USDA to fund push to store carbon in New England forests

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture is funding a major push to try to store more carbon in New England’s forests.

The agency said Wednesday that the New England Climate-Smart Forest Partnership Project will include large commercial producers as well as small woodlot owners with a goal of storing more carbon in forests. The project could receive as much as $30 million.

The USDA said the project will seek to “build markets for climate-smart forest products to store carbon in wood products and substitute wood products for fossil fuel-based materials.” The New England Forestry Foundation is serving as the lead partner on the project.

Other partners on the project include Robbins Lumber, the University of Maine and the Mass Tree Farm Program.

The funding is part of up to $2.8 billion the USDA is providing to dozens of projects around the country as part of the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities. The partnership takes proposals seeking funding from $5 million to $100 million.

After cancellation, Dems look to reduce future student debt

By COLLIN BINKLEY

President Joe Biden speaks about student loan debt forgiveness in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Aug. 24, 2022, in Washington. Building Biden’s student debt cancellation plan, House Democrats on Thursday, Sept. 15, proposed new legislation that would increase federal student aid, lower interest rates on loans and take other steps to make college more affordable. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Building on President Joe Biden’s student debt cancellation plan, House Democrats on Thursday proposed new legislation that would increase federal student aid, lower interest rates on loans and take other steps to make college more affordable.

The bill is being pushed as a complement to Biden’s plan, which promises to wipe away student debt for millions of Americans but does little to help future students avoid heavy levels of debt. Democrats say their plan would tackle the root causes behind America’s $1.6 trillion in federal student debt.

“Simply put, by making loans cheaper to take out and easier to pay off, the LOAN Act will help improve the lives of student loan borrowers — both now and in the future,” said Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., chair of the House Education and Labor Committee.

But similar to Biden’s loan cancellation plan, the proposed legislation does not address the rising cost of college itself, which has continued to increase for decades.

Much of the proposal focuses on expanding federal Pell Grants, which are given to low-income students but have failed to keep pace with inflation and tuition rates. When the Pell program was started in the 1970s, the grants covered nearly 80% of tuition, fees and housing at a typical public university, according to federal data. Today, they cover about a quarter of those costs.

The legislation would double the maximum Pell Grant, to $13,000, over a five-year span, and then make sure it stays even with inflation. Families that receive food stamps or Medicaid would automatically get an additional $1,500 per year. And students would be able to use Pell Grants for up to 18 semesters, up from 12 now.

Interest rates on new federal student loans would be lowered starting in July 2023 to match the yield on the 10-year Treasury note, and all federal student loans would be capped at a 5% interest rate. Current caps vary depending on the type of loan but can reach as high as 10.5%. Older loans would be eligible for refinancing at the lower interest rates.

Democrats also aim to permanently relax the rules for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which was created to help public servants get their student debt forgiven but has been marred by complex rules.

The proposal would allow public workers to get their debt cancelled after making 96 monthly payments, down from 120, and it would allow certain periods of non-payment to count, including military service or time in the Peace Corps. The Education Department recently loosened some rules during the pandemic, but the changes are set to expire at the end of October.

Several of the bill’s components are perennial aspirations for Democrats, who have long sought to increase Pell Grants and fix the loan forgiveness program. But those goals have been thwarted by a deeply divided Congress — Biden has repeatedly sought to double Pell Grants but had to settle for a $400 increase this year as part of a bipartisan budget bill.

The legislation faces an unclear path to passage, but at minimum it spells out Democratic priorities as both parties vow to address the nation’s ballooning student debt. House Republicans unveiled their own proposal in August, looking to scale back lending — especially for costly graduate school programs — and rein in debt forgiveness.

The Republican legislation would eliminate the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program entirely, and allow students to borrow no more than $100,000 in federal student debt for graduate school, down from an existing $138,500 cap. Additionally, it would allow students to use Pell Grants for short-term programs that focus on job training.

In a direct shot at the Biden administration, the GOP bill also sought to limit the education secretary’s ability to cancel student debt.

Biden’s cancellation plan, announced last month, promises to forgive $10,000 in federal student debt for individuals with incomes less than $125,000 a year or families below $250,000. Those who received Pell Grants to attend college get another $10,000.

The Education Department says an application will be available by early October. Whether borrowers actually see the relief depends on whether the plan survives legal challenges that are almost certain to come.

Although the broad details of the plan have been available for weeks, many with student debt have been left to wonder about exactly how it will be carried out.

Long before Biden announced his plan, the Education Department said borrowers could get refunds for payments made during the pandemic. But could borrowers undo those payments and then apply to get the debt canceled? Officials didn’t say, sowing confusion about what borrowers should do.

Answers started to emerge this week as the Education Department quietly updated a website with details on the plan.

According to the agency, borrowers who made payments during the pandemic will automatically get that money refunded if they apply for Biden’s cancellation — but only if their previous payments left them with a loan balance lower than the $10,000 or $20,000 they’re getting canceled.

The department offers an example: If someone is eligible for $10,000 in cancellation but made a $1,000 payment that left their balance at $9,500, they would get a refund of $500.

Borrowers who paid off their loans during the pause will need to request a refund first, then request cancellation, the department said.

Many Democrats applauded Biden’s plan, but some have said it does little to stop future students from piling on student debt. Even Biden’s education secretary, Miguel Cardona, acknowledged the limited scope of a one-time debt cancellation.

Talking to reporters last week, Cardona said it would be “short-sighted” to think the cancellation will solve the student debt problem.

Instead Cardona drew attention to on a new, more generous loan repayment plan that was unveiled alongside the cancellation. Under that proposal, borrowers’ monthly bills would be capped at 5% of their earnings, down from 10% now, and any remaining balance would be forgiven after 10 years, down from 20 years now.

“It’s not as flashy,” Cardona said of the repayment plan, “but it has generational impact.”

Democratic lawmakers agree that cancellation is only part of the solution. Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., a sponsor of the new bill, said it’s up to Congress to make sure borrowers don’t sink into debt again, especially students of color who are more likely to borrow debt and struggle to repay it.

“This legislation brings together some of the most forward-thinking and innovative proposals into one comprehensive proposal so that this generation is the last to experience America’s student loan debt crisis,” Wilson said.

___

The Associated Press education team receives support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

TikTok search results riddled with misinformation: Report

By DAVID KLEPPER

yesterday

The TikTok app logo appears in Tokyo on Sept. 28, 2020. TikTok may be the platform of choice for catchy videos, but anyone using it to learn about COVID-19, climate change or Russia's invasion of Ukraine is likely to encounter misleading information, according to a new research report.

 (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato, File)


TikTok may be the platform of choice for catchy videos, but anyone using it to learn about COVID-19, climate change or Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is likely to encounter misleading information, according to a research report published Wednesday.

Researchers at NewsGuard searched for content about prominent news topics on TikTok and say they found that nearly 1 in 5 of the videos automatically suggested by the platform contained misinformation.

Searches for information about “mRNA vaccine,” for instance, yielded five videos (out of the first 10) that contained misinformation, including baseless claims that the COVID-19 vaccine causes “permanent damage in children’s critical organs.”

Researchers looking for information about abortion, the 2020 election, the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, climate change or Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on TikTok found similarly misleading videos scattered among more accurate clips.

The amount of misinformation — and the ease with which it can be found — is especially troubling given TikTok’s popularity with young people, according to Steven Brill, founder of NewsGuard, a firm that monitors misinformation.

TikTok is the second most popular domain in the world, according to online performance and security company Cloudflare, exceeded only by Google.

Brill questioned whether ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, is doing enough to stop misinformation or whether it deliberately allows misinformation to proliferate as a way to sow confusion in the U.S. and other Western democracies.

“It’s either incompetence or it’s something worse,” Brill told The Associated Press.

TikTok released a statement in response to NewsGuard’s report noting that its community guidelines prohibit harmful misinformation and that it works to promote authoritative content about important topics like COVID-19.

“We do not allow harmful misinformation, including medical misinformation, and we will remove it from the platform,” the company said.

TikTok has taken other steps that it says are intended to direct users to trustworthy sources. This year, for example, the company created an election center to help U.S. voters find voting places or information about candidates.

The platform removed more than 102 million videos that violated its rules in the first quarter of 2022. Yet only a tiny percentage of those ran afoul of TikTok’s rules against misinformation.

Researchers found that TikTok’s own search tool seems designed to steer users to false claims in some cases. When researchers typed the words “COVID vaccine” into the search tool, for instance, the tool suggested searches on key words including “COVID vaccine exposed” and “COVID vaccine injury.”

When the same search was run on Google, however, that search engine suggested searches relating to more accurate information about vaccine clinics, the different types of vaccines and booster shots.

TikTok’s rise in popularity has caught the attention of state officials and federal lawmakers, some of whom have expressed concerns about its data privacy and security.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will hold a hearing Wednesday on social media’s impact on the nation’s security. TikTok’s chief operating officer, Vanessa Pappas, is set to testify alongside representatives from YouTube, Twitter and Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook.

___

Follow the AP’s coverage of misinformation at https://apnews.com/hub/misinformation.

Univ. of Michigan’s ZEUS will be most powerful laser in US

By MIKE HOUSEHOLDERyesterday

University of Michigan research scientist Andrew McKelvey inspects a prototype vacuum compatible mirror mount inside the ZEUS laser facility on Friday, Sept. 2, 2022, in Ann Arbor, Mich. The newly constructed facility will be home to the most powerful laser in the U.S. (AP Photo/Mike Householder)

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — A newly constructed University of Michigan facility that will be home to the most powerful laser in the United States is hosting its first experiment this week as the nation seeks to become competitive again in the realm of high-power laser facilities.

The experiment will be conducted at ZEUS — short for Zettawatt-Equivalent Ultrashort pulse laser System — by researchers from the University of California, Irvine. They traveled to Ann Arbor as part of their study of extremely intense interactions of light and matter, and how such interactions can be harnessed to shrink particle accelerators.

At the height of its power, ZEUS will be a 3-petawatt laser.

Three petawatts is “3 with 15 zeroes after it,” said Louise Willingale, an associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science at Michigan.

And “3 petawatts is 3,000 times more powerful than the U.S. power grid,” she said.

Michigan was awarded $18.5 million by the National Science Foundation to establish ZEUS as a federally funded international user facility.

Initially, the facility — housed in a building that is home to U-M’s Gérard Mourou Center for Ultrafast Optical Science — will host research teams conducting experiments that use a fraction of the laser’s full power potential. The system gradually will ramp up, and ZEUS is expected to begin its signature experiments in the fall of 2023.

The U.S. built the world’s first petawatt laser a quarter-century ago, but hasn’t kept pace with more ambitious systems in Europe and Asia. While ZEUS doesn’t feature the same raw power as its contemporaries overseas, its approach will simulate a laser that is roughly 1 million times more powerful than its 3 petawatts.

ZEUS primarily will study extreme plasmas, a state of matter in which the electrons have enough energy to escape atoms, creating a sea of charged particles. Nearly all of the seen universe is made of plasma. The sun is an example of a plasma.

Experiments are expected to contribute to the understanding of how the universe operates at the subatomic level and materials change on rapid timescales. Scientists also hope they lead to the development of smaller and more compact particle accelerators for medical imaging and treatment.

ZEUS will “have a huge range of applications across science, technology, engineering and medicine,” Willingale said.

Proposals to use ZEUS will be evaluated by an external panel comprised of scientists and engineers. Because of the NSF funding, there will be no cost to users whose experiment proposals are selected to conduct research, beyond providing their own travel costs to the facility.

The proposals will be selected on scientific merit and technical feasibility, Willingale said.

Franklin Dollar, an associate professor in Cal-Irvine’s Department of Physics & Astronomy, and four UCI graduate students arrived at Michigan last week to begin preparing for their experiment.



University of Michigan research scientist Andrew McKelvey inspects a prototype vacuum compatible mirror mount inside the ZEUS laser facility on Friday, Sept. 2, 2022, in Ann Arbor, Mich. The newly constructed facility will be home to the most powerful laser in the U.S. (AP Photo/Mike Householder)

“One of the major challenges in our field is access to high quality, intense laser light,” Dollar said. “ZEUS will not only be the most powerful laser beam on the continent, but perhaps more importantly will provide multiple powerful beams.

“Rather than solely making highly energetic plasmas from a laser, there is a second beam which can interact with the plasma as well,” he said.

ZEUS is an upgrade over the University of Michigan’s 0.5-petawatt laser, known as HERCULES.

While Michigan researchers are thrilled with the birth of ZEUS, they are cognizant of how their naming conventions aren’t exactly in keeping with the chronology of Greek mythology.

“HERCULES was the predecessor to ZEUS,” Willingale said. “It’s slightly backward, because Hercules was the son of Zeus.

“So, we’re building the father after the son.”

Shell CEO to step down as oil giant looks to climate goals

CEO of Royal Dutch Shell Ben van Beurden speaks at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, June 21, 2017. Van Beurden, is stepping down at the end of the year after nine years in charge and will be replaced by Wael Sawan, the company announced Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022. (Sergei Karpukhin/Pool Photo via AP, File)

LONDON (AP) — Shell CEO Ben van Beurden is stepping down at the end of 2022 after nine years in charge, the energy giant said Thursday, a change that comes as oil and natural gas companies are under pressure to shift away from fossil fuels even as they see soaring profits from energy price s driven up by Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Taking over Jan. 1 is Wael Sawan, who has worked for Shell for 25 years and is now director of integrated gas, renewables and energy solutions. The choice signals the focus of the London-based company to take what it calls a leading role in the energy transition despite facing criticism that it’s been slow to reduce climate-changing emissions.

“I’m looking forward to channeling the pioneering spirit and passion of our incredible people to rise to the immense challenges, and grasp the opportunities presented by the energy transition,” said Sawan, who has been a member of Shell’s executive committee for three years.

He takes over at a tumultuous time for Shell and other oil and gas giants. While the world is looking to transition to renewable sources like wind and solar, the war in Ukraine has created volatility that has driven up energy prices and fueled inflation.

Natural gas prices have soared as Russia has curbed supplies to Europe, where an energy crisis is forcing governments to institute conservation measures and go back to coal and oil despite climate goals to ensure the lights stay on this winter.

Volatile oil prices soared above $120 per barrel in June, pushing gasoline prices at the pump to record highs in the United States. Crude has since fallen below $90.

That has translated to record profits for energy companies at a time when households and businesses are getting stung by rising costs. Some European governments have approved taxes on excess profits of energy companies to help households and businesses, and the European Union’s executive Commission proposed Wednesday a similar levy on electricity producers across the 27-nation bloc.

“It’s a dynamic time to be in charge of an oil and gas major, with oil prices highly reactive, and the public very sensitive surrounding allegations of profiteering and environmental damage,” said Sophie Lund-Yates, lead equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, an investment services firm.

She called Sawan’s appointment “a clear marker” that Shell intends to make its renewable strategy clearer, even if “change won’t happen overnight.” He “won’t be ignorant to the fact oil prices can collapse at short notice” and that is “all but guaranteed to be something he’ll have to navigate,” Lund-Yates added.

Shell Chairman, Sir Andrew Mackenzie, called Sawan “an exceptional leader, with all the qualities needed to drive Shell safely and profitably through its next phase of transition and growth.”

In late July, Shell posted record profits of $11.5 billion for a second straight quarter. That was up from $5.5 billion in the same three-month period last year, despite a hit worth billions from pulling out of Russia over the invasion of Ukraine.

Formerly known as Dutch Royal Shell, the company late last year left the Netherlands and consolidated its headquarters in London as it simplified its archaic corporate structure. Shell has resisted pressure to break itself up, with one company focused on renewable energy and the other on legacy fossil fuels, as other firms have done.

It has a goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 by investing in renewable energy, restoring forests and taking other steps but has been accused of moving too slowly.

Last year, the Hague District Court ordered Shell to cut carbon emissions 45% by 2030, saying the company’s net-zero target “is not concrete, has many caveats and is based on monitoring social developments rather than the company’s own responsibility for achieving a CO2 reduction.”

With climate challenges ahead, Mackenzie, the board chairman, praised van Beurden, saying h “has been in the vanguard for the transition of Shell to a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050 and has become a leading industry voice on some of the most important issues affecting society.”

The outgoing CEO, who will remain as an adviser to the board until June 30, said it was an honor to “have served Shell for nearly four decades and to lead the company for the past nine years,” saying he has “great confidence in Wael as my successor.”

Germany urges firms to make tax-free payments to employees

Yasmin Fahimi, Chairwoman of the German Trade Union Confederation, right, Chancellor Olaf Scholz, center, and Rainer Dulger, BDA President, go to make a statement after a Concerted Action meeting in the Chancellor's Office in Berlin, Germany, Thursday, Sept.15, 2022. With the second meeting on the so-called Concerted Action, Chancellor Scholz wants to discuss solutions together with the social partners to support businesses and employees in the current inflation crisis. 

(Wolfgang Kumm/dpa via AP)


BERLIN (AP) — The German government is urging companies to make a one-off payment to their employees of up to 3,000 euros (dollars) as a way of addressing the impact of rising prices while preventing a spiral of inflation in Europe’s biggest economy.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Thursday that the government would waive the usual salary-related taxes “if this means that employees can get through the crisis better with such a payment.”

Speaking after a meeting with top employers and labor union representatives at his Berlin office, Scholz said the disbursements would be voluntary “but I am sure that employees will be happy to receive a tax- and duty-free payment in addition to the agreed wage.”

The chancellor said he understood the worries many people have about sharply rising utility bills and prices at supermarkets and gas stations.

Scholz noted that businesses also are coming under increasing price pressure and stressed that “the German government is not leaving anyone alone with the burden.”

During the summer, Germany temporarily lowered taxes on diesel fuel and gasoline at the pump and introduced an ultra-cheap ticket that allowed people to use all local and regional public transportation for 9 euros (less than $10) a month.

German labor unions have demanded higher-than-usual pay increases this year to make up for rampant inflation, threatening strikes unless their demands are met.

MAKING A WITHDRAWL
After heist, Lebanese activists promise more bank raids

SELF EXPROPRIATION

By KAREEM CHEHAYEB


FILE - A Lebanese policeman stands guard next to a bank window that was broken by depositors to exit the bank after attacking it trying to get blocked money, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022. A Lebanese activist group said they will continue to organize bank raids to help people retrieve their trapped savings. Activists from the Depositors' Outcry group made these remarks at a press conference on Thursday, after activists helped Sali Hafez retrieve $13,000 in her savings to help fund her sister's cancer treatment on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)

BEIRUT (AP) — A Lebanese activist group on Thursday vowed to organize more bank heists to help people retrieve their locked savings as the country’s years-long economic crisis continues to worsen.

Activists from Depositors’ Outcry group accompanied Sali Hafez into a Beirut bank branch on Wednesday, and she was able to retrieve some $13,000 in her savings to fund her sister’s cancer treatment.

Hafez carried a toy gun when she walked into BLOM Bank on Wednesday, while the activists who accompanied her poured about gasoline, threatening to set the bank on fire if she did not get her money out.

The group told The Associated Press that they had also coordinated with a man who tried to take some of his money from a bank in the mountainous town of Aley. Local media said he carried an unloaded shotgun.

Lebanon’s cash-strapped banks have imposed strict limits on withdrawals of foreign currency since 2019, tying up the savings of millions of people. About three-quarters of the population has slipped into poverty as the tiny Middle East country’s economy continues to spiral.

Alaa Khorchid, the head of Depositors’ Outcry, said there is now no other choice for Lebanese bank depositors but to “take matters into their own hands.” He spoke at a press conference in Beirut.

An ATM is covered with diesel fuel after it was vandalized by angry depositors who attacked a bank, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022.

Lebanese policemen enter a bank from a window that was broken by depositors to exit the bank after trying to get their money, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022. 

 

A man sprays Arabic that reads: "Bank theft and prostitution," on the window of a bank that was attacked in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022.

“BLOM Bank issues a statement saying that this is a pre-orchestrated operation. Yes it is, what were you thinking?” Khorchid told reporters, referring to the bank’s statement condemning Hafez and the activists.

“And we’re organizing more than this, and you have no choice. People’s rights are sacred,” he added, addressing banks in general.

“The real beginning of the revolution started yesterday, when Sali Hafez entered the bank, and there is no turning back,” Ibrahim Abdullah, a member of the Depositors’ Outcry group said at the press conference. “This revolution is against all the banks.”

Several groups advocating and protesting for Lebanese depositors have emerged since 2019, with some — like the one named the Depositors’ Union — opting to file lawsuits against banks to help depositors retrieve their money.

Wednesday’s heist occurred weeks after a food delivery driver broke into another bank branch in Beirut and held 10 people hostage for seven hours, demanding tens of thousands of dollars in his trapped savings. Many Lebanese hailed him as a hero.

The standoff and public sympathy for those taking matters into their own hands to get their savings has exposed the depths of people’s despair in Lebanon’s economic crisis, which has pulled over three-quarters of the country’s population into poverty, unable to cope with skyrocketing food, electricity, and gasoline prices.

Meanwhile, Lebanese officials struggle to implement structural reforms for an economic recovery plan approved by the International Monetary Fund to unlock billions of dollars in loans and aid to make the country viable again.

Depositors hold up two Lebanese banks to grab their own money

 

Reuters  Wednesday September 14, 2022 16:09

Kitco News

BEIRUT, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Two seemingly armed and desperate Lebanese depositors held up banks on Wednesday to force access to their own money, which has been blocked during a national financial meltdown.

One woman with a gun and some associates briefly held hostages at a branch of BLOM Bank (BLOM.BY) in the capital Beirut, before leaving with more than $13,000 in cash from her account, a source from a depositors' advocacy group said.

Shortly afterwards, in the mountain city of Aley, an armed man entered a Bankmed branch and retrieved some of his trapped savings, before handing himself into authorities, the Depositors Outcry and a security source said.

Lebanon's banks have locked most depositors out of their savings since an economic crisis took hold three years ago, leaving much of the population unable to pay for basics.

In a phenomenon illustrating the plight, Wednesday's holdups came after a man last month held up another Beirut bank to withdraw funds to treat his sick father. read more

BLOM Bank said a customer and accomplices arrived with a gun, threatened to set people on fire, and forced the branch manager and treasurer to bring money from a safe.

'NOTHING MORE TO LOSE'

Before going into hiding, the woman, Sali Hafiz, told local news channel Al Jadeed TV the gun was a toy and that she needed the money for her sister's cancer treatment.

"I have nothing more to lose, I got to the end of the road," she said, saying a visit to the bank manager two days previously had not provided an adequate solution.

"I got to a point where I was going to sell my kidney so that my sister could receive treatment."

BLOM confirmed the customer had been in to seek her money for her sister's treatment, saying she was offered total cooperation and requested to provide documentation.

"All we have is this money in the bank. My daughter was forced to take this money - it's her right, it's in her account - to treat her sister," her mother Hiam Hafiz told local TV.

Authorities did not immediately comment on the incidents.

Bankmed did not comment on its branch holdup.

Following last month's holdup, which also involved hostages, the accused perpetrator was arrested but then released without charge after the bank dropped its lawsuit.

One senior Lebanese banker, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters it was a worrying precedent,

"I think this is an invitation for other people to do the same. As long as people get away with it, they will continue. What a failed state," the banker said.

Banks say they make exceptions for humanitarian cases including hospital care, but depositors say that rarely happens.

Reporting by Timour Azhari, Laila Bassam and Issam Abdallah; Writing by Maya Gebeily Editing by Frank Jack Daniel, Alexandra Hudson and Andrew Cawthorne.

Factbox-Just how bad is Lebanon's 

economic  crisis?

Sep 14, 2022

An ATM machine is covered with a liquid substance outside a Blom Bank branch in Beirut, Lebanon September 14, 2022. 

REUTERS/Emilie Madi

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Savers held up two banks in Lebanon on Wednesday to demand access to their own deposits frozen in the country's paralysed financial system, underlining desperation among citizens unable to access savings since an economic crisis began in 2019.

There were similar incidents in Beirut in August and in eastern Lebanon in January.

The result of years of state corruption, waste and unsustainable financial policies, the World Bank says the crisis is one of the worst globally since the mid-19th century.

Just how bad is the situation?

* Gross domestic product plunged to an estimated $20.5 billion in 2021 from about $55 billion in 2018, the kind of contraction usually associated with wars, the World Bank says.

* The Lebanese pound has lost some 95% of its value, driving up prices and demolishing purchasing power in the import-dependent country. A soldier's monthly wage, once the equivalent of $900, is now worth less than $50. Poverty rates have sky-rocketed in the population of about 6.5 million, with around 80% of people classed as poor, the U.N. agency ESCWA says.

* Big lenders to the state, which defaulted on its hard currency debt in 2020, Lebanon's banks have frozen ordinary depositors out of dollar accounts and severely limited all withdrawals. Withdrawals in local currency apply exchange rates that erase up to 95% of their value

* A World Bank report said in August "a significant portion" of savings had been "misused and misspent over the past 30 years". A visiting U.S. official said last year the Lebanese people deserved to know where their money had gone.

* The financial system has suffered eyewatering losses. The government estimates overall losses at around $70 billion. The deputy prime minister said in March the figure was expected to grow to $73 billion while the crisis is not addressed, yet the government has yet to enact any recovery plan.

* With Lebanon reliant on imported fuel, power is in short supply. Households are lucky to get more than a few hours a day. Fuel prices have soared as authorities gradually lifted subsidies, entirely ending them in September. A ride in a shared taxi, a popular form of transport, cost 2,000 pounds pre-crisis but now costs 50,000.

* Lebanese have emigrated in the most significant exodus since the civil war. Believing their savings are lost, many have no plans to return. A 2021 Gallup poll found a record 63% of people surveyed wanted to leave permanently, up from 26% before the crisis.

* Among those leaving are doctors. The World Health Organization has said most hospitals are operating at 50% capacity. It says around 40% of doctors, mostly specialists, and 30% of nurses have permanently emigrated or are working part-time abroad.

* Officials and the media talk of Lebanon becoming a "failed state". Public services have ground to a halt. President Michel Aoun warned last year that the state was "falling apart"

Armed woman breaks into Beirut bank demanding her savings

 

WHITE SUPREMACY RULES
Alabama sidesteps compensation for survivor of  ’63 KKK blast

Debris is strewn from a bomb that exploded near a basement room of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala. on September 15, 1963, killing four black girls. Sarah Collins Rudolph lost an eye and has pieces of glass inside her body from a Ku Klux Klan bombing that killed her sister and three other Black girls inside an Alabama church 59 years ago. (AP Photo, FILE)

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Sarah Collins Rudolph lost an eye and still has pieces of glass inside her body from a Ku Klux Klan bombing that killed her sister and three other Black girls at an Alabama church 59 years ago, and she’s still waiting on the state to compensate her for those injuries.

Gov. Kay Ivey sidestepped the question of financial compensation two years ago in apologizing to Rudolph for her “untold pain and suffering,” saying legislative involvement was needed. But nothing has been done despite the efforts of attorneys representing Rudolph, leaving unresolved the question of payment even though victims of other attacks, including 9/11, were compensated.

Rudolph will meet with President Joe Biden at the White House for a summit about combatting hate-fueled violence on Thursday, the anniversary of the bombing.

Rudolph, known as the “Fifth Little Girl” for surviving the infamous attack, which was depicted in Spike Lee’s 1997 documentary “4 Little Girls,” has been rankled by the state’s inaction.

Speaking in an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday, Rudolph said then-Gov. George C. Wallace helped lay the groundwork for the Ku Klux Klan attack on 16th Street Baptist Church with his segregationist rhetoric, and the state bears some responsibility for the bombing, which wasn’t prosecuted for years.

“If they hadn’t stirred up all that racist hate that was going on at the time I don’t believe that church would have been bombed,” said Rudolph.

Rudolph said she still incurs medical expenses from the explosion, including a $90 bill she gets every few months for work on the prosthetic she wears in place of the right eye that was destroyed by shrapnel on Sept. 15, 1963. Anything would help, but Rudolph believes she’s due millions.

Ishan Bhabha, an attorney representing Rudolph, said the state’s apology — made at Rudolph’s request along with a plea for restitution — was only meant as a first step.

“She deserves justice in the form of compensation for the grievous injuries, and costs, she has had to bear for almost 60 years,” he said. “We will continue to pursue any available avenues to get Sarah the assistance she needs and deserves.”

Five girls were gathered in a downstairs bathroom at 16th Street Baptist Church when a bomb planted by KKK members went off outside, blowing a huge hole in the thick, brick wall. The blast killed Denise McNair, 11, and three 14-year-olds: Carole Robertson, Cynthia Morris, also referred to as Cynthia Wesley, and Addie Mae Collins, who was Rudolph’s sister.

Sarah Collins Rudolph and her husband, George Rudolph, talk in their home on Nov. 16, 2016, in Birmingham, Ala. Rudolph lost an eye and still has slivers of glass inside her body from the racist bombing that killed her sister and three other Black girls inside a church 59 years ago Thursday. She's still waiting on the state to compensate her for those injuries. (AP Photo/Jay Reeves, File)

Three Klan members convicted of murder in the bombing years later died in prison, and a fourth suspect died without ever being charged. The bombing occurred eight months after Wallace proclaimed “segregation forever” in his inaugural speech and during the time when Birmingham schools were being racially integrated for the first time.

The church itself has gotten government money for renovations, as has the surrounding Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument, formed by President Barack Obama in 2017 in one of his last acts in office. “But not me,” Rudolph said.

Ivey, at the time of the apology, said in a letter to Rudolph’s lawyer that any possible compensation would require legislative approval, said press secretary Gina Maiola.

“Additionally, in attorney-to-attorney conversations that ensued soon after, that same point was reiterated,” she said.

No bill has been introduced to compensate Rudolph, legislative records show, and it’s unclear whether such legislation could win passage anyway since conservative Republicans hold an overwhelming majority and have made an issue of reeling in history lessons that could make white people feel bad about the past.

While the Alabama Crime Victims’ Compensation Commission helps victims and families with expenses linked to a crime, state law doesn’t allow it to address offenses that occurred before the agency was created in 1984.

Rudolph has spent a lifetime dealing with physical and mental pain from the bombing. Despite her injuries and lingering stress disorders, Rudolph provided testimony that helped lead to the convictions of the men accused of planting the bomb, and she’s written a book about her life, titled “The 5th Little Girl.”

Rudolph’s husband, George Rudolph, said he’s frustrated and mad over the way his wife has been treated. Victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks were compensated, he said, as were victims of the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013.

“Why can’t they do something for Sarah?” he said.

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Reeves is a member of AP’s Race and Ethnicity Team.

FROM SOCIAL DEMOCRACY TO SOCIAL FASCISTS
Success for party of ‘Sweden first’ energizes global right

By VANESSA GERA and JAN M. OLSEN

an hour ago


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Party leader of the Sweden Democrats Jimmie Akesson gives a speech during the party's election watch at the Elite Hotel Marina Tower in Nacka, near Stockholm, Sweden, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2022. The leader of a nationalist populist party has declared victory for a right-wing bloc in Sweden’s weekend election, vowing that it is “time to put Sweden first.” Akesson, leader of the Sweden Democrats, said Wednesday, Sept. 14, that his party would be “a constructive and driving force in this work” of rebuilding safety in Sweden. (Stefan Jerrevång/TT News Agency via AP, File)

STOCKHOLM (AP) — The Sweden Democrats party was founded by neo-Nazis and skinheads in the 1980s. Today, the rebranded and reformed nationalist party stands on the edge of unprecedented influence.

Following a weekend election held amid fears of rising crime, the anti-immigration party is the now second-most popular party in the Scandinavian country.

The development is the latest global example of a political force once widely deemed socially unacceptable moving into the political mainstream.

Vowing to put “Sweden first” and to “make Sweden good again,” the slogans of party leader Jimmie Akesson echo those that have resonated with ex-President Donald Trump’s supporters in the United States.

Its surge has energized right-wing forces in Europe as they eye further gains against the left.

“Let this be an omen and model for the rest of Europe,” said a tweet from the European Conservatives and Reformists party, whose president is Giorgia Meloni, leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party.

In 10 days, Italians will elect a new Parliament in balloting that, if opinion polls prove right, could see Meloni triumph as part of a center-right electoral alliance and even possibly become Italy’s premier.

Steve Bannon, Trump’s longtime ally, also hailed the Sweden Democrats’ surge on his “War Room” podcast, calling the shift to the right in traditionally progressive Sweden a “political earthquake.” He praised the Sweden Democrats because “they want their borders, they want their sovereignty.”

Bannon described Sweden as a destroyed society — a right-wing trope that exaggerates the scale of Sweden’s challenges.

Sweden is for the most part a prosperous and thriving European Union member, though many have been shaken by shootings and gang-related violence. Some, though not all, of the rising violence, has taken place in largely immigrant neighborhoods.

The populist party’s strong showing was confirmed Wednesday evening, three days after a vote so close that the final result had to wait for postal and other outstanding votes to be counted.

With the tally clarified, the right-wing bloc of parties has 176 seats while Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson’s center-left bloc has 173. On Thursday, Andersson submitted her resignation to the speaker of Parliament.

Despite the Sweden Democrats’ surge — it won 20.5% of the vote, making it the largest right-of-center party — the stigma which it cannot entirely shake means that it will not be the first party to be tapped to form the government. Ulf Kristersson, leader of the Moderates party, another member of the right-of-center bloc, is expected to be the first to get a chance to try to form a governing coalition.

Many Swedes worry that the Sweden Democrats’ history and hard-line stance on immigration threaten the democratic identity of a nation that is home to the Nobel Prizes and where generations of refugees have been welcomed, and thrived.

Emily Jeremias, a 45-year-old musician, said that she was worried but not surprised about “a right-wing kind of extremist party ... gaining so much power.”

“We see kind of a right-wing movement in the whole of Europe, so it’s not surprising that’s happening here as well,” she said.

During her campaign, the outgoing prime minister depicted the Sweden Democrats as a possible threat to the country’s pluralism and tolerance.

And as Andersson acknowledged defeat, she said she personally had been subject to a “hate campaign,” and alleged that the party used “organized trolls” to target young activists.

She and others on the left have also accused the Moderates of being complicit in normalizing the Sweden Democrats by being willing to work with them.

The populist party’s more acceptable image is the result of years of efforts by Akesson, its 43-year-old leader. He says the party’s transformation from its early days is sincere and that it rejects fascism and Nazism.

Under his leadership, the party long ago traded its torch symbol for a flower, aiming to underscore its reformation.

Akesson’s interest in politics started as a teenager when Sweden became a member of the EU in 1995. He opposed it at the time, but in another shift, the party today supports membership in the 27-member bloc. It also supports NATO membership, which Sweden applied for this year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Akesson’s personal image is of someone smooth and well-groomed. He plays keyboard in a soft rock band, and in his speeches avoids inflammatory language, using humor and irony instead with his opponents.

As part of its reckoning with the past, the party recently published a study into the roots of the Sweden Democrats. Swedish newspaper Expressen revealed the author was a party member. Nonetheless, the investigation confirmed that several of the party’s founders in the 1980s had links to fascist and neo-Nazi movements.

The party says immigration to Sweden in the past was mostly acceptable, but that it has become too much in recent years. In 2015 alone the country of 10 million took in a record 163,000 refugees — the highest per capita of any European country.

Party members say they welcome Ukrainian refugees, but that Sweden should not have to accept more from the Middle East or Africa.

The party is vowing to limit asylum approval to a bare minimum and to deport any migrants or refugees who commit crimes. In its election program it alleged that there are cases of asylum-seekers who claim dishonestly to be persecuted because they are gay or rejected Islam, suggesting it would limit such claims.

The Sweden Democrats say that Sweden has become “a magnet for the world’s migrants” and their aim is “to restore Sweden to what it once was.”

While it is unclear whether the Sweden Democrats will join the eventual government — not all the center-right parties in the bloc are ready to agree to that — it is clear that any right-wing government would need their support in order to muster a majority in Parliament to pass legislation. The star is on the rise for Akesson and his party.

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Olsen reported from Copenhagen, Denmark.

THE 1%

Hotel mogul, UFO believer spending in Nevada governor’s race

By GABE STERN

yesterday

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Robert Bigelow, founder and president of Bigelow Aerospace, speaks at a news conference at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on April 7, 2016. Las Vegas-based hotel magnate and longtime UFO researcher Bigelow has donated, through his owned companies, a total of $5.7 million to Nevada GOP gubernatorial nominee Joe Lombardo's campaign or PACs supporting his campaign this election cycle. (AP Photo/John Raoux, File)

RENO, Nev. (AP) — Robert Bigelow, a Las Vegas-based hotel magnate, has always had a cause.

For decades, he invested his hotel profits into UFO research, creating his own aerospace company while lobbying senators to fund additional research. More recently, he offered nearly $1 million in prizes for a contest to show consciousness after death, part of his newer interest in the afterlife.

Now Bigelow, 78, has become the largest donor this cycle in Nevada’s midterm gubernatorial race, donating $5.7 million through his companies to the campaign for Nevada GOP gubernatorial nominee Joe Lombardo and to political action committees supporting him. The race has implications for inflation policy, reproductive rights and the Democrats’ hold on the Legislature.

Bigelow’s donations give a lifeline to a Republican challenger who is spending more and fundraising less than the Democratic incumbent. As of the latest filings, Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak leads Lombardo, the Clark County sheriff, in cash-on-hand $10.78 million to $1.2 million, which includes direct contributions to their campaigns but does not account for donations to political action committees, which make up the bulk of Bigelow’s donations in support of Lombardo.

PACs are required to operate independently from candidates, meaning they can raise money for candidates but aren’t allowed to coordinate with the their campaigns.

Bigelow has made his wealth through his extended-stay apartment chain Budget Suites of America, which he has used to fund his UFO research. He was also a vocal critic of the federal eviction moratorium, calling it “legalized theft” as some tenants didn’t pay rent, and he filed 46 eviction actions at the height of the pandemic. He lamented Sisolak’s statewide closure of nonessential businesses early in the pandemic, which he said sank his aerospace company.

Bigelow’s political and social influence in Nevada has long been pronounced, most notably in his UFO research that is now shifting toward afterlife research. In an interview with The Associated Press, he said that UFOs are “under our noses” and wondered why news organizations have not extensively covered UFO sightings.

But Bigelow, a staunch Republican, said his interest in UFOs and the afterlife is not related to his current political donations.

“Number one, honesty in government. That’s the foundation,” Bigelow said of his priorities. “Liberalism, that’s a cancer. And we have U.S. senators and representatives that need to go. And the second would be a philosophy of freedom — a philosophy of free enterprise and freedom for everybody.”

He called Sisolak a “puppet” to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who is a frequent target of Republican politicians. And he likened Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to a young Ronald Reagan, saying that he hopes the Republican runs for president in the future after he bucked other states’ approach of issuing COVID-19 emergency protective orders during the pandemic. Earlier this summer, Bigelow donated $10 million to DeSantis-backed political action committees, making him the largest individual donor to DeSantis’ reelection race as well.

For decades, Bigelow has invested millions in UFO research with money he has made from his hotel and real estate business. He has also pushed it in politics. He once convinced his friend and then-U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, a Democrat, to allocate $22 million to a secretive program called the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification program, which investigated reports of UFOs from 2007 through 2012. Much of the money went to Bigelow’s company to investigate and the allocation was not made public until a 2017 New York Times investigation. The Pentagon said the program shut down in 2012, though Reid later said he had no regrets about the funding.

Bigelow said he considered Reid a good friend, though toward the end of Reid’s tenure in the Senate, they maintained that friendship by not talking politics.

Since shifting his focus toward the afterlife, he has founded the Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies and offered nearly $1 million in prizes last year for a contest that shows “the survival of consciousness after permanent bodily death.”

Bigelow donated $5.5 million to PACs supporting Lombardo this cycle — $3.5 million to Better Nevada PAC, which has financed pro-Lombardo ads, and $2 million to Stronger Nevada PAC, which transferred money to Better Nevada PAC. Through 39 donations of $5,000 each through his companies, he donated $195,000 directly to the Clark County sheriff.

The Nevada contributions have provided a talking point for Sisolak, who has tied Bigelow’s support for Lombardo to the housing crisis in Nevada, referencing Bigelow’s pandemic evictions.

“While the governor is fighting for housing affordability, creating good paying jobs and making historic investments to support hardworking families, Joe Lombardo is siding with the Ultra Wealthy, standing with his campaign’s single largest donor — a billionaire who got rich off of evicting families during the pandemic,” spokesperson Reeves Oyster said in a statement last month.

Lombardo’s campaign did not respond to email requests for comment.

Lombardo has been vastly outraised by Sisolak in direct contributions, which is common for a challenger facing an incumbent. Sisolak has raised the second-highest amount in direct contributions for a Nevada gubernatorial campaign since 2000 and he’s on pace to break his own 2018 record, according to OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan group that tracks political spending.

“Overall, challengers do need to spend in order to overcome the incumbency advantage,” said Christina Ladam, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Nevada-Reno, in an email. “While Joe Lombardo was a familiar name in the Vegas area, he was less well known in northern Nevada. Sisolak does not need to spend as much in terms of getting name recognition.”

Still, Lombardo has outspent Sisolak this year — $3.1 million to about $727,000 as of the latest filing date — after facing a crowded primary field.

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Stern is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercover issues. Follow Stern on Twitter https://twitter.com/gabestern326