ENDANGERED SPECIES

After officers responded to shooting, they found a trail of blood and a Bengal tiger cub.

Saleen Martin, USA TODAY
Thu, January 12, 2023 

Officers from the Albuquerque Police Department responded to a shooting Tuesday and while investigating, found a trail of blood and a healthy, months-old Bengal tiger, New Mexico authorities announced.

Officers from the Albuquerque Police Department responded to a shooting in Southeast Albuquerque outside of a convenience store. According to police, the shooting victim was standing outside and was hit by a stray bullet.

While at the scene, officers heard another shot from a mobile home and made their way towards it. While there, officers noticed a trail of blood and followed it to a nearby trailer with an unlocked door.

Inside, police found a Bengal tiger cub inside a dog crate.

A Bengal tiger found on Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023 in New Mexico.

The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish Conservation took the cub to the ABQ BioPark, where veterinarians examined it and said the tiger is healthy. For now, the tiger will stay at the BioPark until an investigation is done and officials can find it a permanent home.


Big cats: Mexican police haul off 200 big cats, other animals in sanctuary raid: 'Horrible situation'

'Not a cute animal': Kangaroo attacks and kills man, blocking paramedics from saving life

A Bengal tiger found on Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023 in New Mexico.

Other reports of exotic animals in New Mexico

The department of game and fish conservation said that on Aug. 12, conservation officers and other law enforcement officials served search warrants on two homes in Albuquerque’s South Valley.

They received a tip that a tiger was being illegally held at one of the homes. The tiger involved in this search wasn't found but officers found an illegally possessed, 3-foot alligator that was taken to a zoo.

“The Department of Game and Fish suspects that the tiger confiscated Tuesday is not the same tiger sought during the August 2022 search,” Field Operations Division Col. Tim Cimbal said in a news release. "The tiger from August is believed to be more than 1 year old and likely weighs 50-90 pounds at this time. The tiger confiscated Tuesday is only a few months old and weighed only 20 pounds."

A Bengal tiger found on Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023 in New Mexico.

The appeal of owning exotic wildlife and recent legislation

Game and Fish officials said they have seen a rise in questions about permits to import or own tigers.

The department said that in New Mexico, laws have long existed that prevent importing and owning wildlife and exotic species without proper documentation.

Because tigers are a group IV prohibited species, only permitted zoos in New Mexico can own them, the department said.

A Bengal tiger found on Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023 in New Mexico.

When members of the general public and those without proper qualifications own exotic animals, the animals are often living in poor conditions and are neglected, the department said.

Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY's NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757 – and loves all things horror, witches, Christmas, and food. Follow her on Twitter at @Saleen_Martin or email her at sdmartin@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Bengal tiger cub found in New Mexico during shooting investigation

HINDUTVA IMPERIALISM

How India's ruling party is tightening its grip on Kashmir

KASHMIR IS INDIA'S GAZA





An Indian Border Security Force soldier stands guard at the international border with Pakistan in Suchetgarh

Wed, January 11, 2023
By Rupam Jain and Kanupriya Kapoor

JAMMU/SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - For the first time in her life, Asha, a street cleaner in the Indian city of Jammu, will be allowed to vote in upcoming local elections. And she's in no doubt who will get her ballot.

Asha plans to reward Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for scrapping policies in place for decades that denied her and a million more people in the region of Jammu and Kashmir many of the same rights as other Indians.

"We have faced the humiliation silently, but Modi-ji has changed our lives forever," she said, leaning on her broom. "It's not just me and my children, future generations from our community in Jammu and Kashmir will vote for the BJP."

The Hindu nationalist party is counting on Asha's vote as it pushes to take control of India's part of the Himalayan region that is hotly contested by neighbouring Pakistan and has been governed almost exclusively by Muslim chief ministers.

The BJP hopes the addition of up to a million mostly Hindu voters to the electoral roll, new electoral boundaries, seven more seats in the regional assembly and the reservation of nine for groups likely to back the BJP will give it a fighting chance of becoming the biggest party in the 90-seat legislature.

Reuters has interviewed three dozen federal and state officials, six groups representing disenfranchised residents, and analysed the latest data to lay out for the first time the scale of the BJP's push in Kashmir - and why it may succeed.

A BJP majority would be a seismic shift and even talk of a strong showing underlines how Modi has trampled on old taboos to push his agenda in every corner of the country of 1.4 billion people.

The 72-year-old, who is set to run for a third term in 2024, has combined promises of prosperity and social mobility with a robust Hindu-first agenda to dominate Indian politics.

A BJP victory in the disputed region could consolidate India's claim over the territory on the global stage.

"We have taken a pledge to cross 50-plus seats to form the next government with a thumping majority," the BJP's president for Jammu and Kashmir, Ravinder Raina, told Reuters. "The next chief minister will be from our party."

For many of Jammu and Kashmir's Muslims, the BJP's policies upending decades of autonomy and privilege represent a dangerous new phase in what they see as a nationwide push to champion the rights of the Hindu majority over minority groups.

GRAPHIC - Bharatiya Janata Party’s vote share over time

https://www.reuters.com/graphics/INDIA-KASHMIR/dwpkdaaawvm/graphic.jpg

'ILLEGAL OCCUPATION'

Pakistan has claimed Kashmir since the partition of India in 1947 and the countries have fought two wars over the region, which is also partially claimed by China. Pakistan accuses India of trying to marginalise Muslims there with its policies.

"India is following a strategy to perpetuate its illegal occupation by disenfranchisement of Kashmiris by altering the demographic structure of the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir from a Muslim majority to a Hindu-dominated territory," Pakistan's government said in a statement to Reuters.

Jammu and Kashmir is divided in two. Jammu has about 5.3 million inhabitants, 62% of whom are Hindu while Kashmir Valley has 6.7 million, 97% of them Muslim, according to a 2011 census. Estimates from survey officials and senior bureaucrats suggest the population stood at 15.5 million in 2021.

From 1954, the Indian region enjoyed special status under India's constitution.

The shift in the political landscape came in 2019 when the BJP-led parliament in New Delhi revoked this status, which had denied rights to many Hindu communities not considered indigenous to the region.

Since 2020, the BJP has required everyone in Jammu and Kashmir to apply for domicile certificates that allow them to vote in local elections, buy agricultural land and permanent homes, as well as apply for state universities and jobs.

According to the regional government and associations representing six previously disenfranchised groups, just over a million people have the right to vote in local elections for the first time - and 96% are from castes within the Hindu hierarchy.

Out of those people, 698,800 had received domicile certificates as of December, official records seen by Reuters show. Government data showed a further 7,346 retired bureaucrats and army officers had signed up.

Reuters spoke to 36 people who now enjoy full citizenship. All said they would vote for the BJP in assembly elections.

Asha, a Hindu who has gone by a single name since her divorce, said only good had come of the changes.

On the lowest rung of the Hindu caste system, her family had been stuck in menial work since they were invited from Punjab in 1957 to fill in for striking sanitation workers. Now, her two children are studying to become teachers.

"No one will ever understand how it feels when an educated child is told they should sweep the streets," she said.

SPECIAL STATUS

Until the region's special status was revoked, secular left-of-centre parties with Muslim leaders had controlled the local assembly and whoever governed India from New Delhi tended not to dabble in the region's political autonomy.

The assembly, which controls the state budget, spending, employment, education and economic activity, was dissolved and a lieutenant governor appointed to run the region until local elections can be held - which could be as early as this spring.

In anticipation of protests after the move, the authorities imposed a curfew, cut the internet, tightened security and put hundreds of Muslims and other opposition leaders under house arrest for months. They have since been released.

An Islamist militant uprising and public protests against Indian rule has killed thousands of people, mostly in the 1990s when the violence peaked.

Since the special status was revoked, scores more civilians, security personnel and militants have been killed.

Many Muslims have yet to sign up for domicile certificates, wary of the BJP's ultimate aims, although some say they may have to if their refusal leads to problems.

Previously unreported official records show just over 5.3 million certificates had been issued as of September.

The government has not said what will happen to those who don't join the scheme, though they can still vote in local elections using permanent residency cards.

"All these laws like domicile and delimitation (boundary changes) have served only one purpose: that's to change the Muslim majority character of the state," said Mehbooba Mufti, a former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir once allied with the BJP. She was detained without charge in 2019 and released the following year.

GRAPHIC - Outcome of the delimitation commission's report

https://www.reuters.com/graphics/INDIA-KASHMIR/xmvjklllzpr/graphic.jpg

OUTREACH CAMPAIGN

The BJP's Raina said Modi's policies had ended the injustice suffered by tens of thousands who had been living in the region for decades and, in the case of some families, centuries.

A 46-year-old native of Jammu, he said the process was aimed at levelling the playing field rather than securing votes, although that could be a by-product.

"The BJP is not working to dilute the power of the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley, but it is our duty to empower every citizen of India. In the case of Jammu and Kashmir, they just happen to be Hindus."

The BJP has sought to push home its advantage.

Nine of the 90 seats - six in Kashmir and three in Jammu - are now reserved for marginalised communities for the first time, and they are likely to back the BJP.

The party also launched a door-to-door campaign in 2020 involving hundreds of officials to identify those who would benefit from domicile certificates - and potentially vote for the BJP.

Mohammed Iqbal was one of the officials. The "tehsildar", or executive magistrate and tax collector for the Pulwama region near Srinagar, held educational gatherings in the hilly terrain and organised visits to ensure people signed up.

Even during the COVID-19 pandemic the work did not stop. Isolation tents were set up so people could apply for certificates while lockdown restrictions and social distancing rules were in place. Now the process has moved largely online.

"We are under direct instruction from the government to finish the issuance of domicile certificates at a fast pace," Iqbal said.

By early December, about 70% of the 600,000 people in Iqbal's region had received certificates, though only a minority would be gaining new rights, he said.

The BJP has also strengthened its hand thanks to the redrawing of boundaries by a government panel and a new way of allocating assembly seats.

Under the new structure, Hindu-dominated Jammu will get six more seats, taking its representation to 43, while Muslim-dominated Kashmir would increase by one to 47 seats.

Marginalised groups such as Asha's "sweepers" and the West Pakistan Refugees group of Hindus who settled in Jammu and Kashmir after partition, are among those who will gain full citizenship for the first time.

The refugee community alone numbers more than 650,000.

"We now stand eligible to cast our votes and finally enjoy all the fundamental rights. We thank the Modi government for making this a reality," said Labharam Gandhi, president of the association representing West Pakistan refugees.

GRAPHIC - Bharatiya Janata Party’s standing in Jammu and Kashmir

https://www.reuters.com/graphics/INDIA-KASHMIR/znpnbzzkkpl/graphic.jpg

(Reporting by Rupam Jain in Jammu and Srinagar, Kanupriya Kapoor in Singapore; Additional reporting by Fayaz Bukhari in Srinagar and Gibran Naiyyar Peshimam in Islamabad; Editing by Mike Collett-White and David Clarke)

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for HINDUISM IS FASCISM 

FROM QUEBEC TO MAINE

Lawsuit against Catholic religious order says abuse at retreats in Maine was coordinated

Emily Allen, Portland Press Herald, Maine
Wed, January 11, 2023 at 9:59 PM MST·6 min read

Jan. 11—A woman who says she was abused by priests in Maine when she was a young girl in the 1950s has been allowed to sue a Catholic religious order anonymously.

The woman, who filed her civil complaint under the name "Jane Doe," described years of horrific sexual abuse she says she suffered at the hands of priests in the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate and the "immense pain, fear, and guilt" she felt each time.

U.S. District Judge Lance Walker agreed Friday that Doe could continue her suit using the pseudonym, with no objection from the Oblates.

Anonymous complaints are not uncommon in federal cases of abuse, but it's the first known Jane Doe case in Maine since state law changed in 2021 allowing alleged victims of childhood sexual abuse to sue in cases that used to be covered by a statute of limitations. More than a dozen other cases filed in state courts all have named plaintiffs, though many of them have asked not to be identified in the media.

In an affidavit submitted to the court by the woman's attorneys, Ashley Pileika and Alexis Chardon, her psychiatrist described her struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder and how it would exacerbate her symptoms if she was required to use her name.

"She worries tremendously about any backlash that could result to her family," the affidavit stated. "Currently she suffers from flashbacks, nightmares, spells of terror, panic attacks, hyperarousal, depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, discontinuity in her sense of self, low self-esteem, difficulty in relationships, dissociation, derealization, among other symptoms."

The Oblates do not have a defense attorney listed in court records. An Illinois attorney who has represented the Oblates in other cases declined to comment on the allegations Wednesday.

Though not as active in the region today, the Oblates owned several large homes throughout the region, where seminarians stayed while on retreat.

The Oblates worked closely with nuns from different religious orders who came to New England from Canada, including the Sisters of Charity of Montreal and the Sisters of Charity of Quebec. Those sisters, often called "Grey Nuns," ran orphanages and schools throughout the region — including St. Joseph's Orphanage in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, where the plaintiff spent her earliest years.

WHO IS JANE DOE?

She was 4 years old in the 1950s when her mother left her and several siblings in the care of the orphanage, where she often snuck out of her dormitory into a room for younger children where her little sisters were sleeping. According to attorneys, her mother was training to become a nun herself, although she never became one, and was unable to care for her children.

Their grandparents took in the children in the 1960s. While most of the woman's siblings went on to live in California with their parents, she stayed behind and grew up mostly at her grandmother's house, attending private school, taking piano and violin lessons and still going to church.

Pileika said her client didn't realize she had lived at an orphanage until she was much older. Her mother had told the children they were going to a boarding school — Pileika said this was a common scenario at that time. Many adults who couldn't care for their children turned to institutions overseen by religious orders, like the Oblates and the Grey Nuns, for social services and support — which makes their alleged abuse all the more horrific.

"They were running schools, they were running orphanages, they were running churches, obviously," Pileika said.

As a young girl, she enjoyed singing and dancing. The sisters at the orphanage told her she was a gifted performer and began taking her with them on trips to the Oblate-owned homes in Bucksport and Bar Harbor, where the sisters performed domestic duties for the seminarians, like cooking and cleaning.

"There should not have been young girls going anywhere near the sleeping quarters of older men," said Chardon. "Almost every diocese has something in writing today that says 'Don't allow that, it's not appropriate' — but that doesn't mean people in the '50s and '60s didn't know. There were so many reasons they should've known. They did know. They knew it was wrong, and it was going on for years and years."

The woman alleges she was abused on at least 10 different occasions during several trips to Maine. In Bucksport, where she remembered "the impression of the red bricks and white pillars" were similar to a "massive church," she said she was raped by the Rev. Arthur Craig and handed off to be abused by several other unnamed men.

She said Craig, the Rev. Francis Demers and several other unnamed men abused her at the Oblates' home in Bar Harbor, which she described as grandiose and said looked like a castle. They gave her a doll and told her she was "as pretty as the doll." They kept her in a room for at least a full day and night.

NOT THE ONLY ONE

Today, the Oblates are more missionary-focused, having sold most of the homes they oversaw for large sums of money since the 1950s. Craig was living at a nursing home for retired Oblate priests as late as 2021, according to a posting that year from the Oblates. The complaint does not mention Demers' last known posting, or if he is still a working priest.

The complaint only names the Oblates as defendants, though Pileika and Chardon said they're "seriously considering" adding the religious orders that employed the Grey Nuns to the complaint because they share responsibility.

"We felt that it was very important to target the Oblates for using Maine as a very sick playground and profiting from it," said Chardon. "That being said, the Grey Nuns are likely a valid defendant, and one of the things that will be interesting is to learn the relationship between the Grey Nuns and the Oblates as we go into discovery, and how much they knew."

Although these homes no longer serve as grounds for the sexual abuse of young children, the woman's attorneys say the damage lives on and it was important for their client to file her complaint to attain accountability and spread awareness.

"She's very cognizant that there are others out there," said Pileika. "For so long, she wasn't able to connect to others this happened to — I think knowing there are others has been important and part of her healing journey."

Pileika has represented other clients with anonymous claims of sexual abuse against the Oblates.

That includes two women with a joint claim in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. They grew up at a boarding school near St. Joseph's Orphanage in Fairhaven, which was also run by Grey Nuns. These women say they, and many others from their school, were also shuttled to Oblate-owned vacation homes in Maine and elsewhere, where they were abused in the 1960s and 1970s.

The Oblates and other defendants in that case, which include the Sisters of Charity of Montreal, the Sisters of Charity of Quebec, the Diocese of Fall River and the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, filed motions to dismiss the complaint last spring. The judge has yet to rule on them.

India’s supreme court thinks Bengaluru has become a template for urban ruin

Harish Pullanoor

Wed, January 11, 2023 

How far can unplanned development degrade a gorgeous city? So much so that it becomes a quasi-official template of how not to run a city.

The evolution of Bengaluru, India’s technology hub and once among its most liveable big cities, has been so haphazard over the past few decades that the supreme court of India now holds it up as a warning for other Indian cities.

On Jan. 10, the court urged India’s federal and state governments to place environmental preservation ahead of urban development. It was hearing a plea by residents of the northern city of Chandigarh, who are resisting the administration’s practice of converting single residential units into apartments.

“The warning flagged by the city of Bengaluru needs to be given due attention by the legislature, executive, and policymakers,” a bench of two justices said. “It is high time that, before permitting urban development, EIA (environmental impact assessment) of such development needs to be done.”

Located around 250 kilometres north of Delhi, Chandigarh is among India’s eight union territories, governed directly by the federal government. It is also the legislative and administrative capital of two adjoining states, Punjab and Haryana.

Designed by the Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier and inaugurated in 1953, Chandigarh was one of India’s earliest planned cities and a pin-up for a newly independent country. In 2016, it was declared a UNESCO world heritage site. But India’s apex court wants to keep this iconic city from going the way of Bengaluru.

Bengaluru’s reputation has fallen

A city of 12 million people, Bengaluru—Bangalore until its name changed in 2014—is one of India’s biggest urban conglomerations. Its reputation as a global technological hub was built on the back of a tremendous economic boom in the 1990s.

But the city has become unrecognizable over the past decade-and-a-half.

Known earlier for its clement weather and beautiful gardens, Bengaluru’s transformation has caused immense damage to its ecology. Its trees have been chopped down en masse and often at random, and its many lakes have disappeared or have been left badly polluted.

“In 1961, there were 262 lakes and tanks in and around her. But satellite imagery in 2003 showed just 18 clearly delineated ones (I don’t want to know what it looks like in 2017),” Quartz had reported earlier. “Yet, there’s been a 584% growth in her built-up area over the past four decades. The result: A parched city depends on thousands of tanker-trucks for her daily supply of water.”

The city’s traffic has also become a byword for mismanagement. Even a decade ago, a study estimated that more than $6 billion worth of man-hours were lost because IT workers were stuck so long on congested roads.

When the city’s IT boom began, the term “Bangalored” described how a job lost in a western country was outsourced to India. Now “Bengaluru’d” could well stand in for the wanton devastation of a flourishing city.

Nigeria's female bouncers show their strength fighting stereotypes










PHOTO GALLERY 9 / 33 

The Wider Image: Nigeria's female bouncers show their strength fighting stereotypes

Thu, January 12, 2023 
By Seun Sanni and Temilade Adelaja

AKWA IBOM, Nigeria (Reuters) - For years, Emem Thomas' body drew snarky remarks from slimmer classmates in southern Nigeria that shattered her confidence and natural affability.

As teasing and taunts marred her teenage years, she gave up on dreams like competing in a local beauty pageant.

Then she found a niche that values what Thomas now proudly describes as her "plus-sized" body type: the "Dragon Squad Limited", a team of female bouncers.

"I love what I see dragons do in movies," she said. "They are also a symbol of power and protection."


Founded in 2018, Thomas only employs women of a certain weight and shape, creating a safe space for plus-size women to excel in a field that is traditionally male-dominated.

"My team is all about plus-size ladies," she explained. "If you have the plus-size body then that is cool for me, before I now talk about your passion and other qualifications."

The Dragon Squad's 43 recruits have worked security at about 2,000 events including house parties, funerals, political rallies and club nights.

"People expect us to be in the kitchen or probably doing make-up and other feminine roles, but joining this squad has really enlightened me," said 23-year-old bouncer Peace Vigorous, the youngest of the crew.

In addition to walkie-talkies, boots and dark glasses, the bouncers carry pepper spray.

The risk of being molested on the job is "always something we have in mind", said Thomas.

"We always prep ourselves for that" and for "men looking down on us."

'FACE THE CROWD'

On an early overcast morning, Thomas led bouncers through a sweaty fitness session on a parking lot.

The women have acquired skills, strength, and most importantly for Thomas, confidence.

"Most of them... were always shy. They couldn't talk," she said, noting that she too became introverted because of her weight.

Behaviour that draws attention such as standing in front of a crowd and giving orders can be particularly challenging for women used to avoiding the public eye.

"Face the crowd and be yourself," Thomas tells them when they falter. "You are supposed to be seen and known."

Thomas's newfound confidence has transformed her social and family life in the city of Uyo, where the 37-year-old lives with her two children.

She no longer considers herself and introvert or shies away from events.

The Dragon Squad has also led her to advocate for the rights of girls and women.

Gender violence is rife in Nigeria, which has one of the world's highest rates of sexual assault. Jihadist groups in the north are renown for kidnapping girls and women and trafficking them into sex work and forced labour.

For Thomas, change comes with "breaking the barrier" to show what women bring to all sectors of society.

She believes female bouncers "have a way of taking off danger" by listening to troublemakers and victims in a way that most men do not have patience for.

"I see no reason why women (should not be) given a chance."

Read more:

Teenage girls in northern Nigeria 'open their minds' with robotics

Nigerian ride-hailing app aims to put women at ease

(Reporting by Seun Sanni and Temilade Adelaja; Writing by Sofia Christensen; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

NTSB chair says EVs are getting too big and heavy

That extra bulk may be dangerous in a collision.

Engadget
Jon Fingas
·Reporter
Thu, January 12, 2023 

Electric cars tend to need extra bulk for their gigantic battery packs, and that's raising eyebrows at the National Transportation Safety Board. In a keynote speech, NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said she was worried the size and weight of modern EVs could increase the risk of serious injuries and death. A Hummer EV is over 9,000lbs, the board leader said, while electrified versions of vehicles like the Ford F-150 and Volvo XC40 are far heavier than their gas engine equivalents.

Homendy stressed that she supported the Biden administration's environmental goals, and that transportation represented the largest contributor to American greenhouse gas emissions. She just felt that automakers had to be wary of creating "unintended consequences," such as more road fatalities.

There is some data to suggest that EVs' added weight may pose a danger. Green Car Congress pointed to a 2021 commentary in Nature where researchers calculated that the mortality costs of the F-150 Lightning's extra 700kg (1,543lbs) over the gas model 'rival' its zero-emissions benefits. The chances of passengers dying in a collision increase 12 percent with every 500kg (1,102lbs) of weight difference, the research team said. While those issues might diminish as more EVs reach the market, they could remain a problem as long as combustion engine and electric cars have to share the road.

Technical solutions might help. Scientists are already developing lighter batteries, and the first EVs with denser solid-state batteries (which can achieve similar range with smaller packs) are only a few years away. While EVs with this technology are still likely to be heavier than their fossil fuel-burning counterparts, the weight reduction could improve safety in addition to range.

US official warns of risks posed by heavy electric vehicles


 Jennifer Homendy of the National Transportation Safety Board speaks during a news conference, Oct. 3, 2019, in Windsor Locks, Conn. On Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2023, Homendy, the chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said she is concerned about the risk that heavy electric vehicles pose if they collide with lighter vehicles.

 (AP Photo/Chris Ehrmann, File


TOM KRISHER
Wed, January 11, 2023

DETROIT (AP) — The head of the National Transportation Safety Board expressed concern Wednesday about the safety risks that heavy electric vehicles pose if they collide with lighter vehicles.

The official, Jennifer Homendy, raised the issue in a speech in Washington to the Transportation Research Board. She noted, by way of example, that an electric GMC Hummer weighs about 9,000 pounds (4,000 kilograms), with a battery pack that alone is 2,900 pounds (1,300 kilograms) — roughly the entire weight of a typical Honda Civic.

“I’m concerned about the increased risk of severe injury and death for all road users from heavier curb weights and increasing size, power, and performance of vehicles on our roads, including electric vehicles,” Homendy said in remarks prepared for the group.

The extra weight that EVs typically carry stems from the outsize mass of their batteries. To achieve 300 or more miles (480 or more kilometers) of range per charge from an EV, batteries have to weigh thousands of pounds.

Some battery chemistries being developed have the potential to pack more energy into less mass. But for now, there’s a mismatch in weight between EVs and smaller internal combustion vehicles. EVs also deliver instant power to their wheels, making them accelerate faster in most cases than most gas-powered cars, trucks and SUVs.

Homendy said she was encouraged by the Biden administration’s plans to phase out carbon emissions from vehicles to deal with the climate crisis. But she said she still worries about safety risks resulting from a proliferation of EVs on roads ands highways.

“We have to be careful that we aren’t also creating unintended consequences: More death on our roads,” she said. “Safety, especially when it comes to new transportation policies and new technologies, cannot be overlooked.”

Homendy noted that Ford’s F-150 Lightning EV pickup is 2,000 to 3,000 pounds (900 to 1,350 kilograms) heavier than the same model’s combustion version. The Mustang Mach E electric SUV and the Volvo XC40 EV, she said, are roughly 33% heavier than their gasoline counterparts.

“That has a significant impact on safety for all road users,” Homendy added.

The NTSB investigates transportation crashes but has no authority to make regulations. For vehicles, such authority rests largely with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Even apart from EVs, the nation’s roads are crowded with heavy vehicles, thanks to a decadelong boom in sales of larger cars, trucks and SUVs that’s led to extreme mismatches in collisions with smaller vehicles. But electric vehicles are typically much heavier than even the largest trucks and SUVs that are powered by gasoline or diesel.

Michael Brooks, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Auto Safety, said he, too, is concerned about the weight of EVs because buyers seem to be demanding a range of 300 or more miles per charge, requiring heavy batteries.

Setting up a charging network to accommodate that may be a mistake from a safety perspective, Brooks said.

“These bigger, heavier batteries are going to cause more damage,” he said. “It's a simple matter of mass and speed.”

Brooks said he knows of little research done on the safety risks of increasing vehicle weights. In 2011, the National Bureau of Economic Research published a paper that said being hit by a vehicle with an added 1,000 pounds increases by 47% the probability of being killed in a crash.

He points out that electric vehicles have very high horsepower ratings, allowing them to accelerate quickly even in crowded urban areas. “People are not trained to handle that type of acceleration. It's just not something that drivers are used to doing,” Brooks said.

Also, many newer electric SUVs are tall with limited visibility that poses risks to pedestrians or drivers of smaller vehicles, he said.

Sales of new electric vehicles in the U.S. rose nearly 65% last year to 807,000 — about 5.8% of all new vehicle sales. The Biden administration has set a goal of having EVs reach 50% of new vehicle sales by 2030 and is offering tax credits of up to $7,500 to get there. The consulting firm LMC Automotive has made a more modest prediction: It expects EVs to make up one-third of the new-vehicle market by 2030.

President of Israel's Supreme Court attacks judicial changes





Thu, January 12, 2023

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The chief justice of Israel's Supreme Court attacked the sweeping changes to the country’s justice system planned by the new conservative government on Thursday, lending her voice to a growing outcry against the proposed overhaul.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Esther Hayut fired off unusually sharp rhetoric at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's new justice minister, Yariv Levin, saying his proposed changes would amount to an “unbridled attack on the justice system."

“Israel will soon mark 75 years of independence as a Jewish and democratic state. That is an important milestone in the life of the state," Hayut told a convention for the Israeli Association of Public Law. "Unfortunately, if the plan for change that has been presented is carried out, the 75th year will be remembered as the year in which Israel’s democratic identity suffered a fatal blow.”

Hayut said that independence is the “soul of the courts” and without it, judges won’t be able to fulfill their roles as servants of the public.

She took aim at a proposal that would allow the parliament to override Supreme Court decisions with a simple majority. For decades in Israel, the judiciary has played a key role safeguarding minority rights and offsetting rule by the parliamentary majority.

“It is about overriding the human rights of each and every individual in Israeli society,” Israeli media quoted Hayut as saying.

The announced judicial changes have spurred a surge of resistance. Seven former attorneys general who have served in the post throughout the last five decades also spoke out against the overhaul on Thursday, signing a letter of protest along with four senior legal officials.

Three of the seven were appointed under Netanyahu's previous terms in office. The letter, published in Israeli media, denounced the proposed changes, saying they are destructive to the country's legal system.

“We call on the government to withdraw the proposed plan and prevent the serious harm to the justice system and the rule of law,” the letter said.

The former officials said the changes would turn the Supreme Court, often the last recourse for Israelis and Palestinians seeking to challenge what they see as discriminatory policies, into a “pseudo-political body that would be suspected of bending the law in favor of the government.”

Israel's new government has made overhauling the country's legal system a centerpiece of its agenda. It wants to weaken the Supreme Court, including by politicizing the appointment of judges and reducing the independence of government legal advisors.

The legal changes could help Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption, evade conviction, or even make his trial disappear entirely. Since being indicted in 2019, Netanyahu has railed publicly against the justice system, calling it biased against him. He says the legal overhaul will be carried out responsibly.

The plan has prompted an uproar over what critics say is a major threat to Israel's democratic fundamentals. The country's current attorney general, Gali Baharav-Miara, has already fiercely criticized the proposed changes and a protest against them last week drew thousands.

Alan Dershowitz, a U.S. lawyer and staunch Israel defender, has also come out against the plan, saying were he in Israel, he would be joining the demonstrations.

Critics accuse the government of declaring war against the legal system, saying the plan will upend Israel’s system of checks and balances and undermine its democratic institutions by giving absolute power to the most right-wing coalition in the country’s history. The government says the overhaul is a necessary step to streamline governance and correct an imbalance that has granted the legal system too much sway.

___

Associated Press writer Isabel DeBre in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Israel's top judge says government judicial reform plan will crush justice system


Israeli cabinet meeting in Jerusalem


Thu, January 12, 2023 

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -The president of Israel's Supreme Court on Thursday said that a judicial reform plan proposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government would crush the justice system and undermine the country's democracy.

Chief justice Esther Hayut issued the stark warning in response to a plan backed by Netanyahu that includes limiting High Court rulings against government moves or Knesset laws, while increasing politicians' say in selecting judges.

The proposal, Hayut said in a televised speech, "is not a plan to fix the justice system but a plan to crush it."

It will "deal a fatal blow" to the independence of judges and their ability to serve the public, she said. "The meaning of this plan is therefore to change the democratic identity of the country beyond recognition."

Netanyahu's justice minister, Yariv Levin, later defended the reform he is championing and criticized what he referred to as "a call to set the streets on fire."

He said his plan will restore balance between the branches of government in light of judicial overreach.

Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara issued her own warning against the planned changes.

"The proposed legislation, if enacted in its current form, will lead to an unbalanced system of checks and balances. The principle of majority rule will push other democratic values to the corner," she said, according to a Justice Ministry statement.

The proposal has stirred worry within Israel and abroad that it could be used by Netanyahu or his religious-nationalist coalition partners to pave the way for laws that might encroach on secular liberals and minorities.

Netanyahu, who took office as prime minister again last month, says he will preserve the judiciary's independence. The veteran leader is on trial for corruption charges he denies.

(Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by Hugh Lawson, Frances Kerry and Mark Porter)

Biden’s response to Israel’s far-right government: avoid confrontation

Chris McGreal in New York
Wed, January 11, 2023 at 3:00 AM MST·6 min read


Photograph: Ronen Zvulun/Reuters

The more things change in Israel, the harder Joe Biden is working to make sure they stay the same.

The new far-right government of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, which includes openly anti-Arab racists, is already causing concern in the White House with commitments to expand illegal settlements in the occupied territories and annex Palestinian land.

The finance minister and leader of the Religious Zionist party, Bezalel Smotrich, who repudiates establishing a Palestinian state, quickly set up a confrontation with the Palestinian Authority by seizing some of its funds and calling it an “enemy”.

The security minister and leader of the Jewish Power party, who has called for the expulsion from the country of “disloyal” Arab citizens of Israel, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has begun a crackdown on Israeli anti-government protesters while ordering the police to tear down Palestinian flags as “identification with terrorism”.

Netanyahu’s own Likud party has already instigated laws to limit the authority of the judiciary to block government policies.

Aaron David Miller, who worked for six US administrations including as an adviser on Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, said Biden was in uncharted territory.

Related: Israel’s far right hits ground running, and ripple effects are already being felt

“No administration has ever encountered an Israeli government like this,” he said.

Miller said that while there are red lines for the White House – including if Israel exploits the growing weakness of the Palestinian Authority in order to annex territory – the administration’s immediate response is containment.

“They are going to go to extreme lengths to avoid a sustained confrontation with the Israelis,” he said.

Already there is a flurry of diplomatic activity. Netanyahu’s point man with the US, the Israeli minister for strategic affairs, Ron Dermer, arrived in Washington for talks earlier this week. Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, is expected to visit Israel next week ahead of the arrival of the secretary of state Antony Blinken, in Jerusalem at the end of the month. Then Netanyahu is scheduled to travel to Washington in February.

Where once the Palestinians were the focus of discussions, now they feature alongside Iran’s nuclear programme, Israel’s reluctance to stand with the US against Russia on Ukraine, and the Jewish state’s relations with the wider Arab world.

But the Palestinians still figure in the talks, at least to the extent that the White House does not want Israel to do anything that would force Washington to make a stand. As Sullivan told NPR last week, US policy is predicated on maintaining what some say is the illusion of a “peace process”.

“We continue to support the two-state solution, and we will oppose policies and practices that undermine the viability of the two-state solution or that cut hard against the historic status quo in Jerusalem. And I will be clear and direct on those points,” he said.

Miller recently co-authored an article calling on Biden to threaten to cut weapons supplies to Israel if the new government uses them to annex Palestinian land, expel Arabs or finally kill off the diminishing possibility of a Palestinian state. But he does not see the president taking such steps.

“Biden is preternaturally pro-Israel. Biden knows Netanyahu, he’s been humiliated by Netanyahu. But at the same time he’s got a deep, deep sense of commitment to Israel,” said Miller.

“Number two, I think Biden understands that this is bad politics. The last thing he needs is to get sandwiched between the Republican party that’s hammering him as to why he’s criticising Israel and his own Democratic party, which is increasingly divided on the subject.”

Khaled Elgindy, a former adviser to the Palestinian leadership on negotiations with Israel, agreed that Biden has no stomach for a fight in part because of President Obama’s humiliating retreat after he tried to force a settlement construction freeze on Netanyahu in 2009.

Israeli bulldozers demolish a Palestinian house in the village of Kafr al-Dik near the West Bank city of Salfit on Tuesday. Photograph: Xinhua/Rex/Shutterstock

“Obama tackled the Palestinian issue, immediately got burned and then backed away. This White House is very risk averse and it’s pretty clear that they don’t want to invest any real political capital on the Palestinians. They’ve made it clear from the beginning that they were going to be in a holding pattern,” he said.

“They see it as a losing issue because it doesn’t lend itself to easy solutions. Any progress would require some pretty heavy political lifting. They’re going to have to be prepared for confrontations with the Israeli government and with Republicans in Congress – and also with the current establishment within their own party.”

Elgindy said the White House was laying down some red lines about upsetting the status quo, “although they’re not very bright red”.

“At the same time, they’re continuing with this approach that the administration has had all along of expressing any serious disagreements privately,” he said.

Miller describes the Palestinian issue as “not ready for primetime”.

“It’s a mess and the best Biden can do is to prevent bad things, very bad things, from happening,” he said.

“But it’s hard for me to see this whole thing being managed for the next few years. There are just too many moving parts.”

High on the list of concerns is a surge in violence and the potential for the outbreak of a third Palestinian intifada. Then there is the collapsing power of the Palestinian Authority.

Some Israeli leaders regard the PA as a useful tool in administering the major Palestinian cities and acting as an arm of the Israeli occupation. But others on the right, such as Smotrich, are instinctively opposed to anything that smacks of Palestinian nationalism or state-building.

Then there is the agitation on the Israeli right to annex parts of the occupied territories.

Elgindy said any of those events could force Biden to confront Israel but he suspects they are more likely to happen by stealth and so allow the White House to avoid action.

“The collapse of the PA isn’t something that will happen overnight … It will be a slow, piecemeal disintegration,” he said.

“It’s similar with, with annexation. It’s not going to be a formal declaration in favour of annexing the West Bank. De facto annexation is happening every day with every road, every settlement. It’s going to happen much more piecemeal. So I don’t see Biden doing much at all.”

Benjamin Netanyahu’s Political Resurrection Already Looks DOA

Lloyd Green
Wed, January 11, 2023 

Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty

Once again, Benjamin Netanyahu is Israel’s prime minister. His return, however, has not heralded political resurrection. Instead, in less than two weeks, he has rejuvenated the country’s center and left in ways their own recent campaigns failed to do. His embrace of the radical right and religious hardliners is now exacting a steep price at home and abroad.

By the numbers, one recent poll shows Netanyahu and his coalition partners losing six seats and control of the Knesset, the country’s parliament. Fortunately for him and his allies, elections are not on the horizon.

Netanyahu’s latest tenure is shaping up as a series of self-induced headaches and missteps, the product of his all-out effort to short-circuit his ongoing bribery and corruption trial. Practically speaking, he has ceded control of the government to Israel’s extremes.

Israel Is Now a Province of Red State America

Think “my country for a horse” meets “l’état, c’est moi,” and you get the picture. Only Kevin McCarthy acts more desperate.

Earlier this month, Netanyahu waived his objections to Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s minister of public security (and a disciple of the late racist extremist and convicted terrorist Meir Kahane) visiting the Temple Mount. Suffice to say, Ben-Gvir’s walk on the wild side went badly, earning Netanyahu and Israel a trip under a global microscope.

Days later, the prime minister’s office advised that Netanyahu would not be traveling to the United Arab Emirates in the near future, blaming the about-face on “logistics.” On top of that, the UAE and China, two of Netanyahu’s much-vaunted friends, bluntly reminded him that their affection came with strings attached.

Specifically, the pair called for the recent UN Security Council meeting that focused on Ben-Gvir’s controversial stroll in the shadow of the Dome of the Rock. For its part, Oman, once thought to be the next signatory of the Abraham Accords, has criminalized relations with Israel since Netanyahu’s election.

The mishigas emanating from Jerusalem appears to be getting on the nerves of the Biden administration. Already, the president has warned the prime minister against policies “that contradict our mutual interests and values.” Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is planning to visit Netanyahu later this month.

To be sure, internal Israeli pushback and pressures are rising, too. Netanyahu & Co.’s attack on the independence of the country’s judiciary, coupled with their embrace of a wholesale exemption from military service for the country’s burgeoning ultra-Orthodox Jewish population, are decidedly unpopular.

Bibi’s Israel Is Turning Into a High-Tech Version of Hungary

Three in five Israelis awarded Netanyahu poor grades for his handling of coalition negotiations. Little more than half believed the new government would worsen Israel’s international standing. People have taken to the streets.

This past Saturday night, thousands protested against the government in Tel Aviv, the country’s commercial center, earning Ben-Gvir’s ire in the process. Placards comparing Israel to late Weimar Germany and the current justice minister to Hitler made their debuts.

A day later, Alan Dershowitz, the Harvard Law School professor emeritus (a steadfast defender of the state of Israel), let the world know that he backed the demonstrations. “There’s a direct conflict between pure democracy… and the rights of minorities and civil rights,” he said.

On Monday, Israel’s establishment delivered a one-two punch of its own against Netanyahu and his friends. “If you continue on the path you are following, you will be responsible for civil war in Israeli society,” Benny Gantz, a retired general who had served as defense minister and deputy prime minister, thundered. “This is the time to go out en masse and to demonstrate, the time to make the country tremble.”

Ehud Barak, a former prime minister and retired general, was similarly unsparing in his criticism. He castigated Netanyahu in a tweet for capitulating to Ben Gvir, whom he characterized as a “blackmailer.” Barak had previously opined that Netanyahu’s government had shown “signs of fascism” and suggested that a mass “non-violent revolt” may be needed.

To be sure, Netanyahu is not amused. “Someone who does not condemn the comparison of the justice minister to a Nazi and of the government of Israel to the Third Reich—he is the one who is planting the seeds of disaster,” he ripped Gantz. For good measure, Netanyahu also accused his one-time deputy of fomenting “sedition from within the Knesset.”

Israel’s Rising Far-Right Can Thank the Youth Vote

Not to be outdone, Tzvika Fogel, chairman of the Knesset’s police committee and an ally of Ben Gvir, has since called for the arrest of Gantz and Yair Lapid, a former prime minister and Netanyahu’s immediate predecessor, on treason charges.

In that same vein, Eli Dallal, a Knesset member from Netanyahu’s own Likud Party lamented that Israel was “too democratic.” Apparently, dissent is for the privileged, not the many. On cue, the bond-rating agencies have weighed in. Maxim Rybnikov, director of sovereign ratings at Standard & Poor’s, warned that the Netanyahu government’s plans to “weaken the state’s institutions” might jeopardize Israel’s credit rating. His words will likely garner attention.

Eli Cohen, Israel’s foreign minister, is an S&P alumnus. As for Netanyahu, an MIT graduate, he launched his career at Boston Consulting Group. They both understand the force of markets.

Yet for Netanyahu, winning a get-out-of-jail card appears paramount. The drama will continue to unfold with Washington bewildered, the world watching, and Israel in the middle.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

Israeli restrictions on Palestinian flags 'repressive': Amnesty

\\

Bolstered Israeli restrictions against flying the Palestinian flag are "a shameless attempt to legitimise racism", rights group Amnesty International said Tuesday.

Israel's new firebrand National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir ordered the police commander on Sunday to authorise officers to remove Palestinian flags flying in public spaces.

"I have instructed the Israeli police to enforce the ban on flying a PLO (Palestine Liberation Organisation) flag in public spaces, a sign of identification with a terrorist organisation", Ben-Gvir wrote on Twitter.

"We will fight terrorism and the supporters of terrorism with all our might," he added.

After winning November elections, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu formed a government last month with key posts taken by far-right allies.

They include Ben-Gvir of the Jewish Power party, who has a history of inflammatory remarks about Palestinians.

Amnesty called the new measures "repressive" and an "audacious attack on the rights to nationality, freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly", in a statement sent to AFP.

In Israel and in annexed east Jerusalem, Israeli security forces already confiscate Palestinian flags, sometimes triggering violence.

In May last year, at the funeral of slain Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, a veteran Al Jazeera reporter, baton-wielding Israeli police beat pallbearers carrying the coffin, which was covered by a Palestinian flag.

Although it is not illegal to fly the Palestinian flag, Israeli laws prohibit the public display of a flag of an enemy country or group hostile to Israel's existence.

"Israeli authorities say the directive is aimed at stopping 'incitement' against Israel, but it comes amid a string of measures designed to silence dissent and restrict protests, including those held in defence of Palestinian rights," Amnesty said.

"The farcical pretexts for this directive cannot mask the fact that Israeli authorities are growing increasingly ruthless in their attempts to silence Palestinian voices," the statement added.


Tue, January 10, 2023