Mpox has faded in the US. Who deserves the credit?
By MIKE STOBBE

January 10, 2023

A physician assistant prepares a syringe with the Mpox vaccine for a patient at a vaccination clinic in New York on Friday, Aug. 19, 2022. Mpox is no longer the exploding health crisis that it appeared to be less than six months ago. So who deserves the credit for controlling the U.S. outbreak? It’s an unsettled question, but experts cite a combination of factors.Some commend public health officials.

(AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — Less than six months ago, mpox was an exploding health crisis. What had been an obscure disease from Africa was ripping through European and U.S. gay communities. Precious doses of an unproven vaccine were in short supply. International officials declared health emergencies.

Today, reports of new cases are down to a trickle in the U.S. Health officials are shutting down emergency mobilizations. The threat seems to have virtually disappeared from the public consciousness.

“We’re in a remarkably different place,” said Dr. William Schaffner, a Vanderbilt University infectious diseases expert. “It’s really impressive how that peak has come down to very, very low levels.”

So who deserves the credit? It’s an unsettled question, but experts cite a combination of factors.

Some commend public health officials. Others say more of the credit should go to members of the gay and bisexual community who took their own steps to reduce disease spread when the threat became clear. Some wonder if characteristics of the virus itself played a role.

“It’s a mixed story” in which some things could have gone better but others went well, said Dr. Tom Frieden, a former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

CASES SOAR, THEN FALL

Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, is a rare disease caused by infection with a virus that’s in the same family as the one that causes smallpox. It is endemic in parts of Africa, where people have been infected through bites from rodents or small animals, but it was not known to spread easily among people.

Mpox cases began emerging in Europe and the U.S. in May, mostly among men who have sex with men. Cases escalated rapidly in dozens of countries in June and July, around the time of gay pride events. The infections were rarely fatal, but many people suffered painful skin lesions for weeks.

In late July, the World Health Organization declared an international health crisis. In early August, the U.S. declared a public health emergency.

Soon after, the outbreak began diminishing. The daily average of newly reported U.S. cases went from nearly 500 in August to about 100 in October. Now, there are fewer than five new U.S. cases per day. (Europe has seen a similar drop.)

Experts said a combination of factors likely turned the tide.

Health officials caught an early break: An existing two-dose vaccine named Jynneos, developed to fight smallpox, was also approved for use against the monkeypox.

Initially, only a few thousand doses were available in the U.S., and most countries had none at all. Shipping and regulatory delays left local health departments unable to meet demand for shots.

In early August, U.S. health officials decided to stretch the limited supply by giving people just one-fifth the usual dose. The plan called for administering the vaccine with an injection just under the skin, rather than into deeper tissue.

Some in the public health community worried that it was a big decision based on a small amount of research — a single 2015 study. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention since then has confirmed there was no difference in vaccine performance between the two methods.

“They got criticized for the revised dosing strategy, but it was the right call,” said Frieden, who is currently president of Resolve to Save Lives, a non-profit organization focused on preventing epidemics.

Cases, however, had already begun falling by the time the government made the switch.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH

The current CDC director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, cited efforts to educate doctors on how to better diagnose and treat mpox. Other experts said that even more important was outreach to the sexually active gay and bisexual men most at risk.

In the first months of the outbreak, the government was cautious about focusing warnings too intently on gay and bisexual men for fear of stigmatizing the men and — in so doing — undermining efforts to identify infections. (Indeed, in November the WHO changed the name of the disease from monkeypox to mpox in an effort to reduce stigma.)

“They were a little coy about the population principally affected,” Schaffner said.

Many say queer activists and community organizations stepped up to fill the void, quickly offering frank education and assistance. In an online survey conducted in early August, many men who have sex with men reported having fewer sexual encounters and partners because of the outbreak.

“The success was really due to grassroots activities,” said Amira Roess, a George Mason University professor of epidemiology and global health. Leaders in the gay community “took it upon themselves to step in when the government response was really lacking” in a way that recalled what happened during the plodding government response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, she said.

Among those efforts was called RESPND-MI — Rapid Epidemiologic Study of Prevalence, Networks, and Demographics of Monkeypox Infection. The grant-funded organization put out transmission-prevention messaging, conducted a community-led survey of mpox symptoms, and mapped the social and sexual networks of queer and transgender people in New York City.

Nick Diamond, a leader of the effort, said government response improved only after gay activists pressured officials and did a lot of the outreach and education themselves.

“A lot of HIV activists knew that it would be up to us to start a response to monkeypox,” he said.

But Diamond also noted another possible reason for the declines: Spread of mpox at LGBTQ celebrations in June — coupled with a lack of testing and vaccinations — likely contributed to the July surge. “A lot of people came out of Pride, after being in close contact, symptomatic,” he said. They suffered blisters and scabs, bringing home the message to other at-risk men that the virus was a very real danger.

BIOLOGY VS. BEHAVIOR

There are also possible explanations that have more to do with biology than behavior.

The number of new infections may have been limited by increases in infection-acquired immunity in the men active in the social networks that fueled the outbreak, CDC scientists said in a recent report.

Past research has suggested there may be limits in how many times monkeypox virus will spread from person to person, noted Stephen Morse, a Columbia University virologist.

“The monkeypox virus essentially loses steam after a couple of rounds in humans,” Morse said. “Everyone credits the interventions, but I don’t know what the reason really is.”

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Maria Cheng in London contributed to this report.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

AP: WHO knew of past sex misconduct claim against doctor

By MARIA CHENG

January 12, 2023

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This image shows part of an election-style campaign brochure produced by the World Health Organization in September 2022, to promote Fijian Dr. Temo Waqanivalu to become WHO’s top official in the western Pacific. Internal documents obtained by the Associated Press show the World Health Organization knew of past sexual misconduct charges against a doctor who was accused of harassing a woman in the fall. (AP Photo)

LONG READ

LONDON (AP) — When a doctor tweeted that she was “sexually assaulted” by a World Health Organization staffer at a Berlin conference in October, the U.N. agency’s director-general assured her that WHO had “zero tolerance” for such misconduct.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus replied to her, saying he was “horrified” by the accusations of groping and unwelcome sexual advances. He offered his personal assistance, WHO suspended the staffer and the agency opened an investigation that is nearing its conclusion.

But internal documents obtained by The Associated Press show the same WHO staffer, Fijian physician Temo Waqanivalu, was previously accused by another woman of sexually harassing her several years ago. That claim was flagged to senior agency directors and others in 2018, before the accuser was informed that pursuing a formal investigation might not be in her best interests, according to the documents.

A former WHO ombudsman who helped assess the previous allegation against Waqanivalu noted the similarities between the two women’s accusations, several years apart, and suggested the agency had missed a chance to root out bad behavior.

“I felt extremely angry and guilty that the dysfunctional (WHO) justice system has led to another assault that could have been prevented,” said the staffer, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity for fear of losing their job.

The previous allegation didn’t derail Waqanivalu’s career at WHO. As the new accusation surfaced, he was positioning himself for an exceptionally big promotion with a very public role: He was seeking to become WHO’s top official in the western Pacific, with support from Fiji’s prime minister, other Pacific islands and WHO colleagues, messages show.

The regional director would support countries fighting problems including dengue, malaria and heart disease, as well as coordinating the first global response to any new emerging outbreaks — as was the case when the coronavirus was first detected in China in late 2019.

Waqanivalu hung up when the AP contacted him for comment. He didn’t respond to several follow-up requests sent through email and two messaging apps.

Waqanivalu “categorically” denied that he had ever sexually assaulted anyone, including at the Berlin conference, according to correspondence between him and WHO investigators that the AP obtained. He said the accusations were “false” and could “irreparably damage” his career and reputation.

The physician said there may have been “a mutual misunderstanding” in Berlin and that his accuser was possibly “under the influence of alcohol.” He said he was “bewildered” and “confused” by the sexual misconduct allegation.

The U.N. health agency said in an email that it could not comment on individual cases for confidentiality and due process reasons, but that sexual misconduct by anyone working for the agency is “unacceptable.”

WHO said its investigation into the Berlin conference complaint “is in its final stage” and that a report, which will not be publicly released, would soon be submitted to Tedros.

“Perpetrators of sexual misconduct face grave consequences, including dismissal,” WHO said. It added that the names of perpetrators are entered into a U.N. screening database, to avoid their future employment.

In a speech posted to Twitter in December, Tedros said that “sexual misconduct is particularly grave when the perpetrators are our own personnel.” He called sexual misconduct by WHO staffers “a violation of the trust placed in WHO to serve public health.”

On Wednesday, hours after this story was published, WHO told staffers it was appointing members to its committee on “formal complaints of abusive conduct,” according to an internal email. The committee, first announced following previous misconduct concerns, will include 15 staffers, most of them designated by the U.N. agency’s director-general.

The claims against Waqanivalu are the latest in a series of misconduct accusations against people working for WHO, which is mandated to lead the international response to acute crises including COVID-19 and Ebola.

In May 2021, the AP reported that senior WHO managers were informed of sex abuse allegations during a Congo Ebola outbreak but did little to stop it. A panel appointed by WHO later found that more than 80 workers under WHO’s direction sexually abused women. No senior WHO officials tied to the exploitation have been fired.

And WHO’s last regional director in the western Pacific -- the person Waqanivalu was seeking to replace -- was put on leave in August, after AP reported that numerous staffers had accused him of racist and abusive behavior that compromised the U.N. agency’s response to COVID-19.

In the coming weeks, the agency’s highest governing body is meeting to set public health priorities and to address critical administrative concerns, including sexual misconduct. The officials also may discuss how and when the election for the region’s next director might occur.

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The earlier accusation against Waqanivalu came after a 2017 chronic diseases workshop in Japan, where a WHO employee said that Waqanivalu had harassed her at a post-work dinner and on other occasions. Her report was shared with senior WHO officials, according to documents obtained by the AP.

“Under the table, (Waqanivalu) took off his shoes, lifted one of his legs and toe(s) between my legs,” the woman wrote in the 2018 report. “It took me a while to process what was actually happening.”

She left the restaurant and said Waqanivalu followed her to a nearby train station. That’s where he grabbed her hand, asked if she was seeing anyone and questioned why she was not attracted to him, she reported.

After she said goodbye, Waqanivalu “proceeded to give me a hug, grabbing my buttocks with both of his hands and trying to kiss my lips,” the woman said. She said she turned her head to avoid him and moved his hands.

The woman is identified in the documents, but the AP does not typically name people who say they have been sexually harassed unless they come forward publicly. The AP contacted the woman, but she declined to comment.

According to WHO protocols, her complaint should have been investigated by the organization’s office of internal oversight, following guidance from ombudsmen, who help staff mediate personnel problems.

After submitting her confidential report to WHO’s “integrity hotline” in July 2018, the case was “tossed around in (Geneva) for months” among officials tasked with misconduct claims, an ombudsman wrote to the woman in an email obtained by the AP.

“It seems our internal process is not efficient enough to address such cases,” the ombudsman said.

Months after raising her concerns, the woman was informed by the WHO ombudman’s office that its director had decided to give Waqanivalu a general “informal warning” that didn’t reference the alleged misconduct. Following that discussion, the office of the ombudsman and ethics considered the case closed, the woman wrote in an email to a WHO official.

In a follow-up message to a WHO ombudsman, the woman said the agency’s ethics office told her it would be difficult to prove a sexual harassment case, saying it might “compromise” her name and that she likely lacked “hard evidence.” She said she was also warned that Waqanivalu could file his own complaint against her for “degrading/dishonouring” his name and was told that pressing for an investigation “may not be the best option for me.”

WHO’s human resources director at the time told colleagues in a November 2018 email that the director of the agency’s compliance, risk management and ethics department had been informed of the allegations against Waqanivalu.

“He is aware of the case ... (and has) the matter in hand,” the human resources director said in an email obtained by AP.

It is unclear if any investigation was ever conducted.

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In October, Waqanivalu sat on a panel at the World Health Summit in Berlin, a high-level conference with global heads of state.

In a hotel lobby one evening, numerous people were having drinks, including Waqanivalu and Dr. Rosie James, a young British-Canadian physician and former consultant for WHO.

“We were talking about his work at WHO and he just started putting his hand on my bottom and keeping it there,” James told the AP. She said she felt intimidated talking to a senior manager at the organization. “I felt this power dynamic and I was really uncomfortable,” she said, explaining that she moved away to join her friends, who told her Waqanivalu’s actions were inappropriate.

“Somehow I ended up talking to him again and he was literally holding my bum cheek,” she said. James said Waqanivalu “firmly held my buttock in his hand multiple times (and) pressed his groin” into her. Before Waqanivalu left, she says he cornered her and repeatedly asked for her hotel room number.

Later that night, she tweeted about the encounter, saying that she was “sexually assaulted” and that “this was not the first time in the global health sphere that this has occurred.” WHO chief Tedros replied, pledging to do “everything we can to help you.”

James was later interviewed by WHO’s investigators. She said WHO officials told her she would not be entitled to see its final investigation report. James also said Tedros never personally followed up directly but said the agency’s communications director contacted her and that the two had lunch during the Berlin conference. She said WHO also offered to reimburse her for any private therapy costs related to her encounter with Waqanivalu.

Waqanivalu told WHO investigators he greeted James that evening “by tapping her on her left upper arm” and did not believe that was inappropriate, according to a record of the discussion obtained by AP. He acknowledged asking for her hotel room number, saying he made the request “to connect, if need be.”

“I recall that we faced each other the whole time with about an arm’s length distance between us,” Waqanivalu told investigators, adding that the conversation lasted about five minutes. He said he believed people in the group, including James, “were under the influence of alcohol” and that he remembered the event as “a good evening mixing around with everyone.”

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Waqanivalu is a unit head at WHO’s Geneva headquarters, overseeing a small team in the non-communicable diseases department. He has been featured in several WHO Facebook videos and also sits on the agency’s health, safety and wellbeing committee.

Last fall, he put himself forward as a candidate to be WHO’s next director for the western Pacific, a region that has a quarter of the world’s population.

“The experience and expertise I have gathered over the years … have given me the relevant credentials to lead the Western Pacific,” Waqanivalu wrote in a September letter addressed to Fiji’s then-Prime Minister Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama and other officials.

About a week after the Berlin conference, the chair of WHO’s top governing body in the region told Waqanivalu in a message seen by the AP that his name was mentioned “as a potential candidate” to be the next regional director. The chair messaged him to say that Pacific health ministers planned to push for a candidate from the region.

“That would be an opportunity for you, Dr. Temo,” Waqanivalu was told.

Correspondence obtained by the AP between Waqanivalu and a senior staffer in Bainimarama’s office also show Waqanivalu asked about formalizing his candidacy.

A memo from the prime minister’s office dated Oct. 17 and marked “approved,” confirmed “Fiji’s proposed candidacy” of Waqanivalu to the position. A handwritten note said officials should coordinate with the country’s ministry of health and inform all other Pacific nations of Waqanivalu’s candidacy. Bainimarama, who lost a December election in Fiji, did not respond to multiple requests for comment from the AP.

Waqanivalu’s candidacy also had supporters within WHO itself. A WHO-produced election-style campaign brochure created in September — before the Berlin conference — outlined his vision for the region and was aimed to garner votes from member countries in the region.

“Under my leadership, WHO will empower people to serve within their countries,” the document reads.

Paula Donovan is co-director of the Code Blue campaign, which seeks to hold U.N. personnel accountable for sexual offenses. She said the allegations regarding Waqanivalu were unsurprising but deeply worrying.

She said it was particularly concerning that an official accused of sexual harassment had been potentially in line for such a prominent leadership role and that WHO seemingly had failed to uphold its own “zero tolerance” policy for unprofessional behavior.

“It’s patently false that WHO does not condone sexual misconduct,” Donovan said, calling for its member countries to overhaul the agency’s internal structures so that its officials are held accountable. “When WHO keeps this kind of stuff under wraps, they are giving sexual predators carte blanche to do it again with impunity.”

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

QUADRUPLE INDEMNITY

Man tried 4 times for killing set free after charges dropped
By LEA SKENE

yesterday

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Keith Davis Jr. hugs supporter Peggy Amaker as he arrives at a gathering following his released from custody Friday, Jan. 13, 2023, in Baltimore, after prosecutors dropped all charges against him. Davis was tried for the same murder four times and was awaiting a potential fifth trial when newly elected State's Attorney Ivan Bates announced his decision to dismiss the case. (Jerry Jackson/The Baltimore Sun via AP)

BALTIMORE (AP) — Baltimore’s new top prosecutor dropped all charges Friday against a Black man who stood trial four times for the same killing, freeing him from behind bars and ending a controversial case that repeatedly raised questions about police and prosecutorial conduct.

Keith Davis Jr. was accused of fatally shooting Pimlico Race Course security guard Kevin Jones in 2015, after police claimed his gun matched casings from the shooting scene. Before arresting Davis, officers shot him multiple times, leaving him badly wounded. He survived and has maintained his innocence ever since.

Newly elected Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates, who took office Jan. 3, announced Friday that charges were being dropped.

“Today’s dismissal is about the prosecutorial missteps of my predecessor in her pursuit of a conviction at all costs,” Bates said in a news release. “I have a duty to ensure justice for all, not just the victim but also the accused.”

Bates had pledged on the campaign trail to reconsider the case, which his predecessor Marilyn Mosby repeatedly brought to trial. Mosby was defeated in a Democratic primary last year while facing federal perjury charges.

When contacted Friday, Mosby told The Associated Press the case “has always been about the pursuit of justice for Kevin Jones and his family.” She declined to comment further.

Jones’ grandmother, Earlene Neals, said she felt blindsided and heartbroken by the news.

“Our family is destroyed,” she told AP by phone. “Kevin is getting no justice whatsoever — none.”

She accused Bates of using the case for political gain, saying she’s skeptical police will ever identify another suspect now that Davis is free.

Davis was the first person shot by Baltimore police after the 2015 death of Freddie Gray, a Black man severely injured in police custody whose case triggered protests and civil unrest in Maryland’s largest city amid calls for police reform.

A recent confluence of factors helped Davis regain his freedom after seven years behind bars, including growing support from activists and Bates’ 2022 election. Then a defense attorney, Bates beat Mosby in the Democratic primary, which assured him election in November in the heavily Democratic city.

Davis requested privacy Friday and made no public appearance, though he was photographed smiling widely from inside a vehicle after his release. He celebrated with supporters, including his wife, Kelly Davis, who led a yearslong grassroots movement seeking to clear his name.

“I hope people realize, we have watched a wrongful conviction in real time — and we did not look away,” she told The Associated Press. “Keith survived the bullets because that was not the end of his story. It was meant to be so much bigger.”

She called the case “an indictment of the entire system.”

“Keith is not an anomaly,” Kelly Davis added, saying many other defendants with credible innocence claims remain behind bars. He’s home now, she said, but “we cannot get these years back that were stolen from us.”

Attorneys with the Maryland Office of the Public Defender, which represented Keith Davis throughout, said Friday’s decision helps restore confidence in Baltimore’s justice system.

Maryland Public Defender Natasha Dartigue said Mosby’s handling of the case ran “counter to any concept of justice.”

Davis, 31, faced his fourth murder trial in 2019, when the jury found him guilty of second-degree murder — an outcome that was later overturned on appeal in 2021. Two previous trials ended in mistrials. A third trial led to a second-degree murder conviction that was also overturned.

At the time of his release Friday, Davis was awaiting a potential fifth trial.

In 2021, after his latest conviction was overturned, prosecutors filed additional charges against Davis, accusing him of attempted murder in a stabbing nearly a year earlier while he was behind bars. When those charges were filed, a Baltimore judge found a “presumption of vindictiveness” behind the prosecution. The same judge also held Mosby in contempt of court after finding she willfully violated a gag order by commenting about the high-profile case on Instagram.

The attempted murder case also was dismissed Friday.

Jones was shot on June 7, 2015, at the Pimlico track in northeast Baltimore.

Hours after the shooting, a Baltimore police officer was flagged down by an unlicensed cab driver in a nearby neighborhood who said someone tried to rob him at gunpoint. Police identified Davis as the suspect, chased him through the streets and cornered him in a mechanic’s garage. Police then fired at least 33 rounds at Davis, striking him three times, including once in the face.

Authorities said Davis had placed a gun on top of the refrigerator he was hiding behind inside the garage. But Davis said the weapon was planted on him after the police shooting.

Davis initially went to trial in 2016 for armed robbery. The jury found him not guilty of all charges except illegal possession of a handgun. About a week later, prosecutors charged him with murder in the Pimlico shooting, citing ballistics testing.

In his announcement Friday, Bates stopped short of declaring Davis innocent. Because he made comments about the case on the campaign trail, Bates said, he requested one of his deputies conduct the formal review.

“It is clear that a blatant disregard for the rules of professional responsibility and the law has permeated throughout the attempted prosecutions of Mr. Davis,” Deputy State’s Attorney Thomas Donnelly said in a statement.

Baltimore activist DeRay Mckesson, who celebrated with Kelly Davis and others Friday, said he became hopeful after Bates won the primary election, but “it’s not real until it’s real.”

He said many of Davis’ supporters were excited to finally meet him in person.

“Today is a reminder that when you organize, you win,” he told AP. “It wasn’t easy, but we did it.”

Top Brazil court greenlights probe of Bolsonaro for riot

By DAVID BILLER and CARLA BRIDI

yesterday

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 Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro looks on after speaking from his official residence the Alvorada Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, Nov. 1, 2022. His absence on Inauguration Day will mark a break with tradition and remains unclear who, instead of him, will hand over the presidential sash to Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at the presidential palace on Jan. 1, 2023. 

(AP Photo/Eraldo Peres, File)


RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A Brazilian Supreme Court justice on Friday authorized adding former President Jair Bolsonaro in its investigation into who incited the Jan. 8 riot in the nation’s capital, as part of a broader crackdown to hold responsible parties to account.

According to the text of his ruling, Justice Alexandre de Moraes granted the request from the prosecutor-general’s office, which cited a video that Bolsonaro posted on Facebook two days after the riot. The video claimed President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva wasn’t voted into office, but rather was chosen by the Supreme Court and Brazil’s electoral authority.

Prosecutors in the recently formed group to combat anti-democratic acts argued earlier Friday that although Bolsonaro posted the video after the riot, its content was sufficient to justify investigating his conduct beforehand. Bolsonaro deleted it the morning after he first posted it.

Legal analysts consulted by The Associated Press said investigating Bolsonaro was overdue and justified.

“Bolsonaro’s positioning, in general, is being investigated as an incitement method. The fact that the video was published after the attacks doesn’t mean he wasn’t involved previously in inciting the acts,” said Georges Abboud, a constitutional law professor at Sao Paulo’s Pontifical Catholic University.

Otherwise, Bolsonaro has refrained from commenting on the election since his Oct. 30 defeat. He repeatedly stoked doubt about the reliability of the electronic voting system in the run-up to the vote, filed a request afterward to annul millions of ballots cast using the machines and never conceded.

He has taken up residence in an Orlando suburb since leaving Brazil in late December and skipping the Jan. 1 swearing-in of his leftist successor, and some Democratic lawmakers have urged President Joe Biden to cancel his visa.

Following the justice’s decision late Friday, Bolsonaro’s lawyer Frederick Wassef said in a statement that the former president “vehemently repudiates the acts of vandalism and destruction” from Jan. 8, but blamed supposed “infiltrators” of the protest — something his far-right backers have also claimed.

The statement also said Bolsonaro “never had any relationship or participation with these spontaneous social movements.”

Brazilian authorities are investigating who enabled Bolsonaro’s radical supporters to storm the Supreme Court, Congress and presidential palace in an attempt to overturn results of the October election. Targets include those who summoned rioters to the capital or paid to transport them, and local security personnel who may have stood aside to let the mayhem occur.

Much of the attention thus far has focused on Anderson Torres, Bolsonaro’s former justice minister, who became the federal district’s security chief on Jan. 2, and was in the U.S. on the day of the riot.

De Moraes has opened an investigation into Torres’ actions, which he characterized as “neglect and collusion.” In his decision, which was made public Friday, de Moraes said Torres fired subordinates and left the country before the riot, an indication that he was deliberately laying the groundwork for the unrest.

The court also issued an arrest warrant for the former security chief, who returned to Brazil early Saturday and was taken into custody, the Federal Police said in a statement. Torres has denied wrongdoing.

Justice Minister Flávio Dino pointed to a document that Brazilian federal police found upon searching Torres’ home: a draft decree that would have seized control of Brazil’s electoral authority and potentially overturned the election. The origin and authenticity of the unsigned document are unclear, and it remains unknown if Bolsonaro or his subordinates took any steps to implement the measure that would have been unconstitutional, according to analysts and the Brazilian academy of electoral and political law.

But the document “will figure in the police investigation, because it even more fully reveals the existence of a chain of people responsible for the criminal events,” Dino said, adding that Torres will need to inform police who drafted it.

By failing to initiate a probe against the document’s author or report its existence, Torres at the very least could be charged with dereliction of duty, said Mario Sérgio Lima, a political analyst at Medley Advisors.

Torres said on Twitter that the document was probably found in a pile along with others intended for shredding, and that it was leaked out of context to feed false narratives aimed at discrediting him.

Dino told reporters Friday morning that no connection has yet been established between the capital riot and Bolsonaro.

The federal district’s former governor and former military police chief are also targets of the Supreme Court investigation made public Friday. Both were removed from their positions after the riot.

Also on Friday night, the popular social media accounts of several prominent right-wing figures were suspended in Brazil in response to a court order, which journalist Glenn Greenwald obtained and detailed on a live social media broadcast.

The order, also issued by Justice de Moraes, was directed at six social media platforms and established a two-hour deadline to block the accounts or face fines. The accounts belong to a digital influencer, a YouTuber recently elected federal lawmaker, a podcast host in the mold of Joe Rogan, and an evangelical pastor and senator-elect, among others.

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Bridi reported from Brasilia.

Italian energy company says new gas discovered off Egypt

today

ROME (AP) — Italian energy giant Eni announced Sunday what it described as a significant gas discovery offshore of Egypt in the eastern Mediterranean.

Eni said the discovery at the Nargis-1 exploration well was made in the Nargis offshore area concession.

Eni said it would further develop the offshore area thanks to a recent award of several exploration blocks. The concession area measures some 1,800 square kilometers (about 700 square miles).

South Korean president travels to UAE, seeks arms sales

By JON GAMBRELL

TODAY

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South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, center left, and Emirati leader Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan walk past an honor guard at Qasar Al Watan in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Sunday, Jan. 15, 2023. Yoon received an honor guard welcome Sunday on a trip to the United Arab Emirates, where Seoul hopes to expand its military sales while finishing its construction of the Arabian Peninsula's first nuclear power plant. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell)

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol received an honor guard welcome Sunday on a trip to the United Arab Emirates as he hopes to expand his country’s military sales here.

Yoon’s visit comes as South Korea conducts business deals worth billions of dollars and stations special forces troops to defend the UAE, an arrangement that drew criticism under his liberal predecessor. Now, however, it appears the conservative leader wants to double down on those military links even as tensions with neighboring Iran have already seen Tehran seize a South Korean oil tanker in 2021.

“I think that the situation in the Middle East is changing very rapidly when it comes to geopolitics,” said June Park, a fellow with the International Strategy Forum at Schmidt Futures. “So Korea wants to make sure some of the strategic partnerships and the components ... with the UAE” remain strong.

Yoon arrived at Qasr Al Watan palace in Abu Dhabi on Sunday. He was greeted by Emirati leader Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who took office in May after serving as the country’s de facto ruler for years.

An honor guard of traditionally dressed Emiratis greeted Yoon and his wife, Kim Keon Hee. They twirled model Lee-Enfield rifles alongside troops on camelback and horseback. Inside, a military band played the South Korean and Emirati national anthems.

After the ceremony, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency quoted Sheikh Mohammed as saying the UAE planned to invest $30 billion in South Korea. “We decided to make the investment with confidence in the Republic of Korea that keeps its promises under all circumstances,” he said.

The report did not elaborate.

While energy-hungry South Korea does rely on the Emirates for just under 10% of its crude oil supply, Seoul has struck a series of deals far beyond oil with this nation of seven sheikhdoms that closely tie the nation to Abu Dhabi. South Korea’s trade with the UAE is into the billions of dollars worth of cars, material and other goods.

The importance of the trip for Seoul could be seen in the South Korean business leaders attending a camel meat luncheon at the palace. They included Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Euisun Chung, Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won.

Before Yoon’s trip, officials described the visit as seeking to solidify the ties between the two countries.

“This visit will strengthen strategic cooperation with our brother country UAE in the four core cooperative sectors of nuclear power, energy, investment and defense,” said Kim Sung-han, director of national security in Yoon’s government.

On Saturday, Yonhap quoted an anonymous presidency official as also saying that an arms deal was planned.

“The atmosphere is extremely ripe for security or military cooperation between South Korea and the UAE involving the arms industry,” the official said, according to Yonhap.

Already, South Korea reached a $3.5 billion deal with the UAE in 2022 to sell the M-SAM, an advanced air defense system designed to intercept missiles at altitudes below 40 kilometers (25 miles). Emirati officials have grown increasingly concerned about protecting their airspace after being targeted in long-range drone attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

While U.S. forces fired Patriot missiles for the first time in combat since the 2003 Iraq invasion to defend Abu Dhabi during those attacks, the Emiratis have been hedging their reliance on American military support since America’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.

But South Korea’s biggest project remains the Barakah nuclear power plant, Seoul’s first attempt to build atomic reactors abroad. The $20 billion facility, which ultimately will have four reactors, is in the UAE’s western deserts near the Saudi border and one day will account for nearly a quarter of all of the Emirates’ power needs.

It’s also key to the UAE’s plans to go carbon neutral by 2050, a pledge that takes on special importance as it prepares to host the United Nations COP28 climate negotiations beginning in November in Dubai.

Yoon likely wants to assure the Emiratis that South Korea wants to be in the running for lucrative maintenance contracts after his predecessor, President Moon Jae-in, had said Seoul wanted to move away from nuclear energy.

“The energy policy took on a 180 degree shift” after the election, said Park, the analyst. “So Korea is now for nuclear and I guess that the Yoon administration wants to make sure to the Emiratis that there is no concern regarding policy shifts or anything like that.”

Then there’s also the nuclear tensions with North Korea. Yoon, a former top prosecutor, became president in May on a promise to take a harder line on Pyongyang. Up until recent years, hundreds of North Korean laborers were believed to be working in the UAE and elsewhere in the Gulf Arab states, offering a cash stream to Pyongyang as it seeks to evade mounting sanctions over its nuclear program.

However, a crackdown has seen their numbers drastically drop as nations stopped renewing their visas. A recent U.N. expert report noted that high-end camera gear bought in the UAE ended up in North Korea, while another mentioned a North Korean national living in Dubai obtaining foreign currency through an online app by lying about his nationality.

The U.N. also said as recently as 2021 it had information about North Korean diplomats in Iran flying on Dubai-based long-haul carrier Emirates smuggling gold with them.

NJ governor: No pause in wind farm prep after 7th dead whale

By WAYNE PARRY

January 13, 2023

The body of a humpack whale lies on a beach in Brigantine N.J., after it washed ashore on Friday, Jan. 13, 2023. It was the seventh dead whale to wash ashore in New Jersey and New York in little over a month, prompting calls for a temporary halt in offshore wind farm preparation on the ocean floor from lawmakers and environmental groups who suspect the work might have something to do with the deaths. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)


BRIGANTINE, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey’s governor said Friday he does not think undersea preparations for offshore wind farms should be halted in response to a recent spate of whale deaths in New Jersey and New York.

Democrat Phil Murphy spoke after lawmakers at the local, state and federal levels called for a temporary pause in ocean floor preparation work for offshore wind projects in New Jersey and New York after another dead whale washed ashore in the area.

Also on Friday, most of New Jersey’s environmental groups warned against linking offshore wind work and whale deaths, calling such associations “unfounded and premature.”

The death was the seventh in a little over a month. The spate of fatalities prompted an environmental group and some citizens groups opposed to offshore wind to ask President Biden earlier this week for a federal investigation into the deaths.

The latest death Thursday was that of a 20- to 25-foot-long (6- to 7.6-meter-long) humpback whale. Its remains washed ashore in Brigantine, just north of Atlantic City, which itself has seen two dead whales on its beaches in recent weeks.

There was no immediate indication of what caused the latest death. The Marine Mammal Stranding Center, based in Brigantine, said it and several other groups were formulating plans Friday for a post-mortem examination of the whale’s remains before the animal’s carcass is disposed of, most likely through burial on the beach.

“We should suspend all work related to offshore wind development until we can determine the cause of death of these whales, some of which are endangered,” said New Jersey state Sen. Vince Polistina, a Republican who represents the area. “The work related to offshore wind projects is the primary difference in our waters, and it’s hard to believe that the death of (seven) whales on our beaches is just a coincidence.”

Murphy said he does not think pausing offshore wind prep is necessary.

“This is tragic, obviously,” he said.




The body of a humpack whale lies on a beach in Brigantine N.J., after it washed ashore on Friday, Jan. 13, 2023. It was the seventh dead whale to wash ashore in New Jersey and New York in little over a month, prompting calls for a temporary halt in offshore wind farm preparation on the ocean floor from lawmakers and environmental groups who suspect the work might have something to do with the deaths. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)

Murphy cited the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which earlier this week said that no humpback whale — the species accounting for most of the recent whale deaths in New Jersey and New York — has been found to have been killed due to offshore wind activities.

“They have said it’s been happening at an increased rate since 2016, and that was long before there was any offshore wind activity,” the governor said. “It looks like some of these whales have been hit by vessels.”

Orsted, the Danish wind power developer tabbed to build two of the three offshore wind projects approved thus far in the waters off New Jersey, said its current work off the New Jersey coast does not involve using sounds or other actions that could disturb whales.

It did not say what specific type of work it is doing off New Jersey and did not answer that question in an email to The Associated Press on Friday.

The Clean Ocean Action environmental group said such site work typically involves exploring the ocean floor using focused pulses of low-frequency sound in the same frequency that whales hear and communicate, which could potentially harm or disorient the animals.

Brigantine’s mayor, Vince Sera, joined in the call for a temporary halt to offshore wind site prep, as did U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, a Republican congressman representing southern New Jersey.

At a news conference Monday in Atlantic City, the groups calling on Biden to probe the deaths said offshore wind developers have applied for authorization to harass or harm as many as 157,000 marine mammals off the two states.

NOAA said 11 such applications are active in the area but involve nonserious injuries or harassment of marine animals, not killing them.

“NOAA Fisheries has not authorized, or proposed to authorize, mortality or serious injury for any wind-related action,” agency spokesperson Lauren Gaches said.

Most of New Jersey’s major environmental groups said this week that they support offshore wind energy.

“The climate crisis demands that we quickly develop renewable energy, and offshore wind is critically important for New Jersey to reach the state’s economic development and environmental justice goals,” the groups said in a statement.

The groups include Clean Water Action, Environment New Jersey, the Sierra Club, New Jersey Audubon, NY/NJ Baykeeper and others.

“Blaming offshore wind projects on whale mortality without evidence is not only irresponsible but overshadows the very real threats of climate change, plastic pollution, and unsustainable fishery management practices to these animals,” said the Sierra Club’s New Jersey director, Anjuli Ramos-Busot.

“We need to base our decision making on science and data, not emotions or assumptions,” added Allison McLeod, policy director of the New Jersey League of Conservation Voters.

___

Follow Wayne Parry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/WayneParryAC

ANOMALOUS PHENOMENA
NTSB: Cloud shot up in front of plane before turbulence

By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER

 Jon Snook, chief operating officer of Hawaiian Airlines, speaks at a news conference at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu on Sunday, Dec. 18, 2022. A preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board released Friday, Jan. 13, 2023, says the pilots of a Hawaiian Air plane that hit severe turbulence last month told investigators they had less than three seconds to react after a cloud shot up vertically in front of them at 38,000 feet on an otherwise clear day. Twenty-five people were injured in the Dec. 13, 2022, incident, including six who were seriously hurt. 

(AP Photo/Audrey McAvoy, File)


HONOLULU (AP) — A cloud shot up vertically like a plume of smoke in a matter of seconds before a Hawaiian Airlines flight last month hit severe turbulence and 25 people on board were injured, according to a preliminary report Friday by the National Transportation Safety Board.

The captain of the Dec. 18 flight from Phoenix to Honolulu told investigators that flight conditions were smooth with clear skies when the cloud shot up in front of the plane and there was no time to change course, the report said. He called the lead flight attendant and told her there might be turbulence. Within one to three seconds, the plane “encountered severe turbulence,” the report states.

Shortly afterward, the lead flight attendant told the crew there were multiple injuries in the cabin.

Twenty-five of the 291 passengers and crew members on board were injured, including four passengers and two crew members who were seriously hurt, the report says. The plane sustained minor damage.

Tiffany Reyes, one of the passengers who were taken to hospitals, said the next day that she had just gotten back to her seat from the bathroom and was about to buckle her seatbelt when the flight dipped.

In an instant, Reyes said she found herself on the aisle floor, staring up at caved-in ceiling panels and a cracked bathroom sign that was hanging.

“I asked everyone around me, ’Was that me?” Reyes said. “They said I had apparently flown into the ceiling and slammed into the ground.”

Reyes said she initially thought something had hit the plane and that it was crashing, and that she briefly thought they were going to die because she had never encountered anything so violent on a flight.

“That’s the most terrifying experience I’ve been through in my whole 40 years of life,” Reyes said.

Hawaiian Airlines Chief Operating Officer Jon Snook said at the time that such turbulence is unusual, noting that the airline had not experienced anything like it in recent history. The fasten-seatbelts sign was on at the time, though some of the injured were not wearing them, he said.

It happened about 40 minutes before landing in Honolulu, according to the report.

The report includes factual information but not a probable cause. That is typically included in the final report, which could take a year or two to complete.

An airline spokesperson declined to comment on the report Friday because the NTSB investigation is ongoing.

MISOGYNIST FEMICIDE

Taliban ban on female aid workers poses big dilemma for US

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER

yesterday

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A Save the Children midwife provides Zarmina, 25, who is five months pregnant, with a pre-natal check-up in Jawzjan province in northern Afghanistan, Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022. (Save the Children via AP, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — For an idled worker at a Kabul-based aid group, Abaad, that helps abused Afghan women, frightened and often tearful calls are coming in, not only from her clients but also from her female colleagues.

A Dec. 24 order from the Taliban barring aid groups from employing women is paralyzing deliveries that help keep millions of Afghans alive, and threatening humanitarian services countrywide. As another result of the ban, thousands of women who work for such organizations across the war-battered country are facing the loss of income they desperately need to feed their own families.

The prohibition is posing one of the biggest policy challenges over Afghanistan for the United States and other countries since the U.S. military withdrawal in August 2021 opened the door for the Taliban takeover. Those nations face the difficult task of crafting an international response that neither further worsens the plight of millions of aid-dependent Afghans nor caves in to the Taliban’s crackdown on women.

The United Nations estimates that 85% of nongovernmental aid organizations in Afghanistan have partially or fully shut down operations because of the ban, which is the Taliban’s latest step to drive women from public life.

Abaad was among those suspending its work. Its female employees provided support and counseling to women who endured rape, beatings, forced marriages or other domestic abuse.

Female clients told the Abaad worker that without the group’s help, they fear they will wind up on Kabul’s streets. For the worker herself and for thousands like her across Afghanistan, they depend on their paychecks to survive in a broken economy where aid officials say 97% of the population is now in poverty or at risk of it.

One colleague told her she was contemplating suicide.

The aid worker and others interviewed expressed hope that the United States, the United Nations and others will stand by them and persuade the Taliban to relent on the ban.

“That’s all we ask. They should find a solution, find a way to support people here in Afghanistan,” she said. She spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of her safety.

Several leading global aid organizations that have suspended operations are urging U.N. aid agencies to do the same. They are asking the Biden administration to use its influence to ensure the international community stands firm.

The U.S. is the largest single humanitarian donor to Afghanistan. It also has an abiding interests in quelling security threats from extremist groups in Afghanistan, one of the tasks for which it hopes to maintain some limited relationship with the Taliban.

A U.S. official involved in the discussions predicted a final international response that falls somewhere between suspending all aid operations, which the official said would be inhumane and ineffective, and the other extreme of fully acquiescing to the Taliban ban.

One proposal being looked at in the administration is stopping all but lifesaving aid to Afghans, according to another U.S. official and nongovernmental officials familiar with the discussion.

The officials were not authorized to publicly discuss ongoing deliberations and they all spoke on condition of anonymity.

Aid group officials and analysts point to the difficulty of narrowing down what is lifesaving assistance, however. Food aid, certainly. But what about other forms of support such as maternal care, which has helped more than halve Afghanistan’s maternal mortality rate since the 1990s?

Major nongovernmental aid organizations say that without female workers, it’s impossible for them to effectively reach the women and children who make up 75% of those in need. That’s because of Afghanistan’s conservative customs and the Taliban’s rules prohibiting contact between unrelated men and women.

“Our suspensions are operational necessities,” said Anastasia Moran, senior officer for humanitarian policy at the International Rescue Committee. “It’s not being punitive. It’s not trying to withdraw services. It’s not a negotiating tactic.”

The Taliban crackdown is re-creating conditions from their first time in power in the mid-1990s, when successive edicts drove women out of schools, jobs, aid work and increasingly into their homes. Taliban leaders then ultimately ordered households to paint their windows black, so that no passersby could see the women inside. It left women and children in female-headed households little means to access money or help to stay alive.

The U.S. invasion that followed the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, ended that first era of Taliban rule. The Biden administration and aid groups all cite a determination to avoid a repeat of the fractured, rivalry-driven and often ad hoc international response to the Taliban abuses in the 1990s, including the crackdown then on women.

U.N. Security Council members met Friday behind closed doors to consider the international response, after 11 of the 15 member nations reiterated the council’s demand for “unhindered access for humanitarian actors regardless of gender.”

The humanitarian crisis brought on by the Taliban’s ban comes at a politically sensitive moment for Biden, with Republicans now leading the House and pledging to investigate the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Rep. Michael McCaul, a foreign-policy veteran newly in charge of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called the crackdown on women part of the “disastrous” consequences of the U.S. withdrawal. McCaul. R-Texas, said his committee will push for answers from administration officials on their handling of Afghanistan policy.

“This administration promised consequences if the Taliban revoked its promise to uphold the human rights of Afghan women and girls,” McCaul said in a statement to The Associated Press. “Unfortunately, it is no surprise to see the Taliban violate this commitment, and now consequences must be swiftly delivered.”

Almost all involved expressed hope that quiet diplomacy led by U.N. officials over the next few weeks could lead the Taliban to soften their stance, allowing female aid workers and aid organizations overall to resume their duties.

U.N. and other officials are meeting daily on the matter with the Taliban’s most senior leaders in Kabul, who have access to the Taliban’s supreme leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada, and his associates in the southern city of Kandahar, a U.S. official said.

Some caution the international community may face years of little influence over Afghanistan’s rulers.

In the meantime, the mission for those assisting isolated, abused women was clear. said Masuda Sultan, an Afghan woman also working with the Abaad aid group.

“Our goal is to help these women,” Sultan said, speaking from Dubai. “If they don’t get help, they will die.”

Police: Ex-Afghan female lawmaker, guard shot dead at home

This is a locator map for Afghanistan with its capital, Kabul. (AP Photo)


KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A former Afghan female lawmaker and her bodyguard have been shot dead by unknown assailants at her home in the capital, Kabul, police said Sunday.

Mursal Nabizada was among the few female parliamentarians who stayed in Kabul after the Taliban seized power in August 2021.

It is the first time a lawmaker from the previous administration has been killed in the city since the takeover.

Local police chief Molvi Hamidullah Khalid said Nabizada and her guard were shot dead around 3 a.m. Saturday in the same room.

He said her brother and a second security guard were injured. A third security guard fled the scene with money and jewelry.

She died on the first floor of her home, which she used as her office. Khalid said investigations are underway. He did not answer questions about possible motives.

Abdullah Abdullah, who was a top official in Afghanistan’s former Western-backed government, said he was saddened by Nabizada’s death and hoped the perpetrators would be punished. He described her as a “representative and servant of the people.”

A former Kandahar parliamentarian, Malalai Ishaqzai, also offered her condolences.

Nabizada was elected in 2019 to represent Kabul and stayed in office until the Taliban takeover.

She was a member of the parliamentary defense commission and worked at a private non-governmental group, the Institute for Human Resources Development and Research.

FEMA fires group for nonsensical Alaska Native translations

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Fredrick Brower, center, helps cut up a bowhead whale caught by Inupiat subsistence hunters on a field near Barrow, Alaska, Oc. 7, 2014. After tidal surges and high winds from the remnants of a rare typhoon caused extensive flood damage to homes along Alaska's western coast in September, the U.S. government stepped in to help residents largely Alaska Natives repair property damage. Residents who opened Federal Emergency Management Agency brochures expecting to find instructions on how to file for aid in Alaska Native languages like Yup'ik or Inupiaq instead were reading nonsensical phrases. 

(AP Photo/Gregory Bull,File)

By MARK THIESSEN

January 13, 2023

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — After tidal surges and high winds from the remnants of a rare typhoon caused extensive damage to homes along Alaska’s western coast in September, the U.S. government stepped in to help residents — largely Alaska Natives — repair property damage.

Residents who opened Federal Emergency Management Agency paperwork expecting to find instructions on how to file for aid in Alaska Native languages like Yup’ik or Inupiaq instead were reading bizarre phrases.

“Tomorrow he will go hunting very early, and will (bring) nothing,” read one passage. The translator randomly added the word “Alaska” in the middle of the sentence.

“Your husband is a polar bear, skinny,” another said.

Yet another was written entirely in Inuktitut, an Indigenous language spoken in northern Canada, far from Alaska.

FEMA fired the California company hired to translate the documents once the errors became known, but the incident was an ugly reminder for Alaska Natives of the suppression of their culture and languages from decades past.

FEMA immediately took responsibility for the translation errors and corrected them, and the agency is working to make sure it doesn’t happen again, spokesperson Jaclyn Rothenberg said. No one was denied aid because of the errors.

That’s not good enough for one Alaska Native leader.

For Tara Sweeney, an Inupiaq who served as an assistant secretary of Indian Affairs in the U.S. Interior Department during the Trump administration, this was another painful reminder of steps taken to prevent Alaska Native children from speaking Indigenous languages.

“Your husband is a polar bear, skinny.”

Rep. Mary Peltola, left, D-Alaska, acknowledges audience members singing a song of prayer for her at the Alaska Federation of Natives conference in Anchorage, Alaska, Oct. 20, 2022. After tidal surges and high winds from the remnants of a rare typhoon caused extensive damage to homes along Alaska’s western coast in September, the U.S. government stepped in to help residents — largely Alaska Natives — repair property damage. Residents who opened paperwork expecting to find instructions on how to file for aid in Alaska Native languages like Yup’ik or Inupiaq instead were reading bizarre phrases. Peltola, who is Yup’ik, said it was disappointing FEMA missed the mark with these translations.

 (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen,File)

TRANSLATED FEMA AID PAPERWORK

“When my mother was beaten for speaking her language in school, like so many hundreds, thousands of Alaska Natives, to then have the federal government distributing literature representing that it is an Alaska Native language, I can’t even describe the emotion behind that sort of symbolism,” Sweeney said.

Sweeney called for a congressional oversight hearing to uncover how long and widespread the practice has been used throughout government.

“These government contracting translators have certainly taken advantage of the system, and they have had a profound impact, in my opinion, on vulnerable communities,” said Sweeney, whose great-grandfather, Roy Ahmaogak, invented the Inupiaq alphabet more than a half-century ago.

She said his intention was to create the characters so “our people would learn to read and write to transition from an oral history to a more tangible written history.”

U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, who is Yup’ik and last year became the first Alaska Native elected to Congress, said it was disappointing FEMA missed the mark with these translations but didn’t call for hearings.

“I am confident FEMA will continue to make the necessary changes to be ready the next time they are called to serve our citizens,” the Democrat said.

About 1,300 people have been approved for FEMA assistance after the remnants of Typhoon Merbok created havoc as it traveled about 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometers) north through the Bering Strait, potentially affecting 21,000 residents. FEMA has paid out about $6.5 million, Rothenberg said.

Preliminary estimates put overall damage at just over $28 million, but the total is likely to rise after more assessment work is done after the spring thaw, said Jeremy Zidek, a spokesperson for the Alaska Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

The poorly translated documents, which did not create delays or problems, were a small part of efforts to help people register for FEMA assistance in person, online and by phone, Zidek said.

 In this image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard, a search and rescue and damage assessment in Deering, Alaska, shows the damage caused by Typhoon Merbok, Sept. 18, 2022. After the remnants of a rare typhoon caused extensive damage along Alaska's western coast last fall, the U.S. government stepped in to help residents, largely Alaska Natives, recovery financially. 

(Petty Officer 3rd Class Ian Gray/U.S. Coast Guard via AP, File)

Another factor is that while English may not be the preferred language for some residents, many are bilingual and can struggle through an English version, said Gary Holton, a University of Hawaii at Manoa linguistics professor and a former director of the Alaska Native Language Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Central Alaskan Yup’ik is the largest of the Alaska Native languages, with about 10,000 speakers in 68 villages across southwest Alaska. Children learn Yup’ik as their first language in 17 of those villages. There are about 3,000 Inupiaq speakers across northern Alaska, according to the language center.
A
It appears the words and phrases used in the translated documents were taken from Nikolai Vakhtin’s 2011 edition of “Yupik Eskimo Texts from the 1940s,” said John DiCandeloro, the language center’s archivist.

The book is the written record of field notes collected on Russia’s Chukotka Peninsula across the Bering Strait from Alaska in the 1940s by Ekaterina Rubtsova, who interviewed residents about their daily life and culture for a historical account.

The works were later translated and made available on the language center’s website, which Holton used to investigate the origin of the mistranslated texts.

Many of the languages from the area are related but with differences, just as English is related to French or German but is not the same language, Holton said.

Holton, who has about three decades experience in Alaska Native language documentation and revitalization, searched the online archive and found “hit after hit,” words pulled right out of the Russian work and randomly placed into FEMA documents.

“They clearly just grabbed the words from the document and then just put them in some random order and gave something that looked like Yup’ik but made no sense,” he said, calling the final product a “word salad.”

He said it was offensive that an outside company appropriated the words people 80 years ago used to memorialize their lives.

“These are people’s grandparents and great-grandparents that are knowledge-keepers, are elders, and their words which they put down, expecting people to learn from, expecting people to appreciate, have just been bastardized,” Holton said.

KYUK Public Media in Bethel first reported the mistranslations.

“We make no excuses for erroneous translations, and we deeply regret any inconvenience this has caused to the local community,” Caroline Lee, the CEO of Accent on Languages, the Berkeley, California-based company that produced the mistranslated documents, said in a statement.

She said the company will refund FEMA the $5,116 it received for the work and conduct an internal review to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

Lee did not respond to follow-up questions, including how the mistaken translations occurred.