Saudi alfalfa sparks tension in Arizona’s Sonoran Desert

BY SHARON UDASIN - 04/30/23 

In an arid pocket of Arizona’s rural southwest, thirsty tufts of alfalfa are guzzling unlimited amounts of groundwater — only to become fodder for dairy cows some 8,000 miles east.

This Sonoran Desert field of green, cultivated by a Saudi Arabian dairy giant, has become a flashpoint among residents, who resent the Middle Eastern company’s unbridled — and steeply discounted — usage of a dwindling regional resource.

But because the Vicksburg, Ariz., property is just one of many farms in the neighborhood growing water-intensive grains, it is also turning the spotlight on legal loopholes in state groundwater laws that enable such use in the first place.

“We don’t have any restrictions on our groundwater,” Holly Irwin, a La Paz County supervisor, told The Hill. “So it’s like a free for all.”

La Paz and most of its neighbors do not contain “Active Management Areas” (AMAs), zones that require groundwater regulation under state code. Just five parts of the state — including Phoenix and Tucson — have AMAs, while rural agricultural areas have no such protections.

“We live in two very different Arizonas right now,” said Travis Lingenfelter, a supervisor for neighboring Mohave County. “If you’re in an AMA, you have water security, you have water certainty. If you’re outside of the AMA, it’s the Wild West.”

This nonrestrictive environment has attracted not only local and domestic farmers, but also international companies that are unable to grow such water-intensive crops at home.

“They’re coming here because Arizona almost invites it,” Lingenfelter said. “There’s no rules for groundwater.”

Saudi Arabia instituted a near-ban on “cultivating green fodder” in November 2018, with the goal of easing pressure on water resources, according to a report from the Dutch government. To overcome inevitable shortages, the kingdom directed dairy farms to turn to imports.

With discussions of future cutbacks already on the horizon, Saudi Arabian dairy giant Almarai secured 9,834 acres in Vicksburg in a $47.5 million deal — through its fully owned subsidiary Fondomonte Arizona LLC — in March 2014. Nearly two years later, Almarai announced a $31.8 million deal for 1,790 acres in Southern California.

The transactions served to improve and secure Almarai’s “supply of the highest quality alfalfa hay” — a move that the company described in Saudi Exchange reports as “in line with the Saudi government direction toward conserving local resources.”

“If they want to be able to guarantee their population food security, they know that they can’t really do that domestically,” said Natalie Koch, a geography professor at Syracuse University and author of a recent book about the link between Arizona and the Arabian Peninsula.

The Arizonan land was particularly appealing to the kingdom “because you can get more bang for your buck when you buy that farm,” according to Koch.

While Fondomonte received permits for eight water wells in 2016 and has long been growing alfalfa on the property, the firm only came into the public eye last June, when the Arizona Republic exposed its $25 per acre lease terms — or about one-sixth of the current market value.

Irwin, the La Paz County supervisor, took immediate action at the time, sending a letter to then state Rep. Regina Cobb (R), asking that she submit a request to the attorney general’s office to investigate the State Land Department’s leases with Fondomonte.

“They’re here for a reason — because they’ve depleted their own resources,” Irwin told The Hill. “And now they’re utilizing our resources and shipping that material overseas.”

Irwin’s letter described the water scarcity issues that her constituents have been enduring, as well as the possibility that one area basin could be depleted within 25 to 30 years.

The supervisor went on to accuse the Arizona State Land Department of negligence, alleging the agency gave foreign companies “sweetheart deals.” She requested the return of “any potential back funds and current payments owed to La Paz County beneficiaries.”

Fondomonte quickly became a core campaign issue for Arizona politicians, including for Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) and Gov. Katie Hobbs (D).

Upon taking office in January, Mayes promised to repeal the state’s deals with Fondomonte within six months and said the company should repay Arizona $38 million for its water usage, NBC affiliate 12News reported.

“The administration is working aggressively to find ways to crack down on the sweetheart deals given to foreign businesses by then-Governor Ducey, including potentially requiring metering and reporting,” Christian Slater, a spokesperson for Hobbs, told The Hill in an email.

“Governor Hobbs knows Arizona’s water is a public resource and it’s time the state started managing it better,” Slater added.

‘Waking up’ from a groundwater crisis

While the prospects of a full takedown remain uncertain, Mayes announced last Friday that Fondomonte’s permits for two new wells — issued eight months ago — had been revoked.

She called upon Arizonans to “wake up” and address the crisis “before it is too late,” while accusing her predecessors of being “asleep at the wheel” amid worsening drought conditions.

“It’s outrageous that the state would consider granting new wells to allow the Saudis to pump millions of gallons of water to grow alfalfa for their cows,” Mayes tweeted on Tuesday. “This water belongs to the people of Arizona & La Paz County — and now it’s going to stay that way.”

Mayes met on April 4 with Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) Director Tom Buschatzke, with whom “she raised the discrepancy issues she discovered in the well-permit applications along with her belief that these permits must be revoked,” Richie Taylor, a spokesperson for the attorney-general, told The Hill.

ADWR confirmed Mayes and Buschatzke met to discuss “water issues” but said the agency has “no comment regarding the matter involving Fondomonte Farms.”

Nonetheless, listings for the two sites (237587 and 237588) in ADWR’s Wells55 registry confirmed “drilling authority [was] revoked per request of AZ State Land Dept” on April 13.

Patrice Horstman, a Coconino County supervisor, told The Hill she was “very pleased” with the administration’s decision to revoke the drilling permits, which she described as “counterproductive to Arizona and its limited water availability.”

“This permit, which took advantage of Arizona’s failure to allow many rural counties to manage its groundwater, is dangerous for the future water viability for the state,” said Horstman, whose county is east of Mohave, in northern Arizona.

While these two pending wells will not come to fruition, there are still eight existing wells irrigating the fields of alfalfa on Fondomonte’s Vicksburg farm.

Addressing whether the revocation could still have an impact on water conservation despite that ongoing irrigation, Slater said Hobbs “promised to take action on foreign governments profiting off Arizona groundwater and she did.”

“She will always fight however she can to ensure Arizona water is used in the best interest of Arizonans and preserve our natural resources for generations to come,” he added.

Water’s journey from Arizona to Arabia

Fondomonte and its wells may be garnering the most media coverage for its transcontinental water consumption, but it is not the only international company drawing on the region’s limited water supply.

The Abu Dhabi-based Al Dahra Group also grows alfalfa in Southern California and Arizona on six farms the firm described as “strategically located in forage growing areas.”

Neither Fondomonte nor the Al Dahra Group responded to The Hill’s requests for comment.

“Middle Eastern cows and livestock are basically drinking Arizona water,” said Lingenfelter, the Mohave County supervisor.

“We’re shipping products over back to the Middle East,” he continued. “They’re using finite Arizona groundwater in rural areas to do it. We need to plug that gap.”

But the Emirati company gets far less attention than its Saudi counterpart — a discrepancy highlighted by recent legislation that seeks to restrict foreign ownership of Arizona farmlands.

The HB 2376 bill, sponsored by state Rep. Leo Biasiucci (R), passed through the Arizona House in February and will next be reviewed by the state Senate. While the bill has been championed by Republicans, it received the support of 12 out of 29 House Democrats.

The bill stipulates that the sale, lease or sublease of state agricultural property “may not be made to a foreign entity,” which would include not only state-controlled enterprises, but also any company headquartered in or majority-owned by citizens in eight specific countries.

While Saudi Arabia is among those countries — alongside China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Syria and Venezuela — the United Arab Emirates is notably absent.

“They’re reacting to the broader discussion within the United States right now — this kind of agricultural nationalism,” said Koch, the Syracuse professor.

Saudi Arabia, she explained, has become “a lightning rod” for Americans in a way the United Arab Emirates has not.

“Even among super liberal, cosmopolitan types of people, the racism, the xenophobia against Saudis that comes pouring out of their mouths instantly is astonishing,” Koch added.

‘Just a drop in the bucket’

Evicting a Saudi Arabian farm from Arizona’s rural southwest would likely amount to only a cosmetic solution, rather than achieving tangible conservation benefits, experts agreed.

“It still doesn’t address our groundwater issue,” said Irwin, the La Paz County supervisor. “It’s a little piece; it’s a little step.”

The foreign ownership bill only covers “a very narrow group,” while most of the region’s agriculture involves domestic companies, according to Koch, who said local stakeholders used to describe the Saudi deal as “just a drop in the bucket.”

“If it is really just a drop in the bucket, then kicking them out doesn’t really do anything,” Koch said. “The fundamental problem is the outdated water laws. And this bill just kind of diverts attention from that problem.”

With the goal of solving that problem, the supervisors of La Paz, Mohave, Coconino and Yavapai counties are adopting a joint resolution demanding that lawmakers “finally provide water certainty for planning to rural Arizona” by passing groundwater stewardship laws this year.

To back up their claims, the supervisors described how AMAs — areas of Arizona that already have groundwater regulation — have helped the state become “one of the fastest-growing states and highly attractive for economic development.”

On the other hand, in many non-AMA rural regions, the free-for-all has led to overpumping of aquifers and the depletion of municipal water supplies, according to the resolution.

“Water security is a top three issue of concern for Arizona residents regardless of rural or urban residence or political affiliation,” the supervisors stated.

Regarding the resolution, Slater said “the governor is meeting with stakeholders and examining paths forward to protect access to water for every community and ensure Arizona’s natural resources are used in the best interest of Arizonans.”

“This will be one of the several issues reviewed by the Governor’s Water Policy Council,” he added.

Describing her years of fighting for groundwater protections as “an uphill battle,” Irwin stressed that she and her colleagues have never been able to get the legislature to hear any of the related bills they’ve championed.

Lingenfelter, the Mohave County supervisor, echoed these sentiments, adding that he’s been actively working on this issue since at least 2017.

“Every single year, we work with our legislators [on] this legislation, and it never gets a hearing — not even one hearing,” Lingenfelter said.

Rather than bringing the government in to “shut everybody down,” Irwin stressed she just wants “put some sort of conservation measures in place, for a future for everybody.”

“Farming is very important to my county,” Irwin continued. “We need to talk about conservation at some point to make sure that we can continue to exist.”

Going forward, Lingenfelter said he feels hopeful, citing Hobbs’s recent issuance of an executive order calling for the modernization of Arizona groundwater code.

“We deserve water certainty and water security just as cities do,” he said, noting that nearly 2 million Arizonans call the rural desert areas home.

The groundwater basins in parts of rural Arizona are the only available resources there — or what Lingenfelter described as “our forever water.”

“We don’t have a Plan B in a lot of these areas that are using groundwater for 100 percent for their water supply,” he said.

SEE 

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2023/04/in-arizona-fresh-scrutiny-of-saudi.html

Sanders: Biden could ‘win in a landslide’

BY JULIA MUELLER - 04/30/23 9:59 AM ET

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Sunday said President Biden, who kicked off his reelection campaign last week, could “win in a landslide” in 2024.

Sanders, who ran against Biden in the 2020 race, said it’s “no great secret” that he and the president “have strong differences of opinion,” but stressed that he thinks Biden is the clear choice for voters given the current political backdrop.

“We live in a nation where you have a major political party, the Republican Party, where many- not all, but many of their leadership doesn’t even believe in democracy, they maintain the myth that Trump won the last election. They’re trying to keep people from voting. They’re trying to deny women the right to control their own bodies,” Sanders said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“If you believe in democracy, you want to see more people vote, not fewer people vote, I think the choice is pretty clear. And that choice is Biden,” he said.

And if Democrats and the president get stronger on working-class issues and “take on the greed of the insurance companies, drug companies, Wall Street, all the big money interests, and start delivering for working class people,” Sanders said, “I think Biden is going to win in a landslide.”

Biden kicked off his much-anticipated 2024 reelection bid last week.

Sanders on Sunday also waved off concerns about Biden’s age as the campaign . At 81, the Vermont senator is a year older than the president, who would be 86 by the end of his second term if he wins another four years in the White House.

“Well, I think when you look at a candidate you consider a lot. I think age is one thing, I think experience is another thing, I think your record that you have established is another thing,” Sanders said, when asked if 2024 voters should factor in Biden’s age.

“But to my mind … when you put it all together, what you have to look at is: What does the candidate stand for? Which side are they on?” Sanders asked.

Progressives line up behind Biden despite some misgivings

BY HANNA TRUDO - 04/30/23 

Associated Press


Most high-profile progressives in Congress say they’ll support President Biden’s reelection bid, even though some are critical of his policy agenda.

Since announcing his 2024 campaign on Tuesday, Biden has racked up endorsements from many prominent members of the left, including the progressive standard-bearer, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.); Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), the head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus; and Squad members Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Greg Casar (D-Texas).

While many in the progressive wing are lining up behind the president, they’re not necessarily making a show of full-throated support. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), one of the most visible liberals on Capitol Hill, told a reporter she “unequivocally” supports the party’s nominees, while also acknowledging the differences she and Biden share.

“It didn’t necessarily feel like a big launch,” Jayapal told The Hill on Thursday.

“Hopefully we’ll have a chance to have much bigger opportunities to launch kind of a vision of what we need to do next. I think people can run on what they’ve done.”

While Democrats emphasize they will do whatever is necessary to beat former President Trump as it becomes increasingly possible he’ll lead the GOP ticket, the cautious response underscores some of the divisions within the Democratic Party that could become more apparent as the presidential election heats up.

“His disregard — and even, at times, evident contempt — for the base of his own party … could lead to the kind of dampened Democratic voter enthusiasm that allowed Trump to win in November 2016,” one prominent progressive activist warned.

The similarities to the last election cycle are striking. Biden chose the same day, April 25, to launch his 2024 campaign as he did during the 2020 election. And like the last time, progressives were skeptical about the direction in which he could take the country, arguing he wasn’t expansive enough on the issues they cared about most.

Biden, alongside senior White House officials and allies outside of government, worked to ease that skepticism. The president and several of his closest advisers have prioritized progressivism throughout his first term, recognizing both the popularity of many populist economic policies and the importance of maintaining a diverse supporter base.

Sanders, who was leading the charge for a more liberal Biden administration, put to rest any fears from moderates that he’d run himself by stating this week that he supported the president’s reelection bid.

That stamp of approval carried a lot of weight. To many establishment Democrats, Sanders became a nuisance to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 effort after he dragged his feet in offering his endorsement when she became the presumptive nominee. In 2020, Sanders hung on for a bit after the South Carolina primary sent Biden on the path to nomination, but even then eventually threw his support behind his longtime friend.

“The last thing this country needs is a Donald Trump or some other right-wing demagogue who is going to try to undermine American democracy or take away a woman’s right to choose, or not address the crisis of gun violence, or racism, sexism or homophobia,” Sanders told The Associated Press earlier this week. “So, I’m in to do what I can to make sure that the president is reelected.”

Some of Sanders’s biggest allies in Congress, including Jayapal and his former national campaign co-chair Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), have given the incumbent president a resounding nod for 2024. Casar and Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), newly-minted members of the Squad, also said they’re behind him, putting newer and younger members of the Progressive Caucus in Biden’s corner.

Ramirez told The Hill she’s looking forward to working with Biden on executive actions, especially with the House under GOP control.

“While legislative action in the minority in the House has proven to be nearly impossible, I welcome any opportunities to work with the Biden Administration to identify ways to provide the relief and action necessary for working families through administrative and executive actions,” Ramirez said. “It’s a critical lever to keep delivering and to show people that our president is committed to using every available tool to uplift working folks even while Republicans actively try to sabotage our livelihoods and democracy.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), meanwhile, said she’s “delighted” about his decision, emphasizing that “he’s got a strong record to run on and a great vision for what he still wants to get done.”

Like Sanders, Warren ran against Biden for the nomination in 2020 before getting behind his bid as it became clear that he was the party’s choice.

“I’m in all the way,” she told The Hill.

As support trickled in throughout the week, the actual campaign kickoff, which prioritized broader values like protecting American democracy, left some to be desired among liberals hungry to hear more about their priorities.

“Some of the toughest issues, whether it’s immigration or public safety or Willow is kind of a big one … I don’t I don’t think we should be surprised that maybe there’s not 100 percent,” Jayapl said.

That frustration among some on the left comes after some of Biden’s policy decisions have irked progressives. Throughout much of the spring, the president made moves to the middle, including signing a crime bill in D.C. greenlit by Republicans and announcing the Willow Project, an expensive drilling plan. He was also reportedly considering reinstating migrant detention centers.

There are still some lingering wounds for progressives on those matters, and more work needs to be done to repair the relationship built over four years of mural courtship and compromise.

“Biden’s recent policy decisions seem calculated to appeal to the relatively small number of disaffected Republicans, while undermining enthusiasm from large numbers of grassroots Democrats, particularly young voters,” said the progressive activist. “Democratic leaders seem to believe that victory in 2024 will be assured by the extremism of the Republican Party. Many of them mistakenly believed that in 2016.”

Still, many progressives within Congress see the merits of Biden’s calculations.

“I think that people are looking at the incredible accomplishments, particularly the investments in climate change and equity, racial justice, and seeing that this is night and day from what anyone else has been able to do,” Jayapal said.

Beyond policy, there’s also the practical nature of running a national campaign, where funding plays a big role against the well-heeled GOP.

“To be honest, Dem moderates control a lot of where the money goes,” said one Democratic strategist who has worked for multiple high profile presidential aspirants.

Biden does seem to acknowledge that he needs to keep the left happy. The size of the voting bloc matters to his general election showing, and a flippant response to their concerns can leave the door open for a more liberal Democrat to launch a primary challenge.

“If Biden loses the extreme side of the progressive wing, which is smaller than people think, [people] will say, ‘we told you so,’” the Democratic strategist said. “It will open the [party] up to the emergence of a Bernie-type candidate.”

THE HILL

Investors sue Adidas for ‘routinely’ ignoring Ye’s ‘extreme behavior’

BY SARAH POLUS - 04/30/23 

Kanye West at Milk Studios on June 28, 2016 in Hollywood, California. 

(Jonathan Leibson/Getty Images for ADIDAS)

Adidas investors are suing the German sports retail giant over its failure to address the behavior of Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, before dropping its partnership with him last year.

Adidas formally cut ties with Ye, halting production of his popular Yeezy products, in October after he made a slew of antisemitic remarks.

In a lawsuit filed Friday in Oregon, Adidas’ investors are now claiming the company “routinely ignored extreme behavior” by Ye. Adidas, its CFO Harm Ohlmeyer and its former CEO Kasper Rørsted are named as defendants in the suit.

Among several instances mentioned in the filing are Ye’s controversial comments to TMZ in 2018, when he suggested that slavery was a “choice.” In response, Adidas said that while there “are some comments we don’t support… Kanye has been and is a very important part of our strategy and has been a fantastic creator.”

The filing also says the company ended its partnership with the controversial rapper only “after weeks of criticism over its failure” to do so.

Adidas denounced the legal action in a statement to USA Today, calling the claims “unfounded.”Falcon Heavy launches after series of weather delaysGOP furious at VA claiming debt bill cuts veteran benefits: ‘Shamelessly lying’

“We outright reject these unfounded claims and will take all necessary measures to vigorously defend ourselves against them,” said Adidas spokesperson Claudia Lange.

A few weeks after ceasing its work with Ye, Adidas launched an investigation into allegations against him, including that he bullied employees and forced them to watch pornography.

“It is currently not clear whether the accusations made in an anonymous letter are true,” a spokesperson for the company said at the time. “However, we take these allegations very seriously and have taken the decision to launch an independent investigation of the matter immediately to address the allegations.”

THIRD WORLD U$A
More than 1 in 5 adults with limited car, public transit access forgo health care

BY JULIA SHAPERO - 04/28/23 

THE HILL 

Courthouse Square West Plains Missouri Howell County Photo taken July 21, 2021 Listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The anchor of the courthouse square. Constructed in 1937 with Carthage stone and Art-Deco inspired ornamentation.

 (Getty Images)

More than one in five U.S. adults who do not have a car and have limited access to public transit said in a recent poll they have forgone needed health care in the past year.

The poll from the Urban Institute found that 21 percent of those without access to a car or reliable public transit in their area said they went without necessary health care because of difficulty finding transportation.

However, this number dropped to 9 percent among those who don’t have access to a car but reported good public transportation, the poll found.

Having access to a car also makes a difference in obtaining health care, with 13 percent of those without a vehicle saying they skipped out on necessary medical care over transportation issues, compared to just 4 percent of those with a car.

Black and Hispanic adults were significantly less likely to have access to a car, according to the poll. While 94 percent and 93 percent each of white and Asian adults said they had access to a car, respectively, 81 percent of Black adults and 87 percent of Hispanic adults said they did not.

White and Asian adults were also less likely to forgo necessary health over transportation issues, with just 4 percent and 2 percent saying as much, respectively. Eight percent of Black adults and 7 percent of Hispanic adults missed out on medical care because of difficulty finding transportation.

Low-income families also were less likely to have access to a car, at 73 percent, and more likely to have forgone needed health care over transportation issues, at 14 percent, the poll found.

Among those with disabilities, 83 percent said they have access to a car, but 17 percent said transportation problems caused them to skip out on medical care.

“Our study finds that access to public transportation is associated with improved access to health care itself … suggesting that investments in public transit may be a tool to promote health equity,” the Urban Institute’s report noted.

From the Archives: Secrets of the Alien Growers Revealed! (1988)

Trapped in an alien biosphere, Ed Hassle dared defy 

a Queen from Outer Space!

BYHIGH TIMES

APRIL 30, 2023

Artist recreation by Flick Ford, from a description by Ed Hassle

A famous writer from California was held hostage by an evil Queen from Outer Space who intended to keep him as a pet,” states Dr. Franz Berber, a leading San Francisco psychiatrist. The writer, Edward P. Hassle, managed to escape with the help of another alien.

Berber, a well-known hypnosis expert who specializes in treating the rich and famous, made this startling revelation at a recent regressive hypnosis conference held at the University of Illinois, in Urbana, Illinois.

“I know revealing this information is a violation of my doctor-patient relationship,” admits Berber, “but I feel it must be done in the interest of science and the future of the human race.”

According to statements made by the 42-year-old Hassle while in a trance, alien beings have been inhabiting remote sections of the planet and harvesting plant material from around the world. For some reason, the aliens seem particularly interested in marijuana.

“I have played copies of the sessions with Mr. Hassle to many leading experts in the UFO field, and all of them agreed that Mr. Hassle was abducted by an alien craft on October 16, 1986,” says Berber. “He disappeared for two weeks before mysteriously returning to his home with a case of temporary amnesia.”

What makes the disappearance even more suspicious was the fact Hassle was working on an article on UFO’s for HIGH TIMES magazine. After the editors rejected the article for lack of evidence, Hassle resigned from the magazine and began documenting his theory with photographs. It was at this time that he mysteriously disappeared. [See HIGH TIMES, Jan. ’87, page 14.]

“There have been many cases of people abducted by aliens, but this is the first time an alien has tried to hold a human being against their will for an extended period,” says John Holmstrom, executive editor of HIGH TIMES. “This case represents a new and potentially dangerous twist on the current rash of UFO sightings.”

Although Mr. Hassle was contacted at his home in Humboldt County, he refused to comment on the story. “Ed doesn’t want to talk right now,” explains his wife, Sunflower. “We’re still very concerned that the aliens might come back.”

According to an unpublished manuscript obtained by the Weakly World News, Hassle’s discoveries began after he noticed a decline in the potency of the marijuana plants in his backyard. At first this decline was attributed to the fact the plants had been cloned for several years; so, Hassle began growing from his original seed stock. However, the quality of the plants continued to decline.

Hassle put a 24-hour watch on the plants, and on the evening of September 2nd, 1986, he observed a small UFO hovering over his house. A long tube with a suction cup on the end appeared from the bottom of the craft. The craft descended until this tube was directly over his largest marijuana plant. The craft glowed momentarily, then took off at incredible speed, disappearing in an instant. Hassle contacted the police and wrote an account of the incident for HIGH TIMES. “Everyone laughed at him,” says Berber. “It was the beginning of a very traumatic time for Hassle. The police came and just confiscated his plants. He became obsessed by a story no one would publish.”

Hassle began visiting other marijuana growers in the area, and discovered everyone was experiencing a similar decline in potency. Armed with only a notebook and camera, he traveled from one grower to the next. Each night he kept vigil over a different patch of cannabis plants. Within a few weeks he photographed several alien crafts.

However, on the evening of October 16th, while Hassle was alone in a marijuana patch, he mysteriously disappeared. “Ed went to the patch, we saw some flashes of lightning—and he never came back,” Sunflower was quoted as saying at the time. Two weeks later, Hassle appeared in his own backyard, confused and disoriented. He had no knowledge of what had happened, and was plagued by insomnia and anxiety for several months. Finally, he sought treatment with Dr. Berber.

Who are these people?

Who are these strange aliens, and what are they doing on earth?

“They are star travelers from a different solar system,” explains Berber. “They are basically very rich tourists who have become bored with life on their own planets. They can remain on Earth as long as they don’t interfere with life here, but most of them spend their lives in constant space travel, since it’s the only way to stay perpetually young.”

There are actually two different alien civilizations visiting the planet, and they are in constant competition which each other. “They used to use the planet as a hunting ground,” says Berber, “but after they killed off all the dinosaurs, their governments signed an agreement not to disturb the planet any longer. It was at this time that cannabis was introduced to Earth in the hopes it would help pacify what had become a very violent planet.

According to reports published in a recent issue of The Alien Times, Hassle and the Alien Queen engaged in a “smoke-off.” For four hours, the Queen brought out dozens of different varieties of hashish, each time offering the pipe to Hassle after taking a hit herself. The hash was so strong Hassle could barely function, but he pretended to be unimpressed. “You must have something better than this,” he told the Queen. “This one tastes like Colombian dirtweed.”

“You’ve tasted better?” asked the incredulous Queen.

“Sure,” said Hassle. “I’m on my way to the HIGH TIMES harvest festival in Amsterdam next month. They’ve got much better dope than this.”

Eventually the Queen could smoke no more, and left on her anti-gravity couch.

“At that point, the little grey men surrounded Hassle and began patting him on the back,” says Berber. “Hassle became an instant hero. One of the grey men befriended him and eventually helped him escape.”

Humans are the result of breeding experiments conducted with several species of apes. The aliens are far superior to us in intelligence. “Consequently, they pay little attention to man and his minor ‘accomplishments.’ They’re mostly interested in harvesting the purest and finest resin droplets from the tops of the finest marijuana plants.”

And what about the little grey men? As usual, the truth is stranger than fiction: “They are the Queen’s offspring, test-tube grown and genetically altered to make them into servile creatures somewhere between man and dog. They spend their lives catering to the Queen’s every whim.”

In order to populate her kingdom the Queen has constant sexual intercourse, sometimes with other aliens, but mostly with human captives. The captives are always released soon after copulation.

Hassle was given a tour of the alien grow rooms before being released. While under hypnosis he told of “large vats of pure resin being produced by cell division.” Interestingly enough, this synthetic resin is not considered as good as the finest Humboldt sensimilla.

In the meantime, Hassle has not left his house since he returned. “Ed’s not looking for any publicity,” says Sunflower, “he’s just hoping this whole thing will blow over soon.”

Excerpted from The Mysterious Case of Ed Hassle, published by The Weakly World News.

High Times Magazine, April 1988

Indo-Pacific region wants to sidestep U.S.-China spat: Asian Development Bank head

By Dylan Robertson

The Canadian Press
Sun., April 30, 2023

OTTAWA - A senior economist whose organization oversees economic-development projects across Asia says Canada’s Indo-Pacific strategy could help the region’s huge infrastructure needs, but risks falling flat if Ottawa tries to wedge countries against China.

“It’s great for Canada to develop closer ties with all of the countries in the region,” said Albert Park, chief economist of the Asian Development Bank.

“For a lot of leaders in Asia, they don’t want to have to pick sides.”

Canada is a founding member of the ADB, which since 1966 has provided loans to businesses from Kazakhstan to Fiji, with much of the financing coming from Japan and the U.S.

The bank is known for keeping tabs on each of the region’s economies and recently published a new assessment of macroeconomic trends, along with a forecast of growth and inflation for each country.

The ABD expects a boost in growth across the region, and expects inflation to gradually moderate back to pre-pandemic levels at speeds that will vary by country and depend on how world events such as Russia’s war in Ukraine play out.

During a recent visit to Ottawa from the bank’s headquarters in Manila, Park said the key factor is China’s economic reopening. Harsh COVID-19 lockdowns involved sudden factory closures that disrupted supply chains, during which Chinese consumers bought goods online but spent little on services.

Beijing makes up half of Asia’s gross domestic product, and it’s the most important trading partner for virtually every country on the continent.

“The region is more tightly connected with China than any other major power right now,” said Park, who appropriated a metaphor often used to compare Canada and the U.S.

“China is the elephant in Asia that everyone’s sleeping next to.”

His group tracks everything from official trade figures to mobility data, such as the fact Chinese subways now have roughly the same passenger traffic as before the pandemic. The bank has also noticed an uptick in demand for hospitality and transportation services, but a lasting hit to youth employment, income levels and the number of migrant workers in the country.

Slow growth in the U.S. and Europe has meant weak demand for manufactured goods from China. Yet Chinese citizens saved up cash through the pandemic and are starting to spend more on domestic services and tourism abroad, which could soon stimulate the country’s sagging housing market.

“What really matters is how the Chinese consumer starts to think about their spending,” Park said. “It’s a huge and unexpected windfall for the region.”

That applies to richer countries such as Japan and South Korea, as well as fast-growing economies such as India and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Last November, Canada announced plans to seek closer ties with all of them through its Indo-Pacific strategy.

The document calls for Canada to continue trading with China, but to limit an economic reliance on Beijing and to freeze the country out of important strategic sectors.

Park said that will be a tricky balance to hit, given that almost every Asian country is seeking to maintain good relations with both Washington and Beijing.

“Most countries in Asia have been pretty consistent in advocating for open trade and continued regional economic integration and global economic integration,” he said.

“There’s kind of a resistance to having politics affect the opportunities for shared growth and prosperity across countries in the region.”

Yet Park did say that Canada’s bet to ramp up infrastructure spending in Asia could reap huge rewards on both ends.

Ottawa’s Indo-Pacific strategy pledges $750 million to finance infrastructure projects in Asia. The funding comes as the Liberals reduce their foreign aid spending, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau saying that many developing countries want infrastructure development instead.

Park would not comment on domestic policy, but he said there are “huge financing needs” across Asia for bridges, ports and roads that accommodate for changing climate patterns.

“There’s enough need, where I think Canada can try to focus on the things that are so consistent with their own agenda on climate, gender, other things that they care about,” he said.

“That helps promote engagement, knowledge and network-building.”

He said the ABD is in touch with FinDev Canada, the Crown corporation overseeing the new infrastructure spend in Asia, about possibly co-financing projects and using the bank’s network to target the funding.

Park also met with officials at Global Affairs Canada and the International Development Research Centre, a Crown corporation that tracks how to best use aid dollars to yield results around the world.

Meanwhile, Park said his team is trying to gauge the impact of “friendshoring,” an American push for allies to rely on each other to make supply chains more resilient, and defang hostile actors from taxing or withholding goods.

It comes as the Biden administration restricts China’s access to semiconductor chips made with U.S. technology, in order to slow Beijing’s technological and military rise. Washington has also promised to spend big on green technology, pushing Canada and Europe to match corporate subsidies and tax breaks.

Park said it will take years for economists to see whether this has a lasting impact. America and Europe have had a rise in mutual foreign direct investment and a decline in FDI with China, since 2019. Yet Park said a recent wave of trade delegations to Beijing could reverse a reluctance of companies to move jobs and factories to China during lockdowns.

He also said industries are are diversifying their supply chains in general, given the unpredictability of pandemics, climate change, sanctions on Russia and hostility between the U.S. and China.

“Most multinationals, and many countries, are thinking just about diversifying supply-chain risk, given all of the craziness we’ve seen.”

Still, Park warned that protectionist policies and “excessive friendshoring” will likely cause more inflation and hurt economic productivity. He said he’s particularly concerned about medicines, foods and the technology needed to make a low-carbon transition.

“It’s just so less efficient, in pure economics. And with lower productivity growth, it means goods are not going to be produced as cheaply as they could,” he said.

Park said preliminary data suggests the U.S. and China have large enough economies that they could weather limiting trade between each other, but other countries who trade with both would bear the economic brunt of this decoupling.

“Each country has to pursue its own natural national interests in the way that they see fit,” he added.

“We just want to make these choices more informed.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 30, 2023.

THE CLIMATE CRISIS IS CAPITALI$M'S CRISIS

Scientists: Critical Ocean Currents Could Collapse Within Decades

Antarctic ice melt will halt circulation, new research predicts, with dire global impacts.

FRED PEARCE
 Mother Jones

Meltwater runs off the Nansen Ice Shelf in Antarctica.

C. Yakiwchuck/European Space Agency

This story was originally published by Yale E360 and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

It is being hailed as a sea change in scientific understanding of the global ocean circulation system and how it will respond as the world heats up. A doomsday scenario involving the collapse of the circulation—previously portrayed in both peer-reviewed research and the climate disaster movie The Day After Tomorrow—came a lot closer in the last month. But rather than playing out in the far North Atlantic, as previously assumed, it now seems much more likely at the opposite end of the planet.

A new analysis by Australian and American researchers, using new and more detailed modeling of the oceans, predicts that the long-feared turn-off of the circulation will likely occur in the Southern Ocean, as billions of tons of ice melt on the land mass of Antarctica. And rather than being more than a century away, as models predict for the North Atlantic, it could happen within the next three decades.

“I was genuinely surprised by this work, but they have convinced me. It is agenda-setting.”

Leading ocean and climate researchers not involved in the study who were contacted for comment praised the findings. “This is a really important paper,” says Stefan Rahmstorf, an oceanographer and head of earth system analysis at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany. “I think the method and model are convincing.”

“It is the most original research I have seen for some time,” says British polar researcher Andrew Shepherd of Northumbria University, Newcastle. “I was genuinely surprised by this work, but they have convinced me. It is agenda-setting. All the attention has been on the North Atlantic; but I expect there will now be a shift in attention to the Southern Ocean.”

Meanwhile the long-standing concern about a shutdown of the ocean circulation in the North Atlantic sometime in the 21th century appears to be subsiding. A Swiss study published this month found that, contrary to past belief, the circulation did not fail at the end of the last ice age, suggesting, the researchers say, that it was more stable than previously supposed, and less likely to collapse.

Taken together the two studies bring a dramatically new perspective to the likely impact of planetary heating on ocean circulation, which is one of the great stabilizing forces of the planet’s climate system


The ocean circulation system, often called the global conveyor, follows a regular path through the Earth’s oceans and stirs their waters from top to bottom. It starts with water plunging from the surface and disappearing to the depths, from where it travels the world and does not surface for centuries. By capturing heat and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and burying both deep in the ocean, it is currently moderating global warming

.

The global ocean circulation system.
Ma Photo/Riccardo Pravettoni via Gridarendal

The conveyor is driven by the descent of cold, salty water to the ocean floor in just two places: in the far North Atlantic near Greenland and in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica. In both regions, the mechanism is the same. In cold polar conditions, large volumes of water freeze. The salt in the water is not incorporated into the ice. It remains in the residual liquid water, which grows ever saltier. The saltier water becomes, the denser it becomes. So the residue is heavier than surrounding water and eventually sinks to the ocean floor.

About 250 trillion tons of salty water sinks in this way around Antarctica each year, subsequently spreading north along the ocean floor into the Indian, Atlantic, and Pacific oceans. Similar volumes spread south from Greenland. The process is known as deep-water formation or ocean overturning, and it has continued largely unchanged for thousands of years.

But for how much longer? As the world warms, less ice is forming in the oceans at the ends of the Earth each year. At the same time, more ice on the nearby great ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland is melting and releasing fresh water into the ocean.

As a result, surface water in the Southern Ocean and around Greenland is already becoming less salty, less dense, and so less able to sink. Since the 1990s, measurements taken from ships have shown that the water on the ocean floor, below 13,000 feet in depth, has warmed and freshened, with the trend strongest in the Southern Ocean.Deep-water formation in the Southern Ocean “looks headed towards collapse this century.”

For years, climate scientists have warned that the freshening of the North Atlantic could one day turn off the global circulation system. Such a shutdown would have wide-ranging consequences, including depriving Europe of the warming influence of the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic, which is part of global circulation, and plunging the west of the continent into a deep freeze as the rest of the world warms. Most studies conclude that this extreme scenario is a likely outcome of continued global heating, but unlikely this century.

There has been much less research into the state of Antarctic waters, however. Some oceanographers, such as Alessandro Silvano of the University of Southampton in the UK, have predicted that the melting of ice and freshening of ocean waters would reduce Antarctic bottom-water formation. The most recent assessment of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported “medium confidence” of this occurring later this century.

But it said models were not able to quantify the impact of glacial meltwater on how fast or how far this trend might go. Rahmstorf says this failure, which arose because ice dynamics have been poorly understood and not integrated into models of climate change and ocean circulation, is “a long-standing and major shortcoming” of models presented in major IPCC reports.

Until now.

The groundbreaking modeling study published by Australian and American researchers at the end of March for the first time includes a detailed assessment of the likely impact of melting ice, revealing the importance of this past failure. It predicts a 42 percent decline in deep-water formation in the Southern Ocean by 2050. This is more than twice the 19 percent they predict for an equivalent event in the North Atlantic.

And after 2050, their model predicts that things will get even worse. Deep-water formation “looks headed towards collapse this century,” the coordinator of the study, Matthew England of the University of New South Wales, told Yale Environment 360. “And once collapsed, it would most likely stay collapsed until Antarctic melting stopped. At current projections that could be centuries away.”

“The physics at play is pretty simple,” says England. “None of the steps is particularly surprising or complex. But until our study, we did not have the circulation model … to make confident predictions.” The slowdown itself, he says, “didn’t surprise me. But the pace of change—to see a 40 percent slowdown in under three decades—was definitely a surprise.”

“This is the first time I have seen such a compelling argument for the impact of Antarctic ice melting on the Southern Ocean,” says Shepherd. “They have convinced me that current rates of melting are big enough to affect ocean circulation.”

Disrupting deep-water formation might make the Southern Hemisphere drier and the Northern Hemisphere wetter.

Antarctica is by far the world’s largest repository of ice. So, Shepherd says, “we should expect the impacts of this melting to be far-reaching.” The paper’s authors agree. The slowing of ocean circulation will “profoundly alter the ocean overturning of heat, fresh water, oxygen, carbon, and nutrients, with impacts felt throughout the global ocean for centuries to come,” concludes lead author Qian Li, an oceanographer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Marine ecologists are especially concerned about the impact of a circulation shutdown on the cycling of nutrients in the ocean. Currently, nutrients fall to the ocean depths as dead marine creatures sink to the ocean floor but are brought back to the surface by the conveyor.

If there was no new deep water plunging to the ocean depths, however, there would be nothing to bring the nutrients back to the surface. Instead, the waters of the deep ocean would accumulate nutrients and become stagnant, while the supply of nutrients to sustain marine life at the surface would be drastically reduced, says one of the paper’s co-authors, Adele Morrison of the Australian National University. Marine ecosystems could collapse. This would not happen instantly. It might take centuries, but once in train could not be prevented.

A shutdown would also accelerate global warming, says Rahmstorf. “The deep-water formation sites are conduits where carbon dioxide is brought down to the ocean abyss, where it is locked away safely from the atmosphere for centuries [and] currently helps slow down global warming. However, this mechanism is set to be weakened.” The IPCC estimates that the oceans altogether capture a quarter of our CO2 emissions, much of it through deep-water formation.

Disrupting deep-water formation in the Southern Ocean would change global climate patterns in other ways that are currently hard to predict. It might shift tropical rainfall systems, says England, and perhaps make the Southern Hemisphere, as a whole, drier and the Northern Hemisphere wetter.

The Antarctic study suggests that the Southern Ocean could be about to have its own Day After Tomorrow moment. But meanwhile, for some scientists, concern about the risks of the original doomsday scenario in the far North Atlantic is abating. A Swiss study published at the start of April analyzed the climate record of marine sediments to assess the vulnerability of the North Atlantic deep-water formation to a breakdown. Lead author Frerk Pöppelmeier of the University of Bern found that the circulation “has historically been less sensitive to climate change than thought.” In particular, the circulation did not, as once believed, collapse 15,000 years ago, at the end of the last ice age. It “weakened much less than assumed,” he says.

Pöppelmeier didn’t say the findings give us an all-clear for Atlantic circulation collapse. It is far from certain how relevant his research is to the situation today. But he did conclude that “melting of Greenland’s ice in the near future will have less of a negative impact on the Atlantic circulation than previously thought.”Even if emissions don’t rise as much as predicted, it is “irrelevant” to the near-term fate of the ocean conveyor, says a researcher.

So have oceanographers been guilty of scare-mongering? Could those involved in the Antarctic study be exaggerating the implications of their findings?

None of the researchers contacted by Yale Environment 360 criticized the new modeling of the impact of ice-melt in the Southern Ocean itself. But some questioned the use in the model projections of an unrealistic scenario for future carbon dioxide emissions. This “business-as-usual” projection has been adopted by the IPCC as a worst-case scenario and is widely used by researchers. But it assumes continued big increases in global coal burning. Mark Maslin, an Earth scientist at University College London, says many researchers now believe this is “deeply unlikely,” as low-carbon energy sources become ever cheaper and governments and corporations remain under pressure to deliver net-zero emissions by mid-century. One study published this month predicted that carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels to generate electricity may have peaked in 2022 and be set for a long-term decline as renewables take over.

But Rahmstorf says such optimism is ill-founded. Even if future emissions don’t rise as much as predicted, it is “irrelevant” to the near-term fate of the ocean conveyor, he says. The extent of deep-water formation in the next few decades has already been largely determined by past emissions and won’t be impacted quickly by any recent changes. “Which scenario we follow will only start to make a big difference beyond the 2040s,” he says. By then, the 40-percent weakening of bottom-water formation may be all but baked in.

King Charles' coronation: $200m cost hard to swallow for struggling Britons

AS IT IS FOR THE REST OF US IN THE COMMONWEALTH

By Nick Dole in London for ABC


Souvenirs on sale in central London days out from the coronation. Photo: AFP

The Evelyn Estate is just half an hour's drive from the gold-trimmed gates of Buckingham Palace, but it feels like a world away.

While at the palace they are polishing the silver, tending the tulips and preparing the King's fine coronation robes, at the Evelyn community centre they're unpacking donated food that more than 100 families rely on.

Christina Norman, who was unpacking vegetables and canned food with a team of volunteers, said the world often saw London through a different lens.

"We've got palaces and landmarks … there's a lot of pomp going on," Norman said.

"But people can't afford to eat and heat. People are really struggling."

Over the winter, Britons suffered their biggest fall in living standards since records began, with stagnant wages failing to keep up with stubbornly high inflation of 10.1 percent.

Food is especially expensive, surging almost 20 percent in a year.

Every week, volunteers transform the south London community centre into a food store, allowing residents to fill their trolleys for a couple of gold coins.

They can't help everyone. More than 60 families are on the waiting list.

Norman said many people who used the community store have jobs, but their pay was not enough to keep up with the cost of living.

"We have nurses … who cannot afford their shopping," she said.

"It shouldn't be like that. There's a new class now, the working poor. It's really worrying."

Norman said next weekend's coronation celebrations might be a welcome distraction for people doing it tough.

"It doesn't matter whether the coronation happens or it doesn't. We'll still be in the same position," she said.

"My fault isn't with the royal family, it's with government."

However, 53-year-old Stewart Lendor, who relies on the food store to feed his family of four, said the estimated 100 million pound ($NZ203m) price tag on the coronation was hard to swallow.

"They're feeding the rich and the poor are getting poorer," he said. "It's all about them."

He said he has no interest in seeing King Charles III crowned.

"I don't give a bee because the royal family are doing nothing for us."

Some Britons remain unenthused about King Charles and Camilla. 

Photo: Yui Mok / Pool / AFP

Celebrations stripped back, but not too much

The St Edwards' crown that will be used during the ceremony. Photo: AFP

King Charles is said to have asked for a more restrained coronation to reflect the country's cost of living crisis.

Royal historian Kelly Swaby said the King was cautious about seeming out of touch.

"We're talking about carriages and tiaras and crowns while the UK is having a cost of living crisis, the worst since the Second World War.

"So I think he's very mindful of that," she said.

Even so, Swaby said the King has his reasons for continuing a number of the key traditions some may see as pompous.

"You can't strip it back too much because then people ask, why do we need it?"

The King and Queen Consort will still travel in a golden coach and the monarch will still be anointed with holy oil.

There will still be 2000 invited guests - far fewer than the 8500 invited to Queen Elizabeth II's coronation.

More than 6000 members of the military will participate in the event, which is seven times less than the number involved in the Queen's event in 1953.

In a break with tradition, there will not be a lavish banquet to celebrate the coronation.

However, there will be a spectacular military fly-past, with more than 60 aircraft flying over Buckingham Palace.

Dozens of aircraft will take part in the military fly-past over Buckingham Palace.

 File pic Photo: NIKLAS HALLE'N

And a celebratory concert will be held in Windsor on Sunday, featuring artists like Katy Perry and Lionel Richie.

For students Jess Prasad and Caner Necatigil, who are struggling to pay for food, the coronation celebrations are over the top.

"We're choosing between whether we buy vegetables or eggs and they're spending so much on the coronation. It just feels like a kick in the teeth," 19-year-old Prasad said.

Necatigil said it was "immoral" for the tradition to continue while so many people were struggling to afford life's essentials.
The national mood has changed

Swaby said the UK was a very different place in 1953 when the Queen held her coronation.

"Britain had come out of the Second World War. There were still parts of London that were in rubble."

She said the coronation of the young queen provided a much-needed boost to morale.

"People would go out and buy their first TV just to watch the coronation. TV licences doubled just for the coronation," she said.

Nowadays the public was less easily impressed, she said.

"There's been a steep decline in deference to the monarchy since the Queen's coronation.




"We're currently having debates about how much the coronation costs. Is it strictly needed?"

She said these were "valid questions in the context of what the UK is going through at the moment".

In a recent YouGov poll, commissioned by the UK Republic group, 35 percent of those surveyed said they did "not care very much" about the coronation.

And 29 percent said they did "not care at all".

However, London couple Susie and Henry Pelly said they were "very excited" by the event.

"It brings in massive amounts of tourism," Henry Pelly said.

His wife said it would bring people together. "The Brits are going to be right behind it."

Union flags fly above Bond Street in central London, on April 29, 2023 ahead of the coronation ceremony. Photo: AFP

As a historian, Swaby said she was looking forward to the event.

"We are the only European monarchy that still holds a coronation. It's not strictly necessary," she said.

"[But] it's a day where we continue a tradition. It's a day that really shows Britain off to the world and it shows the ceremonial excellence that we are so renowned for."
The Queen is a tough act to follow

King Charles is all too aware he doesn't enjoy the same level of public affection as his mother did.

In 2013, A YouGov poll found 75 percent of Britons wanted the monarchy to continue.

However, a pre-coronation YouGov poll commissioned by BBC Panorama found that number had fallen back to 58 percent.

Liz Berry, a 32-year-old Londoner, said she was not very interested in the royal family, especially without the Queen at the helm.

"People my age grew up [with] the Queen and being really familiar with her as a figure," she said.

"Whereas, Charles, we maybe don't respect in the same way."

The royal family's very public feud is unlikely to be helping its popularity.

Prince Harry will be attending the coronation, but Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and their children will remain in California.

In his recent accusations of his brother, Prince William, physically attacking him, and his stepmother, Camilla, leaking to the press, the Duke of Sussex has painted a picture of a deeply dysfunctional family.

However, some royal watchers believe the King can successfully modernise the monarchy and win back public support.

Royal historian Robert Lacey said the King was already showing an openness that the Queen couldn't.

"Charles has also shown an ability to express emotion that his mother never had," he said.

"It was very interesting in his first broadcast and then in subsequent broadcasts."

"He is a monarch expressing feelings in a positive, rather inspiring way. It wasn't his mother's style, but it is the style of this prince who's become a king."

-ABC

Call for British public to swear allegiance to King Charles just an 'invitation', Lambeth Palace clarifies after mockery

30 April 2023

King Charles is pictured meeting members of the public outside Buckingham Palace the day after his mother's death last September. Picture: Alamy

By Adam Solomons

Plans for the public to swear allegiance to King Charles during the Coronation have been clarified as an 'invitation' not an 'expectation or request' after a barrage of criticism on social media

Lambeth Palace revealed on Saturday that a new Homage of the People will replace the traditional kissing of the cheek by hereditary peers.

After the Archbishop of Canterbury proclaims "God Save the King", those watching the ceremony at home, in pubs and in parks will be invited to reply: "God save King Charles. Long live King Charles. May the King live forever."

After the plans prompted mockery, Coronation organisers insisted the rally cry is “very much an invitation rather than an expectation or request”.

Read more: Late Queen's confidante given lifelong home by King Charles days after being 'turfed out' of Windsor

Read more: Warning that Brits celebrating King Charles's coronation could face fines with impromptu street parties

Members of the Welsh Guards prepare to swear allegiance to the King during Coronation rehearsals at RAF Odiham, Hampshire this weekend. Picture: Alamy

A Lambeth Palace spokesperson told The Telegraph: “For those who do want to take part, some will want to say all the words of the homage; some might just want to say 'God Save The King' at the end.

"Others might just want to say it to be a moment of private reflection.

"It’s quite right that people decide for themselves how they relate to this moment."

The clarification also comes a day after Lambeth Palace revealed that next weekend's Coronation will feature faith leaders from non-Christian religions for the first time.

Trafalgar Square is prepared for Coronation events next weekend, with signs placed on Saturday. Picture: Alamy

A Lambeth Palace spokesperson said: "Lambeth Palace and Buckingham Palace are pleased to confirm the names of the Faith Leaders and Representatives who will deliver a Greeting to His Majesty The King at the end of the Coronation Service at Westminster Abbey on 6th May."

They include Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis, KBE (Judaism), The Most Venerable Bogoda Seelawimala (Buddhism), The Rt. Hon. The Lord Singh of Wimbledon, CBE (Sikhism), Radha Mohan das (Hinduism) and Aliya Azam, MBE (Islam).

After the service is over, the King will receive a special greeting by the Jewish, Hindu, Sikh, Muslim and Buddhist leaders in attendance.

Lambeth Palace said this "unprecedented gesture" reflects Britain's "religious diversity".