U$A

Black people say a negative media stereotypes their community, racism plays a role

Ray Marcano

GRIO
Wed, October 18, 2023 

Nearly 40% of survey respondents said they see racist or racially insensitive news often.

Black people hold critical views of the media, which they say stereotypes their community and covers it more negatively, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey.

“There’s not a lot of African American coverage unless it’s February or it’s criminal,” one focus group participant told Pew.

Michael Lipka, the associate director of news and information research at Pew, said overall, Republicans harbor more media distrust than Democrats. But Black Americans distrust the media at the same rate regardless of their political preference

Kim Smith, an associate professor in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at North Carolina A&T, an HBCU, said the survey results do not surprise him. (Submitted photo)

Regarding how the media covers Black people, “The views are pretty similarly negative on both sides of the aisle,” Lipka told theGrio. “There’s not really much disagreement there. Even Black Republicans hold the view that there are a lot of problems with how the news media covers Black people.”

The survey of nearly 5,000 Black adults was conducted in late February and early March. According to the results, released on Sept. 26:

• 63% said news about Black people is often more negative than other ethnic or racial groups.

• 43% said news coverage largely stereotypes Black people.

• Nearly four in 10 (39%)  said they see racist or racially insensitive news fairly or extremely often.

• Only 6% of those surveyed said they believe they’re being fairly treated.

Focus group comments, sprinkled throughout the survey, drove home the point of distrust.

Regarding how Black people are covered in the news, one focus group participant said, “When a White person commits a crime, it’s an individual, it is a mental issue. When a Black person commits a crime, it’s the total community. It’s the Black community, and it’s an indictment on all of us.”

When discussing why news coverage may be racially insensitive, one participant said news outlets want white people “to be scared, and fear coming to the Black areas or put money in those areas to build up the businesses to help us out. … They want to look at a Black person and think we’re all bad and think we’re all going to hurt them when that’s not true.”

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The survey results don’t surprise Kim Smith, an associate professor in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at North Carolina A&T, an HBCU.

“Overall, the results seem to support two decades-old communication theories,” in agenda setting and cultivation theory, he said.

In agenda setting, “If your media messages portray African American men as mere thugs and drug dealers, that is how society will see them,” Smith said in an email to theGrio. “If Black women are portrayed as angry all of the time and as sex objects, that is how society will portray them.”

“There’s not a lot of African American coverage unless it’s February or it’s criminal.”

Focus group participant, Pew Research study

In cultivation theory, “Long-term exposure to negative media messages results in normalized behavior, Smith said. “Repeated mug shots of Black men as perpetrators of crime and continuous coverage of crime in Black neighborhoods sends the message that all Black men are criminals and that no one in Black neighborhoods cares about crime in their communities.”

And while the news media does a good job of telling people what happened, it doesn’t dive deep enough to explore why the problems exist.

“The implications of such decades of superficial coverage are huge,” Smith said. “Black communities don’t get the resources needed to better their communities because people are afraid to invest in those communities. And what are the social and psychological impacts of such coverage on people of color, as these negative images and messages flow 24/7 on the Internet and social media?”

Lipka said it was interesting that nearly half of the survey respondents found it very or extremely important that journalists advocate for Black people.

“A lot of most Black Americans say that journalists should cover all sides of the story, understand the history of the issues, and personally engage with, with the communities that covering,” Lipka said. But he noted, “48% of Black Americans say that it’s important for journalists to advocate for Black people when they’re covering Black people,” a departure from the typical job of objectively reporting the facts.

Smith believes the journalism profession has a lot of work to do.

“We, as journalists and journalism educators, have lots of work to do to mitigate decades’ impact of agenda setting and cultivation theory.”

The post Black people say a negative media stereotypes their community, racism plays a role appeared first on TheGrio.

U$A

An 18-Year-Old Had Consensual Sex With a 16-Year-Old. He Went to Jail for 6 Years.

Lenore Skenazy
Wed, October 18, 2023 

Emily Horowitz | Emily Horowitz

When Henry was 18, he had sex with a 16-year-old he met on a dating app who said they were 18 too. The 16-year-old's parents found out, summoned the cops, and Henry was charged with a sex offense. He took a plea: no jail time, and seven years on the sex offense registry.

Henry's story is one of about 60 that appear in a new book by sociologist Emily Horowitz: From Rage to Reason: Why We Need Sex Crime Laws Based on Facts Not Fear. If you believe that our country's sex offense registries should actually make kids safer, this book will leave you shaking with frustration.

At the time of his arrest, Henry was attending community college. He was immediately expelled but appealed and was allowed to graduate. Being on the registry made it nearly impossible to find work, however.

After three years with little income—and several hundred dollars a year in payments for court-mandated polygraph tests—Henry moved back in with his parents. The neighbors got up in arms, so all three of them moved to Henry's grandmother's house.

"Probation authorities stipulated that Henry had to post signs on each entrance of her house that read, 'no persons under seventeen allowed on this property,'" writes Horowitz. That meant his cousins could no longer visit.

At last, Henry found a good job. But when he gave his probation officer his office address, he was told it was too close to a school. Many registries have location requirements that forbid registrants from living, or sometimes working, near any place kids might congregate: a school, a daycare, or a park. (These residency restrictions are worthless when it comes to enhancing public safety.)

Henry begged his probation officer to let him keep this hard-won job. The officer said he could continue working until a judge ruled on his request. But when Henry got to court, writes Horowitz:

"[H]e was told he was in violation of his probation. The judge said he should have quit immediately upon learning from probation that the office was located too close to a school. Henry explained that he didn't quit because of his pending appeal, as he'd been out of work for months and, additionally, it was a term of his probation that he be employed.

"At this point, Henry had only three years left of probation. Due to his infraction, however, the judge issued the harshest ruling possible, sentencing Henry to six years in state prison. The only good thing, he says, is that 'the minute I went to prison, my grandma could take those signs down.'"

That's just one story from Horowitz's book; there are many others. In some of those stories, the registrant did in fact commit serious, disturbing crimes.

"Perpetrators should be punished and held accountable," writes Horowitz.

But that does not mean the sex offense registry is effective. Despite the myth of "frightening and high" rearrests, decades of scientific studies have consistently found that recidivism for sex crimes is lower than for almost all other criminal offenses. Registration has not further reduced recidivism, according to studies.

The registry is a mishmash of punitive rules and mandates, often including counseling, sometimes for life. While several of Horowitz's interviewees were grateful for what their therapy helped them understand about themselves and their crimes, others got treatment that seemed suspiciously prurient.

For instance, one registrant told Horowitz that he and his fellow group therapy participants were required to "report all sexual thoughts, including dreams, to their providers during group sessions."

"He says he once watched a treatment provider berate someone for an 'inappropriate' dream," she writes.

This man sent Horowitz a note, describing other sessions:

"In one group, the counselor said we were allowed the 'two-second rule.' This applied if we saw an attractive woman walking by. It would be appropriate/healthy behavior to 'look' for two seconds. We were 'allowed' to masturbate to thoughts of age-appropriate adults. The rules change with each counselor/group/treatment center."

At another treatment center:

"[W]e were told we couldn't masturbate to thoughts of former loved ones. Since they were no longer in our lives, it was inappropriate. We now had to write a fantasy script, with a specific two-page instruction on how to write it properly. We would then present our writing in group, of our detailed sexually appropriate fantasy, and read it aloud."

After weeks of corrections and rewrites, he told Horowitz, "We would then be granted permission to use the approved fantasy script to masturbate to."

Horowitz knows that expressing any sympathy for the plight of people found guilty of sexual crimes—who are among America's most hated criminals—makes her a target for hate as well, as if she shrugs off the trauma of sexual abuse.

She doesn't. She is a mom of four. She wants the best for them, and for all children. She wrote this book in the hopes that future sex offense laws and punishment will do what they're supposed to do: actually make kids safer.

The post An 18-Year-Old Had Consensual Sex With a 16-Year-Old. He Went to Jail for 6 Years. appeared first on Reason.com.

PRE WWII

An 87-year-old deal is keeping a lid on the naval war in Ukraine — for now

Constantine Atlamazoglou
Updated Thu, October 19, 2023 


Fighting between Russia and Ukraine in the Black Sea has picked up in recent months.


The fighting is taking a toll on Russia's Black Sea Fleet, which Moscow can't reinforce.


Turkey's enforcement of the Montreux Convention limits what Russia and NATO can send into the sea.

While Ukrainian and Russian forces are locked in a grinding battle for territory in eastern and southern Ukraine, fighting in the Black Sea has picked up.

Ukraine has conducted several high-profile attacks against Russian targets in recent weeks, including missile strikes on occupied Crimea that hit Russia's Black Sea Fleet headquarters and Russian navy dry docks. Its strike on the dry docks took out a landing ship and a Kilo-class submarine and is set to further hamstring Russian naval logistics.

Those attacks were not Kyiv's first successes against Russia's navy, but Ukraine lacks a fleet — it scuttled its flagship in March 2022 to prevent its capture by Russia — and has relied on asymmetrical warfare, including naval drones, to counter Russia in the Black Sea.

Russia's Black Sea Fleet hasn't been defeated, but its losses, including the sinking of its flagship, the Moskva, weigh more heavily on Russia's war effort because of a deal signed nearly a century ago that's preventing Moscow from bringing more ships into the Black Sea.

Ships bottled up

Russian warships at the Black Sea Fleet base in Sevastopol in July 2010.AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev

Signed in 1936, the Montreux Convention governs the transit of merchant vessels and warships through the Dardanelles and the Bosporus Strait and the presence of warships in the Black Sea.

The convention distinguishes between Black Sea powers — those with a Black Sea coastline — and non-Black Sea powers. In peacetime, warships belonging to non-Black Sea powers cannot stay in the sea for more than 21 days.

The convention also has limits for the combined tonnage of vessels from non-Black Sea powers that can be in the sea at one time, capping it at a maximum of 45,000 tons with no more than 30,000 tons belonging to one country. A US Navy Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, several of which have sailed into the sea in recent years, is about 9,000 tons.

While the convention doesn't specifically rule out aircraft carriers, a 15,000-ton limit for vessels of non-Black Sea powers transiting the straits effectively prohibits them. Submarines from non-Black Sea powers are also not allowed.

Russian Navy submarine Rostov-on-Don sailing through the Bosphorus to the Black Sea in February 2022.OZAN KOSE/AFP via Getty Images

Turkey controls the straits connecting the sea to the Mediterranean, and all foreign warships have to notify Turkey prior to passage — 15 days ahead of time for non-Black Sea powers and eight days for Black Sea countries.

During war, the convention permits Turkey to limit the passage of warships to the Black Sea — even if Turkey is not at war — unless these ships are returning to their base. On February 28, 2022, four days after Russia attacked Ukraine, Turkey invoked that power.

"When Turkey is not a belligerent in the conflict, it has the authority to restrict the passage of the warring states' warships across the straits. If the warship is returning to its base in the Black Sea, the passage is not closed," Turkey's foreign minister said at the time. "All governments, riparian and non-riparian, were warned not to send warships across the straits."

Ankara's invocation of the convention is seen as significant because it has prevented Russia from bolstering its Black Sea Fleet. If Turkey were to open the straits, "the first thing you would see is a significant naval reinforcement from other parts of the Russian fleet, and that isn't in Ukraine's interest or ours," Ben Wallace, Britain's defense minister at the time, said at the Shangri-La Dialogue in June.

Smoke rising from a fuel tank after an attack in Sevastopol in April.REUTERS/Stringer

While Turkey's move has limited Russian naval movements, experts differ on its overall impact on the war.

"Initially, it was thought that it was a big deal that some of the Russian warships were prevented from entering the Black Sea. But Russia had a massive naval presence there anyway," including six ships from its Baltic and Northern fleets that entered the sea before Turkey invoked the convention, Volodymyr Dubovyk, a professor at Odessa's I. Mechnikov National University, told Insider.

Dubovyk added that Russia's ships in the Black Sea didn't give it a "decisive edge over Ukraine," and because of the effectiveness of Ukraine's attacks, those ships had become "sitting ducks" that had "to hide away from the Ukrainian coast."

Russian warships still appear to be stationed at Sevastopol, the main Russian naval base in Crimea, but Ukraine's success in targeting that base and Russian forces nearby will probably have a lasting impact.

"I think that these developments are going to contribute to a change in thinking about the role of naval power," Dubovyk told Insider.

Allied help

A Turkish navy frigate alongside a Romanian frigate in the Black Sea in February 2018.NATO

Iulia-Sabina Joja, the director of the Black Sea program at the Middle East Institute, a think tank in Washington, DC, said the convention also allowed Turkey to shape the international response to the war.

"The Montreux Convention is confusing," Joja told Insider. "It actually states that when Turkey is not a belligerent but feels threatened, then it can act as if it were a belligerent."

In such a case, as Joja noted, the decision about which warships can enter the Black Sea is entirely up to the Turkish government, according to the convention. (Merchant ships can pass through the straits freely, even during wartime, and satellite imagery suggests Russia is using them to move military hardware through the sea.)

This provision could allow Turkey to let warships from NATO navies into the Black Sea, and some experts have advocated that the alliance seek access to the sea to escort merchant vessels carrying Ukrainian grain, thus helping circumvent Russia's blockade.

A cargo ship passes a beach on the Danube River, which is being used for Ukrainian grain shipments, in Izmail in August.Getty Images

While the convention may allow such an action, going through with it would be politically difficult for NATO and for Ankara.

"We have two unknowns here: whether the Turkish government is willing to let NATO maritime defense capabilities in and whether NATO allies have the political will to build a credible deterrence and defense in the Black Sea region," Joja told Insider.

Turkey is a NATO member but maintains a good relationship with Russia. That has, at times, frustrated other NATO members, but Ankara used it to help broker the 2022 deal allowing Ukraine to ship grain through the Black Sea. (Russia withdrew from the deal in July and imposed its blockade.)

Allowing NATO warships into the Black Sea now would test Turkey's relations with Russia, but, Joja said, it would also benefit the alliance, "contribute to security in the Black Sea region, and would indirectly even help Ukraine ship grain out of the Black Sea."

Constantine Atlamazoglou works on transatlantic and European security. He holds a master's degree in security studies and European affairs from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. You can contact him on LinkedIn and follow him on X.

EV NEWS

Toyota and Lexus are adopting Tesla's EV charging standard

They will have access to 12,000 Tesla Superchargers starting in 2025.

Mariella Moon
·Contributing Reporter
Thu, October 19, 2023 

John Keeble via Getty Images

One by one, automakers have started adopting the North American Charging Standard (NACS) used by Tesla's Superchargers as they move towards their goal of replacing their fleet with electric vehicles. Toyota is the latest company to join the growing list. The automaker has announced that it has reached an agreement with Tesla to incorporate NACS ports into certain Toyota-branded vehicles starting in 2025. Some EVs under its luxury brand, Lexus, will come with the standard's charging ports, as well.

By using NACS ports on its electric vehicles, Toyota is effectively giving its customers the power to access more than 12,000 Tesla Superchargers across North America. While the company won't be implementing the standard over the next year, its timeline matches its rival automakers'. To note, customers who already have Toyota and Lexus vehicles equipped with the Combined Charging System (CCS) will be offered access to NACS adapters starting in 2025, as well.

BMW also recently announced that it was adopting the standard for all its EVs in the United States and Canada. A few months ago, GM and Ford revealed they were making the switch starting in 2025, but owners will already be able to access Tesla Superchargers next year with an adopter. Hyundai will adopt the port for its EVs in the US in 2024, with EVs in Canada to follow in 2025. Honda, Toyota's fellow Japanese automaker, announced its transition to NACS in September and its plans to sell vehicles with the port in two years' time. It also said, however, that it's developing an adapter to allow pre-2025 Hondas to charge using Tesla's system.

Suzuki eyes exporting India-made EVs to Japan as early as 2025 -Nikkei

Reuters
Wed, October 18, 2023 

The logo of Suzuki Motor Corp. is pictured at the 45th Tokyo Motor Show in Tokyo

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Suzuki Motor will start producing electric vehicles in India and export them from there to Japan as early as 2025, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Wednesday.

In a step to make India its global electric car manufacturing hub, Suzuki will also consider supplying India-made EVs to partner Toyota Motor for European markets that would be sold under the Toyota brand, the Nikkei said.

Suzuki declined to comment on the report. Toyota, which owns a 4.9% in Suzuki, was not immediately able to comment.

Nikkei said Suzuki will set up a new production line at a plant in India's western state of Gujarat, where its subsidiary Maruti Suzuki would start producing next autumn.

The battery-powered cars that Suzuki plans to export to Japan would be small sports utility vehicles and would have a price tag of around 3 million yen ($20,043) to 4 million yen, Nikkei said.

The production line would also make gasoline-powered cars and would reach an expected capacity of 250,000 units a year, the newspaper added.

($1 = 149.6800 yen)

Lordstown Motors ex-CEO approved to buy company assets for $10 million

Wed, October 18, 2023


By Dietrich Knauth

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Electric vehicle company Lordstown Motors received U.S. bankruptcy court approval Wednesday to sell its manufacturing assets to a new company affiliated with its founder and former CEO Stephen Burns for $10.2 million.

LAS Capital, majority-owned by Burns, will acquire Lordstown's intellectual property, business records, and machinery including assembly lines for electric vehicle motors and batteries.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Mary Walrath approved the sale at a court hearing in Wilmington, Delaware, saying it was the best available offer.

The sale does not include any rights to pursue legal claims against Lordstown's directors, officers or equity owners, which will remain with the bankrupt company, Lordstown Motors' attorney David Turetsky said at the court hearing. Several investor groups have already brought claims against Lordstown and its directors, alleging that the electric truck startup misled consumers and investors about its ability to ramp up electric vehicle production.

Lordstown Motors filed for bankruptcy in Delaware in June, seeking to wind down its business after failing to resolve a dispute over a promised investment from Taiwan's Foxconn, which had agreed to collaborate on the development of Lordstown's electric pickup truck after its purchase of Lordstown's manufacturing center.

Foxconn, formally called Hon Hai Precision Industry (2317.TW) and best known for assembling Apple's iPhones, has argued that it was not required to make further investments in Lordstown after the automaker's stock fell below $1 per share.

LAS Capital's attorney Jennifer Madden said that it was not purchasing any Endurance trucks for resale to the public and not acquiring any vehicles that had already been sold to customers and are subject to recalls from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Most of the purchased equipment is located at an Ohio manufacturing facility now owned by Foxconn, and Madden said LAS Capital will work with Foxconn to remove the machinery.

Burns resigned from the role of CEO in 2021, following an internal investigation into a short seller's claim that Lordstown had overstated the viability of its technology and misled investors about production plans. Burns later sold his remaining equity in the company before it went bankrupt.

Lordstown's ex-CFO Julio Rodriguez, who resigned at the same time as Burns, is also involved with LAS Capital as a minority owner and manager.

Most Americans still don't want an electric car — and many EV buyers end up going back to gas

Tim Levin
Wed, October 18, 2023

• Most Americans don't intend to buy an electric car in the near future, according to a new study.

• People who do spring for an EV often buy a gas car as their next purchase, per another study.

• Still, EV sales are climbing fast and are on track to surpass 1 million units in the US this year.

Even as electric vehicles dominate headlines and hot new models hit the market, most Americans aren't interested in giving up gasoline.

In a recent poll conducted by Yahoo Finance and Ipsos, 57% of respondents said they were not likely to choose an EV when they buy their next car. (For the purposes of the study, EVs included fully electric cars and plug-in hybrids, which have a larger battery and more electric range than traditional hybrids.)

Of that majority, 36% said they were "not at all likely" to go electric, while 21% said they were "not too likely." Thirty-one percent of those surveyed said they were likely to buy an EV.

The biggest factors turning potential buyers off from EVs are the same worries that consistently pop up in these kinds of surveys: High vehicle cost, limited driving range, and insufficient charging infrastructure. The study also highlights a striking political divide among the EV-curious; 41% of Democrats said they'd buy an EV, compared to only 17% of Republicans.

Once a person takes the electric plunge, they're not always instant converts.

A recent analysis from S&P Global Mobility found that many EV-owning households buy a gas-fueled car next. In the mainstream market, 52.1% of EV households (excluding Tesla's industry-leading loyalty numbers) buy an EV as their next vehicle, meaning almost half do not.

That next vehicle could be either a replacement or an additional car. Owning both an EV and an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle makes sense if consumers want an EV for short daily trips and another car that's better for long-haul journeys.

Automakers "are spending huge amounts of money to develop EVs," Tom Libby, associate director for loyalty solutions and industry analysis at S&P Global Mobility, said in a statement. "So the last thing they want is for an EV owner to go back to ICE."

Tesla households, which most EV households are, buy another EV a whopping 76.7% of the time, lifting the average for the luxury EV segment as a whole to 72.6%. Some other brands don't fare as well; Porsche and BMW had EV loyalty rates of 36.8% and 45.9%, respectively.

Despite the headwinds, EVs continue to take off. US EV sales have increased for 13 straight quarters, according to Cox Automotive. And the US is on pace to notch its first year with more than 1 million EVs sold.

NYAH, NYAH

Russia says it need no longer obey UN restriction on missile technology for Iran

Reuters
Tue, October 17, 2023


(Reuters) - Russia said it need no longer obey U.N. Security Council restrictions on giving missile technology to its ally Iran once they expire on Wednesday, without saying whether it now planned to support Tehran's missile development.

"Supplies to and from Iran of products falling under the Missile Technology Control Regime no longer require prior approval by the U.N. Security Council," Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

The restrictions were defined in Resolution 2231 of 2015 endorsing a deal by which Britain, China, the European Union, France, Germany, Russia and the U.S. removed sanctions against Iran in return for Tehran curbing its nuclear programme.


In 2018, then-President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the deal, known as the JCPOA, leaving unilateral U.S. sanctions in place, and Iran subsequently accelerated its nuclear programme, which it says is purely peaceful.

With the deal in shreds, U.N. sanctions intended to prevent the theocratic state developing long-range nuclear-capable ballistic missiles came back into force. But these will finally expire on Wednesday.

Russia has grown close to Iran since invading Ukraine in February 2022 and itself being shunned by the West. Many of the hundreds of one-way attack drones it has used to bomb Ukraine in the last year are believed to have been made in Iran.

The EU said on Tuesday that it planned to join the U.S. in retaining sanctions on Iran's ballistic missile programme after the U.N. sanctions expire.

Sources had earlier told Reuters there were three reasons for this: Russia's use of Iranian drones against Ukraine; the possibility that Iran might transfer ballistic missiles to Russia; and the need to deprive Iran of the benefits of the nuclear deal, which it violated after the U.S. withdrew.

Russia urged both the EU and the U.S. to drop their sanctions, which it said were "an effort to settle political scores with Tehran" and had no implications for "other countries that treat international law and their obligations with due respect".

(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Kevin Liffey; Editing by Howard Goller)

British navy chief says AUKUS submarine project needs 'rat-catchers' not regulators

David Brunnstrom
Tue, October 17, 2023 


: U.S. President Biden meets with Australian PM Albanese and British PM Sunak at Naval Base Point Loma in San Diego

By David Brunnstrom

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of Britain's Royal Navy joined Australia on Tuesday in questioning U.S. bureaucratic hurdles facing the three-country AUKUS project to supply Australia with nuclear-powered submarines.

Admiral Sir Ben Key, Britain's First Sea Lord, said U.S. regulations should not be used to maintain a competitive edge at a time when Western powers find themselves in "as contested an environment as we have been in for many decades, in terms ... of the global order."

"We have to be very careful as to what it is that you want your rules environment to achieve," he told Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, referring to International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) governing U.S. technology transfer, something the AUKUS project requires.

"If your rules environment is to prevent your adversaries from getting it and seeing what it is, that's probably realistic," Key said. "If your rules environment is to allow you a competitive edge in a different way, then I would question whether that's really enabling what matters to us all, which is to try and ensure a security framework."

Key cited as a cautionary tale a 1996 critique of bureaucratic obstacles to the effective exercise of British naval power that developed between the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 and the Battle of Jutland in 1916.

"The analysis in 'The Rules of the Game' is very clear: that one of the reasons that we were not as successful in the Battle of Jutland as many thought we should have been, is because we'd become hide-bound by rules," he said.

"What the author postulates is that in long periods of peace, the regulators predominate, and in war, rat-catchers predominate," he said, referring to people unafraid to bend rules to achieve the desired outcome.

In the current environment of global uncertainty, Key said, "we want rat-catchers to start predominating, and the regulators to be taking a back step ... we just need to be really careful that we've got that balance right."

The Biden administration has said it is working with the Congress to ease rules on technology sharing with Britain and Australia, but progress so far has been limited, with analysts pointing to resistance within the State Department.

Key's comment came after Australia's Washington ambassador Kevin Rudd was quoted in Australian media last week criticizing "ridiculous" U.S. bureaucracy holding back faster progress on AUKUS, which brings together the U.S. and Britain with Australia amid shared concern about China's growing might.

"We don't have any time to wait. The times are urgent," the Australian Financial Review quoted Rudd as saying.

Rudd spoke ahead of a visit to Washington next week by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at which AUKUS will be high on the agenda.

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)

 

Safely removing nanoplastics from water using 'Prussian blue', a pigment used to dye jeans

Microplastics can be removed by 99% with flocculants alone, without any additional equipment, by irradiating them with sunlight

Peer-Reviewed Publication

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

 

IMAGE: 

NANOPLASTIC TREATMENT USING FEHCF NANOBOTS UNDER VISIBLE-LIGHT IRRADIATION

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CREDIT: KOREA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Plastic waste breaks down over time into microplastics (<0.1 μm). Microplastics smaller than 20 μm cannot be removed in currently operating water treatment plants and must be agglomerated to a larger size and then removed. Iron (Fe) or aluminum (Al) based flocculants are used for this purpose, but they are not the ultimate solution as they remain in the water and cause severe toxicity to humans, requiring a separate treatment process.

Dr. Jae-Woo Choi of the Center for Water Cycle Research at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) has developed an eco-friendly metal-organic skeleton-based solid flocculant that can effectively aggregate nanoplastics under visible light irradiation.

Prussian blue, a metal-organic frameworks-based substance made by adding iron (III) chloride to a potassium ferrocyanide solution, is the first synthetic pigment used to dye jeans a deep blue color and has recently been used to adsorb cesium, a radioactive element, from Japanese nuclear plant wastewater. While conducting experiments on the removal of radioactive materials from water using Prussian blue, the KIST research team discovered that Prussian blue effectively aggregates microplastics under visible light irradiation.

The research team developed a material that can effectively remove microplastics by adjusting the crystal structure to maximize the aggregation efficiency of Prussian blue. When the developed material is irradiated with visible light, microplastics with a diameter of about 0.15 μm (150 nm), which are difficult to remove using conventional filtration technology, can be agglomerated to a size about 4,100 times larger, making them easier to remove. In experiments, the researchers found that they were able to remove up to 99% of microplastics from water. The developed material is also capable of flocculating microplastics more than three times its own weight, outperforming the flocculation efficiency of conventional flocculants using iron or aluminum by about 250 times.

The material not only uses Prussian blue, which is harmless to the human body, but is also a solid flocculant, making it easy to recover residues in water. It also uses natural light as an energy source, enabling a low-energy process.

"This technology has a high potential for commercialization as a candidate material that can be applied to general rivers, wastewater treatment facilities, and water purification plants," said Dr. Choi of KIST. "The developed material can be utilized not only for nanoplastics in water, but also to clean up radioactive cesium, thus providing safe water." Meanwhile, Dr. Youngkyun Jung, the first author of the paper, said, "The principle of this material can be utilized to remove not only microplastics, but also a variety of contaminants in water systems."

Schematics of the preparation of the FeHCH nanobots and process for NP removal

CREDIT

Korea Institute of Science and Technology

Supplementary Video [VIDEO] |

Formation of the FeHCF@NP complex under visible-light irradiation

KIST was established in 1The sources of photos and research results from KIST must be specified.Formation of the FeHCF@NP complex under visible-light irradiation966 as the first government-funded research institute in Korea. KIST now strives to solve national and social challenges and secure growth engines through leading and innovative research. For more information, please visit KIST’s website at https://eng.kist.re.kr/

The research, which was supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT (Minister Lee Jong-ho) through the Material Innovation Leading Project (2020M3H4A3106366) and the KIST Institutional Project (2E32442), was published on October 1 in the international journal Water Research.

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JOURNAL

Water Research

DOI

10.1016/j.watres.2023.120543 

ARTICLE TITLE

Visible-light-induced Self-propelled Nanobots Against Nanoplastics

 

American Academy of Pediatrics reviews toddler ‘formulas,’ questions marketing of drinks

A growing array of drinks advertised as a nutritious next step following human milk or infant formula lack standard composition and nutrition requirements

Peer-Reviewed Publication

AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS

 

Toddler “formulas” that are promoted as nutritious drinks for the older infant or preschooler are generally unnecessary and nutritionally incomplete, and the marketing practices that promote them are questionable, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. 

The AAP has published a new clinical report, “Older Infant-Young Child ‘Formulas,’ ” that reviews the growing array of drinks aimed at children ages 6-36 months and observes that they lack standardization or regulatory oversight. The clinical report, developed by the AAP Committee on Nutrition, will be released on Friday, Oct. 20, during the 2023 AAP Conference & Exhibition in Washington, D.C. The authors will discuss the clinical report during a session, “Toddler Formula, Growing Up Milk, Transition Formula: What’s in a Name?” from 2:30-3:30 p.m. Friday at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, 146C. 

The session will be repeated from 7:30 a.m.-8:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 21, at the convention center, Room 207A. 

The authors will be available for interviews. Contact AAP Public Affairs to request an interview. 

“Products that are advertised as ‘follow-up formulas,’ ‘weaning formulas,’ or ‘toddler milks and formulas,’ are misleadingly promoted as a necessary part of a healthy child’s diet or, for those directed at young infants, equivalent to infant formula,”  said lead author George J. Fuchs, III, MD, FAAP, a member of the Committee on Nutrition, which produced the clinical report.   

“These drinks should not replace a balanced diet and are inferior to standard infant formula in children less than 12 months of age and offer no benefit over much less expensive cow’s milk in most children older than age 12 months. Some children may have special nutritional needs, as well, and so as with any child, it is always best to check with your pediatrician.” 

The clinical report will be published in the November 2023 Pediatrics (published online Oct. 20). Clinical reports created by AAP are written by medical experts, reflect the latest evidence in the field, and go through several rounds of peer review before being approved by the AAP Board of Directors and published in Pediatrics. 

The AAP supports continued breastfeeding along with appropriate complementary foods introduced at about 6 months, as long as mutually desired by mother and child for 2 years or beyond. If the infant is not breastfed, the AAP and others recommend whole cow milk as suitable for infants beginning at 12 months of age as part of a nutritionally complete, balanced diet. 

Although medical or therapeutic formulas are indicated for a variety of conditions, such as chronic gastrointestinal diseases, metabolic disorders, food allergy, and others, such prescribed formulas are different from older infant-young child “formulas”.  

“It’s understandable that families and caregivers may be confused by the different names, compositions, and purported benefits of these so-called ‘formulas,’ ” said Steven A. Abrams, MD, FAAP, co-author of the report. “Some of the toddler drinks are high in sugar.  And to top it off, they are typically more expensive than cow’s milk.” 

As of now, the U.S. has no regulatory oversight to ensure that formulas for this age group adhere to any set of uniform standards. 

The AAP recommends: 

• For infants younger than 12 months, the liquid portion of the diet should be provided by human milk or standard infant formula, which in the U.S. have been reviewed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration based on the Infant Formula Act. 

• For toddlers (children 12 months and older), caregivers should provide a varied diet with fortified foods to optimize nutritional intake. Older infant-young child “formulas” can safely be used as part of a varied diet for children but do not provide a nutritional advantage in most children over a well-balanced diet that includes human milk or cow milk.  

• Marketing of these drinks should make a clear and unambiguous distinction from standard infant formula in promotional materials, logos, product names, and packaging. They should not be placed alongside infant formula on store shelves. 

• Pediatricians should complete a focused nutritional assessment of children and offer adjustment of solid food intake or vitamin supplementation as needed.  

 

“We are all familiar with picky eaters. And there may be reasons why some families avoid cow’s milk and dairy products,” Dr. Fuchs said. “That’s why it’s important to ask your pediatrician to evaluate if children are getting all the nutrients they need. Together, you can discuss a plan to address any potential deficiencies.” 

To request an embargoed copy of the clinical report or an interview with an author, contact AAP Public Affairs. 

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The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists whose mission is to attain optimal physical, mental, and social health and well-being for all infants, children, adolescents, and young adults.  

For frequent updates on AAP recommendations, Pediatrics studies, AAP in the news, public awareness campaigns, information for parents and more, follow us on social media @AmerAcadPeds.  

 

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METHOD OF RESEARCH

Systematic review

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

American Academy of Pediatrics Reviews Toddler ‘Formulas,’ Questions Marketing of Drinks

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

20-Oct-2023