Sunday, June 4, 2023

Wildfires spread in eastern Canada, forcing evacuations in coastal Quebec (Reuters) Some 10,000 residents in coastal Quebec were forced to evacuate homes on Friday as wildfires engulf more Canadian provinces, in what is emerging as one of the worst starts to the forest fire season. The mayor of Sept-Iles, a coastal Quebec city, declared a local state of emergency on Friday, as wildfire risk led to evacuation orders in the region. Some 30,000 people across Canada are displaced due to forest fires that are burning in nearly all of Canadian provinces. More than 2.7 million hectares have been scorched so far this year across the country, equal to more than five million football fields, federal Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair has said. That's more than 10 times the average area typically burned by this time of year over the past decade.

Dollar backlash (Bloomberg) All around the world, a backlash is brewing against the hegemony of the US dollar. Brazil and China recently struck a deal to settle trade in their local currencies, seeking to bypass the greenback. India and Malaysia signed an accord to ramp up usage of the rupee in cross-border business. Even US ally France is starting to complete transactions in yuan. Currency experts are leery of sounding like the Cassandras who have wrongly predicted the dollar’s imminent demise on any number of occasions over the past century. And yet, in observing this sudden wave of agreements aimed at sidestepping the dollar, they detect the sort of gradual, meaningful action that was typically missing in the past. For many global leaders, their rationales for taking these measures are strikingly similar. The greenback, they say, is being weaponized, used to push America’s foreign-policy priorities—and punish those that oppose them. “Countries have chafed for decades under US dollar dominance,” said Jonathan Wood, principal for global issues at consultancy Control Risks. “More aggressive and expansive use of US sanctions in recent years reinforces this discomfort—and coincides with demands by major emerging markets for a new distribution of global power.”

The Debt-Limit Deal Suggests Debt Will Keep Growing, Fast (NYT) The bipartisan deal to avert a government default this week featured modest cuts to a relatively small corner of the federal budget. As a curb on the growth of the nation’s $31.4 trillion debt load, it was a minor breakthrough, at best. It also showed how difficult—perhaps impossible—it could be for lawmakers to agree anytime soon on a major breakthrough to demonstrably reduce the nation’s debt load. The fundamental drivers of American politics all point toward the United States borrowing more, not less. The agreement provides clear evidence that the nation’s overall debt load will not be shrinking anytime soon. Republicans cited that mounting debt burden as a reason to refuse to raise the limit, risking default and financial crisis, unless Mr. Biden agreed to measures to reduce future deficits. But negotiators from the White House and House Republican leadership could only agree to find major savings from nondefense discretionary spending. That’s the part of the budget that funds Pell grants, federal law enforcement and a wide range of domestic programs. Base discretionary spending accounts for less than one-eighth of the $6.3 trillion the government spends annually. The deal included no major cuts to military spending, which is larger than base nondefense discretionary spending. Early in the talks, both parties ruled out changes to the two largest drivers of federal spending growth over the next decade: Social Security and Medicare. The cost of those programs is expected to soar.

As legal gambling surges, should schools teach teens about risk? (AP) As a high school senior, Nick was blessed with a deadly accurate jump shot from the three-point range—something he was quick to monetize. He and his gym classmates not far from the Jersey Shore would compete to see who could make the most baskets, at $5 or $10 a pop. Before long, he was gambling staggering sums of money on sports, costing him over $700,000 in the past decade. He hit rock bottom last year when he stole $35,000 from his workplace and gambled it away on international tennis and soccer matches—sports he admittedly knew nothing about. Wagering is now easier than ever for adults—and children—and there’s a growing movement in the U.S. to offer problem gambling education courses in public schools to teach teenagers how easily and quickly things can go wrong with betting. It’s a trend that 27-year-old Nick wishes had existed when his gambling habit took root in high school and led him on a path to financial ruin.

Religious leaders, once mostly spared Haiti’s violence, are now targets (Washington Post) As gangs maraud through Haiti’s cities mostly unchecked, they are now targeting groups that had once been spared such violence—a sign of how the new level of lawlessness here is shattering long-standing taboos. “What we are observing today in terms of attacks on religious is unprecedented,” said Laënnec Hurbon, a Haitian sociologist who studies religion in the Caribbean. “There’s a desacralization of almost everything in Haiti. Everything that could bind the society … is nonexistent.” The violence has shuttered peristyles, churches and mosques, making it difficult for people to worship freely. The victims span different faith groups: an Italian missionary nun who cared for poor children was killed last year. So was a Vodou priest. Seventeen American and Canadian missionaries were kidnapped in October 2021. A Catholic priest was taken hostage in February. Several dozen worshipers were attacked last month after a Vodou ceremony near Canaan, a shantytown controlled by gangs. Haiti’s religious sector is now “directly” targeted in the security crisis, according to the Port-au-Prince-based Center for Analysis and Research in Human Rights.

Argentines grill more steak despite pressures of 109% inflation (Reuters) Argentines are expected to eat the most beef in five years in 2023, extending the country’s reign as the No. 1 steak consumer per capita despite the painful impact of 109% inflation on food prices, a Rosario grains exchange report showed on Friday. The major beef producer, where “asado” barbecues are a key part of the culinary culture and steakhouses dot city streets, has seen in recent years beef consumption dip as prices climbed and diners shifted to cheaper chicken and pork. That, however, seems to be partly reversing, even in the face of one of the world’s highest inflation rates which has badly hurt spending power. Analysts expect inflation could hit 130% by the end of the year. “Despite everything, the traditional asado remains one of the pillars of the local gastronomic tradition, and a must at most Argentine dinner tables,” the exchange said, adding likely beef consumption this year would be 53.1 kilograms per person.

Use of NATO arms for attack in Russia raises doubts about Kyiv’s controls (Washington Post) The Russian fighters aligned against Moscow who launched a cross-border raid from Ukraine into the Belgorod region of Russia last week used at least four tactical vehicles originally given to Ukraine by the United States and Poland, U.S. officials said, raising questions about the unintended use of NATO-provided equipment and Kyiv’s commitments to secure materiel supplied by its supporters. Three of the Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, also known as MRAPs, taken into Russia by the fighters were provided by the United States and the fourth was from Poland, according to people familiar with the U.S. intelligence finding, which has not previously been reported. The fighters also carried rifles made by Belgium and the Czech Republic and at least one AT-4 antitank weapon in common use among U.S. and Western troops, according to photos verified by The Washington Post. U.S. and Western officials have insisted that Ukraine carefully track the billions of dollars’ worth of weapons that have flowed into the country. Kyiv’s backers have also largely barred Ukrainian forces from using Western weapons and equipment for attacks on Russian soil. Yet the recent raid into Russia underscores how materiel can change hands in unpredictable ways. At least two MRAPs appear to have been captured by Russian forces after the operation.

As China Risks Grow, Manufacturers Seek Plan B—and C and D (WSJ) For much of the past decade, Western companies have sought an alternative to China to manufacture goods—a shift executives call “China plus one.” Increasingly, the strategy looks more like China plus many. Part of the reason is that no single country can accommodate all the production leaving China. Vietnam is business-friendly, but it doesn’t have enough skilled workers. India has a large labor force, but infrastructure is patchy. Mexico is near the U.S. market, but a long way from China’s component suppliers. The diversification, which some experts call multishoring, also reflects a stark new reality: The world is a far more complicated place to do business than it was a decade ago.

China’s quandary: Bail out debt-laden cities, or risk disruptive defaults? (Washington Post) Across China local governments, whose balance sheets have long been precarious, are struggling to service debts estimated to total as much as $23 trillion. Not only do cities have to make up for nearly three years of paying for costly “zero covid” measures, they also have to contend with a property downturn, slow land sales—a primary source of their income—and a weaker-than-expected economic recovery, which means lower tax revenue. Now they’re having trouble repaying those debts, local governments are floundering around for cash. And that’s being felt on the ground. Teachers say they’re not getting paid. Motorists say they’re paying more for parking. More and more cities are even auctioning off public services like school lunches, shared bicycles and operating rights for vendor stalls and sightseeing carts. As the situation escalates, so too are calls for the central government to step in to defuse the situation. But policymakers in Beijing face a dilemma, analysts say. If they step in too early or with too much support, they risk undermining attempts to improve fiscal responsibility. But doing too little or waiting too long could result in defaults with widespread implications for the already slowing Chinese economy.

Heavy rains continue to hit Japan, suspending some trains (Reuters) Heavy rains caused by Tropical Storm Mawar and a seasonal rain front continued on Saturday morning in a wide swath of the Japan, prompting authorities to issue warnings of damage and stranding many people as train services were suspended. Although Mawar has weakened from super typhoon status, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) urged people to be on high alert for landslides, rising rivers and flooding in eastern Japan, while warning of landslides in western Japan.

UN agency for Palestinian refugees raises just $107 million of $300 million needed to help millions (AP) Despite a dire warning from the U.N. chief that the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees “is on the verge of financial collapse,” donors at a pledging conference on Friday provided just $107 million in new funds—significantly less than the $300 million it needs to keep helping millions of people. Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general of the agency known as UNRWA, said he was grateful for the new pledges but they are below the funds needed to keep over 700 schools and 140 clinics open from September through December. UNRWA was founded in the wake of the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 to provide hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled or were forced from their homes with education, health care, social services and in some cases jobs. Today, their numbers—with descendants—have grown to some 5.9 million people, most in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, as well as neighboring countries in the Middle East. UNRWA has faced a financial crisis for 10 years, but Lazzarini said the current crisis is “massive,” calling it “our main existential threat.”

Thought of the Day

May God bless you with discomfort At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships So that you may live deep within your heart. May God bless you with anger At injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, So that you may work for justice, freedom and peace. May God bless you with tears To shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger and war, So that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and To turn their pain into joy. And may God bless you with enough foolishness To believe that you can make a difference in the world, So that you can do what others claim cannot be done To bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor. Amen. —A Franciscan benediction

Saturday, June 3, 2023

Biden isn’t the only politician to fall (Washington Post) President Biden’s onstage tumble at the U.S. Air Force Academy made headlines around the world. But he’s far from the only world leader or political candidate who has taken a highly visible fall. From Chinese leader Xi Jinping (whose 2019 slip commentators dubbed the “great fall of China”) to Gerald Ford (whose fall while disembarking Air Force One in 1975 was the subject of late-night comedy skits) and other politicians around the world, trips and tumbles are fodder for laughs, cringes—and hot takes. When the mighty fall, we just can’t look away. “It breaks the image of infallibility of powerful figures,” Bart Cammaerts, a professor of politics and communication at the London School of Economics told The Washington Post. Projecting the right image is serious business for politicians. In Biden’s case, his critics immediately used it as an opportunity to highlight the oldest U.S. president’s age and fitness for office. But there is also something captivating about politicians appearing more human. “With people in power, there is so much effort to control the public image—body language, speech, facial expressions—that seeing all those things fall away all at once, in a total loss of control, is particularly gripping,” said Dan Stevens, professor of political behavior in the United States and Britain at Exeter University.

Higher beef prices (WSJ) Blame the rising costs on a rapidly shrinking supply of cattle, prompted by years of persistent drought conditions, pandemic disruptions and widespread cost increases for ranchers. The number of cattle in the U.S. is at its lowest level in nearly a decade, and domestic beef production is on track to drop by more than 2 billion pounds in 2024, the biggest annual decline since 1979, according to the USDA. Ground beef prices, up more than 20% since 2020, could hit records this summer, according to agricultural lender Rabobank.

Global fertility has collapsed, with profound economic consequences (Economist) In the roughly 250 years since the Industrial Revolution the world’s population, like its wealth, has exploded. Before the end of this century, however, the number of people on the planet could shrink for the first time since the Black Death. The root cause is not a surge in deaths, but a slump in births. Across much of the world the fertility rate, the average number of births per woman, is collapsing. As the old die and are not fully replaced, populations are likely to shrink. Outside Africa, the world’s population is forecast to peak in the 2050s and end the century smaller than it is today. Even in Africa, the fertility rate is falling fast. Whatever some environmentalists say, a shrinking population creates problems. The world is not close to full and the economic difficulties resulting from fewer young people are many. The obvious one is that it is getting harder to support the world’s pensioners. Also, younger people have more of what psychologists call “fluid intelligence”, the ability to think creatively so as to solve problems in entirely new ways. This youthful dynamism complements the accumulated knowledge of older workers. It also brings change. Will ageing societies still innovate as much as they have?

If you live in California, your power bill will soon depend on your income (Washington Post) Most of the time, what you pay for electricity or water or gas depends on how much you use. Leave the air conditioner and the lights on all night, and your electricity bill will spike. Take long, relaxing bubble baths every day, and your water bill will climb. But California is about to challenge that basic logic. A new state law will require its three investor-owned utilities to charge customers fees for electricity based not only on how much electricity they use, but also on how much money they make. Depending on the proposal the state ultimately adopts, Californians making more than $180,000 a year could end up paying an average of $500 more on their annual electricity bills, while the lowest-income residents would save around $300 per year. The proposed changes are sparking backlash. Ronald Dawson, a retired data manager who lives in Eureka, Calif., said he and his wife have always been careful to save energy: only running the washer during off-peak hours and living without air conditioning. The new fixed charge alone, he said, would be more than his typical monthly electricity bill. “It’s a bait-and-switch,” he said.

Poll shows growing support for German far right (AP) Prominent members of German mainstream parties have expressed alarm at a new poll that shows support for the far-right Alternative for Germany at a record high. The DeutschlandTrend survey, conducted monthly by infratest dimap for public broadcaster ARD, that was released on Thursday puts voter support for Alternative for Germany at 18%, on a par with Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats. In the 2021 election, Scholz’s party received 25.7% of the vote, while Alternative for Germany, or AfD, got 10.3%. Scholz’s three-party coalition with the environmentalist Greens and the libertarian Free Democrats has faced strong headwind recently over high immigration and a plan to replace millions of home heating systems in the country. Germany’s military support for Ukraine’s defense against the Russian invasion is also rejected by a sizeable portion of the populace, though it has majority support.

Protecting Kyiv From Russian Bombardment (NYT) In the month of May alone, Russia bombarded Kyiv 17 times. It has fired hypersonic missiles from MIG-31 fighter jets and attacked with land-based ballistic missiles powerful enough to level an entire apartment block. Russian bombers and ships have fired dozens of long-range cruise missiles, and more than 200 attack drones have featured in blitzes meant to confuse and overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses. It presents a constant struggle for Ukrainian defenders. Russian assaults can be unrelenting. They come mostly at night, but sometimes in daytime hours, as they did on Monday. Even when Ukraine manages to blast missiles from the sky, falling debris can bring death and destruction. Early Thursday, Russia sent a volley of 10 ballistic missiles at Kyiv; Ukrainian officials said they were all shot down but that falling fragments killed three people, including a child, and injured more than a dozen others. Yet overall, very little has penetrated the complex and increasingly sophisticated air defense network around Ukraine’s capital, saving scores of lives. “We have no days off,” said Riabyi, the call sign of the 26-year-old “shooter” who is part of a two-person antiaircraft missile crew responsible for protecting just one patch of sky just outside Kyiv. Ukraine’s air defenses are a stitched-together patchwork of different weapons, many of them newly supplied by the West, protecting millions of civilians in Kyiv and other cities, and guarding critical infrastructure that includes four working nuclear power plants. Tom Karako, the director of the Missile Defense Project at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies, called it “a sort of a dog’s breakfast” of systems.

India train crash kills over 280, injures 900 (AP) Rescuers waded through piles of debris and wreckage to pull out bodies and free people on Saturday after two passenger trains derailed in India, killing more than 280 people and injuring hundreds as rail cars were flipped over and mangled in one of the country’s deadliest train crashes in decades. The accident, which happened about 220 kilometers (137 miles) southwest of Kolkata on Friday night, led to a chaotic scene as rescuers climbed atop the wrecked trains to break open doors and windows using cutting torches to free survivors. About 900 people were injured in the accident. The cause was under investigation.

Tropical Storm Mawar intensifies rains for Japan, threatens floods and mudslides in some regions (AP) Heavy rains intensified by Tropical Storm Mawar fell on Japan’s main archipelago Friday, halting trains and transit and threatening floods and mudslides in central and western regions, while residents were urged to use caution. Warnings were issued in parts of western and central Japan, with up to 25 centimeters (10 inches) of rain forecast through Saturday evening. Residents in vulnerable areas, including those in Mie, Wakayama, Aichi and Shizuoka prefectures in central Japan, were warned of the potential for flooding and mudslides and advised to go to evacuation centers if possible. Television footage showed swollen rivers in residential areas in Wakayama city, including one where brown water rose as high as the bottom of a bridge over it.

Iranian journalists stand trial (Foreign Policy) Two Iranian journalists whose reporting shed light on the death of Mahsa Amini—and helped galvanize a nationwide movement—are separately standing trial this week. The two female reporters, Elahe Mohammadi and Niloofar Hamedi, face spurious charges, including colluding with hostile governments and conspiring against Iranian national security. They have denied the charges. Mohammadi and Hamedi were detained last September and could face the death penalty if convicted. Their trials are being conducted behind closed doors. On Tuesday, Hamedi’s husband tweeted that the trial “ended in less than two hours while her lawyers did not get a chance to defend her.”

Clashes in Senegal leave at least 9 dead (AP) Clashes between police and supporters of Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko left nine people dead, the government said Friday, with authorities issuing a blanket ban on the use of several social media platforms in the aftermath of the violence. Sonko was convicted Thursday of corrupting youth and sentenced to two years in prison. He didn’t attend his trial in Dakar, and was judged in absentia. Sonko came in third in Senegal’s 2019 presidential election and is popular with the country’s youth. His supporters maintain his legal troubles are part of a government effort to derail his candidacy in the 2024 presidential election. Sonko is considered President Macky Sall’s main competition and has urged Sall to state publicly that he won’t seek a third term in office. Under Senegalese law, his conviction would bar Sonko from running in next year’s election.

Nigeria’s new president vows to deliver economic reboot (CNBC) New Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu faces the tough task of injecting stability into a society and economy in crisis—and reigniting hope in a young population that feels its voice has been ignored for decades. The 71-year-old was sworn in on Monday as the 16th president of Africa’s most populous nation, and its fifth since the end of three decades of military rule in 1999. Tinubu inherits an economy saddled with record debt and inflation at an almost two-decade high of more than 22%, along with shortages of foreign exchange reserves and fuel, a severely weakened naira currency, an ailing power supply and declining oil production. He vowed at his swearing-in ceremony on Monday to expand the Nigerian economy by at least 6% per year, unify the foreign exchange rate and scrap costly fuel subsidies, along with tackling widespread insecurity.

So how could AI cause human extinction? (The Week) A group of industry experts recently warned AI technology could threaten humanity’s very existence. “Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks, such as pandemics and nuclear war,” reads the one-line open letter released by the Center for AI Safety, a nonprofit organization. The message is foreboding, but also vague, failing to provide any details about how an AI apocalypse could come about. One plausible scenario is that AI falls into the hands of “malicious actors” who use it to create “novel bioweapons more lethal than natural pandemics,” Dan Hendrycks, the director of the Center for AI Safety, wrote in an email to CBS MoneyWatch. Or these entities could “intentionally release rogue AI that actively attempt to harm humanity.” If the rogue AI was “intelligent or capable enough,” Hendrycks added, “it may pose significant risk to society as a whole.” Or AI could be used to help hackers. “There are scenarios not today, but reasonably soon, where these systems will be able to find zero-day exploits in cyber issues, or discover new kinds of biology,” former Google CEO Eric Schmidt said. Another worry is that AI could go rogue on its own, interpreting the task for which it was originally designed in a new and nefarious way. For example, AI built to rid the world of cancer could decide to unleash nuclear missiles to eliminate all cancer cells by blowing everyone up. The U.S. government has been “publicly weighing the possibilities and perils of artificial intelligence,” The Associated Press wrote.

Thought of the Day

“Imperfect action is better than perfect inaction.”—Harry Truman

Friday, June 2, 2023

In Canada, each cigarette will get a warning label: ‘poison in every puff’ (AP) Canada will soon become the first country in the world where warning labels must appear on individual cigarettes. The move was first announced last year by Health Canada and is aimed at helping people quit the habit. The warnings—in English and French—include “poison in every puff,” “tobacco smoke harms children” and “cigarettes cause impotence.” Health Canada said the strategy aims to reduce tobacco use below 5% by 2035. New regulations also strengthen health-related graphic images displayed on packages of tobacco. The health minister said tobacco use kills 48,000 Canadians every year.

Just days to spare, Senate gives final approval to debt ceiling deal, sending it to Biden (AP) Fending off a U.S. default, the Senate gave final approval late Thursday to a debt ceiling and budget cuts package, grinding into the night to wrap up work on the bipartisan deal and send it to President Joe Biden’s desk to become law before the fast-approaching deadline. The compromise package negotiated between Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy leaves neither Republicans nor Democrats fully pleased with the outcome. But the result, after weeks of hard-fought budget negotiations, shelves the volatile debt ceiling issue that risked upending the U.S. and global economy until 2025 after the next presidential election.

Allergies are getting worse (NPR) If it seems like your seasonal allergies are getting worse over time, you’re probably not wrong. Estimates are that 30 to 40% of the world’s population now have some form of allergy, and medical anthropologist Theresa MacPhail says allergic reactions—including everything from hay fever to eczema and asthma—are growing in the U.S. and around the world. MacPhail is an associate professor of science and technology studies at Stevens Institute of Technology. In her new book, Allergic: Our Irritated Bodies in a Changing World, she explores some of the theories behind the rise in allergies—including the theory that excessive emphasis on hygiene (and perhaps even showering) can contribute to the development of sensitivities. “You’ve probably heard that we don’t let kids eat enough dirt. They don’t play in enough dirt. They’re not around enough germs,” she says. “We have seen that people who send their children to daycare centers, there’s something about being in a daycare center that is also protective.”

Many still without electricity in Guam (AP) About a week after Typhoon Mawar tore through Guam as the strongest typhoon to hit the U.S. Pacific territory in over two decades, most of the island remained without electricity and the governor appealed for patience during a recovery process expected to take at least a month. Even though Mawar caused no deaths or catastrophic destruction, officials said that as of Wednesday only 28% of power had been restored on the oppressively hot and humid island. About 44% of cell towers were functional Wednesday and about half the water system was operational. Mawar briefly made landfall as a Category 4 storm late on May 24 on the northern tip of the island of roughly 150,000 people, flipping cars, tearing off roofs and leaving trees bare. There have been long lines for gas and officials estimate it will be four to six weeks before power is fully restored. FEMA did not yet know exactly how many homes were destroyed. High school graduations were indefinitely postponed across Guam.

Climate Shocks Are Making Parts of America Uninsurable (NYT) The climate crisis is becoming a financial crisis. This month, the largest homeowner insurance company in California, State Farm, announced that it would stop selling coverage to homeowners. That’s not just in wildfire zones, but everywhere in the state. Insurance companies, tired of losing money, are raising rates, restricting coverage or pulling out of some areas altogether—making it more expensive for people to live in their homes. “Risk has a price,” said Roy Wright, the former official in charge of insurance at the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In parts of eastern Kentucky ravaged by storms last summer, the price of flood insurance is set to quadruple. In Louisiana, the top insurance official says the market is in crisis, and is offering millions of dollars in subsidies to try to draw insurers to the state. And in much of Florida, homeowners are increasingly struggling to buy storm coverage. Most big insurers have pulled out of the state already, sending homeowners to smaller private companies that are straining to stay in business—a possible glimpse into California’s future if more big insurers leave.

Peru battles record dengue outbreak (Washington Post) Peru is taking extraordinary measures such as banning households from filling vases with water, as it battles its worst dengue outbreak on record. As of Monday, the South American nation has recorded more than 110,000 probable cases of dengue this year, according to its National Center for Epidemiology, Prevention and Control of Diseases. At least 114 people have died after being infected with the virus, with another 39 fatalities under investigation. The outbreak is a warning sign for countries in the tropics, where dengue and other insect-borne illnesses are increasingly prevalent as a rapidly changing climate brings more instances of warm and wet weather, which provide ideal breeding conditions for mosquito hosts. At its worst, dengue can cause high fevers, serious organ failure and death. The number of reported cases increased roughly tenfold from about 500,000 in 2000 to 5.2 million in 2019, according to the World Health Organization, which in March declared dengue a “major public health problem” for the Americas region.

Europe sees inflation drop to 6.1% (AP) Europe’s inflation took a positive turn with a significant drop to 6.1%, but prices are still posing a pinch to shoppers who are yet to see real relief in what they pay for food and other necessities. The annual figure in May eased from 7% in April for the 20 countries that use the euro currency, the European Union’s statistical agency Eurostat said Thursday. It was a welcome sign that the explosion in price increases—which peaked in record double digits last October—is heading in the right direction. But economists warned that it will be many months before disgruntled consumers see more normal levels of inflation reflected on price tags in shops.

Border towns in western Russia report heavy shelling and rocket fire (Washington Post) Shebekino, a town four miles from the Ukrainian border in Russia’s Belgorod region, came under intense rocket fire and shelling on Thursday, local officials and residents said—the latest in a series of attacks on Russian soil in recent days. Amid the reports of heavy cross-border fire, a powerful explosion, reportedly from a drone strike, shook a residential neighborhood on Thursday afternoon in Belgorod city, the regional capital. Reports said two people suffered minor injuries. Video on social media showed plumes of dark smoke floating up from a block of apartments. Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov blamed the shelling on Ukraine. Kyiv has denied any direct involvement in the attacks on Russia’s territory, including in the western regions and in Moscow, which was hit by drones on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the situation in Belgorod as “quite alarming.” Russian media outlets reported that electricity and cellphone networks had stopped working in the town, which had a prewar population of 40,000 people. According to local journalists and residents, many inhabitants left the town recently in response to the attacks.

Biden shows growing appetite to cross Putin’s red lines (Washington Post) President Biden’s decision last month to help Ukraine obtain F-16 fighter jets marked another crossing of a Russian red line that Vladimir Putin has said would transform the war and draw Washington and Moscow into direct conflict. Despite the Russian leader’s apocalyptic warnings, the United States has gradually agreed to expand Ukraine’s arsenal with Javelin and Stinger missiles, HIMARS rocket launchers, advanced missile defense systems, drones, helicopters, M1 Abrams tanks and, soon, fourth-generation fighter jets. A key reason for brushing aside Putin’s threats, U.S. officials say, is a dynamic that has held since the opening days of the war: Russia’s president has not followed through on promises to punish the West for providing weapons to Ukraine. His bluffing has given U.S. and European leaders some confidence they can continue doing so without severe consequences—but to what extent remains one of the conflict’s most dangerous uncertainties.

Chinese graduates lower their ambitions (Reuters) Applied maths graduate Liang Huaxiao tried to land a job with one of China’s tech giants for two years. Then she tried customer service and sales. Then she applied for assistant roles in a bakery and in a beauty parlour. Like a rising number of her highly educated peers, Liang keeps trading down to try and find a source of income in China’s worst youth job market on record. “Finding a job has been really difficult,” said the 25-year-old, who lives with her parents in the northern industrial city of Taiyuan. “I told my family that I’m willing to take up manual labour and my mum straight-up cried. She felt so sorry for me.” Economists expect such examples to become increasingly common in coming years, as a glut of university graduates and a shortage of factory labour due to an ageing workforce deepen China’s job market imbalances. Youth unemployment hit a record 20.4% in April, and a new high of 11.58 million university students are due to graduate this summer. All are competing for jobs in what remains one of the world’s fastest-growing major economies, but whose manufacturing-heavy structure is increasingly out of step with the aspirations of its younger generations.

U.S. scolds China for refusing to talk after midair military encounter (Washington Post) Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday denounced China’s apparent refusal to meet with senior Pentagon leaders after an incident U.S. officials have described as an “unnecessarily aggressive” encounter between military aircraft over the South China Sea last week. Video released Tuesday by the U.S. military depicts a twin-engine J-16 Shenyang fighter jet crossing what appears to be several dozen feet in front of an Air Force RC-135 surveillance plane. The 30-second clip, recorded Friday from within the American aircraft’s cockpit, shows the crew being bounced around as they fly through the Shenyang’s wake. The RC-135, which is used to gather radio communications and other electronic intelligence, was flying in international airspace, officials with U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said. China responded with accusations that the United States has endangered its national security by conducting regular close-up reconnaissance using ships and planes. “Such provocative and dangerous actions are the root cause of security issues at sea,” Mao Ning, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said during a news briefing. The intercept, at least the second such incident since late last year, occurred as relations between China and the United States remained fraught.

Jordan’s royal wedding day (AP) Jordan’s crown prince married the scion of a prominent Saudi family on Thursday in a palace ceremony attended by royals and other VIPs from around the world, as massive crowds gathered across the kingdom to celebrate the region’s newest power couple. The marriage of Crown Prince Hussein, 28, and Saudi architect Rajwa Alseif, 29, drew a star-studded guest list including Britain’s Prince William and his wife Kate, as well as U.S. First Lady Jill Biden. The celebrations hold deep significance for the region, emphasizing continuity in an Arab state prized for its longstanding stability and refreshing the monarchy’s image after a palace feud. It even could help resource-poor Jordan forge a strategic bond with its oil-rich neighbor, Saudi Arabia. Jordan’s 11 million residents have watched the young crown prince rise in prominence in recent years, as he increasingly joined his father, Abdullah, in public appearances. Hussein has graduated from Georgetown University, joined the military and gained some global recognition speaking at the U.N. General Assembly. His wedding, experts say, marks his next crucial rite of passage. “It’s not just a marriage, it’s the presentation of the future king of Jordan,” said political analyst Amer Sabaileh.

Thought of the Day

“We must learn to honor excellence in every socially accepted human activity, however humble the activity, and to scorn shoddiness, however exalted the activity. An excellent plumber is infinitely more admirable than an incompetent philosopher. The society that scorns excellence in plumbing because plumbing is a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy. Neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.”—John W. Gardner

Thursday, June 1, 2023

Deepfaking it: America’s 2024 election collides with AI boom (Reuters) “I actually like Ron DeSantis a lot,” Hillary Clinton reveals in a surprise online endorsement video. “He’s just the kind of guy this country needs, and I really mean that.” Joe Biden finally lets the mask slip, unleashing a cruel rant at a transgender person. “You will never be a real woman,” the president snarls. Welcome to America’s 2024 presidential race, where reality is up for grabs. The Clinton and Biden deepfakes—realistic yet fabricated videos created by AI algorithms trained on copious online footage—are among thousands surfacing on social media, blurring fact and fiction in the polarized world of U.S. politics. While such synthetic media has been around for several years, it’s been turbocharged over the past year by of a slew of new “generative AI” tools that make it cheap and easy to create convincing deepfakes. “It’s going to be very difficult for voters to distinguish the real from the fake. And you could just imagine how either Trump supporters or Biden supporters could use this technology to make the opponent look bad,” said Darrell West, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Center for Technology Innovation.

Companies Push Prices Higher, Protecting Profits but Adding to Inflation (NYT) The prices of oil, transportation, food ingredients and other raw materials have fallen in recent months as the shocks stemming from the pandemic and the war in Ukraine have faded. Yet, many big businesses have continued raising prices at a rapid clip. Some of the world’s biggest companies have said they do not plan to change course and will continue increasing prices or keep them at elevated levels for the foreseeable future. That strategy has cushioned corporate profits. And it could keep inflation robust, contributing to the very pressures used to justify surging prices. As a result, some economists warn, policymakers at the Federal Reserve may feel compelled to keep raising interest rates, or at least not lower them, increasing the likelihood and severity of an economic downturn. “Companies are not just maintaining margins, not just passing on cost increases, they have used it as a cover to expand margins,” Albert Edwards, a global strategist at Société Générale, said, referring to profit margins, a measure of how much businesses earn from every dollar of sales.

School’s Out (WSJ) More high-school graduates are skipping college and going straight into blue-collar jobs. The college enrollment rate for recent U.S. high-school graduates, ages 16 to 24, declined to 62% last year from 66.2% in 2019, just before the pandemic began, according to the latest Labor Department data. College enrollment has declined by about 15% in the past decade. The reasons include the high cost of university education, colleges closing and uneven returns from getting a degree, as well as a hot job market. The former students are stepping into a historically strong labor market for less-educated workers. Job growth at restaurants, theme parks and other parts of the leisure and hospitality sector—which typically don’t require a college degree—has increased more than twice as fast as job gains overall in the past year. There also remains a high number of openings in construction, manufacturing and warehousing, fields that often require additional training, but not college degrees. The unemployment rate for teenage workers fell to a 70-year low of 9.2% last month, fueling larger pay increases.

Spooked by crime, Ecuadoreans train to carry guns for self-defense (Reuters) Spurred by rising violent crime and increased gang activity, a growing number of Ecuadoreans are learning to use guns in the hope of protecting themselves from crime, four firearm instructors and their pupils said. Dozens of people are training at the country’s few shooting ranges, after conservative President Guillermo Lasso signed an April decree allowing civilians to carry guns for self-defense after completing a strict approval process. The decree is part of efforts by Lasso—who dissolved the national assembly and called early elections last week amid an impeachment attempt—to reduce soaring violence on the streets and in prisons, which the government blames on drug gangs. Ecuador ranked as one of Latin America’s most violent countries in 2022, with fewer homicides than Colombia but more than Mexico, according to InSight Crime. A wider regional uptick in violence has seen surging interest in guns for self protection even in Chile, one of the region’s safer countries.

Ethnic Serbs in Kosovo gather again, threaten to take over northern municipality (AP) Troops from the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo on Wednesday placed metal fences and barbed wire barriers in a northern town following clashes with ethnic Serbs that left 30 international soldiers wounded. Hundreds of ethnic Serbs began gathering in front of the city hall in Zvecan, 45 kilometers (28 miles) north of the capital, Pristina, in their repeated efforts to take over the offices of one of the municipalities where ethnic Albanian mayors took up their posts last week. NATO has decided to send 700 more troops to northern Kosovo to help quell violent protests after the clashes on Monday. The confrontation unfolded last week after ethnic Albanian officials who were elected in a vote overwhelmingly boycotted by Serbs entered municipal buildings to take office. When Serbs tried to block them, Kosovo police fired tear gas to disperse them in Zvecan, leading to clashes with NATO-led troops that left 30 international soldiers injured.

China sends three into space, says it wants astronauts on moon by 2030 (Washington Post) China sent another three astronauts into space—including the first civilian—on Tuesday morning, a day after announcing plans to land astronauts on the moon before 2030 and setting up a new sphere of rivalry with the United States. NASA is aiming to send American astronauts back on the moon by the end of 2025, with Administrator Bill Nelson describing a Cold War-like space race, only this time against China instead of the Soviet Union. China made its ambitions for expanding the country’s presence in space clear on Monday, when Lin Xiqiang, deputy director of the China Manned Space Agency, set a 2030 time frame for doing the same and laid out plans for scientific and technical research there, officially confirming that a previous timeline of landing astronauts on the moon after 2030 had been brought forward. China has big ambitions in space. It has landed a rover on Mars and a robotic spacecraft on the far side of the moon, and operates a space station in low Earth orbit. Rapidly gaining on the United States in space has become an important source of nationalist pride in Chinese technical prowess for President Xi Jinping, who has called “exploring the vast cosmos” an “eternal dream” of the Chinese people.

North Korea spy satellite launch fails as rocket falls into the sea (AP) North Korea’s attempt to put the country’s first spy satellite into space failed Wednesday in a setback to leader Kim Jong Un’s push to boost his military capabilities as tensions with the United States and South Korea rise. After an unusually quick admission of failure, North Korea vowed to conduct a second launch after learning what went wrong with its rocket liftoff. It suggests Kim remains determined to expand his weapons arsenal and apply more pressure on Washington and Seoul while diplomacy is stalled. South Korea and Japan briefly urged residents to take shelter during the launch.

UN: Staggering 15.3 million Syrians, nearly 70% of population, need aid (AP) For the first time in Syria’s 12-year war, people in every district are experiencing some degree of “humanitarian stress,” and a staggering 15.3 million—nearly 70% of the population—need humanitarian aid, the United Nations said Tuesday. A U.N. appeal for $5.4 billion to help over 14 million people in Syria is less than 10% funded and the U.N. World Food Program has warned that without additional money, 2.5 million people are at risk of losing food or cash assistance from July. The dire humanitarian situation, compounded by the February earthquake that devastated the rebel-held northwest, was spelled out to the Security Council by the U.N. humanitarian office’s deputy operations director Ghada Mudawi. The Syrian people “are more and more reliant on humanitarian assistance as basic services and critical infrastructure are on the brink of collapse,” she said. “Syrians need the support of the international community now more than at any time in the past 12 years.”

South Sudan struggles to clear mines after decades of war as people start returning home (AP) For the first time since fleeing South Sudan’s civil war eight years ago, Jacob Wani returned home excited to rebuild his life. But when the 45-year-old farmer tried to access his land in Eastern Equatoria state’s Magwi County, he was banned, told that it had been labeled hazardous and contaminated with mines. As South Sudanese trickle back into the country after a peace deal was signed in 2018 to end a five-year civil war that killed nearly 400,000 people and displaced millions, many are returning to areas riddled with mines left from decades of conflict. More than 5,000 South Sudanese have been killed or injured by land mines and unexploded ordnance since 2004, according to the U.N. Mine Action Service (UNMAS). While more than 84 million square meters of cluster munitions and mines have been cleared in nearly two decades, according to UNMAS—equivalent to approximately 15,000 American football fields—munitions are being found across the country daily.

Seeing stories of kindness may counteract the negative effects of consuming bad news (Nieman Lab) “If it bleeds, it leads” has long been a saying used in the media to describe how news stories featuring violence, death and destruction grab readers’ attention—and so dominate the news agenda. And, while many of us are aware of the negative effect that these kinds of story can have on us, it can still be hard to look away. Research consistently shows bad news can have a negative effect on us. During the pandemic, multiple studies linked news consumption to poorer mental health, documenting symptoms of depression, anxiety, hopelessness and worry. In our research, we found that spending as little as 2-4 minutes on Twitter or YouTube reading about the pandemic affected people’s moods adversely. However, our latest study has found that looking at positive news stories—specifically, videos and articles featuring acts of kindness—can actually counteract the ill-effects of seeing negative news stories. Countless research has shown that witnessing others’ acts of moral beauty, such as kindness or heroism, triggers “elevation”—a positive and uplifting feeling which experts theorise acts as an emotional reset button, replacing feelings of cynicism with hope, love and optimism.

Thought of the Day

“The greatest work that kindness does to others is that it makes them kind themselves.”—Amelia Earhart

Wednesday, May 31, 2023

Thousands evacuate from Nova Scotia wildfires (AP) Wildfires in Canada’s Atlantic coast province of Nova Scotia have caused thousands to evacuate. The Halifax Regional Municipality said late Monday that preliminary estimates indicate approximately 200 homes or structures have been damaged, based on initial visual inspections by first responders. Halifax deputy fire Chief David Meldrum said an estimated 14,000 people were told to flee their homes, most of which are about a 30-minute drive northwest of downtown Halifax.

Police agencies are desperate to hire. But they say few want the job. (Washington Post) The San Francisco Police Department is down more than 600 officers, almost 30 percent of its allotment. Phoenix needs about 500 more officers to be fully staffed. The D.C. police force is smaller than it has been in 50 years, despite troubling gun violence and carjackings, as officers leave faster than they can be replaced. Police departments across the country are struggling to fill their ranks, creating what many current and former officials say is a staffing emergency that threatens public safety. They cite an exodus of veteran officers amid new police accountability measures that followed the 2020 murder of George Floyd, increased hostility from the communities they police, and criminal justice laws that seek to reduce the number of people in jail. Advocates for police reform see the moment as an opportunity to hire a new generation of officers and reimagine policing. But as agencies seek fresh recruits, they are getting fewer qualified applicants than in past years—leading some to make the risky move of lowering the bar for hiring to fill their ranks.

Gun violence rages with at least 20 mass shootings recorded over Memorial Day Weekend (USA Today) Gun violence erupted across the U.S. over Memorial Day weekend: At least 20 mass shootings left 16 people dead and over 80 injured. The Gun Violence Archive, which tracks mass shootings, logged 20 incidents in which at least four people were injured or killed, not including shooters, from Friday afternoon through Monday night. The bloodshed started with a spree in Arizona, where a 20-year-old man was accused of killing four people and injuring one in five different shootings in the Phoenix area. Over the next three days, people were killed and injured in Virginia, Mississippi, New Mexico, Illinois and more. And Monday evening, as Memorial Day revelers in Hollywood Beach, Florida, celebrated the holiday, nine people were injured by gunfire along a boardwalk.

Drought-struck Barcelona quenches thirst with costly desalination (AP) Where once the population of Barcelona drank mostly from its rivers and wells, Spain’s second city now relies upon a labyrinth-like mesh of green, blue and purple pipes inside an industrial plant to keep it from going thirsty amid a prolonged drought. Water is pumped from two kilometers (1.2 miles) into the Mediterranean Sea to where the Llobregat desalination plant sits on an isolated stretch of beach. After journeying through several cleaning and filtering systems it reaches its final stop: the twisting and turning multi-colored channels that squeeze every drop of water free of its salt. Barely used after being built in 2009, Europe’s largest desalination plant for drinking water is running at full throttle to help the greater Barcelona area and some five million people adapt to the impact of climate change, which has contributed to the drying up of southern Europe’s fresh water reserves through heat waves and drought. In April 2021, before the drought, rivers provided 63% of Barcelona’s drinking water, wells provided 34% and desalination just 3%. Two years later desalination makes up 33% of Barcelona’s drinking water, while wells provide 23% and its shrinking rivers just 19%, according to Barcelona’s municipal water company.

Paranoid atmosphere (Washington Post) Parishioners have denounced Russian priests who advocated peace instead of victory in the war on Ukraine. Teachers lost their jobs after children tattled that they opposed the war. Neighbors who bore some trivial grudge for years have snitched on longtime foes. Workers rat on one another to their bosses or directly to the police or the FSB, the Federal Security Service. This is the hostile, paranoid atmosphere of Russians at war with Ukraine and with one another. As Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime cracks down on critics of the war and other political dissenters, citizens are policing one another in an echo of the darkest years of Joseph Stalin’s repression, triggering investigations, criminal charges, prosecutions and dismissals from work. In March last year, Putin called on the nation to purge itself by spitting out traitors “like gnats.” Since the invasion began, at least 19,718 people have been arrested for their opposition to the war, according to legal rights group OVD-Info, with criminal cases launched against 584 people, and administrative cases mounted against 6,839. Many others faced intimidation or harassment from the authorities, lost jobs, or had relatives targeted, the organization said.

Russia says drones damage Moscow buildings in pre-dawn attack (AP) Russian air defenses stopped eight drones converging on Moscow, officials said Tuesday, in an attack that authorities blamed on Ukraine. The attack caused “insignificant damage” to several buildings, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. Two people received medical attention for unspecified injuries but did not need hospitalization, he said. The attacks have raised questions about the effectiveness of Russia’s air defense systems. A senior Russian lawmaker, Andrei Kartapolov, told Russian business news site RBC that “we have a very big country and there will always be a loophole where the drone can fly around the areas where air defense systems are located.”

30 international peacekeepers injured in fierce clashes with ethnic Serbs in northern Kosovo (AP) The NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo, KFOR, on Tuesday raised the number of its troops injured in fierce clashes with ethnic Serbs to 30. The Serbs had tried to take over the offices of one of the municipalities in northern Kosovo where ethnic Albanian mayors took up their posts last week. A statement said that 11 Italian soldiers and 19 Hungarian ones “sustained multiple injuries, including fractures and burns from improvized explosive incendiary devices.” Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic spent the night with his troops on the border with Kosovo. They were placed on the highest state of alert on his orders last week. Vucic said 52 Serbs were injured in the clashes, three seriously. Kosovo and Serbia have been foes for decades, with Belgrade refusing to recognize Kosovo’s 2008 sovereignty.

Erdogan continues divisive rhetoric following victory (Washington Post) President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sang and smiled, reveling in the applause of the supporters he addressed Sunday after the toughest election of his long career. In victory, though, instead of soothing the nation, he lashed out at a familiar set of villains, in remarks that may set the tone for his next term. He was dismissive of his opponent, Kemal Kilicdaroglu. “Bye, bye to Mr. Kemal,” he said. And he ruled out any release for an imprisoned Kurdish political leader, calling him a “terrorist.” As the country moved on from the election, Erdogan would not easily abandon the bitter rhetoric, analysts said, setting Turkey on a divisive and turbulent course for the foreseeable future, even as Erdogan juggled a need to stabilize the economy as well as Turkey’s often stormy relations with allies in the West. In fact, “I think he is going to harden” his rhetoric, said Berk Esen, a professor of political science at Istanbul’s Sabanci University. “We are going to see him adopt a very polarizing discourse using ethno-religious themes” to maintain his “winning coalition” of voters. The value of the Turkish lira sunk to a record low on Tuesday, just days after Erdogan entrenched his authority into a third decade.

Chinese police clash with protesters over plans to demolish mosque (Washington Post) Residents of a majority-Muslim town in southwestern China clashed with police over the weekend as they tried to stop the demolition of a domed roof from a centuries-old mosque, part of the Chinese Communist Party’s expanding effort to control religion. The incident appeared to be related to a court judgment from 2020 that ruled some of the mosque’s most recent renovations were illegal, and ordered demolition. With a history that may stretch as far back as the 13th century, the Najiaying Mosque was expanded many times over the years to add buildings, as well as four minarets and a domed roof. In 2019, part of the structure was listed as a protected cultural relic. In recent years, however, Communist Party restrictions on the pious have escalated sharply. The country’s top leader, Xi Jinping, has demanded absolute political loyalty of faith communities and the “Sinicization” of religion. Surveillance of religious leaders has also intensified. A nationwide database of officially approved Islamic, Protestant and Catholic religious teachers was launched this month. The campaign has focused on Islam and Christianity because of the party’s deep-seated fear of faith being a vector for foreign influence.

North Korea says it will launch its first military spy satellite in June (AP) North Korea said Tuesday it would launch its first military spy satellite in June and described space-based reconnaissance as crucial for monitoring the United States’ “reckless” military exercises with South Korea. The statement came a day after North Korea notified Japan’s coast guard that the launch, sometime between May 31 and June 11, might affect waters in the Yellow Sea, East China Sea and east of the Philippines’ Luzon Island. Japan’s defense minister warned its forces to shoot down the satellite or debris, if any entered Japanese territory, and its coast guard issued a safety warning for ships that would be in the affected seas during the expected launch, citing a risk of falling debris. While North Korea’s rivals have condemned the country’s planned launch as a banned test of ballistic missile technology, it’s less clear whether the satellite itself is advanced enough to support the North’s stated goals of tracking and monitoring U.S. and South Korean military activities in real time.

Celebrations in Jordan ahead of kingdom’s first major royal wedding in years (AP) Several thousand cheering and flag-waving Jordanians packed a sports stadium for a free concert in the capital of Amman as part of celebrations leading up the kingdom’s first major royal wedding in years. Crown Prince Hussein, 28, is to marry Saudi architect Rajwa Alseif, 29, on Thursday at Zahran Palace in downtown Amman, the same wedding venue previously chosen by the prince’s father, King Abdullah II, and his grandfather, the late King Hussein. The nuptials come after a rough patch for the royals, including a public rift between the king and his half-brother, and are seen as a way of shoring up public support at a time of persistent economic difficulties.

Racers chase cheese wheel down a hill in chaotic UK race (AP) The big cheese of extreme U.K. sports events is back. Hundreds of spectators gathered Monday to watch dozens of reckless racers chase a 7-pound (3 kilogram) wheel of Double Gloucester cheese down the near-vertical Cooper’s Hill, near Gloucester in southwest England. The first racer to finish behind the fast-rolling cheese gets to keep it. The cheese-rolling race has been held at Cooper’s Hill, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of London, since at least 1826, and the sport of cheese-rolling is believed to be much older. Few competitors manage to stay on their feet all the way down the 200-yard (180 meter) hill, and this year several had to be helped, limping, from the course. Matt Crolla, 28, from Manchester in northwestern England, won the first of several men’s races. Asked how he had prepared, he told reporters: “I don’t think you can train for it, can you? It’s just being an idiot.” Delaney Irving managed to cross the finish line first to win the women’s competition, even after having been knocked unconscious. Irving, 19, said the race was “good … now that I remember it.”

Thought of the Day

“A year from now you will wish you had started today.”—Karen Lamb

Tuesday, May 30, 2023

More businesses require teens to be chaperoned by adults (AP) Jennifer Sepulveda used to drop off her 14-year-old son, Jorden, at the local mall on a Friday or Saturday night, where he would catch a movie with his friends and then hang out afterwards at the food court or elsewhere. Not anymore. Starting April 18, Garden State Plaza in Paramus, New Jersey—the second largest mall in the state—is requiring anyone under 18 years old to be accompanied by a chaperone at least 21 or older on Fridays and Saturdays after 5 p.m. The move, according to the mall, follows “an increase in disruptive behavior by a small minority of younger visitors,” including brawls. Requiring an adult chaperone at malls, at least for certain times of the day, is not new. Mall of America, the nation’s largest shopping mall, imposed a chaperone policy back in 1996 and has been increasingly tightening it as recently as 2020 when it mandated that teens be accompanied by adults after 3 p.m. daily. But experts say Garden State Plaza joins a growing number of shopping centers, amusement parks and even a few restaurants that have implemented similar policies in the last few months ahead of the summer season. And they all cite increased incidents of bad behavior among teens as the reason, some of it inspired by social media like TikTok.

Struggles continue for thousands in Florida 8 months after Hurricane Ian as new storm season looms (AP) Eight months ago, chef Michael Cellura had a restaurant job and had just moved into a fancy new camper home on Fort Myers Beach. Now, after Hurricane Ian swept all that away, he lives in his older Infiniti sedan with a 15-year-old long-haired chihuahua named Ginger. Like hundreds of others, Cellura was left homeless after the Category 5 hurricane blasted the barrier island last September with ferocious winds and storm surge as high as 15 feet (4 meters). Like many, he’s struggled to navigate insurance payouts, understand federal and state assistance bureaucracy and simply find a place to shower. “There’s a lot of us like me that are displaced. Nowhere to go,” Cellura, 58, said during a recent interview next to his car, sitting in a commercial parking lot along with other storm survivors housed in recreational vehicles, a converted school bus, even a shipping container. “There’s a lot of homeless out here, a lot of people living in tents, a lot of people struggling.” Recovery is far from complete in hard-hit Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel and Pine Island, with this year’s Atlantic hurricane season officially beginning June 1. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is forecasting a roughly average tropical storm season forecast of 12 to 17 named storms, five to nine becoming hurricanes and one to four powering into major hurricanes with winds greater than 110 mph (177 kph).

Haiti’s deadly vigilante movement sees decline in gang violence, report says (Reuters) Violence by armed gangs has fallen “drastically” since the emergence of a vigilante justice movement that has seen at least 160 suspected criminals killed in the last month, a report by local human rights research group CARDH said on Sunday. The situation in the Caribbean country remains extremely volatile as heavily armed gangs continue to drive a humanitarian crisis that has displaced tens of thousands amid frequent kidnappings for ransom, gang rapes, tortures and murders. The vigilante movement, known as “Bwa Kale”, began after residents of the capital Port-au-Prince lynched and set fire to over a dozen suspected gang members in the early morning of April 24. CARDH said “almost no” kidnappings had been recorded in the last month and counted 43 gang-linked murders, down from 146 in the first three weeks of April.

Uruguay, hot and dry, adds saltwater to public drinking supply (Washington Post) Uruguay, beset by high temperatures and drought, is running out of freshwater. Montevideo, the capital, is down to just a few days’ supply. This small, affluent South American nation is not alone in its suffering. Historically hot, dry conditions are harming crops and shaking economies across the Southern Cone. Amid global climate change, the region is warming more rapidly than the rest of the world. Precipitation during the last four months of 2022 fell to half the average, the lowest level in 35 years. Dying crops, spiking energy bills, showers once a week. In South America, the climate future has arrived. Extreme weather has pushed authorities to an extreme response. The Paso Severino reservoir, which provides freshwater to more than half the country’s 3.4 million people, is down to 5 percent of capacity. So the State Sanitary Works Administration secured permission this month to exceed the legal limits for sodium and chloride in public drinking water and has begun adding supply from the Río de la Plata, the estuary where the freshwater of the Paraná and Uruguay rivers meets the saltwater of the Atlantic Ocean. The result: The amount of sodium in the tap water has reached 421 milligrams per liter, the government announced last week. That’s more than twice the World Health Organization recommendation, 50 percent more than Uruguay’s previous authorized limit and 10 times the system’s historic levels.

Right-wing populist Javier Milei gains support in Argentina (AP) He believes selling human organs should be legal, climate change is a “socialist lie,” sex education is a ploy to destroy the family and that the Central Bank should be abolished. He also could be Argentina’s next president. Javier Milei, an admirer of former U.S. President Donald Trump, is the latest example of how right-wing populists are making inroads in Latin America, appealing to a citizenry angry with politics as usual and eager for outsiders to shake up the system. A libertarian economist and self-described “anarcho capitalist,” Milei made a name for himself by shouting against the “political caste” on television. His presidential candidacy looked like a sideshow until recently. Polls show his popularity rising, and his proposals dominate discussions ahead of October elections. “Today no one can say that Milei isn’t someone who could get to the presidency,” said Luis Tonelli, a political scientist at University of Buenos Aires. Milei has tapped frustration over Argentina’s triple-digit inflation, which makes many feel like they’re constantly falling behind. Seven out of 10 Argentines say they struggle to make ends meet.

Sleepless in Kyiv (AP) The attacks come at night, when most in Kyiv are sound asleep. The sirens wail across the Ukrainian capital, rousing bleary-eyed residents, who, after 15 months of war, have customized individual routines to cope with Russia’s latest air campaign. In the recent escalation of Russian attacks, Olha Bukhno, 65, a cleaner, says a prayer every night. “Please,” she asks, closing her eyes and addressing the heavens, “Let it be quiet.” By her bedside is a bag packed full of essentials: documents, dry foods and water. At the sound of the alarm, she dashes downstairs to her building’s basement and takes shelter. When the alarm blares, some in the city are consumed by fear, imagining the worst-case scenarios that could unfold; displacement, being trapped under rubble, being killed. Others embrace apathy, lying awake in bed, as the sounds of explosions ricochet across the skies. But in the past month, when Russian air attacks escalated to near-nightly raids, most people are complaining of sleeplessness. In the war-defying bustle of Kyiv’s cafes, restaurants and salons, business goes on despite the ongoing war, but everyone has a story about how tired they feel.

Turkey’s Erdogan retains power, now faces challenges (AP) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has a mandate to rule until 2028, securing five more years as leader of a country at the crossroads of Europe and Asia that plays a key role in NATO. He must now confront skyrocketing inflation that has fueled a cost-of-living crisis and rebuild in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake that killed more than 50,000 people. Supporters of Erdogan, a divisive populist and masterful orator, took to the streets to celebrate, waving Turkish or ruling party flags, honking car horns and chanting his name. Celebratory gunfire was heard in several Istanbul neighborhoods. Western politicians said they are ready to continue working with Erdogan despite years of sometimes tense relations. Most imminently, Turkey holds the cards for Sweden’s hopes to join NATO. The bid aims to strengthen the military alliance against Russia. Turkey is also central to the continuity of a deal to allow Ukrainian grain shipments and avert a global food crisis. In his victory remarks, Erdogan said rebuilding the quake-struck cities would be his priority. He also said a million Syrian refugees would go back to Turkish-controlled “safe zones” in Syria as part of a resettlement project being run with Qatar.

Modi Opens India’s New Parliament Building as Opposition Boycotts (NYT) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated a sleek new Parliament complex, part of a more than $2 billion project to revamp India’s decrepit colonial-era center of government in New Delhi. But the inauguration ceremony, which reflected Mr. Modi’s usual penchant for Hindu religious and nationalist symbolism, was boycotted by his political opposition. And outside in the streets, the police were brutally breaking up a demonstration. The majority of opposition lawmakers from both chambers, about 250 people, stayed away to protest what they called the latest example of the prime minister’s overreach, which they say is undermining India’s constitutional democracy. In a rare statement of unity, about 20 opposition parties rebuked Mr. Modi for taking on a role they said was reserved for India’s president, Droupadi Murmu, who holds the symbolic but important role as the custodian of the Constitution. They said Mr. Modi’s choice to preside over the inauguration was consistent with a more general breach of parliamentary process by his party, including pushing through, with scant debate, contentious bills that have altered the fundamentals of India’s union.

South Korea’s race to become one of the world’s biggest arms dealers (Reuters) South Korea is using a $13.7 billion arms deal with Poland—Seoul’s biggest ever—to lay the groundwork for a military-industrial juggernaut that the two nations’ defence companies hope will feed Europe’s hunger for weapons far into the future. South Korea’s arms sales jumped to more than $17 billion in 2022 from $7.25 billion the year before, according to its defence ministry, as Western countries scrambled to arm Ukraine and tensions rose in other hot spots such as North Korea and the South China Sea. The arms deal with Poland, a key NATO member, last year included hundreds of Chunmoo rocket launchers, K2 tanks, K9 self-propelled howitzers, and FA-50 fighter aircraft. The deal’s value and the number of weapons involved made it stand out even among the world’s biggest defence players.

Thousands evacuated as Philippines warns of possible flooding, landslides from Typhoon Mawar (AP) Philippine officials began evacuating thousands of villagers, shut down schools and offices and imposed a no-sail ban Monday as Typhoon Mawar approached the country’s northern provinces a week after battering the U.S. territory of Guam. The typhoon is packing maximum sustained winds of 155 kpm (96 mph) and gusts of up to 190 kph (118 mph) but is forecast to spare the mountainous region a direct hit. Current projections show the typhoon veering northeast toward Taiwan or southern Japan. Although it’s expected to slow down considerably, authorities warned of dangerous tidal surges, flash floods and landslides as it blows past the northernmost province of Batanes from Tuesday to Wednesday. Disaster-preparedness officials said the typhoon’s course could change abruptly and there was no room for complacency.

Heavy clashes in Sudan’s capital as truce set to expire (Reuters) Heavy and sustained clashes could be heard on Monday in parts of Sudan’s capital, residents said, hours before the expiry of a shaky ceasefire deal that had brought some respite from a six-week-old conflict but little humanitarian access. Saudi Arabia and the United States, which are remotely monitoring the ceasefire deal and have appealed for its renewal, said on Sunday that both the army and the RSF had repeatedly violated the truce and had impeded the delivery of humanitarian access and restoration of essential services. Across the country, the health ministry has said more than 700 people have died as a result of the fighting, though the true figure is likely much higher. In Khartoum, factories, offices, homes and banks have been looted or destroyed. Power, water and telecommunications are often cut, there are acute shortages of medicines and medical equipment, and food supplies have been running low.

Thought of the Day

“Each minute we spend worrying about the future and regretting the past is a minute we miss in our appointment with life.”—Thich Nhat Hanh

Monday, May 29, 2023

White House and G.O.P. Strike Debt Limit Deal to Avert Default (NYT) President Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Saturday reached an agreement in principle to lift the debt limit for two years while cutting and capping some government spending over the same period, a breakthrough after a marathon set of crisis talks that has brought the nation within days of its first default in history. Congressional passage of the plan before June 5, when the Treasury is projected to exhaust its ability to pay its obligations, is not assured, particularly in the House, which plans to consider it on Wednesday. Republicans hold a narrow majority in the chamber, and right-wing lawmakers who had demanded significantly larger budget cuts in exchange for lifting the borrowing limit were already in revolt. But the compromise, which would effectively freeze federal spending that had been on track to grow, had the blessing of both the Democratic president and the Republican speaker, raising hopes that it could break the fiscal stalemate that has gripped Washington and the nation for weeks, threatening an economic crisis.

California’s cliffs are crumbling (Washington Post) Among the coveted places to live in Santa Cruz, if you have the money, is West Cliff Drive. How much longer that will be true is the question. The cliff-top road is falling into the Pacific in large chunks, leaving gaping holes and closing lanes along a normally busy street. A process that has taken place over centuries is quickening after a rare series of winter and spring storms that brought abnormally high tides, potent surf and lots of rain. The sea is taking back the land. It is happening at various speeds along much of California’s coast, changing the ragged western edge of the country and threatening neighborhoods, highways and ways of life. For decades, California has built to the brink of the continent, a risk-reward calculus where the reward of a sparkling Pacific Ocean with your morning coffee easily trumps some future risk of a collapsing cliff. But today it is some of the state’s most famed cliffs, overlooking about 500 miles of California’s coast, that are among those most imperiled by rising sea levels and more potent storms. By the end of this century, $1 billion worth of property, roads and utilities along a 3-mile stretch of West Cliff Drive will be vulnerable to flooding and erosion. The hundreds of thousands of dollars it will likely cost just to patch up West Cliff Drive after the recent storms remains a point of debate.

San Francisco, addiction, and homelessness (NY Post) Across the nation, a growing element of the harm reduction movement now rejects treatment [for drug addiction] or abstinence-based recovery strategies. Add in recent calls to “defund the police”—and the sharp decline in prosecutions for most crimes—and cities like San Francisco are now contending with thousands of homeless addicts with no incentive to get clean. Amid towering, unoccupied office buildings, San Francisco’s open air drug markets allow cartel-backed dealers to roam free, while a billion dollar industry of nonprofits such as Drug Policy Alliance vocally reject treatment as a viable solution. It’s no surprise that residents at the front lines are fed up with the results. In fact, nearly a quarter million people have fled the Bay Area in the last three years. Governor Newsom finally took a stroll through the epicenter of San Francisco’s drug disaster late last month and was clearly distressed: just a few days later, he announced that the National Guard would be called in to help clean up the crisis. The issues facing San Francisco aren’t from a lack of funding. In 2021 alone, the city allocated $1.1 billion to its Department of Homelessness and its budget has risen 500% since 2016. The results: Homelessness actually increased 64% during the same period.

Systems error affecting electronic gates leaves travelers to UK waiting for hours (AP) Travelers arriving in the U.K. faced long delays Saturday after a technical problem shut electronic border gates at airports across the country for most of the day, forcing everyone to have their passports checked manually on what was expected to be one of the busiest travel weekends of the year. The Home Office, the government agency responsible for immigration and borders, said at 6 p.m. London time that all the electronic gates were working again. Electronic passport gates are automated self-service barriers designed to speed up processing of travel documents. Using facial recognition technology, the system verifies a traveler’s identity against the data stored in the chip in their passport.

Russian Public Appears to Be Souring on War Casualties, Analysis Shows (NYT) Public sentiment in Russia over war casualties has been turning more negative during the intense fighting in recent months in eastern Ukraine, according to a new analysis. U.S. officials have highlighted the huge numbers of Russian troops killed and wounded in Bakhmut, Ukraine, in recent months, which they estimate to be more than 100,000. The city has become the scene of the most intense urban combat in Europe since World War II. Those losses appear to be affecting public opinion. FilterLabs AI, which uses messages on the Telegram app, posts on social media and discussions on internet forums to track Russian public sentiment on a range of topics, has found that views on war casualties have become increasingly negative since late February. U.S. officials warn that while Russians appear to be aware of the high number of casualties, so far that knowledge has not led to less support for the war or Mr. Putin. But over time, if concern over casualties continues, support for the war is likely to fall.

Russia launched ‘largest drone attack’ on Ukrainian capital before Kyiv Day; 1 killed (AP) Ukraine’s capital was subjected to the largest drone attack since the start of Russia’s war, local officials said, as Kyiv prepared to mark the anniversary of its founding on Sunday. At least one person was killed. Russia launched the “most massive attack” on the city overnight Saturday with Iranian-made Shahed drones, said Serhii Popko, a senior Kyiv military official. The attack lasted more than five hours, with air defense reportedly shooting down more than 40 drones. A 41-year-old man was killed and a 35-year-old woman was hospitalized when debris fell on a seven-story nonresidential building and started a fire, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

In fields seeded with mines, Ukraine’s farmers face deadly planting season (Washington Post) The war in Ukraine is forcing farmers across the country to make a life-or-death choice: Is planting seeds to put food on the table worth the risk of inadvertently setting off unexploded ordnance? Russia’s invasion, now in its 15th month, has made Ukraine the world’s most mined country, officials here say. Fields on which farmers once depended are now potential death traps. In the southern coastal Kherson region, considered some of the country’s most fertile land, farmers sweep their fields for live munitions one careful step at a time. Driving a tractor or plow across is too dangerous. Andriy Puryk, 60, walked gingerly up and down his vast territory for months, collecting artillery shells with his bare hands. Once all visible traces of the war were removed from the field, Puryk was determined to cultivate his crop as he does every year. He attached armored plates to his tractor—extra protection, he said, in case he had missed any ordnance. “Only I, as the eldest, sat behind the wheel,” he said. “Children still have to live.” Puryk survived months of a difficult occupation—the front line ran through the middle of his farm; clashing forces turned his fields and warehouses into battlegrounds. Russia’s invasion has caused more than $6.6 billion in damage to Ukraine’s agriculture sector, according to official estimates by Ukraine’s Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food and the Kyiv School of Economics.

Turkey’s Erdogan wins another term as president, extends rule into 3rd decade (AP) Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan won reelection Sunday, extending his increasingly authoritarian rule into a third decade as the country reels from high inflation and the aftermath of an earthquake that leveled entire cities. A third term gives Erdogan an even stronger hand domestically and internationally, and the election results will have implications far beyond Ankara. Turkey stands at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, and it plays a key role in NATO. With more than 99% of ballot boxes opened, unofficial results from competing news agencies showed Erdogan with 52% of the vote, compared with 48% for his challenger, Kemal Kilicdaroglu. The head of Turkey’s electoral board confirmed the victory, saying that even after accounting for outstanding votes, the result was another term for Erdogan.

Imran Khan increasingly isolated as Pakistan’s army pressures allies (Washington Post) Imran Khan, the crusading opposition leader whose arrest this month ignited riots across Pakistan, now finds himself increasingly isolated as key aides and supporters defect under pressure from the military and his once-unstoppable party appears in danger of collapsing. The 70-year-old former prime minister, who was ousted by Parliament just over a year ago, remains outwardly defiant. On Friday, he said the powerful Pakistani army was becoming a “fascist” institution that is waging “undeclared martial law.” He has also demanded that the courts intervene to stop its repression. But in less than a week, his Movement for Justice party—the onetime juggernaut that propelled the former cricket star to power in 2018 on an anti-corruption platform, drew boisterous throngs to his comeback rallies and then trounced the ruling party in a key provincial race—has been abruptly forced to a halt. The army, enraged and humiliated when military installations and symbols were vandalized during the protests after Khan’s arrest May 9 on long-standing charges of financial corruption, has branded some rioters as terrorists, while police have detained hundreds of protesters and leaders of Khan’s party. With approval from civilian authorities, the army has ordered that alleged rioters be tried in military courts, a measure that has rarely been invoked in peacetime.

China deletes 1.4 million social media posts in crackdown (Reuters) China’s cyberspace regulator said 1.4 million social media posts have been deleted following a two-month probe into alleged misinformation, illegal profiteering, and impersonation of state officials, among other “pronounced problems”. Since 2021, China has targeted billions of social media accounts in a bid to “clean” its cyberspace and make it easier for authorities to control. The latest crackdown targeted accounts on popular Chinese social media apps including WeChat, Douyin, and Weibo that fall under the category of “self media,” a term that broadly refers to accounts that publish news and information but are not government-run or state-approved. Beijing frequently arrests citizens and censors accounts for publishing or sharing factual information considered sensitive or critical of the Communist Party, the government or the military, especially when such information goes viral.

In Nigeria’s hard-hit north, the fight goes on (AP) Christian Jonathan’s mother was holding the 9-month-old boy in her arms when she was shot dead during an attack on their village in northwestern Nigeria. The late-night attack in April in Runji in Kaduna State left 33 people dead, most of them burned alive or shot dead. Many more have been killed since in the continuing clashes between nomadic cattle herders and farming communities in northwest and central regions of the West African nation, including more than 100 this month in Plateau state. The decadeslong violence is becoming more deadly, killing at least 2,600 people in 2021, according to the most recent data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project. Once armed with sticks, the groups now fight with guns that have been smuggled into the country. Both sides accuse the government of injustice and marginalization, but the clashes have also taken on a religious dimension, giving rise to militias that side with the herders, who are primarily Muslim, or the farmers from Christian communities.

Thought of the Day

“If you would hit the mark, you must aim a little above it; every arrow that flies feels the attraction of the earth.”—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Sunday, May 28, 2023

Hot times (Bloomberg) Global warming-induced heat waves are worsening other problems around the world: Ships in the Panama Canal are being asked to lighten their loads, and wildfires in Canada’s top energy-producing province of Alberta have knocked out a fifth of the nation’s natural gas output. Scorching temperatures in Malaysia are pushing up food inflation—and putting pressure on government bonds. It’s a great time to be in the air conditioning business.

Debt ceiling negotiators race to cement deal before June 5 deadline (Washington Post) The U.S. government will run out of money to meet all its payment obligations on June 5, if Congress does not raise the debt ceiling, Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen told lawmakers on Friday, providing a more precise forecast to lawmakers trying to break an impasse. Her new projections came as lawmakers struggled to strike a deal that would raise the nation’s borrowing limit and hold spending down, which Republicans have said is necessary to get their support to raise the borrowing limit. The new default date should not be seen as a reprieve, but rather a more firm deadline that “ensures the urgency” of reaching a deal within days, said Rep. Patrick T. McHenry (R-N.C.), one of the key GOP negotiators. (Later: President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy reached an “agreement in principle” to raise the nation’s legal debt ceiling, but now Congress must rush to approve the spending cuts package in a matter of days to avert default.)

Teen workers are in high demand for summer and commanding better pay (AP) Teens have long been vital to filling out the summertime staffs of restaurants, ice cream stands, amusement parks and camps. Now, thanks to one of the tightest labor markets in decades, they have even more sway, with an array of jobs to choose from at ever higher wages. In April, nearly 34% of Americans aged 16 to 19 had jobs, according to government data. That compares with 30% four years ago, the last pre-pandemic summer. More jobs are available for those who want them: There are roughly 1.6 jobs open for every person that is unemployed, according to the Labor Department. In normal times, that ratio is about 1:1. Maxen Lucas, a graduating senior at Lincoln Academy in Maine, had his first job at 15 as a summer camp dishwasher, followed by a stint as a grocery bagger before getting into landscaping. He said young workers can be choosier now. “After COVID settled down, everyone was being paid more,” said the 18-year-old from Nobleboro who’ll head off to Maine Maritime Academy this fall.

US to give away free lighthouses as GPS makes them unnecessary (Guardian) Ten lighthouses that for generations have stood like sentinels along America’s shorelines protecting mariners from peril and guiding them to safety are being given away at no cost or sold at auction by the federal government. The aim of the program run by the General Services Administration is to preserve the properties, most of which are more than a century old. The development of modern technology, including GPS, means lighthouses are no longer essential for navigation, said John Kelly of the GSA’s office of real property disposition. And while the Coast Guard often maintains aids to navigation at or near lighthouses, the structures themselves are often no longer mission critical. Yet the public remains fascinated by the evocative beacons, which are popular tourist attractions, beloved local landmarks and the subject of countless photographers and artists, standing lonely but strong against tides and storms, day and night and flashing life-saving beams of light whatever the weather.

Russia’s gold (Reuters) Russia produced an estimated 325 tonnes of gold in 2022, and exported 116.3 tonnes of it from February 24, 2022, to March 3 of this year. Russia is not exactly the most favorable trading partner of the world, so the overwhelming majority of it, 99.8 percent of Russia’s gold exports, went to just three countries: predominantly the United Arab Emirates (75.7 tonnes worth $4.3 billion, up from 1.3 tonnes in 2021) and then China and Turkey, who split the balance. Russia’s been hawking its gold at about 1 percent under market rates, making it a favorable trade to those willing to subvert the global sanctions.

Ukrainian children carry on (AP) The two children squinted to see through the thick smoke that hung in the air after a deafening blast shook their small home in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region. The pair, ages 9 and 10, called out for their father. Only eerie silence followed. Then Olha Hinkina and her brother, Andrii, rushed to the bomb shelter, as they had been taught. When the booms stopped and the smoke cleared, they found their father on the porch—motionless and covered in blood after being struck by a Russian projectile. The two siblings join a generation of Ukrainian children whose lives have been upended by the war. Russia’s full-scale invasion has subjected them to constant bombardment, uprooted millions from their homes and turned many into orphans. At least 483 children have lost their lives and nearly 1,000 have been wounded, according to figures from Ukraine’s general prosecutor’s office. Meanwhile, UNICEF says an estimated 1.5 million Ukrainian children are at risk of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health issues, with potentially lasting effects. Nearly 1,500 Ukrainian children have been orphaned, the National Social Service of Ukraine said. When Andrii Hinkin remembers his hometown, he doesn’t recall the bombs, the smoke or the thunderous explosions. He remembers it as a beautiful village. Asked what are his biggest dreams, he responds timidly. “I want to grow up.”

US rebukes Kosovo for escalating tensions, Serbia puts army on alert (Reuters) The United States and allies rebuked Kosovo for escalating tensions with Serbia on Friday, saying the use of force to install mayors in ethnic Serb areas undermined efforts to improve troubled relations with neighbouring Serbia. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic placed the army on full combat alert and ordered units to move closer to the border following clashes on Friday between Kosovan police and protesters opposed to the ethnic Albanian mayors. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken criticized the government of Kosovo for accessing the municipal buildings by force and called on Prime Minister Albin Kurti to reverse course. In a statement, Blinken said Kosovo’s actions went against U.S. and European advice and had “sharply and unnecessarily escalated tensions, undermining our efforts to help normalize relations between Kosovo and Serbia and will have consequences for our bilateral relations with Kosovo.”

Suspicious Software (Guardian) According to a joint investigation by multiple international research groups, spyware developed by NSO Group, an Israeli cyber-intelligence firm, has been used for the first time in a military conflict. NSO Group’s Pegasus, a military-grade spyware that allows users to hack into and remotely control any cell phone, was used to target multiple people involved with the Armenia-Azerbaijan border conflict from October 2020 to December 2022. The victims include journalists, human rights advocates, and a U.N. official. One former Armenian foreign ministry spokesperson was hacked over 27 times between October 2020 and July 2021, a period when she was still active as a diplomat, taking part in crucial negotiations regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh war. She was reportedly involved “squarely in the most sensitive conversations and negotiations related to the Nagorno-Karabakh crisis,” including ceasefire talks involving France, the U.S., and Russia. While NSO Group claims it investigates reports of its spyware being abused by governments, it has been continually abused around the world. The governments of India, Poland, Spain, Saudi Arabia, and Mexico have all employed the spyware for different purposes, including surveilling opposition leaders and foreign diplomats.

Amid Turkey election, a Syrian man’s murder stokes fear among refugees (Washington Post) The campaign posters promising to deport Syrian refugees appeared on the morning that Saleh Sabika was killed. They were all across the city by the time he began his final shift in a country that didn’t want him anymore. Grainy CCTV footage from the Istanbul sock factory around 10 a.m. shows a fistfight between Sabika, a 28-year-old Syrian, and a Turkish colleague. Not long after, eyewitnesses said, the colleague grabbed a knife from a nearby restaurant and returned to stab Sabika in the chest. He was dead by the time he reached the hospital. “He wasn’t just killed by a weapon,” said his childhood friend Islam, who spoke on the condition that he be identified by his nickname, fearing for his own safety. “He was killed by the words of all those politicians who planted the ideology against us in people’s heads,” he continued. “It won’t be the last death like this.” As Turkey prepares for a landmark runoff in its presidential election, the fate of people like Sabika and Islam are on the ballot. After years of economic crisis here, Syrian refugees and asylum seekers have become easy targets for leaders across the political spectrum, who contend that immigrants are changing the nation’s character and should be returned to their home country by force. Even before election season, a rising tide of forced deportations, police harassment and violent hate crimes had left many Syrians feeling under siege.

Israeli agents conducted raid against militants in civilian area, killing a child (Washington Post) The traffic was barely moving on March 16 in central Jenin, an unusually busy Thursday afternoon in the West Bank. With the holy month of Ramadan just days away, restaurants were full and shoppers wove between cars as they hustled from store to store. A father pushed a stroller past a silver sedan. Inside the car, Israeli undercover agents were in place, waiting to carry out an operation against two Palestinian militants who were walking nearby. Omar Awadin, age 14, pedaled by on his bicycle, having just completed his last errand of the day. Moments later, four plainclothes security forces burst from a second silver sedan nearby in pursuit of the militants and opened fire. Such scenes are increasingly common in the West Bank, where more than 3 million Palestinians live under Israeli military occupation and a new generation of militants has risen to prominence. Israel says raids like this one are vital to disrupting terrorist networks and protecting its citizens from attack; Palestinian officials say they are war crimes that should be referred to the International Criminal Court. Israeli military operations have long been a fixture of life here, but they once happened mostly at night, and usually ended in apprehensions. This year, under the most right-wing government in Israeli history, a growing number of incursions have been carried out during the day, in densely packed urban areas such as Jenin. As of May 15, 108 Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, including militants and civilians, had been killed by Israeli forces, according to the United Nations, more than double last year’s toll from the same period. At least 19 were children—including Omar, who was fatally shot during the raid in Jenin.

Thought of the Day

“The stuff in our lives is only temporary. The day is coming when all our 401(k)s and our bank statements will be irrelevant. The titles on our resumes will no longer impress anyone. GPAs and SAT scores and college acceptances will be long-forgotten. No one will know what clothes hung in our closets or what cars sat in our garages. All that will be left is love. That which was done out of love for God will last.”—John Ortberg

Saturday, May 27, 2023

Guam ‘very blessed’ with no early reports of major damage in the messy aftermath of Typhoon Mawar (AP) Chainsaws buzzed Friday as neighbors helped neighbors clear toppled trees and began cleaning the wreckage of Typhoon Mawar, which walloped Guam as the strongest typhoon to hit the island in over two decades but appeared to have passed without leaving death or massive destruction in its wake. While it was still early going in the recovery effort, police Sgt. Paul Tapao said there did not seem to be any major damage, main roads were passable and “Guam has been very blessed to have no storm-related deaths or any serious injuries.” To Tapao, the roar of the mechanical saws was a reminder of the resilience of the storm-prone U.S. Pacific territory and its people. “Everyone helps out with the cleaning,” he said. “That’s the Guamanian way.”

Welcome to America! Now learn to be in debt (NPR) Every time you swipe your credit card for a coffee or a carton of eggs, you take out a tiny loan from your bank. In many ways, the U.S. runs on borrowed money: a mortgage for a home, financial aid for college, a loan for a car, credit cards for nearly everything else. Over just two years, Americans went from pandemic-fueled, near-record savings to today’s highest-ever levels of personal debt. The U.S. economy counts on you to borrow money and stay in debt. Almost in a matter of a single generation, America has developed an extensive, even casual reliance on debt. Its epitome is the credit score, which often snares newcomers into a financial Catch-22—building credit history hinges on getting credit, but credit approval is dependent on having credit history. Being financially responsible in the U.S. has come to mean “borrow and repay,” says Barbara Kiviat, an economic sociologist at Stanford University. “It sort of crowds out the idea that maybe not borrowing in the first place is also a good idea,” she says. “But we’re now living in a world where so much hangs on that credit.” But what if you were taught to never owe anybody anything? “It’s such a cultural shift,” says Adina Appelbaum, who works with immigrants as a financial counselor and lawyer, “because in many countries they don’t have this culture of debt ... and there can actually be shame around having debt or a credit card.”

Henry Kissinger’s Legacy (National Security Archive) As Henry Alfred Kissinger reaches 100 years of age, his centennial is generating global coverage of his legacy as a leading statesman, master diplomat and realpolitik foreign policy strategist. “Nobody alive has more experience of international affairs,” as The Economist recently put it in a predictably laudatory tribute to Kissinger. But the historical record also documents the darker side of Kissinger’s controversial tenure in power: his role in the secret bombing campaign in Cambodia that killed over 100,000 civilians; the overthrow of democracy and the rise of dictatorship in Chile; disdain for human rights and support for dirty, and even genocidal, wars abroad, as well as involvement in the Nixon administration’s criminal abuses, among them the secret wiretaps of his own top aides.

More Russian Raids Down The Road (BBC) On Wednesday, Denis Kapustin, the leader of a Russian paramilitary group that conducted a border raid from Ukraine into Russian territory promised that more attacks are on the way. He claims that his group was able to seize “some weapons,” an armored personnel carrier, and multiple prisoners while only having two soldiers injured, though Moscow claims that Russian troops killed over 70 of the raiders. The Liberty of Russia Legion (LSR), which claimed joint responsibility for the Monday attack on Russian territory, said two of its forces were injured while ten more were killed. Both groups claim they want to take down Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government, though their motives are a little less than pure. Kapustin has stated that he wants a mono-ethnic Russian state (Russia is home to over 190 ethnic groups), and an independent Ukrainian investigative group has shown his links to neo-Nazis in Ukraine. Ukraine’s Azov Battalion has similar ideals—it was founded by a known neo-Nazi, is consistently described as “a far-right nationalist” group, recruits known white supremacists from Western countries, and regularly uses Nazi symbolism.

Russia’s Old Bombs Elude Ukraine’s Modern Defenses (NYT) As Kyiv gears up for a much-anticipated counteroffensive, Ukrainian officials, independent analysts and American military officials say the Russians are increasing their use of Soviet-era bombs. Although they have limitations, the weapons, they said, are proving harder to shoot down than the fastest, most modern missiles that the Ukrainians have become adept at intercepting. The aircraft bombs don’t have propulsion systems like cruise missiles or stay in the air nearly as long as drones. The bombs are aloft for only 70 seconds or less and are much more difficult for Ukraine’s air defenses to track. They are little dots on radar screens that soon disappear after being dropped, Ukrainian officials said, and then they slam into villages. According to Ukrainian and American officials, the Russians have retrofitted some of the bombs with satellite navigation systems and wings that stretch their range, turning an old-fashioned weapon, which Moscow has thousands of, into a more modern glide bomb. “This is the evolution of the air war,” said Lt. Colonel Denys Smazhnyi of the Ukrainian Air Force. “They first tried cruise missiles, and we shot them down. Then they tried drones, and we shot those down. They are constantly looking for a solution to strike us, and we are looking for one to intercept them.”

Climbers celebrate Mount Everest 70th anniversary amid melting glaciers, rising temperatures (AP) As the mountaineering community prepares to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the conquest of Mount Everest, there is growing concern about temperatures rising, glaciers and snow melting, and weather getting harsh and unpredictable on the world’s tallest mountain. Since the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) mountain peak was first scaled by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay in 1953, thousands of climbers have reached the peak. Recent research found that Mount Everest’s glaciers have lost 2,000 years of ice in just the past 30 years. Researchers found that the highest glacier on the mountain, the South Col Glacier, has lost more than 54 meters (177 feet) of thickness in the past 25 years. The glaciers are losing ice at rates that likely have no historic precedent, said Duncan Quincey, a glaciologist at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom. The change is happening “extremely rapidly” he said. “It’s causing challenges for everybody within that region and, of course, for the millions of people who are living downstream,” since much of Southern Asia depends on rivers that originate in the Himalayas for agriculture and drinking water. Both floods and droughts are likely to become more extreme, he said.

Chinese hackers spying on US critical infrastructure, Western intelligence says (Reuters) A state-sponsored Chinese hacking group has been spying on a wide range of U.S. critical infrastructure organizations, from telecommunications to transportation hubs, Western intelligence agencies and Microsoft said on Wednesday. The espionage has also targeted the U.S. island territory of Guam, home to strategically important American military bases, Microsoft said in a report, adding that “mitigating this attack could be challenging.” While China and the United States routinely spy on each other, analysts say this is one of the largest known Chinese cyber-espionage campaigns against American critical infrastructure. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Thursday the hacking allegations were a “collective disinformation campaign”. Mao said the campaign was launched by the U.S. for geopolitical reasons and that the report from Microsoft analysts showed that the U.S. government was expanding its channels of disinformation beyond government agencies.

Son of local lawmaker arrested in rare killing that left four dead in Japan (Washington Post) The police arrested the 31-year-old son of a local lawmaker on Friday in connection with an assault that left four people dead, according to police. The suspect has been identified as Masanori Aoki, the son of Nakano City assembly speaker Masamichi Aoki. The armed and masked suspect had barricaded himself in a building after allegedly killing a woman and two police officers in the central Japanese prefecture of Nagano on Thursday. The first three victims died at a hospital. The gunman, who was wearing camouflage clothing, a mask and sunglasses, stabbed the woman and then opened fire with what appeared to be a hunting rifle when police arrived, reports said. A fourth person injured in the attack, Yasuko Takeuchi, 70, was unable to be recovered from the scene until after police apprehended the attacker, when she was pronounced dead, according to local media. Gun crimes are extremely rare in Japan, where firearms are strictly regulated. Anyone trying to get a gun in Japan needs to apply for a permit, attend a class on gun safety and laws, and pass a written test. There is a full-day training course on safe shooting techniques.

Leaked Report: “CIA does not know” is Israel Plans to Bomb Iran (The Intercept) Whether Israel’s escalating threats of war with Iran over its nuclear program are saber-rattling or something more serious is a mystery even to the CIA, according to a portion of a top-secret intelligence report leaked on the platform Discord earlier this year. The report reveals an undisclosed military exercise conducted by Israel. “On 20 February, Israel conducted a large-scale air exercise,” the intelligence report states, “probably to simulate a strike on Iran’s nuclear program and possibly to demonstrate Jerusalem’s resolve to act against Tehran.” “CIA does not know Israel’s near term plans and intentions,” the report adds, speculating that “Netanyahu probably calculates Israel will need to strike Iran to deter its nuclear program and faces a declining military capability to set back Iran’s enrichment program.” Biden has not opposed a unilateral Israeli attack on Iran—and his national security adviser recently hinted at blessing it. “We have made clear to Iran that it can never be permitted to obtain a nuclear weapon,” Jake Sullivan said in a speech earlier this month. Sullivan went a step further, adding, “As President Biden has repeatedly reaffirmed, he will take the actions that are necessary to stand by this statement, including by recognizing Israel’s freedom of action.”

Plastic Bags (ABC News) While many places purport to collect and recycle plastic shopping bags, a new investigation found that in reality it’s rare that bags make it to designated recycling centers even when properly returned to retailers who claim that they’ll recycle them. ABC and nine local stations and affiliates across the country dropped 46 bundles of plastic bags fitted with electronic trackers into drop-off locations associated with the American Chemistry Council’s Wrap Recycling Action Program, which has 18,000 drop-off points nationwide. The trackers were superglued inside multiple layers of clean plastic bags, and were monitored over the course of their journeys. After months of tracking, as of May, half of the trackers last pinged at landfills or incinerators, seven last pinged at refuse transfer stations that don’t recycle plastic bags, and six still remain in the store where they were dropped. Another three are now thousands of miles overseas in Malaysia or Indonesia, exported to Asia, and three were inconclusive. Only four of the 46 bundles last pinged in a facility that recycles plastic bags.

Thought of the Day

“Over every mountain there is a path, although it may not be seen from the valley.”—Theodore Roethke

Friday, May 26, 2023

Expect big crowds for the summer travel season—and big prices, too (AP) The unofficial start of the summer travel season is here. The number of people going through U.S. airports hit pandemic-era highs last weekend, and those records are almost certain to be broken over the Memorial Day holiday. AAA predicts that 37 million Americans will drive at least 50 miles (80 kilometers) from home this weekend, an increase of more than 2 million from Memorial Day last year. With more travel comes more expense. The average rate for a U.S. hotel room last week was $157 a night, up from $150 in the same week last year, according to hotel data provider STR. And the average daily rate for other short-term rentals such as Airbnb and Vrbo rose to $316 last month, up 1.4% from a year ago, according to AirDNA, which tracks the industry.

DeSantis Declares (1440) Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) made his long-anticipated jump into the 2024 presidential race yesterday, making the announcement in a livestreamed conversation with Twitter CEO Elon Musk. DeSantis has positioned his campaign as focused on conservative populism with an emphasis on effective governing and joins a field of seven other candidates seeking the Republican nomination.

ChatGPT maker OpenAI calls for AI regulation, warning of ‘existential risk’ (Washington Post) The leaders of OpenAI, the creator of viral chatbot ChatGPT, are calling for the regulation of “superintelligence” and artificial intelligence systems, suggesting an equivalent to the world’s nuclear watchdog would help reduce the “existential risk” posed by the technology. In a statement published on the company website this week, co-founders Greg Brockman and Ilya Sutskever, as well as CEO Sam Altman, argued that an international regulator would eventually become necessary to “inspect systems, require audits, test for compliance with safety standards, (and) place restrictions on degrees of deployment and levels of security.” They made a comparison with nuclear energy as another example of a technology with the “possibility of existential risk,” raising the need for an authority similar in nature to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the world’s nuclear watchdog. The OpenAI team wrote, “In terms of both potential upsides and downsides, superintelligence will be more powerful than other technologies humanity has had to contend with in the past. We can have a dramatically more prosperous future; but we have to manage risk to get there.”

Fuel shortages slam Cuba’s countryside (AP) Rosa López, a 59-year-old housewife, lit a charcoal stove to boil sweet potatoes and prepare scrambled eggs for her grandchildren. The gas cylinders she normally uses to cook her meals have not been available for almost two months in Mariel, a port town west of Havana. Not far from there, on the highway to Pinar del Río and under a scorching sun, Ramón Victores spent one week waiting in line at a gas station, hoping to fuel up the 1952 red Chevrolet he uses for work, moving produce from one town to another. Cuba’s most recent fuel shortage has crippled an already fragile economy, but it is hitting rural villages particularly hard, with residents resorting to coal fires to cook their food, scrambling to find transport to take them to work and spending days—and nights—at the gas station waiting to fuel up. With food and medications already in short supply amid an economy that was severely hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic, the end of the country’s two-currency system and a tightening of U.S. sanctions, the lack of fuel and cooking gas is perceived by many Cubans in the island’s countryside as the last straw.

As Protesters Die, a Nation’s Security Forces Face Little Scrutiny (NYT) In the adobe house she built with her husband in a small village in Peru, Antonia Huillca pulled out a stack of documents that once represented a glimmer of hope. They were part of an investigation into the death of her husband, Quintino Cereceda, who left one morning in 2016 to join a protest against a new copper mine and never returned. Ms. Huillca can’t read, but she can identify a photo of her husband’s body, a bullet wound to his forehead; the question-and-answer format in which police officers describe firing live ammunition as protesters threw rocks; the logo of the mining company sending convoys of trucks over unpaved roads, sparking protests among villagers fed up with the dust. But today, the investigation has gone cold. “All these years and no justice,” Ms. Huillca, a 51-year-old Quechua farmer, said. “It’s as if we don’t exist.” For years, scores of similar cases in Peru have met a familiar fate: Investigations into the killing of unarmed civilians at protests where security forces were deployed, most of them in poor Indigenous and rural areas, are opened when they attract headlines, only to be closed quietly later, with officials often citing a lack of evidence. Now, the unusually high death toll during antigovernment demonstrations after the removal of the country’s president last year has put accusations of abuse by security officials in the global spotlight, raising questions about why so many previous killings remain unsolved.

Immigration to Britain reaches record high in 2022 (AP) The number of people moving to Britain reached a record high of more than 600,000 in 2022, government figures showed Thursday. The statistics office said the record level was due to a “series of unprecedented world events throughout 2022 and the lifting of restrictions following the coronavirus pandemic.” As well as people coming to Britain to work, the figure includes tens of thousands of international students and almost 200,000 people who have arrived under special programs for people fleeing war in Ukraine and China’s clampdown in Hong Kong. The high figure will renew debate about Britain’s departure from the European Union, which was motivated in part by the arrival of hundreds of thousands of people from across Europe in the years before the 2016 Brexit referendum.

Europe Faces a Food Shock (WSJ) Fresh out of an energy crisis, Europeans are facing a food-price explosion that is changing diets and forcing consumers across the region to tighten their belts—literally. This is happening even though inflation as a whole is falling thanks to lower energy prices. New data on Wednesday showed inflation in the U.K. fell sharply in April as energy prices cooled, following a similar pattern around Europe and in the U.S. But food prices were 19.3% higher than a year earlier. The continued surge in food prices has caught central bankers off guard and pressured governments to come to the rescue.

Prigozhin’s warning (Washington Post) Fresh off his claim of victory in capturing the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, Russian mercenary boss Yevgeniy Prigozhin warned that Moscow’s brutal war could plunge Russia into turmoil similar to the 1917 revolution unless its detached, wealthy elite become more directly committed to the conflict. In a lengthy interview with Konstantin Dolgov, a political operative and pro-war blogger, Prigozhin, the founder and leader of the Wagner mercenary group, also asserted that the war had backfired spectacularly by failing to “demilitarize” Ukraine, one of President Vladimir Putin’s stated aims of the invasion. He also called for totalitarian policies. “We are in a situation where we can simply lose Russia,” Prigozhin said, using an expletive to hammer his point. “We must introduce martial law. We unfortunately … must announce new waves of mobilization; we must put everyone who is capable to work on increasing the production of ammunition,” he said. “Russia needs to live like North Korea for a few years, so to say, close the borders … and work hard.” Instead of demilitarization, he said, the invasion turned “Ukraine’s army into one of the most powerful in the world” and Ukrainians into “a nation known to the entire world.”

Turkish voters weigh final decision on next president (AP) Two opposing visions for Turkey’s future are on the ballot when voters return to the polls Sunday for a runoff presidential election that will decide between an increasingly authoritarian incumbent and a challenger who has pledged to restore democracy. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a populist and polarizing leader who has ruled Turkey for 20 years, is well positioned to win after falling just short of victory in the first round of balloting on May 14. He was the top finisher even as the country reels from sky-high inflation and the effects of a devastating earthquake in February. Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of Turkey’s pro-secular main opposition party and a six-party alliance, has campaigned on a promise to undo Erdogan’s authoritarian tilt. The 74-year-old former bureaucrat has described the runoff as a referendum on the direction of the strategically located NATO country, which is at the crossroads of Europe and Asia and has a key say over the alliance’s expansion. “This is an existential struggle. Turkey will either be dragged into darkness or light,” Kilicdaroglu said. “This is more than an election. It has turned into a referendum.”

Beijing can’t take a joke (Foreign Policy) A Chinese comedian’s mild joke about the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) last week led to a $1.9 million fine for his entertainment company. Li Haoshi, a stand-up comedian known as “House” onstage, joked that watching his dogs chase a squirrel reminded him of the PLA slogan “Fight to win!” Beijing authorities intervened after audio was shared on social media, fining the company that represents Li and confiscating the profits of weekend shows. Li is now under investigation for insulting the PLA and causing “bad social impact.” Around the same time, China suspended the Weibo and Bilibili accounts of a popular British Malaysian comedian after he made a joke about Chinese surveillance. One of the reasons that Chinese censorship has become so petty is that years of crackdowns under Xi quashed most dissident content years ago. The authorities must now go after the inconsequential to justify their own existence.

South Korea, US troops to hold massive live-fire drills near border with North Korea (AP) The South Korean and U.S. militaries were set to begin massive live-fire drills near the border with North Korea on Thursday, despite the North’s warning that it won’t tolerate what it calls such a hostile invasion rehearsal on its doorstep. Thursday’s drills, the first of the allies’ five rounds of firing exercises until mid-June, mark 70 years since the establishment of the military alliance between Seoul and Washington. North Korea has typically reacted to such major South Korean-U.S. exercises with missile and other weapons tests. Since the start of 2022, North Korea has test-launched more than 100 missiles but none since it fired a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile in mid-April. North Korea has argued its torrid pace of tests was meant to respond to the expanded military drills between the U.S. and South Korea, but observers say the North aims to advance its weapons development then wrest greater concessions from its rivals in eventual diplomacy.

What about those who can’t flee fighting in Sudan? (AP) Mahmoud almost never leaves his small apartment in east Khartoum. Electricity has been out for most of the past month, so he swelters in the summer heat. When he does venture out to find food, he leaves his mobile phone behind because of looters in the street. Otherwise, he hunkers down in fear, worried that an artillery shell could burst into his home. Since the conflict broke out last month, more than 1.3 million people have fled their homes to escape Sudan’s fighting, going elsewhere in the country or across the borders. But Mahmoud and millions of others remain trapped in Khartoum and its sister cities of Bahri and Omdurman, unable to leave the central battleground between Sudan’s military and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary. For them, every day is a struggle to find food, get water and charge their phones when electricity is cut off. All the while, they must avoid the fighters and criminals in the streets who rob and brutalize pedestrians, loot shops and storm into homes to steal whatever of value they can find.

Paralysis Breakthrough (1440) Swiss neuroscientists have successfully utilized a brain-spine interface to enable a paralyzed man to walk using his thoughts, according to a study released yesterday. The breakthrough development expands on recent innovations using spinal implants to generate movement in patients with immobilizing spinal injuries. Gert-Jan Oskam, a Dutch 40-year-old who was paralyzed 12 years ago, received two brain implants and one on his spine, creating a so-called “digital bridge” across the injured nerves. A portable computer decodes his brain’s electrical signals and relays them to a spinal pulse generator, resulting in the perception that his lower body movements are voluntary. Combined with regular therapy, the procedure allows Oskam to walk and climb stairs with a natural gait aided by a walker, at times without the digital bridge activated. The procedure further opens the possibility for victims of paralysis to regain control of their legs, with researchers hoping to reduce the size and invasiveness of the implants.

Thought of the Day

“If equal affection cannot be, let the more loving be me.”—W. H. Auden