Joby has delivered its first aircraft to Air Force — months ahead of schedule

The Air Force’s big new electric taxi flies at 200 mph

Rob Verger
Mon, September 25, 2023

The Joby aircraft at Edwards Air Force Base.

Today, members of the military and an executive from Joby Aviation used a giant pair of scissors to cut a ribbon in front of an electric flying machine parked at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

The moment is significant because, with the exception of small electric drones, the other aircraft that the Department of Defense have on hand are powered by fossil fuels. Cargo planes, fighter jets, helicopters, and other flying machines that can carry people or hefty cargo all burn petroleum products. But the flying machine behind the ribbon, an air taxi from a company called Joby Aviation, is a different kind of craft—like an EV, it’s powered by batteries. The aircraft has now taken up residence at Edwards Air Force Base in California, a facility famous as a flight testing center, where it might patrol or inspect the rugged landscape.

The electric aircraft sports six large propellers that can tilt, enabling the machine to take off and land vertically and also fly horizontally, like a regular plane. Think of it as something like a small version of the military tiltrotor aircraft that already exist, such as the V-22 Osprey or the V-280 Valor. It has space for four passengers (or 1,000 pounds of cargo), one pilot, and can fly at speeds of 200 miles per hour.

[Related: The US military’s tiniest drone feels like it flew straight out of a sci-fi film]

Joby has been testing and developing electric aircraft for years; it flew a “subscale demonstrator,” or small version of the plane, back in 2015. The full-sized aircraft that Joby has delivered to the Air Force is the first production prototype to come off the company’s line in Marina, California, in June. “It’s massive” as a moment, JoeBen Bevirt, the company’s CEO, tells PopSci. “This is like a dream come true.”

All of the aircraft's six propellers can tilt, to allow it to take off 

or land vertically, but then fly like a regular airplane.

There are a couple ways that the Air Force might use the aircraft. One is to patrol the Edwards Air Force Base’s sprawling footprint, which spans more than 400 square miles. (It’s an area bigger than New York City.) Because the base is so big, says Maj. Philip Woodhull, who focuses on emerging technologies in the Air Force, the people who guard it “have quite a time doing perimeter security management.”

“One of the ideas that we’re thinking of—an experiment we can do—is using a Joby aircraft for security forces purposes to do these perimeter sweeps,” he says. Their plan is to fly the aircraft remotely at first, meaning that a pilot would be operating it from the ground, without humans inside.

The Joby craft could also monitor a giant lake bed at the base, which Woodhull says measures 12 by 20 miles in size. That area “is a great resource for doing emergency landings, but it is a natural landscape,” he says. The weather can alter the condition of the designated runways in the lake bed, and so, Woodhull says, “we always have to check whether the runways that we have designated out there are actually usable.” The Joby aircraft could help with that inspection process, as opposed to taking pickup trucks out to the site, although the initial plan is to fly the aircraft without anyone in it. If the Air Force becomes comfortable putting crew inside, though, the aircraft could also help transport people or supplies from one part of the base to another. The testing at the base will involve NASA, as well.

An aircraft that flies on electric power will be quieter than one that uses loud engines powered by fossil fuels, and that attribute could also have military appeal for other purposes. “There’s been significant interest across not only the other services,” such as the Army and Marine Corps, says Col. Thomas Meagher, who works with an Air Force program called AFWERX Agility Prime, but also “on the special forces side.”

“Low acoustic signature has lots of benefits for the DOD in some of those scenarios,” he adds.

While delivery of the Joby air taxi to the Air Force represents a milestone, Bevirt notes that it remains “a Joby asset” even in DOD hands. And another Joby aircraft should be delivered to the base next year. Joby’s long-term plan is to eventually operate an air-taxi service for regular people to hail via an app like they would an Uber, and they’ve announced plans to partner with Delta.

Meagher says that this is the first electric aircraft “of this class”—specifically, it can carry several people, has tiltrotors, and a fixed wing—that the Air Force will use for an extended period. Meagher notes that they have previously experimented with a machine from a company called Lift by remotely flying it—that aircraft is a wild-looking contraption designed to carry one person. The Air Force also has experience with flying an electric aircraft from Vermont’s Beta Technologies. Beta has started to build an electric aircraft charging station at Duke Field near Florida’s Eglin Air Force Base.

At the ribbon cutting ceremony today, Col. Douglas Wickert, who commands the 412th Test Wing at Edwards Air Force Base, commented about the aircraft behind him: “Just looking at that, I mean you’re looking at the future—that is obvious.”

Watch the event below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qVLQsz_YJc

African migrants bound for US use Nicaragua to bypass Darien perils

Tue, September 26, 2023 

By Lizbeth Diaz and Jackie Botts

TIJUANA/OAXACA CITY, Mexico (Reuters) - African migrants and asylum seekers heading to the United States are flying into Nicaragua to bypass the Darien Gap, a dangerous jungle isthmus connecting Panama and Colombia, according to migrants interviewed by Reuters and exclusive U.N. data.

A dozen migrants recently arrived in the Mexican northern border city of Tijuana and the southern city of Oaxaca said they had flown into the Central American country, where many African nationalities can obtain a low-cost visa.

The migrants hailed from Mali, Angola, Guinea and Senegal, and almost all said they knew about the dangers of Darien, which can only be traversed on foot.

Several said they had gone to Nicaragua after hearing macabre stories of people who had faced Darien's deadly perils.

"When I started planning my trip I told myself: I don't want to die there," said a 32-year-old migrant from western Mali, who explained he had fled the country due to war and violence.

"I want to live safely," he said from a shelter in Tijuana, claiming to have paid a trafficker more than $10,000. He asked to remain anonymous for security reasons.

Sitting outside a bus terminal in Oaxaca city, Souleymane, a 29-year-old Senegalese man who asked to be identified by his first name only, said that relatives in New York had paid for his passage to Nicaragua. Souleymane gestured that it had been exorbitantly expensive, though he declined to give the amount.

"The political crisis (in Senegal) scares us," he said.

Several migrants said they found out about the alternate route through social networks and from human traffickers.

Traditionally many people trying to reach the United States have flown into Brazil or other South American countries, but knowledge of this alternate route has spread through word of mouth.

Authorities in Nicaragua did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for information on the issue.

DARIEN BYPASS

Reuters obtained exclusive access to data from the U.N.'s International Organization for Migration (IOM), scheduled to be published Wednesday in a report, which underlines the scale of the phenomenon.

In a statement to Reuters, the IOM previewed the findings of the report, including that "African and Cuban migrants are increasingly choosing air routes to reach Central American countries, avoiding the Darien jungle."

Between January and July, some 4,100 African migrants crossed Darien, a 65% decrease compared to the same period in 2022, the statement said.

Separately, it also said 19,412 African migrants crossed Honduras - Nicaragua's northern neighbor - in the first seven months of 2023, a 553% increase from the same period in 2022.

Only 524 Cubans were reported in Darien during that period, in contrast to the 17,157 recorded in Honduras.

The data suggest that thousands of African and Cuban migrants have opted for the Nicaragua route in recent months.

Various international organizations such as the U.N. have warned of the risks migrants face crossing Darien. These can range from hunger, injury, animal bites to robbery, violent attacks and sexual assault.

Despite the shift seen among African and Cuban migrants, a record of about 82,000 people last month entered Panama overland from South America, according to the IOM.

Meanwhile, an unprecedented number of migrants have entered Mexico from other continents, as the trek to the U.S. southern border increasingly becomes a global migration route sought by people fleeing violence, economic distress and the growing impacts of climate change in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

The number of African migrants registered by Mexican authorities so far this year is already three times as high as during all 2022.

(This story has been refiled to fix formatting errors)

(Reporting by Lizbeth Diaz in Tijuana and Jackie Botts in Oaxaca City; Additional reporting by Ismael Lopez; Writing by Isabel Woodford; Editing by Dave Graham and Aurora Ellis)

Italy to allow migrant expulsions on public order grounds - draft

Tue, September 26, 2023 

 Migrants in Lampedusa


By Alvise Armellini

ROME (Reuters) - Foreigners who live legally in Italy could in future be kicked out of the country if they pose a threat to public order or national security, according to a draft government decree seen by Reuters.

The measure, set for adoption at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, is part of a crackdown pledged by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's right-wing administration in response to a surge in boat arrivals from North Africa.

The draft decree also states that in times of large influxes of migrants, reception centres would be able to host up to twice the number of people they are normally allowed to.

With authorities struggling to accommodate the rise in unaccompanied migrant children, the draft allows for minors over the age of 16 to be held in reception centres for adults for up to three months.

It also provides for the expulsion of migrants who falsely claim to be underage, and gives police broader powers to estimate the age of incoming migrants using body measurements and X-rays.

Once approved by cabinet the decree would be immediately effective, but would need to be ratified by parliament within two months or else it would lapse. During ratification, it may be amended.

Meloni's ruling coalition swept into power last year promising to curb immigration. But in the year to date, more than 133,000 migrants have arrived across the Mediterranean against just under 70,000 in the same period of 2022.

The government last week signed off on new measures to lengthen the time migrants can be detained and increase the number of detention centres, in an effort to deter them from embarking on sea crossings.

In a move criticised by the opposition and rights groups, Meloni's administration also decreed that migrants would have to pay almost 5,000 euros ($5,288) to avoid detention while their request for protection was being processed.

Italian PM steps up crackdown on migrants with deportation decree

Angela Giuffrida in Rome
Wed, 27 September 2023 

Photograph: Yara Nardi/Reuters

Foreigners who lie about their age to benefit from a protection scheme reserved for unaccompanied minors arriving in Italy will be deported under a security decree expected to be approved by Giorgia Meloni’s cabinet on Wednesday as part of her far-right government’s crackdown on irregular immigration.

The draft decree, parts of which were published by the Italian press, includes a measure stipulating that foreigners living legally in Italy will be deported if they are considered to be a threat to public order or national security.

Related: Giorgia Meloni: I won’t allow Italy to become Europe’s refugee camp

Meloni’s ruling coalition, which came to power last October, is moving to enact more hardline measures amid a surge in the number of people arriving on Italy’s shores.

Meloni, who before being elected prime minister called for a naval blockade in the Mediterranean, admitted last week that she had hoped to “do better” on immigration after the number of refugees arriving in Italy so far this year exceeded 133,000 – more than double the same period last year.

Until now, children arriving in Italy without a parent or legal guardian have been able to benefit from a special protection regime, introduced in 2017, based on the presumption of a minority. If approved, the decree would give police powers to estimate their age using body measurements and X-rays.

The draft decree also says children over the age of 16 could be placed in reception centres reserved for adults and that such centres – criticised in the past for their appalling conditions – could host double the number of people they ordinarily would at certain times.

Last week, Meloni’s government signed off on measures giving authorities the power to keep people in pre-deportation detention centres for up to 18 months. The government has also ruled that people waiting for their asylum requests to be processed would have to pay a deposit, reportedly worth €5,000, to avoid being detained.

Meanwhile, a row between Italy and Germany over immigration is showing no sign of abating after Andrea Crippa, the deputy leader of the League, a partner in Meloni’s coalition, said Germany had gone from “invading others states with its army” during the second world war to “using illegal immigrants” to destabilise Italy and its government.

His comments came after it emerged that Berlin was funding charities to rescue people in the Mediterranean, prompting Meloni to write to the German chancellor, Olaf Sholz, expressing her “astonishment”.

Italy opens first detention centre for migrants from 'safe' countries


Euronews
Wed, 27 September 2023

Italy has set up its first centre for asylum seekers deemed to have come from so-called safe countries.

The Italian government hopes the facility in the Sicilian port city of Pozallo will accelerate the processing of asylum claims. It will house people who can't claim refugee status as they've arrived from countries not considered to be dangerous.

As part of efforts to ease the country's migrant problem, people are being relocated to various rescue centres in an effort to address both the humanitarian and logistical challenges of the current situation.

President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen and Italy's Premier Giorgia Meloni visit the island of Lampedusa, in Italy, Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023 

- Cecilia Fabiano/LaPresse

The move comes as Italy struggles to cope with severe overcrowding at its migrant centre on Lampedusa island.

The extent of the problem was highlighted earlier this month when some migrants broke out of the centre because of a lack of space and essential provisions.

EU releases €127 million in financial aid for Tunisia amid Lampedusa crisis

Brussels has a 10-point plan to tackle Lampedusa's migrant crisis. Much of it remains unclear

In an effort to reduce the number of arrivals, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's cabinet is implementing measures against young adults posing as unaccompanied minors in order to claim state protection.

US senators pressure Treasury to get more aggressive on climate crisis risks

Andrea Shalal
Updated Mon, September 25, 2023 

The U.S Treasury building in Washington.

By Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and four other U.S. senators are pressuring the U.S. Treasury Department to step up oversight and offer more guidance to financial institutions on addressing climate change risks threatening the U.S. financial system.

In a letter sent to the Treasury last week, Democratic senators Warren, Martin Heinrich, Edward Markey, Sheldon Whitehouse and Jeffrey Merkley, as well as Sanders, an independent, welcomed the department's work on the issue so far but called for "added urgency" given increasing risks.

The Treasury should act now - including through its role as head of the multi-regulator Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) - to address systemic risks becoming evident in a crash in coastal property values, insurance market failures, and uninsurable wildfire risks, they said.

"As climate financial impacts grow, the Climate Hub and Treasury must pursue with added urgency all available measures to address the climate crisis and its threat to the stability of our financial system," the senators wrote in the Sept. 20 letter, which was first reported by Reuters.

A Treasury spokesperson did not respond to any specific concerns raised by the senators, but underscored the department's commitment to tackling climate change.

“Under Secretary Yellen’s leadership, the Treasury Department has been at the forefront of addressing the climate crisis. From implementing the clean energy provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act to unlocking billions in public and private financing, combating climate change remains a top priority for the department.”

The senators called on Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and newly appointed climate counselor Ethan Zindler, a climate and clean energy research executive, to do more to protect the U.S. economy from what Yellen has described as the "existential threat" posed by climate change.

Recent climate disasters and financial disruptions have underscored the rising cost and impact of climate change, with one study showing only 40% of direct weather-related costs suffered worldwide in 2022 were covered by insurance providers.

The senators said they were particularly concerned about nonbank financial institutions, which also played a critical role in the 2008 global financial crisis, and said the FSOC should finalize and immediately implement a new analytic risk framework for climate-related financial risks.

The Treasury should also develop better climate risk scenario exercises for banks, and ensure that all FSOC members can access data gathered by Treasury's Climate Data and Analytics Hub under a pilot project launched in July 2022, they wrote.

The senators welcomed the Treasury's new voluntary principles for "net-zero" financing commitments, but said there were gaps in the guidance and that the department should make clear all large financial institutions should have a credible transition plan.

They also repeated earlier calls for stronger Internal Revenue Service enforcement of rules on political activity by nonprofit organizations, citing efforts by special interests to fuel climate change denial, and investigations into how such funding could be obstructing more action on the climate crisis.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal, editing by Deepa Babington and Chris Reese)

CANADA'S  EPSTEIN

Canadian fashion mogul lured women and girls to bedroom suite at his Toronto HQ, prosecution alleges

Associated Press
Tue, September 26, 2023


- A sign is displayed above the storefront of Peter Nygard's Times Square headquarters, Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2020, in New York. Former Canadian fashion mogul Nygard pleaded not guilty Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023, to all charges against him in his Toronto sexual assault case, as jury selection for his trial got underway.

 (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

TORONTO (AP) — Former Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard leveraged his wealth, assets and status over several years to lure young women and girls to a top-floor bedroom suite at his company’s Toronto headquarters where he forced himself on them, prosecutors alleged Tuesday as arguments at his sexual assault trial got underway.

Nygard invited all five complainants in the case — whose identities are protected by a publication ban — to visit his custom-built office building under pretenses ranging from tours to job interviews, with all the encounters ending in the bedroom suite, the prosecution said. There, he sexually assaulted them at different times, sometimes trapping or intoxicating them, the prosecution alleged in opening arguments.

“Five women, it took them years to come forward. 1 Niagara St., a custom-design office building with huge letters on the front: Nygard. The Toronto headquarters of a fashion empire,” assistant prosecution attorney Ana Serban said.

“But within these walls, behind all the trappings of success and power, there is a bedroom suite with a giant bed, a stone jacuzzi, a bar and doors — doors with no handle, doors with automatic, keypad-operated locks controlled by Peter Nygard.”

Nygard has pleaded not guilty to five counts of sexual assault and one count of forcible confinement in alleged incidents dating back to the ’80s, ’90s and mid-2000s.

The 82-year-old appeared in court sporting a suit with no tie, tinted glasses and with his long white hair tied back.

Nygard also is set to be extradited to the United States to faces sex-related charges there, but only once his criminal cases Canada are completed. Nygard was first arrested in Winnipeg in 2020 under the Extradition Act after being charged with nine sex-related counts in New York.

The first complainant in Toronto, the prosecution said, will testify she met Nygard in her 20s while on a flight to the Bahamas, where he allegedly flattered her, offered her a job and a stay at his property in the Caribbean country, which she declined. After recognizing him on TV later, the woman called him and was invited to 1 Niagara St. for a job interview, court heard.

“It ends in his top-floor bedroom suite. She grows uncomfortable, she tries to leave. He tackles her onto the bed, puts his full body into it, pins her down on her back and tries to undress her, rips her clothing,” Serban, the assistant prosecution lawyer, alleged. “She’s terrified.”

Nygard then allegedly penetrated the complainant with his fingers and ripped her blouse with his teeth, only stopping when his next appointment was announced on the intercom, Serban said.

Nygard founded the now-defunct Nygard International brand in Winnipeg in 1967.


Fashion mogul Peter Nygård allegedly used firm’s head office to assault women

Leyland Cecco in Toronto

THE GUARDIAN
Tue, September 26, 2023


Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images


Fashion mogul Peter Nygård used his power and status to lure five women separately into a private bedroom suite attached to his company headquarters where he sexually assaulted them, a court in Toronto has heard.

In opening arguments on Tuesday, prosecutors said that Nygård, 82, met the women in social settings and invited them to the headquarters of his clothing empire in Toronto. All of the “tours” ended in his bedroom suite. The room had a bed, televisions and a jacuzzi. Prosectors say the doors didn’t have handles and the locks were controlled by Nygård.

Nygård has pleaded not guilty to five counts of sexual assault and one count of forcible confinement. All complainants’ names are covered by a publication ban by the Canadian courts. Most of the women were in their 20s at the time of the alleged incidents, which occurred over a 25-year period, beginning in the 1980s. One of the women was 16 years old at the time of her alleged attack.

In one case, Nygård, who was in his 40s, met a woman in her 20s on a flight to the Bahamas, where he owned a sprawling estate, said Ana Serban, a crown lawyer. Nygård later invited her for a job interview at his Toronto office. When they ended up in the bedroom, she tried to leave.

He “tackles the woman onto the bed, puts his whole body into it, pins her down on her back and tries to undress her” against her will, said Serban. “She’s terrified.”

Nygård is alleged to have given her a new blouse and skirt to replace those he tore during the attack.

“She runs out of the building,” Serban said. “This was supposed to be a job interview at an office building.”

Born in Finland, Nygård grew up in Manitoba, eventually running his own namesake clothing companies and becoming one of Canada’s wealthiest people.

In 2020, US authorities charged him with racketeering and sex trafficking, alleging decades of crimes with dozens of victims in the United States, the Bahamas and Canada.

Fifty-seven women – including 18 Canadians – have joined that lawsuit, which alleges that Nygård used violence, intimidation, bribery and company employees to lure victims and avoid accountability for decades. Nygård has denied all allegations.

Nygård also faces sex-related charges in Manitoba and Quebec, and is set to be extradited to the US to face sex-related charges there once his criminal cases in Canada are completed.

UAW Leader Has No Desire at All to Talk to Trump in Michigan

William Vaillancourt
Tue, September 26, 2023

The United Auto Workers union’s president derided GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump as being out of touch with the striking workers, claiming in a CNN interview Tuesday that the former president “serves the billionaire class and that’s what’s wrong with this country.”

On the same day that Joe Biden became the first sitting president to join a picket line on behalf of the United Auto Workers, Shawn Fain, who has not yet given an endorsement in the 2024 race, said that he has no desire to discuss the strike with Trump.

“I see no point in meeting with him because I don’t think the man has any bit of care about what our workers stand for, what the working class stands for,” he told The Situation Room anchor Wolf Blitzer. “He serves the billionaire class and that’s what’s wrong with this country.”

After Blitzer commented that his remark “effectively sounds like an endorsement for Biden,” Fain pushed back.

“It’s not an endorsement for anyone. It’s just flat-out how I view the former president.”

Trump is expected to skip Wednesday's primary debate and instead speak at a non-union automotive parts manufacturer in Michigan—a move that Fain called a “pathetic irony.”

“All you have to do is look at his track record. His track record speaks for itself.”

Meanwhile, Biden, whose appearance outside a General Motors facility in Michigan was at the invitation of Fain, told onlookers that they “should be doing just as well” as the auto companies, The New York Times reported.

“You’ve heard me say many times: Wall Street didn’t build this country,” Biden said. “The middle class built this country. And unions built the middle class. That’s a fact. Let’s keep going. You deserve what you’ve earned, and you’ve earned a hell of a lot more than you get paid now.”

The UAW gave its support to Biden 2020, but this time around has taken issue with the administration’s goal of having two out of three new passenger cars be electric by 2032. (Electric cars currently comprise 5.8 percent of cars on the road, and they’re getting more popular by the year, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.)

Biden said Tuesday that he’s “not worried about” what it would take for the union to endorse him again. Fain, for his part, said on CNN that endorsements will come “at the appropriate time.”

Big Three CEOs Make 300 Times What Their Workers Make, Most Other Big Companies Aren't As Bad

Andy Kalmowitz
Tue, September 26, 2023

Even before the United Auto Workers union went on strike on September 15th, UAW President Shawn Fain put the pay and raises of the Big Three CEOs in the limelight. He has alleged (rightly so) that wage gains for the CEOs’ rank-and-file employees have not kept pace.

General Motors CEO Mary Barra, Ford CEO Jim Farley and Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares all reportedly made between $21 and $29 million last year. That works out to about 300 times as much as their employees. That may sound like a lot – and it is – even when compared to the pay of other large company CEOs. According to The Wall Street Journal, the media CEO pay package for S&P 500 companies was about $14.5 million in 2022.

In part, the ratios reflect the size of the three automakers, which each reported revenue of around $150 billion in their most recent fiscal years, said Robin Ferracone, CEO of Farient Advisors, an executive compensation and governance consulting firm.

“Size matters,” she said. “The size of the company is indicative of the scope of the job, so if you have a very large company, those CEOs tend to get paid more.” By revenue, the automakers are more than twice as big as the biggest airlines, she noted.

The outlet says that pay ratios – mandated for disclosure by the SEC in 2018 – are the function of two numbers: CEO pay divided by the pay of the median employee. It takes into account salary, bonuses and equity awards among other factors.

In industries that primarily employ highly skilled and well-compensated workers, such as utilities or pharmaceuticals, pay ratios tend to be relatively low. In industries with many low-wage workers, such as retail and fast food, ratios often are correspondingly high.

Last year, Farley reportedly made 21 percent more than his predecessor did in 2019 at Ford. Meanwhile, Barra made about 34 percent more than she did just four years ago at GM.

Under the current UAW contract – negotiated in 2019 – WSJ says full-time unionized factory workers start off at about $18 per hour and can earn up to $32 per hour. Since 2019, base wages have risen six percent. In that time, vehicle prices are up about 23 percent and overall consumer prices rose 19 percent, the outlet says. Accounting for inflation, auto workers’ wages have fallen about 5.4 percent between 2019 and July of this year.

Ford’s Farley last year earned around $21 million, or 281 times the company’s median employee earnings, compared with the multiple of 157 that his predecessor Jim Hackett earned in 2019 when the auto workers signed their last contract. Last year, employee median pay was $74,691.

At General Motors, Barra made $29 million last year. That was 362 times the median employee earnings of $80,034, and up from a comparable multiple of 203 times in 2019.

At Stellantis, the global parent of Chrysler, Dodge and other brands, Tavares last year made around $25 million, or 365 times the average employee pay of $68,712 at current exchange rates.

In 2019, the CEO earned 232 times the pay of the average employee.

You can read the whole story in The Wall Street Journal here.

Biden vetoes two Republican-led bills to undo protections for the prairie bird and northern bat


MATTHEW DALY
Wed, September 27, 2023 
  

 A lesser prairie chicken is seen amid the bird's annual mating ritual near Milnesand, N.M., on April 8, 2021. President Joe Biden has vetoed two Republican-sponsored bills intended to undo federal protections for two endangered species that have seen their populations plummet over the years: the lesser prairie chicken and northern long-eared bat.(Adrian Hedden/Carlsbad Current Argus via AP, File)

 This undated photo provided by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources shows a northern long-eared bat. President Joe Biden has vetoed two Republican-sponsored bills intended to undo federal protections for two endangered species that have seen their populations plummet over the years: the lesser prairie chicken and northern long-eared bat. 

 (Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources via AP, File)


WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has vetoed Republican-sponsored bills intended to undo federal protections for two endangered species that have seen their populations plummet over the years: the lesser prairie chicken and northern long-eared bat.

The two GOP measures would overturn “science-based rulemaking" that offers important protections for the once-abundant species and would undermine the Endangered Species Act, Biden said.

“The lesser prairie-chicken serves as an indicator for healthy grasslands and prairies, making the species an important measure of the overall health of America’s grasslands,'' the White House wrote late Tuesday in a veto statement about the prairie bird. It's a member of the grouse family found in parts of the Midwest and Southwest, including the oil-rich Permian Basin in New Mexico and Texas. The bird’s range also extends into parts of Colorado, Oklahoma and Kansas.

Environmentalists have long sought stronger federal protections for the prairie bird, which they consider severely at risk due to oil and gas development, livestock grazing and farming, along with roads and power lines. The crow-size, terrestrial birds are known for spring courtship rituals that include flamboyant dances by the males as they make a cacophony of clucking, cackling and booming sounds.

The long-eared bat is one of 12 bat types decimated by a fungal disease called white-nose syndrome. The disease has spread across nearly 80% of the bat's historic range in the eastern and north-central United States and has caused estimated population declines of at least 97%.

“Bats are critical to healthy, functioning ecosystems and contribute at least $3 billion annually to the United States agriculture economy through pest control and pollination,'' Biden said in a separate veto statement. He said the GOP bill "would undermine America’s proud wildlife conservation traditions and risk extinction of the species.''

The two bills approved by Congress were backed mostly by Republicans and represent rare congressional involvement in matters usually left to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service. The Endangered Species Act tasks the executive agencies with deciding which animals and plants to list as endangered or threatened and how to rebuild their populations.

Republicans say protections for the lesser prairie chicken interfere with U.S. oil and gas production and jeopardize thousands of American jobs.

Designation of the bird as an endangered species “is another attack on low-cost energy for the American taxpayers,'' said Republican Rep. Bruce Westerman of Arkansas, chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee. “It's an attack on jobs in America and it’s making us more dependent″ on hostile countries in the Middle East and South America, he said.

Republicans and the logging industry also criticized the endangered listing for the long-eared bat, contending it would hamper logging and other land uses that aren’t responsible for the bat’s sharp decline. The bat is found in 37 eastern and north-central states, plus Washington, D.C., and much of Canada.

The American Loggers Council, an industry group, said in a statement that changing the bat's status from “threatened” to endangered would “do nothing to reduce the mortality of the bat, but will contribute to the declining numbers of loggers in the U.S. and threaten the forest products industry.''

Citing criteria used by the Fish and Wildlife Service, “the American logger should be considered for listing as threatened or endangered and afforded the same protection,″ the group said.

Environmental groups hailed Biden's actions.

Veto of the lesser-prairie chicken measure puts the bird "on a more certain path to recovery,” said Michael Parr, president of American Bird Conservancy. “Present-day populations are thought to average a mere 32,000 birds. Every coordinated effort is needed to ensure a safer future for this iconic species.”

Jamie Rappaport Clark, president and CEO of Defenders of Wildlife, said conservationists are grateful for Biden's actions “but remain greatly troubled that his veto is the only thing standing between grossly misguided, anti-wildlife members of Congress and the future of wildlife. The American public, regardless of party affiliation, overwhelmingly supports the Endangered Species Act and believes it should be fully funded to protect species from extinction. Congress needs to wake up to this fact and cease their continual attacks.''

West Virginia's Joe Manchin was the only Democratic senator to back repeal of protections for the lesser prairie chicken, while Manchin and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., voted with unanimous Republicans to remove protections for the long-eared bat.

THE ROAD RUNNER IS A PRAIRIE CHICKEN BY ANY OTHER NAME

As mental health worsens among Afghanistan's women, the UN is asked to declare 'gender apartheid'

Updated Tue, September 26, 2023 

Afghan women wait to receive food rations distributed by a humanitarian aid group, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, May 23, 2023. The mental health of Afghan women, who have suffered under harsh measures imposed by the Taliban since taking power two years ago, has deteriorated across the country, according to a joint report from three U.N. agencies released Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2023.

 (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File) 

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N.’s most powerful body must support governments seeking to legally declare the intensifying crackdown by Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers on women and girls “gender apartheid,” the head of the U.N. agency promoting gender equality said Tuesday.

Sima Bahous, executive director of UN Women, told the Security Council that more than 50 increasingly dire Taliban edicts are being enforced with more severity including by male family members. That is exacerbating mental health issues and suicidal thoughts especially among young women and is shrinking women’s decision-making even in their own homes.

“They tell us that they are prisoners living in darkness, confined to their homes without hope or future," she said.

Under international law, apartheid is defined as a system of legalized racial segregation that originated in South Africa. But a growing consensus among international experts, officials and activists says apartheid can also apply to gender in cases like that of Afghanistan, where women and girls face systematic discrimination.

“We ask you to lend your full support to an intergovernmental process to explicitly codify gender apartheid in international law,” Bahous urged the 15-member council including its five permanent members: the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France.

There is no existing international law to respond to "mass, state-sponsored gender oppression,” Bahous said. But she said the Taliban’s “systemic and planned assault on women’s rights … must be named, defined and proscribed in our global norms so that we can respond appropriately.”

The Taliban took power in August 2021 during the final weeks of the U.S. and NATO forces’ pullout from Afghanistan after 20 years of war. As they did during their previous rule of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, the Taliban gradually reimposed their harsh interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia, barring girls from school beyond the sixth grade and women from almost all jobs, public spaces, gyms and recently closing beauty salons.

The Security Council meeting on U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ latest report on Afghanistan took place on the final day of the annual meeting of world leaders at the 193-member U.N. General Assembly.

No country has recognized the Taliban, and the assembly’s credentials committee hasn’t either, primarily over its effort to relegate women to their homes and failure to form an inclusive government. This has left U.N. recognition with the now-ousted previous government led by Ashraf Ghani. For the third year, its representative did not speak at the high-level gathering.

Bahous said that over the past year, UN Women collaborated with the U,N. political mission in Afghanistan known as UNAMA and the U.N. International Office for Migration to interview over 500 Afghan women.

Among their key findings, she said:

— 46% think the Taliban should not be recognized under any circumstances;

—50% think the Taliban should only be recognized after it restores women’s and girls' rights to education, employment, and participation in government.

The women interviewed said the dramatic shrinking of their influence on decision-making, not just at the national or provincial level but also in their communities and homes, is driven by increased poverty, decreasing financial contribution and “the Taliban’s imposition of hyper-patriarchal gender norms,” Bahous said.

In a grim sign of women’s growing isolation, she said, only 22% of the women interviewed reported meeting with women outside their immediate family at least once a week, and a majority reported worsened relations with other members of their family and community.

Bahous said the restrictions on women have led to an increase in child marriage and child labor, and an increase in mental health issues.

“As the percentage of women employed continues to drop, 90% of young women respondents report bad or very bad mental health, and suicide and suicidal ideation is everywhere,” she said.

Roza Otunbayeva, the U.N. special envoy for Afghanistan and head of UNAMA, welcomed the recent visit of a group of Islamic scholars from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s member nations to Afghanistan to focus on girls’ education, women’s rights and the need for inclusive governance.

The scholars stressed that these requirements are “integral to Islamic governance around the world,” she said. “We urge that these visits continue. They are part of a vital conversation between the de facto authorities and the international community helpfully mediated by the Islamic world.”

Otunbayeva told reporters afterward that compared to the last visit of Islamic scholars, this time they left Afghanistan “quite satisfied.”

“We’ll see what will be resolved” at the upcoming International Conference on Women in Islam, she said. That converence, co-sponsored by the OIC and Saudi Arabia, will take place in Jeddah in November.

The U.N. envoy was asked whether any change in the Taliban’s hardline policies on women and government functioning is possible as long as its leader, Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, makes the final decisions.

"He's the producer of decisions," Otunbayeva replied. She said she heard from a Cabinet member that more than 90% of its members support allowing girls to study, but as soon as such views get to the southern city of Kandahar, where Akhundzada is based, they are blocked.

“So, far he is unreachable,” Otunbayeva said. She said she tried to bring the entire ambassadorial corps to Kandahar for meetings with the provincial governor and others, but the meeting was canceled.

The U.N. envoy said the mission is in constant contact with Taliban officials in the capital, Kabul, “even as we continue to disagree profoundly and express these disagreements.”

Tecently, Otunbayeva said, provincial councils composed of religious clerics and tribal elders have been created in each of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces, aiming to provide accountability and listening to local grievances, but they also report to the Taliban leader.

It’s too early to judge their performance, but Otunbayeva noted that the councils for the predominantly Shiite provinces of Bamiyan and Daikundi have no Shiite members.

She appealed to donors to support the $3.2 billion humanitarian appeal for the country, which has received just $872 million, about 28% of the needed funding.

Many programs have been forced to close just as winter is approaching and people are most in need, Otunbayeva said. “This means that 15.2 million Afghans now facing acute food insecurity could be pushed towards famine in the coming months.”

___

Edith M. Lederer, chief U.N. correspondent for The Associated Press, has been covering international affairs for more than 50 years.

Taliban weighs using U.S. mass surveillance plan, met with China's Huawei

Mon, September 25, 2023 

Humanitarian aid sent by China to Afghanistan is distributed in Kabul

By Mohammad Yunus Yawar and Charlotte Greenfield

KABUL (Reuters) -The Taliban are creating a large-scale camera surveillance network for Afghan cities that could involve repurposing a plan crafted by the Americans before their 2021 pullout, an interior ministry spokesman told Reuters, as authorities seek to supplement thousands of cameras already across the capital, Kabul.

The Taliban administration — which has publicly said it is focused on restoring security and clamping down on Islamic State, which has claimed many major attacks in Afghan cities — has also consulted with Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei about potential cooperation, the spokesman said.

Preventing attacks by international militant groups - including prominent organisations such as Islamic State - is at the heart of the interaction between the Taliban and many foreign nations, including the U.S. and China, according to readouts from those meetings. But some analysts question the cash-strapped regime's ability to fund the program, and rights groups have expressed concern that any resources will be used to crackdown on protesters.

Details of how the Taliban intend to expand and manage mass surveillance, including obtaining the U.S. plan, have not been previously reported.

The mass camera rollout, which will involve a focus on "important points" in Kabul and elsewhere, is part of a new security strategy that will take four years to be fully implemented, Ministry of Interior spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani told Reuters.

"At the present we are working on a Kabul security map, which is (being completed) by security experts and (is taking) lots of time," he said. "We already have two maps, one which was made by U.S.A for the previous government and second by Turkey."

He did not detail when the Turkish plan was made.

A U.S State Department spokesperson said Washington was not "partnering" with the Taliban and has "made clear to the Taliban that it is their responsibility to ensure that they give no safe haven to terrorists."

A Turkish government spokesperson didn't return a request for comment.

Qani said the Taliban had a "simple chat" about the potential network with Huawei in August, but no contracts or firm plans had been reached.

Bloomberg News reported in August that Huawei had reached "verbal agreement" with the Taliban about a contract to install a surveillance system, citing a person familiar with the discussions.

Huawei told Reuters in September that "no plan was discussed" during the meeting.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said she was not aware of specific discussions but added: "China has always supported the peace and reconstruction process in Afghanistan and supported Chinese enterprises to carry out relevant practical cooperation."

ELECTRICITY CUTS, RIGHTS CONCERNS

There are over 62,000 cameras in Kabul and other cities that are monitored from a central control room, according to the Taliban. The last major update to Kabul's camera system occurred in 2008, according to the former government, which relied heavily on Western-led international forces for security.

When NATO-led international forces were gradually withdrawing in January 2021, then-vice president Amrullah Saleh said his government would roll out a huge upgrade of Kabul's camera surveillance system. He told reporters the $100 million plan was backed by the NATO coalition.

"The arrangement we had planned in early 2021 was different," Saleh told Reuters in September, adding that the "infrastructure" for the 2021 plan had been destroyed.

It was not clear if the plan Saleh referenced was similar to the ones that the Taliban say they have obtained, nor if the administration would modify them.

Jonathan Schroden, an expert on Afghanistan with the Center for Naval Analyses, said a surveillance system would be "useful for the Taliban as it seeks to prevent groups like the Islamic State ... from attacking Taliban members or government positions in Kabul."

The Taliban already closely monitor urban centres with security force vehicles and regular checkpoints.

Rights advocates and opponents of the regime are concerned enhanced surveillance might target civil society members and protesters.

Though the Taliban rarely confirm arrests, the Committee to Protect Journalists says at least 64 journalists have been detained since the takeover. Protests against restrictions on women in Kabul have been broken up forcefully by security forces, according to protesters, videos and Reuters witnesses.

Implementing a mass surveillance system "under the guise of 'national security' sets a template for the Taliban to continue its draconian policies that violate fundamental rights," said Matt Mahmoudi from Amnesty International.

The Taliban strongly denies that an upgraded surveillance system would breach the rights of Afghans. Qani said the system was comparable with what other major cities utilize and that it would be operated in line with Islamic Sharia law, which prevents recording in private spaces.

The plan faces practical challenges, security analysts say.

Intermittent daily power cuts in Afghanistan mean cameras connected to the central grid are unlikely to provide consistent feeds. Only 40% of Afghans have access to electricity, according to the state-owned power provider.

The Taliban also have to find funding after a massive economic contraction and the withdrawal of much aid following their takeover.

The administration said in 2022 that it has an annual budget of over $2 billion, of which defence spending is the largest component, according to the Taliban army chief.

MILITANCY RISKS

The discussion with Huawei occurred several months after China met with Pakistan and the Taliban's acting foreign minister, after which the parties stressed cooperation on counter-terrorism. Tackling militancy is also a key aspect of the 2020 troop-withdrawal deal the United States struck with the Taliban.

China has publicly declared its concern over the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), an armed separatist organisation in its western Xinjiang region. Security officials and U.N. reports say ETIM likely has a small number of fighters in Afghanistan. ETIM couldn't be reached for comment.

The Islamic State has also threatened foreigners in Afghanistan. Its fighters attacked a hotel popular with Chinese businesspeople last year, which left several Chinese citizens wounded. A Russian diplomat was also killed in one of its attacks.

The Taliban denies that militancy threatens their rule and say Afghan soil will not be used to launch attacks elsewhere. They have publicly announced raids on Islamic State cells in Kabul.

"Since early 2023, Taliban raids in Afghanistan have removed at least eight key (Islamic State in Afghanistan) leaders, some responsible for external plotting," said U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Thomas West at a Sept. 12 public seminar.

A July U.N. monitoring report said there were up to 6,000 Islamic State fighters and their family members in Afghanistan. Analysts say urban surveillance will not fully address their presence.

The Afghan "home base" locations of Islamic State fighters are in the eastern mountainous areas, said Schroden. "So while cameras in the cities may help prevent attacks ... they're unlikely to contribute much to their ultimate defeat."

(Reporting by Mohammad Yunus Yawar in Kabul and Charlotte Greenfield in Islamabad; Additional reporting by Jonathan Landay in Washington, David Kirton in Shenzhen, Liz Lee in Beijing, and Ece Toksabay and Tuvan Gumrukcu in Ankara; Editing by Katerina Ang)

The Threat of a Forgotten American ‘Map’ Unearthed by the Taliban

Shannon Vavra
Mon, September 25, 2023 

Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty


The Taliban has reportedly obtained a years-old security plan created by the U.S. that could help launch a sweeping new surveillance system in Afghanistan, raising concerns among experts that the system could be used for nefarious purposes.

The plan, which is based on a map the United States apparently created before withdrawing from Afghanistan in 2021, was originally intended for the previous government. Now, the Taliban regime is considering using it as a basis for a project meant to root out terrorist threats, Ministry of Interior spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani told Reuters.

“At the present we are working on a Kabul security map, which is [being completed] by security experts and [is taking] lots of time,” he said. “We already have two maps, one which was made by U.S.A for the previous government and second by Turkey.”

The United States has claimed it is not working with the Taliban on the surveillance program, which will take at least four years to roll out, according to Qani. It’s not clear how the Taliban obtained the alleged surveillance maps from either the United States or Turkey.

The alleged national security plan has already raised concerns among human rights activist who fear that the Taliban could use the system to go after domestic critics, rather than target terrorists.

The Taliban Is Back, and the World’s Jihadis Are Coming

It’s a near certainty that the Taliban will leverage any surveillance to target women, critics, and former government officials to further their repressive rule, said Nathan Sales, a former State Department coordinator for counterterrorism.

“We know what the Taliban is likely to do with any surveillance capabilities, because we know what they've been doing with their existing capabilities—and what they've been doing is ruthlessly suppressing former government officials who partnered with the U.S., ruthlessly suppressing women and girls for the ‘crime’ of trying to get an education or work outside the household,” Sales told The Daily Beast. “If they have surveillance capabilities or other technologically-enabled capabilities, you can bet that they're going to use those tools to further entrench their rule.”

The Taliban is reportedly getting Beijing in on the initiative too: According to Bloomberg, Chinese Telecommunications company Huawei has reached a “verbal agreement” to support the camera surveillance plan after talks with regime officials.

The Biden administration has admitted that U.S. assets had been left behind in the aftermath of the chaotic and hastily coordinated withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.

According to a report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, “nearly all night vision, surveillance, communications, and biometric equipment that was provided to the ANDSF were left behind.” It was not clear if this surveillance equipment included maps.

Taliban Mock Hasty U.S. Withdrawal: ‘Losers Never Look Back’

The Chargé d’Affaires of the U.S. Mission to Afghanistan Karen Decker did not immediately return a request for comment. The State Department referred comment to the Department of Defense.

Sales warned that “it shouldn't come as a surprise that the Taliban would seek to use for its own benefit equipment or capabilities that the United States had provided to the previous government and left behind in the rush for the exits.”

“This is actually one of the reasons why when you do a retrograde you want to do it in an orderly way to make sure that nothing that's sensitive—information or material—gets left behind to be used by your adversaries,” he added.
Downward Spiral

It’s also possible, though less likely, that the United States is leaning on the Taliban to try to knock out terrorism in Afghanistan in a more coordinated way—a move Sales cautioned would be a misstep.

“This could mean that the U.S. and the Taliban are cooperating in some way for the achievement of security goals,” Sales said. “That strikes me as a road that we should be very, very cautious about starting to walk down. The Taliban’s interests are not our interests. The United States does not want to see the Taliban succeed in its misgovernance of the long-suffering people of Afghanistan.”

That said, there is a serious threat of resurgent terrorism in the region following the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Army Gen. Michael Kurilla, the head of U.S. Central Command warned lawmakers in a briefing in March that the ISIS branch in Afghanistan, ISIS-K, was six months away from being able to “do an external operation against U.S. or Western interests abroad... with little to no warning.”

Afghanistan has grown into a hub for coordinating terrorist plots against embassies, churches, and business centers since the withdrawal, according to leaked U.S. intelligence, The Washington Post reported. And while al Qaeda is “unlikely” to resurge in Afghanistan, U.S. assessments indicate that the broader terrorist threats in Afghanistan remain.

United Nations officials have grown concerned about a resurgence of terrorism in Afghanistan in recent months as well. Vladimir Voronkov, the Under-Secretary-General of the Office of Counter-Terrorism, said just last month that the operational capabilities of ISIS-K were reportedly increasing, leading the group to “becoming more sophisticated in its attacks.”

“The situation in Afghanistan is growing increasingly complex, with fears of weapons and ammunition falling in the hands of terrorists now materializing,” Voronkov said.

ISIS-K has already attacked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Afghanistan on multiple occasions this year. According to a recent U.S. intelligence community assessment, the terrorist group still has hopes to launch attacks against the west.

“ISIS–Khorasan almost certainly retains the intent to conduct operations in the West and will continue efforts to attack outside Afghanistan,” the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s annual worldwide threat assessment states.

Still, some experts argue that the terrorism threat may be nothing more than a convenient cover for the Taliban.

“Implementing such a vast architecture of mass surveillance under the guise of ‘national security’ sets a template for the Taliban to continue its draconian policies that violate fundamental rights of people in Afghanistan—especially women in public spaces,” Matt Mahmoudi, Amnesty International’s Researcher and Advisor on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights, said.