Tuesday, September 24, 2024

On The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Trudeau says he understands Canadian 'frustration'

CBC
Mon, September 23, 2024 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, left, appeared as a guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Monday. (Blair Gable/Reuters; Ringo Chiu/Reuters - image credit)


Prime Minister Justin Trudeau used his debut appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Monday to make his case for another term despite facing existential challenges to his leadership and mounting "frustration" from Canadians struggling with the cost of living.

Sitting for the late night talk show interview the day before a non-confidence motion against his government, Trudeau was asked why his political opponents might be trying to get him out of office after nearly a decade in power. In response, Trudeau said he believed the cost of living is to blame.

"Well, it is a really tough time in Canada right now. People are hurting. People are having trouble paying for groceries, paying for rent, filling up the tank… We've lost a little ground over the past decades on building houses, so the housing crisis is a little sharper," he said.

People 'sometimes looking at change'

Trudeau said he believes Canada's economic outlook is slightly more positive than the United States' "on a macro level," but conceded Canadians "don't feel it when they're buying groceries.

"People are frustrated and the idea that maybe they want an election now is something that my opponents are trying to bank on because... People are taking a lot out on me for understandable reasons. I've been here and I've been steering us through all these things and people are sometimes looking at change," he continued.

Trudeau said he was determined to "keep fighting" for another term as prime minister.

The exchange was the most pointed during an interview with a largely sunny tone, despite the prime minister facing a far darker mood in Ottawa. Trudeau's government is expected to face a non-confidence motion Tuesday from the Conservative party, which is riding a double-digit advantage in the polls.

The motion would be the first step toward an early election if passed, but it is destined to fail as the NDP and Bloc Quebecois have already said they will vote it down and allow the Liberals to survive.


Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, flanked by his security, waves as he arrives to the CBS studios for the filming of "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" in New York on Sept. 23, 2024.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, flanked by his security, waves as he arrives to the CBS studios for the filming of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in New York on Monday. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

Still, the political play is another test of Trudeau's leadership after a bruising summer that ended with the Liberals losing the governance agreement with the NDP and two long-held seats in a pair of byelections.

Aside from the brief exchange about the non-confidence vote, Colbert and Trudeau bantered throughout most of the interview Monday about trivial questions Americans might have for Canadians — like why Canadian change ends up in Americans' pockets, whether Canadian bacon is the same as ham and whether the nation "burned" money with the image of the late Queen Elizabeth after her death in 2022.

Trudeau did not take an opportunity to criticize Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when Colbert said the latter has been referred to as "Canada's Trump." Instead, the prime minister responded with common campaign points about the Liberals' policies on climate change, dental care and $10-a-day childcare.

Trudeau also sidestepped a joke about a conspiracy theory falsely claiming Haitian immigrants were eating cats and dogs in Springfield, Ohio, which was repeated by former U.S. president Donald Trump during a presidential debate.

"I'm gonna move right past that one," Trudeau said.

Colbert did not otherwise ask Trudeau to weigh in on the U.S. presidential election between Trump and Vice-President Kamala Harris.

The interview was shot during Trudeau's trip to New York, where Trudeau met with leaders ahead of the 78th gathering of the United Nations General Assembly. The Late Show is largely tailored to an American audience but airs in Canada. Interview clips are also shared across Instagram and TikTok, where the show has nearly five million followers.

RuPaul Charles, the host of the show RuPaul's Drag Race, was also a guest on Monday but did not interact with Trudeau. The prime minister made an appearance on the Canadian version of the drag queen competition series last year.



  • Trudeau on Colbert: From representing ‘Canada with class’ to ‘campaign propaganda', Canadians divided over PM's late-night interview

    Canadians are breaking down Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's performance Stephen Colbert's American talk show following his appearance Monday night as he faces a non-confidence motion




    Joy Joshi
    ·Writer, Yahoo News Canada
    Tue, Sept 24, 2024

  • Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Monday night appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was one of the top trending conversations online, as the Liberal Party leader’s performance was picked apart by Canadians.

    PM Trudeau, who has been tanking in polls amid recent setbacks between losses in key Liberal strongholds and losing the support of the NDP at the federal level, kicked off the week fielding questions about Canada’s changing political landscape and the key challenges faced by Canadians on a daily basis.

    The PM noted how Canadians are going through a “tough time” and are “taking a lot out on me for understandable reasons” since he is the one steering the ship through current problems facing the country.

    Many people thanked him for being a “true leader” in acknowledging the dissatisfaction among Canadians towards him while also drawing comparisons with Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre.

    PM Trudeau making a case for Canadians and bringing up issues where Canada is leading on at the world stage — climate change, universal health care and dental care for low-income Canadians — resonated with many of his supporters.

    However, his critics remained unconvinced with many sharing their hot takes online and describing the discussion as “somewhat bland” while shifting the focus to the healthcare crisis and expensive groceries in Canada.

    A part of the night’s discussion was focused on Colbert asking Trudeau about the rise in far-right nationalism and the growing division among Canadians politically. Colbert also touched on Pierre Poilievre, who he said has been called “Canada’s Trump.” To which Trudeau responded saying “we’re not some magical place of unicorns and rainbows all the time.”

    Colbert saying that Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has been described as “Canada’s Trump” sparked mixed reactions from Canadians, some of whom found it funny while others took offence and called Trudeau’s appearance a “campaign propaganda.”

    Adding more to his response to Colbert on Canadians being divided, Trudeau cited an example of the Canada Dental Care Plan which he claims has helped 700,000 Canadians so far but the Conservative leader fails to acknowledge it.

    “There’s a big argument right now about whether dental care even exists,” Trudeau said.

    “We’ve delivered it to 700,000 people across the country and my opponent is gaslighting us and saying, ‘Dental care doesn’t even exist yet.'”

    Earlier in September, Conservative MP Stephen Ellis said the government failed in the delivery of subsidized dental care and claimed most Canadians don’t qualify for coverage or must still pay out of pocket for services.

    The Canada Dental Care Plan is accepting applications from people over the age of 65, for children under the age of 18 and those who receive the Disability Tax Credit. Additional eligibility phases will roll out next year.

    Applicants must first confirm before being enrolled with Sun Life, which manages the means-tested plan open to those whose adjusted family net income is less than $90,000 per year and who don’t have access to dental care programs through employer plans, private coverage, or student or pension benefits.

    Justin Trudeau is set to face a non-confidence motion in the House of Commons this week. The motion was moved Tuesday morning by the Conservatives and is up for voting on Wednesday. If the Liberals are to lose, Canada could witness a snap-election. However, the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois have already hinted at supporting the Liberals in defeating the motion.

    The Prime Minister addressed the concerns of Canadians and the possibility of losing the top job as soon as the end of this week on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

    “It’s a really tough time for people in Canada right now,” Trudeau said.

    “People are hurting. People are having trouble paying for groceries, paying for rent, filling up the tank.”

    “People are frustrated and the idea that maybe they want an election now is something that my opponents are trying to bank on because people are taking a lot out on me, for understandable reasons,” he said. “I’ve been here, and I’ve been steering us through all these things and people are sometimes looking at change.”

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Donald Trump and JD Vance’s Pet-Eating Hoax Bites Back With Charges Against Them

Josh Fiallo
Tue, September 24, 2024 

Mike Segar/Reuters

A Haitian nonprofit group has filed charges against GOP nominees Donald Trump and JD Vance for their peddling of a pet-eating hoax that has turned Springfield, Ohio, upside over the last month.

The Haitian Bridge Alliance, based in California, announced Tuesday that it has taken advantage of a Ohio law that allows private citizens to file charges without first going through police or prosecutors.

The charges filed against the Republican candidates included disrupting public services, making false alarms, telecommunications harassment, complicity, and aggravated menacing.

Lawyers for the group filed motions asking the Clark County Municipal Court to affirm probable cause and to issue arrest warrants for Vance and Trump, just over a month before Election Day. That request will force the court to have a hearing before it can reject the affidavits, reported News 5 Cleveland.

Subodh Chandra, the Haitian Bridge Alliance’s lead attorney, told NBC 4 that the group hoped to hold Trump and Vance accountable as anyone would be if they spread conspiracies that lead to bomb threats, school closures, and disrupted city services.

“If anyone other than Trump and Vance had relentlessly disseminated false information,” he said. “They would have been arrested by now. So the only question is whether Trump and Vance will be held accountable to the rule of the law like the rest of us.”

Baseless claims about Haitian immigrants were stealing and eating pets in Springfield first spread in August. The hoax was initially limited to niche Republican circles but went mainstream after Trump repeated it during his debate against Vice President Kamala Harris.

Another missing pet claim—the mysterious disappearance of Miss Sassy from a home with Haitian immigrants for neighbors—was debunked after the “missing” kitty was found in the owner’s basement.

Vance has now also admitted that he’s just been making stuff up to get attention. In an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, he conceded that he kept spreading the harmful pet-eating conspiracy despite it having no legs.

“If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do,” he told Bash.


Haitian rights group wants Trump, Vance arrested over false claims in Springfield, Ohio


Jacqueline Charles
Tue, September 24, 2024 


Megan Smith/Megan Smith / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

A Haitian rights organization is seeking the arrest of former President Donald J. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, and running mate JD Vance for false statements about Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, which has led to a wave of bomb threats and other disruptions in public service in the small Midwestern town.

The Haitian Bridge Alliance filed an affidavit Tuesday in the Clark County Municipal Court asking a judge to charge both men with violating seven Ohio laws and to arrest them. Under an Ohio statute, a private citizen with knowledge that someone has committed a crime can ask a court to affirm there is probable cause a crime was committed and issue an arrest warrant.

The affidavit was filed by Guerline Jozef, the co-founder and executive director of the Alliance, a Haitian-rights organization based in San Diego that has been trying to help members of the growing Haitian community in Springfield deal with the fallout of the false claims. In its legal filing, it asks for a judge, and not the prosecutor’s office, to review its request.

“The prosecuting attorney has not yet acted to protect the community and hold Trump and Vance accountable for the harm they have instigated,” the affidavit says. “Thus, the Haitian Bridge Alliance and Ms. Jozef respectfully request this Court, independently, to find probable cause based on the facts presented and issue warrants for both Trump and Vance.”

Jozef and the Haitian Bridge Alliance are represented by Ohio-based civil-rights attorney Subodh Chandra, who represented the family of 12-year-old Tamir Rice in a case against Cleveland police after he was shot and killed by officers in 2014. Jozef is asking for a decision to be made before Trump visits Springfield, which he has announced for this week, though no specific date has been set.

Springfield city officials estimate they have an immigrant population of between 12,000 and 15,000, though they do not specify how many are Haitians. Most of the Haitians are in the United States under legal protections afforded by the Biden administration through extensions of Temporary Protected Status for countries where it’s unsafe for nationals to return, and through a two-year humanitarian visa for nationals of Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela. In interviews, residents told the Miami Herald that they moved to Springfield based-on-word of mouth from other Haitians who had moved to the city because of job opportunities and lower cost of living compared to Florida and New York, two states with sizable Haitian communities.

Yet the Trump campaign has insisted on describing the community as “illegal” and as being “dumped” there by the Biden administration.

“President Trump is rightfully highlighting the failed immigration system that Kamala Harris has overseen, bringing thousands of illegal immigrants pouring into communities like Springfield and many others across the country,” Steven Cheung, communications director for the Trump campaign, told the Herald in response to the affidavit. “President Trump will secure our border and put an end to the chaos that illegal immigration brings to our communities.”

The Midwestern city was thrust into the national spotlight and presidential campaign earlier this month when both Trump and Vance, the junior senator from Ohio, amplified a debunked claim that Haitian immigrants in Springfield have been eating their neighbors’ dogs and cats as well as wild animals. City officials have said there is no evidence Haitians have been doing this, but Trump and Vance have repeated the falsehoods. Trump mentioned it during his presidential debate with Harris, the vice president and Democratic nominee, earlier this month.

“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs — the people that came in. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what’s happening in our country, and it’s a shame,” Trump said at the debate.

The false claims triggered a string of bomb threats that led to the closure of schools, stores and government offices including city hall. As a result, the city’s growing Haitian population has felt increasingly vulnerable and worried about their safety.

“Trump and Vance have knowingly spread a false and dangerous narrative by claiming that Springfield, Ohio’s, Haitian community is criminally killing and eating neighbors’ dogs and cats, and killing and eating geese,” the affidavit says. “They accused Springfield’s Haitians of bearing deadly disease. They repeated such lies during the presidential debate, at campaign rallies, during interviews on national television, and on social media.”

Jozef accused Trump and Vance of violating several statutes, including making false claims that led to “massive disruptions to public services” after the bomb threats caused shutdowns; knowingly causing alarm in Springfield by continuing to repeat lies that state and local officials have said were false; committing aggravated menacing by knowingly making intimidating statements with the intent to abuse, threaten, or harass, and by knowingly causing others to falsely believe that members of Springfield’s Haitian community would cause serious harm to others in Springfield. She also accused both men of violating the prohibition against complicity by conspiring with one another and spreading vicious lies that caused innocent people to be parties to the crimes.

Jozef said the impact of Trump and Vance’s lies cannot be overstated. There have been at least 33 bomb threats during the last two wees, forcing many public institutions to evacuate, she said.

“Like those who falsely shout ‘fire!’ in a crowded theater,” the affidavit says, “Trump and Vance do not color within the lines of the First Amendment. They commit criminal acts.”

Haitians Want Trump Arrested For 'Harmful Lies.' The Campaign Responded With Another Lie.

Pocharapon Neammanee
Tue, September 24, 2024 


Haitians Want Trump Arrested For 'Harmful Lies.' The Campaign Responded With Another Lie.


Leaders of a Haitian nonprofit group in Springfield, Ohio, filed a criminal affidavit Tuesday against former President Donald Trump and his Republican running mate, Sen. JD Vance, seeking their arrest over racist lies that Haitian immigrants were “eating the cats, dogs, and pets of people” in the community.

The affidavit, filed in Clark County Municipal Court by Guerline Jozef, co-founder of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, alleged the former president and the Ohio senator had violated criminal laws including disrupting public services, making false alarms, complicity, aggravated menacing and telecommunications harassment and complicity.

Under Ohio law, private citizens are permitted to file an affidavit asking the courts to find probable cause that alleged offenders have committed a crime.

Subodh Chandra, Jozef’s lead counsel, told HuffPost on Tuesday that the organization was “tired of waiting for the prosecutor to act to vindicate the rule of law and protect the community.”

He added that Trump and Vance “know exactly what they’re doing” when they spread the lies, calling their actions “unapologetic serial criminal activity.”

“I mean, they know what the power of their words is, they know that they have a megaphone and a platform that is so powerful that if they are irresponsible with it, it can wreak havoc,” Chandra said. “They know it, and they’ve seen it as a result of what they’ve done here, and yet they double down and triple down and quadruple down.”

In a statement to HuffPost on Tuesday, Steven Cheung, the communications director for Trump’s campaign, responded to the affidavit with yet another lie.

“President Trump is rightfully highlighting the failed immigration system that Kamala Harris has overseen, bringing thousands of illegal immigrants pouring into communities like Springfield and many others across the country,” Cheung said. “President Trump will secure our border and put an end to the chaos that illegal immigration brings to our communities.”

The city has said that the Haitian immigrants in Springfield live there legally.

Now that the affidavit has been filed, Chandra said a judge must determine if there’s probable cause to support the charges and issue arrest warrants or refer the case to the prosecutor’s office for further investigation.

The Haitian Bridge Alliance claimed in the affidavit that criminal charges are warranted because of the “harmful lies repeatedly spewed” by Trump and Vance and the serious effects on the community.

“HBA is non-partisan, this is not about one candidate or political party. This is about confronting white supremacy, anti-Black rhetoric, and hate speech that seems to be a constant in U.S. politics and that continues to cause suffering. No one is above the law,” Jozef said in a statement announcing the charges.

Vance earlier this month spread the racist — and later debunked — rumor that the pets of residents in Springfield have been “abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country.”

A day later, during the Sept. 10 presidential debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump repeated Vance’s baseless claim.

This is about confronting white supremacy, anti-Black rhetoric, and hate speech that seems to be a constant in U.S. politics and that continues to cause suffering.Guerline Jozef, co-founder of the Haitian Bridge Alliance

“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs,” Trump said. “The people that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what’s happening in our country. And it’s a shame.”

The former president was quickly fact-checked by ABC News moderator David Muir, who said the city manager of Springfield told ABC there was no evidence of pets being kidnapped and eaten by immigrants.

Since then, the Haitian Bridge Alliance have attributed more than 30 “widespread bomb and other threats” against their community as Trump and Vance have continued to spread the racist lie.

Last week, while speaking in California, Trump vowed to begin mass deportations in Springfield, in spite of the Haitians’ legal status, if he’s elected president in November.

“We’re going to have the largest deportation in the history of our country,” Trump said. “And we’re going to start with Springfield and Aurora, [Colorado].”

The affidavit alleges that Trump’s and Vance’s remarks are criminal acts and “do not color within the lines of the First Amendment.”

The affidavit argued that the two knowingly caused “others to falsely believe that members of the Springfield, Ohio Haitian community would cause serious physical harm to the person or property of others within the community.”

Several Haitian immigrants who live in Springfield have said that before Trump’s and Vance’s comments, people in the city had been “welcoming, nice, and helpful” to them, the affidavit said.

However, now they are “receiving hostile comments and feel like they are constantly being watched by people at work and in their neighborhoods,” according to the affidavit.

“Many of the people we have spoken to left Haiti because they suffered politically motivated violence and persecution, and they have reported feeling scared for their physical safety all the time because of Trump and Vance’s comments,” the document said. “They are terrified that, if Trump and Vance win the elections, they will be harassed even more and even become victims of violence.”

Some Haitians in Springfield have stopped going to work, going out at night or asking for directions, and some have left Ohio, according to the affidavit. Springfield officials also said that City Hall had received a bomb threat, prompting evacuation and a law enforcement response.

“If it were anyone else who had wreaked the kind of havoc that Trump and Vance have wreaked with their persistent and relentless falsehoods, namely, schools, colleges and City Hall being evacuated and closed, threats against the mayor and his family, and 33 bomb threats, you can be assured that that person would have been arrested by now,” Chandra said.

Despite multiple reports disproving the racist claim, Vance has justified his stance and attacked the media for refuting it.

“I wish the American media was half as interested in the stress on the local schools, the stress on the hospitals and unaffordable housing as they are in debunking a story that comes from the residents of Springfield,” Vance said at a rally in North Carolina on Monday.
Related...


Haitian group in Springfield, Ohio, files citizen criminal charges against Trump and Vance

Julie Carr Smyth
Tue, September 24, 2024 

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The leader of a nonprofit representing the Haitian community of Springfield, Ohio, filed criminal charges Tuesday against former President Donald Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, over the chaos and threats experienced by the city since Trump first spread false claims about legal immigrants there during a presidential debate.

The Haitian Bridge Alliance invoked its private-citizen right to file the charges in the wake of inaction by the local prosecutor, said their attorney, Subodh Chandra of the Cleveland-based Chandra Law Firm.

Trump and Vance, a U.S. senator from Ohio, are charged with disrupting public services, making false alarms, telecommunications harassment, aggravated menacing and complicity. The filing asks the Clark County Municipal Court to affirm that there is probable cause and to either refer the case for further investigation or to issue arrest warrants against Trump and Vance.

“Their persistence and relentlessness, even in the face of the governor and the mayor saying this is false, that shows intent,” Chandra said. “It's knowing, willful flouting of criminal law.”

A Trump-Vance campaign spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

More than 30 bomb threats were directed at state and local government buildings and schools, prompting closures, the assignment of additional law enforcement protection and security cameras. Some of the city's Haitian residents have also said they feared for their safety as public vitriol grew, and Mayor Rob Rue has received death threats.

“If it were anyone else other than Trump and Vance who had done what they’ve done — wreak havoc on Springfield, resulting in bomb threats, evacuated and closed government buildings and schools, threats to the mayor and his family — they would have been arrested by now,” Chandra said. “So, really, the only question is whether the court and then the prosecutors would treat Trump and Vance the way anyone else would be treated. They are not above the law.”

Chandra said the U.S. Supreme Court's July ruling granting ex-presidents broad immunity from criminal prosecution doesn't apply in this case because Trump is currently a private citizen and Vance did not amplify the rumors that members of Springfield's 15,000-member Haitian community were eating people's pets in his capacity as a senator.

Specifically, the affidavit alleges Trump and Vance: — Disrupted public service “by causing widespread bomb and other threats that resulted in massive disruptions” to Springfield's public services;

— Made false alarms “by knowingly causing alarm in the Springfield community by continuing to repeat lies that state and local officials have said were false”;

— Committed telecommunications harassment “by spreading claims they know to be false during the presidential debate, campaign rallies, nationally televised interviews, and social media”;

— Committed aggravated menacing “by knowingly making intimidating statements with the intent to abuse, threaten, or harass the recipients, including Trump’s threat to deport immigrants who are here legally to Venezuela, a land they have never known”;

— Committed aggravated menacing “by knowingly causing others to falsely believe that members of Springfield’s Haitian community would cause serious physical harm to the person or property of others in Springfield;” and

— Violated the prohibition against complicity “by conspiring with one another and spreading vicious lies that caused innocent parties to be parties to their various crimes.”

Julie Carr Smyth, The Associated Press


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Analysis-Biden's car-tech ban is a powerful new weapon against Chinese EVs

FILE PHOTO: Nio's Onvo L60 SUV in Shanghai


Updated Tue, September 24, 2024
By David Shepardson, Nora Eckert and Abhirup Roy

WASHINGTON/DETROIT (Reuters) -The Biden administration's proposed ban on Chinese connected-car technology could prove its strongest weapon yet to fend off an onslaught of cheap Chinese electric vehicles that has upended the global auto industry.

The ban on hardware and software, announced Monday by the U.S. Commerce Department, is the administration's latest salvo after imposing 100% tariffs on Chinese EVs and denying a $7,500 consumer EV subsidy to any vehicle with made-in-China components.


Unlike those measures, the connected-car tech prohibition would apply even to cars built by Chinese firms outside China - such as in Mexico or Europe, where they're planning factories.

"It's a powerful statement," said Michael Dunne, a consultant who closely follows the China auto industry. After imposing high tariffs, he said, U.S. officials "looked at it again and said: 'Is that going to be enough?' And they concluded - probably not."

Chinese EV leader BYD has said it plans a Mexico plant. While it has emphasized the factory would only serve the local market, U.S. trade groups are wary, saying Chinese EVs could cause an "extinction-level event" for U.S. automakers.

Biden's proposal also calls for barring Chinese software or self-driving cars from testing or deployment, effectively creating a trade barrier that could protect U.S. EV pioneer Tesla and other automakers seeking to develop robotaxis, analysts said. Tesla's Elon Musk has this year increasingly staked the company's future on autonomous technology, another sector where it faces stiff Chinese competition.

Analysts warn of China trade-policy retaliation, which could target Tesla's sprawling China operations. Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.


Biden administration officials on Monday cast the threat of Chinese vehicles and technology as both a national-security threat that could enable espionage and an economic threat. China's heavily subsidized EV sector has been a leader in both battery and software technology, including systems for in-dash driver features.

Few Chinese-made vehicles are currently sold in the United States - and none from Chinese brands. Monday's action aims to keep it that way by closing loopholes, U.S. Commerce officials said.

"If we had just said, 'No Chinese vehicles,' we would really have been leaving a front door open for China to come in via automotive software," said Liz Cannon, who heads the department's information and communications technology office.


The Biden plan would prohibit software in 2026, for 2027 model vehicles, and hardware for the 2030 model year. The administration hopes to finalize the new rules before Biden leaves office on Jan. 20, 2025.

Chinese officials warned before Monday's announcement that they would defend the nation's interests.

"China opposes the U.S. generalization of the concept of national security and discriminatory practices against Chinese companies and products," said China Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian.

China's foreign ministry declined to comment further on Monday.

Canada, whose auto industry is closely aligned with the U.S., is "absolutely" considering a similar ban, Canada's Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Tuesday.

SECURITY CONCERNS

U.S. lawmakers have expressed security concerns about Chinese autonomous-vehicle technology being tested in the United States.

Earlier this year, the Biden administration added China-based Hesai Group - whose lidars help autonomous-driving systems create three-dimensional road maps - to a list of companies allegedly working with Beijing's military. Hesai, whose customers include robotaxi firms including General Motors' Cruise and Amazon's Zoox, denied the allegations and sued the government.

On Monday, White House economic advisor Lael Brainard noted that China fired the first shot in the brewing trade war by limiting where Tesla vehicles, with their cameras, can drive in China, citing national-security concerns. Those restrictions were removed earlier this year after China officials found Tesla's data collection complied with its regulations.

The Biden administration officials raised national-security concerns in proposing the car-tech ban, citing fears that drivers' privacy could be invaded or their vehicles could be remotely controlled from abroad. But they also acknowledged seeking to protect the economic security of U.S. automakers.

"We also are very focused on the competition aspect and making sure that our manufacturers can compete fairly," Brainard said.

The White House said it has ample evidence of China malware in critical American infrastructure, but did not provide evidence China is using automobiles to spy.

BUY-AMERICAN PUSH

Electric vehicles and trade policy have been major themes of the 2024 U.S. presidential campaign, with anti-China measures being a rare point of bipartisan agreement.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has suggested China could dominate auto production and railed against Biden's policies to promote electric vehicles. On Monday, Brainard said Biden doesn't want Chinese vehicles flooding the U.S. market.

"When Americans do choose electric vehicles, we want to make sure they choose an American vehicle - not a Chinese vehicle," she said.

Democrat Kamala Harris' campaign did not comment.

"There's Chinese tech in so many products that come into the U.S.," said Sam Fiorani, vice president at research firm AutoForecast Solutions. "Figuring out where you draw that line ... is going to be very difficult."

(Reporting by David Shepardson, Nora Eckert and Abhirup Roy, writing and additional reporting by Ben Klayman, editing by Brian Thevenot and Nick Zieminski)








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In Ohio, drought and shifting weather patterns affect North America's largest native fruit

JOSHUA A. BICKEL and SUMAN NAISHADHAM
Updated 

WASHINGTON COURT HOUSE, Ohio (AP) — Stubborn drought in Ohio and the shifting weather patterns influenced by climate change appear to be affecting North America’s largest native fruit: the pawpaw.

Avocado-sized with a taste sometimes described as a cross between a mango and banana, the pawpaw is beloved by many but rarely seen in grocery stores in the U.S. due to its short shelf life. The fruit grows in various places in the eastern half of North America, from Ontario to Florida. But in parts of Ohio, which hosts an annual festival dedicated to the fruit, and Kentucky, some growers this year are reporting earlier-than-normal harvests and bitter-tasting fruit, a possible effect of the extreme weather from the spring freezes to drought that has hit the region.

Take Valerie Libbey’s orchard in Washington Court House, about an hour’s drive from Columbus. Libbey grows 100 pawpaw trees and said she was surprised to see the fruit dropping from trees in the first week of August instead of mid-September.

“I had walked into the orchard to do my regular irrigation and the smell of the fruit just hit me,” said Libbey, who added that this year’s harvest period was much shorter than in previous years and the fruits themselves were smaller and more bitter.

While Libbey attributes the change to heat-stress, it’s not clear if drought alone — which is gripping parts of Ohio and Kentucky for the third year in a row — or increasingly extreme, unpredictable weather are affecting the fruit.

“Pawpaw growers are finding we just have to be prepared for more extreme weather events. Last year we were hit with late spring freezes that killed off a lot of the blossoms in the spring time period. This year we were hit by the drought,” Libbey said.

That’s in line with the effects human-caused climate change is having on the Midwest according to the National Climate Change Assessment, a government report that comes out every four or five years. Last year's report said that both extreme drought and flooding were threatening crops and animal production in the region.

“We’re definitely seeing kind of a change in our weather patterns here,” said Kirk Pomper, a professor of horticulture at Kentucky State University. He added that the easiest way to observe the effect of changing weather patterns on pawpaws is when the trees flower, which tends to happen earlier now than before.

Chris Chmiel, who owns and operates a small farm in Albany, Ohio, about 90 minutes southeast of Columbus, said he used to have several hundred pawpaw trees but is down to about 100 this year thanks to erratic weather patterns, including extremely wet weather some years followed by severe drought.

Chmiel said that pawpaw trees, which are generally considered low-maintenance, don't like to have their roots submerged in water for too long, which his trees experienced in 2018 and 2019 during particularly wet spring conditions.

Since then, Chmiel saw a large decline in his trees, especially the older ones, which produce ethanol when stressed and attracted an invasive beetle that was damaging to the tree.

“For years, we had great crops year after year,” said Chmiel, who described the invasive beetles as the biggest recent challenge. But, he added, some of his pawpaw trees come from the wild where the plants were exposed to several microclimates and habitats.

The pawpaw was domesticated by Native American tribes, and has supplemented many communities' diets since then.

Because pawpaw trees are native to the region, they have long been considered hardy. Chmiel is hoping that will help his remaining trees survive unpredictable weather and invasive species.

“I feel like that is a resilient system,” Chmiel said.

___

Naishadham reported from Washington, D.C.

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Valerie Libbey holds a normal-sized pawpaw, left, next to a drought-affected pawpaw from her farm, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Washington Court House, Ohio. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)
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US woman dies in controversial suicide capsule in Switzerland

Robin MILLARD
Tue, September 24, 2024 

The Sarco suicide pod causes death by hypoxia (ARND WIEGMANN) (ARND WIEGMANN/AFP/AFP)


A 64-year-old US woman took her own life inside a controversial suicide capsule at a Swiss woodland retreat, with police on Tuesday saying several people had been arrested.

The space-age looking Sarco capsule, which fills with nitrogen and causes death by hypoxia, was used on Monday outside a village near the German border.

The portable human-sized pod, self-operated by a button inside, has raised a host of legal and ethical questions in Switzerland. Active euthanasia is banned in the country but assisted dying has been legal for decades.


On the same day it was used, Switzerland's Interior Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider told lawmakers that the Sarco was "not legal".

Police in the northern Schaffhausen canton said several people had been taken into custody and face criminal proceedings.

- 'Peaceful, fast, dignified' -

The Last Resort, an assisted dying organisation, presented the Sarco pod in Zurich in July, saying they expected it to be used for the first time within months, and saw no legal obstacle to its use in Switzerland.

In a statement to AFP, The Last Resort said the person who died, who was not named, was a 64-year-old woman from the midwestern United States.

She "had been suffering for many years from a number of serious problems associated with severe immune compromise", the statement said.

The death took place "under a canopy of trees, at a private forest retreat".

The association's co-president Florian Willet was the only other person present, and described the woman's death as "peaceful, fast and dignified", according to the statement.

- Warning given -

The cantonal public prosecutor's office "has opened criminal proceedings against several people for inducement and aiding and abetting suicide... and several people have been placed in police custody," a police statement said.

The public prosecutor's office had been informed by a law firm on Monday that an assisted suicide had taken place at a forest hut in Merishausen.

The police, the forensic emergency service and the public prosecutor's office "went to the crime scene".

The Sarco suicide capsule was secured and the deceased taken away for an autopsy.

"We found the capsule with the lifeless person inside," said Schaffhausen's public prosecutor Peter Sticher.

He told Blick newspaper that several people were arrested "so that they were not colluding with each other or covering up evidence".

Sticher said the operators knew the risks of being arrested.

"We warned them in writing. We said that if they came to Schaffhausen and used Sarco, they would face criminal consequences," he said.

- Sarco: 3D-printable capsule -

The Sarco was invented by Philip Nitschke, a leading global figure in right-to-die activism.

The 3D-printable capsule cost more than 650,000 euros ($725,000) to research and develop in the Netherlands over 12 years. Future Sarcos could cost around 15,000 euros. The pods are reusable.

In a statement, Nitschke said he was "pleased that the Sarco had performed exactly as it had been designed to do: that is to provide an elective, non-drug, peaceful death at the time of the person's choosing".

To use the Sarco, the person wishing to die must first pass a psychiatric assessment.

The person climbs into the purple capsule, closes the lid, and is asked automated questions such as who they are, where they are and if they know what happens when they press the button.

In July, Nitschke explained that once the button is pressed, the amount of oxygen in the air plummets from 21 percent to 0.05 percent in less than 30 seconds.

The person inside quickly loses consciousness before dying within around five minutes.

Nitschke's Exit International organisation, which owns the Sarco, is a non-profit group funded by donations. The only cost for the user is 18 Swiss francs ($21) for the nitrogen.

- Suicide law -

In July, Willet said Switzerland was "by far the best place" for the Sarco to be used, due to its "wonderful liberal system".

Swiss law generally allows assisted suicide if the person commits the lethal act themselves.

But interior minister Baume-Schneider, taking questions in parliament on Monday, said: "The Sarco suicide capsule is not legally compliant."

"Firstly, it does not meet the requirements of product safety law and therefore cannot be placed on the market. Secondly, the corresponding use of nitrogen is not compatible with the purpose article of the Chemicals Act," she said.

Fiona Stewart, who is on The Last Resort's advisory board, said the group was acting on legal advice, which "since 2021 has consistently found that the use of Sarco in Switzerland would be lawful".


US woman dies in first use of ‘Sarco suicide pod’

Henry Samuel
Tue, September 24, 2024 

Dr Fiona Stewart, a lawyer on the board of Last Resort, exhibits the organisation’s ‘Sarco’ pod in July - Arnd Wiegmann/AFP via Getty


An American woman has become the first person to die through the use of a “Sarco suicide pod”.

Two people were arrested on charges of assisting her to use the unapproved, Dutch-made device, Swiss police said on Monday.

The 3D-printed capsule, invented by the controversial assisted-dying activist Dr Philip Nitschke, is designed to kill its occupant by starving them of oxygen as it fills with nitrogen gas.

It is not compliant with Swiss law, according to the country’s interior minister, who said on Monday that it “does not meet the requirements of product safety” and that such use of nitrogen does not comply with chemical regulations in Switzerland.

On Tuesday, Swiss police said they had arrested two people for aiding in the death of a US woman in a woodland area in Schaffhausen, a northern town near the German border.

A photographer from the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant was at the scene to capture the moment the pod was used for the first time. He was detained by police, the newspaper said.

Dr Philip Nitschke, the inventor of the pod, demonstrates its use - Ahmad Seir/AP

Last Resort – the Swiss organisation founded in July 2023 specifically to develop the pod which states that “a good death is a fundamental human right” – confirmed in a statement that a 64-year-old woman died after using the device.

It said: “On Monday Sept 23, at approximately 4.01pm local time, a 64-year-old woman from the midwest in the US died using the Sarco device.”

The firm said its co-president, Dr Florian Willet, was the sole person present for the death, contrary to police reports.

Dr Willet said the woman’s death had been “peaceful, fast and dignified”, taking place “under a canopy of trees, at a private forest retreat in the Canton of Schaffhausen close to the Swiss-German border”.

The organisation said the woman “had been suffering for many years from a number of serious problems” associated with “severe” immunodeficiency.

Earlier this month, Peter and Christine Scott, a retired British couple who have been married for 46 years, said they had decided to end their lives at the same time in the pod after Mrs Scott, a former nurse, was diagnosed with early-stage vascular dementia.

The pod carries a quotation from the late astronomer Carl Sagan
 - Arnd Wiegmann/AFP via Getty

The 80 year-old and her husband, 86, who have six grandchildren, are on a waiting list of 120 applicants to use the device, according to Last Resort, with around a quarter of those on the list said to be British.

Under Swiss law, helping another person to die is not a criminal offence as long as there is no selfish motive.

However, several districts, including Schaffhausen, have threatened criminal proceedings if the suicide pod is used in their territory.

On Monday, federal councillor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider said the capsule did not comply with Swiss law as it failed to meet market safety requirements and the use of nitrogen was illegal.

A coffin-sized cabin

According to De Volkskrant, the unnamed woman, who had travelled to Switzerland especially for the purpose, started the assisted suicide process on Monday afternoon in a forest by pressing a button while lying in the capsule – a coffin-sized cabin with a window.

The news outlet said its photographer was being held by police after photographing the scene beforehand. A lawyer who was the sole person present at time of death was also thought to have been arrested.

The woman’s death was confirmed by Dr Nitschke, the Australian inventor of the pod, who monitored her oxygen and heart rate remotely through a camera from Germany.


The pod works by introducing nitrogen into its sealed interior - Arnd Wiegmann/AFP via Getty

The Sarco was set up outdoors, in a remote location. Through a window, the woman had a view of nature, trees and the sky during her last moments.

Dr Willet, who is Dr Nitschke’s wife, then informed police and the Schaffhausen public prosecutor who arrived at the scene and made the arrests and confiscated the capsule, according to reports.

The body was taken to the Institute of Forensic Medicine for an autopsy.

Last Resort said the woman who died made an oral statement before her death to Fiona Stewart, a lawyer who is on its advisory board, expressing her wish to die.

In the four-minute recording, she said she had wanted to die for “at least two years”, ever since she was diagnosed with a very serious illness that involves severe pain.

She insisted that her two sons “completely agree” that this was her decision. “They are behind me 100 per cent.”

Ms Stewart said both sons, not present in Switzerland, had separately confirmed this in written statements to Last Resort.

“When she registered, she said she wanted to die as soon as possible,” said Ms Stewart. The American woman was examined by a psychiatrist, who found her to be competent, with no psychiatric history, she added.
Controversial activist

Dr Nitschke’s actions have caused controversy in the past. In 2006, he created a worldwide stir by publishing The Peaceful Pill Handbook, in which he described dozens of suicide methods in detail. He moved to the Netherlands ten years ago.

“What if we dared to imagine that our last day on this planet would also be our most exciting?” he once said of the Sarco.

“The day we die is one of the most important days of our lives,” he told De Volkskrant. “Once death becomes inevitable, why don’t we embrace it? With this capsule, you can die anywhere you want: with a view of the mountains, or the ocean.

“Apart from this device, almost nothing is needed: no injection from a doctor, no illegal drugs that are difficult to obtain. This de-medicalises death.”

According to Dr Nitschke, the woman’s death was an important step for organisations that fight for self-determination when it comes to dying.



He said he had tested his pod several times in advance, even lying in it for five minutes this spring with an oxygen mask on his face, while it was filled with nitrogen.

He told De Volkskrant his invention was a more elegant version of “using gas and a bag over [one’s] head”, adding it was more akin to passengers being starved of oxygen when cabin pressure drops in an aeroplane.

“We know from people who have survived that it doesn’t feel like suffocation,” he is cited as saying. “People just keep breathing. After half a minute they start to feel disoriented.

“They don’t really notice what’s happening to them. Some experience mild euphoria. Then they just drift off.”

According to Last Resort, the woman only paid the 18 Swiss francs (£16) charge for the nitrogen.

“The use of the Sarco is free,” said Ms Stewart. ”We don’t want to make any money from this.” The woman did have to pay additional costs, such as her cremation, she said, adding that other legal assisted dying organisations charge thousands to dispose of the body.
Objections by Dignitas

However, other Swiss assisted-dying organisations have expressed opposition to the Sarco.

Dignitas told the SWI news site that professional medical suicide assistance must be carried out by “trained staff and that every accompanied suicide is checked by the authorities (public prosecutor’s office, police and medical officer)”.

“In light of this legally secured, established and proven practice, we cannot imagine that a technologised capsule for a self-determined end of life will meet much acceptance or interest in Switzerland,” it said.

According to Erika Preisig, a doctor and president of the Basel-based organisation Lifecircle, medical intervention also serves as a “gatekeeper” to prevent unnecessary suicides.

“I fear that people without sufficient information about alternatives to suicide and who have not thought their death wish through carefully will be unscrupulously helped to die,” she told SWI.

The Swiss organisations also describe Sarco as inhumane, because the person has to die “alone” in a closed capsule, separated from their relatives.

Dr Nitschke is seeking the Sarco pod’s use elsewhere. He recently wrote to Liam McArthur, the MSP seeking to legalise assisted suicide in Scotland, urging him to introduce the device.


Suicide advocates boast over apparent use of Sarco suicide capsule on US citizen in Switzerland

Timothy Nerozzi
Tue, September 24, 2024 


Suicide advocates boast over apparent use of Sarco suicide capsule on US citizen in Switzerland


Multiple people have been arrested in Switzerland in connection to the seemingly willing use of a "suicide capsule."

Police officials of Schaffhausen canton in northern Switzerland announced on Tuesday that multiple people have been detained following a tip indicating individuals were helped to kill themselves in a cabin in Merishausen.

An investigation into possible incitement and accessory to suicide is underway, and the premeditated death could be attributed to the first-ever use of a Sarco-brand suicide capsule.

Terminally Ill Missouri Woman, 79, Taking Trip To Switzerland For Assisted Suicide


This photograph shows the Sarco suicide capsule, during a media event organised by the "Last Resort", a Switzerland's human rights non-profit association focused on assisted suicide, in Zurich on July 17, 2024. The 3-D printed coffin-like Sarco suicide machine, can be activated from the inside by the person intending to die, by filling the capsule with nitrogen, which induces hypoxic death to the occupant.More

The Sarco pod is a suicide machine developed by Netherlands-based pro-euthanasia group Exit International.

The group seemed to take responsibility for the alleged crime in a statement, announcing the willful euthanization of an elderly woman who is a U.S. citizen and suffering from an intense immune disease.

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"In Switzerland on Monday, a 64-year-old woman died in a specially designed ‘suicide capsule’ containing nitrogen gas. It is the first time ever that this suicide capsule, called the Sarco, was used," Exit International boasted in an online press release. "The capsule, an airtight cabin the size of a coffin, offers, according to its creators, a ‘quick, peaceful and reliable death’ without the assistance of a doctor or medication."

Physically Healthy Dutch Woman Dies By Assisted Suicide At Age 29

"It is still unclear how Swiss justice will react to this," the pro-suicide group's statement continued. "The conditions set by the country are that the person with the death wish is mentally competent, that they carry out the final deadly act themselves and that the people who help have altruistic motives."

Exit International founder Dr. Philip Nitschke announced Tuesday that he was "pleased that the Sarco had performed exactly as it had been designed […] to provide an elective, non-drug, peaceful death at the time of the person’s choosing."

Exit International said Nitschke personally "confirmed" the U.S. woman's death.


Australian activist Philip Nitschke addresses a press conference of The Last Resort to present the Sarco suicide capsule in Zurich. The device, called "Sarco" for sarcophagus, is designed to enable people to take their own lives by pressing a button inside the capsule, which is supposed to release nitrogen.

Switzerland was the first country in the world to legalize assisted dying, legislating the accomodation in 1941.

Swiss law allows patients to be accommodated while killing themselves only if they do so without "external assistance" and are not aided by individuals with a "self-serving motive."

The Sarco capsule is designed to fill itself with Nitrogen gas, putting victims to sleep before suffocating them within 10 minutes of activation.

It is 3-D printed and was first unveiled at the Venice Design Festival in 2019.

Original article source: Suicide advocates boast over apparent use of Sarco suicide capsule on US citizen in Switzerland

Swiss police make arrests after suicide capsule is used for first time

Reuters
Tue, September 24, 2024 

FILE PHOTO: Presentation of the Sarco suicide machine in Zurich

ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss police have arrested several people after a controversial futuristic-looking capsule designed to allow its occupant to commit suicide was used for the first time, authorities said on Tuesday.

Police in the northern canton of Schaffhausen bordering Germany said the so-called "Sarco" capsule had been deployed in a wood in the municipality of Merishausen on Monday.

Prosecutors in Schaffhausen have opened criminal proceedings against several people for "inducing and aiding and abetting suicide", a police statement said, adding several people were detained, without giving details about them or the deceased.

A spokesperson for the group behind the capsule, The Last Resort, said the deceased was a 64-year-old American woman who had been suffering from a severely compromised immune system.

Florian Willet, co-president of The Last Resort, was among the four detainees, along with a Dutch journalist and two Swiss people, the spokesperson said. Willet was the only other person present when the woman ended her life, the spokesperson said.

In a statement issued by The Last Resort, Willet had described the death as "peaceful, fast and dignified."

The Last Resort spokesperson said the woman had passed psychiatric evaluations prior to ending her life.

A spokesperson for prosecutors in Schaffhausen declined to give details or confirm there were four detainees.

Cast along sleek, aerodynamic lines, the "Sarco" causes death when its occupant releases nitrogen gas inside, lowering the amount of oxygen to lethal levels. It is the brainchild of Philip Nitschke, an Australian physician famous for his work on assisted suicide since the 1990s.

Switzerland has been a magnet for advocates of assisted suicide due to laws that make it legal there, and The Last Resort says its legal advice was that it could be deployed.

The capsule has generated considerable media attention and discussion among authorities on whether they would allow it.

Elisabeth Baume-Schneider, the Swiss minister responsible for health, said on Monday that the capsule does not meet the requirements of product safety law, and that its use of nitrogen is not legally compliant.

(Reporting by Dave Graham; Additional reporting by Paul Arnold, Editing by William Maclean)
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