STORM DANIEL

Flooding in Libya leaves 2,000 people feared dead and more missing after storm collapsed dams

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In this photo provided by the Libyan government, cars and rubble sit in a street in Derna, Libya, on Monday, Sept. 11, 2023, after it was flooded by heavy rains. Mediterranean storm Daniel caused devastating floods in Libya that broke dams swept away entire neighborhoods and wrecked homes in multiple coastal towns in the east of the North African nation. As many as 2,000 people were feared dead one of the country’s leaders said. (Libyan government via AP)Read More

In this photo provided by the Libyan government, a car sits partly suspended in trees after being carried by floodwaters in Derna, Libya, on Monday, Sept. 11, 2023. Mediterranean storm Daniel caused devastating floods in Libya that broke dams and swept away entire neighborhoods and wrecked homes in multiple coastal towns in the east of the North African nation. As many as 2,000 people were feared dead one of the country’s leaders said. (Libyan government handout via AP)

In this photo provided by the Libyan government, a seaside road is collapsed after heavy flooding in Derna, Libya, on Monday, Sept. 11, 2023. Mediterranean storm Daniel caused devastating floods in Libya that broke dams and swept away entire neighborhoods and wrecked homes in multiple coastal towns in the east of the North African nation. (Libyan government via AP)

In this photo provided by the Libyan government, muddied seawaters caused by heavy flooding are visible off the coast of the city of Derna, Libya, on Monday, Sept. 11, 2023. Mediterranean storm Daniel caused devastating floods in Libya that broke dams and swept away entire neighborhoods and wrecked homes in multiple coastal towns in the east of the North African nation. (Libyan government via AP)

BY SAMY MAGDY
September 11, 2023

CAIRO (AP) — Mediterranean storm Daniel caused devastating floods in Libya that broke dams and swept away entire neighborhoods in multiple coastal towns in the east of the North African nation. As many as 2,000 people were feared dead, one of the country’s leaders said Monday.

The destruction appeared greatest in Derna, a city formerly held by Islamic extremists in the chaos that has gripped Libya for more than a decade and left it with crumbling and inadequate infrastructure. Libya remains divided between two rival administrations, one in the east and one in the west, each backed by militias and foreign governments.

The confirmed death toll from the weekend flooding stood at 61 as of late Monday, according to health authorities. But the tally did not include Derna, which had become inaccessible, and many of the thousands missing there were believed carried away by waters after two upstream dams burst.

Video by residents of the city posted online showed major devastation. Entire residential areas were erased along a river that runs down from the mountains through the city center. Multistory apartment buildings that once stood well back from the river were partially collapsed into the mud.

In a phone interview with station Monday, Prime Minister Ossama Hamad of the east Libyan government said 2,000 were feared dead in Derna and thousands were believed missing. He said Derna has been declared a disaster zone.

Ahmed al-Mosmari, a spokesman for the country’s armed forces based in the east, told a news conference that the death toll in Derna had surpassed 2,000. He said there were between 5,000 and 6,000 reported missing. Al-Mosmari attributed the catastrophe to the collapse of two nearby dams, causing a lethal flash flood.

Since a 2011 uprising that toppled and later killed long-time ruler Moammar Gadhafi, Libya has lacked a central government and the resulting lawlessness has meant dwindling investment in the country’s roads and public services and also minimal regulation of private building. The country is now split between rival governments in the east and west, each backed by an array of militias.

Derna itself, along with the city of Sirte, was controlled by extremist groups for years, at one point by those who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, until forces loyal to the east-based government expelled them in 2018.

At least 46 people were reported dead in the eastern town of Bayda, Abdel-Rahim Mazek, head of the town’s main medical center said. Another seven people were reported dead in the coastal town of Susa in northeastern Libya, according to the Ambulance and Emergency Authority. Seven others were reported dead in the towns of Shahatt and Omar al-Mokhtar, said Ossama Abduljaleel, health minister. One person was reported dead Sunday in the town of Marj.

The Libyan Red Crescent said three of its workers had died while helping families in Derna. Earlier, the group said it lost contact with one of its workers as he attempted to help a stuck family in Bayda. Dozens of others were reported missing, and authorities fear they could have died in the floods that destroyed homes and other properties in several towns in eastern Libya, according to local media.

In Derna, local media said the situation was catastrophic with no electricity or communications.

Essam Abu Zeriba, the interior minister of the east Libya government, said more than 5,000 people were expected to be missing in Derna. He said many of the victims were swept away towards the Mediterranean.

“The situation is tragic,” he declared in a telephone interview on the Saudi-owned satellite news channel Al-Arabiya. He urged urged local and international agencies to rush to help the city.

Georgette Gagnon, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Libya, said early reports showed that dozens of villages and towns were “severely affected ... with widespread flooding, damage to infrastructure, and loss of life.”

“I am deeply saddened by the severe impact of (storm) Daniel on the country ... I call on all local, national, and international partners to join hands to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the people in eastern Libya,” she wrote on X platform, formerly known as Twitter.

In a post on X, the U.S. Embassy in Libya said it was in contact with both the U.N. and Libyan authorities and was determining how to deliver aid to the most affected areas.

Over the weekend, Libyans shared footage on social media showing flooded houses and roads in many areas across eastern Libya. They pleaded for help as floods besieged people inside their homes and in their vehicles.

Ossama Hamad, the prime minister of the east Libya government, declared Derna a disaster zone after heavy rainfall and floods destroyed much of the city which is located in the delta of the small Wadi Derna on Libya’s east coast. The prime minister also announced three days of mourning and ordered flags across the country to be lowered to half-staff.

Controlling eastern and western Libya, Cmdr. Khalifa Hifter deployed troops to help residents in Benghazi and other eastern towns. Ahmed al-Mosmari, a spokesperson for Hifter’s forces, said they lost contact with five troops who were helping besieged families in Bayda.

Foreign governments sent messages of support on Monday evening. Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president of the United Arab Emirates, said his country would send humanitarian assistance and search-and-rescue teams to eastern Libya, according to the UAE’s state-run WAM news agency.

Turkey, which supports the country’s Tripoli-based government in the west, also expressed condolences, along with neighboring Algeria and Egypt, and also Iraq.

Storm Daniel is expected to arrive in parts of west Egypt on Monday, and the country’s meteorological authorities warned about possible rain and bad weather.

7 people have died in storms in southern China and 70 crocodiles are reported to be on the loose


Fire-fighters drain out water following heavy rainstorms in Hong Kong, Friday, Sept. 8, 2023.

 Rain pouring onto Hong Kong and southern China overnight flooded city streets and some subway stations, halting transportation and forcing schools to close Friday. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)Photos

 September 11, 2023

BEIJING (AP) — Rainstorms battering southern China have killed at least seven people and allowed dozens of crocodiles to escape from a farm.

Nearby residents were advised to stay at home after more than 70 crocodiles escaped in Maoming, a city near the coast in western Guangdong province, according to Chinese media reports.

An emergency official was quoted as saying that 69 adult crocodiles and six juveniles had escaped. Some have been captured, but the operation was difficult because of the depth of a lake they are in, the media reports said.

No injuries have been reported.

2 dead in Hong Kong amid extreme rain and flash floods that also struck southern China

Hong Kong closes schools as torrential rain floods streets, subway station

Floods from Tropical Storm Haikui kill 2 and displace thousands in China’s Fujian province

Further west, seven people died and three are missing after multiple landslides in the city of Yulin in the Guangxi region, the official Xinhua News Agency reported late Monday. Heavy rain on Sunday and Monday triggered the landslides.

The rain caused flash floods in Hong Kong last week, killing two people. Parts of the city were flooded again following a heavy downpour Monday. Puddles of water and debris could still be seen.

Hong Kong leader John Lee said the government would set up an emergency assistance fund to help those affected by the floods.

Over 100 VIPs attend UN screening of documentary on Russia’s siege of Ukrainian city of Mariupol



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Associated Press journalist Mstyslav Chernov delivers a video message from the field in Ukraine before the screening of the award-winning documentary “20 Days in Mariupol” at the United Nations headquarters, Monday, Sept. 11, 2023. 

An explosion erupts from an apartment building after a Russian army tank fired on it in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 11, 2022. The United States and Britain have invited ambassadors, journalists and others to a U.N. screening of the award-winning documentary “20 Days in Mariupol” which follows a trio of Associated Press journalists during Russia’s siege of the Ukrainian port city in the early days of the war. The Monday evening screening comes a week before world leaders arrive for their annual meeting at the U.N. General Assembly, where the 18-month war in Ukraine is expected to be in the spotlight. 

 workers try to save the life of Marina Yatsko’s 18 month-old son Kirill, who was fatally wounded by shelling, at a hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine, Friday, March 4, 2022. The United States and Britain have invited ambassadors, journalists and others to a U.N. screening of the award-winning documentary “20 Days in Mariupol” which follows a trio of Associated Press journalists during Russia’s siege of the Ukrainian port city in the early days of the war. The Monday evening screening comes a week before world leaders arrive for their annual meeting at the U.N. General Assembly, where the 18-month war in Ukraine is expected to be in the spotlight. 

 Serhii, father of teenager Iliya, cries on his son’s lifeless body lying on a stretcher at a maternity hospital converted into a medical ward in Mariupol, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 2, 2022. The United States and Britain have invited ambassadors, journalists and others to a U.N. screening of the award-winning documentary “20 Days in Mariupol” which follows a trio of Associated Press journalists during Russia’s siege of the Ukrainian port city in the early days of the war. The Monday evening screening comes a week before world leaders arrive for their annual meeting at the U.N. General Assembly, where the 18-month war in Ukraine is expected to be in the spotlight. 

(AP Photos/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)

September 11, 2023Share

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — More than a hundred ambassadors, journalists and representatives of a broad spectrum of society watched a U.N. screening Monday evening of the award-winning documentary “20 Days in Mariupol,” which follows a trio of Associated Press journalists during Russia’s relentless siege of the Ukrainian port city in the early days of the war.

U.K. Ambassador Barbara Woodward, who co-hosted the screening, said the film is important because “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine threatens what the U.N. stands for: an international order where the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries is fundamental.”

“We want to reaffirm our commitment to U.N. values, and that’s why we’ve chosen to show this very important documentary,” she said in welcoming the the audience at U.N. headquarters in New York.

The screening comes at the start of the 78th session of the U.N. General Assembly and a week before world leaders arrive for their annual meeting, where the more than 18-month war in Ukraine is expected to be in the spotlight — especially with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy scheduled to speak in person for the first time.

The harrowing documentary, which was produced by the AP and the PBS series “Frontline,” is culled from 30 hours of footage AP journalist Mstyslav Chernov and his colleagues shot in Mariupol following Russia’s Feb. 24, 2022, invasion of Ukraine and its siege of the city.

It documents fighting in the streets, the crushing strain on Mariupol’s residents and medical teams, and attacks that killed pregnant women, children and others. The siege, which ended on May 20, 2022, with the surrender of a small group of outgunned and outmanned Ukrainian fighters at the Azovstal steel plant, left the city in ruins and an estimated 25,000 people dead, though the toll is likely higher.

The U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the other co-host, said “20 Days in Mariupol” documents “the horrors of (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s war of aggression.”

“We’re here tonight to bear witness, to bear witness to these horrors and to reaffirm our commitment to justice and peace,” she said. “We must continue to hold Russia to account for its atrocities. We must continue to support the Ukrainian people in their time of need.”

The AP’s reporting from Mariupol drew the Kremlin’s ire, with its U.N. ambassador, Vasily Nebenzia, falsely claiming during a Security Council meeting in the siege’s early days that photos showing the aftermath of a missile strike on a maternity hospital were staged.

“I wish the entire Russian mission were here to watch this film,” said Ukraine’s U.N. Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya, who attended Monday’s screening.

Kyslytsya said he believes the documentary is so powerful and important that it will still be shown 50 years from now.

AP Senior Vice President and Executive Editor Julie Pace called the documentary “a testament to the power and impact of eyewitness journalism,” stressing that without it, “the world would not have known the atrocities that took place.”

“To have the film screened at the United Nations as the U.N. General Assembly gets underway underscores the importance of fact-based journalism on a global scale,” she said. “It’s crucial that we safeguard both the ability of a free press to cover the world’s most important stories and the public’s ability to view this type of fact-based reporting.”

“20 Days in Mariupol” won the Sundance Global Audience Award for Best Documentary and several other prizes. Chernov was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service along with photographer Evgeniy Maloletka, producer Vasilisa Stepanenko and Paris-based correspondent Lori Hinnant for their “courageous reporting” on Mariupol.

Chernov delivered a video welcome from the field in Ukraine, wearing a helmet and telling the audience that he sometimes feels powerless as a journalist because he can’t change things.

“I can only make sure that as many people as possible will see what I saw … know about what happened in Mariupol and will never forget about it,” he said. “What was happening in Mariupol is happening right now to other Ukrainian cities, in this moment, and it unfortunately will be happening tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, until the war is stopped.”

Raney Aronson-Rath, editor-in-chief and executive producer of “Frontline,” called it “deeply meaningful” to have the opportunity to screen the documentary at the United Nations. She said the producers continue to share the film around the world to give audiences the opportunity to “bear witness to the atrocities that Ukrainians have endured.”
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For more AP coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/ukraine

DECRIMINALIZE DRUGS
UN says Colombia’s coca crop at all-time high as officials promote new drug policies


Police patrol a coca field as hired farmers uproot coca shrubs as part of a manual eradication campaign of illegal crops in San Miguel on Colombia’s southern border with Ecuador, Aug. 15, 2012. Coca cultivation reached an all-time high in Colombia in 2012, the U.N. said in a Sept. 2023 report, as the administration of President Gustavo Petro struggles to reduce poverty in remote areas and contain armed groups that are profiting from the cocaine trade. 

(AP Photo/Fernando Vergara, File)

BY MANUEL RUEDA
September 11, 2023

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Coca cultivation reached an all-time high in Colombia last year, the U.N. said, as the administration of President Gustavo Petro struggles to reduce poverty in remote areas and contain armed groups that are profiting from the cocaine trade.

The new findings on coca growing were published over the weekend by the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime, which said 230,000 hectares (nearly 570,000 acres) of farmland in Colombia were planted with coca in 2022, a 13% increase from the previous year.

The South American nation is the world’s largest exporter of cocaine, which is made from coca leaves. Colombia provides 90% of the cocaine sold in the United States each year.

Colombia’s government said Monday that the amount of land planted with coca is increasing at a slower pace than in previous years. It hopes new programs that provide greater economic incentives for farmers to adopt legal crops will help reduce cocaine production in coming years.


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“We are flattening the curve,” Justice Minister Nestor Osuna said at a news conference, referring to the 13% annual increase in land planted with coca. He noted coca cultivation in Colombia rose more than 40% from 2020 to 2021.

On Saturday, President Gustavo Petro, whose government has decreased coca eradication targets, criticized U.S.-led efforts to fight drug production by eradicating coca crops, calling the approach a failure.

Speaking at a Latin American conference on drug policy organized by his administration, Petro urged Colombia’s neighbors to change their approach to drug policy. He said drug use should be approached as a “public health problem” and not a military problem.

“We have to end the disastrous policy that blames farmers (for cocaine production) and doesn’t ask why in some societies people consume drugs until they kill themselves,” he said. “Drugs are replacing the lack of affection and loneliness.”

According to the annual U.N. report, coca cultivation in Colombia expanded the most in border areas, where cocaine is easy to transport and export, specially the province of Putumayo, along Colombia’s southern border with Ecuador.

U.N. officials said coca production had diminished in Colombia’s interior due to decreases in the price for coca leaf, saying that is presenting officials with an opportunity to enroll farmers in crop substitution projects.

“We have to work on strengthening legal economies” in isolated areas “and not just attacking illicit economies,” said Leonardo Correa, the regional coordinator for the U.N.’s coca monitoring system.

Colombia’s coca crop went down slightly from 2017 to 2020, following a peace deal between the government and the country’s biggest rebel movement, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. But planting has risen since then as smaller armed groups that profit from the drug trade take over territory that was abandoned by FARC fighters.

The justice minister said Colombia plans to tackle cocaine production by improving education, health and infrastructure in a handful of areas that are teeming with coca crops.

“The success of our drug policy should be measured in terms of the reduction of violent crime, and the reduction of poverty in those regions where coca is cultivated,” Osuna said.

The international Red Cross cuts budget, staffing levels as humanitarian aid dries up


Robert Mardini, Director-General of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), talks to the media during a press conference, at ICRC headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, Monday, Sept. 11, 2023. The international Red Cross organization that deals with conflict and prisoners of war announced plans on Monday to trim its projected budget by about one-eighth next year and cut nearly 20 percent of staff at its headquarters as funding for humanitarian aid has dried up considerably.

 (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP)

September 11, 2023

GENEVA (AP) — The part of the international Red Cross that deals with conflict and prisoners of war announced Monday it will trim its projected budget by about one-eighth next year and cut nearly 20% of staff at its headquarters.

The International Committee of the Red Cross, which among other things has focused on detainees on both sides of Russia’s war in Ukraine, says it will reduce its initial 2024 budget forecast to 2.1 billion Swiss francs (about $2.4 billion). That’s down about 13% compared to its already revised budget for this year.

The ICRC is a sister outfit of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, which unites national chapters and focuses on disaster relief, health emergencies and other humanitarian aid activities focusing on vulnerable people.

Funding for humanitarian aid has dried up considerably.

Director-General Robert Mardini said ICRC would need to prioritize its activities and said the United States — its biggest donor — was among the countries that had reduced its contributions in this year.

Even before the latest revisions, the organization in the spring had announced plans to slash 430 million francs in costs worldwide, revising down its appeal for 2.8 billion francs in funding and saying 1,800 people globally would lose their jobs.

The reductions announced Monday involve about 270 staffers among 1,400 at its Geneva headquarters.

The 160-year-old organization, which focuses on victims of war, conflict and other situations of violence, said the cuts come amid a trend of shrinking humanitarian aid budgets, despite rising needs in places wracked by armed conflict such as Sudan, Ukraine and Africa’s Sahel region.

Canadian man charged with murdering four Muslims was inspired by white nationalism, prosecutors say


Mourners pray as caskets draped in Canadian flags are lined up at a funeral for the four Muslim family members killed in a deadly vehicle attack, at the Islamic Centre of Southwest Ontario in London, Ontario, on Saturday, June 12, 2021. Canadian federal prosecutors argued that a man facing murder charges in the deaths of four members of a Muslim family was motivated by white nationalist beliefs as they branded the attack an act of terrorism.

 (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP, Pool, File)

 September 11, 2023

WINDSOR, Ontario (AP) — Canadian federal prosecutors argued that a man facing murder charges in the deaths of four members of a Muslim family was motivated by white nationalist beliefs as they branded the attack an act of terrorism.

Nathaniel Veltman, 22, is accused of deliberately hitting five members of the Afzaal family with his truck while they were out for a walk in London, Ontario, on the evening of June 6, 2021.

Federal prosecutor Sarah Shaikh said in her opening statement on Monday that Veltman planned his attack for three months before driving his Dodge Ram truck directly at the Muslim family.

She said Veltman drove his truck, which he bought just over two weeks before the attack, “pedal to the metal,” kicking up a cloud of dust as the vehicle surged over the sidewalk’s curb, striking his victims.

Shaikh said Veltman told detectives after he was arrested that his intentions were political, that he left his home on the day of the attack looking for Muslims to kill and that he used a truck to send a message to others that vehicles can be used to attack Muslims.

Veltman has pleaded not guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder. He is also facing terrorism counts.

Salman Afzaal, 46, his 44-year-old wife Madiha Salman, their 15-year-old daughter Yumna and her 74-year-old grandmother, Talat Afzaal, were killed in the London attack. The couple’s nine-year-old son was also seriously hurt but survived.

The attack on the Afzaal family sent waves of shock, grief and fear across Canada and spurred ongoing calls for measures to combat Islamophobia.

Veltman, who wore an over-sized wrinkled black suit and white shirt, sat quietly in court as proceedings began but his hand was shaking when he tried to pour water into a paper cup on his desk. His lawyer Peter Ketcheson took the jug and filled his cup with some water.

The trial is expected to last about eight weeks.

Explosion, fire at Archer Daniels Midland facility in Illinois injures 8 employees

September 11, 2023

DECATUR, Ill. (AP) — An explosion and fire at an Archer Daniels Midland facility in Illinois injured eight employees and sent a tower of smoke into the air Sunday evening, officials said Monday.

The explosion occurred shortly after 7 p.m. at the east plant in the ADM processing complex in Decatur, Illinois. Several employees were injured and transported to a hospital, the agricultural company said in a statement on its website Sunday.

Battalion Chief Wade Watson with the Decatur Fire Department said in a statement Monday morning that eight ADM workers were injured, and six of them were taken from the scene by ambulance with the “extent of injuries unknown.”

The statement said the fire was under control and a fire crew remains on the scene monitoring hot spots. The cause of the explosion and fire remains under investigation. The fire department said the incident did not warrant the evacuation of nearby residents.

The company said it did not know the cause of the explosion, which was followed by a large plume of dark smoke shooting high into the air above the facility in a video posted by WCIA-TV.

ADM said in an email to The Associated Press early Monday that it had no additional information at the time. A company employee later said that ADM officials were preparing an updated statement that would be released Monday morning.

The explosion is the second incident at the plant in less than a month, the (Decatur) Herald & Review reported. On Aug. 28, two Decatur firefighters required hospital treatment after they battled a large fire at the plant. In that incident, crews found heavy fire in a processing tank that was spreading into adjacent tanks.

Decatur is located about 40 miles (64 kilometers) east of Springfield and about 180 miles (289 kilometers) southwest of Chicago, where ADM is headquartered.

It was not immediately clear what products are made at the plant where the explosion occurred. The company’s Decatur complex employs more than 4,000 workers, according to the company’s website.

DEREGULATION

Rocks, insects, plastic and other foreign objects often end up in our food. Here’s how it happens

This combination of photos provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows packaging for Banquet Brand Frozen Chicken Strips which was recalled by ConAgra Brands on Sept. 2, 2023, due to possible foreign matter contamination. In recent weeks, U.S. consumers have seen high-profile headlines about foods recalled for contamination with foreign objects. 

(USDA via AP)


BY JONEL ALECCIA
September 10, 2023

Rocks in Trader Joe’s cookies. Insects in its broccoli-cheese soup. Pieces of plastic in Banquet frozen chicken strips.

In recent weeks, U.S. consumers have seen high-profile food recalls for an unappetizing reason: They’re contaminated with foreign objects that have no place on a dinner plate. And while no one wants to bite down on stainless steel in peanut butter or bone fragments in smoked sausage, this type of contamination is one of the top reasons for food recalls in the U.S.

Food safety experts and federal agencies use the terms “extraneous” or “foreign” materials to describe things like metal fragments, rubber gaskets and bits of bugs that somehow make it into packaged goods.

“Extraneous materials” triggered nine recalls in 2022 of more than 477,000 pounds of food regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service — triple the number of recalls tied to food contaminated with toxic E. coli bacteria.

And the size of recalls can reach into the millions: In 2019, USDA reported 34 recalls of more than 16 million pounds of food, spurred in large part by a giant recall of nearly 12 million pounds of Tyson chicken strips tainted with pieces of metal.

Plastic pieces from frayed conveyor belts, wood shards from produce pallets, metal shavings or wire from machinery are all common. So are rocks, sticks and bugs that can make it from the field to the factory.

Some contamination may even be expected, the FDA acknowledges in a handbook.

“It is economically impractical to grow, harvest or process raw products that are totally free of non-hazardous, naturally occurring, unavoidable defects,” the agency wrote.

Both the USDA and FDA ask companies to promptly notify them when food is potentially contaminated with objects that may harm consumers. The agencies then determine whether recalls are necessary. Most recalls are voluntary and initiated by the companies, though the agencies can request or mandate the action.

Regulators said the Banquet issue was discovered when someone reported an oral injury after eating chicken strips. ConAgra Brands Inc., which owns Banquet, declined to comment beyond the firm’s news release. Trader Joe’s wouldn’t elaborate on how material got into the foods that led to its recent recalls.

Detection of unwanted objects has vastly improved in the past several years, said Keith Belk, director of the Center for Meat Safety and Quality at Colorado State University. Large manufacturers use magnets, metal detectors, X-ray devices and other technology to find unwanted materials in their products.

Still, “they’re going to miss things,” Belk said.

Those things have included pieces of gray nitrile glove that forced the recall of nearly 6,400 pounds of chicken tortilla soup in 2021 and pieces of copper wire that led to recall of nearly 5,800 pounds frozen beef shepherd’s pie in 2022.

There are also two notorious examples from 2017: “extraneous golf ball materials” that triggered a recall of frozen hash browns and a dead bat found in bagged salad that led the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to recommend rabies treatment for two people.

In recent years, firms have become increasingly cautious and are recalling products more frequently than before, said Nathan Mirdamadi, a consultant with Commercial Food Sanitation, which advises the industry about food safety.

That may be because consumers don’t like finding weird things in their food. When they do, lawsuits may follow, experts said.

“It’s never good business to injure your customers,” Mirdamadi added.

Actual contamination may affect only a small amount of product, but firms recall all food produced within a certain window just to be safe. And while some of the food may be able to be “reconditioned” or treated for safety and sold again, “most of the time, it’s going to landfills,” Mirdamadi said.

Consumers who find foreign materials in food should notify manufacturers, experts said, but also realize that recalls are likely to stick around.

“The thing is, there’s never going to be a day where there’s zero risk associated with consuming a food product,” Belk said.
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AP Business Reporter Dee-Ann Durbin contributed to this report.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Patients need doctors who look like them. Can medicine diversify without affirmative action?

A UCLA study found the percentage of Black doctors had increased just 4% from 1900 to 2018.

Dr. Starling Tolliver, a dermatology resident at Wayne State University poses at Wayne Health in Dearborn, Mich., Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

In this photo provided by the American Academy of Dermatology, AAD Pathways Career Prep students Sydney Sharpe and Dandelion Risch practice common dermatologic procedures like biopsies and sutures during a hands-on bioskills workshop offered in collaboration with Nth Dimensions at the George Washington University Student Center in Washington on July 14, 2023.

 PHOTOS Joshua Lee Reed/AAD via AP

BY KAT STAFFORD
 September 10, 2023

DETROIT (AP) — Dr. Starling Tolliver knew she wanted to become a doctor. Yet, as a Black girl growing up in Akron, Ohio, it was a dream that felt out of reach.

She rarely saw doctors who looked like her. As a child, she experienced severe hair loss, and struggled to find a dermatologist who could help.

Tolliver made a pact with two childhood best friends to become doctors who would care for Black and underserved communities like their own. Now 30, she is in her final year of dermatology residency at Wayne State University in Detroit.

She plans to spend her career caring for the body’s largest organ, where differences in melanin give humans the skin colors underpinning the construct of race. In dermatology, only 3% of U.S. doctors are Black.

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Despite her success, the girls’ pact remains unfulfilled. While her friend Charmaine became a nurse, Maria, who wanted to become a pediatrician, was killed in their hometown at the age of 19.

Her friend’s death only strengthened her resolve.

“I’m going to continue to go on this path of medicine,” Tolliver said. “Not only for myself, but for Maria, and to potentially help others in the future from similar backgrounds as mine know that they can do it as well.”


In this photo provided by the American Academy of Dermatology, Dakota Sutton and AAD Pathways Derm Career Prep students engage with instructor Jaracus Copes, right, at the George Washington University Student Center in Washington.

But more than two months after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in college admissions, concerns have arisen that a path into medicine may become much harder for students of color. Heightening the alarm: the medical field’s reckoning with longstanding health inequities.

Black Americans represent 13% of the U.S. population, yet just 6% of U.S. physicians are Black. Increasing representation among doctors is one solution experts believe could help disrupt health inequities.

The disparities stretch from birth to death, often beginning before Black babies take their first breath, a recent Associated Press series showed. Over and over, patients said their concerns were brushed aside or ignored, in part because of unchecked bias and racism within the medical system and a lack of representative care.

A UCLA study found the percentage of Black doctors had increased just 4% from 1900 to 2018.

In this photo provided by the American Academy of Dermatology, Dr. Adam Friedman teaches AAD Pathways Career Prep students during a workshop at the George Washington University Student Center in Washington. 

But the affirmative action ruling dealt a “serious blow” to the medical field’s goals of improving that figure, the American Medical Association said, by prohibiting medical schools from considering race among many factors in admissions. The ruling, the AMA said, “will reverse gains made in the battle against health inequities.”

The consequences could affect Black health for generations to come, said Dr. Uché Blackstock, a New York emergency room physician and author of “LEGACY: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine.”

“It’s really about holding these larger organizations, institutions accountable and saying: ‘Right now, we’re in a crisis — a crisis of humanity,’” Blackstock said.

With affirmative action off the table at predominantly white institutions, historically Black colleges and universities may see an increase in applications, said Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice, president and CEO of Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta.

The college, which typically has 115 openings for new medical students, receives between 7,000 and 9,000 applications per year, a number Rice said she believes will increase in light of the Supreme Court ruling. HBCUs have long served as a direct pipeline of Black doctors.

In this photo provided by the American Academy of Dermatology, Dr. Ginette Okoye, a dermatologist, guides AAD Pathways Career Prep students at the George Washington University Student Center in Washington. 

Experts say diversity is especially needed within specialty medicine. In dermatology, just 65 of the 796 applicants for residencies in 2020 were Black, data from the Association of American Medical Colleges shows. Only 39 were Latino.

For a field focusing on the skin, the unequal access among patients of color is stark: Patients of color are half as likely as white patients to see a dermatologist for the same conditions.

The consequences can be devastating.

“The skin is a window to the rest of your health,” said Dr. Ginette Okoye, professor and chair of dermatology at Howard University, who is a programming lead for the American Academy of Dermatology’s Pathways program.

“If you have kidney disease, if you have cancer, sometimes those clues show up on the skin first. We are able to preemptively diagnose cancer sometimes just by the way a specific rash shows up on the skin,” Okoye said. “That’s pretty impactful.”

Black men are more likely to die of melanoma, compared with men of other races, according to a study co-authored last month by dermatologist Dr. Ashley Wysong in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. They also are more likely to be diagnosed at a later stage, when the condition is more difficult to treat. Melanoma is the most invasive and serious form of skin cancer.

The reasons for the different cancer rates are unclear, and more research is needed to understand in particular how economic and social conditions impact the cancer rates, Wysong said. The study found survival rates in men with melanoma were highest among white men, 75%, while the survival rates were lowest among Black men at only 52%.

“As medical professionals, any time we see disparities in care or outcomes of any kind, we have to look at the systems in which we are delivering care and we have to look at ways that we are falling short,” Wysong said.

Without affirmative action as a tool, career programs focused on engaging people of color could grow in importance.

For instance, the Pathways initiative engages students from Black, Latino and Indigenous communities from high school through medical school.

The program starts with building interest in dermatology as a career and continues to scholarships, workshops and mentorship programs. The goal: Increase the number of underrepresented dermatology residents from about 100 in 2022 to 250 by 2027, and grow the share of dermatology faculty who are members of color by 2%.

Tolliver credits her success in becoming a dermatologist in part to a scholarship she received through Ohio State University’s Young Scholars Program, which helps talented, first-generation Ohio students with financial need. The scholarship helped pave the way for medical school, but her involvement in the Pathways residency program also was central.

Azariah Providence, a 17-year-old rising high school senior who lives in the U.S. Virgin Islands, participated in the high school Pathways program last month. She wants to become a dermatologist because of her own scalp psoriasis diagnosis, which is a skin disease causing a rash with itchy, scaly patches.

Her condition hampered her self-esteem as a 9-year-old girl. The dermatologist she saw, one of very few on the island, prescribed medication causing Providence’s skin to burn and her hair to fall out.

“It was a difficult experience because as a little girl, your hair is very important to you,” Providence recalled. “After going through that, I wanted to help little girls who have similar conditions that I have. I want to be that person for them that I didn’t have when I was younger.”

Providence, who would be a first-generation medical student, said the program exposed her to college students and doctors of color, something she had never before seen.

“I think it’s important for more Black people to get into the field of dermatology for the simple reason that some conditions may appear differently on Black skin,” Providence said. “I want to enter the field so that people who look like me can have their skin understood and fully studied so that when they come to get diagnosed, it’s a correct diagnosis and they could get the correct treatment.”

Dermatology also is working to diversify its textbooks to help improve the spectrum of skin colors so doctors can be better equipped to diagnose and provide equitable care, said Dr. Adam Friedman, chair of dermatology at George Washington School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, D.C.

But targeted programs to diversify the pipeline of talent are crucial for the future of medicine, Friedman said.

As Tolliver prepares to leave residency, she hopes to be one of the people pushing for better outcomes, especially for Black women.

“Our patients are looking for us, and that kind of pushed forward my love for this field,” Tolliver said. “And that really has been my goal ongoing from when I was a little girl: for Black women to see the beauty of themselves, within themselves.”

TIFF

In Toronto, Paul Simon takes a bow with a new career-spanning documentary


 Paul Simon performs at Global Citizen Live in Central Park on Saturday, Sept. 25, 2021, in New York. “In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon” premiered Sunday, Sept. 10, 2023, at the Toronto International Film Festival. It is an expansive look at Simon’s decades-spanning career, from growing up in Queens, New York, with Art Garfunkel to the success of “Graceland,” the sensational 1986 album made with South African musicians. 

(Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

BY JAKE COYLE
September 10, 2023

TORONTO (AP) — After a three-and-a-half-hour documentary on his life, Paul Simon had only sympathy for the audience.

“You’re probably exhausted,” Simon told the crowd after the premiere of Alex Gibney’s “In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon” on Sunday at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The 81-year-old Simon, himself, hadn’t watched the film before its debut, and he didn’t watch it Sunday, either. “I’ll get up the courage to see it, no doubt,” he promised.

The film, which is seeking distribution at TIFF, is an expansive look at Simon’s decades-spanning career, from growing up in Queens, New York, with Art Garfunkel to the success of “Graceland,” the sensational 1986 album he made with South African musicians.

“In Restless Dreams,” which takes its name from a lyric in “The Sound of Silence” (“In restless dreams I walked alone”), also intimately captures Simon painstakingly assembling his latest album, “Seven Psalms,” which was released in May.

He began the album, his first in several years, he says, after a dream in 2019 in which he envisioned an album of seven songs. His work at his home studio in Wimberly, Texas, was made more difficult by Simon’s hearing loss in his left ear, throwing off his musical equilibrium.

“I haven’t accepted it entirely, but I’m beginning to,” Simon told the audience of his hearing loss in a post-screening Q&A.

Simon reached out to Gibney, the veteran documentarian of “Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief” and “Taxi to the Dark Side,” after admiring his 2015 documentary “Sinatra: All or Nothing at All.” Though the cameras took some adjusting to, Simon was content for Gibney to assemble a narrative around his life.

“Having the truth about me depicted by an observer is very interesting to me,” Simon said. “I think I’m probably not the person to want to describe what the truth is. I’m biased on both sides. I overestimate myself and I dislike myself to a sufficient degree that I’d rather give it to someone else to document.”

Further, Simon said, he wished some of his earlier recording sessions had been filmed, like those for 1970’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” or “Graceland.” “In Restless Dreams” does include some rare footage, including 16mm dailies from the making of the 1969 documentary “Songs of America” and early rehearsals of “Graceland.”

After some prodding, Simon acknowledged that he is still making music and recently wrote a new song. Ideas are also still coming to him at night, too.

“The other night I dreamed again,” Simon said, to applause. “I dreamed it would be a good idea if I wrote a song called ‘It’s What’s His Name.’ ”

Canada holds off US to win bronze at Basketball World Cup in OT, 127-118

LAST PLAYED EACH OTHER

BERLIN GAMES 1936

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Canada forward Kelly Olynyk (13) reacts after a missed shot during the Basketball World Cup bronze medal game between the United States and Canada in Manila, Philippines, Sunday, Sept. 10, 2023.

 (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

U.S. forward Mikal Bridges (5) walks after the Basketball World Cup bronze medal game between the United States and Canada in Manila, Philippines, Sunday, Sept. 10, 2023.

 (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

United States team members leave after the Basketball World Cup bronze medal game between the United States and Canada in Manila, Philippines, Sunday, Sept. 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Canada guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) shoots against U.S. forward Mikal Bridges (5) during the Basketball World Cup bronze medal game between the United States and Canada in Manila, Philippines, Sunday, Sept. 10, 2023. 

(AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

BY TIM REYNOLDS
Updated 5:53 AM MDT, September 10, 2023Share


MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Mikal Bridges pulled off an overtime-forcing miracle. It wasn’t enough to keep the U.S. from heading home from the World Cup empty-handed, and after 87 years of waiting Canada has again medaled on one of basketball’s biggest stages.

Dillon Brooks scored 39 points, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 31 points and 12 assists and Canada won its first medal at a global men’s tournament since 1936 by topping the U.S. 127-118 in the third-place game in Manila on Sunday.

The U.S. failed to medal for the second consecutive World Cup. It’s only the seventh time in 38 appearances at the Olympic or World Cup level that an American team did not emerge with gold, silver or bronze.

“The United States hasn’t won the World Cup since 2014,” U.S. coach Steve Kerr said. “It’s hard. These teams in FIBA are really good, well-coached, they’ve got continuity and they’ve played together for a long time. This is difficult and it’s been difficult already.”

OTHER NEWS

Doncic ejected and Canada tops Slovenia in World Cup. Germany and Serbia make the Olympics

The Americans were the favorites coming into the tournament, then lost three of their last four games. They left the floor for the final time in Manila frustrated, angry, disappointed.

“All of the above,” U.S. guard Tyrese Haliburton said.

RJ Barrett scored 23 for Canada (6-2), which improved to 2-21 all-time against the U.S. in FIBA senior men’s competitions. The lone previous win came at a FIBA Americas event in 2005, a game that wasn’t loaded with big-name NBA players. This one was, Canada having seven on its roster and the U.S. having all 12 of its players hail from the league.

But three of those U.S. players — Brandon Ingram, Paolo Banchero and Jaren Jackson Jr. — missed Sunday’s game with illness. Anthony Edwards led the Americans (5-3) with 24 points, Austin Reaves scored 23 and Bridges had 19 for the U.S.

“This team was amazing, special,” Canada coach Jordi Fernandez said. “It’s the beginning of something that’s going to last for a long time.”

Bridges pulled off an unbelievable play in the final seconds of regulation, going to the line with the U.S. down by four with 4.2 seconds left and needing a miracle.

He delivered one.

Bridges made the first free throw, intentionally missed the second and ran down the rebound as it bounced toward the right corner. Bridges corralled the ball, spun and let fly from just behind the 3-point line.

Swish. Game tied with 0.6 seconds left. Kelly Olynyk nearly won it for Canada on the final play of regulation with a 30-footer that hit the back iron as time expired, and to overtime they went, tied at 111-111.

“Just tried to miss it right. That’s kind of where you want the ball to be at in situations like that,” Bridges said. “Just read and react ... went and shot it.”

But Canada was undeterred, never trailing in the extra session.

“We won the first 40 minutes. Well, obviously not, but we won the majority of the first 40 minutes and we didn’t think it was a fluke,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “So, we just tried to focus on winning the next five.”

That’s exactly what they did, and now it’s over. Another World Cup, another debacle for the Americans. They finished seventh in China four years ago, fourth in Manila — losing three of their final four games — and now have less than 12 months to regroup for the Paris Games and the quest to win a fifth consecutive Olympic gold medal.

“Super tough, but can’t win them all,” Edwards said. “Came up short, twice.”

That would be twice in the medal round, against Germany and now Canada, and once more against Lithuania in the second round — where the undoing of this U.S. World Cup run started.

There just wasn’t enough defense, once again. This tournament marked the first Olympic or World Cup appearance where a U.S. team gave up at least 100 points three different times. The Americans went 0-3 in those games in Manila, losing to Lithuania, Germany in the semis and Canada on Sunday.

“I mean, we couldn’t get no stops,” Edwards said. “Our defense was pretty bad.”

Canada’s only other medal in a tournament of this magnitude — World Cup or Olympics — came in 1936, when it lost 19-8 to the U.S. in the gold-medal matchup at the Berlin Games. That final was played outside, in a rainstorm, on a clay court that probably would have been better served that day as a slip-and-slide.

This was for bronze, not silver. But it’s safe to say Canada enjoyed it even more than that better finish 87 years ago.

“We really wanted to play the U.S.,” Brooks said. “We got our wish.”
___

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba and AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

Germany wins Basketball World Cup for 1st time, holds off Serbia 83-77 for gold medal

“It’s an unbelievable group,” Schroder said. “It’s unbelievable going 8-0.”

The notion of Germany being the world’s best in basketball was far-fetched even when Nowitzki was the country’s best player.

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Germany celebrates with the trophy after winning the championship game of the Basketball World Cup against Serbia in Manila, Philippines, Sunday, Sept. 10, 2023.

 (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Germany poses with their gold medals after winning the championship game of the Basketball World Cup against Serbia in Manila, Philippines, Sunday, Sept. 10, 2023. 

(AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Germany guard Franz Wagner (9) poses with the net and gold medal after defeating Serbia in the championship game of the Basketball World Cup in Manila, Philippines, Sunday, Sept. 10, 2023.

 (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Serbia guard Bogdan Bogdanovic (7) holds a silver medal after losing to Germany in the championship game of the Basketball World Cup in Manila, Philippines, Sunday, Sept. 10, 2023. 

(AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

BY TIM REYNOLDS
 September 10, 2023

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Have a summer, Germany. Dirk Nowitzki went into the Basketball Hall of Fame, and now his homeland stands atop the men’s international basketball world.

Tournament MVP Dennis Schroder scored 28 points, Franz Wagner added 19 and Germany capped off an unbeaten run through the World Cup by holding off Serbia 83-77 in the final on Sunday night. It was Germany’s first World Cup title; its previous top showing in the event was a bronze at Indianapolis in 2002.

Germany went 8-0 in the tournament, becoming the fifth consecutive World Cup champion to go unbeaten. Schroder’s postgame news conference was briefly interrupted by his teammates, who doused him with water as they jumped and chanted in celebration

“It’s an unbelievable group,” Schroder said. “It’s unbelievable going 8-0.”


World Cup medals at stake, with Serbia-Germany for gold, US-Canada for bronze

Germany coach Gordie Herbert took the job in 2021, and his first official order of business was driving to see Schroder. They spent three or four hours together that first day, building a relationship that is now good as gold.

“It’s a little bit of a surreal moment,” Herbert said. “It’s like I told the players. It’s a tremendous group of players, but we were a team first. Guys cared about each other and they challenged each other.”

Aleksa Avramovic scored 21 and Bogdan Bogdanovic added 17 for Serbia (6-2), which lost the title game for the second time in the last three tournaments. It was routed by the U.S. 129-92 in the 2014 gold-medal game, and little was expected of the team this summer — merely because its best player, Nikola Jokic of the NBA champion Denver Nuggets, decided not to play and instead opted to rest for the coming season.

But Serbia went on a surprise run, fueled by inspiration the team took from the loss of reserve forward Borisa Simanic. He was fouled late in a first-round win against South Sudan, needed surgery that night for internal injuries and then a second surgery was required a few days later to remove one of his kidneys.

Simanic will get a medal. But it’ll be silver, after Germany simply proved too tough.

“We made great success,” Avramovic said. “Our heads are up. This is already past, and our next goal is to go the Olympic Games and make better success than this. Germany, they have been playing amazing. ... We know that we made our country happy and put a smile on them.”

A 22-10 run in the third quarter gave Germany all the breathing room it needed after a back-and-forth opening half, and Serbia couldn’t reclaim the lead down the stretch. It got within 79-77 after Marko Guduric made a pair of free throws with 39.5 seconds left, but Schroder blew past two defenders for a layup on the ensuing German possession to restore a four-point edge.

The notion of Germany being the world’s best in basketball was far-fetched even when Nowitzki was the country’s best player.

NOT CHINA NOR MEXICO
Afghanistan is the fastest-growing maker of methamphetamine, UN drug agency says


Afghans gather under a bridge to consume drugs, mostly heroin and methamphetamines in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Sept. 30, 2021. Afghanistan is the world’s fastest-growing maker of methamphetamine, a report from the United Nations drug agency said Sunday, Sept. 10, 2023. The country is also a major opium producer and heroin source, even though the Taliban declared a war on narcotics after they returned to power in August 2021.

(AP Photo/Felipe Dana, File)

An Afghan drug addict sits alone in a dilapidated TV room at a drug treatment facility in the eastern Nangarhar provincial capital of Jalalabad on Nov. 12, 2013. Afghanistan is the world’s fastest-growing maker of methamphetamine, a report from the United Nations drug agency said Sunday, Sept. 10, 2023. The country is also a major opium producer and heroin source, even though the Taliban declared a war on narcotics after they returned to power in August 2021.

(AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus, File)

An armed Afghan policemen destroys an opium poppy field in Noorgal, Kunar province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan on April 13, 2013. Afghanistan is the world’s fastest-growing maker of methamphetamine, a report from the United Nations drug agency said Sunday, Sept. 10, 2023. The country is also a major opium producer and heroin source, even though the Taliban declared a war on narcotics after they returned to power in August 2021.

 (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, File)

BY RIAZAT BUTT
 September 9, 2023


ISLAMABAD (AP) — Afghanistan is the world’s fastest-growing maker of methamphetamine, a report from the United Nations drug agency said Sunday. The country is also a major opium producer and heroin source, even though the Taliban declared a war on narcotics after they returned to power in August 2021.

The United Nations’ Office on Drugs and Crimes, which published the report, said meth in Afghanistan is mostly made from legally available substances or extracted from the ephedra plant, which grows in the wild.

The report called Afghanistan’s meth manufacturing a growing threat to national and regional health and security because it could disrupt the synthetic drug market and fuel addiction. It said seizures of meth suspected to have come from Afghanistan have been reported from the European Union and east Africa.


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Annual meth seizure totals from inside the country rose from less than 100 kilograms (220 pounds) in 2019 to nearly 2,700 kilograms (6,000 pounds) in 2021, suggesting increased production, the report said. But it couldn’t give a value for the country’s meth supply, the quantities being produced, nor its domestic usage, because it doesn’t have the data.

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Mexican marines seize 7,200 bottles of liquid meth in mezcal bottles bound for Australia

Angela Me, the chief of the UNODC’s Research and Trend Analysis Branch, told The Associated Press that making meth, especially in Afghanistan, had several advantages over heroin or cocaine production.



“You don’t need to wait for something to grow,” said Me. “You don’t need land. You just need the cooks and the know-how. Meth labs are mobile, they’re hidden. Afghanistan also has the ephedra plant, which is not found in the biggest meth-producing countries: Myanmar and Mexico. It’s legal in Afghanistan and it grows everywhere. But you need a lot of it.”

Me said it was too early to assess what impact the Taliban’s drug crackdown has had on meth supplies.

A spokesperson for the Interior Ministry, Abdul Mateen Qani, told the AP that the Taliban-run government has prohibited the cultivation, production, sale and use of all intoxicants and narcotics in Afghanistan.


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He said authorities have destroyed 644 factories and around 12,000 acres of land where prohibited narcotics were cultivated, processed or produced. There have been more than 5,000 raids in which 6,000 people have been arrested.

“We cannot claim 100% that it is finished because people can still do these activities in secret. It is not possible to bring it to zero in such a short time,” said Qani. “But we have a four-year strategic plan that narcotics in general and meth in particular will be finished.”

A U.N. report published in November said that opium cultivation since the Taliban takeover increased by 32% over the previous year, and that opium prices rose following authorities’ announcement of a cultivation ban in April 2022. Farmers’ income from opium sales tripled from $425 million in 2021 to $1.4 billion in 2022.

The 2022 report also said that the illicit drug market thrived as Afghanistan’s economy sharply contracted, making people open to illegal cultivation and trafficking for their survival.

Afghans are dealing with drought, severe economic hardship and the continued consequences of decades of war and natural disasters.

The downturn, along with the halt of international financing that propped up the economy of the former Western-backed government, is driving people into poverty, hunger, and addiction.

An Afghan health official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said around 20,000 people are in hospitals for drug addiction, mostly to crystal meth. Of these patients, 350 are women. He said children are also being treated, but did not give the number nor their ages.

Benedict Arnold burned a Connecticut city. Centuries later, residents get payback in a fiery festival


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New London Mayor Michael E. Passero lights an effigy of Benedict Arnold as guns fire during the annual Burning of Benedict Arnold Festival, Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023, in New London, Conn. The burning of Arnold marks the anniversary of the day in September 1781 that the Connecticut native led British troops into the city and burned most of it to the ground. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)Read More

People in period costume carry an effigy of Benedict Arnold to be burned during the annual Burning of Benedict Arnold Festival, Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023, in New London, Conn. The burning of Arnold marks the anniversary of the day in September 1781 that the Connecticut native led British troops into the city and burned most of it to the ground. 

People in period costume carry an effigy of Benedict Arnold to be burned during the annual Burning of Benedict Arnold Festival, Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023, in New London, Conn. The burning of Arnold marks the anniversary of the day in September 1781 that the Connecticut native led British troops into the city and burned most of it to the ground. 

People in period costume watch a burning effigy of Benedict Arnold during the annual Burning of Benedict Arnold Festival, Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023, in New London, Conn. The burning of Arnold marks the anniversary of the day in September 1781 that the Connecticut native led British troops into the city and burned most of it to the ground. 

AP Photos/Jessica Hill

BY PAT EATON-ROBB
September 9, 2023

NEW LONDON, Conn. (AP) — A month before the British surrender at Yorktown ended major fighting during the American Revolution, the traitor Benedict Arnold led a force of Redcoats on a last raid in his home state of Connecticut, burning most of the small coastal city of New London to the ground.

It has been 242 years, but New London still hasn’t forgotten.

A crowd of several hundred revelers, some in period costume, marched through the city’s streets Saturday evening chanting, “Burn the traitor!” before watching as officials set Arnold’s effigy ablaze for the Burning of Benedict Arnold Festival, recreating a tradition that was once practiced in many American cities.

“I like to jokingly refer to it as the original Burning Man festival,” said organizer Derron Wood, referencing the annual gathering in the Nevada desert.

For decades after the Revolutionary War, cities including New York, Boston and Philadelphia held yearly traitor-burning events. They were an alternative to Britain’s raucous and fiery Guy Fawkes Night celebrations commemorating the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot in 1605, when Fawkes was executed for conspiring with others to blow up King James I of England and both Houses of Parliament.

Residents “still wanted to celebrate Guy Fawkes Day, but they weren’t English, so they created a very unique American version,” Wood said.

The celebrations died out during the Civil War, but Wood, the artistic director of New London’s Flock Theatre, revived it a decade ago as a piece of street theater and a way to celebrate the city’s history using reenactors in period costumes.

Anyone can join the march down city streets behind the paper mache Arnold to New London’s Waterfront Park, where the mayor on Saturday cried, “Remember New London,” and put a torch to the effigy. The crowd chanted “U-S-A” as the life-sized Arnold burned.

Ellen Warfield, of Mystic, brought her 9-year-old son, Lucian Bace, because she said their ancestors fought in the Revolution and she hoped to get her son excited about the history that surrounds him.

“It’s wild to show the kids something like this,” she said. “You get to see it in real life, rather than see it play out on TV. They spend too much time on their screens today.”

Lucian had a singular focus.

“I just can’t wait to see them burn that man,” he said. “Burn that turncoat!”

Arnold, a native of nearby Norwich, was initially a major general on the American side of the war, playing important roles in the capture of Fort Ticonderoga and the Battle of Saratoga in New York.

In 1779, though, he secretly began feeding information to the British. A year later, he offered to surrender the American garrison at West Point in exchange for a bribe, but the plot was uncovered when an accomplice was captured. Arnold fled and became a brigadier general for the British.

On Sept. 6, 1781, he led a force that attacked and burned New London and captured a lightly defended fort across the Thames River in Groton.

After the American victory at Yorktown a month later, Arnold left for London. He died in 1801 at age 60, forever remembered in the United States as the young nation’s biggest traitor.

New London’s Burning Benedict Arnold Festival, which has become part of the state’s Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival, was growing in popularity before it was halted in 2020 because of the pandemic. The theater group brought the festival back last year.

“This project and specifically the reaction, the sort of hunger for its return, has been huge and the interest in it has been huge,” said Victor Chiburis, the Flock Theatre’s associate artistic director and the festival’s co-organizer.

The only time things got a little political, Chiburis said, is the year a group of Arnold supporters showed up in powdered wigs to defend his honor. But that was all tongue-in-cheek and anything that gets people interested in the Revolutionary War history of the city, the state and Arnold is positive, he said.

In one of the early years after the festival first returned, Mayor Michael Passero forgot to notify the police, who were less than pleased with the yelling, burning and muskets firing, he said.

But those issues, he said, were soon resolved and now he can only be happy that the celebration of one of the worst days in the history of New London brings a mob of people to the city every year.

A mob that included a very satisfied 9-year-old.

The coolest part was “probably the head falling off,” Bace said. “I really liked it.”