated water into the sea in Fukushima, Japan, June 20, 2023. /Xinhua

Japanese government's plan to discharge Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water into the sea may have a negative impact on the ecology of the Pacific Ocean, an Indonesian nuclear expert said.

Murdahayu Makmur, a marine radioecologist with Indonesia's National Nuclear Energy Agency raised her concern about Japan's discharge plan in a recent interview.

The nuclear contaminated water contains the radioactive substance tritium, and with the discharge of a large amount of nuclear contaminated water, there is concern whether the content of tritium in seawater will increase significantly and whether it will have an ecological impact, she said.

In addition, the nuclear contaminated water may contain other radioactive substances besides tritium, the expert added.

Nuclear contaminated water discharged into the sea will be driven by ocean currents and continue to spread. Marine life which move with the currents and the migration of marine fish will also drive the spread of radioactive materials, she said.

The radioecologist noted that if the tritium content in seawater and marine life continues to increase, the entire Pacific coast, including Indonesia, will be affected.

Indonesia is very concerned about the environment and seafood safety in the surrounding waters, and will closely monitor the level of radioactive substances in the surrounding waters, she added.

Growing anger and fears

Despite ongoing opposition from both locally and abroad, Japan has been rushing to carry out its plan to dump radioactive wastewater into the Pacific Ocean, causing growing anger and stoking fears among the global community.

A protest against Japan's planned discharge of nuclear-contaminated water in Seoul, South Korea, June 12, 2023. /Xinhua

The head of the Fukushima fisheries federation has again expressed opposition to the plan to release radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant into the sea, local media reported on Wednesday.

During a meeting on Tuesday with the plant's operator Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), Tetsu Nozaki said the government and TEPCO had told the prefectural fisheries federation eight years ago that they would not dispose of the wastewater without gaining the understanding of the parties involved, the public broadcaster NHK reported.

The fishers have not endorsed the government and TEPCO's explanations about the discharge plan, Nozaki noted.

Secretary-General Henry Puna of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) warned in a statement on Monday that Japan's plan to dump nuclear wastewater into the sea "is not merely a nuclear safety issue. It is rather a nuclear legacy issue, an ocean, fisheries, environment, biodiversity, climate change and health issue with the future of our children and future generations at stake."

Leaders from multiple Pacific Island countries have urged Japan "to store or dump their nuclear waste in their home countries rather than storing or dumping them in the Pacific," the statement said, adding that people from the Pacific Island countries have gained nothing from Japan's plans, which puts future generations at great risk.

(With input from agencies)

The looming fate of Fukushima’s contaminated water

Environmental concerns in the Pacific also come
with political risks for Japan’s prime minister.


The Fukushima plant operator expects that the storage tanks for contaminated water will reach their capacity by early 2024 (Philip Fong/AFP via Getty Images)

DANIEL MANDELL
Published 30 Jun 2023 

In the coming months, Japan will be in a position to enact its long-announced plan to release contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean. Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who will make the final decision on whether to go ahead with the plan, will have to balance the fact that the tanks currently being used to store the water will reach their capacity in early 2024 against the environmental and political risks that the plan to release the water presents. How he ultimately does this is likely to have significant ramifications not only for his own domestic standing, but for Japan’s international reputation as well.

The challenge stems from the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, which caused a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear reactor located on Japan’s Pacific coast. Since that time, the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO), has had to pump in water to cool the melted fuel and fuel debris. Once the water comes in contact with the radioactive materials, it becomes radioactive itself.

TEPCO has been using a process known as Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS) to remove most of the radioactive elements in the water, but the technology is not able to remove from the water the low levels of tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen. The treated-but-still-contaminated water is currently being stored at the power plant in specially designed tanks. Although TEPCO has constructed enough tanks to store more than 1.3 million cubic metres of contaminated water, it expects that the tanks will reach their capacity early next year.

In 2021, the Japanese government published a plan to slowly release the contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean. According to the government, the water that will be released will present a minimal risk to humans and the environment, with the level of radioactivity falling far below established safety levels. The final piece of an undersea tunnel that will be used to release the water was recently installed, leaving only final safety checks and official approvals before the water will be able to begin to flow.

Shortly after Japan announced its plans in 2021, it requested technical assistance from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), with the IAEA Director General setting up a task force to provide a science-based safety review of Japan’s plan. The task force is expected to release a comprehensive draft report in the near future.

Robust opposition to the proposed release of contaminated water has come both locally and internationally (Takashi Aoyama/Getty Images)

When the government first announced its plan, it was met with significant concern – if not outrage – from a variety of groups both inside and outside of Japan. Protests against the plan came from China, South Korea, Taiwan, and the Pacific Island countries that view the ocean as part of their identity.
As a result of its diplomatic and educational efforts, Japan has begun to win over some of the objectors.

Now, two years later, there is still robust opposition from many of these same places. Japan’s fishing industry recently reiterated its opposition to the plan, China is accusing Japan of using the Pacific Ocean as its “sewer for discharging its nuclear contaminated water”, and the Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum has called for continued discussion and study before the water is released. Australian Minister for International Development and the Pacific Pat Conroy recently echoed the Pacific Islands Forum’s position, explaining Australia’s expectation that “any discharge of treated water by Japan will be fully informed through scientific assessments” and hope “that everyone just keeps talking”.

However, as a result of its diplomatic and educational efforts, Japan has begun to win over some of the objectors. The leaders of the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of Palau now say they have no objection to the release of the contaminated water. Additionally, a South Korean delegation recently visited the Fukushima site to collect additional data, showing a willingness to revise its existing opposition.

Assuming that the IAEA’s report agrees with Japan’s contention that the release of the contaminated water presents only a minimal risk to the environment and that Kishida decides to move forward with the plan, the question the prime minister will face is how to handle the political difficulties he is likely to encounter.

Within Japan, Kishida’s approval ratings have recently declined over unpopular domestic policies, raising questions of whether he will call a snap election to seek a fresh mandate. In this context, approving the release of the contaminated water before ameliorating domestic opposition from the fishing industry and others may present a meaningful threat to his own political future.

At the international level, approving the release plan risks derailing the recent rapprochement between Japan and South Korea, whose relationship has long been tense for historical reasons. It could also undermine decades of effort that Japan has put into building its status as a trusted partner for the Pacific Island countries, as well as its desire to create a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific”.

Given the fact that the storage tanks at the power plant will soon reach capacity, the inescapable reality is that action will need to be taken. The decision and resulting impact will ultimately determine whether the action is as severe as the initial meltdown.