The Full Belmonte, 9/18/2023
Five Americans detained in Iran are freed and on flight out of country, Qatari official tells CNN
“Five Americans who had been imprisoned in Iran have been freed and are on a flight out of the country, a Qatari official briefed on the matter told CNN, as part of a wider deal that includes the US unfreezing $6 billion in Iranian funds.
The US government has designated all five Americans as being wrongfully detained.
They are being flown on a Qatari government jet to Doha, which left an airport Tehran on Monday afternoon local time. Two relatives of the detainees are also on board, along with the Qatari ambassador to Tehran.
The release of the Americans brings to an end a years-long nightmare for those who had been detained. Three of those who are believed to be part of the deal – Emad Shargi, Morad Tahbaz, and Siamak Namazi – had all been imprisoned for more than five years. Namazi had been detained since 2015. The identities of the other two Americans are not publicly known.
Their release represents a significant diplomatic breakthrough after years of complicated indirect negotiations between Washington and Tehran. It’s the latest high-profile deal negotiated by the Biden administration to secure the release of Americans deemed wrongly detained abroad following the release of Americans from Russia and Venezuela.
Under the agreement between the US and Iran, $6 billion in Iranian funds that had been held in restricted accounts in South Korea was transferred to restricted accounts in banks in Qatar. Iranian and US officials were notified by Qatar on Monday that the transfer had taken place, according to a source briefed on details of the matter.
Sources told CNN the funds came from oil sales that were allowed and placed into accounts set up under the Trump administration. Biden administration officials have stressed that the funds that have been transferred to the accounts in Qatar will only be able to be used by Iran for humanitarian purchases and each transaction will be monitored by the US Treasury Department.
The agreement, which has already prompted criticism from Republicans, also involves the release of five Iranians in US custody.
The overall contours of the release protest began to crystallize in Doha about seven months ago after years of indirect negotiations. The first tangible public steps under the deal took place about five weeks ago, when four of the Americans were transferred into house arrest. The fifth American was already under house arrest.
As a result, the US had to pursue indirect avenues, relying on partners in the Middle East and Europe including Qatar, Oman, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, all of whom served as interlocutors for the two sides over the course of negotiations….” [CNN]
House Republicans are in a 'civil war' over government shutdown fight
“House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said House Republicans ‘are in the middle of a civil war,’ as they struggle to find consensus on how to approach government spending and avert a shutdown.
Congress has until Sept. 30 to fund the government, and while the Senate has been moving through the process without much of a hitch, the Republican-controlled House has been engulfed in gridlock.
•House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., intended to pass a defense spending bill, but he was forced to punt a vote to begin debate on the bill after conservatives threatened to tank the effort.
•As the deadline draws closer, McCarthy and other House Republicans have begun to express frustration at their conservative colleagues for what they say are unclear and vague requests.
•How would a shutdown affect Americans? Hundreds of thousands of federal employees would be furloughed, and government food assistance benefits could see delays.” [USA Today]
Six House Republicans proposed a deal to avert a government shutdown.
“What it means: The deal, proposed yesterday, would fund the government until Oct. 31 and trigger a 1% cut to the federal budget. It does not include money for Ukraine.
Will it work? Hard-right House Republicans are unlikely to supportit, and the Senate would probably reject the short-term deal.
What next? A procedural vote may come as early as tomorrow.”
Read this story at Washington Post
The UAW president rejected a 21% pay increase offer from Stellantis.
“What happened? UAW President Shawn Fain called the offer from the Jeep’s parent company a “no go” yesterday. The union met with Ford and GM Saturday and resumes bargaining with Stellantis today.
The strike continues: About 12,700 autoworkers have been on strike at three plants since Friday. They are demanding 40% pay increases, shortened hours and better benefits.”
Read this story at Washington Post
What do Detroit automakers have to give the UAW to get a deal?
“The United Auto Workers and the Detroit Three carmakers could get closer to an agreement sooner than it appears if both sides focus on a few key job provisions, according to some industry observers and insiders. One issue the union will likely have to accept that it will not win is a 32-hour workweek for 40 hours of pay, but there are other demands the UAW needs to win (a cost-of-living adjustment, for one) if the carmakers want a quick end to the strike and ratification of a tentative agreement. Read more
•Joe Biden still has to earn UAW's endorsement, the union's president says as auto strike continues.
•UAW membership peaked at 1.5 million workers in the late 70s. Here's how it's changed.” [USA Today]
Members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union march through the streets of downtown Detroit following a rally on the first day of the UAW strike in Detroit, Michigan, on September 15, 2023.
MATTHEW HATCHER, AFP via Getty Images
Hunter Biden Sues IRS Over Whistleblower Leaks
“Hunter Biden has gone on the offensive, filing two lawsuits in as many weeks to hit back at a drip-feed of embarrassing public allegations. On Monday, he sued the IRS, alleging that two whistleblowers who went public with claims of political interference had violated his right to privacy as an ordinary American taxpayer. The whistleblowers have testified to Congress and given numerous media interviews in which they alleged the Justice Department slow-walked investigations into the first son’s failure to pay taxes. But in doing so, they divulged information about Biden’s taxes that is protected under privacy laws and could only have been obtained through a review of the physical tax returns, his suit argues. While Biden has ‘all the same responsibilities as any other American citizen,’ he also ‘has no fewer or lesser rights than any other American citizen,’ the suit says. Last week, Biden sued former Trump White House aide Garrett Ziegler, alleging he violated computer fraud laws by publishing a trove of emails and embarrassing images purportedly from Biden’s laptop.” [CNN]
Donald Trump called a six-week abortion ban “a terrible mistake.”
“What to know: The former president criticized a Florida abortion law signed by a top rival for the Republican nomination, Gov. Ron DeSantis, in an interview that aired yesterday.
What else to know: Trump said he wouldn’t sign federal legislation banning abortion at 15 weeks but would negotiate with Democrats on the issue
Zooming out: Trump appointed three Supreme Court justices who helped overturn Roe v. Wade last year.
Read this story at Washington Post
Lee aftermath
“Post-tropical cyclone Lee is forecast to gradually weaken early this week before moving back out into the Atlantic Ocean. Over the weekend, the storm knocked out power to tens of thousands of people across the East Coast and Atlantic Canada. Officials in Florida announced at least one death has been attributed to the conditions spurred by Lee. In Maine, where winds reached over 80 mph, more than 90,000 customers were left in the dark Saturday, and photos from across the state showed toppled trees near homes and on roadways. President Joe Biden has authorized the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA to coordinate disaster relief and assistance.” [CNN]
The death toll from the Maui wildfires was lowered to 97.
“Why? More precise testing of human remains by military experts. The count, updated Friday, is still not finalized, but previously stood at 115 deaths.
A slow recovery: Thirty-one people are still considered missing. Survivors continue to sift through the wreckage and are struggling to find housing.”
Read this story at Washington Post
Tens of thousands march to kick off climate summit
“After a summer of record-smashing global warming events, advocates gathered for some of the largest climate protests in years nationwide, including marches, school walk-outs and a major mobilization effort in New York City on Sunday. The demonstrations marked the start of the annual Climate Week in New York City, where world leaders in business, politics and the arts are gathering. The week comes at the same time world leaders are attending the United Nations General Assembly. Read more at USA Today
Climate activists march on Madison Avenue while protesting energy policy and the use of fossil fuels, in New York, Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023.
Bryan Woolston, AP
The U.S. military lost a stealth F-35 fighter jet that crashed in South Carolina.
“What happened? The plane went down near Joint Base Charleston on Sunday afternoon. The pilot ejected safely, but now responders can’t find the plane.
Why not? The jet’s transponder isn’t working, a spokesman said. The base asked the public for help finding the aircraft, with a search concentrated near Lake Moultrie.”
Read this story at Washington Post
U.S. passes 500 mass shootings in '23
Data: Gun Violence Archive. (Incidents where at least four people were shot or killed, excluding the shooter.) Chart: Simran Parwani/Axios
“A shooting that wounded four people in Denver on Saturday night marked America's 500th mass shooting of 2023.
The Gun Violence Archive, an independent research and data collection organization, defines a mass shooting as a shooting in which four or more people were shot or killed, not including the shooter.
Just five years ago, the country had never experienced 500 mass shootings in one year, Axios' April Rubin reports.” [Axios]
Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.) will not seek reelection after receiving a new diagnosis
“Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.) promised this spring to persevere as she revealed a Parkinson’s diagnosis that stilted her movements and slurred her speech, hurdles she hoped to overcome while serving a competitive Northern Virginia district.
But as Wexton, 55, failed to respond to treatments as hoped, this summer she found herself confronting a more serious diagnosis: progressive supranuclear palsy. Her instinct — the same thing that propelled her from the state Senate to Congress — was to fight.
‘Can I still run for reelection?’ she recalled asking her doctor, as they looked at the distinctive hummingbird shape on her brain scan that changed everything — again.
‘Why would you want to?’ the doctor replied.
The rare neurological disorder — often mistaken for Parkinson’s because the early symptoms are similar — typically progresses more rapidly, does not respond as well to treatment and has no cure. Faced with the reality that her condition will likely only worsen, Wexton said she will not seek a fourth term next year, choosing instead to spend her remaining years with her family….
Schumer Chucks Senate Floor Dress Code: Report
“Senators looking to dress a little more casually on the chamber floor will no longer be caught with their pants down, according to Axios. The outlet reported Sunday that Majority Leader Chuck Schumer quietly scrapped the Senate’s dress code for members, directing the sergeant at arms—its chief protocol and law enforcement officer—to stop enforcing it. ‘Senators are able to choose what they wear on the Senate floor,’ Schumer said in a statement to Axios. ‘I will continue to wear a suit.’ A Senate official told the outlet that the change will go into effect this week, and will only apply to senators. It is unclear whether the Senate’s dress code is an official, codified policy or more of an unspoken etiquette, according to Axios, but conventional understanding previously required all senators to wear business attire on the floor. The new directive is expected to benefit both lawmakers like Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), who favors sweatshirts and gym shorts, and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who in 2021 showed up on Capitol Hill to vote in his gym clothes, telling reporters the vote had been scheduled ‘in the middle’ of his basketball game.” [Daily Beast]
Read it at Axios
By German Lopez
Good morning. We’re covering Ukraine’s slow counteroffensive….
Ukrainian soldiers near the southern front.Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times
Grinding progress
“Before Ukraine’s military began a counteroffensive in June, officials hoped they could replicate last year’s successes and quickly retake large swaths of Russian-held territory. Instead, Ukrainian forces initially made almost no progress. In recent weeks, they have made more but still captured only a few small villages.
But perhaps we should have expected a result like this. War tends to be a grind. The types of routs that let Ukraine retake thousands of square miles in the northeast last year are rare. Fighting frequently involves chipping away at an enemy, like Ukraine’s retaking of a small but strategic village in the east yesterday. Such advances try to build toward a big breakthrough, although one may never come.
It was true most famously during the trench warfare of World War I but also in World War II, the Korean War and the U.S. Civil War. ‘War is not always the spectacular triumph,’ said George Barros, an analyst at the Institute for the Study of War. ‘It’s largely the really boring stuff that you don’t see — all the groundwork setting up the conditions for the triumphs.’
In other words: Ukraine and its allies, including the U.S., may have set their expectations for the counteroffensive too high. Ukraine is fighting one of the world’s strongest militaries. If Ukraine could succeed in forcing Russia to retreat in a significant way, it was always more likely to take years than months.
Today’s newsletter explains Ukraine’s modest recent progress and what could come next. Ukraine’s leaders still hope to achieve a breakthrough that divides Russian troops in the east and south. But by November, muddy season will have arrived, and movement will be more difficult.
Deadly defenses
Ukraine’s counteroffensive initially struggled to make progress. The military’s original plan was to use infantry, tanks and other armored vehicles supplied by the West to roll through Russian forces in Ukraine’s southeast. It aimed to split off Russian troops in the southern peninsula of Crimea from the eastern region of Donbas, hindering Russia’s ability to reinforce or resupply its armies in either area.
By The New York Times
But the Ukrainians ran into Russian defenses that were more extensive than they expected, particularly large minefields. Initial efforts to break through proved costly in both lives and equipment. So Ukraine’s military changed its approach. It pulled back vehicles and tried to thin out Russian defenses with artillery, defuse the mines and slowly advance with infantry.
Last month, Ukrainians finally made modest but meaningful gains. They pierced Russia’s first line of defense in the southeast and recaptured small towns along the way. They are now pursuing two main routes, one through the recaptured village of Robotyne and another that could eventually lead to the Russian-controlled coastal city of Berdiansk. Either course could help achieve Ukraine’s main goal of dividing Russian forces.
The gains exemplify the often grinding pace of war. Working through minefields without major casualties and wearing down Russia’s defenses with artillery simply takes time. It looked like very little happened for months because the battle lines stayed the same. But now Ukraine has advanced, and could quickly make more progress.
‘Offenses are not linear affairs,’ said Stacie Goddard, an international security expert at Wellesley College.
Breaking through
Ukraine wants to widen the lanes it has opened through Russia’s first lines of defense. For example, Ukrainian forces could capture more area around towns like Robotyne to establish a wider corridor of territory. They could then use that larger space to move many more forces through and carry out their original plan — deploying ground troops and armored vehicles in a swift counteroffensive.
Russia may also have put its strongest forces on the front line, and Ukraine could break through the other lines more easily. ‘A lot depends on how strong these remaining Russian defenses are,’ my colleague Eric Schmitt, who covers national security, told me.
But time is running out. As rain arrives this fall, the terrain will get muddier and harder to traverse, likely preventing major battlefield gains.
In the meantime, Russian forces have stepped up attacks in the northeast. In doing so, Russia hopes to retake some of the territory it lost last year, and force Ukraine to divert its troops and resources to the northeast. If enough Ukrainian forces are kept from the southeastern front, the counteroffensive’s last big push could fail.” [New York Times]
A rally in Niamey, the capital of Niger.Issifou Djibo/EPA, via Shutterstock
“Sanctions imposed on Niger after a military coup there have raised food prices and made medicine scarce.” [New York Times]
“China has limited imports of cosmetics, hurting foreign companies’ revenue.” [New York Times]
“Rishi Sunak, the British prime minister, announced he would outlaw the American bully XL dog breed after a series of fatal attacks.” [New York Times]
“South Korean adoptees are returning to the country to investigate claims that companies coerced parents to give up their children.” [New York Times]
“President Xi Jinping’s growing obsession with national security is turning ordinary Chinese citizens into an unofficial army of spy hunters.
Students returning to Beijing’s top universities this month were blitzed with posters and events commanding them to watch out for spooks. One enrolled at the aeronautics institute even launched an interactive training game called Who’s The Spy?
China’s Ministry of State Security is leading efforts to promote such campaigns. After years of anonymity, it joined social media platform WeChat this year and has been delivering a steady stream of anti-spy directives to its followers. On Friday, the MSS said preventing cyberattacks would ‘require the joint efforts of all of society.’
Across the country, as citizens are being offered a 500,000 yuan ($68,570) reward for successfully turning over a spy, tales are emerging on social media of people reporting their friends over matters as small as not knowing the lyrics to popular Chinese songs.
Xi has been on a mission this year to crack down on foreign threats. In May, he chaired a National Security Council meeting that called for ‘extreme-case scenario’ thinking on this topic. That phrase had previously been used in relation to preparing for natural disasters, signaling Xi was moving things up a gear.
Since then, China has expanded an already sweeping anti-espionage law, cracked down on expert networks China accuses of working with foreign intelligence agencies and even alleged outside forces were influencing the energy sector.
As China tries to root out spies at home, other powers are detecting Beijing’s infiltration efforts abroad. Police in the UK recently arrested a former parliamentary researcher on spy allegations, while last month the US arrested two Navy sailors on charges of providing sensitive military information to China.
How far this will develop is unclear, but it’s unlikely to win China more friends.” — Jenni Marsh [Bloomberg]
Posters aimed at raising awareness of national security outside a popular temple in Beijing on Sept. 14. Source: Bloomberg
“Ukraine plans to file a World Trade Organization complaint today against Poland, Hungary and Slovakia over bans on imports of its grain, and said it may retaliate with its own prohibitions. The three countries defied a European Union decision to lift a ban on Ukrainian crop imports after the bloc said market distortions that triggered the measure had disappeared. Their farmers complained a supply glut was lowering local prices.” [Bloomberg]
“China flew a record number of warplanes around Taiwan in an apparent show of displeasure over visits by a pair of American officials.” [Bloomberg]
“Kim Jong Un is returning from Russia with pledges to help with his space program that could finally allow North Korea to reach its long-held goal of placing multiple satellites in orbit.” [Bloomberg]
“The Republic of Congo’s government denied speculation on social media that there had been a coup in the central African nation, with a spokesman calling it ‘fanciful information.’” [Bloomberg]
Hard right rising
Photo: Gabriel Bouys/AFP via Getty Images
“The Trump T-shirt above was being worn in Italy, during yesterday's annual rally of the far-right Lega (League) party in Pontida, northern Italy.
International Trump support reflects a global phenomenon: The hard right, once fringe, is gaining power and popularity across Europe, Latin America and elsewhere.
Why it matters: Immigration, inflation and the rising cost of climate policy are creating potent new targets for populism, The Economist reports (registration required).
In Europe, nationalist or far-right parties are growing in Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Poland, and even Finland and Sweden.
Newish democracies ‘that for decades lacked big nationalist parties — Portugal, Romania and Spain — now have them,’ The Economist adds.
It's also true in Latin America: Tucker Carlson just traveled to Argentina to interview Javier Milei, a self-described ‘anarcho-capitalist’ (radical libertarian) who came out of nowhere to become the favorite in next month's presidential election.
Right-wing populists have made inroads in Chile, Paraguay and El Salvador, often with tough-on-crime messages, AP reports.
What's happening: Right-wing populists have lost — most notably former President Trump in the U.S., right-wing leader Marine Le Pen in France and Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil. But the global phenomenon doesn't appear to be ebbing, Axios' Dave Lawler tells me.
In all three, the more mainstream victors have seen their popularity wane. As in countries across the rich world, the far-right is still knocking at the door each election cycle.
Between the lines: In several cases, right-wingers are coming back strong after losing.
That includes Trump (who was tied with President Biden in a national 2024 poll by CBS News/YouGov, out yesterday), and Le Pen, who is leveraging Europe's immigration crisis.
In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu partnered with the extreme right to return to office, giving once-fringe parties a bigger voice than ever before — and helping spark a political crisis.
Netanyahu is in the U.S. this week, and will hold a bilateral meeting with Biden on Wednesday in New York at the UN General Assembly (UNGA).
Netanyahu will meet today with Elon Musk in San Francisco to talk AI.
Minutes before leaving for the U.S., the Israeli leader said pro-democracy protesters who will demonstrate against him in California and New York ‘are aligning themselves with the PLO and Iran.’” [Axios]
“‘Woke free’”: Some companies selling clothing and pet care are attracting customers who think corporate America is pushing a liberal agenda.” [New York Times]
Why Scholars Are Creating an ‘Alt New College’
By Megan Zahneis
SEPTEMBER 15, 2023
New College of Florida students and supporters protest ahead of a meeting by the college’s board of trustees, on the school campus in Sarasota, Fla., Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023. For years, students have come to this public liberal arts college on the western coast of Florida because they were self-described free thinkers. Now they find themselves caught in the crosshairs of America’s culture war. (Rebecca Blackwell, AP)
REBECCA BLACKWELL, AP
“New College of Florida students and supporters protest a meeting of the Board of Trustees.
As New College of Florida continues to move in a different ideological direction, former students and faculty members are building what they see as an educational resistance.
They have joined national and international free-speech and education groups to form ‘Alt New College,’ a network of online courses for students who remain at the revamped New College and, as critics see it, face limits on what they can learn and say.
Alt New College is making a big splash on Monday with its first event: an online discussion between the philosopher Judith Butler and the writer Masha Gessen on “The Authoritarian Assault on Gender Studies.” The talk’s topic is no coincidence. New College’s Board of Trustees moved last month to start dismantling the public institution’s gender-studies program; the program’s only full-time gender-studies instructor also resigned.
All eyes have been on New College since last winter, when Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, a Republican, appointed a slate of conservative trustees to its board. At the time, a DeSantis aide said the goal was to turn New College into ‘the Hillsdale of the South,’ referring to the Christian college in Michigan. Since then, the board has fired the institution’s president, denied five professors’ tenure bids amid protests, and eliminated the office that handled New College’s diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, along with targeting the gender-studies program. More than a third of New College’s faculty members did not return to campus this fall. Now some of those faculty members are working with Alt New College, whose website bills it as ‘an online institute to support the academic freedom of faculty and students following the hostile takeover of New College of Florida.’
New College’s new leaders believe their overhaul is a necessary corrective at an institution where enrollment was faltering and a progressive orthodoxy reigned supreme, stifling expression of certain viewpoints. Some New College students have joined a lawsuit to fight the recent changes. Others have been urged to transfer to more welcoming campuses, such as Hampshire College or Colorado College.
We’re offering education, which I think should not be a controversial thing.
Those involved with Alt New College, meanwhile, cast their project as a corrective to the corrective, opposing recent institutional changes that they feel have stifled expression. They explicitly see their work as a fight against autocracy modeled on efforts around the world to disseminate knowledge in countries where education is tightly controlled.
Alt New College will offer free and subsidized online talks as well as “miniclasses.” Its fall lineup includes Butler and Gessen; Maya Wiley, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, who will discuss critical race theory; and David Hogg, a cofounder of March for Our Lives, who will address youth involvement in the political process.
The network hopes eventually to add semester-long accredited courses through Bard College, in New York, credit for which could be transferred to New College or another institution.
Myanmar, Russia, and Florida
Also among Alt New College’s backers are PEN America, a free-speech advocacy group, and the Open Society University Network, an international collective with $1 billion in funding that aims to leverage teaching and research to solve the world’s biggest problems; Bard is a founding member of the latter. Jonathan Becker, executive vice president and vice president for academic affairs at Bard, also holds a leadership role in the university network, known as OSUN. Becker first visited New College in the spring after concerned community members contacted OSUN.
Becker has written about what he describes as attacks on liberal-arts education, and has worked with OSUN member institutions abroad to combat them. In Myanmar, a coup by a military junta ousted the country’s democratic government in 2021, forcing Parami University, an OSUN member, into exile; the Hungarian government did the same to Central European University. The Russian government blacklisted Bard in 2021, saying its work — which included teaming up with OSUN’s Smolny College on dual degrees — ‘threatens the constitutional order and security of Russia.’ And the American University of Afghanistan, also part of OSUN, had to take its operations outside the country when the Taliban seized control of the government, forcing students to flee.
‘We see no radical difference between what’s gone on in Hungary or Russia or Afghanistan or Myanmar and what’s going on in Florida,’ Becker said. ‘We decided to do what we’ve done in other places, which is try to provide a pathway for students and faculty to continue a rigorous liberal-arts-and-sciences education.’
OSUN has opened its online classes to current and former New College students as part of Alt New College, which mirrors its ‘Smolny Beyond Borders’ program for displaced Russian students. There and in Florida, Becker said, ‘what we’re doing is what universities do.’
‘We’re offering education, which I think should not be a controversial thing,’ he said.
Sophia Brown, a 2023 New College graduate who now works for PEN America as a community-outreach consultant, hopes Alt New College will offer a refuge for students unhappy with New College’s direction.
‘A lot of students sort of felt their options to pursue what they wanted to pursue academically were running out’ at her alma mater, Brown said. ‘I see Alt New College as kind of giving that choice back to students, to say, ‘These opportunities are still available to you. There’s still space to pursue those topics and still space to use your freedom of expression in an academic setting.’
Another former New College affiliate working on the project is Erik Wallenberg, whose contract at New College was not renewed after he and a colleague wrote an opinion essay criticizing DeSantis’s attempt to ‘force a conservative Christian model of education onto our public college.’ Wallenberg, then a visiting professor and the sole historian on the New College faculty, will teach a short course through Alt New College in the spring.” [Chronicle of Higher Education]
“The U.S. News & World Report overhauled its college rankings system and some state schools received a boost.” [New York Times]
“Vassar faculty members accused the college, one of America’s first for women, of paying female professors less than their male colleagues.” [New York Times]
Lab-grown meat can be halal and kosher
Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
“Islamic scholars consulted by a leading producer of cultivated meatsay that the newfangled protein — which is grown from animal cells and doesn't require animals to be slaughtered — can be halal, or permissible under Muslim law, Jennifer A. Kingson writes for Axios What's Next.
And the Jewish Orthodox Union this month certified a strain of lab-grown chicken as kosher for the first time, ‘marking a significant step forward for the food technology's acceptance under Jewish dietary law,’ as The Times of Israel put it.
Why it matters: For cultivated meat to go mainstream the way its backers hope, it'll need to be accepted by people who abide by a variety of dietary laws.” [Axios]
Russell Brand was accused of rape, sexual assault and abuse by four women.
“What to know: The actor and comedian was accused of committing the acts at the height of his career, between 2006 and 2013, an investigation by British news outlets revealed Saturday.
The denial: In a video released Friday, Brand refuted the claims, saying his relationships were ‘absolutely always consensual.’ One accuser was 16 at the time of the alleged abuse.”
Read this story at Washington Post
“Drew Barrymore reversed her decision to resume her daytime talk showduring the Hollywood writers’ strike.” [New York Times]
“A rare prop used in the original “Star Wars,” which was found in the garage of a late visual effects artist, will go up for auction. Bidding starts at $400,000.” [New York Times]
SPORTS
“N.F.L.: After a loss to the Dolphins, the Patriots are 0-2 for the first time since 2001.” [New York Times]
“Resilience: The Giants recovered from a 21-point deficit to beat the Cardinals, matching their biggest comeback ever.”[New York Times]
“Baseball: The Orioles are headed to the playoffs for the first time since 2016.” [New York Times]
“N.H.L.: Mike Babcock, the Blue Jackets coach, resigned yesterday just two months into his tenure after the league’s players’ association found evidence of misconduct.” [New York Times]
An alligator missing the top half of its snout is recovering at a Florida gator park.
The injured alligator at her new home in Gatorland. (Savannah Boan)
“What happened? The injury was probably caused by a fight with another alligator or a scrape with a boat propeller. A photo of the unusual-looking reptile went viral before she was captured.
How did she survive? Breathing through an exposed nasal cavity and scooping smaller animals into the bottom half of her mouth. She is expected to recover and thrive at the Gatorland zoo.”
Read this story at Washington Post
”Lives Lived: Jules Melancon was an oyster farmer who revolutionized his industry after hurricanes and the BP oil spill. He died at 65.” [New York Times]