APEC

San Francisco CEO summit offers welcome boost — and some risk — for Biden, Newsom, Breed

2023/11/12

President Joe Biden replies to questions form reporters after welcoming bipartisan mayors attending the Conference of Mayors Winter Meeting to the White House on Friday, Jan. 20, 2023, in Washington, D.C..

 - Yuri Gripas/Abaca Press/TNS

The massive convergence of world and corporate leaders on San Francisco for this week’s Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation gathering offers a welcome boost — but also some risk — for Democratic Party leaders from President Joe Biden to Gov. Gavin Newsom and Mayor London Breed.

All three have seen their popularity sag in recent polls amid mixed economic signals, troubles abroad and domestic woes from crime to homelessness, while the host city itself has seen its spectacular vistas, cable cars and sourdough eclipsed by news reports of rampant retail thefts, car break-ins and homelessness.

The APEC CEO Summit — said to be the biggest gathering of world leaders in the city since the founding of the United Nations there in 1945 — offers a chance to reset that narrative.

“There’s a lot at stake,” said David McCuan, a political science professor at Sonoma State University. “It’s a bit of a forward-looking, turning of the page.”

The event will bring together Biden with the leaders of China, Canada, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Peru, Chile, Indonesia and the Philippines along with dozens of marquee CEOs including Tesla’s Elon Musk, Pfizer’s Albert Bourla, Google’s Sundar Pichai, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella and Uber’s Dara Khosrowshahi.

The idea is to foster high-level dialogues around sustainability, inclusion, resilience and innovation across the pan-Pacific economies. Biden’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, their first in a year, is particularly noteworthy, where they’ll discuss fraught relations over trade, Taiwan, North Korea and Iran.

But anytime the president comes to the Bay Area, big bucks fundraising is involved. The event coincides with a San Francisco dinner Tuesday for Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris hosted by real estate magnate and political consultant Clint Reilly. Tickets range from $250,000 to $1,000. Newsom is featured as a special guest.

For Biden, who at 80 has been criticized for everything from his advanced age to inflation, illegal immigration, the economy and his handling of the Israel-Hamas war and China, it’s an opportunity to show he’s engaged with world leaders and driving his agenda on a top issue heading into his reelection bid next year.

“This is less responding to crises and more of a U.S. foreign policy that’s active rather than reactive,” said Jason McDaniel, associate professor of politics at San Francisco State University. “That’s something President Biden will want to show.”

McCuan added that there is important symbolism in the setting.

“This is the place where the U.N. was established to decide what a post-World War II world would look like,” McCuan said. “It’s a place where these individuals can point to new era cooperation amid competition.”

A Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll Nov. 8 found that among voters in California, the Democrats’ great blue whale on the electoral map, 52% disapprove of Biden’s performance and 44% approve. Majorities disapprove of Biden’s handling of immigration, inflation, crime and the Israel-Hamas war, and more disapprove than approve of his handling of China.

Poll director Mark DiCamillo said that while it doesn’t mean Biden would lose the Golden State to a Republican, it mirrors similar findings in other national polls that could signal trouble for his reelection bid.

“His job ratings are underwater,” DiCamillo said. “That’s the first time we’ve seen more people disapproving than approving of him.”

Harris, a former San Francisco District Attorney and California’s former attorney general and U.S. senator, has also suffered dismal polling. It’s unclear what role she might play this week back in the Bay Area besides fundraising because she isn’t listed among APEC’s official attendees.

For Newsom, a former San Francisco mayor who cruised to reelection after handily defeating a recall attempt and has since been raising his national profile for a presumed future presidential bid, the summit is also a chance to reverse a recent slide in the polls.

A Nov. 7 Berkeley IGS poll found more Californians now disapprove than approve of his job performance, 49% to 44%, with discontent particularly among political moderates and independent voters, the state’s two major swing voter blocs. Those voters indicated they disapprove of Newsom’s recent more active role in national Democratic politics, such as sparring with red-state governors, instead of tackling the state’s issues. And while half of voters approved of his recent trip to China to promote climate initiatives, 39% disapproved.

“Voters want their governor to do the job they’ve elected him to do,” DiCamillo said.

The APEC summit allows Newsom to show doubters he has gravitas as a leader, and not just “this pretty face and not a lot of substance,” McDaniel said.

“I think for Newsom’s future political ambitions, this looks like a positive event for him,” McDaniel said. “It’s something he will point to as something positive showing some substance on the world stage.”

Breed, who many Democrats have seen as a rising star in their party, also has been buffeted in polls as residents vent frustration over quality-of-life-issues and images of smash-and-grab thefts, store closures and encampments of homeless drug addicts lining city streets.

A September poll by a group called GrowSF that has criticized the city’s handling of the homeless found 68% of residents say the city is on the wrong track, and 60% have an unfavorable view of Breed, far more than for reelection rivals Daniel Lurie (11%), a Levi Strauss heir, and county Supervisor Ahsha Safai (23%).

Breed’s office has been stepping up homeless encampment clearings in advance of the APEC gathering, hoping to avoid a repeat of Super Bowl 50 TV coverage in 2016 that showed homeless encampments and gave the city a black eye.

McDaniel said the conference has enabled Breed to muster support for tackling those problems.

“She’s a vulnerable incumbent, and it’s a chance to reset some of those narratives going into the campaign,” McDaniel said. “She wants to be able to tell that story of progress being made.”

But the event also poses political risks for all three as well, political experts say. A variety of groups are planning protests. They include climate activists calling out a gathering that also will include CEOs of ExxonMobil and major banks and credit companies, and critics of the Biden administration’s policies in the Middle East, Cuba and the Philippines.

It’s hard to say how large and rowdy those protests might be — heavy rain is forecast. But any ugly clashes between protesters and police carry political risk for the mayor, governor and president. Chaos would reflect on Breed, and on Newsom as he introduces himself to the nation’s voters, while protests would underscore Democratic divisions over China, Israel and economic policy.

Foreign dignitaries and visitors having their cars broken into or encountering homeless encampments or public drug markets also pose a risk.

“That can feed back into the narratives we’ve seen as predominant about San Francisco,” McDaniel said.

For Newsom, there is an additional challenge: He also must walk a delicate tightrope, presenting himself as a credible national leader without upstaging the president and vice president.

“You have to demonstrate you have some substance,” McCuan said, “and still you don’t want to step on the toes of the president of the United States.”

© The Mercury News

Hundreds protest APEC on eve of San Francisco meeting

San Francisco (AFP) – Hundreds of demonstrators, from anti-capitalists to pro-Palestinian advocates, gathered in San Francisco on Sunday on the eve of an APEC summit to protest against the world bloc.

"The cause of the liberation of peoples is international, all these causes are interconnected" 

Issued on: 13/11/2023 -

Demonstrators hold flags and placards during a 'No on APEC' protest on November 12, 2023 ahead of the summit in San Francisco

 © ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP

The protestors marched through the US city demanding participants in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum put people and planet above business.

"APEC is a form of neoliberal colonial government," Nik Evasco told AFP.

"We're here to make sure they put people and planet front and center of the issues they are negotiating."

President Joe Biden this week plays host to 20 other members of APEC, a trade-focused body whose summit will be dominated by the US leader's meeting with Chinese Premiere Xi Jinping, as well as Israel's war with Hamas.

"They are framing negotiations around trying to build a green economy, but what actually happens is exploiting... precious resources essential to develop clean solutions in order to make profits for corporate CEOs here in the US," said Evasco.

The gathering also attracted a number of pro-Palestinian protesters, who called for an end to "genocide" in the Gaza Strip.

Demonstrators wave Palestinian flags during the 'No on APEC' protest in San Francisco on November 12, 2023 

© ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP

"I'm here to protest in solidarity with Palestinians who have been undergoing 75 years of occupation and genocide and ethnic cleansing," said Eleonore Collet, 28.

"It's truly a genocide, and we are funding it in the US and that feels deeply wrong."

Hamas militants launched a bloody assault in Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking about 240 people hostage, according to Israeli figures.

Israel's response has since killed more than 11,000 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, over 4,600 of them children, according to the Hamas government's media office.

Collet said even though Israel was not part of APEC, she felt it made sense to demonstrate here.

"The cause of the liberation of peoples is international, all these causes are interconnected," she said.

© 2023 AFP

Violent wage protests in Bangladesh could hit top fashion brands

Story by By Vanessa Yurkevich, CNN  • 

Bangladesh has been gripped by violent protests for two weeks, as thousands of garment workers take to the streets to demand better wages for the country’s four million garment workers.

Protesters clashed with police — resulting in the deaths of three workers. Unions there say police have used tear gas, rubber bullets and the protests have turned hostile.

“It’s escalating where it’s becoming more and more violent,” said Christina Hajagos-Clausen, the Textile and Garment Industry Director at IndustriALL Global Union, to which the unions in Bangladesh are affiliated.

On Tuesday, the country’s wage board announced an increase of $113 a month for garment workers, set to take effect December 1. That has been rejected by workers and labor groups who say wages have not been keeping up with inflation for the past five years. Inflation rose to 9% between 2022 and 2023 — the highest average rate in 12 years, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.

Garment workers in Bangladesh currently make $95 a month producing clothes for big brands such as H&M, Zara and Levi’s. Workers are demanding $208 a month in wages. For comparison, that would still be less than the weekly wage Americans receive making the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour before taxes. Many labor groups in the US call that a poverty wage.

“It is not acceptable,” said Narza Akter, President of the Sommilito Garments Sramik Federation, one of Bangladesh’s largest unions. “We feel that the workers of the garment industry have been made a mockery of by the board’s announcement… of the minimum wage. It is not logical at all. If the minimum wage is not set rationally, there is a risk of ongoing labor unrest, which is not desirable for either workers, employers, or the state.”

The protests have forced many factories in the country to close, paralyzing the world’s second biggest garment manufacturing hub after China. Dozens of protesters have ended up in the hospital. A protester set fire to a factory which caused the death of 32-year-old worker Imran Hossain, and intense clashes with police resulted in the death of 26-year-old Rasel Howlader, according to the US State Department.

“We are also concerned about the ongoing repression of workers and trade unionists. The United States urges the tripartite process to revisit the minimum wage decision to ensure that it addresses the growing economic pressures faced by workers and their families,” Matthew Miller, a spokesperson for the State Department said Wednesday.

The industry employs some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in the country. Working conditions in the garment industry in Southeast Asia have been called into question before. But Bangladesh hasn’t seen protests with this level of violence for some 10 years since the devastating Rana Plaza collapse. The nine-story building was crammed with garment factories, and 1,100 people, mostly women, died in the disaster.

While conditions have since improved and wages have crept up, they have been vastly outpaced by the growth in value of the garment industry. Clothing exports from Bangladesh, which is aspiring to become a middle-income country by 2031, jumped from $14.6 billion in 2011 to $33.1 billion in 2019, according to the consultancy group McKinsey.

The manufacture of ready-made garments dominates the country’s industrial sector, which accounts for 35.1% of Bangladesh’s annual gross domestic product, according to the US Commerce Department.

What brands are saying

Eighteen brands including H&M, Levi’s, Gap, Puma, and Abercrombie & Fitch sent a letter to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh last month urging peaceful negotiations and calling for the new minimum wage to cover basic workers’ needs. The American Apparel and Footwear Association, or AAFP, which represents brands in the US suggests a timelier minimum wage review. Currently the minimum wage gets reviewed every five years in Bangladesh.

“Ideally this wage level, which in Bangladesh informs the calculation of all wage levels, would be reviewed annually, not every 5 years. Ensuring timely reviews and, as needed, increases in these levels, is a critical part of the suite of better buying practices that responsible brands are deploying,” said Nate Herman, Senior Vice President of Policy, at AAFP in a statement to CNN.

Brands like H&M do not own any factories in Bangladesh, rather they contract with factory owners there who pay all the upfront costs: supplies, the facility and labor.

The Swedish giant told CNN that it recognizes “the important role we play to facilitate the payment of living wages through responsible purchasing practices,” in Bangladesh. H&M added that it does not “see any major impact on our overall production or supply chain,” because of the protests right now, even though some of the factories it works with have been shut.

CNN asked H&M for clarification on the role the company plays to facilitate paying living wages, but it did not respond.

Patagonia said it supports a minimum wage of $208 a month — exactly what workers are asking for.

“We source from one longtime factory partner in Bangladesh who makes some of our most technical products. Our supplier has made meaningful progress toward living wages, yet we know there is more we can do together,” the company said last month.

Levi Strauss & Co, meanwhile, said in a statement that it has “encouraged the Government of Bangladesh to establish fair, credible and transparent process for regular minimum wage setting.”

Brands do not have the power to set wages in Bangladesh, but they do have the power over pricing pressure. CNN reached out to the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association which represents factory owners for comment but did not hear back.

“A lot of the pressure on factories, it does start with brands and retailers, and I think that it’s just a conversation that the fashion industry keeps trying to resist. But if we want to fix wages, we really have to fix the pricing problem,” said Elizabeth Cline a lecturer of Fashion Policy at Columbia University.

Consumer responsibility

Nearly all the consumers of apparel made in Bangladesh are outside of the country. In 2019, garment exports accounted for 84% of Bangladesh’s total export earnings, according to the World Bank.

Consumers want things fast, cheap, and now — especially as consumer spending habits are leaning towards more affordable goods amid inflation. And while the younger generation of consumers are thinking about where their clothing comes from and how it gets made, the industry can’t count on consumers to raise wages says Jason Judd, Director of the Global Labor Institute at Cornell University.

“It takes a huge push by customers to move a brand to make a change,” said Judd.

During the pandemic brands cancelled $40 billion in orders at factories around the world, leaving factory owners and suppliers footing the bill and workers without wages. But through a grass roots labor movement on social media, the “Pay Up” campaign got brands to pay back $22 billion of the $40 billion owed, according to the Workers Rights Consortium.

But true change, Judd says, comes from policy and from within the country itself. Several labor activists CNN spoke to say what is happening on the streets of Bangladesh is reminiscent to what happened in Cambodia in 2014, when garment workers there were demanding higher wages after their government imposed a new minimum wage.

The government responded to the protests by sending in the security forces — killing at least three people after firing on workers. But reform followed. Cambodia now raises its minimum wage for garment workers once a year.

“Bangladesh needs a more rational, less violent, and more inclusive process. This has been done before. This is not reinventing the wheel,” said Judd.

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Gaza activist on speaking tour in France faces deportation

Reuters
Wed, November 8, 2023 

Palestinian activist Mariam Abudaqa poses for Reuters in Paris

PARIS (Reuters) - A French court has approved the deportation of Palestinian activist Mariam Abudaqa, who came to France for a speaking tour in September and was put under house arrest after the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants.

The ruling, which overturns a court decision last month that the interior minister appealed, said 72-year-old Abudaqa, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), was "likely to seriously disturb public order."

The French government has cracked down on expressions of solidarity with Palestine in the wake of Hamas's Oct. 7 attack which killed 1,400 people, banning protests, cancelling events and accusing some pro-Palestine groups of condoning terrorism.

More than 10,000 people have been killed in Gaza by Israel's retaliatory assault on the enclave. Abudaqa said she had lost 30 members of her family since the beginning of the war.

"We are supposed to die without even saying ouch, without expressing pain," said Abudaqa of her arrest and speaking ban on Tuesday before the court decision came.

The anti-occupation and women's rights activist had been invited to speak at the French national assembly at an event on Thursday, but her participation was blocked in October by the Assembly president.

The Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, based its ruling on Abudaqa's membership of the PFLP, stating that she occupies a "leadership" position.

The PFLP is the second largest faction in the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO), which is recognised by the UN and Israel, but is blacklisted by the EU and has carried out attacks on Israelis.

Pierre Stambul, activist with the Union of French Jews for Peace which supported Abudaqa's challenge in court, said she hadn't held a senior position in the group for more than twenty years.

The decision is a "continuation of the criminalisation of the Palestinian population", he said.

The interior minister's office did not respond for comment.

The court ruling does not specify by what date Abudaqa must leave and where she must go. Abudaqa said she plans to fly to Egypt on Saturday and hopes the border crossing will open so that she can return to Gaza.

She said she had trouble sleeping as Israeli strikes on Gaza continue and has become scared of checking her phone, for fear of more bad news.

"Death is much easier than staying here, while my heart aches for them. Or having to receive news everyday of one of them dying," she said.

(Reporting by Layli Foroudi, Antonia Cimini, Noemie Olive; Editing by Christina Fincher)

Gazans raise white flags to flee Israeli onslaught on foot

AFP
Tue, November 7, 2023 

Palestinian refugees have been ordered by Israel to flee south for their own safety, although nowhere in Gaza is free of bombing. (MAHMUD HAMS)

Clutching makeshift white flags, Gazans made their way in between dead bodies and Israeli troops on Tuesday as they followed Israel's orders to flee across the Palestinian territory.

"It was so scary," said Ola al-Ghul, one of the masses of Gazan civilians displaced in the month-old war between Israel and Hamas.

"We held our hands up and we kept walking. There were so many of us, we were holding white flags," she told AFP.

The majority of the Gaza Strip's 2.4 million residents have been displaced by the fighting, with around 1.5 million fleeing within the territory according to the United Nations.

Clutching one of her toddlers, Amira al-Sakani recalled Israel's repeated air drops of flyers, seen by AFP, telling civilians to flee to the south.

"We came by foot from the centre of Gaza to the south," she said. "I was not expecting the distance to be that long."

On the way, Sakani saw "bodies of martyrs, some in pieces".

"We want peace, enough is enough, we are tired, we want a happy future," she said.

More than 10,300 people have been killed across the Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, mostly civilians, including more than 4,200 children.

The bombardment came in response to the unprecedented October 7 attacks by Hamas, which killed around 1,400 people in Israel, also mostly civilians, according to Israeli officials.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas.

Sakani said her children have by now learnt what bombs are: "They tell me: 'That's dangerous mum, I don't want any strikes'."

Those seen fleeing by AFP journalists had few belongings with them, while some carried children or were using wheelchairs.

- 'It was really horrible' -

Haitham Noureddine said he walked four kilometres (2.5 miles) with his mother and other relatives until they reached the southern Bureij refugee camp.

He told AFP the family left their Gaza City home near Al-Shifa hospital, due to the heavy bombardment in the area, and saw decomposing bodies en route.

The Israeli military says its troops have encircled Gaza City but will allow civilians to leave the north.

But casualty figures show no area in the territory is safe, with nearly 3,600 people killed in southern and central Gaza, according to health ministry data.

Holding a walking stick, Hatim Abu Riash recounted his fear of walking past Israeli forces.

"Next to the soldiers, next to the guns, next to the tanks, the aeroplane... it was really horrible," he said, after fleeing the northern Jabalia refugee camp, which has been repeatedly bombed since the start of the assault.

"We are not terrorists -- we are civilians -- we want to live in peace," he added.

The Gazans' plight does not end once they flee to central or southern areas, where more than 550,000 people are sheltering in 92 establishments run by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).

Facilities are limited and disease is rife.

In one, UNRWA reported that more than 600 people were sharing one toilet.

There are also thousands of cases of acute respiratory illness, skin infections, diarrhoea and chicken pox, the UN says, while accessing basic supplies such as bread has become tough.

Standing on a dual carriageway as fellow Gazans walked past, resident Motaz El-Ajala described the conditions as "inhumane".

"The situation is catastrophic," he told AFP, as an elderly woman was pushed past in a baby's buggy.

Belgium wants sanctions against Israel for Gaza bombings - deputy PM

Marine Strauss
Wed, November 8, 2023 


Deputy PM Swearing-in ceremony of new Belgian government at the Royal Palace in Brussels

By Marine Strauss

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgium's deputy prime minister called on the Belgian government on Wednesday to adopt sanctions against Israel and investigate the bombings of hospitals and refugee camps in Gaza.

“It is time for sanctions against Israel. The rain of bombs is inhumane," deputy prime minister Petra De Sutter told Nieuwsblad newspaper. “It is clear that Israel does not care about the international demands for a ceasefire,” she said.

Israel struck at Gaza in response to a Hamas raid on southern Israel on Oct. 7 in which gunmen killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and took about 240 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. The war has descended into the bloodiest episode in the generations-long Israel-Palestinian conflict.

De Sutter said the European Union should immediately suspend its association agreement with Israel, which aims at better economic and political cooperation.

She also said an import ban on products from occupied Palestinian territories should be implemented and violent settlers, politicians, soldiers responsible for war crimes should be banned from entering the EU.

At the same time, she said, Belgium should increase funding for the International Criminal Court in The Hague to investigate the bombings while cutting money flows to Hamas.

“This is a terrorist organization. Terror costs money and there must be sanctions on the companies and people who provide Hamas with money," De Sutter said.With the war now entering its second month, UN officials and G7 nations stepped up appeals for a humanitarian pause in the hostilities to help alleviate the suffering in Gaza, where buildings have been flattened and basic supplies are running out. Palestinian officials say more than 10,000 people have been killed, 40% of them children.

(Reporting by Marine Strauss; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Michael Moore on Gaza: 'We need to stop the slaughter' | UpFront

SPACE

Star-filled Euclid Images Spur Mission to Probe 'Dark Universe'

November 07, 2023 
Reuters

Galaxies belonging to the Perseus Cluster and others farther away are captured by the Euclid telescope, which was designed to explore the dark matter and dark energy that are thought to make up 95% of the universe.

 (European Space Agency via Reuters)
—

European astronomers on Tuesday released the first images from the newly launched Euclid space telescope, designed to unlock the secrets of dark matter and dark energy — hidden forces thought to make up 95% of the universe.

The European Space Agency, which leads the six-year mission with NASA as a partner, said the images were the sharpest of their kind, showcasing the telescope's ability to monitor billions of galaxies up to 10 billion light years away.


The images spanned four areas of the relatively nearby universe, including 1,000 galaxies belonging to the massive Perseus cluster just 240 million light years away, and more than 100,000 galaxies spread out in the background, ESA said.

Scientists believe vast, seemingly organized structures such as Perseus could have formed only if dark matter exists.

"We think we understand only 5% of the universe. That's the matter that we can see," ESA's science director Carole Mundell told Reuters.

"The rest of the universe we call dark because it doesn't produce light in the normal electromagnetic spectrum,” she said. “But we know its effect because we see the effect on visible matter."

Tell-tale signs of the hidden force exerted by dark matter include galaxies rotating more quickly than scientists would expect from the amount of visible matter that can be detected.

Its influence is also implicated in pulling together some of the most massive structures in the universe, such as clusters of galaxies, Mundell said.

Dark energy is even more enigmatic.

Its hypothetical existence was established only in the 1990s by studying exploding stars called supernovas, resulting in a 2011 Nobel prize shared between three U.S.-born scientists.

Thanks in part to observations from the earlier Hubble Space Telescope, they concluded that the universe was not only expanding but that the pace of expansion was accelerating — a stunning discovery attributed to the new concept of dark energy.

After initial commissioning and technical teething problems, including stray light and guidance issues, Euclid will now start piecing together a 3D map encompassing about a third of the sky to detect tiny variations attributable to the dark universe.

By gaining new insights into dark energy and matter, scientists hope to better grasp the formation and distribution of galaxies across the so-called cosmic web of the universe.

The release of the images in Darmstadt, Germany, coincided with the second of two days of European space talks in Spain dominated by Europe's continued dependency on foreign launches.

Princeton astrophysicist helps find record- smashing black hole born in the universe’s infancy

By
Liz Fuller-Wright, Office of Communications on Nov. 6, 2023, 

Image by NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare, K. Arcand

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) captured this image of merging galaxy clusters; a tiny dot hidden deep in the background is a growing supermassive black hole 13.2 billion light years away.

An international team of astrophysicists including Princeton’s Andy Goulding has discovered the most distant supermassive black hole ever found, using two NASA space telescopes: the Chandra X-ray Observatory (Chandra) and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

The black hole, which is an estimated 10 to 100 million times more massive than our sun, is 13.2 billion light-years away in the galaxy UHZ-1, which means the telescopes are peering back in time to when the universe was “extremely young,” Goulding said — only about 450 million years old.

“This is one of the most dramatic discoveries to come out of the James Webb Space Telescope” and the discovery of the most distant growing supermassive black hole known, said Michael Strauss, professor and chair of astrophysical sciences at Princeton, who discussed the findings with the researchers but was not part of the research team. “Indeed, it completely smashes the old record.”

Precisely how the first black holes were formed in the universe’s infancy has been a long-standing debate among astronomers.

“Now, finally discovering a black hole that was so large, when the universe was so young, tells us that the black hole must have been very large when it was initially formed, probably from the direct collapse of a massive gas cloud,” said Goulding, who is a research scientist in Princeton’s Department of Astrophysical Sciences.

It also means that astronomers can rule out other formation models, like the death of the first massive stars, because those couldn’t produce a black hole large enough to explain UHZ-1, he added.

“The black hole has only a very short time to grow,” he said. “This means that either it grew extraordinarily fast or the black hole was simply born larger.”

Astrophysicists combined data from JWST and the Chandra X-ray Observatory to identify the growing black hole at the center of this image.
Image by X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/Ákos Bogdán et al.; Infrared: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare, K. Arcand

Goulding is one of the lead authors of the primary paper announcing the result and the lead author of a separate paper in The Astrophysical Journal Letters detailing the mass of the galaxy and its extraordinary distance, which was pivotal to the overall result.

“Results like this show why NASA has a portfolio of elite telescopes,” Mark Clampin, director of astrophysics at NASA, said in a press release about the primary paper. “Each has their own superpowers, so to speak, and they can accomplish amazing things when they join forces.”

“We needed Webb to find this remarkably distant galaxy and Chandra to find its supermassive black hole,” said Ákos Bogdán of the Center for Astrophysics­-Harvard & Smithsonian in the press release. Bogdan is first author on the Nature Astronomy paper.

NASA’s full story is available on its website.

“Evidence for heavy-seed origin of early supermassive black holes from a z ≈ 10 X-ray quasar,” appears in the Nov. 6 issue of Nature Astronomy (DOI: 10.1038/s41550-023-02111-9). Its authors are Ákos Bogdán of the Center for Astrophysics ∣ Harvard & Smithsonian (CFA), Andy D. Goulding of Princeton University, Priyamvada Natarajan of Yale University and Harvard University, Orsolya E. Kovács of Masaryk University, Grant R. Tremblay of CfA, Urmila Chadayammuri of CfA, Marta Volonteri of Sorbonne Université, CNRS, UMR 7095; Ralph P. Kraft of CfA; William R. Forman of CfA; Christine Jones of CfA; Eugene Churazov of the Max Planck Institut für Astrophysik; and Irina Zhuravleva of The University of Chicago. The research was supported by the Smithsonian Institution, CXC, NASA, the National Science Foundation /AAG, the Black Hole Initiative at Harvard University, the John Templeton Foundation, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

“UNCOVER: The growth of the first massive black holes from JWST/NIRSpec—Spectroscopic redshift confirmation of an X-ray luminous AGN at z = 10.1,” by Andy D. Goulding, Jenny E. Greene, David J. Setton, Ivo Labbe, Rachel Bezanson, Tim B. Miller, Hakim Atek, Ákos Bogdán, Gabriel Brammer, Iryna Chemerynska, Sam E. Cutler, Pratika Dayal, Yoshinobu Fudamoto, Seiji Fujimoto, Lukas J. Furtak, Vasily Kokorev, Gourav Khullar, Joel Leja, Danilo Marchesini, Priyamvada Natarajan, Erica Nelson, Pascal A. Oesch, Richard Pan, Casey Papovich, Sedona H. Price, Pieter van Dokkum, Bingjie Wang (王冰洁), John R. Weaver, Katherine E. Whitaker, and Adi Zitrin, appears in the Sept. 20 issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters (DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/acf7c5). The research was supported by the National Science Foundation / AAG (1007094), the Dutch Research Council (016.VIDI.189.162, “ODIN”), the European Commission’s and University of Groningen’s co-funded Rosalind Franklin program, the Research Corporation for Scientific Advancement Cottrell Scholar Award (27587), NASA funding for JWST and Chandra, and others.

Europe to develop commercial space capsule

PublishedShare

IMAGE SOURCE,RFA

Image caption,

Artwork: European companies already have concepts that could feature in the capsule competition

By Jonathan Amos

Science correspondent

@BBCAmos

A robotic capsule to carry cargo to and from the International Space Station is to be developed under a competition run by the European Space Agency.

It's anticipated the vehicle will make its maiden voyage in 2028.

The initiative marks a big shift in the way Esa has traditionally run its projects.

The competition's winner will receive some funding and technical support from the agency, but it must operate the capsule on a commercial basis.

It will have to part-fund the development and then "sell" the re-supply "service" to Esa, who will become the "anchor customer".

If the endeavour is successful, the company behind the new capsule may be asked to upgrade it so it can also carry Esa astronauts into orbit, again on the basis of a commercially contracted service.

"We will conceive [the capsule] in a way that it's not a dead end, meaning that it's open and can evolve in the future to a crew vehicle, if member states decide to do so," said Esa director-general Josef Aschbacher.

"Eventually, it could also evolve [to go to] other destinations, possibly to the Moon," he told reporters.

A tiger team was being set up inside the agency with an initial budget of €75m (£65m) to get the competition under way, the DG added.

The idea was enthusiastically backed by Esa member states at a summit in Seville, Spain, on Monday.

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IMAGE SOURCE,SPACEX

Image caption,

Nasa now purchases its transportation needs from SpaceX

The competitive procurement model is one that has worked extremely well for the American space agency.

Nasa used to own and operate all its space vehicles. But when the famous space shuttles were retired, it opted instead to start seeding new providers, offering them fixed-price contracts and encouraging progress with milestone payments.

This is how entrepreneur Elon Musk's SpaceX company emerged. His Californian firm has since become the dominant supplier to Nasa of space transportation services. The US agency purchases seats in SpaceX capsules to get its astronauts to and from the ISS, and contracts SpaceX rockets to send science missions far beyond Earth.

The Esa competition will try to replicate this model which, in the arena of transportation, has given Nasa access to faster, more innovative and lower-cost space technologies.

Anna Christmann, a Green politician leading aerospace policy in the German government and chair of the Seville summit, said Esa was going through a paradigm shift.

"Public money is needed to start these kinds of competitions, but then that attracts investors to put money in through private companies," she commented.

"When we compare space budgets, Europe is not so different from others on the public side. The bigger difference is on the private side of investment, and that's what we want to change."

IMAGE SOURCE,ESA/CNES/ARIANESPACE/JM GUILLON

Image caption,

The Ariane 6 is still many months away from making a debut

Esa member states also committed in Seville to use the approach for procuring rockets in the long term.

Today, Europe's launchers are in crisis. The new heavy-lift Ariane-6 vehicle is years behind schedule and the medium-lift Vega-C rocket is out of action because of recent failures.

Esa member states have taken measures, at considerable cost, to try to put these projects back on track, but there is a recognition that the current malaise must not be repeated in the decades ahead.

To that end, European industry will also be challenged to provide next-generation rockets on the service model, limiting the liability of European taxpayers, who've been asked to dig deep to subsidise current hardware.

Ariane-6, for instance, will be receiving up to €340m (£295m) a year in support payments during the early phase of its exploitation.

"All 22 member states of Esa have agreed that we have to change how we procure the launchers of the future," Dr Aschbacher said.

The Seville meeting also took decisions that will see satellites play a greater role in helping European nations achieve their net-zero goals. A good example is using space data to route planes more efficiently so they contribute fewer greenhouse gases.

In addition, Esa opened its Zero Debris Charter to signatories. This encourages everyone operating in space to leave behind no hardware that might collide with operational missions.

The UK, one of the big four nations in Esa, will be promoting a new regulatory framework in the New Year that aims to promote good behaviour and even establish a market for services that remove trash from orbit.

"We want to reward compliant operators," said UK science minister George Freeman.

"If you're bringing back what you put up, if you're doing in-flight servicing and not contributing to space debris - we're going to give you faster licensing, better insurance and quicker access to finance," he told BBC News.