Who's winning from Biden's student-debt relief? Millennials, public servants, and Black borrowers are seeing the biggest gains.

Jacob Zinkula, Ayelet Sheffey, and Madison Hoff

President Joe Biden AP Photo/Evan Vucci

On Wednesday, President Joe Biden announced student loan debt relief for millions of Americans.
Public servants, millennials, and Black borrowers are among the groups with the most to celebrate.
Even future students could have an easier time paying off their student loans.

Many low-to-middle income Americans with federal student loans can breathe a bit easier after the Biden administration's Wednesday announcement on student debt relief. But some groups in particular have a reason to celebrate.

On Wednesday, President Joe Biden announced the cancellation of up to $20,000 in federal student loan debt for borrowers making less than $125,000 a year or $250,000 for married couples. The plan is expected to help many of the over 40 million Americans with student loans and completely wipe out the balances of as many as 15 million borrowers.

Among the over 40 million receiving relief, Pell Grant recipients, public servants, millennials, Black borrowers, and even future students could stand to benefit most from the administration's announcement and accompanying proposals.

About 27 million Pell Grant recipients are getting up to $20,000 in forgiveness

Eligible federal student loan borrowers making under $125,000 per year will see their loan balances cut by up to $10,000 for those who aren't Pell Grant recipients. Pell Grant recipients, however, which account for over 60% of federal loan borrowers, could receive up to $20,000 in debt cancellation. Pell Grants are a form of federal financial aid that are intended to help low-income students afford a college education.

Per the White House's fact sheet, Pell Grants once covered almost 80% of the tuition for a four-year public university, but now only cover a third of the cost. The administration is seeking to help these borrowers, around two-thirds of whom come from families with incomes of $30,000 or below.

9 million Americans who work as public servants are eligible for student loan debt relief

Public Service Loan Forgiveness is intended to forgive student debt for public servants, like government and nonprofit workers, after ten years of qualifying payments. But prior to the reforms, 98% of PSLF applicants had been denied, blocking many teachers, firefighters, and others in careers working for the public good from debt relief. Over the last year, the federal government has approved over $10 billion in loan forgiveness for over 175,000 borrowers following reforms to the PSLF program.

As part of Wednesday's announcement, the Biden administration said it plans to build on the reforms to the PSLF in the hopes that more of the roughly 9 million eligible public servants with student loan debt will benefit from the program in the years ahead.
Millennials between ages 26 and 39 make up nearly half of affected borrowers

Per the White House's fact sheet, 44% of the borrowers eligible for debt relief are between the ages of 26-39, 21% of eligible borrowers are 25 and under, and over a third are age 40 or older.

Student debt burdens have made it difficult for millennials to purchase homes, start families, and save for retirement. Wednesday's announcement will offer some relief.
Black and Latino borrowers are big winners

The Biden administration also said its actions will help to narrow the racial wealth gap.

Black students are more likely to take out student loans and take out larger loans when they do so compared to white students. They are also twice as likely as their white peers to receive Pell Grants, meaning many will be eligible for the up to $20,000 in loan forgiveness. A May analysis found that $10,000 in debt forgiveness would wipe out student loan balances for two million Black borrowers.

"For too many — especially borrowers of color and Black women — student debt makes it hard to get ahead and make ends meet," Maya Wiley, CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said in a statement issued Wednesday, adding that her organization welcomed the Biden administration's announcement.

Additionally, almost half of all Latino borrowers are expected to see their debt balances wiped out, according to Excelencia in Education, a think tank focused on Latino college completion. "Most Latinos in postsecondary education come from low-income households and are the first in their families to go to college, often at the cost of enormous financial sacrifices from them and their family," Janet Murgía, president and CEO of UnidosUS, told CNN in a statement.

Future students could see a very different loan and repayment landscape

Critics of the administration's announcement have argued that it does nothing to reduce the rising cost of a college education, and that future borrowers will continue to struggle as a result. But while there's little reason to expect college tuition to decline anytime soon, the administration laid out plans to make student debt payment more manageable for future students.

The Department of Education announced it is working on the expansion of income-driven repayment plans, which "cap what borrowers pay each month based on a percentage of their discretionary income" and typically cancel all remaining debt after 20 years of monthly payments.

Under the proposal, borrowers with undergraduate loans would put 5% of their discretionary income per month towards loan repayment, down from the current 10%. A public school teacher making $44,000 per year, for instance, would pay only $56 a month in student loans, compared to the $197 they would pay under the current income-driven repayment plan, according to the White House's fact sheet.

Biden also proposed a plan to stop interest from creating ballooning student-loan balances — a big reason many borrowers end up paying off more than they originally borrowed.

The changes to income-based plans are part of the department's regulatory proposals, and they are headed for final approval in November with implementation by July 2023.

A First Step, But We Have to Do More on Student Debt

BY BERNIE SANDERS  AUGUST 25, 2022

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The president’s decision to reduce the outrageous level of student debt in our country is an important step forward in providing real financial help to a struggling middle class. Today’s announcement to reduce up to $10,000 in student debt for working class Americans and up to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients will eliminate student debt for some 20 million Americans and reduce debt for some 43 million. The result of this decision is that millions of Americans will now be in a better position to start families, or buy the homes and cars they have long needed. This is a big deal.

But we have got to do more. At a time of massive income and wealth inequality, education, from pre-school through graduate school, must be a fundamental right for all, not a privilege for the wealthy few. If the United States is going to effectively compete in the global economy we need the best educated workforce in the world, and that means making public colleges and universities tuition free as many other major countries currently do – and that includes trade schools and minority-serving institutions as well. In the year 2022, in the wealthiest country on earth, everyone in America who wants a higher education should be able to get that education without going into debt.

Bernie Sanders is a US Senator, and the ranking member of the Senate budget committee. He represents the state of Vermont, and is the longest-serving independent in the history of Congress.

We Can Do So Much More on Student Loan Forgiveness

BY INDIA WALTON – SAM ROSENTHAL 

 AUGUST 25, 2022
 AUGUST 25, 2022

Photograph Source: Bryan Alexander – CC BY 2.0

As a presidential candidate, Joe Biden was hardly bullish on student debt cancellation. He was cajoled by progressives and his presidential primary opponents into adopting a more forceful student debt cancellation stance, one which ultimately helped win him the support of young voters.

Now, after a series of tepid moves, President Biden’s grand statement in the student debt saga has arrived. To put it mildly, it’s not very inspiring. Over the last half year, we’ve heard that the administration was mulling steps to cancel debt completely, to create a pathway to free public college, to ensure that Americans never fell into debt bondage again over the price of higher education. This new policy ensures none of those things. The president may bill his executive action as a bold, progressive step forward, but in reality, it’s much closer to the business-as-usual Democratic Party policymaking of the last 30 years: minimal, means-tested, and not likely to make a major impact.

That the president is calling for just $10,000 in loan cancellation, or, in the case of Pell Grant recipients, $20,000, is an insult especially to people of color who are still carrying student debt burdens. NAACP President Derrick Johnson made that much clear in early June. “The black community will be watching closely when you make your announcement, but $10,000 is not enough,” he said then.

As we’ve noted before, black Americans’ net worth is uniquely impacted by student loan debt. Compared to white Americans, a higher percentage of black people have student loan debt, that debt is a higher figure on average, and it has a greater impact on black families’ overall net worth than that of white families. The disparity is so stark, in fact, that canceling $50,000 in student loan debt, as Biden was once reportedly considering, could boost black wealth by 40 percent. That the Biden administration would pass on this obvious opportunity to create material change for black borrowers, when he has black voters to thank for the presidency, is unconscionable.

At RootsAction, our policy is the same that it has always been: Joe Biden, and Democrats in Congress, should cancel student debt, all of it. Furthermore, they should focus on ensuring that students can attend trade schools and public universities debt-free, so that future generations do not need to again suffer the burden of massive student loan debt. This policy is politically popular, economically sound, and morally right. The American people do not want another means-tested, narrowly defined policy that amounts to a drop in the bucket in the fight against inequality. We want material steps towards dismantling an obscene system that has profited off the backs of working people whose only crime was to desire an education. The administration still has time to take real action on student loan debt, but they need to get moving.

India Walton is senior strategic organizer at RootsAction. Sam Rosenthal is RootsAction’s political director.

Whistleblower’s allegations 

could mean trouble for Twitter

By Mathew Ingram

COLUMBIA JOURNALISM REVIEW (CJR)

AUGUST 25, 2022

ON TUESDAY MORNING, the Washington Post and CNN simultaneously published stories alleging that senior executives at Twitter—including Parag Agrawal, its CEO of Twitter—had deliberately misled federal regulators about how secure the company’s operations were, and gave foreign agents access to “sensitive user data.” The allegations came from Peiter Zatko, the former head of security at Twitter, in a lengthy document that was shared with both the Post and CNN, as well as several members of Congress, the Federal Trade Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Justice Department, and the Senate Intelligence Committee. The Post says the complaint “depicts Twitter as a chaotic and rudderless company beset by infighting, unable to properly protect its 238 million daily users, including government agencies, heads of state, and other influential public figures.”

Rebecca Hahn, a Twitter spokesperson, told the Post that Zatko was fired after 15 months for “poor performance and leadership,” and that his allegations were “riddled with inaccuracies.” She also said, per the Post, that Twitter has “tightened up” its security processes since 2020, and that it also has “rules about who can access company systems,” adding that Twitter removes more than a million spam accounts every day “fully stands by” its SEC filings. According to the Post‘s report, “a person familiar with Zatko’s tenure said the company investigated Zatko’s security claims during his time there and concluded they were sensationalistic and without merit.” In an interview with the Post, Zatko, who was fired in January, said he “felt ethically bound” to blow the whistle on Twitter because of the potential security implications of the company’s behavior. He is being represented by Whistleblower Aid, the same nonprofit legal organization that represented Frances Haugen, the former Facebook staffer turned whistleblower. 

According to CNN’s report, Zatko, 51, is a well-respected hacker and security expert who “led an influential cybersecurity grantmaking program at the Pentagon, worked at a Google division for developing cutting-edge technology, helped build the cybersecurity team at fintech firm Stripe, and advised US lawmakers and officials on how to plug security holes in the internet” before he joined Twitter. The Post says that by the time he was 30, Zatko had “written one of the most powerful tools for cracking passwords, testified to Congress under his hacker handle about the susceptibility of the internet to drastic hacks, and co-founded one of the first hacking consultancies backed by venture capital.” Jack Dorsey, the co-founder and former CEO of Twitter, hired Zatko in late 2020 after a hacker gained access to the Twitter accounts of famous users such as Barack Obama.

ICYMI: How commenting on Roy Cohn got me suspended from Twitter

Zatko’s allegations against Twitter cover a wide range of behavior, from under-counting spam—an accusation similar to that at the core of Elon Musk’s ongoing legal battles over his attempted-then-suspended $45 billion acquisition of the company—to “negligence and even complicity with respect to efforts by foreign governments to infiltrate, control, exploit, surveil and/or censor the company’s platform.” Casey Newton writes in his technology newsletter, Platformer, that the complaints “go on for dozens of pages, and have a kitchen-sink quality reminiscent of a jilted husband suing for custody of a child.” On the topic of Zatko’s credibility, Newton writes that some people he knows “deeply respect and trust him, and many of them tweeted tributes to him,” but others had less favorable opinions, and some of those tweeted their thoughts as well. (A Twitter staffer who worked with Zatko told the Post, “He’s a total savant, but also a bit of a bull in a china shop”).

Newton argues that Zatko’s allegations fall into several categories, including “what seems plausible and worrisome” and “what seems likely wrong.” The fact that Twitter’s security seems lax is believable, Newton says, given other such events (the accidental suspension of Dorsey’s Twitter account in 2016; the brief disabling of Trump’s account by a contractor in 2017). One thing Newton questions, however, is whether the “foreign agents” in India that Zatko refers to are just the local Twitter employees required by the country’s new information laws. “If Zatko’s ‘agent’ is just the legally required grievance officer that Twitter and every other platform like it is required to have, it would significantly damage the credibility of his allegations,” Newton writes. The details of those and other accusations are likely to come out during investigations by the Senate Intelligence Committee or other hearings with congressional representatives, which are already in the works

Much of the speculation following the release of Zatko’s document, which alleges that Twitter doesn’t properly count spam and bots, has focused on whether it might help the case of Musk, who halted his acquisition of the company after accusing it of providing “misleading representations” of the number of spambots on the platform. Matt Levine argues in his Bloomberg column that it probably will not; the central issue in the Musk case, Levine says, “is whether Twitter has been lying in its securities filings when it says it estimates that fewer than 5% of its ‘monetizable daily active users’ are spam or bot accounts. And Zatko is pretty unambiguous that, no, Twitter’s numbers are correct.” Zatko’s complaint is that Twitter doesn’t discuss how many spam and bot accounts there are outside of the “monetizable daily active users” figure, whereas Musk is arguing there are too many accounts like that inside the estimate of MDAU.

One potentially serious implication of Zatko’s whistleblowing is that Twitter could be found to be in breach of an FTC consent order it agreed to in 2011, after accusations that it mishandled users’ private information and allowed too many employees to have access to Twitter’s controls. Under the order, Twitter promised to create and maintain “a comprehensive information security program.” Zatko alleges that the company has never been in full compliance with the order, which could lead to a significant fine if the FTC agrees. “Twitter employees have already been through the ringer over the last year: The CEO switch. The on-again, off-again takeover bid by the platform’s biggest, richest troll. Executive firings. The mass staff exodus,” Issie Lapowsky of Protocol wrote. As the company tries to defend itself against Zatko’s accusations, she noted, “the worst may be yet to come.”

Here’s more on Twitter:

• Attack template: Nirit Weiss-Blatt, a researcher and former fellow at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication, writes for Tech Policy Press about how Twitter’s response to Zatko’s accusations and Meta’s response to Frances Haugen’s follow a “template for attacking whistleblowers.” This template, Weiss-Blatt argues, includes five key elements, including: claiming the whistleblower is pushing a “false narrative” and the documents are taken out of context; suggesting it is frustrating to read accusations that distract from the company’s “important work”; and delegitimizing and discrediting the former employee turned whistleblower.
• Next steps: Frank Pallone, Jr., the Democratic congressman from New Jersey and chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a member of Congress from Washington and the top Republican on the committee, said in a joint statement that if the whistleblower’s allegations are true, they “reaffirm” the need for Congress to pass consumer privacy legislation to safeguard Americans’ data, the Post’s Cat Zakrzewski reports. They’re not alone; Zakrzewski also notes that “Richard Blumenthal, the Democratic senator from Connecticut and head of the Senate Commerce panel focused on consumer protection, wrote a letter Tuesday to the Federal Trade Commission, calling for the agency to investigate Zatko’s claims and bring enforcement actions, including fines, against Twitter if appropriate.”
• Health products: Twitter is combining the team that works on reducing toxic content and the team that deals with spam bots, according to a staff memo sent Tuesday that was seen by Reuters. “The social media company will combine its health experience team, which works on reducing misinformation and harmful content, with the Twitter service team, which is responsible for reviewing profiles that users report and taking down spam accounts,” the wire service reports.
• Uncertainty: Twitter recently warned its employees that they might receive only half of their typical annual bonuses this year, as the company grapples with economic uncertainty, the New York Times reports. “Twitter, which is fighting a legal battle to complete a $44 billion sale to Elon Musk, made the announcement in an email to employees and blamed its financial performance for the potential bonus cut,” write Kate Conger and Ryan Mac. “When the company reported quarterly earnings last month, its revenue declined for the first time since 2020 and it swung to a net loss.”

 

Other notable stories:

• Emily Maitlis, a former host of Newsnight on the BBC, called a BBC board member an “active agent of the Conservative party,” who is trying to shape the broadcaster’s news output by acting “as the arbiter of BBC impartiality,” according to The Guardian. Maitlis made the comments about Sir Robbie Gibb, who was appointed to the BBC’s board last year by Boris Johnson, and previously worked as director of communications for Theresa May, the former leader of the Conservative party and a former prime minister. Gibb also helped to found the rightwing GB News channel.
• Researchers at the Stanford Internet Observatory collaborated with Graphika to analyze a large network of accounts that were removed from Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for violating the terms of service of those platforms. It was an organized operation that the Observatory says likely originated in the United States and targeted a range of countries in the Middle East and Central Asia. “Our joint investigation found an interconnected web of accounts on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and five other social media platforms that used deceptive tactics to promote pro-Western narratives,” the report states.
• Jigsaw and YouTube are planning to distribute a series of video ads in Poland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic that are designed to help people identify and refute derogatory tropes about migrants, Protocol reported. “The campaign, which will run for a month across several social media platforms, including YouTube, is expected to garner at least 55 million impressions — roughly equal to the population of those three countries combined,” Issie Lapowsky wrote. “But the videos are more than just a marketing push to burnish YouTube’s reputation. They’re part of a years-long research project at Jigsaw on the efficacy of using video to ‘inoculate’ people against misinformation on social media.”
• Dan Misener, co-founder of a podcast marketing company, analyzed all of the episodes of all the podcasts that Spotify recommends via various lists, and then used those to generate more recommendations until he had hundreds of thousands of recommendations. Looking at the most popular showed an unsurprising tendency to suggest Spotify originals, but Misener also found that the top recommendations also included shows that play soothing music designed to help listeners relax. This phenomenon “may be a contributing factor to the success of so-called ‘white noise podcasters,’ a trend identified by Ashley Carman in June 2022,” he wrote.
• Twitter has restored the account belonging to David M. Stone, a senior adviser to the president of Columbia University who wrote for CJR recently about having his account suspended after he tweeted about the executions of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg in the context of the FBI search of Trump’s residence at Mar-A-Lago. According to the note Stone received from Twitter, Stone was guilty of “abuse and targeted harassment.” After he wrote the piece, Stone says he got a note from the company saying his account had been restored and admitting that “it looks like we made an error.”
• iHeartMedia, the radio-station conglomerate, says it has launched a virtual music venue called iHeartLand that is part of Fortnite, a massively multiplayer video game, according to The Hollywood Reporter. iHeartMedia announced plans earlier this year to launch its own branded virtual worlds on platforms like Roblox, another popular multiplayer video game, as part of the radio giant’s larger “Web3” strategy. “Wednesday’s launch of iHeartLand in Fortnite marks the first unveiling of iHeartMedia’s virtual world and will serve as the testing ground for future iterations of iHeartLand on other world-building games,” executives told The Hollywood Reporter.

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today.

Mathew Ingram is CJR’s chief digital writer. Previously, he was a senior writer with Fortune magazine. He has written about the intersection between media and technology since the earliest days of the commercial internet. His writing has been published in the Washington Post and the Financial Times as well as by Reuters and Bloomberg.

UN Ocean Treaty Talks on Verge of Collapse Due to Rich Nations' Greed, Greenpeace Warns

"We are sad and angry," said one campaigner. "Billions of people rely on healthy oceans, and world leaders have failed all of them."

A green sea turtle swims among the corals of the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, Australia on October 10, 2019. (Photo: Jonas Gratzer/LightRocket via Getty Images)

KENNY STANCIL

August 25, 2022

A fledgling international effort to protect the world's oceans from further damage is "on the brink of failure," and the governments of wealthy countries are primarily to blame, Greenpeace International warned Thursday.

"Failure at these talks will jeopardize the livelihoods and food security of billions."

Diplomats gathered at the United Nations headquarters in New York City are nearing the end of the fifth and final round of negotiations on a much-needed pact to protect biodiversity in the "high seas"—a global commons comprising the two-thirds of the ocean that lie outside the jurisdiction of any single country and where legally binding regulations are virtually nonexistent.

Conservationists have long hoped that the ongoing summit—described by some as the "last chance" to forge a robust global ocean treaty—would lead to the establishment of "Marine Protected Areas" and rules mandating environmental assessments prior to deep-sea mining and other industrial activities.

But a handful of mostly rich countries—including the United States, Canada, and members of the so-called High Ambition Coalition on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction—have derailed progress made on the text by prioritizing "hypothetical future profits" that could be derived from extracting marine genetic resources over protecting aquatic species, according to Greenpeace.

"The oceans sustain all life on Earth, but the greed of a few countries means this round of talks for a U.N. ocean treaty are now set to fail," Laura Meller of Greenpeace's Protect the Oceans campaign said Thursday in a statement. "The High Ambition Coalition has utterly failed. They should be the No Ambition Coalition."

Members of the coalition have "obsessed over their hypothetical future profits, undermining all the other progress made at these talks," said Meller. "Unless ministers urgently pick up the phone today to their counterparts and hammer out a deal, this treaty process will fail."

The health of the world's oceans, which cover roughly 70% of the Earth and are indispensible to life on the planet, has been rapidly deteriorating as a result of unmitigated greenhouse gas emissions, surging plastic pollution, and overexploitation.

Related Content

90% of Marine Species Face Extinction Under Emissions Status Quo: Study

Julia Conley

The high ambition coalition pledged earlier this year to finalize a treaty in 2022 that would protect 30% of the world's oceans by 2030, but the proposed text is "lowering its ambition by the minute," said Greenpeace.

"Less than two months ago I was in Lisbon, at the U.N. Ocean Conference, listening to these leaders promise they would deliver a strong global ocean treaty this year," said Meller. "Now we are in New York and the leaders are nowhere to be found. They've broken their promises."

"We are sad and angry," Meller continued. "Billions of people rely on healthy oceans, and world leaders have failed all of them."

"It now looks like protecting 30% of the world's oceans [by 2030] will be impossible," she added. "Scientists say this is the absolute minimum necessary to protect the oceans, and failure at these talks will jeopardize the livelihoods and food security of billions. We're beyond disappointed."

Greenpeace also accused rich nations of taking "an unfair and neocolonial approach by refusing to commit any finance for the benefit of all countries."

The refusal of the U.S., Canada, and others to provide funding "will stop a treaty from being agreed here," the group added. "With talks set to fail, countries must now take urgent action, show flexibility, and find compromise to deliver a strong treaty text" by Friday.

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.

WHEW THAT WAS CLOSE
Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant regains power after temporarily cut off from grid

Ukraine's Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was completely disconnected from the Ukrainian grid for the first time ever.

(Alexander Ermochenko)

The last regular line supplying electricity to Ukraine's Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is working after being cut on Thursday, the United Nations says.

Key points:The UN nuclear watchdog confirmed the Zaporizhzhia power plant had twice lost connection to Ukraine's power grid

Energoatom says lines linking the plant to the grid had been disrupted after fires had broken out in the ash pits of a coal power station near the nuclear reactor complex

Fighting in the area around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station has been a source of concern for weeks

Ukrainian state nuclear company Energoatom said fires broke out in the ash pits of a coal power station near the Zaporizhzhia reactor complex, Europe's largest nuclear facility, disrupting lines linking the plant to Ukraine's power grid.

"As a result, the station's two working power units were disconnected from the network," Energoatom said in a statement.

"Thus, the actions of the invaders caused a complete disconnection of the [nuclear power plant] from the power grid — the first in the history of the plant," it said.

The last electricity supply to the plant was restored later on Thursday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a statement,

"Ukraine told the IAEA that the [plant] … at least twice lost connection to the power line during the day but that it was currently up again," it said.

Russia captured the Zaporizhzhia plant in March and has controlled it since, although Ukrainian technicians from Energoatom still operate it.

Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of shelling the site, fuelling international fears of a disastrous nuclear accident.

Nuclear experts have warned of the risk of damage to the plant's spent nuclear fuel pools or its reactors. Cuts in the power needed to cool the pools to avoid a disastrous meltdown are another worry.

Energoatom said the plant's security systems were working normally and work was underway to reconnect one of the reactor blocks to the grid. The power plant has six reactors in total.

The vast complex supplied more than 20 per cent of Ukraine's electricity needs and its loss would pile new strain on the government.

Russia's Novosti news agency reported safety systems at Zaporizhzhia were activated on Thursday after power cuts were reported across swathes of Russian-controlled territory.

Satellite image shows the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and fires nearby.

(Reuters: Copernicus Sentinel-2 Imagery)

IAEA close to securing Zaporizhzhia visit

The fighting in the area around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station has been a source of concern for weeks.

Kyiv told the IAEA, the UN's nuclear watchdog, that shelling earlier this week had damaged transformers at a nearby conventional power plant, disrupting electricity supplies to the Zaporizhzhia plant for several hours.

War rages near huge nuclear site in Ukraine
Experts urge intervention as fighting rages near Zaporizhzhia.

Coupled with recent reports of shelling near the nuclear power plant has prompted calls for an urgent mission of the IAEA to the site.

Officials from the group are "very, very close" to being able to visit Zaporozhzhia, IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi said on Thursday.

French President Emmanuel Macron pressed Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call last week to allow the UN agency to visit the site.

"Kyiv accepts it. Moscow accepts it. So we need to go there," Mr Grossi said.

Following the most recent scare at the power plant, Mr Grossi tweeted he was "determined to personally lead" a mission to the plant in the next few days to help "stabilise the nuclear safety and security situation".

"Almost every day there is a new incident at or near the [Zaporizhzhia] NPP. We can’t afford to lose any more time," he said.

Ukraine's energy minister said IAEA officials could travel to the Zaporizhzhia plant in the coming days.

"A visit is planned," German Galushchenko told Reuters in Kyiv.

"Definitely no later than the beginning of September."

Reuters/AP

Nuclear plant to be inspected after Russia grants permission.

CHERNOBYL 2
Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant disconnected from power grid: Report

World News
Published on Aug 25, 2022 

In a statement cited by CNN, Energoatom said that the complex was disconnected Thursday due to fires at a nearby ash pit, causing the last remaining power line connecting to Ukraine's energy grid to disconnect twice.

A serviceman with a Russian flag on his uniform stands guard near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant outside the Russian-controlled city of Enerhodar.

(Reuters file photo)

ANI |

Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was completely disconnected from the power grid for the first time in its history on Thursday, according to the country's nuclear operator.

The nuclear power plant is held by Russian forces.

In a statement cited by CNN, Energoatom said that the complex was disconnected Thursday due to fires at a nearby ash pit, causing the last remaining power line connecting to Ukraine's energy grid to disconnect twice.

"The actions of the invaders caused a complete disconnection of the ZNPP (Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant) from the power grid -- the first in the history of the plant," it stated.

Later on Thursday, the Russian-installed regional governor said that "at the moment, the power supply to all cities and districts of the Zaporizhzhia region has been restored" from the plant after earlier disruptions.

Yevhen Balytskyi, an official, blamed Ukrainian military action for the earlier outages.

"As a result of a strike by the armed formations of Ukraine on power lines in the area of the Zaporizhzhia NPP, the territory of the security zone of the 750 kV overhead line caught fire. The fire was provoked by a short circuit on power lines," he said, as per CNN.

While in a separate statement, Ukraine's State Inspection of Nuclear Regulation, which cited the nuclear operator Energoatom, said a power line from the plant was disconnected due to hostilities in the area. (ANI)

Myanmar’s arrest of ex-British ambassador shows generals don’t care what the world thinks

A Southeast Asia expert fears no amount of international outrage over expression and human rights abuses will prompt its powerful supporter China to rein in its generals

Vicky Bowman, director of Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business, speaking

 in Yangon, Myanmar in 2017 (Photo: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

By Michael Day

Chief Foreign Commentator

August 25, 2022 

Britain’s’ ex-ambassador to Myanmar has been detained in the Southeast Asian country, just as the UK announces new sanctions against what is widely regarded as one of the world’s most brutal regimes.

Vicky Bowman, who currently runs the Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business (MCRB), and her husband, Htein Lin, a Burmese artist and former political prisoner, were detained on Wednesday on alleged immigration offences, reports suggest.

In addition to imposing fresh sanctions against military-linked businesses in Myanmar, Britain is joining the case against Myanmar in the International Court of Justice.

The fact that Mr Bowman’s detention occurred as the UK marked the fifth anniversary of the junta’s campaign of ethnic cleansing against Rohingya Muslims, by announcing its support for genocide case, Gambia v. Myanmar, would appear to be more than coincidence.

Britain is the fourth country after the Maldives, Netherlands and Canada, to offer formal support for the action brought against Myanmar to determine whether its military conducted genocidal operations in 2016 and 2017.

On Thursday thousands of Rohingya refugees marked the fifth anniversary of their exodus from Myanmar to Bangladesh.

Myanmar has been in chaos since the military overthrew an elected government in early 2021.

A report by Amnesty International on Tuesday 2 August said authorities in Myanmar’s prisons and interrogation centres routinely subject people detained for resisting the coup to torture and other cruel or degrading treatment.

“Myanmar has stooped to unimaginable new lows in its vile and brutal treatment of detainees,” according to Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Agnès Callamard.

She said, however, oppression and torture was having the opposite effect to that intended by the junta.

“The Myanmar people remain unbowed even after the litany of violations, including most recently the shameful and despicable executions of Kyaw Min Yu – also known as Ko Jimmy – Phyo Zeya Thaw, Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw.

She called on the United Nations Security Council to up pressure on the Myanmar military with a referral to the International Criminal Court, a global arms embargo and targeted sanctions.

But Chatham House Southeast Asia expert Bill Hayton said the arrest of Ms Bowman “shows that the junta doesn’t care what we think of its actions. It’s stuck in its bunker listening to itself while Myanmar heads in the direction of North Korea.”

And he fears no amount of international outrage over expression and human rights abuses will prompt its powerful supporter China to rein in its generals. “As long as the Myanmar junta facilitates China’s access to the important Bay of Bengal, Beijing will tolerate whatever the regime does,” he said.

Despite its brutality, the military junta has been unable to quell insurgencies by different groups across the country.

Mr Hayton noted that insurgencies and instability had plagued Myanmar, formerly Burma, since its independence in 1948 because the ethnically diverse country “has not be able to decide what sort of country it should be”.

According to the International Crisis Group, ethnicity and conflict are inextricably linked in Myanmar, creating a vicious cycle of violence that continues to escalate”. Buddhist extremists led some of the worst violence against the Rohingya in 2016-17. The campaign group says that Myanmar’s inability to address ethnic minority grievances or provide adequate security to communities has created “an arms race among minority groups”.

UK
Croydon: Tram drivers to strike for third time in four months

The strike follows industrial action in June and July

Tram drivers in south London have announced they will strike for the third time this year over pay.

Members of the Aslef union on London Tramlink, based in Croydon, will walk out on 12 September.

Aslef said that due to inflation an offered 3% pay rise was actually a pay cut and they had any contact from management since July's strike.

Tram Operations Ltd (TOL), run by FirstGroup, said the unions should call off the strike.

Aslef says their drivers have had their wages frozen for two years and the offered pay rise is not fair during the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.

Finn Brennan, Aslef's full-time organiser on Tramlink, said: "There has been no contact from Tramlink management and no new offer since our last strike in the middle of July.

"It seems FirstGroup, which operates the tram system on behalf of TfL, doesn't care about either the welfare of their staff or the impact on their passengers of more disruption."

'Perks of bosses'

He continued: "Their offer means a huge wage cut for staff who face being unable to heat their homes and pay their bills this winter.

"We are having to strike again because management are not prepared to make anything like a fair offer that reflects the real cost of living in this country."

Mr Brennan accused FirstGroup of neglecting the needs of staff: "FirstGroup are prioritising the pay and perks of their bosses above a fair deal for staff.

A TOL spokesperson said: "It's hard to understand how Aslef can justify going out on strike, having benefited from a change in terms equivalent to a 5% plus rise only in November.

"This action will disrupt Croydon residents and businesses needlessly, when the local economy is still recovering from the pandemic. We want to find a solution with Aslef - they should call off these damaging strikes and reconsider our offer."