Green machines? Flying taxis could slash emissions for long journeys

Abstract: LONDON - Futuristic electric flying taxis like those in the movie “Blade Runner” could offer a more sustainable — and much faster — way to travel long distances than traditional car journeys, academics at the University of Michigan said on Tuesday. Several firms are working to develop car-size vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (VTOLs) that can lift passengers above congestion, cruise at over 100 miles per hour (160 kph) and land in small spaces within crowded urban centers. The vehicles could slash greenhouse gas emissions in half for three people on a 100-km (62-mile) trip, said researchers, though much of the savings come by assuming passengers will be more willing to share their space than they are in cars. “It was very surprising to see that VTOLs were competitive with regard to energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in certain scenarios,” said Gregory Keoleian, from the university’s Center for Sustainable Systems, in a statement. “VTOLs with full occupancy could outperform ground-based cars for trips from San Francisco to San Jose or from Detroit to Cleveland, for example.” Academics working with researchers at the carmaker Ford found that VTOLs require a large amount of energy to take off and climb but they were more efficient than cars once cruising. As a result, they produced more emissions than land vehicles over short trips of the type that account for most journeys but were more efficient over longer distances, according to the study in the journal Nature Communications. Researchers also argued that each seat in a flying taxi is likely to be sold separately, as is the case with planes, meaning they would normally be fully occupied, unlike cars, which have an average occupancy of about between one and two people. A flying taxi holding one pilot and three passengers could make a 100-km trip in about 27 minutes, said the researchers. It would produce about 52 percent less greenhouse gas per passenger than two gasoline-powered vehicles making the same journey by road, they calculated, and 6 percent less than two electric cars. However, if the VTOL had just one occupant, the emissions savings would be reduced to 35 percent compared to one petrol car and would be 28 percent higher than one electric vehicle. Despite the appeal of flying cars, it is “a fantasy” to imagine they could offer sustainable mass transport, said Jemilah Magnusson of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy. “A much more efficient and easier way to improve the state of long-distance car travel is to provide public transit options and to provide incentives for people to not drive solo in their cars,” she said. The University of Michigan study did not offer a timeline of when to expect VTOLs to take passengers on their first flights.

emissions energy transportation airplanes


'Flight shame' over climate concerns has Swedes rethinking air travel

Abstract: STOCKHOLM - Saddled with long dark winters at home, Swedes have for decades been frequent flyers seeking out sunnier climes. But a growing number are changing their ways because of air travel’s impact on the climate. “ Flygskam ” (flight shame) has become a buzz word referring to feeling guilt over the environmental effects of flying, contributing to a trend that has more Swedes opting to travel by train to ease their conscience. Spearheading the trend is Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old who initiated the movement of school strikes over climate change. She refuses to fly, traveling by rail to the World Economic Forum in Davos and the climate summit in Katowice, Poland. A growing number of public figures have vowed to #stayontheground, including Swedish television skiing commentator Bjorn Ferry, who said last year he would only travel to competitions by train. And 250 people working in the film industry signed a recent article in the country’s biggest daily, Dagens Nyheter, calling for Swedish film producers to limit shoots abroad. An anonymous Swedish Instagram account created in December has been shaming social media profiles and influencers for promoting trips to far-flung destinations, racking up more than 60,000 followers. “I’m certainly affected by my surroundings, and (flight shame) has affected how I view flying,” said Viktoria Hellstrom, a 27-year-old political science student in Stockholm. Last summer, she took the train to Italy, even though the friends she was meeting there went by plane, as that would have been her second flight within a few weeks. “The only way I could justify going there was if I took the train,” she said. The Scandinavian country’s location far north — it is 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles) from the northernmost town of Kiruna to France’s Cote d’Azur — as well as its robust standard of living, the popularity of charter trips and the rise of low-cost airlines have all contributed to making Swedes big flyers. Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg last year found that Swedes’ per capita emissions from flying between 1990 and 2017 were five times the global average. Emissions from Swedes’ international air travel have soared 61 percent since 1990, their study said. Swedes’ concerns rely on solid data — the Swedish Meteorological Institute said last week that the average annual temperature was rising twice as fast in the country as the global average. In March, the World Wildlife Foundation published a survey indicating that nearly 1 in 5 Swedes had chosen to travel by rail rather than by air in order to minimize their environmental impact. The trend was most noticeable among women and young people. A survey published Tuesday in Sweden’s leading travel magazine, Vagabond, said 64 percent of those who traveled abroad less last year did so because of climate reasons. National rail operator SJ reported a 21 percent boost in business travel this winter, and the government has announced plans to reintroduce night trains to major European cities before the end of its mandate in 2022. The number of domestic flight passengers was projected to be down by 3.2 percent in 2018, the transport authority said in its latest figures from September, though the number of passengers on international flights rose 4 percent. So far the “flight shame” trend hasn’t had the same traction among Sweden’s neighbors, although Finland has spawned its own version of the expression, calling it “ lentohapea .” Other parts of the developed world may not have a word that is quite as catchy, making do with #flyingless or #stopflying, but average carbon dioxide emissions of 285 grams per air kilometer — compared with 158 for cars and 14 for trains — have given many pause. Fausta Gabola, a French-Italian student in Paris, is no longer sure that she should take up an offer to study in Australia on a scholarship. “It’s my dream to go there,” she said. “I applied without thinking too much about it and now I have a dilemma. I would feel like a hypocrite if I went.” French political scientist Mathilde Szuba said any no-fly decision effectively puts distant countries out of reach. “There is no easy substitute for flying,” said Szuba. “You can’t go to faraway places without taking the plane.” Back in Sweden, some experts say that changing travel patterns are not always a direct result of “flight shame.” Frida Hylander, a Swedish psychologist, said shame, and the fear of being shamed, is a powerful motivator, but she also cautioned against overstating its importance. Other factors are at play, Hylander said, citing as an example Sweden’s unusually hot summer last year, which caused massive wildfires and may have sparked wider concerns about climate change. “You should exercise caution when pointing to one single factor,” Hylander said. A new flight tax introduced in April 2018 may also have played a role, she said, as well as the bankruptcy of regional airline NextJet, which led to the closure of a number of domestic flight routes for several months.

travel emissions sweden transportation airplanes


Japan's wholesale prices up for second straight year in fiscal 2018

Abstract: Japan’s wholesale prices rose 2.2 percent in the just-ended fiscal year, gaining for the second straight year on the back of crude price markups in the first half of the fiscal year, the Bank of Japan said Wednesday. The size of the increase in the central bank’s Corporate Goods Price Index — a gauge of prices of goods traded between companies — for fiscal 2018 compares with 2.7 percent growth in the previous fiscal year. Oil and coal products saw their prices jump 13.8 percent, followed by a 7.2 percent gain in the prices for electric power, gas and water, and a 5.7 percent increase in scrap and waste prices. Those for information and communications equipment declined 1.3 percent. Prices for oil and coal products are one of the major factors affecting wholesale prices in Japan, which imports most of the crude oil consumed in the country. Export prices grew 0.8 percent while import prices advanced 6.5 percent, both in yen terms. In March alone, wholesale prices climbed 1.3 percent from a year earlier, increasing for the 27th straight month, following a revised 0.9 percent rise in February. By item, prices for pulp and paper products rose 5.2 percent due to solid demand for cardboard boxes to send purchased goods to consumers amid a growth in e-commerce. Prices for ceramic products gained 3.2 percent while oil and coal product prices rose 2.9 percent. Oil-related prices in Japan rose as expectations for a trade deal between Washington and Beijing to end their tariff spat pushed up crude oil prices, according to a BOJ official. Prices for nonferrous metals decreased 2.3 percent from a year earlier but gained 1.4 percent from the previous month, on hopes for an economic recovery in China supported by Beijing’s massive economic stimulus to support the world’s second-largest economy, the official said. In yen terms, export prices rose 0.2 percent from a year before, while import prices climbed 2.5 percent.


Japan's core machinery orders log first rise in four months

Abstract: Seasonally adjusted core machinery orders in February rose 1.8 percent from the previous month, up for the first time in four months, the Cabinet Office said Wednesday. Private-sector orders, excluding those for ships and power equipment — closely watched as a leading indicator of corporate capital spending — came to ¥836.7 billion. A large-scale order in the manufacturing industry helped lift the overall figure. The February result, which followed a 5.4 percent drop in January, was weaker than the median estimate of a 2.5 percent rise by the 19 economic research institutes surveyed by Jiji Press. The Cabinet Office kept its basic assessment unchanged, saying machinery orders are stalling. Although machinery orders stopped falling, it is unclear whether capital spending will remain firm amid growing uncertainties over the course of the global economy. Machinery orders “increased from the previous month, but an improvement in business sentiment has not been confirmed,” a Cabinet Office official said. Orders from manufacturers gained 3.5 percent, the first increase in four months, buoyed by the large-scale order in the shipbuilding industry. Orders also expanded from oil and coal producers, as well as metal products makers. Core orders from nonmanufacturers fell 0.8 percent, down for the second straight month. Information service and leasing companies were sluggish. Overall machinery orders, including those from the public sector and abroad, advanced 5.4 percent to ¥2.355 trillion.

machinery orders
economy
economic indicators


Dollar eases below ¥111.20 in Tokyo

Abstract: The dollar edged down below ¥111.20 in Tokyo trading Wednesday, as investors turned risk-averse in view of a looming U.S.-European Union trade war. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥111.18-18, down from ¥111.26-26 at the same time Tuesday. The euro was at $1.1265-1266, almost unchanged from $1.1265-1265, and at ¥125.25-26, down from ¥125.34-34. In the wake of the United States and the European Union showing their readiness to slap fresh tariffs on each other over subsidies to aircraft makers, the dollar slipped through ¥111.10 in early in the morning. The greenback strengthened above ¥111.20 in midmorning trading thanks to purchases by domestic importers. In the afternoon, the U.S. currency fluctuated between ¥111.10 and ¥111.20. Dollar-yen transactions lacked vigor prior to major overseas events later on Wednesday, including an EU summit on Brexit, the European Central Bank’s policy-setting meeting, the release of the minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting last month and the announcement of the U.S. consumer price index for March, a currency broker said.


Tokyo stocks fall amid fears of EU-U.S. trade war

Abstract: Stocks lost ground on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Wednesday, battered by overnight falls in U.S. and European equities due to growing worries about an escalation of trade tensions between the United States and the European Union. The 225-issue Nikkei average lost 115.02 points, or 0.53 percent, to end at 21,687.57, after gaining 40.94 points on Tuesday. The TOPIX index of all first-section issues finished down 11.10 points, or 0.69 percent, at 1,607.66. It fell 1.38 points the previous day. The Nikkei average gave up over 230 points as soon as the opening bell rang, as sell orders had piled up after the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Tuesday to impose additional tariffs on European imports as retaliation for subsidies to Airbus SAS. The EU promptly responded, saying it is readying a list of tariffs to counter subsidies to Boeing Corp. The Tokyo market was also dampened by the yen’s strengthening against the dollar and other major currencies in the wake of the International Monetary Fund’s downward revision in its World Economic Outlook, market sources said. Stocks cut some of the initial losses after the wave of selling. But both Nikkei and TOPIX indexes remained in negative territory throughout Wednesday’s session. “Investors backed off as they were reminded of the existence of confrontation between the United States and the EU, which they had forgotten,” said Hideyuki Suzuki of SBI Securities Co. Suzuki also noted that players have begun bracing for the upcoming 10-day holiday from April 27 in Japan by holding in check active buying of declined shares. Tomoaki Fujii, head of the investment research division at Akatsuki Securities Inc., attributed Wednesday’s drop to futures-linked selling. He also said trading volume was relatively low before a spate of earnings announcements by Japanese firms later this month. Falling issues far outnumbered rising ones 1,572 to 485 in the TSE’s first section, while 83 issues were unchanged. Volume inched up to 1.12 billion shares from Tuesday’s 1.10 billion shares. Japan Post Holdings sagged 2.88 percent after the Finance Ministry started preparations for releasing part of its shareholdings in the company as early as September. Technology giant Sony, pharmaceutical firm Astellas and chipmaking gear manufacturer Tokyo Electron were among other major losers. By contrast, Suruga Bank shot up 16.25 percent on a media report that it is in talks with electronics retailer Nojima, bank group Resona Holdings and other two firms for financial assistance. Also on the sunny side were technology investor SoftBank Group, optical equipment maker Olympus and clothing store chain Fast Retailing. In index futures trading on the Osaka Exchange, the key June contract on the Nikkei average shed 40 points to end at 21,700.


Rakuten, Booking.com and Expedia raided by Japan's antitrust watchdog over lodging price policy

Abstract: Japan’s antitrust watchdog on Wednesday raided the offices of Rakuten Inc. and two other online booking operators, alleging they hurt fair trade by requiring accommodation providers to offer their lowest prices on their platforms, according to a source close to the matter. The Fair Trade Commission’s probe comes amid its closer scrutiny of allegedly obscure business transactions involving providers of digital platforms and the sale of products and services via search engines and e-commerce sites, among other avenues. According to the source, Tokyo-based Rakuten, U.S. firm Expedia Group Inc. and Dutch outfit Booking.com B.V. have for several years allegedly urged clients to set accommodation prices the same as, or lower than, those offered on rival websites and on hotels’ official sites. Rakuten said it “will fully cooperate with the investigation.” In August 2016, the commission conducted a similar on-site probe of Amazon Japan, on suspicion it signed contracts with suppliers under which they agreed to make their product lineups and prices competitive, or at least match those on rival online retailers. The commission terminated its probe in June 2017 once the company retracted such conditions, without ruling whether antitrust law had been violated. In March last year, the commission again raided Amazon Japan for allegedly violating the antitrust law by having suppliers shoulder part of the costs covering discounts the retailer applied to goods. That investigation is ongoing. Airbnb Inc.’s office in Japan also came under investigation by the commission, in October 2017, for allegedly requesting homeowners advertising short-stay properties on its site do so exclusively. The probe ended a year later after Airbnb said it will remove the requirement. More recently, the commission launched in February a survey of transactions involving information technology giants including Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc. and Google LLC to investigate whether their market dominance may be hurting competition. Meanwhile, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party started its own investigation in March, questioning senior officials of Amazon, Apple, Facebook Inc. and Google as it seeks to compile proposals for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government to ensure fair competition.

rakuten
booking.com
expedia
antitrust
fair trade commission
hotels
internet


Carlos Ghosn's wife willing to return to Japan for questioning in Tokyo court

Abstract: The wife of former Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn is ready to appear in a Tokyo court for questioning, according to a lawyer for Ghosn. Lawyer Junichiro Hironaka said Tuesday that questioning of Carole Ghosn may be conducted within the month. When her 65-year-old husband was rearrested April 4, Tokyo prosecutors asked her to meet with them for voluntary questioning, but she left Japan the next day, according to sources and French reports. The prosecutors have since requested the Tokyo District Court to call her. The lawyer’s remark came after the wife indicated her willingness to return to Japan for questioning, during her recent interview with French radio RTL. In the interview, she denied she had fled Japan. Then she criticized the Japanese judicial system by saying that her husband has been treated like a criminal though his trial has not begun yet, and that the principle of assumed innocence has not been respected. Ghosn was served a fresh arrest warrant for allegedly funneling Nissan money to himself via a car distributor in Oman. The surprise move came as a blow to Ghosn, who was released on bail less than a month ago and planned to give his own news conference Thursday. Ghosn’s son, Anthony Ghosn, denied Tuesday he has received money paid by the automaker to an Omani distributor and then allegedly redirected to him and his family by his father. In an email response to a Kyodo News query, Anthony Ghosn, who is CEO of U.S. investment firm Shogun, said he “has not received any money from Good Faith.” He was referring to a firm called Good Faith Investments, via which some of the funds in question were allegedly transferred to Beauty Yachts, a company headed by Ghosn’s wife. A senior official of the Omani distributor, an acquaintance of Carlos Ghosn’s, was listed as chief of the investment company, which was effectively owned by Ghosn. Part of the Nissan funds are believed to have been eventually transferred to Beauty Yachts, which apparently purchased a yacht, named Shacho — “president” in Japanese — for use by Ghosn’s family. Based on analysis of internal Nissan documents, including emails, prosecutors found an amount of money — identical to that transferred to GFI — was channeled to Beauty Yachts, sources said. Japanese prosecutors have requested help with the investigation from the United States and have sent a team there.

carlos ghosn
courts
nissan
carole ghosn
scandals
carmakers


Seven-Eleven Japan to open its first stores in Okinawa on July 11

Abstract: Leading convenience store operator Seven-Eleven Japan Co. will open its first outlets in Okinawa Prefecture on July 11. Opening stores in Okinawa, the only prefecture in which Seven-Eleven Japan does not have a presence, means the company will have outlets in all of the nation’s 47 prefectures. Seven-Eleven Japan said Tuesday it plans to open around 10 shops in Naha, Okinawa’s capital, and some other outlets outside the city. The company plans to increase the number of stores in Okinawa to some 250 within the next five years. Rival chains FamilyMart Co. and Lawson Inc. already run stores across the country, including Okinawa. Seven-Eleven Japan, which operates over 20,000 stores in Japan, announced its plan to enter Okinawa in June 2017. Problems with production and deliveries had prevented the company from opening stores there.

okinawa
convenience stores
seven-eleven japan co .


Japan's Docomo, KDDI, SoftBank and Rakuten get mobile phone 5G bands ahead of 2020 launch

Abstract: The telecom ministry allocated mobile phone frequency bands for superfast 5G services to three major mobile carriers and the e-commerce giant Rakuten Inc. on Wednesday, ahead of an expected full-scale launch in 2020. After reviewing operational plans by NTT Docomo Inc., KDDI Corp., SoftBank Corp. and Rakuten, an advisory council to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications approved the allocation of 5G frequencies. The ministry issued certificates later in the day. After conducting trials later this year, the mobile phone carriers plan to start a commercial rollout from 2020, with the 5G technology enabling users to send and receive data some 100 times faster than the current 4G networks allow. Rakuten plans to begin running 4G services in October while constructing a network that is capable of delivering 5G telecommunications. Overseas, competition has been heating up for 5G services, which are touted as enabling smartphone users to download a two-hour film in just three seconds, with U.S. and South Korean mobile carriers both claiming to be the world’s first to have launched commercial 5G operations. U.S. telecommunications conglomerate Verizon Communications Inc. started offering the services in parts of Chicago and Minneapolis on April 3, while South Korea’s three major mobile carriers also enabled it for some celebrities on the same day. In addition to benefiting smartphone users, the superfast mobile networks are expected to help enable autonomous driving and other technological breakthroughs. For example, medical equipment could be remotely controlled by an off-site doctor thanks to the high-speed data transmission capabilities and lower latency experienced with the new technology. The “internet of things,” a concept in which a wide range of devices are connected to the internet via wireless networks, may also be boosted by the 5G technology, as it enables an enormous number of simultaneous data transmissions. Competition among nations and telecom firms is growing fierce, with each looking to take the lead on developing and utilizing 5G networks. Regarding equipment, the three major Japanese mobile phone carriers and Rakuten have said they will refrain from using products made by Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies Co., a leader in the field of next-generation wireless services, as well as those of another Chinese telecommunications firm, ZTE Corp. The Japanese companies have taken the position due to a decision by the government in December to effectively exclude the two Chinese firms from public procurement, reflecting U.S. concerns that their products may facilitate spying and lead to potential disruptions to communication networks.

docomo
kddi
softbank
rakuten
phones
5g
smartphones
internet
internal affairs ministry


More than 100,000 migrants encountered at U.S. southern border in March: data

Abstract: WASHINGTON - U.S. officers arrested or denied entry to over 103,000 people along the border with Mexico in March, a 35 percent increase over the prior month and more than twice as many as the same period last year, according to data released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Tuesday. The steady increase in migrant arrivals, which has been building over the past several months, is driven by a growing number of children and families, especially from Central America. Children and people traveling as families made up 67 percent of those arrested by U.S. Border Patrol agents between official ports of entry in the month of March, officials said. In March 2018, the same category made up one third of arrests. U.S. President Donald Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with the rising number of Central American migrants attempting to cross the southern border, and his ire has been directed at his own officials, Congress, and Latin American countries, who he says have not done enough to stop their citizens from traveling to the United States. On Sunday, Trump’s top homeland security official, Kirstjen Nielsen, said she was stepping down, and a senior administration official said other agency leaders had not done enough to crack down on the surge in immigration. Immigration experts believe more migrants are likely to attempt to cross in the coming months, as numbers typically peak around May.

migrants
mexico
donald trump
kirstjen nielsen
u.s. border


Trump claims he's not looking to reinstate family separations, blames Obama for policy

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Facing bipartisan pushback on his immigration shake-up, President Donald Trump said Tuesday he’s not looking to revive the much-criticized practice of separating migrant children from their families at the southern border. At the same time, he suggested the policy had worked to deter migrants from coming into the U.S. Immigration experts say his policies and practices are contributing to the surge of migrants. Last summer the administration separated more than 2,500 children from their families before international outrage forced Trump to halt the practice and a judge ordered them reunited. “We’re not looking to do that,” Trump told reporters before meeting with Egypt’s president at the White House. But he also noted: “Once you don’t have it, that’s why you see many more people coming. They’re coming like it’s a picnic, because let’s go to Disneyland.” The potential reinstatement of one of the most divisive practices of the Trump administration was just one aspect of the upheaval evident at the Department of Homeland Security this week following the resignation of Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. With talk that more top officials were likely to be pushed out, Republicans expressed public and private concerns about the shake-up orchestrated by the White House and cautioned that leadership changes wouldn’t necessarily solve the problem. As for the separation of children, Trump declared that he was “the one that stopped it” and said his predecessor, President Barack Obama, was the one who had divided family members. The administration is allowed to separate children under certain circumstances including the health and welfare of the child and a parent’s criminal history. This is why children were separated under the Obama administration. At hearings across Capitol Hill, lawmakers grilled administration officials on whether the practice would resurface despite last year’s outrage and evidence that separations were likely to cause lasting psychological effects on the children. House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings said his committee would take a look at the staff shake-up at Homeland Security. The Maryland Democrat said he was deciding whether to call in Nielsen. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said there was a serious problem going on between the White House and Homeland Security. “If everybody’s sitting around waiting for a shiny new wonder pony to ride in and solve it, we’re going to be waiting a long time,” he said. People familiar with the immigration discussions within the administration said family separation was one of many suggestions that Trump and his aides were eying to tackle the problem of an ever-growing number of Central American families crossing into the U.S. The people were not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. A senior administration official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity said the White House would move forward with a new regulation that would challenge a longstanding agreement limiting how long children can be detained, hoping to spark a legal fight that would land in the Supreme Court. The official was not authorized to speak for attribution. The White House also was weighing a tougher standard to evaluate initial asylum claims, a “binary choice” that would have migrant families choose between remaining with their children in detention until their immigration cases are decided or sending their children to government shelters while the parents remain in detention. It also is considering clamping down on remittance payments that Mexican nationals send home. Amid the turmoil, Trump told reporters he was not “cleaning house” at the agency despite a number of staff changes. He said his choice to be the department’s new acting director, Kevin McAleenan, would do a “fantastic job.” But at the same time that Trump was speaking, the senior official was describing DHS to reporters as a large and unwieldly civilian bureaucracy that needs leadership that can deal with career officials resistant to the president’s agenda, including many who were responsible for implementing some of the very policies Trump seeks to roll back. Top Republicans in Congress expressed concern over vacancies at Homeland Security and cautioned Trump about more churn after the resignation of Nielsen. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, made both a public and private plea to the White House not to dismiss career homeland security officials. He said he spoke to acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney but added that he would only know if Trump heard the message “if they don’t get fired.” At a Senate Homeland Security Committee meeting on border issues, child welfare and border officials warned there wasn’t room or capability to start separating children on a large scale again. Children who cross the border alone are cared for by the Department of Health and Human Services, and most of the children are teenagers. But last summer, HHS started receiving babies and toddlers, and there was not enough space to house them, said Jonathan White, the career civil servant tasked by Health and Human Services with helping to reunify children. “It also bears repeating, separating children from their parents entails significant risk of psychological harm. That is an undisputed scientific fact,” White told senators. “We have made improvements to our tracking, but we do not have the capacity to receive that number of children, nor do we have any system that can manage the mass trauma.” Both Republican and Democratic leaders deplored the idea of separating families. “I hope members of the administration are actually listening,” said Sen. Ron Johnson, R- Wis., the committee chairman. He added that he had spoken with Mulvaney about moving a permanent Homeland Security nominee through quickly. While Trump disputed any departmental upheaval, his outside allies launched a public campaign urging him to nominate former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach to replace Nielsen. Kobach would almost certainly face an uphill battle to be confirmed by the Senate. Conservatives also pushed former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli for the job. Both men’s names also have been tossed about for a possible immigration czar who would coordinate immigration policy across federal agencies.

family separations
immigrants
donald trump
migrants
barack obama
u.s. border


Young entrepreneur aims to send 3D-printed rockets to space, has launchpad at Canaveral

Abstract: COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO - To see Tim Ellis hunched over his laptop, alone in a room at a major space industry conference in Colorado, you can hardly imagine that he might be the next Elon Musk. But Relativity Space, the company he founded in December 2015 with the vision of launching 3D-printed rockets, has grown from 14 to 80 employees in one year and will recruit another 40 this year. At age 28, Ellis has lured several industry veterans, including from SpaceX, the U.S. market leader for launches that was founded by billionaire entrepreneur Musk. Relativity Space has raised $45 million so far, Canadian satellite operator Telesat has entrusted it with the launch of part of its future 5G satellite constellation and the U.S. military has given it a launchpad at Cape Canaveral. And Ellis, who six years ago was still studying for his masters in aerospace engineering at the University of Southern California, now sits on the White House’s National Space Council along with former astronauts and the heads of the largest American aerospace groups. “I’m the youngest person by more than 20 years, and we’re the only venture capital backed start-up,” Ellis told AFP during the 35th annual Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, a major annual event for the space industry that will welcome 15,000 participants from 40 countries. Dozens of start-ups have announced plans in recent years to build small and medium-size rockets to launch small satellites. Many will probably fail before having made their first rocket, but that’s the game, Ellis explained. “The notion in Silicon Valley is you’re going to take tons of big bets, where lots of them will totally lose money. But the ones that succeed will pay for all of the losers — and in a huge outcome, if it’s the next Google or the next SpaceX,” he said. Relativity Space, which like SpaceX is based in Los Angeles, has so far printed nine rocket engines and three second stages for its rocket model, called Terran 1, whose first test flight is scheduled for the end of 2020. With its large 3D-printing machines, the start-up claims that its rockets will require 100 times fewer parts than traditional rockets. “We’ll only be experts in like two or three (technological) processes,” he said, compared to traditional manufacturing with complex supply chains. “It’s far easier.” Only the electronics are not 3D-printed. “It’s much cheaper, because of the labor reduction in the automation with 3D-printing,” said Ellis, who will charge $10 million for a launch, at least at first. “Also, it’s more flexible,” he said: eventually, Relativity Space will adapt the size of the fairings of the rockets to the requirements of individual customers, depending on the size of their satellite. Speed is the other advantage: “Our target is to get from raw material to flight in 60 days,” Ellis said. If Relativity Space succeeds in this feat — which it has not yet demonstrated — it would revolutionize the launch industry. Today, a satellite operator can wait for years before having a place in the large rockets of Arianespace or SpaceX. The Terran 1 will be 10 times smaller the SpaceX Falcon 9, able to place a 1,250 kg (2,755 pounds) payload into very low orbit (185 km or 115 miles above the Earth’s surface). This could be suitable for a constellation of small satellites for telecommunications or imaging the Earth, but also for one of the largest customers in space: the U.S. military. This is another reason for the young executive’s arrival in Colorado Springs: meeting senior Pentagon officials. “I rarely wear a suit, but I will for the military,” Ellis said.

tim ellis
relativity space
spacex
white house
nasa
3d printers


U.S. aid chief: Deadly Congo Ebola outbreak 'far from contained'

Abstract: WASHINGTON - The deadly Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is far from contained, U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Mark Green said on Tuesday. “In the last week we have seen a number of signs that the outbreak is far from contained. There’s a long way to go,” the top U.S. aid official told a U.S. congressional hearing. The Ebola outbreak in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has killed more than 600 people. But as the country grapples with the aftermath of Dec. 30 elections marred by fraud allegations, aid workers have faced mistrust in some areas as they seek to contain the outbreak, the most severe in Congo’s history. Green said there is enough money to fight the outbreak, and that the United States is pushing for more vaccinations and the production of more vaccines. He said he is in close contact with international health officials.

congo
ebola
mark green
vaccinations
epidemic
u.s. aid


Dalai Lama, 83, taken to New Delhi hospital for chest pain, said to be OK

Abstract: NEW DELHI - The Dalai Lama has undergone a checkup at a New Delhi hospital following chest pains, according to an aide who said the octogenarian Tibetan spiritual leader was in stable condition. Ngodup Tsering, the 83-year-old Buddhist monk’s representative in the United States, told AFP the Dalai Lama flew to New Delhi early Tuesday for a doctor’s visit at Max hospital after he experienced a “light cough.” “The doctor said there’s nothing to worry about. It’s not that serious,” Tsering said, without confirming whether the Dalai Lama had been admitted for hospital treatment. “He’s taking a few days’ rest.” Kangra police superintendent Santosh Patial told The Indian Express that the Dalai Lama, who is based in Dharamshala and has been in permanent Indian exile for some 60 years, took a regular morning flight Tuesday and was not airlifted. “There is nothing to panic,” he added. Although the exiled leader remains a hugely popular speaker, he has cut back on his global engagements and has not met a world leader since 2016 — while governments have been wary of extending invitations to him for fear of angering Beijing. The Dalai Lama has sought to pre-empt any attempt by Beijing, which has effectively wiped out any organized opposition to its rule in Tibet, to name his reincarnated successor, even announcing in 2011 that he may be the last in the lineage. Even India, which offered asylum to the Dalai Lama in 1959 when he made a daring escape across the Himalayas dressed as a soldier, has turned its back, with the government reportedly warning officials against attending events featuring him, citing diplomatic sensitivities.

dalai lama
new delhi
tibet
india
china
u.s .


New York mandates vaccine to contain Brooklyn measles outbreak

Abstract: NEW YORK - New York Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a public health emergency in parts of Brooklyn on Tuesday, ordering all residents to be vaccinated to contain a measles outbreak concentrated in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community. The order concerns all people living or working in four zip codes of Williamsburg, northwest Brooklyn, where some residents oppose vaccines on religious grounds — although neither Jewish texts nor local Jewish authorities advise against vaccination. “It was time to take a more muscular approach,” de Blasio told a news conference as the emergency measures were announced. “This can be turned around quickly,” he said. “We can stop this.” Under the new rules, anyone who has not received the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine or does not have evidence of immunity risks a fine of $1,000, said a statement from the mayor’s office. The city also warned that yeshiva religious schools and day care programs serving the local Orthodox Jewish community would face penalties and possible closure if they continue to take in unvaccinated students. Like most American states — all but three, including California — New York requires a series of vaccinations for school-age children but has until now granted exemptions on both medical and religious grounds. Since October, however, 285 cases of measles have been confirmed in New York City, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). None proved fatal, but 21 patients required hospitalization and five were admitted to intensive care. “I urge everyone, especially those in affected areas, to get their MMR vaccines to protect their children, families and communities,” de Blasio said in the statement. “There’s no question that vaccines are safe, effective and life-saving.” That message was also echoed by Dr. Herminia Palacio, deputy mayor of health and human services, who said that “this vaccine is safe.” “When you make the decision not to vaccinate your child, please understand you’re also making that decision for the people around your child,” Palacio said. “We have also received reports that there are people attending so called measles parties bringing children together to purposely get exposed to measles,” she said. Although measles was declared officially eliminated from the United States in 2000, a total of 465 cases have been confirmed in 19 states from January 1 to April 4, according to the CDC. “This is the second-greatest number of cases reported in the U.S. since measles was eliminated in 2000,” it said. The highest figure — 667 — occurred in 2014. The resurgence of the once-eradicated, highly-contagious disease is linked to a growing anti-vaccine movement in richer nations — which the World Health Organization has identified as a major global health threat. Most of the New York cases involved unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated individuals, according to de Blasio’s office. Rockland County, located near New York City, recently declared a 30-day public health emergency over a measles outbreak there that has seen 168 people contract the disease, according to the CDC. Non-vaccinated minors were banned from public places in a bid to prevent the spread of the disease, and hundreds of people have now been vaccinated, according to authorities. The so-called anti-vax, or anti-vaxxer phenomenon has adherents across Western nations but is particularly high profile in the US, where it has been fueled by disinformation on social media. Many vaccine opponents believe medically baseless claims that inoculations can cause autism and other negative health effects. Experts insist vaccines are safe and necessary to protect the larger community from highly infectious diseases like measles, which can cause severe diarrhea, pneumonia and vision loss and can be fatal in some cases.

vaccinations
brooklyn
measles
bill de blasio
cdc
epidemic
nyc


Netanyahu claims 'colossal victory' after close contest in Israel, but graft charges could spoil party

Abstract: JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secured a clear path to re-election on Wednesday, with religious-rightist parties set to hand him a parliamentary majority despite a close contest against his main centrist challenger, a vote tally showed. With more than 97 percent of votes counted, Netanyahu’s conservative Likud Party looked likely to muster enough support to control 65 of the Knesset’s 120 seats and be named to head the next coalition government — a record fifth term as premier. The close and often vitriolic contest was widely seen in Israel as a referendum on Netanyahu’s character and record in the face of corruption allegations. He faces possible indictment in three graft cases, and has denied wrongdoing in all of them. Despite that, Netanyahu gained four seats compared to his outgoing coalition government, according to a spreadsheet published by the Central Elections Committee of parties that won enough votes to enter the next parliament. “It is a night of colossal victory,” the 69-year-old Netanyahu told cheering supporters in a late-night speech at Likud headquarters after Tuesday’s vote. “He’s a magician,” the crowd chanted as fireworks flared and Netanyahu kissed his wife Sara. Tel Aviv Stock Exchange main indexes opened up 0.5 percent on Wednesday, showing confidence in a prime minister who has overseen a humming economy and restrained security challenges. His challenger, the new Blue and White party of ex-general Benny Gantz, claimed a more modest victory after winning a 35-seat tie with Likud. Unless he reverses on campaign pledges to shun Netanyahu, and joins him in a future broad coalition, Gantz looked destined to lead a center-left parliamentary opposition. “The skies may look overcast … but they cannot conceal the sun of hope that we have brought to the Israeli people and society,” Gantz, 59, wrote in an open letter to supporters. Should Netanyahu retain the helm, he will become the longest-serving Israeli prime minister in July, overtaking the country’s founding father, David Ben-Gurion. That could be scuppered if criminal charges are filed and force his removal. An indictment decision would follow a review hearing where Netanyahu can be expected to argue he should be spared, in the national interest. Some political analysts predict he may try to pass a law granting himself immunity, as a sitting leader, from trial. During the campaign, the rival parties accused each other of corruption, fostering bigotry and being soft on security. Netanyahu highlighted his close relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump, who delighted Israelis and angered Palestinians by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in 2017 and moving the U.S. Embassy to the holy city last May. Two weeks before the election, Trump signed a proclamation, with Netanyahu at his side at the White House, recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war. In a rare turn during the race towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Netanyahu further alarmed Palestinians by pledging to annex Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank if re-elected. Palestinians seek a state there and in the Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital. Netanyahu’s pre-election promise was widely seen as an attempt to draw right-wing votes rather than a change of policy. But with Trump’s moves on Jerusalem and The Golan, the prime minister may feel emboldened to advocate for annexation. Commenting on the election, Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said: “Israelis have voted to preserve the status quo. They have said no to peace and yes to the occupation.” The last round of U.S.-brokered peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians collapsed in 2014. Trump is expected to release his administration’s long-awaited Middle East peace plan after the election. If it includes Israeli concessions to the Palestinians, Netanyahu’s probable far-right coalition allies will likely object. Once the vote tally is final, President Reuven Rivlin will ask parties that have won parliamentary seats who they support for prime minister. He will then pick a party leader to try to form a coalition, giving the candidate 28 days to do so, with a two-week extension if needed.

israel
benjamin netanyahu
elections
corruption
benny gantz
scandals


Netanyahu, rival Benny Gantz both claim Israeli election win on narrow exit polls

Abstract: JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his main challenger, former military chief Benny Gantz, were locked in a neck and neck race Tuesday as exit polls showed no clear winner in an election that was seen as a referendum on the long-serving leader. With final results still hours away, both men declared victory, though Netanyahu appeared to have better prospects of forming a coalition with smaller ideological allies. Still, the results appeared to be a setback for Netanyahu as they failed to give him the decisive victory he had sought. The 69-year-old prime minister’s fate is clouded by a series of corruption investigations. Two Israeli TV stations showed Gantz’s Blue and White Party with a narrow lead over the Likud. Channel 12 TV had Blue and White with 37 seats to Likud’s 33 seats, while Kan TV put Blue and White ahead 37-36. Channel 13 had the two parties deadlocked with 36 seats apiece. Because both parties are far short of a majority in the 120-seat parliament, they would have to search for smaller ideological allies to cobble together a majority. The Kan and Channel 13 polls projected Likud and its hard-line allies controlling a slight majority of seats, while a Channel 12 showed them with 60 seats apiece. Early on Wednesday, Gantz addressed a raucous crowd. “Elections have losers and elections have winners. And we are the winners,” he told supporters. He vowed to change the tone of Israel’s divisive political system and “be the prime minister of everyone, not just the ones who voted for me.” Claiming to represent the largest party, Gantz urged President Reuven Rivlin to give him the opportunity to form the next government. As president, Rivlin is responsible for choosing the prime minister after consulting with party leaders and deciding who has the best chance of cobbling together a coalition. Netanyahu, who was set to address his supporters later Wednesday, said in a statement that his right-wing bloc won a “clear victory.” Israeli exit polls are notoriously imprecise, meaning the final results could still swing in either direction. Official results weren’t expected until Wednesday morning. Yohanan Plesner, a former lawmaker and head of the nonpartisan Israel Democracy Institute, called the close and conflicting exit polls “an unprecedented situation.” “We’ve had elections before where he didn’t know the results but here it is even messier,” he said. The final results will depend on the performance of several small parties, including the Arab Balad party and the ultranationalist “New Right,” that were on the cusp of winning the needed 3.25 percent of the votes to enter parliament. If any of them fail to cross the threshold, the makeup of the next coalition could be dramatically affected. The election included several other surprises. Exit polls all projected the iconic Labor party, which ruled the country for its first 30 years, tumbling to single digits in the parliament. Zehut, an iconoclastic party that combined an ultranationalist ideology with libertarian economic positions and calls for the legalization of marijuana, had appeared poised to emerge as the Cinderella story of the election. But the exit polls showed it falling short and not entering parliament. Clouded by looming corruption indictments, Netanyahu is seeking a fourth consecutive term and a fifth overall, which would make him Israel’s longest-serving leader, surpassing founding father David Ben-Gurion. The election has emerged as a referendum on his 13 years in power, with the existential questions facing Israel rarely being discussed in the campaign. Netanyahu has been the dominant force in Israeli politics for two decades. His campaign has focused heavily on his friendship with President Donald Trump and his success in cultivating new allies, such as China, India and Brazil. But the corruption scandals have created some voter fatigue, and in recent days Netanyahu has vowed to annex Jewish West Bank settlements if re-elected — a prospect that could doom already-slim hopes of establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel, which he has wavered on. In Gantz, he encountered the rare opponent who can match his security credentials. Along with two other former military chiefs on his ticket, Gantz has attacked Netanyahu for failing to halt rocket fire from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. The telegenic Gantz, who has been vague on key policy fronts, has presented himself as a clean, scandal-free alternative to Netanyahu. As Tuesday wore on, Netanyahu delivered increasingly impassioned pleas for support via Facebook. In videos, he repeated his signature warning that if supporters failed to vote for Likud, they’d wake up to a “leftist” government led by Gantz. Netanyahu said such a scenario is backed by the centrist party’s “secret deal” with Arab factions. His tactics, however, had the effect of siphoning seats from his nationalist allies. Arab turnout was seen as a major issue. Netanyahu’s campaign against Arab politicians, together with the new alliance with anti-Arab extremists and the passage of last year’s contentious nation-state law, which enshrined Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people alone, deepened calls for an election boycott in Arab communities. The Palestinian issue has been largely sidelined in a campaign that has been long on scandal and short on substance. While Gantz has expressed an openness to resume contacts with the Palestinians, his positions were vague and did not express support for Palestinian independence. Palestinian official Saeb Erekat lamented that the Israelis voted to maintain “the status quo.” “They want their occupation to be endless,” he said. Even if re-elected, Netanyahu could have a difficult time governing. Some of his allies have indicated they will no longer back him if formal charges are filed. Israel’s attorney general has recommended indicting him on bribery and breach of trust charges in three separate cases. Rivals have also begun to question a deal in which Netanyahu reportedly earned $4 million on a German submarine sale to Egypt by owning shares in one of the German manufacturer’s suppliers. Netanyahu denies any wrongdoing and says the accusations are part of a liberal media’s orchestrated witch hunt.

benny gantz
elections
benjamin netanyahu
likud
israel


Guaido says he's maintaining 'very discreet' contacts with Venezuelan military

Abstract: LIMA - Venezuela’s opposition leader Juan Guaido said Tuesday he has been keeping up “very discreet” contacts with Caracas’ military, insisting that the armed forces were part of the overwhelming majority of people who wanted a change of government. Guaido is recognized as interim president of the crisis-torn country by more than 50 countries in his power struggle with President Nicolas Maduro, but Maduro retains control of the army and the country’s institutions. “We have had very discreet communications of course with the military, but it’s not the moment to give certain details, because unfortunately here there is a dictatorship,” Guaido told Peru’s RPP Radio. “Persecution is the order of the day.” He said 91 percent of Venezuelans want a change of government and “that doesn’t escape the army.” “The military family and all those who are linked to the crisis in Venezuela know what they are living through,” he said. According to Guaido, there are some “significant signs of unease” in the armed forces, which he described as the last vestige of support “for the dictatorial regime.” The military leadership has consistently pledged loyalty to Maduro. He said opposition forces “will continue to fight peacefully, not violently, but very forcefully” to regain democracy.

venezuela
military
juan guaido
nicolas maduro
dictatorship


White House discussed Trump tax returns with Treasury before Congress asked for them: Steve Mnuchin

Abstract: WASHINGTON - White House lawyers consulted with Treasury officials about President Donald Trump’s tax returns before Democratic lawmakers formally requested access to them, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Tuesday. Democrat lawmakers last week officially requested six years of Trump’s tax filings, as well as those of his business empire, which his family has continued to operate while Trump is in office. The White House has vowed Democrats will “never” see them. Mnuchin testified before Congress on Tuesday that officials were reviewing Democrats’ request for the tax returns, adding that it would be “premature” to discuss their ultimate decision. But he revealed that, prior to receiving the request, Treasury Department officials had been in contact with the White House to discuss it — even though Mnuchin himself was not personally involved. “Our legal department had conversations prior to receiving the letter with the White House general counsel,” Mnuchin said in testimony before a House of Representatives subcommittee on the Treasury’s 2020 budget request. The conversations were “purely informational,” Mnuchin claimed, adding that he personally had not been briefed on their contents. Trump broke with a long-established norm during the 2016 elections by refusing to release his income tax returns, as most presidents have done since the 1970s even though it is not required by law. “I believe that these presidents released their returns on a voluntary basis,” Mnuchin testified. “They made individual decisions. The general public when they elected President Trump made the decision to elect him without his tax returns.” Trump has pointed to supposed IRS audits in refusing to release his tax returns. Tax experts, however, say this does not prevent him from making them public. Mnuchin later on Tuesday is due to appear before a House panel on financial services, which is also expected to grill him about the decision on whether to grant lawmakers’ request for the tax returns.

tax returns
steve mnuchin
donald trump
democrats
u.s. congress


Stephen Miller, hard-line anti-immigrant provocateur, has Trump's ear

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Stephen Miller may have been denounced by fellow Republicans and his own family, but the White House anti-immigration ideologue has the one ear that counts: President Donald Trump’s. Miller’s influence was clear this week with the sweeping shakeup of the Department of Homeland Security, including the ouster of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, amid Trump’s frustration at its failure to halt hundreds of thousands of Central American migrants from entering the country. The 33-year-old, self-avowed political provocateur now finds himself in charge of delivering on Trump’s promise to stem uncontrolled immigration — legal and illegal — by whatever means available. That could entail considering legally problematic measures like ending asylum or restarting forcible separations of migrant families, according to reports, although Trump said Tuesday he is not considering returning to the contentious practice. Equally controversially, it could also mean the eventual construction of the multi-billion-dollar southern border wall that was central to Trump’s campaign, using Pentagon funds earmarked for other projects. The hard-charging, consciously controversial, ever-argumentative Miller has bonded closely with Trump over their shared opposition to immigration. Raised in a liberal Jewish family in cosmopolitan Los Angeles, he turned sharply against immigration and multiculturalism as a high school teen. He developed a core conviction that refugees and other immigrants threaten American culture and, as a rule, align with liberal Democrats. As a political science student at Duke University, he was a polemicist and a firebrand, attacking Hispanics, Muslims, feminists and anyone tied to Democrats to spark anger and debate. He associated with leaders of the budding white supremacy movement — though he has kept a physical, if not ideological distance from the movement. As a congressional staffer he made his mark in 2013, helping mastermind the defeat of a bipartisan Democrat-Republican immigration bill that would have, with substantial public support, opened a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants who had been in the U.S. for years and even decades. That success made him a valuable addition to Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016. Trump made shutting down the U.S. borders a central promise of his candidacy, and Miller, as speechwriter and sometimes warm-up act for Trump on the campaign trail, fell into the position of crafting the details. They were a good fit: like Trump, Miller takes pride in rhetorical bomb-throwing, trolling the left — what he calls generating “constructive controversy.” When Trump took office, Miller helped design a ban on Muslim arrivals — a move that was ruled illegal in courts several times, until it was forcibly recast. And he provided Trump the arguments for a campaign to lock out the Guatemalans, Hondurans and Salvadorans crossing the southern border — arguing that they are made up of rapists, murderers, human and drug traffickers and gang members. “Thousands of Americans die year after year after year because of threats crossing our southern border,” Miller says. Although such arguments are often contradicted by evidence, he is an absolutist on the border. “You cannot conceive of a nation without a strong, secure border,” he said in an interview earlier this year. “It is fundamental and essential to the idea of sovereignty and national survival to have control over who enters and doesn’t enter the country.” Miller doesn’t try hard to convince others of his views. He has just one audience: Trump, whom he has called a “political genius.” His sway over his boss was already evident in January 2018, when he persuaded the president to renege on signing bipartisan immigration legislation. Republicans lashed out at Miller directly for killing a painstakingly crafted deal. “As long as Stephen Miller is in charge of negotiating immigration, we are going nowhere. He’s been an outlier for years,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally, has said. His stance has made the slim, prematurely balding Miller an unpopular figure in deeply liberal Washington, where he has been verbally assailed in restaurants. After one bartender made a nasty gesture at him, the Washington Post wrote, Miller threw out $80 worth of sushi takeout because he feared it had been tainted. More seriously, his stance had earned him the ire of his own family and the Jewish community. His uncle, David Glosser, wrote last year of “dismay and increasing horror” over Miller’s immigration views, which “repudiate the very foundation of our family’s life in this country.” Miller is descended from refugees who arrived in the US in 1903 after fleeing violent anti-Jewish pogroms in what is now Belarus. “Honestly, Mr. Miller, you’ve set back the Jewish contribution to making the world spiritually whole,” childhood rabbi Neil Comess-Daniels said in a sermon last year, “through your arbitrary division of these desperate people.”

stephen miller
immigration
republicans
donald trump
muslims
white supremacy
u.s .


In a first, French MPs trigger referendum on privatizing Paris airports

Abstract: PARIS - French opposition MPs and senators claimed a victory for democracy Wednesday after using a little-known constitutional article to try to trigger a referendum on the government’s controversial plans to privatize Paris’ airports. In a rare display of non-partisanship, lawmakers straddling the spectrum from the far left to the right banded together Tuesday to propose a “referendum d’initiative populaire” (RIP) on the privatization of Aeroports de Paris, operator of Charles de Gaulle, Orly and Le Bourget airports. This is the first time ever that opposition lawmakers have come together to try force a referendum on an issue, using a measure introduced by former president Nicolas Sarkozy in 2008 to boost participatory democracy. Socialist Party spokesman Boris Vallaud told France 2 broadcaster on Wednesday that MPs were determined to block a “major strategic error, because Aeroports de Paris is not just a regular company.” Referendums are rare in France, with the last one dating to 2005 when voters rejected a new European constitution. Some of the “yellow vests” protesters behind five months of weekly rallies over social inequality and what they see as France’s failure to give ordinary citizens a say in law-making hailed the move. “It’s thanks to us. Great! At least maybe we have a sort of lobby power,” Jerome Rodrigues, one of the movement’s leaders, told France Info radio. Praising the lawmakers, he said: “For once they did what they are paid for, to listen to, and carry the voice of the people in French institutions.” A referendum can be triggered on proposed legislation with the support of a fifth of members of both houses of parliament — 185 out of 925 — and if one-tenth of the electorate — 4.5 million voters — sign an online petition in favor. The process is long, however, and contains several constitutional and parliamentary hurdles that have acted as a deterrent to lawmakers in the past. President Emmanuel Macron, a former investment banker, wants to invest the proceeds of the sale in an innovation fund — a key campaign promise — and reduce the public debt, which stood at 99 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the second quarter. Other companies set for privatization include lottery and scratch-cards monopoly Francaise des Jeux. Opposition lawmakers have been up in arms, accusing the government of selling off state jewels. The privatization of the airports was expected to be adopted by parliament, thanks to the large majority of Macron’s Republic on the Move party. But a referendum, the outcome of which would be binding, could throw a spanner in the works. A total of 218 lawmakers from 11 parliamentary groups ranging from members of the Communist Party to the centre-right Republicans signed the referendum bill on Tuesday, well above the 185 required. The far-right National Rally voiced support for the move, without adding its signature.

referendums privatization paris airports france


EU set to force U.K. into long Brexit delay in danger for Theresa May

Abstract: BRUSSELS - The U.K.’s exit from the European Union looks set to be delayed by as long as a year — a blow for Theresa May that risks a destabilizing backlash at home. European Council President Donald Tusk rejected May’s request for a brief postponement to the U.K.’s membership, saying it would create a “rolling series of short extensions and emergency summits, creating new cliff-edge dates.” Leaders were to finalize the length of the delay to Brexit at a summit on Wednesday evening. Tusk wanted them to agree to an extension of up to a year. Diplomats from member states said the debate now was between December and next March for the new departure date. Draft conclusions show EU leaders were planning to offer Britain an early exit option from the extension in case a solution to the domestic deadlock turns up. After months of uncertainty and knife-edge votes in the British Parliament, the prospect of a lengthy extension is good news for business, which wanted to avoid a cliff-edge departure at all costs. But the long delay is another political defeat for May, who had promised repeatedly to take the United Kingdom out of the EU by March 29. May’s ruling Conservative Party has almost run out of patience with her leadership. Rival candidates to replace her are already engaged in barely concealed campaigning. With a long delay locked in, and the risk of an imminent no-deal departure averted, May’s Tory critics could decide they have no reason to hold back from trying to force her out. Pro-Brexit Tories will be furious at a long delay. The EU was discussing the conditions that it would attach to the extension, with some countries more hard-line than others. France wanted the U.K. to have its decision-making powers curtailed, with one French official saying an exiting member shouldn’t be able to weigh in on decisions such as the EU budget. France also wanted regular checks to ensure Britain is sticking to its commitments of “sincere cooperation,” according to an EU official. But the EU has no legal way of curtailing Britain’s voting rights, so it will have to rely on the incentive of a future trade deal to make sure the country behaves reasonably, according to a person familiar with discussions at a meeting of the bloc’s envoys on Tuesday. Tusk, who tends to take a friendlier line toward the U.K., reminded leaders that Britain remained a member with “full rights and obligations.” Tusk also had a warning to those who might be tempted to gloat at the U.K.’s failure to leave, three years after voters decided to pull the country out of the trading bloc in a referendum. “Neither side should be allowed to feel humiliated at any stage in this difficult process,” he said. May, who has been humiliated at summits in the past, will come to Wednesday’s meeting with little to show her fellow leaders since she last saw them on March 21. After her Brexit deal was rejected three times by a deeply divided Parliament, she invited the opposition Labour Party in for talks to find a new way forward. But while the government put a positive spin on the cross-party talks on Tuesday, Labour said May’s team had not moved enough. “We have yet to see the clear shift in the government’s position that is needed to secure a compromise agreement,” the U.K.’s main opposition party said in a statement. Still, there were hints that the government was willing to rub out some of its red lines and offer Labour one of its key demands: a customs union. One person familiar with the situation said that is where talks were headed, and Justice Secretary David Gauke described what sounded like a customs union in all but name as the “common ground” between the two parties. The government is reluctant to say so at least in public because of the strong opposition among May’s euroskeptic Conservatives to remaining inside the EU’s trading regime. If May can get a breakthrough on staying in the customs union, the EU would celebrate because the bloc wants to maintain close ties. It is even holding out hope Britain will change its mind altogether and cancel Brexit. Tusk reminded EU leaders that revoking the whole process is still an option. It is a clear line in the draft summit conclusions, too: “The United Kingdom has a right to revoke its notification at any time.” Among pro-EU Britons, there is rising hope that Brexit can be stopped. With one Brexit day gone and another likely to follow, the government has lost control of the timetable. This week the government started preparing to take part in elections for the European Parliament in late May — acknowledgement that Britain likely won’t have left the bloc by then, and may not leave anytime soon. Support is growing for the idea that any Brexit deal agreed by Parliament should be put to public vote in a “confirmatory referendum,” with the other option being to stay in the EU. The proposal is backed by Labour and other opposition parties, plus some of May’s Conservatives. The government has ruled out holding another referendum, saying voters in 2016 made their decision to leave. But with divisions in both Parliament and in May’s Cabinet, handing the decision back to the people could be seen as the only way forward. If a second referendum is held, the demographic shift in Britain over the past three years could tip the scales in favor of remaining, Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell said on Wednesday. Nearly 300,000 British people live in Spain, many of whom are pensioners living in coastal regions, while the Spanish economy depends heavily on tourism with Britons being the most numerous foreign visitors. Borrell said another referendum does not guarantee a different outcome. But a rise in the number of eligible young voters — who tended to vote to remain in the EU — and a fall in the number of older voters, who were more likely to choose Brexit, could tip the balance. “It’s true that, with young people in favor of remaining and older people leaving, just through the passing of these three years, with the demographic dynamics as they are, I’m sure the result would be different,” Borrell told Telecinco TV.


May pleads with Macron and Merkel for Brexit delay

Abstract: PARIS - British Prime Minister Theresa May toured Berlin and Paris on Tuesday to plead for an extension to the deadline for Brexit, which looked increasingly likely to be approved by EU leaders at a crunch meeting in Brussels. May has asked for a second extension to the deadline for Britain’s exit from the European Union from April 12 to June 30, which is set to be discussed by her EU partners on Wednesday. After flying to Berlin to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel, May went to Paris and visited French President Emmanuel Macron, who is seen as a hardliner in the negotiations and a key voice at the EU negotiating table. Having raised doubts about whether an extension would be granted last week, meaning that Britain could crash out of the bloc without a deal, an aide to the French president underlined Tuesday that France was open to solutions. “We’ve never been closed to the idea of finding an alternative solution to ‘no deal’ within certain limits and not at any price,” the aide said on condition of anonymity. Discussions in Brussels are set to focus on conditions such as length — the French aide said a 12-month extension “seems too long” — and arrangements to limit Britain’s influence within the EU during this time. “There would be a transition period for the United Kingdom as an intermediary member, which is present and applying the rules, but not taking part in decision making,” the aide said. “There would need to be clear commitments and then a mechanism for monitoring them,” the aide added. EU members are keen to ensure Britain does not have a say on issues such as the next head of the European Commission, which will be decided shortly, or the next five-year budget for the EU. Briefing MPs from her CDU-CSU conservative bloc after she hosted May in Berlin, Merkel said the option of a Brexit deadline in early 2020 would be discussed at the EU summit, according to a source. May is hoping the extra time, if granted by EU leaders, will enable her to finally get a divorce deal through parliament. British MPs have rejected a deal May negotiated with the EU three times, but the PM is now in talks with the opposition Labour party to try break the deadlock. These discussions are moving slowly, and EU negotiator Michel Barnier said May must explain in Brussels what another postponement would achieve. “The length of the extension must be linked to the purpose — what it’s for — and that depends on what Mrs May will say to European leaders tomorrow,” he told reporters after a meeting of EU ministers in Luxembourg. A “no deal” — in which Britain crashes out of the EU — is still a possibility, but expectations of an extension helped lift the value of the pound on financial markets on Tuesday. “There will be a real discussion. Things have not been written in advance,” the French aide said of the leaders’ summit in Brussels, adding that a “no deal” could not be ruled out. The International Monetary Fund said Tuesday that Britain risks a serious shock if it leaves the EU without an agreement. Ahead of the main EU summit on Wednesday, Belgium will host a meeting of the EU members most exposed to the dangers of a no-deal Brexit ahead of the main meeting such as France and the Netherlands. EU ministers no longer hide their irritation at the turmoil in London, where MPs cannot agree on how to leave the EU almost three years after the referendum vote for Brexit. “We are in a very, very frustrating situation here,” said Germany’s Europe minister, Michael Roth, as he arrived in Luxembourg on Tuesday. May had requested only a short delay to avoid having to take part in European Parliament elections, which are scheduled for May 26, but a longer postponement would mean Britain participating. EU Council President Donald Tusk’s office has floated the idea of a “flexible” extension of up to a year, with an option for London to leave earlier if it finds a way through, but there is no agreement on this. May’s chances of success hinge on either rebel MPs in her Conservative party and her Northern Irish allies backing her deal at the fourth time of asking, or a compromise with the opposition Labour party. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said Monday he was still waiting for signs of compromise from May and talks have been suspended until the summit in Brussels. His top team was meeting Tuesday with some of May’s senior ministers, including leading Brexit supporter Michael Gove and her more pro-European finance minister Philip Hammond.p

brexit
theresa may
eu
angela merkel
emmanuel macron
france
germany
u.k .
imf


Suffering, deaths mount in Libya conflict as Islamic State exploits chaos

Abstract: TRIPOLI/GENEVA - Casualties from the battle for Libya’s capital mounted on Tuesday while Islamic State killed three people in a desert town, illustrating how jihadis may exploit renewed chaos. Medical facilities reported 47 people killed and 181 wounded in recent days as eastern forces seek to take Tripoli from an internationally-recognized government, the World Health Organization said. The fatalities were mainly fighters, although they also comprised nine civilians including two doctors, the WHO said. The eastern Libyan National Army (LNA) forces of Khalifa Haftar — a former general in ousted strongman Moammar Gadhafi’s army — seized the sparsely populated but oil-rich south earlier this year before heading toward Tripoli this month. They are fighting on the southern side of the city, where witnesses said on Monday afternoon the LNA had lost control of a former airport and withdrawn down the road. The government of Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj, who has run Tripoli since 2016 as part of a U.N.-brokered deal that Haftar boycotted, is seeking to repel the LNA with the help of armed groups from Misrata. Serraj’s forces carried out an airstrike on an LNA position in the suburb of Suq al-Khamis on Tuesday, a resident and an eastern military source said, without giving more details. The renewed conflict threatens to disrupt oil supplies, boost migration across the Mediterranean to Europe and scupper U.N. plans for an election to end rivalries between parallel administrations in east and west. A U.N.-sponsored peace conference, scheduled to start on Sunday in the southwestern town of Ghadames, looked sure to be postponed. “I will work with all my might to hold Libya’s national conference as soon as possible … when the conditions for success are in place,” U.N. envoy Ghassan Salame said. The United Nations, United States, European Union and G7 bloc have appealed for a cease-fire, a return to a U.N. peace plan, and a halt to Haftar’s push. Far south of Tripoli, the Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for attacking the town of Fuqaha, where residents said three people were killed and another kidnapped. Fuqaha is controlled by fighters loyal to Haftar, who casts himself as a foe of Islamist extremism though he is viewed by opponents as a new dictator in the mould of Gadhafi. IS has been active in Libya in the turmoil since the Western-backed overthrow of Gadhafi eight years ago. It took control of the coastal city of Sirte in 2015 but lost it the following year to local forces backed by U.S. airstrikes, and now operates in the shadows. The attack on Fuqaha indicated IS may be looking to exploit gaps left by movements of Haftar’s troops. On Monday, a warplane took out Tripoli’s only functioning airport, and the number of displaced people — 3,400 at the last U.N. count — is mounting alongside the casualties. “There are fears that the civilian death toll will rise rapidly as the fighting intensifies and spreads into more densely populated parts of the city,” said Amnesty International’s regional deputy, Magdalena Mughrabi. Libya has become the main conduit for African migrants and refugees trying to reach Europe, many of whom suffer torture, rape and extortion on their journeys. Those who manage to board a boat to Italy risk drowning or being sent back into detention in inhumane conditions, according to the U.N. migration agency, which estimates twice as many die in the Sahara desert as in the Mediterranean. U.N. agencies say some 5,700 refugees and migrants are trapped in detention centers in conflict areas, and fear some may be used as human shields or forcibly recruited. “They tell us they can hear the clashes. Many are really scared,” U.N. refugee agency UNHCR spokesman Babar Baloch said. Libyan state oil firm NOC called on the warring parties to keep oil fields safe and allow production to continue, a company statement said on Tuesday. The LNA says it has 85,000 men in an army analysts believe has been swelled by Salafist fighters and tribesmen as well as Chadians and Sudanese from over the southern borders. Its elite Saiqa (Lightning) force numbers some 3,500, LNA sources say. The U.N.-backed prime minister Serraj, 59, received calls from Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and France’s President Emmanuel Macron on Monday to discuss the crisis. U.N. envoy Salame is staying in Libya, a spokesman said, though some staff at his mission went on leave and administrative personnel will work temporarily from Tunisia.

libya
conflict
islamic state
tripoli
khalifa haftar
refugees
u.s .
terrorism
u.n .
eu


Torrential rain in Rio de Janeiro leaves 10 dead, floods favela

Abstract: RIO DE JANEIRO - Torrential rain left at least 10 people dead in Rio de Janeiro, officials said Tuesday, as emergency workers rescued people trapped by the downpour and clean-up efforts gathered pace. The unusually heavy rain began Monday evening and continued into Tuesday, triggering widespread flash flooding that turned some streets into raging rivers, toppled trees and swept away cars as the state emergency agency declared a crisis. The southern zone of the city, which includes the tourist hot-spots Copacabana and Ipanema as well as several impoverished favela areas, has been hardest hit. Heavy runoff from neighboring hills gushed through some apartment buildings and shops, leaving behind mud and debris. The bodies of three people were found in a car buried behind an upmarket shopping center on Tuesday afternoon, while two women died when a house in a favela collapsed, the Fire Department said in a statement. The other victims included a man who died after he was electrocuted in a house and another who was caught in a torrent of water. The ferocity of the storm stunned some residents, who are long used to wild weather battering their city. “I’ve never seen or witnessed anything like this. I’ve seen it happen elsewhere but never here,” Guillerme de Oliveira, 59, told AFP. “I’m really amazed at all of this.” Cars and public buses were crushed by fallen trees, and sections of streets were ripped up by the force of the water. Many people returning home Monday evening or trying to go to work on Tuesday were drenched as they waded through knee-deep water in the relentless downpour. Some people climbed fences to avoid flooded streets, while others tied plastic bags around their feet to protect themselves from the polluted water. Beaches normally packed with people sunbathing or playing sports were empty as brown water flowed into the ocean. “Many houses in Rio are built in areas that are inappropriate, in places where water flows. It’s a tragedy and we have tried to warn these people,” Rio de Janeiro mayor Marcelo Crivella told local media. Schools throughout the city suspended classes and power was knocked out in some areas as heavy rain complicated rescue and clean-up efforts. Crivella said the downpour had been “totally atypical.” Rio de Janeiro state governor Wilson Witzel expressed sympathy for the “families of the victims” on Twitter. “The whole state is helping in what is necessary,” he said. Heavy rain often causes flash flooding in Rio de Janeiro as the volume of water overwhelms the city’s creaky infrastructure and brings traffic to a grinding halt. Favelas, which often lack proper streets and sanitation, are spread across hills throughout the city and are usually the hardest hit by heavy downpours. In a scathing editorial on Tuesday, the powerful O Globo media group skewered government authorities for doing “practically nothing” to prepare for what it described as a “predictable phenomenon.” “Once again, what we saw was a show of incompetence, except for honorable exceptions like firefighters,” the editorial said. “After so many tragedies … it was hoped that the city would have learned something.” City government spending on projects including drainage works fell more than 79 percent from 2016 to 2018, economic news site Valor reported. Torrential rain in February killed at least six people in Rio de Janeiro.


Hungary will not soften laws to allow George Soros college to stay

Abstract: BUDAPEST - Hungary will not relax rules for international universities despite pressure from the European Union and offers from Germany to mediate in a row over a college founded by U.S. billionaire George Soros, the government spokesman said on Wednesday. Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a nationalist who has often clashed with the European Union, has been accused of restricting academic freedom with his new higher education rules, which the Central European University said forced it out of the country. “There is no change in our core view,” government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said. “We will not change the laws and regulations that govern higher education in Hungary. We still operate on that basis.” Central European University, set up by Soros, a Hungarian-born liberal philanthropist, will move part of its operations to Austria from September because of rules forbidding it to issue U.S. degrees. The dispute, often seen as a proxy for disagreements between Soros and Orban on migration, is one of the main issues that caused the European Peoples’ Party to suspend Orban’s Fidesz before European Parliament elections. At the initiative of Manfred Weber, the EPP’s lead candidate to head the EU executive after the May elections, the government of the German state of Bavaria and the Technical University of Munich stepped in to help. Offering three new professorships and new courses to augment CEU’s teaching, they said they would open a way for CEU to issue international degrees. A Hungarian government official told an opposition member of the Budapest parliament that Hungary considered Bavarian participation in the Hungarian higher education sector “a step that builds trust.” Balazs Orban, a state secretary on the prime minister’s staff, said the government was “ready to examine the possibility for issuing diplomas recognized in the United States and Germany as well as in Hungary.” But he reiterated that all universities had to comply with Hungarian law, and Kovacs also made it clear that Bavarian participation, while welcome, would lead to no legal amendments. CEU Rector Michael Ignatieff was not immediately available to comment. He said in a statement last month that to reverse a plan to leave Budapest CEU wanted a clear political commitment from Orban that it could issue degrees freely. “This political commitment (must be) backed up by legislation that provides legally binding authorization for all of CEU’s operations in Budapest,” Ignatieff said. After the Bavarian offer and the EPP’s threat to oust Fidesz “a door has opened,” Ignatieff said subsequently, but legal guarantees were still critical.

hungary
george soros
college
european union
billionaire
central european university


Bomb kills eight in Syrian city of Raqqa, a liberated Islamic State stronghold

Abstract: RAQQA, SYRIA - A bomb attack in the Syrian city of Raqqa killed eight people on Tuesday, including four members of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, a security source in northern Syria said. The blast also killed four civilians and wounded three members of the Kurdish-led internal security forces known as the Asayish, the source said. Witnesses said people including SDF members gathered at the scene after the first blast, which was followed by a bigger explosion that caused the casualties. “I heard the sound of a big explosion and people were rushing and I saw people blown up with body parts,” an injured witness who was rushed to hospital told Reuters. Footage on social media showed rescuers taking mangled and burnt bodies and wounded people to ambulances in the spot where the blast took place, amid flames from a burning vehicle. There has been an steady increase in attacks on areas controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces in the swath of territory it controls in northeast Syria on the border with Turkey, down the Euphrates River towards the border with Iraq. Residents have also reported a spate of assassinations of SDF fighters and commanders in recent months. The SDF has warned that Islamic State (IS) militants would intensify their insurgent activities after being defeated in their last remaining enclave in Syria last month. The SDF ended IS control of Raqqa in October 2017 after months of fighting. Last week Raqqa residents staged a protest against a ban on motorcycles imposed after their widespread use by Islamist militants for hit-and-run attacks on SDF checkpoints and patrols in the city. Resentment is mounting against Kurdish-led forces among the predominantly Arab population in the vast areas of eastern Syria they rule, with many objecting to compulsory conscription of youths and discrimination on leadership positions, they say. Separately on Tuesday, a suicide bomber detonated a small truck laden with explosives near a convoy of U.S.-led coalition forces in Hasaka province but without causing any casualties, an SDF military source and Kurdish media reported. There was no immediate comment from the coalition on the attack, which happened just after midday in the town of al-Shadadi, south of the city of Hasaka. The Syrian Kurdish news outlet ANHA said a small flatbed truck was used in the attack. The Islamic State-affiliated Amaq news agency said an IS suicide bomber had struck a coalition convoy on the main highway between Hasaka and Shadadi but gave no further details.

syria
raqqa
islamic state
syrian democratic forces
conflict
u.s .
terrorism
kurds


Boko Haram hits Nigerian city after thousands flee military operation

Abstract: KANO, NIGERIA - Boko Haram fighters attacked the northeast Nigerian city of Damaturu for the first time since late 2014, residents said, after troops forced thousands to flee a village across the state border because of a planned military offensive. Two locals in the Yobe state capital said suspected Islamic State-linked Boko Haram fighters were behind the attack, which began late afternoon. “Boko Haram jihadists launched an attack on Damaturu at about 5:45 p.m. (1645 GMT), firing guns and throwing explosives,” Adamu Sani, a trader in the city’s Maisandari area, told AFP. “Residents and businesses all closed as we fled into the city to avoid being caught up in the attack. While fleeing into the city, I saw truckloads of soldiers heading to Maisandari.” Hashimu Idris, a civil servant, added: “Everybody is indoors. We pray the soldiers push them back otherwise it will be another disaster in the city. “This is the first attack on the city since 2014.” Boko Haram fighters loyal to the faction headed by Abubakar Shekau launched a dawn raid on Damaturu on Dec. 1, 2014. More than 150 people, including 38 police, were killed. That raid followed a bomb attack on June 18 that year that killed some 21 soccer fans watching a World Cup match at a public viewing center. The previous October, 30 people, all of them thought to be soldiers, were killed in a gun and bomb attack on police buildings in Damaturu. The latest attack followed the evacuation of some 2,000 people from Jakana village, some 90 km (55 miles) from Damaturu on the road to Maiduguri, in neighbouring Borno state. The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said troops escorted the residents to the Bakassi camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Maiduguri “for their own safety. NEMA northeast coordinator Abulkadir Ibrahim said the move was “a result of ongoing operations to flush out insurgents in the area. Jakana residents said they were given no notice. One of them, Modu Kaka, said: “The soldiers came this morning and told us to assemble and began herding us into trucks. “We left all our possessions in Jakana and we are now dependent on food aid.” Bakassi is one of several IDP camps housing tens of thousands of displaced people, who live in squalid shelters and rely on food handouts from aid agencies. An unnamed military official said the evacuation was in preparation for a “big operation” against Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), the IS-linked faction of Boko Haram. Jakana lies on a known crossing route for ISWAP fighters moving between their camps in the Benisheikh forest area of Borno and their hideouts in the Buni Yadi area of Yobe. In January ISWAP sent letters to Jakana and Mainok residents asking them to vacate their homes for an impending raid on the military. The jihadis have in the last few weeks been under assault from intensive air and ground offensives from coalition forces involving Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon against militant camps in Lake Chad, according to military sources and militia groups. “We know they are going to use their traditional route to escape,” the military source said. Boko Haram’s decade-long insurgency has killed more than 27,000 people in the northeast with 1.8 million still displaced from their homes. The conflict has spread to neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a regional military coalition against the jihadis.

boko haram
nigeria
damaturu
yobe
islamic state
terrorism


99-year-old Oregon woman's heart was in the right place, but everything else wasn't

Abstract: SALEM, OREGON - Rose Marie Bentley was an avid swimmer, raised five kids, helped her husband run a feed store and lived to the ripe age of 99. It was only after she died that medical students discovered that all her internal organs — except for her heart — were in the wrong place. The discovery of the rare condition, which was presented this week to a conference of anatomists, was astounding — especially because Bentley had lived so long. People with her condition, known as situs inversus with levocardia, often have life-threatening cardiac ailments and other abnormalities, according to Oregon Health & Science University. Cameron Walker’s class at the university in Portland was examining the heart of a cadaver last year when they noticed the blood vessels were different. When they opened the abdominal cavity, they saw that all the other organs were on the wrong side. The unusual blood vessels helped the heart compensate. In a telephone interview Tuesday, Walker described his reaction to the find as “definitely a mix of curiosity, fascination and a sense of wanting to explore a little bit of a medical mystery — a medical marvel really — that was in front of us.” “And I would say the students felt something very similar,” said Walker, an assistant professor of anatomy. Bentley’s family had not known about the condition, which OHSU says occurs only once in every 22,000 births. Apparently Bentley didn’t either. Bentley, who lived in Molalla, south of Portland, had led a normal life. Her only recurrent physical complaint was arthritis, her daughter Louise Allee remembered. But there were signs. When Bentley was in her 50s, she underwent a hysterectomy, and the doctor also wanted to remove the appendix but couldn’t find it, Allee said in a phone interview. She said it was removed later. Oregon Health & Science University noted that Bentley had three organs removed during her life, but only the surgeon who removed her appendix recorded its unusual location. When Bentley had her gallbladder removed, it was on the opposite side of where it should have been, Allee said. “No one said a thing,” Allee said. “I was surprised. This was before they did it with a scope, and she had a good-sized incision. You’d think they would have said something, but they didn’t.” Walker expressed his gratitude for Bentley agreeing to donate her body to OHSU, Oregon’s only academic health center. “This is an important case that really gave us an opportunity to talk about the importance of future clinicians paying attention to subtle anatomic variations, not just large anatomic variations, in terms of addressing their future patients as individuals,” Walker said. “Don’t judge a book by its cover, and always check and see what you’ve got before you talk about care.” He has researched how long people with the condition have lived, and he found no documented cases in which a person lived beyond age 73. Bentley surpassed that by 26 years. Allee said her mother would have been delighted that the donation of her body led to a learning experience. “She would have been tickled to know she could educate with something unusual,” Allee said. “Dad would have loved to know about it so he could tease her.” Her husband, James, died about 15 years ago.