week ending May 11

US monetary policy may not be tight enough, Fed's Logan says (Reuters) - Dallas Federal Reserve President Lorie Logan on Friday said it's not clear if monetary policy is tight enough to bring inflation down to the U.S. central bank's 2% goal, and with price pressures still too strong, it is too soon to be cutting interest rates. There are still good reasons to think that inflation will return to 2% in the coming years, Logan told the Louisiana Bankers Association's annual conference. "There are also important upside risks to inflation that are on my mind, and I think there's also uncertainties about how restrictive policy is and whether it's sufficiently restrictive to keep us on this path." The U.S. central bank last week kept its policy rate in the 5.25%-5.50% range, with Fed Chair Jerome Powell noting a lack of progress on inflation so far this year means rates will likely need to stay where they are for longer than previously thought. "As I think about appropriate policy, I think it's just too early to think about cutting rates," Logan said on Friday. The labor market and the broader economy remain strong, she said, an unusual combination in light of the rapid decline in inflation last year. "But it's not a 'soft landing' until we've landed, and we haven't yet landed," Logan said, referring to a scenario in which inflation falls without triggering a painful recession or major job losses. She added that inflation data, particularly in the first quarter, "was a bit disappointing to us, and it's a good reminder of the work that we still have to do." The Fed's gauge for its 2% inflation target - the year-over-year change in the personal consumption expenditures price index - dropped from a high of 7.1% in mid-2022 to 2.5% in January 2024, and most recently in March ticked up to 2.7%. Meanwhile, the U.S. unemployment has remained low by historical standards, and at 3.9% in April is only a few tenths of a percentage point higher than where it was when the Fed began its rate-hike campaign in March 2022. As of March, most Fed policymakers still thought the central bank would likely cut rates two or three times this year to avoid letting policy get overly tight and unduly harming the labor market. Logan on Friday did not articulate a view on the potential timing for rate cuts. "I think I need to see some of these uncertainties resolved about the path that we're on, and we need to remain very flexible to policy, and continue to look at the data that's coming in and to watch how financial conditions are evolving and make sure the judgments that we're making are appropriate."

The Reasons the Fed’s Bowman is “Willing” to Hike Rates if “Data Indicate Progress on Inflation Has Stalled or Reversed” by Wolf Richter - The first three months of the year have produced a nasty re-acceleration of inflation in the US. It was across the board: in the Consumer Price Index, in the Fed-favored PCE price index, in the Producer Price Index, in the quarterly Employment Cost Index (for two quarters in a row). The Fed is beginning to adjust to this new scenario, and a rate hike — instead of rate cuts — is now back on the table and keeps getting talked about.Even – or especially? – after looking at the results of the jobs report on Friday, Fed Governor Michelle Bowman said in aspeech that she remains “willing to raise the federal funds rate at a future meeting should the incoming data indicate that progress on inflation has stalled or reversed.” This parallels what Powell said more softly at the FOMC post-meeting press conference. No disagreement there.She would “monitor the incoming data to assess whether monetary policy is sufficiently restrictive to bring inflation down to our target,” she said. Her “baseline outlook” is still that inflation will decline as the Fed keeps its policy rates at 5.25% to 5.5%, but she sees “a number of upside inflation risks that affect my outlook.”And then she outlined these inflation-fueling factors. And she nailed it.

• Why inflation might not decline further: “Much of the progress on inflation last year was due to supply-side improvements,” she said. We saw that as prices of many goods leveled off or even fell in 2023 – from used vehicles and electronics to gasoline. But “it is unclear whether further supply-side improvements will continue to lower inflation,” she said.
• What could put upward pressure on “food, energy, and commodity prices”: “Geopolitical developments could also pose upside risks to inflation, including the risk that spillovers from regional conflicts could disrupt global supply chains, putting additional upward pressure on food, energy, and commodity prices,” she said.
• What could cause “inflation to reaccelerate”:
  • “The loosening in financial conditions since late last year”
  • “Additional fiscal stimulus” – the gigantic amounts of deficit spending by the federal government.
• What could lead “to persistently high core services inflation”:
  • “Strong consumer demand for services”
  • “Increased immigration” – specifically: “The inflow of new immigrants … could result in upward pressure on rents, as additional housing supply may take time to materialize.”
  • “Continued labor market tightness” – specifically: “Wage growth has remained at an elevated rate of between 4% and 5%, still higher than the pace consistent with our 2% inflation goal given trend productivity growth.”
• Data uncertainty makes rate decisions more challenging:“The frequency and extent of data revisions over the past few years make the task of assessing the current state of the economy as well as predicting how the economy will evolve even more challenging, and I will remain cautious in my approach to considering future changes in the stance of policy,” she said.
• Monetary policy “not on a preset course,” rate hike possible to deal with it: “My colleagues and I will make our decisions at each FOMC meeting based on the incoming data and the implications for and risks to the outlook. While the current stance of monetary policy appears to be at a restrictive level, I remain willing to raise the federal funds rate at a future meeting should the incoming data indicate that progress on inflation has stalled or reversed,” she said.

Greene signals possible offramp for Johnson ouster vote - Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) huddled Monday for almost two hours with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) — a marathon meeting suggesting the pair is seeking a deal to defuse tensions and preclude floor action on the Georgia firebrand’s resolution to boot Johnson from power. The two emerged from the Speaker’s office separately but bearing the same message: The discussion was constructive enough that they’ve agreed to meet again Tuesday. Greene later told reporters the huddle will take place at 12:30 p.m. Greene declined to say if she was ready to push through with her plan to force her motion to vacate resolution to the floor, but suggested she is seeking some assurances from the Speaker that he’ll fight harder for conservative policy priorities in negotiations with Democrats — the issue at the heart of both her criticisms and her removal effort. “I have been patient, I have been diligent, I have been steady, and I have been focused on the facts. And none of that has changed,” Greene, who was joined by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), another supporter of her resolution, told reporters after the meeting. “So I just had a long discussion with the Speaker in his office about ways to move forward for a Republican-controlled House of Representatives. We’re talking to him again tomorrow, based on our discussion today.” The comments are a departure from last week when the Georgia Republican was adamant that she would move to force a vote on Johnson’s ouster this week, underscoring the importance of putting her conservative colleagues on the record regarding whether they support the Speaker. “Next week I am going to be calling this motion to vacate,” Greene declared at a press conference alongside Massie, one of only two Republicans backing her effort. “Absolutely calling it.” “If this vote fails and the whole conference, the whole Congress, supports the uniparty, let me tell you something, that is not a failure, it’s a win for the American people, because that’s a list of names,” Greene later added. “They deserve that list.” But the Georgia Republican requested Monday’s meeting with Johnson and said she would huddle with him again Tuesday, a signal that she is considering an offramp from her weeks-long motion to vacate threat. Johnson also addressed reporters briefly after the meeting, saying he understands his critics’ policy concerns but emphasized the limitations of advancing them in a government where Democrats control the Senate and White House. “I’ve said this repeatedly, that I understand the frustration, I share it. I would really like to advance much more of our conservative policy on a daily basis here,” Johnson said. “But the reality is we are working with the smallest majority in U.S. history, with a one-vote margin. It makes it very difficult to, using my football metaphor as I often do, to throw touchdown passes on every single play.” “We’re gonna keep this team together and working for the American people.”

Greene moves to oust Speaker Johnson - Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) moved to force a vote on ousting Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Wednesday, a momentous move that is all but certain to fail amid opposition from Democrats and conservative Republicans. Greene — who filed her motion to vacate against Johnson more than a month ago — called her resolution to the floor as privileged on Wednesday, forcing GOP leadership to move on the measure within two legislative days. Lawmakers are expected to quickly motion to table the removal resolution, which is poised to be successful after a large number of Republicans and Democrats said they are against the ouster gambit. Only two other Republicans — Reps. Thomas Massie (Ky.) and Paul Gosar (Ariz.) — have backed her effort. Greene triggered her ouster resolution — the same used to remove former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in the fall — after weeks of dangling the threat over Johnson’s head as she criticized his decisions on a number of legislative undertakings. The Georgia Republican denounced Johnson’s decision to package a government funding bill, a measure to reauthorize the U.S.’s warrantless surveillance powers and, most recently, a foreign aid package that included billions of dollars in aid for Ukraine. Greene met with Johnson for hours on Monday and Tuesday, during which she laid out a list of demands for the Speaker, including only bringing bills to the floor that have support from a majority of the GOP conference, a practice known as the Hastert rule; committing to not passing any additional aid for Ukraine; defunding special counsels, including Jack Smith, who is investigating former President Trump; and imposing a 1-percent spending cut across the board if Congress does not complete its regular appropriations process by Sept. 30. Johnson told reporters “we’re working through a lot of ideas and suggestions” but did not publicly commit to the requests before Greene triggered her motion. Members of both parties booed Greene when she went to the floor Thursday and made clear she was moving forward with trying to oust Johnson. Greene said the booing was evidence of the “uni-party” of Democrats and Republicans that she has criticized.

GOP, Democrats show rare unity in killing Marjorie Taylor Greene motion - The House on Wednesday voted overwhelmingly to protect Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) from a conservative coup, torpedoing an effort by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) to oust the GOP leader from the top job for his willingness to cut deals with Democrats on weighty legislation. The chamber voted 359-43-7 on a motion to table, or dismiss, Greene’s motion-to-vacate resolution, preventing the removal proposal from being considered. In an extraordinary move in the deeply divided House, 163 Democrats — more than three-quarters of their Caucus — voted to keep Johnson in power. And in a demonstration of the GOP’s support for Johnson, only 11 conservative Republicans voted to send Greene’s motion to the floor. The chamber erupted in boos on both sides of the aisle when Greene began reading her resolution. The outcome was not a surprise. Democratic leaders had announced last week that they would protect Johnson from Greene’s removal gambit. But it dealt a major blow to the Georgia firebrand, who has alienated a vast majority of the GOP conference — including many like-minded Johnson critics — and, perhaps more significantly, bucked the position of former President Trump, who has gone out of his way to demonstrate his support for Johnson amid Greene’s removal threat. Highlighting that division, Trump on Wednesday praised Greene’s “spirit” but urged GOP lawmakers to vote to sink her resolution to unite against Democrats in a statement posted minutes after the vote had already taken place. “[I]f we show DISUNITY, which will be portrayed as CHAOS, it will negatively affect everything!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “Mike Johnson is a good man who is trying very hard.” The vote means that Johnson, who won the gavel in October following the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), will remain in the top job heading into November’s elections — for now. Greene on Wednesday would not rule out a subsequent vote on Johnson’s ouster. But the vote puts him in the precarious position of being a GOP Speaker propped up by Democrats, which could earn him the ire of conservatives who have already forecast that he won’t lead the party in the next Congress.

Democrats back ultra-right House Speaker: A bipartisan coalition for war and repression - Wednesday’s vote in the US House of Representatives, with overwhelming bipartisan support to keep ultra-right Louisiana Congressman Mike Johnson in office as Speaker, signifies the formation of a coalition government in all but name. Democrats and Republicans have joined forces on the basis of a common program of war abroad and mass repression at home. The House voted by 359 to 43 to table a resolution by fascist Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene to declare the Speaker’s chair vacant. The motion would have automatically triggered a lengthy series of votes to choose a new leader for the House, under conditions where the narrow partisan divide, 217 Republicans and 213 Democrats (with five seats vacant), means that even a handful of members can block a candidate. Even more significant than the vote itself was the political basis on which it was carried out. Democrats were explicitly repaying Johnson for his agreeing to bring up for a vote the long-delayed supplemental funding bill to provide military aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. After the funding bill passed last month by a comfortable bipartisan margin, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and other leading Democrats said they would not support a motion to vacate—usually a straight party-line vote—if it was being used to punish Johnson for ending the Republican blockade of the military aid. Greene initially filed the motion against Johnson in late March, after he orchestrated the bipartisan passage of budget legislation for the current fiscal year, including a record $825 billion for the Pentagon. But she did not call the motion up for a vote, describing it instead as a “warning,” until Johnson reached agreement with the White House and congressional Democrats on the supplemental military spending bill, passed by both houses and signed into law by Biden on April 24. When the Georgia congresswoman finally invoked the motion to declare the Speaker’s chair vacant, she was backed by 10 other Republicans. This was the same number of fascists who successfully brought down Speaker Kevin McCarthy last September, when every Democrat voted against him as well. This time, however, the Democrats were committed to keeping Johnson in office. And rather than supplying Johnson the handful of Democratic votes, or abstentions, actually required for his survival, the Democrats voted en masse to table the motion to vacate, an ostentatious display of support and what Jeffries called a demonstration of “political maturity.”

GOP conservatives threaten ICC with sanctions if they seek Netanyahu’s arrest - A dozen GOP senators threatened the International Criminal Court (ICC) with sanctions if the body moves forward with an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or other Israeli leaders. The ICC has reportedly considered a warrant for Netanyahu’s arrest for weeks as accusations rise of war crimes in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. “Target Israel and we will target you,” the senators, led by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), wrote in a letter late last month, threatening to “sanction your employees and associates, and bar you and your families from the United States.”“You have been warned,” it concludes.The letter, first reported by Zeteo, warns the ICC that the U.S. could invoke the American Service-Members’ Protection Act (ASPA) in any response to arrest warrants. The ASPA, signed into law in 2002, prohibits U.S. cooperation with the ICC and authorizes the president to take any action to prevent Americans or allies from being detained by the court.Neither Israel nor the U.S. is a member of the ICC, though the Palestinian territories were given member status in 2015. The Biden administration has stated it does not support an ICC war crimes investigation into Israel, but it has not commented on whether it would pursue sanctions against the court if Netanyahu or others are ordered arrested.“We’ve been really clear about the ICC investigation. We do not support it. We don’t believe that they have the jurisdiction. And I’m just going to leave it there for now,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said last week.The letter says any attempt to issue warrants against Israeli leaders would be “illegitimate and lack legal basis,” adding that issuing warrants “would align the ICC with the largest state sponsor of terrorism and its proxy,” referring to Iran and Hamas.Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) doubled down on the letter in a statement to The Hill on Monday.“The credibility of the ICC is already suspect, which is why the United States would never yield to its authority,” Cramer said. “If they go forward with charging Israel’s leadership with crimes for defending their citizens against terrorists, the ICC may as well declare themselves enemies of freedom.” The court shot back against unspecified threats in a public statement last week, a week after the GOP senators’ letter was sent to the body. “The Office seeks to engage constructively with all stakeholders whenever such dialogue is consistent with its mandate under the Rome Statute to act independently and impartially,” the ICC’s Office of the Prosecutor said in a statement posted on the social platform X. “That independence and impartiality are undermined, however, when individuals threaten to retaliate against the Court or against Court personnel should the Office, in fulfillment of its mandate, make decisions about investigations or cases falling within its jurisdiction,” the statement continues. “Such threats, even when not acted upon, may also constitute an offence against the administration of justice under Art. 70 of the Rome Statute.” Potential action against Israel comes after the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin last year over alleged war crimes in Ukraine. President Biden backed the action, calling it “justified.”

Tlaib calls for court to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Israeli officials -- Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) has called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials after Israel’s militaryseized control of the Rafah crossing on Tuesday. Tlaib, the only Palestinian American in Congress, said with the ongoing incursion into the southern city of Rafah, there is “nowhere” safe for Palestinians in Gaza, and argued that Netanyahu will remain in his post as long as the conflict continues. “I urge the ICC to swiftly issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and senior Israeli officials to finally hold them accountable for this genocide, as is obviously warranted by these well-documented violations of the Genocide Convention under international law,” Tlaib said in a statement Tuesday. The Michigan progressive, who has been a vocal critic of Israel in Congress, also renewed calls for a cease-fire and to halt all military funding to Israel. “It is now more apparent than ever that we must end all U.S. military funding for the Israeli apartheid regime, and demand that President Biden facilitate an immediate, permanent ceasefire that includes a complete withdraw of Israeli forces from Gaza, and the release of all hostages and arbitrarily detained Palestinians,” she said Tuesday. The court has reportedly considered warrants for Netanyahu and other members of his Cabinet. The court was allegedly considering arrest warrants for weeks over increasing accusations of war crimes being committed in the Israel-Hamas war.In response, some Republicans in the Senate have threatened to impose sanctions on the ICC if it moved forward with the arrest warrants. Lawmakers said the U.S. could fall back on the American Service-Members’ Protection Act, a 2002 law that shields the country from cooperating with the court. The U.S. and Israel are not members of the ICC. Palestinian territories were given membership in 2015.As of Tuesday, Israeli military tanks have come into Rafah, which, along with Kerem Shalom, is one of two critical points of entry for humanitarian aid designated for Palestinians as parts of Gaza are heading for a famine, according to an Integrated Food Security Phase Classification report.“Many of my colleagues are going to express concern and horror at the crimes against humanity that are about to unfold, even though they just voted to send Netanyahu billions more in weapons,” Tlaib said. “Do not be misled, they gave their consent for these atrocities, and our country is actively participating in genocide. For months, Netanyahu made his intent to invade Rafah clear, yet the majority of my colleagues and President Biden sent more weapons to enable the massacre.”

US-Made Bombs Used in March Israeli Attack on Lebanese Paramedics - On March 27, Israel attacked a building in Hebbariye, southern Lebanon, which housed the Islamic Emergency and Relief Corps. The attacks killed seven volunteer paramedics and was deeply criticized internationally as a war crime.A new report from The Guardian revealed the bomb used in the attack was a US-made Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM). Produced by Boeing, JDAMs figure prominently among the items Israel requests from the US.Though US law is meant to prevent arms transfers from going to nations that are committing war crimes, the US routinely provides JDAMs to Israel in large quantities. This is leading to growing international calls from major human rights groups to stop arms transfers to Israel.Amnesty International says that the civilian casualties inflicted “underscore the overall pattern of unlawful attacks” by Israel. JDAMs were reported to have been used in killing civilians in the attack on the Gaza Strip.Human Rights Watch officials also call for the halt of transfers, saying that “Israel’s assurances that it is using US weapons lawfully are not credible.”

Biden Withholds Shipment Of Boeing-Made Precision Bombs From Israel Over Rafah Offensive - We noted earlier that Israel's Rafah ground offensive currently in progress constitutes a glaring instance of Netanyahu's willingness to blow past Biden's 'red line' which was repeatedly verbalized in the last weeks and months. It now appears that Biden is ready to belatedly get 'tough' (or at least keep up the appearance of getting tough on Israel for the sake of US Progressives who have been revoking their support in droves). The below major headline just hit via Politico:Biden administration is holding shipments of Boeing manufactured precision bombs to send a political message to Israel, according to Politico.https://t.co/2vgsTYZxYg pic.twitter.com/IH1EiQifAj— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) May 7, 2024 This follows on the heels of Axios' Sunday reporting which said an initial ammo shipment has been held up. Israeli officials are said to be seething. Anyway... The US is only paying for Israel's war and providing the weapons they use in Gaza. No need to pay attention to any "red lines" that doddering old man in the WH issued.https://t.co/yOIQOiwZk9 pic.twitter.com/ueUw4sSSlU— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 6, 2024 Meanwhile, Netanyahu has released a fresh statement on the Rafah offensive and negotiations in Cairo...Last night I ordered, with the approval of the War Cabinet, to operate in Rafah. Within hours our forces raised the Israeli flags at the Rafah crossing and took down the Hamas flags. The entry into Rafah serves two main war goals: the return of our abductees and the elimination of Hamas. We have already proven in the previous release of the abductees - military pressure on Hamas is a necessary condition for the return of our abductees. Hamas' proposal yesterday was intended to torpedo the entry of our forces into Rafah. It did not happen. As the War Cabinet unanimously determined, the Hamas proposal is very far from Israel's necessary requirements.Therefore, I instructed the delegation that went to Cairo: continue to stand firm on the conditions necessary for the release of our abductees, continue to stand firm on the essential requirements for guaranteeing Israel's security.Israel is now threatening to go 'deeper' into Rafah and initiate the next military stage of the operation if Hamas rejects current Israeli offers on the table.Interestingly, all of this comes on the occasion of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s annual "Days of Remembrance ceremony" which Biden spoke at. During the remarks he sought to make an Oct.7 connection: "Here we are, not 75 years later, but just seven and a half months later-- people are already forgetting that Hamas unleashed this terror." He also said "there's no place for antisemitism on any campus in the US" - in reference to ongoing protests and clashes with police at various places, especially at east coast and west coast schools.

Biden draws GOP’s wrath with pause in bombs shipment to Israel - President Biden’s move to pause a shipment of heavy bombs to Israel has drawn the fury of Republicans, further polarizing U.S. efforts to deter Israel from launching a bloody campaign in southern Gaza. The U.S. held back some 3,500 bombs that had already been approved for Israel as the White House is growing increasingly frustrated with the civilian toll in Gaza and is concerned about a looming Israeli full-scale invasion of Rafah, a southern city where more than a million Palestinians are sheltering. But the decision to hold back weapons shipments is among the most significant actions that Biden has taken to assert U.S. leverage amid Israel’s war in Gaza. While progressives have long called for such weapons restrictions, Republicans responded to the move with blistering statements attacking Biden. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) and House Armed Services Chair Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) said in a joint statement Wednesday they were “appalled that the administration paused crucial arms shipments to Israel,” accusing Biden of weakening Israeli security. “Moreover, this disastrous policy decision was undertaken in secret and deliberately hidden from Congress and the American people,” they said. “At a time when Israel continues to negotiate in good faith to secure the release of hostages, including American citizens, the administration’s shortsighted, strategic error calls into question its ‘unshakeable commitment’ as an ally. “ Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also came under questioning from Republicans when he testified in front of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday morning. “Does this not send the wrong message to our ally Israel and embolden Iran and Iranian-backed groups?” said Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.). “We should not be signaling to [our] enemies that our support is conditional.” Austin responded that the U.S. commitment to Israel’s security remains “ironclad” and the White House has provided billions of dollars to the country. “But that said, we are currently reviewing some near-term security shipments in the context of unfolding events in Rafah,” Austin said. “We haven’t made any decisions. We did pause as we reevaluated some of the security assistance that we are providing.” Austin repeated that Israel should not launch a “major attack” on Rafah without protecting civilians and coming up with a plan to protect the civilians sheltering there. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) argued that Hamas and other Iranian-backed proxies are committed to destroying Israel. “And you’re telling me that if we withhold weapons in this fight, the existential fight for the life for the Jewish state, it won’t send the wrong signal?” he told Austin during his round of questioning. The weapons on hold are 2,000-pound and 500-pound bombs, along with the Joint Direct Attack Munitions kits that convert them into precision-guided munitions known as smart bombs. Heavier bombs are generally more destructive and can result in more indiscriminate attacks, and human rights groups have accused Israel of driving up the death toll with the large munitions.

US Pauses Bomb Shipment To Israel But Approves New $827 Million Arms Package - US officials have said a shipment of 2,000-pound and 500-pound bombs to Israel was put on pause last weekbut also announced a new $827 million weapons package for Israel, the contents of which are unclear.The officials said that the bomb shipment was paused over concerns about Israel launching a full-scale invasion of Rafah, and they described the move as the first delay in US military aid to Israel since October 7.Israel ended up going ahead with an attack on Rafah to capture the Palestinian side of the border crossing that connects to Egypt in an operation that was approved by President Biden. The US has insisted the Israeli operation is “limited,” although the attack involved heavy strikes on the city, which is packed with over 1 million civilians.US officials said the Biden administration is also reviewing the delivery of Joint Direct Attack Munitions, which convert dumb bombs into precision-guided weapons. But all of the bombs could still be delivered as an official told The Washington Post that the US has “not made a final determination on how to proceed.”The Post report also said that the delay won’t impact the Israeli military at the moment as it has enough US-supplied weapons to expand its operations in Rafah into a full-scale invasion of the city. The Israeli military isdownplaying the hold-up and is pointing to the unprecedented support it has received from the US for the past seven months.The US has approved hundreds of arms packages and shipped tens of thousands of heavy bombs to Israel since October 7. Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Daniel Hagari described the US support for Israel as “a scope without precedent” and said any issue between the two nations would be worked out “behind closed doors.”

Israeli Officials Say Flow of US Weapons Is Uninterrupted Despite Report of Ammunition Delay - Israeli officials said on Sunday that the overall flow of US weapons shipments to Israel is “uninterrupted” despite a report from Axios that said the Biden administration put a hold on an ammunition shipment.The Axios report cited two Israeli officials who said the hold on the ammunition raised “serious concerns” in the Israeli government, but the sources did not give a reason why the US delayed the shipment. CNN later reportedthat the pause had nothing to do with Israel’s plans to invade Rafah and wouldn’t impact future weapons shipments, meaning it doesn’t reflect a change in US policy.“The stream of security shipments from the US to Israel is ongoing. While individual shipments might be delayed, the overall flow remains uninterrupted, and we are not aware of any policy suspending it,” an Israeli official told Ynet.Israel’s public broadcaster Kan cited a political source who said Israel “is not aware of any US decision regarding stopping or reducing military support to Israel.” The source added that it was “possible that one shipment or another will be delayed, but the flow continues, and we are not aware of a political decision to stop it.”When asked about the paused ammunition shipment, a National Security Council spokesperson vowed the US would continue arming Israel. “The United States has surged billions of dollars in security assistance to Israel since the October 7 attacks, passed the largest ever supplemental appropriation for emergency assistance to Israel, led an unprecedented coalition to defend Israel against Iranian attacks, and will continue to do what is necessary to ensure Israel can defend itself from the threats it faces,” the spokesperson told CNN.The delay could be related to new US aid shipments to Ukraine. Back in October, Axios reported that the US diverted artillery shells initially bound for Ukraine to Israel. Something similar could have happened in reverse as President Biden recently signed a bill into law authorizing $61 billion in spending for the proxy war in Ukraine.

Biden Gave Netanyahu the Green Light To Capture Rafah Crossing - President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed Israel’s plans to capture the Rafah border crossing in southern Gaza before the Israeli military launched the operation, Axios reported on Tuesday.The report said that the operation didn’t cross Biden’s “red line,” although it’s unclear if the US has actually set red lines for Israel. US officials have said they’re opposed to a “major operation” in Rafah since it would incur huge civilian casualties. But the capturing of the border crossing will have a devastating impact on civilians since it cut off vital aid deliveries, and it’s unclear when or if they will resume.A senior Israeli official told Axios that during the call with Netanyahu, Biden didn’t “didn’t pull the hand break on the capture of the Rafah crossing during the call.” Two US officials said Biden didn’t view the current Israeli operations as a “breaking point” in relations.On Tuesday, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that the US was not opposed to the operation.“We’ve been very consistent about our concerns of a major ground operation in Gaza that would put at great risk the refugees that are still there, and nothing’s changed about that,” Kirby said. “The Israelis have told us … that that’s not what this is.” He said that Israel assured the US that the operation was “of limited scope, scale, and duration, and aimed at cutting off Hamas’ ability to ship arms across the Rafah border.”Israeli tanks and soldiers took the border crossing as Israeli strikes pounded the city of Rafah, killing at least 23 Palestinians, including five women and six children.

Report: Private US Security Firm To Take Control of Rafah Border Crossing - Haaretz reported on Tuesday that the US, Israel, and Egypt have agreed that control of the Rafah border crossing that connects Egypt and Gaza will be handed over to a private American security firm.The report came after Israel captured the border crossing in an operation that was approved by the Biden administration. The private American firm was not named, but Haaretz said that it employs veterans of elite US Army units and has been employed in several Middle Eastern and African countries to guard sensitive sites.State Department spokesman Matt Miller was asked about the report and said he wasn’t aware of any plan for Israel to transfer control of the border crossing.Under the reported arrangement, American mercenaries would take responsibility for overseeing the border crossing, which would include monitoring goods coming into Gaza and preventing Hamas from taking control. Vital deliveries have been cut off since Israel took control of the crossing early Tuesday.The Haaretz report said the arrangement was part of an effort by Israel to “win agreement” from the US and Egypt for a Rafah operation. The report said Israel had given assurances that it would limit its attack on Rafah to securing the border crossing, although Israeli bombs have been pounding the city.

US reiterates “ironclad” support to Israel as Netanyahu launches assault on Rafah -- Israel launched its long-planned genocidal assault on Rafah on Monday, issuing orders for the population of the city to evacuate and launching an intense bombardment. More than 1.2 million refugees, over 600,000 of whom are children, are currently sheltering in Rafah, under squalid conditions, without adequate food, water, hygiene or medicine. The majority of the children, in the words of the Euro-Med monitor, are “either injured, ill, and/or malnourished.” Israel bombed residential homes throughout Gaza Monday, leaving at least 26 people dead—mostly women and children—and dozens more wounded and buried under the rubble. Israeli tanks have approached within 200 meters of the Rafah crossing with Egypt, the Associated Press reported. “The War Cabinet unanimously decided this evening that Israel will continue its operation in Rafah,” the Netanyahu government said in a statement Monday. The assault on Rafah comes despite the acceptance by Hamas Monday of a proposal for a temporary cessation of hostilities in exchange for the release of hostages. But after spending weeks attempting to blame the Palestinians for the ongoing war, Israeli officials flatly rejected the proposal. National Security Minister Ben-Gvir replied in a post on X, “Hamas’ exercises and games have only one answer: an immediate order to occupy Rafah!” In response to the murderous Israeli onslaught, multiple US officials reiterated their unlimited support for Israel. “We have always made clear that we are committed to Israel’s defense,” said State Department spokesman Vedant Patel on Monday. “That commitment to Israel’s security remains ironclad.” “Our support for Israel’s security remains ironclad,” said State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller. “The President pushed very hard … so that we can continue to help Israel with its security needs…” “Israel has a right and a responsibility to defend itself,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said. “And we’re going to continue to provide for their security.” Absurdly, Kirby denied that an assault on Rafah had begun, declaring, “There hasn’t been an assault or an attack” on the city. In a cynical exercise in deceptive wordplay, Kirby said, “The president doesn’t want to see operations in Rafah that put at greater risk the more than a million people that are seeking refuge there.”This statement seeks to suggest that the White House opposes Israel’s assault on the city, despite the announcement by the White House last month that “The two sides agreed on the shared objective to see Hamas defeated in Rafah.”

In Holocaust Speech, President Biden Declares 'Ironclad' Support for Israel, Slams College Protesters - On Tuesday, President Biden delivered a speech at the Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Days of Remembrance Ceremony and declared his support for Israel remains “ironclad,” demonstrating that he will continue to support the Israeli slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza. “My commitment to the safety of the Jewish people, the security of Israel, and its right to exist as an independent Jewish state is ironclad, even when we disagree,” Biden said.He also slammed the pro-Palestinian protests at colleges across the country, again smearing them as antisemitic despite the fact that many Jewish students are participating.“On college campuses, Jewish students blocked, harassed, attacked while walking to class,” Biden said. “Antisemitism — antisemitic posters, slogans calling for the annihilation of Israel, the world’s only Jewish State.”The president also portrayed the protests as violent, but the movement has been peaceful. The most significant violence occurred when police moved to break up the demonstrations at some of the colleges and when pro-Israel agitators attacked an encampment at UCLA.“There is no place on any campus in America — any place in America — for antisemitism or hate speech or threats of violence of any kind — whether against Jews or anyone else,” Biden said. “Violent attacks, destroying property is not peaceful protest. It’s against the law. And we are not a lawless country. We’re a civil society. We uphold the rule of law.”In his speech on the Holocaust, the president made no mention of the tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians who have been slaughtered by Israel in the US-backed campaign in Gaza. Last month, Amos Goldberg, a Holocaust scholar at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, said Israel was “undoubtedly” committing genocide.

World Food Programme Director Cindy McCain Says Northern Gaza Experiencing 'Full-Blown' Famine - The head of the UN’s World Food Programme has said northern Gaza is experiencing a “full-blown famine”that is moving south, which is a result of the US-backed Israeli blockade and bombing campaign.“Whenever you have conflicts like this, and emotions rage high, and things happen in a war, famine happens,” Cindy McCain, the widow of Senator John McCain, told NBC News.“What I can explain to you is — is that there is famine — full-blown famine — in the north, and it’s moving its way south. And so, what we’re asking for, and what we’ve continually asked for, is for a ceasefire and the ability to have unfettered access,” she added.Humanitarian organizations have not officially declared famine, but McCain reaffirmed her view that there was already a “full-blown famine” when asked by the host, saying it was based on what the WFP has seen on the ground. “It’s horror. It’s – You know, it’s so hard to look at and it’s so hard to hear, also,” she said.McCain is the second notable aid official to say that famine is already occurring in Gaza. Last month, Samantha Power, head of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), said she believed famine was already occurring in parts of northern Gaza.Despite the admission from a high-level US official, the US has continued to back the Israeli slaughter and starvation of Palestinians, and President Biden is refusing to call for a ceasefire that’s not attached to a hostage deal.Israel has said it’s taken some steps to increase the flow of aid into Gaza, but aid officials say it’s not nearly enough. The restrictions on aid violate US law that prohibits military assistance to countries that block deliveries of humanitarian assistance, but that has not stopped Biden from continuing to ship weapons.

Democratic Senator calls US report on Israel war conduct ‘woefully inadequate’ - Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) described the Biden administration’s review of Israel’s war conduct in the Gaza Strip — which acknowledged the likely violation of international humanitarian law using U.S. weapons — as “woefully inadequate,” but did not indicate a ban on arms transfers. “If this conduct complies with international standards, God help us all,” Van Hollen said in a call with reporters shortly after the State Department transmitted its report to Congress. “Because that would set a very low bar for what is allowed, it would set a very low bar for the rules of war, it would set a very low bar what’s required to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance.” The Biden administration delivered a report to Congress late Friday afternoon, in which it determined it was “reasonable to assess” that Israel had violated international humanitarian law (IHL) in its conduct in Gaza. The report was mandated by National Security Memorandum 20 (NSM20), which Biden issued in February. NSM20 required foreign governments receiving U.S. military assistance, and engaged in active combat, to provide written assurances to Washington that American-provided weapons are being used in accordance with IHL, and further was not hindering the delivery of humanitarian assistance. The memo also requires the State Department and Department of Defense to scrutinize credible reports of IHL violations. NSM20 was an outgrowth of a push by Van Hollen to get President Biden to recognize a large-scale Palestinian civilian death toll in the Gaza Strip as a result of Israel’s war against Hamas, and the challenges on the Israeli side hindering the delivery of humanitarian aid. Van Hollen called the Biden administration’s report “woefully inadequate” and demonstrated a “big gap” in the assessment of reports from international NGO’s that have scrutinized Israel’s war against Hamas over the course of seven months. “While the administration has made some important general findings in this report, including the finding that it’s reasonable to conclude that Israel has violated international law in the use of American weapons, they all fall short of making difficult determinations in specific cases,” he said. “But the administration ducked all the hard questions about making the actual determination,” Van Hollen continued. “As I read this report, the Biden administration is taking at face value many the representations made by the Netanyahu government,” the senator said, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The administration indicates in its report that Israel has engaged on investigations into the reports of violations of IHL.

Poll: Majority of Democrats Believe Biden Is Supporting Genocide in Gaza - A new poll from Data for Progress and Zeteo found that the majority of likely Democratic voters believe that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza in its military campaign that’s been supported by President Biden.When asked if they believed Israel was committing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza, 56% of Democrats, 36% of Independents, and 23% of Republicans said yes.The Biden administration has rejected the International Court of Justice’s ruling that it’s “plausible” that Israel is committing genocide and continues to support the brutal military campaign that’s killed over 34,800 Palestinians, including over 14,000 children.The poll also found that 55% of Democratic voters “disapprove” of the crackdown on students protesting against the genocidal war at college campuses across the country, another position that puts them at odds with President Biden, who has strongly condemned the demonstrations. The poll also showed an increase in support for a ceasefire in Gaza among all respondents. It found that 70% of all likely voters supported the idea of the US calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and a de-escalation, including 83% of Democrats, 65% of Independents, and 56% of Republicans.

The Destruction Of Gaza SHOULD Be Radicalizing People - by Caitlin Johnstone - What’s happening in Gaza should radicalize you. It absolutely should.Right now, even as its own criminality hits fever pitch, the western political-media class is fretting with increasing shrillness about young people getting “radicalized” and turned against their government by the spread of information and ideas at campus demonstrations and on TikTok. But young people should be radicalizing right now. Everyone should. When you see Israel rejecting a Hamas ceasefire and beginning its long-threatened assault on Rafah (the last so-called “safe zone” in Gaza), that should radicalize you.When you see US senators assist this horrifying onslaught by publicly threatening the International Criminal Court if they dare to indict Israeli officials for war crimes, that should radicalize you.When you see Israel shutting down Al Jazeera to quash news reporting about its criminality immediately before launching this mass atrocity, that should radicalize you.When you see The New York Times receiving a Pulitzer Prize for its scandalously discredited, notoriously biased and widely-mocked Gaza coverage, that should radicalize you. When you see the US president publicly supporting and encouraging violent police crackdowns against protesters opposing his genocidal actions in Gaza, that should radicalize you. If the so-called “moderate” position of your nation’s political status quo is to accept, normalize, support and defend the sort of evil that is being inflicted upon the people of Gaza, then you should want to get as far away from that “moderate” position as possible, and you should seek the complete annihilation of that political status quo.This obvious point is being aggressively attacked with rapidly intensifying frenzy by the empire and its lackeys.After police violently shut down anti-genocide campus demonstrations in New York City, Mayor Eric Adams said “There is a movement to radicalize young people, and I’m not going to wait until it’s done… I’m not going to allow that to happen as the mayor of the City of New York,” as though preventing the spread of radical political opinions is something a mayor is elected to do in the United States.NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry ominously told the press that there is “some organization” who is “radicalizing our students,” and that the New York police force intends to “find out who that is.” Again, the implication being that it is the job of the police to control the spread of unauthorized political opinions.In an article with the incredibly propagandistic headline “Anti-Israel protests infiltrated by ‘outside agitators’ who radicalize students, sow violence,” The Washington Times presented these unevidenced assertions from New York City officials as though they are established fact instead of highly convenient fiction.In a talk at the McCain Institute on Friday, Senator Mitt Romney told Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Congress supports banning TikTok because it shares information that turns people’s opinions against Israel, saying such information has a “very, very challenging effect on the narrative.”A new report from The Intercept reveals that congressmen Mike Lawler and Josh Gottheimer called on the FBI to investigate campus protesters at a “centrist” political group called No Labels, suggesting there these demonstrations have a nefarious support system which the federal police should look into.The Wall Street Journal has been losing its mind over the campus protests, posting articles with headlines like “Activist Groups Trained Students for Months Before Campus Protests” and “Rules for Campus Radicals, 2024 — A website reveals the planning and strategy behind the current college mayhem” which suggest that there is something sinister and unacceptable about these demonstrations receiving support from “longtime activists and left-wing groups.” MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough went full Alex Jones on his show last week, telling his audience that these university protests have been happening because Qatar has “poured hundreds of millions of dollars into American universities to have a radicalizing effect on Middle Eastern studies.”

When Opposing Genocide Is Seen As Radical, Radicalism Becomes A Moral Imperative by Caitlin Johnstone -- The dumbest thing we’re asked to believe about Biden is that a politician who’s been an enthusiastic Zionist and virulent warmonger throughout his entire way-too-long political career privately has deep moral qualms about the genocide he’s been unconditionally supporting in Gaza. Israel supporters are such psychopathic war sluts that they’re currently shrieking their lungs out at Biden for making a purely symbolic face-savingstatement that he won’t give Israel the weapons to annihilate Rafah, despite the fact that he has already given Israel all the weapons it would need to annihilate Rafah. The Washington Post reported the other day that “the Israeli military has enough weapons supplied by the U.S. and other partners to conduct the Rafah operation if it chooses to cast aside U.S. objections,” citing an anonymous senior official from the Biden administration. This has since been confirmed by the Israeli military, who says it has enough weapons to proceed with its planned Rafah invasion and that those plans will move forward. A new poll from Data for Progress and Zeteo has found that a majority of Democrats believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and that the police crackdown against anti-genocide protesters is wrong, which kind of makes you wonder why they’re still identifying as Democrats. If Biden supporters believe Biden is guilty of genocide, what does that say about Biden supporters? House Democrats rescued Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday from Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene’s initiative to oust him over his support for the massive World War 3 spending bill. This was the first time in US history that a minority from either party has ever intervened to stop the majority party from removing their own speaker, because Democrats just love war that much.And Republicans are even crazier, with GOP lawmakers promoting a bill tosend college protesters to Gaza in the House and another separate bill in the Senate to have them put on a no-fly list as “terrorists”. This new protest movement is driving empire managers out of their goddamn minds, which means it’s working and must continue. When opposing genocide is seen as radical, radicalism becomes a moral imperative.

Pro-Palestinian Anti-genocide protesters try to disrupt Met Gala - Pro-Palestinian demonstrations broke out near the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Monday night as celebrities gathered for the annual Met Gala event.The New York Police Department confirmed multiple people were arrested in the protests, though did not specify a number. Footage on social media showed groups of people marching near the Met Gala, shouting “free Palestine” and banging drums. In some videos, traffic on Park Avenue appeared at a standstill as protestors flooded the streets. Some protestors set off smoke bombs and flaresNBC News reported the protesters were rallying across the city in a “citywide day of rage,”marching from Hunter College and through Central Park to attempt to disrupt the fundraising event. The NYPD set up various blockades in the area surrounding the Met Gala to prevent protestors from getting close to the gala and instructed protestors to leave the roadways, NBC News added.The demonstration comes as pro-Palestinian protests roil college campuses across the country, prompting the arrests of hundreds of students and faculty over the past three weeks. Demonstrators are calling for universities and the U.S. to sever ties with Israel over the country’s war with Hamas in Gaza, which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians since early October. The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s annual Costume Insitute Benefit involves scores of high-profile stars who dress in adherence with a specific code. This year’s theme was “The Garden of Time,” in honor of the exhibit’s theme, “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.”Celebrities dawned flora and fauna looks on a green carpet Monday before they attended cocktails and dinner with the about 400 invited guests. Last year, the gala raised about $22 million for the Met’s Costume Insitute, according to the Associated Press.

TikTok CEO is honorary chair of Met Gala - TikTok CEO Shou Chew, who has been put under the spotlight by American lawmakers, is one of the honorary chairs of Monday’s Met Gala. In addition to Chew serving as honorary chair of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s annual Costume Institute Benefit, TikTok is also a sponsor of the event. The Met said the benefit and museum exhibition are “made possible by TikTok,” in a Februarypress release. TikTok and Chew’s roles at the Meta Gala come as the popular social media app is battling to stay active in the U.S. after President Biden signed a bipartisan bill that would force TikTok’s Chinese-based parent company ByteDance to sell the app or face a ban in the U.S. Lawmakers in support of the bill said it aims to protect the U.S. from national security threats posed by TikTok’s connections to the Chinese parent company, but TikTok has pushed back on allegations that it poses such threats. The company pledged to fight the law in court, as it has with past attempts, and said it infringes on users’ free speech rights. That is among several regulatory battles TikTok is facing. Chew was also grilled by senators at ahearing earlier this year about kids’ safety online, along with the CEOs of Meta, Discord, Snap and X. The company is also under investigation by European Union regulators.

TikTok Sues US Government Over 'Forced-Sale' Or 'Ban' Law -- As was promised and expected, TikTok and its Chinese parent ByteDance have sued to challenge the new US law, arguing that the law is unconstitutional. The New York Times reports, citing a petition the company provided, that the company alleges the new law violates users' First Amendment rights, by effectively removing an app that millions of Americans use to share their views and communicate freely. “For the first time in history, Congress has enacted a law that subjects a single, named speech platform to a permanent, nationwide ban, and bars every American from participating in a unique online community with more than one billion people worldwide,” the company said in the 67-page petition it provided, which initiates the lawsuit. “There is no question: The act will force a shutdown of TikTok by Jan. 19, 2025.” The company also claims that a divestiture is “simply not possible” to complete within the law’s 270-day timeline. As NYTimes reports, at the heart of the case will be lawmakers’ intent to defend the United States from what they and some security experts say is a national security threat because the Chinese government could lean on ByteDance to turn over sensitive TikTok user data or use the app to spread propaganda. Legal experts have said the mandate to sell or block the app could result in changes to TikTok’s content policies and shape what users are able to freely share on the platform, potentially violating their free speech rights.TikTok argued in its suit that selling its U.S. operations was not “commercially, technologically, or legally feasible.”A part of that argument hinges on how TikTok and its competitors are global in nature and content is accessible across country borders, with international videos as part of its appeal.National security concerns about TikTok are “speculative” and fall short of what’s required to justify violating First Amendment rights, the company argued in its suit, adding that President Biden and other members of Congress’s use of the platform undermines claims that it’s a threat.TikTok filed the suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit where the company asked the court to issue a declaratory judgment saying that the law violates the Constitution and to issue an order that would stop Attorney General Merrick B. Garland from enforcing it.

Mitt Romney Says Congress Supports Banning TikTok for Israel - In a conversation with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) acknowledged that banning TikTok has such strong support in Congress because the social media platform has hurt Israel’s public relations battle.“Some wonder why there was such overwhelming support for us to shut down, potentially, TikTok or other entities of that nature,” Romney said at the McCain Institute this past Friday. “If you look at the postings on TikTok and the number of mentions of Palestinians relative to other social media sites, it’s overwhelmingly so among TikTok broadcasts.”The official justification for targeting TikTok is the unfounded allegation that it’s a Chinese spy tool because its parent company, ByteDance, is based in China. But Romney’s comments suggest the real purpose of the renewed push to ban the app after a similar effort failed years ago was to censor news coming out of Gaza and pro-Palestinian content.Blinken blamed social media in general when asked by Romney why Israel was losing the global PR war. Palestinian journalists have been able to broadcast to the whole world the atrocities committed by Israel in Gaza using social media, including graphic videos of dead or wounded children being dug out of rubble following an Israeli airstrike.“Now, of course, we’re on an intravenous feed of information with new impulses, inputs every millisecond,” Blinken said. “And, of course, the way this has played out on social media has dominated the narrative. You have a social media ecosystem, environment in which context, history, facts get lost and the emotion, the impact of images dominate. We can’t discount that, but I think it also has a very very challenging effect on the narrative.”A bill to ban TikTok was included in the $95 billion foreign military spending package President Biden signed into law last month. The legislation gives ByteDance nine months to sell TikTok, or else it will get banned. But ByteDance has vowed to fight the ban in court and said it would rather shutdown TikTok than sell.

Congress Targets TikTok's Allies Ahead of Legal Battle - As TikTok gears up to battle a law that will ban the video-sharing platform, Congress is attempting to strip away its allies. NetChoice, a trade association representing major tech companies, no longer lists TikTok as a client.On Wednesday, POLITICO reported that NetChoice “faced pressure from the office of House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) to dump TikTok.” Another source said the trade group succumbed to pressure after it learned “that the Select Committee on China would be investigating groups associated with TikTok and decided to ever ties as a result.”A representative of Scalise appeared to confirm the intimidation scheme in a statement to POLITICO. “It should not come as a surprise to those representing TikTok that as long as TikTok remains connected to the CCP, Congress will continue its rigorous oversight efforts to safeguard Americans from foreign threats,” he said.POLITICO reported in March that members of Congress were considering whether to blacklist companies that represent TikTok. At the time, Sen. Tom Cotton said meeting with the head of TikTok was equivalent to taking a meeting with the Taliban or Hamas.TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek blasted the Select Committee on China for intimidating its allies. “The Select Committee’s brazen efforts to intimidate private organizations for associating with a company with 170 million American users is a clear abuse of power that smacks of McCarthyism,” he said. “It’s a sad day when Members of Congress single out individual companies without evidence while trampling on constitutional rights and the democratic process.”NetChoice has not issued a statement on its decision to drop TikTok as a client. The group claims to lobby for the First Amendment rights of its clients, which include Amazon and Meta.

Empire Managers Explain Why This New Protest Movement Scares Them by Caitlin Johnstone -- The US secretary of state and a Bilderberg surveillance tech oligarch have both made some very interesting admissions about the burgeoning protest movement against the US-backed slaughter in Gaza and the problems it poses for the empire they help run.During a vitriolic rant about university demonstrators at the Ash Carter Exchange on Innovation and National Security on Tuesday, Palantir CEO Alex Karp came right out and said that if those on the side of the protesters win the debate on this issue, the west will lose the ability to wage wars. For those who don’t know, Palantir is a CIA-backed surveillance and data mining tech company with intimate ties to both the US intelligence cartel and to Israel, playing a crucial role in both the US empire’s sprawling surveillance network and Israeli atrocities against Palestinians. Karp is a billionaire who sits on the Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Group and regularly features at the World Economic Forum and other platforms of plutocratic empire management. “We kind of just think these things that are happening, across college campuses especially, are like a sideshow — no, they are the show,” Karp said during his rant. “Because if we lose the intellectual debate, you will not be able to deploy any army in the west, ever.” Everyone should listen very carefully to Karp’s words here, because he’s giving the whole game away. He’s making it very clear how crucial it is for the empire to stomp out this protest movement and the zeitgeist upon which it rides, because the very existence of the imperial war machine depends on it. At a time when most imperial spinmeisters are trying to dismiss the importance of this movement and what young people are doing on college campuses around the world, this is a really extraordinary admission from someone who lives deep in the guts of the imperial hydra.Such conferences are great for obtaining useful information from swamp monsters that you don’t normally hear, because when they’re surrounded by like-minded empire goons they tend to get a lot more loose-tongued than they are when they’re more aware that they have an audience of normal people. We saw this illustrated again in a conversation between Senator Mitt Romney and Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the McCain Institute last week, during which both acknowledged some facts that generally go unstated by such creatures. After bemoaning Israel’s lack of success at “PR” regarding its Gaza assault, Romney just came right out and said that this was “why there was such overwhelming support for us to shut down potentially TikTok or other entities of that nature” — with “us” meaning himself and his fellow lawmakers on Capitol Hill. “How this narrative has evolved, yeah, it’s a great question,” Blinken responded, saying that at the beginning of his career in Washington everyone was getting their information from television and physical newspapers like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. “Now, of course, we are on an intravenous feed of information with new impulses, inputs every millisecond,” Blinken continued. “And of course, the way this has played out on social media has dominated the narrative. And you have a social media ecosystem environment in which context, history, facts get lost, and the emotion, the impact of images dominates. And we can’t — we can’t discount that, but I think it also has a very, very, very challenging effect on the narrative.”Notice how he said the word “narrative” three times? That’s how empire managers talk to each other, because that’s how they think about everything.This is because empire managers are always acutely aware of something that normal human beings are not: that real power comes from manipulating the stories — narratives — that people tell themselves about their reality. They understand that humans are storytelling animals whose inner lives are typically dominated by mental narratives about what’s happening, so if you can control those narratives, you can control the humans.They understand that power is controlling what happens, but true power is controlling what people think about what happens. They understand that whoever controls the narrative controls the world.

Protest And Dissent Can Absolutely Push The Empire To Retreat by Caitlin Johnstone -- It is entirely possible for the surging anti-genocide protest movement and its accompanying zeitgeist in the general public to push the empire to retreat on Gaza. The imperial murder machine has many strengths, but it also has weaknesses.The globe-spanning power structure that is loosely centralized around Washington has invested in perception management more heavily than any other empire in history — that’s what you’re seeing with all the mass media propaganda, Silicon Valley algorithm manipulation, oligarch-funded think tanks, and mainstream culture manufacturing in New York and Hollywood. By using mass-scale psychological manipulation via the most sophisticated perception management system that has ever existed, the US-centralized empire is able to manufacture support for its agendas at home and abroad while dissuading the public from protest and revolution.This is an immense strength, but it’s also a weakness. Its so-called “soft power” narrative manipulation systems allow for an immense amount of control while still creating the illusion of freedom and democracy, thereby suppressing public desire to overthrow what would otherwise be perceived as a murderous and exploitative oppressor, but its heavy reliance on perception management means it can’t afford to be seen in too negative a light without causing widespread distrust in its propaganda machine. If too many people realize that their government is psychopathic and their news media and other indoctrination systems have been lying to them about it all their lives, the empire will lose the ability to propagandize them, because propaganda only works if you don’t know it’s happening to you. If too many people wake up from the propaganda matrix it won’t have any effect any longer, and without their propaganda our rulers cannot rule, because that’s the entire control system upon which their rule is premised. The empire therefore needs to tread very carefully when public opinion starts to turn against it, and retreat whenever public trust in imperial institutions would be compromised too severely for the empire to continue on a given path. It simply cannot afford to wake the public up from the propaganda-induced coma it has spent generations lulling them into. What this means is that the empire can be pressured into retreat simply by spreading enough awareness and sowing enough opposition to its depraved actions. If enough eyes open to the truth of what’s happening in Gaza, there’s no amount of geostrategic middle east agendas or Israel lobby funding that can outweigh the empire’s existential need to prevent a mass-scale awakening from the mainstream imperial worldview and a transition into widespread revolutionary consciousness. The empire would necessarily need to step back before things reached that point, because its very existence depends on it.The empire has been walking that line this entire time. Whenever you see it doing things like stepping back from regime change invasions of Cuba or Syria or refraining from going as authoritarian as it could go on a given issue, it isn’t because the empire suddenly evolved a conscience. It’s because it hasn’t yet succeeded in manufacturing public consent for such agendas, and imposing them before the public has been manipulated into accepting them would snap them out of the matrix of psychological control. They work so hard to manufacture public consent because they absolutely need it.So the empire can be pressured on Gaza and on every other issue if enough people put enough energy into spreading awareness of the truth. That’s why the empire managers are freaking out about this new protest movement right now; they understand the absolutely fundamental role that narrative control plays in the existence of imperial power structures, and how much they stand to lose if it is taken away.And hopefully it will be. Hopefully one day, maybe even soon, we will see people begin unplugging their brains from the matrix of imperial mind control at so widespread a scale that no amount of retreating and backpedaling can save the empire from the people collectively deciding they’ll have none of its murderous tyranny anymore. From there it will lose its allies and assets abroad, it will succumb to revolutionary sentiments at home, and the people can start working toward building a healthy world together.

Rep. Ogles Introduces Bill To Send College Protesters To Gaza - Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) introduced a bill in the House on Wednesday designed to send college protesters to Gaza.According to Fox News, the bill doesn’t specifically mention the protests against Israel’s slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza that have swept college campuses across the country but targets anyone convicted of “unlawful activity.”The full text of the bill hasn’t been released, but the title says it would “require persons convicted of unlawful activity on the campus of an institution of higher education beginning on and after October 7, 2023, to provide community service in Gaza.” Ogles said the minimum amount of time the protesters would have to spend in Gaza would be six months. “If you support a terrorist organization, and you participate in unlawful activity on campuses, you should get a taste of your own medicine,” he said.The Tennessee Republican also suggested he expects the protesters to be killed in Gaza by saying, “I am going to bet that these pro-Hamas supporters wouldn’t last a day, but let’s give them the opportunity.”The bill was co-sponsored by Reps. Jeff Duncan (R-SC) and Randy Weber (R-TX). It’s the latest in a slew of legislation that’s been introduced in Congress to crack down on the protests, which have been falsely labeled as “antisemitic” despite the fact that Jewish students are participating in the demonstrations.

Chip Roy: 'Sharia law' will soon be 'forced upon the American people' -Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) said he has concerns about Sharia law being “forced upon the American people” during remarks on the House floor Tuesday.“Well, I’ve got some pretty strong concerns about Sharia law,” Roy said while discussing his broader worries about border security and foreign aid. “And whether that’ll be forced upon the American people.” In the remarks, Roy referenced a “massive Muslim takeover of the United Kingdom” and said he had “pretty strong concerns about people who wanna see Israel’s destruction, who were happy about Oct. 7, who were elected in the United Kingdom.” “Some might say that we’ve seen that here in the United States,” Roy continued, echoing criticism of pro-Palestinian protesters on college campuses. “What are we gonna do about that?” Roy’s remarks mirrored a post on the social platform X he made Sunday, in which he responded to a post critical of Mothin Ali, a man who was elected to the city council in Leeds, England, as part of the Green Party. In remarks celebrating his election, Ali is seen in front of a Palestinian flag saying “Allahu Akbar” and “this is a win for the people of Gaza”.“Coming to America,” Roy said in his post responding to the video. Ali is in hot water for comments he made on Oct. 7, the day Hamas launched its deadly attack on Israel, when he reportedly said on social media that Palestinians had the right to “fight back.” Responding to criticism after his election, Ali apologized for “any upset” his comments caused, but said the negative response to his post-election video was driven by Islamophobia,according to The Guardian. Roy has been a fierce critic of campus protests that have popped up across the country in recent weeks. He said a House bill passed last week didn’t go far enough in combating antisemitism, which critics say the protests have helped fuel. “It is not good enough to merely ask the Department of Education to consider a definition of anti-Semitism in discrimination investigations; rather, we should cut off taxpayer funding to the supposedly ‘elite’ institutions that are poisoning the minds of our children and propagating this despicable behavior,” Roy said in a statement on the bill. Roy has also been among the most outspoken members of Congress in calling to close the southern border to immigrants. In his speech Tuesday, he suggested the foreign-born population in America was a threat to “Western values.”

41% Of Americans Think Civil War Likely By 2029, Some Say Sooner Amid Chaos -Americans have been stunned by the Democratic megadonors funneling money into Marxist groups, sparking mass chaos across colleges and universities nationwide as risks are mounting that 'BLM-style' riots could spill over into city streets this summer.Law-abiding Americans have taken notice of radical left-wing policies pushing this nation further into chaos, from failed progressive cities ignoring law and order to open borders igniting the greatest illegal alien invasion this nation has ever seen. There is a growing sense among the population that possibly a controlled demolition of the country is underway by the radical left. The spark that could ignite the next round of social unrest is possibly Marxist 'useful idiots' (some of which are professional and paid protesters) on school campuses who quite literally have said they want a revolution to usher in a "socialist reconstruction of America." Americans are closely watching these developments on their smartphones, tablets, and smart TVs and have taken note of the possibility of summer riots, pushing the nation closer and closer to what some voters believe is a civil war on the horizon. A new survey by Rasmussen Reports found that 41% of Americans are concerned a civil war could erupt sometime over the next five years, including 16% who say civil war is "very likely" in that same timeframe. Meanwhile, 49% of respondents do not believe another civil war is likely in the next five years, with 20% expressing that it is "Not At All Likely." An additional 10% are uncertain about the future. "The possibility that America could face another civil war soon is not too far-fetched for a lot of voters," the pollsters said about their survey.

UN General Assembly Overwhelmingly Votes in Favor of Palestinian Membership - The General Assembly voted in favor of a resolution that says Palestine is qualified to join the UN. The US and a handful of allies were the only nations to object to the measure. To receive full membership status, Palestine must get approval from the UN Security Council, where Washington’s veto has prevented Ramallah from passing the vote.On Friday, the General Assembly voted 143-9-25 in favor of Palestine becoming a full member. As only the UN Security Council can grant membership, Friday’s vote determined that Palestine was qualified to become a member and recommended that the UNSC take that step.The UNSC is dominated by its five permanent members, the US, UK, France, China, and Russia. Any of those states can veto any resolution. Last month, Washington vetoed a motion that would have granted membership to Palestine.An earlier draft of the resolution granted Palestine “the rights and privileges necessary to ensure its full and effective participation,” including the right to vote. Additionally, it would have placed Ramallah “on equal footing with member states.” However, that language was removed before the vote because of objections from the US, Russia, and China.The final resolution that passed does allow Palestine to speak on all issues, the right to propose agenda items and reply in debates, the right to be elected as officers in the assembly’s main committees, and it gives the Palestinians the right to involvement at UN conferences.A US diplomat said Washington would not support Palestinian membership until Israel gives its approval. US Deputy Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood said before the vote, “We have said from the beginning the best way to ensure Palestinian full membership in the UN is to do that through negotiations with Israel. That remains our position.”

US Forming Anti-China 'Squad' With Japan, Philippines, and Australia - The US has been working to increase military cooperation with the Philippines, Japan, and Australia as part of its strategy against China in the Asia Pacific, a grouping Pentagon officials privately call the “Squad,” Bloombergreported on Friday.The defense chiefs of the US, the Philippines, Japan, and Australia met in Hawaii on May 2 and issued a joint readout that used harsh rhetoric against China’s claims to the South China Sea and the East China Sea, two areas where the US has vowed to intervene if the maritime disputes turn into shooting wars.“The Ministers and Secretaries expressed serious concern about the situation in the East and South China Seas,”the readout said. “They strongly objected to the dangerous use of coast guard and maritime militia vessels in the South China Sea. They reiterated serious concern over the PRC’s (People’s Republic of China) repeated obstruction of Philippine vessels’ exercise of high seas freedom of navigation and the disruption of supply lines to Second Thomas Shoal, which constitute dangerous and destabilizing conduct.”They also vowed to increase military cooperation, including in the South China Sea. “The Ministers and Secretaries discussed opportunities to further advance defense cooperation, including through continued maritime cooperation in the South China Sea, enhanced procedures to enable coordination and information sharing arrangements, as well as strengthening capacity building,” the readout said.The four nations conducted their first quadrilateral military exercise in the South China Sea in April. The waters have been a major source of tensions between Manila and Beijing, as Chinese and Philippine vessels often have tense encounters that sometimes end in collision near disputed rocks and reefs.The US has repeatedly vowed that the US-Philippine Mutual Defense Treaty applies to attacks on Philippine vessels in the South China Sea. Similarly, the US has affirmed that the mutual defense portion of the US-Japan Security Treaty would apply to the Senkaku Islands, Japanese-controlled islands in the East China Sea that are also claimed by China.Boosting regional partnerships and forming new alliances is a key part of the US military buildup in the region, and the “Squad” is just one iteration. The US has also been looking to strengthen the “Quad,” which includes the US, India, Japan, and Australia. The US also formed the AUKUS security pact in 2021 with the UK and Australia, which focuses on technology sharing, including nuclear-powered submarines that Canberra will obtain.

F-22 Stealth Fighter Suffers "Mishap" At Savannah Airport Isn't it remarkable that while the military-industrial complex, neoconservative warmongers, and radical leftists in the White House seem to push for further conflict in Eastern Europe without even a hint of suggesting peace negotiations with Russia, some of America's most advanced military jets are unfit for combat? The latest example comes from Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport on Monday morning when a Lockheed Martin F-22 stealth fighter jet assigned to the 71st Fighter Squadron, 1st Fighter Wing at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia, suffered what the US military is calling a "mishap." It was not immediately clear what happened, as the military would not elaborate on the "mishap" involving an in-flight emergency. However, one X user posted audio, allegedly from air traffic controllers at Savannah, that reveals the stealth fighter had a "brake failure." "BURNER34 (F-22) advising SAVANAH TOWER that they have a brake failure and requests another aircraft for a visual inspection which DEMON73 (F-16) performed. BURNER34 came in and successfully hooked the runways arresting gear wire," X user Thenewarea51 wrote in a post. The F-22 was conducting training exercises at Sentry Savannah, the Air National Guard's largest fourth and fifth-generation counter-air, large-force exercise, held annually at the Air Dominance Center, Savannah Air National Guard Base, Georgia. Don't even get us started with the latest figures from the Government Accountability Office, which show that only 15% to 30% of Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II stealth fighters are 'capable of combat.'

Gov. Greg Abbott slams proposed National Guard move to Space Force - Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) slammed the Biden administration’s proposal to incorporate Air National Guard Service members into the Space Force, arguing the move is a “threat” to the Texas National Guard. In a letter to President Biden sent last week, Abbott contended the proposal would give the Secretary of the Air Force “unilateral authority” to transfer parts of the Air National Guard units into the Space Force without consent from the governor.In a March legislative proposal to the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Defense Department asked Congress to override an existing law requiring governors to approve changes to National Guard units in order to shift hundreds of members to the Space Force.“Although the Texas Air National Guard does not have these types of missions, I strongly oppose any attempt to sideline governors when it comes to their respective National Guards,” Abbott wrote in his letter, dated May 3.” Congress has long required the consent of a governor before units can be transferred out of the National Guard he commands.”“By departing from this sensible arrangement and allowing the Secretaries to dismantle National Guard units on a whim, Legislative Proposal 480 would set a dangerous precedent. Members of the Texas National Guard must always stand ready to respond to natural disasters, civil disturbances, and cartel activity that threaten our way of life,” Abbott continued.The Texas governor called on the Department of the Air Force to retract the proposal, calling it an attempted “power grab.”Secretary of Air Force Frank Kendall maintained that the proposal would affect about 14 space units, equal to about 1,000 Air National Guardsmen, Air and Space Forces Magazine reported.A White House official told The Hill the Biden administration supports the Defense Department’s recommendation for a one-time transfer of a certain amount of Guard missions into the Space Force, noting it is consistent with the structure approved by Congress in the annual defense policy bill. The official noted the Biden administration has consistently been against the establishment of a Space National Guard.The letter came just days after a group of governors from 48 states, territories and commonwealths wrote a letter addressed to Secretary of Defense Llyod Austin in opposition of the proposal.Abbott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) were notably absent from the list of signatories, and DeSantis penned his own letter to the chairs and ranking members of the Senate and House Armed Services committees.DeSantis argued the move “would flout more than a century of precedent and undermine federal law protections for state control of their National Guard forces.” He said his state’s National Guard should already be larger than it is and blamed the federal government for making it “under-resourced.”The proposal comes after the Air Force announced in February it planned to make “sweeping” changes to the military branch and Space Force to ensure the U.S. can meet security demands. These changes include the development of a new command center, called the Integrated Capabilities, to oversee specific areas of the military branch.The Space Force will also get a new field command, the Space Futures Command, responsible for experimentation, wargaming and mission planning.

Bipartisan group of lawmakers urge against proposed National Guard move to Space Force - A bipartisan group of House members and senators are calling on the Congressional Armed Services Committees to reject the Biden administration’s proposal to incorporate Air National Guard Service members into the Space Force, calling it “deeply flawed.” In a letter dated May 6 to the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, 56 House members and 29 senators argued the proposal would “undermine” the nation’s National Guard “system.” In a March legislative proposal to the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Defense Department asked Congress to override an existing law requiring governors to approve changes to National Guard units to shift hundreds of members to the Space Force. “When individuals sign up for the National Guard, they are serving their country and their community. Congress shouldn’t abandon this model,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter. “The original intent of the National Guard was to have a force ready to respond to the needs of their state and country. Because of this, authority was placed in the hands of each state’s individual governor.” “This is more than a matter of governance; governors bear the responsibility to protect the safety of their citizens by maintaining their readiness and deployability of their National Guard units,” the letter continued. The letter was led by Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), the founding co-chair of the Space Force Caucus, alongside Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee and Sens. Michael Bennet (D-Colo) and John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) The move, proposed to be a part of Congress’s National Defense Authorization Act for the fiscal year 2025, would affect about 14 space units, equal to about 1,000 Air National Guardsmen, Air and Space Forces Magazine reported. The letter joins a series of state leaders who are urging the committees against including the proposal. A group of governors from 48 states, territories and commonwealths wrote a letter addressed to Secretary of Defense Llyod Austin in opposition of the proposal last week. Govs. Greg Abbott (R) and Ron DeSantis (R), notably absent from the letter’s signatories, each penned their own letters slamming the proposal.In a letter to President Biden sent last week, Abbott argued the proposal would give the Secretary of the Air Force “unilateral authority” to transfer parts of the Air National Guard units into the Space Force without consent from the governor and called it an attempted “power grab.”DeSantis argued the move “would flout more than a century of precedent and undermine federal law protections for state control of their National Guard forces.” He said his state’s National Guard should already be larger than it is and blamed the federal government for making it “under-resourced.” A White House official told The Hill on Monday that the Biden administration supports the Defense Department’s suggestion for a one-time transfer of Guard missions into the Space Force and noted it is consistent with the structure approved by Congress in the 2024 defense policy bill.

Biden’s cybersecurity plan has a huge funding gap -The Biden administration is boasting about its planned $13 billion investment in cybersecurity for federal civilian agencies, but the White House’s plans neglect essential programs, including foundational research and standards setting.The administration is once again requesting far too little for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which develops cybersecurity standards and guidelines for the rest of the government. The White House directs NIST to play a critical role in its most important cybersecurity priorities, but does not fund the agency to match its importance. Unless Congress steps in, NIST will be unable to do the work assigned, jeopardizing the success of the administration’s cyber ambitions.The National Institute of Standards and Technology, part of the Department of Commerce, conducts technical research into emerging technologies while also developing risk mitigation frameworks. Its most visible outputs are more than 200 directives that establish cybersecurity standards, technical specifications and guidelines that governments and private industry use as their benchmarks. NIST also maintains the Cybersecurity Framework, a detailed system for managing cybersecurity risks. It offers a methodology for identifying and prioritizing an organization’s assets and protecting those systems. Critical infrastructure operators, government contractors and federal agencies all measure the efficacy of their cybersecurity procedures against this framework.Over the past three years, the administration has added new responsibilities to NIST’s already full plate. Just months after his inauguration, President Biden issued a sweeping executive order on improving national cybersecurity that, among other things, tasked NIST with developing guidelines on how to identify critical software and how to secure software supply chains.Two years later, the White House issued a new National Cybersecurity Strategy to protect U.S. interests in cyberspace and position the nation “to realize all the benefits” of digital technology. NIST is the lead or contributing agency for nearly 20 percent of the initiatives implementing the strategy. Building on NIST’s existing efforts on cyber workforce development, the administration tasked NIST with establishing core competencies for cybersecurity-related jobs and supporting education and training programs.Last summer, the administration announced the “U.S. Cyber Trust Mark,” a new certification and labeling program to help consumers identify baseline security standards for smart devices and Internet of Things technology. Although the Federal Communications Commission is running the program, NIST is developing the underlying cybersecurity requirements and collaborates with the FCC extensively.Most recently, the administration issued an executive order aiming to address the “promise and peril” of artificial intelligence. Once again, officials chose to make NIST responsible for the technical backbone: establishing standards for AI development, use and evaluation; publishing guidelines and best practices for AI safety and security; evaluating the efficacy of privacy protections; and publishing an AI in Global Development Playbook that not only incorporates risk management principles but also global governance and human rights best practices.Yet, despite the centrality of the National Institute of Standards and Technology to U.S. cybersecurity policy, its funding has not kept up with its missions. Back in 2020, the congressionally-mandated Cyberspace Solarium Commission — where a co-author of this essay served as executive director — warned that NIST “lacks the resources necessary to meet the increasing demands on its staff and support expanding mission requirements.” The White House requested only $79.4 million for NIST’s cybersecurity and privacy program in FY20.Consequently, the commission’s congressional co-chairs urged their appropriations colleagues to increase NIST’s FY21 cybersecurity and privacy program to $107.5 million, but to no avail — NIST’s budget remained relatively stagnant. Two years later, the commission’s co-chairs again called for NIST’s cybersecurity and privacy program to be upped to $135.9 million, noting further tasking from executive orders.But NIST’s budget has continued to fall far short of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission’s recommendation. This year’s budget requested just $96.8 million for the program, below even what the commission’s co-chairs recommended four years ago. With inflationary pressures taken into account, the difference is even more stark.

A disturbing national security bill could silence nonprofits and college protests -This week, the Senate may pass a bill granting the executive branch extraordinary power to investigate and strip nonprofits of tax-exempt status based on a unilateral accusation of wrongdoing. The potential for abuse under H.R. 6408 is staggering. If it were to become law, the executive branch would be handed a tool perfectly designed to stifle free speech, target political opponents and punish disfavored groups. The bill would empower the Treasury secretary with the authority to effectively dismantle any nonprofit organization they deem to have provided “material support” to terrorist groups. Adding this authority to the tax code would also allow the IRS to investigate and harass nonprofits. This legislation is completely unnecessary. Under current law, nonprofits are already prohibited from providing material support to terrorist organizations. In fact, it’s a federal crime. But even though it’s not needed, it is extremely dangerous. It allows the Treasury secretary to act as prosecutor, judge and jury of accused nonprofits and shifts the burden of proof from the government to the nonprofit. While there is a 90-day “cure” period in which an accused nonprofit can mount a defense, it is a mere illusion of due process. The government may deny organizations its reasons and evidence against them, leaving the nonprofit unable to rebut allegations. This means that a nonprofit could be left entirely in the dark about what conduct the government believes qualifies as material support, making it virtually impossible to clear its name. This new power is perfectly suited to an authoritarian-leaning administration that wants to cow civil society. In the wrong hands, it could easily be used to silence dissenting voices under the guise of national security. And that’s what some of the sponsors of this bill want. Several members of Congress have repeatedly, without evidence, conflated students involved in the protests regarding the conflict in Gaza with Hamas and other foreign terrorist organizations. If this law were to pass, it stands to reason that the executive branch could threaten to strip a university of its tax-exempt status on the grounds that allowing student groups exercising protest rights to operate on campus qualifies as providing material support to terrorist organizations. And make no mistake, a wide range of nonprofits could be targeted with this power. Indeed, former President Jimmy Carter once criticized the federal material support law saying it “threatens The Carter Center’s work and the work of many other peacemaking organizations that must interact directly with groups that have engaged in violence.” President Carter noted, “The vague language of the law leaves us wondering if we will be prosecuted for our work to promote peace and freedom.”It is also not hard to imagine a future administration using this power in far broader circumstances that have nothing to do with the conflict in Gaza. We know this because the U.S. government has a long history of abusive and discriminatory material support investigations and prosecutions in the post-9/11 era — disproportionately against Muslims, charities and civil society organizations. Even if they may never be designated as “terrorist-supporting,” let alone charged with a crime, nonprofits will curtail their activities as a precaution. And that, of course, is the point: to chill speech and advocacy. In our deeply polarized country, where governing norms are under regular assault, the last thing we should do is give any presidential administration another dangerous weapon to stifle dissent and attack opponents.

FBI File On Jeff Bezos' Grandfather, A DARPA Co-Founder, Has Been Destroyed - What's not widely known is that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' grandfather, Lawrence Preston Gise, helped form the Pentagon's supersecret Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA—renamed DARPA) in 1958. Years later, DARPA developed the internet and spurred breakthroughs in high-speed networking, voice recognition, and internet search.One year before Gise died in 1995, Bezos founded Amazon in the garage of his Bellevue, Washington home. Or so we're told... John Greenewald Jr., who operates The Black Vault, a website dedicated to revealing declassified government documents through obtaining Freedom of Information Act requests, posted on X that he went after Gise's "FBI file, but found out if there was one, it has been destroyed." News website Leading Report's Patrick Webb commented on Greenewald's findings, saying, "There has long been speculation that DARPA has been involved in the creation of many popular big tech companies, using "frontmen" for the allusion of a startup led by outsiders." There has long been speculation that DARPA has been involved in the creation of many popular big tech companies, using "frontmen" for the allusion of a startup led by outsiders. With the contents of Gise's FBI file unlikely to ever be unearthed and likely never destroyed, just inaccessible to FOIA requests or the public, other X users commented on Webb's and Greenewald's posts, pointing out how DARPA possibly created Facebook and other big tech firms:

Manchin and 2 Republicans announce resolution to repeal Biden permitting rule - Senate Energy Committee Chair Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on Wednesday joined Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.) to announce a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to overturn the Biden administration’s new rules on energy permitting, following a pledge Manchin made last week. The new National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) rule, announced last week, undoes 2020 rules implemented under the Trump administration that the Biden administration said added unnecessary hurdles to the public comment process. It also creates new pathways for categorical exclusions, the most common and speediest form of review under NEPA. Manchin has been a vocal proponent of an overhaul to the permitting process, backing the Inflation Reduction Act in exchange for a guarantee from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) that he would allow a vote on a permitting reform bill. Permitting reforms were also part of last summer’s congressional agreement to raise the federal debt ceiling and place caps on some future spending, called the Fiscal Responsibility Act. Manchin said the new rule “undermines the bipartisan deal the Administration made with the Fiscal Responsibility Act and will increase costs and red tape for critical projects that, despite being needed for national security and prosperity, aren’t favored by the radical left,” Manchin said in a statement. “I am proud to work with my colleagues from all corners of our country to introduce a bipartisan, bicameral Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval to reverse this flawed rule.” “As written by the White House, the rule includes definitions that favor certain groups over others instead of keeping a level playing field for all types of projects,” Graves said. “It also finds loopholes to extend page limits in reviews and does nothing to curb frivolous litigation intended to delay dirt turning.” The CRA allows a simple majority of Congress to vote to overturn a rule from the executive branch. It has frequently been used against Biden administration environmental and energy rules, with Biden vetoing every such resolution. Manchin, who is not seeking reelection, has voted for several of those resolutions, including votes targeting Endangered Species Act rules and a pause on tariffs on solar panel components.

Trump Promises to Deport All Undocumented Immigrants, Resurrecting a 1950s Strategy − But It Didn’t Work Then and Is Less Likely to Do So Now - While campaigning in Iowa last September, former President Donald Trump made a promise to voters if he were elected again: “Following the Eisenhower model, we will carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American history,” he said. Trump, who made a similar pledge during his first presidential campaign, has recently repeated this promise at rallies across the country. Trump was referring to Operation Wetback, a military-style campaign launched by the Eisenhower administration in the summer of 1954 to end undocumented immigration by deporting hundreds of thousands of Mexicans. “Wetback” was a widely used ethnic slur for Mexicans who illegally crossed the Rio Grande, the river dividing Mexico and the U.S.Trump says that he can replicate Operation Wetback on a much grander scale by setting up temporary immigration detention centers and relying on local, state and federal authorities, including National Guard troops, to remove the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants now living in the U.S. As a migration scholar, I find Trump’s proposal to be both disturbing and misleading. Besides playing to unfounded and dehumanizing fears of an immigrant invasion, it misrepresents the context and impact of Eisenhower’s policy while ignoring the vastly changed landscape of U.S. immigration today. In May 1954, U.S. Attorney General Harold Brownell appointed Joseph Swing, a retired general, to lead the Immigration and Naturalization Service, or INS, in a “special program to apprehend and deport aliens illegally in this country from areas along the southern border.” Until 2003, the INS was responsible for immigration and border control, now handled by multiple federal agencies, including Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. By mid-August, INS agents had deported more than 100,000 immigrantsacross the U.S. Southwest. Fearing apprehension, thousands morereportedly fled back to Mexico on their own. Most of these immigrants were young Mexican men, but the INS also targeted families, removingnearly 9,000 family members, including children, from the Rio Grande Valley in August. There is also evidence of U.S. citizens getting caught up in the INS sweeps. Operation Wetback wound down its operations a few months later, and Swing declared in January 1955 that “the day of the wetback is over.” The INS disbanded its special mobile task forces, and the deportation of undocumented immigrants plummeted over the next decade. Operation Wetback made the headlines and disrupted countless lives, but it was more show than substance when it came to deportation.The government’s claim to have deported more than 1 million Mexicans during the summer of 1954 does not stand up to scrutiny. The 1.1 million figure was for the entire fiscal year, which ended in June 1954, and a sizable share of these apprehensions were repeat arrests, sometimes in a single day. Moreover, over 97% of these deportations occurred without a formal order of removal. Instead, migrants agreed, or were coerced, to leave the country after being apprehended.Despite Trump-like rhetoric decrying a “wetback invasion” across the U.S.-Mexico border, Operation Wetback’s main objective was not to remove Mexican immigrants but rather to frighten U.S. farmers, especially in Texas, into hiring them legally.This tactic largely worked. A crucial but often overlooked detail about Operation Wetback is that it happened at the same time as the Bracero Program, a massive guest-worker program between the U.S. and Mexico. Between 1942 and 1964, U.S. employers issued over 4.6 million short-term contracts to more than 400,000 Mexican farm workers. Nearly three-quarters of these contracts were issued between 1955 and 1964 – after the INS carried out Operation Wetback.Operation Wetback is unlikely to have led to a dramatic decline in undocumented immigration had Mexican workers not had a legal option for entering the United States.

Biden finalizes rule opening up Obamacare to DACA recipients - One more ACA rule was finalized by Biden today. Not something huge in numbers; but something which will impact a few thousand people. People who were allowed to stay in the US or under a program called. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA.A coalition of states, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Carolina, West Virginia, Kansas and Mississippi argue the rule oversteps the “scope of executive power.” 5th COA agreed with them . . . no surprise there. Biden proposed a new rule for DACA recipient’s which was also declared illegal. The court allowed current recipients to remain in the USOn October 31, 2022, the DACA Rule rescinded and replaced the 2012 DACA memo. All current grants of DACA and advance parole issued under the 2012 DACA memo remain valid. Applications to renew DACA are now governed by the DACA Rule.Most recently, President Joe Biden on Friday announced a final rule opening up Obamacare plans to tens of thousands of immigrants who came to the United States as children but do not qualify for government health insurance because they lack legal status. Approximately, one hundred thousand people enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program can sign up for subsidized healthcare plans This being through the health insurance marketplace over the next year under the rule the Biden administration proposed last year. So far everything is working in the right direction. This is kind of a big deal when the US will cover people for free or a small amount. Europe is more open than the US on healthcare. This is the beginning of a bigger step.

White House begins push for corporate tax hike in earnest — The White House's top economic advisor, Lael Brainard, outlined higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy to try to offset budget deficits ahead of the Trump tax cuts' expiration next year. Congress is gearing up for a major tax debate in 2025 with the expiration of the Trump tax cuts, the 2017 law that included cuts for individuals and that begins to phase out next year. While Republicans want to extend the tax breaks to individuals, doing so would add $4.6 trillion to the national debt over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The Biden administration's plan, outlined in detail by Brainard in a speech at the Brookings Institution on Friday, would extend the middle-class tax cuts while raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans and on corporations. Brainard called for increasing the corporate tax rate to 28%, a bump from the 21% enacted in the Trump tax package but lower than the 35% that existed previously. She also said that Biden would keep some of the limits on tax deductions for households earning more than $400,000 a year, including the $10,000-a-year limit on the amount of state and local taxes that higher earners could deduct from their federal income taxes. "As the president has said, tax cuts for the wealthy will stay expired on his watch," she said.She repeated Biden's calls that households earning less than $400,000 would not see any tax increases, something that's been called into question by former President Donald Trump on the campaign trail. "The president is honoring his ironclad commitment to not raise taxes on anyone making less than $400,000 and will cut taxes further for workers and families, paid for by asking corporations and those at the top to contribute more," she said.

New era of inequality: Billionaires pay less in taxes than the working class - Economist Gabriel Zucman’s analysis reveals a troubling milestone: U.S. billionaires now pay a lower effective tax rate than working-class Americans, marking the first time this disparity has been recorded. This revelation, published in The New York Times, highlights the growing chasm between the ultra-rich and the average worker, sparking renewed calls for comprehensive tax reform. Zucman’s research illustrates a historical shift in tax burdens. For the first time, America’s wealthiest individuals pay a lower effective tax rate than the working class. In 2018, the average tax rate for billionaires was 23%, while working-class Americans paid an average of 24%. This reversal is attributed to the unique tax mechanisms that billionaires employ to minimize their taxable income, predominantly through stock holdings and tax-free loans. Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk exemplify this phenomenon. Although both report modest salaries, they leverage their vast wealth in company stock to access loans that fund acquisitions and luxury purchases. By borrowing against these assets, they generate significant cash flow without triggering taxable events, thereby keeping their effective tax rates extremely low. These findings raise concerns about the societal impact of growing wealth inequality. Zucman argues that the ultra-rich’s ability to live off their wealth while contributing less in taxes undermines the principles of fairness and democracy. Rakeen Mabud, chief economist at the Groundwork Collaborative, echoes this sentiment, calling the trend “absurd” and urging lawmakers to raise taxes on the wealthy and large corporations. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), chair of the Senate Budget Committee, finds the data “disgraceful” and advocates for immediate reforms. He believes addressing the tax disparity can bolster funding for Social Security and Medicare. Zucman himself proposes a minimum tax on billionaires to help reverse the decades-long surge in inequality. Comparing current wealth concentration to historical periods like the Gilded Age, Zucman highlights a striking pattern. Today, the world’s 2,781 billionaires hold $14.2 trillion in combined assets, with American billionaires alone accounting for $5.7 trillion. This concentration has grown largely due to systematic tax cuts and policy changes. In the 1960s, the wealthiest Americans paid more than half of their income in taxes. By 2018, their effective tax rates had plummeted. Recent changes, such as the reduction in corporate taxes from 35% to 21% in 2018, and the erosion of estate taxes over decades, have further enabled billionaires to accumulate immense fortunes while paying proportionally less.

House panel again subpoenas Biden’s Labor chief over return-to-work plan - The House Education and Workforce Committee on Monday subpoenaed acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su over what it called a “failure” to hand over materials related to the department’s return-to-work plan.“Under Acting Secretary Su, the [Department of Labor (DOL)] has adopted a posture of blatant negligence in complying with the Committee’s oversight requests — vague answers and routine failures to provide requested materials have become the norm,” committee ChairVirginia Foxx (R-N.C.) said in a statement.It comes days after Foxx threatened to subpoena Su during a committee hearing last week, when the Labor chief appeared before the panel.Foxx sent a letter to Su on March 6 pressing her on the department’s failure to submit their return-to-office policies after the White House requested the information. The North Carolina Republican asked Su to do so by March 20, but last week said an adequate amount of information was not handed over and threatened to subpoena Su by May 6 should additional information not be handed over.“The Committee’s March 6th letter to DOL requesting information on its return-to-work action plan remains unanswered — this is entirely unacceptable,” Foxx said in a statement. “Acting Secretary Su has also now ignored a request during her May 1 appearance before the full Committee that she provide a copy of DOL’s return-to-office plan, which the White House instructed each agency to prepare and submit.”The department handed over what Foxx called an “insufficient” response on April 18 in response to the March letter “that failed to address the Committee’s core request,” per Foxx.In Foxx’s initial letter to Su, she pointed to an analysis from the Government Accountability Office that found the DOL and five other agencies used an estimated 23 percent of their headquarters space on average. Calling this “unacceptable,” Foxx referenced guidance from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued in April 2023 that urged federal workers to return to the office full time.“An accurate understanding of the headquarters staffing situation is necessary for the committee to ensure that DOL is undertaking its mandates faithfully and in accordance with the law,” Foxx wrote. “Furthermore, employees failing to return to the office could expose taxpayers to significant waste, fraud and abuse.”

Another solar tariff fight looms on Capitol Hill - -Tariffs on Chinese solar panels that caused significant Hill turmoil in the past are once again threatening rifts between Democrats, the solar industry and President Joe Biden.In 2022, the Biden administration put a pause on tariffs that were set to be imposed on Chinese manufacturers who routed panels through four Southeast Asian countries. The matter was the subject of intense lobbying by U.S. solar generation interests and Democrats who argued that, despite apparent wrongdoing by China, tariffs would cripple the industry by raising prices.That pause is set to expire June 6. In addition, some domestic solar manufacturers are asking the administration to impose more extensive tariffs. Both developments are reviving a dispute that has been relatively dormant for months.“We can either let cheap Chinese panels and Southeast Asian panels circumvent our tariffs and destroy the American solar industry or not,” Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) told E&E News. “That’s the choice before the Biden administration right now.”Ossoff, whose state boasts several solar manufacturing plants, this week called for the immediate end to the moratorium.And Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), whose state also hosts solar manufacturing, has called on the White House to “immediately” impose new tariffs on the Chinese solar industry.But Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) said, “We’ve got a growing solar industry, not only in Arizona, but across this country. We can’t put ourselves in a situation that results in projects being shut down because they don’t have access to [solar panel] parts.”The situation could result in a déjà vu moment. After the 2022 moratorium, some Democrats forced Biden to veto a bipartisan effort to overturn it.The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the request for new solar tariffs. Last month, a new coalition of seven leading U.S. solar manufacturers filed a petition with the Commerce Department requesting the new tariffs on imports from four Southeast Asian nations.The group alleged that some Chinese companies had moved their heavily subsidized solar operations to Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.They requested that Commerce investigate that development and impose more extensive anti-dumping and countervailing duty tariffs.An attorney for the coalition said the current moratorium only applies to Chinese companies that manufacture solar panels in Southeast Asia with Chinese parts, which limits the impact of those tariffs by excluding companies that produce solar cells in Southeast Asia with base materials originating in China.“When the tariff holiday expires on June 6, most of the imports from those countries won’t be covered because it’s no longer primarily a Chinese product. We need these cases to cover the product that’s actually made in those four [Southeast Asian] countries,” Tim Brightbill said in an interview. The four Southeast Asia countries accounted for more than 80 percent of U.S. solar panel imports in the fourth quarter of last year, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. There is hope among some clean energy Democrats and solar manufacturing leaders that political blowup could be avoided this time around.An influx of panels, mostly from China, and the effect of Inflation Reduction Act incentives have resulted in a 50 percent decrease in prices over the last year, with the International Energy Agency projecting even more drops over the next decade.That’s exactly why manufacturers are pushing the new tariffs, as they believe Chinese companies are intentionally bringing down prices with a supply glut to put U.S. factories out of business.The price realities have some industry players and advocates hoping the effect of new tariffs, if successful, would be more muted than if tariffs were implemented in 2022. “We just had the best year ever for solar,” said Senate Budget Chair Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), an outspoken climate hawk. “I think that the demand and the pressure and the lower cost … would still put solar on a strong trajectory.” Whitehouse did not indicate whether he was supportive of new tariffs.

Brown to join Manchin on measure to undo electric car tax credit exemption Sen. Sherrod Brown (Ohio), considered one of the most vulnerable Senate Democratic incumbents up for reelection this year, will join Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) in supporting a resolution to repeal Biden administration rules allowing some China-made battery parts to qualify for an electric vehicle (EV) tax credit, Brown’s office confirmed to The Hill. Under the final rule, issued by the Treasury Department last week, EVs will qualify for the tax credit, intended for American-made cars, even if certain battery components were produced in China. The tax credit is part of the Biden administration’s efforts to incentivize EV purchases and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the automotive sector. The new rule expands existing exemptions, adding graphite to the qualifying materials. Manchin, who is not running for reelection, was a critic of the exemptions before the addition of the graphite exemption, and has vowed to introduce a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to undo it. The CRA allows a simple majority of Congress to vote to overturn executive branch rulemaking. Brown and Manchin’s support will give the measure the votes to pass the Senate if every Republican votes for it as well. Biden is likely to veto the measure, as he has for every previous CRA resolution targeting his administration’s energy and environment rules. “The Administration is wrong — this will allow China to infiltrate the American auto supply chain, at American taxpayers’ expense. American tax dollars should support American manufacturing and American workers — not enrich Chinese companies,” Brown said in a statement. “Ohioans in Appalachia are pioneering exciting work to turn coal into graphite that could be used in these batteries. We cannot allow Chinese companies, controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, to use our tax dollars to stop this work in Ohio before it gets off the ground.” “We cannot allow American tax dollars to enrich Chinese companies attempting to infiltrate the American auto supply chain,” Brown added in a statement to The Hill. “We created this tax credit for American-made cars and it needs to stay that way.” Brown, despite his status as an incumbent, red-state Democrat, has had a less adversarial relationship with the Biden administration on energy policy than Manchin. However, he has backed CRA resolutions against Biden rules that waived tariffs on some solar panel imports and those that regulated greenhouse gas emissions on the federal highway system. Another colleague, Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), is also up for reelection in an even more solidly red state, and has also joined multiple such CRAs.

Trump seeks $1 billion from oil CEOs, vows to limit EVs - The Washington Post - Donald Trump has pledged to scrap President Biden’s policies on electric vehicles and wind energy, as well as other initiatives opposed by the fossil fuel industry.As Donald Trump sat with some of the country’s top oil executives at his Mar-a-Lago Club last month, one executive complained about how they continued to face burdensome environmental regulations despite spending $400 million to lobby the Biden administration in the last year.Trump’s response stunned several of the executives in the room overlooking the ocean: You all are wealthy enough, he said, that you should raise $1 billion to return me to the White House. At the dinner, he vowed to immediately reverse dozens of President Biden’s environmental rules and policies and stop new ones from being enacted, according to people with knowledge of the meeting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a private conversation.

‘A little bold and gross’: Oil industry writes executive orders for Trump to sign - The U.S. oil industry is drawing up ready-to-sign executive orders for Donald Trump aimed at pushing natural gas exports, cutting drilling costs and increasing offshore oil leases in case he wins a second term, according to energy executives with direct knowledge of the work.The effort stems from the industry’s skepticism that the Trump campaign will be able to focus on energy issues as Election Day draws closer — and worries that the former president is too distracted to prepare a quick reversal of the Biden administration’s green policies. Oil executives also worry that a second Trump administration won’t attract staff skillful enough to roll back President Joe Biden’s regulations or craft new ones favoring the industry, these people added.Six energy industry lawyers and lobbyists interviewed by POLITICO described the effort to craft executive orders and other policy paperwork that they see as more effective than anything a second Trump administration could devise on its own. Those include a quick reversal of Biden’s pause on new natural gas export permits and preparations for wider and cheaper access to federal lands and waters for drilling.The initiative is just one example of the efforts underway from multiple advocacy groups with strong policy agendas — including abortion-rights opponents — to fill in the gaps for Trump’s potential return to the White House. The presumptive Republican nominee has been a vocal supporter of the oil and gas industry, but the companies often chafed at the effects of his policies as president, including his trade wars and the legal challenges that thwarted some of his pro-fossil-fuel actions.Trump, who is spending many of his days facing trial in a Manhattan courtroom, has had little time to delve into policy issues with industry officials. In his absence, oil industry officials said they’re not sure who speaks for him on the issues they want to address. And while generally unhappy with Biden’s attempts to rein in their industry, some haveexpressed nervousness about what policies Trump might pursue.“Other than what Donald Trump says off the cuff, I don’t think they’re taking much advice on energy strategy,” Frank Maisano, senior principal at the government relations firm Bracewell, said of the ex-president’s campaign. “He’s going to complain about gas prices, he’s going to complain about [natural gas], but only in the general sense because the details are complex.”So oil industry lawyers have decided to fill the breach. Industry representatives have already prepared some executive orders for Trump to sign if he reaches the White House, said Stephen Brown, director of energy consulting firm RBJ Strategies and a former refining industry lobbyist. Undoing Biden’s actions would be a major target.

Kristi Noem defends telling story about killing dog in new book -- South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) defended herself Monday after she received mass criticism for sharing a story of shooting and killing her young hunting dog and an improbable anecdotethat she met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in her new book. Noem stood by her decision to kill the 14-month-old dog, Cricket, in a NewsNation interview with Elizabeth Vargas. She explained in the book that the dog was poorly behaved. “If you read the book, you will see this was something that happened 20 years ago, and this book is filled with vulnerable stories, painful decisions that I’ve had,” she said. She has defended the move as “not a pleasant job” but said it “had to be done.” She called the dog “extremely dangerous.”

Haley nabs 128,000 votes in Indiana GOP primary months after ending campaign - Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley garnered more than 128,000 votes in Indiana’s GOP presidential primary Tuesday, according to election results from Decision Desk HQ, despite suspending her White House bid in early March.While the Hoosier State race was called for former President Trump — with 78.3 percent of the vote — Haley pulled a notable share, bringing in 21.7 percent of the vote.Her sizable showing Tuesday follows other primaries in which she has notched significant shares of the vote despite leaving the campaign trail more than two months ago. Late last month, Haley also nabbed more than 150,000 votes in the Pennsylvania GOP primary.

Court rejects Hunter Biden's appeal in gun case, setting stage for trial to begin next month - (AP) — Hunter Biden's federal gun case should move forward, an appeals court ruled Thursday, setting the stage for the trial to begin next month in Delaware. Lawyers for the president's son had asked the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a ruling rejecting his bid to dismiss the case. But a three-judge panel said the 3rd Circuit doesn't have jurisdiction to review the matter at this time. In an order shortly after that ruling came down, U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika said the case would proceed to trial on June 3, and is expected to last three to six days. Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty to lying about his drug use in October 2018 on a form to buy a gun that he kept for about 11 days in Delaware. He has acknowledged an addiction to crack cocaine during that period, but his lawyers have said he didn’t break the law. He was indicted after a plea deal that would have resolved the case without the spectacle of a trial imploded in July 2023 when a judge who was supposed to approve it instead raised a series of questions. Noreika last month refused to throw out the indictment, rejecting Biden's claim that he is being prosecuted for political purposes as well as other arguments. His lawyers had argued the case was politically motivated and asserted that an immunity provision from an original plea deal that fell apart still holds. They had also challenged the appointment of Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss as special counsel to lead the prosecution. The judge found that Biden’s team provided “nothing concrete” to support a conclusion that anyone actually influenced the special counsel’s team. A separate trial on tax charges in California is also tentatively set to begin in June.

Barron Trump to enter political arena as Florida delegate at GOP convention — Barron Trump hasn’t graduated high school yet. But he’s already headed into the political big leagues.The Republican Party of Florida on Wednesday night picked the 18-year-old youngest son of former President Donald Trump as one of the state’s at-large delegates to the Republican National Convention, per a copy of the results viewed by POLITICO.The state party also selected other Trump children as delegates, including Eric Trump as its delegation chair — meaning he’ll place his father’s name in for the nomination — and Donald Trump Jr. and Tiffany Boulos, formerly Trump, and her husband Michael Boulos as other at-large delegates. A Trump campaign official said Barron “is very interested in our nation’s political process.”

Fani Willis refuses to testify before GOP-led Georgia panel - Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) said Monday that she would not be testifying before a Republican-led Georgia state Senate panel investigating her. At an event where she earned the endorsement of many local Black religious leaders, Willis said the committee investigating her may not have the authority to subpoena her. “First of all, I don’t think they even had the authority to subpoena me, but they need to learn the law,” she said, reported by Fox 5. She continued, saying she would not appear for anything unlawful because she had “not broken the law.” “I’ve said it amongst these leaders; I’m sorry folks get pissed off that everybody gets treated equally,” Willis said. Willis, who is conducting a historic indictment of former President Trump for his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia, has also made headlines for her personal relationship. Months of controversy have disrupted Willis’s original case, after it was made public that she had a romantic relationship with someone she hired for the case. A judge ruled in March that she could continue the prosecution, if she or special prosecutor Nathan Wade stepped down, which he ultimately did. Now, the state Senate is looking to investigate whether Willis and Wade used taxpayer dollars during their relationship. County Commission Chair Robb Pitts testified before the committee this week that the board has little power over Willis’s spending once it approves her budget, but also dodged opportunities to criticize Willis, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

Judge warns Trump of jail time after finding him in contempt for gag order violation — Former President Trump’s hush money judge found he violated a gag order a 10th time, giving Trump his sternest warning yet that future violations could carry jail time. Judge Juan Merchan on Monday ordered Trump to pay $1,000 for attacking jurors in his historic criminal trial,just days after the judge ruled on an earlier set of gag order violations.“Defendant is hereby put on notice that if appropriate and warranted, future violations of its lawful orders will be punishable by incarceration,” Merchan wrote. But the judge handed Trump a partial win, ruling that prosecutors had not proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump violated his gag order in three other statements. The gag order bars Trump from hurling insults at witnesses, jurors, prosecutors, court staff or the judge’s family. It doesn’t bar him from attacking the judge himself or Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D). Trump has lambasted the restrictions, asserting they violate his First Amendment rights to respond to political attacks, as the presumptive Republican nominee becomes the first former U.S. president to face criminal trial. The judge has now found Trump breached his gag order a total of 10 times and must pay $1,000 for each violation. Prosecutors had indicated they weren’t yet seeking jail time to “minimize disruptions” to the trial, but as he handed down his ruling, the judge made clear that fines aren’t working. The judge told Trump the “last thing I want to do is put you in jail” but “at the end of the day I have a job to do.” “Your continued violations constitute a direct attack on the rule of law,” Merchan said. Unlike the earlier set of violations, which comprised nine posts on Truth Social and Trump’s campaign website published through jury selection, the newest round implicated the former president’s spoken comments after testimony got underway. Prosecutors targeted Trump’s statements in the courthouse hallway, at a campaign stop and during two media interviews. The judge found Trump violated his gag order on one of those four occasions: during an April 22 interview with conservative channel Real America’s Voice, when Trump suggested he can’t get a fair trial in deep-blue Manhattan. “That jury was picked so fast — 95 percent Democrats,” Trump said. “The area’s mostly all Democrat. You think of it as a — just a purely Democrat area. It’s a very unfair situation, that I can tell you.” Multiple judges have rejected those arguments, declining to grant the former president a venue change or a trial delay, and Merchan has most forcefully warned against intimidating jurors in his efforts to quell the former president’s incendiary remarks. “The implication is this is not a fair jury,” Merchan said at last week’s hearing, seeming aggravated. “That’s the implication that was given to anyone who heard that comment.” Prosecutor Chris Conroy contended during the hearing that any remarks Trump makes about the jury puts the trial at risk. “He was on the media, and he used his platform there to criticize the seated jury in this case,” Conroy said. “There’s no inference needed. … By talking about the jury at all, he places … the process in jeopardy.” But the judge did not hold Trump in contempt Monday for three other alleged violations that took aim at two of the state’s key witnesses: ex-National Enquirer publisher David Pecker and Trump’s former fixer, Michael Cohen. The former president told reporters in the courthouse on April 22 that Cohen “wasn’t very good in a lot of ways in terms of his representation,” and a day later, derided his onetime personal attorney as “a convicted liar” with “no credibility whatsoever” in an interview with 6ABC Philadelphia. Trump’s lawyers have complained that Cohen has repeatedly attacked Trump on social media, arguing the former president is merely responding to political attacks. Merchan agreed with Trump, ruling that he couldn’t find beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump’s statements “were not protected political speech made in response to political attacks by Michael Cohen.” As for Pecker, Trump on April 25 remarked that the witness — who was expected to take the stand hours later — is a “nice guy.” Prosecutors claimed the comment came with an unspoken warning. “This is a message to Pecker: Be nice,” prosecutor Chris Conroy said when first raising the issue. But the judge was less convinced, writing Monday he couldn’t find beyond a reasonable doubt that the statement “constituted a veiled threat.” “To be sure, this Court understands the People’s argument as it pertains to this Exhibit and agrees that often seemingly innocuous or even complimentary words and phrases can in truth conceal a more nefarious purpose, such as to threaten, harass or intimidate,” Merchan wrote in his ruling. “However, context, facial expressions, emphasis and even cadence are critical in reaching such a determination.” Trump has appealed the gag order, arguing it violates his First Amendment rights, but it remains in effect as of now. His attorneys claim he is not “willfully” violating the order. In arguing against the order Thursday, Trump’s attorneys raised remarks made by President Biden at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, in which the president jokingly lamented that Trump had recently faced “stormy weather” — a reference to Stormy Daniels, the adult film actress paid hush money at the center of the case. “Judge, last weekend, President Trump’s rival, President Biden, said in a public forum — he talked about this trial, and he talked about a witness that’s going to be in this trial,” Trump attorney Todd Blanche said. “He mocked President Trump.” The Trump attorney argued that the former president can’t respond to Biden’s attacks “in the way that he would want to” because of the gag imposed on his speech. “He’s running for president,” Blanche said. “He has to be able to speak.”

Judge threatens Trump with jail time: 5 takeaways from Trump trial Day 12 -- Former President Trump faced a new threat in his New York criminal trial on Monday. Judge Juan Merchan raised the possibility that he could send Trump to jail if he continues to violate a gag order. Merchan warned about that possibility after fining Trump for the 10th time for breaking the order, which bars the former president from attacking jurors, court officials and members of the judge’s family, among others. Trump has complained about the gag order, contending that his rights are being violated. Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. It is the first criminal trial of a former president. The underlying argument from prosecutors is that Trump was seeking to conceal a $130,000 hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in the final stretch of the 2016 election campaign. The money was intended to stop Daniels from going public with her story of having sex with Trump roughly a decade earlier. The money was paid to Daniels by Trump’s former attorney and fixer Michael Cohen, who was later reimbursed. Trump denies having sex with Daniels or doing anything illegal. Here are five takeaways from Monday’s proceedings.

• Disputes over the gag order have been central to the drama of the trial. Merchan’s comments threatening Trump with jail came as he levied another $1,000 fine on the former president. The decision brought Trump’s total fines in the case to $10,000.The initial ruling on Monday could have been worse for Trump. The single instance where Merchan found a violation was one of four comments from the former president that prosecutors had tagged.But the judge also complained that Trump’s public comments on the trial, which have come in interviews and on social media, “threaten to interfere with the fair administration of justice and constitute a direct attack on the rule of law.”“I can’t allow that to continue,” Merchan said.
• Monday saw new details about the mechanics of the reimbursement payments come to light.This happened during the testimony of Jeffrey McConney, the former corporate controller of the Trump Organization.McConney noted how the reimbursement of Cohen, which was paid in installments, came initially from a Trump trust and, later, from the former president’s personal account. In total, of the $420,000 ultimately paid to Cohen, $105,000 came from the trust and $315,000 from Trump’s personal funds.As was previously known, Cohen was reimbursed $420,000 for a $130,000 expense because the money was “grossed up” to include the various taxes he would have to pay. A $60,000 bonus was also included.Trump had been elected as the 45th president by the time Cohen was being reimbursed. Some of the personal checks had to be sent from New York to the White House for Trump’s signature, McConney testified.
• Trump’s defense: What’s the problem? When the New York indictment was announced by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) 13 months ago, even some legal experts with no love for Trump worried the case was questionable. Trump’s alleged offense only becomes a felony rather than a misdemeanor if it is committed in furtherance of another crime. The prosecution’s case here is that Trump’s alleged record falsification was intended to help him win the 2016 election and therefore amounts to election interference. But the former president has not been charged with any election-law offense. In addition, Trump’s team argues that the classification of the payments to Cohen as a legal expense is fair and accurate — and so there is no case to answer.
• Monday’s testimony included a detail that recalled Trump’s hit reality TV show, NBC’s “The Apprentice.” McConney recalled how, back in the 1980s, he went into Trump’s office only to be told “You’re fired” — the phrase that would become a catchphrase. Trump did not actually want to get rid of McConney. But the future president was irked that his level of cash had gone down during the previous week. Trump suggested that McConney could “negotiate” bills downward to avoid this happening again.
• Merchan has pressed hard to make sure the trial proceeds as expeditiously as possible.That seems to be working so far. At the end of Monday’s proceedings, the prosecution team said they needed about two more weeks to make their case. Trump complained to reporters immediately after court had adjourned for the day that this was too long, adding, “I thought they were going to be finished today.”In fact, the trial was widely forecast to last about six weeks. It still seems broadly on course for that time frame.

Trump hush money case prosecution zeroes in paper trail: Two Trump Organization employees kicked off the third week of testimony in former President Trump’s hush money trial on Monday, shifting the focus to the actual documents that make up his charges.In the morning, ex-Trump Organization Controller Jeffrey McConney took the stand. He walked jurors through the repayment scheme to Trump’s fixer, Michael Cohen, underlying the charges, but McConney did not directly implicate the former president.Deborah Tarasoff, who works in the company’s accounts payable department, began testifying following the lunch break. Tarasoff confirmed that Trump himself signed some of the checks for Cohen.It’s a notable shift from the first two weeks of testimony, when the jury heard from key players involved in the hush money arrangements that preceded the repayments. Those witnesses included ex-National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, attorney Keith Davidson and Hope Hicks,once a close political confidant of the former president.Porn actress Stormy Daniels, who took a $130,000 payment to keep quiet about an alleged affair with Trump, which he denies, has yet to take the stand. Neither has Cohen. As he exited the courtroom for the day, Trump suggested he’d be willing to go to jail for violating his gag order repeatedly.“This judge has given me a gag order and said you’ll go to jail if you violate it,” Trump said. “And frankly, you know what, our Constitution is much more important than jail. It’s not even close. I’ll do that sacrifice any day.”

Cross-examination of Stormy Daniels grows testy during Trump trial -- Stormy Daniels spent hours on the witness stand Tuesday, recounting details of an alleged tryst with former President Trump and how she ended up in a hush money agreement to keep it quiet ahead of the 2016 election. Daniels was so far the highest-profile witness in the Manhattan district attorney’s prosecution of Trump over a $130,000 payment made to her to not spill her allegations of the one-night affair. Cross-examination of Daniels grew testy with Trump’s attorney attempting to paint the porn actress as a liar and an extortionist. Daniels is expected to retake the stand when the trial resumes on Thursday. Follow below for a recap from New York.

Risqué Stormy Daniels testimony creates uproar at Trump trial— The jury mulling former President Trump’s fate in his hush money criminal case heard the most risqué details yet during trial when Stormy Daniels took the stand for her highly anticipated testimony Tuesday. For hours, the New Yorkers listened to the raunchy story that the porn actor has recounted in interviews and even a documentary: that she had sex with Trump in his hotel suite in 2006 and a decade later sold the story to his then-fixer, Michael Cohen. Trump denies the sexual encounter. Daniels’s testimony became so crude that, by the afternoon, Trump’s lawyers demanded a mistrial. Even as Judge Juan Merchan sympathized with their concerns and criticized prosecutors, he rejected the motion and put Daniels back on the stand. “I do think some things were better unsaid,” the judge noted. Her testimony, now under cross-examination, will continue when the trial resumes Thursday. Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records over an alleged repayment scheme to Cohen after the former Trump Organization attorney sent Daniels $130,000 to stay quiet about her story before the 2016 election. He pleaded not guilty and has denied any wrongdoing. Daniels was called to the courtroom just as prosecutors started shifting the case’s storyline away from the salacious hush money arrangements to the actual documents undergirding Trump’s charges. Suited in all black, Daniels appeared disheveled when she entered the courtroom in the morning, nervously smiling as she quickly shuffled to the witness stand. When she sat down, she put on thick-framed glasses before swearing to tell the truth. Trump whispered with his attorney before turning his attention to her testimony. The two had once again come face-to-face nearly two decades after the alleged tryst. Most of the details Daniels provided Tuesday had already been widely publicized. But her story, now told under oath, left little to the imagination for the New York jury. She told them about sex positions during her alleged encounter with Trump and indicated he didn’t use a condom. Daniels even described spanking the former president with a rolled-up magazine. She spoke quickly — a nervous energy emanating from the witness stand, leading to repeated requests for her to slow down — as she detailed arriving in Trump’s lavish hotel suite that was “three times the size” of her apartment at the time. The duo was at a Lake Tahoe celebrity golf tournament in 2006, and Daniels said she thought they would be having dinner. Daniels recalled entering a foyer adorned with black-and-white tile floors and a “big, beautiful” wooden table topped with a “fancy, big” flower arrangement. She detailed that Trump emerged from another room wearing silk or satin pajamas. “I said, ‘Does Mr. Hefner know you stole his pajamas?’” she told jurors with a laugh, referencing the famous Playboy Magazine founder, Hugh Hefner. Jurors were not as animated during her testimony as they were in earlier parts of the trial — most maintaining straight faces, some appearing tired and others taking notes. Although many watched Daniels, even some of her more intimate details about the alleged encounter did not seem to captivate the jury like other witnesses did. Trump often stared straight ahead, looking into the distance for several minutes before returning his gaze to the stand. He sometimes tilted his head side to side and appeared frustrated. Before the trial, Trump’s lawyers unsuccessfully attempted to prevent the jury from ever hearing from Daniels, and the defense Tuesday morning urged the judge to keep out many of the salacious specifics. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger agreed they would omit some details — like descriptions of genitalia — but insisted it was necessary for Daniels to walk through the alleged sexual encounter as the jury assesses whether she is credible. Daniels gave a comprehensive account. She gave emphatic answers to prosecutors’ questions with her hands, and when asked how Trump had laid on the bed that night, she offered her best impression of the pose — throwing her arms and a leg into the air. By lunch, the judge wasn’t pleased. Merchan appeared exasperated, criticizing prosecutors for going into too much detail and pleading with the witness to not wander beyond the questions. “Please just keep the answers short. Just listen to the question and answer the question,” Merchan told Daniels. After Merchan’s admonishment, Daniels became notably more subdued, attempting to answer questions in less detail when warranted. Several defense objections came as Daniels expressed discomfort or shame about her sexual encounter with Trump. But after the lunch break, Trump’s lawyers had had enough. They demanded the judge grant a mistrial, the first such motion in the case, asserting that jurors were hearing inappropriate details. “The guardrails for this witness, answering questions from the government, were just thrown to the side,” Trump attorney Todd Blanche said. The judge again expressed his frustration, but he denied the motion after briefly hearing arguments. Merchan said the proper remedy was to provide jurors an instruction that limits how they can use some of Daniels’s testimony in their deliberations.

Stormy Daniels testifies in Trump's hush money trial - CNN - What we covered here

• Adult film actress Stormy Daniels, a central figure in the criminal case against Donald Trump, is set to return to the stand Thursday following her testimony Tuesday in the New York hush money trial.
• During the prosecution's questioning,Daniels detailed her alleged sexual encounter with Trump in 2006 and walked the jury through the $130,000 hush money payment from Trump's ex-attorney Michael Cohen shortly before the 2016 election. She was pressed by Trump's attorneys on her credibility in multiple tense exchanges.
• The hush money payment, and how it was reimbursed to Cohen, is at the heart of the charges. Trump, who was in court as Daniels testified, has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records and has denied the affair.
• The judge denied a motion for a mistrial from the defense who argued that Daniels’ explicit testimony went too far.

Adult film star Stormy Daniels dished out salacious details of her sexual encounter with former President Donald Trump in 2006 from the witness stand on Tuesday, describing how they met at a celebrity golf tournament and what she says happened when she went to Trump’s Lake Tahoe hotel room. In a mostly casual and conversational tone, Daniels recounted details from the floors and furniture in Trump’s hotel room to the contents of his toiletry kit in the bathroom. At one point in court, Daniels threw back her arm and lifted her leg in the witness box to re-create the moment she says Trump posed on his hotel bed for her, stripped down to his undergarments. But some details Daniels described were so explicit that Judge Juan Merchan cut her off at several points. And Trump’s lawyers argued that Daniels had unfairly prejudiced the jury, asking Merchan to declare a mistrial. The judge denied the request but added that some of the details from Daniels were “better left unsaid.” Hush money came after "Access Hollywood" tape controversy: Daniels would go on to describe how she stayed touch with Trump, even coming to briefly see him at Trump Tower to talk about the “Celebrity Apprentice” reality show. Daniels said that in 2015 after Trump began running for president, her then-publicist Gina Rodriguez tried to sell her story. But Rodriguez didn’t find much interest until after the “Access Hollywood” tape of Trump was released in October 2016 – eventually leading to the discussions with AMI and then Michael Cohen, who paid Daniels $130,000 not to go public with her case. Defense accuses Daniels of lying for profit: Trump attorney Susan Necheles didn’t take long to challenge Daniels’ story in cross-examination, accusing the adult film actress of hating Trump.

• “Am I correct that you hate President Trump?” Necheles asked
• “Yes,” Daniels said.
• “You want him to go to jail?” Necheles continued.
• “I want him to be held accountable,” Daniels responded.

Daniels’ body language was tense and her tone notably shifted as Necheles attempted to dismantle her credibility. Daniels gave short, terse answers to many of her questions, defiantly responding “false” and “no” while disputing Necheles’ assertions that she had made up details in her story or that she was trying to extort Trump.

"Close to being smoking guns": Legal experts say new Trump trial documents are the "star witnesses" -On the opening day of Donald Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan, the former president’s lead defense counsel asked jurors to use their common sense – to actually reflect on the prosecution’s argument that an infamous cheapskate would not only pay off an adult film star, spending $130,000 to buy her silence about a one-night stand that he says never happened, but dole out an additional $300,000 or so to compensate Michael Cohen, is former fixer, for making a wire transfer?“Think for a moment,” Todd Blanche instructed the 12 people who will decide if Trump, charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records, engaged in a conspiracy to hide the hush payment and break campaign finance laws. “Would a frugal businessman,” Blanche asked, “would a man who pinches pennies, repay a $130,000 debt to the tune of $420,000?” On Monday, day 12 of the trial, prosecutors introduced a document that appears to succinctly answer that question: yes.The testimony from current and former accountants at the Trump Organization may not have had the drama of Hope Hicks breaking down in tears while testifying about her former boss’ knowledge of hush payments. But while the discussion may have been dry and at times arcane, delving into the world of invoice processing and the accounts payable department, the documents they discussed may be the most damning pieces of evidence that prosecutors have introduced so far.“I’d even say they’re close to being smoking guns,” New York University Law Prof. Ryan Goodman, former general counsel for the Department of Defense, said on MSNBC, referring to a pair of financial documents that explicitly detail why Cohen was paid so much money for what the defense has insisted all along were routine “legal expenses.”One is a statement from the account that Cohen set up to make the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels, which he submitted to the Trump Organization as proof of the expense he incurred. On that statement are handwritten notes from the company’s former chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, explaining that Cohen’s reimbursement was to be “grossed up to” $360,000 – covering the taxes Cohen would owe from reporting the payment as income – and an additional $60,000, bringing the total to: $420,000.There is no mention of “legal expenses” on the document, nor any reference to a retainer agreement with Cohen. In effect, Weisselberg – currently behind bars on Rikers Island after pleading guilty to perjury in Trump’s civil fraud trial – was “doing the handwritten notes on the hush money payment,” Goodman said. “It’s extraordinary.” In fact, as Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney testified Monday, there was never any discussion of legal expenses. The money paid to Cohen was, he said, for something else: “Michael was complaining that his bonus wasn’t large enough. This was to make up for whatever he thought he was owed.” McConney’s own notes, written on stationery with “TRUMP” at the top, explain that Cohen was to be paid more than double his stated expenses for purposes of a “bonus” and “for taxes,” the money coming in monthly installments “from DJT.” A current Trump Organization accountant, Deborah Tarasoff, testified that any payment from the personal account of “DJT,” the former president, would have to be approved by the man himself.

Trump trial judge compared to 'corrupt dictatorships' as Stormy Daniels unleashes salacious testimony -- Legal experts railed against former pornographic actress Stormy Daniels' salacious testimony as "prejudicial" on Tuesday, as former President Trump's legal team moved for a mistrial that ultimately failed in the action-packed court day. "I used to try cases for a living. I still have a pretty good sense of what evidence is relevant, what is prejudicial and what is completely over-the-top inadmissible. What the judge is letting in today in the Trump trial in NYC will be remembered as a dark stain on our judicial system, reminiscent of corrupt dictatorships. Shame on the prosecution for undermining our judicial system," David Friedman, a lawyer and former U.S. ambassador to Israel during the Trump administration,posted on X. The comment came ahead of Trump's legal team moving for a mistrial as Daniels went into detail regarding her alleged sexual encounter with the real estate mogul in 2006. "This Witch Hunt is FALSE ANCIENT HISTORY that was fully adjudicated by the Voters in the 2016 Presidential Election. It only has to do with Election Interference, and trying to help Crooked Joe Biden get elected because he can’t do it by himself. It is a vicious attack by the Soros backed D.A., Alvin Bragg, in strict coordination with the D.O.J. and the White House, on Biden’s Political Opponent, ME. IT IS ILLEGAL, UNCONSTITUTIONAL, AND STRICTLY THIRD WORLD COUNTRY!" The motion for a mistrial was ultimately denied by presiding Judge Juan Merchan. detailed to the court that she met Trump in 2006 at Lake Tahoe during a celebrity golf tournament. She alleged that the pair had sex in Trump's hotel room during the event, which Trump has repeatedly denied in public comments. Daniels' testimony also included describing to the court how she got into the pornography business after working as an exotic dancer as a teenager. The case revolves around the alleged falsification of business records. Prosecutors say Trump’s former attorney, Michael Cohen, paid Daniels $130,000 to quiet her claims of the alleged extramarital sexual encounter. Prosecutors allege the Trump Organization reimbursed Cohen and fraudulently logged the payments as legal expenses, and they are working to prove that Trump falsified records with the intent to commit or conceal a second crime, which is a felony.Legal experts sounded off on social media that Daniels’ testimony was irrelevant to the case and that it should not have been admitted into the record."The salacious testimony of Stormy Daniels is not only prejudicial, but irrelevant, so by no rationale under the evidentiary rule should it have been admitted," attorney David Limbaugh posted on X."Stormy Daniels testified against Trump this morning, going into salacious detail about the alleged sexual encounter. This is irrelevant. It has no bearing on the issue in the trial, which is whether Trump hid the payment to her in order to influence the 2016 election," an Indianapolis civil rights attorney wrote in a post. "In a fair trial the judge would exclude that line of questioning." "In a flagrant violation of NY’s rules of evidence and judicial ethics guidelines, the judge is allowing Stormy Daniels to ‘run wild’ with her highly prejudicial testimony, running roughshod over the objections of Trump’s attorneys, and allowing Daniels to vividly discuss every last salacious detail about the alleged interaction she had with Trump," posted Paul Ingrassia, a lawyer and communications direction for the National Constitutional Law Union. "Prosecutors are asking how tall she is relative to Trump and whether there was a power dynamic between them. Now asking about their alleged sexual affair, the position they were in, whether they were intoxicated, ‘uncomfortable,’ and ‘how they closed it off,’" Ingrassia added, calling the questioning and testimony "totally out of line."

Trump knocks gag order, saying ‘sleazeballs, lowlifes, and grifters’ can speak out - Former President Trump complained Wednesday about the gag order limiting him from attacking witnesses, jurors and court staff in his New York hush money case, calling it unfair that others could speak out while he could not. “It is a really bad feeling to have your Constitutional Right to Free Speech, such a big part of life in our Country, so unfairly taken from you, especially when all of the sleazebags, lowlifes, and grifters that you oppose are allowed to say absolutely anything that they want,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “It is hard to sit back and listen to lies and false statements be made against you knowing that if you respond, even in the most modest fashion, you are told by a Corrupt and Highly Conflicted Judge that you will be PUT IN PRISON, maybe for a long period of time,” he added, claiming the gag order was part of a “sophisticated hit job” coming out of the White House. There is no evidence the Biden White House has had any involvement in Trump’s legal cases. The gag order in the hush money case bars Trump from hurling insults at witnesses, jurors, prosecutors, court staff and the judge’s family. It doesn’t bar him from attacking Judge Juan Merchan or Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D), both of whom Trump goes after daily. Trump has lambasted the restrictions, asserting they violate his First Amendment rights to respond to political attacks, which he says he should be entitled to do as the presumptive Republican nominee for president in November’s election. Merchan has fined Trump for 10 separate violations of the gag order, totaling $10,000, and this week he warned further violations could warrant incarceration. Trump told reporters he would be willing to go to jail for violating the gag order. “This judge has given me a gag order and said you’ll go to jail if you violate it,” he told reporters Monday. “And frankly, you know what, our Constitution is much more important than jail. It’s not even close. I’ll do that sacrifice any day.”

Judge Aileen Cannon suspends key Mar-a-Lago deadline amid feud over evidence handling in Donald Trump classified documents case - Judge Aileen Cannon suspended a key deadline in former President Trump’s documents case after his attorneys suggested special counsel Jack Smith’s team had “failed to preserve critical evidence” in the case, in response to prosecutors disclosing that some classified records may not be in the original order in which they were found. The suspension marks yet another delay in a prosecution where Cannon has yet to even set a new trial date, casting further doubt on the chances the case will come before a jury ahead of the election. It also scuttles an important discussion over which classified documents Trump and his co-defendants wish to use at trial — a battle now waylaid by the former president even as prosecutors argue “intra-box document sequencing” has no bearing on how the defendants will build their case. Cannon did not set a new deadline on the matter, and settling how classified documents will be handled at trial could itself take months to resolve. In a Saturday letter posted to the court docket Tuesday morning, Trump’s legal team pounces on the admission by Smith’s team that the order in which the documents were found may have shifted slightly. “Your failure to disclose the spoliation of this evidence until this month is an extraordinary breach of your constitutional and ethical obligations,” Trump attorney Todd Blanche wrote. The letter lays out a series of demands for more information, including on the instructions given to those who initially searched the boxes, all communications surrounding the searches of the boxes and their movements, and a list of personnel who had access to them. Smith’s team waved off arguments from Trump’s co-defendant and valet Walt Nauta on Friday asking to delay his deadline to lay out his plans for using classified information in his defense. “The filter team took care to ensure that no documents were moved from one box to another, but it was not focused on maintaining the sequence of documents within each box,” prosecutors wrote. “[Nauta] has had information about which classified documents are located in which boxes for months, and failed to raise with the Government his current ‘issue’ about intra-box sequencing until over nine months after the boxes were made available to him,” prosecutors added. But the filing included other details about the search of Trump’s home — including that law enforcement was unprepared for the sheer amount of classified information they found at Mar-a-Lago, running out of the cover sheets they designed to serve as placeholders. “If the investigative team found a document with classification markings, it removed the document, segregated it, and replaced it with a placeholder sheet. The investigative team used classified cover sheets for that purpose, until the FBI ran out because there were so many classified documents, at which point the team began using blank sheets with handwritten notes indicating the classification level of the document(s) seized,” prosecutors noted. Any other jostling of the documents would have happened as a result of the special master review demanded by Trump’s team as well as shifting of small items such as index cards and stationery, Smith’s team wrote. Trump’s team in their letter shot back at Smith’s efforts to dismiss the issue, saying it has repercussions beyond what classified information might be presented at trial. “You cannot seriously contend that your recent spoliation concession is irrelevant to President Trump’s pending pretrial motions,” Blanche wrote.

Trump Classified Document Trial Postponed Indefinitely Days After 'Mishandled Evidence' Bombshell -One day after postponing a filing deadline in Donald Trump's classified documents case, Judge Aileen M. Cannon has postponed the whole thing indefinitely.In a Tuesday decision, Cannon vacated (canceled) Trump's May 20 trial date, and wrote that setting a new date given the enormous stack of pre-trial matters would be "imprudent."On Monday, Cannon postponed a filing deadline for Trump's team to provide a list of classified documents they want to present at trial - which was supposed to be filed by this Thursday. Cannon did not announce a new deadline, perhaps the first clue into today's decision.The move also comes after special counsel Jack Smith's team admitted that the classified files at the heart of the casehad been tampered with, and they needed more time to assess that revelation.Smith also misled the court, after originally telling U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon that the boxes remained "in their original, intact form as seized," when in a footnote they conceded that they removed classified documents and left placeholder sheets, which prosecutors acknowledged has created an "inconsistent" record - in which some of the documents are no longer in the same order as they appear in digital scans made in the fall of 2022."The Government acknowledges that this is inconsistent with what Government counsel previously understood and represented to the Court," the footnote reads, according to Just the News.The finding comes after Cannon ordered a review into whether the FBI may have seized legally privileged records in response to a request from Trump co-defendant Walt Nauta.

Ty Cobb slams Aileen Cannon for indefinitely postponing Trump trial - Former White House attorney Ty Cobb criticized Judge Aileen Cannon after she indefinitely postponed former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago documents case. “All she’s really done today, though, is make official what everybody, including Jack Smith, already knew, which was she had no intention of getting this case to trial,” Cobb told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Tuesday. Cannon’s Tuesday order, issued less than two weeks before Trump’s trial was set to start on May 20, delays some of the case’s court dates into late July and does not set a new trial start date.She said the delay was necessary to resolve numerous issues, particularly how classified information would be handled at trial, which are details governed by the Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA).Cannon said she still has “eight substantive pretrial motions” she must rule on, but Cobb argues that she’s had months to sort out various pretrial motions.“So, you know, this is something that I think it was always her objective, frankly, to prevent this from going to trial,” Cobb said, highlighted by Mediaite. “But also, I think, you know, her … inability, wholesale inability, to do it was made palpable.” Cobb argued that Cannon, who was appointed by Trump, said her decision to boot the trial was a “combination of bias and incompetence.” He said her decisions, like scheduling a hearing about the Justice Department’s trial team, are “really inexplicable” and “tragic.” “She has not honored the public’s interest for one day in this case, as she has sat in her office, apparently paralyzed from ruling on easily resolvable motions, and sadly, this case will not go to trial, notwithstanding the fact it’s one of the most important cases in history and could have easily been tried in advance of the election,” Cobb said.

3 Crypto Bro Execs Charged in $783M Fraud -Three former executives of the now-defunct cryptocurrency firm Cred LLC have been charged with federal fraud for allegedly swindling customers and investors out of a staggering $783 million in digital assets. According to a grand jury indictment, Daniel Schatt, Joseph Podulka, and James Alexander face accusations of wire fraud conspiracy and related crimes.U.S. Attorney Ismail Ramsey pulled no punches in announcing the charges, "Maintaining a market for continued prosperity requires rooting out those who use fraud as a substitute for success," he said via the U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of California press release. The scheme is said to have been perpetrated by luring victims with false promises, even as Cred spiraled towards bankruptcy. Schatt, 53, of San Mateo, and Podulka, 51, of Palo Alto, were specifically charged with conspiracy, thirteen counts of wire fraud, and money laundering in what is being called the Schatt Indictment. Alexander, 54, of Sherman Oaks, faces a similar string of charges in a separate indictment.The indictments, as detailed by the Department of Justice, paint a picture of a company in deep financial distress. The company reportedly began making false and fraudulent claims about its lending and investing practices as early as March 2020. Contrary to Cred's public representations, the firm allegedly engaged in high-risk, uncollateralized lending, with funds overwhelmingly dependent on a single source — micro-loans to Chinese gamers.The prosecution's narrative suggests the defendants desperately bid to keep Cred afloat, banking on new customer funds and discouraging client redemptions, even as the company's finances were in free fall. The crisis peaked following a cryptocurrency market "flash crash" in March 2020, which significantly devalued Cred's assets. In the wake of this upheaval, Schatt and Podulka reportedly failed to truthfully reveal the gravity of Cred's losses to a cryptocurrency exchange during a call in October 2020. Similarly, Alexander allegedly reassured a customer that the flash crash was "a good thing" for Cred while the firm was experiencing solvency issues.According to the grand jury's findings, by the time Cred filed for bankruptcy in November 2020, its customers had sustained losses totaling approximately $150 million. If convicted on all counts, the defendants could face sentences of up to 20 years imprisonment for wire fraud and additional penalties for money laundering charges.Schatt and Podulka, who appeared in federal court on May 2, are due on May 8 for further proceedings, including entering a plea. Alexander's court appearance has yet to be scheduled. The cases are being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Barbara J. Valliere and Adam A. Reeves with the collaborative effort of the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation.

SEC warns Robinhood that its crypto business faces lawsuit --The Securities and Exchange Commission has warned Robinhood Markets that it faces an enforcement action over its crypto business — the latest sign that the regulator isn't letting up on its yearslong crackdown on digital assets. Robinhood, which is best known for stock trading, said on Monday that the SEC's enforcement staff had sent the firm a Wells notice, indicating that it made an initial determination to recommend enforcement action. The company's shares rose as much as 2.8% in New York. The company will have the opportunity to respond to the SEC's allegations before the regulator takes any action. Sometimes, the response persuades the SEC to back off. If not, then the regulator can sue or settle with Robinhood to resolve the probe.Robinhood's chief legal officer, Dan Gallagher, said in a statement that the firm was disappointed by the move and that company officials "firmly believe that the assets listed on our platform are not securities." The SEC declined to comment. The SEC under Chair Gary Gensler has argued that most tokens are subject to SEC rules and that platforms where they trade should be registered with the agency. The SEC has brought cases against other high-profile crypto brokerages and trading platforms, including Coinbase Global Inc. To decide whether an asset is covered by its securities rules, the SEC relies on a test laid out in a 1946 Supreme Court case. Crypto advocates say many digital assets don't meet that standard and that the SEC should provide revised rules to take into account the unique characteristics of the asset class.Robinhood previously disclosed that it received an investigative subpoena about its cryptocurrency listings and custody, among other topics. Although the company has stopped offering some tokens, it still offers more than a dozen including Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin and Aave and Chainlink, according to its website.Digital assets are an important piece of Robinhood's trading business, though customer enthusiasm has waned. As a share of Robinhood's trading-based revenue, crypto has been in decline since a pandemic-era boom. Crypto made up less than one-fifth of Robinhood's transaction-based revenue last year, compared with nearly one-third in 2021.

Crypto 'An Outsized Piece Of The Scams And Problems' In Markets: Gary Gensler - Pointing out the disproportionate amount of fraud and scams within the relatively small crypto sector compared to its size in the broader market, SEC chair Gary Gensler on Tuesday highlighted the agency's focus amid the market’s rapid expansion.“We are seeing a $10 trillion capital market,” Gensler noted, clarifying that “Crypto is a small piece of our markets but it’s an outsized piece of the scams and frauds and problems in our markets.”In an interview with CNBC, he stressed that without adequate regulatory frameworks, these issues are likely to persist, emphasizing the necessity for robust oversight.Gensler's remarks reflect ongoing concerns about the compliance of various crypto tokens with existing securities laws. He pointed out, “Much of this field is noncompliant with the protections of our securities laws,” which contributes to a higher ratio of issues relative to its market size.During the interview, Gensler addressed the recent actions taken by the SEC, including a live litigation case against Coinbase COIN, which he referenced to illustrate the SEC’s role as the “cop on the beat.”He said, “We have a really important responsibility… ensuring that people that are asking you to put your money into buy or sell securities are following the law.”The discussion also touched on the broader implications of these regulatory measures for everyday investors, particularly those using platforms like Robinhood HOOD.Gensler advised caution, reminding viewers that many crypto tokens might be considered securities under laws as interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court, thus requiring proper disclosures which are currently lacking.A focal point of the crypto discussion centered on whether Ethereum could be classified as a commodity or a security, which would significantly impact the potential for an Ethereum ETH/USD-based ETF.Gensler did not provide a definitive answer but reiterated his commitment to investor protection, “The fundamental question is how do we ensure that the American investor is protected?”

House set to vote on nullifying SEC crypto custody guidance for banks — House lawmakers are gearing up for a vote on whether to overturn a Securities and Exchange Commission staff bulletin that banks complain would undercut their ability to custody crypto assets for clients. Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee have already passed a Congressional Review Act measure on Staff Accounting Bulletin 121, which requires companies custodying cryptocurrencies to account for them as liabilities on their balance sheets.Banks argue that the guidance would effectively cut them out of the crypto custody business. And they say it has already thrown a wrench in the plans of at least one bank, Bank of New York Mellon, to open that line of business. The full House plans to vote Wednesday on the measure. Republicans fought to get the measure recognized, since a staff accounting bulletin is not typically the target of a Congressional Review Act resolution. The Government Accountability Office said in an October report that the CRA could apply in this situation. Reps. Wiley Nickel, D-N.C., and Mike Flood, R-Neb., introduced the resolution in the House, while Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., has companion legislation in the Senate. On Monday evening, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle argued about the resolution on the House floor. Defeating certain CRA resolutions by House Republicans, including those that target so-called "junk fee" actions by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has been a White House priority. That isn't the case with the effort to overturn Staff Accounting Bulletin 121.While the resolution still has a long road to President Joe Biden's desk, it does have a Democratic co-sponsor, and is among the more likely CRA resolutions to get enacted. Still, it faces opposition from some congressional Democrats."Why are my colleagues on the other side of the aisle attempting to overturn this important guidance?" said Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., on the House floor on Monday. "It has to do with one particular special interest group — large custody banks — who have raised a narrow concern that the accounting guidance in SAB 121 may conflict with how prudentially regulated custody banks account for their customers' assets." Waters said that overturning the bulletin, which would prevent the SEC from pursuing significantly similar guidance or rulemaking in the future, would give the crypto industry less clarity from the agency, which would be harmful to the industry and to consumers."If the SEC were to pull back in this regard, it would be particularly harmful to smaller companies with less resources dedicated to compliance, and could result in more enforcement actions as companies struggle to understand what they should be doing to comply with SEC rules," she said.

House votes to nullify crypto custody guidance; Biden vows veto --The House voted to advance a resolution Wednesday night that would roll back the Securities and Exchange Commission's guidance curtailing banks from offering crypto custody services, in a 228-182 split. The resolution now goes to the Senate, where companion legislation is sponsored by Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo.Even if the Congressional Review Act resolution passes the Senate, however, the effort would likely end at President Joe Biden's desk, following Biden's promise yesterday to veto the legislation. The White House said that passing the Congressional Review Act resolution would "inappropriately constrain the SEC's ability to ensure appropriate guardrails and address future issues related to crypto-assets including financial stability. "Limiting the SEC's ability to maintain a comprehensive and effective financial regulatory framework for crypto-assets would introduce substantial financial instability and market uncertainty," the White House said. The legislation isn't without bipartisan support — 21 Democrats in the House voted to advance the resolution — but the measure didn't pass by a wide enough margin to override the president's veto. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., argued on the House floor that the accounting bulletin, known as SAB 121, requires banks safeguarding cryptocurrencies to hold those assets on their balance sheets.

BankThink: A U.S.-dollar-pegged stablecoin would supercharge banking and payments | American Banker --A stablecoin pegged only to U.S. dollars on deposit in insured bank accounts would not only safely increase the money supply, but it would actually improve the money supply. A U.S.-dollar-pegged stablecoin enhances economic growth by allowing our money to specialize. The pegged stablecoin would be used to transact faster and cheaper. The dollars backing the stablecoin and held in bank accounts would enhance liquidity at banks and those low-cost stable deposits would fund low-cost U.S.-dollar loans.Only a specific kind of stablecoin would yield these economic benefits. Any coin that promises "yield," "earnings" or "dividends" is presumably a security and any transaction with that coin would trigger capital gains tax. Even if the stablecoin was structured like Tether with no yield promised to holders (i.e., if the portfolio of assets was not strictly limited to dollars in a bank account), the benefits to the U.S. money supply and economy would not result.The serious, potentially fatal flaw with a stablecoin like Tether is a "run on the bank" problem. Any stablecoin that invests in anything other than U.S. dollars in a bank account cannot guarantee its holders that they can redeem their stablecoin at any time, all at once, and receive 100% of the face value of the stablecoin. Investment portfolios are not demand deposits and no investment portfolio can be liquidated all at once at any time without the seller taking a discount and stablecoin holders absorbing a loss or a delay in receiving their redemption proceeds. A coin (e.g., Tether) depends upon a black swan event never happening.A true pegged stablecoin is sold and redeemed for exactly $1 and is assumed to never fluctuate in value. It does not pay yield and does not appreciate. There is no reason to "HODL" such a stablecoin. However, such a stablecoin is more valuable than fiat currency in a payments transaction.

Podcast:'The law was very clear': Inside the Fed master account debate Custodia CEO Caitlin Long on master accounts, her fight with the Fed | American Banker - Penny Crosman:Welcome to the American Banker Podcast. I'm Penny Crosman. This week American Banker Reporter Kyle Campbell interviewed Custodia Bank CEO Caitlin Long. Their topic was her bank's legal tussle with the Federal Reserve Bank over its decision to deny Custodia a master account. We hope you enjoy the conversation.(Transcripts are generated using a combination of speech recognition software and human transcribers, and may contain errors. Please check the corresponding audio for the authoritative record.)

Fed report shows declining supervisory ratings for banks — Banks of all sizes — but particularly big banks — have received declining supervisory ratings in part due to lagging interest rate and liquidity risk-management practices, according to the Federal Reserve's most recent Supervision and Regulation report released Friday. The number of outstanding supervisory findings at large financial institutions — those with total assets of $100 billion or more — continued to increase in the second half of 2023, the report found. Part of the increase was driven by findings related to weaknesses in liquidity and interest rate risk management, but governance and risk control shortcomings continued to constitute the majority — roughly two-thirds — of outstanding issues at large banks. The report noted that by the end of the year, only about a third of large banks received satisfactory ratings across all three components of the Large Financial Institution, or LFI, rating system, which considers capital planning, liquidity management and governance for the largest banks. "Supervisors have found weaknesses in interest rate risk and liquidity risk-management practices," read the report. "Some large financial institutions [also] continued to show weaknesses in governance and controls related to operational resilience, cybersecurity, and BSA/AML compliance." The number of large banks with satisfactory ratings has been on a steady decline since 2019, according to the report, with 2023 marking a five-year low for big bank's supervisory report cards. Despite lagging governance and liquidity management, the Fed noted the banking industry appears resilient at the moment, with the majority of firms operating with capital and liquidity levels above regulatory minimums. Overall, large banks' Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratios increased to 12.7% as of the close of 2023, up from 12.3% on June 30, 2023. The Fed also noted an increase in deposits since the last report. Offsetting this strong equity capital funding, however, are declines in fair values of securities held by banks, which decreases their tangible equity. The majority of small and medium-sized banks continued to have satisfactory ratings and were found to have effective risk management practices. However, the agency notes supervisory ratings downgrades among those tiers of banks have seen a slight uptick also due to interest rate and liquidity risk-management practices. Among the smallest banks, the predominant supervisory concerns centered around cybersecurity and credit risk. For medium-sized regional banks, the primary supervisory findings cited were market and liquidity risks, as well as cybersecurity.

Fed's Cook cites CRE and cyber as leading risks -- — Federal Reserve Governor Lisa D. Cook Wednesday cited the rise of private credit, the impacts of deteriorating commercial real estate assets on small bank portfolios and cyber risks as top financial stability concerns.The remarks, delivered during a speech at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., outlined her agency's current assessment of financial stability. In addition to its monetary policy role, the Federal Reserve has an ongoing role in watching for vulnerabilities among and between the banks it regulates and the financial system more broadly. As the newly appointed chair of the Federal Reserve's Committee on Financial Stability, Cook's assessment shed light on how the agency is thinking about risks to the system as the banking industry continues to recover from turbulence in 2023.Cook delineated four key areas of focus: household and business leverage, financial institution leverage, funding risk and asset valuations.Analyzing household debt, Cook noted household borrowing — as measured by comparing household debt with the GDP level — is lower now than in previous years, suggesting American families' financial indebtedness is increasingly manageable. She did note, however, she is keeping her eye on a few areas of retail borrowing which she believes are worth monitoring. "I am closely watching the rising delinquency rates on auto loans and credit card debt — both of which partially reflect a normalization from recent lows," she said. "They imply increasing household borrower stress, especially among some lower- and moderate-income households."

Banks left in limbo as regulators mull path forward for Basel - Washington's controversial capital proposal is on hold indefinitely as regulators figure out a viable path forward for the reform package. In the meantime, the banking sector is left in limbo. Changes are coming to the so-called Basel III endgame — which would raise cumulative capital requirements for large banks by 16% — but whether regulators modify the current proposal or unveil an entirely new offering remains to be seen. Depending on the tack taken by the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, adopting new capital rules could take anywhere from a few months to well over a year. And their specific changes could result in a wide range of outcomes. For banks keen on adjusting their business models and balance sheets to meet regulatory standards as quickly as possible, this uncertainty means having to prepare for all possibilities."Our institutions don't know what the path forward is, so they're going to operate on the basis of being prepared for whatever outcomes may occur," said Kevin Fromer, president and CEO of the Financial Services Forum, a trade group for the eight largest banks in the country. "Investors expect our members to meet regulatory proposals long before they are implemented, and they therefore have to be able to manage their capital according to the best information that they have."

TD risks 'lost decade' in money-laundering scandal, Jefferies says -- A veteran Canadian bank analyst says Toronto-Dominion Bank's role in an alleged money-laundering scheme has made the "worst-case scenario" more likely — a huge fine for the lender and years of restrictions on its U.S. growth.The Department of Justice is investigating the bank over its ties to a $653 million drug money-laundering case in New York and New Jersey, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg last week. The probe is focused on how Chinese crime groups used Toronto-Dominion and other banks to hide money from U.S. fentanyl sales, the Wall Street Journal reported on May 2. That's in addition to another case in which one of the bank's New Jersey branch employees was charged with accepting bribes to facilitate the laundering of drug money."With the bank allegedly a focal institution in a drug money-laundering scheme, the worst-case scenario has become more likely with TD potentially entering a lost decade," Jefferies analyst John Aiken said in note to clients Monday. "Growth in the U.S. will likely be constrained and the timeline for a fix is extended by several years."Toronto-Dominion plunged into the U.S. regional banking market nearly two decades ago when it acquired a majority stake in Banknorth Group, and it has been a serial acquirer since, focusing on markets in the Eastern U.S. But the bank has been sidelined by its regulatory woes. A year ago, it abandoned a proposed acquisition of Memphis, Tennessee-based First Horizon because it couldn't get timely regulatory approval. The bank announced an initial $450 million provision for regulatory penalties last week before the Journal's report and said there's more to come, as there are investigations from multiple regulators. The "simple math" implies Canada's second-largest bank will have to pay $2 billion, Aiken said. "However, as there is absolutely no certainty around how the regulators are going to proceed, the standard deviations around this estimate is likely measured in billions, rather than hundreds of millions," Aiken wrote.Toronto-Dominion has lost about C$10 billion ($7.3 billion) in market capitalization since the Journal reported the connection to the drug-money case on Thursday. Friday's 5.8% drop in the share price in Toronto was the worst since March 2020.

Exclusive: Barr offers supervisory appeals legislation — Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., chairman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Monetary Policy, will introduce a bill today that would make it easier for banks to appeal regulators' ratings of their institutions, according to a bill summary first shared with American Banker. The bill would establish a so-called Office of Supervisory Appeals at banking agencies and the National Credit Union Association. That alludes to a similar process at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. that existed during the Trump administration. The legislation comes up as Republicans continue their push against the Biden administration's banking regulators. It's likely to face criticism from Democratic lawmakers and regulators, many of whom are likely to object to placing industry-friendly officials in a position to overturn supervisory ratings from regulators. That short-lived Office of Supervisory Appeals at the FDIC was created in the final days of the last administration, and was quietly nixed in 2022 in favor of the Supervisory Appeals Review Committee. Banks in general favored the Office of Supervisory Appeals, which they argued was a more independent body and process compared to the Supervisory Appeals Review Committee. The quiet dissolution of the Office of Supervisory Appeals sparked concerns among bankers that the supervision process would be less independent and more politically fraught. FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg, however, voted against creating the Office of Supervisory Appeals while serving as an FDIC board member during the Trump administration. He said that it allowed former bankers with deep industry ties to serve in an oversight position.

BankThink: Congress, not the Fed, is at fault for slashing interchange fees | American Banker -In a recent BankThink article, "The Fed's manipulation of debit card interchange fees must stop" Americans for Tax Reform's Director of Financial Policy Bryan Bashur excoriates the Federal Reserve for proposing to lower the debit-interchange price cap. He's right that the debit-interchange price controls cause enormous harm, and that a lower cap will cause greater harm, but Bashur has the villain wrong. Congress, not the Fed, is the policymaker and culprit. The Fed is Congress' instrument, charged with implementing debit-interchange price controls mandated by Congress in the Dodd-Frank Act's Durbin Amendment.He complains that the Fed "arbitrarily and impractically excludes consideration of costs such as rewards, card production and delivery costs, marketing and research and development costs." While it's bad policy, it's not impractical. And, while the Fed has taken an extraordinarily broad and charitable — arguably unlawful — view of what costs covered debit issuers can recover via interchange, it's not the Fed's prerogative to permit recovery of reward programs and other issuer costs not permitted by the statute.Moreover, arguing that the Fed should permit a broader range of issuer costs to be recouped via interchange is doubly flawed. It assumes that it is a beneficent Fed's prerogative to determine what types of costs debit issuers can recover via regulated interchange. And, it accepts the public utility framework. Fed discretion tantamount to lawmaking would be dangerous and is contrary to our tripartite constitutional system in which the legislature is the lawmaker. And competitive markets are more innovative, self-correcting and deliver superior value to regulated public utilities.Debit interchange fees fund issuer innovation, fee-free demand deposit accounts and debit cards and rewards. They're the principal source of revenue for most neobanks.Banks and credit unions with less than $10 billion in assets aren't "ostensibly exempt from the debit interchange fee cap." They are exempt. That means they enjoy market interchange which gives them an enormous economic advantage over covered larger issuers, which must subsist on stingy regulated interchange.Durbin-exempt community banks should be able to offer consumers fee-free accounts and meaningful rewards. That's pro-consumer. However, because of community banks' lack of reach and resources they've had difficulty capitalizing on interchange-revenue advantage over retail-banking Goliaths like Bank of America, Chase and Wells Fargo. But, when community banks issue debit cards with partners with powerful brands, reach and resources, like PayPal, Block and Chime, they have taken debit share.A campaign to end destructive debit-interchange price controls is eminently worth waging. It should be vigorously prosecuted in the public and political arena. It should spell out the enormous harm interchange price controls cause and make an affirmative case for payment networks to freely compete and set prices in the market. Joe and Sally Sixpack need to be incensed over payment-industry price controls and to share their anger with their congressmen. To effect genuine reform, to repeal Senator Durbin's interchange price controls, Congress, not the Fed, needs to feel political heat.

BankThink: The administration's crusade against bank fees may undermine other priorities | American Banker -- The hardest decisions to make are the ones that involve trade-offs — you can have one thing or another thing but not both. Such appears to be the case with the Fed's proposal to adjust Regulation II, the rule governing fee structures for debit card transactions mandated by the Durbin amendment in Dodd-Frank.By way of background, the Durbin amendment was a provision adopted as part of Dodd-Frank that gives the Federal Reserve the power to cap interchange fees — the fees paid by retailers to card issuing banks — for debit card transactions. Prior to the amendment, the average "swipe fee" was around 44 cents per transaction; after some back-and-forth, the fee was ultimately set at 24.5 cents per transaction — though the calculus of each transaction fee is more complicated than that and varies depending on the size of the purchase. There was a drawn-out legal battle between the Fed and retailers over the fee cap in which the Fed ultimately prevailed; banks were nominally on the side of the Fed in that fight, but have been vocal in their distaste for the fee cap specifically and the Durbin amendment generally. But for the last 10 years or so there was something of a lasting peace in the interchange landscape. That is, until last October, when the Fed issued a proposal to once again smack the Durbin hornet's nest and lower debit swipe fees from 24.5 cents to 17.7 cents, saying the updated fees will "reflect the changes in debit card related costs, so that the cap remains reasonable and proportional to these costs." The comment period for the proposal was extended back in February and concludes this Sunday, May 12, so we will soon get a chance to hear what banks really think about making less money from interchange.One objection that has been brought up before and is already being brought up again is that interchange fees — in addition to providing a source of fee income to banks — also serve as a way to pay for banks to provide low- or no-cost accounts to their customers. As Jonathan Mintz, president and CEO of Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund — the entity that oversees the BankOn program — noted in his comment letter to the Fed, BankOn-certified accounts are designed "to be economically sustainable for partner financial institutions, if not even somewhat profitable, rather than dependent upon more ephemeral charitable motivations."In other words, if you cut the interchange fee spread on checking accounts, you might find yourself in a world without free checking — which, in turn, would plausibly be a world in which fewer people have or use banking services to manage their financial lives. That claim, I think, is worthy of deeper interrogation.Issues with interchange fundamentally involve three self-interested parties: the consumer, the retailer and the bank. Of those three, the consumer has the least skin in the game: They use their debit cards but have little insight into or interest in who is paying interchange fees to whom. This is best understood as a fight between retailers and card-issuing banks, with consumers stuck in the middle.Both banks and retailers have valid points and enlightened self-interest on their sides: Interchange fees go from retailer to bank, and so banks can reasonably be expected to encourage their customers to use them as much as possible with rewards programs and the like; likewise, every penny saved from interchange fees is a penny earned for retailers. Both banking and retail are profitable and powerful business interests who are adept at talking their book and detailing how proposals they dislike harm consumers. That being said, I find the banks' argument in this case to be credible in light of the various other efforts put forward by this administration to limit banks' ability to collect fee income. Checking accounts, the bedrock of most consumers' financial lives, are what is known as a cost center for banks; it doesn't generally make them any money, but it does cost banks money. Maintaining and securing accounts, particularly from fraud and cyberattacks, is difficult and costly, and interchange fees, late fees and overdraft fees are some of the very few ways that banks recoup some of those costs from the consumers who use the service they're providing. That being said, BankOn accounts and free checking are not something that banks offer purely out of charity; an account is the first step in what banks hope will be a long and profitable financial relationship between them and their customers, so offering those accounts for free opens the door to more profitable loans down the road. But with overdraft falling out of favorand late fees being slashed dramatically, a further tightening of interchange margins could compel banks to stop offering those services for free, which in turn might drive marginal bank customers out of the banking system — an outcome decidedly at odds with the Biden administration's stated goals.That isn't to say the administration's focus on consumer fees is misguided — concert ticket vendors, airlines and many other companies include pointlessly high fees that cost consumers directly and should be curbed. The same could be said for overdraft fees, which tend to subsidize wealthier bank customers on the backs of poorer ones. Interchange fees are more complicated, and the benefit to consumers is at best indirect.The harm of clipping banks' available sources of fee income, however, might not have an indirect impact on consumers if their bank were to fail, and de facto requiring banks to rely on the spread and interest income might increase the chances of that happening — especially for smaller banks that rely on fee income more.

BankThink: Proposed credit card fee rules will benefit retailers, not consumers | American Banker - The credit card convenience, security and value you prize is under attack by the country's largest retailers. If they succeed in their attack, corporate megastores like Walmart and Amazon will see their already substantial profits rise at your expense, and you will see the choices and the card features you love disappear. Make no mistake, even the smallest banks and credit unions and their customers will not be spared from this misguided campaign. As leaders of associations representing community banks and credit unions in every neighborhood across the United States, we want every American to understand the stakes.Large corporate stores are working to pass regulations and laws they say will help Main Street but, in reality, would pad the profits of the mega-retailers that have decimated local small businesses for decades. For the past year, these big-box retailers have been focused on passingnew credit card rules that would only put more money in their pockets while leaving consumers, community banks and credit unions to foot the bill.These rules would allow retail businesses to stop doing their part to invest in the secure payment technology and fraud prevention that consumers want and expect. If you have a credit card from a credit union or bank, you know we are heavily invested in keeping your information secure by looking for the best network partner, not the cheapest. When you make a purchase, you can be confident that transaction will be protected by the bank and card network of your choice.If the mega-store proposals become law, you lose that control. Large retailers will be allowed to undermine everyone's financial security by processing credit card transactions on the cheapest networks, regardless of customer preference or security. You can guess what type of routing network they will pick when it isn't their security on the line — and they're not on the hook to make consumers whole after any fraudulent losses.These new mandates will not only jeopardize your security — they will also drive up costs forcommunity banks and credit unions across the country. Right now, our institutions supportfraud protection, credit card rewards programs and other important offerings by processing and issuing credit cards. Retailers pushing these new rules are using their political allies to avoid paying for the investments, services, convenience and security that allow them to accept credit card payments. They want all the benefits from the nation's modern payments system that our members have built, without covering any of the cost. They certainly wouldn't like it if you decided you wanted to use the goods they sell without paying for them.Retailers, of course, will acknowledge none of this. They paint these rules as a way to save consumers money, but the evidence indicates they will share none of their savings with customers. First, when parallel rules were passed for debit card purchases 10 years ago, retailers gained millions and millions of dollars in profit. Despite the retailers' promises of lower prices for consumers, prices have gone up steadily over the past decade, and we doubt anybody needs a refresher on where grocery prices are today. Meanwhile, financial institutions were forced to drop some of their programs, which is why you no longer see debit card rewards programs and why free checking is harder to come by.The retailers pushing this bill will claim that the institutions we represent are exempt from its reach, but the carve-out they tout is meaningless. You cannot let merchants force large banks — and the revenue they currently invest into the payment system — to use one network and expect the safe, sound, secure networks everyone uses today to function with less resources. The institutions we represent will be the ones left paying the difference.Consumers will see the loss of popular credit card rewards programs while also experiencing more fraud. It's a double whammy that will especially hurt the budgets of families who are already struggling in this unpredictable economy.

Trump-appointed judge halts Biden administration credit card late fee cap - A former President Trump-appointed judge in Texas halted President Biden’s administration’s plan to decrease late fees on credit cards to $8. The new rule, which was set to take place next week, was stopped with US District Judge Mark T. Pittman issuing a preliminary injunction, a decision beneficial to credit card companies and big banks. The lawsuit against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was led by the US Chamber of Commerce. They alleged, along with other banking organizations, that the rule, finalized in early March, was in violation of several federal acts. CFPB’s rule, which was planned to be active on Tuesday, was designed to save more than $10 billion in late fees annually by dropping the amount from $32 to $8, according to CFPB. The average saving would sit at $220 per year and would affect over 45 million who were hit with late fees, according to the agency. “This ruling is a major win for responsible consumers who pay their credit card bills on time and businesses that want to provide affordable credit,” U.S. Chamber of Commerce Litigation Center Counsel Maria Monaghan said in a statement. “The CFPB’s attempted micromanagement would have raised costs for most credit card users and made it harder for businesses to meet consumers’ needs. The U.S. Chamber will continue to hold the CFPB accountable in court,” she said.

Junk-Bond Issuance Nearly Doubles YTD, amid Feverish Demand in La-la-Land and Ultra-Loose Financial Conditions by Wolf Richter -The feverish demand for US corporate bonds, particularly high-yield bonds has been flabbergasting, a sign that financial conditions in most parts of the economy, except in commercial real estate, have become ultra-loose despite the Fed’s efforts to tighten financial conditions.This week, junk-rated companies have sold over $14 billion in new bonds, the most since late 2021, according to LSEG and FT calculations.“Bankers and investors highlighted a growing conviction in markets that US interest rates are unlikely to fall steeply this year, prompting companies to meet their funding needs now rather than risking higher borrowing costs while waiting for another opportunity,” the FT explained. In 2024 through April – so not including the surge in May so far – issuance of corporate bonds of all grades soared by 38% year-over-year, to $752 billion, according to industry association SIFMA.Of those $752 billion in newly issued bonds this year through April, junk bond issuance nearly doubled. Junk bonds are those with credit ratings of BB+ and below (here’s our corporate bond ratings cheat sheet):

• Investment grade: $635 billion, +31% year-over-year
• Junk bonds: $117 billion, +95% year-over-year.

Hopes for Fed rate cuts and even lower yields are being skuttled, in favor of locking in the historically narrow spreads and still relatively low yields driven by this feverish demand from investors for these securities.The Fed’s policy rates have remained unchanged at 5.5% at the upper end of the range since July 2023. But financial conditions have loosened since November, and spreads between junk-rated bonds and Treasury securities have narrowed to historically low levels, meaning that investors are being compensated by a historically small amount for the big extra credit risks they’re so eager to take.The spread of BB-rated corporate bonds to Treasury securities is now down to just 1.85 percentage points. While it has widened a hair over the past six days or so, those spreads are the narrowest since 2007, on the eve of the Financial Crisis:

White House begins push for corporate tax hike in earnest — The White House's top economic advisor, Lael Brainard, outlined higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy to try to offset budget deficits ahead of the Trump tax cuts' expiration next year. Congress is gearing up for a major tax debate in 2025 with the expiration of the Trump tax cuts, the 2017 law that included cuts for individuals and that begins to phase out next year. While Republicans want to extend the tax breaks to individuals, doing so would add $4.6 trillion to the national debt over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The Biden administration's plan, outlined in detail by Brainard in a speech at the Brookings Institution on Friday, would extend the middle-class tax cuts while raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans and on corporations. Brainard called for increasing the corporate tax rate to 28%, a bump from the 21% enacted in the Trump tax package but lower than the 35% that existed previously. She also said that Biden would keep some of the limits on tax deductions for households earning more than $400,000 a year, including the $10,000-a-year limit on the amount of state and local taxes that higher earners could deduct from their federal income taxes. "As the president has said, tax cuts for the wealthy will stay expired on his watch," she said.She repeated Biden's calls that households earning less than $400,000 would not see any tax increases, something that's been called into question by former President Donald Trump on the campaign trail. "The president is honoring his ironclad commitment to not raise taxes on anyone making less than $400,000 and will cut taxes further for workers and families, paid for by asking corporations and those at the top to contribute more," she said.

New era of inequality: Billionaires pay less in taxes than the working class - Economist Gabriel Zucman’s analysis reveals a troubling milestone: U.S. billionaires now pay a lower effective tax rate than working-class Americans, marking the first time this disparity has been recorded. This revelation, published in The New York Times, highlights the growing chasm between the ultra-rich and the average worker, sparking renewed calls for comprehensive tax reform. Zucman’s research illustrates a historical shift in tax burdens. For the first time, America’s wealthiest individuals pay a lower effective tax rate than the working class. In 2018, the average tax rate for billionaires was 23%, while working-class Americans paid an average of 24%. This reversal is attributed to the unique tax mechanisms that billionaires employ to minimize their taxable income, predominantly through stock holdings and tax-free loans. Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk exemplify this phenomenon. Although both report modest salaries, they leverage their vast wealth in company stock to access loans that fund acquisitions and luxury purchases. By borrowing against these assets, they generate significant cash flow without triggering taxable events, thereby keeping their effective tax rates extremely low. These findings raise concerns about the societal impact of growing wealth inequality. Zucman argues that the ultra-rich’s ability to live off their wealth while contributing less in taxes undermines the principles of fairness and democracy. Rakeen Mabud, chief economist at the Groundwork Collaborative, echoes this sentiment, calling the trend “absurd” and urging lawmakers to raise taxes on the wealthy and large corporations. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), chair of the Senate Budget Committee, finds the data “disgraceful” and advocates for immediate reforms. He believes addressing the tax disparity can bolster funding for Social Security and Medicare. Zucman himself proposes a minimum tax on billionaires to help reverse the decades-long surge in inequality. Comparing current wealth concentration to historical periods like the Gilded Age, Zucman highlights a striking pattern. Today, the world’s 2,781 billionaires hold $14.2 trillion in combined assets, with American billionaires alone accounting for $5.7 trillion. This concentration has grown largely due to systematic tax cuts and policy changes. In the 1960s, the wealthiest Americans paid more than half of their income in taxes. By 2018, their effective tax rates had plummeted. Recent changes, such as the reduction in corporate taxes from 35% to 21% in 2018, and the erosion of estate taxes over decades, have further enabled billionaires to accumulate immense fortunes while paying proportionally less.

Two thefts decades apart, and a victim's quest for answers -- She walked into the Bank of America branch in downtown San Rafael, California — across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco — and joined one of the teller lines. It was a Friday afternoon in February 2018, and the branch was busy. When Brekke got to the window, she angled her body so that the other customers could hear the exasperation in her voice as she spoke to the teller. Then she explained her predicament. Four and a half months earlier, Brekke had visited this same BofA branch to open a savings account. At the time, the 70-year-old widow needed a banking relationship that would allow her to accept a payment from Austria — the country that her Jewish mother had fled as a refugee in 1938. Brekke opened an account, and she later received a $45,496.57 payment from the Austria-based General Settlement Fund for Victims of National Socialism. She planned to keep the reparations money at BofA while she worked to settle her late mother's estate.Now, on a cloudy February afternoon, Brekke was back inside the BofA branch on 4th Street in San Rafael, facing a nightmare scenario: The bank had taken more than half of the reparations money from her account. Over the last few weeks, she'd spent many hours trying to get Bank of America to resolve the situation, but she'd gotten nowhere. Since patience wasn't working, Brekke figured she needed to grab folks' attention. Even if she risked sounding like a crazy person."The money was stolen by the Nazis first. And Bank of America is now the corporate thief that stole it again!" Brekke exclaimed.This is the story of a woman who was victimized twice — once through events that occurred across the Atlantic Ocean before she was born, and a second time through a case of identity fraud in modern-day California.Brekke is an inveterate record-keeper, and she provided many documents that support the account she shared in multiple interviews.Together, the interviews and documents provide an unusually detailed picture of a bank's mishandling of a fraud case, and how it intersected with the victim's quest to unearth her family's hidden past.Brekke's story offers a vivid illustration of what is being lost with the steady decline of relationship banking in the United States. At a smaller, locally owned bank, it's easy to imagine that her dispute might have been resolved quickly. At the nation's second-largest bank, Brekke interacted with branch workers who seemingly wanted to make things right but weren't empowered to do so.Naomi Patton, a Bank of America spokesperson, did not answer numerous written questions about the situation, citing client confidentiality and saying that a BofA client team had been unable to determine certain information about events that occurred more than six years ago.Patton did not dispute a detailed chronology of Brekke's case that American Banker provided to the bank.

Bankers say CFPB overdraft rule harms vulnerable consumers most -The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's proposal to set maximum overdraft fees at $14would force banks to restrict access to low-cost, full-service deposit accounts, hurting precisely the lower-income consumers that the rule is intended to help, bankers say.In January, the CFPB proposed setting a price cap on overdraft fees at the largest 175 banks, one of a raft of regulatory proposals that are pressuring banks' fee income. The CFPB said it received 48,000 comment letters and among those, banks said they would be forced to restrict credit, impose higher minimum balance requirements and limit the availability of free or low-cost deposit accounts."With no meaningful source of revenue to support the cost of deposit products, the most likely outcome would be a retreat from consumer deposit products that benefit lower-income and underbanked consumers as banks simply refocus on lower-risk and higher-margin business lines such as commercial services," wrote Brent Tjarks, executive director of the Mid-size Bank Coalition of America, which represents more than 100 midsize banks. The rule, which applies only to financial institutions with assets over $10 billion, would classify overdraft services as extensions of credit and restrict banks from recouping more than their costs. "A proposal with the professed goal of improving the financial health of consumers would achieve the opposite result," the American Bankers Association said in a joint comment letter signed by 52 state bankers associations. "It would effectively bring an end to overdraft services for millions of consumers who choose to use the product to cover emergency expenses and other liquidity shortfalls, all to advance the [Biden] administration's political campaign againstjunk fees."When the bureau issued its proposal, CFPB Director Rohit Chopra called overdraft fees "a massive junk fee harvesting machine." Several dozen of the comment letters were identical form letters from supporters of the plan that reiterated Chopra's comments. The CFPB has estimated that under its plan 23 million households that pay overdraft fees would save $150 a year.Bankers have been up in arms about Chopra's campaign against so-called junk fees and the Biden administration's use of the term junk fees — including in the State of the Union address — to appeal to voters ahead of the 2024 presidential election. Four students in the master's program in public policy at the University of Virginia signed a letter stating that "overdraft fees have repeatedly taken advantage of Americans, particularly younger ones with less experience in banking."The letter, signed by Hannah King, Matt Beiger, Kelly O'Connor, and Grace Makin, said that "overdraft fees [have become] a source of profit for banks and credit unions," citing $12.6 billion in revenue from overdraft fees in 2019.Since then, however, banks have cut overdraft fees by 50% due to pressure from the CFPB and consumers. In 2021, Ally Financial in Detroit was the first bank to scrap all overdraft-related charges. In 2022, when Bank of America slashed overdraft fees to $10 from $35, a ripple effect spread across the industry. Consumers have saved up to $5 billion a year due to the changes, according to the Consumer Bankers Association. Despite the major decline in overdraft fees, the CFPB issued a complicated proposal to further rein them in.It would eliminate the longstanding exemption of overdraft fees from the definition of finance charges in Regulation Z, which in implementing the Truth in Lending Act requires that lenders disclose finance fees upfront and in clear language.Further, overdraft services accessible by a card would be subject to the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act's provisions of Reg Z. Banks said the proposal threatens consumer-friendly options in overdraft such as sending low-balance alerts, linking a customer's checking account to another account, providing overdraft "grace periods" that allow a customer to make a deposit and avoid a fee, and imposing de minimis caps on total fees that a bank may charge per day.

Senate deals death blow to Durbin II inclusion in FAA — The Durbin credit card bill failed to pass a procedural vote that would have allowed it to be attached to the bill reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration, one of the final must-pass funding bills before the presidential election. The Senate defeated Sen. Roger Marshall's effort to attach the Credit Card Competition Act to the FAA package handily by a vote of 85-12 Wednesday night. Marshall, along with Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., are the primary sponsors of the credit card legislation. "For too long, the Visa-Mastercard duopoly has used money and influence in Washington to turn politicians' eyes away from predatory swipe fees," Marshall said. "Right now the Visa-Mastercard duopoly and foreign megabanks are robbing our American small businesses at the highest rate in the world."The amendment failed, in part, because of fears of attaching superfluous items to the FAA that fall outside the strict remit of air travel. House GOP leaders, according to multiple committee sources familiar with the Durbin amendment negotiations, said that a number of other bills were also taken off the table ahead of its Friday deadline. The swipe fee bill would mandate that card payments be routed over at least one network other than Mastercard and Visa. Proponents of the bill argue that it would reduce so-called swipe fees, while banks and the bill's detractors say that it's essentially a giveaway to large retailers. Jaret Seiberg, an analyst at Cowen, said in a note that the vote signifies lawmakers' unwillingness to address credit card interchange rates this year. "This is because it was essentially a free vote as there was no way senators were going to risk the FAA bill by opening it to amendments," he said. "That means up to 37 more senators could have earned goodwill from the merchants by backing Marshall." The next and most germane bill that the Durbin-Marshall could seek to attach itself to would be a must-pass tax package coming next year as Congress looks to address the expiring Trump-era individual tax cuts. “That package will require significant deal-making, which is why Marshall and Durbin may end up with the leverage they need to get a vote on their amendment," Seiberg said.

Airline rewards credit cards come under attack at CFPB-DOT hearing - Executives at small airlines complained to regulators Thursday that airline rewards credit cards — issued by big banks on behalf of large airlines — limit competition by making it harder for smaller carriers to appeal to consumers. Eight panelists, including executives at Allegiant Air, Breeze Airways and Spirit Airlines, testified at a two-hour hearing in Washington held by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Department of Transportation. The witnesses delved into other thorny topics such as whether airlines are delivering on promised rewards, why flight attendants have to supplement their income by selling credit cards and if consumers are taking on more debt just to accrue miles and points. Yet competition among airlines — and whether the money generated from rewards and loyalty programs has made it difficult for small entrants to compete — captured much of the attention. "One of our concerns, of course, is what role that these programs may play in affecting the ability of other players, smaller players or newer players to compete," said Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, who co-chaired the hearing. He noted that when the Airline Deregulation Act was enacted in 1978, "it was confidently predicted that there would be at least 100 major competitive airlines by the turn of the century. Obviously things didn't work [out] that way." The Transportation Department regulates airlines and monitors potential unfair and deceptive practices. The CFPB has the authority to take action against credit card issuers for engaging in unfair, deceptive or abusive acts or practices related to rewards programs. The airline and travel industries as well as credit card issuers are vigorously defending the use of credit card rewards, which are used by roughly 80% of Americans. Rewards programs generate nearly $68 billion in annual consumer spending, according to the American Economic Liberties Project. \Chime to pay $4.5 million for illegally delaying consumer refunds - The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has fined Chime Financial $3.25 million and ordered the San Francisco challenger bank to pay $1.3 million in redress for failing to give consumers timely refunds when their accounts were closed. Chime was bombarded with a surge of consumer complaints in 2021 and bad publicity afterProPublica ran a lengthy investigative report that found many Chime customers had had their accounts closed without warning and were unable to access their money.The CFPB said in a 28-page consent order that thousands of consumers waited months to get refunds, a failure that inflicted "significant financial harm." Affected consumers will receive roughly $150 in redress if they held a minimum unrefunded balance of $10 and were not refunded by Chime within 14 days of closing their account, the CFPB said. The CFPB's consent order follows a crackdown by federal regulators that have taken a sharper look in recent months at bank partnerships with financial technology firms. Chime's banking services are provided by The Bancorp Bank in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and Stride Bank in Enid, Oklahoma, though the company is funded by venture capital firms. "Fast-growing financial firms must treat their customers fairly and understand that federal law is not a suggestion," CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in a press release. "Chime's customers had to wait weeks or months for access to their own money and were forced to use alternative funds to cover their essential expenses."

Fed report: Climate change could raise loan defaults for biggest banks — The largest banks could see a potential increase in loan defaults due to climate change and the decarbonization of the economy, according to results of the Federal Reserve's climate scenario analysis issued Thursday. Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo participated in the exercise, which was announced almost two years ago. The tests required each firm to gather and report data to the Fed which the agency used to draw conclusions. The scenario models the impact of a severe hurricane in the Northeastern United States and one additional natural disaster elsewhere in the country — chosen by the bank — on each firm's residential and commercial real estate loan portfolios over the course of a year. The banks used their own models and assumptions to complete the exercise, and the results presented by those models were not independently verified by the Fed.The scenario is broken into two "modules" of risk associated with climate change. The physical risk module explored the damage inflicted on people and property as a result of shorter term climate events such as wildfires and floods as well as long-term climate change like sea-level rise. The second "transition-risk" module refers to the stresses on various firms, sectors or regions resulting from policy changes, consumer or business sentiments or technologies arising from the ongoing transition to a lower carbon economy. As part of the physical risk module, the banks estimated the impact of a hurricane in the Northeast U.S. — a region where all six firms have significant exposure. Under the most severe scenario, the Fed measured the impacts of a one-in-two hundred year storm and assumed properties are not insured. The report found that over 1,000 commercial loans and more than 238,000 residential loans in the Northeast would be impacted under such a scenario, representing 20% of commercial real estate loans and 50% of residential real estate loans.The estimated probability of default for northeast properties spiked by 0.4% and 0.1%, respectively for commercial and residential loans, the study found. This represents about 20 and 50 percent of participants' total northeastern commercial and residential loans, respectively.A second component of the physical risk scenario asked banks to pick a region relevant to their real estate holdings and perform analysis of the impact of a weather event of their choice. Such "idiosyncratic" shocks had even more pronounced effects of default levels. Probability of default on the uninsured properties increased by 2.6% for commercial and about 1.1% for residential real estate properties.The Fed had banks assess the impact of transition risk by estimating the difference in the probability of loan defaults under current climate policies with a hypothetical scenario in 2050 where policies achieve net zero carbon dioxide emissions. The average transition risk impact for CRE loans was about 1% across all property types, but the Fed said participants reported significantly varying impacts depending on CRE property types.The Fed first unveiled its climate scenario analysis test in 2022 to test how six of the largestglobal systemically important banks respond to various climate-related scenarios. The "exploratory" nature of the tests mean they have no imminent bearing on the banks' capital or regulatory requirements, but rather give regulators a snapshot of large banks' readiness to weather theoretical climate disruptions. The tests — implemented by Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr — further one of the Biden administration's top goals of addressing climate change. Barr's approach has been to ensure that banks understand climate risks without trying to steer market participants toward or away from specific activities. The Fed, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency adopted final guidance for banks over $100 billion of assets to manage climate risks in 2023.

Revelations from the FDIC report on sexual harassment, toxic workplace An investigation by a law firm confirmed that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. failed to provide a workplace safe from sexual harassment, discrimination, fear of retaliation, and called for a “necessary” cultural and structural change at the federal banking regulator. The review, conducted by the Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, sharply criticized the toxic work environment at the FDIC. The “patriarchal, insular, and risk-adverse culture” has resulted in the underreporting of misconduct and the response from management has been insufficient, the report said.More than 500 employees participated in the investigation, “often painfully and emotionally recounting experiences of sexual harassment, discrimination, and other interpersonal misconduct that they have suffered at the FDIC.”Women reported instances of stalking, unwanted sexual text messages from colleagues, and inappropriate sexual comments from supervisors, including being someone’s surrogate and comments about their breasts and legs.Individuals reported that an employee with a disability was made fun of by a supervisor and nicknamed, “Pirate McNasty.” Others reported homophobic statements, including referring to gay men as “little girls,” the report said.People from underrepresented groups were told by colleagues that they were “only hired” because they were a minority and were “token” employees hired to fill a quota.The report noted that many of the reported incidents happened years ago, but some happened as little as a few weeks ago. They happened in field and regional offices, but also in the Washington, D.C. headquarters. Wrongdoers were not held to account for their misconduct, just moved to other offices or positions, the report said.The investigation was commissioned by the FDIC after an investigation by the Wall Street Journal painted a picture of the agency as a boys’ club with rampant sexual harassment cases and discrimination toward women.FDIC Chair Martin Gruenberg apologized to his staff Tuesday before the report was released to the public. He said the report presented a “sobering look” at the FDIC’s culture and accepted the law firm’s findings and recommendations.

FDIC workplace probe outlines pervasive culture of misconduct — An independent examination of Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. workplace culture released Tuesday painted a picture of an agency with rampant instances of sexual harassment, discrimination, and various other forms of misconduct spanning several years. The report, commissioned by the FDIC and performed by law firm Cleary Gottlieb, portrayed a culture characterized by patriarchy and insularity, with reports of discrimination and harassment, particularly from female employees and individuals belonging to marginalized groups."Far too many FDIC employees — substantially more than those who have previously reported internally — have suffered from sexual harassment, discrimination, and other forms of interpersonal misconduct for far too long," the report noted. "We find that aspects of the FDIC's culture and structure — including a lack of accountability, fear of retaliation, a patriarchal, hierarchic, insular and risk-averse culture, power imbalances, insufficiently clear guidance and reporting channels, inadequate recordkeeping, and an investigative process that lacks credibility internally — have contributed as root causes to the conditions that have allowed for this type of workplace misconduct to occur."Over a span of five months, investigators took testimony from more than 500 individuals, primarily current FDIC employees. The firm also conducted interviews with another 167 individuals and meticulously reviewed thousands of related documents uncovering hundreds of instances of misconduct, some occurring as recently as weeks before the report's publication on Tuesday.The misconduct detailed in the review ranged from inappropriate and racially discriminatory comments towards minorities to instances of sexual harassment, stalking and unwelcome advances — mostly towards women — at the agency. These incidents occurred across various levels of the organization, from field offices to agency headquarters. The misconduct, according to the report, often went unaddressed, with wrongdoers being moved to different positions rather than facing official sanction. Employees also reported a fear of retaliation within the FDIC, which they said discouraged them from reporting instances, while those who did make reports faced job loss or reprisal.In one instance, one employee stalked and sent unwelcome sexualized text messages to a female employee, which the female employee said instilled her with fear for her physical safety despite her complaints to superiors. In other instances female employees endured routine sexual objectification by their supervisors, who made inappropriate comments about their bodies. Another supervisor reportedly mocked an employee with a disability by calling them offensive nicknames. Employees of color reported receiving remarks from colleagues speculating that they had only been hired to fill diversity quotas, and black employees in particular cited instances of disparate interpersonal treatment as well as being passed over for promotions in favor of their white colleagues. Homophobic remarks were also reported, with a supervisor referring to gay men as "little girls."Chairman Martin Gruenberg's conduct and reputed temper — previously reported in a Wall Street Journal article — was also highlighted. In one notable incident at a meeting intended to cover corporate governance-related regulation, Gruenberg went off topic and reportedly berated a specific individual for about 45 minutes. This behavior, according to Cleary's report, was corroborated by Microsoft Teams message exchanges and reportedly left participants feeling uncomfortable and disrespected. Other instances of Gruenberg's temper were mentioned by both current and former FDIC employees, though some also noted positive experiences with him.not cited as a root cause of the pervasive misconduct at the agency, the report acknowledges challenges posed by his leadership style and emphasizes the need for a genuine commitment to cultural transformation, including a candid acknowledgment of past shortcomings.

Will Democrats stand by Gruenberg? — Lawmakers — mostly Republicans — let loose almost immediately after the release of an independent review of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s workplace culture, calling for the agency's chairman, Martin Gruenberg, to resign. Those calls, while neither entirely new nor unexpected, were being made by lawmakers farther afield from the usual suspects on the House Financial Services Committee and Senate Banking Committee who are typically involved in financial policy issues. "President Biden is on record telling White House staff 'I will fire you on the spot' for failing to treat colleagues with respect," said Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., "I hope President Biden will be true to his word. Chairman Gruenberg has fallen short of this standard and should be removed from office by the president if he refuses to resign."The workplace behavior issues at the FDIC present not just an issue for the agency and a longstanding grievance for its workers, but an opportunity for Republicans who've made pushing against President Joe Biden's financial regulatory rules a priority of their congressional oversight. It's also a tricky needle for congressional Democrats to thread. So far, only one Democrat — Rep. Bill Foster, Ill. — has openly called for Gruenberg's departure. Leading progressive voices in the Senate have notably left out demands for Gruenberg to resign from their comments following the report. "Everyone deserves a workplace that's free of discrimination and harassment," said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. "I supported this independent investigation into misconduct during both Republican and Democratic Administrations at the FDIC. Chair Gruenberg has accepted responsibility, and I support his work to implement the action plan to improve the FDIC's culture."Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., also pointed out that the allegations outlined in the review stretch back years, and don't just fall under Gruenberg's tenure as chairman. "These findings detail a toxic workplace culture at the FDIC, particularly in the field and regional offices, stretching back decades," he said. The pattern of unacceptable conduct documented in the report is appalling. The FDIC must be fixed promptly and structurally so it better protects the employees who protect the safety of our banking system."That point is a common refrain among Gruenberg's defenders following the release of the review. Should he be forced out of the agency, it could be difficult for many of the policies the Biden administration has pursued to advance, which would be beneficial to many of the people calling for Gruenberg to resign, said Dennis Kelleher, CEO of consumer advocate Better Markets, in a statement.

Regulators propose new rule to curb incentive-based executive pay — Federal financial regulators Monday issued a joint notice of proposed rulemaking to outline permissible practices for incentive-based executive compensation, a rule required by Dodd-Frank but that has remained dormant for more than a decade. The proposal, issued by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Housing Finance Agency attempts to curb incentive-based compensation practices and ensure risk management and safety at banks are not compromised by perverse incentives in executive compensation. "Poorly designed financial institution compensation programs can provide incentives for short-term risk taking that can jeopardize the safety and soundness of the institution," said FDIC Chair Martin Gruenberg. The proposal introduces a tiered system tailored to the size and complexity of financial institutions, categorizing them into three levels: Banks with more than $250 billion of assets; banks with between $50 billion and $250 billion of assets; and banks with between $1 and $50 billion of assets. The proposal emphasizes the importance of aligning incentive-based compensation with effective risk management and corporate governance, requiring recordkeeping and disclosure by firms to their primary federal regulators. Larger institutions face additional obligations, including minimum deferral amounts and time frames for incentive-based compensation for senior executives, coupled with provisions for forfeiture and clawback in case of undue risk-taking. Chairman Gruenberg also noted that alternative regulatory provisions are also being considered. "Among these alternative provisions are establishing a two-tiered asset threshold structure rather than a three-tiered structure," he said. "[As well as] simplifying the definition of significant risk-taker and limiting the discretion of a larger covered institution to seek to recover incentive-based compensation by requiring, rather than mandating consideration of, forfeiture, downward adjustment, and clawback of incentive-based compensation when misconduct results in significant financial or reputational harm to the covered institution." Section 956 of Dodd-Frank requires these agencies — as well as the Securities and Exchange Commission, National Credit Union Administration and the Federal Reserve Board — to enact regulations overseeing performance-based bonus arrangements at banks with $1 billion or more in assets that could incentivize inappropriate risk-taking or excessively compensate bank executives.

Fed SLOOS Survey: Banks reported Tighter Standards, Weaker Demand for almost All Loan Types --From the Federal Reserve: The April 2024 Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices: The April 2024 Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices (SLOOS) addressed changes in the standards and terms on, and demand for, bank loans to businesses and households over the past three months, which generally correspond to the first quarter of 2024. Regarding loans to businesses, survey respondents reported, on balance, tighter standards and weaker demand for commercial and industrial (C&I) loans to firms of all sizes over the first quarter. Meanwhile, banks reported tighter standards and weaker demand for all commercial real estate (CRE) loan categories. Banks also responded to a set of special questions about changes in lending policies and demand for CRE loans over the past year. For all CRE loan categories, banks reported having tightened all queried lending policies, including the spread of loan rates over the cost of funds, maximum loan sizes, loan-to-value ratios, debt service coverage ratios, and interest-only payment periods. For loans to households, banks reported that lending standards tightened across some categories of residential real estate (RRE) loans while remaining unchanged for others on balance. Meanwhile, demand weakened for all RRE loan categories. In addition, banks reported tighter standards and weaker demand for home equity lines of credit (HELOCs). Moreover, for credit card, auto, and other consumer loans, standards reportedly tightened and demand weakened. While banks, on balance, reported having tightened lending standards further for most loan categories in the first quarter, lower net shares of banks reported tightening lending standards than in the fourth quarter of last year across most loan categories. This graph on Residential Real Estate demand is from the Senior Loan Officer Survey Charts. This graph is for demand and shows that demand has declined. The left graphs are from 1990 to 2014. The right graphs are from 2015 to Q1 2024.

FSOC: Congress should boost Ginnie, FHFA nonbank authorities --Recommendations in a new Financial Stability Oversight Council report could give nonbank mortgage servicers more of a liquidity backstop but may also lead to them being more closely regulated.The report discussed at an FSOC meeting on Friday calls for Congress to provide the Federal Housing Finance Agency and Ginnie Mae with additional authorities aimed at improving their ability to manage nondepository counterparties.It also included calls for the expansion of the Pass-Through Assistance Program that Ginnie Mae used as an emergency facility during the pandemic, congressional involvement and an industry funded liquidity resource.A fund financed by the industry could help sustain a troubled nonbank long enough to transfer servicing to a capable party in an emergency while avoiding taxpayer-supported bailouts, supporters like Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement Friday.However, officials from some regulatory bodies, while backing other recommendations, advised caution around more ambitious efforts in the report like the industry-funded facility."The FSOC's recommendation to establish a nonbank-financed liquidity fund, administered by a newly authorized federal regulator, is premature at best," said Brandon Milhorn, president and CEO of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors, in a press statement.Milhorn showed concern about the potential for "unintended consequences" that could "negatively impact the nonbank mortgage market," calling for a go-slow and well-researched approach."Instead, federal agencies, Ginnie Mae and Congress should focus their immediate attention efforts on targeted structural changes included in the FSOC report," he said. "I encourage Congress to remove any legal impediments to information sharing between Ginnie Mae and state regulators."In a separate statement distributed by CSBS, Superintendent Adrienne Harris of the New York Department of Financial Services weighed in on a recommendation that "state regulators require the largest nonbank servicers adopt recovery and resolution plans."Harris said that the plans could be constructive for nonbank mortgage servicers if they are not "a one-time exercise left to sit on a shelf collecting dust until a crisis strikes." The plans "must be practical, actionable, tested and kept up to date," she said.

Fannie "Real Estate Owned" inventory Decreased in Q1 2024 - Fannie reported results for Q1 2024. Here is some information on single-family Real Estate Owned (REOs). Fannie Mae reported the number of REOs decreased to 7,791 at the end of Q1 2024, down 5% from 8,403 at the end of the previous quarter, and down 9% year-over-year from Q1 2023. For Fannie, this is down 95% from the 166,787 peak number of REOs in Q3 2010.
Here is a graph of Fannie Real Estate Owned (REO).
This is well below the normal level of REOs for Fannie, and there will not be a huge wave of foreclosures.

ICE Mortgage Monitor: Annual home price growth eased in March; "For-sale inventory has been growing sharply across Florida" - Today, in the Real Estate Newsletter: ICE Mortgage Monitor: Annual home price growth eased in March Brief excerpt: Press Release: ICE Mortgage Monitor: Historically Strong Home Price Growth Pushes U.S. Mortgage Holders’ Tappable Equity to Record $11T

• Though rising rates have dampened purchase demand and allowed for modest inventory growth, a continuing deficit of homes for sale this spring is helping prices remain resilient
• According to the ICE Home Price Index, prices rose 1.2% in March, more than 25% above the 25-year average increase, marking the third consecutive month of above-average home price gains
• On an annual basis, home price growth eased slightly in March to +5.6% from an upwardly revised +6.0% in February
• Strong home price growth in early 2024 increased mortgage-holder equity to a record $16.9T in Q1, $11T of which can be leveraged while retaining a 20% equity cushion – also an all-time high
• 48M U.S. homeowners with mortgages have some level of such tappable equity, at an average of $206K per borrower, up from $185K at the same time last year
• Two thirds of all tappable equity is held by homeowners with credit scores of 760 or higher, making for a relatively low-risk lending cohort
• An equal share – two thirds – is held by homeowners with first lien mortgage rates below 4%, with 84% (~$9.2T) held by those with rates lower than 5%
• Just five West Coast metros – Los Angeles ($1.1T), San Francisco ($648B), San Jose ($348B), San Diego ($331B), and Seattle ($324B) – account for nearly a quarter ($2.7T) of total tappable equity
• Homeowners in these markets not only hold some of the largest volumes of tappable equity but also have rates well below the national average as higher loan balances tend to provide more frequent refi incentive
• Second lien home equity products remain particularly attractive options for such borrowers wanting to access some of this abundant equity while maintaining their historically low first lien rates

Though U.S. home price growth slowed modestly on an annual basis, according to the ICE Home Price Index, March marked the third consecutive occurrence of above-average monthly gains. Rising prices combined with higher interest rates have added to the affordability pressure on prospective homebuyers. Existing homeowners, on the other hand, continue to reap the benefits of historically strong price gains. Andy Walden, ICE’s Vice President of Enterprise Research Strategy, explains. "The recent trend of rising interest rates has dampened homebuyer demand and allowed the inventory of homes for sale to improve,” said Walden. “We’re still very much in a hole from an inventory perspective, but that deficit has fallen from 50% a year ago to 38% in March. Today, with 3.3 months of supply, inventory is still historically low and indicative of a seller’s market. This is helping to keep home price growth resilient even though demand is down. In fact, despite some minor slowing, March marked the third consecutive month of stronger than average growth.” Here is a graph on delinquencies from ICE. Overall delinquencies decreased in March and are below the pre-pandemic levels.

• • The national delinquency rate ticked down 14 basis points (bps) to 3.20% in March, holding 27 bps higher than the record low in March 2023
• • April, which typically experiences an uptick in delinquencies, may fare better this year, as March delinquencies came in higher than normal due to the month having ended on a Sunday
• • Serious delinquencies (loans 90+ days past due but not in active foreclosure) dropped 24K (-5.2%) from February to their lowest level since June 2006
• • March saw less inflow of past-due payments as well as fewer rolls to later stages of delinquency, with total cures up 9%, as early-, mid- and late-stage delinquencies all saw improvement

MBA: Mortgage Applications Increased in Weekly Survey -From the MBA: Mortgage Applications Increase in Latest MBA Weekly Survey Mortgage applications increased 2.6 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending May 3, 2024. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 2.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 3 percent compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index increased 5 percent from the previous week and was 6 percent lower than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 2 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 2 percent compared with the previous week and was 17 percent lower than the same week one year ago. “Treasury rates and mortgage rates fell last week on the news of a slowing job market, with wage growth at the slowest pace since 2021, and the Federal Reserve’s announced plans to ease quantitative tightening in June and to maintain its view that another rate hike is unlikely. The conventional 30-year rate dropped 11 basis points, and the FHA rate fell 17 basis points to 6.92 percent, back below 7% for the first time in three weeks,” . “Mortgage applications increased for the first time in three weeks, with refinances up 5 percent. Even with the increase, which included a 29 percent jump in VA refinances, refinance application volume remains about 6 percent below last year’s already low levels.” , “Driven by a 5 percent gain in FHA applications, purchase activity was up 2 percent. First-time homebuyers account for roughly half of purchase loans, and the government lending programs are an important source of financing for these homebuyers. The gain in FHA activity is a sign that this segment of the market is active.” ... The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($766,550 or less) decreased to 7.18 percent from 7.29 percent, with points unchanged at 0.65 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans. The first graph shows the MBA mortgage purchase index. According to the MBA, purchase activity is down 17% year-over-year unadjusted. Purchase application activity is up slightly from the lows in late October 2023, and below the lowest levels during the housing bust. The second graph shows the refinance index since 1990. With higher mortgage rates, the refinance index declined sharply in 2022, and has mostly flat lined since then.

Housing May 6th Weekly Update: Inventory up 0.6% Week-over-week, Up 33.1% Year-over-year-- Altos reports that active single-family inventory was up 0.6% week-over-week. Inventory is now up 13.3% from the February bottom. This inventory graph is courtesy of Altos Research. As of May 3rd, inventory was at 560 thousand (7-day average), compared to 556 thousand the prior week. Inventory is still far below pre-pandemic levels. The second graph shows the seasonal pattern for active single-family inventory since 2015. The red line is for 2024. The black line is for 2019. Note that inventory is up 86% from the record low for the same week in 2022, but still well below normal levels.Inventory was up 33.1% compared to the same week in 2023 (last week it was up 31.8%), and down 36.8% compared to the same week in 2019 (last week it was down 35.9%). Back in June 2023, inventory was down almost 54% compared to 2019, so the gap to more normal inventory levels is slowly closing.Mike Simonsen discusses this data regularly on Youtube.

CoreLogic: US Home Prices Increased 5.3% Year-over-year in March - The CoreLogic HPI is a three-month weighted average and is not seasonally adjusted (NSA). From CoreLogic: Northeast Continues to Lead US for Annual Home Price Gains in March, CoreLogic Reports • U.S. single-family home prices rose by 5.3% year over year in March, marking the 146th consecutive month of annual growth.
• Over the next 12 months, year-over-year home price gains are projected to range between 5.6% and 3.7%.
• Four of the top five states for annual appreciation in March are in the Northeast: New Jersey (12.2%), New Hampshire (10.6%), Connecticut (9.5%) and Rhode Island (9.2%). ... U.S. year-over-year home price gains remained above 5% in March for the fifth straight month and are projected to stay in that general range for most of the next 12 months. Northeastern states continued to post the nation’s largest gains, as more Americans migrate to bedroom communities of major cities and job hubs, as well as areas where household incomes are relatively higher and can sustain the elevated cost of homeownership. In addition, the inventory gains seen in states like Florida and Texas still lag in the Northeast, a trend that continues to exacerbate supply-and-demand fundamentals and further adds to home price pressure in that region. Consequently, markets with larger additions of homes for sale are now experiencing slowing home price appreciation. “Home prices increased again this March beyond the typical seasonal uptick, despite mortgage rates reaching this year’s high and the affordability crunch continuing to keep many prospective buyers on the sidelines,” “Even with the long-anticipated break in for-sale inventory, the surging cost of homeownership, further fueled by rising insurance and tax expenses, is holding potential home sales back, as is evident in the slow rise in sales compared with last year.” This was a smaller YoY increase than the 5.5% reported for February, and the 5.8% YoY increase reported for January.

Update: Lumber Prices Mostly Unchanged YoY - Here is another monthly update on lumber prices. NOTE: The CME group discontinued the Random Length Lumber Futures contract on May 16, 2023. I've now switched to a new physically-delivered Lumber Futures contract that was started in August 2022. Unfortunately, this impacts long term price comparisons since the new contract was priced about 24% higher than the old random length contract for the period when both contracts were available. This graph shows CME random length framing futures through last August (blue), and the new physically-delivered Lumber Futures (LBR) contract starting in August 2022 (Red). LBR is currently at $498.50 per 1000 board feet, mostly unchanged from a year ago. There is somewhat of a seasonal demand for lumber, and lumber prices usually peak in April or May. We didn't see a significant runup in prices last Spring due to the housing slowdown, and we didn't see much of a pickup in early 2024.

Asking Rents Mostly Unchanged Year-over-year --Today, in the Real Estate Newsletter: Asking Rents Mostly Unchanged Year-over-year Brief excerpt: Tracking rents is important for understanding the dynamics of the housing market. For example, the sharp increase in rents helped me deduce that there was a surge in household formation in 2021 (See from September 2021: Household Formation Drives Housing Demand). Now that household formation has slowed, and multi-family completions have increased, rents are under pressure. From ApartmentList.com: Apartment List National Rent Report Rents are up 0.5% month-over-month, down 0.8% year-over-year Rent growth follows a seasonal pattern – rent increases generally take place during the spring and summer, whereas the fall and winter usually see a modest price dip. We are currently transitioning into the busy season, with the national median rent increasing for the third straight month, following six consecutive monthly declines from August 2023 to January 2024. However, the pace of that positive rent growth slowed slightly this month, with rents up 0.5 percent month-over-month in April, after increasing by 0.6 percent in March. There is much more in the article.

Leading Index for Commercial Real Estate Increased 6% in April --From Dodge Data Analytics: Dodge Momentum Index Rose 6% in April - The Dodge Momentum Index (DMI), issued by Dodge Construction Network, increased 6.1% in April to 173.9 (2000=100) from the revised March reading of 164.0. Over the month, commercial planning improved 12.6% and institutional planning dropped 6.3%.
“The Dodge Momentum Index (DMI) saw positive progress in April, alongside a deluge of data center projects that entered the planning stage,” stated Sarah Martin, associate director of forecasting at Dodge Construction Network. “Outsized demand to build Cloud and AI infrastructure is supporting above-average activity in the sector. Most other categories, however, faced slower growth over the month. Across these industries, it’s likely that owners and developers are grappling with uncertainty around interest rates and labor shortages, thus delaying their decisions to push projects into the planning queue. If interest rates begin to tick down in the latter half of 2024, more substantive growth in nonresidential planning activity should follow.” A flood of data center projects entered planning in April, causing robust growth in the commercial segment of the DMI, while traditional office and hotel projects continued to face slower momentum. Warehouse planning was basically flat. On the institutional side, education and healthcare planning activity receded again – in part, driven by another month of weak life science and R&D laboratory activity. Year over year, the DMI was 1% lower than in April 2023. The commercial segment was up 6% from year-ago levels, while the institutional segment was down 15% over the same period. ... The DMI is a monthly measure of the value of nonresidential building projects going into planning, shown to lead construction spending for nonresidential buildings by a full year. This graph shows the Dodge Momentum Index since 2002. The index was at 173.9 in April, up from 164.0 the previous month. According to Dodge, this index leads "construction spending for nonresidential buildings by a full year". This index suggests a slowdown in 2024. Commercial construction is typically a lagging economic indicator.

Hotels: Occupancy Rate decreased 1.2% Year-over-year -- From STR: U.S. hotel results for week ending 27 April: As expected with Passover, U.S. hotel performance came in lower than the previous week and comparable period last year, according to CoStar’s latest data through 27 April. ...
21-27 April 2024 (percentage change from comparable week in 2023):
• Occupancy: 65.7% (-1.2%)
• Average daily rate (ADR): US$154.44 (-1.3%)
• Revenue per available room (RevPAR): US$101.42 (-2.5%)
The following graph shows the seasonal pattern for the hotel occupancy rate using the four-week average. The red line is for 2024, black is 2020, blue is the median, and dashed light blue is for 2023. Dashed purple is for 2018, the record year for hotel occupancy. The 4-week average of the occupancy rate is slightly above last year, and above the median rate for the period 2000 through 2023 (Blue).The 4-week average of the occupancy rate will move mostly sideways seasonally until the summer travel season.

Shocking Collapse In Credit Card Debt Growth Just As Card APRs Hit All Time High - After several months of wild swings in US consumer debt, culminating with last month's jump in credit card debt to a new all time high despite record high credit card rates, in March households finally hit a brick wall because according to the latestconsumer credit data published by the Federal Reserve moments ago, in the last month of Q1, total consumer debt rose by a paltry $6.274 billion, which was not only nearly a more than 60% miss to consensus estimates of $15.0 billion...... but also a dramatic slowdown from February, tumbling by almost $9BN, the biggest monthly drop in the rate of change in 2024.But it was when looking into the details of the report, we find something remarkable: while non-revolving credit rose a modest $6.1BN, up a bit from February's $4.3BN, and exactly half the $12.2BN average monthly increase in nonrevolving credit over the past decade...... which is to be expected in a time when student debt continues to shrink due to illegal debt discharges by the Biden admin (which is defying SCOTUS and continues to forgive billions in student loans) while auto loans are barely rising due to record interest rates...... what was the biggest shock in today's data was the absolute collapse in revolving credit growth, i.e., credit card debt,which plunged from a $10.7BN increase in February - one of the biggest monthly prints on record - to barely positive, or $152 million, the smallest monthly increase since the covid crash!. Of course with the Fed refusing to cut rates - for good reason - the brutal slowdown in new credit card debt is hardly a surprise since as the Fed also reported that in Q1, the average rate across all commercial banks on all credit card amounts just hit a newrecord high of 21.59%, which is a vivid reminders that while banks are happy to hike credit card rates, they rarely if ever cut them, and it's also one of the main reasons why Goldman's trading desk just went bearish on US consumers.

Bad-Loans Hit Record-High As Used-Car Prices Suffer Worst Bear-Market Ever -A bear market in the used car market was confirmed in November and has since worsened through April. At the same time, negative equity values are hitting new record highs while auto insurance rates have soared the most since the mid-1970s. While gas prices at the pump are elevated, the environment to operate a vehicle is probably one of the worst ever. Just listen to Gen-Z and millennial users on X bitch and moan about $1,000 monthly car payments and other absurd costs associated with driving.The Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index fell to 198.4 in April, a 14% drop from one year ago. This is the index's lowest print since the first quarter of 2021. As for the bear market, the index is down 23% from the high and quickly falling - there could be air pockets given the rapid upward moves three years ago - and that demand has been suppressed given a high-interest rate environment. All vehicle segments of the Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index experienced seasonally adjusted prices that were down double digits year over year in April. Luxury was the only segment that was not hit the hardest, down just 12.9%. The worst-performing segment was compact cars, down 17.6% compared with last year, followed by midsize cars, down 16.8%, and pickups, down 15.2%. EVs were down 17.5%.This is a significant worry for millions of Americans who bought cars during the pandemic mania, which basically involved spending free money provided by the Federal Reserve, only now discovering that their loans are plunging into underwater territory. According to a recent Edmunds note, 20% of new vehicle sales involving a trade-in had negative equity during the October-through-December period—the highest level since 2021. Negative equity values soared to a new record high of $6,064 during the period, a massive 46% increase from late 2021.

Wholesale Used Car Prices Declined in April; Down 14.0% Year-over-year - From Manheim Consulting today: Wholesale Used-Vehicle Prices Declined in April - Wholesale used-vehicle prices (on a mix, mileage, and seasonally adjusted basis) were down in April compared to March. The Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index (MUVVI) fell to 198.4, a decline of 14.0% from a year ago. The seasonal adjustment to the index magnified the results for the month, resulting in a 2.3% month-over-month decrease. The non-adjusted price in April decreased by 0.6% compared to March, moving the unadjusted average price down 11.9% year over year. This index from Manheim Consulting is based on all completed sales transactions at Manheim’s U.S. auctions. The Manheim index suggests used car prices declined in April (seasonally adjusted) and were down 14.0% year-over-year (YoY).

AAR: Rail Carloads Down YoY in April, Intermodal Up - From the Association of American Railroads (AAR) Rail Time Indicators. Total originated U.S. carloads averaged 212,221 per week in April 2024, down 6.5% from April 2023 and the second lowest weekly average for April in our records that go back to 1988. (April 2020 was lower.) Total carloads fell year over year each of the first four months of 2024. Year-to-date total carloads through April were down 4.8% and, at 3.62 million, were the lowest for any year in our records. The main reason is coal. ... U.S. railroads also originated 1.02 million intermodal containers and trailers in April 2024, up 8.6% over April 2023 — intermodal’s eighth straight year-over-year gain. (Intermodal is not included in carloads.) This graph from the Rail Time Indicators report shows the six-week average of U.S. Carloads in 2022, 2023 and 2024: Total originated U.S. carloads in April 2024 were 848,882, down 6.5% (58,751 carloads) from April 2023. The weekly average in April 2024 was 212,221 carloads per week, the second lowest for April in our records that go back to 1988. (April 2020, when the pandemic was just starting, was lower.) Year-to-date total carloads through April were 3.62 million, down 4.8% (180,839 carloads) from last year. Total carloads fell year-over-year each of the first four months of 2024. It’s a broken record at this point, but blame coal. In April 2024, coal averaged 46,303 carloads per week, down 28.0% from April 2023 — the fourth straight double-digit percentage decline.The second graph shows the six-week average (not monthly) of U.S. intermodal in 2022, 2023 and 2024: (using intermodal or shipping containers): U.S. railroads originated 1.02 million intermodal containers and trailers in April 2024, up 8.6% (80,471 units) over April 2023 — intermodal’s eighth straight gain. In April 2024, intermodal averaged 254,642 units per week. April’s average from 2015 to 2023 was 257,701, slightly higher than April 2024. Last year wasn’t a good year for intermodal — it was the lowest since 2013 — and the gains this year have essentially returned intermodal volume back to normal.

GM to end production of Chevy Malibu as it shifts to EVs (Reuters) - General Motors said Wednesday it will end production of its gasoline-powered Chevrolet Malibu car later this year in order to produce new electric vehicles. GM has sold more than 10 million Malibus since 1964 worldwide and will end production in November. The Detroit automaker is investing $390 million at its Kansas assembly plant to build next-generation Chevrolet Bolt EVs. GM halted production of the prior generation Bolt in December. GM has been shifting away from cars in favor of building more crossover and sport utility vehicles in recent years. The Malibu is the last remaining Chevrolet car offered in the United States besides the Corvette. GM ended production of the Chevrolet Camaro late last year. GM said separately Wednesday it will pause production of the Cadillac XT4 after January 2025 in Kansas, resulting in layoffs of production employees until production resumes in late 2025 for both the Bolt EV and XT4 on the same assembly line. Sales of the Malibu were down 12.5% in the first three months of the year but up 13% to 130,000 in 2023.

Trump vows to reverse transgender student protections 'on day one' --Former President Trump said Friday he would roll back transgender student protections enacted last month by the Biden administration “on day one” of his presidency if he is reelected in November.The Education Department in April unveiled a final set of sweeping changes to Title IX, the federal civil rights law preventing sex discrimination in schools and education programs that receive government funding. The new regulations, which are slated to take effect Aug. 1, cover discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity for the first time.“We’re gonna end it on day one,” Trump said Friday during an appearance on “Kayal and Company,” a conservative talk radio show in Philadelphia. “Don’t forget, that was done as an order from the president. That came down as an executive order. And we’re gonna change it — on day one it’s gonna be changed.”President Biden in a 2021 executive order wrote that “all students should be guaranteed an educational environment free from discrimination on the basis of sex, including discrimination in the form of sexual harassment, which encompasses sexual violence, and including discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.”“For students attending schools and other educational institutions that receive Federal financial assistance, this guarantee is codified, in part, in Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972,” Biden wrote in the executive order, which formally charged the Education Department with overhauling Title IX regulations instituted under Trump.“Tell your people not to worry about it,” Trump told hosts Nick Kayal and Dawn Stensland on Friday, referring to the new Title IX rule. “It’ll be signed on day one. It’ll be terminated.”Trump has also promised to enact at least a dozen policies targeting transgender rights as president, including a nationwide ban on transgender student-athletes competing in accordance with their gender identity and a federal law that recognizes only two genders. He has also vowed to punish health care providers who administer gender-affirming medical care to minors.

Rhode Island School of Design students occupy building, MIT and Harvard threaten protesters with suspension and “involuntary leave”A group of students from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and their supporters have occupied a school administration building in support of the population of Gaza. RISD is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island, affiliated with Brown University. Students at Brown last week took down their “Encampment for Gaza” after school administrators agreed to put a resolution on divestment from Israel up for a vote at the October meeting of the Corporation of Brown University, which does not commit the university to specific action. In return, the students agreed to end the encampment and not violate Brown’s conduct code through the end of the academic year. The group RISD Students for Justice in Palestine is leading the occupation of Providence Washington Hall at RISD, renaming it Fathi Ghaben Place. Ghaben, 77, was a renowned Palestinian artist born near Gaza City. He died in Gaza after being denied permission by Israeli authorities to travel abroad to receive treatment for chest and lung issues that he was unable to get in the city due to the lack of oxygen and other medical supplies in the besieged enclave. The student group has vowed to continue the occupation until RISD President Crystal Williams meets its demands and

• “Provides total fiscal transparency of RISD’s investment portfolio”;
• “Commits to a holistic divestment from companies, corporations, and institutions that are implicated in sustaining Israeli Apartheid”;
• “Establishes a student oversight committee for future investments.”

They also demand that Williams “publicly condemn the Israeli Occupation’s genocide in Gaza as well as the military and settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, and take a public stance for a permanent ceasefire.” Williams met with students inside the occupied building Monday evening. Students said the RISD president gave them until 8 a.m. Tuesday “to decide their next steps,” but that deadline appears to have come and gone without any movement on either side.

One Third Of Stanford Students OK With Violence To Shut Down Speech; Report -More than one third of Stanford University students say using physical violence to stop a speech is acceptable in at least some circumstances, according to a new report.The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression conducted the survey after federal Judge Kyle Duncan’s speech on campus was shouted down last year. The report evaluated students’ perspectives about free speech on campus and protests in the aftermath of the event.FIRE Chief Research Advisor Sean Stevens told The College Fix the research found “considerably higher” support for canceling a speaker among Stanford students when compared to their peers nationwide.The survey found 54 percent of Stanford students believed Duncan’s speech to the law school’s Federalist Society chapter should have been canceled by the administration. Additionally, 75 percent said shouting down a speaker to prevent them from speaking was acceptable in some circumstances. Meanwhile, 36 percent said the same about using physical violence to stop a speech, the report found. Since the incident last year, “the percentage of conservative students who expressed comfort expressing their views on a controversial political topic in the classroom or on social media dropped precipitously, so did the percentage of conservative students who expressed comfort disagreeing with their professor on a controversial political topic both publicly and privately,” Stevens said.An earlier survey found 45 percent of conservative students were comfortable publicly disagreeing with a professor, but this dropped to 6 percent following the disruption of Duncan’s speech, according to FIRE’s report.“This indicates that the shout down has made it clear to a portion of students that certain viewpoints are not welcome at Stanford,” Stevens told The Fix.Stevens said FIRE has been “encouraged by how Stanford has responded to the Judge Duncan shout down.”“But, we also think recent trends nationwide in campus deplatforming attempts are very concerning, and do not think Stanford — even with their new found respect for the First Amendment — will be immune to further attempts to deplatform speakers,” he said.Further, Stevens said, “It doesn’t matter if the speaker is on the left or the right, a freshman or a federal judge. Incidents like the Judge Duncan shout down aren’t isolated affairs, but symptoms of a larger problem with campus free speech culture.”The Fix emailed Stanford University twice in the past two weeks, asking about the survey, its safety precautions for speakers, and its outlook on free speech on campus. It did not respond.Stanford Law School’s Federalist Society, which hosted the event with Duncan, also did not respond to two email requests for comment in the past two weeks asking about the survey and the free speech atmosphere on campus.Shouting down speakers has become a problem at universities in recent years. A similar incident took place at Yale Law School in 2022 when protesters disrupted a Federalist Society event with Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Kristen Waggoner, who students alleged put queer students “at risk of harm.”This spring, protesters also disrupted Republican Rep. Mike Collins’ speech at the University of Georgia and Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin’s talk at the University of Maryland, with some criticizing the lawmakers’ actions on the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Billionaire, Harvard Donor Ken Griffin Says Protesters Are Byproduct Of "Failed Education System" --Ken Griffin, the founder of Citadel and a Harvard University alumnus, was interviewed Monday evening at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills.During the interview, Griffin blasted protesters at woke elite colleges and universities, calling them a byproduct of a "failed education system." He also touched on macroeconomics, including his prediction that the Federal Reserve will cut rates in December. Let's begin with Griffin's thoughts on Harvard:"The only thing I can say about Harvard is we look much better given what we see at Columbia.""I scratch my head — the audacity. The students seize one of the halls, commit acts of vandalism and — and I love this — and then try to negotiate for humanitarian aid."Griffin, who, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, is worth more than $37 billion, pointed out that these protesters are byproducts of a "failed education system." Griffin recently donated a $300 million gift to Harvard and said he would dramatically reduce future donations until the school "recommits itself to meritocracy in a very public and profound way." Months ago, he accused the woke colleges of producing a generation of "whiny snowflakes" instead of America's future leaders

Arizona State professor seen verbally attacking woman in hijab barred from teaching at university | The Hill An Arizona State University (ASU) professor, who was seen verbally attacking a woman in a hijab, has been barred from teaching at the institution, according to the school’s president. ASU President Michael Crow said that Jonathan Yudelman, a postdoctoral research scholar, “will never” teach at the school again, following a viral video of Yudelman confronting a woman wearing a hijab at a pro-Israel protest near campus last weekend. “He is no longer permitted to be on campus and will never teach here again,” Crow said. Yudelman was a scholar at ASU’s School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership. He was identified in the viral video, which circulated on multiple social media platforms, that showed him cursing at a woman wearing a hijab. “I’m literally in your face — that’s right,” Yudelman said as the woman stepped back. The woman told him “You’re disrespecting my religious boundaries,” The professor fired back while using profane language. “You disrespect my sense of humanity, b—–,” he said. The school said the professor was put on leave and was not “permitted to come to campus, teach classes, or interact with students or employees.” Prior to the incident, he resigned from his post effective June 30, according to the university. He was not scheduled to teach courses over the summer, according to ASU’s spokesperson. The institution referred the matter to the Tempe Police Department to conduct a criminal investigation, according to the ASU spokesperson.

Wayne State University faculty members say: “Hands off students!” In a statement published on April 30, over 100 faculty members at Wayne State University (WSU) in Detroit denounced the “McCarthyite repression against students on campuses across the United States” and violent police attacks on free speech. Established in 1868 in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, the major urban university has long been at the heart of Detroit’s intellectual and cultural life. The joint statement published on April 30 condemned the “actions of university officials in perpetrating violence against students” who were advocating for divestment from Zionist Israel at a WSU Board of Governors (BOG) meeting on April 26.We note that Wayne State’s actions occurred amid a national context in which students, staff, and faculty are targeted in vicious attacks on campuses across the country. These attacks include mass arrests, unfettered repression and violence, and even the threat to shoot and kill those who exercise their academic freedom and 1st Amendment rights. It also noted that WSU police officers “including Police Chief Anthony Holt, have trained in Israel.” The faculty members concluded: We will not allow those in charge to continue their escalatory attacks on Wayne State students. We demand that President Espy and the Board of Governors issue a clear and unequivocal apology to the students, protect academic freedom, and commit to prevent police violence against students, faculty, and community members in the future. HANDS OFF THE STUDENTS. On April 29, a group of more than 80 urban planning professionals, students, professors and alumni from around the country also released a letter denouncing the violent attacks on students. It was addressed to WSU Urban Studies and Planning Department Chair Rayman Mohamed, who is also the president of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, as well as the national heads of the Planning Accreditation Board and the American Planning Association.The lead signer was KC Caffray, a Masters in Urban Planning candidate at Wayne State, who was joined by many other WSU grad students, lecturers, alums and faculty. The letter calls on the professional organizations of urban planners to speak out against “the violent arrests and continued threats by our accredited institutions.”

US police have arrested over 2,500 anti-war protesters in less than 3 weeks -- Less than three weeks after 108 students were arrested at Columbia University for establishing the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment,” over 2,500 people in the United States have been arrested and criminally charged for participating in similar acts of civil disobedience. In many cases, students and faculty have been charged with “trespassing” for sitting on the grass or occupying campus buildings, while journalists filming students getting arrested have also been imprisoned. As this is being written, police are arresting faculty and students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The local chapter of the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC) reported Tuesday night that faculty had been arrested at its encampment. The report included a picture showing multiple people in orange safety vests being handcuffed. The SJP and PSC reported that riot police had encircled the encampment, drawing jeers from a growing crowd that was chanting, “Why are you in riot gear? We don’t see no riot here.” In New York City, where Democratic Mayor Eric Adams has overseen the arrests of over 500 people, NYPD police were again recorded assaulting and conducting mass arrests of protesters Tuesday night. Over 1,000 people demonstrated in the street as part of an “All Out for Rafah” march. Many of the protesters marched to the steps of the New York Public Library. Later in the evening, a contingent of protesters broke off and joined the Gaza encampment at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), a public university and the last school in the city where an encampment remains. As of this writing, police are preparing to sweep the encampment. Independent New York-based reporter Katie Smith documented “hundreds of officers stationed in and around” the encampment after 10:00 p.m. The mass arrests across the country of mostly young people and their professors and instructors are being directed from the White House. President Joe Biden in multiple statements, including a Tuesday address at the Capitol on Holocaust Remembrance Day, continues to repeat the Big Lie that opposition to Zionist genocide of the Palestinian people is an expression of antisemitism.

Anti-genocide encampments spread across Canada - As Canada’s longest-running anti-genocide protest encampment at Montreal’s McGill University approaches the end of its first week, protest camps against Israel’s onslaught on Gaza are springing up on campuses across the country. Students, supported by many faculty and other working people, are demanding that universities divest from companies, especially arms manufacturers, with ties to Israel and calling for an immediate end to the Israeli regime’s slaughter and starving of the Palestinians. The McGill encampment has grown from around 20 tents last Saturday to cover thousands of square meters on the university’s front lawn. A steady stream of passers-by and participants in other downtown protest marches have joined the camp or provided donations. From the beginning, the McGill administration and Quebec’s Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government have been baying for police action to shut down the protest, as has been done with great violence at Columbia, UCLA and other US universities. An attempt to criminalize the encampment through a lawsuit filed by two Jewish students, who claimed the protest made them feel “unsafe,” failed Wednesday, when a Quebec Superior Court judge refused to issue an injunction against the protest. Judge Chantal Masse ruled there was no evidence the anti-genocide protesters threatened to cause harm or block access to the university. She added that “freedom of expression and to gather peacefully would be affected significantly” by an injunction. In countering the slanderous claims that protesters have voiced antisemitic chants, their legal counsel noted that Jewish students make up a sizeable part of those participating in the protest camp. University management, fresh from bullying faculty members into scabbing on their colleagues during a recent strike by teaching assistants, have repeatedly smeared the protesters as antisemitic, and claim to have evidence of this, although they have conspicuously failed to make any of this “evidence” public. Even the Montreal police have felt compelled to note that “no crime is being committed” at the protest camp. A police spokesman cited by CBC described the protest as a “civil matter.” The university has also attempted to turn the broad support the protesters enjoy from Montreal residents against them, by denouncing the protest for including people, such as students from other Montreal universities, who do not attend McGill. As Rahul, an informatics student, told a World Socialist Web Site reporting team who visited the encampment Friday, “The arguments about the ‘outsiders’ don’t hold up. First of all, the cops are the outsiders. And even if there are people from outside, they are justly protesting genocide. What do you expect from normal human beings? It’s a very absurd argument to make against the camps.” The legal setback for the authorities and the police’s admission that no crimes have been committed did not stop right-wing chauvinist Quebec Premier François Legault from denouncing the protest Thursday as “illegal” and demanding that the camp be “dismantled” forthwith. Granting the police a free hand to do as they please, he added, “We trust the police, let them do their job.” If anything, Legault’s CAQ government has been even more unstinting in extending unconditional support to Israel’s genocide in Gaza than the Justin Trudeau-led federal Liberal government. Rahul criticized the threat of police intervention, pointing out, “That was one of the demands of the Zionist counter-protest yesterday, for the police to take action.” Thursday’s counter-protest was a deliberate provocation, with Zionists waving Israeli flags at the university gates and using a giant screen to broadcast unsubstantiated allegations that Hamas members carried out mass rapes during their Oct. 7, 2023 incursion into Israel. Nelly, a local resident who attended the protest Friday to show her solidarity, condemned the threat of a police crackdown in comments to the WSWS. “I think it’s illogical and I hope people will oppose it,” she said. Anti-genocide protest camps have also been established at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and at the University of Victoria in the provincial capital. In Ontario, a camp consisting of two dozen tents was established at the University of Ottawa Tuesday. On Thursday morning, University of Toronto students and supporters broke through recently erected fencing to set up a protest camp outside King’s College. After the authorities demanded the site be cleared by a 10 p.m. deadline, a crowd of over 1,000 people gathered to support the protesting students and ward off a potential police attack. The university subsequently announced that it would not order the removal of the camp if it remains “peaceful.”

USC faculty senate votes to censure President Carol Folt and Provost Andrew Guzman over commencement - Faculty at the University of Southern California voted to censure the university’s president and provost on Wednesday, citing the leadership’s poor handling of pro-Palestine student protests and decision to effectively cancel commencement.The USC Academic Senate voted 21-7, with six abstentions, for censuring President Carol Folt and Provost Andrew Guzman.Faculty were specifically critical of leadership’s decision to prevent valedictorian Asna Tabassum from speaking at the planned commencement ceremony, citing threats against her because of her pro-Palestinian views. Tabassum, a Muslim undergraduate, studied biomedical engineering and minored in genocide studies.After protesters on campus organized a pro-Palestine encampment days later, the university decided to cancel the main stage commencement ceremony altogether. Folt cited enhanced security needs for the event, which was expected to bring about 65,000 people to campus.Nearly 100 USC students were arrested by police over the encampment, part of a national movement of campus protests at over a hundred colleges and universities. Over 2,000 students have been arrested nationwide.USC ordered Los Angeles police to completely clear the protest encampment overnight Sunday morning.“The occupiers repeatedly chose to ignore university policies designed to benefit everyone, and to break the law. We needed to act quickly to protect the rights of our 80,000 students, staff, and faculty. We are in the critical period from the end-of-term quiet study week, through finals and our commencement ceremonies,” Folt wrote in a statement.Barnard College similarly voted against its leadership last month over its response to protests, taking a vote of no confidence after Columbia University ordered students arrested for a pro-Palestine protest.

A disturbing national security bill could silence nonprofits and college protests -This week, the Senate may pass a bill granting the executive branch extraordinary power to investigate and strip nonprofits of tax-exempt status based on a unilateral accusation of wrongdoing. The potential for abuse under H.R. 6408 is staggering. If it were to become law, the executive branch would be handed a tool perfectly designed to stifle free speech, target political opponents and punish disfavored groups. The bill would empower the Treasury secretary with the authority to effectively dismantle any nonprofit organization they deem to have provided “material support” to terrorist groups. Adding this authority to the tax code would also allow the IRS to investigate and harass nonprofits. This legislation is completely unnecessary. Under current law, nonprofits are already prohibited from providing material support to terrorist organizations. In fact, it’s a federal crime. But even though it’s not needed, it is extremely dangerous. It allows the Treasury secretary to act as prosecutor, judge and jury of accused nonprofits and shifts the burden of proof from the government to the nonprofit. While there is a 90-day “cure” period in which an accused nonprofit can mount a defense, it is a mere illusion of due process. The government may deny organizations its reasons and evidence against them, leaving the nonprofit unable to rebut allegations. This means that a nonprofit could be left entirely in the dark about what conduct the government believes qualifies as material support, making it virtually impossible to clear its name. This new power is perfectly suited to an authoritarian-leaning administration that wants to cow civil society. In the wrong hands, it could easily be used to silence dissenting voices under the guise of national security. And that’s what some of the sponsors of this bill want. Several members of Congress have repeatedly, without evidence, conflated students involved in the protests regarding the conflict in Gaza with Hamas and other foreign terrorist organizations. If this law were to pass, it stands to reason that the executive branch could threaten to strip a university of its tax-exempt status on the grounds that allowing student groups exercising protest rights to operate on campus qualifies as providing material support to terrorist organizations. And make no mistake, a wide range of nonprofits could be targeted with this power. Indeed, former President Jimmy Carter once criticized the federal material support law saying it “threatens The Carter Center’s work and the work of many other peacemaking organizations that must interact directly with groups that have engaged in violence.” President Carter noted, “The vague language of the law leaves us wondering if we will be prosecuted for our work to promote peace and freedom.”It is also not hard to imagine a future administration using this power in far broader circumstances that have nothing to do with the conflict in Gaza. We know this because the U.S. government has a long history of abusive and discriminatory material support investigations and prosecutions in the post-9/11 era — disproportionately against Muslims, charities and civil society organizations. Even if they may never be designated as “terrorist-supporting,” let alone charged with a crime, nonprofits will curtail their activities as a precaution. And that, of course, is the point: to chill speech and advocacy. In our deeply polarized country, where governing norms are under regular assault, the last thing we should do is give any presidential administration another dangerous weapon to stifle dissent and attack opponents.

Miss Teen USA resigns days after Miss USA steps down - Miss Teen USA, UmaSofia Srivastava, resigned from her title on Wednesday, just days after Miss USA did the same. In a post on Instagram, Srivastava said she had been “grappling with this decision” for months, but ultimately came to the decision to resign, saying, “I find that my personal values no longer fully align with the direction of the organization.” “While this was certainly not how I saw my reign coming to a close, I am excited to continue my advocacy for education and acceptance, start applying to colleges, and share some exciting new projects,” she wrote in the caption of her post. “At the end of the day, I am so lucky to have had the privilege of this experience, but if this is just a chapter, I know that the story of my life will truly be incredible,” she continued.In her post, Srivastava described herself as a first-generation Mexican-Indian American and said she was excited to finish 11th grade and start the college application process, “knowing that my academic career has been defined by my hard work, and my hard work alone.” The announcement comes just two days after Noelia Voigt, the woman who holds the title of Miss USA, announced she’s giving up her crown. She cited her “physical and mental well-being” in an announcement about her resignation.Miss Teen USA responded to Srivastava’s news in a post on Instagram, wishing her the best and saying they would crown a new Miss Teen USA at some unspecified point.“We respect and support UmaSofia’s decision to step down from her duties. The well-being of our titleholders is a top priority. We are currently reviewing plans for the transition of responsibilities to a successor, and we will soon announce the crowning of the new Miss Teen USA,” the post read.

Neuroscientists find integrity of white brain matter in superagers does not deteriorate, explains sharp memory --A team of neuroscientists from Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and Queen Sofia Foundation Alzheimer Center, both in Spain, has found that so-called superagers maintain memory as they grow older because they do not experience a decline in the integrity of their white brain matter. In their study, published in The Journal of Neuroscience, the group conducted multiple tests with 100 octogenarian volunteers over a 10-year span. Prior research and anecdotal evidence suggest that as people grow older, they tend to lose neurological function—thinking skills decline, as does memory retention and retrieval. But people known as superagers remain cognitively sharp and their memory skills do not deteriorate.For this new study, the team in Spain evaluated the brains of these people and compared them with non-superagers to find out what was behind such differences.The researchers recruited 64 superager volunteers and 55 non-superagers who periodically received brain scans and blood draws, took memory tests and completed multiple types of questionnaires over 10-year periods. The tests were designed to learn more about their lifestyles, behavior and how well their brains were holding up as they grew older.The researchers found differences in the integrity of white brain matter. For superagers, there was little to no loss. More specifically, they found little loss in the mass of white brain matter in the entorhinal cortex and hippocampus, two parts of the brain that are heavily involved in memory processing and retention. They also found few signs of Alzheimer's disease.Unfortunately, the research team found no evidence that could explain why some people are superagers, though they did note some minor differences in lifestyle choices—people in better health overall tended to have better mental health, as well. The team also noted that superagers did not smoke or drink less, eat better, or exercise or sleep more. They also were no smarter or less intelligent than average and did not do any better or worse in their professional life prior to the onset of old age.

Study: US children at times received ineffective COVID-19 treatments US children were prescribed ineffective and potentially harmful drugs to treat COVID-19, such as ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), according to a study published today in Pediatrics. The authors note that while the rates of non-recommended prescribing were very low, because of the large number of pediatric cases, the actual impact is fairly substantial.During the first weeks of the pandemic, both ivermectin and HCQ were described by clinicians as improving outcomes in patients with severe COVID, but further studies of the medicines showed they did little to improve outcomes.The Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society, on September 12, 2020, said HCQ should not be used outside of clinical trials, and by February 5, 2021, ivermectin was also no longer recommended by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA)."Despite guidelines, use of these medications for acute COVID-19 continued and led to medication shortages," the authors wrote. "By August 2021, ivermectin prescriptions from outpatient retail pharmacies increased 24-fold compared with prepandemic baseline, and ivermectin-related calls to poison control centers increased 5-fold."

New SARS-CoV-2 KP.2 variant defies vaccines with higher spread, study warns -- In a recent preprint* study posted to the bioRxiv server, a team of researchers analyzed the virological characteristics and epidemiological impact of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) FLiRT variant KP.2, which has demonstrated increased transmissibility and immune resistance. The present study was initiated by analyzing the genomic sequences of the KP.2 variant from surveillance data across the United States of America (USA), United Kingdom, and Canada, where over 30 sequences were reported. The relative effective reproduction number (Re) was calculated using a Bayesian multinomial logistic regression model, adjusting for various covariates that could influence transmission dynamics. Subsequently, virological assays were conducted to evaluate the infectivity and immune evasion capabilities of KP.2. For the neutralization assays, serum samples were collected from individuals in various immunization and infection states. These included vaccinated individuals both with and without prior infections and those who had recovered from specific variant infections. Each serum sample was tested in quadruplicate against pseudoviruses harboring different S protein mutations. The study revealed that the KP.2 variant, a descendant of the JN.1 lineage, demonstrates significantly enhanced epidemiological fitness compared to its predecessors, including the dominant XBB lineage. This finding is confirmed by the Re estimated for KP.2 in the USA, United Kingdom, and Canada, where it was observed to be 1.22, 1.32, and 1.26 times higher than JN.1, respectively. The spread of KP.2 has been rapid, with its variant frequency reaching 20% in the United Kingdom as of early April 2024, suggesting a potential to become the predominant lineage globally.Further virological investigation into KP.2 using a lentivirus-based pseudovirus assay highlighted a paradox wherein, despite its higher transmissibility, the infectivity of KP.2 was found to be significantly lower (10.5-fold) than that of JN.1. This reduced infectivity might suggest different mechanisms or pathways for KP.2's enhanced spread and establishment in the host populations.In addition to infectivity, resistance to neutralization was assessed through assays using sera from individuals vaccinated with the monovalent XBB.1.5 vaccine and those who had breakthrough infections with various SARS-CoV-2 variants. KP.2 exhibited significant resistance to neutralization, with a 3.1-fold reduction in susceptibility to neutralization by sera from vaccines without infection and a 1.8-fold reduction from those with prior infections. This increased resistance could partially explain the higher Re of KP.2, indicating an enhanced ability to evade immune responses compared to JN.1 and other previous variants.

Data suggest SARS-CoV-2 could jump from raccoon dogs to people, but species barrier may interfere -Raccoon dogs may carry and transmit COVID-19–causing SARS-CoV-2 to humans, although critical differences in the enzyme that facilitates viral entry into the cell may make the jump unlikely, a study in PLOS Pathogensfinds."The key to a coronavirus moving from one species to another is its spike protein's ability to bind to receptors on the cells of the new host," the authors noted.University of Minnesota researchers probed the interaction between the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 and angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE 2), which lets the virus enter the cell. Coronaviruses such as SARS-CoV-2 are known for their ability to jump species, the researchers said.Raccoon dogs are small, burly, foxlike canines native to East Asia that are thought to have been a possible intermediary in the SARS-CoV-2 interspecies jump to humans, which led to the COVID-19 pandemic. The animals, along with palm civets, are also thought to have been involved in the spread of SARS-CoV-1, the virus that caused an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2002-2003."Several species are under scrutiny as potential culprits, including bats, pangolins, and raccoon dogs," the authors wrote. "Raccoon dogs came under suspicion after their DNA was detected alongside SARS-CoV-2 genetic material in samples from the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan City [China], which is widely considered the pandemic's point of origin." Biochemical analysis showed raccoon dog ACE 2 does allow SARS-CoV-2 to enter the cell, although not as effectively as human ACE 2.

Study identifies signifiers of severe COVID-19 disease and death -Why do some people with COVID-19 experience little more than a sniffle while others end up on a ventilator? And among critically ill patients, why do some eventually recover while others do not?A new study has unveiled clues for helping scientists predict who is most at risk for severe COVID-19, and among those who experience severe disease, who is most likely to survive. The researchers published their findings in the Journal of Clinical Investigationon May 1.The study drew on data from the Immunophenotyping Assessment in a COVID-19 Cohort (IMPACC) study, a partnership between the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and 15 research institutions across the country, including Yale School of Medicine (YSM). Collaborators conducted extensive analyses across many different aspects of the immune responses of more than 1,000 patients across the country. They assessed samples during hospitalization and for up to a year post-hospitalization to better understand the disease's heterogeneity. COVID-19 has a vast array of manifestations in patients. To identify distinguishing features leading to different patient responses, IMPACC is using a systems immunology approach pioneered by the NIAID Human Immunology Project Consortium (HIPC) of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).In their latest study, Gygi and the team wanted to identify signatures associated with severe COVID-19 infection and mortality. Furthermore, they examined interactions of these hallmarks to better understand the underlying immune cascade that occurs in critical cases. The severity model identified multiple factors significantly associated with COVID-19 disease trajectory, including inflammation, T cell lymphopenia, and catabolism of the amino acid tryptophan.While many of these signatures had been identified in the COVID-19 literature, the new models added a temporal element to reveal how these hallmarks evolved over time and interacted with one another.Among the two most severe groups, an elevated discoordination of interferon signaling, which plays a vital role in immune response, significantly predicted mortality."For the severity cohort, although the hallmarks we found were already well-known, we identified an additional layer of interaction," says Guan. "Among the mortality cohort, we found an important type of dysregulation [of interferon signaling] that may characterize the fate of hospitalized patients."This study is a significant achievement and an exciting starting point, the researchers say, and they have plans to build on this work to better understand more aspects of COVID-19. For example, they hope to use similar modeling techniques to gain a better understanding of long COVID and how it develops after an acute infection.

Razer, Inc. To Pay $1.1 Mln For False Claim Of 'N95-Grade' Zephyr Face Masks - The Federal Trade Commission has ordered the sellers of a supposed N95-grade face mask called the Zephyr to pay more than $1.1 million to provide full refunds to consumers nationwide, as well as a civil penalty. A proposed order settling the complaint also bars Razer, Inc., along with its affiliated entities involved in the development, marketing, and sale of the Zephyr, from making Covid-related health misrepresentations or unsubstantiated health claims about protective health equipment and requires them to pay a civil penalty of $100,000. According to the FTC, while Razer advertised the Zephyr masks as N95-grade, they never even submitted them for testing to the FDA or National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), and the masks were never certified as N95. The complaint alleges that Razer only stopped the false advertising following negative press coverage and consumer outrage at the deceptive claims. The Department of Justice filed the case upon notification and referral from the FTC. "These businesses falsely claimed, in the midst of a global pandemic, that their face mask was the equivalent of an N95 certified respirator," said Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection. "The FTC will continue to hold accountable businesses that use false and unsubstantiated claims to target consumers who are making decisions about their health and safety." The complaint alleges the defendants deceptively advertised Razer's Zephyr mask as an N95-equivalent, Covid-protective product. They offered the standard Razer Zephyr, consisting of one Zephyr mask and three sets of filters, for $99.99; the Razer Zephyr Starter Pack, consisting of one Zephyr mask and 33 sets of filters, for $149.99; and a Razer Zephyr Filter Pack, containing 10 sets of filters, for $29.99.

As bird flu spreads among dairy cattle, CDC scraps COVID reporting for hospitals - As of May 1, hospitals in the United States are no longer required to report on hospitalizations from COVID-19 or influenza within their facilities to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). An act that amounts to a final step in the dismantling of all tracking of the COVID pandemic. As has often been the case throughout the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the CDC is choosing to implement this policy shift during a lull in rates of infections and hospitalizations across the country. They are part and parcel of the CDC’s overall strategy to further conceal the real state of the pandemic and of respiratory pathogens in general. Just two months ago, the CDC issued guidelines urging people who are actively infectious with COVID-19 to return to schools and workplaces. These policy changes have absolutely no basis in public health principles and undermine the safety of the population. On their National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) page updated on April 29, the CDC wrote, “Effective May 1 hospitals are no longer required to report Hospital Respiratory Pathogen, Bed Capacity, and Supply Data (i.e., ‘COVID-19 Hospital’ data) to HHS through NHSN.” However, immediately following this statement, they then dubiously slipped in a face-saving suggestion: “The COVID-19-related data reporting is important in supporting surveillance of, and response to, COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses. Given the value of these data for patient safety and public health, CDC strongly encourages ongoing, voluntary reporting of the data through NHSN.” [Emphasis in original CDC document] Moving forward, information on the number of adults and children admitted to hospitals, whether these were confirmed or suspected cases of COVID or influenza, and if they were severe enough to require care in an ICU setting, will become opaque. This will have significant implications for patients with their health insurance companies or Medicare. The termination of the COVID public health emergency (PHE) declaration exactly one year ago has resulted in over 20 million Americans being disenrolled from Medicaid to date. The ending of the reporting mandate on COVID-19 will also raise the threat posed by the wide-spread infection of the highly pathogenic avian flu (H5N1) among dairy cattle and its potential spread into human populations. This danger has been spelt out in many recent scientific publications by those raising the demand for more transparency and sharing of information with the public. Although the necessary viral evolution for sustained human-to-human transmission of H5N1 is lacking, and many assert the risk of such a development in the near future remains low, some have correctly postulated that the continued spread of the virus globally means the virus will have ample opportunities to hit on the right combination eventually.Speaking with Science, Dr. Mathilde Richards, a virologist at Erasmus Medical Center, said of the ongoing bird pandemic that has infected close to 40 different mammalian species, “This is the threat that’s going to keep knocking at our door until it will indeed, I assume, cause a pandemic. Because there is no way back.”

COVID-related US-Mexico border closure may have fueled HIV spread --Closing the border separating San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico, during the COVID-19 pandemic didn't stop drug tourism and may have increased the spread of HIV, concludes a studyposted in The Lancet Regional Health Americas.From October 2020 to October 2021, a team led by University of California at San Diego (UCSD) researchers recruited 612 adults from the street in three different groups: those who live in San Diego and cross the border to use injectable drugs in Tijuana; San Diego residents who use drugs in San Diego; and those Tijuana residents who use drugs in Tijuana. The team also isolated the HIV virus, sequenced its RNA, assessed the genetic diversity and viral relationships, identified case clusters near the border, and estimated the timing of cross-border spread. Participants answered questions about their demographics, drug use, sexual behavior, sexual identity, and border crossings and gave blood samples and underwent HIV and hepatitis C tests every 6 months."If two or three people have viruses that are very similar to each other, we can assume that the transmission event happened more recently, because there is not enough evolution between these different viruses from these different people," senior author Tetyana Vasylyeva, DPhil, of the University of California at Irvine, said in a UCSD press release.From March 2020 to November 2021, the United States and Mexico suspended all nonessential travel across their borders.Of the 612 participants, 26% were women, 9% were sex workers, 8% had HIV at baseline, and the median age was 43 years. The use of injectable drugs and sharing injection equipment raises the risk of HIV infection. The San Diego–Tijuana border is a major drug-trafficking route for the movement of heroin, fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine into the United States from Mexico, the authors noted."Small amounts of drugs have been partially decriminalized in Mexico since 2009 for personal consumption, and drugs are perceived to be cheaper and more widely available in Tijuana compared to the US," they wrote. "Tijuana has a zona roja where sex work is legal; in this region, cross-border drug use (CBDU) and cross-border sex are major drivers of bidirectional cross-border mobility and are linked to potential HIV-1 risk behaviors such as sharing injection drug paraphernalia and paying for sex," they added.

Hundreds of patients died after catching COVID in Victorian hospitals, new data shows - -- . When Dean's* father was rushed to hospital with a bad case of gastro in February, he assumed he'd be back on his feet in a few days. Instead, he caught COVID, probably in the emergency department at the Monash Medical Centre, a major hospital in Melbourne's south-east. His 79-year-old dad became so unwell, so quickly, that Dean — who visited him in the infectious diseases ward wearing an N95 mask — was terrified he wouldn't survive. "He was as sick as I'd ever seen him," said Dean, who was shocked that his father's COVID infection seemed to trigger symptoms of Huntington's Disease, a neurodegenerative condition he'd been diagnosed with many years earlier. Dean was also shocked that most of the hospital staff were wearing surgical masks, some on their chin. It bothered him, he said, because surgical masks are much less effective at preventing COVID transmission than N95 respirators. "No one seemed to give a hoot about protecting themselves or the patients," he said. "From what I know about COVID, I believe all the staff in an infectious diseases ward should be wearing respirators … the fact that it is not standard is just bamboozling." But perhaps he shouldn't have been so surprised. For months doctors and public health experts have been warning that too many patients are catching COVID in Australian hospitals with sometimes devastating consequences — though timely statistics are difficult to access because health departments do not publish them.Now, new data shows thousands of patients caught COVID in Victorian public hospitals in the past two years — and hundreds died — fuelling concerns that hospitals are not taking strong enough precautions against airborne viruses, and calls for stronger leadership from the Department of Health.Documents obtained by ABC News under Freedom of Information laws reveal at least 6,212 patients caught COVID in hospital in 24 months — 3,890 in 2022 and 2,322 in 2023. Of those, 586 died — almost six per week, on average — with men dying at a higher rate than women (11 per cent vs 8 per cent).Though hospital-acquired infections and deaths declined in 2023 — in line with COVID mortality trends in the broader community — the proportion of patients who died after catching the virus in hospital hardly budged, dropping from about 10 per cent in 2022 to about 9 per cent in 2023.It comes following the release of new research that shows screening hospital patients for COVID and staff wearing N95 masks can substantially reduce infections and deaths, saving the health system potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in the long term. Experts say the findings should spark a paradigm shift in the way hospitals approach COVID infection prevention — that's if the latest indicators of illness and death don't.

ECDC estimates 4.3 million patients get healthcare-associated infections in European hospitals -New data today from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) highlights the continuing challenge that healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and antibiotic resistance pose for the continent's hospitals.Data from the third ECDC point-prevalence survey (PPS), which included 1,332 acute care hospitals in 28 European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) countries and three western Balkan countries (Kosovo, Montenegro, and Serbia), showed that an estimated 4.3 million patients acquired at least one HAI per year in 2022 and 2023. Nearly a third of those HAIs (29.3%) were respiratory tract infections, including pneumonia and healthcare-associated COVID-19. The other most frequent types of HAI were urinary tract infections (19.2%), surgical-site infections (16.1%), bloodstream infections (11.9%), and gastrointestinal infections (9.5%). Intensive care unit patients, hematology/bone marrow transplant patients, and burn patients were at the highest risk of acquiring an HAI. More concerningly, among microbiologically documented HAIs, 32% of microorganisms detected were resistant to antimicrobials. The survey also found that 35.5% of patients received an antimicrobial during their hospital stay, compared with 32.9% in the ECDC's previous PPS in 2016-2017. The estimated number of patients receiving an antimicrobial on any given day was 390,957. Prolonged antimicrobial prophylaxis and frequent use of broad-spectrum antibiotics were cited as priority targets for future antimicrobial stewardship efforts. The report also recommends increased infection prevention and control staffing levels, improved hand hygiene, isolation for patients with certain microorganisms, and implementation of preventive measures for COVID-19 and other viral respiratory infections to help reduce HAIs."These recent numbers highlight the need for further action to mitigate this threat," ECDC director Andrea Ammon said in a press release. "By prioritizing infection prevention and control policies and practices, as well as antimicrobial stewardship and improving surveillance, we can effectively combat the spread of these infections and protect the health of patients across the EU/EEA."

Study highlights overuse of antibiotics in newborns with suspected sepsis -Newborns in Sweden are given antibiotics for suspected sepsis to an unjustified extent. This is according to a study by the University of Gothenburg in more than 1 million newborns. Despite a significant reduction in sepsis rate in the group, the use of antibiotics has not decreased.The study is published in the journal JAMA Network Open and is based on data on newborns in Sweden from 2012 to 2020. The study covers more than 1 million newborns with a gestational age greater than or equal to 34 weeks.It should be highlighted that the study demonstrates relatively low antibiotic use in newborns in Sweden during the first week of life, while maintaining low morbidity and mortality from sepsis, compared to other countries.However, the researchers argue that the level of treatment is still unjustifiably high. Despite the incidence of sepsis in newborns in Sweden during the study period was halved, there was no significant change in antibiotic use."The findings suggest that a large number of newborns are treated with antibiotics without having sepsis and that there is potential to reduce antibiotic use. The treatment burden is too high compared to the number of cases and mortality rates from sepsis," he says.

Study highlights resistance to last-resort antibiotics in India --The prevalence of polymyxin-resistant bacterial strains in India exceeds the global average, according to areview and meta-analysis published this week in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.Polymyxins are considered a last-resort antibiotic class for multidrug-resistant gram-negative bacteria. While global resistance to polymyxins has emerged over the past decade due to their extensive use in healthcare and food-producing animals, the extent of polymyxin resistance in India has not been extensively studied. Colistin (polymyxin E) was widely used on Indian poultry farms prior to 2019, while Indian hospitals have become increasingly reliant on colistin because of the increasing number of patients with carbapenem-resistant infections.The meta-analysis of 41 studies that included 24,589 gram-negative bacterial (GNB) isolates found a 15% rate of polymyxin-resistant bacteria in India. Among all Indian states that have reported polymyxin resistance, the highest resistance rates were found in Tamil Nadu (28.3%), Uttar Pradesh (16.3%), and Odisha (15.9%). The global average is 10%.A breakdown of polymyxin-resistant isolates by their source found 89% were from clinical sources, and the remaining 11% were from environmental sources. The rate of polymyxin resistance was 13.5% among clinical isolates and 27.6% among environmental isolates.The study also found that of all the polymyxin-resistant isolates, 8.4% were found to be positive for plasmid-borne mobile MCR genes, which confer resistance to colistin and can be shared among different species of bacteria. The first MCR genes were discovered in Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae in China in 2015 and have since spread globally. "As the potential of rapid dissemination of plasmid-borne mcr genes is significantly high, it is pertinent to conduct periodic surveillance to monitor their distribution in the environment and clinic," the study authors wrote.

Three drug-resistant infections in US tied to stem-cell injections in Mexico -- An investigation by clinicians and public health officials from Colorado and Arizona has linked a cluster of antibiotic-resistant infections in three US residents to embryonic stem-cell injections at clinics in Mexico.In a report published today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), the investigators said the infections were caused by Mycobacterium abscessus, an intrinsically drug-resistant species of nontuberculosis mycobacterium that has previously been associated with medical tourism. The first patient, a Colorado woman (patient A) with multiple sclerosis, was treated for M abscessus meningitis at two Colorado hospitals (hospitals A and B) in November-December 2022 following an intrathecal donor stem-cell injection in Baja California, Mexico, in October 2022.Two additional patients were identified at hospital B—National Jewish Health in Denver—in the spring of 2023. The first (patient B) was a man from Arizona who developed a right elbow osteoarticular infection following a donor stem-cell injection for psoriatic arthritis at a different clinic in Baja in April 2022. The second was a Colorado man (patient C) who developed infections in both knees after receiving stem-cell injections in his knees at a clinic in Guadalajara in October 2022.“As a world-renowned referral center for patients with mycobacterial diseases, we see patients from all over the country, and we noticed a trend of patients getting this particular infection after stem cell injections were performed outside the U.S.," Charles Daley, MD, an author of the report and head of the division of mycobacterial and respiratory infections at National Jewish Health, said in a hospital press release.All three patients were still undergoing treatment as of March. No additional cases have been identified.

Substantial rise in mpox cases prompts NYC health alert -Mpox cases in New York City have increased substantially since October 2023, mostly in people who haven’t been vaccinated or have only received one dose, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYC Health) said in a May 3 health alert. For most of 2023, the city averaged about 2 to 20 cases per month, but since October, cases have averaged 36 per month, with a peak of 51 in January. Of 256 cases reported since October, 73% were unvaccinated or had only received one dose, and 94% involved men who have sex with men. Most were Black and Hispanic men ages 25 to 44. Most cases were mild, and 10 people were hospitalized. The health department urged healthcare providers to continue to encourage and offer vaccine to at-risk groups, especially those with HIV or other immunocompromising conditions, or to refer them to vaccination sites. Health officials acknowledged the transition of the Jynneos vaccine to the commercial market, noting that no-cost federally funded supplies will be available until early summer.Also, it warned providers about the risk of the more severe clade 1 virus—currently fueling an ongoing severe outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)—to the United States. So far, the clade 1 outbreak strain hasn't been detected outside endemic countries in Africa. The global outbreak involves clade 2, which typically results in milder symptoms.However, NYC Health urged providers to be alert for people who have mpox symptoms and a history of travel or epidemiologic links to the region, including the DRC.

Quick takes: Long Beach TB outbreak, CCHF in Spain, imported Lassa fever case in France | CIDRAP

• City officials in Long Beach, California, have declared a public health emergency to better allow the city to respond to a tuberculosis (TB) outbreak at a private facility housing at-risk populations, which has sickened 14 people so far, one fatally. Nine people have been hospitalized. The outbreak is occurring in a people who have barriers to healthcare, including those experiencing homelessness, housing insecurity, mental illness, substance use, and underlying health conditions. Officials said the risk to the general public is low. The investigation revealed that 170 people may have been exposed to TB, a number expected to grow, and health department staff are currently screening contacts.
• Spanish officials recently reported a local Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) case, which involves an elderly man who has a tick bite and is isolated in the hospital in stable condition, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said in its most recent weekly communicable disease threats report. Spain has now reported 13 CCHF cases since 2013, of which 5 were reported from the province where the man lives, Salamanca, in the western part of the country. Hyalomma ticks known to be the primary CCHF vector are present in southern and eastern Europe.
• France last week reported an imported Lassa fever case in a soldier who recently returned from abroad and was hospitalized in Ile-de-France, the ECDC also said in its weekly report. Investigators have identified the man's contacts, who are under monitoring. The report didn't note where the man was exposed to the virus. Over the past decade, European countries have reported seven imported Lassa fever cases, all from various African countries. Lassa fever typically spreads via contact with food or household items contaminated by rat droppings and urine, though human-to-human transmission can occur. The virus is endemic in a number of West African countries, and Nigeria is experiencing a large ongoing outbreak.

Tuberculosis Emergency in California After Death in Homeless Shelter Outbreak; Follows Chicago Migrant Shelter Cluster and Earlier IM Doc Anecdata - IM Doc has been reporting for some time of cases of tuberculosis, including drug-resistant and latent tuberculosis among immigrants he has been treating. The levels he has seen does not seem at all good given his patient load.His pattern was confirmed by an set of cases in a Chicago migrant housing shelter, reported in April, and just now, an outbreak in a California homeless shelter, deemed an emergency apparently due to a fatality.Note that tuberculosis is typically not easy for healthy people to catch. For them, it requires protracted exposure….the sort you can get in close living situtions. IM Doc did not discuss the situations of his afflicted patients, but I am highly confident his community does not have a migrant shelter, and probably not a former homeless shelter either. So his afflicted patients likely entered the US infected, or perhaps could have picked it up locally via overcrowded housing.And as the press has kinda-sorta been acknowledging, Americans on average seem less robust, with many getting frequent “flus”. We have more concrete evidence of general worse health in the UK, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak trying to deter NHS doctors from issuing supposedly over-frequent “sick note” to allow workers with infections to stay home. And as we’ll discuss at the end, if we had a functioning public health system, this problem ought to be a fraction of what it is.From Fox News on April 3: Tuberculosis breaks out at Chicago migrant shelters following measles cases. The subhead does point out that Chicago also had 55 confirmed cases of measles. From the article:Chicago health officials have announced that a “small number” of tuberculosis (TB) cases have been reported at some migrant facilities following a recent outbreak of measles among migrants living in the Windy City’s shelters.Tuberculosis is an infectious bacterial disease that mainly affects the lungs.Perhaps I am not epidemologically savvy, but the fact that the cases came from multiple migrant centers does not sound at all good. Of course, neither does the reticence to provide case counts.From a new CNN story, Tuberculosis outbreak declared public health emergency in Long Beach, but overall risk remains low, officials say :City Health Officer Dr. Anissa Davis declared a public health emergency Thursday in response to the outbreak, according to a city announcement, and the declaration is expected to be considered for ratification by the Long Beach City Council on Tuesday. In its investigation of the outbreak, the city health department has identified about 170 people who have probably been exposed to tuberculosis. But overall, “the risk of TB for people who live, work, study or visit in Long Beach remains very low,” the announcement said. Tuberculosis, or TB, was found among several people associated with a single room occupancy hotel in Long Beach, according to the announcement. As of Monday, 14 cases were associated with the outbreak. and nine of them had been hospitalized at some point in their illness. One person has died. Other accounts pointed out that even though tuberculosis cases are up markedly year to year, they are below the level of 2013. But I wonder how good data capture is among uninsured patients who do not wind up being hospitalized.The Twitterverse tends to be excitable, but the official account of an outbreak in only one location (presumably containable) does not exactly square with declaring an emergency. The mass (or at least large-ish scale) claimed below, by contrast, does go with that branding:

ECDC warns of surge in pertussis cases in Europe --European countries are experiencing a surge in pertussis (whooping cough) infections, according to areport today from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).After a few years of limited circulation related to the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly 60,000 pertussis cases have been reported in European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) countries from January 2023 to March 2024. That's a nearly 10-fold increase compared with 2021 and 2022.Pertussis is a highly contagious respiratory tract infection caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussisand spread through the air. ECDC officials note that while pertussis is an endemic disease in the EU/EEA, larger epidemics occur every 3 to 5 years, even in countries with high vaccination coverage. Similar case numbers were seen in 2016 (41,026) and 2019 (34,468). Waning immunity and decreased natural boosting in the overall population during the COVID-19 pandemic may also be playing a role.In 17 EU/EEA countries, infants under the age of 1 year had the highest incidence of pertussis, while six countries saw the highest reported incidence in adolescents aged 10 to 19 years. The overall risk is assessed as high for unimmunized or partially immunized infants aged 6 months and younger. ECDC officials are encouraging countries to achieve and sustain high vaccination coverage."Vaccines against pertussis have proven to be safe and effective, and every action we take today shapes the health of tomorrow," ECDC Director Andrea Ammon, MD, MPH, said in an ECDC press release. "We have a responsibility, as parents or as public health professionals, to protect the most vulnerable group from the deadly impact of this disease."

WHO describes MERS cluster in Saudi Arabia -Yesterday the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed three cases of MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) infection in Saudi Arabia linked to a Riyadh hospital, one of them fatal. Also, in Taif, a 32-year-old man has died from MERS-CoV. That man had contact with camels, and his case is not considered part of the outbreak.In the Riyadh outbreak, the patients are men ages 56 to 60 years with underlying health conditions. They did not have camel contact and were not healthcare workers. The three cases were reported from April 10 and 17."The three cases are epidemiologically linked to exposures in a health-care facility in Riyadh, although investigations are ongoing to verify this and understand the route of transmission," the WHO said.The index case-patient, who died from his infection, shared a hospital room with the second patient identified. The third patient was a man who was treated at the same hospital as the first two patients but in a separate ward. As of April 21, the second and third case-patients remained in intensive care units. Since the first report of MERS-CoV in Saudi Arabia in 2012, there have been 2,204 human cases and 860 deaths globally, with the vast majority in Saudi Arabia.

Studies yield more clues about H5N1 avian flu susceptibility, spread in dairy cows Two new preprint studies shed more light on why high H5N1 avian flu viral loads have been seen in the milk of infected dairy cows and what the genetic sequences say about transmission among cattle and to other species, with one suggesting cows could be an influenza mixing vessel. In a bioRxiv preprint, researchers from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark and St Jude's Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, analyzed what type of influenza A receptors are expressed in various cow tissues, including the respiratory tract, cerebrum, and respiratory tract.Influenza A viruses can bind to host receptor cells by grabbing onto sialic acid and its adjoining sugar unit, which varies by shape and affects binding that can vary by virus type. Avian flu viruses usually prefer to bind to alpha 2-3 receptors, and human flu virus typically prefer to bind to alpha 2-6 receptors.The team used archived tracheal samples from two beef calves and tissues collected from routine necropsy from different clinical cases at a veterinary pathology lab at the University of Copenhagen. The samples included tissues from the mammary glands of a 4-year-old disease-free lactating dairy cow. The scientists found that duck and human-type influenza A receptors were widely expressed in the bovine mammary gland, with chicken-type influenza receptors common in the cow respiratory tract. They saw only low expression of influenza A receptors in the brain tissue samples. Taken together, the authors wrote that the findings suggest a mechanism for high H5N1 loads in dairy cow milk and suggest that cattle have the potential to be a mixing vessel for novel influenza viruses. Sam Scarpino, PhD, director of artificial intelligence and life sciences at Northeastern University, on X said, "The new pre-print shows convincingly that cows harbor both human-flu and avian-flu receptors in their mammary glands. As a result, dairy cattle *may* have similar potential as pigs to serve as evolutionary intermediaries between avian and human flus."Also, a group of 22 international experts on virus evolution posted a preliminary two-part report on the genomic epidemiology of the H5N1 outbreak in US dairy cows, which seem to track with recent genomic findings from USDA-led researchers. They posted their report on Virological.org, a hub for prepublication data designed to assist with public health activities and research.Tom Peacock, PhD, one of the contributors and a virologist at Imperial College London and the Pirbright Institute, said on X that the cattle outbreak, but perhaps not the human case, likely arose from a single introduction from wild birds. He said the human case could signal an early offshoot from the cattle branch, an independent spillover, or a jump from wild birds.Genetic evidence still points to a Texas source for the B3.13 genotype, but he added that there may be a sampling bias, he said. He reiterated that the virus was likely circulating continuously for several months before it was detected. "There is a lot we still only partially understand about this outbreak (and more data is always better!) but I feel we have much more of a grip than a few weeks ago," Peacock wrote. "I would confidently say there is now strong evidence of mammal-to-mammal transmission here as well."In other developments, the virus struck more poultry flocks in two states, the APHIS said in its latest updates. Michigan reported another outbreak at a commercial turkey farm in Gratiot County in the central part of the state, its second over the past week. The facility affected in the newest outbreak has 26,400 birds.The virus was also detected at a commercial breeder farm in Minnesota's Dodge County that houses 8,500 birds.

Colorado officials probe source of H5N1 in cows as USDA confirms more infected mammals -- Officials from Colorado—the most recent state affected by H5N1 avian flu in dairy cows—provided updates on their investigations and measures to track the spread of the virus, noting that the source of the virus in the affected herd still isn't clear.In other developments, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) reported more detections in other mammals from two states and researchers shed new light on infectivity in pigs from a strain that infected Spanish minks.At a public town hall on Zoom today, veterinary and public health officials from Colorado today detailed the background of H5N1 findings in the state since 2022, described the state's response to recent detections, and fielded questions from the public.On April 26, the USDA reported the first detection in a Colorado herd, which raised the number of affected states to nine. The next day, the Colorado Department of Agriculture said the affected dairy cows were located in the northeastern part of the state. The state veterinarian's office received a notification on April 22 about a herd with clinical signs consistent with highly pathogenic avian flu in cattle.Samples submitted to the Colorado State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory tested presumptive positive on April 24 and were confirmed by the USDA's National Veterinary Services Laboratory the following day.On May 1, Colorado's agricultural commission and the CDA agriculture commissioner approved an emergency rule to limit the spread of the virus. Colorado has 106 dairies and about 200,000 dairy cows.At today's town meeting, Maggie Baldwin, DVM, Colorado's state veterinarian, said investigators are still assessing how the Colorado cows were exposed to the virus. "We're still putting the puzzle pieces together."

CDC recommends PPE for livestock workers as bird flu risk remains low - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Monday asked state public health officials to make personal protective equipment (PPE) available to livestock workers to combat the spread of bird flu. The risk of bird flu to the general public still remains low, according to the CDC’s assessment, but workers in close proximity to livestock such as at dairy farms, poultry farms and slaughterhouses remain at a higher risk of infection. “CDC asked that jurisdictions make PPE available to workers on dairy farms, poultry farms, and in slaughterhouses. Specifically, CDC asked state health departments to work with their state agriculture department counterparts and partners in communities, such as farmworker organizations, that can help coordinate and facilitate PPE distributions,” read a readout from the call. CDC Principal Deputy Director Nirav D. Shah recommended to public health officials that PPE be prioritized for workers on farms where cows have been confirmed to have been infected with bird flu. The H5N1 strain of bird flu has been detected in U.S. cattle, leading to at least one infection of a livestock worker in Texas. Though virus fragments have been detected in samples of commercially available pasteurized milk, regulators have yet to determine if these findings indicate a risk of infection. The Department of Agriculture is also currently testing beef for bird flu, though the agency has said it is confident the U.S. meat supply is safe.

Feds announces assistance for US farmers affected by H5N1 avian flu - Today the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced new assistance programs for producers affected by H5N1 avian flu outbreaks in cattle.The assistance is meant to both improve on-site biosecurity and address financial losses connected to lost milk production in herds affected by H5N1. The USDA said the measures build on a federal order, which took effect on April 29, that called for collecting and aggregating H5N1 test results and halting most interstate movement of lactating herds.The new programs incentivizes personal protective equipment (PPE) for farm workers who interact with infected herds, which now number at least 42. The USDA will also reimburse farmers for veterinary expense associated with infected animals and offset shipping costs for influenza A testing at laboratories in the National Animal Health Laboratory Network."Taken together, these tools represent a value of up to $28,000 per premises to support increased biosecurity activities over the next 120 days," the two agencies said.HHS also announced new funding investments through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) totaling $101 million to mitigate the risk of H5N1."Although the CDC's assessment of the risk of avian influenza infection for the general public continues to remain low at this time, these investments reflect the Department's commitment to prioritizing the health and safety of the American public," HHS said.

With 2 CWD-positive deer, California becomes 34th state to report fatal disease -California has become the 34th state to detect chronic wasting disease (CWD), the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) announced yesterday.On May 6, officials received confirmation of the fatal prion disease after submitting samples collected from two deer, one in Madera County near Yosemite Lakes in central California and the other in Inyo County near Bishop, southeast of Madera County. The Madera County deer was found dead of unknown causes, and the Inyo County deer had died after being hit by a vehicle.The CDFW has been monitoring elk and deer for CWD using lymph node testing of more than 6,500 cervids since 2000 and has been working with hunters, taxidermists, and meat processors to boost disease surveillance since 2018. But given that the affected counties don't share a border and the CWD incubation period can be months to years, officials said CWD has probably been in the state for some time.CWD infected animals can excrete infectious prions before clinical signs appear and these prions can persist in the environment for years, making it very difficult to prevent or control the spread once it has been introduced."CWD infected animals can excrete infectious prions before clinical signs appear and these prions can persist in the environment for years, making it very difficult to prevent or control the spread once it has been introduced," Brandon Munk, DVM, of the CDFW, said in an agency news release. "The public can help limit the spread of CWD by reporting any signs of illness in deer and elk populations, and hunters should strongly consider testing their harvested deer or elk," added Munk, who oversees the agency's CWD efforts. The CDFW provides surveillance, response, long-term management plans, and public outreach and education through its "No Time to Waste" campaign. CWD, a neurologic disease caused by misfolded proteins called prions, affects cervids such as deer, elk, moose, and reindeer. The disease poses an ongoing threat to cervids, because it can spread from animal to animal and through environmental contaminatioIt has also been confirmed in five Canadian provinces and in Norway, Finland, Sweden, and South Korea.Signs of the disease include weight loss, uncoordinated movement, listlessness, excessive thirst or urination, drooling, drooping ears, and behavioral changes.While CWD isn't known to infect people, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend against eating meat from an infected animal and urge taking precautions when field-dressing or butchering cervids.

EPA closes discrimination probes into Jackson water crisis, finding ‘insufficient evidence’ The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) closed its civil rights probes into the water crisis in Jackson, Miss., saying there was “insufficient evidence” to say that the state discriminated against residents on the basis of race. This week, the agency said in letters to state departments that received federal drinking water funding that it found “insufficient evidence between the amount of funding disbursed … to Jackson and the racial composition of the community over time.”It also said that it found “insufficient evidence of a relationship between the racial composition of communities receiving funds versus those not receiving funds.”The probes were opened in 2022 after flooding caused issues at the city’s water plant, leaving many residents without drinking water. The incident came on top of other long-standing problems including leaks and breaks, broken monitoring equipment and lead contamination, which can damage children’s brains and nervous systems.Following the flood incident, the NAACP lodged a civil rights complaint, alleging that the state discriminated against the people of Jackson, a majority-Black city, by not giving it a fair share of federal water infrastructure funding. The complaint said that the state was “aware of Jackson’s severe needs, but distributed to the city only a small fraction and disproportionately low amount” of the federal funds it received. “Despite Jackson’s status as the most populous city in Mississippi, State agencies awarded federal funds from the Drinking Water State Revolving Loan Fund (DWSRF) just three times in the twenty-five years that this program has been in existence. Meanwhile, the State has funneled funds to majority-white areas in Mississippi despite their less acute needs,” the NAACP said. The NAACP’s president, Derrick Johnson, echoed a similar sentiment.“The majority Black city of Jackson has consistently been starved of resources — including safe, clean drinking water,” Johnson, a resident of Jackson, said in a statement to The Hill. “We maintain that the residents of Jackson were discriminated against.”The closure of the probes without a discrimination finding follows a similar outcome to the EPA’s investigation of state actions relating to chemical pollution in Louisiana. The EPA did not find discrimination by the state toward the predominantly Black residents of an industrial corridor known as “Cancer Alley” in a probe it closed last year.

2023 E coli outbreak in kids in Utah traced to untreated irrigation water -A 2023 outbreak of Shiga toxin–producing Escherichia coli O157:H7 in Utah that sickened at least 13 children was traced to contaminated irrigation water the children used for drinking and playing, according to a report from scientists from Utah and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).The account, published yesterday in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, points to the need to educate residents of communities that have untreated, pressurized municipal irrigation water (UPMIW) about the risks of drinking or playing in the water.UPMIW is piped primarily from mountain snow melt and carried more than 30 miles by river and an underground pipeline to open reservoirs before being pumped to outdoor connections at all city homes and businesses, the study authors noted.Municipal irrigation water systems, used in some Utah communities for residential irrigation and fire suppression, are designed to conserve drinking water and reduce treatment costs. But they are also an underrecognized source of waterborne illness. "It [UPMIW] is intended for outdoor landscapes (lawns and gardens) and is not suitable for drinking or recreational activities," the study authors noted. "UPMIW is not routinely monitored or tested."In the July to September 2023 outbreak, 12 of the 13 infected children (median age, 4 years) reported drinking and playing in the contaminated water in the week before symptom onset. The median incubation period for those with known exposure dates was 3 days. Activities included playing with hose water (5), inflatable lawn water toys (3), and water tables (2); drinking (2); and running through a sprinkler (1). None of the children reported eating homegrown produce irrigated with UPMIW."Utah water providers have previously instructed residents to not drink or play in UPMIW; however, recent population growth within city A might have resulted in residents who arrived more recently being uninformed about UPMIW-associated risks," the researchers wrote. The city was not named in the report.Seven children were hospitalized—two of them with hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). HUS, a complication of diarrheal infection, usually with E coli, can lead to kidney failure or death, especially in children younger than 5 years and those with weakened immune systems. All the children recovered, however.Whole-genome sequencing of patient E coli isolates revealed a close genetic relationship to each other and to environmental isolates from multiple locations (eg, sediment, bird feces from reservoirs, spigots, hoses, toys). The bacteria were isolated from reservoir sediment and water from five of nine exposure sites. Microbial-source tracking pointed to fecal contamination from birds and ruminant animals such as cattle and sheep.

Candy company recalling some items sold in Target, Walmart over salmonella risk - A candy company is recalling some of its products due to a possible health risk. Palmer Candy Company is recalling its "White Coated Confectionary Items” due to a potential Salmonella contamination. The product comes in a variety of retail packaging like bags, pouches, and tubs. No illnesses have been reported to date in connection with this problem. The recalled confectionary items were distributed nationwide in Walmart, HyVee, Target, and Dollar General, and to distributors in Alabama, California, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Palmer Candy was notified by its liquid coating supplier that there was a potential for contamination with salmonella from an ingredient that was potentially contaminated by one of their suppliers. Consumers who have purchased white-coated confectionary items manufactured by Palmer Candy Company are urged to return them to the place of purchase for a full refund. A full list of recalled products can be found below:

Planters peanut products under recall due to listeria risk -Planters peanut products sold at Publix and Dollar Tree in five states are being recalled due to the risk of Listeria contamination, maker Hormel announced. The products are Planters Honey Roasted Peanuts (4 ounces) and Planters Deluxe Lightly Salted Mixed Nuts (8.75 ounces).So far, there have been no reports of illness linked to the recalled products, the company said. "The products were shipped to Publix distribution warehouses in Florida, Georgia, Alabama and North Carolina and to Dollar Tree distribution warehouses in South Carolina and Georgia," the company said in a statement posted on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's website. Consumers in those states should look out for 4-ounce Planters Honey Roasted Peanuts with the UPC code of 2900002097 on the side of the can, and a "Best if Used By" date of 04 11 25 on the bottom of the can.For the recalled 8.75-ounce Planters Deluxe Lightly Salted Mixed Nuts, the UPC code is 2900001621 and the "Best if Used By" date is 05APR26.

Trojan Tomato: A New GMO Is Designed To Infiltrate America's Gardens -As spring gardening approaches, a new contender has entered the fray—the genetically modified (GM) Purple Tomato. Unlike its GM predecessors, the GM Purple Tomato is not destined solely for the fields of commercial agriculture—it has made its debut in the backyards of home gardeners across the United States.With claims of heightened antioxidant levels and potential health benefits, this novel creation has stirred both excitement and controversy among consumers and scientists alike. Biotech investors hope it can usher in a new era of public trust in genetically engineered foods while skeptics worry the tomatoes’ near-total lack of regulation or review may hide dangers to human health and/or the environment.The GM Purple Tomato was engineered by scientists at Norfolk Plant Sciences in the UK. Led by biochemist Cathie Martin and her team, the project aimed to harness the natural properties of anthocyanins, compounds found in blueberries and blackberries, to enhance the nutritional profile of tomatoes.Using genetic engineering techniques, Martin and her colleagues inserted two genes responsible for purple coloration in edible snapdragon flowers into tomato plants. This process enabled the tomatoes to express the genes from the snapdragon and, subsequently, produce high levels of anthocyanins, thereby imbuing the tomatoes with a distinct purple hue and potentially enhanced health benefits.According to Norfolk Healthy Produce, the U.S. subsidiary of Norfolk Plant Sciences, the Purple Tomatoes are a “rich source of antioxidants” due to the increased content of anthocyanins. Unlike domesticated tomatoes which contain anthocyanins in the skin, the Purple Tomato contains anthocyanins throughout the whole tomato.

Report: Tyson Foods Dumped 371M Pounds of Waste into U.S. Waters Over 5 Years A new investigation found that meat processing company Tyson Foods dumped hundreds of millions of pounds of toxic pollution into U.S. waterways over a five year period.According to data from environmental nonprofit Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) released on April 30, 41 Tyson slaughterhouses and processing plants released roughly 371 million pounds of chemicals such as nitrogen, phosphorous, chloride, oil, and cyanide into rivers and lakes between 2018 and 2022. The toxic waste was found in 17 states, with more than half concentrated in Nebraska, Illinois and Missouri. The UCS warns that pollutants from Tyson facilities like chloride, sulfate, and dissolved solids can contaminate drinking water. Chlorides are known to be corrosive to water pipes in large enough quantities, while sulfates can lead to gastro-intestinal issues in humans. Waters contaminated by mass amounts of nitrogen and phosphorous can also lead to algal blooms that can clog pipes, kill aquatic life, and even release carbon dioxide when the algae dies and decomposes. Tyson Foods is the second largest chicken, beef, and pork processor in the world. In 2018, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) ordered the company to pay a $2 million criminal finefor violations of the Clean Water Act (CWA) in Missouri. According to the DOJ, 108,000 fish were killed after a tank used to store a liquid food supplement sprung a leak, spilling it into sewers and a municipal wastewater treatment plant. That was one of several other CWA violations Tyson has been fined for over the last two decades. In 2023, the Environmental Protection Agency also proposed new standards for wastewater discharged by meat and poultry processing facilities. The EPA's proposal would look to cut nitrogen, phosphorous, and other pollutants in U.S. waters by 100 million pounds per year. The most recent public hearings for the updated standards were held in March. The meat producing industry in the U.S. suffered enormous strain during the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting the concentration of production among a handful of companies, including Tyson. In an interview with The Economist May 2, 2020, Chris Leonard, author of a book that traces the rise of Tyson Foods to dominate the chicken industry, said the U.S. meat industry as a whole is unhealthily consolidated, in the hands of a few large firms..According to the Livestock, Environment and Development (LEAD) Initiative, an international consortium of government and private agencies based at the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization headquarters in Rome, the global livestock industry uses dwindling supplies of freshwater, destroys forests and grasslands, and causes soil erosion, while pollution and the runoff of fertilizer and animal waste create dead zones in coastal areas and smother coral reefs. There also is concern over increased antibiotic resistance, since livestock accounts for 50% of antibiotic use globally, according to LEAD.

Researchers find toxic dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) compounds in deep-sea fish off Los Angeles coast - A toxic agricultural insecticide banned four decades ago is still contaminating deep-sea fish and sediments off California’s southern coast, a new study has found. While the U.S. banned the compound dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) in 1972, the study authors believe the substance is continuing to invade marine food webs. The contamination remains persistent in an environment about 15 miles off the coast of Catalina Island, which served as a DDT dump site in the 1940s and 1950s, according to research published Monday in Environmental Science & Technology Letters. “These are deep-sea organisms that don’t spend much time at the surface and they are contaminated with these DDT-related chemicals,” said co-author Lihini Aluwihare, a professor of ocean chemistry at University of California San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, in a statement. From 1948 through at least 1961, barges contracted by DDT-producer Montrose Chemical Corporation pumped industrial waste that contained up to 2 percent pure DDT directly into the Pacific Ocean in this area, the researchers noted. An estimated 100 tons of DDT — a group of pesticides linked to various toxic health effects — ended up in the sediments of this Palos Verdes region offshore, per the study. Ultimately, the Environmental Protection Agency declared the zone an underwater hazardous waste site in 1996, and four years later, a judge ordered the company to pay $140 million in environmental damages. Research has since confirmed DDT contamination and resultant health problems in local sea lions, dolphins, bottom-feeding fish and coastal California condors, the authors noted. What remains unclear, however, is whether these impacts are moving through the undersea ecosystem in ways that could pose dangers to other, more widespread marine life or to humans. “Establishing the current distribution of DDT contamination in deep-sea food webs lays the groundwork for thinking about whether those contaminants are also moving up through deep-ocean food webs into species that might be consumed by people,” Aluwihare said. The Scripps scientists, who teamed up with researchers at San Diego State University, decided to collect both sediment samples and deep-sea animals from one of two dump sites in the area to test them for DDT-related compounds. Upon analyzing the sediments, they found 15 different such chemicals, of which 14 previously had been detected in birds and marine mammals in Southern California. The researchers also collected 215 fish in three areas near the dump site, determining the animals contained 10 DDT-related compounds, all of which were also present in the sediment samples. Those species found at shallower depths showed lower concentrations of the contaminants and had two fewer DDT-related compounds than deeper-sea fish.

Chemicals in car interiors may cause cancer — and they’re required by US law: Study -- Tens of millions of Americans each day breathe in carcinogenic chemicals that are woven into the interiors of their cars, a new study has found.While opening a window can help reduce the risk, only reforms can keep people safe, researchers wrote in a study in Environmental Science and Technology. Approximately 124 million Americans commute each day, spending an average of an hour in their cars.By federal law, the interior of these vehicles are required to contain flame retardants, or chemicals that make it harder for them to combust in a crash.These chemicals have been a legally mandated part of modern cars since the 1970s, when the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) passed a law requiring their use.It’s arguable how effective this protection is. Patrick Morrison, of the International Association of Firefighters, said in a statement on the study that these chemicals do little to prevent blazes — but instead simply make them “smokier and more toxic.” What the study conclusively demonstrates is that any such protection comes at a price. Virtually all cars investigated by Duke University researchers contained the chemical tris (1-chloro-isopropyl) phosphate, or TCIPP — which the U.S. National Toxicology Program is investigating as a potential carcinogen.Most cars also had two other phosphate-based flame retardants that the state of California is investigating as potential carcinogens: Those chemicals are tris (1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate (TDCIPP) and tris (2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP).All three chemicals are linked to reproductive and neurological problems — particularly because they don’t stay in the fabrics they’re woven into.Flame retardant chemicals off-gas or leach from the seat and interior fabrics into the air, — especially in hot weather, when car interiors can reach 150 degrees Fahrenheit. Advocates argue that the risks of these chemicals outweigh the benefits. But health researchers have found that the average U.S. child has lost up to 5 IQ points from exposure to flame retardants in cars and furniture. And adults with the highest levels of flame retardants in their blood face a risk of death by cancer that is four times greater than those with the lowest levels, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association.Morrison, of the firefighters advocacy group, added that “firefighters are concerned that flame retardants contribute to their very high cancer rates.”

Research shows altered regulation of genes linked to prostate cancer among firefighters -- Firefighters may have an increased risk of prostate cancer due to on-the-job chemical exposures, according to new research from the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health and University of Michigan in collaboration with fire service partners and researchers around the country through the Fire Fighter Cancer Cohort Study.Prostate cancer is the leading incident cancer among U.S. males. Firefighters are diagnosed with prostate cancer at a rate 1.21 times higher than the general population, possibly because of chemical exposures including smoke and firefighting foam during firefighting.Some of those chemicals can affect how genes are expressed through a process calledepigenetic modification, and certain epigenetic modifications, including DNA methylation, contribute to cancer development. Researchers found evidence that experienced firefighters had different epigenetic modifications than new firefighters in regions linked to prostate cancer."With these published findings, we have clear evidence of the health risks that firefighters face due to cumulative exposure on the job," said Jeff Burgess, MD, MPH, director of the Center for Firefighter Health Collaborative Research and professor at the Zuckerman College of Public Health.The paper, "Firefighting, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, and DNA methylation of genes associated with prostate cancer risk," is published in the journal Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis.One class of chemicals that is linked with epigenetic modifications is per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, which are used in firefighting foam as well as in many household items, including nonstick pans and water-resistant clothing. The research team also investigated whether there was a link between exposure to PFAS and epigenetic modification.The results showed that, in many fire departments, new and experienced firefighters had similar exposure to PFAS. However, exposure to a specific PFAS chemical—branched perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA—was linked to epigenetic modifications.

US geographic region results in vastly different anal cancer risk for people with HIV -- It's known that people with HIV have the highest risk of anal cancer, said lead author Ashish A. Deshmukh, Ph.D., co-leader of the Cancer Control Research Program at MUSC Hollings Cancer Center. But this study, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, is the first to show vast geographic disparities in anal cancer risk and an association with opportunistic illnesses and co-morbidities, like diabetes, chronic kidney disease and cardiovascular disease, for people with HIV.Almost all cases of anal cancer are caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV). It seems that there's some as-yet-unknown effect, such as inflammation, in people with co-morbidities that allows the HPV to gain a foothold and cause cancer to develop, the paper notes.People with HIV have a greater relative risk of anal cancer compared with people without HIV, no matter where they live. But the study showed that the relative risk varies across the country—it's higher for people with HIV in the Midwest or South than the West or Northeast."In the Northeast, the risk for people with HIV compared to people without HIV is 16-fold higher," Deshmukh said. "But for people with HIV in the Midwest, the risk increases to almost 47.5-fold, reaching nearly 100-fold for men who have sex with men with HIV."Deshmukh has a few preliminary theories about the causes of these differences but cautioned that this study doesn't attempt to determine the reasons."The objective was to understand whether there are disparities and what may be important risk factors," he said. The results of this study provide the foundation for further research into the causes underlying these disparities.However, he noted that screening rates for anal cancer are relatively higher in the Northeast and West. New York state, for example, stands out as the only state with established guidelines for anal cancer screening, a rarity given the absence of national guidelines and the lack of specific protocols in other states for this relatively rare cancer, among the general population.Various professional societies have begun to develop screening guidelines. In fact, Deshmukh contributed to the recent International Anal Neoplasia Society's consensus guidelines, published in January.Those guidelines started with the premise of beginning screening at specific ages based on risk—for example, beginning screening at age 35 for men with HIV who have sex with men and 45 for women with HIV and other men with HIV.However, this new study suggests that guidelines should consider risk factors like previous opportunistic illnesses or having had a CD4 count below 200. CD4 count is the number of CD4 T-cells, a type of white blood cell, in the blood. A count above 500 is considered healthy, but a count below 200 can trigger an AIDS diagnosis.

Lawmakers take aim at community air monitoring in Louisiana -In 2022, decades of advocacy by the Louisiana Environmental Action Network to address poor air quality near industrial facilities took a significant leap forward.That’s when the Biden Administration awarded more than $50 million through the Inflation Reduction Act to increase air quality monitoring in some U.S. communities historically overburdened by pollution.A year later, LEAN, a nonprofit environmental advocacy group, got $500,000, which it used to deploy a fleet of mobile air monitoring vehicles. For three months earlier this year, the cars cruised up and down the Mississippi River, collecting continuous air quality data along a 300-mile route in southwest Louisiana known as “Cancer Alley.”MaryLee Orr, LEAN’s executive director, has called the project a “dream” come true for her and the organization she founded in 1986.Now Louisiana will likely become one of the first states to push back on such community-led efforts. A Republican-backed bill headed to the governor's desk will implement standards prohibiting data collected through some community air monitoring programs like LEAN’s from being used in enforcement or regulatory actions tied to the federal Clean Air Act.“(Lawmakers) are making one hurdle after another to stop communities and discourage them from collecting any data by saying even if you collected it, we’re not going to count it; it’s not going to be important,” Orr said.The industry-backed bill passed the House Wednesday on a 75-16 vote. The amended version returns to the Senate Monday, where an earlier version passed by an overwhelming majority. What’s happening in Louisiana could be an indication of what’s to come elsewhere. A similar measure is up for consideration in the West Virginia Legislature.Meanwhile, millions more in IRA grants are up for grabs for community-based groups, state, local and tribal agencies to do their own air monitoring in low-income and disadvantaged areas.Localized air monitoring efforts allow marginalized communities overburdened by polluting industries to force transparency about the air they breathe and push state leaders to hold industry more accountable for harmful emissions.Proponents of the new standards in Louisiana frame it as an attempt to bring more uniformity and standards to community air monitoring. But in a letter to one lawmaker, Region 6 Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Earthea Nance said the law would conflict with federal law, which states that "various kinds of information other than reference test data ... may be used to demonstrate compliance or noncompliance with emission standards.” Environmental advocates view the bill as a way to protect industry’s bad actors.“The petrochemical industry is working with Louisiana legislators to inhibit community air monitoring because they know full well that they are polluting the air,” said Anne Rolfes, director of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade.Since it was established in 2000, the Louisiana Bucket Brigade has offered residents living near industrial facilities a low-cost, air monitoring tool approved by the U.S. EPA. The group’s name comes from the industrial-size buckets that contain monitoring equipment that members use to collect their own air samples around industrial facilities in their neighborhoods.“It shows that they are scared of science and scared of the facts,” Rolfes said. “The power is on our side."

Scientists develop new method for quantifying 'invisible' plastics in rivers --Current methods to count plastic pollution in rivers are insufficient and do not account for the fragments that sink below the surface, a team of scientists has warned. These 'invisible' plastic particles can be suspended below the water line or sink to the riverbed where they are potentially harmful to the ecology of the river. The international team, from Cardiff University, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Deltares, says these oversights must be addressed in order to establish baseline pollution levels in rivers and determine the success of ongoing clean-up strategies. Their paper, "On the vertical structure of non-buoyant plastics in turbulent transport" published in Water Research, describes how these unseen plastics move in rivers and offers a new method of how to count them. Lead author James Lofty, a Ph.D. researcher at Cardiff University's School of Engineering, said, "Our study improves our current understanding of how and where plastic pollution is transported in our rivers. "This impacts our ability to quantify exactly how much plastic our rivers contain, determine hotspots for plastic pollution and significantly restricts the effectiveness of clean-up strategies." The team dropped over 3,000 common plastic pollution items, such as polystyrene cups and other fragments, into large water channels designed to represent real river conditions. Using multiple cameras, they tracked the movements of the samples to millimeter accuracy. Their analysis shows that sinking plastics with different shapes and sizes can be transported in diverse ways in rivers. Mr. Lofty added, "In our study, we demonstrate how plastics sink in different orientations. This significantly changes how fast a particle sinks. "Previously it was thought that plastics always find a stable sinking orientation and therefore sink at a constant speed. "However, we've shown this is not the case for plastics which are fragmented and fractured. This is important, as the sinking rate of a plastic particle is essential for understanding its transport. This finding significantly changes our understanding of how plastics move in rivers." These data were used to adapt physics-based equations, previously developed for sediments, which can predict the amount of plastic that travels in rivers within a margin of 10% accuracy. The team says their method could offer more accurate estimates of the total amount of plastic pollution in rivers.

Computer models show heat waves in north Pacific may be due to China reducing aerosols - A team of oceanographers and planetary scientists at the Ocean University of China, working with a pair of colleagues from the U.S. and one in Germany, has found via computer modeling, that recent heat waves in the north Pacific may be due to a large reduction in aerosols emitted by factories in China.In their paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group describes how they used severalclimate models and various factors that allowed them to find patterns that might be linked to the reduction of aerosols emitted into the atmosphere by China.Over the past decade, the north Pacific has experienced multiple heat waves, leading to fish die-offs, toxic algae blooms and missing whales. Such heat waves have been generally attributed to global warming, but to date, no research has been able to pinpoint how global warming could cause such sudden and variable increases in a specific part of the planet.In this new effort, the research team noted that the onset of the heat waves appeared to follow successful efforts by the Chinese government to reduceaerosol emissions from their country's factories. Beginning around 2010, factories and power generating plants in China began dramatically reducing emissions of aerosols such as sulfate, resulting in much cleaner air.Noting that aerosols can act like mirrors floating in the air, reflecting heat from the sun back into space, and also pointing out that earlier research efforts had suggested that massive reductions of aerosols in one place could lead to warming in other places—they wondered if reductions of aerosols in China might be playing a role in the heat waves that began happening in the north Pacific.To find out if that might be the case, the team began collecting data and then input it into 12 different computer climate models. The models also showed why—as less heat was reflected back into space over China, warming of coastal regions in Asia began, resulting in the development of high-pressure systems. That in turn made low-pressure systems in the middle Pacific more intense. And that resulted in the Aleutian Low growing bigger and moving south which weakened the westerly winds that typically cool the sea surface. The result was hotter conditions.

Legal scholars accuse Utah of failing to curb the Great Salt Lake’s decline Three dozen law professors from across the country are demanding that a Utah district court hold the Beehive State responsible for the declining water levels in the Great Salt Lake.The professors submitted an amicus brief on Friday in support of a lawsuit — launched by conservation groups in the fall — alleging that Utah has failed to ensure that enough water reaches the Great Salt Lake. The writers also declared their opposition to motions to dismiss the case, which were filed by private water users, water conservancy districts, municipalities and state agencies.“The Great Salt Lake’s precarious future is not beyond legal remedy,” the professors stated.Instituting conservation measures for the benefit of the Great Salt Lake is a complicated endeavor, due to the dictates of the water rights system that dominates much of the U.S. West. The system, which dates to the mid-19th century Homestead Act, enabled users to divert water on a first-come, first-serve, priority basis — meaning that imposing usage cutbacks for the sake of the lake could infringe upon a higher-priority user’s water rights.But the conservation and community groups that sued the State of Utah in September argued that upstream diversions have led to a significant decrease in the Great Salt Lake’s water — and that the state has a responsibility to protect this public resource.“The Great Salt Lake belongs to the people of Utah,” Stu Gillespie, senior attorney with one of those conservation groups — Earthjustice — said in a statement. “It is time for the state to fulfill its obligation to protect this resource and address the unsustainable upstream water diversions that are putting it at risk.” The path toward reversing the basin’s declining water levels and ecological collapse involves harnessing what’s known as the “public trust doctrine,” the law professors wrote in the amicus brief.Such doctrines require governments to hold natural resources in trust for the public, with such resources typically including navigable waters and their submerged lands, per the brief.In Utah, the public trust doctrine dates at least back to the state’s 1896 establishment and was enforced in its constitution — which recognized the doctrine’s applicability to lands and water and the concept of “beneficial use” as the basis for fulfilling those rights, the professors noted.Beneficial use refers to a rights holder’s requirement to only use a diverted water allocation for predefined purposes, such as irrigation, hydropower, domestic, municipal, commercial or mining uses.Regarding the public trust doctrine, the state legislature also has declared that all state waters belong to the people of Utah, the professors explained, noting that other Mountain West states have applied their own such doctrines to water bodies like the Great Salt Lake.Demanding that the court correct “the state’s shortsighted view of its trust obligations,” the writers stressed the need to apply the public trust doctrine to water law — which they described as being “frozen in the 19th century.”“The state clearly has the authority to undertake water conservation measures necessary to restore the Lake,” they stated, noting that such measures could include changes to surplus water management in wet years and requiring efficiency improvements.

Famed Thai holiday isles suffer water shortages after heatwave --The dazzling Thai holiday islands made famous by Hollywood film "The Beach" are facing a severe water shortage following a blistering heatwave across Asia, a tourism official and locals said Thursday. The Koh Phi Phi archipelago, off the west coast of southern Thailand, draws hundreds of thousands of visitors to its pristine beaches and turquoise waters each year. But a deadly heatwave that has sent temperature records tumbling across the region in recent weeks—as well as a prolonged spell of low rainfall—has seen reservoirs run low. "The private company that provides water to the islands may have to stop the supply," Wichupan Phukaoluan Srisanya, president of the Krabi Hotel Association, which represents hotels in the area, told AFP. Island authorities have discussed shipping in water from the mainland if the dry weather continues, she said, but would hold off in the hope of the wet season arriving in May. "But we want to assure tourists who are planning to visit the islands that we can manage this," Wichupan added. Residents who asked not to be named told AFP they had suffered fresh water shortages for months, and said some hotels had limited bookings as a result. And online posts by returning tourists warned travelers to "check if their accommodation has fresh water" ahead of their stay. One wrote on review site TripAdvisor that "tap water has stopped running", as island water reservoirs had been dry since the end of April.

Climate report: US struck with more than 100 tornadoes, heavy snow in April -- April continued the year's warm streak, with 2024 ranking as the fifth-warmest year on record for the nation so far.The month also saw a lot of active weather, with more than 100 tornadoes and a powerful winter storm hitting parts of the U.S., according to scientists from NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information.Below are more takeaways from NOAA's latest monthly U.S. climate report:The average April temperature across the contiguous U.S. was 53.8°F (2.7° above the 20th-century average), ranking as 12th-warmest in NOAA's 130-year climate record. Virginia and West Virginia had their fifth-warmest Aprils on record while Kentucky, Maryland and Ohio each saw their top-10 warmest Aprils on record.The average precipitation for the month was 2.77 inches—0.25 of an inch above average, which places the month in the wettest third of the historical record. Indiana and Pennsylvania had their fifth-wettest April on record, with South Dakota seeing a top-10 wettest April.The average U.S. temperature for the year to date (YTD) was 43.0°F (3.8° above average), ranking in the 5th-warmest such YTD in the climate record.Maine, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont and Wisconsin each saw their second-warmest January–April period. An additional 22 states had a January–April YTD that ranked in the top-10 warmest.The average precipitation for the first four months of 2024 was 10.95 inches (1.48 inches above normal), ranking as the 11th-wettest YTD on record. Pennsylvania saw its second-wettest such YTD period on record. Six additional states ranked among their top-10 wettest January–April on record for this year-to-date period.

• An active severe weather month: A severe weather outbreak produced more than 100 tornadoes, including one EF-4, across the Midwest and Great Plains from April 25 to April 28. The outbreak caused significant damage, loss of life and became the worst tornado outbreak for the year so far. On April 26, thesevere weather resulted in the National Weather Service in Omaha, Nebraska, issuing 48 tornado warnings—the most the office has ever issued in a single day.
• Heavy spring snow buried the Northeast: During early April, a spring snowstorm brought heavy snow and powerful winds to much of New England, downing trees and knocking out power to hundreds of thousands in the region.
• Seven separate billion-dollar disasters have struck this year: There were five new billion-dollar weather and climate disasters confirmed last month, including three severe storm events that impacted the central, southern and eastern U.S. in mid-February and early April. There were also two winter storms that impacted the northwest and central U.S. in mid-January.

Storms batter Midwest one day after tornado leaves at least 1 dead in Oklahoma - Severe storms battered the Midwest on Tuesday, unleashing a curtain of heavy rain, gusty winds and tornadoes throughout the region a day after a deadly twister ripped through a small Oklahoma town and killed at least one person. Tornadoes were spotted after dark Tuesday in parts of Michigan, Indiana and Ohio, while portions of Illinois, Kentucky and Missouri were also under a tornado watch, according to the National Weather Service.Forecasters warned that the storms could stretch late into the night with the possibility of more twisters and large hail.In southwestern Michigan, two tornadoes blitzed the city of Portage near Kalamazoo. The Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Office said there were "multiple trees down and wires throughout" Portage and nearby Pavilion Township. A Portage city spokesperson said in a statement that there was significant damage to homes and businesses, but no immediate reports of serious injuries. A Kalamazoo County spokesperson told CBS News that about 15 to 20 people were taken to area hospitals with minor injuries.Photos posted to social media showed major damage to a FedEx building in the Portage area. In a statement to CBS News, a FedEx spokesperson confirmed its facility was damaged, but said there were "no serious injuries."Portage Director of Public Safety Nicholas Armold told CBS News all FedEx employees were accounted for and none had been trapped beneath the wreckage of the building.More than 20,000 people lost power in the Portage area, Consumers Energy said Tuesday night. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declared a state of emergency for Kalamazoo, St. Joseph, Branch, and Cass counties on Tuesday night after the storm brought "large hail up to four inches in diameter and at least two confirmed tornadoes," she said in a statement.Overall Monday night and early Tuesday, at least 22 tornadoes were reported by the National Weather Service across seven states in the Great Plains and Central U.S. The severe weather threat was expected to continue Tuesday night into Wednesday, according to Alex Wilson, meteorologist for The Weather Channel, who reported that Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky were at risk. The deadly tornado that touched down Monday night in Oklahoma ripped through the 1,000-person town of Barnsdall, about a 40-minute drive north of Tulsa. The National Weather Service there had warned Monday evening that "a large and life-threatening tornado" was headed toward Barnsdall and the nearby town of Bartlesville.It was the second tornado to hit Barnsdall in five weeks — a twister on April 1 with maximum wind speeds of 90 to 100 mph damaged homes and blew down trees and power poles.Barnsdall Mayor Johnny Kelley said one person was dead while one man was missing after Monday's twister. Authorities launched a secondary search Tuesday morning for the missing man.At least 30 to 40 homes in the Barnsdall area were damaged Monday night, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol reported.Aerial videos showed several well-built homes reduced to piles of rubble and others with roofs torn off and damaged walls still standing. The powerful twister tossed vehicles, downed power lines and stripped limbs and bark from trees across the town. A 160-acre wax manufacturing facility in the community also sustained heavy damage.First responders rescued about 25 people, including children, from heavily damaged homes where buildings had collapsed on or around them, Kelley said. About a half dozen people suffered injuries, he said."We did take a direct hit from a tornado" in Bartlesville, said Kary Fox of the Washington County Emergency Management. "Please stay off the roadways. Stay out of those damaged areas. We're having a lot of difficulty getting in to do assessments to check on people, to see if they've got any injuries because of the traffic congestion." The Barnsdall Nursing Home said it evacuated residents because a gas leak could not be turned off due to storm damage. It later posted online that all residents were accounted for with no injuries, and they were being taken to other facilities. At the Hampton Inn in Bartlesville, several splintered 2x4s were driven into the south side of the building. Chunks of insulation, twisted metal and other debris were scattered over the hotel's lawn, and vehicles in the parking lot were heavily damaged with smashed-out windows.Matthew Macedo, who was staying at the hotel, said he was ushered into the hotel laundry room to wait out the storm."When the impact occurred, it was incredibly sudden," he said.The storms tore through Oklahoma as areas including Sulphur and Holdenville were still recovering from a tornado that killed four and left thousands without power late last month. Both the Plains and Midwest have been hammered by tornadoes this spring.

Michigan declares State of Emergency after tornadoes cause damage across Midwest - (4 videos) Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer declared a state of emergency late Tuesday, May 7, 2024, after a series of tornadoes pummeled the upper Midwestern state, injuring up to 20 people and causing significant damage in Portage and other areas.

• This severe weather outbreak, which also impacted Indiana and Ohio, marks the second consecutive day of extreme storms.
• This tornado outbreak precedes a severe storm system forecast to bring even more extreme weather across the central U.S. on May 8 and 9, affecting over 75 million people.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer declared a state of emergency on Tuesday night (LT), May 7, 2024, following a series of tornadoes that struck the state, injuring between 15 and 20 people and leaving a trail of destruction. The emergency declaration covers Kalamazoo, St. Joseph, Branch, and Cass counties.Portage, Michigan, located just south of Kalamazoo, was particularly affected, with significant damage reported as a tornado tore through the town.Kalamazoo County Sheriff Richard Fuller detailed the extent of the damage, noting that 176 homes in a mobile home park were affected, with 15 to 17 completely destroyed. Several injuries have been reported, though none appear life-threatening.Additionally, a FedEx facility in Portage sustained significant damage, and about 30 000 utility customers were without power on Wednesday morning.Emergency shelters have been established to support those displaced by the storm.She noted that state and local emergency teams were already on the ground and coordinating efforts to assist residents. In response to the devastation, she activated the State Emergency Operations Center and expedited resources to aid the area.Tornadoes also impacted southern Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio. Preliminary reports submitted to the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center (NWS SPC) indicated that a total of 29 tornadoes were documented.This severe weather outbreak marks the second consecutive day of extreme storms and precedes a severe storm system forecast to bring even more extreme weather across the central U.S. on May 8 and 9, affecting over 75 million people.The mid-Mississippi, Ohio, and Tennessee Valleys, and the southern Plains are expected to face a high risk of tornadoes, hail, and damaging winds. Meteorologists are predicting over a dozen tornadoes, and densely populated areas in Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, and Arkansas are urged to take precautions.On Monday, May 6 (LT), a very large tornado hit Barnsdall, Oklahoma, causing widespread damage. The event resulted in at least one fatality, multiple injuries, and extensive structural damage, including to a nursing home. On May 8, it received a preliminary rating of EF4.

NWS confirms 4 tornadoes in Southwest Michigan Tuesday — The National Weather Service has confirmed a total of four tornadoes touched in Southwest Michigan on Tuesday, including two EF2s that tracked for miles each. The tornado that tore through the Portage area on Tuesday was an EF2, according to the National Weather Service in Grand Rapids. The rating came in Wednesday afternoon, the day after strong storms moved across the region and prompted nearly a dozen tornado warnings. The Portage tornado produced peak wind speeds of 135 mph, making it an upper-end EF2. The tornado touched down around 5:55 p.m. near South 10th Street and West R Avenue south of Texas Corners. The tornado was on the ground for 22 minutes and 11 miles before lifting near East N Ave and 31st Street south of Morrow Lake. It damaged a number of buildings in the Portage area, including ripping apart a strip mall in Portage and overturning homes at a mobile home park in nearby Pavilion Township. A second tornado warning was issued for Portage Tuesday night shortly after the first tornado had moved through. Though the NWS says there were several eyewitness accounts, a second tornado touchdown has not been confirmed. The Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office said 16 to 20 people were injured in Tuesday’s storms; none of those injuries were considered life-threatening. Portage Mayor Patricia Randall told reporters that more than 100 families were displaced. People are urged to call 211 for shelter and other resources. Around 5:40 p.m., a tornado touched down in St. Joseph County on the south side of Centreville and tracked northeast toward Union City for nearly 20 miles. The National Weather Service in Northern Indiana rated it an EF2. The storm packed winds of 130 mph and stay on the ground for 30 minutes. This is the tornado that prompted the first tornado emergency ever issued in Michigan, issued Tuesday for the cities of Sherwood and Union City. Significant damage was observed, including uprooted trees and several homes without a roof or walls. No fatalities were reported. However, there was one injury. Branch County Emergency Manager Tim Miner said nine homes were destroyed, four had major damage, 24 had minor damage and 19 homes had superficial damage. Miner said dozens of barns and other agricultural structures were impacted by the tornado but didn’t provide an exact number. The National Weather Service in Northern Indiana confirmed an EF1 tornado in the Dowagiac area. The tornado packed wind speeds of 95 mph with a path length of just over 11 miles. The tornado touched down at 5:11 p.m. and remained on the ground for 27 minutes. The max width was 950 yards, over a half-mile at its peak. No injuries or deaths have been reported with this storm. In Branch County, the National Weather Service in Northern Indiana confirmed another EF1 tornado near Union City. This is not to be confused with the tornado that caused extensive damage in Sherwood. The estimated winds speeds of the EF1 tornado reached 95 mph with a path length of 1.09 miles. The max width was 100 yards. No injuries or deaths have been reported with this storm.

3 more tornadoes confirmed in Michigan, biggest over half-mile wide - The May 7 tornado outbreak spanned several states. As a result, two National Weather Service offices have to evaluate the tornadoes that struck Michigan. The latest tornado confirmations and damage assessments come from the Northern Indiana National Weather Service office, which forecasts and warns on severe weather for the southern Michigan border counties.The NWS Northern Indiana says three tornadoes occurred in their southern Michigan counties. They have finished the damage assessment on two of those tornadoes. The tornadoes they have assessed were the smaller, weaker tornadoes. Now today they are going to finish the assessment on a larger tornado that moved through the Colon area in Michigan’s St. Joseph County.The NWS has confirmed the larger St. Joseph County tornado. They just have not finished the damage assessment. The first tornado they assessed occurred around the Dowagiac area. While the wind speeds were fairly low for a tornado, look at the width. The tornado was 2,850 feet wide which puts it at over one-half mile wide at times. That’s a very wide tornado for Michigan or any other state. The Dowagiac tornado produced damage along an almost 12-mile-long path.The second assessed tornado was on the ground near Union City. This tornado is thought to be a second weaker tornado that developed after a larger tornado dissipated. They are continuing the assessment on what seems like a stronger tornado. This is likely the tornado that we have the video on in Colon, MI. The National Weather Service at Grand Rapids is also still trying to assess a few more damage areas. When all the assessments are done, we will probably end up with five individual tornadoes that touched down in Michigan on May 7.

11 tornadoes confirmed in Southwest Ohio: Here’s what we know - Eleven tornadoes hit Southwest Ohio Tuesday evening, including at least two EF-2 tornadoes with wind speeds of more than 100 mph.Storms moving through the region knocked down trees and power lines, causing tens of thousands of people to lose power. A few homes had significant roof damage, according to the National Weather Service in Wilmington.As of Thursday morning, no injuries or fatalities have been reported.Crews conducted storm surveys in Southwest Ohio and parts of Indiana, confirming 12 tornadoes Wednesday. A high-end EF-1 tornado near McGonigle traveled for 2.4 miles and reached wind speeds of 110 mph, according to NWS.The tornado started at 8:20 p.m. on Bunker Hill Woods Road in Reily Twp. The storm destroyed an outbuilding and caused significant damage to a home’s roof and garage.On Pierson Road, another outbuilding was destroyed and trees were snapped. The tornado traveled east, knocking down trees at the Indian Ridge Golf Club. Crews also noted tree damage on Eagle View Court and Lanes Mill Road near the golf club.The tornado ended around 8:25 p.m. Its maximum path width reached 200 yards.A brief EF-0 tornado was confirmed in southeast Middletown, starting at 9:57 p.m. The twister moved north along the west side of Cincinnati Dayton Road, damaging metal siding and roofing materials on multiple buildings, according to NWS.A few semitrailers were overturned, and minor tree damage was also reported.The tornado reached wind speeds of 80 mph and was 80 yards wide. It traveled for 0.3 miles and ended at 9:58 p.m. Crews confirmed a tornado north of Blanchester. Damage was reported along North state Route 133 near Irvin Road. An EF-1 tornado touched down in Greenville, reaching maximum wind speeds of 110 mph. It started near the intersection of Greenville-Nashville and New Madison-Coletown roads around 8:24 p.m., where multiple trees were uprooted, according to NWS.The tornado traveled northeast, crossing state Route 502 causing minor damage to homes on Daly Road. The twister’s width increased as it moved into Greenville, snapping and uprooting trees in the Greenville Union Cemetery.The tornado damaged trees throughout the city and also caused minor damage at multiple homes. Most of the impact was shingles and siding removed from the house, according to NWS. A press box at Greenville High School’s football field was destroyed.The twister left Greenville near the elementary school and moved along Kruckerburg Road, resulting in more damage to homes and outbuildings. Crews also noted damage along Childrens Home Bradford Road.The tornado ended near Gettysburg around 8:42 p.m. It traveled 11.9 miles and had a maximum path width of 800 yards.An EF-1 tornado was confirmed in the Hickory Woods Campground in Brookville. It started around 8:56 p.m. east of Brookville Lake.Crews observed downed, snapped and uprooted trees at the campground, as well as multiple overturned camping units and mobile homes, according to NWS.Two outbuildings were destroyed and additional tree damage was also reported near state Route 101.The tornado moved northeast, destroying an outbuilding and blowing over trees on Whitcomb Road. It then headed southeast toward Liberty and Oxford pikes and Urban Road. NWS crews noted the roof was completely lifted off a two-story home as well an exterior wall collapsed on one side of the home.The twister weakened as it moved along Springfield Road. The last damage was observed on State Line Road, just inside Butler County, Ohio. An outbuilding’s roof had been damaged.The tornado traveled 8.3 miles, reaching a maximum wind speed of 110 mph and maximum width of 300 yards, according to NWS. It ended at 9:09 p.m.An EF-2 tornado started Montezuma in Mercer County before traveling 6.4 miles and ending in New Bremen, Auglaize County. It had maximum wind speeds of 130 mph and a path width of 300 yards, according to the NWS.The twister started at 8:20 p.m. in a field east of Harrison Road. Crews noted scour marks, but there wasn’t any damage at that location.The storm continued east, causing significant damage to trees and outbuildings. Two homes near Southland Road and Tri Township Road lost their roofs and had walls partially collapse, according to NWS.The tornado came to an end at 8:33 p.m., west of state Route 66.A second EF-2 tornado was confirmed near Coldwater and reached maximum wind speeds of 120 mph.It started at 7:50 p.m. on Siegrist Jutte Road in Fort Recovery, with a few downed trees. South of state Route 129, wooded areas had sections with more than 70% tree loss, according to NWS. A few homes along Saint Peter Road had significant roof damage.The tornado damaged and destroyed outbuildings at farms as it moved east. Most homes were limited to minor roof damage in the area, according to NWS.The twister ended at 8:08 p.m. in Coldwater. Its maximum path width reached 400 yards.A low-end EF-1 tornado formed around 10:10 p.m. in a field west of Shawhan Road in Lebanon before crossing east-northeast and causing tree damage along the road. A few homes had minor roof damage, according to the NWS. Winds ripped the entire roof off a detached garage and caused a partial wall collapse.Winds were estimated to reach the tornado’s maximum speed, about 90 mph, at the time, according to NWS. The tornado continued east-northeast, causing more tree and structural damage to homes on Browning Lane.The twister crossed back over Shawhan Road. Crews noted additional tree and structural damage to homes between Shawhan and Stubbs Mill roads.After traveling about 0.9 miles, the tornado came to an end near Stubbs Mill Road at 10:12 p.m. Its maximum path width reached 150 yards.An EF-1 tornado was confirmed near Morrow, starting at 10:15 p.m. in the Little Miami River Valley. Crews reported extensive tree damage on the northern hillside.Multiple homes along Mason Morrow Millgrove Road had structural damage. The second story of one home was completely removed and a neighboring home had part of its roof destroyed, according to the NWS.The tornado traveled east causing more tree damage along the river before ending at 10:17 p.m.The twister reached maximum wind speeds of 95 mph and was up to 250 yards wide, according to NWS. The tornado traveled for 0.44 miles.An EF-0 tornado was also reported in Morrow on the west side of the Little Miami River.The tornado touched down at 10:18 p.m. near Mason Morrow Millgrove Road and Woodward-Claypole Road, where minor tree damage was observed. The tornado strengthened as it crossed the river, knocking down trees on the Little Miami Bike Path, according to NWS.Crews noted significant damage along Woodward-Claypole Road.The twister started weakening as it moved up hill, resulting in more tree damage and some structural damage. It ended at 10:20 p.m.The tornado continued for 0.29 miles and reached a maximum speed of 80 mph. Its maximum width was 150 yards.A low-end EF-0 tornado touched down along state Route 123 in Lebanon around 10:14 p.m. Its maximum wind speeds were 65 mph and the path width reached 50 yards, according to NWS.Most of the damage included downed trees and power poles. Crews reported the storm tossed a water tank from farm equipment into a field behind a residence.There was sporadic tree damage as the tornado traveled 0.44 miles east-northeast across Wilmington Road before coming to an end at 10:15 p.m.An EF-0 tornado was confirmed in Clarksville, reaching wind speeds of 80 mph.It started at 10:27 p.m. in a wooded area behind a residence on U.S. 22, where the tornado snapped and uprooted multiple trees, according to the NWS. The residence had some of its roof removed and a large pole barn was destroyed.The tornado went east on U.S. 22, causing more tree damage before coming to an end at 10:28 p.m.It lasted for 0.51 miles and had a maximum path width of 150 yards.

At least 19 tornadoes touched down in Ohio on Tuesday - (WJW) – The National Weather Service continued surveying after many tornadoes touched down across Ohio in Tuesday’s storms. According to FOX 8 Meteorologist Mackenzie Bart, as of Wednesday night, the National Weather Service has confirmed 19 tornadoes. Western Ohio was hit particularly hard, where five tornadoes have been confirmed in Warren County alone. The National Weather Service confirmed three tornadoes in Butler County and two tornadoes in Paulding County. Additionally, tornadoes also touched down in Mercer, Mercer/Auglaize, Darke, Jefferson, Clinton, Putnam, Muskingum and Coshocton counties. Elsewhere, tornadoes and severe storms tore through Central and Southeastern parts of the United States, killing two people in Tennessee and one in North Carolina.

PHOTOS: Homes damaged by tornadoes and storms throughout Ohio and West Virginia

Doorbell video shows Michigan tornado leveling nearly every tree in sight — The doorbell camera of a Portage, Michigan home captured the power of a tornado that splintered and uprooted massive trees Tuesday.The video, provided by a man who wanted to be identified by his first name only, Chris, showed the invisible hand of the storm flattening nearly every tree in sight.Public schools in Portage will remain shuttered Friday as the city continues cleaning up in the wake of the storm.The tornado, arriving with winds that reached 135 mph, toppled trees, tore the roofs off of houses, left roughly 100 families displaced and caused multiple injuries.The high winds tore up a Portage FedEx facility, leaving roughly 50 people temporarily trapped after the damaged facility lost power in the storm.“We have mass destruction,” Kalamazoo County Sheriff Richard Fuller said after the storm. “And I have to keep reminding everybody that thankfully, there is no loss of life and that the injuries that we did see yesterday ultimately turned out pretty minor considering that many of these people were inside these homes that are demolished or inside some of these homes that were flipped up and upside down.”At least 15 mobile homes were destroyed, some thrown by the wind, with one landing on two cars.“We got really lucky being here,” said Alan Heath, who lives at Pavilion Estates, a mobile home park east of Portage. “I’m pretty sure it was by the chance of God that it missed my trailer. If you look, the trailer is right here across the street from me are just demolished. Just gone. And now these people have lost their homes.” In total, four confirmed tornadoes hit Southwest Michigan on Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service, prompting Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to declare a state of emergency for four counties.

Rare tornado emergency south of Nashville as severe thunderstorms leave 2 dead in Tennessee – 7 videos - A severe weather outbreak on May 8, 2024, spawned a ‘large and destructive’ tornado south of Nashville, Tennessee, killing at least 1 person, injuring several, and leaving widespread damage. The storm prompted a rare tornado emergency, affected over 200 000 residents across multiple states, and left at least 2 people dead. This was the third consecutive day of severe weather outbreak in the United States. The National Weather Service (NWS) office in Nashville issued a rare tornado emergency for southern Maury County, southern Williamson County, and southwestern Rutherford County on May 8, shortly after an intense thunderstorm moved over Columbia, Tennessee. This emergency alert cited “a confirmed large and destructive tornado” was on the ground near Spring Hill (population 55 800) — located some 50 km (31 miles) south of Nashville and 16 km (10 miles) northeast of Columbia — moving northeast at 40 km/h (25 mph). The alert was released at 17:53 CDT (22:53 UTC), just moments before the tornado crossed Interstate 65. Widespread building and tree damage was reported, prompting county officials to advise residents to stay off the roads. While the full extent of the damage is still unknown, one person has died and four others were injured in Maury County, as confirmed by Rita Thompson, a spokesperson for Maury Regional Medical Center. Three of the injured have non-life-threatening injuries, while one is in serious condition. YouTube video Tornadoes were also reported in Robertson County, and large hail was recorded in Clarksville. According to the NWS, four tornadoes were reported across Tennessee, with two occurring in Maury County where the tornado emergency was declared. A second fatality was reported earlier that day in Claiborne County when a tree fell onto a person’s car amid the severe storms. The NWS Storm Prediction Center received 13 tornado reports across six states on May 8, including:

• Tennessee: 4 reports (Fredonia, Coopertown, Columbia, Spring Hill)
• Illinois: 3 reports (Carbondale, Carrier Mills, Equality)
• Missouri: 2 reports (Monett, Pleasant Ridge)
• Kentucky: 1 report (Rockcastle)
• Texas: 1 report (Toco)
• South Dakota: 1 report (Cavour)

As of 07:20 UTC (02:20 CDT) on May 9, over 200 000 customers are without power across multiple states, including nearly 100 000 in North Carolina, 42 000 in Tennessee, 32 000 in both South Carolina and Georgia, and 18 000 in Missouri. Severe thunderstorms and heavy rainfall are expected to persist from the Mississippi, Ohio, and Tennessee Valleys into the southern Plains. The severe weather threat is anticipated to shift south on Thursday, May 9 toward the Southern Plains and Southeast. On Monday, May 6 (LT) — on the first day of this severe weather outbreak, a very large tornado hit Barnsdall, Oklahoma, causing widespread damage. The event resulted in at least one fatality, multiple injuries, and extensive structural damage, including to a nursing home. On May 8, it received a preliminary rating of EF4.This multiday severe weather outbreak follows closely on the heels of another destructive event that began on April 26, where at least 78 tornadoes struck the U.S. Plains.The tornado that hit Marietta, Oklahoma at 23:08 CDT on April 27, was rated EF4 by the NWS, making it Oklahoma’s first violent tornado in nearly 8 years. This event resulted in one fatality and extensive structural damage across multiple counties.This severe tornado outbreak has resulted in the deaths of at least four individuals and inflicted significant destruction across several cities in Oklahoma, marking one of the most destructive days in the state’s recent history.

At least 3 killed as storms slam southeast after tornadoes bring devastation to Midwest - Severe storms tore through the central and southeast U.S. Tuesday and again Wednesday, spawning damaging tornadoes, producing massive hail, and killing two people in Tennessee and a third in North Carolina.The storms continued an outbreak of torrential rain and tornadoes that has cut across the country this week, from the Plains to the Midwest and now the Southeast. At least four people have died in storms since Monday.The National Weather Service declared a tornado emergency late Wednesday in the area of Henagar, in northeast Alabama. The funnel caused at least two injuries, both non-life-threatening, and trapped some people in their homes who were rescued, officials said.The storm that rumbled across northeastern Tennessee brought high winds that knocked down powerlines and trees. Claiborne County Sheriff Bob Brooks said a 22-year-old man was in a car struck by one of the trees. Claiborne County Mayor Joe Brooks also confirmed the death in a social media post.Wednesday afternoon, a tornado emergency — the National Weather Service's highest alert level — was issued for an area south of Nashville including the towns of Spring Hill, Chapel Hill and Eagleville.The National Weather Service had previously reported a likely tornado on the ground in nearby Columbia, about 45 miles south of Nashville. Columbia Mayor Chaz Molder confirmed in a statement at least one person died because of the storm, but no details on the cause of death were immediately provided. Molder said there was a "number of sightings of confirmed tornado touch-downs" in the area that resulted in "bodily injuries and property damage." Rita Thompson, Marketing & Communications director with Maury Regional Health, said the hospital had received five patients. One died, another was in serious condition and three had injuries that were not life-threatening. Northeast of Nashville, a flash flood emergency was issued for Sumner and Robertson counties including the cities of Hendersonville and Gallatin. The National Weather Service said water rescues were ongoing in those areas and described the flooding from heavy thunderstorms as life-threatening.In North Carolina, a state of emergency was declared for Gaston County Wednesday evening following a large storm. First responders were working to clear roads of downed power lines and broken trees and were helping residents, officials said. The New Hope Fire Department responded to a tree down on a car. One person in the car was killed and another was taken to a hospital, officials said.More than 152,000 customers were without power in North Carolina and Tennessee Wednesday night, according to utility tracker PowerOutage.us.Tornadoes were first reported after dark Tuesday in parts of Michigan, Indiana and Ohio, according to the National Weather Service. The storms came a day after a deadly twister ripped through an Oklahoma town.The National Weather Service confirmed tornadoes touched down Tuesday in western Ohio: five in Warren County and one each in Darke, Mercer and Auglaize counties. The weather service said crews are still surveying areas of Franklin and Butler counties to determine if tornadoes struck there, as well. Radar indicated a tornado struck Jefferson County, but teams will have to evaluate the damage to determine its rating, said Jeff Craven, a weather service meteorologist in Pittsburgh.Crews on Wednesday were able to survey the damage caused by the strong storms that contained hail and heavy rains and knocked out power to thousands of utility customers.In Michigan, weather service meteorologist Nathan Jeruzal said the tornadoes there touched down one each in Kalamazoo, Cass and Branch counties — all in the southwestern part of the state. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declared a state of emergency for four counties.Kalamazoo County's Portage area was hard hit as a FedEx facility was ripped apart and more than a dozen mobile homes were destroyed. About 50 people temporarily were trapped inside the damaged facility because of downed power lines.More than a dozen homes were destroyed in a mobile home park in adjacent Pavilion Township and 16 people were injured, said Kalamazoo County Sheriff Richard Fuller.

Southeast is lashed by more severe weather after deadly storms and tornadoes hit Tennessee | CNN — Deadly, destructive thunderstorms and tornadoes tore through parts of the central and southern US Wednesday, marking another chaotic day of severe weather amid a two-week streak of danger. At least one tornado has been reported in the US every day since April 25 – a streak of 15 days and counting - and there have been more than 300 reported tornadoes during that span. April and May are the most active months for tornadoes and severe weather, and that reputation will continue Thursday, when more than 60 million people in the South and East are at risk of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. The South is still dealing with substantial damage wrought by storms Wednesday. Tennessee was especially hard hit, with multiple tornadoes and water rescues amid flash flood emergencies in the state. A tornado emergency unfolded Wednesday evening in Maury County, located about 25 miles south of Nashville. The National Weather Service warned of a “confirmed large and destructive tornado” near the city of Spring Hill. The tornado killed one person and injured about a dozen others, according to county officials. In northern Alabama, a “large and destructive tornado” prompted a tornado emergency in the area of Henagar, a city of a couple thousand people roughly 55 miles east of Huntsville, the National Weather Service said. It’s still unclear what, if any, damage the tornado caused in the area. Here’s the latest on ongoing storms and destruction in the central and southern US:

• At least three dead in the South: One person was killed on Wednesday in Claiborne County, Tennessee, when a tree fell on their car amid intense storms, the county’s emergency management office said. Another person died in Tennessee after a tornado touched down in Maury County Wednesday evening. In North Carolina, one person was killed in Gaston County near Charlotte when a tree fell on their vehicle, officials said.
• Tornado injures several, causes significant damage: About a dozen people were injured by the tornado in Maury County, Tennessee, officials confirmed in a press conference Thursday. At least one person is in serious condition, Maury Regional Medical Center spokesperson Rita Thompson told CNN. Video from the scene showed buildings torn to shreds, homes missing large sections of roofs and walls and large trees snapped in half.
• Water rescues amid flash flood emergencies: Up to 9 inches of rain triggered flash flood emergencies and water rescues in communities just north of Nashville, Tennessee, Wednesday evening. Flooding in Robertson County blocked roadways and forced water rescues, the county’s emergency management agency told CNN. Emergency crews have also responded to water rescue calls and evacuated flooded homes in Sumner County, the county’s emergency management director Ken Weidner said. Sumner County Schools are closed Thursday due to the flooding.
• Fallen trees damage cars and homes in North Carolina: About 1,200 weather-related calls for service were made in Gaston County Wednesday, Emergency Management and Fire Services Deputy Chief Lance Foulk said during a news conference Wednesday evening, including multiple calls for fallen trees on vehicles, homes and power lines. Schools in the county are closed Thursday, officials said.
• Thousands of power outages: Amid the severe storms, several states have experienced power outages. Nearly 60,000 homes and businesses in North Carolina and over 38,000 more in Tennessee were without power as of Thursday afternoon, according to PowerOutage.us.

Multiple tornadoes strike across 6 states with more than 350 damaging storm reports across US - -At least 13 tornadoes were reported across Kansas, Tennessee, Illinois, Kentucky, South Dakota and Missouri in the last 24 hours, with more than 350 damaging storm reports from Kansas to the Carolinas, including hail larger than a softball in Missouri and wind gusts up to 72 mph in Indiana. There was a tornado emergency issued near Huntsville, Alabama, overnight into Thursday, including at least one reported tornado that produced damage. In addition to all the severe weather, a flash flood emergency was issued north of Nashville, Tennessee, where some areas got more than 8 inches of rain in just a matter of hours. Water rescues were reported in the area overnight. Three people were killed in storms on Wednesday, including two in Tennessee, according to local officials. One person died in Claiborne County, the Tennessee Department of Health said. Another person died and four others were injured after storms moved through Maury County, Tennessee, Maury Regional Health said. A third person died in North Carolina, The Associated Press reported. On Thursday, tornado watches continue for South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama until 5 p.m. ET even as the threat that has existed over the past few days begins to dissipate. Atlanta is among the cities located in that tornado watch. The highest threat for tornadoes Thursday will be from Texas to South Carolina, including cities such as: Dallas and Austin, Texas; Shreveport and Alexandria, Louisiana; Jackson, Mississippi; Birmingham and Montgomery, Alabama; and Atlanta and Columbus, Georgia. Aside from tornadoes, severe weather is forecast for Thursday afternoon across the entire South from Texas to the Carolinas and also from Virginia to southern New Jersey. Damaging winds and large hail will be a threat in these areas.

Historic floods hit Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil - Historic floods hit Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil may 2024 A powerful atmospheric river began affecting Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil on April 29, 2024, resulting in massive flooding across the region. By early May 6, 2024, the storm affected 334 of the state’s 496 cities, including the capital Porto Alegre, claimed at least 95 lives, left over 100 people missing, and impacted more than 1 million residents. This severe weather event is described as the most disastrous in the state since 1941, surpassing previous records in terms of both scope and damage. In a span of 96 hours, starting late afternoon on Monday, April 29, regions like Segredo recorded rainfall of 448 mm (17.6 inches), while Lagoa Bonita do Sul and Faxinal do Soturno reported 410 mm (16.1 inches) and 371 mm (14.6 inches) respectively. This amount of rainfall, typically spread over two months, occurred in just 4 days, causing widespread flooding and destruction throughout the region, the full scale of which only became clear after several days. Some areas, particularly the Lagoa dos Patos region and its surroundings, where vast amounts of water from Greater Porto Alegre are expected to converge, are still bracing for the worst this week. “The numbers make it clear,” MetSul meteorologists said on April 30. “We are facing an exceptional rain event in Rio Grande do Sul, favored by an unusual climate situation in South America with an unusual hot air mass for this time of year over the states of Central Brazil.” The situation, already critical, was expected to worsen according to their forecasts as more heavy rains were expected across the region through the end of the week. rio grande do sul satellite image goes-east 1810 utc may 1 2024 Image credit: NOAA/GOES-East, RAMMB/CIRA, The Watchers. Acquired at 18:10 UTC on May 1, 2024 On May 1, Governor Eduardo Leite expressed the gravity of the situation in a press briefing. “We are experiencing in Rio Grande do Sul the worst moment, the worst disaster in our history. It is absolutely, absurdly, extraordinarily serious what is happening in Rio Grande do Sul right now,” Leite said. “And unfortunately, it will get worse.” He expressed grave concerns about the situation worsening and confirmed his communication with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, seeking federal assistance to manage what he referred to as akin to “facing a war.” On May 2, a dam between Bento Gonçalves and Cotiporã partially collapsed, flooding entire cities like Lajeado and Estrela in the Taquari River valley. Rescue operations intensified, with helicopters frequently airlifting families trapped on rooftops amidst the continued blackout affecting telecommunications and power. On Friday morning (LT), May 3, massive floodwaters surged through the state capital, Porto Alegre (population 1.3 million) as water levels of the Guiaba River surpassed the April/May 1941 record of 4.76 m (15.6 feet). “Porto Alegre stopped,” MetSul meteorologists said on May 3. “With the waters advancing through the central area and reaching city landmarks such as the Public Market, City Hall, and even Rua da Praia, the authorities’ appeals were to leave the region.” “People rushed to get off work and the “heart” of the city was practically deserted. Where thousands of people would be working and walking the streets on a normal day, all you could see was water. This is what MetSul witnessed and was also able to record in the Fourth District, where in scenes never seen since 1941, the waters of the Guaíba were just a few meters away from reaching Avenida Farrapos.” On Saturday, May 4, the Historic Center of Porto Alegre was under water and the only way to travel was by boat. Guaíba continued to rise throughout the day and for the first time in history it surpassed the 5 m (16.40 feet) mark. At the beginning of Saturday night, according to information from the Civil Defense of Rio Grande do Sul, the level was 5.27 m (17.29 feet). On Sunday, it was stable at 5.29 m (17.3 feet). “There were no bombs or missiles hitting the cities, but what was witnessed this Saturday in Porto Alegre and other cities in the metropolitan region reminded us of scenes from a war zone, in what was quite possibly the most dramatic day ever experienced by Greater Porto Alegre,” MetSul said on Sunday, May 5. Catastrophic floods affected practically all cities in Greater Porto Alegre, with residents appealing for rescue on the roofs of their homes, people seeking refuge on viaducts and other elevated places, a frantic pace of vessels carrying out rescues and the constant flights of helicopters crossing the sky of the capital of Rio Grande do Sul. “On the city’s streets and avenues, emergency vehicle traffic was constant. Vehicles from the EPTC, Military Brigade, Municipal Guard and Fire Department could be seen at all times. Joining the efforts were members of the Civil Police and even the Federal Police, as well as military personnel from the Army, Navy and Air Force.”

Brazil flooding death toll surpasses 100 --The death toll from devastating floods that have ravaged southern Brazil for days surpassed 100 on Wednesday, authorities said, as the search for dozens of missing people was interrupted by fresh storms. Some 400 municipalities have been affected by the worst natural calamity ever to hit the state of Rio Grande do Sul, with hundreds of people injured and more than 160,000 forced from their homes. Many have no access to drinking water or electricity—or even the means to call for help, with telephone and internet services down in many places. On Tuesday, state governor Eduardo Leite had warned the human toll was likely to rise as "the emergency is continuing to develop" in the state capital of Porto Alegre and other cities and towns. Some 15,000 soldiers, firefighters, police and volunteers were at work across the state, many in boats and jet skis, to rescue those trapped and transport aid. But in Porto Alegre the rains returned on Wednesday, halting evacuation efforts. The mayor's office urged rescue boats to suspend their activities, citing the risk of electric shocks from lightning and strong winds of over 80 kilometers (50 miles) per hour. Authorities urged people not to return to affected areas due to possible landslide and health hazards. Many people have been loath to leave their homes for the safety of shelters amid reports of abandoned properties being looted. The National Confederation of Municipalities said about 61,000 homes—down from an earlier estimate of 100,000—had been damaged or destroyed by unprecedented rains and floods in the state, with losses estimated at about 6.3 billion reais (some $1.2 billion.) Damage to schools, hospitals and municipal buildings amounted to about $69 million. Porto Alegre is home to about 1.4 million people and the larger metropolitan area has more than double that number. The state's Guaiba River, which runs through Porto Alegre, reached historic levels and five dams are at risk of rupturing, with two of them in "imminent" danger. Tens of thousands of people were left stranded by impassable roads, collapsed bridges and flooded homes Tens of thousands of people were left stranded by impassable roads, collapsed bridges and flooded homes. 'A parallel universe' There were queues at public taps and wells as officials warned that the most urgent need for people stranded by impassable roads, collapsed bridges and flooded homes was drinking water. Only two of Porto Alegre's six water treatment plants were functioning, the mayor's office said Tuesday, and hospitals and shelters were being supplied by tankers. Helicopters were delivering water and food to communities most in need, while work continued on restoring road access. The Brazilian Navy was to send its "Atlantic" vessel—Latin America's largest—to Rio Grande do Sul on Wednesday with two mobile water treatment stations. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has vowed there would be "no lack of resources to meet the needs of Rio Grande do Sul." In Gasometro, a part of Porto Alegre popular with tourists, the water continued to rise Wednesday, complicating rescue efforts.

Rare snowfall blankets Santiago, causing power outages for over 200 000, Chile - A rare snowfall blanketed several parts of the Santiago Metropolitan Region, Chile on Tuesday, May 7, 2024, causing widespread power outages and prompting local authorities to issue safety guidelines. The last time it snowed in Santiago was in 2020, although much later in the season. On May 7, snow was reported in parts of the Lo Barnechea, Las Condes, Vitacura, Puente Alto, La Reina, and Pirque communes, affecting the Santiago Metropolitan Region. Residents have been advised to dress warmly and drive carefully due to slippery conditions on the roads. According to data from the Office of the Superintendent of Electricity and Fuels, the snowfall disrupted electricity for 225 000 people. This event was part of a broader weather pattern affecting much of Chile this week. The frontal system, seen in the satellite image below, has impacted various towns across the country, forcing the closure of roads and suspension of classes. YouTube video Santiago is rarely at a below-freezing temperature and rarely experiences snow due to its temperate semi-arid climate (with Mediterranean patterns) and its relatively low altitude. The city typically experiences mild winters with cool temperatures and rain. The snowfall on May 7 is even more unusual as it’s early in the Southern Hemisphere winter season when temperatures are generally not cold enough for snow. Most past instances of snowfall in Santiago have occurred much later in the winter. In July 2020, snow fell in the eastern part of Santiago, particularly in Lo Barnechea. A more significant event in July 2017 blanketed much of the city, leading to widespread power outages similar to yesterday’s disruption.

April temperatures in Indonesia hottest for more than four decades -- Indonesia experienced its hottest April in more than four decades, two senior weather agency officials said Wednesday, as the region endures a suffocating heat wave and global temperatures break records. Extreme heat has blasted Asia from India to the Philippines in recent weeks, triggering heatstroke deaths, school closures and desperate prayers for cooling rain. "The average air temperature in April 2024 was the highest compared to April from 1981-2023," Achmad Fachri Radjab, head of the meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency (BMKG) climate change information center, told AFP. Ardhasena Sopaheluwakan, BMKG's deputy of climatology, also confirmed the agency's findings to AFP. Indonesia recorded an average air temperature in April of 27.74 degrees Celsius (81.93 Fahrenheit), the highest for the month since 1981 and beating the last highest average April temperature set in 2016 by 0.1 degrees, according to BMKG data. It also represented an increase of nearly one degree Celsius in April this year compared to the month's average temperature of 26.85 degrees Celsius for the period 1991 to 2020, the agency said. "This year, it was 0.89 degrees higher than the average (for that period)," said Radjab. "When it comes to causes, there are a lot of factors, not only climate factors but also environmental factors that must have an influence." Residents of South Asia and Southeast Asia from Myanmar to the Philippines were punished last month as they sweltered in record temperatures. More than 100 temperature records fell across Vietnam in April while Bangladesh and Myanmar also saw heat records for the month broken. But Guswanto, deputy BMKG chief who goes by one name, told local media last month Indonesia was not experiencing the same heat wave and that temperatures were at normal levels. The agency then said Indonesia's own higher temperatures were not linked to the wider regional heat wave, instead blaming it on a transition to the dry season that causes less rainfall and higher air temperatures, according to a BMKG statement Monday. The natural El Niño pattern, which warms the Pacific Ocean and leads to a rise in global temperatures, peaked earlier this year. But the average global sea surface temperatures still broke records in April for the 13th consecutive month.

Giant hailstones destroy over 15 000 homes in Manipur, India - (4 videos) A severe hailstorm struck Manipur, northeast India, on May 5, 2024, resulting in the death of one person and the destruction of over 15 000 homes and other structures. The storm, characterized by heavy rains, giant hail, and strong winds, wreaked havoc across several districts, leaving extensive structural and agricultural damage in its wake. Chief Minister N. Biren Singh reported that 15 425 houses, numerous vehicles, and other properties were severely damaged due to the powerful storm on Sunday, May 5, which included intense rains and giant hail (7+ cm) accompanied by strong winds. The districts of Imphal West and Imphal East were the hardest hit, with 6 053 and 5 600 homes damaged, respectively. Additional damages were reported in Bishnupur, Thoubal, Churachandpur, Kangpokpi, Ukhrul, and other areas, totaling the destruction of over 15 000 homes. The hailstorm also left many vehicles with cracked windows or severe damage due to the size of the hailstones and the strength of the winds. In addition, at least six churches in the hilly districts suffered significant damage, including roofs being torn off by strong winds. Severe agricultural damage was reported, along with a significant toll on livestock.” In response to the extensive damage and to aid those affected, the state government opened 42 relief camps providing temporary shelter and distributed essential relief materials through Deputy Commissioners. To mitigate the economic impact, Chief Minister Singh announced measures to prevent price hikes in roofing and construction materials and confirmed that compensation would be provided for the loss of livestock, crops, and vegetables suffered by farmers. The education department, citing the widespread destruction and the potential for further severe weather, decided to close all schools—government-aided, private, and central—on May 6 and 7. The Meteorological Department has issued an orange alert, forecasting heavy to very heavy rains across several northeastern states, including Manipur, until May 7. This alert comes as parts of the valley areas in Imphal East and Imphal West districts were blanketed with 4 to 5 inches (10 to 12.7 cm) of ice, covering the landscape in what resembled thick snow. Update 07:13 UTC, May 9: Severe vegetable production crisis. In what could turn out to be a big worry, Manipur is poised for a severe crisis in vegetable production in months to come as a fallout of this violent hailstorm, the Nagaland Post reports. The hailstorm caused significant agricultural damage, particularly in the Bishnupur district, which is the state’s largest vegetable-producing area. Farmers in the Phumlou area were particularly hard-hit, with approximately 60 farmers experiencing total crop destruction over 30 ha (74 acres) of paddy fields. Key crops such as watermelon, cucumber, brinjal, pumpkin, and green chili were completely destroyed, along with substantial damage to seasonal fruits like mangoes. The devastation has disrupted potential income, with losses estimated at Rs two lakh per hectare.

Deadly landslides and floods ravage northern Haiti, killing 13 and displacing thousands - At least 13 people have lost their lives in northern Haiti over the past couple of days due to floods and landslides triggered by severe rainfall that has also left thousands of homes destroyed or severely damaged. The most significant impact was felt in Cap-Haïtien, where a landslide caused by torrential rains demolished multiple homes. The destruction peaked on Thursday, May 2, 2024, when intense rainfall led to the collapse of a home in Barrière Bouteille, a southern district of Cap-Haïtien. The collapse initiated a deadly chain reaction that demolished two additional residences downhill, marking one of the most severe incidents in recent weeks. Haiti’s Civil Protection office has reported that in total, 2 225 homes were flooded and 15 suffered extensive damage. Regions across Haiti have experienced adverse weather over the past month, but Cap-Haïtien, the nation’s second-largest city, has been particularly hard hit. The city has become a refuge for many fleeing ongoing violence and political instability in Port-au-Prince, compounding local resources and infrastructure already stretched thin by an influx of displaced populations. This escalation in migration is occurring as gangs continue to destabilize the capital, with violent attacks aimed at toppling the government since February 29. Agricultural sectors in rural areas near Cap-Haïtien have also been hit hard, with significant losses reported in livestock and crop destruction, particularly in Cerca la Source in central Haiti. According to the Civil Protection office, regions like Grand’Anse, Nippes, South, Southeast, West, and Center have suffered the most, with additional casualties including two women and a child from the northwest, who died between April 26 and 28 due to similar weather-related disasters. This series of events comes at the onset of Haiti’s rainy season, coinciding with a critical period of political turmoil and escalating gang violence. The crisis is compounded by the closure of Port-au-Prince’s main airport to commercial traffic since March 4, following security concerns that led major airlines to halt operations. This closure, alongside halted seaport activities, has severely disrupted the delivery of essential supplies, including food, medicine, and humanitarian aid, resulting in widespread shortages across the country. The United Nations has reported a dramatic increase in internal displacement, with over 90 000 people forced to leave their homes in the capital alone. The resurgence of cholera has further complicated the situation, with the World Health Organization documenting 82 875 suspected cases since its return in October 2022 — a new peak for the country. Despite the urgent need for international assistance, a U.N. plea for $674 million in aid has seen less than 8% of the funds raised.

Magma buildup raises risk of intensified eruption or new fissures in Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula - The Icelandic Met Office reports ongoing magma accumulation and land rise in Svartsengi, indicating a heightened risk for intensified volcanic activity or the formation of new fissures in the Reykjanes Peninsula. The Icelandic Met Office (IMO) released a new update on May 7, 2024, detailing the continued accumulation of magma and land rise in the Svartsengi region of Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula. According to their latest observations, magma is building up at a steady pace, increasing pressure in the magma chamber beneath Svartsengi. The ongoing geological activity raises the likelihood of intensified eruptions or new fissure formations in the region. The Sundhnúks crater series is still erupting, although lava is currently flowing only a short distance from the crater, and activity has diminished in recent days. The southern portion of the lava bed, situated near defenses to the east of Grindavík, has seen little to no change over the last week. Despite this slowdown, magma continues to accumulate, and the pressure inside the magma chamber remains high, suggesting an ongoing buildup that could fuel further volcanic activity. Satellite image of a lava field in Reykjanes Peninsula on May 1, 2024. Image credit: Copernicus EU/Sentinel-2, The Watchers satellite image of lava field in reykjanes peninsula iceland on may 1 2023 NC zoom Micro-seismic activity in the surrounding areas has shown a gradual increase, particularly north of the current crater between Sundhnúk and Stóri Skógfell, and south of Þorbjörn in the large graben near Grindavík. This activity, most of which involves small earthquakes less than magnitude 1, is indicative of rising tension in and around the magma passage due to increased pressure in the Svartsengi magma chamber. This trend is monitored closely, as it could foreshadow an uptick in volcanic activity. The map shows seismic activity in Svartsengi, Reykjanes Peninsula, Iceland since April 15, 2024 The Icelandic Met Office outlined two likely scenarios for the immediate future: New fissures may open between Stóra-Scógfell and Hagafell, or an existing fissure may expand, leading to a sudden surge in lava flow comparable to the initial phase of the last eruption. This increase could occur with minimal or no advance warning. Alternatively, magma flow from the Svartsengi chamber to the active Sundhnúks crater may gradually increase until an equilibrium is reached between inflow and outflow. Both scenarios carry inherent risks of increased volcanic activity, and authorities have issued warnings to local communities accordingly. The Met Office emphasized that sudden series of small earthquakes, rapid land deformation, and pressure changes in boreholes would be key indicators of significant magma movement. They also caution that the warning period before such events could be less than 30 minutes, or even nonexistent. There is uncertainty about how the earthquakes will progress now that the eruption has lasted for over a month and magma continues to accumulate in the magma chamber beneath Svartsengi. Although the above scenarios are considered the most probable, close monitoring is being conducted to see if magma might shift towards areas other than the Sundhnúks crater series. Special attention is being paid to areas north of Stóra-Scógfell and south of Hagafell and Þorbjörn. If magma were to break through to the surface in regions that have not yet erupted, the seismic warnings would be more pronounced, presenting as much stronger and more intense seismic activity than what was observed before the previous eruptions.

Aerial footage captures aftermath of major eruptions at Ruang volcano, Indonesia - On May 5, 2024, Indonesia’s volcanology agency, PVMGB, released aerial footage of the Ruang volcano following a series of powerful eruptions that have dramatically reshaped the landscape and forced nearly 10 000 people to evacuate permanently. Volcanic activity at Ruang rapidly increased on April 16, when the volcano experienced a series of explosive eruptions that ejected ash as high as 16.7 km (55 000 feet) above sea level. In response, the Alert Level was raised to 4, the highest possible, and the Aviation Color Code to Red.Initial evacuations saw approximately 800 residents from Ruang Island relocated for safety. However, as the situation worsened, by April 17, the evacuation zone expanded to include at least 11 000 people from both Ruang and the neighboring Tagulandang Island.Hendra Gunawan, head of Indonesia’s volcanology agency, warned about the threats presented by the volcano — pyroclastic flows, incandescent rocks, and a potential tsunami triggered by parts of the volcano collapsing into the sea.Infrastructure damage has been extensive, with at least 501 houses and buildings reported damaged. Sam Ratulangi International Airport, located about 100 km (62 miles) SSE of the volcano in Manado, had to close temporarily due to falling ash and debris.A subsequent eruption on April 29 proved even more powerful, ejecting ash up to an estimated 19.2 km (63 000 feet) into the atmosphere. This eruption covered the Ruang and Tagulandang islands with a thick layer of volcanic ash, leading to significant property damage, including collapsed roofs due to the weight of the ash.Heavy ashfall prompted further airport closures extending to Gorontalo Province, disrupting regional air travel and complicating logistic efforts for aid and evacuation processes.The following video of Ruang Island was captured and released by PVMBG on May 5:For comparison, see satellite images of the island on March 18 and April 27, 2024:In light of these ongoing challenges, a cabinet meeting on May 2, led by Lt. Gen. TNI Suharyanto S.Sos., MM of the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), focused extensively on evacuation and disaster management strategies.Current efforts concentrate on the permanent relocation of 9 800 residents living within a 7 km (4.3 miles) from the crater.

Near-Earth asteroids 2024 JR1 and 2024 JD close approach live views - Two near-Earth asteroids, designated 2024 JR1 and 2024 JD, are set to make a close approach to Earth between May 7 and May 8, 2024. Both asteroids will come within less than the distance of the moon (1 LD), with 2024 JR1 approaching at about 0.72 LD (275 800 km / 171 415 miles) and 2024 JD at approximately 0.77 LD (295 000 km / 183 700 miles). Asteroid 2024 JR1, discovered on May 4, 2024, measures between 7.6 and 17 m (24.9 to 55.8 feet) in diameter. It is expected to reach its closest approach to Earth on May 7 at 00:04 UTC. The second asteroid, 2024 JD, was discovered slightly earlier, on May 1, 2024. It has an estimated diameter of 8.2 to 18 m (26.9 to 59.1 feet) and will make its nearest approach on May 8 at 13:34 UTC. Both asteroids were tracked and analyzed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which confirmed that there are no risks to Earth from these encounters. The Virtual Telescope Project has announced it will host a live feed of these close approaches, offering a unique opportunity for public viewing. The live stream is scheduled to begin on May 6, 2024, at 19:30 UTC. The Virtual Telescope Project provides an excellent platform for astronomy enthusiasts and the general public to observe these asteroids from home. Those interested in witnessing this celestial spectacle can access the live stream at the designated start time. YouTube video Since the beginning of the year, our sky surveys have identified 38 asteroids with orbits that bring them within one lunar distance of Earth. Of them, 12 were in the month of April. The closest was 2024 HA at a distance of just 0.4 LD / 0.00010 AU (15 550 km / 9 662 miles) at 17:42 UTC on April 16, 2024. This made it the closest asteroid flyby of the year and the 20th closest on record. The largest was 2024 HT1 with an estimated diameter between 33 and 74 m (108 – 242 feet). It made a close approach at 0.9 LD on April 26

M9.1 solar flare erupts from geoeffective Region 3663 - A very strong solar flare measuring M9.1 erupted from Active Region 3663 at 06:19 UTC on May 4, 2024. The event started at 06:02 and ended at 06:30 UTC. This is the 6^th and the strongest M-class solar flare since X1.6 on May 3.This eruption was associated with type II (estimated velocity 950 km/s) and IV radio emissions, suggesting a coronal mass ejection (CME) was produced.In addition, a 10 cm Radio Burst with a peak flux of 280 sfu was detected from 06:13 to O6:16 UTC. A 10cm radio burst indicates that the electromagnetic burst associated with a solar flare at the 10cm wavelength was double or greater than the initial 10cm radio background. This can be indicative of significant radio noise in association with a solar flare. The noise is generally short-lived but can cause interference for sensitive receivers including radar, GPS, and satellite communications.Radio frequencies were forecast to be most degraded over Asia and the Indian Ocean at the time of the flare.While coronagraph imagery is still unavailable, the location of Region 3663 suggests a part of the ejecta may be Earth-directed.Such was the case with the X1.6 solar flare on May 3. While most of it appeared to be heading north, forecast models now suggest a part of it will impact Earth late May 5 into May 6. As a result, a G2 – Moderate geomagnetic storm watch is in effect.

Major X1.3 solar flare erupts from Region 3663 - A major solar flare measuring X1.3 erupted from Active Region 3663 at 06:01 UTC on May 5, 2024. The event started at 05:47 and ended at 06:09 UTC. This is the second X-class solar flare from this region since X1.6 at 02:22 UTC on May 3. It doesn’t appear this flare produced a coronal mass ejection (CME). If it was, however, there is a chance we’ll see at least a part of it coming our way. Radio frequencies were forecast to be most degraded over the Middle East, Asia, and the Indian Ocean at the time of the flare.Region 3663 (beta-gamma-delta) produced an M9.1 flare at 06:19 UTC and M9.9 at 23:48 UTC on May 4. A Type II (estimated velocity 950 km/s) and Type IV radio sweep, along with a Tenflare, were observed with the M9.1 event. A CME is suspected to be associated with the flare, however, coronagraph imagery has been unavailable since 23:37 UTC on May 3 due to an apparent outage.Regions 3663 and 3664 (beta-delta) persist as the largest and most complex regions on the disk, with minor growth noted in both. New Region 3667 (alpha) was numbered and the remaining regions were either stable or in decay over the past 36 hours.

Major X1.2 solar flare erupts from Region 3663 — second X-class flare of the day - A major solar flare measuring X1.2 erupted from Active Region 3663 (beta-gamma-delta) at 11:54 UTC on May 5, 2024. The event started at 11:41 and ended at 12:16 UTC. This is the second X-class solar flare of the day, after X1.3 at 06:01 UTC, and the third from Region 3663 since X1.6 on May 3. Similarly to the previous X-class flare, the X1.2 at 11:54 UTC didn’t have associated radio signatures that would suggest a coronal mass ejection (CME) was produced. If it was, there is a potential that some of it is Earth-directed. Unfortunately, LASCO coronagraph imagery has been unavailable since late May 3, making CME impacts — from this and previous significant events, hard to forecast. Radio signatures were forecast to be most degraded over Europe, Africa, and the Atlantic Ocean at the time of the flare. Region 3663 also produced three R2 – Moderate events and 3 R1 – Minor, as well as a Tenflare (280 sfu) associated with a C8.8 flare at 03:17 UTC, in 24 hours to 12:30 UTC on May 5. Region 3664 (beta-delta) also produced M-class activity with an M2.3 (R1) flare at 09:38 UTC. “Analysis and modeling of any associated CMEs will be conducted once coronagraph imagery becomes available,” SWPC forecasters said, referring to LASCO issues. Regions 3663 and 3664 exhibited minor growth over the past 24 hours, while the newly numbered Region 3668 (beta) was relatively quiet. The remaining active regions were mostly stable or in gradual decay.

Major X4.5 solar flare erupts from Region 3663 — fourth X-class flare in 3 days - A powerful, long-duration solar flare measuring X4.5 erupted from Active Region 3663 at 06:35 UTC on May 6, 2024. The event started at 05:38 and ended at 06:47 UTC.This is the 4^th and the strongest X-class solar flare from Region 3663 — following X1.6 on May 3, and X1.3 and X1.2 on May 5. It is also the 3^rd strongest solar flare of Solar Cycle 25 — following X6.3 on February 22, 2024, and X5.0 on December 31, 2023.No radio sweeps were observed with the event but a coronal mass ejection (CME) signature was observed in coronagraph imagery beginning at 07:12 UTC in SOHO/LASCO C2 imagery. The CME was modeled and shown to be narrow and oriented far northward of the Sun-Earth line. No Earth impacts are expected from this event.Radio frequencies were forecast to be most degraded over eastern Europe, the Middle East, NE Africa, Asia, the Indian Ocean, and the West Pacific at the time of the flare.Solar activity reached very high levels in 24 hours to 00:30 UTC on May 6, with two X-class flares and nine M-class flares observed throughout the period. This period also saw a marked increase of the background X-ray flux and the overall intensity and frequency of flare activity.Region 3663 (beta-gamma-delta) produced an X1.3/1b flare at 06:01 UTC and an X1.2/1b flare at 11:54 UTC on May 5, along with two R2 – Moderate events and four R1 – Minor events.The region continued a trend of growth with the consolidation of mixed polarity spots noted in the intermediate spot area.Region 3664 (beta-delta) increased in areal extent and total spot count, and produced three R1 – Minor events.Minor growth was observed in new Region 3668 (beta) while new Region 3669 (alpha) was stable. The remaining regions were either stable or in decay.Coronagraph imagery from SOHO/LASCO has been restored following an outage that began around 23:27 UTC. All CME events that occurred during the outage have been analyzed and no Earth-directed CMEs were detected, SWPC forecasters said.Solar activity is expected to be at high levels through May 8, with M-class flares expected (90%) and a high chance for X-class flares (50%), due to the flare potential of Regions 3663 and 3664.There is a chance (30%) for the greater than 10 MeV proton flux to reach S1 – Minor solar radiation storm levels through May 8 due to the flare potential of Regions 3663 and 3664.Ambient solar wind conditions were observed until around 15:00 UTC on May 5, when a mild enhancement, likely associated with the arrival of the CME produced by the X1.6 flare on May 3, commenced. Total field strength increased to 14 nT late in the day and the Bz component was sustained southward, by as much as -12 nT, after 18:30 UTC. Solar wind speeds fluctuated between 300 – 390 km/s and the phi angle was variable.Periods of G1 – Minor to G2 – Moderate storming are likely today due to CME activity and positive polarity coronal hole high speed stream (CH HSS) influences. Active conditions are likely on May 7 with the expected onset of another positive polarity CH HSS.

Long-duration X1.0 solar flare erupts from geoeffective Region 3664, CME impact expected on May 11 - A major solar flare measuring X1.0 erupted from Active Region 3664 at 05:09 UTC on May 8, 2024. The event started at 04:37 and ended at 05:32 UTC. Preliminary modeling efforts showed CME arrival time early on May 11. This is the second X-class solar flare of the day, following another X1.0 at 01:41 UTC. A Type II Radio Emission with an estimated velocity of 1 152 km/s was registered at 05:01 UTC, suggesting a coronal mass ejection (CME) was produced. A Type IV Radio Emission was registered at 05:08 UTC. These emissions occur in association with major eruptions on the Sun and are typically associated with strong CMEs and solar radiation storms. Additionally, a 10cm Radio Burst (tenflare) lasting 22 minutes and with a peak flux of 570 sfu was associated with this event. This indicates that the electromagnetic burst associated with a solar flare at the 10cm wavelength was double or greater than the initial 10cm radio background. This can be indicative of significant radio noise in association with a solar flare. The noise is generally short-lived but can cause interference for sensitive receivers including radar, GPS, and satellite communications. Radio frequencies were forecast to be most degraded over Asia, the Indian Ocean, parts of Australia, and West Pacific Ocean at the time of the flare. Additionally, it has a ‘beta-gamma-delta’ magnetic configuration and is capable of producing more strong to major eruptions on the Sun. Any CME produced by this region over the next few days has a good chance of being Earth-directed. A halo CME associated with today’s X1.0 flare event is first visible in LASCO C2 imagery near 06:00 UTC. Preliminary modeling efforts showed an arrival time early on May 11. However, additional analysis and modeling are ongoing, SWPC forecasters said at 12:30 UTC today. This was the second X-class solar flare of the UTC day, following an impulsive X1.0 at 01:39 UTC from Region 3663 — now located near the NW limb. CME was not produced by this event. In 7 days to 08:00 UTC on May 8, our star produced 44 M-class and 6 X-class solar flares, most of them by regions 3663 and 3664. The strongest CMEs produced by this activity were directed away from Earth. It’s possible that a part of the CME produced on May 6 is heading our way. However, only a glancing blow is anticipated, causing unsettled to active geomagnetic field conditions on May 9. Solar activity is expected to persist at moderate to high levels through at least May 10, with M-class flares (R1 – Minor to R2 – Moderate) expected (90%) and a high chance for X-class flares (R3 – Strong / 25%), due to the continued flare potential of Regions 3663 and 3664.

At least 5 CMEs heading toward Earth, G3 - Strong Geomagnetic Storm Watch in effect for May 11 - At least five coronal mass ejections (CMEs) produced over the past 3 days are heading toward Earth. The first impact is expected on May 9 and the following over the next 3 – 4 days.

• At least 5 CMEs will impact Earth from May 9 – 13
• G3 – Strong Geomagnetic Storm Watch is in effect for May 11
• An X2.2 solar flare erupted during the writing of this report. A strong CME was produced and is likely Earth-directed

“It’s a solar storm train! We now have FIVE storms headed towards Earth,” said space weather physicist, Dr. Tamitha Skov on May 9. “Storms 2, 3, and 5 will be direct hits as seen in the coronagraph imagery. Impacts start around midday May 10 and will continue through late May 12 at least. G3-level conditions and extended aurora aurora is possible.”According to SWPC forecasters, unsettled to active geomagnetic field conditions are possible mid to late (UTC) May 9 as glancing effects from a CME produced on May 6 are expected to start influencing Earth. By late May 10, two halo CMEs from May 8 are anticipated to arrive at Earth, increasing the geomagnetic response to G1 – Minor storm levels. Early on May 11, conditions are likely to reach G2 – Moderate storm levels, with a chance for G3 – Strong levels, as the bulk of the CME moves past Earth. “While confidence in timing is fairly high, confidence in magnitude/strength of the geomagnetic response to the CME arrival is low to moderate,” SWPC forecasters said at 00:30 UTC on May 9. YouTube video The Sun has been extremely active since the beginning of the month, producing more than 50 M-class flares — some of them very close to X-class, and 8 X-class flares —the strongest of which was X4.5 on May 6. The latest was X2.2 at 09:13 UTC on May 9 from Region 3664. This event was associated with a Type IV and Type II Radio Emission (with an estimated velocity of 1 004 km/s) — suggesting a strong CME was produced. LASCO coronagraph imagery is still not available for this event, but there is a very good chance this one will have parts of it heading our way, too.

G4 - Severe geomagnetic storm expected as multiple CMEs merge and impact Earth on May 11 - Multiple coronal mass ejections (CMEs) — of which at least 4 halo CMEs produced by Active Region 3664 over the past few days — will hit Earth, starting late May 10 into May 11, 2024. A G4 – Severe or greater geomagnetic storm is expected on May 11, with effects potentially extending into May 12 and 13. The storm is anticipated to impact regions primarily poleward of 45 degrees Geomagnetic Latitude. It could lead to widespread voltage control issues, with some protective systems potentially tripping key assets from the power grid due to mistakenly identified faults. Pipeline currents are also expected to intensify. Spacecraft systems may face surface charging, heightened drag on low-earth orbit satellites, and potential tracking and orientation challenges. Satellite navigation (GPS) systems may experience significant degradation or become inoperable for hours. High-frequency (HF) radio communication could face sporadic propagation or complete blackouts. The aurora borealis might be visible as far south as Alabama and northern California. G4 is the second-highest geomagnetic storm classification on NOAA’s scale, occurring approximately 100 times per solar cycle, which spans 11 years. The only classification above G4 is G5 – Extreme, which occurs around four times per cycle. A G5 – Extreme geomagnetic storm can have widespread and significant impacts across various systems. In power systems, these storms can lead to voltage control issues and malfunctions in protective systems, potentially causing entire grids to collapse or experience blackouts. Transformers can also suffer damage due to increased electrical stress. Spacecraft operations may face severe surface charging, which can interfere with orientation. Uplink and downlink signals, as well as satellite tracking, can be disrupted, hindering communication and data transmission. In other systems, pipeline currents can surge to hundreds of amps, causing potential damage to pipeline infrastructure. High-frequency (HF) radio propagation may become impossible in many areas for up to two days, and satellite navigation could be degraded for several days. Low-frequency radio navigation may also be unavailable for hours. The aurora can appear as far south as Florida and southern Texas, around 40° geomagnetic latitude, during these storms. Enhancements in the solar wind environment are likely to start today, May 9, following the anticipated glancing effects of a CME that departed the Sun on May 6. Then, late on May 10 and into May 11, stronger enhancements are likely as the three CMEs that departed the Sun on May 8 and 9 are anticipated to merge into one and impact Earth. “A new NOAA forecast model suggests that three of them could merge to form a potent Cannibal CME,” said Dr. Tony Phillips of SpaceWeather.com. “Cannibal CMEs form when fast-moving CMEs overtake slower CMEs in front of them, Phillips explains. “Internal shock waves created by such CME collisions do a good job sparking geomagnetic storms when they strike Earth’s magnetic field.” Solar researchers believe cannibal CMEs may be the source of ‘complex ejecta’ CME clouds; those with a larger and more complex structure than typical CMEs. These traits cause complex ejecta CMEs to trigger protracted magnetic storms when they envelop the Earth, according to NOAA.This impact will be followed by a CME produced by an approximately 35° long filament that erupted on May 8. Analysis and modeling of this event determined a possible Earth-directed component with similar timing to the halo CMEs mentioned above. The fourth halo CME was produced during today’s X2.2 solar flare at 09:13 UTC. This one will also impact Earth in 2 to 3 days, adding to the already severely disturbed conditions. However, that’s not the end as another X-class solar flare, this time measuring X1.1 erupted from AR 3664 at 17:44 UTC on May 9. Type IV and II radio emissions were associated with this event, suggesting a strong CME was produced. Due to the location of the responsible region, there is a good possibility this CME is also heading toward Earth. Combine all that together, and you get extremely busy solar activity resulting in severe geomagnetic storming over the next couple of days. This sequence of events will be analyzed for a long time and surely enter history books. Region 3664 has a ‘beta-gamma-delta’ magnetic configuration and is capable of producing more powerful solar storms and CMEs in the days ahead. While it has moved from the center of the disk it still has the potential to send more CMEs toward us. The Sun has been extremely active since the beginning of the month, producing 67 M-class flares — some of them very close to X-class, and 9 X-class flares —the strongest of which was X4.5 on May 6.

World extends run of heat records for an 11th month in a row -April was the Earth's 11th consecutive month of record-breaking heat, with warmer weather already sweeping across Asia and a hotter-than-usual summer expected in Europe.The European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service said last month's temperatures globally were 1.58°C (2.8°F) above historical averages and marked the hottest April on record. The past 12 months have been 1.61°C higher than pre-industrial temperatures, exceeding the 1.5°C threshold that policymakers and scientists say could threaten life on the planet."While temperature variations associated with natural cycles like El Niño come and go, the extra energy trapped into the ocean and the atmosphere by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases will keep pushing the global temperature towards new records," Copernicus Director Carlo Buontempo said in a statement.The Copernicus program— the world's biggest provider of climate data—uses billions of measurements from satellites, ships, aircraft and weather stations around the world for its monthly and seasonal forecasts.

Fewer Americans see climate change as very serious problem: Survey - Fewer Americans today see climate change as a “very serious” problem than they did three years ago, according to a new survey released Monday. The Monmouth University poll, conducted on April 18-22 shows a 10-point decline in Americans who says climate change is a “very serious” problem, falling from 56 percent in September 2021 to 46 percent in April. The decline was less steep overall – with 66 percent describing climate change as a problem that’s either “very serious” or “somewhat serious.” That’s down from 2021, when 70 percent of respondents described the climate change problem as either “very serious” or “somewhat serious.” Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute, attributed this trend to a decline in urgency among Americans. “Most Americans continue to believe climate change is real. The difference in these latest poll results is a decline in a sense of urgency around this issue,” Murray said. The decline in urgency can be seen most acutely among young people – who have historically viewed climate change as a “very serious” problem at significantly higher rates than other age groups. Among adults ages 18-34, there was a 17-point drop over the last three years in those calling climate change a “very serious” problem. Sixty-seven percent in this age group said climate change was a very serious problem in 2021, compared to 50 percent this year. Adults ages 35-54 saw a 4-point decline in those thinking climate change is a “very serious” problem, from 48 percent to 44 percent, while adults ages 55 and older saw a 10-point decline, from 54 percent to 44 percent. The poll shows the trend extends to Democrats and Republicans. Today, 77 percent of Democrats describe climate change as a “very serious” problem, down 8 points from 2021. Thirteen percent of Republicans say climate change is a “very serious” problem, down from 21 percent in 2021. Among independents, 43 percent say climate change is a “very serious” problem – down 13 points from 2021. Meanwhile, the share of Americans who say climate change is not happening has ticked up slightly, from 18 percent in September 2021 to 23 percent in April 2024.

Occidental Petroleum’s net-zero strategy is a ‘license to pollute,’ critics say -- More so than any other fossil fuel company, Occidental Petroleum — known as Oxy — has built its climate strategy around innovations that capture carbon before it can be emitted or pull it directly out of the air. The Texas-based oil giant, which made more than $23 billion in revenue last year, says on its website that these “visionary technologies” will help it achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions and enable a lower-carbon future. Scientists agree that such technologies will be necessary to limit global warming. But Oxy’s plans for them appear to be less about sustainability and more about creating a “license to pollute,” according to a new analysis from the nonprofit Carbon Market Watch. The analysis describes Oxy’s focus on carbon capture and removal as a “costly fig leaf for business as usual,” allowing the company to claim emissions reductions while continuing to profit from the sale of fossil fuels — rebranded as “net-zero oil” and “sustainable aviation fuels.”The company “makes this whole spiel about meeting the Paris Agreement’s goals, but it’s very clearly flying in the face of that,” said Marlène Ramón Hernández, an expert on carbon removal at Carbon Market Watch and a co-author of the report. “What we have to do is phase out fossil fuels, not perpetuate their life.”Oxy first outlined its net-zero strategy in 2020, making it the first American oil major to do so. Today, Oxy describes that strategyusing four R’s: The company says it will “reduce” operational emissions, “revolutionize” carbon management, “remove” carbon from the atmosphere, and “reuse/recycle” it to produce new low-carbon or zero-emissions products. Its overarching goal is to achieve net-zero emissions for its operations and indirect energy use by 2040. This is where the problems begin, according to Carbon Market Watch. Despite Oxy’s net-zero pledge for its operation and energy use, it is much vaguer about the emissions associated with the oil and gas it sells. These emissions, known as Scope 3 emissions, represented more than 90 percent of Oxy’s greenhouse gas footprint in 2022. The company has asserted an “ambition” to zero them out by 2050. However, Oxy does not plan to reduce Scope 3 emissions by phasing down the production of oil and gas, but through investments in carbon removal. Direct air capture, or DAC — a technology that uses large fans and chemical reactions to separate carbon dioxide from the air — is a main focus. An Oxy subsidiary called Oxy Low Carbon Ventures announced in 2022 that it would deploy up to 135 DAC plants by 2035, and last year Oxy bought a major DAC technology company for $1.1 billion. Some of Oxy’s DAC projects are already in the pipeline. The largest, called Stratos, is under construction in the Permian Basin, a massive oil field, in Texas. If it reaches its nameplate capacity of capturing half a million metric tons of carbon dioxide a year — which Oxy says it will do by mid-2025 — it will be 14 times larger than the biggest DAC facility in the world. (That facility, owned by the Swiss company Climeworks, began operating in Iceland this week with a nominal capacity of 36,000 metric tons of CO2 per year.)In order for DAC to result in net removal of carbon dioxide, however, captured carbon has to be kept out of the atmosphere for good. This is usually achieved by locking it up in rock formations. Oxy CEO Vicki Hollub, however, has said this would be a “waste of a valuable product,” and instead plans to use the captured carbon. In one application, it would be converted into synthetic electrofuels — low-carbon fuels produced from their chemical constituents using electricity — and sold to other companies. The other major application is for a process known as enhanced oil recovery, where CO2 is injected into oil and gas wells in order to extract hard-to-reach reserves of fossil fuels. This forms the basis for Oxy’s “net-zero oil” claims. According to the company’s logic, the atmospheric carbon dioxide injected into the ground cancels out any new emissions from the oil and gas it’s used to pull up. In an interview with NPR last December, Hollub said this approach means that “there’s no reason not to produce oil and gas forever.”

Another solar tariff fight looms on Capitol Hill - -Tariffs on Chinese solar panels that caused significant Hill turmoil in the past are once again threatening rifts between Democrats, the solar industry and President Joe Biden.In 2022, the Biden administration put a pause on tariffs that were set to be imposed on Chinese manufacturers who routed panels through four Southeast Asian countries. The matter was the subject of intense lobbying by U.S. solar generation interests and Democrats who argued that, despite apparent wrongdoing by China, tariffs would cripple the industry by raising prices.That pause is set to expire June 6. In addition, some domestic solar manufacturers are asking the administration to impose more extensive tariffs. Both developments are reviving a dispute that has been relatively dormant for months.“We can either let cheap Chinese panels and Southeast Asian panels circumvent our tariffs and destroy the American solar industry or not,” Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) told E&E News. “That’s the choice before the Biden administration right now.”Ossoff, whose state boasts several solar manufacturing plants, this week called for the immediate end to the moratorium.And Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), whose state also hosts solar manufacturing, has called on the White House to “immediately” impose new tariffs on the Chinese solar industry.But Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) said, “We’ve got a growing solar industry, not only in Arizona, but across this country. We can’t put ourselves in a situation that results in projects being shut down because they don’t have access to [solar panel] parts.”The situation could result in a déjà vu moment. After the 2022 moratorium, some Democrats forced Biden to veto a bipartisan effort to overturn it.The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the request for new solar tariffs. Last month, a new coalition of seven leading U.S. solar manufacturers filed a petition with the Commerce Department requesting the new tariffs on imports from four Southeast Asian nations.The group alleged that some Chinese companies had moved their heavily subsidized solar operations to Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.They requested that Commerce investigate that development and impose more extensive anti-dumping and countervailing duty tariffs.An attorney for the coalition said the current moratorium only applies to Chinese companies that manufacture solar panels in Southeast Asia with Chinese parts, which limits the impact of those tariffs by excluding companies that produce solar cells in Southeast Asia with base materials originating in China.“When the tariff holiday expires on June 6, most of the imports from those countries won’t be covered because it’s no longer primarily a Chinese product. We need these cases to cover the product that’s actually made in those four [Southeast Asian] countries,” Tim Brightbill said in an interview. The four Southeast Asia countries accounted for more than 80 percent of U.S. solar panel imports in the fourth quarter of last year, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. There is hope among some clean energy Democrats and solar manufacturing leaders that political blowup could be avoided this time around.An influx of panels, mostly from China, and the effect of Inflation Reduction Act incentives have resulted in a 50 percent decrease in prices over the last year, with the International Energy Agency projecting even more drops over the next decade.That’s exactly why manufacturers are pushing the new tariffs, as they believe Chinese companies are intentionally bringing down prices with a supply glut to put U.S. factories out of business.The price realities have some industry players and advocates hoping the effect of new tariffs, if successful, would be more muted than if tariffs were implemented in 2022. “We just had the best year ever for solar,” said Senate Budget Chair Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), an outspoken climate hawk. “I think that the demand and the pressure and the lower cost … would still put solar on a strong trajectory.” Whitehouse did not indicate whether he was supportive of new tariffs.

Discharge of scrubber water into the Baltic Sea is responsible for hundreds of millions in costs --Discharge from ships with so-called scrubbers cause great damage to the Baltic Sea. A new study from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, shows that these emissions caused pollution corresponding to socioeconomic costs of more than €680 million (approximately $730 million) between 2014 and 2022.At the same time, the researchers note that the shipping companies' investments in the much-discussed technology, where exhaust gases are "washed" and discharged into the sea, have already been recouped for most of the ships. This means that the industry is now making billions of euros by running its ships on cheap heavy fuel oil instead of cleaner fuel."We see a clear conflict of interest, where private economic interests come at the expense of the marine environment in one of the world's most sensitive seas," says Chalmers doctoral student Anna Lunde Hermansson, who is one of the authors of the new study, published in Nature Sustainability.The study has been prompted by the ongoing discussion of a potential ban on scrubber water discharge—where large volumes of polluted water are produced and discharged from the ships' exhaust gas cleaning systems. The issue is on the agenda at multiple levels within the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and is also being discussed at EU level as well as on national levels such as the Swedish Parliament, although a Swedish decision on a ban is yet to be made.Anna Lunde Hermansson and Chalmers colleagues Erik Ytreberg and Ida-Maja Hassellöv have been researching the environmental impact of shipping for many years and are contributing with their expertise in both international and national contexts.In a previous study, for example, they have shown that more than 200 million cubic meters of environmentally hazardous scrubber water is discharged into the Baltic Sea annually and that scrubber discharge water accounts for up to 9% of the total emissions of certain carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) into the Baltic Sea.In terms of the shipowner perspective, the researchers calculated the costs of installing and maintaining the scrubber systems, as well as the monetary gain from running the scrubber-equipped vessels on the cheaper and dirtier heavy fuel oil instead of the more expensive low-sulfur fuel alternatives.According to the calculations, the majority of the shipping companies that invested in scrubbers have already reached break even, and the total surplus by the end of 2022 for all of the 3,800 vessels, was €4.7 billion. The researchers also note that more than 95% of the most common scrubber system (so-called open loop) are repaid within five years."From the industry's point of view, it is often stressed that shipping companies have acted in good faith by investing in technology that would solve the problem of sulfur content in air emissions and that they should not be penalized. Our calculations show that most investments have already been recouped and that this is no longer a valid argument," says Lunde Hermansson.Recently, Denmark has decided to ban the discharge of scrubber water into so-called territorial waters, within 12 nautical miles of the coast. A number of countries around the world, such as Germany, France, Portugal, Turkey and China, have also adopted national bans or restrictions.

Cleveland port builds ‘electrification hub’ to lower emissions - The Port of Cleveland is going electric.One of the Great Lakes’ largest shipping ports is transforming part of a large warehouse into an “electrification hub” to anchor its emission-cutting efforts in the coming decades.The project is among the Cleveland-Cuyahoga Port Authority’s first steps toward its goal of net-zero emissions for its own operations by 2050. The target does not include “Scope 3” emissions from the ships, trains, and trucks that come and go from the port, but officials hope the upgrades will support their emissions cuts as well.“Upgrading the electric feed into the terminal is not the most exciting thing,” said Carly Beck, the port’s senior manager for planning, environment and information systems, but it’s a necessary foundation for all other parts of the port authority’s climate plan. Shipping ports are a major source of not only climate emissions but also harmful air pollution for nearby communities. Fossil fuels power most of the cranes, vehicles, and other equipment used to move commodities and consumer goods around the globe. The United Nations estimates that global shipping is responsible for about 3% of emissions worldwide.The Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority became the first port on the Great Lakes to announce a net-zero emissions goal when its board unanimously approved its climate action plan last September. In February, the boardapproved spending $32 million from state and federal transportation grants to modernize the warehouse and make electrification upgrades. Cleveland’s downtown port on Lake Erie handles about 13 million tons of cargo each year, from steel and iron ore to wind turbine parts and heavy machinery. Most goes to or comes from parts of Ohio and neighboring states via rail or truck.“Lake Erie … sits at a very important position geographically as part of the Great Lakes,” said Dana Rodriguez, a senior analyst on global shipping at the Environmental Defense Fund. The Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority, like many of its U.S. counterparts, is a public entity that owns and maintains infrastructure at the port. It contracts with a commercial operating company, Logistec, to run day-to-day operations.The port considered multiple approaches for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, including hydrogen power, before deciding to focus its efforts on electrification, Beck said. All told, the port estimates full electrification will require roughly 5 to 7 megawatts of available power, she said. Design work for modernization and the electrification hub at the port’s Warehouse A is underway. The port also is working with Logistec on a grant application for funds under the U.S. EPA’s Clean Ports Program, set up under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. Roughly $2.8 billion in competitive grants are available for deploying zero-emission technology, with an additional $150 million for climate and air quality planning. The application is due May 28. If successful, the port plans to add 2 megawatts of solar capacity on top of Warehouse A, which will provide a significant chunk of its anticipated electrical needs. Other funds would be used to start acquiring electric equipment for port operations, such as a large forklift.

Brown to join Manchin on measure to undo electric car tax credit exemption Sen. Sherrod Brown (Ohio), considered one of the most vulnerable Senate Democratic incumbents up for reelection this year, will join Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) in supporting a resolution to repeal Biden administration rules allowing some China-made battery parts to qualify for an electric vehicle (EV) tax credit, Brown’s office confirmed to The Hill. Under the final rule, issued by the Treasury Department last week, EVs will qualify for the tax credit, intended for American-made cars, even if certain battery components were produced in China. The tax credit is part of the Biden administration’s efforts to incentivize EV purchases and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the automotive sector. The new rule expands existing exemptions, adding graphite to the qualifying materials. Manchin, who is not running for reelection, was a critic of the exemptions before the addition of the graphite exemption, and has vowed to introduce a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to undo it. The CRA allows a simple majority of Congress to vote to overturn executive branch rulemaking. Brown and Manchin’s support will give the measure the votes to pass the Senate if every Republican votes for it as well. Biden is likely to veto the measure, as he has for every previous CRA resolution targeting his administration’s energy and environment rules. “The Administration is wrong — this will allow China to infiltrate the American auto supply chain, at American taxpayers’ expense. American tax dollars should support American manufacturing and American workers — not enrich Chinese companies,” Brown said in a statement. “Ohioans in Appalachia are pioneering exciting work to turn coal into graphite that could be used in these batteries. We cannot allow Chinese companies, controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, to use our tax dollars to stop this work in Ohio before it gets off the ground.” “We cannot allow American tax dollars to enrich Chinese companies attempting to infiltrate the American auto supply chain,” Brown added in a statement to The Hill. “We created this tax credit for American-made cars and it needs to stay that way.” Brown, despite his status as an incumbent, red-state Democrat, has had a less adversarial relationship with the Biden administration on energy policy than Manchin. However, he has backed CRA resolutions against Biden rules that waived tariffs on some solar panel imports and those that regulated greenhouse gas emissions on the federal highway system. Another colleague, Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), is also up for reelection in an even more solidly red state, and has also joined multiple such CRAs.

The myth of ‘green steel’ in Ohio and its steel valleys: Randi Pokladnik -- Guest Columnist, cleveland.com - I remember a time when steel manufacturing was king in the Ohio River Valley. Entire families and multiple generations made a living working at the local steel mills. My family was no exception. My grandmother worked in the tin mill; my dad was a millwright on a blast furnace; my brother ran a crane in the mill; my sister and I were both chemists; and my uncle worked at the Browns Island coke plant. Coke, a porous carbon-rich substance, is made by heating coal to 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit in a “coke oven battery” which resembles a huge oven. The coke produced is used in the reduction phase of iron oxides in steel. It also serves as a fuel source. The carbon footprint of coke is twofold. The coal must be heated to create the coke. This releases carbon emissions. Then the coke, iron ore, and limestone are heated in the blast furnace, creating more carbon dioxide. Additionally, the coking process also releases carcinogenic, volatile organic hydrocarbons and particulate matter. For years, coke plant emissions polluted the air of our community. “Green steel,” which eliminates the “coke phase” in the steel-making process, will curtail most of the carcinogenic hydrocarbon emissions as well as carbon dioxide, a potent greenhouse gas. Steel production currently creates about 7% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. But several issues must be acknowledged before believing that Ohio can ever produce “green steel.” The first issue is to accurately define green steel. Green steel uses green hydrogen to replace coke in the reduction phase. Green hydrogen is obtained by splitting water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen using a renewable energy source such as solar or wind. Renewable energy is also needed to complete the second phase of steel-making which requires an electric arc furnace. Where will that renewable energy come from when Ohio politicians have continually blocked renewable energy in the state? Many regulations have been passed favoring fossil fuels over solar and wind power, including Senate Bill 52 of 2021 and House Bill 6 of 2019. Ohio as of 2022 produced only 4% of its electricity using renewable energy. In Pennsylvania, it’s only 3%; and in West Virginia, about 7%. In 2023, the U.S. Department of Energy awarded $7 billion to seven regional hydrogen hubs, explaining that the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH II) will help produce steel using blue hydrogen. Blue hydrogen is made by steam methane formation. It relies on fracked methane molecules to supply the hydrogen atoms. It also relies on using carbon capture technology; a technology that has not been proven to be effective, safe, or affordable. This means Southeast Ohio will be locked into decades of more gas fracking, and more destruction of our public lands and parks, front-line communities, and the environment. This steel will not be green or environmentally benign. I live in a fracked county of Ohio and can vouch for the destruction this extractive process has brought to our rural communities. Drilling and fracking, pipelines, compressor stations, water withdrawals, and injection wells are polluting our air, land, and water, and poisoning our communities. Claiming that steel is clean if produced with blue hydrogen is basically an industry-backed lie. Why are we investing more taxpayer dollars into a questionable process like carbon capture? ARCH II will only continue the escalation of the climate crisis. Ohio citizens deserve the truth.

23 states, rural co-ops sue EPA over ‘unlawful, unreasonable’ power plant rules A coalition of 23 states and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association on Thursday filed separate lawsuits in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, petitioning for review of power plant rules finalized by the Environmental Protection Agency in April.The state petition was led by North Dakota and West Virginia, both of which have large coal industries.“The Biden Administration pushes a green political agenda with no purpose other than to attack fossil fuels. Make no mistake, this rule intentionally sets impossible standards to destroy the coal industry,” North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley said in a statement. “Federal agencies cannot decide on a whim to destroy entire industries.”NRECA, which represents almost 900 not-for-profit rural electric cooperatives and public power districts, said EPA’s rule undermines the foundation of the American economy.“EPA’s power plant rule is unlawful, unreasonable and unachievable. It exceeds EPA’s authority and poses an immediate threat to the American electric grid,” NRECA CEO Jim Matheson said in a statement.EPA’s rule would require certain baseload coal and gas plants to limit emissions beginning in 2032, meeting a carbon dioxide emission standard equal to installing carbon capture and sequestration technology and running it at 90% efficiency. EPA did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the lawsuits.Utilities have warned that CCS technology is “not yet ready for full-scale, economy-wide deployment,” however.“Under the rule, EPA illegally attempts to transform the US energy economy by forcing a shift in electricity generation to the agency’s favored sources,” Matheson said. The rule will result in the “premature closure of power plants that are critical to keeping the lights on,” he added.The Edison Electric Institute, which represents investor-owned utilities, previously expressed skepticism that CCS technology can be installed in time to meet EPA’s compliance deadlines. “While CCS and other 24/7 clean energy technologies could be important tools for reducing emissions in the future, EPA’s record does not support a finding that CCS is demonstrated today,” EEI President and CEO Dan Brouillette said, responding to the EPA’s April announcement.The PJM Inteconnection has also expressed some reservations about the new rules, given “vastly increased demand” it expects as a result of new data centers and the electrification of transportation and heating.“The EPA has not sufficiently reconciled its compliance dates with the need for generation to meet dramatically increasing load demands on the system,” PJM said in a statement Wednesday.

How Shadowy Corporations, Secret Deals and False Promises Keep Retired Coal Plants From Being Redeveloped - “Perfect waste.” That’s how Bryan Messmore describes the 733-acre parcel of land at the confluence of Tanners Creek and the Ohio River. Messmore is the city coordinator and redevelopment director for Lawrenceburg, Indiana, a town of 5,000 people in the southeast corner of the state that in 2020 appeared on the verge of a renaissance. Indiana’s port authority had designated the property by Tanners Creek as the future site of the state’s fourth port, a potential game-changer for Lawrenceburg’s economy. Four years later, there is no port. There are no ships or construction vehicles. Instead, there is a mostly empty dirt patch, dotted with murky pools and earthen berms. An environmental survey commissioned by Ports of Indiana found that toxic substances—including arsenic, boron, and lead—had leeched as much as 40 feet below the surface, contaminating the soil and the groundwater. A terse statement from the port authority concluded, “Remediation work would take years to complete on a significant portion of the land, rendering the site economically unviable as a port facility at this time.”The toxic chemicals beneath the site were the result of six decades of coal combustion and waste. From 1951 through 2015, the 1,100-megawatt Tanners Creek Power Plant chugged away on the north bank of the Ohio River, providing not just electricity but also jobs and $1.9 million in annual property taxes to the community. But in 2007, a sweeping legal settlement forced the power plant’s owner, American Electric Power (AEP), to permanently close the plant. On May 31, 2015, the plant’s final generating unit shut down for good. By November of 2016, AEP had vacated the site, transferring ownership to a company called Tanners Creek Development, LLC. In 2017, Ports of Indiana conditionally selected the site for a new port. The following year, a planned demolition brought the old smokestacks crashing down. “Between the plant closing and the discussion about a port, there was some optimism that the property was going to be redeveloped,” Messmore recalled. That optimism has long since fizzled. Since the demise of the port plan four years ago, Messmore has heard no concrete proposals to redevelop the site. Nor does he have any contact with the property owner. “We’re unable to get site visits or any real inquiries because of the conditions of the soils and access challenges,” he said. It’s unclear to whom these inquiries might even be directed. While Tanners Creek Development owns the site, another company called Environmental Liability Transfer has assumed the liability for the property. A third company called EnviroAnalytics Group oversees remediation, while Industrial Demolition takes down the structures and Industrial Asset Recovery sells the valuable materials removed from them. Only three of these companies have functioning websites. Three did not yet exist when AEP announced that Tanners Creek would be closing. But they all share an address in St. Louis and a parent company called Commercial Development Company (CDC), which purports to be the United States’ largest buyer of contaminated former industrial sites. On its website, CDC boasts of “robust reclamation efforts” at the Tanners Creek site, saying, “Today the property represents a rare opportunity for an industrial user to take advantage of the site’s outstanding development attributes.” Tim Maloney doesn’t quite see it that way. He’s the former senior policy director for the Hoosier Environmental Council (HEC), an environmental advocacy group active throughout Indiana. “The site still has a lot of contamination issues,” he said. In 2023, the HEC sued the state’s environmental regulator, arguing that CDC’s remediation plan “allows pollutants to contaminate ground and surface water.” The suit was ultimately dismissed. CDC declined to comment on its involvement with Tanners Creek.

Drillers Nominate 2 More OH Wildlife Areas to Frack Under, Not On | Marcellus Drilling News - Two more tracts of Ohio public lands designated as “wildlife areas” have been nominated by shale companies to be drilled and fracked under (not on), which has the anti-fossil fuel group Save Ohio Parks up in arms. The tagline for Save Ohio Parks is “No fracking on public lands.” The thing is, there isn’t any fracking on public lands in Ohio. It’s UNDER, not ON. Well pads and equipment would be erected on PRIVATE land adjacent to the public land. There is no disturbance of any kind on top of Ohio’s public lands. The new parcels nominated include 84 acres in the Keen Wildlife Area in Washington Township (Harrison County). A second parcel of 30 acres has also been nominated for the Egypt Valley Wildlife Area in Flushing Township (Belmont County).

Ohio AG Asks Court to Jail AMS CEO Overnights Until Mess Cleaned - Marcellus Drilling News - Last Thursday, MDN brought you the news that Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost asked a Belmont County judge to find Austin Master Services (AMS) and Brad D. Domitrovitsch, who is in control of the company (both CEO and CFO), in contempt for “failing to meet the court’s deadline to clean up the illegal levels of fracking waste stored at its recycling facility in Martins Ferry” (see OH AG Asks Court to Find Austin Master Services, CFO in Contempt). AMS is a radiological waste management solutions company handling shale cuttings and frack wastewater. It operates in Belmont County, OH, close to the Ohio River. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports new information — in addition to Yost requesting a contempt ruling, Yost wants Domitrovitsch to spend his nights in the Belmont County jail until the cleanup is done.

Plain Dealer Alleges Political Strings at ODNR re Injection Wells - Marcellus Drilling News - The Cleveland Plain Dealer has the long knives out for Ohio State Senator Brian Chavez (Republican) and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (also a Republican). The Plain Dealer is accusing DeWine’s Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) of corruption in not charging an injection well company owned by Chavez called DeepRock Disposal $1.3 million for cleaning up wastewater that migrated from a DeepRock injection well to a nearby conventional production well in Noble County. Instead, says the Plain Dealer, the ODNR sent the bill to the conventional well operator!

Strengthen opposition to gas rate hike – Warren Tribune Chronicle (editorial) --Opposition in the Mahoning Valley to a proposed 30% increase in consumer gas rates from Enbridge Gas Ohio has begun to trickle in.But given the shocking, unreasonable, excessive and downright unconscionable size of the request to the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, opposition to the proposal should gush uncontrollably from all corners of Enbridge’s Ohio service area.The fight may well resemble the David vs. Goliath model as Enbridge rises as a behemoth in the multinational energy industry.How behemoth? Enbridge Inc., a Canadian pipeline and energy company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, owns and operates pipelines throughout Canada and boasts the longest pipeline system in North America. It recently reported 2023 earnings of $5.8 billion. Its acquisition of Dominion Energy Ohio became official in March.To be sure, the excessive rate hike serves as a fine hello to the former Dominion’s 1.2 million customers even though Dominion originally proposed it.Fortunately, the proposed surge in costs must go through a long and tedious regulatory route in the PUCO before it can be enacted. That is not expected until autumn at the earliest. As a result, there’s plenty of time to mount a campaign of robust resistance against this misguided proposal.That campaign of opposition already has begun. On the state level, the Ohio Consumers Counsel, the statewide watchdog agency for residential consumers in matters tied to their electric, natural gas, telephone, and water services, already has sprung into action.A recent OCC consumer alert argues this proposed increase is excessive. “We believe it unreasonably burdens Dominion customers who are already grappling with inflation and high energy prices,” the alert states.The increase, according to OCC, would cost a typical residential consumer more than $100 per year. But that’s not all. The utility also is seeking approval to add extra fixed monthly charges that would start at $8.78 this year and gradually rise to $29.69 per month by 2032. Fixed charges are billed to customers before they use any natural gas and can’t be reduced by conserving gas.Comments from OCC Agency Director Maureen Willis recently reported by News 5 Cleveland underscore the excessive nature of a 30% hike “I’ve been at the agency for probably 25 years. I don’t think I’ve seen a 30% increase. I’ve said I don’t want to see another one,” Willis told the television news organization in April.Here in the Mahoning Valley, organized opposition to the proposal has begun to take shape. City councils in Warren and Niles in recent days have unanimously passed resolutions of opposition to the increase that will be forwarded to the PUCO. Warren Mayor Doug Franklin joined his city’s legislators in a show of unity. “This is, in my opinion, extremely excessive,” Franklin said. “We don’t often have many opportunities, communities don’t, to say that we oppose some of these public utilities that are raising rates … I see unanimous council sponsorship of this (resolution), that means a lot.”Those voices can ring louder with additional support from public bodies across the Mahoning Valley. That’s why we strongly urge city councils, boards of trustees and boards of education in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties to compose and enact their own resolutions of opposition and forward them promptly to the PUCO.

EOG: Utica Oil Can 'Compete with the Best Plays in America' --EOG Resources is taking its 3-mile-lateral tack in Ohio’s Utica oil play to a company-record 3.7-mile test, finding the rock’s output and costs “compete with the best plays in America,” EOG executives told investors May 3.The seven laterals in its first multi-well pads, Timberwolf and Xavier, have produced more than 200,000 bbl of oil each since turned into sales—the former, in August; the latter, in October.A third pad, the four-well White Rhino in Noble County, Ohio, is cleaning up currently, but it is “meeting our expectations during [their] first few weeks of production,” said Keith Trasko, EOG’s senior vice president of E&P. Well spacing is 1,000 ft.The 3.7-miler is in its Sable pad, which is currently underway and is also in Noble County.On the three-well Xavier, first-180-day production averaged nearly 450,000 boe per well; from the older and four-well Timberwolf, more than 350,000 boe per well.The Xavier wells were landed with 800-ft spacing; Timberwolf, 1,000-ft spacing. The exact lateral length was not provided for each, however, EOG reported that it is consistently drilling three-mile laterals in the Utica. Xavier’s first-six-month barrels of oil per lateral foot is 14.8. When including NGL and gas, boe per foot per well is 25.1, EOG reported. The Xavier pad IP’ed an average of 3,250 boe/d from each of the three wells. Its first-30-day production was 55% oil and 75% total liquids, including NGL. In Timberwolf, the first-six-month barrels of oil per lateral foot from each well is 11.3. When including NGL and gas, boe per foot per well is 20.3. Timberwolf IP’ed an average of 2,150 boe/d from each of its four wells, 55% oil and 85% liquids. Timberwolf and Xavier “are fantastic,” said Ezra Yacob, EOG chairman and CEO. “They're exceeding what we initially had in our type curves and they're more than confirming some of our early thoughts on spacing.” Trasko said, “We see that these compete with the best plays in America—very comparable to the Permian on a production-per-foot basis, both in oil and equivalent.” Yacob added that the Utica “will be competitive with the premier unconventional plays across North America.” White Rhino is EOG’s first pad in the southern portion of its 140-mile north-south leasehold focus, totaling 435,000 net acres. In the southern part of the Utica, it also owns 135,000 net acres of minerals. The southern fairway has a slightly higher liquids ratio than Timberwolf in the north and Xavier in the middle, Trasko said.The Utica is thicker in the north and in the middle of the fairway, while “the southern area has better geomechanical properties,” Trasko said.Yacob added, “It's a bit of a different geologic environment down [south]. It is also an area where we own the minerals, which is very exciting. You guys know the economic uplift that can have.” “So overall, I would say that everything's right on pace.” In addition to the three pads’ 11 wells, EOG also owns 18 legacy wells that came with its leasehold and drilled four stand-alone delineation wells.EOG plans 20 net wells in the Utica this year throughout the leasehold, north to south. It has one full-time rig in the play. In 2023, it had one rig drilling half-time. EOG’s drilling activity has focused on the volatile-oil window, which is flanked on the west by the black-oil window.Before drilling it, though, “the first thing we need to do on the west is … acquire seismic data. We're in the process of doing that,” Yacob said.“We need to see the degree of structural complexity before we start developing. But geologically, in general, we don't see significant changes in thickness or pay from east to west.”The lower thermal maturity of the black-oil phase will mean less pressure, which typically “reduces the well productivity a little bit,” Yacob said.“But it also reduces costs. So your economics are still really comparable to all the other portions of the play.” Understanding the resource in Ohio’s Utica oil window is “around where the Permian was in the 2012-2013 timeframe,” he added. Trasko said, “We like that, generally in the area, it's an easier operating environment compared to a lot of our other plays: [It’s] consistent geology [and] it's a little bit shallower depth.”Trasko said the south’s higher quality geomechanics and rock properties have to do with frac barriers and keeping the frac energy more contained near the wellbore.Thus, type curves will differ from north to south, Trasko said. As for going full-field with laterals longer than three miles, “we’re in the very early innings,” said Jeff Leitzell, the company’s COO.But, Leitzell added, “the Utica sets up almost perfectly.”EOG is aiming to push lateral length “just because we can do one-runs in the laterals and stay on bottom longer and not have to trip out of the hole,” he said.“We really have no problems operationally [with] completing the well.”So “yes, we'll continue to push the limits there,” Leitzell said. Eventually, “we will be drilling longer and longer there in the Utica.” Another upcoming pad, according to Utica state permit records, is the Shadow (seven wells) in Carroll County, Ohio.Of EOG’s Ohio leasehold, more than 90% is HBP by legacy wells. The leasehold and minerals were reportedly bought in 2022 from Encino Energy and Artex Energy Group for some $500 million.

Can Utica Shale Really Compete With the Permian? - The Utica shale has for years been known as a gas-producing play. But this may be about to change as one company reports promising results from its oil well offensive in the area.EOG has been drilling in the Utica shale for months now, and it just reported that the play can “compete with the best plays in America.” The production figures EOG reported for its wells there support this: over the first 180 days since drilling, a three-well pad dubbed Xavier produced an average of 450,000 barrels of oil equivalent in total. Another pad in the area yielded 350,000 barrels of oil equivalent. Perhaps more importantly, however, a substantial portion of that oil equivalent was crude oil, EOG said in its first-quarter results presentation. The Xavier pad, for instance, yielded 55% crude oil, with the total liquids output at 75%. The Timberwolf pad produced 55% crude oil out of a total 85% liquids production.“Well results continue to demonstrate consistent performance with significant oil contribution across multiple areas of our acreage position,” EOG’s chief executive Ezra Yacob said at the release of the company’s first-quarter results earlier this month. “Combined with emerging operating efficiencies, we are confident that the Utica will further improve our low-cost, high quality premium portfolio.”Yacob went on to point out that this recent success in Utica suggests the play could compete with the best shale plays in the U.S., most likely meaning the Permian, which remains the focus of oil drillers’ attention even as they run out of untapped resources there and turn to acquisitions to grow their presence in the play. The potential importance of the Utica shale as an oil play was highlighted last month as well when KeyBanc raised its price target on EOG from $147 to $157 based on reports about its drilling results in the shale play.EOG’s results are part of a trend, in fact. Last year saw crude oil production in the Utica play hit a record of 27.8 million barrels. While nowhere near the production rate of the Permian, the figure was a 41% increase on the 2022 total, data from Ohio State University showed. In December last year, the data also said, Utica oil production averaged 93,000 barrels per day, which was 33% higher than a year earlier.“We always thought it was a gas play,” Mike Chadsey, spokesman for the Ohio Oil & Gas Association, told the Columbus Dispatch. “Now it may very well become an oil play.” Last year, oil production accounted for a modest 7% of total hydrocarbons production in the Utica play, which also produced 2.2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. But based on EOG’s latest update, this may be about to change gradually. Higher prices are helping, the Columbus Dispatch reported recently, helping to drive more investment into oil exploration in the area.

16 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Apr 29 – May 5 - May 10, 2024 Two weeks ago, during the week of April 22 – 28, there were 26 new permits issued to drill in the Marcellus/Utica. Last week, for April 29 – May 5, there were just 16 new permits issued. Encino Energy was the top receiver of permits with 7 permits between two counties: Carroll and Harrison, both in Ohio. EQT (mainly under its Rice Drilling name) received 5 permits between Fayette and Greene counties in Pennsylvania. INR picked up 2 new permits in Guernsey County, OH. Both LOLA Energy and Chesapeake Energy picked up 1 new permit for Butler and Sullivan counties in Pennsylvania. BUTLER COUNTY | CARROLL COUNTY | CHESAPEAKE ENERGY | ENCINO ENERGY | EQT CORP | FAYETTE COUNTY | GREENE COUNTY (PA) |GUERNSEY COUNTY | HARRISON COUNTY | INR | LOLA ENERGY | SULLIVAN COUNTY

Exclusive: Italy's Snam seeks U.S. footprint with bid for Midwest gas pipeline - sources (Reuters) - Italy's Snam is working on a bid for a stake in a $6 billion natural gas pipeline in the United States in what would be the gas group's first foray outside Europe, four sources told Reuters. The Milan-based company, controlled by state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, is carrying out due diligence to buy a 33% stake sold by Energy Transfer LP in its Rover pipeline, one of the sources said. The 713-mile Rover pipeline can carry 3.25 billion cubic feet of gas daily from the Marcellus and Utica shale plays in Appalachia. It is backed by Energy Transfer with a 33% stake and two private equity firms - Energy & Minerals Group (EMG) and Blackstone Group - who have the remaining 67%. Snam, Europe's biggest gas pipeline operator which makes most of its money from gas transmission in Italy, is working with JPMorgan on the deal, the sources said. Snam and JPMorgan declined to comment while Energy Transfer was not immediately available for comment. Snam wants to build an international presence and sees potential to grow in the United States which has seen a boom in natural gas production as part of the shale revolution. Pipelines and other midstream infrastructure in the U.S. have consistently drawn interest from private equity firms as well as infrastructure and pension funds as they produce stable returns. Additionally, returns on pipeline investments in the United States are generally higher than in Europe where many grids are run with regulated tariffs. The Rover pipeline moves the natural gas from Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania to other parts of the U.S. Midwest and up into Michigan where it can also be piped into Canada. The auction process for Energy Transfer's stake in Rover is at an advanced stage, according to three sources, and other bidders have also shown interest in the asset. Snam, led by Chief Executive Marco Alverà, may submit a joint bid with some financial investors to boost its firepower, one of the sources said. It previously teamed up with Abu Dhabi state investor Mubadala and EIG Global Energy Partners to bid for Petrobas' TAG gas pipeline in October but lost out to a consortium led by France's Engie. The Italian company is also sounding out whether EMG and Blackstone would be willing to sell their shares in the Rover pipeline and cash out with Energy Transfer. Blackstone declined to comment while EMG was not immediately available for comment.

Coterra Curtailing Marcellus Completions, Cautiously Awaiting Stronger Natural Gas Prices - Houston-based Coterra Energy Inc. is shifting its near-term capital spending in the Lower 48 to focus on oil and liquids-rich plays, but optionality is still in play to take advantage of a “structural change in the natural gas macro” later this year, CEO Tom Jorden said. During the first quarter conference call, Jorden said caution is the watchword because the market can quickly change “as LNG exports grow and electricity demand increases.” Coterra works in the Marcellus Shale, as well as the Anadarko and Permian basins. The company earlier this year had indicated it would throttle back activity in the Marcellus. Until the gas macro improves, the oily Permian is likely to draw the most attention.

'Everything's on fire': Inside the nation's failure to safeguard toxic pipelines - The inspectors warned for months that the construction crew was burying the pipeline on unstable ground. In at least a dozen reports, they described soupy soil, landslides and failed efforts to contain runoff. But the crew kept working as the problems mounted. In September 2018, just below a neighborhood outside Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, the muddy hillside gave way. The landslide severed the pipe, and the dense gas inside erupted into a roaring inferno. The blaze incinerated a house. The family inside escaped with just the clothes they were wearing and one of their dogs. Their other pets, a dog and several cats, died in the fire. Karen Gdula, who lives nearby on Ivy Lane, raced through the neighborhood shouting, “It’s the pipeline. Everything’s on fire. Get out now!” “The flames were higher than the ancient pines,” she recalled. A grand jury would later home in on the inspections, finding construction flaws went unfixed while the inspectors’ “punch list” of problems grew. The disaster might have been prevented if the pipeline developer had acted on those reports or regulators had stepped in to demand fixes. But that’s not the system that exists, based on a year-long investigation by POLITICO’s E&E News. On jobs like Revolution, the inspectors report to the pipeline companies themselves. Regulators at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Department of Transportation and state agencies leave the monitoring of pipeline construction almost exclusively to this network of private inspectors paid by the developers. When inspectors identify safety lapses, it’s often left to the companies themselves to decide when to make fixes, or whether to make fixes at all. Eight inspectors who’ve worked on pipeline projects in states across the country, some granted anonymity to discuss safety hazards, told E&E News that their warnings were often ignored by the pipeline companies. And if they refuse to be ignored, they say, they can be fired. It’s a potentially deadly gap in the regulatory apparatus at a time when President Joe Biden is investing billions of dollars to bury carbon dioxide emissions in the earth — which requires a new network of pipelines. Success of so-called “carbon capture” technology could limit the greenhouse gas emissions responsible for global warming while reducing the pain for an economy built around fossil fuels. Former President Donald Trump’s plans may differ from Biden’s, but Trump has vowed to increase drilling and lay more oil and gas pipelines. Pipeline companies point to the inspectors at their construction sites as evidence that the projects will be safe and environmentally sound. But many farmers and other landowners, across huge swathes of rural America, are unpersuaded. They worry about a rupture in a pipeline carrying toxic gases. New pipeline projects have met fierce resistance, as farmers from Illinois to North Dakota insist they don’t trust the companies or their safety inspectors. Fearful landowners and skeptical regulators in South Dakota and Illinois have already tanked a large-scale carbon dioxide storage project in the Midwest that would have required 1,300 miles of pipeline running from South Dakota to Illinois. Federal investigations, third-party analyses of pipe failures, formal complaints and interviews with more than a dozen people involved in pipeline construction reveal a system rife with lapses. Oil spills in Kansas and damage to farms in Oklahoma have been linked to flawed inspections. Inspection failures were cited by federal investigators seeking a $40 million fine for the spilling of toxic drilling fluid in Ohio. And on the Mountain Valley gas pipeline project in Virginia and West Virginia, federal appeals court judges say inspectors “failed to prevent” widespread erosion problems. “The inspectors are like a smokescreen,” said Frank Chamberlin, a pipeline inspector from Upstate New York. “They put them on the project as a scapegoat.” A federal watchdog agency found FERC’s process for selecting inspection companies and environmental reviewers creates a “potential appearance of improper influence” — in part because pipeline companies are given too much control over the process, including the power to decide which inspection companies can submit bids.“No industry is going to police itself very well,” said Bill Caram, executive director of the Pipeline Safety Trust, a national advocacy group pushing for increased protections. “We need an independent regulator to be the one that does that.”Conflicts in the system of self-regulation have been largely ignored by lawmakers, who are focused on streamlining the permitting process for energy companies. And state and federal regulators say they don’t have the resources to scrutinize construction as closely as they might like. Instead, they often defer to the judgment of private companies, even those with poor safety and environmental records.

The sometimes-deadly gap in US pipeline safety - The nation has a pipeline safety problem. The country’s system for safeguarding against toxic and deadly pipeline accidents largely relies on inspectors who work for the pipeline companies themselves, which has led to poor oversight and leaks, landslides, and even explosions, according to a yearlong investigation by POLITICO’s E&E News reporter Mike Soraghan. Eight inspectors Mike interviewed for the story said safety warnings and recommendations are often ignored, and those who push back risk termination.“The inspectors are like a smokescreen,” Frank Chamberlin, a pipeline inspector from upstate New York, told Mike. “They put them on the project as a scapegoat.”New pipeline projects often face fierce opposition, with farmers and landowners insisting they don’t trust the safety of such projects.That could be a major problem for the next president, whether it’s President Joe Biden or former President Donald Trump. Biden is investing billions of dollars to encourage the capturing and burying of carbon emissions, which requires a network of new pipelines. And Trump has pledged to increase drilling and lay more oil and gas pipelines.Industry officials defend the privatized inspection system, where federal regulators rely on pipeline companies to hire and oversee inspectors. They compare it to the internal quality-control processes in factories and construction sites — and maintain there are plenty of safety backstops.That includes oversight by the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. PHMSA has about 200 inspectors on its staff who work with another 450 inspectors at state agencies to monitor the safety of the country’s more than 3 million miles of pipe.But the agency says it devotes only 7 percent of its safety staff to inspecting new pipelines. That means overseeing the nation’s rapidly expanding pipeline network is largely left to a small cadre of inspectors hired by the companies themselves.To many farmers across large swaths of rural America, that’s not enough to allow pipelines under their property.“They’re all in the same club,” said Steve Hickenbottom, who regrets allowing the Dakota Access pipeline to cross his farm. “They’re not going to crap on the guys they work with every day. It means zero to me.”

MVP Mainline Releases Water During Testing as In-Service Target Nears - As Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC (MVP) seeks to conclude a protracted construction phase and enter service this month, the developer recently experienced a setback in Virginia when a section of pipe ruptured during hydrostatic testing. The incident, which occurred last Wednesday on the MVP mainline in Roanoke County, VA, saw water escape through the rupture; sediment was discharged into a nearby stream and wetland, a Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) spokesperson told NGI. “MVP has removed the sediment, and disturbed areas have been stabilized,” the DEQ spokesperson said. “DEQ is working to determine the extent of impacts, which will inform next steps. This unauthorized impact does not affect the status of existing DEQ approvals.”

One natural gas transport plan killed in New Jersey as another forges ahead - — A major pipeline that would have moved natural gas through New Jersey and under two bays to New York has been killed, but another plan to transport liquefied gas from Pennsylvania by tanker truck is moving forward. Environmentalists who had fought both projects reacted Monday to the mixed bag they were handed on Friday when the two proposals took differing pathways with federal regulators. That was the day that Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Williams Companies, which owns a nearly 10,000-mile (16,000-kilometer) expanse of pipelines called Transco, allowed its Northeast Supply Enhancement pipeline project to end. Williams told the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission it was allowing a key construction application to expire, saying it would not seek an extension for it. The decision heartened a wide group of environmental and community groups who had fought the proposal for eight years, saying it would further the burning of fossil fuels and contribute to climate change, while also degrading air and water quality and creating safety concerns in communities along its route. Cindy Zipf, executive director of Clean Ocean Action, called the development "an extraordinary victory, a David and Goliath moment." Using the project's acronym, she said, “NESE has gasped its last gassy breath. It means the project has died, and we won!” In a statement to The Associated Press on Monday, Williams confirmed it is no longer pursuing a certificate from the federal agency that would allow it to continue the project. “While Williams continues to believe in the fundamentals of the Northeast Supply Enhancement project and its ability to provide a cleaner and more affordable alternative to costly heating oil for consumers, at this time, we have decided not to pursue an extension of the certificate," it said. It would have included a gas-fired compressor station in Franklin Township, and the installation of more than 23 miles (37 kilometers) of pipeline through the Raritan and Lower New York bays en route to the Rockaway section of Queens in New York City. Also on Friday, two companies said they remain committed to their proposed project to liquefy natural gas and transport it through Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Delaware River Partners and Bradford County Real Estate Partners told the same agency that they do not intend to cancel a facility in Wyalusing, Pennsylvania, to liquefy natural gas and transport it to an export facility in Gibbstown, New Jersey, by tanker truck instead of by rail as originally proposed. Last September, federal regulators suspended authorization to transport liquefied natural gas by rail. “The last thing we need is even more dangerous methane gas extracted from Pennsylvania, shipped through our communities by truck, and exported overseas," said Patrick Grenter, a campaign director with the Sierra Club. "This decision is unnecessary and reckless, and the Sierra Club is prepared to continue fighting this project until it is officially canceled.” The companies did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday. But in a filing to the agency on Friday, Bradford said its Wyalusing, Pennsylvania, facility is designed to not need rail cars, and is “unimpacted” by the federal moratorium on such transport. For that reason, the company is proceeding with its plans, it wrote.

Former FERC Chairman Chatterjee Sees LNG Permit Pathways Improving, but DOE Pause Clouds Outlook - While regulatory uncertainty from the Department of Energy (DOE) hangs over U.S. LNG development, former FERC Chairman Neil Chatterjee sees the pathway for permitting at the Commission improving. The liquefied natural gas industry’s focus has largely been pulled to the DOE since January, when the Biden administration ordered the agency to study the impact of new U.S. export facilities on the domestic market and environment. However, the rate of LNG permit decisions from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission also has slowed over the last several years. Chatterjee told NGI’s Jamison Cocklin, managing editor of LNG, the long wait times for LNG facility approvals largely can be attributed to a deadlock on the Commission that was broken with the departure of Commissioner James Danly...

BP Playing Contrarian on Low Natural Gas Prices, as Haynesville Output ‘Hedged Out’ through 2024 - BP plc will continue to pump out “prolific” natural gas volumes from the Haynesville Shale as hedges are in place pricing the supply at around $4.00/Mcf through this year, CEO Murray Auchincloss said Tuesday. Auchincloss discussed first quarter performance during a conference call. He was asked why domestic gas volumes continue to be high in light of low commodity prices. BPX Energy, the U.S. onshore division, produced 1,596 MMcf/d during the first quarter, weighted to the Haynesville. In 1Q2023, U.S. gas production was 1,196 MMcf/d. During the fourth quarter, domestic gas output was 1,515 MMcf/d. [Inside the Political Firestorm: NGI sits down with Neil Chatterjee, a former FERC chairman and commissioner, to discuss the impacts of President Biden’s LNG pause on..

TC Energy Nears Commercial Start-Up of Coastal GasLink, Advances Southeast Gateway Offshore Pipeline - TC Energy Corp. has completed the northern portion of its Southeast Gateway and is moving to start commercial operations of its Coastal GasLink (CGL) supplying feed gas to LNG Canada. Management for the Calgary-based pipeline giant provided updates on major projects during a first quarter earnings call. In Mexico, TC has installed more than 70% of the offshore pipe for the Southeast Gateway pipeline project. The 1.3 Bcf/d, 444-mile long pipeline (with 416 miles offshore) remains on schedule to come online by mid-2025 and within its $4.5 billion budget, CEO François Poirier said. [Inside the Political Firestorm: NGI sits down with Neil Chatterjee, a former FERC chairman and commissioner, to discuss the impacts of President Biden’s LNG pause on authorizing new liquefied gas exports...

More Construction Issues Reported at Golden Pass – The Zachry Group told its hourly construction workers in an email this week not to show up at the Golden Pass LNG site in Texas until further notice. The company said in a statement it was working through “temporary constraints” at the site, while media reports said there was a fuel shortage for work. The plant is being built by a joint venture that includes Chiyoda Corp., McDermott and the Zachry Group. Reports surfaced last month that a shortage of skilled workers and other construction issues could push the start of liquefied natural gas production at the 18 million metric tons/year (mmty) facility further into 2025. ExxonMobil, which is developing the project with QatarEnergy, said late last year exports would begin in early 2025 instead of 2024 as the partners..

Golden Pass LNG Expects ‘Near Term’ Construction Impacts Amid Possible EPC Changes - Golden Pass LNG confirmed interruptions on the Texas export project could be coming after reported worker furloughs, citing ongoing negotiations between its engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors. San Antonio-based Zachry Group informed hourly subcontractors Thursday not to come to the Sabine Pass, TX, site until further notice and referenced a “fuel shortage” issue, according to an internal email. The EPC firm later told local news station 12News the dismissals were part of “temporary constraints on the Golden Pass LNG project” and it was working through the issues “with all parties.” A Golden Pass LNG spokesperson told NGI that the EPC joint venture partners, which include Chiyoda Corp. and McDermott, were in “ongoing discussions regarding...

Sempra Doubling LNG Export Capacity Ahead of Forecast Demand Surge - Sempra is betting on substantial growth in global LNG demand over the coming years despite regulatory uncertainty over the future of U.S. exports, management said. CEO Jeffrey Martin hosted a conference call to discuss first quarter 2024 earnings for the San Diego, CA-based energy firm. Through its Sempra Infrastructure unit, the company has nearly 40 million metric tons/year (mmty) of liquefied natural gas export projects under development, including on the U.S. Gulf Coast and Mexico’s Pacific Coast.

Targa Looking Past Natural Gas Price Volatility, Planning Infrastructure for Rising Permian Production - Targa Resources Corp. is moving forward with two major projects based on its outlook for increasing Permian Basin natural gas production and resulting natural gas liquids (NGL) supply growth. High utilization rates at the 250 MMcf/d Pembrook processing facility in the Permian’s Midland sub-basin “necessitates moving forward with Pembrook II,” CEO Matt Meloy said during the first quarter earnings call. The new facility could begin operations in the fourth quarter of 2025, he added. “We’re already looking at when we’ll need the next plant after Pembrook II.”

EIA Maintains 2024 Natural Gas Price Forecast, Sees Modest Production Decline Leading to 2025 Record - The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is projecting a Henry Hub natural gas spot price average at $2.20/MMBtu for 2024, unchanged from the average price the agency modeled a month earlier. In the May release of its Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), published Tuesday, EIA said it expects Henry Hub spot prices to average $3.10 for full-year 2025, creating an incentive for more drilling in dry natural gas production regions. After starting the year at $2.560, NGI’s Henry Hub next-day natural gas cash price dropped to $1.435 by the end of March. Prices have since recovered some ground, but remain well below year-ago levels around $2, according to NGI’s Daily Historical Data.

US natgas prices up 3% to 14-week high on rising demand for LNG feedgas (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures gained about 3% to a 14-week high on Monday on forecasts for higher demand over the next two weeks than previously expected as feedgas to liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants increased with the return of Freeport LNG in Texas. Prices were also supported by an ongoing decline in output. Front-month gas futures for June delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 5.3 cents, or 2.5%, to settle at $2.195 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), the highest close since Jan. 29 for a second day in a row. U.S. gas production was down about 9% so far in 2024 after several energy firms, including EQT and Chesapeake Energy delayed well completions and cut back on other drilling activities after prices fell to 3-1/2-year lows in February and March. In the spot market, meanwhile, analysts said upcoming gas pipeline maintenance on U.S. energy company Kinder Morgan's Permian Highway Pipeline from May 7-12 and Gulf Coast Express from May 14-21 could push average next-day gas prices at the Waha Hub in West Texas back into negative territory for the first time since mid-April. Reductions on those and other pipes in Texas over the past month or so trapped gas in the Permian Shale and helped push Waha prices below zero for several days last month. Financial firm LSEG said gas output in the Lower 48 U.S. states fell to an average of 96.9 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) so far in May, down from 98.1 bcfd in April. That compares with a monthly record of 105.5 bcfd in December 2023. Meteorologists projected weather across the Lower 48 states would go from warmer than normal from May 6-9 to near-normal from May 10-17 before switching back to warmer than normal from May 18-21. LSEG forecast gas demand in the Lower 48, including exports, would slide from 93.4 bcfd this week to 91.0 bcfd next week. Those forecasts were higher than LSEG's outlook on Friday. Gas flows to the seven big U.S. LNG export plants rose from an average of 11.9 bcfd in April to 12.4 bcfd so far in May with the slow return of Freeport. That compares with a monthly record of 14.7 bcfd in December. The amount of gas flowing to the 2.1-bcfd Freeport hit a two-month high of 1.4 bcfd on Sunday, up from 1.2 bcfd on Saturday and an average of 0.4 bcfd in April. The U.S. became the world's biggest LNG supplier in 2023, ahead of recent leaders Australia and Qatar, as much higher global prices fed demand for more exports due in part to supply disruptions and sanctions linked to Russia's war in Ukraine. Gas was trading around $10 per mmBtu at both the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) benchmark in Europe and the Japan Korea Marker (JKM) benchmark in Asia .

U.S. Power and NatGas Prices Plummet to Below Zero --U.S. spot power and natural gas prices plummeted into negative territory across Texas, California, and Arizona on Tuesday, signaling a surplus in production amidst subdued demand and ample hydropower reserves. At the Waha hub, next-day gas prices plummeted to a three-week low of negative $2.72 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) on May 6. Next-day power prices at hubs in Arizona and Southern California plunged to one-week lows. The dynamics driving negative prices suggest energy firms are grappling with excess power and gas production. As a result, producers find themselves in the precarious position of either reducing output, paying others to absorb surplus energy, or resorting to flaring. Forecasts preceding this plunge had already hinted at potential downturns in gas prices at the Waha hub in West Texas. These predictions materialized as Kinder Morgan initiated seasonal maintenance on pipelines connecting the Permian to the Gulf Coast. Reductions in pipeline flows, coupled with ongoing maintenance activities, compounded the downward pressure on prices. These developments come against the backdrop of typically subdued power and gas prices in the spring, fueled by mild weather and enhanced hydropower supplies. As market participants grapple with these unprecedented developments, attention now turns to upcoming meetings of OPEC+ and the Federal Reserve. These pivotal events are expected to provide insights into global oil supply dynamics and interest rate trajectories, respectively, further shaping the trajectory of energy markets in the coming months. Back in March, the oversupply in the U.S. natural gas market was thought to be easing, with operators expected to cut production in response to the February price slump as prices hit a three-decade low. Despite these multi-year low natural gas prices, domestic producers in the United States continued to be optimistic about the long-term prospects of gas as a fuel.

US natgas prices ease 1% on oversupply of fuel in storage (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures eased about 1% on Wednesday as the market took a break after hitting a 14-week high on worries the tremendous oversupply of gas in storage will increase. Analysts forecast gas stockpiles were about 34% above normal for this time of year. Prices eased despite another decline in output, forecasts for higher demand over the next two weeks than previously expected, an increase in the amount of gas flowing to liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants and as hot weather in Texas boosted the amount of gas power generators burn to keep air conditioners humming. Front-month gas futures for June delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 2.0 cents, or 0.9%, to settle at $2.187 per million British thermal units (mmBtu). On Tuesday, the contract closed at its highest since Jan. 29. The front-month remained in technically overbought territory for a fourth day in a row for the first time since January. Traders noted that if U.S. crude prices continue to decline - crude futures were down about 9% over the past five weeks - some drillers could cut back on oil production in shale basins that also produce a lot of associated gas, like the Permian in Texas and New Mexico and the Bakken in North Dakota. Any reduction in associated gas could cause overall gas output to decline since high crude prices enable energy firms to keep making money by drilling for oil even when gas prices are negative like they have been at the Waha hub in West Texas in recent days. In Texas, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) issued a Weather Watch for Wednesday "due to unseasonably high temperatures, high levels of expected maintenance outages during the spring shoulder months, and the potential for lower reserves." That heat caused next-day power prices at the ERCOT North hub , which includes Dallas, to soar to an eight-month high of $400 per megawatt hour for Wednesday, up from $37 for Tuesday. Financial firm LSEG said gas output in the Lower 48 U.S. states fell to an average of 96.8 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) so far in May, down from 98.1 bcfd in April. That compares with a monthly record of 105.5 bcfd in December 2023. On a daily basis, output was on track to drop by around 3.5 bcfd over the past four days to a preliminary 16-week low of 94.3 bcfd on Wednesday. LSEG forecast gas demand in the Lower 48, including exports, would slide from 93.7 bcfd this week to 90.9 bcfd next week. Those forecasts were higher than LSEG's outlook on Tuesday. Gas flows to the seven big U.S. LNG export plants rose from an average of 11.9 bcfd in April to 12.4 bcfd so far in May with the return of Freeport LNG's plant in Texas from maintenance and inspection work. That compares with a monthly record of 14.7 bcfd in December. The amount of gas flowing to the 2.1-bcfd Freeport plant was on track to hold near a two-month high of 1.4 bcfd for a fourth day in a row on Wednesday, up from an average of 0.4 bcfd in April. U.S. energy company New Fortress Energy said it expects to produce first LNG at its Altamira export plant in Mexico, which will source much of its gas from the U.S., later in May and export the first cargo in June.

Natural Gas Prices Rise to 14-Week High - What's Next? -- Natural gas shipments rose more than five percent yesterday. Natural Gas Prices rose to a 14-week high on lower-than-expected inventories, stronger-than-expected demand over the next two weeks and continued output declines. The demand forecasts were mostly higher on forecasts for hotter-than-normal weather in mid- to late-May that should boost the amount of gas power generators burn to keep air conditioners humming. An increase in the amount of gas flowing to liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants on rising feedgas to Freeport LNG’s plant in Texas was also behind the expected demand increase. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said utilities added 79 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas into storage during the week ended May 3. That was smaller than the 85-bcf build analysts forecast in a Reuters poll and compares with an increase of 71 bcf in the same week last year and a five-year (2019-2023) average rise of 81 bcf for this time of year. That increase left gas stockpiles around 33% above normal levels for this time of year.Front-month gas futures NG1! for June delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 11.4 cents, or 5.2%, to settle at $2.301 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), their highest close since Jan. 29. MCX natural gas prices touched 193.20, and settled at 191.1 up 4.71%. That kept the contract in overbought territory for a fifth day in a row for the first time since October 2023. In the past, Exxon said Golden Pass was on track to produce first LNG in the first half of 2025. Officials at the plant were not immediately available for comment. Demand for gas is projected to rise in 2025 with several LNG export plants expected to enter service, including Golden Pass, Venture Global’s Plaquemines in Louisiana, Cheniere’s Corpus Christi expansion in Texas and Sempra’s Costa Azul in Mexico. The delay of any of those would reduce the growth expected in gas demand next year. In the spot market, U.S. power and gas prices turned negative this week in Texas, California and Arizona as pipeline maintenance trapped gas in the Permian Shale in West Texas amid low demand for energy and ample hydropower in the West.

Is FTC Scrutiny of ExxonMobil, Pioneer Natural a Warning Sign? Sheffield Responds - ExxonMobil on Friday clinched its $65 billion tie-up with Permian Basin heavyweight Pioneer Natural Resources Co., but the merger has not come without drama. The transaction, announced last October, moves ExxonMobil to the top of the heap in the Permian, with control of 1.4 million-plus net acres in the Delaware and Midland sub-basins. Estimated output today is 16 billion boe. Oil and gas volumes are set to more than double to 1.3 million boe/d. Based on initial estimates by ExxonMobil, production could reach 2 million boe/d in 2027.

Biden Ready To Use SPR Again If Oil Prices Rise -Several weeks after we reported that - very unsurprisingly - the Biden admin had halted its laughable attempts to refill the SPR as oil prices soared (having missed its entire window to do so when WTI was trading in the low $70s), we speculated that it may be only a matter of time before the senile president decides to start draining the strategic reserve all over again to keep gas prices low ahead of the election. Now we get confirmation of just that: as OilPrice reports, President Biden will use crude oil from the strategic petroleum reserve should the need arise, energy adviser Amos Hochstein has said, noting there was enough oil in the reserve, which of course is true but what it misses is that under Biden the SPR has already been drained by half."We have been replenishing into the SPR for the last several months. I think we have sufficient supply in the SPR to address any kind of concern in the economy if we need it," Hochstein said, speaking at the Milken Institute Global Conference, as quoted by Reuters. And by "replenishing" he meant refilling 15 million barrels after draining almost 300 million for purely political purposes.The U.S. saw the stockpiles of crude oil in the SPR fall from 638 million barrels at President Joe Biden’s inauguration to just 347 million barrels by the summer of 2023 as the administration tried to bring down gasoline prices for consumers by releasing over 180 million barrels from the SPR.Recently, talk has restarted about the possibility of using the SPR to bring down retail fuel prices in case the conflict between Israel and Hamas escalates, leading to higher oil prices and, consequently, higher gasoline and diesel prices for U.S. drivers.Since rising fuel prices are the last thing a president running for a second term wants to experience in an election year, SPR releases were seen by many as the most likely course of action. This, in turn, prompted questions about whether there is enough oil in the SPR since the federal government’s replenishment efforts have been quite sporadic due to prices. Several offers for the purchase of 3 million barrels have been canceled already because prices got too high for the Department of Energy, which had set itself a ceiling of $79 per barrel.As of January, the DoE had bought back some 32.3 million barrels out of the more than 180 million barrels that were released in 2022. In addition to those volumes, the Department of Energy is getting back some 4 million barrels that were lent to energy companies. The volume in the SPR as of January was about 364 million barrels.

Trump seeks $1 billion from oil CEOs, vows to limit EVs - The Washington Post - Donald Trump has pledged to scrap President Biden’s policies on electric vehicles and wind energy, as well as other initiatives opposed by the fossil fuel industry.As Donald Trump sat with some of the country’s top oil executives at his Mar-a-Lago Club last month, one executive complained about how they continued to face burdensome environmental regulations despite spending $400 million to lobby the Biden administration in the last year.Trump’s response stunned several of the executives in the room overlooking the ocean: You all are wealthy enough, he said, that you should raise $1 billion to return me to the White House. At the dinner, he vowed to immediately reverse dozens of President Biden’s environmental rules and policies and stop new ones from being enacted, according to people with knowledge of the meeting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a private conversation.

‘A little bold and gross’: Oil industry writes executive orders for Trump to sign - The U.S. oil industry is drawing up ready-to-sign executive orders for Donald Trump aimed at pushing natural gas exports, cutting drilling costs and increasing offshore oil leases in case he wins a second term, according to energy executives with direct knowledge of the work.The effort stems from the industry’s skepticism that the Trump campaign will be able to focus on energy issues as Election Day draws closer — and worries that the former president is too distracted to prepare a quick reversal of the Biden administration’s green policies. Oil executives also worry that a second Trump administration won’t attract staff skillful enough to roll back President Joe Biden’s regulations or craft new ones favoring the industry, these people added.Six energy industry lawyers and lobbyists interviewed by POLITICO described the effort to craft executive orders and other policy paperwork that they see as more effective than anything a second Trump administration could devise on its own. Those include a quick reversal of Biden’s pause on new natural gas export permits and preparations for wider and cheaper access to federal lands and waters for drilling.The initiative is just one example of the efforts underway from multiple advocacy groups with strong policy agendas — including abortion-rights opponents — to fill in the gaps for Trump’s potential return to the White House. The presumptive Republican nominee has been a vocal supporter of the oil and gas industry, but the companies often chafed at the effects of his policies as president, including his trade wars and the legal challenges that thwarted some of his pro-fossil-fuel actions.Trump, who is spending many of his days facing trial in a Manhattan courtroom, has had little time to delve into policy issues with industry officials. In his absence, oil industry officials said they’re not sure who speaks for him on the issues they want to address. And while generally unhappy with Biden’s attempts to rein in their industry, some haveexpressed nervousness about what policies Trump might pursue.“Other than what Donald Trump says off the cuff, I don’t think they’re taking much advice on energy strategy,” Frank Maisano, senior principal at the government relations firm Bracewell, said of the ex-president’s campaign. “He’s going to complain about gas prices, he’s going to complain about [natural gas], but only in the general sense because the details are complex.”So oil industry lawyers have decided to fill the breach. Industry representatives have already prepared some executive orders for Trump to sign if he reaches the White House, said Stephen Brown, director of energy consulting firm RBJ Strategies and a former refining industry lobbyist. Undoing Biden’s actions would be a major target.

420 gallons of crude oil spilled near Medora — On April 28, Cobra Oil & Gas Corporation notified state agencies of a crude oil release from a pipeline they operate located approximately seven miles southwest of Medora. Cobra estimates the pipeline malfunction released approximately 10 barrels (420 gallons) of crude oil, impacting an unnamed Garner Creek tributary and range land. Personnel from the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality are working with the responsible party on cleanup and will continue to monitor the investigation and remediation. Federal and state laws require that operators report the spillage of any materials that may pollute water, air or soil.

Mexico Natural Gas Imports Seen Breaking Records During Next Administration - Mexico’s dependency on the United States for natural gas supplies is expected to continue to rise and hit record levels during the country’s next presidential administration from 2024-2030, according to Adrián Duhalt, a research scholar at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy. Mexico’s natural gas imports via pipeline have averaged 6.08 Bcf/d year-to-date through April 24, up 497 MMcf/d from the same period last year, Wood Mackenzie data show. That trend is expected to continue during Mexico’s next presidential administration, which will take office on Oct. 1. The country is expected to hold elections on June 2 and is poised to elect its first female president, either Claudia Sheinbaum of the Morena Party or Xóchitil Gálvez of the opposition...

NFE Expects First Cargo From Offshore Mexico LNG Project in June - New Fortress Energy Inc. (NFE) expects its floating LNG (FLNG) platform offshore Altamira, Mexico to produce first volumes later this month after experiencing a mechanical issue in April. NFE management in the first quarter earnings report said that the first cargo could be loaded at the liquefied natural gas facility in June. The company previously expected to achieve its first shipment in April. CFO Chris Guinta confirmed reports of a late April malfunction with the facility’s cold box that resulted in some minor injuries and released perlite that was being used during system testing. [Inside the Political Firestorm: NGI sits down with Neil Chatterjee, a former FERC chairman and commissioner, to discuss the impacts of President Biden’s LNG pause on authorizing new...

Oil spill at Churchill Falls in October released roughly 45,000 litres of oil: Nalcor 0 An oil spill at the Nalcor Energy Churchill Falls switchyard in late October released roughly 45,000 litres of oil, the company said in a media release on Thursday, as it continues to work on clean up. The spill was caused by a transformer failure and fire, the company maintains, but while Nalcor at the time said the transformers hold 53,000 litres of oil, they actually hold 111,400 litres, according to Thursday's release. Nalcor said 65,000 litres of oil were recovered in tankers in the switchyard, and an unknown amount of the oil spilled was consumed by the fire. "Priority continues to be employee safety and the safe containment, control, and recovery of oil. Absorbent materials, booms, and vacuum trucks are being utilized for containment and collection," reads the company's statement. "We continue to see no visible evidence of oil in the Churchill River." In October, Nalcor said the oil used in the failed transformer was voltesso — an oil that is inherently biodegradable as opposed to readily biodegradable, meaning it will break down over time but the timeline is indefinite. However, Nalcor says now the oil spilled was actually luminol, which is readily biodegradable. "Luminol is more environmentally friendly and has a higher rate of biodegradability than voltesso," says Nalcor's statement. "Significant efforts continue to be made by the Churchill Falls team who has been safely working together in these recovery and collection efforts with dedication and commitment since the onset."

More than 1,000 gallons of diesel removed from sunken vessel - Early in the day on Friday May 3rd, a 48-foot commercial fishing vessel ran aground and sank at the south end of Henry Island. The single occupant on board was safely rescued by the US Coast Guard. The boat is reported to have had a maximum of approximately 400 gallons of diesel on board. The Islands’ Oil Spill Association (IOSA) and Tow Boat US out of Friday Harbor were on scene this morning to assess pollution impacts and pinpoint the site of the sinking. In addition, Washington Department of Ecology responders are on scene and performed an overflight with San Juan County Department of Emergency Management to assess the situation. IOSA has been conducting initial air monitoring and has not found any measurable air quality impacts. Wildlife responders have been activated to assess for any potential impacts, and to work to proactively minimize impacts going forward. On Saturday May 4th crews from Global Diving and Salvage pumped all accessible fuel off of the vessel. Initial estimate is that more than 1,000 gallons of diesel were removed. While residual pollution is still possible, the majority of the pollution risk has been mitigated. Crews will be on the water on Sunday to assess for any shoreline or wildlife impacts, but none have been reported to date. A tentative plan to remove the vessel from the water once weather improves on Tuesday or Wednesday is being developed at this time.

EU Proposes First Batch Of Sanctions On Russian LNG -Over the past two years, the U.S. and its Western allies have imposed a raft of sanctions on Russian energy commodities, including a $60-a-barrel cap on Russia's seaborne exports of crude oil. Europe has, however, shied away from placing limitations on Russian gas, hardly surprising considering that the share of Russia's pipeline gas in EU imports exceeded 40% before Russia invaded Ukraine. Since then, the continent has been largely successful in weaning itself off Russian energy, with gas imports from Russia falling dramatically. And, now Europe is getting ready to pull the trigger: Politico has reported that the European Commission has proposed sanctions on Russia's LNG sector as part of Brussels’ 14th sanctions package against Russia.The proposed sanctions would prevent EU countries from re-exporting Russian LNG after receiving it and also ban EU involvement in upcoming LNG projects in Russia. However, the measures wouldn’t directly bar Russian LNG imports to the EU. Similar to previous sanctions, the import ban is intended to disrupt Putin’s ability to continue financing his war in Ukraine. Although Russian LNG accounted for just 5% of the bloc’s energy consumption in 2023, it still netted the Kremlin ~$8 billion in revenues. The proposal also suggests prohibiting the use of EU ports, finance and services to re-export Russian LNG, essentially meaning that Russia would have to overhaul its LNG export model. Currently, Russia supplies LNG to Asia through Europe, where Spain, Belgium and France are major hubs. “If they can't transship in Europe, they might have to take their ice-class tankers on longer journeys,” Laura Page, a gas expert at the Kpler data analytics firm, has told Politico, adding that Russia “may not be able to get out as many loadings from Yamal because their vessels can’t get back as quickly.”Norway and the U.S. have replaced Russia as Europe’s biggest gas supplier: Last year, Norway supplied 87.8 bcm (billion cubic meters) of gas to Europe, good for 30.3% of total imports while the U.S. supplied 56.2 bcm, accounting for 19.4% of total.

EU Parliament Exploring Ban on Re-Exporting Russian LNG from Bloc’s Ports - The European Commission (EC) this week is considering a ban on transshipments or re-exports of Russian LNG through European Union (EU) ports as part of Brussels’ latest sanctions package. The UK, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Germany have banned Russian liquified natural gas imports, but an EU-wide ban on Russian LNG imports is not included as part of the proposed sanctions. The focus remains on stopping the transhipment of LNG and its re-export to other countries using European ships. “All decisions on sanctions are taken unanimously by member states in the council,” a spokesperson for the EC told NGI, saying they could not confirm the contents or timing of upcoming packages.

Israel Explores Diversifying Natural Gas Exports with LNG Facility - Israel is exploring options for building an onshore or floating LNG (FLNG) facility offshore, potentially expanding the country’s lucrative natural gas exports and its foothold in the global market. Over the past several years, the Israeli Energy Ministry has taken steps to use two of the country’s massive gas discoveries, the Tamar and Leviathan fields, to become a regional gas hub in the Eastern Mediterranean. However, without a liquefied natural gas facility of its own, Israel is currently dependent on pipeline exports to Egypt’s two terminals to deliver its volumes to global buyers. Israeli news media reported that Energy Minister Eli Cohen had ordered a study of the country’s options for building its own LNG export terminals, citing sources within the...

Scorching Weather in Southeast Asia Boosting Demand for Spot LNG - Southeast Asia’s recent heatwave is leading to a jump in power demand for air conditioning, increasing demand and competition for May and June spot LNG cargoes in the region. Southeast Asia has been suffering a repeat of last summer’s scorching weather as temperatures in Cambodia, Thailand and India soared above 105 F and are expected to continue through June. “We definitely see some upside potential in southeast Asia for liquefied natural gas demand if the current heat waves persist into May and June,” EnergyAspects Min Na, head of Asia LNG, told NGI.

Crack in Tanker’s Hull Causes Largest Oil Spill in Ceuta Port History (video, in Spanish) Spanish authorities at the port of Ceuta on the southern side of the Strait of Gibraltar declared contained what they believe was the largest oil spill in the port’s history. The spill came from a crack in the hull of a Turkish-owned product tanker that is now being detained and facing stiff fines. The port captain for Ceuta, one of only two Spanish ports in Africa and a vital link in Mediterranean traffic, told reporters they received a report of an oil leak from the product tanker K Onset (12,900 dwt) on Tuesday evening, April 30, and they immediately mobilized a containment effort. Within about two hours he said the leak had been contained. They deployed two containment booms and one absorbent boom. The Liberia-flagged tanker managed by Chemfleet of Turkey arrived on April 30 from the Spanish port of Vilagarcia and was conducting a fueling operation. The latest estimate is that the vessel leaked between 25,000 and 30,000 liters of a light marine fuel from a crack that measured 32 centimeters (approximately 12.5 inches) in one of the fuel tanks. Westerly winds helped to contain the spill and throughout the day on Wednesday, teams could be seen with absorbents mopping up the fuel. The port captain believes at least 85 percent of the spill was recovered. The K Onset is now being detained at the port and it has been ordered to pump all the fuel from the cracked tank. The port captain said the tank would be vented and then examined and that they would require repairs before the vessel departs. In addition, the port is demanding a deposit of €72,000 ($77,000) consisting of €60,000 in fines and €12,000 toward the clean-up costs. The final fine is yet to be determined but media reports said it will be at least €200,000 to €250,000, ($214,000-$267,000) with one report saying it could reach a half million euros. The vessel was cited in December 2023 for 18 deficiencies during a Port State inspection in the UK. Among the items identified were hull corrosion as well as issues with propulsion and other structural condition issues. However, the vessel was not detained. Port officials in Ceuta acknowledged that this was the third incident this year although noting the prior two events were much smaller. Media reports said in mid-February, a Panama-flagged Ro-Ro cargo vessel, Lider Trabzon (7,225 dwt) had to pay €136,000 ($145,000) after another oil spill. Last week, a general cargo ship registered in Gibraltar, Schillplate (3,175 dwt) also caused a small spill in the port.

Greek Naval Drills See Oil Tankers Depart Key Transfer Area - Tankers that transfer Russian oil off the southern coast of Greece sailed further out into the Mediterranean after naval exercises were announced in the area where the cargo switching normally takes place. The activities, which began on May 1, will continue through May 9, the Hellenic Navy Hydrographic Service said in a notice on its website. The activity takes place almost exactly a month after Denmark briefly closed a shipping lane through which Russian oil flows on tankers while similar activity took place. When sanctions were placed on Russian oil sales following the war in Ukraine, the Laconian Gulf became a key spot for switching cargoes between vessels. It enabled some ships to shuttle to and from Russian ports, and others to do the long-distance voyages to buyers in Asia. However, it also sparked environmental concerns about the risk of an oil spill in a picturesque European bay. Since the start of this month, vessels have left the gulf and are instead clustered just to its south, according to TankerTrackers.com Inc. Away from the gulf, one tanker also flipped a cargo of crude onto another vessel in the Red Sea in April. The Panta Rei 1 transferred its cargo onto the Odysseus, which then transported its consignment to India. That’s the first ever switch observed in that location in ship tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. The Laconian Gulf has hills all around it, offering some protection from the wind, and calm waters. That has made it a useful spot for transferring cargoes and helps to reduce environmental risks. On a trip to the Port of Piraeus this week, Greek Shipping Minister Christos Sylianides said the safety of the country’s shipping is above all other things.

Russian Fuel Cargos Pile Up at Sea as South Korean Buyers Grow Cautious -Russian oil product cargos are piling up at sea as their South Korean buyers grow reluctant to go through with their deals amid a government crackdown on sanction evasion, Bloomberg has reported, citing unnamed sources. According to Kpler data, there are over 2 million barrels of Russian naphtha sitting off the coast of Oman, which is significantly higher than the weekly average for January and February, which came in at some 790,000 barrels. The Bloomberg sources said that the buildup was caused by the South Korean government’s closer scrutiny of incoming fuel cargos, which has made local refiners and petrochemical producers wary of buying Russian naphtha. The tightening sanctions on Russia's oil exports are raising freight costs for moving Russian crude. The estimated direct cost to deliver Russian cargoes now is around 6-8% of the price of a barrel of crude leaving the western ports in Russia for Asia, according to data from commodity price reporting agency Argus crunched by Bloomberg. Argus estimated in March that shipping a barrel of Russian crude from a port in the Baltic Sea to China has cost around $14.50 since December, with more than half of this per-barrel cost attributable to the Western sanctions. The likely directly related-to-sanction cost to hire tankers to transport Russian oil is estimated at about $773 million since the end of December 2023, based on shipments tracked by Bloomberg. Before the war in the Ukraine Russia was the top supplier of naphtha for South Korean petrochemicals makers but the war has changed this, per the Bloomberg report. Now South Korean plastics producers are importing more naphtha from places such as the UAE, Malaysia, Singapore, and Tunisia. South Korean processors are also importing more naphtha from Kuwait and Oman. Russia, for its part, is shipping more naphtha to China, according to Kpler, as well as Taiwan. Last month, Russian imports accounted for more than half of the total naphtha shipments that Taiwan took in.

Russia Ready To Alter OPEC+ Production if Necessary -The OPEC+ group is still studying whether to raise oil production but it would act on supply if necessary, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Tuesday. The possibility to raise supply is still being reviewed, Russia’s top oilman said, as carried by Russian news agency Interfax.“It always depends on the current situation, the balance of supply and demand,” Novak said.“Everything is being analyzed. Right now, you don’t need to predict anything, you just need to see how the market feels,” he said. Novak added that OPEC+ participants “are constantly monitoring the situation, and this is our plan for the second quarter, we agreed with our colleagues that these voluntary cuts can be adjusted to boost supply if necessary.”“This is a constant process,” Novak stressed.The OPEC+ group is meeting on June 1 to decide how to proceed with the current production cuts in the second half of the year. The current supply agreement which removes around 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd) off the market now including Saudi Arabia’s 1 million voluntary cut, expires at the end of June.As of the end of last week, OPEC+ had yet to start formal talks on the alliance’s production policy, sources from producers part of the deal told Reuters.If oil demand fails to accelerate, the group could keep the oil production cuts in place, the sources added.“We think there's a good chance that OPEC+ will extend beyond June - but we aren't yet putting a firm view because we don't think they've actually got into the real period of discussion and decision-making,”Richard Bronze of consultancy Energy Aspects told Reuters.

Why the IEA is Wrong About Peak Oil Demand - It is fairly common nowadays to see relatively near-term estimates for a point at which demand for petroleum-based fuels begins to decline. The term often used to describe this “tipping point” is Peak Oil Demand. When I say “near term,” I mean right around the corner if you look at an estimate published last year by the International Energy Agency-IEA, an intergovernmental agency headquartered in Paris, France, and originally established after the Oil Embargo of 1973 to help cushion against future oil shocks. This agency has expanded its mission to a fairly broad remit over the years since, and it is not the purpose of this article to detail all its endeavors. One role we will highlight is that of the one it plays in gauging and advising member governments on energy security and energy sources for the coming years. In that capacity, the IEA in a report entitled, Oil 2023, and published last year settled on 2028 as the year past which the use of petroleum fuels will begin to decline.“Growth in the world’s demand for oil is set to slow almost to a halt in the coming years, with the high prices and security of supply concerns highlighted by the global energy crisis hastening the shift towards cleaner energy technologies, according to a new IEA report released today.”This view is largely shared, particularly with respect to liquid motor fuels, by other agencies and organizations that produce long range estimates. The U.S. Energy Information Agency-EIA, Rystad, and Det Norske Veritas- DNV, all show this category tailing off rapidly in the 2030s as electric vehicles assume larger shares of passenger vehicles. We will call this the “Bear Case” for liquid fuels.As you might expect the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries-OPEC, disagrees with this view. In fact in their recent report on oil demand outlook, published in Nov 2023, they see oil demand of all kinds, except for electricity generation, rising from ~105 mm BOPD in 2025, to 116 mm BOPD in 2045. This forecast show use of oil as a road fuel continuing to be the largest source of demand increase for this period.The report notes that “the divergence between the IEA and OPEC outlooks is largely due to assumptions regarding the speed at which internal combustion engine vehicles will be replaced by electric vehicles.”What is interesting is that it is very difficult, if not impossible, to see a production trend being established that would support the bear case. In the U.S., we are pumping at a rate of over 13.2 mm BOPD and still importing ~6.7 mm BOPD to feed our nearly 22 mm BOPD daily habit. The U.S. Energy Information Agency-EIA forecasts in their monthly Short-Term Energy Outlook-STEO that by the end of 2025, global production and demand fall into a fairly tight balance at 105 mm BOPD. That certainly isn’t a long-term trend, but as is often said, the long-term trend is made up of a bunch of short-term ones. For my part, I would say that the trend line in the STEO graph below matches the OPEC estimate more closely than the other three.Both of these notions cannot be true. Which is the correct assumption about future oil demand? Or are they both wrong? What are two factors these two disparate views of oil demand are not taking into account?The first answer lies in how you interpret the growth of the middle class in China, India, and Africa in terms of energy demand and the final form it will take. The second is the advent of energy demand for Artificial Intelligence (AI), an entirely new source of demand that is just now starting to appear in energy demand forecasts. I discussed one possible outcome of this demand for U.S. natural gas in an article in March 2024.To be clear, I am not arguing that AI demand will directly impact crude oil demand as a primary source. Most analysts are factoring renewables and natural gas to meet AI demand. What will impact demand for WTI and other baskets of crude is the relationship to light oil production in the U.S. and the associated gas that’s produced along with it. We will leave that discussion for a future article and refocus on our basic topic. What could oil demand actually be when accounting for growth in currently underserved but upwardly aspiring lower classes?Then there is the Bull Case for oil. Arjun Murti, a well-known energy commentator and partner at energy analyst firm Veriten, as well as a former Goldman Sachs energy analyst, discussed future energy demand in a recent podcast on his Super-Spiked blog. In the episode titled, “Everyone is Rich,” Arjun posits what the impact on world energy demand would be if everyone was as energy-rich as the “Lucky,” 1.2 billion people that live in the Western World. More specifically, Arjun asks what it would mean for the other 7 billion people in China, India, Asia, and Africa to have the lifestyle that Americans, Canadians, Europeans, and a few other countries enjoy. The answer he comes up with on an absolute basis, 250 mm BOPD, using a reference point of 10 bbls a year!Where are we now? The U.S consumes ~22 bbls of oil annually per capita while China consumes 3.7 bbls per capita. Indians use just 1.3 bbls per annum. That’s a pretty wide gap, and as Arjun notes, “economic growth and energy growth are one and the same. You do not get economic growth without adequate energy.”

Crude Oil Price Rises As Saudi Hikes Price For Asia, Europe -- Due to market reactions to failed cease-fire attempts in Gaza and uncertainty about the date of the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) interest rate announcement, oil prices increased early on Monday. Moreover, Saudi Arabia decided to raise the price at which crude oil is sold. The closing price of the previous trading session, which was $82.96 per barrel, was increased by 0.72% to $83.56 per barrel for international benchmark Brent crude. At the same moment, the U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was trading at $78.72 a barrel, up 0.78% from the previous session’s closing price of $78.11 per barrel. Fears of the violence spreading throughout the Middle East were stoked by the improbable possibility of a cease-fire in Gaza, which helped oil prices begin the week higher. The Israeli army issued urgent evacuation orders Monday morning to Palestinian residents and displaced individuals in several areas of eastern Rafah to immediately relocate to the town of al-Mawasi. ‘The army will continue working to achieve the objectives of the war, including dismantling Hamas and returning all Israeli hostages,’ army spokesperson Avichay Adraee wrote on X. The escalating tensions in the region, where the majority of global oil reserves are located, fueled supply concerns, lending upward support to oil prices. Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, raised the official selling price of crude oil for June for Asia, Northwest Europe and the Mediterranean regions. This move boosted expectations of strong market demand over the summer period, putting upward pressure on oil prices. Meanwhile, uncertainties over when the Fed will start interest rate cuts continue to influence oil prices. Financial market pricing is starting to reflect predictions that the Fed will decrease interest rates this year, with September being the most likely month to do so.

Oil gains as technicals provide support amid cease-fire progress - Oil edged higher as technical levels supported prices, even after Hamas said it agreed to a cease-fire proposal by Qatar and Egypt. West Texas Intermediate pared earlier gains to settle above US$78 a barrel, after a statement about the proposal moved on the militant group’s telegram channel. While Israel’s Channel 12 said Israel was studying the proposal, the nation’s government didn’t immediately provide an official comment. Traders said an acceptance of the proposal could trim crude prices by $2 to $3 a barrel. “Traders are awaiting confirmation from Israel before trading on the headline,” said Rebecca Babin, a senior energy trader at CIBC Private Wealth. “Over $7 of geopolitical risk premium has been unwound over the past two weeks as the conflict avoided additional escalation.” Still, bullish tailwinds are supporting crude. Saudi Arabia recently demonstrated confidence in demand by hiking prices for Asia, and technical measures are signaling that last week’s plunge was overdone. Oil is up almost 10 per cent this year, with spillover from the war in Israel and Gaza, most notably disruptions to shipping in the Red Sea, among the key drivers. Earlier, Israel’s military began moving civilians out of Rafah, a possible prelude to a long-expected attack on the Gazan city. Hamas and Israel have been negotiating indirectly via Qatar, Egypt and the U.S. on an agreement that would see the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinians detained in Israeli jails. It would also include a pause in fighting. Meanwhile, OPEC and its allies are widely expected to press on with supply cuts in the second half of this year in an attempt to prevent a surplus. Group laggards Iraq and Kazakhstan have outlined plans on how they will curb flows to compensate for producing above their quotas earlier in the year. WTI for June delivery rose 37 cents to settle at $78.48 barrel in New York. Brent for July settlement climbed 37 cents to settle at $83.33 a barrel.

Saudi Arabia Signaled Confidence in Demand By Increasing its Prices for Asia and Israel's Moves in t | Sprague --The oil market ended the session higher after Israel confirmed that there was no ceasefire agreement with Hamas. The crude market traded mostly sideways in overnight trading as it retraced some of Friday’s losses after Saudi Arabia signaled confidence in demand by increasing its prices for Asia and Israel’s moves in the Gaza Strip. Saudi Aramco increased its official selling prices of all its grades bound for Asia for June. The market was also well supported by the news that Israel’s military had started moving civilians out of Rafah, a possible prelude to an assault in the southern Gaza Strip. The oil market traded to a high of $79.09 early the morning amid the supportive news. The market later gave up some of its gains and settled in a sideways trading range before it sold off sharply to a low of $77.91 early in the afternoon on news that Hamas agreed to a ceasefire, reducing the geopolitical premium. However, the market bounced off its low and retraced its earlier losses on the news that an Israeli official said no ceasefire had been agreed to in Gaza. The June WTI contract settled up 37 cents at $78.48 and the July Brent contract settled up 37 cents at $83.33. The product markets ended the session in positive territory, with the heating oil market settling up 1.8 cents at $2.4614 and the RB market settling up 3.31 cents at $2.5882. Militant group Hamas on Monday agreed to a ceasefire proposal in the seven-month-old war with Israel in Gaza, hours after the Israeli military told residents to evacuate some parts of Rafah. Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh informed Qatari and Egyptian mediators that the group accepted their ceasefire proposal. The agreement, should it take effect, would be the first truce since a week-long pause in the fighting in November, and follows months of failed attempts at pausing the fighting to free hostages and allow more aid into Gaza. However, in response an Israeli official said no ceasefire had been agreed in Gaza. The Israeli official said the proposal that Hamas accepted was a “softened” version of an Egyptian proposal, which included “far-reaching” conclusions that Israel could not accept.Earlier, Israel urged Palestinians to evacuate parts of the Gaza city of Rafah in possible preparation for an assault on Hamas units. Israeli Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, said Israeli military action in Rafah is required due to Hamas' refusals of mediated proposals for a Gaza truce under which the Palestinian Islamist group would free some hostages. On Sunday, prospects for a Gaza ceasefire were dissipating as Hamas reiterated its demand for an end to the war in exchange for the freeing of hostages, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flatly ruled that out.IIR Energy reported that U.S. oil refiners are expected to shut in about 724,000 bpd of capacity in the week ending May 10th, increasing available refining capacity by 289,000 bpd. Offline capacity is expected to fall to 545,000 bpd in the week ending May 17th.Alaskan North Slope oil production in April averaged 475,165 b/d, down from the 479,462 b/d produced in March and from the average 480,462 b/d produced in April 2023.

The Market Weighed the Geopolitical Developments in the Middle East Against Supply and Demand Fundamentals - The oil market on Tuesday posted an outside trading day as the market weighed the geopolitical developments in the Middle East against supply and demand fundamentals. The market was well supported in overnight trading after Israel rejected the latest ceasefire deal with Hamas and stepped up its attacks in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah. The crude market rallied to $79.02 on the geopolitical tensions. However, the market gave up its gains and traded lower as the market turned its attention to the uncertainties about global economic growth and the impact on demand. The market was also pressured by comments made by Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, who stated that OPEC has the option of increasing its oil production. The market sold off to a low of $77.55 by mid-morning. The oil market later bounced off its low and rallied higher in afternoon trading on the news that the U.S. Energy Department was seeking to purchase up to 3.3 million barrels to replenish the SPR. The market rallied to a high of $79.17 only to give up those gains ahead of the close. The June WTI contract settled down 10 cents at $78.38 and the July Brent contract settled down 17 cents at $83.16. The product markets settled in mixed territory, with the heating oil market settling up 42 points at $2.4656 and the RB market settling down 4.48 cents at $2.5434. The EIA, in its Short Term Energy Outlook, cut its 2024 world oil demand growth forecast by 30,000 bpd to 920,000 bpd. However, it increased its oil demand growth estimate for 2025 by 70,000 bpd to 1.42 million bpd. Total world oil demand is forecast to increase to 102.84 million bpd in 2024 and to 104.26 million bpd in 2025. The EIA estimates that world oil output in 2024 will increase by 970,000 bpd, up from a previous forecast of 850,000 bpd, to 102.76 million bpd and output in 2025 is forecast to increase by 1.89 million bpd, down from a previous forecast of 1.96 million bpd, to 104.65 million bpd. U.S. oil output in 2024 is expected to increase by 270,000 bpd to 13.2 million bpd, compared with a previous forecast of a 280,000 bpd increase and output in 2025 is expected to increase by 530,000 bpd to 13.73 million bpd, up from a previous forecast of a 510,000 bpd increase. Meanwhile, U.S. petroleum demand in 2024 is expected to increase by 200,000 bpd to 20.4 million bpd and demand in 2025 is expected to also increase by 200,000 bpd to 20.6 million bpd.The U.S. Energy Department said it is seeking to purchase up to 3.3 million barrels of oil to replenish the SPR. On Monday, Amos Hochstein, President Joe Biden's energy adviser, said the U.S. has sufficient supply of oil in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to address any supply concerns and is monitoring markets on how to use it.Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the latest truce proposal from Hamas falls far short of Israel’s essential demand, adding military pressure remains necessary to return hostages held in Gaza. Earlier, the Israeli military said it had taken operational control of the Palestinian side of Gaza's southern Rafah Crossing, which borders Egypt and has been pivotal for the delivery of aid and exit of injured people in the Gaza war. Later, Israel’s Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, said Israel will continue its operation in Rafah until Hamas forces in the area are destroyed or the Islamist movement hands over the Israeli hostages it still holds.

Oil settles lower on signs of easing supply tightness (Reuters) - Oil prices closed slightly lower on Tuesday on signs of easing supply concerns, while market participants shifted their focus to U.S. stockpiles data due later today and Wednesday. Brent crude futures settled 17 cents lower at $83.16 a barrel, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures closed 10 cents lower at $78.38. Prices fell further in thin post-settlement trading after market sources said that data from the American Petroleum Institute showed a jump in U.S. crude and fuel stocks last week. Rising inventories, typically a sign of weak demand, have defied analysts' expectations in recent weeks. Analysts polled by Reuters forecast a decrease in U.S. oil and fuel stockpiles, and official data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is due at 10:30 a.m. ET (1430 GMT) on Wednesday. Brent crude futures traded at $82.98 a barrel by 4:48 p.m. ET, 35 cents lower than Monday's closing price, and WTI futures were down 23 cents to $78.26 a barrel. U.S. gasoline futures and ultra-low sulfur diesel futures also fell in extended trading. "If EIA shows less barrels are going into the refineries, then that is a problem for crude oil here,". "Heading into peak summer driving season we should be drawing, not building," Current global inventory data shows crude oil and petroleum supplies are running 1.1 million barrel per day above forecasts in developed economies, "Global inventories remain in a building phase and has accelerated recently," . The EIA on Tuesday raised its forecasts for this year's world oil and liquid fuels output and lowered its demand expectations, pointing to a well-supplied market as opposed to prior forecasts that showed under-supply. The premium of the first-month Brent contract to the six-month contract slipped to $2.90 a barrel on Tuesday, the lowest since mid-February, another sign of market participants betting on easing supply tightness. Last week, Brent and WTI had their steepest weekly losses in three months as weak U.S. jobs data fueled hopes for interest rate cuts. Oil prices found some support in Tuesday's session from a U.S. government solicitation to buy more than 3 million barrels of oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). Oil traders largely looked past escalating tensions in the Middle East, where the Israeli military seized control of the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt and its tanks pushed into the southern Gazan town of Rafah, as mediators struggled to secure a ceasefire agreement. "Instead, their focus appears directed towards the uncertainties surrounding global economic growth prospects and the anticipated impact of sluggish growth on oil demand,"

WTI Dips After API Reports Across-The-Board Inventory Builds - Oil prices ended the day flat today (after touching the lowest level in almost two months on news reports said Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak indicated OPEC+ could move to raise crude production). Novak told Russia's Interfax news agency that the possibility of increasing oil production within the OPEC+ framework was still being analyzed. "It always depends on the current situation; the balance of supply and demand. Everything is analyzed. Now there is no need to forecast anything. We need to look at how the market is feeling," he said, according to Interfax. OPEC+ has largely been expected to roll over existing voluntary cuts of 2.2 million barrels a day beyond the second quarter. But crude recovered, finding technical support ahead of tonight's API inventory data.

• Crude +509k (-1.40mm exp)
• Cushing +1.339mm
• Gasoline +1.46mm
• Distillates +1.713mm

Inventories rose across the whole complex according to API.Graphs Source: Bloomberg WTI tested its 100DMA for the third day in a row, and rejected it (for the third day in a row)... And dipped after the inventory builds... Overall, "oil is lower because a renewed battle between Israel and Hamas, in isolation, does not really affect oil-producing nations," Stewart Glickman, energy equity analyst at CFRA Research, told MarketWatch. If Iran is "subsequently encouraged to do more direct attacks on Israel, it may be different," he said, but the market is "discounting this possibility." Finally, President Biden will use crude oil from the strategic petroleum reserve should the need arise, energy adviser Amos Hochstein has said, noting there was enough oil in the reserve.

Builds of Over 1 Millions Barrels Each in Distillate Stocks and Gasoline Stocks The oil market settled higher on Wednesday after the market once again posted an outside trading day. In overnight trading, the crude market sold off sharply to a low of $76.89, pressured by the mostly bearish APIs late Tuesday that showed a build of 509,000 barrels in crude stocks and builds of over 1 million barrels each in distillate stocks and gasoline stocks. The market also traded lower amid the strength in the dollar. The oil market later retraced some of its losses ahead of the release of the EIA report. The market was well supported by the EIA report, which showed an unexpected draw of over 1.3 million barrels in crude stocks as refiners increased their output. The crude market rallied higher, breaching its previous high and posted a high of $79.27 ahead of the close. The June WTI contract settled up 61 cents at $78.99 and the July Brent contract settled up 42 cents at $83.58. The product markets ended the session mixed, with the heating oil market settling up 1.05 cents at $2.4761 and the RB market settling down 1.16 cents at $2.5318. The EIA reported that U.S. crude oil stocks fell as refiners increased production, while fuel inventories increased unexpectedly last week. Crude inventories fell by 1.4 million barrels to 459.5 million barrels in the week ending May 3rd. The draw came as refinery crude runs increased by 307,000 bpd and refinery utilization rates increased by 1% to 88.5% of total capacity. The EIA data showed that U.S. gasoline and diesel demand are the lowest seasonal level since the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. The four-week average demand for gasoline stood at 8.63 million bpd in the week ending May 3rd, the lowest reading for the beginning of May since 2020. The four-week average demand for distillate fuels stood at 3.6 million bpd, also the weakest seasonal level since the pandemic. An Israeli official said Israel sees no sign of a breakthrough in Egyptian-mediated talks on a truce with Hamas that would free some Gaza hostages, but is keeping its delegation of mid-level negotiators in Cairo for now. A U.S. official said the U.S. has halted a shipment of powerful bombs to Israel, as Washington puts pressure on its ally to avoid a full-scale invasion of the Gaza Strip's southern city of Rafah and give more time for ceasefire talks. The White House said talks aimed at reaching a Gaza ceasefire for hostages deal are ongoing and added that Israel and Hamas militants are close enough to an agreement that they should be able to close the gaps. On Tuesday, Israeli forces seized the main border crossing between Gaza and Egypt in Rafah, cutting off a vital route for aid. Despite the latest Israeli assault in Rafah and fighting elsewhere in Gaza, the United States said it believes a revised Hamas ceasefire proposal may lead to a breakthrough in the ceasefire impasse, with talks resuming in Cairo on Wednesday. CIA Director Bill Burns was in Israel meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli officials about a possible suspension of the Israeli operation in Rafah in return for a hostage release. IIR Energy reported that U.S. oil refiners are expected to shut in about 800,000 bpd of capacity in the week ending May 10th, increasing available refining capacity by 205,000 bpd. Offline capacity is expected to fall to 683,000 bpd in the week ending May 17th.

Oil ends slightly firmer after US crude stock draw, firmer dollar (Reuters) - Oil prices edged higher on Wednesday after data showed U.S. crude stockpiles fell last week as refiners slowly ramped up output ahead of the summer driving season, while a stronger dollar capped gains. Brent crude oil futures settled 42 cents, or 0.5%, higher at $83.58 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 61 cents, or 0.8%, to $78.99 a barrel. U.S. crude inventories fell by 1.4 million barrels to 459.5 million barrels last week, government data showed, compared with a 1.1 million-barrel draw that analysts forecast and industry data that showed a 509,000-barrel increase. [EIA/S] "Stronger refining activity and exports have encouraged a minor draw to crude inventories, helping unwind some of last week's large build," Refinery utilization rates rose by 1 percentage point to 88.5% of total capacity, but was still lower than rates of 91% a year ago ahead of the Memorial Day weekend at the end of May that kicks off the peak season for gasoline demand. "Gasoline demand is still below 9 million barrels (per day) ahead of the start of the summer driving season. That is a pretty grim situation here," A strengthening dollar , which gained as investors bet on the U.S. economy outperforming peers, weighed on crude oil prices. A stronger greenback dampens oil demand by making the dollar-denominated commodity more expensive for investors holding other currencies. Hopes of a ceasefire in Gaza have put some downward pressure on oil prices in recent trading sessions, with some analysts saying the risk premium on oil had declined in tandem. "Taking away the current geopolitical trigger leaves the market staring into a world of sticky inflation in the U.S. that is countered by interest rates that not only keep the U.S. dollar elevated but make any sort of commodity trading more expensive," The U.S. believes negotiations on a Gaza ceasefire should be able to close the gaps between Israel and Hamas. U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns traveled to Israel on Wednesday and met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, an Israel official said.

Oil Ekes Out Gain as Jobless Claims Lift Odds for Rate Cut -- Oil futures notched gains on Thursday on improving expectations for lower interest rates following a jump in initial filings for unemployment insurance. June RBOB futures rallied to a $2.5655 gallon intraday high following the release of the first-time claim filings by the Labor Department Thursday morning, which rose 22,000 to 231,000 during the week ended May 4. Job losses are typically bearish for gasoline demand, weighing on consumer sentiment and discretionary spending. However, the market looked at today's report as a sign of a softening economy that would lead to lower interest rates after data released in April showed expanding inflationary pressure, diminishing the likelihood of rate cuts. Those factors weighed on consumer sentiment in April, with gasoline supplied to the U.S. market during the four weeks ended May 4 down 363,000 barrels per day (bpd) or 4% at 8.625 million bpd against the comparable year-ago period, according to data from the Energy Information Administration. June RBOB futures reversed higher from Wednesday's $2.4826 10-week low on the spot continuation chart to settle $0.01 higher at $2.5418 gallon. June ULSD futures firmed, inching 15 points higher to a $2.4776 gallon settlement. While up modestly, it was the fifth consecutive positive close for the diesel contract, edging higher after testing technical support at the trendline for the downtrend from the April 2022 high now at $2.3920 gallon. The U.S. dollar weakened with the boost in unemployment filings, settling down 0.3% at 105.104 in index trade against a basket of foreign currencies, with the CME FedWatch Tool showing a 60% probability the federal funds rate will end the year at 5% or less. Currently, the policy rate is in a 5.25% by 5.5% target range. The weaker dollar lent upside support for June West Texas Intermediate futures, which settled $0.27 higher at $79.26 a barrel (bbl), paring gains after testing resistance at the $79.54 50% Fibonacci retracement point for the February-April uptrend. July Brent futures settled $0.30 higher at $83.88 bbl after finding technical support at the $83.42 50-day moving average.

Oil holds near one-week high on rising demand hopes after China, US data - Oil prices held near a one-week high on Thursday as data from China and the U.S. that signalled demand in the world’s two biggest crude-consuming nations could climb offset weak current U.S. distillates and gasoline demand. Brent futures rose 15 cents, or 0.2%, to $83.73 a barrel by 1:28 p.m. EDT (1728 GMT), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 16 cents, or 0.2%, to $79.15. That put both crude benchmarks on track for their highest closes since April 30. U.S. gasoline and diesel demand were at their weakest seasonal level since the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, according to weekly data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. In China meanwhile, crude oil imports rose on the previous year in April and exports and imports returned to growth last month, signalling improvement in demand at home and overseas as Beijing moves to shore up a shaky economy. “The improved China trade balance data added to the upside momentum,” In the U.S., the number of new claims for unemployment benefits rose last week to the highest in more than eight months, further evidence that the labor market was cooling. Analysts projected that ebbing labor market momentum puts two interest rate cuts from the U.S. Federal Reserve this year back on the table. Lower rates would reduce borrowing costs and could spur economic growth and demand for oil. The Bank of England took another step towards lowering interest rates as a second official backed a cut and Governor Andrew Bailey said he was “optimistic that things are moving in the right direction”. Israeli tanks and warplanes bombarded areas of Rafah, Palestinian residents said, after President Joe Biden said the U.S. would withhold weapons from Israel if its forces mount a major invasion of the southern Gaza city. “If the Biden boycott spurs the Israelis to sign a ceasefire deal with Hamas, then WTI crude oil could potentially squeeze another $10 (a barrel) of geopolitical risk premium out of the market, “However, if Iran becomes emboldened by the U.S. stance and jumps back into the fray after keeping (a) low profile for weeks, then the market could rally back to multi-month highs,” In response to Israel’s latest operation, the leader of the Houthis in Yemen said the Iran-backed group, which has already disrupted shipping in the Red Sea, would target ships of any company related to supplying or transporting goods to Israel.

European and African Oil Prices Fall as U.S. Exports Soar - U.S. crude oil exports are rebounding this month, dragging down the prices of physical crude grades in Europe and Africa amid a relatively tepid market, traders told Bloomberg on Friday.After a temporary dip in April, U.S. crude flows to Europe have rebounded so far in May, according to vessel-tracking data that Bloomberg has compiled.In the first three weeks of May, observed U.S. crude oil exports to Europe are estimated to be on the rebound and to average at least 2.1 million barrels per day (bpd), up by a third compared to the average shipments in April, the data showed.Higher exports are also driven by a decline in the price of the WTI Midland grade from the United States. The differentials of WTI Midland have fallen to the lowest levels in more than a year. WTI Midland was added to the Brent basket in June 2023 and has been a major driver of the surging U.S. crude oil exports over the past year, especially to Europe. The WTI crude oil included in determining the Dated Brent price is delivered into Rotterdam, a large crude oil storage and trading hub in the Netherlands. As a result, the Netherlands received more U.S. crude oil exports than any other country in 2023, averaging 652,000 bpd, per EIA estimates.In total, U.S. crude oil exports to Europe averaged 1.8 million bpd last year, slightly more than U.S. exports to Asia and Oceania of 1.7 million bpd. American crude has replaced a large portion of Russian crude, which Europe imported before 2022.As U.S. oil output rose by 9% on the year to a record-high 12.9 million bpd in 2023, and as many American refineries are designed to use heavier and sour crude, the excess light sweet crude from the shale plays found more buyers abroad.

Oil falls on prospect of higher-for-longer US rates, stronger dollar (Reuters) - Oil prices fell by nearly $1 a barrel on Friday as comments from U.S. central bank officials indicated higher-for-longer interest rates, which could hinder demand from the world's largest crude consumers. Brent crude futures settled at $82.79 a barrel, down $1.09, or 1.3%. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude settled at $78.26 a barrel, down $1.00, or 1.3%. For the week, Brent logged a 0.2% loss, while WTI recorded a rise of 0.2%. Dallas Federal Reserve President Lorie Logan on Friday said it was unclear whether monetary policy was tight enough to bring down inflation to the U.S. central bank's 2% goal. Higher interest rates typically slow economic activity and weaken oil demand. Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic also told Reuters he thought inflation was likely to slow under current monetary policy, enabling the central bank to begin reducing its policy rate in 2024 - though perhaps by only a quarter of a percentage point and not until the final months of the year. "The two Fed speakers certainly seemed to put the kibosh on the prospect of rate cuts," The U.S. dollar strengthened after the Fed officials' comments, making greenback-denominated commodities more expensive for buyers using other currencies. Higher-for-longer U.S. interest rates could also dampen demand. Oil prices were also under pressure from rising U.S. fuel inventories approaching the typically robust summer driving season, "Given the price decline of the past month and the weaker-than-expected demand trends for U.S. gasoline and diesel, some bearish demand adjustment would appear likely," Next week, U.S. inflation data could influence Fed decisions on rates. Oil drew little support from the U.S. oil rig count, which is an indicator of future supply, despite energy services firm Baker Hughes data showing the number of oil rigs fell by three to 496 this week, their lowest since November. Money managers, meanwhile, cut their net long U.S. crude futures and options positions in the week to May 7 by 56,517 contracts to 82,697, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission said. Data on Thursday showing China imported more oil in April than the same month last year also helped keep oil prices from moving lower. China's exports and imports returned to growth in April after contracting the previous month. The European Central Bank, meanwhile, looks increasingly likely to start cutting rates in June. In Europe, a Ukrainian drone attack set an oil refinery in Russia's Kaluga region on fire, RIA state news agency reported on Friday, the latest salvo from Kyiv in what has become a series of tit-for-tat attacks on energy infrastructure. Conflict in the Middle East also continues after Israeli forces bombarded areas of the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Thursday, according to Palestinian residents, after a lack of progress in the latest round of negotiations to halt hostilities in Gaza.

Colombia cuts ties with Israel over Gaza genocide - Colombia’s Foreign Ministry announced last Thursday the severing of diplomatic relations with Israel over the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Bogota plans to remove all its diplomatic personnel from Israel, according to an official statement that cites the “indescribable human suffering” inflicted upon Palestinians since last October. The communiqué stresses that the measure is aimed not at Israeli citizens or the Jewish population, but strictly at the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Gustavo Petro delivers May Day speech in Plaza Bolívar, Bogotá, Colombia [Photo: Juan Diego Cano/Presidencia] The decision was first announced by President Gustavo Petro during a May Day speech on Wednesday, in front of tens of thousands of supporters in Bogota. He said that one word summarizes “the necessity of life, rebellion, the raised flag and resistance. That word is called Gaza. It is called Palestine, the girls, the boys, the babies who have died dismembered by bombs... If Palestine dies, humanity dies, and we will not let it die.” The breaking of relations with Tel Aviv, which predictably responded by calling Petro an “antisemite full of hatred,” takes place in the context of the massive crackdown against peaceful anti-genocide protests at universities across US and indications that Israel will proceed with a devastating invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza, which harbors over 1 million refugees. Hundreds of millions around the world have watched for seven months images of the mass killings in Gaza and are now being further enraged by the brutal violence against students and faculty on US campuses. The danger of a regional or even global conflict has also become increasingly apparent, with Petro himself responding to the exchange of air strikes between Israel and Iran by warning of an imminent “World War III.” At the time, he tweeted: “US support, in practice, for a genocide, has set the world ablaze.” With a few exceptions—most notably the fascist Argentine President Javier Milei—the biggest diplomatic backlash against Israel and the US for the slaughter in Palestine has taken place in Latin America, even more than among Muslim-majority countries. Petro had recalled his ambassador from Israel hours after an Israeli airstrike flattened much of the Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza and killed dozens on October 31. On the same day, Bolivian President Luis Arce cut all diplomatic ties with Israel, while President Gabriel Boric recalled Chile’s ambassador from Tel Aviv.

World Food Programme Director Cindy McCain Says Northern Gaza Experiencing 'Full-Blown' Famine - The head of the UN’s World Food Programme has said northern Gaza is experiencing a “full-blown famine” that is moving south, which is a result of the US-backed Israeli blockade and bombing campaign.“Whenever you have conflicts like this, and emotions rage high, and things happen in a war, famine happens,” Cindy McCain, the widow of Senator John McCain, told NBC News.“What I can explain to you is — is that there is famine — full-blown famine — in the north, and it’s moving its way south. And so, what we’re asking for, and what we’ve continually asked for, is for a ceasefire and the ability to have unfettered access,” she added.Humanitarian organizations have not officially declared famine, but McCain reaffirmed her view that there was already a “full-blown famine” when asked by the host, saying it was based on what the WFP has seen on the ground. “It’s horror. It’s – You know, it’s so hard to look at and it’s so hard to hear, also,” she said.McCain is the second notable aid official to say that famine is already occurring in Gaza. Last month, Samantha Power, head of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), said she believed famine was already occurring in parts of northern Gaza.Despite the admission from a high-level US official, the US has continued to back the Israeli slaughter and starvation of Palestinians, and President Biden is refusing to call for a ceasefire that’s not attached to a hostage deal.Israel has said it’s taken some steps to increase the flow of aid into Gaza, but aid officials say it’s not nearly enough. The restrictions on aid violate US law that prohibits military assistance to countries that block deliveries of humanitarian assistance, but that has not stopped Biden from continuing to ship weapons.

Hamas Says It Accepted Proposal for Ceasefire But Israel Hasn't Approved the Terms -Hamas said on Monday that it accepted a proposal for a ceasefire and hostage deal from Qatari and Egyptian mediators, but Israeli officials say they have not approved the terms.According to Al Jazeera, the Palestinian group said in a statement that Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s political chief, spoke with Qatari and Egyptian officials and “informed them of the Hamas movement’s approval of their proposal regarding the ceasefire agreement.”According to The Times of Israel, Israeli officials have said the proposal Hamas said it accepted was an offer made unilaterally by Egypt and is not being taken seriously by Israel until details are clarified.State Department spokesman Matt Miller said the US was reviewing the proposal Hamas has approved. “I can confirm that Hamas has issued a response. We are reviewing that response now and discussing it with our partners in the region,” he said.Details of the proposal are unclear, but recent media reports said the deal that was on the table was for Hamas to release 33 Israeli hostages in exchange for a 40-day ceasefire and the release of Palestinian prisoners.The main obstacle to an agreement is the fact that Hamas has also been for a commitment from Israel to work toward a permanent ceasefire while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been threatening an invasion of Rafah “with or without” a hostage deal.Netanyahu has been accused of sabotaging the negotiations with Hamas, and a US official told Reuters on Monday that the Israeli leader and his war cabinet “have not appeared to approach the latest phase of negotiations in good faith.”

Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Talks at Impasse, Netanyahu Blamed for Sabotage - Egyptian and Qatari-mediated ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas are expected to fail as the two sides are at an impasse.The main obstacle is Hamas’s demand for a deal to lead to a permanent ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence that any truce would only be temporary.There were signs over the past week that progress was being made in the talks, but an Israeli official told The New York Times that Netanyahu’s repeated threats to invade Rafah “with or without” a deal hardened Hamas’s demands to ensure Israeli forces wouldn’t enter the city.According to media reports, the deal that was on the table would have involved Hamas releasing 33 Israeli hostages in the initial phase in exchange for a 40-day ceasefire and commitments to work toward a longer truce. Hamas still insisted on a permanent ceasefire, and Netanyahu’s threats made it clear that wasn’t going to happen.Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s political chief, accused Netanyahu of “sabotaging” the negotiations and said the Israeli leader was trying to “invent constant justifications for the continuation of aggression, expanding the circle of conflict.”Yossi Verter, an Israeli journalist who writes for Haaretz, said in an analysis piece that Netanyahu likely thought Hamas would reject Israel’s latest proposal, and when the group didn’t, he turned to sabotage.“Netanyahu is fleeing from a hostage deal. The closer it gets, the faster he runs to avoid it. At least twice in recent months he has sabotaged the sensitive moves toward a deal, whether through public statements or covert messages, or by curbing the mandate of the negotiating team. It was no different this time,” Verter wrote.

IDF issues evacuation order to 100,000 in Rafah as looming assault sparks fear of bloodbath in Gaza Amid mounting global alarm and a looming ground assault, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) ordered roughly 100,000 people living in Rafah to evacuate the southern Gaza city. This mass relocation directive has caused terror among already displaced families and intensified international warnings of an imminent humanitarian disaster. Rafah, a border city in southern Gaza, has become a refuge for nearly 1.4 million displaced Palestinians following the outbreak of violence in October. The city, which lies along Gaza’s southern border with Egypt, has been characterized by Israel as the last significant Hamas stronghold after seven months of hostilities. On Monday, the IDF dropped leaflets ordering some of Rafah’s residents to move to Al-Mawasi, a narrow strip along Gaza’s coast. This move signals the long-feared ground assault is imminent. These evacuation orders come after months of escalating conflict, which began on October 7 when Hamas launched an attack on Israel. The IDF aims to secure Rafah to prevent Hamas from regrouping, despite vocal opposition from international humanitarian organizations and governments. The United States, Israel’s primary arms supplier, has warned against an attack without a credible evacuation plan, citing the absence of genuinely safe locations for Gazans to find shelter. The IDF’s directive has left Rafah’s residents, especially families with children, grappling with chaos and fear. Jan Egeland, Secretary-General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, denounced the orders as “beyond alarming,” stating that the region is overstretched and lacks adequate infrastructure to provide shelter or safety. The IDF’s evacuation instructions amount to forcible transfer, a serious violation of international humanitarian law, according to Egeland. Catherine Russell, Executive Director of UNICEF, expressed concerns over the impact of the assault on children, noting that up to 600,000 are currently sheltering in Rafah. She emphasized that these children face not only the physical threat of violence but also the psychological trauma of panic and chaos after enduring months of conflict. UNRWA, the United Nations agency responsible for providing relief in Gaza, remains committed to its humanitarian mission, rejecting the evacuation orders and pledging to continue operations. The organization condemned the evacuation push, noting that any assault on Rafah will only exacerbate the suffering of already vulnerable civilians. The United States, which was notified of the IDF’s orders overnight, dispatched CIA Director William Burns to Israel for discussions. Efforts to broker a ceasefire have been ongoing, but the IDF’s imminent offensive in Rafah could complicate these negotiations. Qatar, which has played a role in mediation, warned that an invasion would derail negotiations. Despite this, the Israeli government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remains resolute, characterizing the operation as crucial to defeat Hamas, which Israel blames for initiating the conflict. Human Rights Watch also criticized the orders, with Director Omar Shakir calling the evacuation push “unlawful and catastrophic.” He urged the international community to intervene to prevent further atrocities, emphasizing that “there’s nowhere safe to go in Gaza.”

Israeli Ground Forces Enter Rafah - Israeli tanks have entered Rafah and appear to be pushing to capture the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing that connects to Egypt, several media outlets have reported.Heavy airstrikes have been reported in the city as well, with some media reports describing it as a “carpet bombing,” although the scale of destruction and death toll is unclear at this time.An Egyptian official told The Associated Press that the Israeli operation could be limited and that Israeli forcescould soon withdraw. But Egypt is also preparing for the possibility of a major influx of Palestinian refugees entering its territory. According to Middle East Eye, Cairo estimates between 50,000 and 250,000 Palestinians could flee toward Sinai.A source told Axios that Israel plans to take control of the Rafah border crossing and monitor all aid that enters Gaza, a sign that it’s seeking long-term control of the area. The military activity near the Rafah crossing will further disrupt aid shipments into the Strip as Palestinians in northern Gaza are facing a “full-blown famine,”according to the UN’s World Food Programme.Israel’s move on Rafah comes after Hamas said it accepted an Egyptian and Qatari proposal for a ceasefire. Israeli officials quickly rejected the idea that there was a deal and said the proposal included terms Israel did not agree to.The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the proposal didn’t meet its “core demands” and said Israel would go ahead with military operations in Rafah. “The War Cabinet unanimously decided this evening Israel will continue its operation in Rafah, in order to apply military pressure on Hamas so as to advance the release of our hostages and achieve the other objectives of the war,” the office said.

Israel Captures Rafah Border Crossing, Cutting Off Aid - The Israeli military announced on Tuesday that its ground forces captured the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing, cutting off a vital aid route as Palestinians are facing starvation.Israeli tanks and troops entered Rafah late Monday, and Israeli strikes pounded the city throughout the night, hitting residential homes. According to AP, hospital records show that at least 23 Palestinians were killed in the bombardment, including six women and five children.The Israeli military claimed that it killed about 20 Hamas fighters in exchanges of gunfire. The Israeli military also claimed that the Rafah crossing had been used for “terrorist operations” but did not provide evidence.The Rafah border crossing has been the main hub for aid deliveries into Gaza and was the only crossing not controlled by Israel. The UN’s World Food Program (WFP) said the nearby Kerem Shalom crossing still remains closed.The cutting off of vital aid channels comes after WFP chief Cindy McCain said northern Gaza was already experiencing a “full-blown famine.” James Elder, the head of the UN’s children’s relief agency, said on Tuesdaythat if the Rafah crossing is closed for an extended period of time, it would be “hard to see how famine in Gaza can be averted.”Also on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a ceasefire proposal that was accepted by Hamas. He accused the Palestinian group of trying to “sabotage the entry of our forces into Rafah” by announcing it accepted the ceasefire deal.Netanyahu said the deal Hamas accepted was “very far from Israel’s vital demands” and he vowed Israel would not allow “Hamas to restore its wicked rule in the Strip.”The US has claimed it’s opposed to an Israeli assault on Rafah since the city is packed with 1.4 million civilians, and they have nowhere to go. But the US appears to have accepted the Israeli decision to attack, as the White House said Israel informed the US that the operation would be limited.

Aid Agencies Are Running Out of Food as Israel Expands Assault on Rafah - As Israeli troops are expanding their operations in Rafah, civilians report food is running out, and at least 100,000 have fled the city. Al-Qassam, the armed faction of Hamas, says it has engaged the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) around the city. At least one million internally displaced Palestinians were taking refuge in Rafah before the assault began.Georgios Petropoulos, an official for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) working in Rafah, said that 110,000 Palestinians have now fled the city. He slammed the Israeli attack for causing “even more unprecedented levels of emergency.” Rafah had a pre-war population of 250,000, but absorbing the internally displaced in Gaza has increased the population to around 1.5 million Palestinians.Most other cities in Gaza have been reduced to rubble by the IDF, causing widespread starvation and famine in northern Gaza. While the situation in Rafah was desperate before the Israeli attack, Palestinians in the city had access to some food and other assistance.Al-Qassam says it has inflicted some casualties on the IDF. A statement from the group claimed it killed and wounded several Israeli soldiers in a “complex and simultaneous” operation in Rafah. The IDF stated in turn it killed several Palestinian gunmen.On Monday, the IDF seized control of the border crossing between Egypt and Gaza near Rafah. That crossing has been used to bring most aid into Gaza since October 7. Since Israel gained control of the Rafah crossing, aid trucks have been unable to deliver food and other lifesaving assistance into Gaza.Petropoulos said the attack left the World Food Program (WFP) without a way to bring additional assistance into Gaza, and it will run out of food to distribute on Saturday. Sam Rose, an official for the UN Palestinian Aid Agency (UNRWA), explained, “No aid has come into Gaza now since Sunday. No aid, no fuel, no supplies, nothing. And we really are now down to our last reserves.”

Two More Palestinians Killed By Aid Drops on Gaza - Two more Palestinians were killed by airdrops of aid in Gaza this week when a parachute failed, and a pallet smashed into a warehouse, prompting the head of Gaza’s Government Media Office to renew his call for an end to the practice.Several countries, including the US, Jordan, and the UK, have been dropping pallets of aid on Gaza as Israel is restricting humanitarian assistance through border crossings.According to Gaza’s Media Office, at least 21 Palestinians have been killed during aid drops, including 12 who drowned while trying to retrieve aid that went into the sea, eight who were killed by falling pallets or stampedes, and one who was shot by Israeli forces.Last month, a 13-year-old Palestinian boy who survived an Israeli airstrike in November was killed by an aid drop.“We reiterate that airdrops pose a real danger to the lives of citizens and do not provide a real solution to alleviate the food crisis plaguing northern Gaza,” said Salama Marouf, the head of the Media Office. “We call for an immediate halt to the delivery of aid in this ineffective and erroneous manner, and we call for the full activation of the land crossings to deliver humanitarian aid to northern Gaza.” The US began aid drops over Gaza and built a $320 million pier off the coast instead of pressuring Israel to allow more deliveries to enter border crossings, a far more efficient way to get assistance to starving Palestinians. The first aid shipment bound for the US-built pier has left Cyprus, but it’s unclear when the deliveries will actually reach Gaza.

Hamas Says There Will Be No Ceasefire Deal If Israel Continues Rafah Operation - Osama Hamdan, a Hamas political official, said on Tuesday that there will be no ceasefire and hostage deal if Israel continues its military operations in Rafah.“The occupation army’s storming of the Rafah crossing, and its barbaric and criminal bombing, at the insistence of Netanyahu and his extremist warlords, is an open attempt to sabotage all the efforts of the mediators to achieve an agreement to stop the aggression against our people, and at the same time it is a desperate attempt to create an image of an illusion of victory to save face,” he said at a press conference in Beirut.“If his aggression continues, he will only suffer more defeats and disgrace,” Hamdan said. He also mentioned the Israeli capture of the Rafah border crossing, which cut off aid deliveries, saying the crossing “was and will remain a purely Egyptian-Palestinian crossing.”Before Israel launched its ground assault into Rafah late Monday, Hamas said that it agreed to a ceasefire proposal from Egyptian and Qatari mediators. But Israeli officials quickly threw cold water on the idea that a deal could be reached and said the proposal included terms Israel had not agreed to.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reaffirmed Israel’s rejection of the deal on Tuesday, saying the proposal was “very far from Israel’s vital demands.” According to media reports, the proposal included working toward a permanent ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal, an idea Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected.While rejecting the deal, Netanyahu still sent a low-level delegation to Egypt for negotiations. Egyptian mediareported that all parties have agreed to “return to the negotiating table.” CIA Director William Burns had been involved in discussions with Qatari and Egyptian officials before Hamas said it accepted the ceasefire proposal, signaling the US was aware of the contents of the offer. According toAxios, Israeli officials were unhappy with the Biden administration because they thought the US was aware of the proposal and didn’t give Israel a heads up.

Biden Gave Netanyahu the Green Light To Capture Rafah Crossing - President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed Israel’s plans to capture the Rafah border crossing in southern Gaza before the Israeli military launched the operation, Axios reported on Tuesday.The report said that the operation didn’t cross Biden’s “red line,” although it’s unclear if the US has actually set red lines for Israel. US officials have said they’re opposed to a “major operation” in Rafah since it would incur huge civilian casualties. But the capturing of the border crossing will have a devastating impact on civilians since it cut off vital aid deliveries, and it’s unclear when or if they will resume.A senior Israeli official told Axios that during the call with Netanyahu, Biden didn’t “didn’t pull the hand break on the capture of the Rafah crossing during the call.” Two US officials said Biden didn’t view the current Israeli operations as a “breaking point” in relations.On Tuesday, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that the US was not opposed to the operation.“We’ve been very consistent about our concerns of a major ground operation in Gaza that would put at great risk the refugees that are still there, and nothing’s changed about that,” Kirby said. “The Israelis have told us … that that’s not what this is.” He said that Israel assured the US that the operation was “of limited scope, scale, and duration, and aimed at cutting off Hamas’ ability to ship arms across the Rafah border.”Israeli tanks and soldiers took the border crossing as Israeli strikes pounded the city of Rafah, killing at least 23 Palestinians, including five women and six children.

Report: Private US Security Firm To Take Control of Rafah Border Crossing - Haaretz reported on Tuesday that the US, Israel, and Egypt have agreed that control of the Rafah border crossing that connects Egypt and Gaza will be handed over to a private American security firm.The report came after Israel captured the border crossing in an operation that was approved by the Biden administration. The private American firm was not named, but Haaretz said that it employs veterans of elite US Army units and has been employed in several Middle Eastern and African countries to guard sensitive sites.State Department spokesman Matt Miller was asked about the report and said he wasn’t aware of any plan for Israel to transfer control of the border crossing.Under the reported arrangement, American mercenaries would take responsibility for overseeing the border crossing, which would include monitoring goods coming into Gaza and preventing Hamas from taking control. Vital deliveries have been cut off since Israel took control of the crossing early Tuesday.The Haaretz report said the arrangement was part of an effort by Israel to “win agreement” from the US and Egypt for a Rafah operation. The report said Israel had given assurances that it would limit its attack on Rafah to securing the border crossing, although Israeli bombs have been pounding the city.

Rafah Border Crossing Remains Closed as Israel Tightens Starvation Blockade - The Rafah border crossing into Gaza remained closed on Wednesday following its capture by Israeli forces, cutting off vital aid deliveries after the UN’s World Food Program warned Palestinians in northern Gaza are already facing a “full-blown famine.”Israeli sources told The Times of Israel that the Rafah crossing with Egypt will remain closed amid Israeli military operations on the Palestinian side, and it’s unclear how long that will be. The US claims it’s opposed to Israel restricting aid shipments into Gaza, but President Biden backed Israel’s operation to capture the crossing, which has tightened the starvation blockade.Israel claimed on Wednesday that the nearby Kerem Shalom crossing that connects Gaza and Israel was re-opened. But both the US and the UN said no aid entered Gaza via Kerem Shalom since there is no one to distribute it and there are active military operations in the area. Gaza border officials said six of their employees came under fire when trying to approach the Kerem Shalom crossing.Only the northern Erez border crossing remains open, and only a small number of trucks have entered. Israeli authorities said 60 aid trucks came through the Erez crossing on Tuesday, just a fraction of the 500 aid groups say is needed at a minimum, a level that has not been reached since October 7.Rafah has been the only entry point for fuel, which is needed to deliver aid, power hospitals, and for other humanitarian purposes. The UN’s child relief agency, UNICEF, said the closure of the Rafah crossing threatens the entire humanitarian relief effort.“With that crossing now being closed, our whole humanitarian operation on the ground is compromised,” said UNICEF spokesman Ricardo Pires, according to The Washington Post. “If the crossing is not urgently re-opened, the entire civilian population in Rafah and in the Gaza Strip will be at greater risk of famine, disease and death.”

Israeli Cabinet Votes To Shut Down Al Jazeera, Police Raid Office - The Israeli cabinet voted unanimously on Sunday to shut down Al Jazeera, and Israeli police raided the Qatari media outlet’s office following the decision.The broad order shuts down Al Jazeera broadcasts, allows the confiscation of its equipment, and blocks the outlet’s website. Israeli police confiscated cameras and other equipment from a hotel room that Al Jazeera has been using as an office.In a statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Al Jazeera a “Hamas mouthpiece” and claimed the outlet’s coverage had put Israeli troops in danger. “Al Jazeera reporters harmed Israel’s security and incited against soldiers,” he said.The US has also criticized Al Jazeera’s coverage of the Israeli slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza. Back in October, Axios reported that Secretary of State Antony Blinken had asked the Qataris to “turn down the volume on Al Jazeera’s coverage because it is full of anti-Israel incitement.”Al Jazeera slammed the Israeli move and said it would “pursue all available legal channels through international legal institutions” to fight the ban.“Israel’s ongoing suppression of the free press, seen as an effort to conceal its actions in the Gaza Strip, stands in contravention of international and humanitarian law,” the outlet said in a statement.Al Jazeera also mentioned Israel’s targeting of journalists in Gaza, as over 100 have been killed in the bombing campaign. “Israel’s direct targeting and killing of journalists, arrests, intimidation and threats will not deter Al Jazeera,” the statement said.Israel took action against Al Jazeera under a new law that gives the government the power to shut down any foreign news outlet. The ban lasts for 45 days but can be extended for further 45 day periods.

Al Jazeera under the gun. Who will stand up for freedom of information? --Many of my American journalist colleagues have worked for Al Jazeera—the Arab media outlet based in Qatar which opened its doors in 1996. It gained prominence for being one of the early sources of news from Iraq.Now Al Jazeera finds itself in the news. Israel has now ordered the local offices of Qatar’s Al Jazeera satellite news network to closewhile also confiscating broadcast equipment, preventing the broadcast of the channel’s reports, and blocking its websites—all for 45 days. For now, the order does not pertain to Gaza and the West Bank.Regardless of what you think of Al Jazeera’s reporting, closing a major media outlet during a war has dangerous consequences for all of us.When I went to Iran for ABC News “Nightline” in 1987 to set up a live interview with then-President Rafsanjani as a news producer, I arrived to find our satellite truck had been shut down, allegedly by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. I will never forget thinking—what happens if information is dead?Freedom of the press is something we all take for granted. Journalists, including Al Jazeera staff, risk their lives to bring us news and information. When Shireen Abu Akleh, a correspondent for Al Jazeera, was killed during an Israeli raid in the West Bank in 2022, it was the beginning of a ramp up of attacks on journalists in the region.That was followed by a December Israeli strike inside Gaza that killed, an Al Jazeera cameraman, Samer Abu Daqqa, and wounded the channel’s bureau chief and others.Today, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists — at least 97 journalists and media workers have been killed since Oct. 7 covering the war.Especially in chaotic times, we value the fundamental tenet that information is like oxygen—we need it to breathe. Without it, we live in dark corners—cut off from the realities of life on the ground in places we cannot be.Despite charges of “bias,” Al Jazeera has become the most widely watched television network in the Arab world—revolutionizing the way citizens understand a difficult part of the world and surviving many attempts to ban it in parts of the world.In the search for fully “independent” or “impartial” news, the truth is that it is hard to find any of it today, in a world driven by clicks, baits and recycled reporting. With Al Jazeera—we know what we are getting: Reporting that is financed by an Arab state that, at times, has an anti-U.S. bias and always an anti-Israel bias. OK. If you know, you know. It has been reliable and remains additive to the mix of news and information in a crowded marketplace. Restricting Al Jazeera’s ability to operate in Israel also risks undermining any progress on the ceasefire talks taking place in Egypt. Qatar is not popular right now with the Biden administration for its continued hosting of Hamas, and failure to deliver a positive response on pausing the war and releasing more hostages. The U.S. has told Qatar to evict Hamas if they stand in the way of a deal with Israel. But Qatar has been a valuable partner of the United States—serving our interests in bridging conversations with Hamas when we need that. And it does finance this major news outlet with often a light touch. The last point to wrestle with is Israeli behavior. Trying to control media is often a tactic of non-democratic nations and Israel is proving that it is not a democracy, in the sense many Americans define the word. As a parliamentary system, Israeli governing rules are different from our own. Its politics are tribal with everything from far-right extremism to liberal progressives, and it is does not have the kind of checks-and-balances that the U.S. system affords. It also happens to have, at this moment, a prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who behaves more autocratic than democratic. It is not surprising that he would go after the fourth estate. What happens next matters. Will Israeli citizens stand up for freedom of information and demand less censorship of the war? Will the U.S. administration stand up for freedom of the press? And will we, as journalists, keep writing and demanding that news is vital and cannot be cut off simply because its reporting offends a government? I will.

UK's Cameron Says Ukraine Has the 'Right' To Use British-Provided Missiles To Hit Russian Territory - British Foreign Secretary David Cameron has said Ukraine could use British-provided weapons in attacks on Russian territory, comments Russia called a “direct escalation” of tensions.“Ukraine has that right. Just as Russia is striking inside Ukraine, you can quite understand why Ukraine feels the need to make sure it’s defending itself,” Cameron told Reuters while he was in Kyiv last week.Cameron’s comments suggest that London would allow Ukraine to use British-provided Storm Shadow missiles, which have a range of about 155 miles, in attacks on Russian territory. A German military leak recently revealed that a small number of British soldiers are “on the ground” in Ukraine helping Ukrainian forces fire Storm Shadows.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov pointed to both Cameron’s comments and recent comments from French President Emmanuel Macron, who recently reaffirmed his position that sending ground troops to fight Russia in Ukraine shouldn’t be ruled out.“We see this kind of verbal escalation from officials. We see it both at the level of heads of state, when it comes to France, and at a rather expert level, when it comes to the UK,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.“This is a direct escalation of tensions around the Ukrainian conflict, which could potentially pose a threat to European security, for the entire European security architecture,” Peskov added.Cameron also promised the UK would provide Ukraine with 3 billion pounds ($3.74 billion) in funds for annual military aid but not equipment since the UK has depleted its stockpiles. “We will give 3 billion pounds every year for as long as is necessary. We’ve just really emptied all we can in terms of giving equipment,” he said.

Russia To Hold Nuclear Weapons Drills in Response to Latest Western Provocations - The Kremlin said on Monday that Russia will hold drills simulating the use of tactical nuclear weapons in response to the latest provocations from the West. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov pointed to comments from Western officials about sending troops to Ukraine to fight Russian forces. Last week, French President Emmanuel Macron reaffirmed his view that deploying NATO soldiers shouldn’t be ruled out despite the risk of nuclear war. “They talked about the readiness and even the intention to send armed contingents to Ukraine, that is, to actually put NATO soldiers in front of the Russian military,” Peskov said. The announcement of the nuclear drills also comes after British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said Ukraine was allowed to use British-provided weapons to hit targets inside Russia. The UK has been providing Ukraine with Storm Shadow missiles, which have a range of 155 miles. A German military leak recently revealed that British soldiers are “on the ground” in Ukraine, helping fire the missiles.Russia’s Defense Ministry also referred to “provocative statements and threats against Russia by certain Western officials” when announcing the nuclear drills. “During the exercises, a set of measures will be carried out to practice the issues of preparation and use of non-strategic nuclear weapons,” the Ministry said.The drills will be conducted by Russian military forces based in the Southern Military District, whose headquarters are in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don. The Defense Ministry said the exercises would begin in the “immediate future” and would involve “aircraft and naval forces.”

Moscow Warns It Will Strike UK Military Targets If British Weapons Are Used in Attacks on Russia - Russia has warned the UK that it could target British military installations and equipment in “Ukraine and beyond” if Ukrainian forces use British-provided weapons to strike Russian territory.Russia made the warning directly to the British ambassador in Moscow, who was summonsed in response to UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron saying Ukraine has the “right” to use British weapons in attacks on Russia.“Any British military facilities and equipment on the territory of Ukraine and beyond could be a response to Ukrainian strikes with the use of British weapons on the territory of Russia,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.“The ambassador was called upon to reflect on the inevitable catastrophic consequences of such hostile steps by London and to immediately refute the belligerent provocative statements of the head of the Foreign Office in the most decisive and unequivocal way,” the ministry said.London has been providing Ukraine with Storm Shadow missiles, which have a range of up to 155 miles. Earlier this year, the UK confirmed it had a “small number” of troops inside Ukraine, and a German military leak revealed British troops “on the ground” in Ukraine are helping Ukrainian forces fire the Storm Shadow missiles.The NATO missile supply and targeting support for Ukraine has always risked a major escalation of the war. But as the conflict has dragged on, the US, Britain, and other NATO countries have increased their involvement in the war despite the risk of provoking a direct confrontation between the Western alliance and Russia, which could quickly turn nuclear.

University students protest against Gaza genocide across Europe -- Student protests have spread across Europe since the Israeli military launched its long-planned assault on Rafah. Inspired by anti-genocide protests on campuses across the United States defying a nationwide crackdown coordinated by the Biden administration that has led to thousands of arrests, students are occupying university halls and facilities across the continent. It also comes as anti-genocide protest camps have spread at universities in Britain, including at Oxford and Cambridge.Protesters are demanding an end to the US and EU-backed genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, an immediate ceasefire, an end to European arms deliveries to Israel, and humanitarian aid for Gaza. In some countries, they face violent police crackdowns, with at least 200 arrests across Europe in recent days. In others, terrified by the precedent of the May 1968 French general strike, when General Charles De Gaulle’s violent crackdown on students triggered an eruption of working class struggle, governments are allowing protests to proceed. In Germany, police brutally dispersed the student encampment on the Free University of Berlin set up by over 100 protesters on Tuesday, after the university administration called for a crackdown. Wearing keffiyehs and waving Palestinian flags, students shouted “Free, free Palestine!” “Israel is a terrorist state,” and “Shame on you Germany.” Berlin police reported some arrests for incitement to hatred and trespassing. At Leipzig University, students set up tents in the courtyard and barricaded the entrances. Police are reportedly preparing to raid the campus. In France, police used tear gas and pepper spray to break up an anti-genocide student protest at the Sorbonne, arresting 86 people. Students chanted “Free Palestine,” “Israel, get out! Palestine is not yours,” “We are all the children of Rafah” and “Ceasefire in Gaza now.” Police broke up a separate demonstration at Sciences Po, another Paris university. In the Netherlands, several hundred protesters demonstrated around the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam campuses. Inside UvA, protesters built barricades using desks and railings to block off the canal side. Riot police used a bulldozer to knock down barricades and detained 169 people. Footage aired by national broadcaster NOS showed a mechanical digger smashing down barricades and tents. Amsterdam police said on X this was “necessary to restore order.” The day before, Zionist thugs charged students at the UvA encampment as police refused to intervene, recalling similar fascist assaults against student protesters at UCLA in the United States.Protests spread to Swiss universities in Lausanne, Geneva and Zurich. At the Swiss University of Zurich, students rushed the campus, chanting, “We are all children of Gaza,” accusing the EU and Switzerland of financing Israel’s genocide. Demonstrators staged a sit-in, chanting “Free free Palestine.” Students have also occupied the Geopolis building halls at the University of Lausanne, following a protest by 1,000 people. In Austria, dozens of demonstrators have camped on the campus at the University of Vienna, erecting tents and stringing up banners. In northern Europe, protests in the Scandinavian countries have also erupted. In Finland, a Students for Palestine solidarity group set up an encampment at the University of Helsinki. In Denmark, students set up a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Copenhagen. In Sweden, terrified at pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the country’s third-largest city, Malmo, which is set to host the Eurovision Song Contest where Israel will participate, officials are mobilising hundreds of police and bringing in reinforcement officers from Denmark and Norway.In Italy, students at the University of Bologna set up a tent encampment this weekend. Groups of students organised similar peaceful protests in Rome and Naples. Italy has continued to export arms to Israel despite assurances last year that the government of neo-fascist Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was blocking such sales. In Greece, a thousand anti-genocide protesters carrying Palestinian flags and banners rallied in central Athens. They were assaulted by riot police with batons, tear gas and stun grenades as they tried to move toward the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, beneath the Parliament building, and then to scale the gates of the Egyptian embassy. Western-backed Egyptian dictator General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, known as the Butcher of Cairo, is a leading accomplice in the genocide, closing the Rafah crossing to Palestinians.

India Announces 'Successful' Crackdown on E-Nugget Scam — Seizes $10M in Crypto Frm Exchanges – India’s Enforcement Directorate has declared its multi-year crackdown on the “E-Nugget” scam in Kolkata successful. The operation has resulted in cash and crypto seizures, along with the arrest of the mastermind. Investigations uncovered numerous dummy accounts and led to the freezing of digital assets at various crypto exchanges, which were then transferred to the ED’s wallet. India’s Directorate of Enforcement (ED) announced last week that it has conducted a successful operation against “a major online gaming app scam known as E-Nugget.” The ED began its investigation into the scam in 2022.Posing as a lucrative gaming platform, E-Nugget enticed users with promises of high returns on investments through real-money games and substantial commissions. However, the app ceased operations post-investment, leaving users stranded without access to their funds.“The unraveling began in 2022 when ED exposed the operation, and discovered that part of the ill-gotten gains was invested in digital assets,” the announcement details. “During investigation, nearly 2500 mule/ dummy bank accounts were identified, and the same were analyzed. During searches, cash amount totaling to Rs. 19 Crore approx. were seized. Mastermind of the scam namely Aamir Khan was also arrested and is presently in judicial custody.”The announcement further explains that ED “sought details of a number of crypto wallets with several exchanges notably Binance, Zebpay & Wazirx,” elaborating:Information gathered from Binance, and other exchanges led to freezing of funds totalling to nearly Rs. 90 crore available in 70 accounts, maintained with Binance, Zebpay and Wazirx holding funds, which were linked to the scam.“These crypto assets were subsequently taken into possession of ED and transferred into the crypto wallet of ED,” the Indian authority clarified.

Somerset and Wiltshire pair jailed for £5.7m crypto scam -- Two men who stole more than £5.7m worth of cryptocurrency from victims all over the world have been jailed.Jake Lee, 38, from Charlcombe in Bath and James Heppel, 42, from Staverton in Wiltshire, both pleaded guilty to three counts of conspiracy to commit fraud.The South West Regional Organised Crime Unit (SWROCU) identified 55 victims in 26 countries, including 11 from the UK, who had been targeted by the the pair.Lee was handed four years' imprisonment and Heppel was sentenced to 15 months at Bristol Crown Court on 3 May.The cash included £551,000 in a suitcase, which was voluntarily handed over by Lee in January.The pair carried out the fraud by replicating the website of cryptocurrency exchange Blockchain.com to access victims’ Bitcoin wallets, allowing them to steal their funds and login details.A print of the 2003 Banksy work Bomb Love worth £60,000, alongside cash totalling £835,000, £64,000 worth of cryptocurrency and three cars were all confiscated by police.A confiscation order for nearly £1million was made against Lee, which will be used to compensate the victims.Proceedings related to a similar order - which force criminals to hand over available money and assets, or have time added to their prison sentence - for Heppel are underway.A print of this 2003 Banksy work was confiscated by policeDet Supt Matt Brain from SWROCU’s Regional Cyber Crime Unit said the investigation into the pair began when Avon and Somerset Police arrested Lee on suspicion of money laundering.Officers recovered £24,000 in cash and three digital devices, including three laminated Bitcoin wallet recovery seeds - a collection of words that helps the owner restore a Bitcoin wallet that has been lost.At the same time as the investigation into Lee, SWROCU had also started a probe into a cryptocurrency scam reported by a Wiltshire victim who had £11,000 worth of Bitcoin taken from his Blockchain wallet.Cash was recovered by police as part of the investigationMr Brain added: “We took on the investigation into Lee and when we analysed his devices, we established he was a central figure involved in a sophisticated domain spoofing fraud and worked to identify numerous victims.“Mapping out Lee and Heppel’s offending and links to other suspects and cryptocurrency exchanges all over the world was complex work, but the fact they both pleaded guilty to all counts, negating the need for a six-week trial, shows the strength of evidence we secured against them.”Pamela Jain, a specialist prosecutor with the Serious Economic Organised Crime International Directorate of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “This was a complex and time-consuming prosecution which involved enquiries with numerous victims and prosecuting authorities all over the world."