Monday, August 28, 2023

UK
Braverman ‘angry and frustrated’ with civil servants over migrant barge fiasco

Charles Hymas
Mon, August 28, 2023

The Bibby Stockholm barge is intended to accommodate 500 asylum seekers 
- Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images Europe

Suella Braverman has said she is “angry and frustrated” with civil servants who oversaw the Bibby Stockholm asylum barge fiasco.

The Home Secretary voiced unhappiness with the handling of the situation, in which 39 asylum seekers were evacuated from the barge in Portland, Dorset, after the discovery of Legionella in its water supply.

They were allowed onto the barge despite contractors hired by the Home Office knowing that they had yet to receive the results of tests by Dorset environmental health officers for Legionella bacteria, which can cause the deadly Legionnaires’ disease.

The test results on Aug 7, when the first asylum seekers arrived on the barge, were positive – but ministers were not told until the evening of Aug 10, when they ordered all 39 people to be evacuated.

It subsequently emerged that a Home Office official was at a meeting on Aug 8, when Dorset officials and contractors discussed the findings.

“Am I disappointed with what’s happened? Am I frustrated with what’s happened? Am I angry with what’s happened? Absolutely. I am, and I’ve made it very clear to the [contractors] involved, to the civil servants involved who oversaw that,” Mrs Braverman told the BBC.

“I ultimately take responsibility. The buck stops with me for everything that happens at the Home Office, and we’re working very quickly to remedy the situation and move people back onto the barge as quickly as possible.”

It is still not clear whether Home Office officials knew the test results had yet to be returned for Legionella before they told ministers the barge had the all-clear to receive asylum seekers.

It is understood that there was no requirement under health and safety protocols to block the arrivals to await the test results. However, it was still seen as an embarrassment to disembark the asylum seekers on such a high-profile accommodation project.

Dorset Council expects to report the results of new tests later this week, meaning the first asylum seekers could return within the next seven days.

However, Mrs Braverman declined to give a deadline but maintained the barge was “safe” despite the threat of legal action from firefighters over what it claims are fire risks. The Fire Brigades Union has sent a “pre-action protocol letter” to Mrs Braverman, having previously warned that the barge is a “potential death trap”.

“Let me be clear that I’m confident barges are safe,” she said. “This barge has accommodated people in the past – asylum seekers, oil rig workers – and barges of this kind have been used to accommodate asylum seekers, for example, in Scotland. We followed all of the advice and protocols in anticipation of embarkation.”



First US Gulf offshore wind auction to fuel region's green hydrogen push

Mon, August 28, 2023 
By Nichola Groom

Aug 28 (Reuters) - The U.S. Gulf Coast region, the nation's primary offshore source of oil and gas, has cheap electricity and lacks state mandates for renewable energy procurement, making it an unlikely place to expand one of the most expensive forms of clean energy.

That is why players in the nascent U.S. offshore wind industry are looking beyond the grid when the Biden administration holds the first-ever offshore wind auction in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday, eyeing the sale instead as a way to fuel a new green hydrogen supply chain for the region's vast industrial corridor.

Hydrogen is a low-emissions fuel made by electrolyzing water that can help decarbonize heavy-emitting industries and transportation. It is considered "green" if produced with renewable energy and "gray" if the process is fueled with carbon-emitting natural gas.

The Gulf Coast auction would be a break from previous federal offshore wind lease sales, held mainly in the Northeast, where developers have spent billions of dollars on acreage for projects meant to link into lucrative power markets and access state-level subsidies for carbon-free electricity.

"When we get to the Gulf, (offshore wind) will start becoming much more disconnected from the grid," said Cheryl Stahl, principal project manager at risk assessment firm DNV. "The Gulf gets to be sort of a breeding ground for innovative solutions."

The Interior Department's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will auction three areas off Louisiana and Texas to offshore wind developers on Aug. 29, the first such sale in the region already teeming with oil and gas pipeline and port infrastructure.

The sale is part of the administration's goal to slash power sector emissions and combat climate change.

A BOEM spokesperson, John Filostrat, said the Gulf "is uniquely positioned to transition to a renewable energy future, including the development and implementation of the production and use of green hydrogen."

Companies qualified to bid at Tuesday’s sale include units of companies already established in the U.S. offshore wind industry like Shell, Invenergy and TotalEnergies .

In comments to BOEM on the planned Gulf sale earlier this year, those three companies noted the potential of offshore wind to produce green hydrogen in the region.


"The Gulf of Mexico is uniquely situated to facilitate and benefit from green hydrogen production via offshore wind," Shell said in April, pointing to the region's existing port and pipeline infrastructure as well as new federal funding for green hydrogen development.

Shell, Invenergy and TotalEnergies did not respond to questions about their plans for the upcoming auction.

The American Clean Power Association, a trade group that represents offshore wind and other renewable energy developers, also said in its comments to BOEM that green hydrogen would "increase market viability of offshore wind."

A DIFFERENT MARKET

The Gulf auction is not expected to attract anywhere near the billions of dollars in bids an offshore wind lease sale off New York and New Jersey generated in February 2022.

Those states have passed laws that require utilities to buy power from offshore wind projects - mandates considered critical for a technology that is estimated to produce electricity at twice the cost of a natural gas plant.

Northeast states also boast some of the highest power prices in the country, making expensive offshore wind more competitive.

Texas and Louisiana, by contrast, have no legal mandates for clean energy, have slower average wind speeds than the Northeast, higher risks from seasonal hurricanes, and much lower retail power prices.

Even in Texas, where offshore wind could provide a new resource for its fragile grid, developers would need to find buyers willing to pay above-market prices for that electricity, because it is not subsidized by the state.

In the Gulf, "it's harder to justify an investment decision," said Alon Carmel, a partner at PA Consulting who advises offshore wind companies.

He said, however, that tax credits for hydrogen in President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act have made the proposition of pairing offshore wind with hydrogen production more attractive, adding that he would not be surprised to see wind developers in the Gulf turn to hydrogen for revenue.

Lacy McManus, an executive with the economic development agency Greater New Orleans Inc, which is leading a federally-backed project to create a green hydrogen "cluster" in South Louisiana, said the region's existing petroleum industry could provide a ready market as they seek to satisfy investor demands to lower their carbon intensity.

"They want to start replacing these gray hydrogen feedstocks and fuel sources with green," McManus said. "Wind provides that at the scale and capacity that we need in the industrial sector." (Reporting by Nichola Groom Editing by Marguerita Choy)
Recruiting is underway for Trump-like 'wrecking ball' to shrink government and fire federal workers

LISA MASCARO
Mon, August 28, 2023 

 With more than a year to go before the 2024 election, a constellation of conservative organizations is preparing for a possible second White House term for Donald Trump, recruiting thousands of Americans to come to Washington on a mission to dismantle the federal government and replace it with a vision closer to his own. 
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — With more than a year to go before the 2024 election, a constellation of conservative organizations is preparing for a possible second White House term for Donald Trump, recruiting thousands of Americans to come to Washington on a mission to dismantle the federal government and replace it with a vision closer to his own.

Led by the long-established Heritage Foundation think tank and fueled by former Trump administration officials, the far-reaching effort is essentially a government-in-waiting for the former president’s second term — or any candidate who aligns with their ideals and can defeat President Joe Biden in 2024.

With a nearly 1,000-page “Project 2025” handbook and an “army” of Americans, the idea is to have the civic infrastructure in place on Day One to commandeer, reshape and do away with what Republicans deride as the “deep state” bureaucracy, in part by firing as many as 50,000 federal workers.

“We need to flood the zone with conservatives,” said Paul Dans, director of the 2025 Presidential Transition Project and a former Trump administration official who speaks with historical flourish about the undertaking.

“This is a clarion call to come to Washington,” he said. “People need to lay down their tools, and step aside from their professional life and say, ‘This is my lifetime moment to serve.’”

The unprecedented effort is being orchestrated with dozens of right-flank organizations, many new to Washington, and represents a changed approach from conservatives, who traditionally have sought to limit the federal government by cutting federal taxes and slashing federal spending.

Instead, Trump-era conservatives want to gut the “administrative state” from within, by ousting federal employees they believe are standing in the way of the president’s agenda and replacing them with like-minded officials more eager to fulfill a new executive’s approach to governing.

The goal is to avoid the pitfalls of Trump’s first years in office, when the Republican president’s team was ill-prepared, his Cabinet nominees had trouble winning Senate confirmation and policies were met with resistance — by lawmakers, government workers and even Trump's own appointees who refused to bend or break protocol, or in some cases violate laws, to achieve his goals.

While many of the Project 2025 proposals are inspired by Trump, they are being echoed by GOP rivals Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy, and gaining prominence among other Republicans.

And if Trump wins a second term, the work from the Heritage coalition ensures the president will have the personnel to carry forward his unfinished White House business.

“The president day one will be a wrecking ball for the administrative state,” said Russ Vought, a former Trump administration official involved in the effort who is now president at the conservative Center for Renewing America.

Much of the new president’s agenda would be accomplished by reinstating what’s called Schedule F — a Trump-era executive order that would reclassify tens of thousands of the 2 million federal employees as essentially at-will workers who could more easily be fired.

Biden had rescinded the executive order upon taking office in 2021, but Trump — and other presidential hopefuls — now vow to reinstate it.

“It frightens me,” said Mary Guy, a professor of public administration at the University of Colorado, who warns the idea would bring a return to a political spoils system.

Experts argue Schedule F would create chaos in the civil service, which was overhauled during President Jimmy Carter's administration in an attempt to ensure a professional workforce and end political bias dating from 19th century patronage.

As it now stands, just 4,000 members of the federal workforce are considered political appointees who typically change with each administration. But Schedule F could put tens of thousands of career professional jobs at risk.

“We have a democracy that is at risk of suicide. Schedule F is just one more bullet in the gun,” Guy said.

The ideas contained in Heritage's coffee table-ready book are both ambitious and parochial, a mix of longstanding conservative policies and stark, head-turning proposals that gained prominence in the Trump era.

There’s a “top to bottom overhaul” of the Department of Justice, particularly curbing its independence and ending FBI efforts to combat the spread of misinformation. It calls for stepped-up prosecution of anyone providing or distributing abortion pills by mail.

There are proposals to have the Pentagon “abolish” its recent diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, what the project calls the “woke” agenda, and reinstate service members discharged for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine.

Chapter by chapter, the pages offer a how-to manual for the next president, similar to one Heritage produced 50 years ago, ahead of the Ronald Reagan administration. Authored by some of today’s most prominent thinkers in the conservative movement, it’s often sprinkled with apocalyptic language.

A chapter written by Trump’s former acting deputy secretary of Homeland Security calls for bolstering the number of political appointees, and redeploying office personnel with law enforcement ability into the field “to maximize law enforcement capacity.”

At the White House, the book suggests the new administration should “reexamine” the tradition of providing work space for the press corps and ensure the White House counsel is “deeply committed” to the president's agenda.

Conservatives have long held a grim view of federal government offices, complaining they are stacked with liberals intent on halting Republican agendas.

But Doreen Greenwald, national president of the National Treasury Employees Union, said most federal workers live in the states and are your neighbors, family and friends. “Federal employees are not the enemy,” she said.

While presidents typically rely on Congress to put policies into place, the Heritage project leans into what legal scholars refer to as a unitary view of executive power that suggests the president has broad authority to act alone.

To push past senators who try to block presidential Cabinet nominees, Project 2025 proposes installing top allies in acting administrative roles, as was done during the Trump administration to bypass the Senate confirmation process.

John McEntee, another former Trump official advising the effort, said the next administration can "play hardball a little more than we did with Congress."

In fact, Congress would see its role diminished — for example, with a proposal to eliminate congressional notification on certain foreign arms sales.

Philip Wallach, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who studies the separation of powers and was not part of the Heritage project, said there's a certain amount of “fantasizing” about the president's capabilities.

“Some of these visions, they do start to just bleed into some kind of authoritarian fantasies where the president won the election, so he’s in charge, so everyone has to do what he says — and that’s just not the system the government we live under,” he said.

At the Heritage office, Dans has a faded photo on his wall of an earlier era in Washington, with the White House situated almost alone in the city, dirt streets in all directions.

It's an image of what conservatives have long desired, a smaller federal government.

The Heritage coalition is taking its recruitment efforts on the road, crisscrossing America to fill the federal jobs. They staffed the Iowa State Fair this month and signed up hundreds of people, and they’re building out a database of potential employees, inviting them to be trained in government operations.

“It’s counterintuitive,” Dans acknowledged — the idea of joining government to shrink it — but he said that's the lesson learned from the Trump days about what's needed to "regain control.”

The Counter-Revolution’s Long March: The American Right’s Shift from Primitive to Advanced Leninism - Cihan Tuğal, 2020 (sagepub.com)


Billion-Dollar Satellite Risks Upending Space Insurance

Loren Grush and Todd Shields
Mon, August 28, 2023




(Bloomberg) -- Viasat Inc. has more than $1 billion of orbiting satellites in trouble, and space insurers are girding for market-rattling claims.

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The company’s roughly $1 billion ViaSat-3 Americas satellite, central to expanding its fixed-broadband coverage and fending off rivals including Elon Musk’s Starlink, suffered an unexpected problem as it deployed its antenna in orbit in April. Should Viasat declare it a total loss, industry executives estimate the claim would reach a record-breaking $420 million and, in turn, make it harder — and more expensive — for other satellite operators to get insurance.

Because of the financial risk associated with insuring such an expensive satellite, ViaSat-3 is probably covered by several policies across different companies.

“No one single insurer wants to take the risk by itself,” said Denis Bensoussan, who heads the satellite insurance business for Beazley Insurance, a syndicate of Lloyd’s of London, one of the panel of insurers for ViaSat-3. No other major insurer was willing to publicly disclose its role as an underwriter of the satellite.

Viasat on Aug. 24 reported another stricken spacecraft, saying its Inmarsat-6 F2 satellite launched in February suffered a power problem. The failure may end the craft’s useful life and result in a $350 million insurance claim, Space Intel Report said.

Viasat’s troubles in orbit come a few years after big-name insurers like American International Group Inc. and Allianz SE have shuttered their space portfolios. That’s left a smaller pool of providers to absorb the risks in the notoriously high-stakes $553 million market.

While major telecommunication firms with multimillion-dollar satellites still desire coverage, other space operators focused on launching large batches of smaller satellites into low-Earth orbit — such as Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. — aren’t doing the same. To them, the loss of one satellite isn’t a major issue.

Viasat executives said it’s too early to speculate on whether it will file a claim.


“There’s no consequences to us taking another couple or three months to get good measurements and then making those decisions,” Viasat’s Chief Executive Officer Mark Dankberg told analysts on Aug. 9 after the company posted better-than-expected quarterly results.

Investors are worried, though. Shares in Viasat plunged 28% in a record single-day drop after its July announcement of the ViaSat-3 problem. Executives said the satellite’s problem would curb growth in 2025, though the impact was limited to its fixed-broadband service, only about 13% of its business.

The company’s ViaSat-2 satellite launched in 2017 also experienced an antenna anomaly, triggering a $188 million claim, William Blair’s Louie DiPalma told clients last month.

“This one hurts much worse though because the wait has been so long, and because Viasat has been experiencing pressure from SpaceX,” DiPalma said.

Following news of the Inmarsat-6 anomaly, Viasat and other industry participants “will likely experience significant challenges with obtaining insurance for future satellite launches,” DiPalma said in an Aug. 25 note.

Higher Premiums

A $420 million loss would eclipse the largest-ever standing satellite loss of roughly €345 million ($373 million) for the FalconEye 1 satellite in 2019. While big for the satellite insurance market, losses can stretch into the billions of dollars in other markets like aviation.


When massive satellite losses occur, it’s often followed by a small exodus of players in the industry. As insurers leave, premiums tend to rise, according to industry experts.

In 2019, the total losses from satellite claims amounted to $788 million, which overwhelmed the total premiums for the year at $500 million, according to launch and satellite database Seradata. In the years that followed, big names like American International Group Inc., Swiss Re AG, and Allianz SE all closed the door on satellite insurance.

And if the pool of insurers shrinks, the remaining insurers will play it safer.

“People will be less keen to deploy capital on sort of risky, challenging satellites or challenging projects,” said Beazley’s Bensoussan. “Or they will demand more premium for that or they will restrict coverage.”

Satellite Insurance


The basics of satellite insurance work more or less like property insurance. Satellite operators like Viasat will typically pay premiums for covering the vehicle’s first year in orbit, with the option to renew, as well as the potential for a catastrophic failure on the launchpad.

“If the mission fails, they can be made whole,” said Patton Kline, managing director at insurance brokerage Marsh. “They can go out and buy a launch service, buy another satellite, and perform the mission again.”

For smaller satellites, operators can potentially get coverage from one insurer. However, when satellites reach the range of hundreds of millions of dollars, operators typically have to turn to a handful of insurers to reach full coverage. As of now, there are roughly 20 to 30 players in satellite insurance.

“Some of the challenges we face are low frequency of losses, but high severity,” Chris Kunstadter, global head of space at insurer AXA SA, said. “So they don’t happen often, but when they do, they’re big.”

“This year, depending on how ViaSat turns out, we could already be up close to $500 million in losses,” Kunstadter said prior to the second Viasat satellite’s potential loss in August.

AXA declined to comment on whether they were involved in ViaSat-3’s coverage. Marsh, a unit of Marsh & McLennan Cos Inc., said it was not involved in brokering the satellite’s insurance.

With so many insurers on the hook for this massive payout, premiums on satellite insurance are likely to increase in the months ahead, according to insurers, raising costs for satellite operators. That jolt to the market should abate over time, but it’s also coming at a time when insurers have left a market known for high volatility and high-stakes losses.

Crowded Space

The number of active satellites in orbit has roughly quadrupled in recent years, fueled by the rise of mega-constellations such as SpaceX’s Starlink, increasing the potential for satellites to collide in space. If that happens, rates could go up for those particular satellites, Marsh’s Kline said.

SpaceX does not insure its satellites, according to insurers. As more venture-backed companies join the scene and inject smaller satellites into low-Earth orbit, the desire for satellite insurance has waned. When sending up large batches of small to medium satellites at once, the loss of one or more of those spacecraft isn’t so dire — especially compared to the loss of one massive satellite like the roughly 13,000-pound ViaSat-3.

“A lot of premium is missing,” Bensoussan said. “And that’s probably one of the reasons why even though the space industry is very, very dynamic and is growing a lot, the space insurance market is not growing. It has remained fairly stable.”

(Updates with details of potential total 2023 losses in paragraph 23, details on Marsh in paragraph 24.)

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A far-right German politician and the granddaughter of one of Hitler's henchmen had dog feces smeared on her in a 'disgusting' attack

Alia Shoaib
Sun, August 27, 2023 

Beatrix von Storch.Thomson Reuters

A German far-right politician had dog feces smeared on her at an event in Daun, southwest Germany.


Beatrix von Storch, the AfD's deputy leader, is known for her controversial remarks on immigration.


She is the granddaughter of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler's finance minister.

A German far-right politician had feces smeared on her at an event in Daun, southwest Germany.

Beatrix von Storch, the deputy leader of the Alternative for Germany party (AfD), said the attack was "disgusting" and vowed not let it discourage her politics.

"Yesterday in Rhineland-Palatinate there was another disgusting attack on me [and] the AfD," von Storch, 52, said in a video posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

"We fight with arguments, AfD-haters fight with feces," she added. "No matter what vile means they resort to, we will fight unwaveringly and now more decisively for the spiritual and moral renewal of our nation."

"Love will defeat hate. Therefore, we will defeat you who smear us with excrement because you have no arguments," she said."

Police said in a statement that von Storch was attacked on Friday by a 35-year-old man who asked to take a photo with her and then smeared her with dog feces.

The man briefly resisted arrest but was overpowered and is now under investigation.

About 80 to 85 people attended the event, and police estimated that 100 to 120 protesters had gathered outside.

The controversial politician, the granddaughter of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler's finance minister and convicted war criminal, Graf Schwerin von Krosigk, has been the AfD's deputy leader since 2015 and a member of the Bundestag parliament since 2017.

She is known for her controversial remarks about immigration. She has previously been investigated over possible incitement to hatred for an anti-Muslim tweet, which led to her Twitter and Facebook accounts being temporarily suspended.

Russian Defence Ministry may have more interest in Prigozhin’s death than Putin – ISW report

Ukrainska Pravda
Sun, August 27, 2023 
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has suggested that the Russian Ministry of Defence may be more interested in the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner Group, than the Russian president, or that this is a way to "whitewash" Putin.
Source: ISW

Details: The ISW noted that Russia's Investigative Committee announced on 27 August that genetic testing had confirmed that Yevgeny Prigozhin was among the 10 people who died in a plane crash on 23 August.

Russia's so-called military bloggers claimed that the Russian Ministry of Defence had been actively pushing for the termination of Wagner Group's activities in the Middle East and Africa even before Prigozhin's death.


As one of the Russian military bloggers said, representatives of the Russian Ministry of Defence are afraid to put direct pressure on Wagnerites during negotiations and instead are putting pressure on Middle Eastern and African officials to cut their ties with the private military company.

Analysts have concluded that the Russian Ministry of Defence may be more interested in dismantling the Wagner Group than Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The ISW cannot confirm the authenticity of these reports, but if they are true, it may indicate that Putin is not in charge of the process of disbanding the Wagner Group, but has transferred this responsibility to the Russian Ministry of Defence.

However, the surge of such reports in the Russian communities of military bloggers and so-called opposition activists may also be an attempt to distance Putin from the Prigozhin murder and the possible breakup of the Wagner Group.

It is noted in the report that Ukrainian forces reportedly advanced in the border area between western Donetsk and eastern Zaporizhzhia oblasts, as well as in western Zaporizhzhia Oblast, against the background of Ukrainian counteroffensives in southern and eastern Ukraine.

Quote: "The composition of Russian defensive positions in southern Ukraine and the ambiguities about how Russian forces are manning and equipping them continues to obscure how the next phase of fighting will transpire."

"Russian forces committed a considerable amount of materiel, effort and manpower to hold the series of defensive positions that Ukrainian forces are currently penetrating, and it is unclear if Russian forces will retain the advantages they have held if they cannot commit the same level of resources and personnel to these next layers of defence.

The next Russian defensive layer will, nevertheless, very likely pose significant challenges for the Ukrainian advance."
Louisiana enforcing state-wide burn ban as deadly wildfires rage, thousands remain under evacuation

Emilee Speck
Updated Mon, August 28, 2023 

Prayers for rain continue in Louisiana as more than 400 wildfires continue to envelop the Bayou State in smoke during extreme drought and heat conditions.

The excessive heat, extreme drought and low humidity levels of around 20% have contributed to dangerous fire conditions across Central and Southern Louisiana, where Fire Weather Warnings remain in place on Monday.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said in a news conference over the weekend 441 different forest fires are burning in Louisiana, many burning out of control. The wildfire smoke continues to blanket Central and Southern Louisiana with moderate air quality levels based on the Air Quality Index. The air quality near Lake Charles reached "Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups" on the AQI as of Monday morning.

The governor said the ongoing heat wave baking Louisiana has made the firefight exceptionally difficult and increased the severity of the drought conditions.

"It's clear this firefight is far from over, just as these dangerously dry conditions are far from over," Louisiana State Fire Marshal's Office wrote on X. "As we head into another week, we pray for rain, for patience & for cooperation with the statewide burn ban."

A statewide burn ban is in place until further notice. Those who violate the ban will face charges.

Louisiana State Fire Marshal Dan Wallis said over the weekend an 84-year-old woman died after collapsing while burning debris on her Folsom property. Fire crews discovered her while extinguishing a fire on the property. She was taken to the hospital where she later died.

"Our hearts are broken for this family tonight," Wallis said in a statement. "This is a horrific situation that should stun every single person in this state. These conditions are not exaggerated and they affect every one of us, even if you can't see the flames and your community isn't under threat of wildfire today. Doing any activity involving fire right now can lead to tragedy for you, your loved ones, your neighbors and your community."

An Independence, Louisiana man was recently charged with violating the burn ban leading to a brush fire, according to the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry. According to a news release, the fire started when the 41-year-old man was burning trash, and the flames spread into a neighboring pine plantation owned by a local timber company, eventually consuming more than 170 acres.

Seventeen parishes throughout the state are under local states of emergency because of fires.

One of Louisiana's larger fires, the Tiger Island Fire, continues burning near Merryville. The Beauregard Parish Sheriff's Office estimates that the fire has burned more than 60,000 acres as of Monday with 50% containment.

The fire is consuming 5 miles in 15 minutes.

"This is unprecedented for this area and many of the firefighters combating this massive fire," according to the Sheriff's Office.

The Sheriff's Office issued new evacuation orders late Saturday and moved an animal shelter from the Fair Grounds to Burton Colosseum in Lake Charles because of evacuations. The sheriff's office estimates about 22 structures have been destroyed by the fire.

WHY FIREFIGHTERS ARE FIGHTING WILDFIRES WITH FIRE

A mandatory evacuation was issued for areas east of Seth Cole Road north and south of Highway 190W through to Williams/Vigor Myers Road, Maul Road and Willie Hargrove Road. A shelter is available at the First Baptist Church on the east side of DeRidder, according to the sheriff's office.

All previously issued evacuation orders remain in place.

The Vernon Parish Sheriff's Office has been sharing videos showing the extreme conditions fire crews face to contain the Lions Camp Road Fire.

Mandatory evacuations are in place for Lions Camp Road and the surrounding areas, according to Louisiana State Police.

The Louisiana Red Cross said it's seeking volunteers at shelters for evacuees.

There is some good news in the forecast early this week. A cold front brought showers and thunderstorms, across parts of the South and Southeast over the weekend, helping to relieve some of the heat. The front will drop temperatures from the triple-digits for Texas and Louisiana.

A Heat Advisory remains in place on Monday throughout portions of southeast Louisiana and southern Mississippi.

On Monday, a high of 96 degrees is forecast for New Orleans with heat index values between 108 and 112 degrees.

The National Weather Service New Orleans office is forecasting some strong storms across coastal southeast Louisiana early Monday. Another round of rain is possible Monday afternoon into the evening hours.

However, widespread, measurable rain is needed to help with the firefight and drought conditions. Without substantial rain, the firefighting conditions across Louisiana will still be unfavorable.

Tiger Island Fire, largest in Louisiana's history, doubles in size

Janet Shamlian, Analisa Novak
Mon, August 28, 2023 


The Tiger Island Fire burning in Beauregard Parish, the largest wildfire in Louisiana's history, doubled in size over the weekend. State fire officials reported on Sunday that the fire expanded to cover a staggering 33,000 acres, up from an estimated 15,000 acres on Friday.

Containment remains at only 50%. At least one person has been killed and at least 20 buildings have been destroyed.

The fire forced the entire town of Merryville, home to 1,200 residents, to evacuate Thursday night.

The Tiger Island Fire was one of four major wildfires burning in Louisiana Monday morning — and one of hundreds that have charred parts of the state this month. Louisiana, which is accustomed to dealing with hurricanes and floods, not fires and drought, has witnessed an unprecedented 441 fires in August.

"While we're pretty good and practiced at emergency response, not so much on the wildfires," said Gov. John Bel Edwards.

The state has faced scorching temperatures this summer. Last week, Edwards declared a state of emergency because of extreme heat and believes that some of the fires could have been prevented if residents had adhered to the statewide burn ban which has been in effect for weeks.

Monica Hickman, a displaced resident who evacuated her home and then her brother's home, said she fears the fire's spread.

"This is so scary to think that we could lose our homes," she said.

Hickman, like countless others, is praying for rain and help to stop the fire's destructive path.

"It's not just for my home. It's not just for my family. It's for my community," she said.

Maui pets fighting for their lives after the wildfires now may be rescued from the Lahaina burn zone

Christine Rousselle
FOX NEWS
Sun, August 27, 2023 

Sarah Haynes of Maui, Hawaii, said she just wants to do what she does best: Save animals.

For reasons that were not quite clear, she and others — including specially trained animal rescuers — were prevented from accessing the burn zone to save pets in the wake of the devastating wildfires in Maui in early August.

Now, as of late Saturday, Aug. 26, animal rescue teams have been allowed in. Maui County officials said over the weekend they are permitting the Maui Humane Society to access the Lahaina burn zone in "a coordinated search-and-rescue effort" to find live animals that survived the fire and are in desperate need of care.

AFTER THE WILDFIRES, MAUI HUMANE SOCIETY CONTINUES MASSIVE EFFORT TO RESCUE PETS, REUNITE THEM WITH FAMILIES

"Animal Search And Rescue (ASAR)/Animal Incident Management (AIM) and Greater Good Charities trapping team will join MHS [Maui Humane Society] Humane Enforcement Officers who will be escorted into the impacted areas," the Maui Humane Society said in a press release posted on its Facebook page this weekend. "Teams will focus on trapping animals that have been reported by the public and first responders immediately, focusing on remaining cat colonies and stray pets. Maui Humane Society is committed to lifesaving and reunification efforts for all animals."

Haynes, who moved from Northern California to Maui six years ago, is founder of the Kitty Charm Farm, a 501 (c)3 animal rescue. Haynes said she is familiar with how things usually go once the smoke literally and figuratively clears from the fire damage.


Sarah Haynes of Maui, previously of Northern California, has dedicated her life to animal rescue — and said she and others were blocked from saving animals who survived the fires. That situation has changed as of late Saturday.

Typically, "the rescuers came in after two or three days and start trapping and get animals out," she told Fox News Digital in a phone interview on Saturday, August 26. "And so I geared up immediately."

"I have a lot of traps. I've got a crew, I've got vans, I've got everything you need all ready to go," she said.

Initially, Haynes and others on the island had limited access to the "burn zone" where the fires hit.

Still, during those first few days, she told Fox News Digital that she rescued a week-old kitten "covered in ashes" who desperately needed to be bottle-fed with kitten milk. She also found another cat, whose whiskers were singed, sitting on the steps of Maria Lanakila Catholic Church, the only building to survive the blaze.

Over the course of an afternoon, access to the burn zone was closed off, Haynes told Fox News Digital.

And as the days ticked by, she found she and others were still not allowed to enter

"A lot of animals are in there," she said. "We get calls from police and fire and various first responders."

"Construction people are posting videos of animals, mostly cats, because cats are very good at escaping situations," Haynes said. "They go underground into the storm drains."

Even people whose homes did not burn in the fires were told they could not retrieve their animals, or even check to see if they were alive, said Haynes.


Phoenix, a week-old kitten, was discovered covered in ashes in Lahaina. It was only after he was cleaned up that his orange fur was revealed.

"We're getting calls from people whose buildings are still standing and are intact," she said. "And they were at work and the fire came."

The chances these pets were still alive are "far lower" now than they were earlier in the month, but Haynes said there is still a strong possibility. "They have nine lives, you know," she joked.

Haynes said she was also upset at the seeming lack of enforcement of the PETS Act, which was passed after Hurricane Katrina.

"The PETS Act authorizes FEMA to provide rescue, care, shelter and essential needs for individuals with household pets and service animals, and to the household pets and animals themselves following a major disaster or emergency," according to the American Veterinary Medicine Association website.

That was not happening, said Haynes, who said she was puzzled by it.

"The Maui Humane Society has done everything they can to get into" the burn zone, she said.

Teensy is a pet cat who was rescued after the fire. Pets like Teensy who sustained burns need immediate medical care, Haynes told Fox News Digital.

FEMA, as well as the office of Hawaiian Gov. Josh Green, told Fox News Digital that Maui County officials controlled access to the burn zone, including for animal rescuers. Fox News Digital reached out to Maui County but did not hear back by time of publication.

The Maui Humane Society "immediately deployed hazmat-trained animal rescue crews from national crews that go out to these incidents," said Haynes.

However, for nearly three weeks, they were not allowed to enter the area to try to save animals, said Haynes.

"It's devastating," she said on Saturday.

One of the reasons officials gave for blocking access to the burn zone was that they were afraid animal rescuers would disrupt human remains.

Haynes and others have arranged food drops along the burn zone's perimeter, but she says it's not enough.

Haynes did not see the logic in that, she told Fox News Digital.

Hungry and scared cats "are more likely to destroy remains than if they were in a trap," said Haynes, who noted that hazmat-trained rescue organizations know how to rescue animals without disturbing human remains.

Haynes and a group of others organized perimeter food drops for any cats who survived the fires.

"So putting food or water out on street corners sustains them, and we're doing that now, to some degree," she said — noting it was only a fix "on the edges."

An aerial image shows a red-roofed house that survived the fires surrounded by destroyed homes and buildings burned to the ground in the historic Lahaina in the aftermath of wildfires in western Maui in Lahaina, Hawaii on August 10, 2023. Embattled officials in Hawaii who have been criticized for the lack of warnings as a deadly wildfire ripped through a town insisted on August 16 that sounding emergency sirens would not have saved lives. At least 110 people died when the inferno levelled Lahaina on the island of Maui.More

The messaging about a concern for human remains and about toxic chemicals didn't make sense to Haynes, she said, when compared to what is actually happening on the ground.

"There's heavy equipment barreling through the streets every day since day one," she said.

She emphasized she is "devastated for the animals" that have been suffering.

Haynes has taken to naming animals after the place they were found, in an effort to help facilitate reunions. This cat, "Lahainaluna," is out of the hospital and is "so friendly," she told Fox News Digital.

Haynes said she is not giving up on her mission to save as many pets as she can.

"I know that we can still get some [pets] alive, so we're still going," she told Fox News Digital.

But this has been "pretty insane," she also said.

In an email to Fox News Digital early on Sunday morning, Mike Merrill, founder and executive director of Florida Urgent Rescue, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit animal rescue, said the latest news about pet rescue groups being allowed into the burn zone to save animals in need is a "big step in the right direction."

He also said, "We don't know the scope of the search, or whether they have limitations, but at least they're allowing animal rescue teams in now."

On Friday, he noted that "there were more than 30 confirmed sightings of animals in the burn zone yesterday [Thursday]. I imagine there are many more animals still hiding and only coming out in the middle of the night."

Can two hurricanes merge? The Fujiwhara Effect explained

Caitlin O'Kane
Updated Mon, August 28, 2023


Two storms brewing off the southeastern U.S. this week are raising concerns. Idalia prompted a hurricane warning for part of Florida's Gulf Coast on Monday and Franklin became the first major hurricane of 2023 as it churned near Bermuda.

While the two are not expected to cross paths — and Franklin is not expected to make landfall in the U.S. at all — the news of both storms approaching at the same time has prompted the question: Can two hurricanes merge?

What is the Fujiwhara Effect?

The phenomenon of two hurricanes passing close by each other spinning in the same direction, they begin to interact in what's called the Fujiwhara Effect, according to the National Weather Service, which describes how the storms then "begin an intense dance around their common center." Usually, the stronger hurricane will absorb the other one. If the storms are of similar strength, they will be pulled to each other, spin around each other and then go on their own paths.

It can result in two smaller hurricanes merging into one larger storm, but this is rare, the weather service says.

The phenomenon is named after Japanese meteorologist Sakuhei Fujiwhara, who first wrote about the effect in a paper published in 1921.

One recent example occurred in 2017, when storms called Hilary and Irwin crossed paths in the eastern Pacific, off the coast of Mexico.

Have two major storms made landfall in the U.S. at the same time?

There have been several instances of major storms making landfall back to back — in some cases, just hours apart — but not in the same state at the same time.

In 2020, meteorologists warned that Hurricanes Laura and Marco could make rare back-to-back landfalls. Marco, however, weakened significantly before it reached Louisiana on Aug. 25. Laura, a Category 4, made landfall in Cameron, Louisiana, on Aug. 27.

In 2004, Florida was hit with four major storms within six weeks of each other.

Hurricane Charley, a Category 4, hit Punta Gorda, on the west coast of Florida, on Aug. 13. On Sept. 5, Hurricane Frances made landfall as a Category 2 on Hutchinson Island, on Florida's east coast. That same day, Hurricane Ivan began to develop, and it made landfall on Sept. 16 as a Category 3 in Gulf Shores, Alabama, bringing damage to parts of Florida. Then, on Sept. 26, Hurricane Jeanne, a Category 3, hit in virtually the same spot Frances did just weeks before.

The year 1933 saw a devastating hurricane season as well, with two Category 3 hurricanes that made landfall in the U.S. within 23 hours, in two different states, according to the National Weather Service. In the era before hurricanes were given names, the storms became known as the Treasure Coast Hurricane, which hit southeast Florida, and the Cuba-Brownsville hurricane, which hit south Texas.

In 1959, Tropical Storm Beulah and an unnamed hurricane began forming just hours apart in the Gulf, according to a monthly weather review from the American Meteorological Society, written that year. Beulah was short lived, but the second hurricane brought heavy rains, winds and even tornadoes to parts of Florida.

NOAA has a list of notable hurricanes, and while some have made landfall within the same month — or even the same week — none have made landfall at the same time.

Earlier this year, researchers from Princeton said the risk of double hurricanes in some areas like the Gulf are increasing. The researchers looked at 2017's destructive hurricane season, when Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria wreaked havoc on Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico, respectively. Again in 2021, Hurricane Ida and Tropical Storm Nicholas occurred in quick succession.

The researchers used computer simulations that measured the likelihood of multiple destructive storms forming within 15 days of each other and they found that storms that might have once passed with little threat will likely become bigger threats, especially when they arrive back to back.

The two factors that will likely increase storms' frequency and intensity, they said, are "rising sea levels and increasing precipitation driven by climate change."

What are the paths of Idalia and Franklin?

While Idalia and Franklin formed around the same time, their projected paths are different.

The projected paths of Idalia, left, and Franklin, right. / Credit: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

On Monday, Idalia was intensifying as it moved north on a path expected to take it through the Gulf of Mexico to Florida's west coast. It approached Cuba with sustained winds of 70 mph but was forecast to become a Category 3 hurricane before reaching Florida. Parts of Florida were under hurricane warnings, with Idalia is expected to make landfall on Wednesday.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis warned at a news conference Monday that the storm will have a major impact and that Floridians should prepare accordingly.

Franklin, meanwhile, was located farther east over the Atlantic. It is not expected to make landfall but is projected to move northwards, parallel to the East Coast of the U.S.

The National Hurricane Center warned of possible tropical storm conditions from Franklin in Bermuda on Wednesday, and said the storm could cause "life-threatening surf" and rip currents along the U.S. coast over the next few days.

After Idalia crosses Florida, the forecast shows it's expected to move across the southeast coast of Georgia and the Carolinas on Thursday and then out into the Atlantic by Friday. Franklin's projected path puts it above Idalia's forecast position on Thursday.

NWS forecast for Idalia shows it moving up the East Coast and then out into the Atlantic. / Credit: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

NWS forecast for Franklin shows it will move along the East Coast, but it is not expected to make landfall. / Credit: National Weather Service
Lordstown hopeful to find buyer for all or some parts of business - Bloomberg News

Reuters
Mon, August 28, 2023 


(Reuters) - Lordstown Motors is formulating a debt repayment plan and is hopeful that it will find buyers in Chapter 11 for all or parts of its business, Bloomberg News reported, citing the electric truck manufacturer's attorney Thomas Lauria.

The company filed for bankruptcy protection in June and put itself up for sale after failing to resolve a dispute over a promised investment from Taiwan's Foxconn.

"We expect to have one-or-more purchasers," Lauria told Bloomberg.

A U.S. judge on Monday ruled out Foxconn's bid to curtail Lordstown's efforts at seeking bankruptcy protection in the U.S., marking a shot in the arm for the troubled EV manufacturer embroiled in legal disputes.

Judge Mary Walrath refused to dismiss Lordstown's bankruptcy petition. Foxconn, formally called Hon Hai Precision Industry and best known for assembling Apple's (AAPL.O) iPhones, has said Lordstown breached the investment agreement when the automaker's stock price fell below $1.

Several investor groups have also brought claims against Lordstown, alleging that the Lordstown misled consumers and investors.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating those claims as well, and is engaged in confidential settlement talks with the regulator, Lordstown's attorney Thomas Lauria had said in a court hearing in June.

Lordstown and Foxconn did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment on the ruling.

(Reporting by Kanjyik Ghosh and Jahnavi Nidumolu in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)