The Full Belmonte, 3/7/2023
Snow blocks roads and covers vehicles Monday in Crestline, California.
Winter snow
“Back-to-back winter storms over the past week have overwhelmed several mountain communities in California, leaving residents trapped behind walls of snow and concerned about their dwindling supplies. The Sierra Nevadas could see up to three inches of snow through today, following a weekend that brought as much as 38 inches of snow over a 24-hour period to some areas. In recent days, the snowfall prompted Yosemite National Park to close indefinitely and has buried cars under snow piles that sometimes towered as high as second-story windows. Meanwhile, the Climate Prediction Center is calling for below-average temperatures for much of the rest of the country this week which could bring snow as far south as the southern Appalachians as well as into the mid-Atlantic region.” [CNN]
January 6
“Fox News host Tucker Carlson aired newly released footage on his show Monday from the January 6, 2021, US Capitol attack that included images of the rioter known as the ‘QAnon Shaman,’ as well as of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died following the attack. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy granted Carlson access to more than 40,000 hours of the Capitol security footage from January 6. CNN and other news organizations have also requested access to the footage. McCarthy's office said it is still working out the process to make the footage ‘more widely available’ but did not comment further. Separately, former Vice President Mike Pence has asked a judge to block a subpoena for his testimony related to January 6, previously arguing it was ‘unconstitutional and unprecedented.’” [CNN]
Biden to unveil plan averting Medicare funding crisis, challenging GOP
The White House would raise taxes on high earners and reduce government payments for some prescription drugs in a bid to keep the program stable
“The White House on Tuesday will propose raising taxes on Americans earning more than $400,000 and reducing what Medicare pays for prescription drugs in an attempt to ensure that the health-care program for seniors is funded for the next two decades, challenging Republicans over an imminent funding crisis, according to a copy of the plan reviewed by The Washington Post.
As forecasters warn that a key Medicare trust fund will run into major financial problems within five years, the administration will propose three key changes — including the tax hike and new rules to reduce prescription drug costs — to bolster the program for at least 25 years, the plan shows.
Roughly 60 million seniors depend on Medicare for their health insurance. Because the program is spending money at a much faster clip than it brings in funding, it faces automatic federal cuts starting in 2028, raising the nightmare scenario of medical providers refusing care to senior citizens if Congress and the White House don’t address the looming shortfall first….” Read more at Washington Post
At Elon Musk’s ‘brittle’ Twitter, tweaks trigger massive outages
‘Every mistake in code and operations is now deadly,’ a former engineer said last year. That dire prediction appears to be coming true.
“On two occasions recently, almost exactly a month apart, minor changes to Twitter’s code appeared to break the website.
The latest outage came Monday as thousands of users found they could not access links, photos or other key aspects of the site.
‘A small API change had massive ramifications,’ Twitter CEO Elon Musk wrote in a tweet on Monday, referring to the tool used by third-party developers who run programs that draw on Twitter data and post to its site. ‘The code stack is extremely brittle for no good reason. Will ultimately need a complete rewrite.’
It was the second time Monday he’d turned to that explanation, both times calling the site ‘brittle.’
Since taking over Twitter, CEO Elon Musk has laid off more than two-thirds of the company’s staff, embarking on aggressive cost-cutting and shedding workers in part by compelling them to a commit to an ‘extremely hardcore’ workplace or leave the company. The massive layoffs led to widespread concerns about Twitter’s ability to retain core functions, as critical engineering teams were reduced to one or zero staffers.
In the months since the takeover — and subsequent layoffs — Twitter has faced multiple outages, hampering key features: loading tweets and notifications, sending tweets and direct messages, accessing links and photographs. Each was said — by staffers current and former, or Musk himself — to come as the company made changes to its code.
‘Every mistake in code and operations is now deadly,’ a former engineer told The Washington Post in November, explaining that those left over were ‘going to be overwhelmed, overworked and, because of that, more likely to make mistakes.’ The former engineer spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.
Before Musk’s takeover, the company had a risk evaluation team that vetted product changes for anticipated problems. Twitter’s risk evaluation process was geared at flagging potential problems before they arose. But the team was laid off after Musk’s takeover, The Washington Post reported, leading to product rollouts that were riddled with bugs…..” Read more at Washington Post
Norfolk Southern to Add 200 Temperature Sensors After Ohio Train Derailment
Railroad announces a slate of safety initiatives aimed at preventing accidents
By Costas Paris
“Norfolk Southern Corp. said it would add about 200 temperature detectors along its tracks in the aftermath of two major derailments in Ohio, including one involving a train that resulted in hazardous chemicals being released.
The railroad said it would add the hot-bearing sensors to parts of its track where existing sensors are at least 15 miles apart, starting with the track west of East Palestine, Ohio, where a derailment occurred Feb. 3. It said it currently has about 1,000 temperature sensors through its network and the sensors are on average 13.9 miles apart….” Read more at Wall Street Journal
Group Seeks Disbarment of a Trump-Aligned Lawyer for a Key Jan. 6 Witness
Prominent lawyers filed a scathing ethics complaint against Stefan Passantino, who represented Cassidy Hutchinson in the early stages of the House committee’s investigation.
‘WASHINGTON — In appearing before the Jan. 6 committee last year, Cassidy Hutchinson, the former White House aide who recounted President Donald J. Trump’s conduct in the lead-up to the attacks on the Capitol, shared how her original lawyer had tried to influence her testimony.
While represented by that lawyer, Stefan Passantino, Ms. Cassidy was less forthcoming to the committee. But after hiring a different lawyer, she provided more damaging details about Mr. Trump and said that Mr. Passantino had pressured her to remain loyal and protect the former president.
Now, several dozen prominent legal figures, including past presidents of the American Bar Association and the District of Columbia Bar, are seeking to revoke Mr. Passantino’s license to practice law. The move reflects intensifying scrutiny over whether Mr. Passantino, a former Trump White House ethics lawyer whose legal fees were covered by Mr. Trump’s political action committee, violated his own professional duty, along with a host of other ethical requirements, by putting the interests of a third party over that of his client.
In a 22-page complaint filed on Monday with D.C.’s Board on Professional Responsibility, prominent lawyers accused Mr. Passantino of the crimes of subornation of perjury, obstruction of justice, witness tampering and bribery. The latter referred in part to Ms. Cassidy’s allegation that his advice to say little to the panel was accompanied by assurances that she would get a ‘really good job in ‘Trump world.’…” Read more at New York Times
The Curious Rise of a Supreme Court Doctrine That Threatens Biden’s Agenda
The ‘major questions doctrine,’ promoted by conservative commentators, is of recent vintage but has enormous power and may doom student loan relief and other programs.
By Adam Liptak
“WASHINGTON — It has been only eight months since the Supreme Court first invoked the ‘major questions doctrine’ by name in a majority opinion, using it to limit the Environmental Protection Agency’s power to address climate change. Last week, the court seemed poised to use it again, to kill the Biden administration’s plan to cancel more than $400 billion in student loans.
In dissent in the climate case, Justice Elena Kagan wrote that the majority had engaged in a sleight of hand. When ordinary legal principles fail to thwart disfavored programs, she wrote, ‘special canons like the ‘major questions doctrine’ magically appear.’
The idea behind the major questions doctrine is that Congress must speak particularly clearly when it authorizes the executive branch to take on matters of political or economic significance. But what makes that idea a doctrine?
A timely new study traces the rapid and curious rise of the major questions doctrine, spurred by conservative scholars and commentators and driven by hostility to administrative agencies….” Read more at New York Times
U.S. Is Said to Consider Reinstating Detention of Migrant Families
President Biden has turned to increasingly restrictive measures as his administration prepares for the end of Title 42, which has allowed border authorities to swiftly expel migrants.
“WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is considering reviving the practice of detaining migrant families who cross the border illegally — the same policy the president shut down over the past two years because he wanted a more humane immigration system, officials familiar with the discussions said Monday.
Although no final decision has been made, the move would be a stark reversal for President Biden, who came into office promising to adopt a more compassionate approach to the border after the harsh policies of his predecessor, former President Donald J. Trump.
The Biden administration has largely ended the practice of family detention, instead releasing families into the United States temporarily and using ankle bracelets, traceable cellphones or other methods to keep track of them.
But the administration has turned to more restrictive measures as it struggles to handle a rise in migrants fleeing authoritarian governments and economic ruin in their countries. Officials also fear a surge at the border after May 11, when a public health measure that has allowed authorities to swiftly expel migrants expires….” Read more at New York Times
Four kidnapped Americans crossed into Mexico to purchase medicine, president says
“Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Monday that four Americans were going to buy medicine last week when ‘there was a confrontation between groups, and they were detained.’ U.S. officials have also confirmed a Mexican citizen was killed. The victims crossed into Mexico Friday through the city of Matamoros, in the Tamaulipas state, driving a white minivan with North Carolina license plates, the FBI said. Shortly after, gunmen fired upon the passengers and the Americans were placed in another vehicle and taken from the scene, the FBI said. Here's what else we know about the kidnapping.” [USA Today]
A member of the Mexican security forces stands next to a white minivan with North Carolina plates and several bullet holes, at the crime scene where gunmen kidnapped four U.S. citizens who crossed into Mexico from Texas, Friday, March 3, 2023.
STR, AP
Lawsuit filed to end student loan payment pause
“SoFi, a company with a significant student loan refinancing business, is suing the federal government to end its moratorium on federal student loan payments, calling it ‘an illegal overreach of power.’ Federal student loan payments have been paused for roughly 43.5 million borrowers since March 2020, at the onset of the pandemic. The current pause, which costs the federal government about $5 billion per month, could last through August, but that depends on when the Supreme Court issues its verdict on Biden’s mass student loan forgiveness plan.” Read more at USA Today
Student debt relief advocates gather outside the Supreme Court on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023.
Former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort strikes $3.1M settlement with Justice Department
“Paul Manafort, the embattled former Trump campaign chairman, agreed to pay $3.15 million to settle a civil lawsuit brought by the Justice Department last year citing his failure to report financial interests in foreign bank accounts.
Notice of the settlement was filed last month in a federal court in Florida where Manafort now lives.
Manafort was among a string of allies and former aides pardoned by former President Donald Trump in the final days of his term.
Once a prominent Republican political adviser, Manafort had been convicted of defrauding banks and taxpayers out of millions of dollars he had amassed through illicit lobbying activities. He had been sentenced to four years in prison in Virginia and three years in Washington.
Manafort was among several former Trump aides who were charged as a result of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and possible cooperation with the Trump campaign.
The cases against Manafort detailed how the former consultant tapped an illicit fortune to pay for expensive homes, clothing and luxury cars….” Read more at USA Today
23 charged with terrorism in Atlanta ‘Cop City’ protest
By JEFF MARTIN and JEFF AMY
“ATLANTA (AP) — More than 20 people from around the country faced domestic terrorism charges Monday after dozens in black masks attacked the site of a police training center under construction in a wooded area outside Atlanta where one protester was killed in January.
The site has become the flashpoint of ongoing conflict between authorities and left-leaning protesters who have been drawn together, joining forces to protest a variety of causes. Among them: People against the militarization of police; others who aim to protect the environment; and some who oppose corporations who they see as helping to fund the project through donations to a police foundation.
Flaming bottles and rocks were thrown at officers during a protest Sunday at “Cop City,” where 26-year-old environmental activist Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, or “Tortuguita,” was shot to death by officers during a raid at a protest camp in January. Police have said that Tortuguita attacked them, a version that other activists have questioned.
Almost all of the 23 people arrested are from states across the U.S., while one is from Canada and another from France, police said Monday.
Like many protesters, Tortuguita was dedicated to preserving the environment, friends and family said, ideals that clashed with Atlanta’s hopes of building a $90 million Atlanta Public Safety Training Center meant to boost preparedness and morale after George Floyd’s death in 2020….” Read more at AP News
Thousands of pro-Trump bots are attacking DeSantis, Haley
By DAVID KLEPPER
“WASHINGTON (AP) — Over the past 11 months, someone created thousands of fake, automated Twitter accounts — perhaps hundreds of thousands of them — to offer a stream of praise for Donald Trump.
Besides posting adoring words about the former president, the fake accounts ridiculed Trump’s critics from both parties and attacked Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador who is challenging her onetime boss for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
When it came to Ron DeSantis, the bots aggressively suggested that the Florida governor couldn’t beat Trump, but would be a great running mate.
As Republican voters size up their candidates for 2024, whoever created the bot network is seeking to put a thumb on the scale, using online manipulation techniques pioneered by the Kremlin to sway the digital platform conversation about candidates while exploiting Twitter’s algorithms to maximize their reach….” Read more at AP News
Republican Votes Helped Washington Pile Up Debt
As they escalate a debt-limit standoff, House Republicans blame President Biden’s spending bills for an increase in deficits. Voting records show otherwise.
“WASHINGTON — President Biden will submit his latest budget request to Congress on Thursday, offering what his administration says will be $2 trillion in plans to reduce deficits and future growth of the national debt.
Republicans, who are demanding deep spending cuts in exchange for raising the nation’s borrowing cap, will almost certainly greet that proposal with a familiar refrain: Mr. Biden and his party are to blame for ballooning the debt.
But an analysis of House and Senate voting records, and of fiscal estimates of legislation prepared by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, shows that Republicans bear at least equal blame as Democrats for the biggest drivers of federal debt growth that passed Congress over the last two presidential administrations.
The national debt has grown to $31.4 trillion from just under $6 trillion in 2000, bumping against the statutory limit on federal borrowing. That increase, which spanned the presidential administrations of two Republicans and two Democrats, has been fueled by tax cuts, wars, economic stimulus and the growing costs of retirement and health programs. Since 2017, when Donald J. Trump took the White House, Republicans and Democrats in Congress have joined together to pass a series of spending increases and tax cuts that the budget office projects will add trillions to the debt.
The analysis is based on the forecasts that the C.B.O. regularly issues for the federal budget. They include descriptions of newly passed legislation that affects spending, revenues and deficits, tallying the costs of those new laws over the course of a decade. Going back to the start of Mr. Trump’s tenure, those reports highlight 13 new laws that, by the C.B.O.’s projections, will combine to add more than $11.5 trillion to the debt.
Nearly three-quarters of that new debt was approved in bills that gained the support of a majority of Republicans in at least one chamber of Congress. Three-fifths of it was signed into law by Mr. Trump.
Some of those bills were in response to emergencies, like the early rounds of stimulus payments to people and businesses during the pandemic. Others were routine appropriations bills, which increased spending on the military and on domestic issues like research and education.
Many of the votes were roundly bipartisan: More than 85 percent of the projected debt added over the last six years passed with a majority of Democratic votes in both chambers. Almost an identical amount of debt passed with at least a third of Republican votes in the House or Senate. Chief among them were a series of Covid-19 relief measures totaling more than $3 trillion and passing with landslide majorities in 2020.
Some of the laws passed entirely along party lines. In those cases, on net, Republicans added slightly more to the debt than Democrats.
That’s because of the sweeping corporate and individual tax cuts that Mr. Trump signed into law at the end of 2017, which cost $2 trillion. Despite Republican claims that the tax cuts paid for themselves, the C.B.O. estimated last month that Mr. Trump’s corporate tax cuts alone would cost the federal government hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue in the years to come. Earlier C.B.O. analyses suggest that the full slate of tax cuts have already cost the government $1.2 trillion through the 2022 fiscal year.
The tax cuts’ price tag outweighed the net cost of the two most fiscally consequential bills that Mr. Biden and Democrats passed along party lines: a $1.9 trillion economic aid bill in 2021 and a climate, health and tax bill approved late last summer, which is projected to reduce future deficits by nearly $300 billion.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California and many other prominent Republicans who are now leading the resistance to raising the borrowing limit did vote against large spending bills that other Republicans backed under Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden. But they also voted for trillions of dollars in pandemic aid under Mr. Trump and roundly backed his tax cuts.
House Republicans have pushed to extend the 2017 tax cuts, which would add trillions to the debt. They also support rolling back tax increases and enhanced tax enforcement measures approved by Mr. Biden, which would have the effect of adding hundreds of billions of dollars to deficits if they were to succeed.
Top congressional Republicans rarely acknowledge the role that their party has played in adding to deficits and debt in recent years, instead laying the blame on Mr. Biden and Democrats.
‘Biden’s numerous bailouts and massive government expansion disguised as Covid relief has blown out spending and exacerbated our debt disaster,’ Representative Jodey C. Arrington of Texas, the chair of the House Budget Committee, said last month.
Beyond Congress, Republican candidates have long tweaked their party for not taking a harder line on spending and debt. ‘The last two Republican presidents added more than $10 trillion to the national debt,’ Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador who is now running for president, told the conservative Club for Growth on Saturday, as reported by Politico. ‘Think about that. A third of our debt happened under just two Republicans.’….” Read more at New York Times
Passenger Tried to Open Door During Flight and Attacked Attendant, U.S. Says
The man was charged in federal court after he tried to unlock an emergency exit and attempted to stab a flight attendant with a broken spoon, the authorities said.
“A passenger on a United Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Boston was arrested on Sunday after he tried to open an emergency exit door while the plane was in flight and then attempted to stab a flight attendant in the neck with a broken spoon, the authorities said.
The passenger, Francisco Severo Torres, 33, of Leominster, Mass., was arrested after other passengers tackled him and the flight landed safely at Boston Logan International Airport, the authorities said.
Mr. Torres was charged with one count of interference and attempted interference with flight crew members and attendants using a dangerous weapon. The charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
He made an initial appearance on Monday in Federal District Court in Boston, and was detained until a hearing on Thursday, prosecutors said. The federal public defender who represented him did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.
United Airlines said in a statement that “thanks to the quick action of our crew and customers, one customer was restrained after becoming a security concern,” on Flight 2609. No serious injuries were reported, the airline said.
‘We have zero tolerance for any type of violence on our flights, and this customer will be banned from flying on United pending an investigation,’ the airline said, adding that it was cooperating with the investigation.
Flight 2609 had left Los Angeles at about 8:20 a.m. and was about 45 minutes from Boston when an alarm in the cockpit warned that a side door between the first class and coach sections had been disarmed, a Boston Police detective assigned to an F.B.I. task force wrote in a sworn statement filed in court.
A flight attendant who went to investigate found that the locking handle on the door had been moved about one fourth of the way toward the unlocked position, the statement said. The arming lever for the emergency slide had also been moved to the ‘disarmed’ position, the statement said.
A flight attendant reported that he had seen Mr. Torres near the door and believed that he had tampered with it, the statement said. The flight attendant confronted him about tampering with the door, and Mr. Torres responded by asking if there were cameras showing that he had done so, the statement said.
The flight attendant notified the captain that he believed that Mr. Torres posed a threat to the airplane and that the captain needed to land the plane as soon as possible, the statement said.
Shortly after that, Mr. Torres got out of his seat and approached two flight attendants who were standing in an aisle, the statement said. One of the flight attendants saw Mr. Torres mouth something that he could not hear, the statement said.
Mr. Torres was holding a ‘shiny object,’ which he later said was the handle of a metal spoon that he had broken in half in the airplane’s bathroom, the statement said.
When he got close to one of the flight attendants, he thrust the spoon handle toward that crew member in a ‘stabbing motion,’ the statement said. The flight attendant felt Mr. Torres’s hand hit him on the shirt collar and tie three times, the statement said.
Passengers tackled Mr. Torres, and he was ‘restrained with the assistance of flight crew,’ the statement said.
After the plane landed and Mr. Torres was arrested, he told investigators that he “had gotten the idea to open the emergency exit door and jump out of the plane,” the statement said.
Mr. Torres told investigators that after he was confronted by flight attendants, he had tried to stab one of them because ‘he believed the flight attendant was trying to kill him, so he was trying to kill the flight attendant first,’ the statement said….” Read more at New York Times
Ukraine vows to defend Bakhmut as Russian attacks intensify
“Ukraine's military leaders remain committed to defending Bakhmut despite the immense firepower Russian forces have rained down on the Donetsk region city for months, the office of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday. Military strategists have questioned why Russia has been so determined to seize the city, given the heavy casualties and apparently modest military value. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Monday that losing Bakhmut would not be a major blow because its value is more symbolic than strategic.” Read more at USA Today
A Ukrainian soldier sits in a trench near Russian positions near Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Sunday, March 5, 2023.
LIBKOS, AP
U.K. to Bar All Asylum Seekers Who Cross Channel on Boats
Ruling Conservative Party seeks to address controversial issue ahead of elections expected next year
The number of migrants arriving in England from France on small boats has soared.PHOTO: BEN STANSALL/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
“LONDON—The U.K. government plans to introduce a law on Tuesday that bans asylum seekers who arrive illegally on small boats across the English Channel from applying for British citizenship, the latest attempt by the ruling Conservative Party to fix Britain’s overwhelmed asylum system and bring under control a hot-button issue that has damaged its standings in the polls.
The new law aims to deter and more quickly process tens of thousands of asylum seekers who make the sometimes perilous journey to the U.K. in small boats from France, a government spokesman said Monday. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made tackling the issue a pledge ahead of an election expected next year….” Read more at Wall Street Journal
A historic treaty to protect world oceans
“After years of negotiations, nearly 200 countries agreed to the United Nations ‘High Seas Treaty’ to conserve global marine life.” [Vox] [The Hill / Julia Mueller]
“The treaty establishes new rules covering at least 30 percent of the world’s oceans by 2030 to protect against overfishing, deep-sea mining, and shipping traffic. Just 1.2 percent is currently protected.” [Vox][BBC]
“Rich countries also agreed to share with developing countries the financial benefits from any newly discovered information about deep sea creatures that could benefit humans.” [Vox] [Washington Post / Leo Sands and Dino Grandoni]
“However, it could take years to fully implement the treaty since countries must meet again to fully adopt and ratify the agreement.” [Vox] [CNN / Laura Paddison]
Military reservists protesting in Israel last month.Amir Cohen/Reuters
“Members of the Israeli military have joined protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to curtail the Supreme Court’s powers.” [New York Times]
“Pakistan has touted itself as one of the world’s cradles of civilization, flourishing for thousands of years along ancient trade routes passing through the fertile Indus Valley.
Now it presents a dystopian vision of the future, bankrupt, unstable and threatened by climate catastrophe. Its fate offers a warning to other heavily indebted nations on the precipice, from Sri Lanka to Zambia.
Pakistan is due to hold elections no later than October, and political jostling is narrowing the nuclear-armed nation’s options.
Opposition leader Imran Khan, who was ousted from the premiership last year, is in a bitter standoff with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif over control of the country of 230 million. He’s held mass rallies in recent months to pressure the government into an early vote, while the authorities have filed numerous cases against him and issued a warrant for his arrest.
As Islamabad fiddles, the country is burning up its foreign reserves, and investors see a growing risk of default. The government is living hand to mouth, reliant on outside loans from China while negotiating with the International Monetary Fund for the remaining funds in a $6.5 billion bailout — its 13th since the late 1980s.
Pakistan already got a taste of economic disaster last year when deadly floods displaced millions. Such calamities are unlikely to be a one-off, with climate scientists forecasting massive increases in river flows as a result of melting Himalayan glaciers, inundating farmland and obliterating infrastructure — interspersed with drought.
Pakistan could hardly have a more strategic location, lodged between Iran and India and with China and Afghanistan to the north. That, plus its sheer size as the world’s fifth-most populous nation, make it too big to be allowed to fail.
The question is who, both in and outside the country, is going to come to its rescue. — Alan Crawford [Bloomberg]
Children sit by a fire on a commercial street in Lahore, Pakistan, on Jan. 23. Photographer: Betsy Joles/Bloomberg
“French strike | Unions are seeking to bring France to a standstill today in a sixth day of protests against President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to raise the minimum retirement age to 64. Strikes are expected to cause severe disruption to trains, flights and possibly other sectors of the economy like utilities, even as the government insists the reform is crucial to keeping public finances sound.” [Bloomberg]
“Orbital shift | Georgia’s ruling party is pushing for a ‘foreign agent’ bill that critics liken to a law President Vladimir Putin used to crush dissent in Russia by curbing groups that receive US and European funding. Opposition parties, media and civil society groups warned the legislation would indirectly promote the Kremlin’s interest nearly two decades after the pro-Western ‘Rose Revolution’ helped Georgia pull away from Moscow’s orbit.” [Bloomberg]
Travelers walking on the road from the customs checkpoint between Georgia and Russia in September. Photographer: Daro Sulakauri/Getty Images Europe
“The government of Peru, the second-biggest producer of copper and zinc, expects shipments of the commodities will begin to normalize within days as the nation’s worst street protests in decades ease.” [Bloomberg]
“The outbreak of violence against Black migrants in Tunisia that critics say was stoked by President Kais Saied has prompted the World Bank to temporarily halt some work in the North African nation. Hundreds of sub-Saharan Africans have left Tunisia since Saied blamed Black residents for a rise in violent crime. He ordered security forces last month to stop illegal migration and expel undocumented migrants. The crackdown has caused racially motivated assaults.” [Bloomberg]
Sub-Saharan migrants load belongings onto a bus to head to a repatriation flight from Tunis. Photographer: Fethi Belaid/AFP/Getty Images
Suspected School Poisonings Alarm Iranians
“As many as 1,000 Iranian students have grown sick from suspected poisoning attacks widely believed to be targeting schoolgirls, in a mysterious wave of cases that has sparked alarm and outrage.
Since the suspected poisonings were first reported in November 2022, students have reported experiencing headaches, nausea, heart palpitations, and even smelling tangerines. There haven’t been any fatalities, but hundreds have reportedly been hospitalized, and authorities said there have been cases in at least 52 schools and 10 cities. On Sunday, Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said investigators had uncovered ‘suspicious samples;’ earlier, other officials reported finding nitrogen gas.
Frustrated parents have taken to the streets, with protests sweeping cities including Tehran over the weekend. Some have clashed with authorities, while others have kept their children home from school.
There is ‘a sense of panic taking over, and [there] is a very swift distance from panicking about the well-being of your family to politically mobilizing against [Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei]’s regime,’ said Alex Vatanka, director of the Iran Program at the Middle East Institute. ‘Khamenei knows that, and that’s why he has to try and see if he can do some damage control.’
On Monday, Khamenei warned that the intentional poisoning of students was an ‘unforgivable crime.’ ‘If it is proven deliberate, those perpetrators of this unforgivable crime should be sentenced to capital punishment,’ state media reported him saying.
But as anger mounts, a lot remains unknown. It is still unclear who might be behind such poisonings, how exactly they are being carried out, or what the motive is. Some observers have suggested that they are the regime’s retaliatory acts against the country’s recent protests. Iran’s deputy health minister has said that ‘some people wanted all schools, especially girls’ schools, to be closed down,’ although he later backtracked.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who only launched an investigation months after the first cases were reported, has accused ‘enemies of Iran’ of attempting to undermine the country’s security.
‘Either way, whether it’s foreign intelligence services that are doing it or this is happening by elements inside the regime, it is a massive, massive embarrassment for them,’ said Vatanka. ‘They don’t have control.’” [Foreign Policy]
“Thawing relations? South Korea will establish a private-sector financed fund to compensate Korean victims of forced labor under Japanese occupation during World War II, the government announced on Monday. The issue had been at the center of a historical dispute between the two countries. The announcement marks a ‘groundbreaking new chapter of cooperation and partnership between two of the United States’ closest allies,’ said U.S. President Joe Biden.
According to Reuters, Japanese companies aren’t expected to make any contributions but won’t be blocked from donating. The announcement drew criticism from opposition leaders and some of the victims, who saw the decision as capitulation and argued the money should come from Japanese companies.” [Foreign Policy]
“McCarthy and Taiwan. U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-Wen have decided to meet in California, not Taipei, as a result of the island’s security concerns, the Financial Times reported. The location is less likely to antagonize Beijing in the way that Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei did last year. According to Reuters, their meeting is expected to take place in the coming weeks.” [Foreign Policy]
“Belarus sentences Tsikhanouskaya. Belarus has sentenced Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, an exiled opposition leader who fled the country in 2020, to 15 years in jail. She was charged with treason and conspiring to take power from authoritarian leader Aleksandr Lukashenko, who has now been in power for nearly three decades.
‘15 years of prison. This is how the regime ‘rewarded’ my work for democratic changes in Belarus,’ she tweeted. In 2021, FP’s Amy Mackinnon wrote a profile chronicling how Tsikhanouskaya came to challenge Lukashenko’s brutal rule.” [Foreign Policy]
“Estonia’s election. Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas’s center-right party won a clear victory in the country’s parliamentary vote. Throughout the war in Ukraine, Kallas has been a staunch supporter of Kyiv. ‘What Ukraine needs today are weapons to fight back the aggressor and liberate its territories,’ she told Foreign Policy in June 2022. ‘We need to help Ukraine win.’” [Foreign Policy]
CEO milestone: More women run top firms
Data: Fortune. Chart: Axios Visuals
“Women leaders now run more than 10% of Fortune 500 companies, a milestone in the list's 68-year history, Axios Closer co-author Hope King writes.
But further progress is in danger, as burnout rises among senior-level women, shrinking the C-suite pipeline.
Amazon and Goldman Sachs are among the employers trying to combat an exodus of female executives with ‘returnships,’ focused on making jobs more appealing to people who left the workforce, Bloomberg reports.
What's happening: During the pandemic, women leaders left companies at the highest rate in years.
Being overworked and under-recognized are top reasons, research from McKinsey and Lean In found.” [Axios]
Toblerone chocolate is no longer ‘Swiss’ enough for Alps logo
“Toblerone, the chocolate bar known for its distinctive triangular peaks, is losing the Matterhorn mountain from its logo after falling afoul of strict marketing rules on ‘Swissness.’
Future Toblerone wrappers will feature a generic mountain design instead, after the chocolate bar’s American owner, Mondelez, decided to shift some production to the Slovakian capital of Bratislava this year.
The packaging redesign ‘introduces a modernized and streamlined mountain logo that aligns with the geometric and triangular aesthetic,’ a Mondelez spokesperson said in a statement. Toblerone’s distinctively shaped boxes will also be changed to read: ‘Established in Switzerland,” rather than “of Switzerland.’
Under the ‘Swissness’ legislation, which came into force in Switzerland in 2017, businesses have to show their products are sufficiently ‘Swiss’ to claim that label and to use national symbols of Switzerland. Swissness has long been associated with prestige products such as Swiss watches….” Toblerone, the chocolate bar known for its distinctive triangular peaks, is losing the Matterhorn mountain from its logo after falling afoul of strict marketing rules on “Swissness.”
Future Toblerone wrappers will feature a generic mountain design instead, after the chocolate bar’s American owner, Mondelez, decided to shift some production to the Slovakian capital of Bratislava this year.
Are you on Telegram? Subscribe to our channel for the latest updates on Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The packaging redesign "introduces a modernized and streamlined mountain logo that aligns with the geometric and triangular aesthetic,” a Mondelez spokesperson said in a statement. Toblerone’s distinctively shaped boxes will also be changed to read: “Established in Switzerland,” rather than “of Switzerland.”
Under the “Swissness” legislation, which came into force in Switzerland in 2017, businesses have to show their products are sufficiently “Swiss” to claim that label and to use national symbols of Switzerland. Swissness has long been associated with prestige products such as Swiss watches….” Read more at Washington Post
Newsom on Walgreens: ‘We're done’
Boxes of mifepristone, the first pill in a medical abortion, are prepared for patients at Women's Reproductive Clinic of New Mexico. Photo: Evelyn Hockstein//Reuters
“California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) says the state will no longer do business with Walgreens over the company's decision not to sell abortion medication in 20 states.
The state will cut ties with ‘any company that cowers to the extremists and puts women's lives at risk,’ Newsom tweeted yesterday. ‘We're done.’
Why it matters: It's California's latest attempt to use the state's massive economy in support of abortion rights nationwide.
Catch up quick: Walgreens said last week it wouldn't dispense abortion pills in 20 states after Republican attorneys general warned it could be against the law.
Walgreens clarified yesterday that it plans to distribute the pills in ‘any jurisdiction where it is legally permissible to do so.’” [Axios]
Bruce Willis’s wife to paparazzi: Stop hounding him after dementia diagnosis
“Emma Heming Willis is asking paparazzi to keep their distance from her husband, actor Bruce Willis, who was recently diagnosed with a rare type of dementia.
‘This one is going out to the photographers and the video people that are trying to get those exclusives of my husband out and about,’ Heming Willis said in a video posted to Instagram on Saturday. ‘Just keep your space.’
Heming Willis, who has been married to the actor since 2009 and shares two daughters with him, said it was important for her husband to be given his space when out in public.
‘Please don’t be yelling at my husband, asking him how he’s doing,’ she said. ‘Allow for our family or whoever’s with him that day to be able to get him from Point A to Point B safely.’
Willis’s family announced last month that the 67-year-old had been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia, or FTD. The announcement came about one year after he retired from acting, citing a communication disorder known as aphasia, which had since progressed. There is no treatment or cure for FTD, which mostly affects people between the ages of 40 and 60….” Read more at Washington Post
Gary Rossington, Lynyrd Skynyrd Guitarist, Dies at 71
The last surviving original member of the classic Southern rock group, he played the soaring slide guitar solo on ‘Free Bird’ and co-wrote ‘Sweet Home Alabama.’
“Gary Rossington, an original member of Lynyrd Skynyrd, the quintessential Southern rock band, whose guitar helped define its sound and who was a key figure in the group’s eventual rebirth after a plane crash in 1977 killed three of its members, died on Sunday. He was 71.
The band posted news of his death on its Facebook page but did not say where he died. No cause was given, although Mr. Rossington had had heart problems for years. He was the last surviving member of the original band….” Read more at New York Times