Wednesday, June 22, 2022

BETTER SPENT ON DAY CARE

House panel votes for $37B boost to proposed 2023 defense budget as senators look to spend even more

By SVETLANA SHKOLNIKOVA
STARS AND STRIPES • June 22, 2022

WASHINGTON — The House Armed Services Committee agreed Wednesday to exceed the Biden administration’s fiscal 2023 defense spending plan by $37 billion, setting up a potential clash with senators who want to increase the budget even more.

Committee members, led by a months long push by Republicans, voted 42-17 in support of the overall increase, citing record inflation, the immediate threat of Russian aggression and China’s rising military power. The increase is $8 billion less than the $847 billion bill approved last week by the Senate Armed Services Committee.

“In our current threat environment … it’s time to grow out military, not shrink our military,” said Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va.

She said she hoped the ultimate agreement for the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, which sets policy and funding levels for the military, will be “somewhat north” of the $37 billion boost.

The White House requested $813 billion for national defense next fiscal year, including $773 billion for the Pentagon. The House panel’s adopted amendment authorizes extra money for military construction, fuel, bonuses and other support to offset inflation as well as additional ships and aircraft and more aid for Ukraine.

Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., the committee’s chairman, argued against bumping up the budget he had proposed — $802.4 billion — and said lawmakers need to focus on quality rather than quantity.

“I care as much about how the money is spent as I do about how much is spent,” he said. “I think making sure the Pentagon has some fiscal discipline and is forced to make tough decisions and not just always rely on another pot of money coming along is crucial for modernization.”

Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., took issue with the amendment’s plan to save five Freedom-class littoral combat ships that the Navy wanted to retire. She described the ships as “lemons” that are plagued with functionality problems and cost $59 million a year each to maintain.

“This is ridiculous and it’s shameful that we are restoring five of these decommissioned ships into service when all we’re going to do is spend money towing them back to port,” Speier said before voting against the overall budget increase.

The amendment authorizes $318 million for the cost of restoring the ships. It also earmarks $660 million for eight additional F/A-18s jets, $1.3 billion for nine more Navy and U.S. Marine Corps aircraft than requested, $1.2 billion for additional air and missile defense systems as well as other weapons and systems procurements.

Provisions in the amendment specifically target the effect of inflation on service members and the Defense Department, authorizing $3.5 billion to keep pace with military construction costs, $2.5 billion to offset the rising cost of fuel and $1.4 billion for bonuses, commissary subsidies and other financial support for personnel. The amendment also authorizes $1 billion for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative and supports costs for planning troop presence in Europe on NATO’s eastern flank.

House lawmakers also voted Wednesday to add another amendment requiring TRICARE, the military’s health insurance, to provide free contraceptives to service members, their spouses and dependents. The Affordable Care Act eliminated copays and deductibles for contraception under most commercial health plans for civilians in 2012.

“Why are we burdening our service members with this additional cost, which can be significant, when we pay them little as it is,” said amendment sponsor Speier. “This is about fundamental fairness.”

Another approved amendment called for the secretary of the Army to establish gender-neutral fitness standards that are higher for soldiers likely to see combat than those with less physical jobs. The Senate panel approved a similar proposal last week.

“It is obvious that a 100-pound artillery shell or a 150-pound rucksack or a 200-pound soldier that has to be moved to the top of a hill is different than using a keyboard,” said Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., the amendment’s sponsor. “At the end of the day, this is about the standards that all Americans who want to serve this country need to meet to win wars. The jobs are different, and therefore they should have different standards.”

Other amendments adopted Wednesday pave the way for the creation of a Space National Guard and authorize $45 million to continue the development of a sea-launched cruise missile program that President Joe Biden’s administration had wanted to scrap.

As the House Armed Services Committee continued deliberations Wednesday, the House Appropriations Committee voted to approve $761 billion for defense spending that is in line with the White House’s budget request. Congress will spend the next few months reconciling the differences in priorities and funding before bringing a final bill to a floor vote.

SVETLANA SHKOLNIKOVA
covers Congress for Stars and Stripes. She previously worked with the House Foreign Affairs Committee as an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow and spent four years as a general assignment reporter for The Record newspaper in New Jersey and the USA Today Network. A native of Belarus, she has also reported from Moscow, Russia.

SEE LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for PERMANENT ARMS ECONOMY

Sex for a job: the scandal of Haiti’s exploited US garment workers

Women paid a pittance for making clothes for top US brands are often forced to have sex by bosses to keep their jobs, say unions

“When you consider the price that the clothes are sold for, and the wages we receive, it’s as if we are selling our blood,” Marie says.

Haiti has promoted itself as having a cheap and available workforce for US clothing brands seeking low-cost suppliers.

Photograph: Dieu Nalio Chery/AP

Sophie Cousins in Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Thu 23 Jun 2022

Marie says she was less than a month into her job at a garment factory in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, making clothes for a range of well-known US brands, when the factory’s head of security gave her an ultimatum: have sex with him or be fired.

The 24-year-old says she had little choice. She relies on her job to support her four-year-old son after both her father and husband died.

“He made a lot of promises. He told me he was going to help me financially with my son’s school and was also going to help me pay my rent with a promotion, so I did it,” she says. “Afterwards, he told other security officers and every time I came to the factory, I felt humiliated and diminished. I never got a salary increase and never got any financial support.”

The head of security was not the only man at the factory to notice Marie. In March, her line supervisor began sexually harassing her, telling her he masturbated when he thought of her at home. She felt powerless to report him, knowing what happened to other women who complained. So to keep her job, she kept silent. But his behaviour got worse.

“He told me that if I didn’t agree to sex with him, he was going to pull me out of the line where we assemble clothes,” she says. She refused and in retaliation every time she went to the toilet she found piles of clothing added to her workstation, making it impossible to complete her work for the day. After weeks of harassment, she finally snapped when he began touching her inappropriately.
Workers are not considered as humans or as needing rightsYannick Etienne, Batay

“I told him to leave me alone, and because of that I was suspended for three days,” she says. “Even now, he is harassing me. He still wants to have sex.”

Yet Marie says that what is happening to her is standard practice at her factory and that other women are also afraid to speak out, scared of what might happen after they tell their story.
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In recent years, Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere, has promoted itself as a cheap and available destination for US clothing brands seeking low-cost suppliers that can take advantage of 2006 legislation that allows duty-free entry for goods made there by US companies.

About 60,000 Haitians work in one of the country’s 41 garment factories, producing clothes for more than 60 American companies.

Yet activists say conditions at the factories are akin to prison camps, with non-existent labour rights and where sexual abuse is rife.

“Workers are not considered as humans or as needing rights,” says Yannick Etienne, of the workers’ rights organisation Batay Ouvriye. “The pay is so low that it puts women in situations where they have to accept [forced] sex in order to pay their rent.”

The government has not raised the minimum wage since 2019, despite inflation of more than 15%. The country is experiencing catastrophic levels of insecurity and political instability after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse last year. As a result, food and fuel prices have escalated. Unions are fighting for an increase in the minimum daily wage of garment workers from 500 to 1,500 gourdes ($5-15).

Female garment factory workers the Guardian spoke to confirm that to get a job – which has become harder because so many people are looking for work – women are expected to have sex with a male manager.

‘To survive, I must appear fearless’: the former nun helping India’s garment workers fight sexual violence

“If you don’t accept to have sex with the manager, your application will be rejected,” one worker says, adding that she works on a line that produces 3,600 T-shirts a day. “You must oblige or you won’t have a job, and also if you want a promotion, you must have sex with your supervisor.”

Workers interviewed by the Guardian also spoke of having to use scrap material as sanitary towels because they could not afford to buy their own.

Rose-Myrtha Louis, a coordinator at the Haitian Workers’ Renovation Syndicate, said: “We are supposed to have access to pads, but we have to use waste from T-shirts [because] we don’t have enough money. It has given us infections. It’s just another way we are suffering.”

A 2021 report from Better Work Haiti, a labour compliance group backed by the International Labour Organization and the World Bank, found that 80% of workers and their families have had to cut down on meals. It also found that 96% of factories surveyed failed to comply with Haiti’s health insurance and social security contribution requirements, putting workers’ lives at risk.

“When you consider the price that the clothes are sold for, and the wages we receive, it’s as if we are selling our blood,” Marie says.

The Haitian Ministry of Trade and Industry did not reply when asked for comment.

Chilean Copper Workers to Begin National Strike

The trade unions of state-owned Codelco have convoked an indefinite stoppage from Wednesday in protest at the government’s plans to close the Ventanas foundry

Photo: Cristobal Olivares/Bloomberg

By Maolis Castro (EN)June 21, 2022

Santiago — Chile’s Copper Workers’ Federation (FTC) has called a national strike in all divisions of state-owned company Codelco, with the aim of “reversing” the government of President Gabriel Boric’s decision to close the Ventanas foundry and refinery.

The leaders of 26 trade unions have agreed to the indefinite stoppage, and the FTC’s president, Amador Pantoja, said that an investment of around $50 million by the company would resolve the pollution issues the government has cited as the reason for the plant’s closure.

The FTC explained the reasons for the strike, also citing the threat of privatization of the country’s copper industry, in a tweet on June 20.

The announcement of the plant’s closure has caused friction between the workers of Codelco, the world’s largest copper producer, and Boric, who has been in power for a little more than three months.

Boric held a meeting on Monday at the Palacio de La Moneda with several ministers, including Mining Minister Marcela Hernando, and the president of Codelco’s board of directors, Máximo Pacheco, to coordinate the process of closing Ventanas, which is located in the industrial zone of Quintero and Puchuncaví, in Valparaíso region, and which is blamed for causing pollution that, in the most recent episode, affected more than 100 people.

Chile and Ecuador Resume Talks Over Copper Deposits

Boric has said he does not want “more environmental sacrifice zones” in the country.

“Today there are hundreds of thousands of people living in our country exposed to severe environmental deterioration that we have caused or allowed, and that, as a Chilean, makes me ashamed,” Boric said last Friday.

For her part, Environment Minister Maisa Rojas said that pollution is produced by multiple agents.

“The smelter contributes 62% of sulfur dioxide (SO2), if it stops operating it will at least lessen the risk of intoxications by that pollutant. It does not solve the whole problem, but it is a step forward,” she said.

The government does not plan on reversing its decision to close the Ventanas facility, and assures that it will continue dialogue with the workers, even if they go on strike. Boric assures that all copper will continue to be processed “exclusively” in Codelco’s smelters and “no worker” will be left without a job.

“It is a difficult decision, but I am convinced that it is the right one,” he said recently.

Hits and Misses: Chile’s Gabriel Boric’s First 100 Days in Office

Chile is one of the richest economies in Latin America, and its main export is copper. In 2021, Codelco produced 1,618,266 metric tons of fine copper, maintaining the output of the previous year, but in the first quarter of 2022 it produced 364,000 tons of fine copper, a drop of 5.7% compared to the same period last year.

Boric, who aims for a greener and more egalitarian economy, has committed to increasing investment in the state-owned company.

“This year, Codelco will invest more than $90 million in exploration, as well as $86 million in innovation and technology. This is important, because to take care of Codelco we must reinvest in it and not squeeze all the resources it produces, defending the company against all privatization attempts,” he said in early June.

The conflict with the unions of Codelco occurs amid a slowdown in the economy and a drop in public support for the Chilean president. According to a Cadem poll published on Sunday, Boric is the head of state who has suffered the lowest popularity in his first 100 days of government; with an average approval rating among those polled of 41%.

Translated from the Spanish by Adam Critchley

UK to bring in new Bill of ~~Rights~~

WRONGS after migrant deportation defeat

© Reuters/HANNAH MCKAYFILE PHOTO: First Rwanda deportation flight set to leave Britain

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will begin legislating on Wednesday for a new Bill of Rights to give the government the power to ignore rulings from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which last week blocked ministers' plans to send migrants to Rwanda.

Last Tuesday, the ECHR issued last minute injunctions to prevent a handful of asylum seekers being sent to the East African country, meaning Britain's first planned deportation flight did not go ahead on schedule.

The new Bill of Rights that will be put before parliament on Wednesday will make clear that Britain's Supreme Court, which had allowed the Rwanda flights, had legal supremacy and ECHR decisions did not always need to be followed by British courts.

It would confirm that injunctions issued by the ECHR under its Rule 39, which stopped the Rwandan flight, were not binding, the Ministry of Justice said.

"These reforms will reinforce freedom of speech, enable us to deport more foreign offenders and better protect the public from dangerous criminals," British Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab said.

The government said the new bill would restrict the ability of foreign criminals to use a right to family life to prevent their deportation, and would stop "trivial" human rights cases from getting to court. It will also cement in law greater freedom of the press and freedom of expression, it added.

Protest against planned deportation of asylum seekers from Britain to Rwanda, Crawley

Lawyers and campaigners said however that the plan would erode people's rights and hand more power to ministers. As it stands, British courts are not bound by ECHR rulings anyway.

Stephanie Boyce, president of the Law Society of England and Wales, said it would create an acceptable class of human rights abuses, while Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UK’s Chief Executive, said it was unsurprising that politicians held to account by human rights laws wanted them removed.

"This is not about tinkering with rights. It's about removing them," Deshmukh said.

Some lawmakers in the ruling Conservative Party had wanted Britain to pull out of the European Convention on Human Rights altogether after last week's decision, but Raab said there were no plans to do so.

(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

Explainer-Could Germany keep its nuclear plants running?

A general view of the nuclear power plant in Gundremmingen

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Every domestic energy source, including nuclear power, is under consideration as Germany seeks to fuel its economy and ward off a recession considered likely if faltering Russian gas supplies stop completely.

Former Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged to halt the use of nuclear power after the Fukushima nuclear disaster of 2011 and utility leaders have prepared for the closure of three remaining reactors by the end of 2022.

They say constraints in sourcing fuel rods and expert staffing make keeping them open impossible. [POWER/DE]

The government also said in March that legal, safety and liability issues ruled out maintaining nuclear power.

Some of the Liberals within the Social Democrat-led government and the opposition Conservatives say, however, that given coal, which Germany has been phasing out for environmental reasons, is being reassessed, nuclear should also be reconsidered.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz has so far opposed keeping nuclear running longer.

WHY THE NEED?

Following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, which began on Feb. 24, Germany's has reduced the share of Russia in its gas imports to an estimated 35% from 55%, but is still dependent on it.

While the European Union has sought to reduce its use of Russian energy, Russia has also cut flows through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany to 40% of capacity. Moscow says Western sanctions are hindering repairs; Europe says this is a pretext to reduce flows.

Whatever the explanation, the energy regulator, the Bundesnetzagentur, has said there will be problems keeping consumers warm and industry functioning. At the same time, surging prices as the markets brace for shortage add to the risk of recession.

Alongside increased use of imported and domestic coal, nuclear power could help to help relieve the power generation sector, of which 15% is generated by gas-fired plants.

Using less gas for power to heat Germany's 41 million households would also free up more for industry, which in many cases needs it as a feedstock.

Utilities E.ON, RWE and EnBW operate respectively Isar 2, Emsland and Neckarwestheim 2 - in total 4,300 megawatts (MW) of nuclear capacity.

Three other remaining reactors closed at the end of last year when six reactors provided 12% of Germany's electricity.

Other energy alternatives for Germany are solar and wind, which rely on the weather and imported liquefied natural gas https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/germanys-lng-import-project-plans-2022-05-05 (LNG) terminals.

The difficulty with LNG is a lack of import capacity and competition on the international market, especially as Freeport LNG https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/freeport-lng-extends-outage-after-fire-targets-year-end-full-operations-2022-06-14, operator of one of the largest U.S. export plants is offline following an explosion earlier this month.

WHAT IS THE SYMBOLISM BEHIND GERMAN NUCLEAR?

Nuclear-fired power plants remain unacceptable to the Green Party. It traces its origins to the environmentalist movement of the 1970s, which cited security risks and the unresolved question of nuclear waste.

Restating the usefulness of nuclear power would be a vindication for Merkel critics and populist voices.

WOULD IT BE LEGALLY POSSIBLE TO KEEP THE PLANTS RUNNING?

"An extension by a few years would be legally admissible," Leipzig-based lawyer Christian Raetzke wrote in an article published by nuclear technology association KernD, also citing the climate benefit from near zero-emissions.

A relevant law "is possible and could be quickly passed," he said.

Achieving this would still be complex and require parliament to change existing laws, most notably a 2017 deal under which the utilities transferred their decommissioning funds to a public trust.

WHAT DO THE OPERATORS SAY?

They're against an extension for operational and economic reasons, but defer to the government's lead in the matter.

E.ON Chief Executive Leonhard Birnbaum wrote to staff saying the government had looked into nuclear and found it was not part of the solution. "We must respect this decision," he said in the letter, which was picked up by the Rheinische Post newspaper on Wednesday.

"It is the right question but unfortunately, it is too late (for German nuclear)," said CEO Markus Krebber at a German industry federation panel on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Vera Eckert, Christoph Steitz, Markus Wacket, editing by Barbara Lewis)

After fractious debate, EU Parliament votes to back "biggest ever" carbon market overhaul

European Union flags flutter outside the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium June 17, 2022.

June 22, 2022 -
By Kate Abnett

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Parliament backed reforms to the EU carbon market on Wednesday, allaying fears of a delay to Europe's climate change policies after lawmakers had rejected the proposals in a first vote this month.

The proposals would cut emissions faster under the European Union's carbon market, the centrepiece of a package of laws to reduce the EU's net greenhouse gas output by 55% by 2030, from 1990 levels.

The compromise was struck after lawmakers rejected the entire carbon market law in a divisive first vote this month, when lawmakers split over how quickly to end free permits against a backdrop of soaring energy costs and inflation.

Ths time, a majority of lawmakers backed a proposal to phase out free CO2 permits for industries by 2032 and replace them with a carbon levy on imported steel, cement and other products, designed to put European and foreign firms on a level footing.

"Finally we got it. We adopted with a huge majority the biggest climate law ever," said Peter Liese, Parliament's lead lawmaker on the carbon market.

Industry had lobbied to keep their free permits, which allow them to emit some CO2 for free - a system critics say has removed the incentive to reduce industrial pollution.

Euope's carbon market, or "emissions trading system" (ETS), forces power plants and factories to buy CO2 permits when they pollute, and caps the number of permits available to buy.

Lawmakers voted for the cap on CO2 permits in the market to fall by 4.4% from 2024, 4.5% from 2026 and 4.6% from 2029, while an extra 70 million permits will be removed in 2024 and 50 million in 2026, to drive faster CO2 cuts.

However, the Parliament scaled back a planned EU carbon market for buildings and transport, which some countries fear could hike fuel bills. They said the new shceme should apply to the commercial sector from 2025 and exclude households, a move Brussels has warned could risk Europe missing its climate goals.

The EU assembly strengthened other parts of the proposal, supporting an expansion the carbon market to cover 100% of emissions from international shipping trips to and from the EU from 2027, versus the 50% Brussels had proposed.

Amendments to restrict financial investors' access to the carbon market also passed, despite warnings from banks that doing so would slash its liquidity.

The vote confirms Parliament's position for negotiations with EU countries on the final laws. EU countries plan to agree their own position next week.

(Reporting by Kate Abnett, Editing by Angus MacSwan)

German sex abuse lawsuit targets former Pope Benedict

WHEN HE WAS CARDINAL RATZINGER HEAD OF THE INQUISITION
Wed, June 22, 2022

FILE PHOTO: General view of St. Peter's Basilica and the Apostolic Palace on the day former Pope Benedict acknowledged that errors occurred in the handling of sexual abuse cases while he was Archbishop of Munich

BERLIN (Reuters) - A lawsuit brought against an alleged paedophile priest in Germany is seeking to establish whether former Pope Benedict and other members of the clergy were culpable in a historical case of child sexual abuse, the plaintiff's lawyer said.

The so-called declaratory action was brought on behalf of a 38-year-old man from the southern state of Bavaria, who says he was abused by a priest as a child, the BR broadcaster reported together with the Correctiv research centre and Die Zeit weekly.

Andreas Schulz, the lawyer who lodged the case with the Traunstein regional court, confirmed the report to Reuters in an email.

A spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising declined to comment on an ongoing legal case.

The suit targets the priest, identified as Peter H., as well as Benedict, who served as the Archbishop of Munich and Freising from 1977 to 1982, his successor Cardinal Friedrich Wetter, and another church official, documents seen by Reuters show.

The case could set a precedent in Germany's reckoning with institutional clerical abuse if it results in a civil court for the first time weighing in on the alleged guilt of church officials.

The victim, who wants to remain anonymous, was aged between 11 and 12 when the priest allegedly showed him pornography and sexually abused him, the media report said.

A report released in January on abuse in the archdiocese from 1945 to 2019 accused Benedict of failing to take action against clerics in four cases when he was Archbishop of Munich.

Benedict later acknowledged that errors occurred in the handling of cases while he held that position and asked for forgiveness as his lawyers argued that he was not directly to blame.

(Reporting by Rachel More and Madeline Chambers, Editing by William Maclean)

ARGENTINE TRUCK DRIVERS BLOCK ROADS AT HARVEST PEAK, PROTEST LACK OF DIESEL

BUENOS AIRES, June 22 (Reuters) - Angry Argentine truck drivers blocked highways on Wednesday, protesting shortages and rising prices for diesel fuel, just as the country's crucial grains harvest requires transport amid surging inflation.

READ MORE: Surge in U.S. renewable diesel supply won't offset loss of petroleum diesel

Truck driver unions said the protests across the major corn and soybeans exporting nation will continue for an unspecified amount of time, aimed at pressuring the government to do more to address the extended motor fuel shortages and rising prices.

Outside the capital Buenos Aires, standstill traffic on a main highway extended some 4 miles (7 km) as a result of one of the protests, called for by commercial transportation unions.

National truck drivers union UNTRA asked the government to assure what it described as proportional diesel prices, according to a statement on Wednesday. Other associations joined in on the highway blockades, blasting the spiking cost of diesel.

Nearly the entire country, or 21 of 23 provinces, suffer fuel shortages, according to the national freight transport federation Fadeeac.

Senior government officials laid the blame for the shortages on growing demand as the economy recovers from a pandemic-led slowdown.

"The lack of diesel is a conflict, a complaint, that really has to do with growth," said presidential spokeswoman Gabriela Cerruti, speaking on local broadcaster Radio Con Vos. She added that the problems are being resolved but did not go into specifics.

This month, the government raised required biodiesel content in diesel blends, hoping that could help alleviate shortages of the industrial motor fuel.

Domestic demand for diesel jumped 14% year-over-year in the first quarter, according to government data.

(Reporting by Lucila Sigal; Writing by David Alire Garcia and David Gregorio)

Microsoft: Russian cyber spying targets 42 Ukraine allies

Wed, June 22, 2022

CLEVELAND (AP) — Coinciding with unrelenting cyberattacks against Ukraine, state-backed Russian hackers have engaged in “strategic espionage” against governments, think tanks, businesses and aid groups in 42 countries supporting Kyiv, Microsoft said in a report Wednesday.

“Since the start of the war, the Russian targeting (of Ukraine's allies) has been successful 29 percent of the time,” Microsoft President Brad Smith wrote, with data stolen in at least one-quarter of the successful network intrusions,

Nearly two-thirds of the cyberespionage targets involved NATO members. The United States was the prime target and Poland, the main conduit for military assistance flowing to Ukraine, was No. 2. In the past two months, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden and Turkey have seen stepped-up targeting,

A striking exception is Estonia, where Microsoft said it has detected no Russian cyber intrusions since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. The company credited Estonia's adoption of cloud computing, where it's easier to detect intruders. “Significant collective defensive weaknesses remain” among some other European governments, Microsoft said, without identifying them.

Half of the 128 organizations targeted are government agencies and 12% are nongovernmental agencies, typically think tanks or humanitarian groups, according to the 28-page report. Other targets include telecommunications, energy and defense companies.

Microsoft said Ukraine's cyber defenses “have proven stronger” overall than Russia's capabilities in “waves of destructive cyberattacks against 48 distinct Ukrainian agencies and enterprises.” Moscow's military hackers have been cautious not to unleash destructive data-destroying worms that could spread outside Ukraine, as the NotPetya virus did in 2017, the report noted.

“During the past month, as the Russian military moved to concentrate its attacks in the Donbas region, the number of destructive attacks has fallen,” according to the report, “Defending Ukraine: Early Lessons from the Cyber War.” The Redmond, Washington, company has unique insight in the domain due to the ubiquity of its software and threat detection teams.

Microsoft said Ukraine has also set an example in data safeguarding. Ukraine went from storing its data locally on servers in government buildings a week before the Russian invasion — making them vulnerable to aerial attack — to dispersing that data in the cloud, hosted in data centers across Europe.

The report also assessed Russian disinformation and propaganda aimed at “undermining Western unity and deflecting criticism of Russian military war crimes” and wooing people in nonaligned countries.

Using artificial intelligence tools, Microsoft said, it estimated "Russian cyber influence operations successfully increased the spread of Russian propaganda after the war began by 216 percent in Ukraine and 82 percent in the United States.”

Frank Bajak, The Associated Press

Afghanistan earthquake kills at least

1,000, more trapped in rubble

The death toll from an earthquake in Afghanistan on Wednesday hit 1,000, disaster management officials said, with more than 600 injured and the toll expected to grow as information trickles in from remote mountain villages. FRANCE 24's Shazaib Wallah tells us more.

Heartbreak and shock at Afghan earthquake hospital

Wed, June 22, 2022,

STORY: An earthquake of magnitude 6.1 killed hundreds of people in Afghanistan early on Wednesday (June 22).

At least 950 died and more than 600 were injured, according to disaster management officials.

The toll is expected to grow as information trickles in from remote mountain villages.

Buildings were reduced to rubble and helicopters were deployed in the rescue effort to reach the injured and fly in medical supplies and food.

Wednesday's quake was the deadliest since 2002.

It struck about 27 miles from the southeastern city of Khost, near the border with Pakistan, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

Most of the confirmed deaths were in the eastern province of Paktika.

Haibatullah Akhundzada, the supreme leader of the ruling Taliban, offered his condolences in a statement.

Mounting a rescue operation could prove a major test for the Taliban, who took over the country in August and have been cut off from much international assistance because of sanctions

Afghan people queueing to donate blood for earthquake victims being treated at a hospital in the city of Sharan, Afghanistan, on June 22, 2022. PHOTO: AFP

The disaster comes as Afghanistan grapples with a severe economic crisis since the Taliban took over, as U.S.-led international forces withdrew following two decades of war.

Many nations cut billions of dollars worth of development aid, though international agencies, such as the United Nations, still operate.

A foreign ministry spokesperson said Afghanistan would welcome international help.

Heartbreak and shock in Afghanistan after earthquake kills more than 1,000 people

An Afghan quake victim receiving treatment at a hospital on June 22, 2022.

PHOTO: AFP/BAKHTAR NEWS AGENCY

SHARAN, AFGHANISTAN (AFP) - Ms Bibi Hawa's face is distorted by tears as she tries to grasp her predicament from a hospital bed in Sharan, capital of Afghanistan's Paktika province.

At least a dozen members of her family were among over 1,000 people killed by a devastating earthquake that struck the region early Wednesday (June 22), and she fears she has been left all alone.

"Where will I go, where will I go?" the 55-year-old asks repeatedly.

As a nurse tries to calm her down, talking to her gently and caressing her forehead, Ms Bibi sighs: "My heart is weak."

The 5.9-magnitude quake struck hardest in the rugged and impoverished east, where people already led hand-to-mouth lives made worse since the Taliban takeover in August.

Children injured by the earthquake resting inside a hospital in Sharan, Afghanistan, on June 22, 2022. PHOTO: AFP

The disaster poses a huge challenge for the hardline Islamists, who have largely isolated the country as a result of their hardline policies.

The United Nations in an initial estimate said over 2,000 homes were destroyed in the region, where the average family often has up to 20 members.

In the room where Ms Bibi is being treated a dozen other women lie on beds - many asleep, some burrowed beneath blankets, others hooked up to vital fluids.

An Afghan child being treated inside a hospital after getting injured in the earthquake, in Sharan, Afghanistan, on June 22, 2022. PHOTO: AFP

Ms Shahmira is unhurt, but her one-year-old grandson lies in her lap, a large dressing covering his temple.

On the next bed her daughter-in-law is sleeping off her injuries, while a son is being treated in a different ward.

"We were sleeping when we heard a loud noise," she tells AFP of the quake. "I screamed... I thought my family was buried under the rubble and that I was the only one" still alive.

In an adjacent ward, a dozen men are also recovering on beds. One father holds his son on his lap - the boy wearing mustard-coloured pants with little black hearts, one leg in a plaster cast.

Nearby another child lies under a blue blanket. His left arm is also in a cast, while on his forehead a white bandage bears the word "emergency" written in black marker.

An Afghan youth being treated inside a hospital in Paktika, Afghanistan, on June 22, 2022.

PHOTO: AFP/BAKHTAR NEWS AGENCY

"It was a horrible situation," recalls Mr Arup Khan, 22, talking of the moments after the quake. "There were cries everywhere. The children and my family were under the mud."

Dr Mohammad Yahya Wiar, director of Sharan Hospital, says they have been doing their best to treat everyone.

When the injured arrived, they "were crying, and we were crying too", he tells AFP.

"Our country is poor and lacks resources. This is a humanitarian crisis. It is like a tsunami."

But locals are rallying to help. In front of the hospital, a hundred men are waiting patiently.

"They have come to give blood - about 300 have already given it since this morning," explains a Taliban fighter.

Wed, June 22, 2022

US health authorities are expected to order Juul Labs to stop selling e-cigarettes in the world's biggest economy, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

The announcement, which could come as early as Wednesday, follows a two-year review of data presented in connection with Juul's application to sell tobacco- and menthol-flavored products in the United States, said the newspaper, which cited anonymous sources.

Juul did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The FDA also did not respond to a query.

Juul has come under fire over its marketing of fruit and candy flavored e-cigarettes that had drawn in young consumers.

In January 2020, the FDA said sale of e-cigarettes in flavors other than tobacco or menthol would be illegal unless specifically authorized by the government.

The agency has approved some e-cigarette products from other makers such as Reynolds American, while taking a hard line on sweet or flavored products.

Juul has argued that vaping products can provide a solution to the harmful health impacts from conventional cigarettes.

Juul's products "exist only to transition adult smokers away from combustible cigarettes," Chief Executive KC Crosthwaite said on the company's website, adding that the company is "working hard" to rebuild its reputation following an "erosion of trust over the past few years."

On Tuesday, President Joe Biden's administration announced it would develop a new policy requiring cigarette producers to reduce nicotine to non-addictive levels.

The initiative requires the FDA to develop and then publish a rule, which will likely be contested by industry.

jmb/bgs

Advocates cautiously optimistic over report of Juul ban

BY NATHANIEL WEIXEL - 06/22/22

Anti-smoking advocates said they are cautiously optimistic following a report that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is preparing to remove Juul’s vaping products from U.S. shelves.

The move from FDA, as r eported Wednesday by The Wall Street Journal, would bring an end to the two-year review of the company’s request to sell tobacco and menthol flavored e-cigarettes.

If the report is true, “it’s most welcome and long overdue,” said Erika Sward, American Lung Association’s national assistant vice president of advocacy.

“What I’m hoping is that this will be the beginning of a number of situations where FDA rejects the applications for companies that are clearly not interested in being appropriate for the protection of public health,” Sward said.

A decision has not been publicly announced, and an FDA spokeswoman said the agency had no information to share.

The FDA has faced growing pressure to regulate vaping as e-cigarette use has skyrocketed among youth and teenagers, worrying parents and health experts about their ingestion of the nicotine-based product.

In 2020, the FDA required all e-cigarette and vaping companies to submit applications to continue marketing products. The agency has been reviewing applications from manufacturers ever since.

The agency also banned the sale of all vaping flavors aside from tobacco and nicotine, and has not allowed any companies to legally sell flavors.

Juul’s popularity soared in 2018, but the company’s fruity flavors were widely blamed for hooking teenagers and young kids onto vaping.

Tobacco giant Altria, which sells Marlboro, Virginia Slims and Parliament cigarettes in the United States, invested $12.8 billion for a 35 percent stake in Juul in 2018. But the move has not paid off. At the end of last year, Altria said its Juul investment was worth less than $2 billion.

Altria’s shares took a tumble following the Journal’s report, closing down more than 9 percent.

“Juul, more than any other product and any other company, has been responsible for creating and fueling the youth e-cigarette epidemic. If these reports are accurate, this would be the most significant action the FDA has taken to date to end the youth e-cigarette epidemic and stop tobacco companies from using these nicotine-loaded products to addict another generation of kids,” said Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids.

Juul took its fruit- and mint-flavored nicotine pods off the market in 2019. The FDA’s reasoning for banning Juul will likely be that it has no benefit to public health, and the threat to young nonsmokers is much larger than any possible benefit to adult smokers.

In September, FDA missed a deadline to decide which e-cigarette products can stay on the market.

In the run-up to the deadline, FDA said it made decisions on more than 90 percent of the new tobacco products that were submitted, rejecting applications of more than 300 companies to sell more than 6 million products, mainly due to their potential appeal to underage teens.

But regulators delayed making decisions on most of the major vaping companies, including Vuse and Juul.

Vaping advocates have railed against the FDA’s efforts to regulate the industry, which they argue helps people transition away from traditional, and more harmful, cigarettes.

Removing Juul from the market would be “the latest sorry example of the agency’s campaign of regulatory arson against the nicotine vaping products that millions of Americans rely on as an alternative to cigarettes,” Amanda Wheeler, president of the American Vapor Manufacturers Association, said in a statement.

“This shameful decision is hard proof that no matter how deeply resourced or how meticulous the research in the market application, FDA is hellbent to arbitrarily crush the most widely used vaping products preferred by adult Americans,” Wheeler said.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the FDA announced plans to severely limit the levels of nicotine that tobacco companies can place in traditional cigarettes in an attempt to make them less addictive.

“Because tobacco-related harms primarily result from addiction to products that repeatedly expose users to toxins, FDA would take this action to reduce addictiveness to certain tobacco products, thus giving addicted users a greater ability to quit,” the FDA said.

HYDROCARBON INC.IS CAPITAL INTENSIVE

Troubled Canada pipeline no longer

profitable: budget watchdog

Wed, June 22, 2022,

The controversial Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project, now under construction in western Canada after being nationalized, is no longer profitable as costs have spiralled, Parliament's budget watchdog said Wednesday.

In a report, the office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer said a review of the project's finances found "that the government's 2018 decision to acquire, expand, operate, and eventually divest of the Trans Mountain assets will result in a net loss for the federal government."

Ottawa purchased the pipeline for Can$4.4 billion (US$3.4 billion) from Kinder Morgan four years ago to salvage the troubled expansion project.

But its current value, the PBO estimated, is only Can$3.9 billion, after construction costs soared to $21.4 billion and its completion was pushed one year to late 2023.

The negative valuation is based on the pipeline's future cash flows over 40 years, minus construction costs.

The project is to replace an aging conduit built in 1953 to deliver 890,000 barrels of oil a day from landlocked Alberta to the Pacific coast for shipping to new markets in Asia and elsewhere.

Prior to the government taking over the project, it had been stalled by legal challenges and protests by Indigenous groups and environmental activists.

amc/st

RIP
French co-discoverer of 'Lucy' dies at 87

Coppens once told AFP, he was particularly proud to have "made an irrefutable link between the emergence of man and climate change"

AFP -

Coppens called himself one of Lucy's 'daddies'

French palaeontologist Yves Coppens, credited with the co-discovery of the famous fossil find known as "Lucy", died on Wednesday aged 87 after a long illness, his publisher said.

"France has lost one of its great men," publisher Odile Jacob tweeted, adding that beyond his science skills, Coppens had also been "a talented writer, storyteller and non-fiction author".

He was, with Maurice Taieb and Donald Johanson, part of the team that found the most complete remnants of an Australopithecus afarensis ever discovered, in 1974 in Hadar, Ethiopia.

The team nicknamed the 3.2- million-year-old female hominid "Lucy" after the Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" which they listened to while labelling the fossils.

Based on the large part of Lucy they found, 40 percent of her skeleton, the scientists were able to determine her height (one metre, 3.5 feet) and show that she was muscular and able to climb trees as well as walk upright.

Coppens, who was born in Britanny and was the son of a nuclear physicist father, co-signed six hominid discoveries over his career.

"At six or seven years old I already wanted to become an archaeologist," Coppens told AFP in 2016. "All my holiday time was spent at digs," he added.

Coppens was admitted to France's prestigious CNRS scientific centre in 1956 when he was still only 22.

He began travelling to Africa from the 1960s, starting with Algeria and Chad.

His first major discovery came in 1967, a 2.6-million-year-old fossil in the Omo valley in Ethiopia.

Then in 1974 came the international expedition in Ethiopia's Afar triangle that was to make Coppens, his friend and fellow Frenchman Taieb and Donald Johanson, an American, world famous for the discovery of Lucy.

Coppens often referred to himself as one of Lucy's "daddies" ("papas" in French).

For a long time after the find, which comprised 52 bone fragments, scientists believed that she was a direct ancestor of humanity.

But this claim is no longer widely believed, and Coppens as well as other palaeontologists came instead to view Lucy as a distant cousin of mankind.

Later Coppens ran digs in Mauritania, the Philippines, Indonesia, Siberia, China and Mongolia.

Back home, he became director of the Musee de l'Homme (Museum of Mankind) in Paris, was given the palaeontology chair in the prestigious College de France, and joined France's Academy of Science.

He also won several prizes, served as an advisor on environmental questions to the French government, and wrote several books and more than a million scientific articles.

Besides the discovery of Lucy, Coppens once told AFP, he was particularly proud to have "made an irrefutable link between the emergence of man and climate change".

As forests gave place to savannas, man stopped climbing trees, began to walk upright and needed to develop brain power to keep carnivores at bay, he said.

burs-jh/har