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IDF's conduct, ethics under scrutiny following soldiers' social media posts

MATT GUTMAN, MALKA ABRAMOFF, JON SCHLOSBERG and IVAN PEREIRA
Tue, April 16, 2024 

Six months into the Israel-Hamas conflict, the conduct and ethics of some Israel Defense Forces members have increasingly come under the microscope.

Incidents ranging from pranks to potentially criminal acts are being exposed to the world, often by videos soldiers themselves have posted online, according to critics and Israeli officials.

In many pictures and videos that have circulated since the conflict began, and which were reposted by pro-Palestinian activists to millions of followers, IDF soldiers are seen blowing up buildings in Gaza while in combat, waving women’s underwear like flags and rifling through the possessions of Gazans with gleeful expressions.

MORE: Israel-Gaza live updates

Younis Tirawi, a Palestinian activist, says he’s seen thousands of videos of IDF soldiers reportedly behaving improperly. "You can see all the soldiers liking their posts," Tirawi told ABC News. "

PHOTO: A Palestinian man rides a bicycle past a damaged vehicle where employees from the World Central Kitchen were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, Apr. 2, 2024. (Ahmed Zakot/Reuters)

The images and videos have been condemned by activists, and military ethics experts say some of the incidents captured on video and photos show serious violations. Israeli soldiers are prohibited from bringing phones and filming military activities in Gaza.

"The pictures [and] the videos I saw were taken by the soldiers. So it's not fabricated and they are wrong. Their activities there are wrong," said Asa Kasher, a professor at Tel Aviv University and the lead author of the IDF's code of ethics.

Oren Ziv, an Israeli journalist who was the first to report on the videos inside Israel, told ABC News the posts were emblematic of a worrying trend in Israeli society and its military.

“The loss of any moral compass and seeing the Palestinians as human beings in general…it is a long process for dozens of years," he said.

"Of course, after Oct. 7, I think it's very hard to the general Israeli public and for sure the soldiers on the front to see them as human beings and also to make the differentiation between Hamas and the people who committed the massacre on Oct. 7, and then civilians who live in Gaza," Ziv added.

U.S. officials expressed outrage after seven World Central Kitchen aid workers were killed on April 2 by Israeli air strikes.

"This week's horrific attack on the World Central Kitchen was not the first such incident. It must be the last," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said following the attack.

Daniel Hagari, a spokesman for the IDF, told ABC News that he was aware of the videos posted by soldiers but maintained the army is committed to adhering to its code of ethics.

PHOTO: IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari speaks with ABC News' Matt Gutman. (ABC News)

"This is the army of the people. And we follow the core, the values and the international law. Those that made the video, [and] not just a video about bragging…will be [met] with a punishment, a severe punishment," he said.

A group of Israeli soldiers is seen kneeling in what was a Gaza neighborhood before setting off explosives in a video filmed by an IDF soldier that was verified by ABC News.

The soldier said he was destroying 21 homes to commemorate the death of 21 Israeli soldiers in a Hamas ambush in January.

When asked about the video, the IDF said in a statement that it “examines events of this kind as well as reports of videos uploaded to social networks and handles them with command and disciplinary measures.”

Acts of vengeance and collective punishment are prohibited under international law, according to Professor Kasher.

PHOTO: Asa Kasher speaks with ABC News. (ABC News)

Kasher told ABC News that he was disturbed by other alleged incidents by IDF members, including one in the West Bank where a soldier was filmed reciting a Jewish prayer through the speakers of a mosque that the soldiers raided.

The IDF said it removed the soldiers from duty who were seen in that video.

In another video that went viral, IDF reservist Leroi Taljaar was seen jokingly saying "everything is fine" while on duty in Gaza before IDF soldiers detonated an explosive.

Taljaar, a South African citizen, told ABC News that the video was "a joke."

"And, I definitely wouldn't put a video up of where I knew that there was innocent civilians being killed," he said. "Me and my friends went through a very, very difficult time while we were there. And our way of getting over that difficulty was making dark comedy. Maybe it wasn't at the right time, at the right place."

Taljaar said that the IDF has not spoken to him about the incident; however, South Africa has now said it would prosecute dual-national soldiers like him if they tried to return to the country.

Taljaar said he wasn't concerned about the repercussions.

PHOTO: IDF reservist Leroi Taljaar speaks with ABC News. (ABC News)

"Let's first sort out the problems inside our country before we look to problems of other countries," he said. " [The South African government is] looking for problems in places where they can't really do anything anyway."

The incidents aren't limited to the rank-and-file members of the IDF.

MORE: Chef Jose Andres says Israel is committing 'war against humanity' in exclusive 'This Week' interview

ABC News verified a video showing a drone missile on an empty Gazan college building. The strike was ordered by a general who wasn't authorized to do so, according to officials.

Video of the strike on the Palestinian Institution of Higher Learning was posted by a soldier -- which is against IDF policy.

Israeli officials allege the building was used by Hamas as a weapons depo and said that the general who ordered the unauthorized strike was reprimanded.

PHOTO: Israeli soldiers look at destroyed buildings in the Gaza Strip as they stand near the Israeli-Gaza border, as seen from southern Israel, Apr. 9, 2024. (Leo Correa/AP)

Although tensions are high because of the violence of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack, which was also filmed and shared on social media, Israeli forces must adhere to their code of conduct, Amos Yadlin, former head of intelligence for the IDF told ABC News.

"It's against the rules of engagement and against the ethics of the IDF, and the IDF commanders have a duty to make it not happen and to make the discipline," he said.

IDF's conduct, ethics under scrutiny following soldiers' social media posts originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

This E-Mobility Company Opened Ghana’s First EV Assembly Plant To Contribute To Creating A More Sustainable Africa

Ngozi Nwanji
Tue, April 16, 2024 

Ghana is stepping up to the plate to be a part of Africa’s electric vehicle (EV) movement.

Wahu Mobility seems up for the challenge as it has opened Ghana’s first EV assembly plant that has the capacity to build about 200 e-bikes per month, CNN reports. The e-mobility brand was founded to create a more sustainable last-mile delivery option.

“It really kind of struck me that I didn’t want the mobility to be fulfilled by petrol motorbikes,” Wahu Mobility Co-Founder and CEO Valerie Labi told CNN. “By 2030, there will be 30 million delivery riders across Africa and it just made me think, as a continent, we are more conscious around becoming sustainable and moving to net zero.”

Labi added, “And transport was just a huge opportunity to make a difference in that way.”

According to the outlet, Wahu Mobility’s e-bikes take around four hours to charge. Labi also noted that the e-bikes were designed to suit Ghana’s infrastructure and road conditions. Additionally, to further support drivers making the transition to EV, the company offers a payment plan to offset charges. 

“The demand has been really high,” Wahu Mobility’s Head of Technology Ian Mbote shared. “Our vehicle not only plugs into the needs of a Ghanaian customer. It plugs into the needs of a South African customer, a Zambian customer. And this is why I see vast opportunity.” 

Labi also believes that with executing the right moves, the company could have the potential to secure partnerships across the African continent as well as sell to Europe, Asia, and additional markets.

“A lot of production has to happen in Asia, so looking at how we localize components is a huge opportunity for local artisans,” she said. “We can scale this facility up to 2,000 bikes a month.”

While Wahu Mobility’s team is confident in its vision for the future, the team is also cognizant of the high costs and lack of accessibility that comes with transitioning to EV.

“Africa as we know it is not your ideal scenario for grid power or conventional sources of power,” said Mbote. “Not many people have access to electricity as we would know it. In my opinion of how we can best tackle this and still scale e-mobility, we need to look at off grid solutions.”

Nonetheless, Labi shared that Wahu Mobility is selling its e-bikes in Togo, has a partnership with East Africa, and is exploring Northern African markets. Within the next two years, she hopes for her company’s e-bikes to be available in most major cities on the continent.

Damage found inside Glen Canyon Dam increases water risks on the Colorado River

Ian James
Tue, April 16, 2024 

In this 2022 photo, Lake Powell sits at low levels behind Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River in Page, Ariz. (Joshua Lott / Washington Post via Getty Images)


Federal officials have discovered damage inside Glen Canyon Dam that could force limits on how much Colorado River water is released at low reservoir levels, raising risks the Southwest could face shortages that were previously unforeseen.

The damage was recently detected in four 8-foot-wide steel tubes — called the river outlet works — that allow water to pass through the dam in northern Arizona when Lake Powell reaches low levels. Dam managers spotted deterioration in the tubes after conducting an exercise last year that sent large flows from the dam into the Grand Canyon.

To reduce risks of additional damage, federal Bureau of Reclamation officials have determined that flows should be reduced in the event of low reservoir levels. The infrastructure problems in one of the country’s largest dams have created new complications as water managers representing seven Western states negotiate long-term plans for reducing water use to address the river’s chronic supply-demand gap and adapt to the effects of climate change.


“Because of the dam's design, there are real structural risks under low elevations that could potentially leave stranded as much water in Lake Powell as California’s largest reservoir, Lake Shasta,” said JB Hamby, California’s Colorado River commissioner.

Such a scenario could lead to significant unexpected cuts in water deliveries to California, Nevada, Arizona and Mexico.

“There are a couple of ways to deal with this, absent an infrastructure fix,” Hamby said in an email. “One, reduce releases to Arizona, California, Nevada, and Mexico.”

But he said that could be a violation of the 1922 Colorado River Compact, which guarantees that the states in the river’s lower basin receive a certain quantity of water.

A second option, Hamby said, would affect the four states in the river’s upper basin: Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico. He said that could include reducing water use in the upper basin states or releasing water from upstream reservoirs.

“An engineering solution is preferable to both of those options,” Hamby said.

Efforts to analyze potential fixes appear to be in the early stages.

The problems came to light at a meeting in Arizona last month. Brenda Burman, general manager of the Central Arizona Project, presented a diagram showing the dam's eight large tubes, called penstocks, that water normally passes through, as well as the smaller outlet pipes that enable water releases at low reservoir levels.

“They have some unknown issues about how these river outlet works would perform. That's very difficult new information to hear,” Burman said.

She said officials found sediment, "thinning in the pipes" and "cavitation." Cavitation refers to the formation and collapse of air bubbles in flowing water and is known to damage propellers, pumps and other structures. Under certain flow conditions, cavitation can pit and tear into metal, damaging the infrastructure.

Read more: As the Colorado River shrinks, federal officials consider overhauling Glen Canyon Dam

Federal officials are analyzing how to address the problems, Burman said, adding that the Bureau of Reclamation is “known for being able to come up with engineering solutions to engineering problems.”

“We very much expect to be working with Reclamation in the coming months to investigate exactly what can be done,” she said.

The problems with a crucial part of the dam’s water-delivery system, which were first reported by the Arizona Daily Star, have raised new questions about what sort of fix would be most effective, how much it would cost, and how long repairs could take.

The Colorado River supplies water used by cities, farms and tribal nations across seven states and northern Mexico. The river has long been overallocated, and its average flow has declined dramatically since 2000. Research has shown that global warming is intensifying drought years and contributing significantly to the reduced flows.

The water level in Lake Powell, the nation’s second-largest reservoir, now sits at 33% of capacity — its surface about 68 feet above the lowest level at which the dam can continue generating electricity. The snowpack in the upper Colorado River Basin this year has been above average, and the snowmelt will give reservoir levels a boost for now.

But long-term projections show that substantial reductions in water use will be necessary in the coming years to reduce risks of reservoirs reaching critically low levels.

The infrastructure problems at Glen Canyon Dam add another layer of complications and uncertainty.

Read more: Colorado River in Crisis: A Times series on the Southwest’s shrinking water lifeline

The Bureau of Reclamation detailed some of the agency’s initial steps in a March 26 memo. Richard LaFond, director of the agency’s Technical Service Center, wrote that if the reservoir were to decline below the minimum level for generating electricity, “there are concerns with relying on the river outlet works."

The latest federal projections show the reservoir is expected to remain above that level for the next two years.

LaFond said his team is using scale models in a laboratory to study how the issues could be addressed.

The Bureau of Reclamation responded to questions from The Times by email, saying the outlet tubes “were not designed to be used indefinitely to deliver water at low elevations.”

“It is important to note that our knowledge will increase as time goes on and that we may need to adjust our actions, as appropriate, consistent with best emerging information, engineering standards, and current science,” the Bureau of Reclamation said.

Read more: As Colorado River shrinks, California farmers urge 'one-dam solution'

The agency’s officials said while they study the issues, they plan to do maintenance that will include “pipe recoating." They said they don't yet have cost estimates for fixes.

Lake Powell has shimmered between red canyon walls along the Arizona-Utah border since Glen Canyon Dam was completed in the 1960s.

Environmental activists, who have long urged federal officials to consider draining the reservoir, said the dam’s internal problems create serious risks of unanticipated water shortages in Southern California, Arizona, Nevada and Mexico.

“We need to have a discussion about how the dam's antique plumbing could affect 25 million people downstream in low water conditions — especially persistent low water conditions, as we are expecting,” said Kyle Roerink, executive director of the Great Basin Water Network. “We need the bureau to step up and help us all have a better idea of how to fix it.”

Read more: A river guide's view of Lake Powell's decline and the depths of the Colorado River crisis

Roerink’s organization, together with the Utah Rivers Council and Glen Canyon Institute, had warned in a 2022 report that the “antiquated plumbing system inside Glen Canyon Dam represents a liability,” with risks of precisely the type of problems that have come to light.

Roerink called for the Biden administration to bring its analysis of Glen Canyon Dam’s vulnerabilities into its ongoing process of considering long-term plans for reducing water use.

The Bureau of Reclamation plans to analyze alternatives for new rules to govern river management starting after 2026, when the current rules expire.

The federal government has received separate proposals from the upper and lower basin states, tribes, environmental groups and water researchers.

The risk of a choke point at Glen Canyon Dam not only increases uncertainty, Roerink said, but also “sets up potential for more acrimony.”

He said there should be an open discussion, as part of the federal review, to analyze the problem and what can be done about it.

That would “create an opportunity for the public to vet, scrutinize and understand everything that the bureau knows, and also consider the known unknowns as well,” Roerink said. “Let's talk about uncertainty, and what that could mean.”

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

New Lake Mead, Lake Powell projections: A breakdown of changes in April’s 24-month study

Greg Haas
Mon, April 15, 2024 



LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Projections for Lake Mead show little change after winter snowpack reached 111% of normal levels, but Lake Powell is now expected to go up over the next two years.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s 24-month study — a forecast updated once a month — shows Lake Mead is projected to drop about 15 feet by the end of July, then climb as high as 1,063.64 feet by February 2025 before dropping to 1,048.24 at the end of July 2025. Those levels closely follow projections issued last month.

That 15-foot drop was anticipated as the hot summer months set in. But changes in the projections show Lake Powell won’t see the same effects, 8½ feet by next summer, a big improvement over projections made just a month ago.

Fluctuations in reservoir levels are normal as seasons change, and spring runoff from the mountains feeds reservoirs all through the system. In recent years, the importance of these fluctuations has grown as a water shortage was declared in August 2022.

Lake Mead was at 1,074.10 feet as of noon on April 15. Lake levels are reported as the elevation of the water’s surface. Lake Powell is at 3,558.25 feet.

Lake Mead is the biggest reservoir in the U.S., storing Colorado River water that’s critical to Nevada, Arizona, California and tribal governments downstream from Hoover Dam. Lake Powell is the second-biggest reservoir. Below are the pages in this month’s 24-month study showing “most probable” levels at both reservoirs over the next two years:
Lake Mead projections as of April 2024:

See the column “Reservoir Elev” second from right:

Lake Powell projections as of April 2024:

See the column “Reservoir Elev” fourth from right.


Just a month ago, Lake Powell was on track to hit its highest level of the year by the end of June, reaching 3,580.86 feet. But that changed in the April projections, which now show Lake Powell hitting 3,587.69 as June ends — a difference of about 7 feet. That translates to a 29-foot increase from spring runoff.

The difference in projections by March 2025 is even greater, with the new report indicating Lake Powell’s lowest level next year will be 3,569.85 feet — about 9 feet higher than projections from last month.

And by June of 2025, Lake Powell will be at 3,599.03 feet — 8½ feet higher than Reclamation’s forecast last month.

Last week, more attention was directed at Lake Powell and problems inside Glen Canyon Dam as reports surfaced that a secondary set of pipes known as the “river outlet works” have been eroding from the inside. Those pipes aren’t used frequently, but if Lake Powell drops drastically they would have to be used to send water downstream to Lake Mead.

April 24, 2023 – Glen Canyon Dam High-Flow Release (U.S. Bureau of Reclamation)

A Reclamation report on damage to the pipes advised against relying on those pipes. That follows on a 2022 report publicized by conservationists that the river outlet works couldn’t even carry the volume of water necessary to meet requirements under the Colorado River Compact — the so-called “Law of the River” that for a century has governed how the river is managed as it flows through dams on its way to the Gulf of California.

Changes in the projections this month seem to show Reclamation is continuing to make Lake Powell a priority to guard against the possibility that the reservoir could drop again to critical levels.

This year’s snowpack has already dropped from 111% of normal to closer to 100% just two weeks after the typical “peak” monitoring date of April 1. The blue line on the graph below shows 2024’s snow water equivalent (SWE) compared to the previous 10 years. The light blue dashed line shows the median level over the past 30 years.


Spring snowstorms are important to lifting snow levels beyond the April 1 peak, but they haven’t come yet.

Maps from Reclamation’s website show SWE levels have dropped to 104% of normal (blue box at the center of the map) with a big boost from the Lower San Juan region, which is currently at 257% of normal.

The Colorado Headwaters subregion high up in the Rocky Mountains is the most important of the nine subregions that make up the Upper Colorado River Basin. Snowpack there is the source of the Colorado River. It is currently at 100% of normal.

Former Naval Officer Raises Alarm About “World-Changing” Underwater UFO Captured on Video

Noor Al-Sibai
Wed, April 17, 2024 

Wet Works

A report about a strange craft that appeared to defy both aerial and aquatic physics is apparently making a splash among the ex-military set.

Tim Gallaudet, an oceanographer and former Naval rear admiral who served as the author of a March white paper about so-called "unidentified submerged objects" or USOs, told Fox News this week that he considers it both "scientifically valid" and critical to national security to study these phenomena.

Released by the newly-convened Sol Foundation, a think tank dedicated to studying what the military calls "unidentified anomalous phenomena" (UAPs), the 29-page report centers on a 2019 video taken aboard the Omaha off the coast of San Diego.

The video, which was leaked to filmmaker Jeremy Corbell and verified by the Pentagon as a legit instance of Naval-recorded UAP in 2021, raises more questions than it answers — and in both his interview and the Sol Foundation report, Gallaudet suggests that the strange craft should be treated as a threat.

"Pilots, credible observers, and calibrated military instrumentation have recorded objects accelerating at rates and crossing the air-sea interface in ways not possible for anything made by humans," Gallaudet wrote in the think tank's first report.

https://twitter.com/Dagnum_PI/status/1654924652119232512

 

Dark Ocean

While nobody can explain what exactly is going on in the USS Omaha video, the capabilities of the craft it documented could jeopardize American maritime security, Gallaudet told Fox, "which is already weakened by our relative ignorance about the global ocean."

"The fact that unidentified objects with unexplainable characteristics are entering US water space and the [Department of Defense] is not raising a giant red flag is a sign that the government is not sharing all it knows about all-domain anomalous phenomena," the former Naval officer continued, perhaps referencing the Pentagon's UAP-hunting All-domain Anomalous Resolution Office (AARO).

While UFOs generally get most of the attention — be it from the government, academia, or conspiracy theorists — Gallaudet and others consider USOs to be equally threatening as their flying counterparts, if not more so.

Scot Christenson, the director of the US Naval Institute, wrote in a 2022 editorial for Naval History Magazine that although there has to date been "no documented damage to a plane caused by a UFO," mysterious sea creatures and other USOs "have presented the Navy with the greatest hazard."

While there's a wide gap between little green men and the storied krakens of the deep, the military's main priority when it comes to unidentified objects or creatures in the air or in the sea is safety — and if there's video footage out there of "world-changing" crafts, as Gallaudet put it in his report, that's definitely something that's going to concern the Pentagon.

"To meet the security and scientific challenges," he continued in the Sol Foundation report, "transmedium UAP and USOs should be elevated to national ocean research priorities."

Kazakhstan’s Compensation Claims Against Kashagan Oil Firms Jump to $150 billion

Nariman Gizitdinov
Wed, April 17, 2024



(Bloomberg) -- Kazakhstan has increased its arbitration claims against international oil companies that developed the Kashagan oil field to more than $150 billion, demanding compensation for lost revenue in addition to a dispute over costs, according to people familiar with the matter.

Kazakhstan’s government was already involved in a $15 billion arbitration over production costs at the giant field, which has been beset by delays, technical difficulties and cost overruns since development began more than 20 years ago. The additional claim is for as much as $138 billion in lost revenue, reflecting the calculation of the value of oil production that was promised to the government but not delivered by the field developers, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information isn’t public.

There is a further compensation claim related to contracts in the Kashagan development that were allegedly tainted by corruption, the people said.

The row underscores the difficulty of operating in Central Asia’s largest oil-producing nation, where major international companies face challenging environmental and geological conditions, plus a government that takes a robust approach to maximizing value from its production-sharing agreements.

Still, in earlier disputes with oil majors the government of Kazakhstan has demonstrated a certain degree of flexibility, on occasion settling for less than was initially claimed. Last year, the nation signaled it could consider resolving its disputes with the Kashagan partners through direct talks.

Companies including Eni SpA, Shell Plc, Exxon Mobil Corp. and TotalEnergies SE invested about $55 billion to develop Kashagan, which currently produces just under 400,000 barrels a day of oil. While the field was one of the biggest discoveries in decades, it also brought numerous technical challenges, from a sea that was frozen for almost half the year to a reservoir that contained high concentrations of poisonous gas.

Kashagan pumped its first oil in September 2013 — eight years later than targeted and $45 billion over its initial budget — only to shut down a month later after leaks were detected in a pipeline. Production resumed in 2016 and the field gradually reached output of much as 270,000 barrels a day in 2017. Eni, the lead developer in the project’s early stages, had estimated that Kashagan would reach a plateau in production of at least 1.5 million barrels of oil a day.

The North Caspian Operating Co., the joint venture that runs the project, said in a statement that it has as number of disputes concerning the application of certain provisions of the Kashagan production sharing agreement that are subject to arbitration.

“The contracting companies consider that they have acted in accordance with” that contract, according to the statement. NCOC declined to comment further due to the confidential nature of the proceedings.

Kazakhstan’s Energy Ministry declined to disclose any details of the disputes, saying that “this is a purely commercial dispute which the parties intend to resolve through arbitration procedures.”

“Eni confirms that an arbitration procedure has been commenced by the Kazakh authorities,” the company said in a statement. The Italian oil firm declined to comment on specific terms of the process, but said in general that it does not believe, “the basis for the claims or the specific amounts of compensation requested to be reasonably substantiated or credible.”

Shell declined to comment. Exxon referred questions to NCOC. TotalEnergies didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Compensation Claims

Prior to the latest increase in claims, Kazakhstan was already alleging that the Kashagan partners should not have deducted $13 billion of costs from the revenue received by the government. That amount has now increased to $15 billion, the people said.

The companies are also facing a separate $5.1 billion fine for allegedly breaking environmental rules, after Kazakhstan’s court of appeal upheld government claims over sulfur storage.

The operator of the field has denied being at fault in the cases related to the environmental and cost claims.

Kazakhstan has been successful before in challenging the international majors for alleged failures at the country’s two largest oil developments. In 2020, Shell, Eni and their partners in the Karachaganak oil and gas venture paid $1.3 billion to settle a long-running dispute with the state over revenue sharing. In 2008, the Kashagan partners agreed to pay $5 billion to Kazakhstan and sell a larger stake in the venture to state-run KazMunayGas to settle a dispute over delays and cost overruns.

--With assistance from Laura Hurst, Francois de Beaupuy, Kevin Crowley and Alberto Brambilla.

France evicts hundreds of migrants from Paris squat ahead of Olympics

Estelle Emonet
Wed, April 17, 2024 

Among those evicted were women and children (Emmanuel Dunand)


French authorities on Wednesday evicted hundreds of migrants from a squat in a southern suburb of Paris with just 100 days to go until the Olympics, encouraging them to board buses to other parts of France.

Charities have accused the authorities of seeking to clear homeless people from the French capital to make it look better for the Games from July 26 to August 11.

The abandoned office building in Vitry-sur-Seine had been home to up to 450 migrants, most of them documented but awaiting social housing, according to non-governmental organisations who visited to help them.

Several had left the building earlier in the week after authorities announced the upcoming eviction.

Clutching their belongings in bags, suitcases or trolleys, some 300 people who had remained left calmly on Wednesday morning under the eye of police in riot gear, looking worried about their next step.

Most were young men, but several women with children were also among the crowd.

One by one, holding documents in plastic folders, they approached immigration officials sitting behind tables to explain their situation in broken French or stilted English.

Buses waited outside, ready to take them to the central city of Orleans or the southwestern city of Bordeaux.

But many people said they did not want to leave the Paris region.

"I want to stay here," said Abakar, a 29-year-old from Sudan who did not give his second name.

He said he was in Paris to follow a logistics course and had been promised a job in a supermarket.

- 'Bordeaux is nice' -

At one table, a woman official tried to convince another young man to try his luck in Bordeaux.

"You know in France, there isn't just Paris. Bordeaux is nice, it's warmer than here," she said.

But he too was attending training in the capital region, and so she directed him to another table where a colleague was in charge of accommodation near Paris.

Merci Daniel, a mother from Sudan, said she had sent her children to stay in a nearby shelter because there was "too much violence" inside the squat.

But she did not want to leave the area as she was scared she would no longer see them if she did.

An official found her a room at a hotel outside Paris for several days.

Migrant and homeless charities have accused the authorities of seeking to remove the homeless from Paris and its outskirts before tourists arrive for the Olympics.

"There are spaces in shelters near Paris, but clearly they want to move them away from the capital. Especially before the Olympics," said Paul Alauzy, a representative from medical charity Medecins du Monde (Doctors of the World).

Some mayors in rural and small-town France have also become increasingly angry over the transfer of migrants from the capital to their communities.

Police clear France's largest squat ahead of Paris Olympics

RFI
Wed, April 17, 2024 



France's largest squat, which housed up to 450 mostly legal immigrants, was on Wednesday evacuated in the southern suburbs of Paris – 100 days ahead of the Olympic Games.

The operation to evict people from a disused factory in Vitry-sur-Seine reportedly took place without incident, with some occupants already having left the premises in anticipation of the arrival of police.

Some 250 officers were mobilised according to the Val-de-Marne prefecture. Shelters were planned for those evicted, both in the Ile-de-France area surrounding Paris and other regions, such as Bordeaux.

Carrying their belongings, the 300 or so remaining occupants – men, women and children – left the premises shortly after 8am.

Some had been living at the site for several months, either unable to find accommodation in the private sector or still awaiting social housing.

According to the United Migrants NGO, which regularly provides assistance, 80 percent of migrants are legally residents of France.

The Revers de la Médaille (Flip Side of the Coin) group, which brings together NGOs that help people living on the streets, has for months warned of the plight of the homeless, whose makeshift camps are being dismantled as the Olympic Games approach.

Mohammed Sayed, an Eritrean, had been living in the squat for three years.

He has refugee status and works in electrical maintenance for the construction company Eiffage on a permanent contract, but has been unable to find accommodation.


Read also:
Homeless charities warn of 'social cleansing' ahead of Paris Olympics
Anger as police clear homeless from tents along banks of Seine
French NGO warns situation is getting worse for homeless people

Justin Trudeau's government raises taxes on wealthiest Canadians in federal budget

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, from left, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland and cabinet ministers pose for a photo before the tabling of the federal budget on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)

Associated Press
Updated Tue, Apr 16, 2024

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ’s government announced Tuesday it is imposing higher taxes on the wealthiest Canadians as part of the federal budget.

The budget proposes to increase the capital gains inclusion rate, which refers to the taxable share of profit made on the sale of assets.

The taxable portion of capital gains above $250,000 Canadian (US$181,000) would rise from half to two-thirds, which the federal government says will only affect 0.1% of Canadians and raise nearly $20 billion Canadian (US$14.5 billion) in revenue over five years.

“I know there will be many voices raised in protest. No one likes paying more tax, even — or perhaps particularly — those who can afford it the most,” Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said.

“But before they complain too bitterly, I would like Canada’s one per cent — Canada’s 0.1% — to consider this: What kind of Canada do you want to live in?”

Freeland presented the federal budget, which pledges $53 billion Canadian (US$38 billion) in new spending that she says is focused on economic justice for younger generations.

Freeland denied that her latest budget is mainly a political exercise — but nonetheless acknowledged that for anyone under 40 in Canada, it’s “just harder to establish yourself” than it was for the generations that came before.

Freeland delivered a budget that she said capped the federal deficit at $40 billion Canadian (US$29 billion).

Trudeau's Liberal government is trailing badly in the polls amid concerns over the cost of living in Canada.

“This budget will do very little to improve Liberal prospects. They will be going down to defeat, and they know it,” said Nelson Wiseman, a political science professor at the University of Toronto. “Their only hope is if Justin Trudeau steps aside and a new Liberal leader is selected. And, even then, it would be difficult for them to prevail.”

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, left, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland and cabinet ministers pose for a photo before the tabling of the federal budget on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. 

Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau, right, and Prime Minister of France Gabriel Attal, look around the Prime Minister's office in West Block on Parliament Hill, before a meeting in Ottawa on Thursday, April 11, 2024.

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, left, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland are joined by cabinet ministers for a photo before the tabling of the federal budget on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. 

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland and cabinet ministers pose for a photo before the tabling of the federal budget on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland holds a press conference in the media-lockup prior to tabling the Federal Budget in Ottawa, Ontario, on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)

Canada's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland, center, presents the federal budget in the House of Commons in Ottawa, Ontario, on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. The Liberal government has already unveiled significant planks of the budget, including billions of dollars to build more homes, expand child care and beef up the military.

Canada's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland, center, tables the federal budget in the House of Commons in Ottawa, Ontario, on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. The Liberal government has already unveiled significant planks of the budget, including billions of dollars to build more homes, expand child care and beef up the military. 

Canada's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland rises to present the federal budget in the House of Commons in Ottawa, Ontario, as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, lower right, listens on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. The Liberal government has already unveiled significant planks of the budget, including billions of dollars to build more homes, expand child care and beef up the military. 

(Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press via AP)

'Definition of a toxic work environment.' Every worker quits Stark Soil & Water District

Tim Botos, Canton Repository
Updated Wed, April 17, 2024 

Every employee at the Stark Soil and Water Conservation District office in Massillon has quit the agency. To stay afloat, the district's volunteer board of supervisors had to temporarily outsource most of the agency's workload and divvy up other duties to the board members themselves.


MASSILLON ‒ The Stark Soil & Water Conservation District is a muddy mess.

Every employee of the government office has quit. To stay afloat, the district's volunteer board of supervisors had to temporarily outsource most of the agency's workload and divvy up other duties to the board members themselves.

Former employees blame the mass exodus on Executive Director John Weedon. The five-member board, they added, ignored signals that the office was ready to implode.


"The definition of a toxic work environment; that was Stark Soil & Water," said Taylor Noble, a drainage specialist who left on March 27 for a job in the Pacfic Northwest.

"Weird, backstabbing kind of stuff," said former Outreach Technician Adrienne Bock, who left in October.

"We'd all went to the board and nothing was done," said Rome Marinelli, a drainage specialist who quit last year.

By the time its staff of seven employees had eroded to three by mid-March, it was too late. The floodgates opened. The remaining trio was gone by month's end.

Among that group was Weedon, who skipped a board meeting and resigned on March 18. His departure came days after the board gave him written warnings for having alcohol in his office and for creating public documents about employees.

John S. Weedon, who recently resigned as executive director of the Stark Soil & Water Conservation District, is shown in this November 2023 file photo. The agency's entire staff has quit, blaming him for the mass exodus.

The latter was a series of writings dubbed "Game Plan," which read like a scheme on how to win over certain employees while making others quit by isolating them, making one feel bored, and holding another to task "so that he snaps."

Assistant Stark County Prosecutor Jerry Yost was called in by the board the day Weedon quit because it requested assistance on how to move forward and continue functioning.

"Mr. Weedon seemed to have difficulty gaining the respect and cooperation of his staff and the difficult work environment appears to have continued until the whole system failed," Yost wrote in an email response for this story.

Weedon, reached by the Repository, said, "There are two sides to every story."

He said he'd accepted board reprimands last month for the alcohol and his "Game Plan" documents and that both sides had moved on. However, after careful thought in the following days, Weedon said he realized he and the board were moving in different directions, which is why he resigned.

"And I never fired anyone," he said.

He said he was willing to remain as director until a replacement was hired, an offer the board rejected.

"My intention was not to leave the district high and dry," Weedon said.
Stark Soil & Water: Why did everyone quit?

Public records and interviews, along with office communications and files obtained by The Canton Repository, reveal details of an ongoing divide between staff and Weedon.

It first came to a head in the spring of 2023, said Bock. She said she saw Weedon touch the butt of another female employee, then overheard him tell a sexually charged joke to another female in the office.

"It was uncomfortable," Bock said.

She said she couldn't complain to Weedon so she reached out to Board Chairman Ann Wolfe. Bock said no one interviewed her further about the complaints.

Wolfe declined comment for this story.

"All those false allegations were investigated by the board," Weedon said.

Noble said the board's inaction only fortified the staff's resentment of Weedon and the board.

On one side was Weedon and Sarah Clutter, formerly Sarah Matheny, who left last year only to return in December as a special projects coordinator. The other side, to varying degrees, was everyone else in the office, which included those hired during the past year.

"(Weedon) knew we had went to the board ... and he retaliated," said Marinelli. "It's really too bad because I loved my job. But I felt like I had to leave."

Rome Marinelli, a former drainage specialist at the Stark Soil & Water Conservation District, didn't want to quit the agency. "I loved my job. But I felt like I had to leave."

Clutter, who now works for the Canton city engineer, did not return a phone call seeking comment for this story.

Weedon's "Game Plan" documents seem to illustrate how much office relationships had deteriorated. They appear to have been written a year ago to Clutter because she's the only one not referred to by name.

"We both should look for other jobs," it states. "I don’t want to work for or supervise people that think so little of me or treat you the way they did.

"We have a good shot to survive but it is uncertain given the unprofessional board and backstabbing staff. Our goal is to reduce the chances of being fired so we have the time to land elsewhere."

The plan lays out the following "core principles:"

"Trust no one. Only business-like language on work email, teams, work phone text. Rely on our personal phones for the other stuff. Reduce the time we are together in front of staff. Everything we say can and will be used against us. Pretend the board is in the room. Document, document, document."

It goes on to decribe how to handle the board, and the need to find a legitimate candidate to run in a fall election.

Then, this, "Break up the pack by changing expectations," it states. "Go from informal to formal organization; go by the book. Have them turn on each other. Keep them so busy they don’t have time or energy to support each other."

And ultimately, "Make them jealous of each other (unsure how do this; still thinking)," it states. "This requires me to be ruthless; this requires you to stop being (maternal)."

On the other hand, office documents indicate Weedon had reprimanded an employee for using a shared cellphone system feature to track locations of Weedon, Clutter and others, mostly during non-working hours.

"Why are you tracking staff and recording staff locations when neither Sarah nor myself have every asked you to do this?" he wrote. "This is disappointing ... inappropriate ... unsettling ... "
Lots of help to keep operation going

Presented with a clean slate, Yost said, the board is focused on moving the district forward.

"Currently the board’s plan is to hire a director and that way the director will have some input on the selection of the staff," Yost said. "This did not happen when (Weedon) took over for the former director and the transition was not an easy one."

Each of Ohio's 88 counties has a soil and water district. Although they fall under oversight of the Ohio Department of Agriculture, each tax-funded district's operations are run by independent elected boards of supervisors.

In Stark's case, that's Wolfe, the chairman, Vice Chair Natalie Hammer, fiscal agent Rodney Campbell, Secretary Andy Wentling and member Rick Horner.

Its duties include handling drainage complaints, performing storm water inspections and reviewing development plans on projects of more than one acre.

Every employee at the Stark Soil and Water Conservation District office in Massillon has quit the agency. To stay afloat, the district's volunteer board of supervisors had to temporarily outsource most of the agency's workload and divvy up other duties to the board members themselves.

Yost said the board has received and reviewed some applications for its executive director post.

For now, he said, the board has hired former Cuyahoga County Soil & Water Director Janine Rybka at $30 per hour to temporarily oversee the office.

The board has informal agreements with Summit and Cuyahoga counties to handle some work; pledges for help from the Department of Agriculture; and assurances that board members will share duties to investigate drainage complaints.

This month, the board also agreed to a contract with EnviroScience, a firm in Stow.

The private firm will be paid as much as $288,000 through the end of the year to handle stormwater pollution prevention plan reviews and approvals, construction site inspections and complaints and violation support.

Reach Tim at 330-580-8333 or tim.botos@cantonrep.com.On X: @tbotosREP

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Mass exodus at Stark Soil & Water office; all work now outsourced

X may start charging new users to post, says Elon Musk

Martyn Landi, 

PA Technology Correspondent
Tue, 16 April 2024 


X is planning to start charging all new users a “small fee” in order to interact with posts, the social media site’s owner, Elon Musk, has said.

Replying to an account which had posted about the possible changes, the Tesla and Space X boss said charging new users to post, like and reply is the “only way” to stop fake or bot accounts on the platform.

Last year, X, formerly known as Twitter, launched a pilot scheme in New Zealand and the Philippines which required new users to pay a one-dollar-a-year subscription in order to access key features.

Mr Musk’s comments suggest that trial will now be rolled out more widely.


“Unfortunately, a small fee for new user write access is the only way to curb the relentless onslaught of bots,” he said.

“Current AI (and troll farms) can pass ‘Are you a bot?’ with ease.

“The onslaught of fake accounts also uses up the available namespace, so many good handles are taken as a result.”

In a further reply to another account which questioned the approach, Mr Musk said the fee might only be in place for the first three months after a new user joins the platform.

The billionaire said eradicating fake and bot accounts was a key priority for him when taking over the platform in late 2022. However, many users have since reported seeing an increase in spam content, in part due to Mr Musk’s substantial cutbacks to staff, including the firm’s content moderation team.

The revamp to the verification system, which means anyone can now pay to be verified on the platform and have their posts and replies placed more prominently on the site, has also been attributed by some to the rising visibility of spam content.

Mr Musk has previously suggested that all users could eventually have to pay to use X.

Since his takeover, it has been reported that the platform has seen substantial revenue decline as advertisers have abandoned it over concerns about Mr Musk’s belief in “absolute free speech” and his tolerance of more controversial content.

It has led the company to turn to subscription options – including X Premium, which enables users to pay to be verified – in order to open up new income streams.

Bras are a ‘basic necessity’ and should not be subject to VAT – radiographers

BRAS IN THE WORKPLACE

SHOULD BE A UNION ISSUE

Josie Clarke, PA Consumer Affairs Correspondent
Mon, 15 April 2024 



Bras are a basic necessity and should not be subject to VAT, according to radiographers.

The tax disproportionately affects women and could be considered discriminatory under the Equality Act, delegates at the Society of Radiographers will hear at their annual conference on Tuesday.

Diagnostic radiographers carry out X-rays, MRI and CT scans, which can be used to identify the musculoskeletal problems caused by poorly-fitted bras.

Proposing the motion during the three-day conference in Leeds, delegates will say: “The imposition of VAT on bras disproportionately affects women. Taxing bras could be considered discriminatory as per the Equality Act 2010.


“While there may not be any health conditions related to wearing a bra, there could be some musculoskeletal ones, particularly if you wear a larger cup size.

“Those who are wearing a bra size D or above often get backaches, aching shoulders and neck pain, because of the weight of their breasts. Wearing a good-quality, well-fitted bra could alleviate some of these issues, and reduce time off sick for musculoskeletal issues.”

Delegates will liken bras to menstrual products as a necessity, which should therefore not be subject to VAT.

In January, VAT on period pants was dropped following a two-year campaign by brands, retailers, women’s groups and environmentalists dating back to 2021, when the so-called “tampon tax” was dropped from other period products such as pads, tampons and menstrual cups.

A 20% tax on period pants, which are designed to be worn as an alternative to using tampons and sanitary towels, had remained because they were classified as garments.

Women who have had breast cancer surgery – whether a mastectomy, partial mastectomy or lumpectomy – are exempt from VAT when buying certain bras.