INTERVIEW

COMPLETE TEXT OF KAFKA’S DIARIES IN ENGLISH FOR THE 1ST TIME

Kafka uncensored: A new version of the writer’s diaries adds back the sordid details

When the ‘Metamorphosis’ author died his friend Max Brod published his journals – cutting the parts he thought too personal. Now they’re complete thanks to translator Ross Benjamin

By JP O’ MALLEY

21 April 2023

Franz Kafka in 1906. (Public domain)

In 1915, Franz Kafka read two draft chapters of his novel in progress, “The Trial,” to his close friend and fellow writer, Max Brod. “The Trial” remained uncompleted when Kafka died from tuberculosis in June 1924 at the age of 40.

Prior to his death, Kafka — who was born into a German-speaking Jewish family in what was then the Bohemian capital of Prague — left strict written instructions for Brod to burn all of his literary manuscripts, with the exception of three or four short stories. Brod betrayed his friend’s last wishes.

A committed Zionist, Brod fled the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1939, emigrated to Mandatory Palestine, and died in Tel Aviv in 1968. As Kafka’s sole literary executor, Brod edited and prepared posthumous editions of Kafka’s unpublished novels: “The Trial” came out in 1925, followed by “The Castle” in 1926, and “The Missing Person,” which Brod retitled “Amerika,” in 1927.

Brod also published two volumes of Kafka’s diaries, in English, in 1948-49. The first volume was translated by Joseph Kresh and the second by Martin Greenberg in cooperation with Hannah Arendt, who was then an editor at Schocken Books in New York. In the postscript to volume one of the diaries in 1948, Brod claimed the diaries were as complete as it was possible to make them. “A few passages, apparently meaningless because of their fragmentary nature are omitted,” Brod wrote.

Ross Benjamin, an American translator of German-language literature, now claims Brod was being economical with the truth.

“Besides omitting or altering the names of and details about people still living at the time of the [diaries] publication, Brod manipulated the diaries in several places that presumably seemed to him to reflect unfavorably on himself or Kafka,” Benjamin writes in the preface to “The Diaries of Franz Kafka,” which published in early January.

Ross Benjamin, translator of a new version of

 ‘The Diaries of Franz Kafka.’ (Courtesy/ David Schloss)

The book took Benjamin eight years to translate from the original German and offers English-speaking readers the complete text of Kafka’s diaries for the first time. Written between 1909 and 1923, the diaries contain daily events, reflections and observations, literary sketches, letters, reviews, accounts of dreams, outlines for future planned creative works, descriptions of people with whom Kafka crossed paths, and all but finished prose pieces. In 1913, Kafka wrote in one diary entry: “I am made of literature. I am nothing else and cannot be anything else.”

Benjamin’s previous translations include Daniel Kehlmann’s “Tyll” and “You Should Have Left,” and Joseph Roth’s “Job.” In 2010, Benjamin was awarded the Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator’s Prize for his translation of Michael Maar’s “Speak, Nabokov.” Benjamin’s writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Times Literary Supplement, Bookforum, The Nation, and other publications.

The Times of Israel caught up with Benjamin via Zoom from his home in Nyack, New York, to speak about his new translation of Kafka’s diaries and the insights they give us into Kafka’s life and work. The conversation has been edited for clarity.

The Times of Israel: In the preface to these diaries, you are very critical of Kafka’s friend and literary executor, Max Brod. What kind of things did Brod censor from Kafka’s diaries that were published in English in 1948-49?

Ross Benjamin: Brod deleted whole huge chunks of text that he thought were too personal. He also deleted literary texts that Kafka had drafted in the diaries, which Brod slapped a title on and then published as fiction elsewhere. Brod authorized himself to take liberties with Kafka’s texts and made the decision that since he was the one who [really] knew Kafka, he knew what should be part of Kafka’s literary legacy and what should be shielded from public view.

‘The Diaries of Franz Kafka,’ translated by Ross Benjamin. (Courtesy: Schocken Books)

Did Brod censor and edit the diaries in parts where Kafka wrote about Brod?

Sometimes Brod kept in passages where Kafka wrote about him critically. For example, Kafka wrote at one point in the diaries: “Me and Max must be fundamentally different.” Brod did not cut that. But he cut other entries which he was more sensitive about. An entry, for instance, where Kafka described how Brod came back from a reading he did in Berlin in December 1911 and how a critic, Franz Werfel, had written something disparaging about Brod afterward in a review. Kafka’s diary documented how Brod had those disparaging remarks removed, and how Brod then had the review reprinted (minus the criticism) in a Prague daily newspaper, the Prager Tagblatt. Brod, however, cut all that detail in the diaries.

Brod spent many decades championing Kafka’s prose to a global audience. But he also mythologized Kafka’s life and biography. Can you talk about this?

Brod idealized Kafka as a writer and once said that “the proper category for understanding Kafka is the category of sainthood, not the category of literature.” Personally, I think it is the category of literature. I don’t get the impression that Brod was branding or marketing Kafka as this saint figure. I think that’s how he genuinely saw Kafka, at least after his death.

Did Brod’s editorial decisions alter Kafka’s prose significantly, specifically, in Kafka’s three novels that were published posthumously?

Brod inserted standard punctuation, and he also fixed the syntax where it was muddled. Kafka, after all, wrote hastily. Brod also rearranged the texts of those novels and decided the chronology of the chapters, which were just part of a whole lot of material that Kafka left behind. For example, Brod left out certain fragments that he could not piece together from “The Trial.” But other versions of “The Trial” have since appeared [in print] that kept in those same rough edges of Kafka’s prose in the novel that Brod had ironed out.

You describe Kafka’s diaries as “a laboratory for his literary production.” What do you mean by this?

In many instances in the diaries, Kafka is actually writing as a fictional narrator rather than as a diarist. Every time Kafka was writing he was potentially crafting literature.

Your new translation of the diaries, it seems, brings potential new revelations about Kafka’s sexuality. You mention, for instance, that Brod deleted a line where Kafka describes how a fellow male train passenger’s “sizeable member makes a large bulge in his pants.” Elsewhere, there is a diary entry where Kafka goes to a nudist sanatorium and sees two Swedish boys. In Brod’s version, it simply reads: “Two handsome Swedish boys with long legs.” In your version of that same diary entry, however, it reads quite differently: “2 beautiful Swedish boys with long legs, which are so formed and taut that one could really only run one’s tongue along them.”

The passages that I have included, which were cut by Brod, show clear moments of homoerotic desire from Kafka, which was less well known before [in English translations of the diaries] so I believe they add to our understanding of Kafka’s sexuality. Kafka was always a seeker and explorer in all areas of his life. It kind of makes sense to me that Kafka would explore other aspects of his sexuality in his writing.

Drawings by Franz Kafka from the literary estate of Max Brod. (National Library of Israel)

Brod and Kafka visited brothels together in Prague, Milan, Leipzig, and Paris. Some of those visits are documented in Brod’s original English version of Kafka’s diaries. Did Brod censor any of those details?

Kafka’s visits to brothels aren’t completely censored. They were, however, sanitized in Brod’s English translation. Take, for example, Kafka’s diary entry regarding a visit to a Milan brothel [in 1911]. Kafka wrote: “The girl by the door, whose scowling face is Spanish, who’s putting her hand on her hips in Spanish and who stretches in a bodice-like dress of prophylactic silk. Hair runs thickly from her navel to her private parts.” In Brod’s version of the diary, he cut the last line of this passage. Why, though? It’s hard to say. Did he see it as too crudely carnal and lascivious?

What do these diaries tell us about Kafka’s relationship with women?

Kafka had a very fraught and tortured relationship with women in general. His description of women in [these diaries] often seems to be describing what seems like disgust, but attraction/repulsion, too. Kafka’s first diary entry documenting his impression of Felice Bauer [whom he later got engaged to twice], for example, reads like he had met somebody who he found pretty ugly, uninteresting, and dull. He describes her as having almost “a broken nose and stiff charmless hair.” But then Kafka wrote Felice Bauer letters afterward describing his supposed infatuation with her. Kafka had trouble with what we would today call heteronormative monogamy.

Kafka was engaged three times to two different women, but he never actually married. He wrote obsessively in his diaries about his status as a bachelor. It seemed to cause him a great deal of anxiety.

Yes. The word bachelor comes up hundreds of times throughout the diaries. There is a lot that could be read into that question too, in terms of Kafka’s sexuality. One of the ways Kafka framed this moral conflict was with reference to the French author, Gustave Flaubert, who justified being a bachelor in order to fully devote himself to his art and literature. Kafka bought into that myth. But that inner conflict about bachelorhood versus marriage and having a family is constant in Kafka’s diaries because he never resolved it.

You also suggest that Kafka’s inner conflicts and anxieties became the fundamental source of his creative work, too.

Absolutely. Kafka was constantly coming up with new metaphors, images, and allegories to think about these inner [psychological] conflicts, which caused him a great deal of stress. Kafka suffered a lot mentally, but he used his creativity to transform that suffering into literary expression.


An original manuscript written in Hebrew by Franz Kafka is displayed at the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem, May 31, 2021. (Menahem Kahana/AFP)

In the preface to these diaries, you explore how Brod covered up “occasional lapses in Kafka’s generally positive and open-minded attitude towards Eastern European Jews.” You cite, for example, a traveling Yiddish theater troupe from Lemberg (Lviv) that came to Prague several times in 1911 and 1912, that Kafka saw over 20 times and wrote about those performances in the diaries. Kafka also befriended one member of the group, Polish actor Jizchak Löwy. What did Brod censor in these passages?

It might first be worth mentioning that Kafka’s father embodied a snobbish Jewish attitude that was typical of many Jews from Western Europe towards Eastern European Jews. Kafka wrote about this in his diaries and described how his father made contemptuous comments about the fact that Kafka befriended Löwy. His father even compared Löwy to an animal or an insect. In German, the phrase for looking down on Eastern European Jews was Ostjuden [Eastern Jews], a pejorative term. Although in the diaries Kafka used the term “Eastern Jews.”

But to return specifically to the diary entry you ask about, Kafka’s overall interaction with this Eastern European Yiddish theater group was one of great excitement. Kafka was at the theater with Jizchak Löwy, [who] mentioned his gonorrhea. Brod cut that. Then Kafka wrote: “I leaned over my head, touched his, and I became afraid due to the possibility of lice.” It seems that Kafka was registering his fear of the hygiene of this Eastern European Jew. Kafka probably recognized his own anxieties as typical of Western Jewish prejudices. Now, in my view, it’s much more interesting to see Kafka grapple with this issue rather than have it cleaned up [as Brod did], which would [suggest] that Kafka had uniformly open-minded and positive attitudes about his Jewish friends from Eastern Europe.

Can you speak about Kafka’s rediscovery of his Jewish identity — particularly his keen interest in Yiddish culture and Zionism — which came late in his life?

Kafka became really engaged with his own Jewishness during the time these diaries were written. But Kafka’s interest in Zionism, like his interest in many contemporary [political, cultural, and philosophical] movements, was somewhat distant and skeptical. He began to learn Hebrew late in life, with a possible view to move to Palestine. But there is a famous passage in the diaries where Kafka wrote, “What do I have in common with the Jews? I don’t even have anything in common with myself.”

How would you sum up Kafka’s character? There is a perception of him in the literary world as a kind of nervous wreck or an anxious introvert. Is that misleading?

Kafka wasn’t extroverted and gregarious. But he went out a great deal and liked to be out in social life a lot. And he really valued friendships too. The idea of Kafka as monkishly reclusive is false. But his personality was somewhat reserved.

What was the most challenging aspect of translating these diaries?

The unfinished nature of the text. I realized that a definitive moment of certainty was not something that was going to be available to me with this translation. I also wanted to keep the text open to as broad a range of interpretations as possible.

The Diaries of Franz Kafka – Ross Benjamin (Translator)

Israel's non-democratic laws will have a devastating impact on the Palestinians

Janan Abdu
22 April 2023 

The judicial reforms are just one step in implementing the dangerous ideology of the current far-right government that aims to eliminate the Palestinians

A woman protests against the government's controversial judicial reform bill, in Haifa on 9 March 2023 (AFP)

Since taking office last December, the far-right Israeli government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - along with Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir, Minister of Finance Bazalel Smotrich, and others - has imposed profound changes to Israeli law.

For months, Jewish Israelis have taken to the streets to protest against these judicial reforms, which would severely undermine the Supreme Court's powers and oversight of the legislative and executive branches.

The 37th Israeli government has focused its policy guidelines on the following three areas, which overlap and cannot be separated from each other: sovereignty, national security, and settlement expansion.

These guidelines reveal the objective of the new government: to further entrench Israel as a non-democratic Jewish supremacy inclined towards settler-racist fascism that does not recognise the Palestinian people or their rights.

Authoritarian measures

According to government officials, the new guidelines established by Israel's coalition leaders seek to restore a balance between the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin announced in January the judicial reforms and a comprehensive plan to implement them in stages.

These changes can be divided into four categories: 1) A series of laws that remove the judiciary's oversight authority; 2) an amendment to Israeli Basic Law that specifies conditions to invalidate laws and transfers authority to the Israeli parliament (Knesset); 3) the tightening of government control over the selection of judges; 4) an amendment to how the Attorney General, ministers, and other government officials are appointed.
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One of the proposed reforms is to limit the authority of the Supreme Court in order to prevent it from annulling laws passed by the Knesset deemed unconstitutional and in violation of Israel's Basic Laws.

The change would allow parliament members to circumvent the high court's decisions and reinstate laws that were previously overturned. Although this is a very extreme step, the ruling coalition is working to pass this proposed law with a simple majority of 61 Knesset members.

If passed, the proposed law would allow Israeli parliament members to add an "override clause" to each future bill, shielding it from any subsequent judicial oversight or criticism.

This would last throughout the Knesset term and for a period of no less than two years from the day the law was passed. And, if the future Knesset wants to extend the validity of the overriding law, it can do so once again based on a majority vote.

Another proposed amendment states that no decision can be made to change, repeal, or limit the validity of any law passed through the parliament's override clause.

Solidifying its control

Israel's Basic Law stipulates that the decision to change or repeal a law must be made unanimously by a judicial body of all the Supreme Court justices.

In turn, the Israeli government is working to change the composition of the judge selection committee and the judges' composition in a way that guarantees its control and that of the ruling coalition - thus politicising the committee.

Another strategy is to revoke the standard of the "reasonableness" of a law. This test enables the Supreme Court to quash an administrative order issued by the government due to its "unreasonableness" and ensures that the ruling party does not promote inequality or harbour "illogical motives", conflicts of interests, or "alien" goals.

So far, the high court has used this standard to overturn "unreasonable" decisions and render them illegal. Israeli Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara relied on this measure to oppose the decision to appoint the head of the Shas party, Aryeh Deri, as a minister in the 37th Israeli government based on his criminal conviction on corruption charges.

Baharav-Miara recently stopped Ben-Gvir's decision to dismiss the Tel Aviv police chief and transfer him to another job, pending a valid judicial procedure. And the attorney general indicated that her initial investigation raised serious concerns about the legality of the decision.

In response, Ben-Gvir asked coalition leaders to fire her from her job without concern for the legality of his demands.

In practice, revoking the reasonableness test significantly undermines the Supreme Court's ability to intervene in government decisions, and will free the government to do whatever it wishes without any legal oversight.

According to the law proposed by MK Simcha Rotman of the Religious Zionist party, the provision of the "reasonableness" of a law does not apply to "representatives of the public", such as the prime minister, government ministers, council heads, and other elected officials.

The proposed law states: "Despite what was stated in this Basic Law, whoever has the authority to litigate according to the law, including the Supreme Court, is not entitled to discuss or give an order against the government, the prime minister, a minister among its ministers, or another representative of the public concerning the reasonableness of their decisions" (Articles 15 and 15a, the Law of Judiciary).
Proposed governance law

To preempt the disqualification of an appointed minister, a new proposed law would stipulate that: "There is no possibility for legal oversight by any judicial body with regard to the eligibility to appoint or transfer a minister from office, except for specific cases."

The proposed amendment would inform the Supreme Court that it is incompetent and does not have the authority to apply its legal oversight for any reason whatsoever

This change would place all authority in the hands of the prime minister who is then free to appoint cabinet members with the approval of the parliament and without judicial oversight.

Previously, the conditions for eligibility were set by the Knesset but were subject to judicial rulings and standards.

The proposed amendment would therefore inform the judiciary, including the Supreme Court, that it is incompetent and does not have the authority to apply its legal oversight for any reason whatsoever, except for the conditions of capacity "established by law" - meaning physical or mental matters and only two clauses (Section 16.1 (b1)(5)).

This proposed change came in response to the Supreme Court’s intervention in revoking the appointment of minister Aryeh Deri, who had pledged before the court in his previous file that he would not run again for a political position and would stay away from political life - which he violated when he ran again - and was even appointed by Netanyahu as a minister in the current government.

Another amendment states that: "The declaration of the Prime Minister's incapacity shall be made by informing the Knesset of that by himself or by the government, through a decision by three out of four of its members, and only both of them [the Prime Minister and his government] are authorised to do so" (Article 16.1 (b1)(1)).

It adds: "Courts, including the Supreme Court, are not authorized to discuss or approve a request to disqualify or endorse, and any such decision or order issued by the court is null and void." (Section 16.1 (b1)(4))

This amendment aims to prevent the possibility of dismissing a prime minister in cases of suspected criminal offences, as happens to be the case with Netanyahu, who is being tried on charges of corruption and breach of trust.
No authority

The current law affirms that the power to repeal a law, question its validity, or postpone it for a temporary period rests with the Supreme Court, provided that the following conditions are met: the court convenes with the full composition of its judges and a decision is made by a majority of four out of five of the judges.

The proposed change states that even if all the conditions that allow for judicial oversight are met, the Supreme Court would not have the authority to decide on the validity of a law if the Knesset clearly decided that it is valid, despite what was stated in the Basic Law.

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This law restricts the Supreme Court and effectively eliminates its authority to abolish any law, no matter how racist, dictatorial, or unreasonable it is.

Another amendment involves the appointment of judges.

According to the new proposal, the number of the Judicial Selection Committee members would be increased from nine to 11 and divided into two committees: one for the selection of Supreme Court justices and the other for selecting judges in the other courts.

The committee for the selection of Supreme Court justices would consist of three ministers, three Knesset members from the ruling coalition, two Knesset members from the opposition, and three Supreme Court justices, including the chief justice. That translates to a majority of 6 members of the ruling coalition.

In addition, the government's plan calls for abolishing the rule of appointing the most senior Supreme Court justice as chief of the court, so that the chief justice is to be appointed by an ordinary majority in the committee whose majority members are from the ruling coalition. This means complete government control over the Supreme Court.

The rules involving the appointment of the Attorney General and judicial counsels to the Knesset and various ministries will also change if these reforms are passed.

Ultimately, the amendment seeks to politicise the Attorney General's position and the Justice Ministry, while simultaneously weakening the status of legal counsels in government ministries so that their professional opinions become nonbinding recommendations as they are appointed politically by the minister directly.
Legalised fascism

These legal reforms, which aim to undermine the Israeli judiciary, have greatly concerned many ordinary Israelis. Israeli President Isaac Herzog presented a new settlement proposal regarding the judicial crisis. However, his offer was rejected by the ruling coalition.

The ruling coalition has a majority that will enable all of these non-democratic laws to pass

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that the main provisions contained in Herzog's plan would maintain the status quo and would not achieve the needed "balance" between the three government branches. The heads of the ruling coalition issued a unified position stating that this plan is biased in favour of reform opponents.

A reading of these laws, proposals, and amendments, which have been presented since the beginning of this government's rule, shows that the outcome is a fascist dictatorial regime in which there is no separation of powers as the government and the Knesset work without oversight or accountability.

The ruling coalition has a majority that will enable all of these non-democratic laws to pass. These changes will not only affect Israelis but will also, of course, have a devastating impact on occupied Palestine and those living as second-class citizens in Israel.

The army, police - including oversight of the police - and the courts are all in the hands of the right-wing government. In just a few months since taking office, Smotrich has called for "wiping out" the Palestinian town, Huwwara, from existence and declared that there is no such thing as a Palestinian people.



Ben-Gvir has expanded his own powers and pushed through amendments to the police decree demanding that Mahash, Israel's police investigation unit (for violations and criminal offences), be transferred to his authority and no longer under the Public Prosecution in the Justice Department.

The judicial reforms are just one step in implementing the dangerous ideology of the current far-right government which aims to eliminate the Palestinians.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.

Janan Abdu is a lawyer and human rights activist based in Haifa. She is active in raising awareness about and mobilizing international support for Palestinian political prisoners. Her articles have appeared in the Journal of Palestine Studies; the quarterly of the Women’s Studies Center at Birzeit University; al-Ra’ida (AUB); The Other Front (Alternative Information Center); Jadal (Mada al-Carmel). Her publications include Palestinian Women and Feminist Organizations in 1948 Areas (Mada al-Carmel, 2008).

With memorial candles, protesters across Israel rally against judicial overhaul

16th set of weekly rallies held nationwide, with over 110,000 estimated to attend main demo in Tel Aviv; Lapid: Without street protests, ‘the disaster would have already occurred’

By TOI STAFF

22 April 2023,

Bereaved families and other Israelis stand next to memorial candles during a protest against the Israeli government's planned judicial overhaul, in Tel Aviv on April 22, 2023. (Erik Marmor/Flash90)

Tens of thousands of protesters rallied Saturday evening as part of ongoing demonstrations against the government’s contentious judicial overhaul, with tensions elevated ahead of Memorial Day and Israel’s 75th Independence Day next week.

At the main protest in Tel Aviv, members of bereaved families set up a makeshift memorial with candles to commemorate fallen soldiers.

The families urged politicians to stay clear of cemeteries on Memorial Day, which begins Monday at nightfall and ends Tuesday evening with the start of Independence Day.


Activists unfurled a large banner commemorating troops that read: “We’ll defend what you’ve fallen for.”

Sheila Katz, CEO of the National Council of Jewish Women, spoke at the Tel Aviv rally, addressing her remarks in English to American Jews.

“This is our fight, too!” she said. “If you love Israel, if you call yourself a Zionist: Get off the couch and into the streets. Speak up. We cannot let Israel’s democracy be dismantled on our watch!”

Demonstrators lift flags and placards during a rally to protest the Israeli government’s judicial overhaul plans, in Tel Aviv, on April 22, 2023. (JACK GUEZ / AFP)

“There are hundreds of thousands of you out here tonight. But know there are millions more standing with you in America and around the world. We see you out here every week fighting for this country we love,” Katz added.

“You, the people of Israel, are our ‘or la’goyim’ [light unto the nations], showing the world what it means to fight for freedom. We are in this together. And with one voice we say: De-mo-kra-tia! [democracy],” she added.

Protesters unfurl a banner that reads: ‘We’ll defend what you’ve fallen for,’ in preparation for Memorial Day next week, in Tel Aviv, April 22, 2023. (Or Adar/Courtesy)

Hebrew media outlets estimated turnout of at least 110,000 in Tel Aviv, while protest organizers said 165,000 people demonstrated there. The figures could not be independently verified.

Police said around 20 of the protesters entered Tel Aviv’s Ayalon Highway, near the Hashalom Junction, but were quickly dispersed by officers.

In another incident on Yitzhak Sadeh, several protesters attempted to enter the Ayalon Highway, but were blocked by officers, according to police, who said traffic was flowing on the highway.

Demonstrations were also held in other cities and locations across Israel, including Haifa (where an estimated 20,000 protested), Jerusalem (where 15,000 were said to gather) and Hod Hasharon, where opposition leader Yair Lapid addressed the crowd.

“If you didn’t go out to the streets, the disaster would have already occurred,” he said. “What’s happened here in recent months is breathtaking.”


הנסיך הקטן מפלוגה ב'

מ"אחים לנשק" נמסר: "נזכור ולא נשכח את טובי בניה ובנותיה של המדינה אשר נפלו למען נצח ישראל ולמען הגנה על ישראל – יהודית ודמוקרטית

דגל קפלן של *אחים לנשק* מוקדש למשפחת השכול"

קרדיט: אביב אטלס pic.twitter.com/ETYmyfL044

— ???????? ???????????????????????? (@iloveisraell) April 22, 2023

In Jerusalem, thousands marched to Paris Square, near the prime minister’s official residence, from their usual Saturday night gathering point outside the President’s Residence.

Among the speakers, former Likud minister Limor Livnat said the coalition was attempting to impose regime change and to “castrate the High Court.”

She quoted former Likud prime minister Menachem Begin championing the independence of the courts and their ultimate authority to protect individual rights.

Dr. Tali Sela, whose brother was killed fighting in Lebanon in 1993, accused the government of breaching its contract with Israel soldiers. “My brother gave his life on the basis of that contract – that Israel is a democracy… The government is trampling democracy.”

“For the sake of those who gave their lives for this country, I cannot be silent,” she said.

A sign at the Jerusalem anti-overhaul protest shows Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich as cartoon characters Beavis and Butt-Head, April 22, 2023. (DH/Times of Israel)

Elsewhere, some 2,000 protesters gathered at the Karkuk Junction in northern Israel, where weekly demonstrations have been held. Some 300 protesters marched from Karkuk to the nearby junction, according to the Ynet news site.

Protesters have been gathering for nearly four months against the hardline coalition’s plans to overhaul the judicial system, bring most judicial appointments under government control, and curb the oversight powers of the High Court of Justice.

Demonstrators lift flags and placards during a rally to protest the Israeli government’s judicial overhaul bill in Tel Aviv, on April 22, 2023. (Jack Guez/AFP)

Saturday’s demonstrations, held for the 16th weekend in a row, came ahead of a week that will see large rallies from both opponents and proponents of the overhaul, as the nation is set to honor its fallen on Memorial Day and mark 75 years since its founding on Independence Day.

Amid concerns of disruption during Memorial Day, leading opposition lawmakers Lapid and Benny Gantz made a rare call for unity with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, urging Israelis to put aside deep divisions for a single day in honor of those killed. A similar joint call was issued by Modiin Mayor Haim Bibas, who also chairs the Federation of Local Authorities, along with Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion, Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai and more than 115 other municipality heads across the country.

On Tuesday evening, the central torch-lighting ceremony will be held as the country moves from mourning those killed in military service and terror attacks to celebrating 75 years of independence.

The usually apolitical ceremony has taken on a different tone this year amid the government’s plans to shackle the judiciary. Lapid has announced he would not attend the ceremony due to societal divisions he said the government has created due to its radical judicial overhaul program.

Lapid’s decision followed reports that Transportation Minister Miri Regev, who is responsible for the ceremony, plans to cut the live broadcast of the event and switch to a rehearsal recording should the actual torch-lighting ceremony be interrupted by anti-government protestors.

At the same time as the ceremony, a mass rally — billed as the largest in Israel’s history — will be held at Tel Aviv’s Kaplan Street at 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday evening.

Meanwhile, supporters of the overhaul are set to rally on Thursday evening.

Justice Minister Yariv Levin called on supporters to attend a large demonstration in Jerusalem on Thursday “to stand between the Knesset building and the Supreme Court building and say with unprecedented force: the people demand legal reform. The mandate received by the right-wing government must be realized.”

Demonstrators rally against the government’s judicial overhaul plans, in Tel Aviv, on April 22, 2023. (JACK GUEZ / AFP)

The Knesset is scheduled to return from its month-long recess on April 30, with a law to put judicial appointments within political control, one part of the legislative package, ready to be passed within days.

Critics say the overhaul, which will shift much of the judiciary’s power into the government’s hands, will make Israel a democracy in name only, shielding leaders from accountability while leaving minority rights largely unprotected and subject to the whims of Netanyahu’s hard-right government. Proponents say the changes are needed to rein in what they see as an overly activist court.

Demonstrators lift flags and placards during a rally to protest the Israeli government's judicial overhaul plans, in Tel Aviv, on April 22, 2023. (JACK GUEZ / AFP)

Bereaved families and Israelis stand next to memorial candles during a protest against the Israeli government's planned judicial overhaul in Tel Aviv on April 22, 2023. (Erik Marmor/Flash90)

Demonstrators wave flags during a rally to protest the Israeli government's judicial overhaul plans, in Tel Aviv, on April 22, 2023. (JACK GUEZ / AFP)


Demonstrators light memorial candles during a rally to protest the government's judicial overhaul plans, in Tel Aviv, on April 22, 2023, three days before Israel's annual memorial day for fallen soldiers. The text reads: "In their deaths, their commanded us: One Israel. Jewish. Free. Democratic" (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP)


Demonstrators lift a banner during a rally to protest the Israeli government's judicial overhaul bill in Tel Aviv, on April 22, 2023. (Jack Guez/AFP)

Thousands of Israelis protest against the planned judicial overhaul, in Tel Aviv, on April 22, 2023. "The rotten one," reads the banner with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's picture. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)1

Europe’s CERN takes first steps toward building giant particle accelerator

Nuclear research organization says goal of Future Circular Collider is to ‘push the energy and intensity frontiers’ of particle smashers ‘in the search for new physics’

By AGNÈS PEDRERO

22 April 2023, 

A radio frequency particle accelerator is displayed in an exhibition during a press tour at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) on the Future Circular Collider (FCC) feasibility study, in Geneva, on April 19, 2023. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP)

GENEVA (AFP) — Europe’s CERN laboratory has taken its first steps toward building a huge new particle accelerator that would eclipse its Large Hadron Collider — and hopes to see light at the end of the tunnel.

The Future Circular Collider (FCC) particle smasher would be more than triple the length of the LHC, already the world’s largest and most powerful particle collider, constructed in the hope of revealing secrets about how the universe works.

The FCC would form a new circular tunnel under France and Switzerland, 91 kilometers (56.5 miles) long and about five meters (16 feet) in diameter.

“The goal of the FCC is to push the energy and intensity frontiers of particle colliders, with the aim of reaching collision energies of 100 tera electron volts, in the search for new physics,” CERN says.

The tunnel would pass under the Geneva region and its namesake lake in Switzerland, and loop around to the south near the picturesque French town of Annecy.
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Eight technical and scientific sites would be built on the surface, with seven in France and one in Geneva, CERN engineer Antoine Mayoux told reporters this week.

CERN Radio-frequency head Eric Montesinos gestures next to a map of the actual Large Hadron Collider (LHC) during a press trip at the European Organization for Nuclear Research CERN on the Future Circular Collider (FCC) feasibility study, in Geneva, on April 19, 2023. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP)

After carrying out a theoretical analysis, “we are now embarking for the first time on field activities” to study potential environmental issues, he said, with seismic and geotechnical studies to follow.
Mysteries of the universe

Once the feasibility studies are completed, CERN’s member states — 22 European countries plus Israel — will decide in the next five to six years on whether to build the FCC.

The FCC would accelerate electrons and positrons until 2060, and then hadrons until 2090, as it seeks answers to many remaining questions of fundamental physics, with about 95 percent of the mass and energy of the universe still a mystery.

CERN’s Large Hadron Collider — a 27-kilometer (17-mile) ring running about a hundred meters below ground — has already begun chipping away at the unknown.

Among other things, it was used to prove the existence of the Higgs Boson — dubbed the God particle — which broadened the understanding of how particles acquire mass, and earned two scientists who had theorized its existence the 2013 Nobel physics prize.

A simulated data projection of a Higgs boson collision. (Photo credit: CC BY Wikipedia)

But the LHC, which began operating in 2010, is expected to have run its course by around 2040.

“The problem with accelerators is that at some point, no matter how much data you accumulate, you hit a wall of systematic errors,” CERN physicist Patrick Janot said.

“Around 2040-2045, we will have taken away all the substance of the precision possible with the LHC,” he said.

“It will be time to move on to something much more powerful, much brighter, to better see the contours of the physics that we are trying to study.”
Opening doors to the future

Some researchers fear that this huge project will gobble up funds that could be used for other, less abstract physics research.

But others insist that pushing fundamental physics forward is vital for advances in applied physics as well.

“The benefits of our research are extremely important,” said Malika Meddahi, CERN’s deputy director for accelerators and technology, citing as examples medical imaging and the fight against tumors.

Janot agreed: “The day the electron gun was invented, it was the beginning of accelerators; we didn’t know it was going to give rise to television. The day general relativity was discovered, we didn’t know it was going to be used to run GPS.”

A projection on fundamental particles is seen during a press trip at the European Organization for Nuclear Research CERN on the Future Circular Collider (FCC) feasibility study, in Geneva, on April 19, 2023. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP)

Harry Cliff, a particle physicist at Britain’s University of Cambridge, acknowledged that the FCC was an “expensive bit of kit.”

But he noted that it would be built by “a large international collaboration of nations working together over a very long period of time.”

“Particle physics isn’t about discovering new particles — it’s about understanding the fundamental ingredients of nature and the laws that govern them.”

Competition from China

More than 600 institutes and universities around the world use CERN’s facilities, and are responsible for funding and carrying out the experiments they take part in.

However, CERN has some competition: China announced in 2015 that it intended to start work within a decade on building the world’s largest particle accelerator.

Michael Benedikt, who is heading up the FCC feasibility studies, told AFP that CERN had more than 60 years of experience in developing long-lasting research infrastructure.

And political stability in Europe helped to “minimize the development risk for such long-term projects,” he said.

Meddahi also highlighted Europe’s leading position in the field, but warned that “China displays the same ambition.”

“Let’s be vigilant and be sure that we are not on the verge of a change in this hierarchy,” she said.

Majority of US adults have been personally affected by extreme weather, climate change: poll

BY JULIA SHAPERO - 04/22/23

The bridge leading from Fort Myers to Pine Island, Fla., is seen heavily damaged in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian on Pine Island, Fla., Oct. 1, 2022. Changes in air patterns as the world warms will likely push more and nastier hurricanes up against the United States’ east and Gulf coasts, especially in Florida, a new study said. 

(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

The vast majority of U.S. adults have been personally affected by some form of extreme weather in the last five years, according to a new poll released on Saturday.

Seventy-one percent in the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll said they had experienced at least one extreme weather event in the last five years.


The largest portions cited extreme hot weather or heat waves and severe cold weather or winter storms, at 55 percent and 45 percent respectively. Another 30 percent said they had been impacted by major droughts or water shortages, while 24 percent had experienced hurricanes or tropical storms.

Among those who were affected by extreme weather, 69 percent said they believe that climate change was to blame. Another 30 percent said they believe the weather event was not caused by climate change, according to the results.

Overall, 71 percent in the AP-NORC poll said they believe climate change is happening, compared to 12 percent said they did not and 16 percent that said they remained unsure.

Sixty-three percent said they believe climate change is being entirely or mostly caused by human activities, while 30 percent said human activities and natural changes in the environment are equally to blame. Just 7 percent said natural changes were entirely or mostly behind the changing environment.Drinking definitely hurts us. Science may yet prove it helps us, tooWhat to know about the emerging crisis in Sudan

The U.S. faced 18 climate and weather disasters that cost at least $1 billion last year, tying 2011 and 2017 for the third-highest number of billion-dollar disasters, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

At least 474 people were killed in the weather events, which ultimately cost the U.S. about $165 billion. Hurricane Ian, a Category 4 storm that made landfall in Florida last September, killed more than 100 people alone and was the costliest weather event of the year.


The AP-NORC poll was conducted April 13-17 with 1,230 adults and had a margin of error of 3.9 percentage points.

Progressive Democrat brings pitch to rural America

BY HANNA TRUDO - 04/22/23

DES MOINES, Iowa — Democrats have watched in dismay as voters in rural and old industrial strongholds say they want more of what the Republican Party is offering, resisting the establishment’s approach to win them back and raising questions about their party’s strategy.

One progressive — a suited-up, camera-ready U.S. congressman from California — is determined to try a different approach to pique their interest.

Seated in a dimly lit hotel conference room in Des Moines, far from his hub in Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C., work base, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) believes there’s something Democrats get wrong about voters around here.

“One of the things that is a stereotype in my view against rural Americans is this view somehow that they don’t understand what’s happening in the world,” Khanna told The Hill. “They get it. They understand what’s changing the economy. They understand we’re in an economy where technology really matters.”

There is a ton of demand for new kinds of jobs, and residents are dying to innovate. They want the education, training and skills that come from industries of the future, and they want to be compensated accordingly. They aren’t afraid of Big Tech. If Democrats can offer that, he believes voters will listen and the party will be rewarded at the ballot box.

“In my district, when there’s a town hall, 80 percent of hands go up saying they’re optimistic about America. That’s not the case in many other communities,” Khanna said. “You know what they resent? That their kids don’t have the opportunity that the kids in my district do.”

Khanna’s been on a mission beyond the Beltway to change that. Elected in the district where tech giants dominate, the liberal House member sees his position, both geographically and politically, as unique. He’s a progressive who likes to use that label. But unlike some of his contemporaries on the left, he’s not crusading against the tech sector. He rather sees the industry as a key piece to restoring some of America’s most prized places to their original luster.

“If we bring economic opportunity, if we have a renewal of American production, if we make America a manufacturing superpower again, which we can with technology,” he said, “then we can start to bring this country together in ways that have fractured it.”

It’s an ambitious pitch. In places like Des Moines, politicians from both sides of the aisle fly in and out each presidential cycle, shaking hands and retailing with residents, but they don’t stay long. Khanna wants to leave a different kind of imprint — one that requires a strong presence from his district’s biggest strength.

He’s not running for president this cycle and is supporting President Biden’s anticipated bid for re-election in 2024. Some locals wonder why a Democrat like him would even come here after the caucus is no longer expected to be the first voting state on the calendar.

Driving downtown, one Iowa resident remarked that he used to be a Democrat, but that the party left him, rather than the other way around. Democrats have struggled to pull those types of voters away from the GOP.

“It’s sad to me that we’ve let Donald Trump take the manufacturing message when we have the real substance,” Khanna said.

Here and in places like Pennsylvania, where Khanna also recently visited as part of a multi-state tour, he hopes to connect with communities daring to ask for something they say the party’s not delivering.

It’s clear that a sizable group of people want something new. The state went for both Trump in 2020 and voted for Kim Reynolds, a Republican, for governor this November, cementing a trend that had been forming for years.

“To some extent, Trump speaking about the loss of manufacturing jobs is what resonated in parts of the industrial midwest and the south,” Khanna said. “But what we need to say is: He had four years.”

Democrats, for their part, have focused heavily on social and cultural issues. The results have been up and down. They lost seats in some traditionally blue places like New York during the midterms, but also made headway in battlegrounds like Wisconsin over the issue of abortion, which has galvanized their base.

“We’ve got to stop talking like technocrats, academics, social justice warriors or bland bureaucrats,” said Anthony Flaccavento, a rural development expert and author of “The Rural Progressive Platform.”

Democrats need to “start showing up much more than we have for the past few decades,” Flaccavento said, who lives in an Appalachian area of Virginia.

“That means year-round engagement, particularly doing helpful stuff in local rural communities,” he said. “Consistently showing up as good neighbors to solve local problems will help us rebuild trust, which is essential.”

Some Democrats are urging members of their party to emphasize more tangible things like showing ways to create generational wealth and building a strong financial future. They believe that with an economic message like that, voters can be persuaded to think differently about the party in power.

That’s the hope for MD Isley, an educator who caucuses regularly for Democrats but sees holes in the party’s approach. Last primary, he was inspired by Pete Buttigieg, the former South Bend mayor who now serves as Transportation secretary, as a possible new direction for Democrats, but admits to being freshly inspired by Khanna’s progressive ideas.

“It’s not just because he’s here with us today,” said Isley. “Democrats should be paying direct attention to the work Congressman Khanna is doing.”

“Rural Iowa is unique and valuable and core to our history of the state and the midwest. Metro areas within Iowa are also key, very important economic drivers,” he said.

Despite the obvious electoral ramifications, national Democrats are often puzzled by their party’s inability to bring more voters from rural and former manufacturing towns over to their side. Some critique flaws within their platform, arguing they need to offer voters more social safety net programs, health care, affordable housing, education and the like.

Democrats “do not understand rural areas and buy into the argument that rural is hopeless, a downward spiral of dysfunction fueled by bigotry, xenophobia and outmoded thinking. This characterization is false, and it has helped Dems feel justified in either ignoring or denigrating rural people and places,” said Flaccavento.

“Some of the most innovative new economic, civic, cultural and media strategies in the country are emerging in small towns and rural communities, but most Dems know nothing of it,” he added.

Khanna’s alignment with the tech sector distinguishes him from progressives like Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who has been critical of the industry’s influence. While Khanna is clear-eyed about areas for improvement, such as privacy and data protection, he believes it offers the party opportunities as well.

A glimpse into that vision for Democrats was recently on display, when several dozen young people engaged in a discussion around a new tech development and career training program.

The initiative, dubbed the Techwise program in partnership with TalentSprint Inc., combines the hiring power of Google with students at Des Moines Area Community College and other community colleges in areas with less of a natural link to the tech world. It’s intended to propel students into specific early tech careers like software engineering after just 18 months.

“This is a big step for us, we can be the first ones in our family to do this,” said Ryan, a 20-year-old student from Ankeny, one of many students participating across several schools nationally.

Ryan, like other students here, wants a sustainable path toward economic prosperity. A political independent, he said he looks for growth messages when vetting candidates. “I want to feel secure in my future financially,” he said, adding that he hopes to hear new ideas that “would help me and hopefully my future family come up in the world, economically.”

He wants Democrats to focus on “more local communities. More people like me,” he said.

Another student, 19-year-old Adam, a Republican, said he hopes the hiring discussion for jobs for the future goes beyond the bigger states like California and metropolitan centers.

“There’s talent everywhere in the world,” he said. “You just have to go find it.”

As the next presidential cycle ramps up and Democrats start fine-tuning their strategy, Republicans are eager to grab votes from the margins. They see messages around identity and culture wars as ways to attack the other side.

Khanna, along with other outspoken progressives in the House, also believes Democrats need to look beyond social issues.

While he’s reluctant to pitch himself as the right messenger — or even the right person to give Biden a nudge on election strategy — others are increasingly looking to him.

“Rep. Khanna, I hope, will highlight many of these innovative businesses and strategies,” Flaccavento said.

At 46, Khanna’s a lot younger than members of his party’s leadership. Biden is 80 and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), for whom Khanna served as a campaign co-chair in 2020, is 81. He’s also Indian American.

Like Sanders, he’s not afraid to go where other Democrats have sometimes skipped over. Sanders won parts of the midwest against Hillary Clinton in 2016 — including nearly beating her in the Iowa caucus and pulling off a meteoric win in Michigan — by outlining a populist economic agenda that was previously more muted within the party. Khanna, too, believes it’s not enough to reach just Democrats, but rather to expand to other electorates searching for new kinds of jobs and chances to be forward-looking about their work.

“People say, how can you be a Bernie Sanders co-chair and go on Fox [News] and have people listen to you?” he said. “It’s because I don’t go on there and just hurl insults.”

Where Sanders had economic populism and Trump had “America First,” Khanna has coined “a new economic patriotism,” a merging of the sort of upward mobility people strive for and the values that drive their lives at home.

And it’s not just the industrial midwest that many believe needs Democrats’ attention. Just hours after sitting down for a bowl of cajun gumbo at Bubba, a southern style restaurant downtown, Khanna and a close adviser were off to South Carolina, another hotspot for Democrats that is often lost to Republicans in general elections.

Khanna fundamentally believes he has the right prescription for the moment. It’s not a midwestern thing or a southern thing, but rather a transferring of values that have somehow gotten lost in the mix.

“The Democratic Party has to speak loudly, boldly, clearly about that,” he said, listing off core values like making sure people have the right to vote and women have autonomy over their bodies and healthcare decisions, and that the judicial process is fair.

“In addition to that,” he stressed, “we need to have a second sentence.”

“What are we going to do for folks to bring economic opportunity? What are we going to do to bring manufacturing back? What are we going to do to bring the technology and prosperity in my district to places that have been left behind?” he pressed.

Next month, Khanna heads to New Hampshire, where top party officials know him as a regular.

“Why I want President Biden to succeed is because that makes a progressive movement more possible,” he said. “And I do think that we’re going to see for the next 20 years, after Biden, progressive nominees of the party.”

Russia's billionaires $152bn richer in year since Ukraine invasion

Latest rich list released by Forbes Russia has 22 new names

Andrei Melnichenko, whose fortune is built on fertilisers, was listed as Russia's richest man by Forbes, with an estimated worth of $25.2 billion. 

Apr 22, 2023

Russia's richest people added $152 billion to their wealth over the past year, buoyed by high prices for natural resources and rebounding from the huge loss of fortunes they experienced just after the Ukraine war began, Forbes Russia said.

Russia has 110 official billionaires in the list, up 22 from last year, according to Forbes' Russian edition, which said their total wealth increased to $505 billion from $353 billion when the 2022 list was announced.

The list would have been longer had not five billionaires — DST Global founder Yuri Milner, Revolut founder Nikolay Storonsky, Freedom Finance founder Timur Turlov, and JetBrains co-founders Sergei Dmitriev and Valentin Kipyatkov — renounced their Russian citizenship, Forbes said.

“Last year's rating results were also influenced by apocalyptic predictions about the Russian economy,” Forbes said

It said the total wealth of Russia's billionaires in 2021, before the war began, was $606 billion.

After President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into Ukraine on February 24 last year, the West imposed what it casts as the most severe sanctions in modern history on Russia's economy — and some of its richest people — in an attempt to punish Mr Putin for the war.

Mr Putin said the West was trying to destroy Russia and has repeatedly touted the failure of western sanctions to destroy the Russian economy, or even stop western luxury goods — let alone basic parts — from ending up in Russia.

Russia's economy shrank 2.1 per cent in 2022 under the pressure of western sanctions, but it was able to sell oil, metals and other natural resources to global markets, in particular to China, India and the Middle East.

The International Monetary Fund this month raised its forecast for Russian growth in 2023 to 0.7 per cent from 0.3 per cent, but lowered its 2024 forecast to 1.3 per cent from 2.1 per cent, saying it also expected labour shortages and the departure of western companies to damage the country's economy.

The price of Urals oil, the lifeblood of the Russian economy, averaged $76.09 per barrel in 2022, up from $69 in 2021. Fertiliser prices were also high last year.

Andrei Melnichenko, who made a fortune in fertilisers, was listed as Russia's richest man by Forbes with an estimated worth of $25.2 billion, more than double what he was estimated to be worth last year.

Vladimir Potanin, president and biggest shareholder of Nornickel, the world's largest producer of palladium and refined nickel, was ranked as second richest in Russia with a fortune of $23.7 billion.

Vladimir Potanin, president of Nornickel, attends a session of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum in 2019. Reuters

Vladimir Lisin, who controls steel maker NLMK and was ranked last year as Russia's richest man, was placed third in the Forbes Russia list with a fortune of $22.1 billion.

Many Russian billionaires cast western sanctions as a clumsy, and even racist, tool.

Building fortunes as the Soviet Union crumbled, a small group of tycoons known as the oligarchs persuaded the Kremlin under late president Boris Yeltsin to give them control over some of the biggest oil and metals companies in the world.

The privatisation deals often propelled the tycoons into the league of the world’s super rich, earning them the enduring dislike of millions of impoverished Russians.

But under Mr Putin, some of the original oligarchs, such as Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Boris Berezovsky, were stripped of their assets, which eventually ended up under the sway of state companies often run by former spies.

New Russian names in the Forbes list include billionaires who made their money in snacks, supermarkets, chemicals, building and pharmaceuticals, indicating that Russian domestic demand has remained strong despite the sanctions.

GOOD NEIGHBOUR

Canadian official says country ‘would work to provide’ access to abortion pill if banned in US

BY NICK ROBERTSON - 04/22/23 

 Boxes of the drug mifepristone sit on a shelf at the West Alabama Women’s Center in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on March 16, 2022. The Supreme Court is deciding whether women will face restrictions in getting a drug used in the most common method of abortion in the United States, while a lawsuit continues. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed, File)

The Canadian government “would work to provide” access to medical abortion drugs if it is banned in the U.S., an official said in a television interview Thursday.

Families Minister Karina Gould said Canada would assist Americans in getting access to abortion medication in line with its national laws if American law were to change.

“What concerns me … is where you see laws in states where they’re actually criminalizing women (who) cross state borders to access reproductive health care,” Gould said.

“And so, you know, we need to be very thoughtful about how we do this to make sure that we don’t further endanger, you know, American women who are seeking access to reproductive health care and services, as well as health-care providers,” she added.

On Friday, the Supreme Court paused a federal judge’s order to restrict access to the abortion pill mifepristone. The 5th Circuit Court is currently considering a case to prevent access to the drug after a Texas judge ruled that it should not be allowed.

Reproductive rights advocates say the original ruling, and questions over the drug’s legality, are actually more damaging to people who live in states where abortion is already legal.Nearly 70 percent of older gamers say they’re an afterthought in video game development: surveyHere are most and least environmentally friendly states

“This judicial ping-pong game is impacting the accessibility of a safe, effective, decades-long approved medication and is causing chaos and confusion,” Carrie Flaxman, senior director, public policy litigation & law at Planned Parenthood, said during a recent briefing.

The battle over mifepristone is the latest in a series of efforts to reduce access to reproductive care, including abortions. The Supreme Court overturned the landmark case allowing abortions nationwide, Roe v. Wade, last summer.


Since that ruling, over a dozen states have made abortions illegal, while others have reacted by enshrining the right to abortion to access into their states’ laws or constitutions.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Glencore staff bribery charges delayed until later this year

Bloomberg News | April 18, 2023 

Glencore headquarters in Baar, Switzerland. Stock image.

The UK’s fraud prosecutor is to delay a long-awaited decision whether to charge as many as 11 ex-Glencore Plc employees involved in the widespread corruption perpetrated at the company.


The Serious Fraud Office intended to make individual charging decisions on executives by the end of April, but it has now pushed the date back until later this year, according to people familiar with the matter.

The commodity trading industry has been dogged by anti-corruption investigations for years, but few individual traders or bosses have faced prosecution. The SFO previously said the investigation into the individual Glencore employees makes allegations of serious criminality, but it did not confirm whether all 11 employees implicated were under investigation.

“Our bribery investigation into individuals connected to Glencore remains ongoing,” an SFO spokesperson said.

Glencore was hit with a £276 million ($343 million) fine in November by a London judge after pleading guilty to coordinating a sprawling effort to bribe government officials for access to oil cargoes across Africa.

Prosecutors focused in on the firm’s London trading desk, saying Glencore’s traders and executives paid more than $28 million in bribes to secure access to oil cargoes between 2011 and 2016.

A Glencore spokesperson declined to comment.

The SFO is in the middle of a shake up at the top of its leadership after director Lisa Osofsky announced she would step down from the role in August. A recruitment process for her successor is currently underway.

(By Katharine Gemmell and Jonathan Browning)

Investors pile climate pressure on Glencore ahead of May AGM

Reuters | April 18, 2023 | 

(Image Image of Newlands Coal Complex, courtesy of Glencore)

Global miner Glencore faces increased pressure to clarify how it will manage its climate change commitments after investors holding more than $500 billion in assets backed a shareholder resolution to be voted on next month.


Nine institutional investors, including Man Group, Scottish Widows and Brunel Pension Partnership, added their weight to calls for more transparency from one of the world’s biggest producers of thermal coal, according to a joint statement from the Australian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR).

Major asset managers representing $2.2 trillion in assets late last year asked Glencore to explain how its production and capital expenditure plans aligned with the Paris goals on tackling climate change as part of a shareholder resolution.

Those concerns were not adequately addressed in Glencore’s March climate report, according to the statement. At the 2022 AGM, nearly a quarter of shareholders rejected Glencore’s climate plan.

Glencore is one of the world’s largest producers and traders of thermal coal used in power generation. Record prices of the commodity helped to add some $10 billion to its earnings in the six months to June.

Shipra Gupta, Investments Stewardship Lead at Scottish Widows, said the asset owner would support the latest shareholder resolution at the annual general meeting (AGM) on May 26 in Zug, Switzerland.

Shareholders unhappy with board decisions can rally to vote against remuneration and director appointments amongst other measures.

The demands for more accountability follow Glencore’s proposal to spin off its coal business as part of its $22.5 billion attempted takeover of Canada’s Teck Resources which raises the issue of future responsibility over coal emissions should the deal goal through.

Former Glencore CEO Ivan Glasenberg said in 2020 the company would run down its coal mines and would not replace them.

“I don’t see how spinning off coal mines will help us reduce Scope 3 emissions,” he said, referring to the emissions generated when the fuel sold by a company is burnt.

(By Melanie Burton; Editing by Barbara Lewis)

Norwegian sovereign wealth fund to support Teck Resources plan to split business

STEELWORKERS LOCAL SUPPORTS SPLIT

The Canadian Press

Norway's sovereign wealth fund will vote to support Teck Resources Ltd.'s plan to split the company's metals and steelmaking coal businesses into two separate companies at a key shareholder meeting next week. 

The decision comes as Teck works to secure support for its plan over an unsolicited takeover proposal by Swiss company Glencore, which is urging shareholders to reject the company's proposal in favour of its offer to acquire the company.

Glencore has said it cannot pursue its bid if Teck's plan to separate its businesses goes ahead since it would add significant complexity to the deal. 

Norges Bank Investment Management, which manages Norway's Government Pension Fund Global, published its voting intentions as part of its routine disclosures on its website. It held a roughly 1.5 per cent stake in the Canadian mining company as of the end of 2022.

The United Steelworkers (USW), the union which represents over 4,000 Teck employees in B.C., has also come out in favour of Teck's planned split into Teck Metals and Elk Valley Resources.

In a statement on Thursday, USW District 3 director Scott Lunny said Teck supports the economies of numerous B.C. communities in which it operates, including Logan Lake, Sparwood, Elkford and Trail.

 "Management has briefed the union on their plans and our union believes the plan to split into two, B.C.-based companies is in the best interest of our members at the metals operations and at the coal mines," Lunny said.

"This is a well-thought-out plan that will create two strong companies willing to work with us and British Columbians to become ESG leaders, provide stability and certainty for our members, provide ongoing benefits to Indigenous nations, and invest in B.C.”

Teck announced in February a proposal to split up its metals and steelmaking coal businesses into two companies, Teck Metals and Elk Valley Resources. The change requires approval by a two-thirds majority vote by the class A shareholders as well as approval by a two-thirds majority vote by the class B shareholders. 

Teck shareholders will vote on the separation plan at a meeting on April 26.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 21, 2023.

Sumitomo Metals backs Teck’s split plan

Cecilia Jamasmie | April 20, 2023 | 

Teck owns 60% of Quebrada Blanca Phase 2 project and Sumitomo Metal Mining, together with Sumitomo Corporation, have a collective 30% interest. (Image courtesy of Teck Resources.)

Japan’s Sumitomo Metal Mining (SMM) confirmed on Thursday its support for Teck Resources’ (TSX: TECK.A, TECK.B) (NYSE: TECK) planned spinoff into two companies in the face of an alternative proposal from Glencore (LON: GLEN), which wants to buyout Canada’s largest diversified miner.


The company, one of Teck’s top shareholders, holds 18.9% of the Class A shares and 0.1% of the Class B shares of Teck. It also has a 49% stake in Temagami Mining, which itself holds 55% of Teck’s Class A shares.


The Vancouver-based mining giant operates under a dual-class structure, in which Class A shares are each worth 100 votes. Class B shares are worth one vote each.

SMM and Teck have a decades-long partnership in mining, including the joint development and construction of the Pogo gold mine in Alaska, and the Quebrada Blanca copper mine in Chile.


Teck is trying to get backing for its proposed restructuring ahead of a shareholder vote on the proposal on April 26. It wants to to split up its metal and steelmaking coal businesses into two companies, Teck Metals and Elk Valley Resources.

POSCO, both a customer and a JV partner with Teck on its Elkview and Greenhills operations, as well as China Steel Corporation, are among the shareholders that have backed the Canadian miner in the last 24 hours.

Glencore published on Wednesday an open letter to Teck shareholders, saying it was open to talk improvements to its proposal directly with Teck shareholders if the board continued to rebuff its offer.


The Canadian company quickly replied by saying that Teck has previously engaged “extensively” with Glencore – for six months on “essentially the same proposal” – and repeatedly determined it is not in the best interest of its shareholders.

Glencore’s initial bid represented a 20% premium to Teck’s March 26 closing price, when it was privately made.

The Swiss miner and commodities trader has indicated it could raise its current $23 billion bid if shareholders vote against Teck’s plans next week.

Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. Ltd., a key shareholder at Teck Resources Ltd., says it will vote in favour of the company's plan to separate its metals and steelmaking coal operations into two companies.

The Japanese company says in a statement that it has built a trusted partnership with Teck in the mining business.

Swiss company Glencore has proposed a takeover offer for Teck that would see shareholders receive a stake in a combined metals company as well as a choice of cash or shares in a company that would hold their merged coal assets.  

However, Glencore has said Teck shareholders must first reject the company's plan to split its business into Teck Metals and Elk Valley Resources.

Teck, which has rejected the Glencore proposal, is controlled by the Keevil family, which owns the company's multi-voting class A shares together with Sumitomo. 

Sumitomo holds 18.9 per cent of Teck's class A shares and 0.1 per cent of its class B shares. It also holds a 49 per cent interest in Temagami Mining Co. Ltd., which holds 55 per cent of Teckʼs class A shares.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April, 20, 2023.

 

Letko Brosseau to vote in favour of Teck's plan to split company

Danielle Bochove, Bloomberg News

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Investment manager Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. will vote in favour of Teck Resources Ltd.'s plan to split the company, saying it will ultimately offer more value for shareholders than a Glencore Plc takeover.

The unsolicited offer by the Swiss commodities giant dramatically undervalues Teck's metallurgical coal assets, Peter Letko, co-founder of the Montreal based firm, said in a Thursday interview.

Glencore originally offered to buy Teck for US$23 billion in shares, and earlier this month revised its proposal to give Teck shareholders an option to receive as much as US$8.2 billion in cash instead of stock in a spun-off coal company. Letko said the coal number is “extremely low.”

“I think ultimately this is going to be worth maybe twice what they're offering,” he said. “I don't think that we're in the ballpark. I doubt very much that we'd see a big improvement in their proposal.”

Representatives from Letko Brosseau have spoken to Teck and met Glencore, Letko said. The company has owned shares of the Vancouver-based miner for at least 20 years and currently holds about 3.6 million shares, he said.

Letko called Glencore “rather clever” for making a takeover attempt before other companies could put together offers. Teck's controlling shareholder, Norman Keevil, has signaled that he'd support a transaction with the “right partner, on the right terms” after the firm separates its metals business from its coal operations. Shareholder are expected to vote on the plan at an April 26 meeting.

“Given a little time, you'll see broader interest and a real competitive bidding for these assets,” Letko said. “And that's the way I think we're going to get the best price.”

Trudeau team ‘closely’ watching Glencore’s

bid to swallow Teck

Bloomberg News | April 18, 2023 | 

Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson.

 (Image courtesy of Province of British Columbia.)

One of Justin Trudeau’s senior cabinet ministers said the Canadian government is monitoring Glencore Plc’s attempted takeover of Teck Resources Ltd., pointing out that the country benefits from having the headquarters of major companies.


“We are following it very closely,” Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said Monday in a phone interview. But he added that his cabinet colleagues won’t pre-judge the “commercial conversations” that are taking place.

Wilkinson said Teck is an important player in Canada’s mining sector not just because of critical minerals projects, but also as a contributor to the economy of his home province of British Columbia, including its coal business.

Teck is racing to secure investor support for its plan to separate its coal and metals assets — on which shareholders are scheduled to vote next week — while fending off an unsolicited $23 billion takeover offer from Swiss commodities giant Glencore for the whole company.

Wilkinson said it’s a “positive thing for Canada” to have major companies headquartered locally.

“We are a country that would love to have more corporate offices in this country that actually drive research and development spending,” he said. “And so obviously we are watching this with great interest and certainly having conversations.”

But the minister stressed that he won’t jump ahead of talks between the commercial players, or any potential deal review that would be overseen by his cabinet colleague, Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne.

Teck shares rose to a record close of C$65.15 in Toronto on Monday after controlling shareholder Norman Keevil said the company is willing to consider deals after it’s finished spinning off the coal business.

Canada’s investment law gives the government some latitude to block foreign takeovers of large companies, though the power has not been used frequently. After allowing a string of mega-takeovers in the mining and metals sector in the early 2000s, the government in 2010 blocked BHP Group’s proposed takeover of Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan.

Last year, Trudeau’s government ordered Chinese firms to divest of three junior lithium miners and promised tougher rules for investment in the critical minerals sector.

(By Brian Platt)