Tesla bursts into flames inside Florida garage flooded by Hurricane Helene, terrifying video surfaces: Watch

NO SHARK SEEN

BySumanti Sen

Sep 30, 2024 

The garage where the incident took place was flooded with saltwater by Hurricane Helene.

A terrifying video shows the moment a Tesla burst into flames inside a Florida garage as a result of Hurricane Helene. The garage where the incident took place was flooded with saltwater by the storm.

Tesla bursts into flames inside Florida garage flooded by Hurricane Helene (Pinellas County Government/Facebook)

The fire, which started underneath the electric ride, completely engulfed it in less than a minute, the video shows. The room was quickly filled with thick smoke.

Pinellas County Government shared the video on Facebook, with a warning. “Electric Vehicles that have been flooded in saltwater can catch fire. As you return home, here's some advice from our fire admin,” the post reads.

The advice includes points like, “Do not charge, drive, or store your EV or E-bike in your home or garage,” “do move the EV or E-bike 50 feet away from any other combustible material,” and “do have the vehicle towed to a dealership for inspection.”

‘The road to recovery will be long’

The storm has killed at least 91 people, and the number is reportedly expected to increase. President Joe Biden expressed his sorrow at the “loss of life and devastation caused by Hurricane Helene across the Southeast.” In a statement released by the White House, he said, “The road to recovery will be long, but know that my Administration will be with you every step of the way. We’re not going to walk away. We’re not going to give up. As we turn toward recovery efforts, we will make certain that no resource is spared to ensure that families, businesses, schools, hospitals, and entire communities can quickly begin their road to rebuilding. Jill and I are praying for those who lost loved ones from Hurricane Helene, and for those whose homes, businesses, and communities were impacted by this terrible storm.”

Federal emergencies were declared in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. Over 800 personnel from the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) had to be deployed. According to the National Weather Service, conditions would "continue to improve today following the catastrophic flooding over the past two days."

Essay

The Radical Act of Gardening Silicon Valley

Communities Are Nourishing Themselves—And a Movement to Transform Our Food System—By Planting in Unlikely Soil

In San Jose, hidden amid the campuses of Google, Cisco, and Apple, a different kind of movement is growing—a movement of home gardeners, who provide food for their families and communities, writes Gabriel R. Valle, associate professor of environmental studies at California State University, San Marcos. image courtesy of author

By Gabriel R. Valle | September 30, 2024


Days start early in the garden. As the sun rises over the Santa Clara Valley’s Diablo Range, we’ve already gathered and prepared seed beds for planting. The smell of damp soil fills the air as we carefully place fava beans into the dark earth. The soil under our fingernails and caked onto our knees doesn’t bother us—it reminds us of where our food comes from. We fill our bellies with warm coffee and pan dulce as we plant and discuss what the day will bring.

Silicon Valley might seem like a strange place for a gardening movement to flourish. Our plantings are hidden amid the palm tree-lined technology campuses of companies like Google, Cisco, and Apple, buried under the sounds of busy freeways, and packed neatly into an urban center where millions of people live. Yet the ways these gardens have found a home here can teach us a lot. By cultivating physical spaces to grow food in the margins of modernity—in the places ecologists call “ecotones,” where habitats, or worlds, collide and the unexpected emerges—we are also nourishing political spaces to live 21st-century life.

In 2012, while researching urban agriculture in Silicon Valley, I met the director of La Mesa Verde, an organization that teaches gardening and food literacy in the low-income communities of San Jose. She gave me a neighborhood tour, and then invited me to participate in a community action research project that would change my life.

For over a decade, I have been learning from, planting alongside, and writing about the home gardeners of La Mesa Verde. They live in parts—Alma, Alum Rock, Campbell, Willow Glen, Spartan Keyes, and East San Jose—where their options for fresh, healthy, and culturally relevant foods are limited. Most of the families in the program are Spanish-speaking, but it is a multi-ethnic, multilingual group of gardeners. With the help of the UC Master Gardener Program and the extensive farming and gardening knowledge of many of its members, gardeners who participate in La Mesa Verde are more than successful growers; they are advocates for community transformation. They share surpluses to challenge market logics. Their collective efforts promote their right to food and challenge their marginality by bringing together people who might otherwise not come together. They celebrate life by centering dignity in their efforts to transform their food system.

Countless nonprofits have popped up across the country to help alleviate the lack of access to quality food in many low-income communities. The belief is that state-sponsored intervention such as food pantries or the strategic placement of farmers markets are the best way to bring food into the community. There is an assumption that people living in these communities are too poor, busy, or ignorant to fix the issues they face related to food access themselves.

These communities are not naturally occurring empty “food deserts,” but rather they are products of food apartheid, or a food landscape that has been engineered in ways that benefit some and harm others. Ironically, even well-intentioned nonprofits seeking to “fix” low food access in underserved areas can end up prolonging it because their food charity interventions address the symptoms of hunger rather than the root causes of social inequality.


There are orange, lemon, lime, and pomegranate trees towering over houses; pinto and green beans climbing up chain-link fences; and yerba buena, epazote, and verdolagas propagating around foundations.

As I have gotten to know these Silicon Valley neighborhoods and the people who call them home, I’ve learned that community members address issues of food access in ways that do not fit the mold these initiatives promote. Food emerges from the neighborhoods’ lost, forgotten, and marginalized places. There are orange, lemon, lime, and pomegranate trees towering over houses; pinto and green beans climbing up chain-link fences; and yerba buena, epazote, and verdolagas propagating around foundations.

In fall 2013, I met a gardener in his early 80s originally from the outskirts of Mexico City. He and his wife lived in half of a two-bedroom duplex, with his daughter and her two kids next door. The best thing, he told me, was that while they had separate living areas, they shared a backyard, which was large enough for him to grow food and his grandkids to explore.

Gardening had played a central role in his life—as a kid he grew corn, beans, and squash in his family’s huerta (vegetable garden)—but what stood out the most from that conversation was how he explained the act of gardening as a reciprocal relationship between people and places. “Ser un jardínero,” he said, “es estar en comunicación. Comunicación con la comida, familia, comunidad, y tierra.” (“To be a gardener is to be in communication. Communication with food, family, community, land.”)

That afternoon, I watched him tend to his heirloom corn, summer squash, pinto beans, and jalapeno peppers. He moved through the garden as if in sync with its rhythms. It became evident that for him, gardening was less about food production, and more about cultivating relationships with his food through his labor—something most of us have lost touch with in recent years.

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Labor is the source of value in these gardens, but not in the classical economic sense of how much things cost. Rather, value manifests in what gardens can restore. Most of us living under capitalism work for a living, and the more energy and time we invest in earning money, the less time we have for ourselves. Many of the gardeners I have interacted with hold part-time, low-wage jobs—sometimes two or three—that take them away from their families and communities. They are caretakers, food service workers, housekeepers, landscapers, and retail employees. But when they garden, their labor contributes to the social and cultural reproduction of their communities and cultures. Their simple acts of gardening challenge the capitalist ideal of individualism over all else because gardening does not separate people from community; it roots them in community. As a gardener told me one afternoon, “Tener un jardín es contra este sistema.” (“To have a garden is against this system.”)

Another La Mesa Verde gardener once told me, “When I go into my garden, I greet life.” He was doing more than referring to the ways growing food supports his physical health. By growing and sharing food, home gardens allow people to root themselves, regain control over their agricultural production, re-envision communal organization, and remind themselves—and us—how to be human again.

When we grow food, we work toward a reciprocal partnership with the human and non-human communities around us: We hope to support them as we rely on them to support us in turn. Gardening regenerates healthy soils, communities, peoples, and cultures. Silicon Valley’s home gardeners are growing food to feed the physical and spiritual needs of their communities—and they’re doing it at the epicenter of modernity and technology, in one of the most expensive and alienating places to live in America today.


Gabriel R. Valleis an associate professor of environmental studies at California State University, San Marcos. His most recent book, Gardening at the Margins: Convivial Labor, Community, and Resistance, explores food, gardening, health, and cultural resilience in the Santa Clara Valley.

PRIMARY EDITOR: Caroline Tracey | SECONDARY EDITOR: Sarah Rothbard

How Hassan Nasrallah's killing split Arab world as Shia, Sunni rift comes to the fore

Countries like UAE and Bahrain have kept silence while Saudi Arabia and Egypt did not mention Hassan Nasrallah's name while urging to preserve Lebanon's sovereignty 

BAHRAIN IS A SHIA MAJORITY UNDER SUNNI RULE BY COUSINS OF SAUDI ARABIA 

Web Desk Updated: September 30, 2024 

Iraqi Shiites hold pictures of Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Beirut, during a symbolic funeral in Sadr City, Baghdad, Iraq | AP

After Israeli military killed Iran-backed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, Sunni states in the Arab world have maintained silence on the issue. This has brought forward the rift among Arab countries over historical Sunni and Shia ideologies as well as geopolitical equations in the region.

While Iran and its allies in Iraq and Syria have condemned the assassination of Nasrallah, the Gulf countries led by Saudi Arabia and other Arab League nations have taken a different stance. Syria and Iraq have declared a three-day mourning period

Though the Arab League designated Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation in 2016, it was retracted earlier this year.

Saudi Arabia has stated that the situation in Lebanon is of "grave concern", urging the preservation of the sovereignty and regional security of the country. However, it did not mention anything about Nasrallah or Hezbollah, which is a non-state player.

Egypt, which has been critical of Iran and its proxies, rejected any violation of Lebanon's sovereignty but did not mention Nasrallah.

Bahrain and the UAE, which have normalised their relations with Israel, have opted to keep silence. Qatar has also kept mum on the issue.

LuaLua TV, a pro-Iranian Bahraini channel, aired videos of demonstrators mourning for Nasrallah, saying the government attacked those who took part in the march. Bahrain Mirror, run by the opposition, said a Shia cleric was detained for condoling Nasrallah's death.

Israel only wants wars, no end game: Jordanian Minister on Middle East tensions

Jordan Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said it took 30 years to convince people that peace is possible but the Israeli government led by Benjamin Netanyahu "killed" it.

India Today World Desk
New Delhi,

UPDATED: Sep 30, 2024 
Written By: Nakul Ahuja

In Short

Jordan foreign minister says 57 Muslim-Arab nations want peace

Says Israel continuing violence as it doesn't want two-state solution

Over 100 killed in Lebanon in Israeli airstrikes on Sunday

Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said that Israel has no "end game" and only wants wars in response to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's "we are surrounded by enemies" remark. Safadi's comments come amid dramatically escalating tensions between Israel and Hezbollah.

Safadi's comments came after Israel bombarded Lebanon's Beirut, with the Jewish nation's military saying it had targeted Hezbollah's central headquarters in the southern suburbs of the capital.

"We are here, members of the Muslim-Arab committee, mandated by 57 Muslim-Arab countries. I can tell you here very unequivocally, all of us are willing to, right now, guarantee the security of Israel in the context of Israel ending the occupation and allowing for the emergence of a Palestinian state, an independent state," Safadi said.

Holding Netanyahu responsible for the country's brutal aggression against Lebanon and its continued attack, Safadi said the Israeli PM is continuing to rely on violence as he doesn't want a "two-state solution".

"Can you ask Israeli officials what is their end game other than wars and wars and wars...do they have a narrative other than 'I'm going to continue to go to war and kill this and kill that.' It took 30 years to convince people that peace is possible, but this Israeli government killed it. The amount of dehumanisation, hatred will take generations to navigate," he added.

Safadi also said that he holds Israel responsible for the "catastrophic consequences of its brutal aggression against Lebanon" amid escalating tensions between the Jewish nation and Hezbollah.

Israel continues to launch airstrikes on what it says are Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. Israeli airstrikes on Sunday killed over 100 people and injured 359 others. The airstrikes have destroyed homes and have displaced thousands of people. A video shared by India Today reporter Ashraf Wani from Lebanon showed hundreds of Lebanese people trying to cross the border to Syria in search of safer pastures as Israeli airstrikes continued to wreak havoc.

"We hold Israel fully responsible for the catastrophic consequences of its aggression on Lebanon, which it is launching brutally without any legal or humanitarian deterrent, while it continues its aggression on Gaza and its dangerous escalation in the West Bank. We stand in solidarity with Lebanon and its brotherly people as they confront this aggression and heal their wounds, and we affirm our support for it and for its sovereignty, security, stability, cohesion, and peace," Safadi said on X.



Ayman Safadi's statement came amid the news of the death of several top Hezbollah leaders, including Hassan Nasrallah. Israel has claimed to have eliminated several top commanders of Hezbollah even as it continues its bombardment to target the militant group's military infrastructure.

Notably, at least four people were killed after an Israeli airstrike hit a building in Lebanon's Beirut in the early hours of Monday. This is the first time since the escalation of the conflict that Israel has attacked a residential area in Beirut's Kola district. India Today TV's Ashraf Wani reported that Israeli drones have been carrying out attacks in the suburbs of Beirut since Sunday evening.

Watch live: Beirut city centre in ruins after first Israeli strike in 18 years

Holly Patrick

THE INDEPENDENT UK
 Monday, 30 September


Watch live from Beirut on Monday, 30 September, as an apartment building lies in ruins following an Israeli strike in the city centre for the first time since 2006.

This feed shows a residential building that was hit by an airstrike in the Kola district.

According to Lebanon’s health ministry, the attack brings the death toll from Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon to more than 1,000 people and the number of those injured to more than 6,000 over the last two weeks.

Lebanon’s head of emergency disaster management said the number of displaced people in the country surged from 300,000 to nearly one million in just a few hours over the weekend.

The attack stoked fears that Middle East fighting could spin out of control and draw in the United States.

Hamas said an Israeli strike killed its leader in Lebanon on Monday, while another Palestinian militant group said three of its leaders were killed in a strike on Beirut.

Demonstrations in support of Lebanon and opposing Israel's war erupt across US

From New York to California, demonstrators across the US are amplifying their demand for an end to US support of Israel's attacks on Gaza and Lebanon.

Brooke Anderson
Washington, DC
30 September, 2024

Activists draw chalk art in support of Gaza and Lebanon. [Brooke Anderson/TNA]

In cities across the US this past week, Lebanese flags were added to the sea of Palestinian ones, as demonstrators gathered to show their support for the latest victim of Israeli indiscriminate attacks.

After nearly a year of continuous bombings on Gaza, in recent days Israel began a brazen military assault on Lebanon, two weeks ago shocking the world with coordinated exploding pagers targeting members of Hezbollah, while also killing many civilians, then exploding walking talkies, and in recent days and hours hitting residential buildings in the capital of Beirut. All these acts by Israel are considered violations of international humanitarian law, the Geneva Conventions, and other crucial rules in warfare, according to various local and international organisations.

On Sunday afternoon in San Francisco, several hundred demonstrators gathered in front of the city's Federal Building, as activists gave speeches, people chanted and drew chalk art in support of Gaza and Lebanon.

"We gathered here today in front of the Federal Building because of Israel's escalation in Lebanon. And it's following up to about a year of genocide in Gaza. We are here to demand an arms embargo and to prevent this escalation into a full-out regional war," Laila Ali with the Palestinian Youth Movement told The New Arab.

"I think with this past year how Israel has been able to act with impunity without any sort of reprimand from the West, with a green light to keep going, they have decided to continue and expand their war, to expand their genocide, to expand their attacks against Arab people," she continued.

"They're using the same textbook they used in Gaza, saying there are missiles in civilian homes, saying everyone is a terrorist, to create as much destruction as possible to make it unliveable," she said.

Meanwhile, Dearborn in southeastern Michigan, with one of the highest concentrations of Arabs and Muslims in the US, has held multiple demonstrations in the last week in recognition of Israel's escalation in Lebanon.

In the country's political and economic capitals of Washington and New York, "emergency demonstrations" have been held, often with just hours' notice, as the situation in Lebanon continues to change daily.

Since 7 October, more than 42,000 Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank have been killed in Israeli attacks. In late September, more than 1,000 people in Lebanon have been killed by Israeli attacks.

"For the past year, millions across the world have been demanding that Israel end its horrific genocidal war against the Palestinian people and that Western powers cut off all support to Israel. Instead, Israel has been rewarded with more military aid and unanimous support for political leaders of both parties." said Layan Fuleihan of the People's Forum, a New York-based movement incubator for working class and marginalised communities, in a public statement shortly before an emergency demonstration on Sunday.

"We won’t stand by while Biden and Harris continue to fund and expand this genocide. We will take to the streets and say NO to US-support for genocide in Gaza and Lebanon," he added.

More gatherings are planned in the coming days, including musical events, to mark one year of Israel's genocide of Gaza.

VIDEO: Protest held in Paris in support of Lebanon, Palestine

TEHRAN, Sep. 30 (MNA) – People gathered in Paris, the capital of France, to express solidarity and support for the people of Palestine and Lebanon.

In-person workers earn up to 7 per cent more in pay to offset lack of WFH benefits

Working from home appears to cater to society's most advantaged groups

 Gulf News 
Published: September 30, 2024

Bloomberg

For many, the ability to work from home is in itself a substantial job benefit.

 Credit: Gulf News archives

Hybrid work has lifestyle benefits for those who can do it "- and financial benefits for those who can't.

A new study found that remote workers in the UK sacrificed pay growth in the first two years after the Covid-19 pandemic, while in-person staff saw bigger gains to compensate for the lack of WFH benefits.

Those who could work from home for a few days a week saw wages grow 2% to 7% slower than other occupations "- a "significant remote work wage penalty," according to a paper led by economists from the University of Nottingham, the University of Sheffield, and King's College London.

For many, the ability to work from home is in itself a substantial job benefit, like access to free child care or a company car. The researchers found that the non-salary advantages of working remotely outweighed the relatively lower wage gains. For non-remote employees, the researchers calculated that the salary boost more than compensated for having to work in person every day.

The findings were based on an analysis of official wage figures from January 2018 to December 2019 and from September 2021 to December 2023, along with UK data from the Survey of Working Arrangements and Attitudes, which started asking 1,800 adults questions about their working arrangements and preferences in 2019.

This study, one of the few that analyze the joint impact of WFH on wages for remote and non-remote workers, comes as loosening labor markets open the door for companies to renew their RTO push. PwC UK recently mandated three days in the office, while Amazon ordered everyone back in five days a week.

Inequality

Working from home appears to cater to society's most advantaged groups. Better educated, higher earners are more likely to work in consulting, software programming, or other jobs that don't require their in-person presence every day, the study found. And those living in larger houses further away from the city are both more able and more willing to work from home.

"There are arguments suggesting companies should encourage or even mandate that their workers should come back into the office, and you might argue that if working from home increases inequality it gives a further argument for doing that," Paul Mizen, vice dean at King's Business School, King's College, London, said in an interview. "Our research shows that it doesn't increase inequality so you can't use this as a reason to get people back in the office."

When looking at total compensation, taking into account both wages and in-kind WFH benefits, researchers found hybrid working did not widen inequalities between in-person and remote workers. In fact, it had no effect on the gap.

"The shift to remote work has resulted in no significant change in overall inequality, but rather a substantial increase in average compensation across the board," the authors wrote.

Cost of RTO

Flexible working is back at the top of the UK political agenda. All eyes are on the Labour Party's plans to overhaul employment laws which includes proposals to expand flexible working arrangements, one of Prime Minister Keir Starmer's key promises to voters.

The survey asked how much it costs Britons to go to the office, taking into account transport costs, as well as spending on things like lunches, coffee or work clothes. On average, people would sacrifice 8.2% of their income for the option to stay home for two or three days a week, the study found. Women, young workers and those with more demanding commutes were more willing to pay to work from home.

"Remote working benefits are higher among advantaged groups," the paper said. "The ability to work remotely is unequally distributed, and so is the extent to which individuals value it."

London lags behind other major cities like Paris, Singapore or New York when it comes to working in the office, mainly due to the cost and length of commuting. Over 40% of London workers, who spend little more than half the week in the office, cited reduced travel costs as a perk of working from home, compared to an average of 34% across all cities, according to a study from the Centre for Cities. Londoners were also more likely to highlight time saved as a result of not having to commute.

FEMINIST ECONOMICS

In the Philippines, costly marriage annulments spur calls to allow divorce

MAKE IT NO-FAULT

Bill to legalise divorce offers hope to Filipino women currently relying on expensive and lengthy annulment process.

A Filipino couple shows their wedding rings following a mass wedding ahead of Sunday's Valentine's Day celebration in Manila, Philippines

 [Bullit Marquez/AP]

By Michael Beltran
Published On 30 Sep 2024

Manila, the Philippines – Veronica Bebero recalls the despair she felt being interrogated by police inside a locked room at the United States Embassy in Manila.

National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) investigators wanted to know why she had used fake marriage annulment documents for her US visa application.

Tears streaming down her face, the Manila-based acupuncturist remembers saying: “This has to be a nightmare, right?”

Bebero had turned to a woman who claimed to be a judicial official to secure an annulment after the COVID-19 pandemic derailed her efforts to go through the usual court process.

After she and her US finance had paid some 500,000 Philippine pesos (USD 8,862) in legal and admin fees, Bebero was attracted by the promise of a speedy annulment for a fee of 210,000 Philippine pesos ($3,722).

Bebero’s annulment never came. As she learned from the police, she had been scammed.

“There is someone out there who wants what I want, a nice peaceful marriage. If someone is willing to give that then I want to be able to give that back,” said Bebero, whose engagement with her fiancé fell apart under the strain of losing so much money.

The extraordinary lengths Bebero was willing to go to annul her marriage reflects the Philippines’s status as the only jurisdiction in the world, apart from the Vatican, that does not recognise divorce.

That leaves Filipino couples who wish to sever ties with no other option than an annulment – a gruelling process for Filipinos of modest means, in particular.

In the deeply Catholic Philippines, annulments typically take about two years, cost about half a million pesos and are usually only granted in extreme cases of abuse or incompatibility.

With legislative moves afoot, the reliance on annulments could finally be about to change.

In June, the Absolute Divorce Bill moved to the Senate after passing the House of Representatives in May.

Bebero and other backers of the bill view the prospect of legalised divorce as a lifeline, particularly for spouses who cannot afford a costly annulment.

One of the divorce bill’s main proponents is Congresswoman Arlene Brosas, who says the reform would offer a way out for “marriages that have failed and have no other remedy”, Brosas told Al Jazeera.

“It’s for women who don’t have a choice and are financially trapped in abusive households.

Conservative senators have expressed their aversion to the bill, suggesting instead that amendments be made to the annulment law.

“Instead of divorce, why don’t we study how to make marriage annulments more acceptable and their processes less taxing?” Senator Jinggoy Estrada said in a statement earlier this year

.

Philippine Senator Jinggoy Estrada [Rolex Dela Pena/EPA-EFE]

The Catholic Church, which holds significant sway in a country where about 80 percent of the population identifies with the religion, has been among the most fervent opponents of the bill.

Father Jerome Secillano, spokesperson for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), recently asked lawmakers why they were “harping on divorce” when they could amend existing laws.

Secillano blamed “unscrupulous lawyers” for charging excessive fees for annulments, making the process of invalidating a marriage “anti-poor”.

To prevent exorbitant legal expenses, the divorce bill proposes a cap on costs of 50,000 pesos ($886), much less than the typical cost of an annulment.
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Attorney Minnie Lopez, counsel for the national women’s group Gabriela, said that annulments are costly by design to make the ending of marriages as difficult as possible.

“In court, it’s clear that most clients are well-off,” Lopez told Al Jazeera.

Lopez said that the push to legalise divorce is not just about affordability, but accessibility, too.

“Divorce expands the grounds where marriages can end, it expedites the process. It considers economic incapacity and urgency,” Lopez said.

Lopez acknowledged that the provisions in the proposed divorce legislation are part of an “ideal scenario” and bills often go through extensive revisions before becoming law.

If passed in its current form, the divorce bill would make court rulings immediate and allow applicants to represent themselves in cases where a lawyer is not necessary, such as in cases of bigamy or where a couple has been separated for at least five years.

The proposed law lists 13 grounds for divorce, including irreconcilable differences, compared with the eight allowed grounds for annulment.

Cici Leuenberger-Jueco of Divorce for the Philippines Now-International warns that scammers are preying on people such as Bebero who are desperate to leave their marriages.

In October 2023, the Supreme Court ordered the NBI to investigate the matter.

Leuenberger-Jueco said that very few women come forward to press charges against scammers because “they feel ashamed”.

“Or they sometimes settle if half of the money is returned,” Leuenberger-Jueco told Al Jazeera.

According to the latest Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) census, just 1.9 percent of Filipinos had either received an annulment, or gotten separated or divorced – the latter including those who wed overseas.

The census data from June also showed that just 51 percent of women were in the labour force, compared with 75 percent of men, meaning half of Filipino women depend on spousal or familial income

.

The House of Representatives passed the Absolute Divorce Bill in May [Francis R. Malasig/EPA-EFE]

Sarah Abella, who heads a Violence Against Women complaint desk in Marikina City, said she receives calls from up to 10 distressed wives each day.

For them, any form of separation is too much of a financial burden to contemplate, Abella said.

“A wife can’t afford to leave, so she endures the pain of each fist,” Abella told Al Jazeera.

Some observers argue that legalising divorce could bring broader benefits for the economy as a whole.

Ella Oplas, an expert on gender and economics at De La Salle University, believes that allowing divorce could spur the country’s growth.

Assuming the pent-up demand for divorce is high, Oplas said separating couples would need to seek out new accommodations, creating a “higher demand for real property”.

Oplas said that allowing divorce could also result in “an increase in family consumption” as the rise in the number of households would bring about “two sets of groceries and expenditures.”

Since many women remain financially dependent on their spouses, however, Oplas said the country should expect transitional challenges.

The PSA recorded a poverty rate among women of 18.4 percent in 2021, up from 16.6 percent in 2018.

The statistics agency found that women ranked as the third-most economically vulnerable segment of society, after residents of rural areas and children.

Oplas said that while she supports the legalisation of divorce, the government also needs to do more to support women seeking financial independence.

For Bebero, the idea of saving up for another annulment application on an acupuncturist’s salary seems “impossible”.

She hopes that lawmakers will follow through on the proposed law change to give women like her a fresh start.

“Each paycheck goes to the bills and my two kids. I have no plans and I don’t really know where my life is going. But I carry on,” Bebero said.
Source: Al Jazeera

Donald Trump mocked for saying 'most people don't have any idea' what a phone app is: ‘How out of touch with reality…’

BySumanti Sen
Sep 30, 2024 

Donald Trump made the odd remark while slamming the Biden administration’s border policy at his Wisconsin rally.

Donald Trump is being blasted for making an odd remark at his Wisconsin rally on Saturday, September 28. During his speech, the former president slammed the Biden administration’s border policy as a "betrayal" to Americans. Making a strange claim about migrants' tech-savviness, he said, “They have a phone app so the people can come into our country.”Donald Trump mocked for saying 'people don't have any idea' what a phone app is

"These are smart immigrants, I guess, because most people don't have any idea what the hell a phone app is,” he added.

The Kamala HQ X account shared a video of Trump making the claim, with many taking to the comment section to blast him.

“How do these people listen and clap to this garbage?” one user wrote. “Another example of how out of touch with reality & the public Donald Trump really is,” one user wrote in the comment section of the above video, while another said, “His concept of "most people" explains his terrible instincts about policy.” “Senile and demented,” one user wrote, while another mocked, “Only a stable genius like Trump knows what a phone app is.”

“Wow! This guy thinks he’s so smart that he’s dumb!” one user wrote. “Trump is showing his age when he mocks that people don't know what a phone app is,” one user wrote, while another said, “By most people he's referring to himself.” Another wrote, “Omg he’s such an embarrassment”.

‘Kamala Harris can never be forgiven for her erasing our border’

Trump’s Wisconsin rally came a day after Kamala Harris visited the US-Mexico border for the first time in her presidential campaign this year. Addressing the crowd, Trump called the vice president “mentally disabled” and “mentally impaired.” He blamed Harris and Joe Biden for allowing undocumented immigrants to enter the United States, accusing some immigrants of wanting to “rape, pillage, thieve, plunder and kill the people of the United States of America.”

“There’s no greater act of disloyalty than to extinguish the sovereignty of your own nation right through your border, no matter what lies she tells,” he said. “Kamala Harris can never be forgiven for her erasing our border, and she must never be allowed to become president of the United States and Wisconsin.”

PATRIARCHY IS FEMICIDE

Over 177,000 women 'face life-threatening health risks' in Gaza

A woman walks past a school partially destroyed by Israeli strikes in Khan Yunis. AFP

After more than 11 months of war, the healthcare system in Gaza has almost collapsed. Nearly 84 per cent of health facility buildings have been destroyed or damaged, and those remaining in service lack medicines, ambulances, basic life-saving treatment, electricity, and water, according to a statement issued by UN Women.

The challenges faced in the health sector are taking a devastating toll on women’s physical and mental health in the Gaza Strip. Women have limited to no access to necessary treatments, leading to immediate and long-term health impacts. It is estimated that more than 177,000 women face life-threatening health risks, including 162,000, who have or are at risk of developing non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular or hypertensive diseases; and 15,000 pregnant women who are at the brink of famine.

Pregnant and lactating women are facing severe complications and experiencing infections, anaemia, and hypertension. Some 68 per cent of pregnant women surveyed have suffered from urinary tract infections, anaemia, hypertensive disorders, vaginal bleeding, or haemorrhage. The lack of sexual and reproductive health services is another area of concern.

 

 A Palestinian woman holds a cat as she walks past the rubble of houses destroyed in Israel's military offensive in Khan Younis. Reuters

Despite this serious decline in their overall health, women are also the main caregivers for their families, eating last and least under severe hunger and starvation conditions. The new risk of polio is adding new challenges to a health system already operating with the bare minimum.

'We must act swiftly'

"Too many women in Gaza are at risk of dying from medical complications after months without any medication, limited access to doctors and no treatment for serious illnesses like diabetes or cancer. It is imperative that we act swiftly to save their lives. An immediate and sustainable ceasefire, the release of all hostages, the provision of safe, unimpeded humanitarian aid, and access to medicines and health services throughout Gaza are essential to prevent further deterioration,” said UN Women’s Regional Director for Arab States a.i, Moez Doraid.

UN Women’s latest Gender Alert released on Sunday is the fifth issued on Gaza since 7 October and is titled "War on Women’s Health: A Deep Dive into the Gendered Impact of the War in Gaza on the Health Sector.” It provides a comprehensive gender analysis of the health sector in Gaza, uncovering heightened health risks for women, particularly concerning NCDs among the elderly, cancer, infectious diseases, and the health and nutrition of pregnant and lactating mothers, amid the suspension of medical services and without access to medication.

UN Women echoes the UN Secretary-General’s call for an immediate ceasefire, unhindered humanitarian access, the release of all hostages, and emphasises the need for gender-sensitive provision and coordination of health services, the protection of healthcare workers, and support for women-led organisations.

WAM

 

Several massive explosions occur in Moscow (+VIDEO)

TEHRAN, Sep. 30 (MNA) – Local sources in Russia reported massive blasts in the capital city of Moscow.

Russian media sources published a video of several explosions in a residential complex in the northwest of Moscow.

Reports suggest that the explosions occurred due to the explosion of gas cylinders stored in one of the apartments.

MP/6241258

HEY, REMEMBER  ME?!

Same Old Robert Gates: The Poster Child for US Militarization

Melvin Goodman

 September 30, 2024
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Photograph Source: The U.S. Army – Public Domain

There has been a deplorable consistency in the remarks and efforts of Robert M. Gates over the past four decades.  In the 1980s, Gates was a major player in the falsification of intelligence regarding the Soviet Union, designed to justify unneeded increases in the defense budget.  In 1986, Gates had to withdraw his name from congressional confirmation for the post of director of the Central Intelligence Agency because the majority of the Senate intelligence committee believed he was lying about his role in the infamous Iran-Contra operation.

In lying about Iran-Contra, Gates was also protecting the role of then Vice President George H.W. Bush, who nominated Gates to be the CIA director in 1991.  Gates was confirmed this time, but not before garnering more negative votes from the Senate than any of his predecessors.  The hearings exposed Gates’ role in politicizing the intelligence on the Soviet Union, and I played a role in my critical testimony to the committee.  At least, President Bill Clinton subsequently ignored Gates’ efforts to be retained as CIA director; Gates set a record for the shortest stewardship of any CIA leader.

As secretary of defense from 2006 to 2011, Gates led the unsuccessful attempts of the military to achieve its goals in Iraq and Afghanistan. Gates was named secretary by President George W. Bush, and retained by President Barack Obama who didn’t want to make waves at the Pentagon.  Gates was particularly active in 2011 in trying to block the efforts of President Obama to reduce our military presence in Afghanistan.  Then vice president Joe Biden explicitly warned Obama about Gates’ efforts to thwart the White House and increase the U.S. military presence, which explains Gates’ criticism of Biden in his various writings.

Last week, the Washington Post, which supports greater defense spending and modernization of our nuclear forces, ran a long oped from Gates extolling the importance of increased defense spending and force modernization.  This essay (“Failures in Washington leave U.S. defense vulnerable abroad”) has become a frequent event in the Post.  It is important to understand Gates’ role in underplaying the military might of the United States and exaggerating the military might of potential adversaries.  Gates ignores the fact that the United States has military bases and assets in more than 700 nations, while China has one military base (in Djibouti) outside it’s zone of interest.  China faces 200 U.S. military bases and facilities in the Indo-Pacific alone.

The United State has more than 50 defense treaties and arrangements with foreign nations; China has one (with North Korea).  More importantly, the United States has been very successful in lining up assets in the Indo-Pacific region that encircle China and contribute to our policy of containment that China finds strategically threatening.  The Quad arrangement includes India, Japan, and Australia in support of U.S. policies.  The AUKUS arrangement aligns the United States, Britain, and Australia in policies that oppose Chinese interests.  Also, the United States has bolstered its military relations with Japan, and has diplomatically arranged for closer relations between Japan and South Korea in order to maintain pressure on China.

Yes, China has more naval ships than the United States (234 vs. 219), but the U.S. Navy has greater lethality and greater tonnage.  The U.S. ability to project power cannot be matched by any nation or group of nations in the world.  That ability is bolstered by 11 aircraft carriers in worldwide deployments; China has three aircraft carriers.  The United States, despite a lack of success in Iraq and Afghanistan, has nevertheless taken advantage of its use of the military to gain important experience.  China has used its military forces once in the past 45 years: a military campaign against Vietnam that didn’t go well for China in 1979. 

The same comparison could be made for the relative military strength of the United States and Russia, but in view of the miserable Russian performance in Ukraine it is not necessary to do so.  Just as China is encircled by U.S. allies, Russia faces NATO countries on its western borders. Gates has been wrong about Russia for the past 40 years, and in the 1980s he made sure that CIA intelligence was also wrong about the decline and ultimate collapse of the Soviet Union.  Sadly, he’s invoking an “axis of evil” (China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea) to justify unnecessary increases in defense spending.  The last president to invoke an “axis of evil” (Iran, Iraq, and North Korea) was George W. Bush; it didn’t go well for the interests and security of the United States.

Gates carries too much Cold War baggage to deal with the solutions to militarization.  He took credit for his role as secretary of defense for Bush to advance long-range missile interceptors in Poland and radars in the Czech Republic to “counter the Iranian missile threat to Europe.”  Gates dismissed the idea that Russia perceived this as “encirclement,” which it was, and employed the argument of the Iranian threat to southern Europe, which didn’t exist.  Gates prides himself for having had the support over the years from Senators John McCain, Lindsey Graham, and Joe Lieberman—three more Cold Warriors.  Like John Bolton and Richard Perle, Gates is a poster child for U.S. militarization and exceptionalism.

Melvin A. Goodman is a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy and a professor of government at Johns Hopkins University.  A former CIA analyst, Goodman is the author of Failure of Intelligence: The Decline and Fall of the CIA and National Insecurity: The Cost of American Militarism. and A Whistleblower at the CIA. His most recent books are “American Carnage: The Wars of Donald Trump” (Opus Publishing, 2019) and “Containing the National Security State” (Opus Publishing, 2021). Goodman is the national security columnist for counterpunch.org.