The Full Belmonte, 4/17/2024
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi speaks during an Army Day parade in northern Tehran on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
The US could hit Iran with new sanctions after an attack on Israel, Yellen says
“Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned Tuesday of potential global economic damage from rising tensions in the Middle East as the Biden administration said it was readying new sanctions in response to Iran’s activity in the region. Read more.
Recent developments:
Yellen condemned Iran’s ‘malign and destabilizing activity,’ saying Iran’s weekend attack on Israel ‘underscores the importance of Treasury’s work to use our economic tools to counter Iran’s malign activity.’ Yellen said she expected the new sanctions to be announced in the coming days.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Tuesday that coming U.S. sanctions would target Iran’s missile and drone programs, as well as entities supporting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Iran’s Defense Ministry. ‘We anticipate that our allies and partners will soon be following with their own sanctions,’ Sullivan added.
World leaders cautioned Israel against retaliation for Iran’s attack, trying to avoid a spiral of violence. Iran’s attack came in response to what it says was an Israeli strike on Iran’s consulate in Syria earlier this month. Israel’s military chief said Monday that his country will respond to the attack.” [AP News]
Trump on Trial
At the courthouse. Jefferson Siegel for The New York Times
“Juan Merchan, the judge overseeing Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial, swore in the first seven of the jurors who will hear the case, including the foreman.” [New York Times]
“Lawyers on both sides questioned prospective jurors, and Merchan dismissed several for social media posts critical of Trump. (See the 42 questions prospective jurors must answer.)” [New York Times]
“After Trump muttered during jury selection, Merchan scolded his lawyer. ‘I will not have any jurors intimidated in this courtroom,’ Merchan said.” [New York Times]
“The selection is moving quickly and could be done this week. Read more takeaways from Day 2.” [New York Times]
“When Melania Trump learned in 2018 that her husband had paid to cover up an affair, she was furious with him. Now, she shares his disdain for the case against him.” [New York Times]
“Trump has relied on a handful of explanations to defend himself across his various indictments. Read a fact check.” [New York Times]
“Another Stormy day in New York”: The late night hosts had plenty to say about the trial.” [New York Times]
The Supreme Court appeared divided over allowing a key Jan. 6 charge.
“Yesterday: Justices heard arguments about whether prosecutors improperly used a federal law to charge hundreds of Capitol rioters. The court’s conservatives seemed to think so.
Why it matters: The ruling, expected by July, could undo many rioters’ convictions and sentences. And it could further delay Trump’s election interference trial in D.C.”
Read this story at Washington Post
House Speaker Mike Johnson’s job is in serious danger.
“Why? Two far-right lawmakers are threatening to oust him over his plan to fund Ukraine and Israel. If they move ahead, Republicans could remove their second speaker in six months.
Also in Congress: House Republicans sent impeachment articles against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate, starting what is likely to be a brief trial.”
Read this story at Washington Post
Immigration
“House Republicans have sent to the Senate two articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, a step that launches a trial in the Senate as Republican lawmakers seek to highlight President Joe Biden's handling of immigration policy. The Democratic-controlled Senate, however, is expected to quickly dismiss the charges without a trial. The effort by House Republicans comes after they voted to impeach Mayorkas in February over his handling of the southern border by a narrow margin, blaming him and the Biden administration for the high number of border crossings. Democrats have slammed the impeachment as a political stunt, saying that Republicans had no valid basis for the move.” [CNN]
House panel says China is fueling the fentanyl crisis in the US
“The crisis is being fueled by China directly subsidizing the manufacturing of materials that traffickers use to make the drug outside the country, according to a report released Tuesday by a special House committee focused on countering the Chinese government. Read more.
Why this matters:
Most overdose deaths in the U.S. continue to be linked to fentanyl and other synthetic opioids. Inexpensive fentanyl is increasingly cut into other drugs, often without the buyers’ knowledge.
The chemical companies providing fentanyl precursors often have legitimate businesses with customers around the world. The report said fentanyl precursors and other synthetic narcotics are a ‘side hustle’ designed to maximize profits.
In November, President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping reached agreements to curb illicit fentanyl production and focused on reducing the flow of precursor chemicals and synthetic drug trafficking. But the congressional report raises questions about whether China is following through.” [AP News]
DeSantis tweaks Florida book challenge law, blames liberal activist who wanted Bible out of schools
“TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Two years ago, Democrats repeatedly and forcefully warned Republicans and Gov. Ron DeSantis that a new law making it easier to challenge school books was so broadly worded that it would create havoc across the state.
Now they can say, ‘I told you so.’
DeSantis backtracked on the 2022 law on Tuesday when he signed a bill narrowing its focus. He blamed liberal activists for abusing the law, not the citizens whose objections to certain books account for the majority of book removals from school libraries and classrooms.
‘The idea that someone can use the parents rights and the curriculum transparency to start objecting to every single book to try to make a mockery of this is just wrong,’ DeSantis said the day before the bill signing. ‘That’s performative. That’s political.’
Coincidentally, PEN America, a group that fights book bans, issued a report Tuesday saying Florida is responsible for 72% of the books that have been pulled from the nation’s schools in the first half of the current school year.
The organization said liberal activists are not the ones who should be blamed for abusing the law.
‘The majority of books that we see being removed are books that talk about LBTQ+ identities, that include characters of color, that talk about race and racism, that include depictions of sexual experiences in the most broadest interpretation of that understanding,’ said Kasey Meehan, Pen America’s Freedom to Read program director.
Those challenges are being made by conservative individuals and groups such as Moms For Liberty, Meehan said.
The original law allowed any person — parent or not, district resident or not — to challenge books as often as they wanted. Once challenged, a book has to be pulled from shelves until the school district resolves the complaint. The new law limits people who don’t have students in a school district to one challenge per month….” Read more at AP News
Money, Money, Money
U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson (center) arrives for a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on April 16.Julia Nikhinson/AFP via Getty Images
“U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson on Monday announced plans to present a new national security spending package in Congress this week. The four-part package aims to finally pass long-stalled foreign aid legislation by decoupling Ukraine aid from Israel aid while also appeasing Republicans who have opposed past funding measures. Voting could take place as soon as 72 hours after the text is released, allowing lawmakers to read the drafts and propose amendments.
The package is currently split into four separate bills, reflecting most of the $95.3 billion aid package that the Senate passed in February, which allocated $60 billion for Ukraine, $14 billion for Israel, $9 billion for humanitarian assistance to Gaza, and $5 billion for Indo-Pacific allies trying to counter China.
Under Johnson’s plan, House members would have to approve Israel and Ukraine aid separately. Money for Kyiv would go toward manufacturing munitions in the United States and replenishing U.S. military stockpiles. A third bill would assist Taiwan and other U.S. allies. And a fourth would address various Republican wishes, including requiring countries to pay back some of the aid given to them, other funds being financed by selling off seized Russian assets, and forcing TikTok parent company ByteDance to divest itself of the popular social media app or face a ban. The House approved a similar TikTok bill with bipartisan support last month, but the Senate has since stalled on it.
‘We know that the world is watching us to see how we react,’ Johnson said. ‘They’re watching to see if America will stand up for its allies and our interests around the globe—and we will.’
Iran’s strike against Israel last Saturday increased pressure on Johnson to hold a vote on Israeli aid. Yet the House speaker continues to face opposition from both the far left and far right. Some liberal Democrats have protested Washington sending unfettered funding to Israel, pointing to the Israeli military’s attack on a humanitarian aid convoy on April 1 that killed seven volunteers, escalating violence in the West Bank, and worsening famine in Gaza.
It is unclear if Johnson’s proposal includes sending around $9 billion in assistance to Gaza. ‘There is no circumstance that we could support anything that does not include humanitarian aid,’ House Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries told Axios.
Meanwhile, some conservative lawmakers condemned Johnson’s decision to advance Ukraine funding not tied to border security provisions that the GOP wants and Democrats oppose. On Tuesday, Republican Rep. Thomas Massie announced that he will co-sponsor Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s resolution to oust Johnson from the speakership for failing to include migration reforms at the U.S. southern border in the spending proposal. Massie did not say when they might put that resolution into motion. ‘I am not resigning,’ Johnson said on Tuesday.
On Monday, Biden administration officials said the package must include aid to both Ukraine and Israel, and the Senate majority and minority leaders urged Johnson to pass the $95.3 billion, Senate-approved package as is. This means that even if Johnson’s bill passes the House, which Republicans hold a thin majority over, its passage in the Senate remains uncertain.” [Foreign Policy]
“Historic building blaze. Denmark’s former stock exchange building caught fire on Tuesday, causing its iconic dragon spire to collapse. ‘[Four hundred] years of Danish cultural heritage’ went up in flames, Culture Minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt wrote on X, formerly Twitter. It is unclear what caused the fire, which burned down as much as half of the old building before firefighters could get the blaze under control. The historic building, which dates back to 1625, is one of the oldest in Copenhagen and is now used by the Danish Chamber of Commerce. It was undergoing renovations at the time of the fire.
Deputy Prime Minister Troels Lund Poulsen described the scene as Denmark’s ‘own Notre Dame moment,’ referring to the 2019 fire that destroyed much of the Paris monument. On Monday, exactly five years after that incident, Notre Dame completed the first stage of its restoration process. The cathedral is scheduled to reopen to the public on Dec. 8.” [Foreign Policy]
“Standout performance. The U.S. economy is expected to grow at double the rate of the other G-7 nations, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasted on Tuesday. High household spending and investments explain the 2.7 percent raise this year, a 0.6-percentage-point increase from the IMF’s last prediction. Canada touted the next best performance at 1.2 percent, and Germany had the weakest at 0.2 percent.
IMF economists warned Washington that its strong performance was partly due to unsustainable fiscal policies, saying overspending could spark high inflation and threaten global stability. ‘Something will have to give,’ the IMF said. Analysts believe that the IMF’s ruling could indicate that the U.S. Federal Reserve might cut interest rates less than previously thought.” [Foreign Policy]
“Accra’s debt deal. Ghana failed to secure a debt restructuring deal of $13 billion on Monday. Accra paused formal talks with two bondholder groups after the IMF said Ghana did not meet the debt sustainability parameters approved last year. Regional African banks, one of the bondholder groups, also expressed concerns about the agreed-upon terms. Western managers and hedge funds led the other bondholder group.
The ruling is a major setback for Ghana, which defaulted on most of its $30 billion in external debt in December 2022. Experts say it also signals the struggles that many developing nations face to secure aid despite Zambia sealing a $3.5 billion deal in eurobonds last month. Ghana had originally hoped to conclude IMF talks by March.” [Foreign Policy]
Herders in Kenya are switching from cows to camels.
(The Washington Post)
“Why? They’re milk-producing animals that are more resilient to climate change. A years-long drought has led to the deaths of many cows, shattering livelihoods in East Africa.
The bigger picture: The global camel population has doubled over the past 20 years. The move away from cattle is just one way humans are adapting to a changing planet.”
Read this story at Washington Post
“Migration is as old as humankind and the movement of homo sapiens out of Africa.
Today, it’s an incendiary political topic that divides electorates like few others.
Look at the US, where immigration at the southern border has become a totemic issue for both main presidential candidates.
But Washington is far from alone: migration is dominating politics and economies worldwide. As our reporting from five continents shows, it’s influencing the debate in some surprising locations and in unpredictable ways.
Take Ireland, a nation marked by emigration, which is now unable to house the numbers of people seeking asylum on its shores. That’s creating tensions with locals over issues like housing, fanning the kind of right-wing populism that has until now been largely absent.
Or South Africa, the original Rainbow Nation, where 30 years after the African National Congress assumed power following the defeat of apartheid, the government is turning against immigrants to bolster its flagging electoral fortunes.
With officials grasping for answers — see the UK’s legal trouble over attempts to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda — populists everywhere are pushing a narrative that migration is out of control.
Yet movement across borders remains the exception, with internal shifts ‘overwhelmingly the norm,’ according to the UN’s International Organization for Migration.
The real change of recent years, it says, is that the core drivers of migration — geopolitics, technology and climate change — are intensifying, with a notable rise in irregular channels as safe routes are closed off.
That’s generating concerns among businesses in places like the Netherlands, which are warning against curbing access to international talent.
More people in a given economy also means a larger pool of labor, and the evidence suggests that few win from restricting migration.
For politicians, however, that’s an increasingly contentious argument to make.” —Alan Crawford [Bloomberg]
A migrant offers to wash windshields in Denver, Colorado, on Feb. 26. Photographer: Daniel Brenner/Bloomberg
“Iran’s unprecedented attack on Israel and the prospect of escalating hostilities threaten to embroil Jordan, a key Western ally. Jordanian officials feel caught between an Israeli government which they openly describe as a threat to regional security and a confrontational Iranian regime eager to leverage the increasingly unpopular war in Gaza to expand its influence.” [Bloomberg]
Approximate path of drones and missiles fired from Iran and Yemen. Source: Bloomberg
“The MSC Aries wasn’t much different from the other 7,000 container ships on the high seas until it took an involuntary detour into the hands of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard. The vessel serves as an example of the pain global supply chains will feel if the disruptions worsen.” [Bloomberg]
“Drawn by rapid economic growth, youthful populations and increasing wealth, legions of top multinationals rushed into Africa in recent decades. The difficulties of doing business there — cratering currencies, overweening bureaucracies, unreliable power and congested ports — have lately dimmed the allure.” [Bloomberg]
“The International Monetary Fund has changed its process for supporting countries struggling with debt restructuring, a move aimed at avoiding recent delays widely blamed on China. Officials estimate it will reduce the time between staff agreement and board signoff on an IMF program to as little as two months.” [Bloomberg]
“With campaigns moving into high gear before the first stage of India’s election kicks off on Friday, political parties are targeting voters — especially a younger, tech-savvy generation — with emotive or often bitingly funny ads, memes, and music videos. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party maintains an advantage over rivals having already used social media to help win the national vote back in 2014.” [Bloomberg]
“US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke with his Chinese counterpart about the situation in the South China Sea and Russia’s war on Ukraine as the two countries continue a push to stabilize ties.” [Bloomberg]
“UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt said the prospect of interest-rate cuts later this year would lift the mood of voters, a hint that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak won’t call a general election until after the British summer.” [Bloomberg]
“Thailand and New Zealand have agreed to resume direct flights after the pandemic shut air connectivity as leaders of the two countries vowed to triple bilateral trade in the next two decades.” [Bloomberg]
“The University of Southern California, citing security concerns, canceled a planned speech by a valedictorian, who is Muslim. A Muslim group called the decision cowardly; pro-Israel groups said she had linked to antisemitic material online.” [New York Times]
“NPR suspended an editor who publicly accused the network of liberal bias.” [New York Times]
Boeing
“A Senate subcommittee will hold a hearing today in the wake of allegations from a Boeing engineer who said the aerospace giant took shortcuts when manufacturing its 777 and 787 Dreamliner jets. The whistleblower, Sam Salehpour, is set to be the key witness at the hearing that could reveal new details about Boeing's safety and quality issues. Boeing has faced more than five years of questions about its commercial jets following two fatal crashes of a different model, the 737 Max, in 2018 and 2019. Those crashes killed 346 people and led to a 20-month grounding of that aircraft. A costly door plug incident on an Alaska Airlines flight in January also sparked allegations that some Boeing employees felt reluctant to raise questions about the safety of the planes they are building or inspecting for fear of retaliation.” [CNN]
Elon Musk’s SpaceX started cracking down on Starlink users who are connecting to the high-speed internet service from unauthorized countries.
“Customers in Sudan, Zimbabwe and South Africa received warnings that their access would be terminated by the end of the month, according to emails that WSJ viewed. SpaceX didn’t respond to a request for comment. A WSJ investigation published less than a week ago reported on the black market for Starlink satellite kits, which includes Russian military units fighting in Ukraine. Separately, Western governments are stepping up pressure on China to use its influence with Russia and Iran. Beijing has signaled a willingness to help settle conflicts, but with reservations.” [Wall Street Journal]
How heat in the oceans is bleaching coral
“Massive coral bleaching across the world's oceans during the past year's extremely warm water temperatures was labeled a ‘global coral bleaching event’ by federal officials this week. It’s the fourth global coral bleaching overall and the second in the last 10 years, with extensive bleaching and heat stress across the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said. The increasing frequency of ocean warming and coral bleaching events isn’t allowing corals to recover in between events, the study found.” Read more at USA Today
A soft coral shows bleaching on Emerald Reef in the Florida Keys.
Cancer could soon be more widely detected by blood tests.
“The idea: The tests measure cancer ‘signals’ in your blood, like pieces of tumor DNA. They could be useful in finding ‘silent’ cancers, which can go undetected until it’s too late.
The timeline: Some patients are already using them. But they still need final FDA approval, and some experts doubt that blood tests will be able to pick up all types of cancer.”
Read this story at Washington Post
Trash that NASA flung into space three years ago crashed into someone’s house.
The metal debris that fell through Alejandro Otero’s roof on March 8. (Alejandro Otero)
“What happened? A metal object fell from the sky and tore through the roof of a Florida home last month. On Monday, NASA confirmed it was junk from the International Space Station.
This is unusual: Trash released into space typically burns up before it reaches Earth. NASA is investigating how this 1.6 pound hunk of garbage survived.”
Read this story at Washington Post
“W.N.B.A.: Monday’s draft averaged 2.4 million viewers; the previous record was 601,000, in 2004.” [New York Times]
“Bob Graham, a Florida Democrat who worked entry-level jobs alongside his political roles in a populist strategy that helped make him a governor, senator and 2004 presidential candidate, died at 87.” [New York Times]
“Lives Lived: Whitey Herzog was a Hall of Fame manager who led the St. Louis Cardinals to a World Series victory. He died at 92.” [New York Times]