week ending Dec 2

Fed's Waller raises possibility of a rate cut by spring if inflation keeps slowing (AP) — A key Federal Reserve official raised the possibility Tuesday that the Fed could decide to cut its benchmark interest rate as early as spring if inflation keeps declining steadily. The official, Christopher Waller, a member of the Fed’s Board of Governors, cautioned that inflation is still too high and that it’s not yet certain if a recent slowdown in price increases can be sustained. But he sounded the most optimistic notes of any Fed official since the central bank launched its aggressive streak of rate hikes in March 2022, and he signaled that the central bank is likely done raising rates. Waller is regarded as a relatively “hawkish” official, meaning that he typically favors higher rates to combat inflation rather than low rates to boost job growth. But he has also become somewhat of a bellwether for the Fed’s overall rate-setting committee. If inflation continues to cool “for several more months — I don’t know how long that might be — three months, four months, five months — that we feel confident that inflation is really down and on its way, you could then start lowering the policy rate just because inflation is lower,” Waller said in remarks at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. “It has nothing to do with trying to save the economy or recession.” Fed officials have previously suggested that eventually, cooling inflation would lead the Fed to cut rates. That’s because, adjusted for inflation, the central bank’s benchmark rate effectively rises as inflation falls. And because the Fed’s key rate affects rates on consumer and business loans, like mortgages and credit cards, it becomes more of a drag on the economy. That’s why as inflation slows, the Fed could reduce its benchmark rate just to keep its inflation-adjusted level stationary. Still, Waller’s remarks were a more explicit suggestion that such a scenario could occur as early as spring. Waller also said he thought the Fed’s short-term rate, which is at 5.4%, the highest in 22 years, is likely high enough to keep inflation headed down to the central bank’s 2% target. “I am increasingly confident,” he said, that the Fed’s interest rate policies are “currently well-positioned to slow the economy and get inflation back to 2%,” Waller said.

Falling bond yields help make another Fed rate hike likely next month, but expect a quick pivot to cuts in 2024, S&P Global says -A final interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve is likely next month, as Treasury yields have become less effective in tightening financial conditions, S&P Global Ratings said in a Tuesday forecast.While cooler inflation sparked bets that monetary policy could soon pivot to cuts, the ratings agency sees a 25-basis-point increase in December instead.That's as Treasury yields have plunged, after last month's surge pushed long-dated rates above the 5% threshold. Those highs tightened financial conditions, allowing the Fed to keep rates steady at the 5.25%-5.50% range for two consecutive meetings, S&P said."Since then, financial conditions have eased somewhat (paradoxically increasing the chances of another rate hike), seemingly because of the following factors," it added.The first was the Treasury's plan to issue more shorter-duration debt in the coming months, providing relief on 10-year yields. The second was the below-forecast October consumer price report, which prompted markets to rule out further rate hikes and pull forward rates cuts to earlier in 2024.Meanwhile, expectations of an easing in core inflation pressures are somewhat exaggerated, mandating that the central remains hawkish, according to the note.But once the Fed hikes, it will pivot quickly in June, when monthly payroll reports will turn negative and inflation gets closer to the target, S&P wrote.Further cuts will come in the second half of the year, as the policy's impact on the labor market becomes more apparent. The agency expects rates to land at 4.6% and 2.9% by the end of 2024 and 2025, respectively."If downside risks to our baseline growth were to materialize, the Fed won't hesitate to cut more. If the economy keeps humming, the restrictive stance could last longer at its peak real rate," S&P said.In its view, higher costs of capital will erode US hiring, and cause the unemployment rate to rise from 3.9% to 4.6% in 2025. Weaker economic growth will also pressure down labor demand. S&P's outlook was supported by a speech from Fed Governor Michelle Bowman on Tuesday, who noted that elevated inflation could trigger more rate hikes.

Here's what it would take for the Fed to start slashing rates in 2024 --Interest rate cuts don't happen during good times, something important for markets to remember amid hotly anticipated easing next year from the Federal Reserve. If the Fed meets market expectations and starts cutting aggressively in 2024, it likely will be against a backdrop of a sharply slowing economy and rising unemployment, which in turn would bring lower inflation. Central bank policymakers, however, won't cut for the sake of cutting. There will have to be a compelling reason to start easing, and even then rate decreases are likely to come slowly — unless something breaks, and the Fed is forced into more aggressive action. "The market keeps trying to front-run these rate cuts, only to be disappointed," said Kathy Jones, chief fixed income strategist at Charles Schwab. "In a different cycle, when inflation hadn't spiked so much, I think the Fed would have been cutting rates already. This is a very different cycle. There is going to be much more caution on their part." The latest market rumble over the prospect of rate cuts came Tuesday morning, when Fed Governor Christopher Waller said he could envision easing policy if inflation data cooperates over the next three to five months. Never mind that fellow Governor Michelle Bowman, just minutes later, said she still expects rate hikes will be necessary. The market instead chose to hear Waller more clearly, perhaps because he has been one of the more hawkish Fed officials when it comes to monetary policy, while Bowman was merely reiterating an oft-stated position. "If the economy moderates at all, you could be talking about a real disinflation story, and I think that's what Waller would be getting at," said Joseph LaVorgna, chief economist at SMBC Nikko Securities America. "If the real fed funds rate continues to go higher, as I expect it will, then you'd want to offset that through rate cuts. And the amount of rate cuts I think they're going to have to do is a relatively large amount." LaVorgna, the chief economist at the National Economic Council under former President Donald Trump, said he thinks the Fed could have to cut by as much as 200 basis points next year, or 2 percentage points. Market pricing has grown more aggressive on Fed policy easing, with fed funds futures now pointing to five quarter-percentage-point rate cuts next year, one more than before the latest speeches, according to the CME Group. Stocks have rallied since as investors prepare for lower rates.

Fed officials feel rate hikes likely done, but too soon to know (Reuters) - Federal Reserve policymakers signaled on Thursday that the U.S. central bank's interest rate hikes are likely over, but left the door open to further monetary policy tightening should progress on inflation stall, and pushed back on market expectations for a quick pivot to rate cuts. Fresh data shows price pressures are easing and the labor market is gradually cooling, evidence that the slowdown the Fed has tried to engineer with its rate hikes to date is underway.Tighter financial and credit conditions after the Fed raised its policy rate 5.25 percentage points in the last 20 months should help bring inflation down further, New York Fed Bank President John Williams said on Thursday, noting that improvements in supply chains are also easing price pressures.In balancing the risks of too-high inflation and a weaker economy, "and based on what I know now, my assessment is that we are at, or near, the peak level of the target range of the federal funds rate," Williams said.The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index rose 3% in October from a year ago, moderating from a three-month string of 3.4% readings though still above the Fed's 2% target, and more Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, government reports showed on Thursday.Still, the unemployment rate at last read was 3.9%, only a few tenths of a percentage point above where it was when the Fed first began raising rates in March 2022. The government's employment report for the current month will be released next Friday. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Thursday she believes the U.S. economy does not need further drastic monetary policy tightening to prevent inflation from becoming ingrained and was on track to achieve a "soft landing" with strong employment. Traders have been betting heavily that the Fed will keep its overnight benchmark interest rate steady in the 5.25%-5.50% range for the next several months. But they also expect rate cuts to start in May, with further reductions taking the policy into the 4.00%-4.25% range by the end of 2024 - a view that Williams made plain he does not share. "I'm not losing too much sleep" over the market's view "because there's a lot of uncertainty about the future path of policy," Williams said. Models suggest the stance of Fed policy is the most restrictive it has been in 25 years, and it will probably need to stay restrictive for "quite some time," Williams said. Williams said he expects inflation to end this year at 3%, and ebb to 2.25% in 2024, as economic growth slows to 1.25% and the unemployment rate rises to 4.25%. "If price pressures and imbalances persist more than I expect, additional policy firming may be needed," Williams said.San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly struck a similar tone in remarks to the German newspaper Borsen-Zeitung in an interview published on Thursday, noting her "base case" does not call for any further rate hikes, though it is "too early to know" if the Fed is finished with the rate increases."I'm not thinking about rate cuts at all right now," Daly said. "I'm thinking about whether we have enough tightening in the system and are sufficiently restrictive to restore price stability."The policymakers spoke before a customary blackout period when they refrain from public comment ahead of a rate-setting meeting. The Fed will hold its next policy meeting on Dec. 12-13. Fed Chair Jerome Powell is expected to get a final word in on Friday, when he is due to speak at Spelman College in Atlanta. Trader bets on Fed rate cuts starting in the first half of 2024 gained steam this week after Fed Governor Christopher Waller, an influential and usually hawkish policymaker, suggested rates cuts by then could be needed to keep policy from becoming overly restrictive in the face of easing inflation. Daly and Williams were more cautious. Data has previously indicated progress that revisions or a change in momentum later erased, and both policymakers on Thursday emphasized the uncertainty of the current outlook.

Fed's Beige Book: "Economic activity slowed since the previous report" -- Fed's Beige Book "This report was prepared at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta based on information collected on or before November 17, 2023." Excerpt: On balance, economic activity slowed since the previous report, with four Districts reporting modest growth, two indicating conditions were flat to slightly down, and six noting slight declines in activity. Retail sales, including autos, remained mixed; sales of discretionary items and durable goods, like furniture and appliances, declined, on average, as consumers showed more price sensitivity. Travel and tourism activity was generally healthy. Demand for transportation services was sluggish. Manufacturing activity was mixed, and manufacturers' outlooks weakened. Demand for business loans decreased slightly, particularly real estate loans. Consumer credit remained fairly healthy, but some banks noted a slight uptick in consumer delinquencies. Agriculture conditions were steady to slightly up as farmers reported higher selling prices; yields were mixed. Commercial real estate activity continued to slow; the office segment remained weak and multifamily activity softened. Several Districts noted a slight decrease in residential sales and higher inventories of available homes. The economic outlook for the next six to twelve months diminished over the reporting period. Demand for labor continued to ease, as most Districts reported flat to modest increases in overall employment. The majority of Districts reported that more applicants were available, and several noted that retention improved as well.

Downbeat Beige Book Finds Economic Activity "Slowing", Brings Fed One Step Closer To Rate Cuts -- One month after the October Beige book found "little change" in the US economy even as the outlook turned decidedly gloomier, moments ago the Fed released the latest, November, Beige Book in which we find just why the outlook darkened: according to the Fed, economic activity in the US "slowed" since the previous report, with four Districts reporting modest growth, two indicating conditions were flat to slightly down, and half (or six) noting slight declines in activity. The slowdown was visible across both Fed mandates: price increases moderated across districts (though prices remained elevated) the Beige Book notes, while demand for labor continued to ease, as most Districts reported flat to modest increases in overall employment.According to Bloomberg, "taken at face value, that’s two-thirds of districts citing conditions that are ostensibly consistent with a mild recession." In other words, the various regional Feds confirm that the trigger for a Fed rate cut is that much closer.Some more details, starting with overall economic activity:

• Retail sales, including autos, remained mixed; sales of discretionary items and durable goods, like furniture and appliances, declined, on average, as consumers showed more price sensitivity.
• Travel and tourism activity was generally healthy. Demand for transportation services was sluggish.
• Manufacturing activity was mixed, and manufacturers' outlooks weakened.
• Demand for business loans decreased slightly, particularly real estate loans.
• Consumer credit remained fairly healthy, but some banks noted a slight uptick in consumer delinquencies.
• Agriculture conditions were steady to slightly up as farmers reported higher selling prices; yields were mixed.
• Commercial real estate activity continued to slow; the office segment remained weak and multifamily activity softened.
• Several Districts noted a slight decrease in residential sales and higher inventories of available homes.

Not surprisingly, the economic outlook darkened even more, with the report warning that the outlook "for the next six to twelve months diminished over the reporting period."Turning to labor markets, we find that demand for labor continued to ease, as most Districts reported flat to modest increases in overall employment. Which is to be expected with the US heading fast for recession. Not surprisingly, wage growth slowed further, while layoffs rose and an even higher unemployment rate next week is virtually assured. Here are some more details:

• The majority of Districts reported that more applicants were available, and several noted that retention improved as well.
• Reductions in headcounts through layoffs or attrition were reported, and some employers felt comfortable letting go low performers. However, several Districts continued to describe labor markets as tight with skilled workers in short supply.
• Wage growth remained modest to moderate in most Districts, as many described easing in wage pressures and several reported declines in starting wages. Some wage pressures did persist, however, and there were some reports of continued difficulty attracting and retaining high performers and workers with specialized skills.

Looking at the regional anecdotes, one stood out: "a New York City-area company noted a reduction in starting salaries for recent college graduates as tech workers have become easier to find." Translation: forget about wage growth, actual wage cuts are on deck.Turning to prices, no surprise that here to increases "largely moderated" (even though prices remained elevated).

• Freight and shipping costs decreased for many, while the cost of various food products increased.
• Several noted that costs for construction inputs like steel and lumber had stabilized or even declined.
• Rising utilities and insurance costs were notable across Districts.
• Pricing power varied, with services providers finding it easier to pass through increases than manufacturers.
• Two Districts cited increased cost of debt as an impediment to business growth. Most Districts expect moderate price increases to continue into next year.

Q3 GDP Growth Revised up to 5.2% Annual Rate - From the BEA: Gross Domestic Product (Second Estimate) Corporate Profits (Preliminary Estimate) Third Quarter 2023 Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 5.2 percent in the third quarter of 2023, according to the "second" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the second quarter, real GDP increased 2.1 percent. The GDP estimate released today is based on more complete source data than were available for the "advance" estimate issued last month. In the advance estimate, the increase in real GDP was 4.9 percent. The update primarily reflected upward revisions to nonresidential fixed investment and state and local government spending that were partly offset by a downward revision to consumer spending. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, were revised down (refer to "Updates to GDP").The increase in real GDP reflected increases in consumer spending, private inventory investment, exports, state and local government spending, federal government spending, residential fixed investment, and nonresidential fixed investment. Imports increased. Here is a Comparison of Second and Advance Estimates. PCE growth was revised down from 4.0% to 3.4%. Residential investment was revised up from 3.9% to 6.2%.

U.S. GDP grew at a 5.2% rate in the third quarter, even stronger than first indicated - The U.S. economy grew at an even stronger pace then previously indicated in the third quarter, the product of better-than-expected business investment and stronger government spending, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. Gross domestic product, a measure of all goods and services produced during the three-month period, accelerated at a 5.2% annualized pace, the department’s second estimate showed. The acceleration topped the initial 4.9% reading and was better than the 5% forecast from economists polled by Dow Jones. Primarily, the upward revision came from increases in nonresidential fixed investment, which includes structures, equipment and intellectual property. The category showed a rise of 1.3%, which still marked a sharp downward shift from previous quarters. Government spending also helped boost the Q3 estimate, rising 5.5% for the July-through-September period. However, consumer spending saw a downward revision, now rising just 3.6%, compared with 4% in the initial estimate. There was some mixed news on the inflation front. The personal consumption expenditures price index, a gauge the Federal Reserve follows closely, increased 2.8% for the period, a 0.1 percentage point downward revision. However, the chain-weighted price index increased 3.6%, a 0.1 percentage point upward move. Corporate profits accelerated 4.3% during the period, up sharply from the 0.8% gain in the second quarter.

GOP faces ominous signs in effort to avoid January shutdown -No government funding bills are scheduled to hit the House floor this week, an ominous sign for Republicans returning to Washington for the first time since their Thanksgiving recess. Lawmakers face a mid-January deadline to fund the government or enter a partial government shutdown, and the window for completing its work is fast closing. Losing an entire week without passing an appropriations bill won’t lead to a shutdown. But it doesn’t help either. After this week, the House is set to be in session for just 16 legislative days before the first of a two-part deadline to fund the government on Jan. 19 — with the rest expiring two weeks later, on Feb. 2. This week’s appropriations stall only exacerbates the time crunch. New Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is facing pressure from some of the same Republicans who toppled his predecessor, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) “We need to show some real guts [on spending cuts],” said Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), who was among the eight Republicans who helped oust McCarthy. “That’s what we’ve kind of asked for.” The initial schedule amounts to an admission from Republican leaders that the slim majority is stuck on how to handle its remaining appropriations measures. Conservative Republicans are insisting the chamber pass all 12 of the government’s annual appropriations bills individually — which they say would provide leverage in negotiations with the Democratic-led Senate. GOP leaders insist they’re on track to meet that demand, but long-standing disagreements over funding levels, social policies and other issues have led to several of the remaining funding bills either being torpedoed on the House floor or pulled from consideration. With a razor-thin majority and Democrats voting against all the bills out of opposition to cuts, Johnson has little room for error. While Johnson had expressed hope that the chamber’s first weeklong break in months would help calm the internal GOP tensions that followed McCarthy’s ouster, the time off has apparently not resulted in a plan to complete the party’s funding measures. Instead, the new Speaker is facing the same predicament as the old: fighting to keep the government open — which inevitably means working with Democrats — without angering conservative spending hawks ready to accept a shutdown to win more of their demands. If those conservativesgave Johnson “a mulligan” on the short-term spending package that prevented a shutdown in mid-November, they’re also sending signals that he won’t have the same luxury when the next set of deadlines comes around. Johnson has said he will not push through another short-term stopgap, as the House has twice this year, creating the real possibility of 2024 kicking off with at least a partial government shutdown.

Defense bill, passed 62 years in a row, faces partisan minefields in Senate, House - The annual Defense authorization bill, which has passed on time 62 years in a row, is getting bogged down in battles over issues ranging from abortion to the government’s surveillance authority, threatening to derail its prospects of passing Congress before Christmas. With a battle over the annual spending bills postponed until January, the National Defense Authorization Act is one of the few must-pass spending bills left on the agenda. But it’s in real danger of getting stuck. Senate and House conservatives are warning congressional leaders not to add a short-term surveillance authorization to the bill, and they are demanding it include significant military policy reforms. Specifically, conservatives are taking aim at the Pentagon’s policies that reimburse the travel expenses of service members who obtain abortions, pay for gender transition surgery and promote critical race theory. “We didn’t come here, we didn’t change the rules in January, we didn’t have the fights we’ve had this year to go back to Four Corners-deal negotiating to jam through bad legislation the American people don’t want that doesn’t reform our military to focus on its mission rather than social engineering,” said Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), the policy chair of the House Freedom Caucus. Senate Steering Committee Chair Mike Lee (R-Utah), who is leading a push to reform the surveillance program, warned leaders Wednesday not to attach a massive supplemental bill funding military aid to Ukraine or other nonrelated legislative measures to the Defense authorization bill. “Increasingly, the NDAA has become the non-appropriations vehicle, Christmas tree vehicle of choice. Like, other than the [appropriations] bill, that’s the catch-all,” he said. “We talked about this a little bit at lunch today. We need to actually have the NDAA be about Defense authorization and not whatever somebody wants to dream up.” Lee said if leaders try to add money for Ukraine, Israel, the Indo-Pacific region and humanitarian assistance for Ukraine and Gaza, it would spark “legislative Armageddon.” “I think they’ll try to, but I think they should not,” he said. Lee also voiced opposition to adding a short-term reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act until mid-January or early February. “I do oppose that effort,” he said. “Right now, there is not a reason to do that.” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who wants to end the practice of obtaining FISA-related warrants in secret court, said he will raise a point-of-order objection to adding a short-term FISA extension to the Defense bill. “I’m not for extending FISA. I think FISA’s an unconstitutional program. It would be less bad if it were reformed, but without reform, we shouldn’t reauthorize it,” he said. The short-term extension under consideration would set the stage for a longer-term extension being added to any spending deal Congress reaches next year. “What I hear is they’re going to put it on [the Defense bill] for a few months, but the danger of that is that when it rolls into a spending bill, then they just reauthorize it [as part of a spending deal] and we never have the debate,” Paul said. “FISA allows warrants that don’t have to meet the Fourth Amendment standard.” Another obstacle is a behind-the-scenes battle between Senate Banking Committee Chair Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and House Financial Services Committee Chair Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) over McHenry’s legislation to provide market rules for cryptocurrencies and other digital assets. Senate Democrats say McHenry is blocking the addition to the defense legislation of Brown’s bipartisan bill to impose new sanctions and anti-money-laundering penalties targeting the fentanyl supply chain, including Chinese chemical suppliers, unless his digital asset market structure legislation is also added.

No, Don't Do It! ---- Almost 10 years ago, I sat in a secure conference room at the Pentagon and explained to a group of U.S. national security officials from the military, CIA, Treasury and other agencies that the overuse of the U.S. dollar in financial warfare would eventually drive countries away from using dollars in international transactions for fear that they could become the next target of U.S. displeasure. I said to the military and intelligence community, “I don’t think other countries can destroy the dollar, but we can do it ourselves. We are our own worst enemy.” We, of course, meaning the United States. We’re destroying the dollar with the sanctions (and through other misguided policies). The U.S. is doing more to destroy the dollar than our enemies. Some took note, some ignored the warning and one Treasury official slammed the table and said, “The dollar has been the global reserve currency, it is the global reserve currency now and it always will be the global reserve currency!” Earlier this year, I taught a seminar at the U.S. Army War College on financial warfare. I explained that U.S. financial sanctions would not have a material impact on Russia, that Russia would not change its behavior in Ukraine based on the sanctions and that the U.S. would suffer more from its own sanctions than Russia because adversaries and neutral countries would create alternative payment platforms that did not use dollars. I naturally encountered skepticism from the class (that’s OK; the purpose of a seminar is to engender competing views). But events of the past year have proved my forecast in every respect. Meanwhile, nations around the world are trying to eliminate or reduce their dependence on the dollar out of fear that the U.S. could use Russia-style sanctions against them if the U.S. disapproves of their conduct. None of the sanctions would be effective or even possible without the use of the dollar and the dollar payments system. The failure of U.S. dollar-based sanctions has become too obvious to ignore. The failure is so obvious that even Janet Yellen has admitted that sanctions are not working. She said, “There is a risk when we use financial sanctions that are linked to the role of the dollar that over time it could undermine the hegemony of the dollar. Of course, it does create a desire on the part of China, of Russia, of Iran to find an alternative.” One could say that realizing the dangers 10 years too late is still better late than never. The issue is whether it’s already too late to undo the damage. Once new trading currencies and new payment channels are put in place (which is happening quickly), there’s little incentive to go back to a dollar system where the U.S. can threaten your economy. Many others have pointed out the same weaknesses in the weaponization of the dollar. It seems the only parties who don’t see the danger to the dollar are the Wall Street cheerleaders and top U.S. government officials. Which brings me to the recently elected speaker of the House, Mike Johnson… He got off to a good start by separating financial support for Israel from support for Ukraine. Both bills will probably pass, but by separating them, Johnson avoided the trap of having to vote for Ukraine in order to support Israel. Now Johnson has committed a blunder so egregious that it could rock the global financial system and cause a financial panic. Unfortunately, Johnson’s lack of experience in international monetary affairs has left him blind to the dangers. Right now, the U.S. holds about $300 billion of Russian assets that were frozen after the Ukraine war broke out in February 2022. Most of those assets came from the Central Bank of Russia and consist of U.S. Treasury securities. Technically, those assets have not been converted to U.S. ownership; they have merely been frozen and still belong to Russia even though Russia cannot use them. Now Johnson wants to convert those assets to U.S. ownership and use the proceeds to pay for the war in Ukraine. Johnson said, “It would be pure poetry to fund the Ukrainian war effort with Russian assets.” It would be pure stupidity is more like it. Such an action would amount to a default on U.S. government debt since the securities were legally owned by Russia. Nations around the world would take note and accelerate their dumping of Treasury securities and their flight from the U.S. dollar. This would increase interest rates in the U.S. and hurt everyone from homebuyers to everyday consumers. It would make U.S. debt permanently more difficult to sell and less desirable to hold. It would introduce a new risk premium on U.S. debt over and above the existing inflation premium. At its worst, it could trigger a dollar panic and full-scale flight from the dollar. Johnson is playing with fire and has no idea what he is doing. Let’s hope he receives some sound advice before he goes too far.

Schumer plans to advance Ukraine funding as soon as Dec. 4 -Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) informed his colleagues in a letter Sunday that he will bring legislation to the Senate floor funding the war in Ukraine and providing aid to Israel “as soon as the week of December 4th.” Schumer warned senators that time is running out for Ukrainian forces, and he identified GOP senators’ demands for immigration policy reforms as “the biggest holdup to the national security assistance package.” The Democratic leader indicated he’ll give Senate negotiators at least another week to hammer out a compromise on asylum reform and border security funding but signaled they have limited time to reach a deal. “One of the most important tasks we must finish is taking up and passing a funding bill to ensure we as well as our friends and partners in Ukraine, Israel, and the Indo-Pacific region have the necessary military capabilities to confront and deter our adversaries and competitors,” he wrote, also citing the need to provide humanitarian assistance to Palestinians caught up in the fighting in Gaza. “These national security priorities are interrelated and demand bipartisan Congressional action,” he wrote. Schumer noted that negotiations over border security, asylum and other immigration reforms continued over the Thanksgiving holiday. “We will need bipartisan cooperation and compromise to achieve a reasonable, realistic agreement that both sides can support. I urge you to engage with our Republican colleagues quickly to help push for a bipartisan path forward in the coming weeks,” he wrote. Schumer informed Senate colleagues there will be an all-senators classified briefing on Ukraine in the next few days and urged them to attend.

Religious leaders call on Congress to pass aid to Israel - A group of religious leaders is calling on Congress to pass aid to Israel and to take action against antisemitism in the United States.Fifteen leaders from religious organizations across the country co-signed a letter Monday addressed to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.).The letter was led by the conservative Faith & Freedom Coalition with signees including pastors from Christian churches and leaders from organizations such as the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute, American Center for Law and Justice, Outreach International and the Christian Broadcasting Network.“With this letter, we issue a united condemnation of antisemitism and proclaim our support for Israel’s right to self-defense. The United States government, and the people’s representatives in Congress, cannot waver both in combatting antisemitism and in supporting the State of Israel,” the religious leaders wrote.“We call on the United States Congress to without delay take the following specific steps to fight antisemitism and ensure that the Jewish state survives this horrific attack,” they added. Signers outlined steps they are urging Congress to take, including passing legislation to fund Israel’s defense, passing the Countering Hate Against Israel by Federal Contractors Act and passing the Antisemitism Awareness Act.It is also calling on Congress to refreeze the $6 billion of Iranian funds that were a part of the Iranian hostage deal from earlier this year and urging federal agencies to “prevent, prosecute, and punish antisemitic hate crimes in the United States.”

Israel Is Using US-Provided Weapons to Kill Palestinian Civilians at a Historic Pace - The New York Times reported Saturday that Israel is killing Palestinian civilians in Gaza at a historic pace. The huge civilian death toll in Gaza is explained by the scale of the bombing campaign and Israel’s willingness to drop US-provided 2,000-pound bombs on densely populated areas that are packed with civilians. Marc Garlasco, a former Pentagon analyst who advises the Dutch NGO PAX, told the Times that he’s never seen anything like it. “It’s beyond anything that I’ve seen in my career,” he said. Israeli officials have frequently cited the Allied strategic bombings of Japan and Germany during World War II to justify their onslaught in Gaza. The comparison includes the US fire bombings of Japanese cities, which killed around 100,000 civilians in Tokyo in one night in 1945, as well as the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Israel has also invoked the US air campaign against ISIS, which killed tens of thousands of civilians in Iraq and Syria. But even the most brutal battle of the ISIS war does not compare to Israel’s onslaught in Gaza. According to an AP investigation, between 9,000 and 11,000 civilians died during the Battle of Mosul. About a third were killed by US-led coalition airstrikes or Iraqi forces, a third were killed by ISIS, and the cause of death for the rest is undetermined. The Battle of Mosul lasted for nine months, from October 2016 to July 2017. In less than two months in Gaza, the Israeli bombardment has killed at least 10,000 civilians, based on a conservative estimate cited by The Times.The Times report said, “People are being killed in Gaza more quickly, they say, than in even the deadliest moments of US-led attacks in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, which were themselves widely criticized by human rights groups.”The Israeli onslaught also dwarves the civilian casualties in the war in Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022. In one year and nine months of fighting, the UN estimates at least 10,000 civilians have been killed in Ukraine, including 560 children. The last update released by Gaza’s Health Ministry on November 10, after just 35 days of Israel’s campaign, said over 4,500 Palestinian children had been killed in Gaza, which the US State Department acknowledged was considered to be a low estimate at the time. Despite the massive civilian and child death toll, the US continues to provide Israel with unconditional military aid. The White House has acknowledged that Israel is killing thousands of innocent people in Gaza but has said there are no “red lines” that would impact US support.

US Sent Israel 15,000 Bombs Since October 7 - The Wall Street Journal published details about the White House’s secretive arms transfers to Israel since October 7. The US has provided Israel with 57,000 artillery shells and 15,000 bombs, including over 5,000 with 2,000-pound warheads.According to a list of weapons obtained by the Journal, the US has shipped Israel “more than 5,000 Mk82 unguided or ‘dumb’ bombs, more than 5,400 Mk84 2,000-pound warhead bombs, around 1,000 GBU-39 small diameter bombs, and approximately 3,000 JDAMs.”The US has additionally shipped 57,000 155 MM shells to Israel. NBC News previously reported in October that Washington sent Tel Aviv artillery rounds that are cluster munitions.Mick Mulroy, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense and officer in the Marine Corps, described the weapons as those the US would use in non-urban areas. “They are kind of the weapons of choice for the fights we had in Afghanistan and Syria in open, non-urban areas,” he said. “The US may use them in more urban areas, but first it would do a lot of target analysis to make sure the attack was proportional and based on military necessity.” By contrast, Gaza is about 140 sqare miles and home to 2.3 million people—one of the most densely packed regions on earth. Additionally, Israel has relied on an AI program to rapidly generate lists of suspected low-level Hamas members to target, without respect to civilians in proximity.The Israeli policy has led to the widespread devastation of Gaza. At least 15,000 civilians have been killed. The number of dead Palestinian children exceeds the number of Hamas fighters Israel has claimed to kill by many thousands. Nearly 100,000 buildings in Gaza have been damaged by Israel’s bombing campaign, including the destruction of universities, hospitals, schools, and entire residential neighborhoods.On Saturday, the New York Times reported that Israel was killing civilians in Gaza at a “historic pace.” The outlet added that part of the explanation for the huge death toll was Tel Aviv’s willingness to drop 2,000-pound American-made bombs on various civilian centers.Marc Garlasco, a former Pentagon analyst who advises the Dutch organization PAX, told the Times that he’s never seen anything like it. “It’s beyond anything that I’ve seen in my career,” he said. Garlasco added that to find a historical comparison for so many large bombs in such a small area, one would have to “go back to Vietnam or the Second World War.”Israeli officials and American politicians have attempted to justify Tel Aviv’s slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza by referring to the allied bombings of Tokyo during World War II. In a single night during the bombing of Tokyo, more than 100,000 people were burned to death by American napalm bombs.

Biden Moves to Lift Restrictions on Israel's Access to US Weapons Stockpile - President Biden is looking to remove restrictions on Israel’s access to weapons and ammunition stored in a US stockpile located in Israel, The Intercept reported on Saturday.The US military maintains a reserve stockpile of arms in Israel known as the War Reserve Stockpile Allies-Israel (WRSA-I). Israel has been granted access to the WRSA-I during previous conflicts under a set of rules that the White House now wants to eliminate.The White House included the lifting of the restrictions in its emergency supplemental request it made to Congress on October 20 for approximately $105 billion to fund military aid for Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan.Under the current restrictions, the US can only transfer weapons and ammunition to the WRSA-I that are “obsolete or surplus.” The White House’s request would eliminate that requirement and “allow for the transfer of all categories of defense articles.”The request would scrap the requirement for Israel to make certain “concessions” to access the stockpile by giving the Pentagon “greater flexibility in determining the value of the concessions provided in exchange for the transfers.” It would remove congressional oversight by eliminating the requirement of providing 30-day notice before a weapons transfer. The request would also do away with a $200 million annual cap on spending to replenish the WRSA-I.Josh Paul, who recently resigned from the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs over Biden’s support for Israel’s Gaza onslaught, told The Intercept that lifting the restrictions would “essentially create a free-flowing pipeline to provide any defense articles to Israel by the simple act of placing them in the WRSA-I stockpile, or other stockpiles intended for Israel.” Paul also said doing away with the restrictions could impact the US military’s readiness. “By dropping the requirement that such articles be declared excess, it would also increase the existing strain on US military readiness in order to provide more arms to Israel,” he said.

Gaza Truce Brings Lull in Attacks on US Troops in Iraq and Syria - Since October 17, US troops based in Iraq and Syria have come under steady rocket and drone fire. At least 73 attacks have been carried out on US bases in the two countries, but they have stopped since the truce between Israel and Hamas to facilitate the hostage deal came into effect on Friday.According to Reuters, some of Iraq’s leading Shia militias behind some of the attacks on US forces, including Kataib Hezbollah, have said they would abide by the ceasefire. But the militias have signaled their attacks could resume once Israel restarts its operations in Gaza. The Iraqi government has condemned both the attacks on US troops and recent US airstrikes in Iraq that Kataib Hezbollah said killed ten of its fighters. The Iraqi government is warning that without a durable ceasefire in Gaza, the war will likely expand into a regional conflict. “The entire region is on the verge of a devastating conflict that may include everyone, and the extent of its expansion or how to control and stop it is not known,” Farhad Alaadin, a foreign affairs advisor to Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.“For this reason, we see any ceasefire in the conflict as beneficial and important at this stage for the people of Palestine and Gaza first and for all countries in the region, including Iraq,” Alaadin added.Israel and Hamas have agreed to extend the truce for another two days into Tuesday and Wednesday, but Israeli officials are warning their operations will be even bigger than before once they resume.

US warns Israel over next phase of military operation into southern Gaza -The Biden administration is issuing urgent warnings to Israel over the next phase of its military operation in Gaza, saying a campaign in the south of the strip must not be carried out to the same level of destruction as took place in the north of the territory. The administration is proposing that Israel agrees to “areas of deconfliction,” to include United Nations facilities and shelters that would not be subject to active military fighting, a senior administration official said in a call with reporters Monday night. “You cannot have the sort of scale of displacement that took place in the north, replicated in the south,” the official said, as part of a call discussing efforts to scale up humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. The majority of the population of Gaza, more than 2 million people, are now concentrated in the center and south of the strip. The entire enclave is a mere 141 square miles. They were displaced by Israel’s assault against Hamas in the north — by air and a ground incursion — carried out in response to the group’s unprecedented terrorist attack against Israel on Oct. 7. Hamas’s agreement last week to release hostages it kidnapped from Israel in exchange for a temporary ceasefire has allowed humanitarian groups to scale up assistance to address dire shortages of food, water and fuel. Aid groups say that more than 1 million Palestinians in Gaza are displaced from their homes, and that massive overcrowding in temporary shelters risk spreading communicable diseases. Some estimate as many as 14,000 of people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its war against Hamas, but those numbers have yet to be independently verified. President Biden has rejected calls to pressure Israel to halt its military operation against Hamas despite intense opposition from the international community and divisions within his own party. “To reiterate what you’ve already heard from the president, from other senior officials of the government, we want the objectives of this campaign, the elimination of Hamas as a governing, as a threatening force in Gaza and the threat to Israel, ended,” the official said. “But how the campaign is conducted, particularly in the south, is exceedingly important, because of the fragile situation with this very significant internal displacement already occurred on the ground.” Israeli government says it will finish campaign to annihilate Hamas Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue the war until Hamas is eliminated, saying that the U.S.-designated terrorist group is still intent on launching attacks against Israel like it did on Oct. 7, when militants massacred an estimated 1,200 people, the majority of them civilians, and took more than 240 people hostage.

IDF Chief Tells Blinken That Gaza Campaign Will Take More Than a Few Weeks - Gen. Herzi Halevi, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) chief of staff, met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday and said Israel’s military operations in Gaza will take “more than a few additional weeks,” Axiosreported. Blinken’s visit to Israel marked his third since October 7 and came as it’s unclear if Israel and Hamas will extend the hostage deal truce for another day. Israeli officials appear eager to resume the onslaught and plan on significantly expanding operations in southern Gaza.Blinken met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet in Jerusalem. Sources told Axios that Blinken asked to be briefed about plans for the campaign in south Gaza, where it’s estimated 2 million Palestinians are located as hundreds of thousands fled from the north.After the meeting, Blinken told reporters that the US remains committed to continuing to support Israel’s war. Blinken said he “urged Israel to take every possible measure to avoid civilian harm” and warned the operations in the south should not kill as many civilians as the campaign in the north.Blinken said he “made clear the imperative before any operations go forward in southern Gaza there’ll be a clear plan in place that puts a premium on protecting civilians, as well as sustaining and building on humanitarian assistance getting to Gaza.”Despite the warning, there’s no sign the US will use any leverage over Israel, as US officials have reaffirmed all military aid comes without conditions. According to the Axios report, Blinken didn’t ask Israel to stop the campaign but said the longer the war goes on, the more international pressure will increase to end it.

Blinken urges Israel to comply with international law and spare civilians in war against Hamas (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday stepped up calls for Israel to comply with international law and spare civilians as it wages itswar against Hamas in Gaza. On his third trip to the Middle East since the war began on Oct. 7, Blinken said the U.S. remains committed to supporting Israel’s right to self defense. But he also said it is imperative that Israel protect civilians if it starts major military operations in southern Gaza. His message aligns with the Biden administration’s shifting rhetoric on the war, which began as a full-throated embrace of Israel’s response to the Hamas attacks but gradually tempered as the number of Palestinian civilian casualties began to rise dramatically. The death toll and scale of destruction has prompted widespread international criticism, including from members of President Joe Biden’s Democratic Party. Meeting in Jerusalem just hours after Israel and Hamas agreed at the last minute to athird extension of a cease-fire agreement under which Israel has paused most military activity in return for the release of hostages held by Hamas, Blinken assured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he could count on U.S. support.But he added that such support requires Israel’s “compliance with international humanitarian law,” and he “urged Israel to take every possible measure to avoid civilian harm.” To prevent a further major increase in civilian casualties, Blinken said he “made clear the imperative before any operations go forward in southern Gaza there’ll be a clear plan in place that puts a premium on protecting civilians, as well as sustaining and building on humanitarian assistance getting to Gaza.” He told reporters the Israeli government had “agreed to that approach” but declined to offer specifics on how Israel would follow through. However, he suggested that Netanyahu and others understood that that ”the massive levels of civilian life and displacement scale we saw in the north not be repeated in the south.” Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have sought shelter in southern Gaza after fleeing their homes in the northern part of the territory due to the conflict, and U.S. officials have been warning Israel that any offensive in southern Gaza must take into account the safety of the civilian population there.

Sen. McConnell Says Calls to Condition Israel Aid are 'Ridiculous' - Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Tuesday dismissed growing calls to condition military aid to Israel, calling them “ridiculous,” as Israel has been killing civilians at a historic pace in Gaza.“Our relationship with Israel is the closest national security relationship of any country in the world. And to condition, in effect, our assistance to Israel on their meeting our standards, it seems to me is totally unnecessary,” McConnell said, according to The Hill.While the majority of Congress staunchly backs Israel and wouldn’t want to place limits on US military support, there have been growing calls from some Democrats and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to put conditions on US aid.“The United States must make clear that while we are friends of Israel, there are conditions to that friendship and that we cannot be complicit in actions that violate international law and our own sense of decency,” Sanders wrote in The New York Times last week.According to The Intercept, Sanders said he might push a vote on conditioning the over $14 billion President Biden is seeking to fund Israel’s onslaught in Gaza, which, according to the most conservative estimates, has killed at least 10,000 civilians.The mass slaughter of civilians has not fazed hawks in Congress. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has said there is “no limit” to the number of civilians Israel can kill before it would lose US support.While Graham is an ultra-hawk, his view reflects that of the Biden administration, which has said it would not draw “red lines” for Israel despite the massive civilian casualties. The US is issuing warnings over Israel’s coming campaign in south Gaza, but there’s no sign it’s looking to leverage military aid.

US Reaffirms There Are No Conditions on Future Military Aid to Israel - Senior US officials speaking to POLITICO on Wednesday have reaffirmed that the Biden administration intends to place no conditions on future military aid to Israel despite public comments suggesting the idea was under consideration.Amid growing calls from Democrats to condition military aid to Israel, President Biden told reporters the idea is a “worthwhile thought,” but US officials said it won’t happen. “It’s not something we’re currently pursuing,” one official said.The comments come amid reports that say the US has been pressuring Israel to show restraint when it resumes military operations and expands them into south Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians who fled the south are located.White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby has said the US has “been clear with the Israelis that we don’t support them moving forward with operations in the south unless they have a plan to deal with the now-increased level of civilians there.”But there’s no sign the administration is using any of the leverage it has over Israel to curtail civilian casualties, and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has vowed Israel’s operations will be even bigger than before once the hostage deal truce is over.A US official has also clarified a tweet from President Biden that suggested he supported a real ceasefire in Gaza. On Tuesday night, the president’s X account said, “To continue down the path of terror, violence, killing, and war is to give Hamas what they seek. We can’t do that.”Many took Biden’s post as a significant shift in rhetoric, as he has previously rejected the idea of a lasting ceasefire. But a senior administration official speaking to Jewish Insider said it wasn’t a change in policy and that the US would continue to support the Israeli onslaught.“We want this to be the last war, and we recognize that, for that to happen, Hamas can’t be the governing authority,” the senior official said. “They have to be out of power, because if you have Hamas in power, you’re likely to have another conflict.”

Rep. Massie Casts Lone No Vote Against Bill Equating Anti-Zionism With Antisemitism - Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) was the lone member of the House to vote against a resolution equating criticism of the modern state of Israel with antisemitism.The resolution passed in a vote of 412-1-1, as Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) voted “present.” The bill states that the House “reaffirms the State of Israel has the right to exist” and “recognizes that denying Israel’s right to exist is a form of antisemitism.”Massie explained his opposition in a post on X. “I agree with the title ‘Reaffirming the State of Israel’s Right to Exist’ and much of the language, but I’m voting No on the resolution because it equates anti-Zionism with antisemitism. Antisemitism is deplorable, but expanding it to include criticism of Israel is not helpful,” he wrote.Tlaib said she didn’t vote in favor of the resolution because it “ignores the existence of the Palestinian people” and “brings us no closer to peaceful coexistence.” The resolution states that Jewish people are “native to the Land of Israel” without mentioning that the modern state was founded mainly by recently emigrated Jewish Europeans who drove over 700,000 native Palestinian Arabs out of the land in 1948.

Rocket Targets US Base in Syria - A rocket strike on a US base in Syria on Wednesday was the first attack against US troops in Iraq or Syria since the truce between Israel and Hamas in Gaza took effect on November 24. A Pentagon official told The National that a single rocket targeted Mission Support Site Euphrates, a US base in eastern Syria, and caused no injuries or damage to infrastructure.The attack marks the 74th time US troops have been targeted in Syria and Iraq since October 17. Some of the Iraqi Shia militias responsible for the attacks have said they were following the Gaza truce by not attacking US forces, but there are many different factions in the operations.Also on Wednesday, US Central Command said a US warship shot down a drone in the southern Red Sea that was fired from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. The Houthis, known formally as Ansar Allah, have been firing missiles and drones toward Israel in response to the onslaught in Gaza.The situation in the region is expected to escalate once Israel resumes its military operations in Gaza, which Israel’s defense minister vowed would be bigger than before. Kataib Hezbollah, an Iraqi Shia militia that said it was following the Gaza truce, signaled it would resume attacks on US troops once the ceasefire ends.The US has launched several rounds of airstrikes in eastern Syria and Iraq against the Shia militia, which have killed at least 15 people, according to US officials. Due to the recent escalations, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is planning to force a vote on a bill he introduced to withdraw all US troops from Syria.

Sen. Rand Paul to Force Vote on Syria Withdrawal - Sen. Rand Paul is planning to force a vote on a resolution he introduced to withdraw all US troops from Syria, as US bases in the country have come under frequent attack since mid-October, Responsible Statecraft reported on Wednesday.Paul introduced the resolution on November 15, and it would order the removal of the approximately 900 US troops stationed in Syria within 30 days unless President Biden receives authorization for war from Congress.Sources told RS that the vote could happen as early as next week. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) introduced a similar resolution in the House earlier this year, which failed in a vote of 103-321.According to the Pentagon, there have been at least 73 attacks on US troops in Iraq and Syria, including over 30 in Syria. The attacks started on October 17 in response to President Biden’s support for Israel’s onslaught in Gaza. The US has conducted several rounds of airstrikes in response, which have killed at least 15 people, according to US officials speaking to The New York Times. Strikes launched in Iraq targeted Kataib Hezbollah, a leading Iraqi Shia militia that’s aligned with Iran.There has been a lull in attacks since the Israel-Hamas truce went into effect on Friday, but Kataib Hezbollah and other Shia militias have signaled the attacks will re sume once the pause in Gaza is over. The Iraqi government has warned without a durable ceasefire in Gaza, the war risks escalating into a major regional conflict.The US occupation of eastern Syria, which is strongly opposed by Damascus, has always been a possible trip wire for a broader war in the region due to Russia and Iran’s presence in the country. On paper, the US is in the country to help fight ISIS remnants, but the occupation is part of the economic campaign against Syria, which also includes crippling sanctions, and is seen by hawks in Washington as a hedge against Iran.

House Passes Bill to Permanently Freeze $6 Billion in Iranian Funds - The House on Thursday passed a bill that would force the president to permanently freeze $6 billion in Iranian funds that were briefly made available to Tehran as part of a prisoner swap deal.Under the deal, the US and Iran exchanged prisoners, and the US allowed the transfer of the $6 billion from South Korea to Qatar, where Iran would receive access to the money. But shortly after the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel, the Biden administration decided to go back on the deal and cut off Iran’s access to the money.The administration made the move due to pressure from Congress over claims that Iran was involved in the October 7 attack, even though there’s no indication it was. US intelligence determined Tehran was surprised by the Hamas assault, and Israel said it had no evidence of Iranian involvement.The bill passed by the House on Thursday would make the administration’s move to freeze the Iranian funds permanent by requiring sanctions on any foreign entity that moves to make them available for Iran. The legislation passed in a vote of 307-119 with 118 Democrats and one Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) opposing the bill.“There’s no legal or moral authority for us to freeze or steal assets of other countries we are not at war with,”Massie wrote on X. “It’s also shortsighted for us to use our super-power status to force foreign banks to freeze assets of sovereign countries.”Democrats defended President Biden’s diplomatic maneuvering that led to the deal and got five Americans out of prison. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) argued going back on the agreement would hurt US credibility.The $6 billion was frozen in South Korea due to US sanctions on Iran that were re-imposed after the Trump administration unilaterally withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA, in 2018.

US Denies It's Pressuring Ukraine to Negotiate With Russia - A US official has denied that the Biden administration is nudging Ukraine toward negotiations with Russia, saying it’s up to Kyiv when to seek peace talks. The comments from James O’Brien, assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasian affairs, came in response to a report from the German tabloid Bild. The report said the US and Germany were trying to nudge Ukraine toward the negotiating table by providing just enough weapons to maintain the current battle lines. “The Bild story I thought was intriguing, but no, there’s no US policy,” O’Brien said. “We’ve always said that this is a matter for Ukraine to decide. We decide nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine. And I think the other reality here is we see no indication that Russia is willing to entertain substantive, real peace negotiations.” According to Ukrainska Pravda, Germany also denied the Bild report. “Ukraine has to define military and political goals in its defensive fight against the Russian aggression. Only Ukraine can set a date of the start of peace talks,” the German government said. The US and most of its NATO allies have discouraged peace talks throughout the war and actively worked against short-lived negotiations in the early days of the conflict. David Arakhamia, a member of Ukraine’s parliament who led the Ukrainian delegation to Istanbul during peace talks with Russia in March 2022,confirmed last week that Russia only wanted a commitment of Ukrainian neutrality to end the war at the time.

Five senators ask Biden to impose China travel ban after respiratory illness cases (Reuters) - Five Republican senators led by Marco Rubio on Friday asked President Joe Biden's administration to ban travel between the United States and China after a spike in Chinese respiratory illness cases."We should immediately restrict travel between the United States and (China) until we know more about the dangers posed by this new illness," said the letter signed by Rubio, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, along with Senators J.D. Vance, Rick Scott, Tommy Tuberville and Mike Braun.The rise in cases became a global issue last week when the World Health Organization asked China for more information, citing a report on clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia in children by the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases. A Biden administration official said the United States was closely monitoring the uptick in respiratory illnesses in China, but added, "We are seeing seasonal trends. Nothing is appearing out of the ordinary. ... At this time, there is no indication that there is a link between the people who are seeking care in U.S. emergency departments and the outbreak of respiratory illness in China." Advertisement · Scroll to continue Report this ad The spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, Liu Pengyu, said in response to the Rubio letter, "The relevant claims are purely ill-intentioned fabrications. China firmly opposes them." Maria Van Kerkhove, acting director of the WHO's department of epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention, said earlier this week the increase appeared to be driven by a rise in the number of children contracting pathogens that they had avoided during two years of COVID-19 restrictions. In recent months, the United States and China have been steadily increasing flights between the countries, though they remain far below 2019 levels. The number approved rose on Nov. 9 to 35 per week for each country, up from 12 per week in August. In January 2020, then-President Donald Trump barred most non-U.S. citizens who had recently been in China from entering the United States over COVID concerns, but did not restrict flights between the two countries.

China Calls US ‘Disruptor of Peace’ After Warship Encounter in South China Sea - China called the US the “biggest disrupter of peace” in the South China Sea after a US warship sailed near Chinese-controlled islands in the disputed waters.The US Navy’s Seventh Fleet said Saturday that the guided-missile destroyer USS Hopper sailed near the Paracel Islands, known as the Xisha Islands in China, in an operation known as a Freedom of Navigation Operation (FONOP). The US began regularly conducting FONOPs to challenge China’s claims in the South China Sea in 2015.The area where the USS Hopper conducted the FONOP is also claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam. According to The South China Morning Post, the Chinese military said it “warned off” the US warship after it entered the Xisha Islands’ territorial waters, which extend 12 nautical miles from a coastline.“The serious violation of China’s sovereignty and security by the United States is further iron proof that it is pursuing ‘navigation hegemony’ and creating ‘militarization of the South China Sea,'” China’s People’s Liberation Army’s Southern Theater Command said in a statement.“It fully proves that the United States is an out-and-out ‘security risk creator of the South China Sea,’ and the ‘biggest disrupter’ of peace and stability in the South China Sea,” the statement said.

Pressure grows on Tuberville to find way around getting rolled by GOP - Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) has held up hundreds of military promotions for months but could be on the verge of being rolled by his own GOP colleagues in December, unless he can find a new compromise. At a Senate lunch Tuesday, Tuberville gave the first indication that he could end his holds on nominations — which he put in place to protest the Pentagon’s post-Roe policy that pays for service members to travel for abortions — before a resolution hits the floor that would greenlight the promotions. But it’s not clear how that will proceed, and Tuberville has been mum on details. “I don’t know,” Tuberville told reporters when asked how he’ll resolve the hold. “I don’t know yet.” Patience among Republicans with Tuberville has been running out over the course of the nine-month standoff. The furor hit a fever pitch prior to the Thanksgiving break, as a group of GOP senators, headed by a number of those who have military backgrounds, twice went to the floor to advance individual nominees via unanimous consent. Tuberville blocked every request. At the same time, his options for an offramp are narrowing. The Alabama Republican and his backers initially had hoped for action in the National Defense Authorization Act. But because there will not be a conference to marry the House and Senate versions of the annual funding bill, that no longer is an option. Lawmakers indicated that they hoped a lawsuit would assuage Tuberville, but he has dismissed that possibility. That leaves both Tuberville and Senate Republicans in a difficult spot and vulnerable to a vote in the coming weeks on a Democratic-led standing resolution that would allow the chamber to push most of the nominations through as a single bloc. Republicans largely view the standing resolution as a last resort if Tuberville expends his holds into the new year — but are looking increasingly open to it.

Biden reportedly set to miss Dubai climate summit - President Biden will miss the annual COP climate meeting for the first time since taking office, with the White House citing the ongoing Middle East crisis. Multiple news outlets reported, citing either a U.S. or White House official, that Biden was not planning to attend COP28, and his public schedule does not list him attending a forum for heads of state slated for this weekend.The White House declined to confirm or deny these reports, but said that other key climate officials — John Kerry, John Podesta and Ali Zaidi — will travel to the COP28 conference in Dubai. Amid the reports Biden will not attend, climate activists criticized the president on Monday. “This is President Biden missing another opportunity to be a leader on climate change,” said Stevie O’Hanlon, a spokesperson for the Sunrise Movement. “After making decisions like approving the Willow Project that are putting the United States on track to produce more oil and gas than ever before it would be wise for him to prove his commitment to climate action,” O’Hanlon added, referencing a massive oil drilling project in the Arctic Biden’s Interior Department approved earlier this year.

US Lawmakers Tell Biden to 'Lead by Example' on Climate as COP28 Begins -Sen. Ed Markey and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Thursday led a group of more than 30 U.S. lawmakers in calling on President Joe Biden to embrace a complete phaseout of fossil fuels and an immediate end to public financing of new overseas oil and gas projects as world leaders gathered for the first day of the COP28 summit in Dubai.In a letter to the president, who decided to skip the talks, Markey (D-Mass.), Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), and 32 other members of Congress wrote that the U.S. has a "duty" to pursue more ambitious climate goals and "support other countries in adopting the principles of environmental justice that we should also prioritize here at home.""In order to remain on target for a livable future, we urge the administration to support the move toward an extensive, expedient, and equitable phaseout of fossil fuel production and consumption," the lawmakers wrote. "A full phaseout should be inclusive of coal, oil, and fossil gas, and led by the wealthiest and highest-emitting countries, including short-term phase-down goals and climate financing to assist developing countries in executing a clean energy transition."The letter, spearheaded by the leaders of the congressional Green New Deal Resolution, was released after the COP28 talks opened with a dealto operationalize a loss and damage fund geared toward helping low-income nations recover from the increasingly devastating climate impacts they've faced in recent years, despite doing the least to cause the planetary crisis.The Biden administration, representing the country that is the largest historical emitter of planet-warming carbon dioxide, pledged just $17.5 million to the loss and damage fund, a sum that one campaigner called "embarrassing."As Common Dreams reported, the administration also drew outrage bylaunching an oil and gas drilling auction just days before the start of the United Nations climate summit. In a social media post Thursday, Markey called on the Biden administration to "lead by example and take bold action to end this climate emergency."

Biden’s first-ever UN climate summit snub carries symbolic weight - President Biden is reportedly skipping a global climate change summit for the first time in his presidency. Not attending the conference, which is set to begin later this week, would mark a significant snub by a president who has vowed to fight global warming. Yet some experts say his absence is unlikely to actually impact the conference’s outcomes, with both his presence and absence playing more of a symbolic role. Multiple news outlets have reported that Biden is not planning to attend, and his public schedule does not list him attending a forum for heads of state slated for this weekend. Asked about Biden’s plans, White House spokespeople said they “don’t have any travel updates to announce at this time,” but said other key officials — climate envoy John Kerry, White House adviser John Podesta and national climate adviser Ali Zaidi — will travel to the COP28 conference in Dubai. Climate activists criticized the president over the reported decision Monday. “This is President Biden missing another opportunity to be a leader on climate change,” said Stevie O’Hanlon, a spokesperson for the Sunrise Movement. “After making decisions like approving the Willow Project that are putting the United States on track to produce more oil and gas than ever before it would be wise for him to prove his commitment to climate action,” O’Hanlon added, referencing a massive oil drilling project approved under the administration. Jean Su, director of the Energy Justice Program at the Center for Biological Diversity, similarly expressed disappointment. “His absence really shows a lack of commitment to climate right now when it’s the most important time to get to a climate talk,” Su said. “You know, this conference is being run by an oil baron,” she noted. Sultan al-Jaber, CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., is set to lead this year’s event. “It’s really important that Biden shows up and challenges the fossil fuel interests that are blatantly running the conference,” Su said. “It’s extremely worrying that President Biden is not coming.”

Environmentalists slam Biden admin's oil and gas auctions during COP28 -Environmental groups criticized the Biden administration's $3.4 million auction of oil and gas drilling rights in Wyoming on Tuesday as world leaders prepare to meet in Dubai for the COP28 climate summit.The 37 parcels of land covering some 35,000 acres was the first of 63 drilling parcels the Interior Department's U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) planned to sell across 44,000 acres in six Western states over the next two weeks.In addition to Wyoming, auctions will take place in New Mexico, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Utah. The last auction is due to take place on Dec. 12 — the final day of COP28. "Instead of doing the necessary work to fight climate change, Biden continues to support the expansion of fossil fuels here in the U.S.," Nicole Ghio, senior fossil fuels program manager for Friends of the Earth, said in a statement to media.Ghio said the Wyoming sales marked the latest in a series of disappointments from President Biden's administration, per the Washington Examiner. Biden has made tackling climate change a key part of his administration's national security strategy and he pledged to move away from fossil fuels. But Axios' Ben Geman notes he's faced a delicate balancing act on drilling.Biden signed into law last year key legislation that included measures to combat climate change under the Inflation Reduction Act. But it tethers the White House priority of offshore wind development to oil and gas offerings following demands from Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), whose vote was key in the bill's success.Environmental groups have filed a lawsuit challenging the Biden administration's approval of theConocoPhillips' Willow oil project in Alaska. Meanwhile, oil industry and Republican officials have criticized Biden for holding back future production. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said that in its decision on Willow, the administration was "following the science and the law when it comes to everything we do, and that includes gas and oil" lease considerations.

Car Dealers Warn Biden Administration to Pump Brakes on EV Plans - Most US car buyers aren’t interested in purchasing electric vehicles, incentives or not, a group of US car deals known as EV Voice of the Customer warned the Biden Administration on Tuesday. In a letter addressed to US President Joe Biden, EV Voice of the Customer persuaded the Administration to pump the brakes on federal regulations that would require two-thirds of all vehicles sold in the United States in 2032 to be electric—because it simply isn’t what car buyers want, even with the current incentives. The group of 3,700 dealers spread across all 50 states and covering all major car brands stated that electric vehicle inventories on car dealership lots are growing as deliveries outpace demand. “The reality is that electric vehicle demand today is not keeping up with the large influx of BEVs arriving at our dealerships prompted by the current regulations. BEVs are stacking up on our lots,” the letter read in part. According to EV Voice of the Customer, the reason for car buyers’ reluctance to purchase EVs stems from the still high price of EVs—even with incentives—and the fact that most buyers don’t have a garage. Other concerns cited include insufficient charging infrastructure, energy grid instability, and critical minerals required in the manufacture of EVs batteries. The group referred to the federal push as “Draconian,” recommending instead that the Administration “Allow time for the American consumer to get comfortable with the technology and make the choice to buy an electric vehicle.” The letter acknowledged that the appeal of EVs will grow over time. “Early adopters formed an initial line and were ready to buy these vehicles as soon as we had them to sell. But that enthusiasm has stalled. Today, the supply of unsold BEVs is surging, as they are not selling nearly as fast as they are arriving at our dealerships — even with deep price cuts, manufacturer incentives, and generous government incentives.”

Cities must replace harmful lead pipes under new Biden plan (AP) — Most U.S. cities would have to replace lead water pipes within 10 years under strict new rules proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency as the Biden administration moves to reduce lead in drinking water and prevent public health crises like the ones in Flint, Michigan and Washington, D.C.Millions of people consume drinking water from lead pipes and the agency said tighter standards would improve IQ scores in children and reduce high blood pressure and heart disease in adults. It is the strongest overhaul of lead rules in more than three decades, and will cost billions of dollars. Pulling it off will require overcoming enormous practical and financial obstacles.“These improvements ensure that in a not too distant future, there will never be another city and another child poisoned by their pipes,” said Mona Hanna-Attisha, a pediatrician and clean water advocate who raised early alarms about Flint.The Biden administration has previously said it wants all of the nation’s roughly 9 million lead pipes to be removed, and rapidly. Lead pipes connect water mains in the street to homes and are typically the biggest source of lead in drinking water. They are most common in older, industrial parts of the country.Lead crises have hit poorer, majority-Black cities like Flint especially hard, propelling the risks of lead in drinking water into the national consciousness. Their impact reaches beyond public health. After the crises, tap water use declined nationally,especially among Black and Hispanic people. The Biden administration says investment is vital to fix this injustice and ensure everyone has safe, lead-free drinking water.

Biden moves to avert energy supply disruptions -President Joe Biden announced new actions Monday aimed at ensuring the stability of supply chains for products including those needed to boost renewable energy. Biden convened many of his top officials at the White House for an inaugural meeting of a Council on Supply Chain Resilience, a group of agency leaders hoping to guard against the types of major supply chain disruptions that occurred due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The president unveiled dozens of new actions across the government aimed at securing supply chains for products including critical minerals, wind turbines and battery components that are central to the administration’s push to expand renewable energy and slash emissions. “Before the pandemic, supply chains weren’t something most Americans thought about or talked about,” Biden said Monday at the White House. “But today, after years of delay in parts and products, everyone knows why supply chains are so important.” The White House council includes Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, EPA Administrator Michael Regan, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and other administration officials from across the federal government. “I’m charging this group to ensure that our supply chains remain secure, diversified [and] resilient,” Biden said. Among the new actions announced Monday is an Energy Department plan to invest $275 million in communities impacted by closures of coal mines or coal-fired power plants. Selected communities can receive grant funding for the production of critical materials, components of batteries or electric vehicles, onshore wind turbines or energy-conservation technologies, the White House said. The Energy Department also announced up to $10 million in funding for a “critical material accelerator” and a $5.6-million prize to develop circular clean energy supply chains, according to the White House. “President Biden’s Investing in America agenda is driving the manufacturing boom while preserving the communities and workforce that have powered our nation for generations,” Granholm said in a statement. The White House also announced a supply chain center at the Commerce Department, which is working with the Energy Department to conduct analyses of clean energy supplies. The Energy Department is also developing an assessment tool to account for raw materials, manufacturing, workforce and logistics considerations, according to the White House. At the Interior Department, the U.S. Geological Survey plans to map global critical product supply chains, with a focus on semiconductor components. The National Science and Technology Council’s Critical Minerals Subcommittee plans to launch a new website in January to highlight cross-governmental supply chain efforts. As part of the suite of new moves, the administration also said it will launch an interagency effort to monitor global developments related to El Niño, including its impact on commodity prices, agriculture and fishery output and disruptions to supply chains. “I’m also directing my Cabinet to create an early-warning system that uses data to spot supply chains’ risks to our economic security, our national security, our energy security and our climate security,” Biden said Monday. The White House council plans to launch a quadrennial supply chain review, the White House said, to assess sectors and products defined as critical to national or economic security. The first review is slated for completion by Dec. 31.

Biden will convene his new supply chain council and announce 30 steps to strengthen U.S. logistics - President Joe Biden on Monday will convene the first meeting of his supply chain resilience council, using the event to announce 30 actions to improve access to medicine and needed economic data and other programs tied to the production and shipment of goods. "We're determined to keep working to bring down prices for American consumers and ensure the resilience of our supply chains for the future," said Lael Brainard, director of the White House National Economic Council and a co-chair of the new supply chain council. The announcement comes after supply chain problems fueled higher inflation as the United States recovered from the coronavirus pandemic in 2021. While consumer prices are down from last year's peaks, polling shows that inflation remains a political challenge for Biden going into the 2024 presidential election. Among the 30 new actions, Biden, a Democrat, will use the Defense Production Act to have the Health and Human Services Department invest in the domestic manufacturing of needed medicines that are deemed crucial for national security. The Cabinet agency has identified $35 million to invest in the production of materials for injectable medicines. The federal government will also improve its ability to monitor supply chains through the sharing of data among agencies. The Commerce Department has developed new tools to assess risks to the supply chain and has partnered with the Energy Department on the supply of renewable energy resources. Shipping companies are beginning to use new data resources from the Transportation Department on freight logistics. Besides Brainard, the council will be co-chaired by Jake Sullivan, the White House national security adviser. Other members include heads of Cabinet departments, the U.S. trade representative, the chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers and the directors of National Intelligence, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Biden slams corporations over high consumer costs - President Joe Biden took aim at corporations Monday for charging prices he said were artificially high even though the rate of inflation has slowed and some shipping costs have fallen. "Any corporation that has not brought their prices back down, even as inflation has come down, even as the supply chains have been rebuilt, it's time to stop the price gouging," Biden said at the launch of a new White House supply chain initiative. "Give the American consumer a break." While it's true that the annual rate of inflation has cooled from its high last summer, this doesn't translate directly into falling consumer prices. It only means that prices are rising at a lower rate. Prices for some everyday goods have fallen over the past year, a reality reflected in lower Thanksgiving costs this year, for example. And lower costs have in turn left some consumers with more money in their budgets for things like Black Friday shopping, when U.S. online sales rose 7.5% this past weekend over a year ago. As Biden runs for reelection, the White House has sought to claim these broad spending and pricing trends as victories for the president and his economic agenda, dubbed Bidenomics. But the argument that Biden deserves the credit for a strong economic recovery has proven to be a tough sell to voters, who consistently give the president low marks on the economy.

Congress considering credit card bill that would throw holiday plans into reverse - The holidays are a time when millions of Americans travel to spend time with family and friends or splurge on a gift for a loved one — and many cash in on the credit card rewards they’ve earned all year to help pay for it. This holiday season will be no different, especially as inflation has made everyday purchases more expensive, and tens of millions of Americans will again turn to credit card points to reduce costs. According to a recent Bankrate survey, nearly one in four holiday travelers will use rewards to fill up the tank on a family road trip, help pay for a special holiday purchase, or book a ticket to see their loved ones. Using points may be the difference between being able to afford to see their family or staying at home. They’ve been able to accumulate those points all year long by relying on high-value rewards cards that operate on secure, hassle-free transaction networks and are expecting to use them. As we approach the holiday season, now is not the time to pull the rug out from everyday Americans. But some members of Congress are supporting a bill that would defund the programs that make credit card rewards possible and strip away the funding that provides a hassle-free, secure payment experience for both you and the stores you visit. They say they want competition even though a similar effort with debit cards ended up costing consumers more money, not less. The only group that benefitted were big corporate megastores which pocketed the money at the expense of rewards programs and card security. Today, these megastores make a 1 to 2 percent investment when you use your credit card. Payment networks and card issuing banks use those investments to support data security, programs for rewards, innovation, and more. This includes rapid alerts that let you know someone may be trying to use your credit card for theft or fraud. If the new mandates in the Durbin-Marshall interchange bill are enacted, the peace of mind Americans enjoy with credit card transactions could be over as we know it. The bill would require credit card transactions to be processed on at least two networks, with one of them being a smaller, less well-known entity — many of which haven’t invested in the financial security systems needed to protect consumer information. The legislation would also throw the growing travel industry into reverse. The shops and workers who support tourism and business travel that have finally rebounded from the pandemic would lose many customers. The bill’s chief sponsors, Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), know better. We know what will happen because in 2010, Congress passed a Durbin bill as part of the Dodd-Frank Act that capped prices for debit card transactions. This ended by costing consumers more, not less.In addition, debit card rewards programs disappeared. Today, virtually no debit rewards cards exist.. Now big corporations like Walmart and Target — who have a history of data breaches — are again trying to convince Congress that satisfying their corporate greed is more important than keeping Americans safe from credit fraud. They would rather pocket more cash than make sure that Americans can safely shop for everyday essentials or redeem credit card rewards. This bill would have disastrous consequences for consumers and the economy. Congress should abandon this legislation so Americans can shop worry-free, get home for the holidays to be with their families.

Medicare Advantage is giving away billions to corporate insurers. It’s time we put a stop to it. by Rep Pramila Jayapal and Dr. Diljeet K. Singh --Physicians and policymakers are, in different ways, both responsible for the health and well-being of patients. While physicians care for patients to the best of their ability, policymakers ensure that the structures that make up the health care system are effective and equitable. Whenever and wherever there is a threat to these goals, both groups have a role to play in recognizing and combating it. That is why we are speaking out on the need to make fundamental changes to the Medicare Advantage (MA) program. MA as it exists today is a threat to patient care, to health equity, and indeed to the integrity of our public health infrastructure. A new report from Physicians for a National Health Program, an organization of doctors working to reform the health care system, shows that for-profit, corporate MA insurers are overpaid anywhere from $88 to $140 billion a year. That’s money coming out of patients’ and taxpayers’ pockets. MA is the privately-run version of the traditional government-administered Medicare program. Instead of paying directly for care, the government instead pays insurers to “manage” patients’ needs. Enrollment in this program has grown significantly over the past two decades, with over 50 percent of eligible beneficiaries opting for an MA plan in 2023. Unfortunately, growth in the program has not led to better care for beneficiaries or a better deal for taxpayers — just the opposite, in fact. Tens of billions of taxpayer dollars are being siphoned off as profit by insurance companies that don’t even provide necessary care. That money doesn’t just cost our government, it costs seniors. For example, premiums paid for Medicare Part B, which covers most medical services outside of hospitalization, totaled $131 billion in 2022. With the amount of extra money that corporate insurers get from the government, we could totally eliminate Part B premiums and still have money left over. Where is all this money coming from? It’s complicated, the result of a tangled web of loopholes, policies, and practices that are difficult for an individual beneficiary or physician to see. Even so, scholars and regulators have identified a few major factors that lead to overpayments. For example, insurance companies in MA tend to enroll patients that are healthier and therefore cost less than average but still get paid as if their patients were much sicker. This is called favorable selection, and by some estimates, it could cost as much as $75 billion a year in extra payments. Because Medicare gives additional money to MA insurers for patients with more severe or more numerous diagnoses, another source of overpayments are all the irrelevant or old conditions that insurers record on patient charts. This practice is known as upcoding; these conditions aren’t being actively treated, so they don’t cost the insurance company anything, but they do lead to as much as $20 billion in extra payments. These methods only scratch the surface of all the ways in which MA insurers take advantage of the system, but the bottom line is clear: these companies are pocketing billions of dollars that belong to Medicare beneficiaries. In our roles as a member of Congress and a practicing physician, we see different but equally concerning manifestations of these problems. Constituents call in with stories of being lured into an MA plan, and then denied care or prevented from seeing their doctor. Cancer patients, for whom an early diagnosis and treatment plan is imperative to survival, face weeks of delay because of onerous pre-authorization requirements. In fact, some of these patients have ended up needing emergency surgery or aggressive radiation that could’ve been avoided if insurers hadn’t gotten in the way. MA doesn’t just take billions in taxpayer dollars; it makes it harder for doctors to do their jobs, and harder for patients to get well. With the money that we spend on corporate giveaways, we could entirely fund Medicare’s prescription drug benefit, establish an out-of-pocket maximum in traditional Medicare, or even provide dental, hearing, and vision benefits to everyone on Medicare and everyone on Medicaid. This doesn’t need to be a partisan issue. We should all agree that programs paid for by the people should benefit the people. It’s time to crack down on overpayments in MA and use those resources to improve Medicare for all patients.

As GOP Pursues 'Death Panel,' Poll Shows 81% Oppose Social Security Cuts --Survey results out Thursday show that more than 80% of U.S. voters oppose cuts to Social Security and Medicare, a finding released a day after House Republicans and some right-wing Democrats made their case for a bipartisan "fiscal commission" that critics warn would fast-track cuts to the popular and critical programs.Conducted by Navigator Research, the poll found that 81% of registered voters from across the political spectrum are against cutting funding for Social Security and Medicare while 82% support increasing funding for the programs.The nationwide survey reached 1,000 U.S. voters and was run from November 9-13.The deep unpopularity of Social Security cuts may help explain why Republicans, led by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), are pushing for a bipartisan, bicameral fiscal commission tasked with proposing legislative changes to U.S. trust fund programs. The Biden White Houseand progressive advocacy groups have called the commission a "death panel" for Social Security.Under legislation that the Republican-controlled House Budget Committee examined during a hearing on Wednesday, proposals approved by the fiscal commission would be expedited in both chambers of Congress. Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, wrote in an op-ed forCommon Dreams on Thursday that the proposed commission is a ploy "specifically designed to avoid accountability from voters," as it would "require Congress to vote on the commission's recommendations right after the 2024 election, without any amendments.""This will allow members to run on the claim that they won't cut Social Security and Medicare, and then turn around and vote for cut," Altman added. "They will insist that they hated the cuts, but had to do something about the federal debt, so their hands were tied. Some voting for it will have lost re-election or will be retiring, with nothing to lose. All of them will be as far away from the next election as possible."

Biden’s unworkable nursing rule will harm seniors -What could be wrong with wanting to have a registered nurse (RN) in every nursing home in the United States at all times? Nothing — it’s just not possible.As most facilities are already staffed by a combination of certified nursing assistants (CNAs), licensed practical nurses (LPNs) and RNs, mandating such a requirement would devastate both nursing homes and the seniors for whom they care. But, this is exactly what the Biden administration is attempting to do.A new rule proposed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) seeks to radically increase federally mandated staffing levels in nursing homes in two ways. First, the rule, if finalized, would require every nursing home in the nation to have an RN on-site at all times, which is much more than the current requirement of eight hours daily, five days weekly. It would separately impose new minimum staffing ratios, requiring a certain number of RNs and CNAs per resident per day.This is a well-intentioned goal and I, as much as anyone, want seniors to have the best care possible. But, good intentions are not enough. Policy needs to be informed by reality and what is possible. And unfortunately, the current reality is pretty bleak for America’s nursing homes.At the moment, there are nearly 15,000 nursing homes throughout the country. Of these, 29 percent are in rural areas that are more difficult to staff. In my home state of Kansas, this number is even higher — 53.7 percent of nursing homes are in rural areas. Not even half of the nation’s nursing homes are currently staffed at the level required by the proposed rule, as facilities across the nation are contending with a workforce shortage. The nursing home workforce has declined by 12 percent since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, part of an overall contraction of the aging services workforce. Some of this can be explained by the burnout employees felt due to the intensity of the pandemic, but that is not the whole picture. Labor costs for nursing homes are now 22 percent higher than they were at the start of 2020. Somehow, under these strained conditions, CMS expects nursing homes to find an additional 3,267 RNs to satisfy the 24/7 RN part of the rule. This would cost nursing homes $349 million per year and would increase annual costs for residents by almost $2,180. In the Sunflower State, that would rise to an additional $2,600 in resident costs each year. To meet the rule’s minimum staffing ratio requirement, an additional 12,639 RNs and 76,376 CNAs would be needed nationwide, costing nursing homes $4.2 billion per year at an average cost of $13.24 per resident per day. So, implementing the two parts of this rule would require upwards of 15,000 new RNs, plus more than 76,000 CNAs.

Trump rips Wall Street Journal over editorial on ObamaCare stance - Former President Trump attacked the Wall Street Journal again this week over its stance on the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as ObamaCare. The Journal, in an editorial published Wednesday, wrote that Trump had given “his opponents another gift over the weekend by vowing to ‘terminate’ ObamaCare —or at least that’s how Democrats are translating his blunderbuss comments.” Trump over the weekend said he was “seriously looking at alternatives” to the program, saying it is “is out of control, plus, it’s not good Healthcare.” The Journal said Trump has so far not communicated a better plan on health care. “There are other ideas, but they require doing some homework and honing a message,” the Journal wrote. “If Republicans have nothing more to say than Mr. Trump does, they’re better off ducking the subject lest they lead with their chin.” Trump ripped the newspaper Thursday, calling it “really a MESS” in a post on his Truth Social website. “The Globalist ‘paper’ sucks, its influence is badly waning, and the concept of, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, is not exactly music to their ears,” Trump wrote of the Journal. “They fought me hard in 2016, but when I WON, Rupert Murdoch was the first to call. ‘Great going,’ he said, ‘lets have lunch.’ He called often, never getting what he wanted to get, or hearing what he wanted to hear. How did that work out, Rupert?” Trump has for months been railing against the Journal, the New York Post and other media entities owned by billionaire mogul Rupert Murdoch over their coverage of him and his political rivals.

GOP senators feel ambushed by Trump’s policy promises - Former President Trump is creating new political headaches for Republicans locked in a highly competitive battle to win back the Senate majority by making extreme statements on health care, immigration and other issues unlikely to play well with swing voters in key states. Trump shook up Republicans on Capitol Hill over the weekend by declaring that if elected president he would make another run at repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act. The comments posted on Trump’s media platform, Truth Social, caught GOP lawmakers off guard because they haven’t had any serious policy discussions recently about getting rid of the landmark health care law, and there’s no consensus within their party on how to replace it. Senate Republican Whip John Thune (S.D.) admitted he doesn’t know what Trump is talking about. “I’m for lowering costs and making our health care system more efficient, but I’m not sure — I’d want to know what the proposal is,” he said of Trump’s comments. Sen. Bill Cassidy (La.), the ranking Republican on the Senate Health Committee, was similarly in the dark.

Anthony Fauci will testify before Congress on COVID origins and the US pandemic response (AP) — Anthony Fauci, former chief White House medical adviser, is expected to testify before Congress early next year as part of Republicans’ yearslong investigation into the origins of COVID-19 and the U.S. response to the disease. Fauci, who served as the nation’s top infectious disease expert before retiring last year, will sit for transcribed interviews in early January and a public hearing at a later date. It will be his first appearance before the Republican-controlled House. The Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic first requested a sit-down with Fauci in February, but an agreement over the timing and details of the interviews was just reached with Fauci’s attorneys earlier this month, according to a letter sent Thursday from the committee. “It is time for Dr. Fauci to confront the facts and address the numerous controversies that have arisen during and after the pandemic,” Rep. Brad Wenstrup, the GOP chairman of the committee, said in a statement. House Republicans have investigated whether Fauci or other U.S. government officials took part in any sort of cover-up about the origin of the deadly virus. Fauci, who served under both Republican and Democratic presidents, has repeatedly called the GOP criticism nonsense. Wenstrup, who is also a longtime member of the House Intelligence Committee, has accused Fauci and U.S. intelligence of withholding key facts about its investigation into the coronavirus. Republicans on the committee last year issued a staff report arguing that there are “indications” that the virus may have been developed as a bioweapon inside China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology. That would contradict a U.S. intelligence community assessment released in unclassified form in August 2021 that said analysts do not believe the virus was a bioweapon, though it may have leaked in a lab accident. Many scientists, including Fauci, who until December served as Biden’s chief medical adviser, say they still believe the virus most likely emerged in nature and jumped from animals to humans, a well-documented phenomenon known as a spillover event. Virus researchers have not publicly identified any key new scientific evidence that might make the lab-leak hypothesis more likely.

Where Biden stands on his education campaign promises --President Biden had some lofty education goals during his 2020 campaign.The president made promises that included increased education funding and reforms to higher education and student debt.“Biden is proposing a bold plan for education and training beyond high school that will give hard-working Americans the chance to join or maintain their place in the middle class, regardless of their parents’ income or the color of their skin,” the president’s 2020 campaign website said.Now, with three years on the books and less than a year until voters decide if he deserves another four in office, here is where he stands on fulfilling his education pledges. The campaign promise that has been under the biggest spotlight is universal student debt relief. While Biden on the trail did not go as far as his primary opponents, he did pledge at least $10,000 in student debt relief for borrowers making less than $125,000 a year. The president did attempt to make this promise a reality. The Department of Education had applications and plans to cancel $10,000 for all borrowers making less than $125,000, and $20,000 for those who were on Pell Grants in school with the same income requirement.However, the plan was shot down at the Supreme Court in June, with the justices ruling that the provision Biden cited did not grant him the authority to cancel that much debt.Now, the administration is looking at making a new plan through a different process — but it seems this version of loan forgiveness will not be universal but instead target certain groups.The administration has, however, seen broad success in Biden’s promise to reform income-driven repayments (IDR) to lower monthly student loan payments.“We’re going to cut student loan payments in half by using those income-based payments,” Biden said at the start of the presidency, and his administration launched its Saving on Valuable Education (SAVE) IDR plan this fall.“Already more than 5.5 million people have signed up for SAVE and of those, more than 2.9 million have a payment of $0 thanks to the President’s plan,” the White House said.One of Biden’s biggest education promises was to make two-year community college free for all students, a target that has remained out of reach.In the president’s Build Back Better plan in 2021, he did include two years of free community college. The plan had $45.5 billion going to states, so they could afford free two-year degrees for all students over the next five years.But in negotiations with Republicans, Biden had to scale back the larger proposal, which included slashing the money for this effort.The president at the beginning of his term wanted to triple the amount of funding that went toward Title I. Title I funding is used to help low-income students and had a 2023 budget of $18 billion. While the president was able to secure an 11 percent increase, nearing $2 billion, for Title I schools, it does not hit the mark he initially set out at the beginning of the campaign. Biden has pushed for even more funding but has not been successful.

Biden administration notifies borrowers of student loan forgiveness -- Around 813,000 student loan borrowers will soon receive an email from President Joe Biden notifying them that their debt has been forgiven because of his actions, the White House said Tuesday.Many borrowers who will get the email likely already knew about the loan cancellation and may have already received that relief. The message directly from the president, less than a year ahead of the 2024 presidential election, makes it clear who was responsible for the relief."Congratulations — your student loan has been forgiven because of actions my administration took to make sure you receive the relief you earned and deserve," the email reads.Biden has erased $127 billion in student debt so far for more than 3.5 million borrowers — more than any other president in history.The Biden administration used existing programs, including Public Service Loan Forgiveness and income-driven repayment plans, to deliver the debt cancellation. Previously, the relief under these programs was hard to access."The president is committed to fighting for hardworking American families, making sure we get them a little more breathing room, and allowing them to support themselves and their families," a White House official said on Tuesday.Biden's plan to cancel up to $400 billion in student debt for tens of millions of Americans was rejected at the Supreme Court in June.Republican nominees for president oppose student loan forgiveness.Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has said that Biden didn't have the authority to cancel student debt without prior authorization from Congress."He knows he's done something that is illegal and over the top," Christie said on ABC's "This Week" in 2022, shortly after Biden announced his broad forgiveness plan.

Supreme Court to consider ‘quadrillion-dollar question’ in major tax case -The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in early December on a case that has the potential to broadly reshape the U.S. tax code and cost the government hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue. At issue in Moore v. United States is the question of whether the federal government can tax certain types of “unrealized” gains, which are property like stocks or bonds that people own but from which they haven’t directly recouped the value, so they don’t have direct access to the money that the property is worth. Large portions of the U.S. tax code require that income be “realized” before it can be taxed, but critics say it’s an inherently wishy-washy concept that courts have just been ignoring for years due to administrative impracticalities. Even if the court limits the scope of its decision to the specific tax referenced in the case, known as the mandatory repatriation tax, a ruling in favor of the plaintiffs could cost $340 billion over the next decade, according to the Justice Department. For comparison, that would cancel out all the extra revenue generated by the $80 billion IRS funding boost and then add an additional $140 billion to the national deficit, which now stands between $26 and $33 trillion, according to various measurements. But experts say the cost could be much higher than that if the court broadens out its definition of what counts as realization, pushing heaps of taxable income out of the government’s reach. The decision could have implications for everything from potential wealth taxes, like the one the Biden administration proposed for billionaires in 2022, to large swaths of the international tax regime. The U.S. solicitor general herself is scheduled to argue the case before the justices, underscoring how the Biden administration views its importance. “It’s the million-dollar question, just with a few more zeros: the quadrillion-dollar question,” Harvard University tax law professor Thomas Brennan told The Hill. “On one extreme, if the Supreme Court decides that a realization requirement is present in the 16th Amendment … then there are a number of code sections that arguably would be invalid or have to be reworked,” he said. These sections could involve partnership tax rules, rules on the taxation of debt and commodities, taxes on futures contracts and the international tax rules that string these areas together between countries. “On the other extreme, even if the Supreme Court finds in favor of the taxpayers, they could do so in a narrow way that’s limited to the particular situation at hand, or in a way that … forecloses the possibility of Congress enacting wealth taxes but that doesn’t disturb much of existing tax law,” Brennan said.

Senate Democrats authorize subpoenas in the Supreme Court ethics probe. GOP won't back enforcement (AP) — Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee voted Thursday to authorize subpoenas for two prominent conservatives who arranged luxury travel and other benefits for Supreme Court justices, but Republicans challenged the legitimacy of the move and pledged to withhold support for enforcing the legal order.The committee chairman, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., pushed through the vote in the meeting’s final moments after Republicans had walked out in protest. The vote from the 11 Democrats would authorize subpoenas for Republican megadonor Harlan Crowand conservative activist Leonard Leo. But without bipartisan backing, the subpoenas probably will not be enforced because that would take 60 votes in the closely divided Senate.During a contentious committee meeting, Republicans tried to delay the vote before Sen. Lindsey Graham, the committee’s top Republican, invoked a rule to limit the session to two hours. Nonetheless, Durbin proceeded with a vote to authorize subpoenas. “They think we’re gonna roll over and come back sometime later and try all over again and face the same limitations,” Durbin said. “There reaches a point where there has to be a vote. They walked out on it. That’s their decision.”

Senate GOP stages hearing walkout to protest Supreme Court-related subpoenas - Tempers exploded at a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting Thursday before Democrats voted to subpoena a major conservative donor and a prominent conservative activist linked to the Supreme Court’s ethics scandals. The Republican members of the committee stormed out of the hearing room in the Hart Building shortly before Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) called a vote on authorizing the subpoenas. The motion passed with 11 Democratic votes. Not a single Republican was left in the room by the time the roll call ended. Durbin went ahead with the vote shortly before noon to prevent Republicans from delaying it until next week by invoking a rule to limit committee meetings to two hours. The meeting came after weeks of partisan fighting among members of the Judiciary Committee over plans to subpoena conservative donor Harlan Crow and activist Leonard Leo, the co-chairman of the Federalist Society, in response to reporting by ProPublica that revealed the two men played roles in taking conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito on luxury vacations. Durbin and federal courts subcommittee Chair Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) advanced the subpoenas after Crow and Leo refused to cooperate with their investigation into Supreme Court ethics. Durbin argued that his committee staff had worked for “months” to try to get information from Crow and Leo about gifts and personal hospitality extended to Thomas and Alito. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) argued after the meeting that the subpoenas are “invalid” because they were issued in violation of Senate and committee rules. Cruz pointed out that the vote to authorize the subpoenas didn’t conclude until a few minutes after noon, violating the two-hour rule that requires committees to wrap up all business within two hours unless waived. “Under the rules, the subpoena is not valid,” Cruz declared. “The two-hour rule says you have to be concluded with your business, that nothing that happens after two hours is valid. And when they actually issued the subpoena, it was 12:02.”

House Intelligence chair praises release of Jan. 6 tapes: ‘Now people can see the truth’ -House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner (R-Ohio) praised newly elected Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) for releasing the Capitol footage from the Jan. 6 riot, calling the move an “important” step toward exposing the truth. In an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Turner suggested the American people were only reading biased accounts of the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, an echo of a frequent argument in favor of releasing the tapes.“It’s important for Americans to know the truth. This has been fraught with an unbelievable amount of misinformation and untruths,” Turner said, when asked whether it was responsible for Johnson to release the footage, despite stated concerns from the Capitol Police about jeopardizing the security of the complex.“When you see the footage yourself, it’s going to give you an understanding of what was there and what occurred that day. Because we’re currently only depending on really partisan descriptions of what happened. Now the American people can see,” Turner added. When asked about GOP colleagues cherry-picking some of the images and misrepresenting what they depicted, Turner claimed, “I think it’s been cherry-picked by both sides,” before mentioning the Jan. 6 select committee that investigated the events that day. Turner dodged a question on whether he was uncomfortable with GOP colleagues using the footage to falsely represent what happened at the Capitol on Jan. 6. “Let me ask you about your Republican colleagues in the wake of this footage being released,” NBC’s Kristen Welker said. “Are you comfortable with, for example, [Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)] posting, suggesting that this was an inside job by the Capitol Police? She removed the tweet of course, but does that make you uncomfortable?” “You’ll have to talk to Marjorie Taylor Greene about that,” Turner told Welker. “But what I will say is I think it’s important that the Speaker has taken this step because now people can see the truth.”

Special Counsel Jack Smith Demanded Info On Americans Who "Favorited Or Retweeted" Trump Tweets; Newly Released Docs Show --Special Counsel Jack Smith demanded information on Twitter users who liked or retweeted former President Donald Trump’s tweets leading up to the January 6 riot, according to a heavily redacted search warrant and other documents released Monday.Smith’s comprehensive search warrant sought the 2024 Republican presidential primary front-runner’s search history, direct messages, and “content of all tweets created, drafted, favorited/liked, or retweeted” by his account from October 2020 to January 2021.The special counsel also demanded a list of all devices used to log into Trump’s then-Twitter, now X account, as well as information on users who interacted with the then-president in the months leading up to Jan. 6, 2021, the court filings show.Among the information Smith sought were lists of all Twitter users who “favorited or retweeted” Trump’s tweets, “as well as all tweets that include the username associated with the account” in “mentions” or “replies.”The special counsel also requested a list of every user Trump “followed, unfollowed, muted, unmuted, blocked, or unblocked” and a list of users who took any of the same actions with Trump’s account during the aforementioned timeframe.“There is no benign or reasonable justification for that demand,” wrote former FBI agent/whistleblower Steve Friend on X.Smith demanded the information as part of the special counsel “investigation into Trump’s actions leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol.” In August, Smith formally lodged a four-count indictment against Trump, accusing him of a massive criminal conspiracy to reverse the results of the 2020 election.The court released the warrant after multiple media organizations filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to obtain the document.

Trump will be final defense witness at New York fraud trial, lawyer says Former President Donald Trump will return to the witness stand in December in the $250 million civil fraud trial that threatens his business empire, his attorney said Monday in court. Trump will be the final witness for the defense on Dec. 11, in the trial brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, accusing him and his co-defendants of falsely inflating Trump's assets for financial gain. Trump's adult son and co-defendant Eric Trump is scheduled to testify Dec. 6, defense attorney Christopher Kise said. Trump Sr., Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. denied wrongdoing when they were previously questioned on the witness stand by lawyers for the state. Trump, who is running for president again in 2024, has decried the case as a "witch hunt" and lobbed accusations of political bias at James, as well as the presiding judge and his principal law clerk. Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron has imposed gag orders barring Trump, his lawyers and the other defendants in the case from commenting publicly about his clerk, Allison Greenfield. Engoron has also expressed concern about the hundreds of threatening and harassing messages that have "inundated" his chambers during the trial. Earlier Monday, Trump's attorneys argued that the former president is not responsible for the threats sent by third parties, while questioning Greenfield's "purported security concerns" because she allowed herself to be photographed and identified in the media at the start of the trial. Calling the threats "vile and reprehensible," the lawyers said Trump and his co-defendants did not make the threats themselves, nor do they "condone" them. It is "lamentable," they wrote, that the hateful messages "increased in frequency and changed in tenor as the trial began." But that shift "cannot be ascribed to President Trump's re-posting of a photograph the Principal Law Clerk herself first published," they argued.

Trump targets wife of New York judge overseeing civil fraud trial -- The wife of the New York judge overseeing former President Trump’s ongoing civil fraud trial is the latest target of Trump’s rage online. Trump took aim at Judge Arthur Engoron’s wife, Dawn Engoron, in a series of posts Tuesday afternoon, purporting that an account on X — formerly Twitter — that made several anti-Trump posts belongs to her. The posts by “Dawn Marie,” which were first unearthed by conservative activist Laura Loomer, say Trump is “headed to the big house,” referring to prison, and remark on his ongoing trial. Two posts show what appears to be AI illustrations of the former president in an orange jumpsuit, and another depicts him as the Wicked Witch of the West from “The Wizard of Oz.” “Judge Engoron’s Trump Hating wife, together with his very disturbed and angry law clerk, have taken over control of the New York State Witch Hunt Trial aimed at me, my family, and the Republican Party,” Trump wrote Wednesday in a Truth Social post. In a statement to The Hill, Dawn Engoron denied association with the account. “The Twitter account with the handel [sic] @dm_sminxs does not belong to me. I do not have a Twitter account. I have never posted any anti Trump messages,” she wrote in an email. The Hill could not independently verify that the X account making anti-Trump posts belonged to the judge’s wife. The account appeared to be deactivated at the time of publication.

Trump gag order reinstated in New York civil fraud trial - A gag order barring former President Trump and his counsel from speaking about the staff of the New York judge overseeing his ongoing business fraud trial was reinstated Thursday by an appeals court. In a terse decision, an appeals panel denied Trump’s request to lift the order hampering his attacks on the principal law clerk. Trump’s counsel argued in their request to eliminate the gag order that Judge Arthur Engoron’s enforcement of it “casts serious doubt” on his ability to serve as an “impartial finder of fact” overseeing Trump’s case. The appeals panel also ended its pause on the gag order, meaning the former president can no longer rail against Engoron’s clerk without potentially facing consequences. His most recent attack on the clerk was made yesterday, where on Truth Social he criticized her as “very disturbed and angry.” Engoron’s principal law clerk has become an unwitting main character in the fraud trial. In October, a post on Trump’s Truth Social platform falsely derided her as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) “girlfriend” and included personally identifying information about her. A Schumer spokesperson called the post “ridiculous, absurd, and false” in a statement to The Hill at the time.

Trump loses bid for Jan. 6 subpoenas in election case - A federal judge on Monday denied a request by Donald Trump to issue subpoenas for records related to a select House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Trump was seeking the subpoenas as part of his defense against criminal charges related to his attempt to reverse his loss in the 2020 presidential election. The Jan. 6, 2021, riot by Trump supporters began after weeks of false claims by the then-president that ballot fraud was the reason for Joe Biden's election victory. Judge Tanya Chutkan, in her order denying the subpoenas, suggested that Trump's lawyers were engaged in a "fishing expedition" with their request. "The broad scope of the records that Defendant seeks, and his vague description of their potential relevance, resemble less 'a good faith effort to obtain identified evidence' than they do 'a general "fishing expedition" that attempts to use the [Rule 17(c) subpoena] as a discovery device,'" the judge wrote. Chutkan wrote that the attorneys failed to meet their burden to justify the subpoenas, which would have been issued to the head of the National Archives, the clerk of the House of Representatives, the chairman of the select House panel, and others. Trump has pleaded not guilty in the case, which is pending in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.

US appeals court says Trump must face lawsuits over US Capitol attack (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Friday ruled that Donald Trump must face civil lawsuits over his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by his supporters, rejecting the former president's claim that he is immune. A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found that Trump was acting "in his personal capacity as a presidential candidate" when he urged his supporters to march to the Capitol on the day of the riot. U.S. presidents are immune from civil lawsuits only for official actions. The ruling clears the way for Trump to face lawsuits from U.S. Capitol police officers and Democratic lawmakers seeking to hold Trump responsible for the violence by his supporters during the riot, which was an attempt to overturn his 2020 election defeat. The case is one of several civil and criminal challenges facing the frontrunner for the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden in the 2024 election. The unanimous decision focused only on whether Trump could be sued, and said nothing about the merits of the cases themselves. Trump argued that his speech exhorting his followers to "fight like hell" against the certification of the election was related to a "matter of public concern" and fell within his official responsibilities.

Trump’s Georgia co-defendant Kenneth Chesebro meeting with investigators in other states One of former President Trump’s co-defendants in the sweeping Georgia election interference case plans to meet with investigators in states still probing efforts to keep Trump in power after he lost the 2020 election.Kenneth Chesebro — a Trump lawyer who helped craft the alternate electors scheme pushing to certify slates of Trump-supporting “fake” electors in battleground states instead of the true electoral votes cast for Biden — plans to meet with investigators in Nevada and Arizona in the near future, The Washington Post reported Thursday.Chesebro pleaded guilty last month to one count of conspiracy to file false documents, a lesser charge than the seven felony counts he originally faced including a state Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) charge. Those charges mainly pertained to Chesebro’s efforts to organize the pro-Trump electors, who ultimately met in seven states won by now-President Biden.Following his guilty plea, Chesebro’s counsel asked the court to modify his probation rules to allow for travel to Nevada, Arizona and Washington, D.C., for ongoing “investigations of the ‘election fraud’ cases.” “Mr. Chesebro needs to be able to travel to these jurisdictions in order to meet with counsel,” the filing read. Politico first confirmed last week that the Nevada attorney general’s office is investigating the six Nevada activists who met and signed false paperwork saying they were the state’s true electors. A spokesperson for Arizona’s attorney general’s office confirmed to The Hill that its probe into the slate of fake electors there is also ongoing.A Chesebro lawyer was contacted by Nevada investigators last week to arrange a sit-down, and Arizona investigators intend to speak with Chesebro in the coming weeks, the Post reported. Nevada officials have offered Chesebro a “proffer” agreement where they agreed not to charge him in exchange for truthful testimony, while in Arizona there is no such deal — and in special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation, no such outreach has been made at all, according to the Post.

The RNC's rules for the 2024 convention don't address what would happen if Donald Trump is convicted (AP) — The Republican National Committee’s rules for next year’s nominating contest and convention were released this week without addressing a question the GOP could well face next summer: Can the party’s delegates vote for a different candidate if the presumptive nominee is convicted of a felony? Former President Donald Trump is under four criminal indictments that will proceed through the GOP primary season, an overlap of legal and political calendars with no precedent in American politics. Fifteen states and American Samoa hold their GOP primaries on March 5, known as Super Tuesday, which is also the day after his first trial is scheduled to begin in Washington on charges that he unlawfully sought to overturn the 2020 election. Trump is dominating the Republican field and may secure much of the support he needs by Super Tuesday, by which time almost half of delegates who select the nominee at the GOP convention will have been awarded. Even if he were to be convicted in Washington or another trial, top party leaders and many voters have indicated they would stand by Trump anyway. And Trump and his allies are pushing todismiss and delay the trials and have worked with state parties to craft rules favorable to him.The RNC rules don’t include any provisions specific to the unprecedented scenario unfolding.Bound delegates must vote for a particular presidential candidate at the convention based on the results of the primary or caucus in their state. As in past years, every state party must bind its delegates to vote for their assigned candidates during at least the first round of voting at the national convention, with limited exceptions for a small number of delegates. A candidate wins the nomination if they clinch a majority, which is 1,215 delegates.At next year’s convention, which starts July 15 in Milwaukee, there will be opportunities to tweak the rules when they are adopted or to suspend them, which can require two-thirds of delegates to approve on a vote.“It’s a parliamentary body,” said Benjamin Ginsberg, a Republican election lawyer. “It can always work its will if it wants to one way or another.” Such last-minute maneuvers are difficult to organize and there are few current signs that delegates might look for another option even with Trump’s criminal cases looming.

Hunter Biden offers to testify before Congress in December - Hunter Biden said Tuesday he would testify before Congress in December, as part of a Republican-led impeachment investigation into President Joe Biden and his family. "Your empty investigation has gone on too long wasting too many better-used resources. It should come to an end," Hunter Biden's attorney Abbe Lowell wrote in a letter to the chairman of the House Oversight Committee. "Consequently, Mr. Biden will appear at such a public hearing on the date you noticed, December 13, or any date in December that we can arrange," wrote Lowell. The defiant letter came weeks after House Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., subpoenaed the president's son and brother to sit for closed-door depositions, as he conducts an impeachment inquiry into the Democratic president. Comer later Tuesday appeared to reject Hunter Biden's proposal for a public hearing on Dec. 13 — but left the door open for him to testify before Congress at a later date. "Hunter Biden is trying to play by his own rules instead of following the rules required of everyone else," Comer said in a statement. "That won't stand with House Republicans. Our lawfully issued subpoena to Hunter Biden requires him to appear for a deposition on December 13." "We expect full cooperation with our subpoena for a deposition," Comer said, adding that investigators "also agree that Hunter Biden should have opportunity to testify in a public setting at a future date." Comer and other Republicans accuse the president of being involved in, and profiting from, influence-peddling schemes devised by his family members, intended to enrich one another by virtue of their ties to a powerful politician. The White House has roundly denied any wrongdoing by the president. Democrats have blasted the impeachment efforts as a political fishing expedition. "Your Committee has been working for almost a year—without success—to tie our client's business activities to his father," Lowell wrote in Tuesday's letter. He accused Comer of hypocrisy, for claiming that he wants to probe potential conflicts of interest surrounding the business activities of a president's family, while "turning a blind eye toward former President Trump and his family's businesses." "Unlike members of the Trump family, Hunter is a private person who has never worked in any family business nor ever served in the White House or in any public office," wrote Lowell. "Notwithstanding this stark difference, you have manipulated Hunter's legitimate business dealings and his times of terrible addiction into a politically motivated basis for hearings to accuse his father of some wrongdoing," Lowell wrote.

'Epic Humiliation': GOP Mocked for Rejecting Hunter Biden Testimony Offer - Democratic U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin on Tuesday issued a scathing statement mocking Republicans on the House Oversight Committee after the GOP chair of the panel rejected Hunter Biden's offer to testify publicly next month as part of an ongoing impeachment probe into his father, President Joe Biden. Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), who leads the oversight committee, accused Hunter Biden of "trying to play by his own rules instead of following the rules required of everyone else.""Our lawfully issued subpoena to Hunter Biden requires him to appear for a deposition on December 13," Comer said in a statement, adding that the president's son could get a chance to testify publicly at an unspecified "future date."Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee,said in response that "after wailing and moaning for ten months about Hunter Biden and alluding to some vast unproven family conspiracy, after sending Hunter Biden a subpoena to appear and testify, Chairman Comer and the oversight Republicans now reject his offer to appear before the full committee and the eyes of the world and to answer any questions that they pose?""What an epic humiliation for our colleagues and what a frank confession that they are simply not interested in the facts and have no confidence in their own case or the ability of their own members to pursue it," said Raskin. "After the miserable failure of their impeachment hearing in September, Chairman Comer has now apparently decided to avoid all committee hearings where the public can actually see for itself the logical, rhetorical, and factual contortions they have tied themselves up in." "The evidence has shown time and again President Biden has committed no wrongdoing, much less an impeachable offense," Raskin added. "Chairman Comer's insistence that Hunter Biden's interview should happen behind closed doors proves it once again. What the Republicans fear most is sunlight and the truth."

Hunter Biden’s public hearing request creates GOP divisions - Hunter Biden’s offer to testify publicly in an open hearing, but not in a closed-door deposition as House Republicans demanded in their subpoena, is exposing some cracks in the GOP’s strategy. House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) swiftly blasted the request — contradicting earlier comments saying they would “drop everything” if the president’s son wanted to testify “in front of the committee.” “Hunter Biden is trying to play by his own rules instead of following the rules required of everyone else. That won’t stand with House Republicans,” Comer said in a statement, adding that he also “agree[s] that Hunter Biden should have the opportunity to testify in a public setting at a future date.” But a few GOP voices wonder what the harm is in going straight to a public format. “I think they ought to take Hunter Biden up on his offer, shall we call it, and I think that there’s plenty of good questions that should be asked of him,” said Rep. Dan Meuser (R-Pa.). But he added that Comer is “going to do what’s best in order to truly get the truth out, and at the same time, not give someone an opportunity to grandstand.” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), without referencing Comer, also backed the idea of public testimony from Biden. “The American people have a right to see — and also, you know, they should evaluate this for themselves,” he said during an interview on Fox Business. “I mean, if you do this stuff in private … what happens is there’s inevitably bunches of leaks, and then it’s, ‘Well so-and-so said this, and so-and-so said that.’ It’s like, just do it in public, and let the public see, open the door so y’all can report on it.” And House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) briefly posted on social media that he “welcome[d]” Biden’s move to testify and that it was “long overdue for him to come clean in front of the American people.” But he deleted the post and shifted gears later, writing, “Hunter Biden does not get to dictate how Congress conducts our constitutional role in oversight of his father’s administration and investigating the President’s involvement in the Biden family influence peddling business. The congressional subpoena he received was not a suggestion.” A Smith aide said the first statement “lacked the additional nuance that there was no world in which his appearing publicly was going to supplant the subpoena.”

McCarthy cursed Trump during call after ouster as Speaker: Report - Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) cursed out former President Trump in the wake of his removal as Speaker in October, after the former president refused to come to his aid and denounce the removal efforts, The Washington Post reported Thursday. After Trump gave McCarthy a list of reasons why he didn’t support the former Speaker in a phone call, McCarthy let loose, the Post report said. “F‑‑‑ you,” he told Trump, according to two sources McCarthy told about the conversation, the Post reported. McCarthy previously stood by the former president, pledging his support after multiple criminal indictments and even visiting him in Florida to console the former president after a 2020 election loss.That visit resulted in a photo of the pair smiling, which garnered criticism of McCarthy for supporting Trump following the Jan. 6 Capitol riots. He later told former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), a harsh Trump critic, that he was drawn to Florida out of concern for Trump because he was told “Trump’s not eating,”Cheney said in her new book. Trump did not offer support for McCarthy when he was ousted from the Speakership earlier this fall. Trump ended up explicitly endorsing Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) for the job, though he could not gather enough votes to be named Speaker. McCarthy brushed off the slight at the time. “Only members vote,” McCarthy told reporters when asked for his opinion on Trump, days before his ouster. “I think the members can sit down and they can make the decision.” McCarthy has not endorsed a 2024 presidential candidate, but planned to endorse Trump near Iowa in the coming months, the Post reported.

Defiant Santos announces effort to oust colleague ahead of his own likely expulsion - Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) may be getting pushed out of Congress, but he’s making it clear that he won’t be leaving quietly. The embattled lawmaker announced Thursday morning that he will move to force a vote on expelling Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) from the House, just more than a month after the New York Democrat was charged with a misdemeanor for falsely pulling a fire alarm in a House office building ahead of a key vote. He pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor and agreed to pay a fine and write an apology to the Capitol Police. Santos — who faces 23 federal criminal counts — unveiled his plans during a farewell tour-esque press conference outside the Capitol on Thursday, one day before the House is poised to hold a vote on expelling him after the House Ethics Committee released a damning report on the congressman. During the early-morning media availability, Santos declined to unpack the allegations against him but lashed out at the Ethics Committee, labeling the panel’s final report “slanderous” and “unprecedented.” “They go ahead and release this report littered, littered in hyperbole, littered in opinion, that would have — no decent cop would bring this to a prosecutor or a [district attorney] and says here’s our report, go ahead and charge.” “This is what the Ethics Committee put out,” he continued. “God bless them and what they think they’re doing and what their work is. You know, I believe they do good work when it’s relevant, but this ain’t it.” The Ethics Committee found that Santos “violated federal criminal laws” and said he used campaign funds for personal use, including trips, Botox and for purchases from OnlyFans, a subscription platform that is largely used for adult content. The panel’s report sparked the current push to expel Santos, which could be successful after a wave of lawmakers who backed the embattled congressman in the past now say they are in favor of booting him. The New York Republican already survived two expulsion efforts earlier this year.

AOC Says $20 Million Offer to Unseat Tlaib Exemplifies 'Corruption of Our Politics' - Recent news out of Michigan, where actor and union organizer Hill Harper is running for U.S. Senate and U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib has recently angered pro-Israel lawmakers and donors for her staunch support for Palestinian rights, offered an illustration of the "corruption" of the American political system, said one progressive House member late Wednesday.As Politico reported, Harper recently rejected $20 million from an anti-Palestinian rights enterpreneur, Linden Nelson, who offered the money in exchange for Harper dropping out of his Senate race and running instead against Tlaib (D-Mich.) for her House seat.The offer came on October 16, the day Tlaib joined Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) in introducing a resolution to back an immediate de-escalation and cease-fire in Gaza. The blockaded enclave was then nine days into a relentless bombardment by Israel, which was launched October 7 in retaliation for Hamas' attack on southern Israel but had already killed nearly 3,000 Palestinian civilians, including 1,000 children, at the time.The death toll has now grown to more than 14,500 people, including 6,000 children.Tlaib, the only Palestinian American member of Congress, has been the subject of vitriol from lawmakers who believe the U.S. should continue supporting Israel regardless of what human rights groups and theUnited Nations have warned may amount to war crimes in Gaza. Earlier this month, 22 Democrats joined Republicans in voting to censure Tlaib for using the rallying cry for Palestinian rights, "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free."Pro-Israel Democrats are reportedly searching for a candidate to primary Tlaib, and last month, according to Politico, Nelson reached out to Harper offering $10 million in bundled donations directly to his campaign and $10 million in independent expenditures—if he would agree to be that House candidate instead of continuing his Senate run."The fact that in the U.S. just one wealthy person can make a call and offer millions to unseat an official they dislike tells you everything about the corruption of our politics," said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).

Sen. Rand Paul saves choking fellow Republican Sen. Joni Ernst - Sen. Joni Ernst choked on food during a closed-door Republican lunch on Thursday and was rescued by fellow Republican Sen. Rand Paul, who performed the Heimlich maneuver on her. Ernst, from Iowa, later said she was okay and confirmed a reporter's account of the choking episode on X, replying to the reporter's post describing what happened to her with a tongue-in-cheek caption "Can’t help but choke on the woke policies Dems are forcing down our throats. Thanks, Dr.@RandPaul!" Ernst posted atop one from Politico reporter Burgess Everett describing the choking incident.

Ex-US Official Who Said 4,000 Dead Children in Gaza 'Wasn't Enough' Arrested -New York City police on Wednesday evening arrested Stuart Seldowitz, a former U.S. State Department official, for harassing and stalking a food cart vendor on the Upper East Side after multiple videos of Seldowitz launching racist rants at the man surfaced on social media.Seldowitz has been charged with aggravated harassment, hate crime stalking, stalking causing fear, and stalking at a place of employment, Al Jazeerareported.The arrest came a day after a Columbia University graduate student first posted a video of Seldowitz telling the 24-year-old Egyptian-American man that he planned to use his government connections to have the halal food vendor's family arrested by Egypt's intelligence agency."The Mukhabarat in Egypt will get your parents," Seldowitz said, smirking. "Does your father like his fingernails? They'll take them out one by one."Seldowitz called the man a "terrorist" in another video taken in a separate incident, and demanded to know his immigration status. He expressed disbelief when the vendor said he was an American citizen and was born in the United States. As the vendor asked him repeatedly to leave, Seldowitz also said that if the U.S. funded and supported Israel's killing of "4,000 Palestinian kids... it wasn't enough." More than 14,500 people have been killed in Gaza by the U.S.-backed Israel Defense Forces since October 7, including more than 6,000 children.

X CEO Linda Yaccarino addresses Musk telling advertisers to ‘go f‑‑‑ yourself’ -- Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, addressed comments from owner Elon Musk on the advertising boycott the company is currently facing late Wednesday. While appearing at The New York Times Dealbook Summit on Wednesday, Musk was asked about the growing number of major advertisers that have left the platform over his controversial posts online and changes he has made to its content moderation policies. “Don’t advertise. If someone is going to try and blackmail me with advertising? Blackmail me with money? Go f‑‑‑ yourself,” Musk responded. “Go f‑‑‑ yourself, is that clear? Hey Bob [Iger], if you’re in the audience: That’s how I feel. Don’t advertise.” Yaccarino appeared to support Musk’s sentiment in a post on the platform hours later. “X is enabling an information independence that’s uncomfortable for some people. We’re a platform that allows people to make their own decisions,” she wrote. “And here’s my perspective when it comes to advertising: X is standing at a unique and amazing intersection of Free Speech and Main Street — and the X community is powerful and is here to welcome you. To our partners who believe in our meaningful work — Thank You.”

Pope Francis punishes leading critic Cardinal Raymond Burke (AP) — Pope Francis has decided to punish one of his highest-ranking critics, Cardinal Raymond Burke, by revoking his right to a subsidized Vatican apartment and salary in the second such radical action against a conservative American prelate this month, according to two people briefed on the measures. Francis told a meeting of the heads of Vatican offices last week that he was moving against Burke because he was a source of “disunity” in the church, said one of the participants at the Nov. 20 meeting. The participant spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to reveal the contents of the encounter. Francis said he was removing Burke’s privileges of having a subsidized Vatican apartment and salary as a retired cardinal because he was using the privileges against the church, said another person who was subsequently briefed on the pope’s measures. That person also spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to reveal the details.

Inside The UN Plan To Control Speech Online -A powerful United Nations agency has unveiled a plan to regulate social media and online communication while cracking down on what it describes as “false information” and “conspiracy theories,” sparking alarm among free-speech advocates and top U.S. lawmakers.In its 59-page report released this month, the U.N. Educational, Cultural, and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) outlined a series of “concrete measures which must be implemented by all stakeholders: governments, regulatory authorities, civil society, and the platforms themselves.”This approach includes the imposition of global policies, through institutions such as governments and businesses, designed to stop the spread of various forms of speech while promoting objectives such as “cultural diversity” and “gender equality.”In particular, the U.N. agency aims to create an “Internet of Trust” by targeting what it calls “misinformation,” “disinformation,” “hate speech,” and “conspiracy theories.”Examples of expression flagged to be stopped or restricted include concerns about elections, public health measures, and advocacy that could constitute “incitement to discrimination.” Critics are warning that allegations of “disinformation” and “conspiracy theories” have increasingly been used by powerful forces in government and Big Tech to silence true information and even core political speech.Just this month, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee released a report blasting the “pseudoscience of disinformation.”Among other concerns, the committee found this “pseudoscience” has been “weaponized” by what lawmakers refer to as the “Censorship Industrial Complex.”The goal: silence constitutionally-protected political speech, mostly by conservatives."The pseudoscience of disinformation is now—and has always been—nothing more than a political ruse most frequently targeted at communities and individuals holding views contrary to the prevailing narratives,” states the congressional report, "The Weaponization of ‘Disinformation’ Pseudo-Experts and Bureaucrats."Indeed, many of the policies called for by UNESCO have already been implemented by U.S.-based digital platforms, often at the behest of the Biden administration, the latest congressional report makes clear.

Google Drive Files Are Disappearing and Nobody Knows Why - Some Google Drive users are reporting all their files uploaded since May have disappeared from the cloud storage service without warning.As Android Police reports, the problems started last week when a South Korean user by the name of Yoenjoong posted on the Google Support forum, explaining, "Hi, my Google Drive files suddenly disappeared. The Drive literally went back to condition in May 2023. data from May until today disappeared, and the folder structure went back to status in May."The support request goes on to explain that Google Drive isn't showing any activity changes since May, and that no files were deleted manually, there's no files in trash, and no file sharing was setup. The files have simply vanished.In response, a recommended answer from a volunteer Google Support member includes a quote from Google Support, which states, "Please accept my sincere apologies if I'm unable to join the Google Meet session. I am continuously tracking this case and to be transparent with you we totally agree now that you are not the only customer affected by this behavior." The number of reports of similar incidents is growing (with at least two more reported today) and Google Drive's product engineers are attempting to find the root cause of the problem. Anyone who is experiencing this file vanishing act is being urged not to make any changes to their root/data folder until Google understands the cause and can hopefully fix the problem and restore access to the files for affected accounts.

Berkshire Hathaway says Haslams offered bribes to inflate Pilot's earnings (AP) — Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway says the billionaire Haslam family tried to bribe at least 15 executives at the Pilot truck stop chain with millions of dollars to get them to inflate the company’s profits this year because that would force Berkshire to pay more for the Haslams’ remaining 20% stake in the company. The Berkshire claim in a counter lawsuit filed this week comes after the Haslam family — which includes Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam and former Tennessee governor Bill Haslam — accused Berkshire of trying to understate Pilot’s earnings this year by changing its accounting practices. A hearing on Berkshire’s counter lawsuit is planned for Thursday. The Haslams’ lawyers and a representative for the family didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Berkshire said in a court filing that it only became aware this month of the Haslams’ attempts to bribe executives who used to work for the family at the company Jim Haslam — Jimmy and Bill Haslam’s father — founded before Berkshire became the majority owner at the start of this year. A senior executive who had been promised a bonus revealed that to the current Pilot CEO, who Berkshire appointed after it took over, according to the filing. Berkshire said Jimmy Haslam offered to personally pay bonuses to the executives that would far exceed their annual salaries based on the price the family received for its remaining stake. Berkshire redacted the number of employees it believes agreed to accept bonuses, but it said Haslam made the offer to about 15 employees at a country club dinner in Knoxville, Tennessee, in March and repeated that offer to at least four other high-level executives. Pilot’s former CEO also extended the offer of under-the-table payments to at least 10 other executives in April, according to Berkshire’s filing. It’s not clear exactly how much money is at stake because some of the figures in the lawsuits have also been redacted, but the Haslams said their 20% stake in Pilot was believed to be worth $3.2 billion before the accounting change Berkshire made. The price Berkshire will eventually pay when the Haslams decide to sell their remaining stake is determined by a formula based on Pilot’s reported earnings that Buffett and the family agreed to in 2017.

Fed Data on Cash Assets at the Biggest Banks Depicts an Out-of-Control Fed and Banking System by Pam and Russ Martens: FRED is a giant online database at the St. Louis Fed that allows anyone to graph the financial and economic data stored in its repositories. We use the data regularly to bring our readers a crystal-clear snapshot of the increasingly dangerous underpinnings of the U.S. financial system. Let’s start with the first chart above. This chart depicts the cash assets held by the 25 largest U.S. commercial banks. The Fed defines the term “cash assets” as “vault cash, cash items in process of collection, balances due from depository institutions, and balances due from Federal Reserve Banks.” Notice that from April 1, 1985 to just before the financial crash of 2008, cash levels at the biggest banks were as steady as a soft breeze on a spring day. But from that point on through today, there have been freakish spikes and plunges in cash levels. Soft-breeze banking has turned into chaotic hurricane banking, with the Fed pumping in trillions of dollars in emergency cash and the mega banks careening from one crisis to the next.How did this happen? A brief walk through U.S. banking history is in order.Following the Wall Street crash in 1929, more than 9,000 banks in the United States failed over the next four years. In just the one year of 1933, more than 4,000 banks closed their doors permanently as a result of insolvency..To restore the public’s confidence and encourage Americans to place their savings in bank accounts, Roosevelt signed into law on June 16 the Banking Act of 1933, more popularly known as the Glass-Steagall Act. The Glass-Steagall Act protected the U.S. banking system for 66 years until its repeal during the Bill Clinton presidency in 1999. The impetus for its repeal was the announcement in 1998 that Sandy Weill wanted to merge his trading firms, Salomon Brothers and Smith Barney (under the Travelers Group umbrella), with Citicorp, parent of the federally-insured Citibank commercial bank. (The editorial board of the New York Times was a big cheerleader for letting Weill get his way and for repealing the Glass-Steagall Act.) Just nine years after the repeal of Glass-Steagall, Wall Street blew itself up again and the government had to step in with a massive bailout for the deposit-taking banks that had merged with Wall Street’s investment banks and brokerage firms. In addition to the government bailout, the Federal Reserve, which was supposed to be supervising these mega bank holding companies, morphed into the secret sugar daddy of the mega banks. Without one vote by the legislative branch of government, the Fed secretly funneled $29 trillion in cumulative loans to bail out the casino banks, including their trading operations in London.The Federal Reserve has been demonstrating this Stockholm Syndrome with the abusive banks it “regulates” ever since. (See our archive of articles on the Fed’s ongoing bank bailouts that began on September 17, 2019, prior to the pandemic, here.) Both Weill and Reed did, indeed, become obscenely rich. (Weill walked away as a billionaire). Weill’s progeny, Citigroup, meanwhile, received the largest taxpayer bailout in U.S. history in 2008, taking in $45 billion in equity from the U.S. Treasury; The unprecedented nature of the Fed’s bailouts of these casino banks holding trillions of dollars of insured deposits did not become fully known until 2011 when a media court battle with the Fed won the release of part of the information and a government audit of the Fed released more details. Nor was the official report of the corruption on Wall Street and regulatory failures that had led to the crisis released by the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission until 2011.By that time it was too late. Congress had enacted the toothless Dodd-Frank financial “reform” legislation on July 21, 2010. Instead of restoring the desperately-needed Glass-Steagall Act, the bill tinkered around the edges of reform, with Wall Street’s legions of lobbyists confident that Wall Street could steamroll right through any speed bumps – which it did in short order. So what we have today is a banking system dominated by a handful of mega banks that are “supervised” by the Fed. But instead of actually supervising the banks and preventing them from creating panic and bank runs, the Fed is too timid to actually take on the banks’ legions of lawyers and prefers to simply create never ending bailout programs when the banks inevitably get themselves into trouble. To underscore that reality, below is a chart showing what brought on the repo crisis that began on September 17, 2019 – months before there was even one announced case of COVID-19 anywhere in the world. (The COVID-19 pandemic, which triggered another huge round of the Fed’s emergency bailout programs, was declared by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020.)On April 8, 2015, cash assets stood at $1.398 trillion at the 25 largest U.S. banks. By September 18, 2019, cash assets had plunged to $759 billion – a decline of 45.7 percent while Fed bank examiners were apparently snoozing. This next chart shows how the Fed responded to this cash crisis in the fall of 2019, making trillions of dollars in revolving repo loans to U.S. and foreign banks.When the names of the banks that received these trillions of dollars in cheap loans from the Fed were finally revealed two years later, there was a complete mainstream media news blackout on this critically important information about the U.S. banking system’s incompetent supervision by the Fed. (Read our report: There’s a News Blackout on the Fed’s Naming of the Banks that Got Its Emergency Repo Loans; Some Journalists Appear to Be Under Gag Orders.)Any system that is this inherently corrupt will eventually collapse under the weight of its own corruption. The 2008 financial collapse was the worst economic crisis in the U.S. since the Great Depression of the 1930s. It took six years for jobs to recover; more than 10 million Americans fell into poverty; and more than 6 million families lost their homes to foreclosure.This past spring the U.S. got another loud warning siren that the U.S. banking system is not being adequately supervised. The second, third and fourth largest banking failures in U.S. history occurred in the span of seven weeks.How is it possible that Congress and the Senate Banking Committee can’t see that the Federal Reserve has more than ably demonstrated that it is an incompetent and captured regulator of mega banks and must be completely severed from any role in their supervision.

“Unrealized Losses” on Securities Held by Banks Jump by 22% to $684 Billion in Q3, Oh Lordy - They amount to 32% of Tier 1 capital and don’t matter until they suddenly do. by Wolf Richter -“Unrealized losses” on securities – mostly Treasury securities and government-guaranteed MBS – at FDIC-insured commercial banks at the end of Q3 jumped by $126 billion (or by 22%) from the prior quarter, to $684 billion, according to the FDIC’s quarterly bank data release on Wednesday.These unrealized losses were spread over the two accounting methods:Unrealized losses on held-to-maturity (HTM) securities jumped by $81 billion from the prior quarter, to $391 billion. Unrealized losses on available-for-sale (AFS) securities jumped by $45 billion from the prior quarter to $293 billion.These paper losses occur predictably when interest rates rise. As yields rose in Q3, the market prices of those bonds fell, and the unrealized losses stacked up. For example, the 10-year Treasury yield jumped from 3.81% at the beginning of Q3 to 4.59% at the end of Q3. In periods when yields fell and bond prices rose, banks had “unrealized gains” (green).“Unrealized losses” on securities held by banks don’t matter because at maturity in 7 or 10 or 25 years, banks will be paid face value, and the losses are only temporary, so to speak. They don’t matter until they suddenly do.Banks, via a quirk in bank regulations, don’t have to mark these securities to market value, but can carry them at purchase price. The difference between market value and purchase price is the “unrealized gain or loss” that the bank must disclose in its quarterly financial filings, so that we the depositors can see them and get spooked by them and yank our money out, us billionaires and centimillionaires first, on the two fundamental principles of investing: 1, he who panics first, panics best; and 2, after us the deluge.And thanks to today’s electronic fund transfers, the bank that we yank our money out collapses at lightning speed, see Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and First Republic.The accumulated unrealized losses of $684 billion were not a record, but were still $6 billion lower than the record in Q3 2022, because the FDIC took over the three regional banks earlier this year, and sold their assets, including their securities, at something close to market value, and thereby ate those paper losses.For example, SVB, in its 10-K filing with the SEC for 2022, in a footnote on page 125, disclosed unrealized losses of $15.2 billion on HTM securities and $2.5 billion on AFS securities, for a total of $17.7 billion. These losses vanished from the banking system when the FDIC took over SVB.The three collapsed banks’ unrealized losses were taken out of the banking system in Q1 and Q2, which is why Q3 2023 wasn’t a huge all-time record. Those losses v. regulatory capital. The $391 billion in HTM “unrealized losses” amount to:

• 17.5% of total bank equity capital ($2.24 trillion)
• 18.0% of Tier 1 capital ($2.14 trillion)

Loans and securities with a remaining maturity of:

• Over 15 years = 14.4% of total assets, lowest since Q1 2021.
• 5-15 years = 14.5% of total assets, lowest since Q4 2020.
• 3-5 years = 8.6% of total assets, roughly stable.

The total pile of securities held by all commercial banks fell to $5.3 trillion at the end of Q3, down by nearly $1 trillion from the peak in Q1 2022, when the Fed’s rate hikes began. They include securities valued at market price and securities valued at purchase price.The $684 billion in unrealized losses above amount to about 13% of the total securities held by banks.

The U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crisis Warning Bell Didn’t Ring Before the Repo Crisis of 2019 or This Year’s Bank Runs - By Pam and Russ Martens - The Office of Financial Research (OFR) is a unit of the U.S. Treasury Department. OFR was created as part of the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation of 2010 to keep the Financial Stability Oversight Council (F-SOC) informed about emerging threats that have the potential to spread contagion throughout the U.S. financial system — as occurred in 2008 in the worst financial crash since the Great Depression.Janet Yellen, the U.S. Treasury Secretary, chairs F-SOC. Its members include the heads of every federal banking and Wall Street regulator, who meet regularly to assess any threats on the horizon that could lead to financial instability in the U.S.One of the data charts that OFR makes available both to F-SOC and the public to assess accelerating financial problems is its Financial Stress Index. Looking at OFR’s Financial Stress Index above, however, one would never know that there have been two major financial crises since the 2008 crisis – not counting the financial crisis that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Financial Stress Index failed to send a warning prior to the Fed making trillions of dollars in emergency repo loans beginning on September 17, 2019 and it also failed to send a warning prior to the second, third and fourth largest bank failures in U.S. history that occurred in a seven week span this past spring. Since this Financial Stress Index clearly isn’t working as an early warning mechanism, why is it still being touted on the website of the OFR? Our theory is that it is one of numerous mechanisms used to delude the American people into thinking that federal banking regulators know what’s going on inside the U.S. banking system when recent history has shown, time and again, that they clearly do not know what is going on. Let’s start with the repo loan crisis in the fall of 2019, which resulted in the Fed making enormous emergency loans to Wall Street trading houses…

Fed's Barr: New liquidity requirements might be needed to stem bank runs -The Federal Reserve's top regulator said current liquidity management practices might not be enough to contend with the speed of modern bank runs. In a speech delivered Friday morning at a forum hosted by the European Central Bank in Frankfurt, Germany, Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr said the failure of Silicon Valley Bank "changed everyone's perception of the possible speed of bank runs" and exposed weaknesses in emergency funding systems that are still being evaluated today. "What occurred in two or three weeks or, in some cases, many months in previous episodes may, in the modern era, now occur in hours," Barr said. "These issues are top of mind as we review and consider future adjustments to the way in which we should supervise and regulate liquidity risk." As a result, Barr said, the Fed is weighing whether adjustments are needed for the regulatory frameworks designed to help banks insure themselves against losses. These include the liquidity coverage and net stable funding ratios, which are designed to ensure banks can fund themselves through 30 days of deposit outflows. "These requirements may not, on their own, be sufficient to stem a rapid run," Barr said. "The speed of bank runs and the impediments to rapidly raising liquidity in private markets that may be needed in hours rather than days suggest it may be necessary to re-examine our requirements, including with respect to self-insurance standards and to discount window preparedness." Barr said high-quality liquid asset buffers put in place following the subprime mortgage crisis — which require banks to hold certain levels of assets that can easily be converted into reserves — remain important tools for keeping individual banks solvent and protecting broader financial stability. But he noted the failures earlier this year demonstrated how operational shortcomings can keep banks from actually monetizing those assets quickly. Barr extolled the benefits of the Fed's last-resort lending facility, known as the discount window. He reiterated calls that he and other Fed officials have raised in recent months for banks to position assets at window and test their abilities to use the facility regularly. The Fed also emphasized the importance of the discount window in new guidance it issued on liquidity management in July.He acknowledged that many banks still shy away from the facility because of the stigma that goes along with it, but added that the Fed is working to combat this notion on all fronts.

Senators Sound Alarm on Push to 'Undermine the Goals of Dodd-Frank' - A trio of Democratic U.S. senators on Monday wrote to Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Rostin Behnam expressing their "serious reservations" with the agency's proposed rule on seeded funds and money market funds, a policy the lawmakers warned would "undermine the goals of Dodd-Frank" by rolling back the already weakened financial oversight law. Passed in the wake of the 2008 global financial meltdown, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act—which was partially rolled back during the Trump administration—overhauled federal financial regulation. In a letter to Behnam, Sens. John Fetterman(Pa.), Sherrod Brown (Ohio), and Tina Smith (Minn.) assert that the CFTC's proposed rule is a "step in the wrong direction" that would increase market instability by decreasing collateral requirements for certain transactions.The Global Markets Advisory Committee, largely made up of finance industry insiders, recommended the proposed rule in 2020 during the Trump administration.As the letter explains: The proposed rule would reduce or eliminate initial margin requirements for up to three years for a subset of swap market participants. "Initial margin" is the collateral that participants must set aside when entering swap agreements. Initial margin requirements, along with "variation margin" and other capital requirements, protect counterparties to a swap in the event of a default. Dodd-Frank set up comprehensive rules for swap agreements after they significantly contributed to the 2008 financial crisis and the federal government was forced to bail out Wall Street."The 2008 financial crisis showed the dangers that swaps can pose to economic stability, and Dodd-Frank directed regulators, including the CFTC, to require initial margin for uncleared swaps specifically to reduce those risks," the senators wrote. "It is vital for the CFTC to continue upholding its Dodd-Frank mandate and to maintain high standards and safeguards for this important market.""We urge the commission to continue to focus on its vital work preserving market integrity and protecting the public, uphold the letter and spirit of the Dodd-Frank Act, and withdraw the proposed rule," the lawmakers added.The collapse earlier this year of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank—both of which benefited from regulatory relief thanks to the 2018 rollback—brought renewed scrutiny on Dodd-Frank's Republican-engineered shortcomings. Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), who wrote the 2018 banking deregulation law, insisted in March that "there is no need for regulatory reform" in the wake of the banks' failures.Robert Weissman, president of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, responded to Crapo's assertion by writing that "you have to be hard-core committed to mindless free-market fundamentalism—or truly in thrall to your donors—to insist there's no need for new regulations after Silicon Valley Bank."Last month, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) also wrote a letter to Behman sharing her concerns about the proposed rule. Noting the policy's 2020 introduction, Warren said in her October 10 letter that "it is unclear why the commission is choosing to propose these rules now, three years later, without conducting its own additional analyses of whether the changes are necessary or will strengthen the stability of the domestic financial system.""I strongly urge the commission not to loosen the existing rules and not to roll back important Dodd-Frank Act reforms," Warren added.

FDIC adds 2 EU regulators to resolution committee — The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. announced Tuesday that two European financial regulatory veterans will join the agency's previously announced Systemic Resolution Advisory Committee meeting the morning of December 5, 2023, to discuss the agency's Dodd-Frank resolution authority."The Advisory Committee will provide advice and recommendations on a broad range of policy issues regarding the resolution of systemically important financial companies," noted an FDIC release.Sir Jon Cunliffe, the first new member, previously served as the deputy governor for financial stability at the Bank of England. He also held positions as the U.K. permanent representative to the European Union and the international economic advisor to the prime minister. The second addition to the committee is Elke Koenig, the former chair of the Single Resolution Board — the designated resolution authority for a subset of banks in the euro area — and former president of the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority.The FDIC noted the upcoming meeting is open for public observation via webcast.This committee, now composed of 19 members, advises the FDIC on a broad range of issues surrounding the resolution of systemically important financial companies. The FDIC — under Chairman Martin Gruenberg — renewed the committee's charter in April while leaving the committee's structure and responsibilities unchanged from those originally established in 2011. "The Committee will continue to provide advice and recommendations on the effects on financial stability and economic conditions of a covered company's failure and how they arise, the effects on markets and stakeholders of the activities of a covered company [and] market understanding of the structures and tools available to the FDIC to facilitate an orderly resolution of a covered company," the FDIC noted.

Reed asks bank regulators to scrutinize 'synthetic risk transfer' transactions Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., asked banking regulators to evaluate risks that come with "synthetic risk transfer" transactions, which he says some banks are using to bypass proposals to raise bank capital requirements. In his letter to the Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Reed said that these these "complex arrangements are a potentially lucrative way for banks to arbitrage the capital rules by selling debt instruments or derivatives to unregulated nonbanks who assume the risk that a consumer or corporate borrower will default on a loan." In the majority of risk transfers, investors take on the risk of credit-linked notes or credit derivatives issued by banks in exchange for collecting interest on them. This is meant to lower the potential loss exposure for the banks, and reduce the amount of capital they're required to hold against their loans. The practice, which Reed said has been growing, is being scrutinized by lawmakers because of its resemblance to credit-default swaps, which exacerbated a simmering financial panic in 2008 after investment bank Lehman Brothers failed. Reed said that the practice moves risk outside of the banking system into private markets, where it may not be managed or measured. "Private market investors who assume credit risk from banks include private equity funds, hedge funds, private credit funds, and other big nonbank financial institutions," Reed said. "They are not subject to consolidated regulation and supervision, do not need to meet risk management requirements, and do not need to make public disclosures. While synthetic risk transfers are purportedly designed to diversify and disperse credit risk among many players in the financial markets," Reed's letter continued, "these transactions may in fact have the opposite effect by concentrating risk among a small number of very large shadow banks." The transfers could also make it easier for banks to take on even more risk, Reed argued.

Fed's Waller: Basel endgame proposal need operational capital tweaks - Federal Reserve Gov. Christopher Waller said he would be willing to support bank capital reforms provided they include a few key changes from the proposal issued this summer. Waller was one of two dissenting votes on the Fed's board of governors against the so-called Basel III endgame proposal in July. During a webcast conversation with Michael R. Strain, director of economic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, Waller said his primary concerns are with the operational risk components of the package. "If there's some willingness to move on operational risk and some other things, there is a possibility that this would be put forth in a revamped way that would be acceptable," he said.Waller noted that additional regulatory requirements for operational risk accounted for more than half of the total capital increase included in the proposal. The plan would increase capital requirements for banks with $100 billion of assets by an average of roughly 16%, with the largest banks accounting for the greatest share of the uptick.The proposed framework aims to standardize the measurement of operational risk, replacing the internal models long relied upon by banks with uniform standards. But Waller said this category of risk focuses on single-instance threats such as lawsuits, cybercrimes and fraud, which are not usually considered systemic threats. "Those are things that don't typically occur at the same time as a financial meltdown due to a macroeconomic shock," he said. "So, they're not correlated with market risk, trading risk, all the other things that might bring a bank down."Given this distinction, Waller said he would be fine with banks relying on their existing capital to address operational issues as they arise.

Grift Endgame: Deutsche CIO Now Says Oil Companies Have A Place In ESG Funds At the end of the day, it always winds up reverting to common sense and, in the investing world, alpha. That's what has Markus Müller, chief investment officer ESG at Deutsche Bank's Private Bank, admitting this week that if you want to make money - no matter what you label your fund - you're likely going to need some exposure to energy and big oil. He also noted the obvious: that big oil companies have, in fact, been making strides to reduce emissions, despite being labeled as serial polluters with 'more money than God' by the Biden administration and their cronies. Reuters dropped a bomb last week when they reported that Müller had stated on Tuesday that sustainability funds should include traditional energy stocks, arguing that not doing so deprives investors of a prime opportunity to invest in the transition to renewable energy."When we think about clean energy, these are business models which are quite new and sensitive to interest rates," he said.Since the surge in fossil fuel prices following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, fossil fuel stocks have seen significant growth, resulting in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) funds underperforming in comparison. Müller emphasized that investors focused on sustainability require more detailed disclosures from companies about their shift to lower-carbon operations and clearer regulations for labeling funds concentrating on the transition.He said that ESG strategies vary, with many funds currently investing in fossil fuels, but impending stricter regulations may lead to more exclusions. For instance, France plans to prohibit 'ISR' labeled funds from investing in new fossil fuel projects from 2025. Currently, about 45% of funds, amounting to 7 billion euros, have traditional energy investments.Deutsche Bank's Chief Investment Office ESG survey indicates sustained investor interest in sustainability, with energy transition being the top investment choice, surpassing artificial intelligence. However, confidence in ESG factors for risk management is declining, with only 37% agreeing it's effective, down from previous years. The survey, with 1,759 mostly European respondents, revealed that just 15% have a solid understanding of ESG, and a mere 3% consider themselves experts. It's not surprising, as we have been calling out ESG as a grift since the virtue signaling "trend" was born from the soil of near-unlimited liquidity during the Covid years. Recall, back in August we noted that companies with good ESG scores polluted just as much as those with low ones.

Fidelity customers get few answers on cyber attack - Following reports of a cyberattack at Fidelity National Financial, containment measures taken at the title insurance and settlement services provider appear to have left some customers locked out of their accounts. In a Nov. 21 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Jacksonville, Florida-based company said it had identified a cybersecurity incident within its system, immediately prompting an investigation and notification of law enforcement officials. "The services we provide related to title insurance, escrow and other title-related services, mortgage transaction services, and technology to the real estate and mortgage industries, have been affected by these measures," it said in an SEC 8-K filing."Based on our investigation to date, FNF has determined that an unauthorized third party accessed certain FNF systems and acquired certain credentials," the report said. In order to limit damage from the incursion, the company said it blocked electronic access to some of the services it normally provides. Ransomware group Alphv/Blackcat, which engineered an attack on Academy Mortgage earlier this year, claimed responsibility. However, Fidelity National itself has not stated if any personal identifiable data was compromised and has issued no additional statement since its SEC filing.Some customers of Fidelity National and its subsidiaries said they remain unable to obtain account information online or by phone, according to Techcrunch. Concerns have also been raised about the short-term ability to close escrow among FNF clients. The troubles at FNF are the latest in a series of cyber security incidents mortgage-related businesses have encountered this year. In another high-profile attack in late October, a data breach at national lender and servicer Mr. Cooper left many clients unable to access their accounts for over a week. That breach has so far resulted in at least six class action lawsuits.Any sizable corporate victim in a cyberattack could spend weeks to determine the full extent of damage and type of information compromised, according to cybersecurity firm Digital Silence. Shutting down account access comes as an unwanted but necessary step to finding a solution, especially with attacks coming through web applications, a common fraud strategy.

Fraudsters have a new use for generative AI: Phishing - If you feel as though you have received more phishy text messages and emails in recent months, you're probably not imagining it. Cybersecurity experts have been warning for months about the ability of fraudsters and cybercriminals to use large language models to write malicious code and craft phishing emails and texts more efficiently, which could make it easier for novice attackers to operate more effectively and seasoned fraudsters to reach more potential victims. Cybersecurity firm Slashnext said in a recent report that it has seen more than a 12-fold increase in malicious emails since the launch of ChatGPT at the end of 2022. As the company has documented previously, cybercriminals have circulated malicious chatbots that can help craft these emails, the vast majority (68%) of which are attempts at compromising the potential victim's business email.It is unclear how many of these emails are handcrafted, written by legitimate models such as ChatGPT or Anthropic's Claude, or created by malicious language models. While many products have safeguards in place to ensure users do not use them for illegal, harmful or fraudulent activities, there have also been numerous attempts to overcome these protections.Cybercriminals have used malicious AI models to write malware and phishing emails and automate other fraudulent activities including payments scams. This type of automation is the true cybersecurity threat that language models in particular pose, according to Bruce Schneier, chief of security architecture at data infrastructure company Inrupt."Today's human-run scams aren't limited by the number of people who respond to the initial email contact," Schneier said in a blog post. "They're limited by the labor-intensive process of persuading those people to send the scammer money. LLMs are about to change that."According to Schneier, it's not all that important whether emails written by a malicious language model are more or less convincing than those written manually by a fraudster. The important part is that, in the right situation, some people can be tricked by what others might see as obvious fraud. If fraudsters can reduce the amount of work it takes to reach those people, they will be able to steal more money.Malicious language models provide fraudsters with the solution they need to write more and better phishing texts and emails, and these models have proliferated. These language models can also generate fraudulent content from fake marketplace items to fake job listings and fake recruiter profiles, all of which can serve as an in for fraudsters. "A single scammer, from their laptop anywhere in the world, can now run hundreds or thousands of scams in parallel, night and day, with marks all over the world, in every language under the sun," Schneier said. This is due to efforts at improving the efficiency of language models to the point that models like Facebook's LLaMa can run fast and cheaply on powerful laptops, he said.

ABA to launch information-sharing exchange to help banks fight fraud The American Bankers Association is creating an information-sharing exchange that member banks will be able to use to get the names and account information of suspected scammers almost in real time. The exchange, which has yet to be named, is designed to combat a range of financial crimes from fraud to money-laundering to the financing of terrorism, ABA President and CEO Rob Nichols said Tuesday at the trade group's financial crimes enforcement conference. "We believe this effort can make a real difference in fighting financial crime," Nichols said. Combating fraud is an expensive and frustrating challenge for banks of all sizes. Pre-pandemic fraud risks, including those related to in-store credit card purchases, have made a comeback. Another top-of-mind risk for banks is check fraud. During a six-month period earlier this year, Regions Financial in Birmingham, Alabama, reported losing $135 million to bogus checks. JPMorgan Chase is using artificial intelligence to identify fraud in checks and elsewhere. In fraud cases known as business-email compromise, the platform that the ABA is building would help banks alert other financial institutions with key information about the account of the alleged fraudster, said Paul Benda, executive vice president of risk, cybersecurity and fraud at the ABA. That information would allow banks to freeze accounts with funds that may have been obtained fraudulently, and to prevent additional fraudulent transactions, he said. "The idea here is to allow banks to share this information amongst other banks in a near-real time manner so they can integrate this data into their payment flows, into their risk-scoring systems, to stop that money from going out," Benda said.

CFPB's Chopra: AI could turn 'tremors into earthquakes' - — Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra outlined his concerns about artificial intelligence and financial stability in testimony before the Senate Banking Committee, saying the technology could exacerbate already existing problems into destabilizing events. Chopra made his comments on the second day of an unusually tame pair of hearings in front of the Senate Banking Committee and House Financial Services Committee. While oversight of the bureau has bordered on hostile to Chopra in the past, lawmakers' ire toward financial regulation has recently centered more on the proposed Basel III endgame capital rules, and while Republican senators offered their share of criticism for Chopra and the CFPB, the tone was much milder than it has been in previous hearings. During the hearing, Chopra offered his concerns that AI could disrupt financial stability. He said that certain opaque AIs could worsen disruptions in the market, turning "tremors into earthquakes." "We actually have seen some of this in the past with high-frequency trading and securities, but I could see it being dramatically magnified — particularly if many firms are depending on the same foundational model, which … I think [has] potential to occur," Chopra said. Chopra also pointed to AIs that deliberately mimic human communication as a potential area that could create a financial panic at a particular institution, or at a financial market utility and exchange. "There are many ways this could happen," Chopra said. "Even a credit reporting agency [could be affected]. I think we have to look very hard about the financial stability effects of this because this may not be an accident. This may actually be a purposeful way to disrupt the U.S. financial system, and we should look at it with that mindset."

FDIC OIG report identifies areas for improvement in First Republic Bank's oversight — First Republic Bank's May failure followed the dramatic failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank in the preceding weeks, and a new report from the the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s inspector general suggests the FDIC may have missed some opportunities to more effectively address risks leading up to the firm's collapse. A material-loss review commissioned by the FDIC’s Office of Inspector General shed light on the circumstances leading to the failure of First Republic Bank. The comprehensive examination, conducted by Cotton & Company Assurance and Advisory, said the FDIC could have implemented more timely supervisory actions, including downgrading the firm's component ratings and reassessing guidance concerning the substantial quantity of uninsured deposits that ultimately fled from the bank. The report emphasizes the need for the agency to take a hard look at some of the triggers the agency uses to define bank health, saying the agency’s current capital measures classified the bank as well-capitalized up until its failure. "The bank’s failure may warrant changes to the guidelines establishing standards for safety and soundness, including the adoption of noncapital triggers requiring regulatory actions," the report notes. The Inspector General of the FDIC is required to conduct material loss reviews following the failure of a financial institution to determine the causes that led to the institution's downfall and resulted in a material loss to the deposit insurance fund. The material-loss review attributed the demise of San Francisco-based First Republic to contagion effects stemming from the failure of other major financial institutions like Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank months prior. The review noted a run on deposits severely impacted the bank's liquidity, revealing vulnerabilities in its business strategy. The review also pointed to the bank's reliance on attracting high-net-worth customers with competitive loan terms and funding growth through low-cost deposits, which heightened the concentration of uninsured deposits and increased the bank’s sensitivity to interest rate risk. “This strategy ultimately led to a significant asset/liability mismatch for the bank, and fair value declines on its portfolio of low-yielding, long-duration loans, which limited its ability to obtain sufficient liquidity and prevented its recovery,” the review noted.

FDIC order against First Fed Bank latest example of third-party scrutiny -First Fed Bank must implement a sweeping set of actions to enhance its compliance management related to banking as a service practices, following a consent order from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The FDIC hit the Port Angeles, Washington-based bank, a subsidiary of First Northwest Bancorp, with the order last week, alleging unsafe or unsound banking practices, primarily regarding a specific fintech relationship, the bank announced on Friday in a public filing. The action against First Fed marks the latest example of increasing scrutiny from federal regulators of banking as a service [BaaS]. "First Fed's leadership is committed to strengthening compliance controls and has invested significant resources into resolving the matter, including implementing substantial internal control improvements to prevent any similar future occurrences," the bank wrote in a prepared statement. "First Fed remains in full cooperation with the FDIC surrounding this matter. Our team is dedicated to serving the financial needs of our customers with integrity and excellence." Details on the bank's assumed malpractice are sparse, but, per the order, the violation stemmed from products offered through fintech partner Quin Ventures, which First Fed established through a joint venture in 2021 to "develop a digital financial wellness platform." The bank wrote in a prepared statement that it self-reported "an issue" to the FDIC last year, and ended the partnership in 2022 and provided "full remediation for all affected customers." The FDIC said the bank engaged in deceptive and unfair acts and practices by implying that certain credit products with non-optional debt cancellation features were unemployment insurance, and approving consumers who did not qualify for the debt cancellation feature, while misrepresenting the fees for those products. First Fed, which has $2.1 billion of assets, also said that "the issue" was unrelated to its traditional banking customers and business, and announced it doesn't anticipate "material effect on earnings and capital" due to the consent order. The FDIC declined to comment because it doesn't comment on enforcement actions. First Fed's CEO Matt Deines declined to comment further than the company's public statement.

U.S. steps after SVB failure likely spurred bond-fund outflows: study - U.S. regulators' swift action in March to ring-fence the banking sector after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank might have had an unintended consequence of driving cash out of bond funds by enhancing the appeal of deposits. That's the assessment of two Federal Reserve Bank of New York researchers writing in a Liberty Street Economics blog post Tuesday. Following the March 12 announcement of the SVB rescue plan, bond funds had net daily outflows spread across the entire sector for almost three weeks, Nicola Cetorelli and Sarah Zebar wrote, drawing on Morningstar data to track the activity. While the outflow was probably not sufficient to raise potential financial stability concerns, it does warrant further investigation as even small-scale asset sales could dislocate prices in illiquid markets, they said. U.S. authorities in March took extraordinary measures to shore up confidence in the financial system, including creating a backstop to protect all depositors as well as the Federal Reserve launching a new Bank Term Funding Program. The BTFP, as it is known, offered one-year loans for a range of high-quality assets under easier terms than typically provided and was seen as a way to prevent fire sales of such securities by banks. "Bank deposits suddenly became comparatively safer on Monday, March 13, after the facility started to function," Cetorelli and Zebar said, referring to the BTFP. "Consequently, the value of the liquidity services provided by holdings in bond funds might have diminished relative to those provided by bank deposits." Investors in bond funds "may have had an additional incentive to redeem" their money "contributing to abnormally persistent outflows from the bond funds," they wrote. Money exiting bond funds was spread across a wide cross section of the complex, with cumulative net outflows amounting to about $15 billion, the researchers found. Government bonds saw a major rally in March as investors flocked to them as a haven amid the banking turmoil. Had that not happened, outflows from bond funds might have been even larger, Cetorelli and Zebar wrote. "Our analysis highlights how financial intermediation activities seem quite closely intertwined," they said. "Accordingly, supervisors and regulators may wish to take a more integrated approach to monitoring and regulating financial intermediation activities — one that considers both direct effects and indirect consequences of shocks across a range of institution types."

Senate Democrats back Fed's reform proposal for GSIB surcharge - Four Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee have endorsed the Federal Reserve proposed changes to a capital requirement imposed upon the nation's largest banks. Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Jack Reed, D-R.I., and John Fetterman, D-Pa., sent a letter to Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr on Thursday expressing their support for potential changes to the Global Systemically Important Bank, or GSIB, surcharge. Put forth in July alongside a broader set of capital reforms known as the Basel III endgame, the GSIB surcharge proposal would change the reporting standards that feed into capital requirements for the eight largest U.S.-based banks — Bank of America, Bank of New York Mellon, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, State Street and Wells Fargo. The change in the reporting standard is meant to smooth out the sometimes drastic shifts from tier to tier within the GSIB capital framework, avoiding the so-called "cliff effect." As proposed, no U.S. firm would see their capital requirements altered. Still, the senators called the move an important step to better safeguarding the financial system. "The proposal would enhance the sensitivity and responsiveness of the surcharge to changes in an institution's risk profile and deter firms from gaming the system to lower their capital buffers," they wrote. "These banks should be using more shareholders' equity to fund their risky activities, so that they — not U.S. taxpayers — are on the hook if those bets do not pay off." The letter from Brown, the chair of the Banking Committee, along with Warren, Reed and Fetterman represents some of the most direct and clear congressional support for the capital reform efforts currently being pursued by bank regulators in Washington.

FDIC gives banks extra time to comment on governance proposal -The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has extended the comment period for a proposed corporate governance rule. The decision gives banks two extra months to study a plan some groups claim would fundamentally change the way boards at midsize and big banks conduct business. The comment period, which was slated to close Dec. 11, will now run through Feb. 9 A bloc of trade groups, including the Bank Policy Institute, American Bankers Association, American Association of Bank Directors and Mid-Size Bank Coalition of America, requested a 60-day extension in a Nov. 8 letter to the FDIC. It was granted Thursday. The FDIC unveiled the proposed rule — which would apply to banks with at least $10 billion of assets — in October, with Chairman Martin Gruenberg citing the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank in March along with that of First Republic Bank in May, as evidence an overhaul was necessary. In the draft rule, FDIC stated its aim was to tighten and build on existing governance guidelines. The rule "generally reflects existing principles and what examiners consider necessary for the safe and sound operation of a covered institution," the FDIC wrote. Proposed changes "are intended to be generally consistent with the goals communicated through the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's and Federal Reserve Board's published issuances in an effort to harmonize corporate governance and risk management requirements," it added. Groups representing banks and regulators countered that the proposed rule was far from routine and would cause fundamental changes in the composition of boards, as well as to individual directors' responsibilities and liabilities. They lobbied for more time to put their concerns on the record. The governance rule "has not grabbed the headlines like the Basel III Endgame, the long-term debt or other large, big-bank proposals have," Nathan Ross, vice president of policy at the Conference of State Bank Supervisors, said in an interview. "Those are taking center stage right now. However, as state regulators have looked at this, it deals with foundational corporate governance principles that merit a lot of thought and care. We believe this is a significant proposal and worth taking some time to review, and I think [an extension] is appropriate here." Trade groups representing banks have raised several concerns which they fear could result in fewer qualified candidates willing to serve on bank boards if the proposed regulation were to be adopted. Chief among them was a provision in the rule that requires boards to "consider the interests of all its stakeholders, including shareholders, depositors, creditors, customers, regulators and the public." Bank groups flagged another provision they claim would make boards at institutions covered by the proposed regulation responsible for ensuring timely reporting of what the rule described as "known or suspected violations of law involving dishonesty, misrepresentation or willful disregard for legal requirements."

FDIC reports falling bank profits, warns of CRE and other risks ahead -— Data released by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Wednesday put into stark relief the toll that the dicey economic conditions of the last year have taken on the banking industry, and the agency warned that dwindling commercial real estate values and other risks pose threats. Banks reported third-quarter net income of $68.4 billion, down 3.4% from the prior quarter and 4.6% from the third quarter of 2022, according to the latest Quarterly Banking Profile. Higher loan-loss provisions, realized losses on securities and a decline in noninterest income were among the causes. To be sure, excluding some one-time factors tied to the bank failures in the spring, net income has hovered around $68 billion — well above the pre-pandemic average — for the past four quarters Yet FDIC Chairman Gruenberg cautioned that the banking industry continues to stare down significant risks stemming from inflation, higher interest rates and geopolitical turbulence. “These issues could cause credit quality, earnings and liquidity challenges for the industry,” Gruenberg said. “In addition, deterioration in the industry's commercial real estate portfolio is beginning to materialize in office properties in which weak demand for space, softening property values and higher interest rates are affecting the credit quality of underlying loans.” Net interest margins at FDIC-insured depository institutions modestly rebounded after falling the previous two quarters, increasing three basis points to 3.30% from the previous quarter. The FDIC attributed this uptick to the stabilization in the cost of nondeposit liabilities in the third quarter as deposit costs increased at a faster rate than loan yields. The banking industry's net interest margin increased by 16 basis points compared with the year-earlier quarter and remains above the pre-pandemic average of 3.25%. The Deposit Insurance Fund balance sat at $119.3 billion as of Sept. 30 of this year, a $2.4 billion increase from the end of the previous quarter. The reserve ratio — which compares the DIF balance to systemwide insured-deposit levels — increased by two basis points this quarter to 1.13% due to a 0.1% increase in insured deposits.

When are regulators going to hold crypto accountable? -- As a former financial regulator who brought hundreds of enforcement actions against banks and their executives, I believe the consent order between the U.S. government and Binance and the plea by its CEO seemed lenient, given the circumstances. The firm was charged with intentionally evading U.S. anti-money-laundering (AML) laws and encouraging its customers to obscure where they were. The government described Binance’s actions as “willful,” exposing the public to “significant harm.” That seems mild, considering that, according to the consent order, Binance was facilitating transactions involving U.S.- designated terrorists like Hamas and purveyors of child sexual abuse material. Binance reportedly acted as a “colossal money-laundering hub for terrorists, cybercriminals and customers in sanctioned countries.” That is pretty horrific behavior — many steps beyond mere ministerial AML mistakes. Binance paid a $4.3 billion fine — one that catapulted over most fines assessed to date. But it’s only money. It also agreed to a range of corporate monitoring and AML rehabilitation programs. Its CEO, Changpeng Zhao, pled guilty to a crime that reportedly will earn him at most a sentence of 18 months in prison, and he gets to keep his significant ownership interest in Binance.If Binance were a bank, its FDIC deposit insurance may have been terminated, its charter revoked and its doors shuttered. At the very least, no one in management involved in the scheme who stayed out of jail would have been able to remain employed or return to work in the financial services business. Money laundering is the engine that makes crime work. Without it, there would be smaller paydays for criminals and less crime. In the analogue world, it enables crimes like human trafficking, illegal narcotics, terrorism, child sexual abuse material, smuggling and the sale of state secrets in our analogue world. But in the online world, the scale and scope of those crimes increases exponentially, thanks in no small way to the role played by cryptocurrencies. When a 23-year-old man can sit in his apartment in South Korea and distribute 250,000 videos of children as young as one being abused and be paid in cryptocurrency, AML laws become a lifeline for law enforcement to be able to find and arrest him. An organization that intentionally avoids AML reporting and may knowingly be involved in the transmission of money that may have been earned from crimes, terrorism and child abuse is not just guilty of bad recordkeeping or taking business shortcuts — it is enabling the underlying crimes. So why weren’t Binance and its CEO treated more harshly for their evasion of AML laws?

Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao must stay in US for time being, judge says - Former Binance chief Changpeng Zhao must stay in the United States for the time being, a federal judge said on Monday, after the founder of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange pleaded guilty to violating U.S. anti-money laundering laws. Zhao will be required to stay in the United States until the Seattle court considers whether he should remain through his sentencing hearing in February, or if he should be allowed to return to the United Arab Emirates, where he is a citizen. Zhao, who is also a citizen of Canada, stepped down as CEO of Binance last week after pleading guilty to willfully causing the exchange to fail to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program. U.S. District Judge Richard Jones in Seattle said he would review whether Zhao should have to stay in the United States after the U.S. government appealed a decision by another judge allowing Zhao to return to the UAE before his Feb. 23 sentencing hearing. Zhao agreed to a $175 million bond as part of the bail agreement. Binance Holdings agreed to pay over $4.3 billion and pleaded guilty to breaking U.S. anti-money laundering and sanctions laws. Binance said last week it had worked hard to make the company "safer and even more secure." Lawyers for Zhao did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday. Last week, Zhao conceded: "I made mistakes, and I must take responsibility." Zhao faces a maximum prison sentence of 18 months under federal guidelines and has agreed not to appeal any sentence up to that length. Prosecutors will take a position on how much jail time to seek closer to Zhao's sentencing, a Justice Department spokesperson said last week. The government had said it may be unable to secure Zhao's return to the United States given it has no extradition treaty with the UAE. Lawyers for Zhao disputed that he was a potential flight risk, noting that he paid a "substantial" bail package and voluntarily came to the United States to accept responsibility for his actions.

Cristiano Ronaldo sued for $1 billion after promoting NFTs from crypto exchange Binance -- Portuguese soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo has been hit with class-action lawsuit seeking at least $1 billion in damages for his role in promoting cryptocurrency-related “non-fungible tokens,” or NFTs, issued by the beleaguered cryptocurrency exchange Binance.The lawsuit filed in federal court in the Southern District of Florida Monday alleges that Ronaldo’s promotion of Binance was “deceptive and unlawful.” Binance’s partnership with high-profile figures like Ronaldo, the plaintiffs claim, led them into costly and unsafe investments.“Evidence now reveals that Binance’s fraud was only able to reach such heights through the offer and sale of unregistered securities, with the willing help and assistance of some of the wealthiest, powerful and recognized organizations and celebrities across the globe — just like Defendant Ronaldo,” the suit reads.Representatives for Ronaldo declined to comment Thursday. Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, did not immediately return requests for statement from The Associated Press.Ronaldo launched his inaugural NFT “CR7” collection with Binance in November of last year, ahead of the 2022 World Cup. The NFTs — which had starting prices ranging from the equivalent of about $77 to $10,000 — featured seven animated statues depicting Ronaldo from iconic moments in his life, from bicycle-kick goals to his childhood in Portugal.Monday’s suit says that the promotional efforts of Ronaldo’s Binance partnership were “incredibly successful” — alleging a 500% increase in online searches using the keyword “Binance” after the soccer star’s NFTs was announced. The collection’s premium-level NFTs sold out within the first week, the suit claims.The suit also alleges that Ronaldo should’ve disclosed how much Binance has paid him for the partnership. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission previously noted that federal law requires celebrities to publicly disclose how much they’re getting paid to promote securities, including crypto assets.

Leader of Miami Crew Sentenced to 63 Months in Prison for Crypto Fraud -- The leader of a Miami group accused of running a crypto scam that defrauded U.S. banks of $4 million was handed a 63-month prison sentence by a New York district judge on Wednesday.Esteban Cabrera Da Corte in April pleaded guilty to participating in the 2020 scheme to steal millions of dollars worth of crypto and trick U.S. banks into refunding them. The 27-year-old Miami resident was also ordered to pay restitution of nearly $3.6 million and forfeiture of $1.2 million.Da Corte was one of three people arrested in August 2022 for the crime, which the prosecutors said "resulted in U.S. banks processing more than $4 million in fraudulent reversals and a cryptocurrency exchange losing more than $3.5 million worth of cryptocurrency."The arrests made headlines as they followed the high-profile collapse of crypto enterprise Terra, after which U.S. lawmakers called for a crackdown on bad actors in the space.

Tensions rise as US lawmakers work to get crypto provisions into end-of-year bills -U.S. lawmakers are still vying to throw in crypto-related measures into end-of-year legislative packages, though industry sources say more action will likely happen in 2024. While Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson's approach to a spending measure may mean there will be no larger "omnibus" bill where several measures can be thrown into at the end of the year, some crypto provisions may still end up in other end-of-year bills. The National Defense Authorization Act could include an amendment from Sens. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Roger Marshall, R-Kan., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., that would require regulators to set up examination standards for financial institutions engaged in crypto activities while also requiring the Treasury Department to come up with recommendations to Congress on crypto mixers. The amendment is still in flux, Sen. Lummis told reporters on Thursday at the Blockchain Association Policy Summit."I hear rumors, and that's all they are, that it may get caught up into some other negotiations and I don't know whether it's going to survive," Lummis said. "But we should know more early next week."The proposed amendment is something the crypto industry can accept, said Cody Carbone, vice president of policy for the Chamber of Digital Commerce. The crypto industry is less keen on a bill from Sen. Warren that aims to crack down on the use of crypto for money laundering and sanctions evasion in part by extending know-your-customer requirements to miners and wallet providers. "We just don't want to create new standards and burdens on some of these players in the ecosystem that aren't relevant, which is what Warren's bill would do for miners and validators who don't work with customers," Carbone said. "So we think this is a good compromise."One bill that Carbone said he would like to get added to the NDAA is the Financial Technology Protection Act, which creates a working group with representatives from several federal agencies including Treasury to combat terrorism and illicit financing.

UK Won’t Excuse Ignorance in the Hunt for Unpaid Crypto, NFT Taxes, Experts Say - The United Kingdom is cracking down on unpaid crypto taxes. Investors may not know that they owe the government money, but ignorance won’t work as an excuse, tax advisors told CoinDesk. In fact, the government could employ several different tactics to track down who’s not paying taxes or hiding crypto holdings, David Lesperance, founder of tax advisory firm Lesperance and Associates, told CoinDesk in an interview. On Wednesday, the country's Treasury asked crypto investors to voluntarily calculate and disclose any unpaid income or capital gains taxes to avoid penalties or additional interest. Disclosure requirements apply to exchange tokens like bitcoin (BTC), non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and utility tokens. Some investors may not have even read the guidance or realized that their NFT trades could constitute taxable events, Dion Seymour, crypto and digital asset technical director at tax firm Andersen, told CoinDesk in an interview. But if crypto holders don’t figure out what taxes they owe and come forward voluntarily, it could make matters worse for them, David Lesperance, founder of tax advisory firm Lesperance and Associates, said during an interview with CoinDesk. "The Treasury is going to say, okay, if you're going to make us look for you, it's gonna cost you," Lesperance said.

SEC Attorneys Hit by Judge With Reprimand and Possible Sanctions in Debt Box Case -- A federal judge on Thursday warned Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) a -ttorneys that he may sanction them for allegedly convincing a court to freeze a crypto firm's assets under "false and misleading" pretenses, a court filing shows.According to an order issued by U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby of the U.S. District Court in Utah, the SEC's attorneys could be sanctioned for making "misleading" arguments about crypto project Debt Box's alleged efforts to transfer its assets and investors' funds overseas, leading a court to freeze the project's bank accounts. The SEC's "misrepresentations… undermined the integrity of the case's proceedings," in addition to causing Debt Box "irreparable harm," Judge Shelby said in an order.Sanctions are penalties a court imposes on individuals who sign statements they know to be false or otherwise violate court procedures, according to Law.com's legal dictionary. In civil law, sanctions are usually imposed in the form of monetary fines, according to Law.com.A federal judge first slapped Debt Box with a temporary restraining order, restricting its access to its assets, in August. However, he later dissolved the order after Debt Box demonstrated it had neither moved funds outside the U.S., nor closed its bank accounts two days before a hearing over the SEC's request to freeze its funds, Debt Box's lawyers said in a filing.The SEC's Utah office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.The SEC first sued Debt Box in July, alleging the company schemed to sell unregistered securities called “node licenses," beginning in 2021. Debt Box told investors the licenses would mine cryptocurrency that would increase in value, but they were actually minting the crypto themselves using computer code, the SEC alleged in its original complaint.In Thursday's order, Judge Shelby asked the SEC's attorneys to respond to his findings that their arguments alleging Debt Box had attempted to move its funds overseas lacked context and were not factual. The regulator has two weeks to respond to the inquiry, according to the order.

Justices sound skeptical about agencies' use of in-house judges - Conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court expressed skepticism Wednesday about the use of in-house judges to decide enforcement cases brought by federal administrative agencies. In a case with substantial stakes for bankers who get into hot water with their regulators,several justices questioned whether government agencies should be allowed to deny jury trials to the targets of their enforcement activity.A top lawyer in the Biden administration defended the use of so-called administrative law judges in cases where agencies are seeking civil money penalties.But Justice Brett Kavanaugh, one of the court's conservatives, said that the widely used adjudication process does not seem neutral. He noted that officials at federal agencies that bring enforcement cases also appoint the in-house judges who decide them, and then they review the rulings."That seems problematic, to say the government can deprive you of your property, your money, substantial sums, in a tribunal that is at least perceived as not being impartial," Kavanaugh said.The case heard by the Supreme Court on Wednesday arose from an enforcement action brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC initially won its case against hedge-fund founder George Jarkesy. But Jarkesy appealed to a panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which voted 2-1 to vacate the ruling against him.The 5th Circuit judges found multiple problems with the SEC's use of an administrative law judge in the case. They found that Congress violated the Seventh Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which concerns the right to a jury trial, by empowering the SEC to seek civil penalties through certain administrative proceedings.The case that was heard by the Supreme Court on Wednesday has broad implications for dozens of federal agencies that use administrative law judges. In the banking realm, those agencies include the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

House votes to nullify CFPB small-business data rule — The House has voted to nullify the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's small-business data-collection rule. The next stop for the legislation is the desk of President Joe Biden, who is expected to veto it. The bill passed in a 221-202 vote on Friday. While the vote was driven by Republicans, six Democrats also voted in favor: Reps. Ed Case of Hawaii, Henry Cuellar of Texas, Jared Golden of Maine, Kathy Manning of North Carolina, Mary Peltola of Alaska and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington. An identical Senate bill adopted in October was backed by Republicans and three Democrats.The rule — issued in March — would require banks, fintechs and other lenders to collect race, gender and demographic information before making loans to small businesses. The requirements are similar to those for mortgage lending. The industry has opposed the rule, saying that it would be overly burdensome to lenders and require too much of small businesses. "The CFPB's rule is overly broad," Rep. Roger Williams, R-Texas, said in opening remarks on the House floor Friday morning. "It will require lenders to collect massive amounts of data whenever a small-business owner applies for credit. Most of the information is unnecessary to make a fair, equitable, safe and sound loan. Requiring lenders to provide this information infringes on small-business owners' right to privacy about their personal and business information when applying for credit." Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., voted present just moments before the House voted to expel him. The vote sends the challenge to Biden's desk, where he has already said he will veto it. Still, successful challenges to regulations are rare, and passing the resolution in both chambers, especially when they are controlled by different parties, is significant.

Collectors fume over CFPB plan to ban medical debt from credit reports A proposal by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to ban medical debt from credit reports is drawing the ire of the financial services industry, which claims not enough has been done to study the root cause of the problematic medical billing: The fractured health care system.Advocates have been pushing for years for the CFPB to take medical debt off credit reports, claiming millions of consumers are pursued for debts they don't owe or that are inaccurate. In September, the CFPB released an outline of a sweeping proposal to amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The plan was announced by Vice President Kamala Harris from the White House, with CFPB Director Rohit Chopra saying that medical debt has "little predictive value in credit decisions."In comments that closed last week about the proposal, financial firms and trade groups said that if enacted, the plan would restrict lending, increase costs and result in more denials of credit to low- and moderate-income consumers. Experts claim the CFPB's proposal would make credit reports less accurate, increasing risks for lenders. "Conceptually, the CFPB is getting into a dangerous place, because they're saying medical debt doesn't have predictive value — and that's not their job," said Kim Phan, a partner at the law firm Troutman Pepper, who focused on privacy and data security. "The industry has the right to decide what has value and what doesn't."The CFPB said it expects to publish a report in December summarizing the feedback it received on its proposal from small businesses that will include written comments from stakeholders. Next year, the bureau plans to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking that will give the public an opportunity to comment on the plan before it is finalized. Phan said that unless the CFPB scales back the proposal or makes changes, she expects the bureau will be sued by a trade group or credit bureau once a final rule has been issued. Taking medical debt off credit reports impacts a consumer's credit capacity, which is one of the seven factors of credit used in underwriting decisions, Phan said. "If a consumer earns $30,000 a year and just took on $100,000 of medical debt, their capacity to take on new credit is much more restricted," Phan said.The CFPB estimates that roughly 100 million people struggle with unpaid medical bills. The scope of the problem is so large that roughly 50 consumer groups banded together to urge the CFPB to take action.

Why does the CFPB want to undermine a key tool of law enforcement? -The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, originally the brainchild of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, was created in 2010 by the same Congress that passed the Dodd-Frank Act. The law gave the agency the ability to exercise sweeping powers over financial markets with virtually no political accountability. In the years since, the CFPB has proven highly controversial. Federal courts have even found the CFPB to be a "threat to individual liberty" and held its governing structure to be unconstitutional.The controversy continues. In September, at a White House press event with Vice President Kamala Harris, CFPB Director Rohit Chopra announced the release of the agency's sweepingoutline of proposals to amend Regulation V, which implements the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Public comments on the proposals were filed last week. Most reporting on the CFPB's proposals has focused on its plan to eliminate medical debt credit reporting. But also buried in the proposals is the CFPB's plan to "clarify the extent to which credit header data constitutes a consumer report."Just what is credit header data? It is the nonfinancial identifying information located at the top of a credit report, such as name, current and prior addresses, telephone number and Social Security number. It is distinguished from other sections of a credit report, including "trade lines" containing various account payment histories.Financial institutions regularly use credit header data to confirm customer identities and transactions as a means of combating fraud and money laundering. But even more significantly, credit header data also informs databases used by thousands of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to protect communities by investigating crimes and finding missing persons or locating criminal suspects. In fact, such databases are routinely used by most major federal law enforcement agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, Secret Service and U.S. Marshals Service. For example, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children used information derived in part from credit header data to help resolve over 1,300 missing child cases last year.The privacy of credit header data is federally protected, with its compilation subject to the comprehensive reuse and redisclosure requirements of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999. However, credit header data has long been recognized as not subject to the FCRA. For instance, in 2011, a Federal Trade Commission report summarizing agency guidance going back to the 1970s stated that "a report limited to identifying information … does not in itself constitute a consumer report if it does not bear on any of the seven factors" bearing on the definition of a "consumer report" under the FCRA. Numerous federal court decisions have also reached the same conclusion. Congress has also previously considered but not enacted bills to change the treatment of credit header information by amending the FCRA, which both implicitly recognizes that credit header data is not subject to the FCRA and that such a change requires the enactment of legislation.The reason the CFPB's plan is so alarming is because its effort to subject credit header data to the FCRA would effectively cut off law enforcement access to such data. This is because under the FCRA, a consumer report can only be shared for a limited number of "permissible purposes," usually to inform credit, housing and insurance decisions. Investigating crimes or finding missing persons are not expressly listed as permissible purposes under the FCRA, so law enforcement agencies will no longer be able to obtain access to credit header data once the CFPB redefines it as a "consumer report." In fact, providing the data to law enforcement would become a crime punishable by up to two years in prison.

BankThink: CFPB has the right problem but wrong answer on medical debt proposal | American Banker - I set my wristwatch ten minutes fast. I think it started when I was a teenager and had a problem of being chronically late to important things like class. If I set my watch ten minutes early, then when I showed up ten minutes late for something as usual I would have tricked myself into showing up on time. The point is that there is an objective reality of what the correct time is that exists independent of my ability to manipulate what time my watch says it is, and that manipulation only sometimes yields an intended result. I thought of this when I read about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's proposal — and creditors' predictable outcry in response — to bar medical debt from consumer credit reports. But before going any further, I want to say there is considerable merit in more deeply interrogating the role medical debt plays in a borrower's ability to repay. Medical debt isn't the same as credit card debt or a home mortgage for a lot of reasons, not least of which is that in many if not most instances, medical debt is not debt assumed by choice or through the fault of the borrower. Medical debt can also be very large — as anyone who's ever seen a hospital bill can tell you — but can also be the subject of lengthy adjudication between insurance companies, clinics, hospitals and the patient. So when CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said medical debt has "little predictive value in credit decisions," he's probably right — whether you can afford this house or not probably does not hinge on whether you dropped a hammer on your foot three years ago. But whether a borrower ought to have medical debt or not — or whether a borrower's medical debt will ultimately be assumed by themselves or someone else — is a different question than whether it exists and whether its existence has a material effect on a borrower's ability to repay. Because the proposal deals not with the debt itself but with credit bureaus' ability to see that debt, I fear the net effect will be an erosion of credit scores as a viable proxy for a borrower's creditworthiness and lead lenders to seek other, perhaps less fair metrics to make credit decisions. Part of the problem here is that the CFPB doesn't have jurisdiction over insurance companies — that's an explicit carveout in Dodd-Frank. If they did, I suspect the bureau would tackle issues of medical billing and collections head-on rather than indirectly by way of credit reports. But the law is what it is, and barring some unfathomable event that makes Congress eager to give the CFPB more power, it's not likely to change. One might argue that this proposal is a positive innovation for the consumer even if it is not as holistic as would be ideal, but I'm not so sure that's the case. As I said before, credit reports are a tool intended to give lenders an apples-to-apples comparison of one borrower to another in terms of their willingness and ability to repay debts. If credit reports instead give lenders an apples-to-apples comparison of one borrower to another except for the $80,000 in medical debt that one borrower has that the other doesn't, then the tool becomes considerably less valuable. If lenders can't see medical debt that they know is out there, if only in the aggregate, then they are left with the challenging problem of trying to ascertain that information through other means. That could mean including questions on credit applications about medical debt, or it could mean just being more conservative across the board about offering credit — or just relying less on credit reports at all in making underwriting decisions, and thus denying borrowers credit for worse reasons. For the marginal borrower for whom these differences are most consequential, this is not the reform you are looking for.

Discover, facing regulatory scrutiny, to exit student lending - Discover Financial Services is exiting the student loan business after close to a decade of regulatory headaches stemming from improper loan servicing. Regulatory flubs in student lending and elsewhere at the Illinois-based credit card giant preceded the ouster of longtime CEO Roger Hochschild in August. Discover got hit with a consent order in September over consumer protection compliance.The company's student loan portfolio, which was the subject of consent orders in 2015 and 2020, is now being floated for a sale to another institution. Discover said Wednesday that its board of directors authorized executives to explore a sale of the $10 billion loan portfolio, as well as the transfer of servicing responsibilities to another party. Discover also plans to stop accepting new student loan applications starting in February."During a recent review, the Board determined that exploring the sale and transfer of servicing of Discover's student loans is aligned with those priorities, better enabling Discover to focus on our core banking products, capitalize on our growth opportunities and deliver long-term shareholder value," John Owen, Discover's interim CEO and president, said in a news release.The $143 billion-asset company is "committed to a path forward that enables a seamless transition for our customers as they advance their education and financial goals," Owen said. The company's stock jumped more than 4% the day after the news.

Fed's Barr: CRA update gives banks more ways to engage indigenous tribes - Recent changes to the implementing framework for the Community Reinvestment Act give "special consideration" to investments and other activities in Native American communities, Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr said. Barr delivered a speech on the newly modernized CRA during an event hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis on Tuesday afternoon. He said the rule's new definitions for "Native Land Area" and the CRA credit-eligible activities within those communities could help address longstanding housing and credit access challenges."This important update will recognize banks providing more banking services, community development financing, and volunteer work in Native communities," Barr said. "Another key change is that banks can now get credit for qualifying activities that take place outside of their assessment areas. What this means is that even banks whose assessment areas fall outside of Native Land Areas can receive CRA credit for activities serving those areas."The new rule also includes provisions that enable banks to get credit for engaging in activities that benefit Native individuals and communities, even if they do not live on designated tribal land. Barr added that the ability to get credit for activities undertaken with Treasury Department-certified community development financial institutions, or CDFIs — including designated Native CDFIs — could prove particularly helpful in addressing capital and credit needs for Native communities, regardless of where they live. He noted that Native CDFIs and other community-based groups will play a "vital role" in steering banks toward the areas with the greatest need.Barr added that CRA-eligible activities could include supporting the development of low-income housing or loans that facilitate community services, such as child care, education, workforce development and job training and health services.The reforms are the first substantive update to the CRA in decades. They are intended to bring the standards for evaluating banks' abilities to serve their constituent communities into the 21st century, by untethering assessment areas from physical branch locations and instead factoring in the reach of mobile banking. The framework, which goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2026, also makes structural changes to the thresholds that govern regulatory obligations. Specifically, it draws the line for being a small bank to below $600 million of assets, rather than $376 million. Intermediate banks are those between $600 million and $2 billion of assets, and large banks are those with $2 billion or less.The new rules are not universally embraced by banks or even federal bank regulators. The final proposal drew dissenting votes from Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. board members Travis Hill and Jonathan McKernan, as well as Fed Gov. Michelle Bowman. The officials say the changes went too far and raise questions about constitutionality authority. Barr and other regulators, meanwhile, have said the reforms are suited to stand the test of time. In his speech, Barr said the finalized reform package also carries benefits for banks in the form of enhanced transparency and consistency. He noted that the rule includes a list of "impact and responsiveness review factors," designed to standardize how banks' community development activities are assessed. He added that the framework enables regulators to be responsive to the needs of communities, including those on tribal lands."In the years to come, we have an important responsibility to monitor and assess how well the updated CRA regulations meet the needs of Indian Country," Barr said. "In our role as one of the CRA's regulatory agencies, it will be critical that we continue to listen to and learn from your experiences."

Federal Home Loan banks launch opposition to FHFA reforms - The Federal Home Loan banks have asked the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to recognize their private bank cooperative as a "lender of last resort." The Home Loan banks' top lobbyist on Thursday asked the FDIC to confirm that the private consortium of the nation's banks can continue to be an "emergency lender" for banks in distress or failing. The request flies in the face of the system's regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which published a 115-page report last month that included 50 recommendations to reform the government-sponsored enterprise. In the report, "FHLB System at 100," the FHFA raised questions about whether the Home Loan banks should be lending to troubled institutions given that the Federal Reserve has long been considered the banking system's lender of last resort. Last week, FHFA Director Sandra Thompson said that the Home Loan banks often ended up as"de facto" lenders of last resort because its member banks are not all set up to tap the Federal Reserve's discount window. During the March liquidity crisis, the Home Loan banks lent large sums to Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic, calling into question the practice of doling out billions of dollars to troubled banks just weeks before they failed. Ryan Donovan, president and CEO of the Council of Federal Home Loan Banks, the system's trade group, said he wants the FDIC to expressly state in an upcoming regulation that tapping the system for liquidity should be part of any resolution plan for failed banks. He submitted a comment to the FDIC on its proposal requiring banks with assets of $100 billion or more to better plan for their potential failure in a way that lessens the likelihood of a rushed over-a-weekend sale. In the letter, Donovan wrote that the FDIC had acknowledged the role of the Home Loan banks in the preamble of its proposed rule on resolution planning. He asked the FDIC to specifically include the language from the preamble in the final rule. "If the [covered insured depository institution] is a member of a Federal Home Loan bank, a resolution submission must include a discussion of its approach for using Federal Home Loan bank liquidity if applicable," Donovan wrote. Banks on the brink of failing have already pledged collateral and tapped the Home Loan banks for liquidity or sought to renew existing loans, known as advances. The FDIC often requests that the Home Loan Banks continue to provide liquidity because it gives the regulator breathing room to find a buyer, or a bridge depository institution.

BankThink: FHFA must be transparent about its plans for the Home Loan banks | American Banker – by Ryan Donovan, President And CEO, Council Of Federal Home Loan Banks - The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) report on the Federal Home Loan Bank System represents the beginning of what many anticipate will be an important and carefully constructed process. Given that FHFA's goal for the report is to provide "a blueprint for innovative and prudent steps to bolster and improve the FHLBank System," the next steps must ensure that the Home Loan banks continue to meet the needs of our members and maintain our undisputedly critical role in the health of America's dynamically changing economy.Over the last year, FHFA and the Home Loan banks listened to a chorus of voices that told the FHFA that they hoped for more, not less, from the banks. The review was very public: Opportunities to participate in listening sessions, roundtables and to submit comment letters were all made available to interested parties.Now, FHFA has offered 50 recommendations that represent its vision for the future of the Home Loan banks. Some of these recommendations address elements that are already part of our operational fabric — like continually measuring the creditworthiness of our members when making advances and maintaining open lines of communication with financial regulators in both normal times and times of market stress. Others address areas where the FHFA can initiate rulemaking to promote increased use of affordable housing products by Home Loan bank members and provide greater flexibility for the banks to innovate and respond to evolving economic environments.Whatever changes FHFA may pursue in the wake of its report, the agency should take care not to disrupt or complicate the ability of Home Loan bank members to access the reliable, affordable and efficient funding the system provides in all market conditions.Some observers, including several Wall Street analysts, have suggested that FHFA's vision could result in higher funding costs and more uncertainty for lenders, particularly during times of market stress. Higher funding costs, of course, translate to higher borrowing costs for consumers, which leads to real economic pain. Higher funding costs are also likely to be more detrimental to smaller financial institutions that generally do not have access to as many sources of cost-efficient capital.Moreover, if FHFA makes it harder for our members to access funding, it will undermine our ability to support housing finance, affordable housing and community development. For example, imposing a 10% ongoing mortgage asset test could not only disenfranchise some current members, but it would inject a disruptive level of uncertainty regarding the reliability of the Home Loan banks to meet their members' funding needs. This proposal is completely unnecessary since almost every dollar of collateral pledged to a Home Loan bank is mortgage- or community-development-related collateral. A 10% ongoing mortgage asset test is a solution in search of a problem.A key element of FHFA's report focused on housing and community development. We take our mission to promote affordable housing extremely seriously and we welcome FHFA's stated commitment to support our development and implementation of additional pilot programs to address needs in our respective markets. Today, the Home Loan banks are the largest private contributor to affordable housing programs in the country. Upon hearing feedback from stakeholders during FHFA's review, we began taking steps toward delivering more impact against our mission to support affordable housing and community investment while waiting for FHFA's report.

FHFA Announces Baseline Conforming Loan Limit Will Increase to $766,550 -- High-Cost Areas increase to $1,149,825. Here is the official announcement from the FHFA: FHFA Announces Conforming Loan Limit Values for 2024 The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today announced the conforming loan limit values (CLLs) for mortgages Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) will acquire in 2024. In most of the United States, the 2024 CLL value for one-unit properties will be $766,550, an increase of $40,350 from 2023. ... The new ceiling loan limit for one-unit properties will be $1,149,825, which is 150 percent of $766,550.

2024 conforming mortgage loan limit hits $766,550 =The government-sponsored enterprises will buy mortgages next year at a $766,550 conforming loan limit, the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced. The threshold is up 5% from the current $726,200 limit for most single-family home loans. That increase was smaller than last year's 12% hike, when annual home price growth was consistently in double digits. The new limit follows FHFA's Home Price Index Tuesday morning showing house prices rising 5.5% year-over-year at the end of the third quarter. Chart of the baseline conforming loan limit from 2016 to 2024.jpeg Loan limits for high-cost areas will be $1,149,825, up from last year's $1,089,000 mark, the FHFA said. That higher limit, which reached seven figures for the first time last year, will apply in areas in which the median home value is 115% of the baseline conforming amount. The price, determined by a formula under the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, caps that higher conforming loan limit at 150% of the baseline value. The million-dollar limit also applies to one-unit properties in Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The new limit is a net positive for homebuyers, although it also represents an inflationary pressure, said Kyle Enright, president of lending at Achieve, a Bay Area home equity line of credit lender. "The more likely [home buyers] are willing to pay more for a home sort of perpetuates the cycle of upward pressure on housing prices," he said. The approximately $40,000 increase will provide a marginal boost to origination activity, Enright added, although the extra buying power isn't as impactful in pricey markets like coastal California. The conforming loan limit boost is also favorable to HELOC lenders like Achieve, he said, with buyers holding more equity from their first day of homeownership. A 20% down payment on a home loan against the 2024 limit would equate to $153,310. Borrowers today still face a major affordability challenges with mortgage rates well above 7% amid elevated home prices and limited inventory. Fannie Mae continues to project a recessionnext year, and the GSE also puts total originations next year at $1.84 trillion after this year's anticipated $1.53 trillion in volume. Larger mortgage players seeking an edge raised their conforming limits almost two months ago, with Rocket Mortgage announcing Oct. 2 a $750,000 single-family loan limit. Guaranteed Rate and United Wholesale Mortgage followed suit a week later.

CFPB fines BofA $12M for failing to collect data on mortgage applicants -The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau fined Bank of America $12 million for failing to collect the race, ethnicity and sex of mortgage applicants and then reporting to the bureau that the applicants had chosen not to respond. The CFPB said Tuesday that hundreds of loan officers working for the $3.2 trillion-asset Bank of America had violated the requirements of the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. Congress passed HMDA in 1975 to gather data on mortgage applicants that could be used to determine if financial institutions were discriminating against potential borrowers. "It is illegal to report false information to federal regulators, and we will be taking additional steps to ensure that Bank of America stops breaking the law," CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in a press release. "Bank of America violated a federal law that thousands of mortgage lenders have routinely followed for decades." In 2020, BofA received a customer complaint and launched a review of its HMDA data-collection practices. The Charlotte, N.C.-based bank found that 113 loan officers did not provide the race or ethnicity of borrowers on 100% of the applications they took over a three-month period from January to March 2020. BofA later expanded the review and found an additional 290 loan officers who also claimed that applicants chose not to provide their race and ethnicity on 100% of the applications taken over a three-month period between 2016 and 2021, the CFPB said in a 28-page consent order. "These and other loan officers were not asking applicants for their race, ethnicity, or sex," the CFPB said in the consent order. "Instead, they were wrongly recording on applications that the applicants chose not to provide the information, which [Bank of America] then reported to the government each year."

MBA: Mortgage Applications Increased in Weekly Survey - From the MBA: Mortgage Applications Increase in Latest MBA Weekly Survey— Mortgage applications increased 0.3 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending November 24, 2023. This week’s results include an adjustment for the observance of the Thanksgiving holiday.The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 0.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 33 percent compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index decreased 9 percent from the previous week and was 1 percent higher than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 5 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 31 percent compared with the previous week and was 19 percent lower than the same week one year ago.“Mortgage rates decreased for the fourth time in five weeks, with the 30-year fixed rate dipping to 7.37 percent, the lowest level in 10 weeks. There was a slight increase in applications overall, driven by a five percent increase in purchase applications, but refinance applications decreased over the week,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s Vice President and Deputy Chief Economist. “Rates have declined more than 50 basis points over the past six weeks, which has helped to spur a small increase in purchase applications, but activity last week was still around 20 percent lower than a year ago. The purchase market remains depressed because of the ongoing, low supply of existing homes on the market. Similarly, refinance activity will likely be muted for some time, even with the recent decline in rates, as many borrowers locked in much lower rates in 2020 and2021.” ...The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($726,200 or less) decreased to 7.37 percent from 7.41 percent, with points increasing to 0.64 from 0.62 (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 19% year-over-year unadjusted. Red is a four-week average (blue is weekly). Purchase activity has increased for four consecutive weeks but remains at a very low level. 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 at a low level since then.

Home prices rose in September even as mortgage rates surged - Higher mortgage rates appear to be doing very little to cool home prices. Nationally, prices were 3.9% higher in September compared with the same month a year earlier, up from a 2.5% annual gain in August, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Index. This occurred as the average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage climbed toward 8%. Of the 20 metropolitan markets highlighted in the report, Detroit saw the biggest annual increase at 6.7%, followed by San Diego at 6.5% and New York at 6.3%. Three of the 20 cities, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Portland, Oregon, reported lower prices compared with a year ago. Those cities were some of the biggest gainers in the first few years of the Covid-19 pandemic. "We've commented before on the breadth of the housing market's strength, which continued to be impressive," Craig Lazzara, managing director at S&P DJI, said in a release. "Although this year's increase in mortgage rates has surely suppressed the quantity of homes sold, the relative shortage of inventory for sale has been a solid support for prices." Rates have eased in recent weeks, meanwhile, leading to slight growth in mortgage demand. Year to date, home prices nationally have risen 6.1%, much more than the median full calendar year increase in more than 35 years of this index's data. "Unless higher rates or exogenous events lead to general economic weakness, the breadth and strength of this month's report are consistent with an optimistic view of future results," Lazzara added. As home prices continue to gain, rents are easing up. The national median rent dropped 0.9% in November from October, according to Apartment List. The benchmark has now fallen 3.5% from its all-time high in August 2022. Rent is nearly $250 a month more than it was three years ago, however. Rents are dropping due to both seasonal and supply factors. There is a record amount of new apartment supply coming on this year, after a construction boom in the sector. "Vacancies get harder to fill as we draw closer to the holidays, so now is the time when renters have the most sway in lease negotiations," according to the report. Rent growth will continue to be moderated by more supply next year. Nationwide, the apartment vacancy rate is now 6.4%, a touch higher than the pre-pandemic average, and it could rise even more next year. "Rental growth will pick up again in the spring seasonally, but it's obvious the deceleration is here and will eventually flow thru the CPI data," noted Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakley Financial Group and a CNBC contributor. "While inflation here will further cool in 2024, we are setting ourselves up for a reacceleration in the years after. That said, markets we know only care about the here and now and renters will certainly appreciate the slowdown when mortgage rates are above 7% and affordability to buy a home is tough," he added.

Case-Shiller: National House Price Index Up 3.9% year-over-year in September; New all-time High - S&P/Case-Shiller released the monthly Home Price Indices for September ("September" is a 3-month average of July, August and September closing prices). This release includes prices for 20 individual cities, two composite indices (for 10 cities and 20 cities) and the monthly National index. From S&P S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Index Continued to Trend Upward in September The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index, covering all nine U.S. census divisions, reported a 3.9% annual change in September, up from a 2.5% change in the previous month. The 10-City Composite showed an increase of 4.8%, up from a 3.0% increase in the previous month. The 20-City Composite posted a year-over-year increase of 3.9%, up from a 2.1% increase in the previous month. Detroit surpassed Chicago, reporting the highest year-over-year gain among the 20 cities with an 6.7% increase in September, followed by San Diego with a 6.5% increase. Three of the 20 cities reported lower prices in September versus a year ago....Before seasonal adjustment, the U.S. National Index,10-City and 20-City Composites, all posted 0.3% month-over-month increases in September, while the 10-City and 20-City composites posted 0.3% and 0.2% increases, respectively.After seasonal adjustment, the U.S. National Index, the 10-City and 20-City Composites each posted month-over-month increases of 0.7%. “Our National Composite rose by 0.3% in September, marking eight consecutive monthly gains since prices bottomed in January 2023. The Composite now stands 3.9% above its year-ago level and 6.6% above its January level. Our 10- and 20-City Composites both rose in September, and likewise currently exceed their year-ago and January levels. On a seasonally adjusted basis, all 20 cities showed price increases in September; before seasonal adjustments, 15 rose. Prices in 17 of the cities are higher than they were in September 2022. Notably, the National Composite, the 10-City Composite, and 10 individual cities (Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Miami, New York, Tampa, and Washington) stand at their all-time highs."The first graph shows the nominal seasonally adjusted Composite 10, Composite 20 and National indices (the Composite 20 was started in January 2000). The Composite 10 index is up 0.7% in September (SA) and is at a new all-time high.The Composite 20 index is up 0.7% (SA) in September and is also at a new all-time high.The National index is up 0.7% (SA) in September and is also at a new all-time high.The second graph shows the year-over-year change in all three indices.The Composite 10 SA is up 4.8% year-over-year. The Composite 20 SA is up 3.9% year-over-year.The National index SA is up 3.9% year-over-year.Annual price changes were close to expectations.

Comments on September Case-Shiller and FHFA House Prices - Today, in the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter: Case-Shiller: National House Price Index Up 3.9% year-over-year in September; New all-time High Excerpt: S&P/Case-Shiller released the monthly Home Price Indices for September ("September" is a 3-month average of July, August and September closing prices). September closing prices include some contracts signed in May, so there is a significant lag to this data. Here is a graph of the month-over-month (MoM) change in the Case-Shiller National Index Seasonally Adjusted (SA).The MoM increase in the seasonally adjusted Case-Shiller National Index was at 0.65%. This was the eighth consecutive MoM increase following seven straight MoM decreases.On a seasonally adjusted basis, prices increased in all 20 Case-Shiller cities on a month-to-month basis. Seasonally adjusted, San Francisco has fallen 8.6% from the recent peak, Seattle is down 6.7% from the peak, Las Vegas is down 5.1%, and Phoenix is down 5.0%.

Two year low in new home prices and turndown in sales show renewed pressure caused by increased mortgage rates - Once again, this morning’s report on new single family home sales shows that the compete bifurcation of the new vs. existing home markets continues. Unlike existing homeowners, many of whom are shackled in place by 3% mortgages, new home builders can offer price incentives and downsize floor plans to increase sales. This morning’s report also shows once again that this data is very volatile and heavily revised.September new home sales (blue in the graph below, left scale), which had been reported at a 12 month high of 759,000 annualized, were revised downward by -40,000 to 719,000. And October sales were reported at 679,000, close to a 6 month low. Meanwhile prices (red, right scale) declined to a 2 year low of $409,300: This also yet again demonstrates my mantra that prices follow sales, in this case with a 2 year delay from summer 2020 to summer 2022.And since sales follow mortgage rates, here is an update of that relationship, comparing the YoY change in mortgage rates (red, inverted, *10 for scale) vs. the YoY% change in new home sales (blue) and single family permits (light blue):As mortgage rates rose sharply in 2022, permits and sales sank. Mortgage rates moderated throughout early 2023, and both sales and permits responded positively. Indeed, on a YoY basis new home sales are up 17.7% (while prices, as shown in the first graph above are down -17.6%). But in the last 6 months, mortgage rates rose to new highs, and new home sales - usually the first metric to turn - have already responded negatively. Permits are likely to follow shortly.Averaged together, new and existing home sales combined are down in the aggregate since one year ago, and so are prices. I expect further pressure on both sales and prices in the months to come.

Housing November 27th Weekly Update: Inventory Down Week-over-week, Up Slightly Year-over-year -Altos reports that active single-family inventory was down 0.7% week-over-week and is now up 0.2% year-over-year. Inventory will decrease seasonally for next several weeks (for the Holidays).This inventory graph is courtesy of Altos Research. As of November 24th, inventory was at 566 thousand (7-day average), compared to 570 thousand the prior week. Year-to-date, inventory is up 15.3%.The second graph shows the seasonal pattern for active single-family inventory since 2015. The red line is for 2023. The black line is for 2019. Note that inventory is up from the record low for the same week in 2021, but below last year and still well below normal levels.Inventory was up 0.2% compared to the same week in 2022 (last week it was up 0.1%), and down 35.1% compared to the same week in 2019 (last week down 35.7%). Inventory is now solidly above the same week in 2020 levels (dark blue line).Mike Simonsen discusses this data regularly on Youtube.

New Home Sales decrease to 679,000 Annual Rate in October - The Census Bureau reports New Home Sales in October were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 679 thousand.The previous three months were revised down.Sales of new single‐family houses in October 2023 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 679,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 5.6 percent below the revised September rate of 719,000, but is 17.7 percent above the October 2022 estimate of 577,000.The first graph shows New Home Sales vs. recessions since 1963. The dashed line is the current sales rate.New home sales are close to pre-pandemic levels.The second graph shows New Home Months of Supply.The months of supply increased in October to 7.8 months from 7.2 months in September. The all-time record high was 12.2 months of supply in January 2009. The all-time record low was 3.3 months in August 2020.This is above the top of the normal range (about 4 to 6 months of supply is normal)."The seasonally‐adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of October was 439,000. This represents a supply of 7.8 months at the current sales rate."Sales were well below expectations of 730 thousand SAAR, and sales for the three previous months were revised down..

New Home Sales decrease to 679,000 Annual Rate in October; Median New Home Price is Down 18% from the Peak

Construction Spending Increased 0.6% in October -From the Census Bureau reported that overall construction spending increased: Construction spending during October 2023 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $2,027.1 billion, 0.6 percent above the revised September estimate of $2,014.7 billion. The October figure is 10.7 percent above the October 2022 estimate of $1,830.5 billion.Both private and public spending increased: Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,579.3 billion, 0.7 percent above the revised September estimate of $1,567.9 billion. ... In October, the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending was $447.8 billion, 0.2 percent above the revised September estimate of $446.9 billion.This graph shows private residential and nonresidential construction spending, and public spending, since 1993. Note: nominal dollars, not inflation adjusted.Residential (red) spending is 8.8% below the recent peak.Non-residential (blue) spending is at a new peak.Public construction spending is also at a new peak. The second graph shows the year-over-year change in construction spending. On a year-over-year basis, private residential construction spending is up 0.7%. Non-residential spending is up 22.4% year-over-year. Public spending is up 16.4% year-over-year.This was above consensus expectations for 0.4% increase in spending. Total construction spending for the previous two months was revised up.

Black Friday weekend shopping turnout soars to a record --Shoppers kicked off the holiday season with a bang, as a record 200.4 million people hit stores and searched websites for gifts from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday, according to a survey by the National Retail Federation.The turnout marks an all-time high since the major trade group and Prosper Insights & Analytics began tracking total in-store and online traffic in 2017. It topped last year's figure of 196.7 million shoppers and the NRF's forecast for about 182 million people during the five-day weekend.The number of people shopping online rose to 134.2 million this year, up from 130.2 million a year ago, the NRF survey found. Consumers who shopped at stores fell slightly, from 122.7 million people in 2022 to 121.4 million people this year.The major trade group did not estimate total spending, but said shoppers shelled out an average of $321.41 on holiday-related purchases over the weekend. That's roughly in line with the $325.44 average last year. The number is not adjusted for inflation.On a call with reporters, NRF CEO Matt Shay said the large turnout "speaks to the way consumers are feeling, but also the deals that were out there." He said other factors including the weather worked in retailers' favor. Cooler temperatures, which many parts of the country had this weekend, can help motivate shoppers to spring for seasonal items like jackets, sweaters and boots. Top gifts during the period were clothes and accessories, which about half of those surveyed purchased, and toys, which nearly a third of people surveyed bought. For the first time, personal care or beauty items also cracked into the top five most popular gifts, the group said. As of Thanksgiving weekend, consumers said they were about halfway done with their holiday shopping, according to the results. NRF's survey of 3,498 adult consumers was conducted Nov. 22 to 26.Another early read on holiday spending showed strength in online sales. On Black Friday, consumers spent $9.8 billion in U.S. online sales, according to Adobe, up 7.5% from a year ago.Cyber Monday topped that, as e-commerce spending in the U.S. totaled $12.4 billion, up 9.6% year over year.

Vehicles Sales decrease to 15.32 million SAAR in November; Up 7% YoY - Wards Auto released their estimate of light vehicle sales for November: No Holiday Boost but U.S. Light-Vehicle Sales Continue Gains in November. Labor-related plant shutdowns in the U.S. that covered the latter half of September and most of October negatively impacted deliveries in November. Combined sales of the vehicles impacted by shutdowns fell 15% year-over-year in November. If those vehicles had matched year-ago results, sales would have totaled a 15.9 million-unit SAAR. While CUVs accounted for over half the market for the second time ever, vehicles impacted by the strikes were largely behind weakness in pickups, SUVs and vans. This graph shows light vehicle sales since 2006 from the BEA (blue) and Wards Auto's estimate for November (red). The impact of COVID-19 was significant, and April 2020 was the worst month. After April 2020, sales increased, and were close to sales in 2019 (the year before the pandemic). However, sales decreased in 2021 due to supply issues. The "supply chain bottom" was in September 2021.The second graph shows light vehicle sales since the BEA started keeping data in 1967. Vehicle sales are usually a transmission mechanism for Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) policy, although far behind housing. This time vehicle sales were more suppressed by supply chain issues and are up year-over-year. Sales in November were below the consensus forecast due to the impact of the strikes.

Beneath the Skin of the PCE Price Index: Inflation in Services by Wolf Richter -The PCE price index released today boils down to this, in October from September:

• Gasoline and other energy products plunged;
• Durable goods, dominated by motor vehicles, dropped for the fifth month in a row;
• Food prices keep rising from already very high levels;
• Housing (rent), insurance of all kinds, healthcare, transportation services (incl. auto repair!) were hot.
• Core services remained in the same hot range in which it has been bouncing up and down in for months.

The core PCE price index, which excludes food and energy, decelerated to an increase of 0.16% in October from November, from 0.31% the month before, which had been the highest since March (green). The three-month moving average remained at 0.20% (red). Year-over-year, the “core” PCE price index decelerated to 3.5% (red line). The overall PCE price index, driven down by energy, decelerated to 3.0%.The core Services PCE price index (all services except energy services) has been bouncing up and down all year on a month-to-month basis. In August, it had decelerated to the slowest increase since 2020; in September it had spiked to the biggest increase since January; and in October, it decelerated again, increasing by 0.21%. There was a consistent deceleration earlier in the year, but the last four readings took turns spiking and dropping:Year-over-year, the core services PCE price index decelerated to 4.6%. We’ll get into the major components of core services in a moment. The PCE price index for housing, which is composed of various rent factors, rose by 0.42%, a deceleration from the spike in September, but an acceleration from August. As you can see in the chart below, all the ups and downs from March on have been confined to the same range, and there hasn’t been much progress. The big progress came early in the year, when the index dropped from its previous cluster around 0.7% to the current cluster of the past 10 months of around 0.45%. The sudden lack of progress was confirmed by the six-month moving average which has been essentially unchanged for the past three months at around 0.48% after dropping substantially from March through August. This is close to 6% annualized rent inflation. Year-over-year, the PCE price index for rent decelerated to 6.9%. The year-over-year deceleration is largely driven by the sharp month-to-month deceleration earlier this year. The major “core services” categories. Housing, insurance, healthcare, and transportation services (includes auto repair and air fares) remained hot on a month-to-month basis. The financial services index plunged by 0.88% for the month, but it’s very volatile, including a 1.9% month-to-month spike in July. This -0.88% in October contributed to the deceleration of the core services index. On a year-to-year basis most services remain in hot territory. These are the items that Powell has been talking about a lot during the FOMC press conference. This is where inflation has gotten entrenched. Durable-goods PCE price index fell by 0.27% month-to-month, the fifth month in a row of declines; and by 2.2% year-over-year, also the fifth month in a row of declines You can see how the huge spike in durable goods prices during the era of shortages is now slowly getting worked down some. Prices of durable goods are still high but are coming down from the price spikes of 2021. The dynamics are driven by used vehicles, whose prices have been dropping since the peak at the end of 2021, though they’re also still way too high: Food inflation keeps simmering. The PCE price index for food and beverages purchased at stores and markets rose by 0.25% for the month and by 2.4% year-over-year from already very high levels. There was a brief period earlier this year, when food prices dipped a little, but starting in the summer, the month-to-month increases off these high levels resumed. This chart shows the index value, not percent change: .

CES Strike Report: Ending Strikes will Boost November Employment Here is the CES Strike report for November released this morning: This shows a total of 10,500 workers on strike in November, down from 48,100 in October. With the end of the UAW and SAG-AFTRA strikes, 41,300 strikers returned to work for the November reference period. Note: The reference period usually contains the 12th of the month, however there are exceptions, and the reference period for November 2023 was the 5th through the 11th. These returning workers will boost employment gains in November.

Sunday air travel set record: TSA --The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced that Sunday set an agency-wide record for the busiest air travel day ever. More than 2.9 million people were screened at airports across the United States on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, the TSA said on X, formerly Twitter, marking “the busiest day ever for air travel.” The TSA also reminded customers to arrive at airports early amid the high demand for air travel during the holiday season. Earlier this month, the TSA forecasted the holiday season could break records for air travel across the country. Sunday’s numbers were in line with TSA’s initial estimates from earlier this month, when the agency predicted 2.9 million people would pass through security checkpoints that day. The number of airline passengers on Sunday broke the record from June 30 — when nearly 2.9 million people were screened at airports across the country. This uptick in air travel comes after last year’s holiday season meltdown, when millions of passengers faced delays and cancellations amid the busiest time of the year for travel. However, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said earlier this month that 2023 had seen the lowest rate of flight cancellations in the past five years, signaling optimism as the U.S. approached the holiday season. “This year we are seeing more people flying than ever with fewer cancellations than we’ve seen in years and we’re investing to make sure it stays that way long term,” he said at the time.

Hackers are taking over planes’ GPS — experts are lost on how to fix it -- It’s one of the most terrifying events imaginable. There have been over 50 recent reports of frightening cyberattacks that have altered planes’ in-flight GPS, leading to what experts described as “critical navigation failures” onboard the aircraft.More frightening still, industry leaders thought that this type of hacking was not possible and are at a loss over how to fix the now glaring security failure. Since late August, they have been observed throughout the Middle East, particularly over Israel, neighboring Egypt, and Iraq.In September, the FAA issued a warning on the “safety of flight risk to civil aviation operations” over the spate of attacks, according to OpsGroup, an international collection of pilots and technicians who first brought attention to the terror.The attack, called GPS spoofing — when a navigation system is given counterfeit coordinates — isn’t new and applies to all modes of transportation. Ten years ago, a group of college students at the University of Texas bragged that they moved an $80M yacht off its course as a school project. In 2015, a security researcher also hacked a United Airlines flight and modified its course as a warning over security flaws.But the tactic has now become so sophisticated that nefarious hackers, still at large, have recently learned how to override an airplane’s critical Inertial Reference Systems (IRS). That crucial piece of technology is commonly called the “brains” of a craft by manufacturers.One flight, a Gulfstream G650 from Tel Aviv on October 25th, “experienced full nav[igation] failure” as its system had marked the plane 225 nautical miles from the actual course. And a Boeing 777 endured spoofing over Cairo airspace and was falsely thought to be stationary for a half hour on Oct. 16 as well, according to the group.Before these rampant attacks began at the very end of August, spoofing the IRS was “previously thought to be impossible,” OpsGroup wrote in a November update, which added several more cases of spoofing to the already lengthy list.“The industry has been slow to come to terms with the issue, leaving flight crews alone to find ways of detecting and mitigating GPS spoofing…What will you do at 2 a.m. over the Middle East when the aircraft starts drifting off course and saying ‘Position Uncertain?’ With almost zero guidance, we’re largely on our own to figure things out.”

Opponents gave input on ballot language for abortion-rights measure, Ohio elections chief says (AP) — Republican Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose consulted with three prominent anti-abortion groups while drafting the contested ballot language used to describe Issue 1, an abortion-rights measure overwhelmingly approved by voters earlier this month, cleveland.com reported Wednesday. The Republican elections chief and 2024 U.S. Senate candidate revealed having help with the wording while speaking at a Nov. 17 candidate forum hosted by the local Republican club Strongsville GOP, according to the news organization. The constitutional amendment’s backers blasted the ballot summary offered by LaRose, in his role as chair of the Ohio Ballot Board, as “rife with misleading and defective language” intended to encourage “no” votes.. LaRose’s wording substituted “unborn child” for “fetus” and suggested the measure would limit “citizens of the State” from passing laws to restrict abortion access when it actually limited state government from doing so. In response to a question at the forum, LaRose said that his office consulted with Susan B. Anthony Pro Life America, the Center for Christian Virtue and Ohio Right to Life while writing the ballot language, three groups with central roles in the anti-Issue 1 campaign, Protect Women Ohio. LaRose said the anti-abortion groups pushed for changing “pregnant person” to “woman” as a way of benefiting their campaign while remaining accurate enough to withstand a court challenge. He said they liked it because their campaign was named Protect Women Ohio and their yard signs said “Protect Women.” “So they wanted that,” the news organization reported LaRose saying. “They thought that was reasonable and would be helpful to them. And they thought it would be honest.” When asked about the language previously, LaRose described his role as writing truthful and unbiased language. Gabriel Mann, a spokesperson for Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights, said it was always clear that LaRose’s chosen language was intended to benefit the amendment’s opponents. “LaRose never cared about American democracy or Ohio values, which makes him wholly unfit for any public office,” Mann told cleveland.com. LaRose spokesperson Mary Cianciolo said the secretary “always is going to represent the conservative values on which he was elected.” “The ballot board is a bipartisan body made up of members with at times differing opinions on how public policy should be defined,” she said in a statement. “It’s common for members to disagree on the language, as you’ve seen at almost every meeting. The language can be true and defensible at the same time. It was also upheld as accurate by the state Supreme Court.” In a divided ruling, justices ruled that only one element of the disputed language, the part that implied it would rein in citizens as opposed to the government, was misleading and had to be rewritten.

Missouri prosecutor accuses 3 men of holding student from India captive and beating him (AP) — Three men held a student from India captive over the course of several months and forced him to work and perform menial tasks, then viciously beat him when he didn’t complete the chores to their satisfaction, a Missouri prosecutor said Thursday. St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney Joseph McCulloch announced charges against Venkutesh Sattaru, 35; Nikhil Penmatsa, 27; and Sravan Penumetcha, 23. All three face counts related to human trafficking, kidnapping and other crimes. They are jailed without bond and don’t have attorneys listed yet. The 20-year-old victim is hospitalized with a broken nose, broken ribs and bones in his hands and feet, and severe injuries from being punched, stomped on and beaten with pipes and a wire that left him scarred “from the top of his head literally to the bottom of his feet,” McCulloch said. Authorities said the victim is the cousin of Sattaru, who owns an information technology company. The student came to the U.S. about a year ago to attend college but instead was forced to work at the company and perform other tasks demanded by the suspects, McCulloch said. He was kept at various times in the basements of three homes without adequate food and water, and with no bathroom, authorities said. The victim was discovered by police after a neighbor of one of the homes in the small rural town of Defiance, Missouri, asked police to perform a wellness check. As officers were at the home this week, the victim “ran out of the house yelling, screaming for help,” McCulloch said. Charging documents say that the victim told police he feared he would be killed if he told anyone about the abuse because Sattaru is wealthy with deep connections in India, and the other men also are wealthy.

Native American child poverty more than doubled in 2022 after safety net cutbacks: Child poverty rate is higher than before the pandemic --This November, the U.S. observes National Native American Heritage Month. This commemoration celebrates the sovereignty, contributions, and resilience of tribal nations and Native people in the face of a violent, painful, and ongoing history.1 The enduring effects of colonialism, genocide, and state-sanctioned theft and violence continue to shape the socioeconomic outcomes of Native people. Today, the Native American community makes up a diverse and growing share of the U.S. population, with children accounting for more than one-quarter of the American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) population.2Poverty increased sharply for AIAN children in 2022, as policymakers allowed key economic relief measures to expire that helped families absorb the shock of the pandemic. Native American children have historically been painfully exposed to economic vulnerability. Structural inequities in the labor market and the broader economy continue to limit the earnings of AIAN families and leave workers in this community unfairly exposed to job losses.About 9.7 million people make up the AIAN population in the United States. This figure increased from 5.2 million in 2010, with growth across all major groups during the last decade in part because more Americans identify as multiracial/multiethnic. But even this is an underestimate, as the U.S. Census Bureau has acknowledged similar undercount rates for AIAN populations on reservations in 2010 and 2020.Between 2010 and 2020, the Alaska Native alone population increased by 10.9% and the Alaska Native (alone or in any combination) population surged by 45.6%. Similarly, the American Indian alone population increased by 11.6%, while the alone or in any combination population almost doubled during this period. The growth of the Latin American Indian (alone or in any combination) population was even stronger. The differences in growth between AIAN populations that identify as AIAN alone, versus alone or in any combination, reflect the need to observe Native communities holistically. This is particularly true when broad population and economic statistics fail to account for the unique experience and rich diversity that characterize the Native American community. The vitality of the U.S. Native American community is also reflected in its youth. Children under age 5, and those between the ages of 5 and 17, make up a larger share of the total AIAN population than children in the non-Hispanic white population (see Figure A). Overall, children account for more than one-quarter of the total AIAN population, compared with less than one-fifth of the non-Hispanic white population. The general youth of the Native American community means that its economic welfare cannot be separated from the well-being of AIAN children.

The school bus driver shortage remains severe: Without job quality improvements, workers, children, and parents will suffer -EPI Blog -When students returned to school in August and September, numerous media reports drew attention to school bus driver shortages across the country. The turbulence resulting from these shortages has at times been dramatic. In Louisville, Kentucky, school district leaders fumbled the rollout of an expensive new routing software intended to reduce the number of school bus drivers needed, leading to misplaced students and forcing the school district to halt classes for more than a week. Meanwhile, in New York City, the union contract for school bus drivers expired, with contentious negotiations resulting in a narrowly averted strike.School bus drivers remain a vital part of the education system. Roughly half of school children rely on bus services to get to school. Interrupted services and instability can disrupt learning time and contribute to absenteeism. Reduced bus services can be a particularly challenging hurdle for children with disabilities, who sometimes travel far distances for specialized education. With many students and families already trying to recover from challenges and learning disruptions caused by the pandemic, it is more important than ever to have services as basic as bus transportation to school functioning effectively.Figure A shows 12-month rolling averages of K–12 school bus driver employment. The figure shows employment broken out by whether the bus driver is a state and local government employee (i.e., they’re employed by the school district or other relevant state or local public agency) or a private-sector employee (i.e., the school district contracts bus service to a private company or the bus driver works for a private school). The data show that school bus driver employment continues to be far below pre-pandemic levels. There were approximately 192,400 bus drivers working in K–12 schools in September 2023, down 15.1% from September 2019. Employment for state and local government school bus drivers has fallen 13.6% to 156,600 workers over the same period, while private school bus driver employment has declined 21.5% from 43,300 workers to around 34,000.1Although school bus driver employment has increased from its trough in the pandemic (when it was down 32.5%), states and local governments have much to do to return school bus driver numbers to adequate levels. Figure A shows that even before the pandemic, the number of bus drivers working in elementary and secondary schools had not returned to levels that existed during the Great Recession. Approximately 290,000 bus drivers were employed in the fall of 2009, but those employment levels declined 21.8% by 2019. This marked decline reflects the results of austerity and budget cuts beginning in the early 2010s.During the same period, student enrollment at public K–12 schools grew by 1.4 million. Like other public education workers, public school bus drivers are being asked to do more with less overall capacity. Asking fewer bus drivers to pick up more students means longer routes, earlier morning pick-ups, and later drop-offs. These burdensome logistics can increase the likelihood of a student missing school time and diminish their chances of participating in other activities—not to mention the additional burden they can place on parents trying to coordinate work schedules.

Feds offer free COVID tests to US school districts --The US Department of Education and the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), part of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), yesterday announced a plan to distribute free COVID-19 tests to school districts.Districts can order the tests directly from the government starting in early December. Roberto Rodriguez, the education department's assistant secretary for planning, evaluation, and policy development, said, "These self-tests are easy to use and can play an important role in preventing the spread of COVID-19. We encourage schools to make use of these free resources to safeguard students, parents, and staff throughout the 2023-24 school year."Officials said they expect millions of tests to be sent out for stocking school nurses' offices, distributing at events, sending home with students or parents, and more.HHS Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Dawn O'Connell, JD, said making free tests available ensures that students and staff can test through the winter months, adding that a close relationship with school districts can help keep communities healthy.

To Shrink Learning Gap, This District Offers Classes Separated by Race High school in Evanston, Ill., offers so-called affinity classes, in which Black and Latino students are separated from white students – WSJ - School leaders in this college town just north of Chicago have been battling a sizable academic achievement gap between Black, Latino and white students for decades. So a few years ago, the school district decided to try something new at the high school: classrooms voluntarily separated by race.Nearly 200 Black and Latino students at Evanston Township High School signed up this year for math classes and a writing seminar intended for students of the same race, taught by a teacher of color. These optional so-called affinity classes are designed to address the achievement gap by making students feel more comfortable in class, district leaders have said, particularly in Advanced Placement courses that historically have enrolled few Black and Latino students.

Florida High School Students Walk Out of Classes Amid Transgender Athlete Investigation ---Hundreds of students at a Florida high school walked out Tuesday after the school’s principal, assistant principal and multiple instructors were reassigned while the state investigates whether they allowed a transgender student to play on a girls’ volleyball team in violation of state law. The students at Monarch High School in Broward County walked out of classes and onto the school’s football field around noon, holding signs supporting trans rights and chanting “trans lives matter," according to a report by NBC News. Monarch High’s school district reassigned Principal John Cecil, Assistant Principal Kenneth May, Athletic Director Dione Hester and Information Management Technician Jessica Norton to “non-school sites” during the investigation into whether they violated the state’s 2021 “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act.” The law prevents students who are born male from playing sports or on athletic teams that are designated for women and girls. The law does not prevent people born as female from playing on mens’ or boys’ teams. A family friend of the athlete at the center of the investigation said the student has yet to publicly identify as transgender and argued the situation had been seriously mishandled. Related video: Students Walk Out to Support Transgender Athlete and Staff Who Were Removed (Dailymotion) “It's horrendous first on just a human level that the school would out somebody on an issue like this that's obviously incredibly sensitive,” the friend said, according to CBS News Miami. More than 20 states, including Florida, have passed legislation barring people born male but who identify as girls or women later in life from participating in sports intended for biological women and girls, alleging that transgender athletes have an unfair competitive advantage if they were born male.

Hillcrest High School 'Riot' Over Pro-Israel Teacher Condemned by mayor - New York Mayor Eric Adams has condemned what he described as a "vile show of antisemitism" which took place on Monday at Hillcrest High School in Queens, when a Jewish teacher had to hide in a locked office as several hundred pro-Palestinian students rampaged through the school, with some reportedly attempting to force entry. The pre-planned demonstration took place after the teacher shared a photograph of herself at a pro-Israeli demonstration on social media, holding a poster from the American Jewish Committee reading "I stand with Israel." Tensions erupted globally on October 7 when Hamas fighters launched a massive surprise attack on southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and kidnapping another 240. Israel hit back with an air and ground campaign that has killed more than 12,700 Palestinians, The Associated Press reported, citing the Hamas-run Health Ministry. According to The New York Post 25 officers from the New York Police Department (NYPD) attended the high school disturbance to regain order and the following day police arrested an 18-year-old for allegedly posting threats in a group chat. Adams shared the New York Post article on X, formerly Twitter, adding: "The vile show of antisemitism at Hillcrest High School was motivated by ignorance-fueled hatred, plain and simple, and it will not be tolerated in any of our schools, let alone anywhere else in our city. We are better than this." Footage of the disturbance posted on social media shows large groups of students, some waving Palestinian flags, both inside and outside the school. One clip, first posted on TikTok, referred to "multiple fights and riots" and included a photo of a water fountain that had been ripped from the wall in an apparent act of vandalism. City Councilman James Gennaro, a Democrat, said the NYPD had brought in its counterterrorism bureau to investigate potential threats arising from the incident. He said: "Whether it was one student or multiple students who did or said something, whatever the trigger was, something happened. And I know from my many years on the city council that the counterterrorism task force is not engaged unless they believe it is potentially a serious situation."

A mom chose an off-the-grid school for safety from COVID. No one protected her kid from the teacher (AP) — When Raynesha Cummings enrolled her three teenagers in a private school, she hoped to keep them safe from COVID-19. It was small, with no frills — there was just one teacher and the school didn’t serve lunch — but it worked for her family, at least initially. Her son graduated in May at the top of his class, with hopes of attending a trade school. But when he started applying, schools said they would not recognize his diploma. Then, a couple weeks later, Cummings says she discovered the teacher had been texting her 16-year-old daughter to offer money for sexually explicit photos. The teacher was arrested, and Cummings learned he previously had been accused of raping a child.Cummings didn’t know it when her kids started at Second Chance Academy, but the school had no accreditation, no approval from the state and no one supervising the teacher she left her kids with every day.“If I had known that, I would never pay my money for them to go there,” Cummings said. “I really feel like I made a big mistake.”Second Chance falls into a category of off-the-grid schools in Louisiana that operate with hardly any oversight. Formally known as “nonpublic schools not seeking state approval,” most are home schools that serve a single family. But some, like Second Chance, are brick-and-mortar schoolhouses with dozens of students.Today, the school on Renoir Avenue in Baton Rouge appears abandoned, shuttered perhaps for good after several brushes with the law. Its lone teacher is facing charges for sexual misconduct.

Opinion | Powerful Forces Are Fracking Our Attention. We Can Fight Back. - The New York Times --The lament is as old as education itself: The students aren’t paying attention. But today, the problem of flighty or fragmented attention has reached truly catastrophic proportions. High school and college teachers overwhelmingly report that students’ capacity for sustained, or deep attention has sharply decreased, significantly impeding the forms of study — reading, looking at art, round-table discussions — once deemed central to the liberal arts. By some measures you are lucky these days to get 47 seconds of focused attention on a discrete task. “Middlemarch” is tough sledding on that timeline. So are most forms of human interaction out of which meaningful life, collective action and political engagement are made.We are witnessing the dark side of our new technological lives, whose extractive profit models amount to the systematic fracking of human beings: pumping vast quantities of high-pressure media content into our faces to force up a spume of the vaporous and intimate stuff called attention, which now trades on the open market. Increasingly powerful systems seek to ensure that our attention is never truly ours.In the 19th century, the Industrial Revolution enabled harrowing new forms of exploitation and human misery. Yet through new forms of activity such as trade unions and labor organizing, working people pushed back against the “satanic mills” that compromised their humanity and pressed money out of their blood and bones. The moment has come for a new and parallel revolution against the dishonest expropriation of value from you and me and, most visibly of all, our children. We need a new kind of resistance, equal to the little satanic mills that live in our pockets.This is going to require attention to attention, and dedicated spaces to learn (or relearn) the powers of this precious faculty. Spaces where we can give our focus to objects and language and other people, and thereby fashion ourselves in relation to a common world. If you think that this sounds like school, you’re right: This revolution starts in our classrooms.We must flip the script on teachers’ perennial complaint. Instead of fretting that students’ flagging attention doesn’t serve education, we must make attention itself the thing being taught. The implications of such a shift are vast. For two centuries, champions of liberal democracy have agreed that individual and collective freedom requires literacy. But as once-familiar calls for an informed citizenry give way to fears of informational saturation and perpetual distraction, literacy becomes less urgent than attensity, the capacity for attention. What democracy most needs now is an attentive citizenry — human beings capable of looking up from their screens, together.Around the world, informal coalitions of educators, activists and artists are conducting grass-roots experiments to try to make that possible — from the writer Jenny Odell to the philosopher James Williams, from the Center for Humane Technology, a large project to investigate the ethics of tech, to the intimate art events of theSlow Reading Club. Call it attention activism.We three are members of one such community, the Strother School of Radical Attention. Working in classrooms — as well as museums, public libraries, universities — we have heard from thousands of people across the country and beyond about their struggles to give themselves to the world, and to others, in the ways they want. They are describing the damage that attention-fracking does, violence that the philosopher Miranda Fricker calls “epistemic injustice.”The curriculum we have developed takes on a challenge that so many of us face: how to create, beyond the confines of our personalized digital universes, something resembling a shared world.

How school boards became one of democracy’s front lines - Since the pandemic, Americans are paying closer attention to school boards and their meetings than ever before, but the rubber-meets-the-road government bodies — an original colonial creation — are no strangers to controversy. Nick Melvoin got elected to Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education in 2017 and has not seen a break in the chaos since. He has dealt with every school board controversy in the book: natural disasters, teacher strikes, Russian cyberattacks and, of course, COVID-19. “It’s not surprising to me that we’re having these fights in our schools. It’s unfortunate. I think it’s turned a lot of people off from getting involved in the school board because people took an unnecessary amount of heat” over the past few years, Melvoin said. School board meetings functioning as political stages is hardly a new idea, though the coronavirus pandemic gave many parents an inside glimpse they never before had into their children’s education. The world’s first school board was an American creation back in 1647 when what was then the Massachusetts Bay Colony passed a law that local towns had to maintain their schools. School boards themselves, however, were not a universal practice as many small jurisdictions simply held town meetings where all residents voted on issues such as how the school would be funded and how much parents should have to pay to send their children. “By the 1820s we have a pretty recognizable modern school board. It’s an elected group. They’re observing public schools the way we think of them,” said Adam Laats, a professor of education and history at Binghamton University.The free public school system that exists today emerged in the 1830s, called “common schools,” though public elementary schools did not become commonplace nationwide until the late 19th century with high schools only becoming popular in the 20th century. Over the past few years, the country has seen the rise of the “parental rights” movement, largely driven by conservatives who were displeased with the handling of COVID-19. The fight has put school board meetings into tight — and sometimes dangerous — situations. Melissa Woods, the president of Kingsport City Schools Board of Education in Tennessee, said her role on a school board deciding on how to implement a mask mandate was her “trial by fire.”“I took office in July, and in August we had to make a decision about masks or no masks,” Woods said.“There were very polarizing opinions on what worked and what didn’t work, and so it was kind of baptized by fire right there at the beginning, and we made the decision to make masks optional,” she said.But even as issues of masks and vaccines have faded, Republican supporters of parental rights have doubled down, demanding more say in what goes on in the classroom.One of the leaders of the movement is Moms for Liberty, which was founded in January 2021 by former school board members Tiffany Justice and Tina Descovich.“It has always been parental rights,” Justice told The Hill recently. “It’s never just been the toxic critical pedagogy or the masks or the quarantining or the secrets being kept from parents. The overall arching issue is parental rights. Parents have a fundamental right to direct the upbringing of their children,” Justice said. She added that “In our government schools, parental rights are being violated every single day. No more.”

Ohio bill to ban diversity training requirements in higher education stalls in GOP House - (AP) — A GOP-sponsored bill that would ban nearly all diversity and inclusion training requirements at Ohio’s public colleges and universities and bar public universities from taking stances on “controversial” topics doesn’t have the votes to move forward in the Legislature, according to the House’s conservative leader.House Speaker Jason Stephens, a rural southern Ohio Republican, told reporters Tuesday that he wouldn’t be pushing the contentious legislation to a floor vote in the GOP-dominated House, as it simply doesn’t have enough support despite having cleared the conservative state Senate. The multifaceted measure would drastically change the way students learn and faculty teach across the nation’s fourth-largest public university system, and comes alongside other Republican-led states targeting diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education.Supporters of the measure have called it necessary to rid higher education of bias, promote “intellectual diversity” and help protect conservative speech on campuses.Senate President Matt Huffman, a Lima Republican, has long championed the measure, and the Senate voted to approve the legislation mostly along party lines in May. Three GOP members broke away from their party to join Democrats in voting against the measure.Dozens of university students and faculty, as well as the 61,000-student Ohio State University, have spoken out against the bill. Many have argued the legislation encourages censorship and allows the Legislature to micromanage higher education — particularly when it comes to defining subjective terms like “bias,” “intellectual diversity” and “controversial matters.”Several changes were made to the bill since the May vote, including nixing the heavily opposed ban on faculty strikes during contract negotiations — something many House Republicans expressed concern over. But that doesn’t appear to have made it more palatable, at least to Stephens.Bill sponsor Sen. Jerry Cirino pushed back on Stephens’ stance that the bill doesn’t have the support it would need to pass the House, pointing out that a third committee hearing went ahead Wednesday on the measure and the committee will likely hold a vote on it next week.“I can’t get inside the speaker’s mind, but ... I believe that there are the votes,” Cirino told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “We’ll see if we can’t in some fashion convince the speaker that this bill is absolutely needed in the state of Ohio to improve higher education.” ___Samantha Hendrickson is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

Baldwin Wallace Thought It Faced a $3 Million Budget Deficit. Then It Discovered It Was Actually $20 Million -- Baldwin Wallace University this year was already planning on how it would address a $3 million budget deficit accrued from July 2022 to June 2023 — a product of rising costs, decreased revenue from enrollment, and other factors — when it learned its deficit was actually much higher: a little over $20 million. The Northeast Ohio private university is now both trying to learn exactly how it flew so blindly for so long and figure out how to reduce costs next year, which will likely include the elimination of programs and sizable staff cuts. According to notes from an Oct. 2 Senate Executive and President Meeting reviewed by Scene, the school's new CFO discovered the hole and an "updated financial report" from BW submitted to the Higher Learning Commission was flagged. BW has now hired Ernst & Young to audit the books going back three to four years."There are a series of financial ratios that get reported to HLC," BW President Robert Helmer said at the meeting. "One of those ratios triggered HLC's attention."Meeting notes also show the university discovered that money had been moved from various sources, including from the endowment, to cover losses. Updated procedures, including budget sign-offs from the president and new policies regarding withdrawals from the endowment, have since been put in place. Helmer was quoted in meeting minutes saying nothing criminal or nefarious is suspected. Accounting issues were first reported by the BW Exponent, the school's student newspaper. In a late September story, the administration vaguely acknowledged that some recent mid-year reports were inaccurate, giving the university an incorrect snapshot of its budget.“During the year, reports are generated or were generated, and it would pass by the [Chief Financial Officer’s] office and in some of those reports there has been accurate reporting as to the current status to our expenses versus our revenue,” Dan Karp, assistant vice president and director of University Relations, told the Exponent. “And in some of those indicated, [they] did not reveal the amount of spending we had. So it did not clearly show the full expenses.”

Biden administration notifies borrowers of student loan forgiveness -- Around 813,000 student loan borrowers will soon receive an email from President Joe Biden notifying them that their debt has been forgiven because of his actions, the White House said Tuesday.Many borrowers who will get the email likely already knew about the loan cancellation and may have already received that relief. The message directly from the president, less than a year ahead of the 2024 presidential election, makes it clear who was responsible for the relief."Congratulations — your student loan has been forgiven because of actions my administration took to make sure you receive the relief you earned and deserve," the email reads.Biden has erased $127 billion in student debt so far for more than 3.5 million borrowers — more than any other president in history.The Biden administration used existing programs, including Public Service Loan Forgiveness and income-driven repayment plans, to deliver the debt cancellation. Previously, the relief under these programs was hard to access."The president is committed to fighting for hardworking American families, making sure we get them a little more breathing room, and allowing them to support themselves and their families," a White House official said on Tuesday.Biden's plan to cancel up to $400 billion in student debt for tens of millions of Americans was rejected at the Supreme Court in June.Republican nominees for president oppose student loan forgiveness.Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has said that Biden didn't have the authority to cancel student debt without prior authorization from Congress."He knows he's done something that is illegal and over the top," Christie said on ABC's "This Week" in 2022, shortly after Biden announced his broad forgiveness plan.

Discover, facing regulatory scrutiny, to exit student lending - Discover Financial Services is exiting the student loan business after close to a decade of regulatory headaches stemming from improper loan servicing. Regulatory flubs in student lending and elsewhere at the Illinois-based credit card giant preceded the ouster of longtime CEO Roger Hochschild in August. Discover got hit with a consent order in September over consumer protection compliance.The company's student loan portfolio, which was the subject of consent orders in 2015 and 2020, is now being floated for a sale to another institution. Discover said Wednesday that its board of directors authorized executives to explore a sale of the $10 billion loan portfolio, as well as the transfer of servicing responsibilities to another party. Discover also plans to stop accepting new student loan applications starting in February."During a recent review, the Board determined that exploring the sale and transfer of servicing of Discover's student loans is aligned with those priorities, better enabling Discover to focus on our core banking products, capitalize on our growth opportunities and deliver long-term shareholder value," John Owen, Discover's interim CEO and president, said in a news release.The $143 billion-asset company is "committed to a path forward that enables a seamless transition for our customers as they advance their education and financial goals," Owen said. The company's stock jumped more than 4% the day after the news.

Fighting fruit flies help researchers understand why we stay angry - It's one of those days. On the drive home from work, the car in the next lane cuts you off. You slam on the brakes, lay on the horn, and yell choice words at the offending driver. When you walk into your house half an hour later, you're still angry and snap at your partner when they ask about your day.Fruit flies may not have to worry about the lingering effects of road rage, but they also experience states of persistent aggression. In the case of female fruit flies, this behavior is a survival mechanism, causing the flies to headbutt, shove, and fence other female fruit flies to guard prime egg-laying territory on a ripe banana.Now, researchers at Janelia and the California Institute of Technology are homing in on the neurons, circuits, and mechanisms responsible for this tenacious behavior.In a new study in eLife, the researchers report they've teased out the cell types contributing to a persistent aggressive state in female fruit flies, showing that some cells associated with aggression can cause flies to remain angry for up to 10 minutes.They also found that this persistent state may not be solely due to a recurrent connection between the aggression-associated cells, as had been thought. In a recurrent connection, signals loop back and feed into the same neural circuit, which could cause a behavior to persist.Instead, the new research suggests persistent aggression could be regulated by other factors, including neuromodulators affecting neuronal activity, neurons downstream from the aggression-associated cells, or other circuits in the fly brain. Considering their findings, scientists may need to develop a new model that considers these other factors in addition to recurrent connections to explain this enduring behavior.

These foods could be putting you at a higher risk of cancer, researchers say --Consuming certain foods and drinks could put people at a higher risk of developing colorectal cancer (CRC), according to a new study published in the journal Nutrients.Researchers from the Zhejiang University School of Medicine in China analyzed 139 dietary factors and their impact on the risk of developing colorectal cancer (CRC).The participants included 118,210 people who participated in the long-running UK Biobank study — all of whom completed online questionnaires about their food intake. After a mean follow-up of 12.8 years, the researchers identified eight foods that were shown to influence CRC risk.The first two, alcohol and white bread, were found to increase the risk, regardless of genetic factors.Previous studies also linked alcohol with increased cancer risk. “Ethanol in any type of alcoholic beverage is a known risk factor for CRC because its first metabolite, acetaldehyde, has been evaluated as a human carcinogen by the International Agency for Research,” the study authors wrote. The white bread-related risk is also consistent with previous studies, they noted.“Notably, whole grains are a major source of many vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals that have anti-cancer properties and may influence CRC risk through several potential mechanisms,” the authors wrote.Alcohol was found to increase the risk, regardless of genetic factors. The other six dietary elements – fiber, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, manganese and carbohydrate intake – were all found to lower the risk of colorectal cancer, the researchers found. The remaining foods did not show any impact on CRC risk. These results persisted after adjusting for such factors as family history, age, gender, socioeconomic deprivation and education.“These findings emphasize the critical importance of adopting a healthy lifestyle and dietary habits, which include limiting alcohol consumption and choosing a diet rich in high-fiber foods to mitigate the risk of cancer,” Karimi added.The participants included 118,210 people who participated in the long-running UK Biobank study. While the study doesn’t negate the importance of considering genetic factors in cancer risk, the doctor noted that it does underscore the impact diet can have on cancer prevention.“This study also stands out because of its size and design,” said Karimi.“It involved a large sample population of 500,000 middle-aged people, a long follow-up period and a comprehensive assessment of dietary factors.”

How Sugar Fuels Cancer In The Body | ZeroHedge - For cancer patients, “sugar intake can indeed nourish cancer cells,” Mingyang Song, associate professor of clinical epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, told The Epoch Times.This is supported by strong epidemiological evidence, he said.A study published in PLoS One involving 1,011 colon cancer patients with a follow-up period of over seven years found that compared to patients consuming less than two servings of sugar-sweetened beverages per month, those who consumed two or more servings per day experienced a 67 percent increased risk of colon cancer recurrence or mortality.Another Spanish study published in Clinical Nutrition in 2021 involving over 7,000 participants found that for every additional 5 grams of sugar consumed in liquid form per day, cancer incidence increased by 8 percent. People with the highest intake experienced a 46 percent increase.A can of soda usually contains 30 to 45 grams of sugar. A shift in a population’s sugar consumption can significantly affect cancer rates. Lewis Cantley, a well-known biologist and professor of cell biology at Harvard Medical School, used Taiwan as an example in an email to The Epoch Times. He wrote that before World War II, Taiwan had relatively low rates of cancers, including colon, endometrial, and breast. That was when sugar-sweetened beverages were scarce. Then, in the 1960s and 1970s, with the introduction of Western diets—particularly sugary drinks—cancer rates there steadily began to rise. They’ve now reached a level comparable to those in the United States.

Why the American Red Cross makes money from donated blood - The American Red Cross has long been recognized as the universal symbol of humanitarian services —and it's an expensive operation. In 2022, the American Red Cross generated more than $3.2 billion in operating revenue and spent just over $3 billion in expenses the same year, according to its financial statements. Contributions only make up about a third of the organization's revenue. "It's really sort of the charity of choice," according to Jake Johnston, a senior research associate at the Center for Economic and Policy Research. "When the White House starts raising money, when the big corporations, the NFL, Hollywood A-listers are raising money for the aftermath of a disaster, it's most likely targeted toward the American Red Cross." But the majority of its revenue, just over $1.8 billion, comes from what its financial statements refer to as "Biomedical services." "The American Red Cross essentially collects blood from donors and then as part of the way it raises revenue to recover costs, then sells that blood to about 2,500 hospitals and medical facilities across the country," said Laurie Styron, CEO and executive director of CharityWatch. When CNBC inquired about the pricing of these products, the American Red Cross responded that "prices for a unit of red blood cells is proprietary information. The pricing is determined by purchase volumes by blood type, service levels, and delivery requirements as well as other agreed upon terms with a hospital." The American Red Cross further clarified that it "does not charge for the blood itself" but is "reimbursed by hospitals and transfusion centers for the costs associated with providing blood products." A majority of the American Red Cross' operating expenses, just over $2 billion, is also spent on collecting blood, according to its financial statements. That's about $139 million more than the revenue it collects from selling the blood.

CDC revamps wastewater COVID data reporting --The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently unveiled new wastewater data tracking dashboard to make it easier to track local and national trends, even by variant. Wastewater tracking is one of the early indicators health officials use to gauge the activity of SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses.Called the National Wastewater Surveillance Program, the main page says that, nationally, wastewater viral activity of COVID is high.On Twitter (X), Niall Brennan, MPP, senior adviser to the CDC's director, said the makeover was done over a 4-week period by a team informally called "Poo's Clues." He added that the goal was to reimagine how to present the data and improve the visualizations, which were previously underwhelming. Wastewater tracking users can now see national trends in 1-year, 6-month, and 45-day increments and examine regional and local trends. The new portal also has maps showing wastewater viral activity levels and shows shifts in variants over time."It was fun and fast paced and my thanks to the incredible team at CDC who willingly ripped up the rule book in the process of making this incredible resource more accessible to a wider audience. Much more to come!," Brennan said. Amy Kirby, PhD, MPH, a microbiologist and epidemiologist who is part of the CDC team, pointed out on Twitter that the dashboard also includes mpox wastewater tracking.

Birth records show COVID-19 caused spike in preterm births - The COVID-19 pandemic significantly raised the risk of preterm birth for expectant California mothers, and vaccination likely prevented thousands of them, according to a study today published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.But within 1 year of the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines, that risk virtually disappeared in ZIP codes reporting high vaccination coverage, suggesting vaccination was a key strategy in mitigating preterm birth risks caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection.Preterm birth is defined as birth before 37 weeks gestation."By summer 2021, having COVID-19 in pregnancy had no effect on preterm birth risk in these communities," said study author Jenna Nobles, PhD, of the University of Wisconsin–Madison in a university press release. "It takes almost a year longer for that to happen in the ZIP codes with the lowest vaccine uptake."The study suggests the US vaccination campaign likely prevented thousands of preterm births and reenforces the importance of maternal COVID-19 vaccination.

Cancer patients with COVID at higher risk of death, hospitalization amid Omicron -- A study from Israel finds that adult solid-cancer patients had a higher risk of death and hospitalization after COVID-19 infection than infected patients without cancer during a period of Omicron variant predominance and that vaccination lowered that risk. A Researchers from Beilinson Hospital and Tel Aviv University analyzed the electronic health records of 7,432 Clalit Health Services patients diagnosed as having solid cancer and COVID-19 and 14,864 matched, infected control patients without cancer from December 2021 to September 2022. The results were published late last week in JAMA Oncology."The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, which is associated with milder disease than prior strains, became the dominant SARS-CoV-2 variant in November 2021," the study authors wrote. "Research conducted before it became dominant demonstrated that patients with cancer had increased fatality rates from COVID-19 compared with patients without cancer; however, corresponding data on the Omicron variant are sparse."The 30-day death rate after COVID-19 diagnosis was twice as high in the cancer group than in controls (1.6% vs 0.8%; odds ratio [OR], 2.12). The 90-day death rate and 30-day hospitalization rates were similarly higher in people with cancer (2.7% vs 1.3%; OR, 2.09 and 2.8% vs 1.2%; OR, 2.44).

Findings challenge standard understanding of COVID-19 infection - Some viruses move between species. For example, SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, can spill over from humans to mink, an agricultural species, and then spill back from mink to humans. Spillback is a concern because SARS-CoV-2 can mutate in the mink and come back to humans in a more virulent form. Both spillover and spillback of SARS-CoV-2 have been reported on mink farms in the United States and Europe.To address these issues, a research team at the University of California, Riverside, has now studied zoonosis—the interspecies transmission of pathogens—in mink and found that TMPRSS2, an enzyme critical for viral fusion entry of SARS-CoV-2 in humans, is not functional in mink."We found mink lung cells are infected by the 'endocytosis pathway,' not the TMPRSS2 fusion pathway commonly observed in human cells," said doctoral student Ann Song, first author of the research paper, "Endocytosis inhibitors block SARS-CoV-2 pseudoparticle infection of mink lung epithelium," that appears in Frontiers in Microbiology."Our findings show that SARS-CoV-2 entry is not the same in all mammals and emphasize the need for thorough investigations into viral entry mechanisms across different species."Song explained that viral fusion occurs when the membrane of the virus fuses with the plasma membrane of the host cell during infection. She said endocytosis is an essential process in which cells engulf external materials in small vesicles formed from their plasma membranes. SARS-CoV-2 can be taken up by host cells via endocytosis, she said."Our results show that the functional—or enzymatic—domain is missing in mink TMPRSS2," she said. "We do not know why. We think the enzyme may have multiple functions. It can do something else in mink, but it does not play a role in SARS-CoV-2 fusion to host cells. As a result, targeting TMPRSS2 would not be helpful in preventing infection in mink. What is clear is that SARS-CoV-2 entry varies among different species and tissue types."Song said zoonosis is a public health concern as dangerous mutated forms of the virus could be introduced into the human population through spillback. During the pandemic, hundreds of papers were published on COVID-19 in humans. Now that COVID-19 in humans is under better control, scientific attention is turning to zoonosis.

Young adults more prone to anxiety, depression during COVID-19 than older adults, data show - The findings of a study yesterday in JAMA Network Open suggest that more than a third of young US adults had anxiety or depression during the COVID-19 pandemic, and economic and social uncertainty may have played a role. This cross-sectional study consisted of a nationally representative online survey administered from April 2020 to August 2022. Researchers from Northwestern University and the University of Florida assessed symptoms of anxiety and depression via responses to two screening tools, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 2 (for anxiety) and the Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (for depression).Their analysis included 3,028,923 respondents. The investigators found likely anxiety disorders in 40% of adults 18 to 39, compared with 31% in those 40 to 59 and 20% in people 60 and older. They noted likely depressive disorders in 33% of the young adults, 24% of those 40 to 59, and just 16% in the oldest group.They noted, "Levels declined throughout the pandemic period for those aged 40 years and older but remained elevated for younger adults…. Younger adults' anxiety and depression increased more than older adults' after surges in COVID-19 case counts but decreased less following vaccination against the virus."The authors attributed about a third of the age gap among adults with depression and anxiety to economic precarity, found more often in young adults.They conclude, "Economic precarity was associated with high anxiety and depression among younger adults in the US compared with older adults in the US. These findings suggest a need for greater mental health care and economic policies targeted toward younger adults."

Maintaining coping strategies during pandemic tied to lower risk of anxiety, depression -People who were able to have steady and stable coping mechanisms throughout the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic were less likely to experience depression and anxiety, according to a new study in The Annals of Family Medicine.The study, conducted via Veterans Affairs health services, was based on more than 2,000 participants who completed three online surveys during the period when COVID-19 vaccines were widely available but restrictions were still in place across much of the United States (December 2 to 27, 2020; January 21 to February 6, 2021; and March 8 to 23, 2021).The questionnaire asked participants about their use of 11 coping strategies and symptoms of anxiety and depression. Coping strategies ranged from using humor and distraction to denial and planning.The authors said a total of 2,085 participants (50.8% veterans) completed the questionnaire at one or more time points, and 930 participants (62.8% veterans) completed it at all three time points. In responses, researchers identified three coping strategies: adaptive, distressed, and disengaged.Seventy-one percent of participants changed their coping strategy across the three different survey periods, the authors said. The most common coping style during the first two questionnaires was the disengagement (used by 50.3% and 59.6% of participants, respectively), whereas the most common style during the final survey was adaptive coping (used by 46.0%)."Over our study’s time window, 4 months of a rapidly evolving context for the COVID-19 pandemic, changes in coping style were common," the authors wrote. "Participants who did not change coping style across time (the stable group) were less depressed and anxious than those who did change styles."The protection against anxiety and depression existed even if the coping strategies were not adaptive, the authors said.

Meta-analysis reveals high rates of heart complications in long-COVID patients A review and meta-analysis of long-term cardiac complications of long COVID finds a high prevalence of chest pain and abnormal heart rhythms (arrythmias).For the study, published this week in BMC Medicine, a University of Washington–led team reviewed 150 studies on 57 cardiac complications that persisted for at least 1 month after COVID-19 infection. They also conducted a meta-analysis of 137 studies on 17 complications. The studies were published from January 2020 to July 2023."Prior reviews synthesized findings of studies on long-term cardiac complications of COVID-19," the researchers wrote. "However, the reporting and methodological quality of these studies has not been systematically evaluated."Slightly over one quarter (25.3%) of studies were high-quality, according to a customized Newcastle-Ottawa scale. The most widely examined cardiac complications were chest pain and arrhythmias. When study quality and characteristics were disregarded, the estimated prevalence of chest pain and arrhythmias were 9.8% and 8.2%, respectively.Less-examined complications were stroke (0.5%), heart abnormalities (10.5%), thromboembolism (1.4%), high blood pressure (4.9%), heart failure (1.2%), myocardial injury (1.3%), myocarditis (0.6%), abnormal ventricular function (6.7%), edema (2.1%), coronary disease (0.4%), ischemic heart disease (1.4%), valve abnormalities (2.9%), pericardial effusion (0.8%), atrial fibrillation (2.6%), and impaired diastolic function (4.9%). But stratified analyses found that low-quality studies with small sample sizes, unsystematic sampling methods, and cross-sectional designs were more likely to report higher complication rates. For instance, rates of chest pain were 22.2%, 11.1%, and 3.9% in low-, medium-, and high-quality studies. Similar trends were seen for arrhythmias and other less-examined cardiac complications."We found there were diverse manifestations of cardiac complications, and many can last for months and even years," the study authors wrote. "Reported findings from previous studies are strongly related to study quality, sample sizes, sampling methods, and designs, underscoring the need for high-quality epidemiologic studies to characterize these complications and understand their etiology."

Studies suggest even one vaccine dose may cut risk of long COVID -Two new analyses from Sweden and Pakistan published in BMJhighlight the benefits of partial or full COVID-19 vaccination in preventing persistent symptoms. In Sweden, University of Gothenburg researchers led an observational evaluation of the efficacy of primary COVID-19 vaccination (two doses followed by a booster) against long COVID, or post-COVID condition (PCC), among adults whose first infections were recorded in a national registry from December 2020 to February 2022. Average follow-up was 129 days.Among 299,692 vaccinated participants, 7.0% received only one dose, 68.6% received two, and 24.3% had at least three.Participants were considered vaccinated if they had received at least one dose before infection. Of all participants vaccinated before infection, 0.4% were diagnosed as having long COVID during follow-up, compared with 1.4% of their 290,030 unvaccinated peers, a nearly four-fold difference. Receipt of at least one vaccine dose was tied to a lower risk of long COVID (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.42), for a vaccine effectiveness (VE) of 58%. VE against long COVID for one, two, and three or more doses was 21%, 59%, and 73%, respectively."The results of this study suggest a strong association between covid-19 vaccination before infection and reduced risk of receiving a diagnosis of PCC," the researchers wrote. "The findings highlight the importance of primary vaccination against covid-19 to reduce the population burden of PCC."

COVID activity picks up pace alongside other respiratory viruses - After a stable period, COVID-19 activity is increasing again, especially in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today in its latest updates.In a weekly snapshot of respiratory illness activity, the CDC said along with rises in most COVID indicators, the United States is experiencing elevated respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) activity and rising hospitalization for the virus, especially in young children. The flu season is also picking up steam. Hospital occupancy for respiratory illnesses, including intensive care unit (ICU) admissions, is stable, but pediatric inpatient bed occupancy is rising, approaching levels seen last respiratory virus season, the CDC said.Amid reports of pediatric pneumonia clusters in China that have swamped some of the country's pediatric hospitals and clinics, the CDC said it is monitoring increases in respiratory illnesses in children, including potential elevated rates of pediatric pneumonia in parts of the United States.In Ohio, the Warren County Health District this week reported elevated levels of pediatric pneumonia, with 145 cases reported so far in children ages 3 to 14. None were fatal. Severity is similar to previous years, and most patients were treated at home with antibiotics."The increase in reported pneumonia cases is not suspected of being a new/novel respiratory virus but rather a large uptick in the number of typical pediatric pneumonia cases," the department said. "There has been zero evidence of this outbreak being connected to other outbreaks, either statewide, nationally or internationally.""These reported increases do not appear to be due to a new virus or other pathogen but to several viral or bacterial causes that we expect to see during the respiratory illness season," it said, adding that it is working closely with local and state health partners to maintain strong situational awareness.For COVID, hospitalizations—one of the main severity indicators—continue to rise, and early indicators also rose last week, with test positivity at 10% and emergency department (ED) visits up 10.6% compared with the previous week. Deaths held steady nationally last week, but a few states saw rises, including Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, and West Virginia.Regarding ED visits for COVID, Iowa reported a substantial rise, and Wisconsin reported a moderate increase. Test positivity was highest in the lower Midwestern states, followed by those in the upper Midwest and the Mountain West.Wastewater SARS-CoV-2 detections, another early marker, are at high levels nationally, according to the CDC's new dashboard, especially in the Midwest. In its updates today, the CDC said hospitalizations, ED visits, and test positivity are also on the rise for RSV and flu. Flu hospitalizations are low but increasing, and RSV hospitalizations are rising at all tracking sites.

US flu cases, hospitalizations keep climbing –=- Seasonal influenza cases continued to edge upward in most parts of the United States last week, with notable upticks in the south central, southeast, Mountain, and West Coast regions, according to the latest reporttoday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). FluView data for the week ending November 18 show an overall 4.9% hike in flu positivity, up 0.5 percentage points from last week. The highest positivity rates were in the Mountain (11.2%), south central (7.6%), southeast (7.6%), and West Coast (7.2%) regions.Respiratory viruses made up 3.7% of outpatient healthcare visits, which are at or above baseline in 7 of 10 Health and Human Services regions for the third week in a row. Nine jurisdictions reported moderate respiratory illness activity, and 12 characterized their activity as high or very high. The percentage of visits for respiratory illness is trending upward in only the 65-and-older age-group.The New England and Mountain regions at are baseline, while the Mid-Atlantic, southeast, south central, and West Coast regions, as well as the region encompassing New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands, are above baseline.Weekly flu hospitalizations continue their upward creep, with 3,296 admissions this week (cumulative hospitalization rate, 2.6 per 100,000). A total of 0.07% of all deaths were due to flu, including two children. Of the 529 virus strains reported by public health labs, 79.4% were influenza A, and 20.6% were influenza B. Of the 237 influenza A subtypes, 79.3% were H1N1, and 20.7% were H3N2.

Flu on the rise in multiple Northern Hemisphere regions --Global flu activity is on the rise owing to increases in temperate Northern Hemisphere regions, especially in parts of Europe, Central Asia, Western Asia, Eastern Asia, and North America, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in its latest update that covers roughly the first half of November.In North America, flu activity rose above baselines in the United States, with hospitalizations also on the rise, mainly due to circulation of the 2009 H1N1 strain. Mexico's activity rose above its baseline, mainly due to H1N1, and Canada's flu activity is at expected levels for this time of year.Eastern Asia's activity is driven by activity in China, where the H3N2 strain is dominant, and South Korea, where H1N1 is the main virus. Western Asia's rise is occurring mainly in some Arab Peninsula countries.And in Europe, Denmark, Malta, and Slovakia are reporting medium activity, with geographic activity listed as widespread in Denmark, Norway, and Spain. Of respiratory samples that were positive for flu at national flu labs during the reporting period, 83.9% were influenza A, and, of subtyped influenza A samples, 72.2% were H3N2.

Quick takes: RSV vaccine supply, Novavax COVID vaccine gets WHO nod, H1N2v flu case in UK | CIDRAP

• Senior White House officials met yesterday with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine suppliers to discuss manufacturing, distribution, and accessibility through the private market. In a statement, the White House said administration officials underscored the urgency of meeting demand heading into the winter season. The meeting came amid reports of a high demand for Beyfortus (nirsevimab-alip), the new long-acting monoclonal antibody injection to help prevent RSV in newborns. The White House recently announced the release of 77,000 more doses.
• Novavax announced today that the World Health Organization (WHO) has listed its updated COVID vaccine for emergency use, which paves the way for quicker regulatory approval for 194 member states and procurement by groups such as UNICEF. John Jacobs, the company's president and chief executive officer, said in a statement, "Rural or hard-to-reach areas can benefit from our vaccine's ease of transport and storage profile. As part of a diversified vaccine portfolio, our vaccine can play an important role in helping to protect people around the globe against the latest variants."
• The UK Health Security Agency yesterday announced the detection of the country's first human infection involving variant H1N2 (H1N2v) influenza, a virus that is similar to a strain circulating in UK pigs. The case was found during routine flu surveillance. The patient had a mild illness and has fully recovered. The source of the virus is under investigation, and health officials are closely monitoring the patient's contacts.

Experts question Pfizer's failure to inform pregnant women of safety signal in GSK RSV vaccine trial -- A debate has broken out over whether Pfizer should have told pregnant women taking part in its maternal respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine trial that a trial of a similar GSK vaccine was stopped over a safety signal around preterm birth, an investigation by The BMJ can reveal.Pfizer's vaccine, called Abrysvo, was recently approved for use in the US and the European Union, but is not yet authorised in the UK.Some experts have criticised Pfizer for not informing participants, while others believe notification would have been premature and caused unnecessary anxiety, reports freelance investigative journalist Hristio Boytchev.RSV is a common respiratory virus that usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms but it can be severe, especially in young children, and is a significant cause of infant death globally.Both GSK and Pfizer were developing recombinant RSV F protein vaccines to inoculate pregnant women and protect their babies.In February 2022, GSK halted its phase 3 trial after a possible increased risk of preterm births emerged. GSK is still investigating the cause, which experts think may be unrelated to the vaccine, but it is no longer developing its vaccine.Pfizer was also studying preterm births as an adverse event of special interest in its own phase 3 trial and a numerical (not statistically significant) imbalance in preterm births has recently emerged, though there is not enough data to understand if there is truly an increased risk or what the cause is.After GSK's trial was halted, there was a split opinion between clinical trial ethicists and some vaccine researchers over whether Pfizer should have informed all participating women in its trial about the potential risk or updated its consent forms.Charles Weijer, bioethics professor at Western University in London, Canada toldThe BMJ that informing pregnant women in Pfizer's trial about GSK's results would have allowed women who had not yet received the jab to consider whether they still wished to get it, and the ones who had already received it to seek additional medical advice and follow-up. "Any failure to provide new and potentially important safety information data to trial participants is ethically problematic", Weijer said.Pfizer has also been criticised for a passage in some of its trial consent forms, seen by The BMJ, which said that its vaccine candidate was risk-free for the baby, assurances a research ethics expert described as "misleading" and "irresponsible". As Pfizer didn't respond to the questions about whether it had informed expectant mothers in its trial about GSK's results, The BMJ contacted governmental health authorities in all 18 countries where Pfizer had trial sites, as well as more than 80 trial investigators, and none answered saying that it had.Some confirmed that Pfizer continued to enrol and vaccinate women for months after the news of the potential risk of preterm birth in GSK's vaccine trial was made public. One trial investigator, speaking anonymously because they had signed a confidentiality agreement with the company, said they questioned Pfizer early in 2022 about the potential risk of preterm birth given the similarity between Pfizer and GSK's products, but was told their data hadn't shown any increase in risk.Other trial investigators disagreed with the notion that participants should have been informed. Beate Kampmann, director of the Centre for Global Health at Charite University Hospital Berlin, one of the lead authors of Pfizer's phase 3 trial paper, and who was responsible for a trial site in the Gambia, said that GSK's results weren't relevant to her trial participants "as most participants were already in follow up."

Debate Over Pfizer RSV Vaccine Trial Consent Protocol -An investigation by The BMJ has reported on a debate taking place among medical ethicists over whether pharmaceutical giant Pfizer should have told pregnant women taking part in a trial of its maternal respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine that a trial of a similar GSK vaccine in pregnant women was stopped over a safety signal concerning an increased risk of preterm birth.Both the GSK and Pfizer vaccines used the same recombinant RSV F protein technology to inoculate pregnant women with the aim of protecting their babies against RSV. The BMJ analysis, by freelance journalist Hristio Boytchev, said that there were "not enough data to understand if there is truly an increased risk or what the cause is". Clinical trial ethicists and vaccine researchers were divided on whether Pfizer should have informed all participating women about the potential risk.Pfizer's vaccine candidate, Abrysvo, has been approved for use in the European Union. However, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has not yet authorised it in the UK. In July, GSK's vaccine, Arexvy, became the first RSV vaccine to be authorised in the UK, but it was restricted to use in people aged 60 years and over. According to The BMJ's investigative feature, in the GSK trial, 6.81% (95% CI, 5.99-7.69%) of births were preterm in the vaccine arm, compared with 4.95% (CI 3.97-6.07%) in the saline placebo arm. For neonatal deaths, the respective percentages were vaccine 0.37% (0.20-0.64%) versus placebo 0.17% (0.04-0.50%).No clear explanation was found for the increase in preterm births, but the phase 3 trial was halted in February 2022. GSK told The BMJ that the cause was still being investigated, but it was no longer developing its vaccine.Pfizer was assessing preterm births as an "adverse event of special interest" in its own phase 3 trial, after an imbalance in preterm births emerged in the data: a 5.7% (CI, 4.9-6.5%) premature birth rate in the vaccine arm versus 4.7% (CI, 4.1-5.5%) in the inactivated influenza vaccine placebo arm. The UK's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) said in September that either passive immunisation of neonates with monoclonal antibody or maternal active immunisation would be suitable for a universal programme to protect neonates and infants from RSV, and it did not have a preference between the two options.Its scrutiny of the Pfizer data showed that the excess of preterm birth was confined to upper middle-income countries, South Africa, and Brazil. The Committee was "relatively reassured" that there was not an obvious signal of preterm births in high-income countries, and the safety data "does not raise significant concerns on its potential use in an RSV programme". However, Pfizer's failure to inform pregnant women in its trial about the GSK results was described as "ethically problematic" by Charles Weijer, bioethics professor at Western University in London, Canada. He told The BMJ that informing women would have allowed those in the trial who had not yet received the vaccine to "consider whether they still wanted to get it", while women who had already received it might have sought additional medical advice and follow-up. Stephen Evans, emeritus professor of pharmacoepidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told the journal that the independent Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) "should have regularly assessed the benefit-harm balance" on the Pfizer product, both on the data in its own trial and on whether the GSK results affected that balance. However, the Board, responsible for evaluating study data to protect participants' safety, did not answer The BMJ's questions about whether it had considered GSK's results.

Pfizer Failed To Disclose Risks Of Preterm Birth And Neonatal Death To Pregnant Women In RSV Vaccine Trial - Pfizer failed to inform pregnant women participating in its clinical trial for the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine that the clinical trial of a similar vaccine by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) was halted after a safety signal revealed a potential risk of preterm births leading to neonatal deaths. Even though Pfizer knew about the potential safety signal and was studying preterm births as an “adverse event of special interest,” it continued to enroll women in its clinical trial and did not fully inform participants of the risks the vaccine may pose to their babies—and in some cases, provided misleading and contradictory statements, according to an investigation by The BMJ. “The BMJ article demonstrates Pfizer’s continued disregard for the law and patient choice,” attorney Thomas Renz told The Epoch Times in an email. “The entire point of informed consent is to ensure a patient can make a decision based on all available information. Rather than embracing the Nuremberg Code and American laws and regulations, Pfizer seems to view informed consent as a barrier to sales—something that causes vaccine hesitancy or drug hesitancy.” “There should have never been a clinical trial in pregnant women studying any injections aimed at RSV in pregnant women,” Sasha Latypova told The Epoch Times in an email. “Pregnancy and potential to become pregnant is historically the most protected class of human subjects from clinical research because the risks and potential to cause inadvertent harm are too devastating to justify scientific interest in made-up subjects like RSV.” Ms. Latypova is a retired pharmaceutical industry executive with 25 years of experience in pharmaceutical research and development and co-founder of several organizations that work with pharmaceutical companies to design, execute, collect data, and submit clinical trial data to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). According to Ms. Latypova, what was once considered a harmless cold has since been rebranded as RSV. “The vast majority of parents have not heard of RSV if they have not been exposed to CDC fear-mongering and renaming of otherwise harmless common colds. The incidence or prevalence of RSV is not known precisely because it poses no danger to anyone,” Ms. Latypova said. “In the U.S., RSV is attributed as a cause of death to about 17 infants per year out of 4,000,000+ babies—based on a review of 12 years' worth of death certificates." According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), RSV is a common respiratory virus that usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms. Although most people recover in a week or two, it can be serious and is more commonly diagnosed in infants.Both GSK and Pfizer were developing an RSV vaccine for pregnant women, but GSK halted its phase 3 vaccine trial in February 2022 over a possible increased risk of preterm births and neonatal deaths in vaccinated participants.Immediately after becoming informed of the safety signal, GSK informed health authorities and updated its consent forms. There was no explanation for the increase in preterm births, but GSK told The BMJ it was still investigating the safety signal and was no longer developing its vaccine. A dispute then emerged over whether Pfizer had the obligation to inform women participating in their RSV clinical trial about the potential risk and whether their consent forms should be updated accordingly. The BMJ asked Pfizer whether pregnant women in its clinical trial were informed about the potential risk of preterm birth, but the pharmaceutical giant did not respond. As a result, The BMJ contacted governmental health authorities in all 18 countries where Pfizer had trial sites and reached out to more than 80 trial investigators. According to the investigation, The BMJ did not receive any responses that indicated Pfizer informed pregnant participants of the risk, and some said Pfizer continued to enroll and vaccinate pregnant women for months after the potential risk of preterm birth from GSK’s clinical trial was publicized.

PAHO issues alert for invasive group A strep - Argentina has reported a significant rise in cases and deaths from invasive group A streptococcal disease, prompting an alert yesterday from Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) that urged countries in the region to enhance their surveillance for related illnesses.As of November 6, Argentina had reported 487 cases, 78 of them fatal. About half of the cases and more than one third of the deaths involved children younger than 16 years. The country's latest total is 643 cases and 93 deaths. Officials have issued an epidemiologic bulletin about a M1UK strain and a hypervirulent M1 sublineage. They are also stepping up surveillance for noninvasive Streptococcus pyogenes, including mild cases, to further characterize the frequency and distribution of the disease and its different genetic lineages.PAHO notes that Argentina's developments follow an increase in invasive group A strep and scarlet fever cases in Europe in 2022 and reports of similar cases in Uruguay during the same period.Along with increased surveillance, PAHO urged countries to also conduct genomic surveillance and to ensure early diagnosis and treatment of affected patients.

Placental group B strep linked to ICU admission for babies -- A new study based on British birth outcomes shows placental presence ofStreptococcus agalactiae (known as group BStreptococcus, or GBS) is linked to double or triple the risk of neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admission, roughly 10 times greater than previous estimates.Group B strep is a common bacterium found in the genital tract of roughly 20% of pregnant women. Previous research has identified GBS in the placenta of around 5% of women before labor.US women receiving prenatal care are routinely screened for the bacterium, and antibiotics are recommended for use in labor to avoid passing on the pathogen to the infant, but widespread screening is not as common in the United Kingdom.In the study, published today in Nature Microbiology, researchers looked at the presence of GBS and admission to the NICU, using data from a previous study of 436 infants born at term, and a second cohort of 925 pregnancies.The researchers found that 1 in 200 babies were admitted with sepsis associated with GBS, much higher than expected. Of 436 infants born at term, 7 out of 30 (23.3%) with placental GBS DNA and 34 of 406 (8.4%) without placental GBS DNA were admitted to the NICU (odds ratio, 3.3; 95% confidence interval, 1.3 to 7.8.)"In the UK, we've traditionally not screened mothers for GBS, but our findings—that significantly more newborns are admitted to the neonatal unit as a result of GBS-related sepsis than was previously thought—profoundly changes the risk/benefit balance of universal screening," said author Francesca Gaccioli, MD, from the University of Cambridge, in a university press release on the study.The authors of the study then analyzed umbilical cord serum in infants who suffered sepsis and positive placental GBS DNA, and found levels of four pro-inflammatory cytokines were signifianctly raised, suggesting the GBS caused a cytokine storm."We conclude that GBS causes about ten times the number of cases of neonatal morbidity than is currently recognized and that this morbidity is associated with bacterial invasion of the placenta and extreme activation of the fetal innate immune system before birth," the authors concluded.

Newborn babies at risk from bacteria commonly carried by mothers, finds study --Streptococcus agalactiae (known as Group B Streptococcus, or GBS) is present in the genital tract in around one in five women. Previous research by the team at the University of Cambridge and Rosie Hospital, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, identified GBS in the placenta of around 5% of women prior to the onset of labor. Although it can be treated with antibiotics, unless screened, women will not know they are carriers.GBS can cause sepsis, a life-threatening reaction to an infection, in the newborn. Worldwide, GBS accounts for around 50,000 stillbirths and as many as 100,000 infant deaths per year.In a study published in Nature Microbiology, the team looked at the link between the presence of GBS in the placenta and the risk of admission of the baby to a neonatal unit. The researchers re-analyzed data available from their previous study of 436 infants born at term, confirming their findings in a second cohort of 925 pregnancies.From their analysis, the researchers estimate that placental GBS was associated with a two- to three-fold increased risk of neonatal unit admission, with one in 200 babies admitted with sepsis associated with GBS—almost 10 times the previous estimate. The clinical assessment of these babies using the current diagnostic testing identified GBS in less than one in five of these cases.In the U.S., all pregnant women are routinely screened for GBS and treated with antibiotics if found to be positive. In the UK, women who test positive for GBS are also treated with antibiotics—however, only a minority of pregnant women are tested for GBS, as the approach in the UK is to obtain samples only from women experiencing complications, or with other risk factors.

Healthcare-associated infections fell at US hospitals in 2022, report says -- New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show significant declines in healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) at US acute care hospitals in 2022. According to the CDC's 2022 National and State Healthcare-Associated Infections Progress Report, which includes data from more than 38,000 US healthcare facilities, acute care hospitals saw a 19% decrease in ventilator-associated events from 2021 to 2022, a 16% decrease in hospital-onset methicillin-resistantStaphylococcus aureus bacteremia, a 12% decrease in catheter-associated urinary tract infections, a 9% decrease in central line–associated bloodstream infections, and a 3% decrease in hospital-onsetClostridioides difficile (CDI) infections.On the state level, 31 states performed better on at least 2 infections types in 2022 compared with 2021, 17 saw improvements in at least 3 infection types, and 6 on at least 4 HAIs.The declines follow 2 years in which HAIs climbed sharply at US acute care hospitals, driven primarily by the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on hospital staffing and infection prevention and control efforts. Some hospitals had to suspend infection prevention and control programs entirely,The president of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America said the decline in HAIs in 2022 is a sign that hospitals have been able to shift their focus back to HAI prevention."Under the leadership of healthcare epidemiologists and infection preventionists, acute care facilities have made substantial progress in shifting attention that was understandably focused on responding to the COVID-19 pandemic back to broader infection prevention initiatives that protect our patients from a wide range of infections," Deborah Yokoe, MD, MPH, said in a statement emailed to reporters.But the CDC report showed little progress was made in reducing HAIs in other US healthcare settings, which include inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs), critical access hospitals, and long-term acute care hospitals (LTACHs). While IRFs saw a 9% decline in hospital-onset CDI cases, LTACHs saw no changes in standardized infection ratios for any HAI in 2022.

WHO Asks China About Mystery Pneumonia As Sick Children Fill Hospitals -- The World Health Organization asked China for "detailed information" about a respiratory illness affecting children in the north of the country.The organization requested "additional epidemiologic and clinical information" following reports of "undiagnosed pneumonia" spreading among children, according to a statement released on Wednesday.The rise in cases has led to overcrowded clinics and emergency rooms, the South China Morning Post reported, citing social-media posts. Hospitals in northern China appear to be "overwhelmed with sick children," NBC News reported.The WHO statement said Chinese authorities had attributed the surge in cases to "the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions and the circulation of known pathogens such as influenza, mycoplasma pneumoniae (a common bacterial infection which typically affects younger children), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19). The South China Morning Post reported that Chinese authorities have since said that no new or unusual pathogens caused the illnesses.China faced added scrutiny over the news as it conjured up memories of its handling of the COVID-19 outbreak.Health experts added that a continuing drug-resistance problem from overusing antibiotics had helped spread the illnesses, which mycoplasma pneumoniae bacteria cause, per the report.Mycoplasma pneumoniae bacteria usually cause "mild infections of the respiratory system," but they can sometimes lead to more serious problems that may require hospital treatment, according to the CDC.The agency says good hygiene is key to preventing the bacteria from spreading to others. The WHO suggested people in China follow specific steps to mitigate the risk of infection, including taking the "recommended vaccination; keeping distance from people who are ill; staying home when ill; getting tested and medical care as needed; wearing masks as appropriate; ensuring good ventilation; and regular handwashing."

What’s behind China’s mysterious wave of childhood pneumonia? - China is grappling with a surge in respiratory illnesses, including pneumonia, in children. The World Health Organization (WHO) said last week that common winter infections — rather than any new pathogens — are behind the spike in hospitalizations. A surge of infections was expected in the country this winter, China’s first without COVID-19 restrictions since the pandemic began in 2020. What is unusual, say epidemiologists, is the high prevalence of pneumonia in China. When COVID-19 restrictions were eased in other countries, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) drove most spikes in illness.The WHO requested information, including laboratory results and data on recent trends in the spread of respiratory illnesses, from China’s health authorities last week. This followed reports from the media and the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases — a publicly available system run by the International Society for Infectious Diseases — about clusters of “undiagnosed pneumonia”.In a 23 November statement, the WHO said that China’s health authorities have attributed the rise in hospitalizations since October to known pathogens, such as adenoviruses, influenza virus and RSV, which tends to cause only mild, cold-like symptoms. However, an increase in children being admitted to hospital since May, particularly in northern cities such as Beijing, is mainly due to Mycoplasma pneumoniae, a bacterium that infects the lungs. It is a common cause of ‘walking pneumonia’, a form of the disease that is usually relatively mild and doesn’t require bed rest or hospitalization, but that is hitting children hard this year.Benjamin Cowling, an epidemiologist at the University of Hong Kong, is not surprised by the wave of illness. “This is a typical ‘winter surge’ in acute respiratory infections,” he says. “It is happening slightly earlier this year, perhaps because of increased population susceptibility to respiratory infections resulting from three years of COVID measures.”The rebound in common respiratory diseases during the first winter after the loosening of pandemic measures — such as mask-wearing and travel restrictions — has been a familiar pattern in other countries. Nationwide lockdowns and other measures implemented to slow the spread of COVID-19 prevented seasonal pathogens from circulating, giving people less opportunity to build up immunity against these microorganisms, a phenomenon known as ‘immunity debt’,However, the Chinese wave of illness differs from that seen in other countries. Some nations grappled with flu and RSV infections during their post-COVID winter surges, but in China, M. pneumoniae infections have been common. This is surprising because bacterial infections are often opportunistic and take hold after viral infections, says Cowling. Although pneumonia caused by the bacterium is usually treated with antibiotics known as macrolides, an overreliance on these drugs has led to the pathogen developing resistance. Studies show that resistance rates of M. pneumoniae to macrolides in Beijing are between 70% and 90%¹. This resistance might be contributing to this year’s high levels of hospitalization from M. pneumoniae, because it can hinder treatment and slow recovery from bacterial pneumonia infections, says Cowling.Winter surges are always a challenge, but health-care systems in China are better placed to mitigate them now than they were before the pandemic, says Christine Jenkins, a respiratory physician at the UNSW Sydney in Australia. She says that better national disease-monitoring systems, diagnostic tests and measures for impeding transmission and preventing deaths are now in place.Jenkins adds that even if the infections are caused by known pathogens, it’s important to track them closely to minimize the risk of a serious outbreak of disease. “We are in a very different situation [to COVID-19], but I don’t think we can be complacent,” she says.

Pneumonia outbreak in Chinese kids linked to known pathogens - The surge in respiratory infections in young children in northern China is being driven primarily by known viral and bacterial infections and not by a novel pathogen, the World Health Organization (WHO) said late last week in an update.Following a request for data and discussions with Chinese health officials on November 23, the WHO said the increase in outpatient consultations and hospital admissions of children in China is linked to increased circulation of pneumonia caused by Mycoplasma pneumoniae—commonly known as "walking pneumonia"—since May and a more recent uptick in respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), adenovirus, and influenza. That conclusion was based on data from enhanced surveillance systems for respiratory illnesses implemented in China in mid-October."Some of these increases are earlier in the season than historically experienced, but not unexpected given the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, as similarly experienced in other countries," the WHO said.Officials with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Beijing Children's Hospital told the WHO that there has been no detection of any unusual or novel pathogen, nor any change in disease presentation. They also said the increase in respiratory illness in children has not exceeded local hospital capacities.The WHO said that while the limited information available makes it difficult to characterize the overall risk to children in China, respiratory illnesses are likely to increase with the arrival of winter, and that "co-circulation of respiratory viruses may increase burden on health care facilities."The WHO requested the additional epidemiologic and clinical information from Chinese officials following reports early last week of children's hospitals in Beijing, Liaoning, and other parts of China that were swamped with children who had undiagnosed pneumonia.One TV report showed a lobby of a children's hospital filled with children receiving intravenous drips. The reports also noted that the number of sick children had led to cancellation of classes in parts of the country, with some parents accusing the government of a cover-up.Those reports, which were flagged by ProMED Mail (the online reporting system for the International Society for Infectious Diseases), raised public fears because they evoked the reports of a mysterious pneumonia outbreak—eventually identified as SARS-CoV-2— in Wuhan in late 2019.But in an interview with Stat, Maria Van Kerkhove, PhD, acting director of the WHO's department of epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention, said the information provided by Chinese officials suggests an immunity gap created by COVID-19 lockdowns is likely responsible for the surge in pediatric respiratory illnesses."This is not an indication of a novel pathogen," Van Kerkhove said. "This is expected. This is what most countries dealt with a year or two ago." China's Zero COVID policy was far stricter, and kept the country under lockdown for far longer, than other countries. In addition to limiting the spread of COVID, it also prevented many children from being exposed to other respiratory illnesses. The WHO said that, at a November 13 press conference, China's National Health Commission attributed the recent increase in pediatric respiratory illness to the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions and the arrival of the cold season.

China says there's been no detection of 'unusual pathogens' after a rise in respiratory cases, but the WHO is watching closely - A recent spike in respiratory illnesses in China and a request from the World Health Organization (WHO) for more information may give some people an uneasy sense of deja vu.Almost four years ago, undiagnosed clusters of respiratory illness were one of the earliest signs of what would become an unprecedented global pandemic that shuttered economies and devastated health systems.Fast forward to last week, the WHO said it was aware of media reports of cases of undiagnosed pneumonia in children's hospitals in Beijing and other areas of the country.It cited a warning from ProMed, a global outbreak surveillance system, that included some haunting similarities to one of the first notices it ever sent about SARS-COV-2."Undiagnosed pneumonia — China: (Beijing, Lainong) children, reported epidemic, request for information," ProMED said on November 22.Vision on state run news inside China has shown hundreds of people seated in the waiting room of a hospital in Nanjing, in China's eastern Jiangsu province, with IV drips hanging from the ceiling.In another story, director of the outpatient department of Beijing Children's Hospital Li Yuchuan is quoted as saying the internal medicine department was receiving 7,000 patients a day, far beyond hospital capacity.After monitoring media reports, the WHO requested more information to identify "whether these were separate events, or part of the known general increase in respiratory illnesses in the community".WHO's query and the public nature of the request was "a little unusual", but "not surprising", according to Christine Jenkins, a professor of medicine at the University of New South Wales."When infections like these, such as [when the] first SARS occurred and subsequently when [SARS-CoV-2] occurred in China, initially it was exceptionally difficult to get information," she said."I think the WHO is taking a much more proactive approach to surveillance."China had 24 hours to respond. Health authorities from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Beijing Children's Hospital provided WHO with data indicating there "has been no detection of any unusual or novel pathogens or unusual clinical presentations".A mysterious respiratory illness does not appear to be spreading around China, but a combination of pathogens, the lifting of restrictions and the onset of winter may all be fuelling a surge in sickness.Scientists say the situation warrants close monitoring and are "alert, but not alarmed".

Five senators ask Biden to impose China travel ban after respiratory illness cases (Reuters) - Five Republican senators led by Marco Rubio on Friday asked President Joe Biden's administration to ban travel between the United States and China after a spike in Chinese respiratory illness cases."We should immediately restrict travel between the United States and (China) until we know more about the dangers posed by this new illness," said the letter signed by Rubio, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, along with Senators J.D. Vance, Rick Scott, Tommy Tuberville and Mike Braun.The rise in cases became a global issue last week when the World Health Organization asked China for more information, citing a report on clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia in children by the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases. A Biden administration official said the United States was closely monitoring the uptick in respiratory illnesses in China, but added, "We are seeing seasonal trends. Nothing is appearing out of the ordinary. ... At this time, there is no indication that there is a link between the people who are seeking care in U.S. emergency departments and the outbreak of respiratory illness in China." The spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, Liu Pengyu, said in response to the Rubio letter, "The relevant claims are purely ill-intentioned fabrications. China firmly opposes them." Maria Van Kerkhove, acting director of the WHO's department of epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention, said earlier this week the increase appeared to be driven by a rise in the number of children contracting pathogens that they had avoided during two years of COVID-19 restrictions. In recent months, the United States and China have been steadily increasing flights between the countries, though they remain far below 2019 levels. The number approved rose on Nov. 9 to 35 per week for each country, up from 12 per week in August. In January 2020, then-President Donald Trump barred most non-U.S. citizens who had recently been in China from entering the United States over COVID concerns, but did not restrict flights between the two countries.

Denmark reports Mycoplasma pneumonia epidemic --Denmark's Statens Serum Institute (SSI) today said Mycoplasma pneumoniae infections have reached the epidemic level, with an increase that began in the summer but has risen significantly over the past 5 weeks, according to a statement translated and posted by Avian Flu Diary, an infectious disease news blog.Last week, the Netherlands reported a striking rise in pneumonia in children and young people since August, according to a government surveillance report flagged by FluTrackers, an infectious disease news message board.The notices of rising pneumonia activity in some European countries come against the backdrop of reports of overwhelmed pediatric hospitals and clinics in China due to a mix of respiratory viruses, includingMycoplasma pneumonia, commonly known as "walking pneumonia." The surge in respiratory infections in China raised fears that a novel pathogen was behind the rise.In Denmark, Mycoplasma pneumonia activity is rising across the country, with 541 cases reported last week, triple that of the middle of October. SSI said epidemics occur about every 4 years, with incidence highest in the fall and early winter. Chinese clinicians, quoted in media reports, have said that, before COVID, the country experienced Mycoplasma pneumonia outbreaks every 3 to 7 years.Elsewhere, Taiwanese officials today said Mycoplasma pneumonia is circulating at low levels, but given the surge in northern China they are taking steps to increase production and imports of azithromycin, the main drug used to treat the infection, its Central News Agency reported.

New high-risk Klebsiella strains pose threat in Greek hospitals -- A molecular survey of Greek hospitals shows the emergence and rapid spread of two new high-risk Klebsiella pneumoniae strains, researchers reported last week in Eurosurveillance.For the study, a team led by researchers from Greece's National Public Health Organization and the E `uropean Centre for Disease Prevention and Control analyzed whole-genome sequences and epidemiologic data of 310 carbapenemase-producing K pneumoniae (CPKP) isolates collected from 15 Greek hospitals from 2013 to 2022. The purpose of the study was to determine the distribution of K pneumoniae sequence type (ST) 39, a highly drug-resistant clade that was detected in 12 of 15 Greek hospitals that participated in a European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) genomic surveillance project on carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales in 2019.Five STs accounted for more than 90% of the CPKP isolates in the dataset: ST258/512 (101 isolates), ST11 (93), ST39 (56), ST147 (21), and ST323 (13). Even though the number of ST39 isolates found in 2022 was lower than in the same hospitals in 2019, the study showed it had spread to all 15 hospitals by 2022, marking it as a high-risk clone that can now be considered endemic in Greek hospitals. In addition, ST323, another highly drug-resistant clone that was not detected in the 2019 survey, was detected in 6 of the 15 hospitals."Even in a country with long-standing endemicity for CPKP such as Greece, the emergence of new high-risk clones is relevant as this is the starting point for further spread of these clones which usually have additional antimicrobial resistance mechanisms and/or are better adapted to transmission in healthcare settings," the study authors wrote.

AMR: A hotter world makes it harder to stop the spread of superbugs -Already recognized as one of the leading public health threats facing humanity today, it is feared that a warming world is making it harder to stop the insidious spread of drug-resistant superbugs.Antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which the World Health Organization has referred to as the “silent pandemic,” is an often overlooked and growing global health crisis.The United Nations health agency has previously declared AMR to be one of the top 10 global threats to human health and says an estimated 1.3 million people die every year directly due to resistant pathogens.That figure is on track to “soar dramatically” without urgent action, the WHO says, leading to higher public health, economic and social costs and pushing more people into poverty, particularly in low-income countries.Antimicrobials, which include life-saving antibiotics and antivirals, are medicines used to prevent and treat infections in humans and animals. Their overuse and misuse, however, is known to be the chief driver of the AMR phenomenon.AMR occurs when microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites develop the ability to persist or even grow despite the presence of drugs designed to kill them.Making matters worse, research has shown that climate change is exacerbating the AMR crisis in several ways.“Climate change is intrinsically important because of what’s going on with our planet and the problem is that the more our temperatures rise, the more infectious diseases can transmit — and that includes AMR bacteria,” Tina Joshi, associate professor of molecular microbiology at the U.K.’s University of Plymouth, told CNBC via videoconference.“AMR bacteria is known as a silent pandemic. The reason its known as silent is that no one knows about it — and it’s really sad that no one seems to care,” Joshi said.A report published by the UN Environment Program earlier this year, entitled “Bracing for Superbugs,” illustrates the role of the climate crisis and other environmental factors in the development, spread and transmission of AMR.These include higher temperatures being associated with the rate of the spread of antibiotic resistant genes between microorganisms, the emergence of AMR due to the continuing disruption of extreme weather events and increased pollution creating favorable conditions for bugs to develop resistance.Scientists said earlier this month that an extraordinary run of global temperature records means 2023 is “virtually certain” to be the warmest year ever recorded. Extreme heat is fueled by the climate crisis, which makes extreme weather more frequent and more intense.

Mpox hits DR Congo hard as officials note sexual spread, 581 deaths -Throughout the course of the year, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has recorded a growing outbreak of mpox cases linked to sexual transmission, the World Health Organization (WHO) said late last week.This is the country's first outbreak defined by sexual transmission, with several early documented cases seen in sex workers. The outbreak likely began with a Belgian man who traveled to the DRC in March and tested positive for the disease shortly after arriving in the country.The man reported visiting several underground sex clubs for men who have sex with men (MSM) during his trip, even when he was symptomatic. A total of 27 contacts of the man were identified, and 6 were tested for mpox, with 5 sexual contacts testing positive.The initial cluster of cases is the first documented sexual transmission of mpox clade 1. It is also the first described transmission of mpox clade 1 among men who have sex with men. There are two clades of mpox, with clade 1, the Congo Basin clade, known to be more virulent and deadly, with case-fatality rates of up to 10%.Last year, the global mpox outbreak among primary MSM outside of Africa was caused by clade 2, which is rarely fatal. That outbreak caused roughly 91,000 cases, the vast majority sexually transmitted.From January 1 through November 12, 2023, a total of 12 569 suspected mpox cases, including 581 suspected mpox deaths (case-fatality rate, 4.6%), have been reported in 85% of DRC provinces." This is the highest number of annual cases ever reported, with new cases in geographic areas that had previously not reported mpox, including Kinshasa, Lualaba, and South Kivu," the WHO said. "Cases with travel history to endemic provinces have been driving chains of human-to-human transmission in non-affected provinces."In war-torn South Kivu, 80 suspected and 34 confirmed cases—including 20 involving sex workers—have been reported.Doctors and virologists over the weekend told news agencies that what is happening in the DRC could be happening across Africa, with the more deadly clade 1 virus now being spread sexually. Homosexuality is punished by law in many nations, forcing MSM to operate covertly and underreport illness.So far the DRC has received no doses of Jynneos, the mpox vaccine that has contributed to far fewer cases in North America and elsewhere in 2023.

Details emerge on initial cases in latest DRC mpox outbreak -Emerging Infectious Diseases this week published details on five initial cases of clade 1 mpox virus identified in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The DRC is currently battling a large outbreak of clade 1 mpox, the first clade 1 outbreak linked to sexual transmission.In March of 2023, a man from the DRC (case patient 1) in his late 20s reported having two sexual encounters with a man in Europe (suspected primary case) 1 week before returning to the DRC. The DRC man then reported having sexual contact with 9 more people, 6 men and 3 women, the authors said.After case patient 1 developed penile lesions and fever and was seen in a health clinic, health officials contacted the 9 sexual contacts."We performed viral genome sequencing on PCR-positive samples; phylogenetic analysis showed tight clustering among 3 positive samples, suggesting they belong to the same chain of transmission. The closest related sequence beyond this cluster was a 2022 clade I MPXV [mpox virus] sequence from DRC," the authors wrote.The 3 positive cases found from testing and the initial 2 cases were all given supportive care and pain control as outpatients. An additional 120 contacts from the 5 cases were monitored over the next 3 weeks. Contacts included sexual partners (5), family members (45), and people who had close nonsexual contact (70). None of these contacts developed clinical symptoms of mpox over the 21-day monitoring period. "Our findings highlight historically unrecognized MPXV transmission through sexual contact and indicate the need for increased routine screening in sexual health clinics in mpox-endemic and nonendemic regions," the authors concluded.

Deadly US Salmonella outbreak tied to cantaloupe infects 99 -A multistate outbreak of Salmonella illnesses linked to whole and diced cantaloupe has more than doubled in just 1 week, to 99 cases, has hospitalized at least 45 Americans, and has killed 2 people in Minnesota, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said late last week.The outbreak has also affected at least 63 Canadians, killing 1, according to Canadian authorities.Since the CDC first announced the outbreak on November 17, officials have confirmed an additional 56 cases, for a total of 99 infections in 32 states. Minnesota has recorded the most cases, 13, followed by Missouri (9), Ohio and Wisconsin (8 each), and Arizona (7). Minnesota has also confirmed the only 2 deaths associated with the outbreak.An additional 28 people have been reported hospitalized, for a total of 45 hospitalized patients. Illness-onset dates range from October 17 to November 10, 60% of patients are male, and 88% are White. Patients vary in age from less than 1 year to 100."Interviews with sick people and laboratory findings continue to show that cantaloupes are making people in this outbreak sick," the CDC said."The true number of sick people in this outbreak is likely much higher than the number reported, and the outbreak may not be limited to the states with known illnesses," the agency added. "This is because many people recover without medical care and are not tested for Salmonella. In addition, recent illnesses may not yet be reported, as it usually takes 3 to 4 weeks to determine if a sick person is part of an outbreak."

Deadly Salmonella outbreak grows as CDC warns about cantaloupe Don't eat precut cantaloupe if you don't know its source, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said yesterday as it confirmed 18 more cases and outlined more recalled fruit in the ongoing Salmonella outbreak that has now topped 100 illnesses. As of November 28, the CDC said, officials in 34 states have identified 117 people infected with one of the outbreak strains of Salmonella. Illnesses-onset dates range from October 17 to November 14. Of 103 people with information available, 61 (59%) have been hospitalized, 16 of which are newly reported cases. Two deaths in Minnesota were previously reported.Patients range in age from less than a year to 100, 59% are male, and 85% are White. Minnesota has confirmed the most cases, 14, followed by Wisconsin (10), Missouri (9), Ohio (8), Arizona (7), and Illinois (6).Federal officials have detailed a raft of recalls related to the outbreak, including Malichita and Rudy brand whole cantaloupes. Brands included in those recalls are Trufresh, Crown Jewels, and Pacific Trellis. Affected whole cantaloupes might have a sticker that says "Malichita" or "Rudy," with the number 4050, and "Product of Mexico/produit du Mexique."Recalls also include precut fruit products made with recalled whole cantaloupes and sold by Kwik Trip, Freshness Guaranteed and RaceTrac, Vinyard, Kroger, Sprouts Farmers Market, Trader Joe's, Aldi, and Bix Produce."Do not eat pre-cut cantaloupes if you don't know whether Malichita or Rudy brand cantaloupes were used," the CDC said. "This includes cantaloupe chunks and fruit mixes with cantaloupes at restaurants and grocery stores."

Climate change, other pressures erode malaria progress, WHO says -Despite expanding access to vaccines, medication, and insecticide-treated bed nets, malaria cases in 2022 exceeded the prepandemic level by 16 million cases, with several threats—including climate change and humanitarian crises—hampering progress, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today in its annual report on the disease.Aside from COVID-19–related disruptions to the malaria response, the battle against the disease faces a constellation of challenges, including drug and insecticide resistance, humanitarian emergencies, resource constraints, and the impacts of climate change. The WHO said the problems are especially acute in high-burden countries, several of them in Africa.In a statement, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, said, "The changing climate poses a substantial risk to progress against malaria, particularly in vulnerable regions. Sustainable and resilient malaria responses are needed now more than ever, coupled with urgent actions to slow the pace of global warming and reduce its effects."Changes in temperature, rainfall, and humidity can influence the activity and survival of the Anophelesmosquitoes that spread malaria parasites, and extreme weather events such as heat waves and flooding can directly affect malaria transmission.In Pakistan last year, for example, catastrophic flooding led to a fivefold increase in malaria cases. Last year Pakistan had the biggest increase in cases, jumping dramatically from 500,000 in 2021 to about 2.6 million in 2022.Other countries that saw significant rises include Ethiopia, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, and Uganda. And though 11 of the highest-burden countries reported a leveling off of new cases and deaths after a spike early in the pandemic, progress toward 2025 milestones is off track by a wide margin, the WHO said.

UKHSA detects human case of influenza A(H1N2)v -www.gov.uk - The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has detected a single confirmed human case of influenza A(H1N2)v. Influenza A(H1N2)v is similar to flu viruses currently circulating in pigs in the UK. This is the first detection of this strain of flu in a human in the UK. As is usual early in emerging infection events, UKHSA is working closely with partners to determine the characteristics of the pathogen and assess the risk to human health.The case was detected as part of routine national flu surveillance undertaken by UKHSA and the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP). The individual was tested by their GP after experiencing respiratory symptoms. Influenza A(H1N2)v virus was detected by UKHSA using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing and characterised using genome sequencing. The individual concerned experienced a mild illness and has fully recovered. The source of their infection has not yet been ascertained and remains under investigation.Close contacts of the case are being followed up by UKHSA and partner organisations. Any contacts will be offered testing as necessary and advised on any necessary further care if they have symptoms or test positive.People with any respiratory symptoms should continue to follow the existing guidance; avoid contact with other people while symptoms persist, particularly if the people they are coming into contact with are elderly or have existing medical conditions.UKHSA is monitoring the situation closely and is taking steps to increase surveillance within existing programmes involving GP surgeries and hospitals in parts of North Yorkshire. To assist in the detection of cases and assessment of transmission, those people who are contacted and asked to test are encouraged to do so.Meera Chand, Incident Director at UKHSA, said:

H5N1 avian flu infects 2 more in Cambodia -- Health officials in Cambodia are investigating two new severe human H5N1 avian flu infections, pushing the country's total for the year to six cases.The four earlier cases involved an older H5N1 clade that has been circulating in the country's poultry for at least 10 years. Scientists quickly posted sequences to the GISAID database, and analysis is under way to see if the two latest patients were sickened by the older clade or the newer one that is circulating globally.The Cambodian health ministry announced the first case on November 23 on its Facebook page. A translation posted by Avian Flu Diary (AFD), an infectious disease news blog, said the patient is a 21-year-old woman from Kampot province in the southwest.Her symptoms began on November 19, and she was hospitalized on November 23, where she is being treated in the intensive care unit (ICU). Officials said there were dead chickens at the woman's home and in her village.The ministry launched an investigation to look for more cases, distribute oseltamivir (Tamiflu) to people at risk, and educate people about the threat from the virus.Two days later the ministry announced a second case, which involves a 4-year-old girl who lives next door to the first patient. In the second translated statement from AFD, officials said the girl got sick on November 23 after holding a dead chicken. She was treated with Tamiflu, hospitalized on November 25, and is also being treated in the ICU. The four earlier cases involved the 2.3.2.1c H5N1 clade, which is different from the 2.3.4.4b clade spreading in wild birds and poultry on multiple continents, with a few spillovers to mammals, including humans, who had contact with sick birds or contaminated environments. Infections involving the older clade are known to cause severe disease. Of the four earlier Cambodian cases, three were fatal.After Cambodia announced its third and fourth cases in October, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said recent die-offs in Cambodia's poultry have been reported and that sporadic human H5N1 infections aren't surprising. It said it is working with Cambodian health officials and global groups to respond to the cases. "At this time, there is no indication that these two human infections with H5N1 pose a threat to the U.S. public," the CDC said.

Sequencing implicates older H5N1 avian flu clade in Cambodia's latest case and death In an update on two recent H5N1 avian flu cases in Cambodia, the World Health Organization (WHO) said the adult woman has died from her infection and that genetic sequencing suggests both infections, like four earlier ones this year, involved the older Asian clade—2.3.2.1c—that has been circulating in the country's poultry for at least a decade.Last week, the country's health ministry had reported the infections in patients from the same village in Kampot province. The first was a 21-year-old woman, and the second was a 4-year-old girl.One patient died, another treated in isolationThe WHO said the woman died on November 26 after a 4-day hospitalization. Meanwhile, the girl is isolated in the hospital, where she is receiving treatment.An epidemiologic investigation found that both patients had been exposed to backyard birds over the past month that were sick or dead. No other links between the patients were found, other than that they are from the same village. "In these two cases, while human-to-human transmission cannot be ruled out, it is likely there were separate exposures to the viruses from sick and dead chickens," the WHO said.Cambodia's agriculture ministry yesterday reported a highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu outbreak in poultry from the village where the woman and girl lived, according to a notification from the World Organization for Animal Health. The virus killed 105 of 332 susceptible poultry.Lab analysis shows that the virus from the patients is similar to the H5 clade 2.3.2.1c virus that has been circulating in Cambodia and Southeast Asia since 2013-2014. The clade is different than the one spreading globally in wild birds and poultry, with sporadic spillovers into mammals, including people.The WHO said sequencing suggests the virus from the patients is most closely related to the viruses reported from two human cases in October.The older clade is known to cause severe or fatal infections. Of the six Cambodian cases reported this year, four have been fatal.Though the virus doesn't easily infect people, it continues to spread in poultry, especially in rural Cambodia, where the situation poses an ongoing risk of sporadic infections in humans.Since 2003, Cambodia has reported 62 H5N1 infections, 41 of them fatal.

Avian flu strikes Ohio layer farm, Georgia duck producer Highly pathogenic avian flu outbreaks, which ramped up again in early October, continue to take a heavy toll on commercial poultry farms, with the virus hitting a massive layer farm in Ohio that houses more than 1.3 million birds and more turkey producers in Minnesota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) said in its latest updates. Also, the virus struck a broiler farm in Maryland and a duck-breeding facility in Georgia, marking the state's first outbreak at a commercial farm. Also, Florida and Texas reported detections in backyard flocks. The H5N1 outbreaks, which began in February 2022, have led to a record loss of nearly 66 million poultry across 47 states. In developments abroad, the Finnish Food Agency reported 5 more H5N1 outbreaks on fur farms, raising the total to 65. Animal health officials are testing animals at all of the country's fur farms and recently reported 24 more over the past few weeks. Four of the latest affected farms raised blue fox, and one produced raccoon dogs. Elsewhere, Japan reported its first poultry farm outbreak of the season, which occurred at a farm in Saga prefecture that houses 40,000 chickens, according to The Mainichi, a daily newspaper in Japan. The report did not list the subtype.

Avian flu strikes large layer farms in Iowa, Ohio, Minnesota -As highly pathogenic avian flu outbreaks continue at a steady pace, the virus has turned up at another large egg producer, this time in at a facility in Iowa's Sioux County that houses 1.6 million layers, according to thelatest updates from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). The event adds to other recent outbreaks at egg producers, including another in Iowa that had 1.2 million birds, a facility in Ohio that housed 1.3 million birds, and one in Minnesota that led to the loss of nearly 1 million birds. The surge in H5N1 avian flu activity, which began in early October, has also hit turkey farms hard, as well as other commercial operations. In its latest updates, APHIS also reported outbreaks affecting poultry flocks in seven other states, several of them at commercial farms. They include a broiler farm in Arkansas and turkey producers in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Detections were also reported in backyard flocks in Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, and Washington state.Since the outbreaks began in early 2022, they have led to the loss of a record 67.8 million birds. In November alone, the outbreaks have affected 7.6 million poultry.In related developments, APHIS also reported more than 150 H5N1 detections in wild birds over the past several days, mostly in hunter-harvested waterfowl as part of disease surveillance. Some of the reports also involve birds found dead, including geese, waterbirds, and birds of prey.

CWD expands into new area of Montana - Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks (MFWP) recently announced that chronic wasting disease (CWD) was detected for the first time in region 2, which involved a mule deer buck harvested by a hunter just west of the city of Deer Lodge.In a November 22 statement, MFWP said the first tests on a sample for the deer indicate suspected CWD, which is considered a positive test that requires further confirmation. Officials said CWD is present in various Montana regions, but the closest prior detections were about 100 miles southeast of the latest detection, which is in hunting district (HD) 213. CWD was first found in Montana in 2017."Hunters in HD 213 and nearby areas are particularly encouraged to submit samples in the remaining days of the general hunting season. Surveillance will also continue in 2024 to understand more about disease prevalence in this area and other parts of the state," MFWP said.CWD is a fatal neurologic disease caused by prions, similar to bovine spongiform encephalopathy ("mad cow" disease). It affects deer, elk, and other cervids. Though no human cases have been detected, health officials urge people to test animals before eating the meat, avoid eating the meat of infected animals, and to take precautions when field dressing or butchering animals, especially in areas where CWD is known or suspected to be present. In other CWD developments, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) said yesterday that CWD has been detected in an adult male deer harvested by a hunter near Wabasha in southeastern Minnesota. The deer was from a new deer permit area added to the southeastern Minnesota surveillance zone last year in the wake of the CWD detection in a wild deer in neighboring Buffalo County, Wisconsin, in 2022. The detection prompts 3 years of mandatory testing to determine the prevalence of CWD in the surveillance region where the deer was harvested, plus in neighboring regions.

CWD detected in another Wisconsin county -- The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) yesterday reported the first positive result for chronic wasting disease (CWD) in a wild deer in Jackson County, located in the west central part of the state. Earlier this fall, the DNR reported the first detection in neighboring Trempealeau County, as well as in Polk County in the northwestern part of the state.The deer was a 2-year-old hunter-harvested buck. It was harvested in the town of Garfield, which is 10-miles from the borders of Eau Claire and Trempealeau counties. The detection in Jackson County triggers a renewal of a baiting and feeding ban, which has been in place in Eau Claire and Trempealeau counties due to earlier CWD detections.The DNR said it and the Jackson County Deer Advisory Council will hold a meeting to provide information on CWD in Wisconsin and testing for CWD in Jackson County. Wisconsin has now reported CWD in 64 of its 72 counties, after confirming its first case in 2002.Found in deer and other cervids, CWD is a fatal neurological disease caused by prions and is similar to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease). Though no human cases have been found, health officials urge people to avoid eating the meat of infected animals and to take precautions when field dressing or butchering cervids.

You Thought Murder Hornets Were Bad? The "Super Pig" Invasion Looms - According to new reports, a population of badass "super pigs" is about to descend on North America from Canada, prompting northern US states such as Montana, Minnesota and North Dakota to take measures against the invasion. The wild pigs, currently roaming Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, are often crossbreeds that combine the survival skills of wild Eurasian boars with the size and fertility of domestic swine to create so-called "super pigs" that one expert called "the most invasive animal on the planet," and "an ecological train wreck," according to CBS News. According to the report, Canadian farmers just cut pigs loose after the market collapsed in 2001. The pigs persevered - with the strong surviving harsh Canadian winters, and the weak dying off. The result was highly destructive packs of pigs are roaming around, eating anything - including crops and wildlife. They tear up land when they root for bugs and crops. They can spread devastating diseases to hog farms like African swine fever. And they reproduce quickly. A sow can have six piglets in a litter and raise two litters in a year. That means 65% or more of a wild pig population could be killed every year and it will still increase, Brook said. Hunting just makes the problem worse, he said. The success rate for hunters is only about 2% to 3% and several states have banned hunting because it makes the pigs more wary and nocturnal — tougher to track down and eradicate. Wild pigs already cause around $2.5 billion in damage to U.S. crops every year, mostly in southern states like Texas. And they can be aggressive toward humans. A woman in Texas was killed by wild pigs in 2019. -CBS News Feral pigs already in the United States have caused some $100 million in property damage in Texas, where lawmakers have authorized hot air balloon hunts to eradicate the porcine menace.

Waste digester threatens to close over Michigan groundwater permit - — The owner of an anaerobic biodigester is pledging to close the facility and lay off 17 workers unless the state of Michigan changes its plans to tighten groundwater regulation on the liquid waste it spreads on farmland.Bill Ceasar, president of Generate Upcycle, told reporters Thursday, Nov. 30 that the Fremont Regional Digester in Newaygo County would close in December if the state does not change its regulatory approach and let the facility apply liquid “digestate” to farms under a blanket approval.

Cities must replace harmful lead pipes under new Biden plan (AP) — Most U.S. cities would have to replace lead water pipes within 10 years under strict new rules proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency as the Biden administration moves to reduce lead in drinking water and prevent public health crises like the ones in Flint, Michigan and Washington, D.C.Millions of people consume drinking water from lead pipes and the agency said tighter standards would improve IQ scores in children and reduce high blood pressure and heart disease in adults. It is the strongest overhaul of lead rules in more than three decades, and will cost billions of dollars. Pulling it off will require overcoming enormous practical and financial obstacles.“These improvements ensure that in a not too distant future, there will never be another city and another child poisoned by their pipes,” said Mona Hanna-Attisha, a pediatrician and clean water advocate who raised early alarms about Flint.The Biden administration has previously said it wants all of the nation’s roughly 9 million lead pipes to be removed, and rapidly. Lead pipes connect water mains in the street to homes and are typically the biggest source of lead in drinking water. They are most common in older, industrial parts of the country.Lead crises have hit poorer, majority-Black cities like Flint especially hard, propelling the risks of lead in drinking water into the national consciousness. Their impact reaches beyond public health. After the crises, tap water use declined nationally,especially among Black and Hispanic people. The Biden administration says investment is vital to fix this injustice and ensure everyone has safe, lead-free drinking water.

After Historic Drinking Water Settlements, PFAS Personal Injury Lawsuits Loom -In the wake of landmark settlements requiring chemical giants 3M and DuPont to pay billions to US water systems for alleged toxic chemical contamination, litigation over personal injuries from PFAS exposure is starting to move forward.The first round of personal injury cases to go to trial will involve people who developed one of four diseases after drinking water contaminated with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from firefighting foam used at airports or military sites in Colorado and Pennsylvania, which seeped into nearby communities’ drinking water, according to lawyers for plaintiffs.No date has been set yet for a bellwether trial, which is probably at least a year down the road, said Anne McGinness Kearse, an attorney with the Motley Rice law firm, which will be representing plaintiffs in the litigation. Attorneys for both sides are currently in the process of determining which plaintiffs will be the first to have their cases heard. They are due to report a joint proposal to the court by Dec. 1. As with the water supplier cases, 3M and DuPont are the main defendants, said Kearse.A separate round of litigation will focus on people exposed through occupational exposure to PFAS, a group that mostly includes firefighters who have been exposed to the chemicals through their firefighting gear and in aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF), which has been used for decades to help quench fires.“We are seeing what we believe are increases in the rates of cancer in our members at younger ages,” “That gives us a lot of concern.”Roughly 75% of firefighters who died from work-related causes in 2022 died from cancer, according to the IAFF. “We get an email every day about firefighters concerned about their exposure,” he said. “We get an email I would say almost every day about members who have been diagnosed with cancer that want to find out why they’ve been diagnosed with cancer or what they’ve been exposed to. We understand that there’s risk in the job that we do, but to potentially be exposed to toxins within our gear…firefighters are asking why.” Both buckets of personal injury cases are included in the multidistrict litigation underway in the US District Court in Charleston, South Carolina (MDL) that includes the water system plaintiffs.Thousands of people across the US have filed personal injury claims tied to PFAS exposure so far, with many more claims expected.” “Whatever happens in the water cases is going to have an impact on the occupational cases.”There are over 12,000 types of PFAS “forever chemicals,” which do not break down naturally and can leach into drinking water from industrial sites, sewage treatment plants, landfills, and anywhere PFAS has been used or disposed. PFAS are found in about 83% of US waterways and are present in the blood of about 97% of Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Exposure to the chemicals has been linked to numerous health problems. In March, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced proposed drinking water standards for six PFAS chemicals. The agency has proposeddesignating several PFAS chemicals as hazardous substances. Water utilities across the country have until early December to decide if they want to join in the settlements. In separate litigation, PFAS producers are challenging a class action suit in Ohio that could include as many as 11.8 million residents. Meanwhile, Connecticut residents recently filed a class action lawsuit against two of the state’s water suppliers over PFAS in their drinking water. Twenty-eight plaintiffs will be selected for the drinking water bellwether, including eight with kidney cancer, eight with testicular cancer, eight with hypothyroidism or thyroid disease, and four with ulcerative colitis. The plaintiffs allege that they developed their illnesses as a result of drinking water contaminated with PFAS from Peterson Air Force Base or the Colorado Springs Municipal Airport in Colorado or the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Willow Grove or Naval Air Warfare Center Warminster in Pennsylvania. Residents of the Security-Widefield community near Peterson Airforce Base have two PFAS chemicals in their blood at concentrations up to 6.8 and 1.2 times higher than national levels, according to a 2022 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report. About 85,000 residents in two counties near the Pennsylvania Navy facilities were affected by PFAS contamination, EPA tests revealed in 2014, with the chemicals seeping into many private wells. Being able to demonstrate with existing science that PFAS has a strong causal link to the plaintiffs’ cancers will be key to the litigation.

Carcinogenic groundwater scare in Japan and recommendations for Taiwan — Excess levels of a group of carcinogenic chemicals have been discovered in groundwater in multiple locations throughout Japan, after similar discoveries near U.S. military bases.It was reported on Monday (Nov. 13) that groundwater in Osaka, Kyoto, Kansai, and Hyogo prefectures contain an amount of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which studies show exposure to is, in some cases, associated with higher rates of cancer. Blood tests of residents living near U.S. military bases in Okinawa and Western Tokyo have also shown high levels of the substance in the past, which are suspected to be related to a firefighting chemical used by the U.S. military.In an article published on Taiwan News’ Mandarin language website, former head of Taipei’s environmental agency and visiting scholar at the London School of Economics and Political Science Liu Ming-lung (劉銘龍) said PFAS are in thousands of products. Liu said in addition to national defense and aviation applications, PFAS are used in waterproofing treatments, non-stick frypans, and cosmetics.PFAS are sometimes referred to as “forever chemicals” because they are resistant to water, grease, and heat, and do not break down in the environment or in the human body. The EU created regulations around PFAS in food earlier this year, Liu said.Liu said excess levels of PFAS were also discovered in food products from the U.S. and Demark earlier this year. He said the health effects of PFAS are thought to have adverse effects on cholesterol and some internal organs and to increase rates of kidney and testicular cancers.Liu recommended the Taiwan government take four steps to ensure people are safe from PFAS in the wake of the news. First, he said Taiwan’s Cabinet should publish an annual national survey on the issue, instead of leaving it to be managed by the six different government departments that currently oversee it. Liu also recommended prioritizing making sure PFAS are not present in drinking water. He said the U.S. has subsidized water utilities to develop ways to remove PFAS from water and improve water purification efforts. In line with similar moves by the European Union, Liu recommended the health ministry conduct a survey on background levels of PFAS in food on the market to help create better national food standards regarding PFAS. He also said that manufacturers should be encouraged to self-report. The government might consider providing food providers with certifications that what they wrap food with does not contain PFAS, Liu said. He said this would incentivize manufacturers to avoid creating products using PFAS.

UN Experts Allege Human Rights Violations by PFAS Chemical Giant in North Carolina - United Nations human rights experts have expressed concerns over "alleged human rights violations and abuses" against people living along the lower Cape Fear River in North Carolina due emissions of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, from a Fayetteville chemical plant.Five U.N. experts signed letters to Chemours—the plant's current operator—as well as DuPont, Corteva, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and Dutch environmental regulators. The action marks the U.N. Human Rights Council's first investigation into an environmental problem in the U.S., The Guardianreported Tuesday."We are especially concerned about DuPont and Chemours' apparent disregard for the well-being of community members, who have been denied access to clean and safe water for decades," the U.N. experts wrote in the letter to Chemours."We hope the U.N.'s action will induce shareholders to bring DuPont and Chemours in line with international human rights law."The Fayetteville Works manufacturing plant has been releasing toxic PFAS into the environment for more than four decades, according to the allegations detailed in the letter. PFAS dumped in the Cape Fear River have made it unsafe to drink for 100 river miles, and pollution from the plant has contaminated air, soil, groundwater, and aquatic life.PFAS are a class of chemicals used in a variety of products from nonstick, water-repellent, or stain-resistant items to firefighting foam. They have been linked to a number of health issues including cancers and have earned the name "forever chemicals" for their ability to persist in the environment and the human body. One study found PFAS in 97% of local residents who received testing. The letter also repeated allegations that DuPont, the plant's previous owner, and Chemours, a spinoff company, had not taken responsibility for cleaning up the local environment and compensating community members, and that DuPont had known about the dangers of PFAS for several years, but chose to hide this information from the public.

Air pollution from fossil fuel use accounts for over 5 million extra deaths a year, new modeling study finds -Air pollution from using fossil fuels in industry, power generation, and transportation accounts for 5.1 million extra deaths a year worldwide, finds a new modeling study published by The BMJ.This equates to 61% of a total estimated 8.3 million deaths worldwide due to ambient (outdoor) air pollution from all sources in 2019, which could potentially be avoided by replacing fossil fuels with clean, renewable energy sources.These new estimates of fossil fuel-related deaths are larger than most previously reported values suggesting that phasing out fossil fuels might have a greater impact on attributable mortality than previously thought.Ambient air pollution is the leading environmental health risk factor for illness and death, but few global studies have attributed deaths to specific air pollution sources and their results widely differ.To address this, an international team of researchers used a new model to estimate all cause and cause-specific deaths due to fossil fuel-related air pollution and to assess potential health benefits from policies that replace fossil fuels with clean, renewable energy sources.They assessed excess deaths (the number of deaths above that expected during a given time period) using data from the Global Burden of Disease 2019 study, NASA satellite-based fine particulate matter and population data, and atmospheric chemistry, aerosol, and relative risk modeling for 2019, in four scenarios.The first scenario assumes that all fossil fuel-related emission sources are phased out. The second and third scenarios assume that 25% and 50% of exposure reductions towards the fossil phase-out are realized. The fourth scenario removes all human-induced (anthropogenic) sources of air pollution, leaving only natural sources such as desert dust and natural wildfires. The results show that in 2019, 8.3 million deaths worldwide were attributable to fine particles (PM2.5) and ozone (O₃) in ambient air, of which 61% (5.1 million) were linked to fossil fuels. This corresponds to 82% of the maximum number of air pollution deaths that could be averted by controlling all anthropogenic emissions.Attributable deaths to all sources of ambient air pollution were highest across South and East Asia, particularly in China with 2.44 million per year, followed by India with 2.18 million per year.Most (52%) of deaths were related to common conditions such as ischemic heart disease (30%), stroke (16%), chronic obstructive lung disease (16%) and diabetes (6%). About 20% were undefined but are likely to be partly linked to high blood pressure and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.

Measuring indoor air quality in remote First Nations communities in Ontario, Canada -A team of researchers with a wide variety of backgrounds and affiliated with a number of institutions in Canada, including officials with the Nishnawbe Aski Nation, has conducted an assessment of indoor air quality for people living in First Nations communities in Ontario, Canada, and found high amounts of particulates, CO₂, benzene, formaldehyde, mold and other hazardous materials.In their study, reported in the open-access journal PLOS ONE, the group tested air qualityand correlated housing conditions with indoor bio-contaminants.As the research team notes, a recent study found that 21% of children living in four First Nations communities in a remote part of Ontario had been admitted to a hospital for treatment of respiratory problems over the prior two years. That led the researchers in this new effort to travel to the four communities to test the indoor air quality for the people living there.The work involved traveling to all four communities, each of which had a population of approximately 1,200 people, collecting air samples from 101 homes, testing them and then using mathematical analysis to associate housing conditions with airborne health hazards.The research team found that 27% of the homes they studied had sustained levels of carbon dioxide above 1,500 ppm. They also found a chemical called endotoxin in many of the homes, which is known to cause lung problems at certain levels. Levels in the tested homes were on average 1,000 times higher than detected in any other air quality study conducted in Canada or the U.S.The researchers also noted that most of the homes had high occupation rates and nearly half were heated using wood stoves, of which just 10% were low-emission certified. They found that there was at least one smoker in 94% of the houses tested, and that some had as many as seven. They also found visible mold in nearly half of the houses and evidence of water damage during the prior 12 months (suggesting hidden mold) in over half the homes.The research team describes the houses under review as crowded, with high concentrations of endotoxin and tobacco smoke and a wide variety of other substances in the air that could cause lung problems, such as mold, CO₂ and a host of chemicals likely emitted from burning wood.

Disease stalks Somali district ravaged by floods -The floodwaters in the southwestern Somali district of Dolow may have started to recede -- for now -- but distraught families who have lost their homes, their livelihoods in the muddy deluge are now at risk of potentially fatal disease. Shukri Abdi Osman, a 34-year-old mother of three, is sheltering in a camp for the displaced in Dolow with her children, among around 700 families forced to flee as flash floods engulfed many parts of town. "I have never seen such devastating floods before, everything happened quickly. When we realised the water was coming it was too late to collect all our belongings. We left our houses at midnight and all we were able to grab was our children," she told AFP. "My business is gone, my property is destroyed, and my house engulfed in water," she said, as she struggled to light firewood to cook a meal for her children. And now disease is posing a threat to her family. "The toilets were destroyed and even the tap water is now mixed with the dirty flood water which includes leaking septic tanks," she said. "The situation is very tough now in this camp with my daughter feeling unwell, she might have already contracted malaria and typhoid." Somalia's government has declared a state of emergency over what the United Nations has called "once-in-a-century" flooding, with almost 100 lives lost across the country and 700,000 people made homeless. Torrential rains linked to the El Nino weather phenomenon have lashed the Horn of Africa on the heels of the worst drought in 40 years that drove millions to the brink of famine in Somalia. It is considered one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change, locked in a vicious cycle of drought and floods.

Disease, Fueled by Blockade, Could Be Bigger Killer Than Bombs in Gaza: WHO --With the brief "humanitarian pause" between Israel and Hamas so far failing to result in the delivery of sufficient aid in Gaza, United Nations officials on Tuesday warned that the spread of disease could soon begin killing more Palestinian people than Israel's bombs and raids. Humanitarian groups have warned for weeks that Israel's total blockade of Gaza—cutting off deliveries of fuel, water, food, and electricity access—quickly fueled outbreaks of gastrointestinal illnesses as sanitation and water treatment services ground to a halt. The World Health Organization (WHO) has now recorded more than 44,000 cases of diarrhea and 70,000 acute respiratory infections in Gaza since Israel began its latest bombardment of the enclave on October 7, with cases of gastrointestinal illness for those aged five and older rising to more than 100 times the normal level earlier this month. "Everybody everywhere has dire health needs now because they are starving, because they lack clean water and they're crowded together,"said Margaret Harris, a spokesperson for WHO, at a briefing in Geneva on Tuesday. "Basically, if you're sick, if your child has diarrhea, if you've got a respiratory infection, you're not going to get any [help]." "Eventually we will see more people dying from disease than from bombardment if we are not able to put back together this health system," she added. On social media, WHO reiterated its call for a permanent negotiated cease-fire and sustained aid access in Gaza to allow health officials to rebuild the decimated medical system.

California Can’t Require Glyphosate Cancer Warning Labels, Court Rules -- A U.S. appeals court recently ruled that California lacks the authority to enforce a regulation mandating cancer warnings on glyphosate, the main active compound in Monsanto's widely used herbicide Roundup, which was acquired by Bayer in 2018. The Ninth Circuit ruled Nov. 7 that the most recent warning issued by the state of California perpetuates the assertion that the chemical is hazardous, a claim deemed "at best disputed," Law360reported.The Ninth Circuit’s split panel upheld a summary judgment by a California federal judge, affirming the invalidity of the state's updated glyphosate safe harbor warning. The published opinion emphasized that the most recent warning would compel companies to communicate a "controversial, fiercely contested message that they fundamentally disagree with," rendering it unsustainable.In Nov. 2017, a coalition comprised of agricultural entities and business stakeholders, including Monsanto, the National Association of Wheat Growers, and the National Corn Growers Association, initiated legal action against California, arguing that a warning label for glyphosate was compelled speech, tantamount to an infringement of their First Amendment rights. Since that initial lawsuit against California, the Golden State’s Office of the Attorney General has proposed multiple versions of a glyphosate cancer warning under the state’s Proposition 65. In January 2023, The California Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment finalized a revised glyphosate safe harbor warning. That warning was defended by Laura Zuckerman, the Supervising Deputy Attorney General of California before the Ninth Circuit in late April.However, the appellate court ruled that, despite attempts to revise the warning to accommodate First Amendment principles, the latest iteration remains insufficient and upheld U.S. District Judge William B. Shubb's June 2020 order in favor of Monsanto and the other challengers.The panel underscored the absence of a scientific consensus regarding glyphosate's carcinogenic properties, noting that although the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) identified it as a probable human carcinogen in 2015, this viewpoint is not universally accepted within the scientific community. Consequently, the proposed warning stating that "glyphosate is known to cause cancer" was deemed contentious and not purely factual, as the term "known" carries legal nuance not readily apparent to consumers without context.In light of the lack of unanimity on the chemical's impact, the panel asserted that California can only mandate commercial speech if it satisfies the requirements of intermediate scrutiny. The court concluded that none of the proposed glyphosate Proposition 65 warnings met these criteria, rendering the application of the warning unconstitutional.Judge Mary M. Schroeder of the Ninth Circuit dissented, advocating for a remand of the latest glyphosate warning to the district court for an initial assessment of its sufficiency. Schroeder argued that the majority should have scrutinized the warning's specific content instead of focusing on the overall message.Additionally, Judge Schroeder noted that the District Court should reconsider the scientific record of glyphosate, especially because there is no clear guidance from the U.S. Supreme Court when it comes to free speech and product liability. More than 165,000 Roundup claims have been filed by consumers. Bayer settled approximately 90% of those claims in 2020 with a $10.9 billion settlement. The company still faces over 40,000 claims, including over 4,000 that are consolidated in multidistrict litigation (MDL).

Taiwan FDA finds carcinogen in US-imported spices for TGI Fridays — Taiwan authorities have seized around 450 kilograms of U.S.-imported spice powder destined for TGI Fridays restaurants after it was found to contain the carcinogen ethylene oxide.CNA reported on Tuesday (Nov. 28) that the spices were seized at the border by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The 453 kg batch of “GMO-Free Blackening Spice” contained excess levels of the carcinogen that is used to make chemicals such as antifreeze, and is also found in some pesticides.According to Taiwan’s health ministry, the chemical is toxic and can cause severe skin and eye irritation, cancer, genetic defects, and infertility. According to the U.S. National Cancer Institute, lymphoma and leukemia are the cancers most commonly reported to be associated with exposure to ethylene oxide, while stomach and breast cancers may also be associated.The discovery of the carcinogen in the spices comes after batches of U.S.-imported cheese and garlic powders were pulled from supermarket shelves in August and July.FDA Deputy Director Lin Chin-fu (林金富) said that from January to November, five batches of sauces imported from the U.S. also failed to meet food health standards. Foods imported from the U.S. will not be subject to increased scrutiny at the border, but companies that have failed inspections will, Lin said. v The U.S. government is expected to be asked to explain how it plans to improve standards. In addition to the U.S. products, Chinese and Peruvian products were also stopped at the border by the FDA.

Winter isn't coming: climate change hits Greek olive crop - In mid-November, the temperature in the Halkidiki region of Polygyros, northern Greece, was still over 15 degrees Celsius (59 degrees Fahrenheit). "I consider climate change the main challenge this season," noted Nikos Anoixas, a board member of Doepel, the Greek national interprofessional organisation for table olives. "At this time, temperatures should be 10 degrees Celsius... the year is already lost, and we fear next year will be similar. I don't even want to think what will happen if another such year follows," Anoixas said. The warm weather has affected some six million trees in the region, according to producers and experts. "This year the phenomenon of 'fruitlessness' was very intense, but it is an issue that we have noticed mainly in the last five years," said Vassilaki, 48. The European Union's olive production giants Italy and Spain have faced similar problems, pushing up prices. Spain, the world's biggest producer of olive oil, suffered a very difficult year in 2022 and drought this year has compounded the problem. In Italy, this year's olive harvest is down by an estimated 80 percent, according to producers. The EU estimates global olive oil production will fall more than 26 percent in 2022-2023 compared to a year earlier, to just over 2.5 million tonnes. In the EU itself, production is expected to drop 39 percent. "The old growers here say it is very important for the trees to rest in the winter. It takes about one to two months of good cold weather for the tree to rest... so that it can yield later," Vassilaki said. Athanassios Molassiotis, an agronomist and head of the arboriculture lab of Thessaloniki's Aristotelio University, said his team recorded an increase in temperature of two degrees during October, November and December 2022 compared to a year earlier. This affected the olive buds "because we know that the tree bears fruit after cold winters, especially the Halkidiki variety, which has high requirements at low temperatures in winter," he said. "We found that in many trees, there was no flowering and therefore no fruit afterwards," Molassiotis said. Halkidiki accounts for around half of edible table olives produced in Greece. According to the regional chamber of commerce, more than 20,000 local producers cultivate 330,000 acres of olive trees in the area, generating an average of 120,000 to 150,000 tonnes of edible table olives annually. More than 150 companies are active in olive processing and marketing, and more than 90 percent of the products produced are exported the world over, as far as Brazil, China and Australia. This year, however, the crop shortage has in some cases exceeded 90 percent, plunging sector entrepreneurs into despair.

Powerful Storm Bettina ravages Black Sea region with hurricane-force winds, severe storm surge, flooding and snowstorms - Hurricane-force winds reaching speeds of 144 km/h (90 mph) and a significant tidal surge caused by a powerful Mediterranean cyclone named Storm Bettina have devastated parts of the Crimean Peninsula, particularly impacting Sevastopol and surrounding districts on November 25 and 26, 2023. The storm has led to widespread power outages, affecting nearly 500 000 residents, and causing considerable flooding and property damage. Bettina’s center moved over land early November 27 and is now heading northward. The impact of Storm Bettina was felt intensely across the Crimean Peninsula and neighboring regions, as fierce winds and a tidal surge brought down trees, tore roofs from buildings, and caused widespread power outages. Nearly 500 000 Crimean residents were left without electricity, particularly in Sevastopol and the districts of Sak, Krasnogvardeysky, and Krasnoperekopsky. In addition to the power crisis, water supply disruptions have been reported in several communities. The storm’s severity also resulted in significant flooding in various municipalities along the southwestern shore, including the popular Black Sea resort city of Yevpatoria. There, rescue teams were deployed to relocate approximately 142 people to safer, temporary facilities. The flooding extended to major roads, notably the highway linking Saki and Yevpatoria, severely impacting transportation and accessibility. As of Sunday night, November 26, three individuals had been hospitalized with injuries related to the storm. At least 23 houses and 17 vehicles have been reported as damaged, with numerous trees and billboards also succumbing to the storm’s force. Sevastopol’s Governor, Mikhail Razvozhayev, following an emergency meeting early Monday morning, highlighted the ongoing severity of the situation. He indicated that the peak of Storm Bettina was still anticipated, and authorities in Crimea were actively assessing the extent of the damages. Restoration efforts to reinstate electricity have reportedly begun on Monday morning, November 27. In preparation for potential worsening conditions, including sub-zero overnight temperatures, efforts were underway to reinforce the roads in the most affected areas.

Heavy snow and blizzards hit Romania and Bulgaria, claiming lives and disrupting power supply - Heavy snowfall, strong winds, and blizzards, unleashed by Storm Bettina, have led to severe weather-related incidents and extensive damage in parts of Romania and Bulgaria on November 26 and 27, 2023. The storm resulted in the deaths of at least 3 people and left dozens injured in several countries, including Moldova, Ukraine, and Russia. The adverse conditions are expected to persist, with forecasts predicting low temperatures and moderate rainfall across central-western Romania and north-western Bulgaria in the coming days. In Romania, the storm’s impact was most severe in the eastern counties of Constanta, Tulcea, Galati, and Braila. These areas witnessed the closure of both national and local roads on November 26, disrupting traffic and isolating communities. The power infrastructure suffered heavily, leading to electricity outages in more than 300 localities across the region. In Bulgaria, over 1 000 settlements, especially in the northeastern part of the country, were left without electricity on November 26. The loss of power, coupled with the closure of several roads, has hampered daily activities and emergency responses in the affected areas. The weather was so severe it prompted the government to declare a state of emergency in large parts of the country. At least two people in Bulgaria lost their lives in traffic accidents and at least 36 were injured in just 24 hours. A 40-year-old man in Moldova died on Sunday after the vehicle he was in skidded off the road and crashed into a tree, authorities said. The cyclone brought about hurricane-force winds up to 144 km/h (90 mph) and a significant tidal surge, causing severe damage in the Black Sea region, especially in Crimea where it left nearly half a million residents without power, and resulted in extensive flooding and property damage throughout the affected regions. The severity of the storm led to considerable flooding and property damage, especially in the southwestern shore municipalities, including the Black Sea resort city of Yevpatoria. Around 142 people were relocated to safer facilities due to the flooding, which also severely impacted major roads, notably between Saki and Yevpatoria. The situation was further complicated by water supply disruptions in several communities​​.

Widespread damage and at least 16 fatalities, 12 missing in Eastern Europe after rapid intensification of Storm Bettina - Eastern Europe is still grappling with the aftermath of Storm Bettina, a severe snowstorm that rapidly intensified over the Black Sea and impacted the region on November 26 and 27, 2023. Ukraine has reported significant casualties, with at least five deaths and 19 injuries in the Odesa region. The storm has not only disrupted life in Ukraine but also inflicted damage and caused fatalities in neighboring countries such as Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Russia. The total number of fatalities across the affected regions due to Storm Bettina is 14, as of early November 28. This includes 5 in Ukraine, 4 in Moldova, 2 in Bulgaria, 2 in Turkey, 2 in Russia, and 1 confirmed dead from the cargo ship incident near Lesbos. The search for 12 missing sailors in Greece continues. Out of 14 crew members in a cargo ship that sunk near Lesbos, one was rescued by a Hellenic Navy helicopter, with a search operation ongoing for the remaining 13. This is the 12th named storm of the 2023/24 European windstorm season — the ninth season of the European windstorm naming. The season started on September 1 and will last through August 31, 2024. The devastating impact of Storm Bettina has been felt across several Eastern European countries, particularly in the Black Sea region, leaving a trail of destruction, fatalities, and widespread disruptions. In Ukraine, the southern Odesa region bore the brunt of the storm, with President Volodymyr Zelensky confirming at least five deaths and 19 injuries. The storm, characterized by heavy snowfall and high winds, resulted in snow drifts reaching up to 2 meters (6 feet) in depth. The intensity of the storm led to significant traffic disruptions and extensive power outages across 17 regions, affecting over 1 500 settlements. The country’s Energy Ministry reported that the electrical grids suffered considerable damage due to the strong winds, leaving large parts of central Kyiv, as well as the southern regions of Odesa and Mykolaiv, without power. Initially, 40 000 homes in the Kyiv region were affected, with more than 15 000 still without electricity by the evening. Moldova also faced severe consequences from the storm, with 10 people injured and 4 fatalities. Among the dead were individuals who succumbed to hypothermia – two found in a car in the east and another outside the capital. A tragic traffic accident, attributed to the treacherous conditions, claimed the life of a 40-year-old man. In Bulgaria, the impact of the storm was marked by traffic accidents, resulting in at least 2 deaths and 36 injuries within a span of 24 hours. The Bulgarian authorities reported these incidents amidst the challenging weather conditions brought on by the storm. In Turkey, Bettina claimed two lives in Izmir — a 62-year-old man in Konya after his car was swept away by flash flood and a 58-year-old man who died when a wall collapsed on him while working on a construction side in Sinop. Russia’s Crimean Peninsula experienced hurricane-force winds, reaching up to 144 km/h (90 mph), accompanied by a significant tidal surge. This extreme weather led to the relocation of around 350 people to safer facilities, severe flooding that impacted major roads, and disruptions to the water supply in several communities. On the same day, Moscow experienced what their meteorologists referred to as a ‘black blizzard,’ a term usually reserved for harsh weather patterns in Russia’s Far North, characterized by snowflakes flying close to the ground and significantly limiting visibility. This unusual event began overnight and has brought heavy snowfall to the Russian capital, drastically reducing visibility to about 100 meters (328 feet) and creating dangerous conditions for both residents and commuters in Moscow. The FOBOS weather center reported that the snowfall, which began on Sunday, has intensified rapidly. Within just a few hours, the city recorded 35% of its average monthly precipitation. Roman Vilfand, the head of Russia’s Hydrometeorological Center, emphasized the severity of the situation, noting that Moscow might be witnessing one of its heaviest November snowfalls in decades. The last time Moscow experienced such extreme weather was over four decades ago, as reported by Channel One, making this event particularly notable. Additionally, a maritime tragedy unfolded off the coast of Lesbos, Greece, where a cargo ship sank amidst the stormy conditions. The Associated Press reported one confirmed fatality and 12 missing persons. The ship, traveling from Egypt to Istanbul, reportedly took on water, leading to the sinking. Greek coast guard officials highlighted the difficulties in rescue operations due to the rough sea conditions. Impacts of the storm were felt as far west as southern Croatia, where significant drop in temperatures accompanied by snowfall on the morning of November 27 resulted in widespread traffic chaos.

Severe ‘black blizzard’ in Moscow: Snowfall hits 35% of monthly average overnight, Russia - The Russian capital of Moscow is facing an extraordinary ‘black blizzard’, a weather pattern typically seen in the country’s Far North. Severe weather in the capital started overnight, resulting in heavy snowfall and reduced visibility to approximately 100 m (328 feet), with the situation expected to persist until Tuesday, November 28, 2023.

• Moscow has already witnessed 35% of its monthly precipitation average, leading to considerable challenges in city operations.
• Russia’s Hydrometeorological Center cautioned that this could be one of the strongest November snowfalls in Moscow’s history.
• The capital last experienced extreme end-of-autumn weather like this back in 1977.

The onset of Moscow’s first major snowfall this season has led meteorologists to describe the current conditions as a ‘black blizzard’. This term is usually reserved for severe weather patterns in the Far North, where snowflakes fly close to the ground surface, severely limiting visibility. In Moscow, visibility has dropped to around 100 m (328 feet), creating hazardous conditions for residents and commuters. According to the FOBOS weather center, the snowfall that commenced on Sunday has intensified, with the city recording 35% of its average monthly precipitation in just a few hours. Roman Vilfand, head of Russia’s Hydrometeorological Center, cautioned that this could be one of the strongest November snowfalls in Moscow’s history. Such extreme weather was last witnessed in November 1977, as reported by Channel One. The sudden and intense snowfall has led to significant traffic disruptions throughout Moscow. Snowbanks have grown to 16 cm (6.3 inches) in a short time, causing widespread traffic jams. The city’s transport department has advised drivers to avoid using their cars and instead opt for public transportation. The inclement weather has also impacted air travel, with at least eight flights canceled and around 40 delayed at Moscow’s airports. To combat the effects of the snowfall, Moscow’s authorities have deployed over 50 units of specialized snow-clearing equipment and mobilized approximately 1 500 workers to clear the streets. Mayor Sergey Sobyanin has informed the public that heavy snowfall is expected to continue, with an additional accumulation of at least 4 cm (1.6 inches) forecasted. He also warned of strong winds and a potential shift in weather patterns, with freezing rain and slippery roads anticipated as temperatures rise above freezing.

Around 100 million Americans on East Coast facing freezing temperatures -About 100 million Americans are expected to face freezing temperatures Tuesday evening into Wednesday, as a cold front settles in on the East Coast this week.The National Weather Service (NWS) is warning that high temperatures are expected to be 10 to 20 degrees below average Tuesday from the Midwest, Great Lakes and Ohio Valley regions into the East Coast and across southern Texas to Florida.AccuWeather is reporting that near New York City, temperatures are expected to dip into the 20s for the first time this season. Washington, D.C., and Atlanta will get their first below-freezing temperatures Wednesday morning as well. The NWS has issued several freeze watches, including for portions of southeast Georgia and southeast South Carolina, from Tuesday evening to Wednesday morning, when temperatures are expected to fall to a low of 26 degrees. The NWS issued a freeze watch for portions of southeast Alabama, Big Bend and Panhandle Florida and south central and southwest Georgia, from late Tuesday night through Wednesday morning. Temperatures will reach a low of 29 degrees. The NWS issued a freeze watch in coastal parts of North and South Carolina, from Tuesday evening through Wednesday morning, with lows reaching 28 degrees.

Quebec snowstorm leaves over 148 000 homes without power, Canada - A severe snowstorm hit Quebec, Canada on November 27, 2023, resulting in widespread power outages that affected nearly 150 000 Hydro-Québec customers. The significant snowfall in Quebec on Monday morning led to numerous power outages throughout the province, leaving over 148 000 Hydro-Québec customers in the dark. The situation was particularly severe in the Quebec City region and the Eastern Townships, with more than 62 000 and almost 38 000 customers, respectively, affected by the blackouts. In Chaudière-Appalaches, close to 9 900 customers were without power; in Mauricie, the number exceeded 5 600; and in the Centre-du-Québec region, more than 6 600 experienced outages. Francis Labbé, a spokesperson for Hydro-Québec’s public affairs department, attributed the extensive blackouts to the heaviest snowfall in these regions. The accumulation of snow on vegetation led to the breaking of tree branches, which subsequently fell on power lines, exacerbating the power outage situation. As the weather system moved eastward in the afternoon, there was a noticeable improvement. Hydro-Québec, through its communications on the X social media platform, reported a decrease in the number of outages, falling below 80 000. By 16:00 LT, the number had further reduced to less than 60 000. The company emphasized the ongoing efforts of their teams in the Quebec City, Eastern Townships, and Chaudière-Appalaches areas. Hydro-Québec expressed hope in restoring power to the majority of affected customers by the evening. However, they cautioned that more complex cases might extend into Tuesday, November 28. The weather system also knocked out power to more than 20 000 customers in Nova Scotia on Monday.

At least 30 inches of snow possible in parts of the Northeast in the first major lake-effect snow event of the season -- The first significant lake-effect snow event of the season is underway across parts of the Great Lakes and the interior Northeast, with heavy snow expected to continue through Wednesday morning. A person walks across a street amidst a snow storm. Snow falls during the first significant lake-effect snow event of the season underway across parts of the Great Lakes and the interior Northeast.NBC News Of particular concern will be for anyone traveling across portions of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Maryland where snow squalls could cause a sudden drop in visibility and whiteout conditions on the roads. I-90 across upstate New York was one of the areas forecasters were watching closely Tuesday morning, as a subtle wind shift began pushing a strong snow band over the highly traveled corridor. This included the Syracuse area, which was expected to pick up several inches of snow through the evening hours. The lake effect snow will continue through Wednesday morning, with an additional 8 to 16 inches of snow possible in the typical snow belt areas downwind of lakes Erie and Ontario. Storm totals by the time the snow ends could be in the 30-40 inch range, especially for the Tug Hill Plateau area of upstate New York. Due to strong winds associated with the lake-effect snow, some flurries, or mood snow, could make it into the Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and New York City metro areas. No accumulation is expected for the big cities, so should any flakes fly, they will be more conversational in nature. Lake-effect snow occurs when a cold air mass flows over top of the still relatively warm and ice-free Great Lakes. The temperature difference creates clouds and eventually snow that falls downwind of the lakes. The cold air mass responsible for producing the snow is the coldest of the season so far. On Tuesday morning, single digit temperatures with wind chills below zero were recorded across parts of the Upper Midwest, including Minneapolis. Chicago woke up to wind chill values in the single digits, and New Yorkers started their days with wind chills in the 20s. The cold isn't just confined to the Midwest and the Northeast, however, with a chilly Tuesday expected for all areas east of the Mississippi, where high temperatures are expected to be 10-20 degrees below average. Highs Tuesday will struggle to reach 40 for the big cities along the I-95 corridor, and remain in the 50s for cities in the Southeast such as Atlanta, Tallahassee, Florida and New Orleans. This first cold blast of winter will continue for the next two days, then will moderate by the end of the week.

Lake-Effect Snowstorm Hits Northern and Western New York - The New York Times video - Heavy snow coated parts of northern and western New York on Tuesday as a lake-effect snowstorm continued to wallop the region, causing hazardous travel conditions and closing schools. The storm held steady overnight, with snowfall rates over one inch per hour as meteorologists warned that winds of about 35 miles per hour could produce blowing and drifting snow.The snow from Lake Erie intensified through the morning, with the heaviest snow staying well south of Buffalo, which was paralyzed by a lake-effect snow event right before Christmas last year. By 11 a.m., the storm had dropped more than a foot of snow in towns and villages south of Buffalo. In Hamburg, the police department warned residents to drive cautiously after reports of several vehicle accidents and delays in emergency services. In the town of Orchard Park, officials said that many roads remained snow-covered, slippery and filled with abandoned vehicles that were blocking lanes.In neighborhoods east of Lake Ontario in New York, most areas received snowfall amounts between 12 to 18 inches, though some parts received much higher isolated totals, such as the village of Constableville, which has a population of roughly 300 people and was walloped with nearly two feet of snow.“The worst of the lake-effect storm has largely passed,” Zack Taylor, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said on Tuesday. But additional snow bands could drop about six to 12 additional inches through Wednesday, he added.As of early Tuesday, more than three million people from the far eastern tip of Ohio through parts of northern and western New York were under a lake-effect snow warning.Some parts of northeast Ohio and northwest Pennsylvania got up to a foot of snow, the Weather Service said. The Ohio Department of Transportation said on social media that hundreds of crews were working across the state to clean up roads hit hard by snow.The Cleveland Metropolitan School District, which has about 35,000 students, said it closed schools on Tuesday because of the weather.Videos posted to social media appeared to show extremely poor visibility and traffic at a standstill in the Buffalo region. The New York State Thruway Authority was reporting crashes, disabled vehicles and delays on Interstate 90, which runs east to west across the state. The AAA said on X that service may be slowed because of the heavy snow and slick roads.The worst conditions were expected on Tuesday with the heaviest snow falling in higher terrains through the afternoon.The National Weather Service said a lake-effect snow warningwould be in effect for Jefferson, Lewis and Oswego Counties until 7 a.m. Wednesday.A warning was in effect for northern Oneida and Onondaga Counties, including Syracuse, through 7 a.m. Wednesday, with accumulations up to 14 inches.Warnings were also posted in western New York, for Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Wyoming and southern Erie CountiesNumerous school districts in the region were either closed or operating on a two-hour delay as of Tuesday morning.The Weather Service in Boston said Tuesday that snow could drift to southern New England in the form of quick-hitting snow showers. Similar forecasts were also issued for parts of Maine and Vermont.

Heavy lake effect snow hits from Ohio to western New York - ABC7 Chicago --Lake effect snow warnings are in effect from Cleveland to Syracuse, New York, as intense snowfall slams the region. In Ohio, schools including the Cleveland Metropolitan School District are closed on Tuesday due to the weather. At least 23 vehicles have been involved in weather-related crashes on Ohio's Interstate 271, resulting in serious injuries, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol. Snowfall rates have been as high as 2 inches per hour in the most intense snow bands in western New York. The biggest snowfall was 20 to 23 inches, recorded north of Syracuse. Up to 16 inches of snow was recorded south of Buffalo, New York, and up to 13 inches fell east of Cleveland. The snow is expected to continue through early Wednesday. Some areas could see another 1 foot of snow. This snowstorm comes as some of the coldest air of the season hits the Northeast. On Wednesday morning, the wind chill -- what the temperature feels like -- is forecast to plunge to 19 degrees in New York City and 17 degrees in Boston. In the South, the wind chill is forecast to fall to 19 degrees in Nashville, Tennessee; 22 in Atlanta; and 30 in Jacksonville, Florida.

Lightning strikes claim 24 lives in Gujarat, India amid unseasonal severe thunderstorms - - In a rare winter weather phenomenon, the western Indian state of Gujarat experienced severe thunderstorms and lightning strikes, resulting in 24 deaths and approximately 25 injuries. The state, known for rain-related calamities, was unprepared for such a storm during the winter months. The deaths occurred amidst heavy rainfall, thunderstorms, and hailstorms that struck the state on Sunday and Monday, November 26 and 27, 2023. Gujarat, although familiar with rain-related calamities, usually does not experience such severe weather conditions during the winter months. The state government reported that some areas received up to 144 mm (5.7 inches) of rain in the 24 hours ending Monday morning. This unseasonal weather not only caused fatalities but also led to substantial property damage and loss of cattle. According to local authorities, more than 70 animals died in the havoc wrecked by the sudden thunderstorm in more than 220 talukas where standing crops were damaged. The rains and hailstorms have caused extensive damage to standing crops in Saurashtra and South Gujarat regions. The rainfall also affected the ceramic industry of Morbi district in the Saurashtra region as factories were forced to remain shut. Gujarat Agriculture Minister Raghavji Patel addressed the situation on Monday, stating that the government would conduct a survey to assess the extent of the damage and loss. He assured that compensation would be provided to the victims based on the survey’s findings.

UN weather agency says 2023 is the hottest year on record, warns of further climate extremes ahead (AP) — The U.N. weather agency said Thursday that 2023 is all but certain to be the hottest year on record, and warning of worrying trends that suggest increasing floods, wildfires, glacier melt, and heat waves in the future. The World Meteorological Organization also warned that the average temperature for the year is up some 1.4 degrees Celsius (2.5 degrees Fahrenheit) from pre-industrial times – a mere one-tenth of a degree under a target limit for the end of the century as laid out by the Paris climate accord in 2015. The WMO secretary-general said the onset earlier this year of El Nino, the weather phenomenon marked by heating in the Pacific Ocean, could tip the average temperature next year over the 1.5-degree (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) target cap set in Paris. “It’s practically sure that during the coming four years we will hit this 1.5, at least on temporary basis,” Petteri Taalas said in an interview. “And in the next decade we are more or less going to be there on a permanent basis.” WMO issued the findings for Thursday’s start of the U.N.’s annual climate conference, this year being held in the oil-rich United Arab Emirates city of Dubai. The U.N. agency said the benchmark of key Paris accord goal will be whether the 1.5-degree increase is sustained over a 30-year span – not just a single year – but others say the world needs more clarity on that. “Clarity on breaching the Paris agreement guard rails will be crucial,” said Richard Betts of Britain’s Met Office, the lead author of a new paper on the issue with University of Exeter published in the journal Nature. “Without an agreement on what actually will count as exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius, we risk distraction and confusion at precisely the time when action to avoid the worst effects of climate change becomes even more urgent,” he added.

Panama Canal Chaos Might Spread To Suez, Greek Shipping Exec Warns - Panama Canal is one of the world's most important trade routes. In the second half of this year, we have detailed in-depth about a parking lot of commercial vessels building on either side of the canal amid worsening drought conditions across Central America. This has reduced the number of ships sailing through the waterway, as the bottleneck has forced one of the world's largest operators of chemical tankers to reroute its fleet. Bloomberg reports that London-based Stolt-Nielsen has begun to charge customers for longer routes, avoiding the massive bottleneck at the Panama Canal. The giant bottleneck building at both entrances of the Panama Canal might spread to Egypt's Suez Canal. This is according to Bloomberg, which quoted a top executive at Greek shipping firm Angelicoussis Group during a conference in Athens. Sveinung Støhle, the company's deputy chief executive officer, said, "Suez will need to take a lot more vessels" because the drought-stricken Panama Canal has sailing restrictions. He noted that the Suez Canal, which serves as an alternative route for ships traversing between the US and Asia, has historically managed congestion issues "very well over the years," making it "less of an issue, but obviously, it's something you need to be aware of." The bottleneck at the Panama Canal has only allowed companies with pre-booked slots to sail the canal, Støhle said. He said only four or five LNG vessels are sailing the canal each month, down from about 30 before restrictions were put in place earlier this year. "If you can't go via the Panama Canal, you must add one more ship for the same volume," he said. "Where do you get the ships from? That's is going to be a challenge."

Panama Forcing First Quantum To Close Mega-Copper Mine Is A "Significant Event" - Copper futures reached a ten-week high on Wednesday following the announcement by Panama's government to shut down a controversial $10 billion copper mine owned by First Quantum Minerals Ltd. The decision came after the Supreme Court of the Central American country declared the 20-year concession given to the Canadian mining operator was unconstitutional. "We have decided to unanimously declare unconstitutional the entire law 406 [granted mining concessions to First Quantum Minerals] of October 20, 2023," Supreme Court President Maria Eugenia Lopez said on Tuesday.Later that evening, President Laurentino Cortizo posted on social media platform X that the "transition process for the orderly and safe closure of the mine" had already begun. Production at Cobre mine has already been disrupted due to environmentalist protesters and labor unions. The court's ruling and resulting shuttering of Cobre Mine is a shock to investors and the industry as a whole. The mine produces about 1.5% of the world's copper supply. While many analysts on Wall Street have been forecasting a surplus of the industrial metal in 2024, the glut could be shortly wiped out if the Cobre Mine remains in limbo. Craig Lang, principal analyst at researcher CRU Group, called the closing of Cobre Mine a "significant event, adding uncertainty to the supply outlook." "This is likely to place further downward pressure on copper concentrate market terms as smelters and traders look to cover Panama supply with alternative sources of material," Lang said.

Dozens evacuate and 10 homes are destroyed by a wildfire burning out of control on the edge of Perth (AP) — Dozens of residents have been evacuated and at least 10 homes destroyed by a wildfire burning out of control on the northern fringe of the west coast city of Perth during heat wave spring conditions, authorities said Thursday.There were no deaths reported, but several firefighters had sustained minor injuries including smoke inhalation, Western Australia state Department of Fires and Emergency Services Commissioner Darren Klemm said.The fire began Wednesday afternoon in a pine tree plantation on Perth’s northeast edge and was fanned overnight by 60-kilometer (37-mile) -an-hour winds, incident controller Clinton Kuchel said. The cause of the fire is under investigation.The temperature in Perth was forecast to peak at 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) on Thursday — which is extraordinarily hot for the Southern Hemisphere spring — and winds remained strong. “Perth is experiencing … heat wave conditions. So overlay that on top of the fire and you can imagine the conditions that our firefighters and our support staff are working on. It’s really challenging,” Kuchel told Australian Broadcasting Corp. “Whilst we’re building containment lines on this fire, the conditions and the environment are such that even if we contain it, it may not be contained all the time. There may be breakouts. So it’s a really challenging and dynamic environment,” Kuchel added. Power poles had been damaged and 544 homes were without power Thursday. Around 130 people spent Wednesday night in an evacuation center, Western Australia Deputy Premier Rita Saffioti said. “The forecast for today is unforgiving. The temperature is expected to hit a maximum of 40 degrees, and the winds continue to be strong. Today will be a difficult day for everybody,” Saffioti told reporters.

Australia offers refuge to Tuvalu residents threatened by rising sea levels - Australia and the South Pacific island nation of Tuvalu are to forge closer ties thanks to a new agreement covering areas including security, migration and climate change.The Australia-Tuvalu Falepili Union, a bilateral treaty, sees Australia pledging to create “a special mobility pathway” that will enable Tuvaluans to go to Australia to work, study and live. To start with, the number of Tuvaluans eligible to go to Australia will be capped at 280 a year.“With a population of just over 11,000 people, Tuvalu is extremely vulnerable to the impact of climate change, especially rising sea levels, and is trying to preserve its culture, traditions and land,” the Australian government said in a statement.The pact also includes an Australian pledge to “provide assistance to Tuvalu in response to a major natural disaster, health pandemics and military aggression.” In addition, both countries have made a commitment to “mutually agree any partnership, arrangement or engagement with any other State or entity on security and defence-related matters in Tuvalu.” Made up of nine islands, Tuvalu — as the Australian government’s statement notes — is seriously threatened by the effects of climate change, and Tuvalu’s Department of Foreign Affairs describes climate change as “one of the most existential security risks currently threatening” the country. At last year’s COP27 climate change summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, Tuvalu urged countries to set up a global treaty focused on phasing out the use of fossil fuels — the chief driver of the climate crisis. Adaptation and ‘human mobility with dignity’ The deal on migration is significant, and highlights how countries are having to find solutions to deal with the considerable effects of climate change. In a joint statement issued Friday, the prime ministers of Australia and Tuvalu — Anthony Albanese and Kausea Natano — referenced a reclamation project in Funafuti, Tuvalu’s capital, that will expand land there by roughly 6%. This initiative, they said, would create “vital space for new housing and essential services for Tuvaluans, and enabling people to remain living in Tuvalu in the face of sea-level rise. We call on others to join us in supporting Tuvalu’s long-term adaptation vision.” “At the same time, we believe the people of Tuvalu deserve the choice to live, study and work elsewhere, as climate change impacts worsen,” they added. “Australia has committed to provide a special pathway for citizens of Tuvalu to come to Australia, with access to Australian services that will enable human mobility with dignity.”

UN Chief Calls Antarctica 'Sleeping Giant... Being Awoken by Climate Chaos' --United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday issued yet another impassioned call for ambitious climate action after a trip to Antarctica and amid preparations for the U.N. Climate Change Conference later this week."I have just returned from Antarctica—the sleeping giant. A giant being awoken by climate chaos. Together, Antarctica and Greenland are melting well over three times faster than they were in the early 1990s," he told reporters in New York City."It is profoundly shocking to stand on the ice of Antarctica and hear directly from scientists how fast the ice is disappearing," the U.N. leader said of his trip to the continent last week, pointing out that "this year, Antarctic sea ice hit an all-time low.""Leaders must not let the hopes of people around the world for a sustainable planet melt away."Scientists project that 2023 will be the hottest year in 125,000 years. Recent research has also shown that Antarctica is warming faster than widely cited models predicted, and even if humanity significantly cuts planet-heating pollution from fossil fuels, the West Antarctic Ice Sheetfaces an "unavoidable" increase in melting this century.Guterres stressed Monday that "what happens in Antarctica doesn't stay in Antarctica. We live in an interconnected world. Melting sea ice means rising seas. And that directly endangers lives and livelihoods in coastal communities across the globe. Floods and saltwater intrusion imperil crops and drinking water—threatening food and water security.""The movement of waters around Antarctica distributes heat, nutrients, and carbon around the world, helping to regulate our climate and regional weather patterns," he explained. "But that system is slowing as the Southern Ocean grows warmer and less dense. Further slowdown—or entire breakdown—would spell catastrophe."

Rapid growth of newly-formed island near Iwo Jima, Japan - video, 15 photos - On November 1, 2023, a new island was born approximately 1 km (0.62 miles) off the southern coast of Iwoto Island, Japan, following intense volcanic activity. This latest addition to the Ogasawara island chain, now nearly merging with Iwoto, was first identified by military personnel stationed there. On the morning of November 1, 2023, military personnel at the Maritime Self-Defense Force’s (MSDF) base on Iwoto Island (historically known as Iwo Jima), were startled by loud noises and the sight of soil and debris erupting into the sky. This phenomenon marked the formation of a new island, a mere 1 km (0.62 miles) off Iwoto’s southern coast, part of Japan’s Ogasawara island chain. The volcanic activity that led to the island’s creation had been hinted at since October 21, with frequent tremors indicating volcanic unrest. YouTube video The Global Volcanism Program reported that the eruption originated from a vent located near Okinahama on the island’s southeast side. Observers noted explosions every few minutes during an overflight on October 30, which ejected dark material up to 20 m (65 feet) above the ocean’s surface. The newly formed island, initially observed as a black-colored landmass surrounded by floating pumice, was recorded by the Sentinel-2 satellite on November 2. At that time, it measured approximately 230 m (754 feet) in length and 200 m (656 feet) in width. Since then, the island has shown significant growth, approaching a size that nearly merges it with the nearby Iwo Jima. Sentinel-2 satellite image acquired on November 27 shows the newly-formed island’s northern tip just 220 m (720 feet) from the nearest coast of Iwo Jima.

M9.8 solar flare erupts from geoeffective Region 3500, Earth-directed CME likely - A very strong solar flare measuring M9.8 erupted from Active Region 3500 at 19:50 UTC on November 28, 2023. The event started at 19:35 UTC and ended at 20:09 UTC. Earth-directed CME is very likely. This could be the 4th and the strongest CME expected to impact Earth over the next couple of days. A G2 – Moderate Geomagnetic Storm Watch is in effect for December 1. A Type II Radio Emission with an estimated velocity of 854 km/s was detected beginning at 19:59 UTC. Type II emissions occur in association with eruptions on the Sun and typically indicate a coronal mass ejection (CME) is associated with a flare event. Additionally, a 10cm Radio Burst (Tenflare) with a peak flux of 720 sfu, was associated with the flare event. 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. This noise is generally short-lived but can cause interference for sensitive receivers including radar, GPS, and satellite communications. Region 3500 is located at the center of the solar disk, making Earth-directed CMEs very likely. Radio frequencies were forecast to be most degraded over SW USA, Central America, W South America and the Pacific Ocean at the time of the flare.Multiple CMEs were produced on November 27, with three of these appearing to have Earth-directed components. The first arrival is a potential glancing blow or near-Earth proximity passage beginning early November 30 (UTC). The later CMEs are anticipated to arrive at Earth early December 1 (UTC) as at least glancing blows. As a result, SWPC issued a G2 – Moderate Geomagnetic Storm Watch for December 1. Potential impacts: The area of impact is primarily poleward of 55 degrees Geomagnetic Latitude.

• Induced currents – Power grid fluctuations can occur. High-latitude power systems may experience voltage alarms.
• Spacecraft – Satellite orientation irregularities may occur; increased drag on low Earth-orbit satellites is possible.
• Radio – HF (high frequency) radio propagation can fade at higher latitudes.
• Aurora – Aurora may be seen as low as New York to Wisconsin to Washington state.

Jeff Bezos' Superyacht Generates 447 Times The Yearly Carbon Emissions Of Average US Household --Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' triple-masted $500 million superyacht is far from climate-friendly, generating hundreds of times the annual carbon footprint of a typical American household. At 417 feet, "Koru" is the world's largest sailing yacht. It produces a whopping 7,154 tons of greenhouse gasses on a per-annum basis, or about 447 times the entire annual carbon footprint of the average US household, the New York Post reported, citing Indiana researchers. Indiana anthropology Ph.D. candidate Beatriz Barros and anthropologist Richard Wilk led the research into Koru's emissions. Barros said, "But because they are so rich and so powerful, they feel like they are entitled [to travel in carbon-producing superyachts], whereas you and I should drive less, should eat less meat." Despite Koru's "green" ability to travel via the three masts, she said plenty of greenhouse gasses are still released to provide electricity on the vessel - typically by diesel marine generators. Meanwhile, the billionaires advocate for climate change while sailing around the world in luxury superyachts and jetting across continents in Gulfstream G500s that emit large amounts of carbon emissions. Then they advocate for laws to ban gas stoves, phase out petrol vehicles, ban cow farts with the eventual goal of insect burgers, and other radical structural changes to society that mirror WEF's global reset plan.

Biden reportedly set to miss Dubai climate summit - President Biden will miss the annual COP climate meeting for the first time since taking office, with the White House citing the ongoing Middle East crisis. Multiple news outlets reported, citing either a U.S. or White House official, that Biden was not planning to attend COP28, and his public schedule does not list him attending a forum for heads of state slated for this weekend.The White House declined to confirm or deny these reports, but said that other key climate officials — John Kerry, John Podesta and Ali Zaidi — will travel to the COP28 conference in Dubai. Amid the reports Biden will not attend, climate activists criticized the president on Monday. “This is President Biden missing another opportunity to be a leader on climate change,” said Stevie O’Hanlon, a spokesperson for the Sunrise Movement. “After making decisions like approving the Willow Project that are putting the United States on track to produce more oil and gas than ever before it would be wise for him to prove his commitment to climate action,” O’Hanlon added, referencing a massive oil drilling project in the Arctic Biden’s Interior Department approved earlier this year.

Biden’s first-ever UN climate summit snub carries symbolic weight - President Biden is reportedly skipping a global climate change summit for the first time in his presidency. Not attending the conference, which is set to begin later this week, would mark a significant snub by a president who has vowed to fight global warming. Yet some experts say his absence is unlikely to actually impact the conference’s outcomes, with both his presence and absence playing more of a symbolic role. Multiple news outlets have reported that Biden is not planning to attend, and his public schedule does not list him attending a forum for heads of state slated for this weekend. Asked about Biden’s plans, White House spokespeople said they “don’t have any travel updates to announce at this time,” but said other key officials — climate envoy John Kerry, White House adviser John Podesta and national climate adviser Ali Zaidi — will travel to the COP28 conference in Dubai. Climate activists criticized the president over the reported decision Monday. “This is President Biden missing another opportunity to be a leader on climate change,” said Stevie O’Hanlon, a spokesperson for the Sunrise Movement. “After making decisions like approving the Willow Project that are putting the United States on track to produce more oil and gas than ever before it would be wise for him to prove his commitment to climate action,” O’Hanlon added, referencing a massive oil drilling project approved under the administration. Jean Su, director of the Energy Justice Program at the Center for Biological Diversity, similarly expressed disappointment. “His absence really shows a lack of commitment to climate right now when it’s the most important time to get to a climate talk,” Su said. “You know, this conference is being run by an oil baron,” she noted. Sultan al-Jaber, CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., is set to lead this year’s event. “It’s really important that Biden shows up and challenges the fossil fuel interests that are blatantly running the conference,” Su said. “It’s extremely worrying that President Biden is not coming.”

Harris to attend COP28 climate summit in Dubai - Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Dubai this week to attend the United Nations’ climate change negotiations that are being hosted by the United Arab Emirates, the White House announced Wednesday. Harris will join COP28 on Friday and Saturday during a two-day stretch of speeches from heads of state such as French President Emmanuel Macron, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Harris will be the highest-ranking U.S. representative of the dozens of lawmakers and agency officials participating in the nearly two-week negotiations, which begin Thursday. President Joe Biden is not expected to travel to Dubai for the conference despite attending the last two COPs that have taken place during his presidency. “The Vice President’s participation in COP28 will continue the Biden-Harris Administration’s leadership on bold, global action to address the climate crisis, advance U.S. climate goals, and help ensure a strong outcome at COP28,” White House press secretary Kirsten Allen said in a statement. This year’s negotiations are expected to focus on thorny issues such as shifting off of fossil fuels and agreeing on a framework for a new international fund to pay for irreversible climate damage in developing countries. Countries will also engage in a “global stocktake” that assesses how far the 196 parties to the 2015 Paris climate agreement are from reaching their goal of keeping global temperatures well below 2 degrees Celsius of warming compared with the pre-Industrial Revolution era. Most nations are far behind their targets.

At COP28, the United States Will Stress an End to Fossil Emissions, Not Fuels - President Joe Biden will not attend the climate talks that commence this week in Dubai, but the conflict that has come to define his policy on the planetary crisis will be front and center.The president who has catalyzed the nation’s greatest investment ever in a clean energy transition also has presided as U.S. oil and natural gas production reached record heights.And as delegates from nearly 200 nations convene Thursday for two weeks of negotiations on what more needs to be done to stave off catastrophic warming, pressure is building for the annual conference to address specifically—for the first time— the future of fossil fuels.But the United States, casting itself as a climate action leader despite its role as the world’s No. 1 oil and natural gas producer, will insist that any phase-down language be focused not on fossil fuels themselves, but on their emissions. “We hope we can send a very strong signal that the nations of the world are committed to work together to transition away from fossil fuel emissions in the next three decades,” said John Kerry, the U.S. special climate envoy, in a briefing Wednesday from Dubai.The language that the United States endorses, Kerry said, is in the statement agreed to this year at a summit of the so-called “Group of Seven” wealthy nations, or G7, requiring an accelerated phase-out of “unabated” fossil fuels to achieve net zero emissions in all energy systems by mid-century.That phrasing foresees continued oil and natural gas production with deployment of technologies to capture their carbon emissions. Such technologies are not commercially available and even under the most optimistic scenarios would be able to capture only a fraction of global CO2 emissions by 2030. But the Biden administration is investing in them heavily—in essence, pouring money into a lifeline for the fossil fuel industry in a carbon-constrained world. It was almost impossible to avoid fossil fuels becoming a focus of the 28th round of annual United Nations climate talks, known as COP28. In what is on track to be the warmest year on record, climate negotiators are holding their meeting in a major oil-producing nation, the United Arab Emirates. Climate action advocates have expressed outrage at a BBC report indicating that the president of COP28, Sultan al-Jaber, who simultaneously is CEO of the UAE’s giant state oil company, Adnoc, was using the summit to make oil and gas deals. Al-Jaber called a news conference Wednesday to deny the report. Meanwhile, the Biden administration faces international and domestic political pressure to take an aggressive stand at the gathering on phasing down fossil fuels. Although the European Union signed on to the G7 language in the spring, the EU Parliament last week bolstered its position going into COP28. The EU Parliament now calls for “a tangible phase-out of fossil fuels,” and for negotiators to develop a fossil fuel “non-proliferation treaty” to augment the U.N. climate accords. At home, Biden is going into next year’s election with weakening support from young voters, who were a key to his 2020 victory. It is clear the erosion in part is over pro-fossil fuel moves like his approval earlier this year of ConocoPhillips’ $8 billion Willow oil drilling project on federal land in Arctic Alaska. “Biden hasn’t said why he’s not attending COP28,” posted the youth-led climate action group Sunrise Movement, on the social media platform X. “Might it be because he’s afraid to show his face while he’s approving projects like Willow that are putting the U.S. on track to produce more oil and gas than ever before?”

Pressure builds to eliminate fossil fuel use as oil executive, under fire, takes over climate talks (AP) — Pressure to phase out fossil fuels mounted Thursday on the oil company chief who took over fragile international climate negotiations that opened in Dubai amid concerns about what some say are contradictory dual roles. United Nations and climate talks leaders might have relieved some of the pressure with an early victory they called unprecedented. Negotiators unanimously approved much-fought over plans to launch and fund a new program to compensate poorer nations hit by floods, storms, drought and other climate extremes. Several nations, led by host United Arab Emirates, immediately pledged more than $420 million for the new fund, which took 30 years to approve. Leaders said they hope the quick win on a key financial issue would set a new tone for negotiations that had put the climate talks newly installed boss on the hot seat and not just because the planet keeps smashing heat records this year. Days before the United Nations Conference of Parties (COP28) began, reports published meeting preparation notes that linked efforts by the United Arab Emirates national oil company ADNOC to push fossil fuel sales at the same time its CEO and new COP president, Sultan al-Jaber, was meeting to curb climate change. The burning of coal, oil and gas are chief causes of global warming. Al-Jaber vehemently denied the revelations from the BBC on Wednesday, But several climate negotiations experts say it will likely change the tenor and maybe even the outcome of the two weeks of intense negotiations, taking place about 60 miles (100 kilometers) from where five offshore oil fields flow. More than 100,000 people were registered for the negotiations, more than double the previous high for these new U.N. talks. “I think the pressure on the COP president to deliver is pretty clear and has been clear for months,” German climate envoy Jennifer Morgan told The Associated Press. “That’s the focus here to deliver on really a course correction.” Climate negotiations historian Joanna Depledge said, “whether true or not, the revelations are embarrassing, but I don’t think they put COP in jeopardy. To the contrary, the hope is that the pressure on UAE will tighten.” “It’s understandable if the COP hosts, and other fossil fuel nations, were starting to feel the heat on this issue,” said Mohamed Adow, of Power Shift Africa. “Fossil fuels are after all the elephant in the room and these countries can’t go on trying to pretend they are not a problem. This extra scrutiny is certainly welcome.”

UAE reportedly planned to use COP28 climate summit to lobby for oil and gas deals - The United Arab Emirates planned to use its role as the host of the biggest and most important annual climate conference as a platform to lobby foreign government officials for oil and gas deals, according to a cache of internal documents obtained by a not-for-profit investigative journalism organization.The leaked records show that Sultan al-Jaber, who controversially serves as both COP28 president-designate and chief executive of state oil giant ADNOC (the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.), planned to discuss fossil fuel deals with 15 countries during the forthcoming climate conference. Al-Jaber was the founding CEO of Abu Dhabi state-owned renewable energy firm Masdar.The documents were published Monday by the Centre for Climate Reporting, which worked in collaboration with the BBC. CCR, which has received funding from the likes of Greenpeace and Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, said it was able to verify the accuracy of the leaked documents via an unnamed whistleblower.“The documents referred to in the BBC article are inaccurate and were not used by COP28 in meetings. It is extremely disappointing to see the BBC use unverified documents in their reporting,” a COP28 spokesperson said.A spokesperson for ADNOC was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC. Masdar declined to comment.The documents purportedly show briefing notes prepared by the UAE’s COP28 team for meetings with almost 30 foreign governments ahead of the summit, which starts Thursday and is scheduled to run through to Dec. 12.Among some of the proposed talking points for al-Jaber were the UAE’s hope to get off the Brazilian “tax haven” list to help facilitate new investments from Masdar, its desire to consider a possible deal with China over liquified natural gas projects and its position that ADNOC “stands ready to support the supply of petrochemicals to Egypt.”COP28 is the United Nations’ upcoming round of global climate talks. The two-week-long summit will be held in Dubai, with scores of world leaders and government ministers from nearly 200 countries expected to attend — alongside an estimated 70,000 delegates.It is regarded as a pivotal opportunity to accelerate action to address the climate crisis at a time when global temperatures are hitting record highs and extreme weather events are affecting people worldwide.The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment on the leaked documents. The Conference of the Parties (COP) is the supreme decision-making body of the UNFCCC.Human rights group Amnesty International repeated its call for al-Jaber to stand down from his role at ADNOC to ensure the success of the COP28 summit.“Sultan Al Jaber claims his inside knowledge of the fossil fuel industry qualifies him to lead a crucial climate summit but it looks ever more like a fox is guarding the hen house,” Amnesty International’s climate advisor, Ann Harrison, said in reaction to the leaked documents. “Our calls on Sultan Al Jaber to step down from his role at ADNOC if he wishes to lead a successful summit remain valid,” Harrison said. “Documents suggesting he was briefed to advance business interests in COP meetings only fuel our concerns that COP28 has been comprehensively captured by the fossil fuel lobby to serve its vested interests that put the whole of humanity at risk.”

Grift Endgame: Deutsche CIO Now Says Oil Companies Have A Place In ESG Funds At the end of the day, it always winds up reverting to common sense and, in the investing world, alpha. That's what has Markus Müller, chief investment officer ESG at Deutsche Bank's Private Bank, admitting this week that if you want to make money - no matter what you label your fund - you're likely going to need some exposure to energy and big oil. He also noted the obvious: that big oil companies have, in fact, been making strides to reduce emissions, despite being labeled as serial polluters with 'more money than God' by the Biden administration and their cronies. Reuters dropped a bomb last week when they reported that Müller had stated on Tuesday that sustainability funds should include traditional energy stocks, arguing that not doing so deprives investors of a prime opportunity to invest in the transition to renewable energy."When we think about clean energy, these are business models which are quite new and sensitive to interest rates," he said.Since the surge in fossil fuel prices following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, fossil fuel stocks have seen significant growth, resulting in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) funds underperforming in comparison. Müller emphasized that investors focused on sustainability require more detailed disclosures from companies about their shift to lower-carbon operations and clearer regulations for labeling funds concentrating on the transition.He said that ESG strategies vary, with many funds currently investing in fossil fuels, but impending stricter regulations may lead to more exclusions. For instance, France plans to prohibit 'ISR' labeled funds from investing in new fossil fuel projects from 2025. Currently, about 45% of funds, amounting to 7 billion euros, have traditional energy investments.Deutsche Bank's Chief Investment Office ESG survey indicates sustained investor interest in sustainability, with energy transition being the top investment choice, surpassing artificial intelligence. However, confidence in ESG factors for risk management is declining, with only 37% agreeing it's effective, down from previous years. The survey, with 1,759 mostly European respondents, revealed that just 15% have a solid understanding of ESG, and a mere 3% consider themselves experts. It's not surprising, as we have been calling out ESG as a grift since the virtue signaling "trend" was born from the soil of near-unlimited liquidity during the Covid years. Recall, back in August we noted that companies with good ESG scores polluted just as much as those with low ones.

COP28: 75,000 attendees on Day 1; breakthrough funding deal agreed --The COP28 conference marked a record turnout on the first day, with tens of thousands of participants showing up in Dubai on Thursday to take part in climate change discussions. As of 4pm, the high-profile event that seeks to address the impacts of global warming attracted 75,000 attendees, including heads of state, ministers, journalists and representatives from global organisations, organisers said at a press conference. “It’s a record participation,” said Alexander Saier, UN Climate Change moderator, at the media briefing. The total number of participants adds up to 84,000 if those who attend the event virtually are taken into account. The attendees were from 198 countries, according to a press statement. On the first day, countries reached an agreement on setting up a Loss and Damage Fund (LDF) to help different nations to deal with the impacts of climate change. The UAE pledged $100 million to the fund, followed by contributions from Germany, the UK, the US and Japan. The 28th annual meeting known as COP, after the Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, is being held in Dubai and scheduled to run through to December 12. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai welcomed the delegates, who he said have come to the UAE to “address a singular issue: the preservation of our planet for future generations”. The Dubai ruler said that climate change is one of the most important challenges humanity must address through consolidated global efforts. “The challenges are big; however, history has always demonstrated that the unity, cooperation and assembly of humanity remain the greatest enablers of prosperity and continued progress,” he said.

On 1st day, UN climate conference sets up fund for countries hit by disasters like flood and drought (AP) — The world just took a big step toward compensating countries hit by deadly floods, heat and droughts. Nearly all nations on Thursday finalized the creation of a fund to help compensate countries struggling to cope with loss and damage caused by climate change, seen as a major first-day breakthrough at this year’s U.N. climate conference. Some countries started putting in money right away — if little compared to the overall anticipated needs. Sultan al-Jaber, the president of the COP28 climate conference in Dubai, hailed “the first decision to be adopted on Day One of any COP” — and said his country, the United Arab Emirates, would chip in $100 million. Other countries stepped up with big-ticket commitments, including Germany, also at $100 million. Al-Jaber said the total was “north of $420 million” in just the first hour, but work would continue to collect more. John Kerry, the U.S. climate envoy, said the U.S. administration was working with Congress to provide $17.5 million, adding that U.S. officials “expect this fund to be up and running quickly” and would “draw from a variety of sources.” He also pointed to a number of other U.S. initiatives aimed to fight the fallout from climate change. “The scale of the challenge is simply too large for any government to be able to finance alone,” Kerry said. Several advocacy groups praised a strong first step, but said they expected more from the rich world in the future. “The initial monetary pledges announced today are a small, inadequate start,” said Rachel Cleetus, policy director for climate and energy at the Union of Concerned Scientists. ”Wealthy nations, including the United States, must live up to their responsibility to provide significant contributions to the fund in the years ahead.”

COP28 summit: Cow burps, food waste in focus on agriculture day (Reuters) - Climate advocacy groups are pressuring world governments gathered at this year’s United Nation’s COP28 climate conference in Dubai to commit to cutting global food sector emissions, as the conference host promises to put agriculture in the spotlight.Global food systems- including farming and land use, livestock production, household food consumption and waste, and energy used in the farm and food retail sectors - account for 31% of human-made greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, according to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).But few governments have ever published numeric targets for lowering those emissions, focusing instead mostly on the use of fossil fuels for power, transport and industry, according to climate advocates."Business as usual food systems would use nearly the whole carbon budget for a 2-degree Celsius world. We need to implement food systems approaches throughout COP28," said Joao Campari, global leader of food practice at the World Wildlife Fund.A full day of the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP), Dec. 10, will be dedicated to food and agriculture - a first for any COP - and the United Arab Emirates host has said the event will be a "game-changer for food systems."Advocacy groups say countries should take the opportunity to commit to stronger action on food system emissions in their national climate plans, called Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).Many NDCs mention agriculture, but just 53 of 164 countries who had submitted NDCs to the U.N. as of September 2022 included quantified GHG goals for agricultural sub-sectors, according to CGIAR, a global food security research group.The United States, India, China and Canada are among the countries that did not have quantified mitigation goals.Advocates would see clearer accounting of food system emissions and targets to reduce them, as well as discussion of issues like biodiversity and healthy, sustainable diets."That’s a minimum baseline to understand the role of food systems and its connection [to climate change]," said Patty Fong, program director for climate, health and wellbeing at the Global Alliance for the Future of Food.Doing so could also unlock financial investment in tackling food emissions, said Saswati Bora, global director for regenerative food systems at the Nature Conservancy. Food systems received just 4.3% of global climate finance in 2019 and 2020, according to the Climate Policy Initiative. "To have this increasing attention at the global level helps direct some of the support that’s needed for producers to transition food production to be more climate-friendly," Bora said. A key goal for advocates is reducing methane emissions from food sectors like livestock production and food waste. Methane is about 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide over a 100-year period. Food systems generate 53% of the world's methane emissions and about two-thirds of agricultural methane is from livestock production, including cow burps and manure management, according to the FAO. Heightened awareness of livestock methane emissions should lead to global commitments to cut them, much in the same way the Global Methane Pledge launched at COP26 commits countries to reduce their methane emissions 30% by 2030, said John Tauzel, senior director of global agricultural methane at the Environmental Defense Fund. Wealthier countries should support farmers in implementing technology like biodigesters that capture manure emissions for energy production, while poorer countries should help farmers improve animal feed and livestock digestion, Tauzel said. Countries should also make stronger commitments in NDCs on food waste, said Liz Goodwin, director of food loss and waste at the World Resources Institute. Food waste generates half of all global food system emissions according to a March study published in the journal Nature Food. "That puts it clearly on their government agenda [and] it means they’ve got to actually do something about it," Goodwin said. The members of the U.N. pledged in 2015 to halve global food loss and waste by 2030, but the world has collectively made little progress towards the goal and some countries waste even more food now.

Lack of Cop 28 chemicals, plastic focus puzzling --The apparent absence of a focus on plastics in discussions during the upcoming UN Cop 28 climate summit is puzzling, considering the role that chemicals and plastics production play on both sides of the debate. On one hand, the petrochemicals industry is the world's third-largest industry sub-sector in terms of direct CO2 emissions, according to energy watchdog the IEA. Petrochemical feedstocks are "the main long-term pillar of oil demand", the IEA says. But on the other hand, plastic can contribute to lower carbon emissions in various applications, including as a lightweight alternative material for car parts or packaging, or by prolonging the shelf life of perishable items to reduce food waste. But a lack of globally harmonised regulation is impeding investment. A greater forum for discussing chemicals and plastics at Cop 28 could accelerate progress, but plastics do not feature on the Cop 28 presidency schedule — although there will be multiple events at the summit, some of which may focus on plastics. The proliferation of sustainability commitments in the plastics industry accelerated in 2017 and 2018, when the "Blue Planet effect" focussed public discourse around plastic waste in the environment, particularly the seas. But the discussion has evolved since then ,with the carbon benefits of recycled and bio-based feedstocks now an equally prominent part of discussions. Many of the largest global petrochemical and polymer producers have announced measures to reduce their carbon footprints, including by producing more recycled or non-fossil based plastics. Argus recently examined some of these pledges and found that the firms surveyed have committed to market a total of around 17mn t/yr of products with some recycled or bio-based content by 2030. This is not a small volume, and the companies surveyed do not account for all producers that have made sustainability commitments. But measures will need to continue to be scaled up to be effective in the context of estimated global plastic production of more than 350mn t/yr in 2021. This will require significant investment and likely a trusted framework around which future developments can be focussed.

Experts trash Hong Kong's 'throwaway culture' ahead of plastic ban -Unlike her fellow Hong Kong urbanites toting plastic or paper cups filled with coffee, pet groomer Lucine Mo takes her caffeine hit in a thermal mug with a QR code. The coded mug can be returned to 35 coffee shops taking part in a Greenpeace pilot project aiming to change one of the city's most wasteful consumption habits -- the near-instinctive use of disposable cutlery. That practice is nearly non-existent in Hong Kong, but come Earth Day on April 22, 2024, caterers and consumers will see a ban on disposable plastic cutlery take effect in more than 28,000 eateries. The idea is "to build a plastic-free culture", authorities said, but environmentalists are worried that the ban's benefits could be undermined if the city merely replaces plastic waste with that of other materials. Hong Kong is already swamped with trash -- 13 dumpsites are brimming and the remaining three landfills are expected to fill by 2030. Plastic is the finance hub's second-largest source of municipal solid waste, with the average amount disposed daily totalling 2,331 tonnes in 2021 -- a weight equivalent to nearly 70 adult humpback whales. In October, the city's legislature amended the "Product Eco-Responsibility Bill", implementing a two-stage ban on some plastic products. Phase one, starting on Earth Day, will ban some types of polystyrene and plastic tableware that are difficult to recycle. That means no more plastic forks, knives, spoons and plates for dine-in customers -- or office workers looking to get a quick takeaway meal. Plastic containers such as cups and bowls will also be banned for sit-down meals, though allowed for takeaway -- until phase two kicks in, which will "depend on the availability and affordability of" reusable alternatives. Scanning a trash-strewn beach in northeast Hong Kong, volunteer Yeungs Ting remains sceptical about the ban's effectiveness. "It's not about whether they are plastic... it's about disposing once you have used it,"

Energy efficiency must double in pace by 2030 to hit climate goals, IEA says (Reuters) - Countries must double the pace of measures to improve energy efficiency if global climate targets are to be met, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a report on Wednesday. Record high energy costs last year helped to spur the take-up of measures such replacing gas boilers with heat pumps and switching to LED lightbulbs, but the rate of energy efficiency progress has since slowed, the IEA said. This year's U.N. climate talks begin on Thursday in the United Arab Emirates and will be the first global assessment of progress since the landmark Paris Agreement in 2015. It set a goal of limiting global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), while aiming for a cap of 1.5C. "The world’s climate ambitions hinge on our ability to make the global energy system much more efficient," IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said. "If governments want to keep the 1.5 degree Celsius goal within reach while supporting energy security, doubling energy efficiency progress this decade is critical," he said. The IEA said investments have led to energy being used 1.3% more efficiently this year compared with last year, but that the improvement rate had slowed from a 2% increase in 2022. Energy efficiency needs to double from that level to 4% a year for climate targets to be met, the IEA said. Some $700 billion has been spent globally on energy efficiency support since 2020, the IEA said. Of this, almost 70% was spent in just five countries - France, Germany, Italy, Norway and the United States.

Where the World Is (and Isn’t) Making Progress on Climate Change - To tackle dangerous global warming, countries have started to clean up their power plants and cars. But emissions from heavy industry — like cement, steel or chemical factories — have been harder to curb and are now on pace to become by far the world’s largest source of planet-warming pollution.That’s one big takeaway from a new, detailed forecast of global greenhouse gas emissions published Thursday by the Rhodium Group, a research firm. Overall, the report estimates that the world is currently on track to heat up roughly 2.8 degrees Celsius, or 5 degrees Fahrenheit, above preindustrial levels by 2100. Many world leaders and scientists consider that much warming to be perilous.Trying to predict emissions so far out in the future is inherently difficult, but the forecast offers a rough guide to where countries appear poised to make progress on climate change in the years ahead — and where they are still struggling..Globally, greenhouse gas emissions are expected to soar to record highs this year. However, there are signs that planet-warming pollution from two major sectors — electricity and transportation — could start declining in the not-so-distant future.In the electricity sector, which accounts for one-quarter of greenhouse gases today, countries may be on the verge of a breakthrough. Solar and wind power are growing so fast that some experts now expect global demand for fossil-fueled electricity to peak this decade. That process has already started in the United States and Europe, where coal-fired power is plummeting, and China could soon follow.Carbon-dioxide emissions from transportation are also projected to fall by midcentury because of the rapid spread of electric vehicles, which now make up one in five new car sales globally. In places like Africa and Asia, smaller electric motorcycles, mopeds and rickshaws are already displacing nearly one million barrels of oil per day. Still, the report notes, neither electricity nor transportation appears to be on track to get all the way to zero emissions — which is what scientists say is ultimately needed to halt climate change. That’s because most countries still rely on coal or natural gas to back up wind and solar power, and there are aren’t yet obvious solutions for decarbonizing long-distance trucks, airplanes and ships. Until nations solve those challenges — perhaps with new types of batteries, advanced nuclear reactors or clean hydrogen fuels — they will remain partly dependent on fossil fuels like oil and gas. There are also countless buildings around the world that burn coal, oil or natural gas for heating and cooking. Those emissions are projected to fall modestly over the next few decades, in part because of efficiency improvements and a shift to cleaner electric technologies like heat pumps, the report said. But without stronger action, such as a push to retrofit older homes and buildings, emissions are unlikely to fall to zero.Industry — which includes production of iron, steel, cement, chemicals, oil and gas — remains one of the hardest sectors to clean up. It also often gets overlooked in climate discussions. But industrial emissions are currently expected to soar in the decades ahead.They come from a vast array of sources. Many factories burn coal or natural gas to produce huge amounts of heat needed to create steam, temper glass or turn iron into steel. Cement makers emit carbon dioxide as part of the process of transforming limestone into cement. The chemical industry uses fossil fuels as a raw material for its products.In theory, there are technologies that can cut emissions. Industrial heat pumps or thermal batteries could help factories generate heat from renewable electricity. Cement makers could capture and burytheir carbon dioxide. Steel makers could use clean hydrogeninstead of coal. But many of those solutions are expensive and in their infancy.

70pc CO2 cut needs export solution: Fertilizers Europe - European fertilizer producers recently committed to 70pc greenhouse gas (GHG) cuts by 2040, compared to 2020 levels. But on its decarbonisation path, the fertilizer industry needs EU guarantees of a level playing field, not only with the carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM). The EU now needs to guarantee a level playing field for EU exporters, says Antoine Hoxha, director-general of Fertilizers Europe, in an interview with Argus. The CBAM is aimed at creating a level playing for imports to the EU, while nudging non-EU countries towards climate action. The current version of CBAM does not resolve an unlevel emissions playing field for EU fertilizer exporters. A review clause might allow for a solution. We need political will for a solution before CBAM finally cuts off free allowances for European fertilizer producers. The best trade lawyers have already come up with WTO-compliant solutions. With no free allocation for the EU fertilizer industry, the emissions trading system (ETS) price effect will be huge. The ETS might constitute some 50-60pc of EU ammonia price per tonne in 2034, when free allowances are completely phased out. You'd be quite simply thrown out of the market, if you're only 20pc higher than non-EU producers. And what's the point, with no market, for EU producers to have the lowest carbon footprint in the world?

Carbon pipeline debate spawns another new organization - South Dakota Searchlight -- A second group has formed in response to disputes over a proposed carbon dioxide pipeline in South Dakota, this time in support of policies that could result in the pipeline’s construction. A news release from the newly formed South Dakota Ag Alliance said it will “mediate and advocate for reasonable solutions to difficult ag and rural development issues” such as carbon pipeline proposals. That includes advocating for policies to provide a better deal and greater peace of mind for affected landowners. Co-founders Rob Skjonsberg and Jason Glodt are prominent figures in South Dakota politics. Glodt formerly did governmental affairs work for a carbon pipeline company, Navigator CO2, that has since terminated its proposed project. He is a lawyer and co-founder, with Skjonsberg, of GSG Strategies, a government relations, advocacy and campaign strategy firm. Glodt also served in the administrations of Governors Mike Rounds and Dennis Daugaard. Skjonsberg, a rancher and farmer, formerly worked as chief of stafffor Rounds, served on the state Board of Economic Development Board under Daugaard and worked as a senior vice president of government affairs for the Poet biofuels company. The two said they are not being paid by anyone to lead the new nonprofit, and they’re not working with Summit Carbon Solutions, the remaining company proposing a carbon pipeline in the state. “I haven’t said anything to them,” Skjonsberg said. Summit, based in Iowa, wants to collect carbon dioxide emissions from 32 Midwest ethanol plants, including some in South Dakota. The carbon would be liquefied and transported through a multi-billion-dollar pipeline for burial in North Dakota, making the project eligible for federal tax credits that incentivize the removal of heat-trapping gasses from the atmosphere. The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission rejected Summit’s permit application in September, citing problems including the route’s conflicts with county ordinances that require minimum distances between pipelines and existing features. The company plans to adjust its route and reapply. Last month, the coalition South Dakotans First formed to protect property rights for landowners in response to Summit’s earlier filing — and later withdrawal — of eminent domain actions against more than 150 landowners. “Eminent domain” refers to the power to access private property for public use, provided the owner is justly compensated.

Biden's Carbon Pipeline Is a Boondoggle for Big Oil That Punishes Iowa Farmers By Robert F. Kennedy Jr. - For 40 years, I've stood among the leadership of the environmental movement crafting sensible, market-based solutions for reducing our deadly addiction to oil and coal. I believe that the human-induced greenhouse effect is an existential threat to civilization, but I do not insist that other people ascribe to my belief.Even Americans who don't accept carbon-induced climate change should worry that our nation's dependence on coal and oil has other obvious and unignorable costs—including poisoning our fisheries with mercury, sterilizing our lakes and streams, and denuding our forests with acid rain, as well as the mass-scale strip mining that is leveling parts of the Appalachian mountains and the petroleum addiction that keeps us embroiled in endless oil wars.Furthermore, the public finances this destruction with trillions in annual subsidies that allow coal, oil, and gas companies to maintain their competitive edge against what by some measures could be cheaper, cleaner, and more efficient fuels. In 2022, the carbon industry globally collected a staggering $7 trillion in direct and indirect public subsidies.But whether or not you believe in the greenhouse effect, no one can deny that powerful vested interests are now hijacking the climate emergency—as they do with every crisis—to shift wealth upward and impose totalitarian controls.A troubling poster child of this dynamic is one of the flagships of President Biden's climate strategy: giant pipelines that purport to transport waste carbon from Iowa ethanol plants across six states to deep-well injection sites in Illinois and North Dakota. I have long denounced these sorts of "carbon capture storage and sequestration" projects as wasteful corporate welfare boondoggles that do little to reduce atmospheric carbon but serve instead to enrich billionaires and subsidize Big Carbon.This particular caper began when Congress passed a tax credit in 2008 to incentivize carbon capture. President Trump expanded the law in 2018, as did President Biden in his 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. The legislation virtually flew through the carbon-captured Senate. In actuality, the only thing certain to be captured by this project is taxpayer money. Section 45Q of Biden's law could funnel $2 billion a year for 12 years from bilked taxpayers to Iowa ethanol titan Bruce Rastetter's Summit pipeline and Archer Daniels Midland's (ADM) Wolf pipeline (BlackRock's Navigator Energy Services recently canceled a third proposed pipeline).Ironically, carbon capture systems require energy-guzzling machinery to collect carbon from industrial processes, thereby increasing energy demand. Our government has already earmarked $2.5 billion in worthless carbon capture "demonstration" projects and research since 2010 and has designated $12 billion last year alone on projects that can't be shown to work.

US ethanol industry needs carbon capture to feed aviation fuel market -agriculture secretary (Reuters) - Carbon capture and storage (CCS) at ethanol plants in the U.S. Midwest is necessary if the industry and its farmers hope to have a role in the burgeoning sustainable aviation fuel market, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Wednesday. Three CCS pipelines that would transport and store captured carbon from ethanol plants in an effort to slash that industry's emissions have been proposed in the Midwest, though they have faced stiff resistance from landowners along the routes who fear their land will be damaged or taken through eminent domain.One of the pipelines, from Nebraska-based Navigator CO2 Ventures, was canceled in October and the other two, from Colorado-based Wolf Carbon Solutions and Iowa-based Summit Carbon Solutions, have faced significant roadblocks.The ethanol industry is banking on CCS and carbon pipelines to slash their emissions, in part so the fuel can qualify as a feedstock for SAF, which the industry sees as a critical to ethanol's growth. That effort that has been stalled by public resistance to the pipeline projects.To receive lucrative tax credits, SAF producers must demonstrate their fuel reduces emissions 50% over gasoline.Vilsack said in a conversation with Reuters reporters that using biofuels to make SAF would require the use of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology. "For folks in the Midwest, if they're interested in taking advantage of a biofuel renaissance and expansion with sustainable aviation fuel... they are going to have to have some way of dealing with the issue of carbon capture and storage," Vilsack said. Vilsack also told Reuters reporters on Wednesday that a much-anticipated decision from the U.S. Treasury that could make it easier for ethanol-derived SAF to qualify for subsidies would come by the end of the year. Vilsack said he has not had any conversation with the White House about the carbon pipelines, in part because his son, Jess Vilsack, is general counsel for Summit Carbon Solutions. "I've been trying to not complicate his life and make it more difficult," Vilsack said.

Wood pellet giant Enviva with major operations in NC faces financial woes -- A wood-to-energy company that has provided many vital jobs for rural Southern communities, including in Eastern North Carolina, but has also become a lightning rod for criticism from environmental groups is in severe financial trouble that could lead it into bankruptcy. Maryland-based Enviva, the world's largest wood pellet manufacturer, has seen its stock price melt down over the past year, from more than $60 in fall 2022 − and $80 earlier that year − to under $1.50 a share on Monday. That has seen the company's value chopped from more than $3.5 billion last year to just over $100 million today.The company's financial woes are largely due to collapsing prices for wood pellets, meaning the company is making less money even though it's selling more pellets than ever before. With Enviva locked into several long-term contracts with customers at low prices, losses could continue to mount unless the company is able to renegotiate the agreements. Company officials also blame high interest rates and operational issues at some of its plants for adding to its financial woes.Along with alarm bells set off by the the $85 million loss in the third quarter, up from $18.3 million in third-quarter 2022, Enviva also suspended its dividend earlier this year, announced it would delay completion of one of its new pellet plants in Mississippi, and hired a new interim CEO "as the company focuses on executing a multi-faceted transformation plan," according to its third-quarter earnings report.With the company expecting fourth quarter earnings to be even worse, Enviva officials announced they have hired outside advisory firms to perform a comprehensive review of the company's capital structure amid worries that it won't be able to continue to operate in its current form.Fitch Ratings, one of the country's leading financial rating companies, has downgraded Enviva's credit rating to Rating Watch Negative (RWN), commonly known as junk grade.The downgrade of the IDR to 'CCC-' reflects a significant and material decline in earnings and cashflows versus prior expectations and a substantial increase in the possibility of default," Fitch states in a Nov. 13 report. "The RWN reflects the fact that absent an unexpected and significant improvement in wood pellet prices this year, or an unanticipated equity cure, or success in renegotiating existing contracts with customers including restructuring of its 4Q22 transaction, Fitch expects Enviva will likely breach its covenants under its secured credit facility as soon as Dec. 31, 2023."

Enviva, the world’s largest biomass energy company, is near collapse - This year has been a financial disaster for Enviva, the world’s largest producer of wood pellets for the biomass energy industry. With more than $250 million in losses to date and worsening results expected in the fourth quarter, the once high-flying company’s viability, by its own admission, is in grave doubt.Also in question is where Enviva’s European Union and Asian customers will source the pellets they burn in their converted coal power plants and — without those pellets — how nations will meet their energy needs and their pledged Paris Agreement carbon emission cuts.“The problems have been there for years. There are lots of issues, but they stem from fundamental challenges Enviva faces in wood costs and keeping its manufacturing plants operating at full capacity,” a former Enviva maintenance manager told Mongabay. “It’s all coming home to roost in a kind of cumulative way.” “The company says that we use mostly waste like branches, treetops and debris to make pellets,” the whistleblower told Mongabay a year ago. “What a joke. We use 100% whole trees in our pellets. We hardly use any waste. Pellet density is critical. You get that from whole trees, not junk.” But junk wood is cheap, while whole trees are not, and therein lies a part of Enviva’s operational problems. The former employee — who declined to be named to protect his professional and family’s privacy — said last week that this wood-sourcing deception is one reason Enviva has been losing money. “Enviva built a business model saying it uses mostly scrap and waste from lumber mills and cut sites to make its pellets,” he said. “If that were true, its feedstock would basically be free. But it has to buy trees, a lot of trees, and it’s competing for them with other companies that want that wood. Loggers sell to the highest bidder, right, and that drives up the price. It’s something Enviva can’t control.” In its 2023 third quarter filing on Nov. 9 with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Enviva wrote that among the myriad reasons impacting its financial viability is “the amount of low-cost wood fiber that we are able to procure and process.” “So that’s your first problem,” the former employee said. “Your feedstock is costing way more than you’re letting on, and that’s before you start dealing with the costs of making pellets.” Enviva did not respond to multiple requests from Mongabay for comment.

Hydrogen giant’s money problems show industry growing pain - A fuel cell developer aiming to build North America’s first “green” hydrogen supply network is running into financial troubles and facing skepticism from Wall Street analysts, dealing a setback to a technology at the center of the Biden administration’s efforts to decarbonize the economy. Plug Power has invested hundreds of millions in its production capabilities, striving to open multiple green hydrogen plants so it can make 500 tons of liquid fuel a day by the end of 2025. A front-runner in the emerging industry, Plug Power is a corporate sponsor of five of seven hydrogen hubs selected by the Department of Energy for funding last month with $7 billion from the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law. But the company alarmed investors earlier this month by suggesting it could run out of cash over the next year after “unprecedented supply challenges” that have caused deployment delays.“There is no assurance that our hydrogen production will scale at the rate we anticipate or that we will complete hydrogen production plants on schedule,” Plug Power said in a Nov. 9 regulatory filing. “There is a substantial doubt that we will have sufficient capital to fund our operations through the next twelve months.” Known as a “going concern” disclosure, such warnings don’t always spell the end for a company, but they can hint at an impending bankruptcy of default. After the filing, the company’s share value tanked more than 40 percent, and several Wall Street banks have since downgraded its stock. Yet Plug Power CEO Andy Marsh brushed off the Wall Street reaction as “overstated” and called the challenges part of the learning curve built into all pioneering endeavors. The language in its warning was based on “a very technical accounting rule,” he said in an interview this month after the filing. “I have zero debt, and I could go out today and raise capital, which would resolve any of those issues,” Marsh told E&E News. “Two months from now — when you got the first [plant] of its kind running at this size; it’s producing hydrogen — everybody is going to sit back and forget the challenges along the way.”

What Happened to the Great Lakes Offshore Wind Boom? - At the tail end of the aughts, as it became clear that the United States would need to create much more renewable energy, fast, many believed the transition would be bolstered by the proliferation of offshore wind. But not off the coasts of states like Massachusetts and California, where it’s best positioned today. They thought the industry would emerge, and then take hold, in the Great Lakes.Things looked promising for a while. Glimmers of an offshore wind boom arose from the depths of the Great Recession, as developers offered up proposals on both the U.S. and Canadian sides of the lakes. In 2010, the Cleveland-based Lake Erie Energy Development Corporation, better known as LEEDCo, announced plans to install its first 20 megawatts by 2012 and scale up to 1,000 megawatts by 2020. Two years later, the Obama administration and five states—though not Ohio—formed the Great Lakes Offshore Wind Consortium to help streamline the permitting process.“That was really a peak of burgeoning interest in climate,” said Greg Nemet, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies energy policy. “There was also a spike in energy prices just before the global financial crisis … that also stimulated awareness and interest in energy. And at the same time, the prices of renewable energy were really starting to come down.”The wind that blows over the Great Lakes is stronger and more consistent than what inland wind farms receive. It holds steady even in the middle of the day, when power demand is high but generation from onshore wind farms tends to slow down. Which means that, in theory, tapping into the wind resource over the lakes would allow the electric grid to rely more on renewables without being as affected by their intermittency.Yet more than a decade on, none of those early offshore wind projects have succeeded. There are still no commercial wind turbines in any of the five Great Lakes. And as the industry debates when, if ever, it will give the region another shot, those who tried before want newcomers to avoid making the same mistakes that they did. Perhaps the most famous (or most infamous) such proposal is Icebreaker Wind, the sole project of Cleveland’s LEEDCo, a public-private nonprofit launched by several lakefront counties and a local foundation in 2009. By most accounts, the six-turbine pilot project is the most successful Great Lakes offshore wind initiative of its time—even though it may never be built.“They were really ahead of their time,” Nemet said of LEEDCo. “It’s high risk, and just because it’s high risk doesn’t mean it’s a bad idea…You can learn from success, but you can also learn from failure.”Two key qualities set Icebreaker apart from nearly all of its counterparts: It has been permitted, and it hasn’t been canceled. It survived the labyrinth of federal reviews and state and local hearings that took out the handful of others that made it that far. And it’s being spearheaded by a developer that, despite blow after blow from local policymakers, still hasn’t given up.These days, though, LEEDCo is struggling to overcome the resistance it’s faced from birders, anti-wind groups and fossil fuel interests.“There was an awful lot of delay and uncertainty,” said Will Friedman, president and CEO of the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority and the acting president of LEEDCo. (The nonprofit, which no longer has any full-time staff, is being held together by Friedman and a few other volunteers.) Following years of permitting slowdowns, LEEDCo sparred with Ohio regulators in 2020 over conditions tacked onto a key state permit that it said would’ve killed the project, then slogged through an Ohio Supreme Court case—brought by area residents but partly funded by a coal company—that lasted another year and a half. It won both, but development has dragged on for so long now that some of LEEDCo’s initial work has become outdated. “While we currently hold all the permits, we don’t know if we can build the project consistent with the original permits, so maybe we have to go back to the drawing board and do that over again,” Friedman said. With a resigned chuckle, he added, “Do we then open ourselves up to being sued again by opponents?”

Motor emissions could have fallen by over 30% without SUV trend, report says | Automotive emissions -- Emissions from the motor sector could have fallen by more than 30% between 2010 and 2022 if vehicles had stayed the same size, a report has found. Instead, the size of the average car ballooned as the trend for SUVs took off, meaning the global annual rate of energy intensity reductions – the fall in fuel used – of light-duty vehicles (LDV) averaged 4.2% between 2020 and 2022. A report by the Global Fuel Economy Initiative (GFEI) showed SUVs now represented a majority of the new car market (51%), and the average LDV weight had reached an all-time high of more than 1.5 tonnes. Cars are also getting bigger, with the average footprint of a new model reaching 4.2 sq metres. Automotive companies market SUVs intensively as they provide the most profit: they are sold at premium prices but have a proportionally lower manufacturing cost. The authors of the report called for governments to place restrictions on vehicle sizes to reverse the SUV trend. Sheila Watson, the deputy director of the FIA Foundation, an environmental and road safety charity, said: “Growing vehicle size is a huge problem which is threatening many aspects of sustainable mobility, from climate to road safety. This report shows that we must move away from these mega-vehicles if we are to achieve the GFEI goal of doubling the fuel efficiency of cars by 2030. Vehicle size matters – and in this case bigger is definitely not better.”

Biden moves to avert energy supply disruptions -President Joe Biden announced new actions Monday aimed at ensuring the stability of supply chains for products including those needed to boost renewable energy. Biden convened many of his top officials at the White House for an inaugural meeting of a Council on Supply Chain Resilience, a group of agency leaders hoping to guard against the types of major supply chain disruptions that occurred due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The president unveiled dozens of new actions across the government aimed at securing supply chains for products including critical minerals, wind turbines and battery components that are central to the administration’s push to expand renewable energy and slash emissions. “Before the pandemic, supply chains weren’t something most Americans thought about or talked about,” Biden said Monday at the White House. “But today, after years of delay in parts and products, everyone knows why supply chains are so important.” The White House council includes Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, EPA Administrator Michael Regan, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and other administration officials from across the federal government. “I’m charging this group to ensure that our supply chains remain secure, diversified [and] resilient,” Biden said. Among the new actions announced Monday is an Energy Department plan to invest $275 million in communities impacted by closures of coal mines or coal-fired power plants. Selected communities can receive grant funding for the production of critical materials, components of batteries or electric vehicles, onshore wind turbines or energy-conservation technologies, the White House said. The Energy Department also announced up to $10 million in funding for a “critical material accelerator” and a $5.6-million prize to develop circular clean energy supply chains, according to the White House. “President Biden’s Investing in America agenda is driving the manufacturing boom while preserving the communities and workforce that have powered our nation for generations,” Granholm said in a statement. The White House also announced a supply chain center at the Commerce Department, which is working with the Energy Department to conduct analyses of clean energy supplies. The Energy Department is also developing an assessment tool to account for raw materials, manufacturing, workforce and logistics considerations, according to the White House. At the Interior Department, the U.S. Geological Survey plans to map global critical product supply chains, with a focus on semiconductor components. The National Science and Technology Council’s Critical Minerals Subcommittee plans to launch a new website in January to highlight cross-governmental supply chain efforts. As part of the suite of new moves, the administration also said it will launch an interagency effort to monitor global developments related to El Niño, including its impact on commodity prices, agriculture and fishery output and disruptions to supply chains. “I’m also directing my Cabinet to create an early-warning system that uses data to spot supply chains’ risks to our economic security, our national security, our energy security and our climate security,” Biden said Monday. The White House council plans to launch a quadrennial supply chain review, the White House said, to assess sectors and products defined as critical to national or economic security. The first review is slated for completion by Dec. 31.

Inside Biden's race to connect renewables to the grid - When John Podesta arrived at the White House last year to speed up President Joe Biden’s clean energy agenda, the nation’s aging electric grid topped his priority list.Pulling down barriers that would stand in the way of Biden’s far-reaching goals for combatting climate threats was now the task of the former White House chief of staff. Right away, Podesta sat down with Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. The two ran through a list of proposed high-voltage electric transmission projects critical to delivering wind and solar power to American cities and suburbs — as air conditioners run at full tilt and the age of digital technology consumes more energy.The lines had several things in common. They were meant to cut electricity bills by relieving congestion on the power grid, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to shore up energy infrastructure battered by violent storms, heat waves and cold snaps.All of the projects were stuck in yearslong spin cycles of local controversies and government reviews, appeals and delays, raising questions of whether they would ever be built.There on the list was SunZia Wind and Transmission — a project that would ship carbon-free electricity from the central desert of New Mexico to an area just south of energy-hungry Phoenix and Southern California.The project had been in the works for 16 years.“Oh, my God,” Podesta blurted out. “We’ve gotten nowhere on that?”It was a jarring flashback to Podesta’s time as then-President Barack Obama’s energy counselor. SunZia had been a priority even back then. Podesta and a high-level task force under Obama had been working to pull major transmission projects through the labyrinth process of lining up state and federal permits. SunZia, which has faced critics from birders to tribal organizations to the U.S. Army, was still stuck in neutral when Obama left office.After Podesta joined Biden’s team in September 2022, SunZia went back on his get-it-done list. This time, Podesta had partners at the Cabinet level: Granholm and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, who hails from New Mexico. Nine months later, Interior’s Bureau of Land Management issued its permit to cross federal land, lifting the last major barrier to construction.Attacking the backlog of stalled transmission projects like SunZia was an opening move in what White House officials say is the largest investment in electric grid infrastructure in U.S. history. Almost three years into Biden’s first term, the government is speeding deployment of more than $30 billion in federal support for transmission through the 2021 infrastructure law and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, Biden’s signature climate law.In late October, the Energy Department announced commitments to purchase $1.3 billion worth of electric power from three multistate transmission projects, making the department the “anchor” tenant to help speed their construction. The agency also issued its final National Transmission Needs Study that pinpointed sites where new power lines could qualify for more federal backing.

Biden’s paradox: Can a green grid coexist with industrial surge? -From Arizona to Georgia and Kansas, dozens of new factories are being built across the country to reach President Joe Biden’s goal of establishing a domestic supply chain for everything from electric vehicle batteries to computer chips to solar modules. The boom, driven in part by incentives from the Inflation Reduction Act and CHIPS and Science Act, is expected to add tens of thousands of new manufacturing jobs and deliver something not seen in two decades: growth in industrial power demand. That comes on top of billions of dollars in carbon-free power to replace aging fossil fuel plants and growing electricity needs from new data centers and an ever-larger fleet of electric vehicles. In response, utilities are planning record investments in renewable energy and battery storage. But an increasing number are also proposing thousands of megawatts of new natural-gas-fired generation that works against their plans to achieve net-zero goals. The intersection of trends begs the question: Can the country green its grid and grow it at the same time? “There’s no question there’s a challenge,” said Eric Gimon, a senior fellow at Energy Innovation, an energy and climate policy think tank, who has studied the dilemma. “It was already going to be hard enough to get to an 80-percent clean [grid] by 2030. Now we need to build more” electric infrastructure. Gimon thinks it’s possible to meet the expected surge in power demand without adding more fossil fuel generation, but doing so requires the innovative thinking and the collective will of utilities, regulators and policymakers. “You could either see this reaction of, ‘Well, let’s just build more dirty stuff, you know, throw your hands up,’” he said in an interview. “Or there could also be a reaction of, ‘Let’s go find this clean capacity, where it is, and take advantage of it.’”

NARUC launches initiative to enhance gas-electric sector coordination, boost grid reliability -The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, or NARUC, has launched a 15-month effort to improve coordination between the electric and natural gas sectors, ultimately aimed at bolstering the reliability of the nation’s power grid.The Gas-Electric Alignment for Reliability initiative, known as GEAR, will bring together a group of state regulators and stakeholders “to develop solutions to better align the gas and electric industries to maintain and improve the reliability of both energy systems on which our nation depends for power,” NARUC announced Wednesday.Electric generators are “more reliant than ever” on natural gas, NARUC noted. However, because residential customers also utilize gas to heat their homes in some regions, generators can find themselves with limited access to fuel during severe cold weather.“The safety and reliability of the grid is job number one for regulators and the power sector,” NARUC President Julie Fedorchak said in a statement. She is also a North Dakota Public Service Commission regulator.“GEAR will zero in on one of our biggest reliability risks, the [misalignment] of the gas and electric power systems,” Fedorchak said.During Winter Storm Uri in February 2021, for example, some Texas electric companies cut power to gas facilities as part of their emergency conservation response. That reduced fuel supplies to gas-fired power plants, contributing to energy shortages and blackouts. Almost 250 people died during the storm.NARUC’s effort “will bring together key industry experts with the perspectives and experience needed to get to the root of these persistent problems and develop some solutions,” Fedorchak said.GEAR membership is still being finalized but Fedorchak has appointed Georgia Commissioner Tricia Pridemore as working group chair and New Hampshire Commissioner Carleton Simpson as vice chair. Other members include Michigan Commissioner Daniel Scripps, Arizona Commissioner Lea Márquez Peterson, Texas Commissioner Jimmy Glotfelty and Minnesota Chair Katie Sieben.The group will also include representatives to be named later from each of the following: a gas utility, electric utility, grid operator, intrastate and interstate pipelines, a gas producer and a gas processor.

Giant batteries drain economics of gas power plants (Reuters) - Giant batteries that ensure stable power supply by offsetting intermittent renewable supplies are becoming cheap enough to make developers abandon scores of projects for gas-fired generation world-wide. The long-term economics of gas-fired plants, used in Europe and some parts of the United States primarily to compensate for the intermittent nature of wind and solar power, are changing quickly, according to Reuters' interviews with more than a dozen power plant developers, project finance bankers, analysts and consultants. They said some battery operators are already supplying back-up power to grids at a price competitive with gas power plants, meaning gas will be used less. The shift challenges assumptions about long-term gas demand and could mean natural gas has a smaller role in the energy transition than posited by the biggest, listed energy majors. In the first half of the year, 68 gas power plant projects were put on hold or cancelled globally, according to data provided exclusively to Reuters by U.S.-based non-profit Global Energy Monitor. Recent cancellations include electricity plant developer Competitive Power Ventures decision announced in October to abandon a gas plant project in New Jersey in the United States. It cited low power prices and the absence of government subsidies without giving financial detail. British independent Carlton Power dropped plans for an 800 million pound ($997 million) gas power plant in Manchester, northern England, in 2016. Reflecting the shift in economics in favour of storage, this year it launched plans to build one of the world's largest batteries at the site. "In the early 1990s, we were running gas plants baseload, now they are shifting to probably 40% of the time and that's going to drop off to 11%-15% in the next eight to 10 years," Keith Clarke, chief executive at Carlton Power, told Reuters. Without providing price detail, which companies say is commercially sensitive, Clarke said Carlton had struggled to finance the planned gas plant in part because of uncertainty over the revenues it would generate and the number of hours it would run. Developers can no longer use financial modelling that assumes gas power plants are used constantly throughout their 20-year-plus lifetime, analysts said. Instead, modellers need to predict how much gas generation is needed during times of peak demand and to compensate for the intermittency of renewable sources that are hard to anticipate.

The Salton Sea has even more lithium than previously thought - Want to produce a huge amount of lithium for electric vehicle batteries — and also batteries that keep our homes powered after sundown — without causing the environmental destruction that lithium extraction often entails? Then the Salton Sea may be your jam. Companies big and small have been swarming California’s largest lake for years, trying to find a cost-effective way to pull out the lithium dissolved in scorching hot fluid deep beneath the lake’s southern end. Now a new federal analysis suggests even more of the valuable metal is buried down there than we previously understood. The new analysis — led by researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and reported here for the first time — finds we may be able to extract 18 million metric tons of “white gold” from the heated underground pool, which is not connected to the surface lake. That’s the first thoroughly documented public estimate of how much lithium is available at the Salton Sea, said Alex Prisjatschew, an engineer with the U.S. Department of Energy, which funded the analysis — and it’s higher than past guesses. “It’s going to be roughly the equivalent of 382 million electric vehicle batteries,” Prisjatschew told me. There are fewer than 300 million cars and trucks registered in the United States today. So yeah, that’s a big deal.

All the Metals We Mined in One Visualization -- Metals are a big part of our daily lives, found in every building we enter and all devices we use.Today, major industries that directly consume processed mineral materials contribute 14% of the United States economy. The above infographic visualizes all 2.8 billion tonnes of metals mined in 2022 and highlights each metal’s largest end-use using data from the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Iron ore dominates the metals mining landscape, comprising 93% of the total mined. In 2022, 2.6 billion tonnes of iron ore were mined, containing about 1.6 billion tonnes of iron. Iron ores are found in various geologic environments, such as igneous, metamorphic, or sedimentary rocks, and can contain over 70% iron, with many falling in the 50-60% range. Combined with other materials like coke and limestone, iron ore is primarily used in steel production. Today, almost all (98%) iron ore is dedicated to steelmaking. The ore is typically mined in about 50 countries, but Australia, Brazil, China, and India are responsible for 75% of the production. Because of its essential role in infrastructure development, iron ore is one of the most crucial materials underpinning urbanization and economic growth. Industrial metals occupy the second position on our list, constituting 6.6% of all metals mined in 2022. These metals, including copper, aluminum, lead, and zinc, are employed in construction and industrial applications.Aluminum constituted nearly 40% of industrial metal production in 2022. China was responsible for 56% of all aluminum produced.In the second position is chromium, which plays a primary role in rendering stainless steel corrosion-resistant. South Africa led chromium production, accounting for 44% of the total mined last year.Despite representing less than 1% of all the metals mined, technology metals have been on the news over the last few years as countries and companies seek these materials to reduce carbon emissions and improve productivity. They include lithium and cobalt, used in electric vehicles and battery storage, and rare earths, used in magnets, metal alloys, and electronics. Many of them are considered critical for countries’ security due to their role in clean energy technologies and dependency on other nations to supply domestic demand.However, despite increasing interest in these metals, they are still behind precious metals such as gold and silver regarding market size.

Vietnam’s scrap imports largely stable in October -Vietnamese steelmakers maintained their scrap imports at steady levels since Augustas a persistently sluggish real estate sector led local mills to prioritise domestic scrap procurement. Scrap imports have remained relatively range-bound and Vietnam imported 312,000t scrap in October, rising marginally by 2.9pc compared with the previous month, and 3.1pc higher on the year. Cumulative imports from January-October fell by 6.1pc on the year to 3.49mn t. Mills maintained their production at approximately 40pc because domestic and seaborne steel markets showed limited improvement. Vietnam's largest steelmaker Hoa Phat produced 5.43mn t of crude steel, marking an 18pc decrease compared to the same period in 2022. Most steel mills concentrated on domestic scrap procurement, but a few large-scale mills continued importing. Japan retained its position as Vietnam's primary supplier, contributing 44pc of total imports in October. The US, which is typically the second-largest supplier, fell to the fourth place and was surpassed by Hong Kong as local mills avoided purchasing deep-sea bulk cargoes from the US to avoid market risks in an uncertain market.Vietnam raised imports from neighboring country Cambodia by 11pc from the previous month to 18,000t in October, with volumes growing by 27pc to 146,000t in January-October. Vietnamese scrap buyers entered the seaborne market in November as steel prices hit bottom, although the recovery in construction steel lagged behind flat steel products. Imported hot-rolled coil prices in Vietnam rose by $24/t from the end of October to $580/t on 27 November, while domestic rebar prices increased by around $6.20/t over 1-28 November. Mills anticipate higher steel demand after the lunar new hear holiday, resulting in prospects of an uptick in demand for imported scrap in December as mills start to consider restocking.

US coal power plants killed at least 460,000 people in past 20 years – report - Coal-fired power plants killed at least 460,000 Americans during the past two decades, causing twice as many premature deaths as previously thought, new research has found. Cars, factories, fire smoke and electricity plants emit tiny toxic air pollutants known as fine particulate matter or PM2.5, which elevate the risk of an array of life-shortening medical conditions including asthma, heart disease, low birth weight and some cancers. Researchers analyzed Medicare and emissions data from 1999 and 2020, and for the first time found that coal PM2.5 is twice as deadly as fine particle pollutants from other sources. Previous studies quantifying the death toll from air pollution assumed all PM2.5 sources posed the same risk, and therefore probably underestimated the dangers of coal plants. Government regulations save lives, according to the research, which is published in Science, as most deaths happened when environmental standards were weakest and PM2.5 levels from coal-fired power stations highest. “Air pollution from coal is much more harmful than we thought, and we’ve been treating it like it’s just another air pollutant,” said the lead author, Lucas Henneman, an assistant professor in the Sid and Reva Dewberry department of civil, environmental and infrastructure engineering at George Mason University. “This type of evidence is important to policymakers like EPA [the US Environmental Protection Agency] as they identify cost-effective solutions for cleaning up the country’s air, like requiring emissions controls or encouraging renewables.” The coal plants associated with most deaths were located east of the Mississippi River in industrialized states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, where power stations were historically constructed close to population hubs. But every region had at least one plant linked to 600 deaths, while 10 were associated with more than 5,000 deaths across the study period. About 85% of the total 460,000 coal plant-related deaths occurred between 1999 and 2007, an average of more than 43,000 deaths per year. The death toll declined drastically as plants closed or scrubbers – a type of sulphur filter – were installed to comply with new environmental rules. By 2020, the coal PM2.5 death toll had dropped 95%, to 1,600 people. “By linking records of where Medicare beneficiaries lived and when they died, we found that risks due to PM2.5 from coal were more than double the risks related to PM2.5 from all sources,” said co-author Francesca Dominici, a professor of biostatistics, population and data science at the Harvard TC Chan school of public health.

109 Aussie Kayaktivists Charged for Blocking World's Largest Coal Port - More than 100 climate defenders were charged Monday in New South Wales, Australia after using kayaks or swimming to blockade the coal port at Newcastle—the world's largest—to demand an end to fossil fuels as petrostate United Arab Emirates prepares to host the United Nations Climate Change Conference later this week.New South Wales police said 109 people were arrested after paddling kayaks or swimming into the shipping lane servicing coal cargo at the Port of Newcastle during a 30-hour protest on Saturday and Sunday. The arrested activists were all charged with operating a vessel so as to interfere with others' use of waters.The climate action group Rising Tide Australia, which led the action, said it would keep holding protests until federal and state governments take meaningful climate action."That's the choice we are giving government, either do your job and take on the industry that's causing the crisis, or people will continue to put themselves in situations like this," Rising Tide spokesperson Zack Schofield toldABC Newcastle.Among those arrested was 97-year-old church minister Alan Stuart, who toldSBS News that he engaged in civil disobedience "for my grandchildren and for future generations because I don't want to leave them with a world full of increasingly severe, frequent national disasters because of climate change."

Former Coal Towns Get Money for Clean-Energy Factories - In Weirton, W.Va., in the heart of coal country, a company started by MIT scientists plans to build a plant that will produce a metal and alloy critical for clean energy, fuel cells and cleaner steel.In Vernon, Texas, also a former coal town, a third-generation wind entrepreneur plans to manufacture turbines suitable for remote, rural locations.And in Vandergrift, Pa., and Louisville, Colo., a window makerplans to retrofit aging factories to produce thin, insulated units that help make buildings more energy efficient.They’re all projects getting federal funding designed to help small- and medium-sized manufacturers bring clean-energy jobs to former coal communities, part of a $1 trillion infrastructure package signed by President Biden in 2021. The Energy Department announced the projects on Monday.The program is an effort by the Biden administration to win support for its agenda to reduce American dependence on coal, oil and gas, the main drivers of global warming. But it also points to the broad realization that as the world transitions toward cleaner energy sources like wind and solar, workers in fossil-fuel industries — as well as regions that depend on them — risk getting left behind.Coal mining jobs have declined precipitously over the past decades, and there were less than 50,000 miners left in the United States in 2022, half the number 10 years ago, according to the latest figures from the Energy Information Agency.And these energy workers haven’t been finding clean-energy jobs, despite the rapid growth in industries like solar and wind. A recent study that examined 130 million online work profiles found that in 2021, fewer than 1 percent of all workers who left jobs like coal, mining and oil and gas transitioned to “green” jobs in renewables.Coal workers, in particular, have struggled in the transition, the study found. Less than a quarter of a percent of workers who left a fossil fuel job in West Virginia moved onto a job in renewable energy, said E. Mark Curtis, an economist at Wake Forest University who led the study. Education was another factor: Fossil fuel workers without a college degree were significantly less likely to find clean energy jobs. He said it made sense for government funding to target former coal regions, and to focus on manufacturing projects, because data showed that former fossil fuel workers most frequently sought to switch to manufacturing jobs. “I think that’s a very viable type of transition for a lot of these workers and communities to make,” he said.

Nuclear's uncertain role in the shift away from fossil fuels is seen as critical and contentious -- The role that nuclear power should play in creating a more sustainable future has long provoked strong feelings — among advocates and critics alike.It’s set to be a hot topic at the COP28 summit in Dubai, which begins this week. There are reports that there will be a concerted effort to get behind a big increase in nuclear capacity from now to 2050.Of particular interest to observers will be a ministerial event called “Atoms4NetZero” on Dec. 5. Co-hosted by the International Atomic Energy Agency and the COP28 presidency, the event will “announce the IAEA Statement on Nuclear Power,” according to the COP28 website.That, it adds, reflects the “critical role of nuclear in the net zero transition.” Atoms4NetZero was namechecked by the World Nuclear Association in September when it announced the launch of an initiative called “Net Zero Nuclear,” which aims to triple the planet’s nuclear capacity by the middle of the century.In a statement issued alongside that announcement, Rafael Mariano Grossi, the IAEA’s director general, stressed the importance of the coming climate summit.“Building on the efforts made during COP 26 and COP 27, nuclear energy will feature even more prominently at COP28,” he said.“As more nations understand the role nuclear can play in achieving energy security and decarbonisation targets, global support for nuclear energy is growing,” he added.The IAEA, for its part, will also have its own “Atoms4Climate” pavilion at COP28, where it says it will “showcase how nuclear technology and science are addressing the twin challenge of climate change mitigation and adaptation.”In a sign of how polarizing the debate around the subject can be, this month, the leader of Germany’s center-right Christian Democratic Union lamented his country’s move away from nuclear power after the closure of its last three plants in April 2023.“The German government took a decision which was in our view absolutely wrong, a strategic mistake to get out of nuclear,” Friedrich Merz told CNBC’s Annette Weisbach. Merz — whose party is not in the coalition government led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz — said rather than focusing only on wind and solar, “all energy sources” need to be utilized.“The energy supply — for this country, for our industry — is decisive for our competitiveness,” he went on to state.High-profile figures in the German government do not share Merz’s viewpoint.“The phase-out of nuclear power makes our country safer; ultimately, the risks of nuclear power are uncontrollable,” Steffi Lemke, Germany’s federal minister for the environment and nuclear safety, said in April. “We now face decades full of challenges before we can safely and responsibly dispose of our nuclear legacy,” she later added.“But switching off the final three nuclear power plants will usher in a new era in energy production.”This kind of analysis — that nuclear is not the answer — is shared by environmental organizations like Greenpeace.“Nuclear power is touted as a solution to our energy problems, but in reality it’s complex and hugely expensive to build,” its website says. “It also creates huge amounts of hazardous waste.”“Renewable energy is cheaper and can be installed quickly,” it added. “Together with battery storage, it can generate the power we need and slash our emissions.”While Germany — Europe’s largest economy — has moved away from nuclear, other countries are looking to expand their capacity.They include the U.K., which says it wants to deliver as many as 24 gigawatts by 2050, and Sweden, which is looking to construct new reactors. France, a major player in nuclear power, is also planning to increase its number of reactors.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine addresses subpoena in bribery scandal civil case, until AG Yost stops him - Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine plans to comply with a subpoena he received in a civil case connected to the largest bribery scheme in state history, he said Wednesday.“We’re gonna have to look at exactly what the language is, what they’re asking for and then we will move from there and get that out as quickly as we can,” DeWine said.Plaintiffs in a civil suit related to a massive bribery and money-laundering scandal have subpoenaed documents from Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, and they’re scheduling a sworn deposition with Lt. Gov. Jon Husted.Former Ohio House Speaker and now-convicted felon Larry Householder served Ohio for a decade as a lawmaker; now he’s going to be serving for twice that long — as an inmate in federal prison.Householder was sentenced by federal judge Timothy Black in United States District Court in Cincinnati in late June, over three months after he and ex-GOP chair Matt Borges were found guilty by a federal jury for participating in the largest public corruption case in state history. Householder passed a nearly $61 million scheme for a billion-dollar bailout, House Bill 6, at the expense of taxpayers.While being peppered with questions Wednesday afternoon, DeWine was asked if it was possible he could be named as a defendant; Attorney General Dave Yost jumped in and told him not to speak anymore.“The bottom line is, anybody can sue for anything with a sheet of paper and $150,” Yost said. “This is America; that’s the way it works.“Your question, it doesn’t have any basis in fact — so I don’t think that’s an appropriate thing for us to talk about.”After the AG included himself, another question was asked about his own investigation into the H.B. 6 scandal, asking if he was considering deposing DeWine.Yost paused and then said, “I’m not to that point.”

We must not allow fracking in parks - The Vindicator - DEAR EDITOR:Ohio Department of Natural Resources Oil and Gas Land Management Commission signed away Ohio’s state parks Nov. 15, approving fracking leases on Salt Fork State Park, Zepernick Wildlife Area and Valley Run Wildlife Area.Ohio citizens submitted over 5,000 comments alerting OGLMC to peer-reviewed health and environmental studies. These were ignored. The commission also disregarded nine criteria contained in the statue. They demonstrated willingness to jeopardize $12.5 billion that wildlife-based recreation contributed to Ohio’s economy in 2022.After the announcement, Columbiana County Commissioner Mike Halleck told reporters about the lease of 66 acres of Zepernick Wildlife Area, “We welcome it; it’s being done safely.”But County Commissioner Halleck, as well as the OGLMC members Ryan Richardson, Stephen Buehrer, Matthew Warnock, Michael Wise and Jim McGregor, must not have considered the health and safety studies of fracking.A July accident at a Columbiana well pad caused methane gas to leak for over 28 hours, necessitating evacuation of 450 people in a mile radius. A 2018 Belmont County well explosion caused 20-day gas leaks. It is “among the worst methane leaks in human history.”Accident reports obtained from ODNR illustrate the industry is unsafe. Since 2018, ODNR data documented over 800 accidents requiring inspectors, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and hazmat intervention and remediation.Recently released report “Compendium of Scientific, Medical and Media Findings Demonstrating Risks and Harms of Fracking and Associated Gas and Oil Infrastructure” states, “Our examination uncovered no evidence that fracking can be practiced in a manner that does not threaten human health directly or without imperiling climate stability upon which human health depends.”Fracking requires millions of gallons of water per well, and produces millions of gallons of toxic wastewater. Peer-reviewed studies show watersheds surrounding frack well pads test positive for radioactive substances.Over 100 studies documented nearly 200 chemical compounds in the air around fracking sites; 61 chemicals are classified as hazardous air pollutants, and some are known carcinogens.“Evidence shows that compressor stations along natural gas pipelines are sources of air pollutant exposures that may contribute to adverse human health outcomes.”Halleck said, “When it’s done, you’ll never know it was there.”I disagree. Fracking wells and infrastructure require four to 30 acres of land. We are losing forest acreage to well pads, infrastructure, roads and pipelines. Well pads are a major source of noise pollution and light pollution. Fracking also has been shown to induce seismic activity.Halleck added, “get used to it, it’s gonna happen.”Do we want a toxic industry next door to wildlife refuges? Let ODNR know Ohio parks belong to us. -- Randi Pokladnik. Steering Committee,Save Ohio Parks Uhrichsville --

Don’t frack Zepernick wildlife area - SalemNews.net To the editor: The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Oil and Gas Land Management Commission (OGLMC) signed away Ohio’s state parks on November 15; approving fracking leases on Salt Fork State Park, Zepernick Wildlife Area, and Valley Run Wildlife Area. Ohio citizens submitted over 5000 comments alerting the OGLMC to peer-reviewed health and environmental studies. These were ignored. The commission also disregarded the nine criteria contained in the statue. They demonstrated their willingness to jeopardize the $12.5 billion that wildlife-based recreation contributed to Ohio’s economy in 2022. After the announcement, Columbiana County Commissioner Mike Halleck was interviewed by Cory McCray of Channel 21 WFMJ about the leasing of 66 acres of Zepernick Wildlife Area. Halleck said “we welcome it, it’s being done safely.” But County Commissioner Halleck, as well as the OGLMC members Ryan Richardson, Stephen Buehrer, Matthew Warnock, Michael Wise, and Jim McGregor, did not consider the health and safety studies of fracking. A July 2023 accident at a well pad in Columbiana caused methane gas to leak from the well head for over 28 hours, necessitating the evacuation of 450 people in a one-mile radius. A 2018 well explosion in Belmont County caused a 20-day gas leak. That accident is now considered “among the worst methane leaks in human history.” Accident reports obtained from a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the ODNR illustrate that this industry is anything but safe. Just since 2018, the ODNR data has documented over 800 accidents considered serious enough to require inspectors, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, and hazmat intervention to remediate the sites. The recently released report, “Compendium of Scientific, Medical, and Media Findings Demonstrating Risks and Harms of Fracking and Associated Gas and Oil Infrastructure, Ninth Edition, October 19, 2023” states, “Our examination uncovered no evidence that fracking can be practiced in a manner that does not threaten human health directly or without imperiling climate stability upon which human health depends.” Fracking requires millions of gallons of water to frack just one well and produces millions of gallons of toxic waste water. Peer reviewed studies show that watersheds surrounding frack well pads test positive for radioactive substances. Over 100 studies have documented nearly 200 chemical compounds in the air around fracking sites. Sixty-one of these chemicals are classified as hazardous air pollutants and some are known carcinogens. “Evidence shows that compressor stations along natural gas pipelines are sources of air pollutant exposures that may contribute to adverse human health outcomes.” Commissioner Halleck said, “when it’s done, you’ll never know it was there.” I disagree. Fracking well pads and infrastructure require four to thirty acres of land. We are losing forest acreage to well pads, infrastructure, roads, and pipelines. Well pads are a major source of noise pollution and light pollution from flaring. Fracking has also been shown to induce seismic activity. Commissioner Halleck also said, “get used to it, it’s gonna happen,” but do we want a toxic industry next door to a wildlife refuge? Let the ODNR know Ohio parks belong to us. Randi Pokladnik, Steering Committee of Save Ohio Parks,

Advocates Sue to Halt Oil & Gas Leasing in Ohio State Parks and Public Lands - Earthjustice — Local groups are appealing the Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission’s approval of nominations to lease Ohio’s largest state park and two wildlife areas for oil and gas development.On September 15, 2023, the Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission approved nominations to lease Salt Fork State Park, Valley Run Wildlife Area, and Zepernick Wildlife Area. Advocates are claiming the nomination approvals were not given proper consideration under Ohio state law. The groups also claim that there was no opportunity for public hearing as required by Ohio state law. The Commission’s approval of the nominations requires the public lands to be leased to the highest and best bidder, with bidding set to begin in January.The groups suing include Save Ohio Parks, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, Buckeye Environmental Network, and Ohio Environmental Council. They are represented by lawyers at Earthjustice, and the Ohio Environmental Council are also representing themselves in this case. Statements from groups and attorneys are below […] Background: On April 7, 2023, Ohio HB 507 went into law requiring the leasing of public lands, including state parks, for fracking. Oil and gas leasing was already allowed at state parks and public lands because of a 2011 bill from the state legislature. HB 507 required oil and gas leasing on state owned land until the Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission adopted a uniform lease, at which point the Commission again has discretion to approve or disapprove nominations to lease Ohio’s public lands. The Commission adopted a lease this spring and began receiving nominations to lease.On November 15, 2023, the Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission voted to advance requests to frack thousands of acres Salt Fork State Park, Valley Run Wildlife Area and Zepernick Wildlife Area. The votes occurred over the chants of around 100 protesters.

Fracking now allowed in Ohio state parks, wildlife areas - The Post -The Oil and Gas Land Management Commission declared its decision to allow fracking in Ohio state parks and wildlife areas owned by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, or ODNR, on Nov. 15.The commission allowed oil and gas development underneath Salt Fork State Park and two other state-owned wildlife areas – Valley Run Wildlife Area and Zepernick Wildlife Area. Fracking, short for hydraulic fracturing, is the process of fracturing underground bedrock and injecting high-pressure fluid into the rock formations. The high-pressure fluid creates cracks in the bedrock formations for natural gas, oil and brine to flow through. The approval of fracking in state parks has raised concerns among environmentalists and Ohio communities.In May 2011, the Ohio legislature passed House Bill 133, creating the Oil and Gas Leasing Commission to oversee the leasing of public land for oil and gas extraction.The commission, established under former Gov. John Kasich, held its first meeting in November 2019 under incumbent Gov. Mike DeWine.In December 2021, House Bill 507 was created to revise the number of poultry chicks sold in lots from six to three.However, a year later, an amendment was added to HB507 that mandated state agencies to allow fracking on Ohio public lands, according to Save Ohio Parks.Save Ohio Parks, a volunteer group of Ohioans, aims to educate the public about the dangerous effects of fracking and the reliance on fossil fuels.Roxanne Groff, a committee member of Save Ohio Parks, said the bill’s wording regarding the allowance of fracking was changed to read “Public lands may be leased,” to “Shall be leased.” She said this mandate and its wording sparked frustration among park supporters, which, in turn, grew the Save Ohio Parks campaign. Loraine McCosker started the campaign initiative for Save Ohio Parks, and she discussed how fracking worsens the air quality and affects the health of people living in nearby communities. “It's just a health and an environmental catastrophe,” she said.According to the Yale Climate Connections, fracking techniques may take place in populated areas and contaminate drinking water.However, water intensity is lower for fracking than other fossil fuels and nuclear energy sources, using two, three and 10 times less water per unit. Also, relying on natural gas has greater public health benefits than using coal, according to the website. The statute ORC 155.33 states the commission can approve or disapprove of nine criteria, including economic benefit, environmental impact, geological impact, impact on visitors and public comments and objections.McCosker said the commission failed to address the nine considerations. Groff said the Oil and Gas Land Management Commission received 5,000 comments, including peer-reviewed health and environmental studies, outlining the harmful effects of fracking, and the side in favor of fracking submitted no data to support the economic benefits of it.Caden Hibbs, Ohio University’s Student Senate environmental affairs commissioner, said there is money made in fracking and it can lead to economic growth in the short term, but he said the economic benefits are not distributed equally.“I think that there are definitely benefits if you're thinking more short term, less sustainable aspect, but to me, obviously, those fail in comparison to the numerous negative effects,” he said.Hibbs said that environmental degradation and pollution specifically affect marginalized groups to a higher extent.“With an issue like fracking, seeing it, people understanding it more just comes from their own experience,” he said. “They might not see from themselves the kind of issues of fracking, but there are plenty of marginalized communities … who have to deal with these negative effects.”Groff said there is an environmental injustice regarding fracking. She said fracking is burdening vulnerable communities in the Appalachian region, which is one of the poorest regions in the state. “These are our public lands,“ McCosker said. "These are for future generations. They're not for industrial processes, but for future generations (and) for the people right now … (and) for the species that depend on them. With fracking, it has a huge, huge footprint."

Environmentalists sue to block fracking in state parks, wildlife areas - cleveland.com– Several environmental organizations announced a lawsuit Thursday seeking to block state approval of fracking for oil and gas in a state park and two protected wildlife areas. The lawsuit in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas asks the court to review the Oil and Gas Land Management Commission’s decision to approve seven requests to open tracts spanning thousands of acres for fracking at Salt Fork in Guernsey County, plus smaller swaths of Valley Run Wildlife Area in Carroll County and Zepernick Wildlife Area in Columbiana County. It was brought by the Ohio Environmental Council, Save Ohio Parks, Buckeye Environmental Network, and Backcountry Hunters & Anglers.

Environmental groups appeal decisions opening state park to fracking - The Cincinnati Enquirer - Environmental groups are suing Ohio after the state's decision to allow fracking under a state park and wildlife areas.Earthjustice and the Ohio Environmental Council filed a lawsuit in Franklin County Common Pleas Court Thursday appealing the state's decisions to greenlight accepting bids for fracking under Salt Fork State Park in Guernsey County and two state wildlife areas. Last month, Ohio’s Oil and Gas Land Management Commission approved the next step for oil and gas drilling under Salt Fork State Park, Valley Run Wildlife Area in Carroll County and Zepernick Wildlife Area in Columbiana County. Starting after January, the state will accept bids.Environmental advocates and opponents of the move protested throughout the meeting, frustrated by the decision being made and how little public input was considered."Save Ohio Parks helped almost 5,000 Ohio citizens submit public comments opposed to fracking our state parks and wildlife areas," said Cathy Cowan Becker, a steering committee member with the group that has protested this process for months. "The commission disregarded all of this evidence and voted to frack our beloved parks and wildlife areas anyway."The lawsuit argues that the commission did not follow the rules for approving the acceptance of bids and violated the state's open meetings requirements.The Ohio Department of Natural Resources, through a spokesman, declined to comment on the pending litigation.

Opponents appeal decision to allow drilling under Ohio state parks and wildlife areas - Environmental groups filed an appeal Thursday, challenging recent decisions by an Ohio regulatory commission to allow drilling under a state park and two state wildlife areas.Those decisions currently call for sections of Salt Fork State Park, Zepernick Wildlife Area and Valley Run Wildlife Area to be leased to the highest and best bidder, with the bidding period set to start in January.Among other things, the groups say the Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission failed to consider all of the factors it was required to weigh under state law. The groups also allege that the commission failed to provide an opportunity for public hearing under state law.Plans to drill under Ohio state parks and wildlife areas were jump-started earlier this year by House Bill 507, which began as a two-page bill about poultry regulations and grew to more than 80 pages when lawmakers heaped in provisions about natural gas and other unrelated topics last December. Environmental groups challenged the constitutionality of the law earlier this year, and that case is still pending.The new case appealing the commission’s decisions was filed on Nov. 30 with the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas. A notice of appeal was also filed with the Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission. Parties to the appeal include Save Ohio Parks, the Ohio Environmental Council, the Buckeye Environmental Network and Backcountry Hunters and Anglers. Lawyers at Earthjustice are acting as counsel, and the Ohio Environmental Council also has its own attorneys on the complaint.HB 507 would have required approval of drilling under state-owned lands until the commission adopted a standard lease form and other rules to allow drilling on different parcels.Now, under the law, Ohio statutory law calls for the commission to consider nine factors, including environmental impacts, effects on visitors or users of state-owned lands, public comments or objections, economic benefits and more. Commission Chair Ryan Richardson also recited those factors in an affidavit filed in the constitutional challenge case.The opponents’ appeal alleges that the commission failed to duly consider all those factors. The commission also did not allow people attending the meetings to present testimony in opposition to particular proposals.Even after the Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission adopted rules this spring, comments by its members indicated they still viewed HB 507 as a legislative mandate preventing them from rejecting parcel nominations outright.“We’ve been directed to open these lands up,” Richardson said at a Sept. 18 commission meeting.In a similar vein, commission member Jim McGregor told the Energy News Network this summer, “we have a mandate from the legislature that says we shall lease public lands for fracking.”The commission did not discuss all the statutory factors for voting either yes or no at its Nov. 15 meeting. Yet it voted to allow opening up lands under the state park and wildlife areas for bid next quarter. No written opinion explaining the decisions has been posted on the commission’s website.“The commission is not required to submit a written opinion, and they are not expecting to write one,” said Andy Chow, spokesperson for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, in response to a question by the Energy News Network the next day. “And there is no appeals procedure.”“The Commission’s refusal to issue a written decision, failure to engage in meaningful discussion of the statutory criteria, and its belief that decisions are not appealable, show a concerning disregard for the process and rigor contemplated by their statutory mandates,” said Megan Hunter, a lawyer for Earthjustice who is representing opponents in the appeal and in the constitutional challenge case.

Fracking on Public Land Draws Environmentalist Lawsuit in Ohio - Bloomberg Law

• Suit says commission’s decision isn’t in line with law
• Appeal is second lawsuit regarding drilling on Ohio lands

Four environmentalist groups sued an Ohio commission over its approval of requests to drill for oil and gas in the state’s largest state park and two state wildlife areas. The Oil & Gas Land Management Commission decisions made Nov. 15 “are not supported by reliable, probative, and substantial evidence and are not in accordance with law,” said the appeal filed Thursday in Franklin County Common Pleas Court. The commission also didn’t consider the factors required under state law and didn’t allow for a public hearing, the appeal stated.Save Ohio Parks, Buckeye Environmental Network, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, and Ohio ...

Operators Eye Oil Potential of Ohio's Utica Shale | Energy Intelligence - Operators in Ohio’s natural gas-rich Utica Shale are increasingly targeting the play's volatile oil window, setting the stage for a dramatic shift in its production profile.

DUG Appalachia: 'Forgotten Child' Ohio Sees Oil Output Soar - Buoyed by a decade of investment in the oil and gas industry, Ohio’s production is up and expectations are high that even better numbers are around the corner. Even though Ohio has sometimes been “the forgotten child” in the region, the state has plenty to offer, including the “holy trinity of hydrocarbons,” Rob Brundrett, president of the Ohio Oil & Gas Association, said during an update on the state of the Utica Shale at Hart Energy’s DUG Appalachia Conference on Nov. 29. “We’ve got oil, natural gas, natural gas liquids and crude oil. So we have them all right here in the Utica and the state of Ohio.”Those resources have drawn in more than $100 billion in investments over the past decade, with the lion’s share going to the upstream sector, he said. “Most of this is private money. It’s not government subsidies. We’re very fortunate to have a strong thriving industry,” Brundrett said. “If you look at the producer side, about $70 billion of that is coming straight from the producers in the state of Ohio, and that money is going into eastern Ohio. And I can’t again overstate the importance of that kind of infrastructure and that kind of investment in really one of the poorest regions in our state.”The state itself embraced its role as an energy producer during that time.With no corporate income tax, the climate is favorable for businesses, he said, and the regulatory environment is straightforward.More than 4,000 permits have been issued for lateral shale wells, and more than 3,000 horizontal shale wells are producing, he said. “We’ve got a really good regulatory environment that’s allowed oil and gas to sort of thrive on the edge of this play,” he said.Brundrett said the industry-friendly environment is one of the big draws Ohio offers. “Just last year, the state of Ohio declared natural gas a green energy. It’s more of a declaratory statement than anything, but I think it doubles down on where the state’s elected officials are when it comes to the production and use of natural gas,” he said.And Ohio has a fully integrated oil and gas industry with production, processing and refining in the state, he said. In 2012, he said, the industry was excited about the possibilities and potential across the Utica Shale, which stretches from New York state in the north to northeastern Kentucky and Tennessee in the south, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).Ohio’s seemed to have potential even as neighboring states — and the Marcellus Shale — got most of the attention. “Ohio is on the edge, so it’s kind of like the younger sibling of the other two. And so maybe the projections weren’t as great for Ohio as what they were for West Virginia and Pennsylvania,” Brundrett said.But 10 years later, he said, investments in the state are paying off.“We’ve always had a strong gas play and we’ve continued to have a strong gas play,” he said. But the play’s oil production is also picking up.Between first-quarter of 2022 and the second-quarter of 2023, oil output increased by 51%, he said.Overall Ohio oil production is also up. In second-quarter 2023, the state produced a total of 6.9 MMbbl of oil. That compares with second-quarter 2022 production of 4.9 MMbbl — a 40% increase, according to Ohio Department of Natural Resources data.Looking at expected future production, Brundrett believes Ohio’s contribution to the energy mix will continue to grow as the industry continues to improve its understanding of the source rocks and better parse data.“I think we’ve all learned a ton over the last decade on how best to drill and how best to finish these wells to get the … maximum for your investment. And I think it’s starting to finally really pay off in the state of Ohio, especially with natural gas liquids,” he said. “We’ve found a way to kind of crack that code and really maybe extract the maximum benefits that we can from the ground in Ohio, which is really, really exciting. And we’re probably going to see, obviously, a lot more investment in Ohio based on these results.”Comparison of Ohio’s natural gas production versus consumption from 2010 to 2020. (Source: Ohio Oil & Gas Association)

Tour of fracking sites connects activists from Appalachia and the Gulf ... What do residents of the Gulf Coast and Appalachia have in common? A lot, according to the members of an art collective, especially when it comes to the buildout of the petrochemical industry and its impact on public health.So in November, they brought together about 25 people in Pittsburgh, including local residents living alongside industry and activists fighting the fossil fuel industry from the Gulf Coast and other regions. The purpose was to kick off a multi-city campaign against pollution called “We Refuse to Die.”To illustrate shared values and connect the dots across experiences, the activists took what organizers called a “toxic tour” of fracking sites in Washington County, an idea that came out of activism in Texas. It was the final event in a series that took place over severaldays, including other toxic tours and an art installation and ceremony. “We Refuse to Die” is also part of the “Unsettling Matter, Gaining Ground” exhibition at the Carnegie Museum of Art. Tammy Murphy, advocacy director for Physicians for Social Responsibility, Pennsylvania, which helped organize the tour, said they want people to see with their own eyes the environmental and health impacts of the oil and gas industry, as many of the companies operate in multiple communities.“The way that we see it is the industries work as a network,” Murphy said. “And for us, this is our way of strengthening our own network.”On the small, black bus, participants told their stories and chanted, “We refuse to die! We refuse to die!”Beka Economopoulos is the director of the Natural History Museum, described as a museum for the movement, who organized the gathering. She explained why the campaign is called “We Refuse to Die.” “The idea is if the fossil fuel and petrochemical industry is writing off our communities as sacrifice zones,” Economopoulos said. “With ‘we refuse to die,’ the living dead speak back, forging a coalition between the living and the dead in which those we have lost are not simply victims, but allies and agents of change.” The first stop on the tour was a parking lot across from the MarkWest Houston plant that processes natural gas for transport. There, the group met up with Lois Bower-Bjornson, an organizer with the Clean Air Council and a resident of Washington County. A microphone in hand, she addressed the group and said the plant has been expanded beyond its original size and residents worry about fires and the health impacts of gas flaring there. “This is normalized,” Bower-Bjornson said. “People that live in Washington County and down to our county commissioners will tell you how much money this industry has made and how much it’s brought into the communities.” From the small crowd, Barbara Irvin from Mississippi asked Bower-Bjornson about her characterization of the priorities of elected officials in the county when it comes to fracking. “So nothing about human life?” Irvin asked. “The same human life that’s paying your salary, the same human life that is getting, you know, you into office. And this is what you have to say, which is absolutely nothing?” “It’s unfortunate,” Bower-Bjornson answered. Irvin said that at home in Mississippi, she feels no one is held accountable for illnesses caused by pollution in her community. “We’ve got to keep fighting to make it stop,” Irvin said. “And, you know, don’t just shove it under the rug because you can’t shove your life under the rug.” Along the route to another site, the bus passed a black and white billboard paid for by the campaign that reads, “Kids living near fracking wells are 2-3 times more likely on average to get childhood leukemia,” a finding from a Yale School of Public Health study.During a stop at a park in North Strabane Township, where a Range Resources fracking pad can be seen from the soccer field, Travis London took the mic to share his story. He’s from Donaldsonville, Louisiana, a town between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, in an area known as Cancer Alley. London said in his community, a football field, a Head Start program, and an elementary school are all near a major ammonia manufacturing plant owned by CF Industries. He said that in his area, activists are still fighting permits to build more industrial plants. Now, they are also pushing back against what he calls the greenwashing and misinformation around carbon capture technology and hydrogen plants.For Melanie Meade, the week of activities was an emotional rollercoaster. Meade is an activist in Clairton, south of Pittsburgh, where the largest coke plant in the US is located. “This tour has helped me to see and realize that we all have a purpose in this,” said Meade, who is also a fellow for the Black Appalachian Coalition. “And where we feel like we’re insufficient or not enough, there are others who are down the road or down the river who can help us realize that we are enough together.The campaign’s next action will be installing an art piece in East Palestine, Ohio, overlooking the Norfolk Southern train derailment site on the disaster’s one-year anniversary on February 3.

14 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Nov 20 – 26 | Marcellus Drilling News - New shale permits issued for Nov 20 – 26 in the Marcellus/Utica was anemic but better than the prior pathetic report of just a single new permit (see 1 New Shale Well Permit Issued for PA-OH-WV Nov 13 – 19). There were 14 new permits issued last week. Last week’s permit tally included 7 new permits in Pennsylvania, 7 new permits in Ohio, and no new permits in West Virginia. EQT took the top prize for the most new permits, receiving 6 for a single well pad in Greene County, PA.  COLUMBIANA COUNTY | ENCINO ENERGY | EQT CORP | GREENE COUNTY (PA) | GUERNSEY COUNTY | INR | SENECA RESOURCES | TIOGA COUNTY (PA)

NOG expands Permian presence, enters Ohio Utica shale with $170 million acquisitions– Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. (NOG) has entered into a definitive agreement with a private party to acquire non-operated interests across approximately 3,000 net acres located primarily in Lea and Eddy Counties, New Mexico. NOG owns existing interests in approximately 90% of the leasehold. Current production is roughly 2,800 boed (2-stream, about 67% oil). NOG expects 2024 production to average around 2,500 boed (2-stream, about 67% oil), but expects significant future growth on the assets, with average production of more than 3,500 boed for 2025 through 2030. Capital expenditures on the assets are expected to be in the range of $25 - $30 million in 2024, with similar expected levels annually through 2027. The acquired assets include 13 net producing wells, 1 net well in process and an estimated 26.3 net undeveloped locations, representing approximately 13.5 years of inventory at sustaining capital levels. The undeveloped assets are of extremely high quality, with an average pre-tax PV-10 breakeven of less than $45 per bbl. Mewbourne Oil is the largest operator, controlling approximately 80% of the assets. Appalachian basin transaction. NOG has entered into a definitive agreement with a separate private party to acquire non-operated interests in Jefferson, Harrison, Belmont, and Monroe Counties, Ohio. The primary target zone is the Point Pleasant/Utica Shale. Current production is approximately 23 MMcfd (about 3,800 boed, nearly 100% gas), and NOG expects average production in 2024 at slightly higher levels. NOG expects to incur approximately $14 million of capital expenditures on the assets in 2023, and $8 million of capital expenditures in 2024. The acquired properties include approximately 0.8 net producing wells and 1.7 net wells-in-process. Substantially, all the assets are operated by Ascent Resources, one of the top Utica producers in Ohio.

Living on Earth: Unmasking Secret Fracking Chemicals - Many of the chemicals used in fracking for natural gas are hazardous to human health, but loopholes in disclosure laws mean that companies can keep them secret. So Pennsylvania’s Governor is moving to compel companies to disclose the chemicals they use in fracking operations. Environmental Health News reporter Kristina Marusic joins Host Steve Curwood to explain the health risks and disclosure challenges. (Transcript) If you drill and break or fracture certain rocks underneath North Dakota, Texas, and Pennsylvania you can put in a pipe and get out some oil and lots of natural gas. This process of hydraulic fracturing nicknamed fracking relies on high pressure water laced with toxic chemicals, chemicals that are often hazardous to human health. But if you live near these fracking wells, it can be hard to find out just what might be getting in the water and the risks you might be running. So, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro has announced that his state will make new rules to disclose chemicals used by fracking operations. As Pennsylvania’s attorney general in 2020 Shapiro led a grand jury that found regulators at the Department of Environmental Protection had failed to protect communities from fracking health risks. Environmental Health News reporter Kristina Marusic works in western Pennsylvania fracking country and joins us now from Pittsburgh. Kristina, welcome back to Living on Earth!

Opinion: Time to move on fracking safety measures – Pennsylvania Capital-Star - For years, advocates have been calling on Harrisburg to implement commonsense safety regulations to mitigate harmful health impacts of fracking – particularly for children and other vulnerable populations. Gov. Josh Shapiro has taken a step forward in delivering for these impacted communities. Now, it’s time for the state legislature to do the same. A growing body of scientific research is showing what advocates have long suspected: that fracking is connected to serious negative impacts for families who live nearby. An array of scientific studies have associated fracking with serious negative health outcomes, from an increased risk of certain types of childhood cancers to premature death in residents who live near fracking activities. The fluids used in fracking can contain highly toxic chemicals, which can leak into groundwater. Fracking can also dredge up dangerous radioactive rock formations that are naturally occurring and found in shale deposits. And the fracking process can also release dangerous pollution into the air, increasing the risk of asthma and other respiratory and pulmonary diseases. Yet for years, the oil and gas industry has used its political clout and generous campaign donations to bottle up any attempt to impose commonsense safety measures on drillers. That changed earlier this month, when Gov. Shapiro directed the state’s Department of Environmental Protection to begin the process of implementing new regulations designed to improve the safety of impacted communities while reducing emissions of methane from wells — a potent greenhouse gas. Once implemented, these new rules will increase transparency of the chemicals used in drilling, better protect communities from the toxic wastewater created by fracking, improve corrosion protections and enhance inspections of drilling equipment. They build upon Shapiro’s work as attorney general, where his investigations of the oil and gas industry led to the release of a state grand jury report that highlighted the urgent need for reforms to protect Pennsylvania families from the harmful impacts of this extractive industry. But Shapiro’s move only represents a first step. Many of the recommendations in the grand jury report require legislative action. While legislation to improve fracking safety requirements have languished in the legislature for years, a legislative committee recently held a hearing on a bill by Rep. Danielle Friel Otten (D-Chester) to impose setbacks on drilling operations to increase the minimum distance between fracking infrastructure and homes, schools and other buildings. This legislation responds to the growing scientific consensus that families closest to drilling activities are at the greatest risk from negative health impacts. While Gov. Shapiro recently secured a commitment from CNX to implement setbacks from the state-mandated 500 feet to 600 feet for all sites, and increases them to 2,500 feet for sensitive sites like hospitals and schools, we need a statewide approach. It’s not feasible for the governor to negotiate voluntary setbacks on a company-by-company basis for an entire industry. While fracking companies remain a powerful force in Harrisburg, it’s time for lawmakers to put the safety of Pennsylvania families over the profits of their corporate campaign contributors. At the same time, improved setbacks are just one of eight recommendations to come out of the grand jury report.

Natural Gas Said Springboard to Advance Four U.S. Hydrogen Hubs - Major energy producers, midstream operators and petrochemical giants are set to kickstart a string of nationwide hydrogen hubs, four fueled with natural gas, to advance emissions reductions from the hard-to-decarbonize industrial sectors. Seven hydrogen hubs, aka H2Hubs, were recently selected to receive a total of $7 billion from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to begin the projects. In addition, the sponsors, mostly from the private sector, have earmarked another $40 billion-plus to advance the hubs, sited from Pennsylvania to California. The funding “is laying the foundation for a new, American-led industry that will propel the global clean energy transition while creating high quality jobs and delivering healthier communities in every pocket of the nation,” DOE said..

Hydrogen Is Just Another Hole for Natural Gas to Fill -- The gas industry has had plenty of practice making a case for itself. A few decades ago, when the U.S. as a whole was becoming more environmentally minded, the newly formed Environmental Protection Agency was eying the gas industry, and public-health research was beginning to suggest that gas stoves might be bad for health. In the 1970s and ’80s, the industry went on an offensive to downplay those dangers, using the same strategies, even thesame PR firms, as the tobacco industry to avoid regulation, and was largely successful. Preserving demand for the product—gas stoves were “gateway” appliances that made a home more likely to have a gas furnace, a gas clothes dryer, and so on—was key.The fracking boom supercharged that imperative, flooding the market with cheap gas. As hydraulic fracturing and horizontal-drilling technologies began liberating gas from hard-to-reach shale formations, production went way up. The U.S. natural-gas market was exploding with supply, which began to drive gas prices down. All that gas needed someplace to go.But then a fortuitous pivot provided exactly that place: Ethane, a previously unusable waste product of natural-gas extraction, proved useful. In the past two decades, the industry has begun pouring resources into commercializing a method to “crack” ethane molecules, allowing them to be rearranged into ethylene, the main building block of plastics. The majority of petrochemical cracker plants built after 2012 were designed to use ethane. Drilling for “wet” gas—which is higher in ethane content, and therefore less useful as natural gas destined to be burned for fuel—became a profitable endeavor.This ushered in the gas-for-plastic revolution: The industry envisioned a plastics boom, planning for ethane “cracker” plants all over the Ohio River Valley and the Gulf Coast. In 2018, the International Energy Agencypredicted that petrochemical production—which is mostly plastic—would account for nearly half of all growth for fossil-fuel demand by 2050. As of February 2020, some 343 new plastic-production plants and expansions were permitted or planned in the U.S., according to the American Chemistry Council, a top trade group for American plastic companies. Shell’s cracker, a behemoth operation on a sprawling 384-acre campus, began operations last year, with its very own ethane pipeline snaking from the shale-gas fields to supply it. “What led the massive boom in the construction of new plastics facilities in the U.S. was not the emergence of massive public demand for plastics, but the fact that natural-gas feedstocks became incredibly cheap,” Carroll Muffett, the president of the Center for International Environmental Law, a nonprofit human-rights and environmental law firm, told me in 2020. “The fracking boom triggered the renaissance of the plastics industry in the U.S.”Yet plastic production is no guarantee; almost every boom eventually goes bust, and the market is beginning to show some tentative signs of waning. Some of the planned plastic plants never came to fruition, whether because they failed to find an investment partner or they faced falling commodity prices and were dealing with corruption charges. There are hints that demand is slowing down for the moment, leading to slimming margins for plastic makers (although no shortage of predictions show the industry continuing togrow, in and outside the U.S.).No matter the future of plastics, the U.S. gas industry is already well into its next gambit, or rather, gambits: One is the monumental-scale build-out of liquified-natural-gas (LNG) export facilities. Within one day of Russia’s attack on Ukraine in February 2022, the gas industry had sent a letter to the White House requesting its help obtaining approval for pending plans to build terminals to send gas to Europe, to stem an energy crisis that the conflict would surely cause. The Biden administration largely obliged, and the major fossil-fuel companies saw their profits more than double year-over-year. Now LNG terminals are popping up throughout the U.S. Gulf Coast, and exports of gas to Europe remain high. Although some still see natural gas as a “bridge fuel” between more carbon-intensive fuels, such as coal and oil, and a genuinely clean-energy future of solar and wind power, that idea has been widely questioned: Natural-gas use seems mostly a bridge to using more natural gas. Shipping LNG abroad appears to be worse for the environmentthan burning coal, leading to questions about whether the Biden administration will step in to halt the infrastructure build-out.The industry’s other gambit also has received direct support from the Biden administration, whose signature climate laws include billions of dollars of investments and tax credits for hydrogen fuel—made from natural gas. Exxon, for one, is heavily lobbying the Biden administration to allow the industry access to tax credits written into the Inflation Reduction Act; last month, the Biden administration announced that it would invest $7 billion in the creation of seven hydrogen “hubs,” and hydrogen from gas was central to the plan.

Northeast Natural Energy received “industry-first” ESG grade for Marcellus shale natural gas – Northeast Natural Energy, a West Virginia-based Marcellus shale natural gas producer, has just become the first producer globally to receive an "A" letter grade from Equitable Origin (EO) for the ESG performance of its West Virginia assets. This was the result of a voluntary reverification audit conducted by Responsible Energy Solutions LLC in 2023. A pioneer in differentiated natural gas production, NNE became the first producer in the United States to certify an asset to EO's independent voluntary standard for high-ESG performance at the site level in 2021. Equitable Origin-approved expert third-party assessor Responsible Energy Solutions LLC independently evaluated NNE's operations against the principles of the EO100 Standard, including corporate governance and ethics; social impacts, human rights, and community engagement; occupational health and safety and fair labor standards; and environmental performance. Annually, the assessors undertake reverification audits to assess conformance to the standard and progress by NNE on a Continual Improvement Plan that is a requirement for ESG certification. These findings are subject to a rigorous external peer review. "Having completed our third annual assessment for Northeast Natural Energy, our team has seen continuous improvement that reflects a culture of excellence at NNE," said Roy Hartstein, founder and president, Responsible Energy Solutions LLC. "Through the review of thousands of pages of documents and dozens of interviews with NNE staff, contractors, and external stakeholders, we have found that culture reflected in action and results from the field through the senior leadership." Northeast Natural Energy, LLC is a privately owned energy company headquartered in Charleston, W.Va. that focuses on the development of dry, pipeline quality natural gas in the Appalachian basin. The company operates 40,000 contiguous acres in north central West Virginia, developing and producing reserves from the Marcellus shale.

Natural Gas Extends Losing Streak on Surprise Storage Build – WSJ 1108 ET – Natural Gas Prices Turn Lower on Unexpected Storage Build - Natural gas futures give up early gains and move lower as the EIA reports an unexpected increase in natural gas supplies for last week. EIA says natural gas in storage rose by 10 Bcf to 3,836 Bcf as of Nov. 24, which was 9.8% above its year-ago level and 8.6% above the five-year average for the week. Given a cold snap across parts of the US, a draw of 13 Bcf was expected, according to a Wall Street Journal survey. Milder-than-normal weather in the US so far this fall has kept a lid on demand, while daily US production has reached record levels around 105 Bcf. “The longer it takes for cold/blue weather maps to show up, the more impatient the natural gas markets are likely to get. We continue to look to the 2nd half of December for better opportunities of colder air to advance into the US,” forecaster NatGasWeather says in a report. Natural gas for January delivery is down 0.2% at $2.798/mmBtu. (anthony.harrup@wsj.com)1501 ET –– Natural gas futures lose ground for a fifth straight session as the EIA reports an unexpected 10 Bcf increase in gas storage to 3,836 Bcf as of Nov. 24, against expectations of a 13 Bcf draw in a Wall Street Journal survey. Natural gas for January settles off 0.1% at $2.802/mmBtu. Mild US weather and near record production are pressuring prices ahead of the expected winter draws. “Winter weather risks will remain the big driver of prices into next year,” says Francisco Blanch, head of commodities research at Bank of America. “We’re thinking $3 per mmBtu average for 2024,” he says. Strong exports could help, however. “Mexico has been a huge taker of US gas with over 6 Bcf a day going there, and with roughly 15 Bcf a day in LNG exports, about a fifth of America’s gas is going abroad right now,” he adds.

Despite Subdued Prices, Haynesville Natural Gas Producers Ramp Up Activity in November - Counter to rig count trends over much of 2023, natural gas production in the Haynesville Shale proved robust through the first half of November and could continue to help drive strong overall output, according to East Daley Analytics. Pipeline flows in Louisiana and East Texas averaged 13.2 Bcf/d through Nov. 16, marking a 300 MMcf/d jump over October levels and the highest volumes East Daley has observed since the basin’s 2023 output peaked at 13.7 Bcf/d in May, analyst Oren Pilant said. Most of the gains were on Energy Transfer LP’s Enable-Haynesville gathering system (plus-275 MMcf/d), with small gains on several other gathering systems, he said. Pilant said near record levels of LNG feed gas demand – above 14 Bcf/d through most of...

Commonwealth LNG inks carbon capture and storage pact - Commonwealth LNG has entered into a deal with OnStream CO2 for a carbon capture and storage solution at its 9.3 mtpa LNG facility under development in Cameron, Louisiana. OnStream CO2 is a joint venture between Carbonvert and Castex Carbon Solutions. Under the memorandum of understanding, OnStream CO2 will design, construct, own, and operate carbon dioxide (CO2) capture equipment near the Commonwealth LNG site, according to a statement by the US LNG developer. The captured CO2 will be permanently sequestered at the Cameron Parish CO2 hub, while Commonwealth LNG will dedicate CO2 emitted from the LNG facility for a 20-year term. The Carbonvert-Castex joint venture recently announced an operating agreement with Louisiana to develop a 24,000-acre tract of land offshore Cameron Parish, where it will permanently store CO2 in a hub with capacity for more than 250 million metric tons. Final terms of the carbon capture arrangement remain subject to negotiation of a definitive agreement between the parties, Commonwealth LNG said. “Adding carbon capture technology complements our comprehensive goal of achieving best-in-class environmental standards through measures that also include a focus on responsibly sourced gas and the installation of the highest efficiency gas turbines,” Commonwealth LNG founder and executive chairman, Paul Varello, said. Commonwealth LNG said it expects a final investment decision on its LNG project in the first half of 2024, with first cargo deliveries expected in 2027.

Cheniere, OMV seal long-term LNG supply deal - US LNG exporting giant Cheniere has signed a long-term deal with Austrian energy firm OMV to supply the latter with liquefied natural gas. OMV will receive the volumes via the Gate LNG import terminal in the Dutch port of Rotterdam where it holds capacity. According to separate statements by the two firms, Cheniere Marketing will supply OMV Gas Marketing and Trading with up to 12 LNG cargoes per year, or about 0.85 mtpa of LNG, at a TTF-linked price starting in late 2029. The two firms did not reveal the duration of the sales and purchase agreement. Cheniere’s executive VP and CCO, Anatol Feygin, said this deal deepens their relationship further since Cheniere first supplied OMV in 2018. “This long-term agreement between Cheniere and OMV will enhance Cheniere’s ability to supply LNG to Europe, where energy security has never been more important,” he said. Berislav Gaso, executive president for OMV Energy business, said the company has made “another significant step in diversifying and safeguarding alternative non-Russian gas supply sources for its customers in the long-term.” Earlier this year, UK-based energy giant BP signed a 10-year deal with OMV to supply the latter with LNG via the Gate terminal, owned by Gasunie and Vopak. Under this deal, BP will supply up to 1 mtpa of LNG per year from its global portfolio from 2026. Sabine Pass expansion deal In connection with the OMV deal, Cheniere also announced that Sabine Pass Liquefaction Stage V has entered into a long-term integrated production marketing gas supply agreement with ARC Resources U.S. Corp., a unit of Canada’s natural gas producer ARC Resources. Under the deal, ARC Resources has agreed to sell 140,000 MMBtu per day of natural gas to SPL Stage 5 for a term of 15 years, starting with commercial operations of the first train (train 7) of the Sabine Pass liquefaction expansion project.

Arc Resources Cuts Deal with Cheniere to Sell Natural Gas at Prices Linked to TTF - Arc Resources Ltd., one of Canada’s largest natural gas producers, said Wednesday it would send more volumes to Cheniere Energy Inc. for liquefaction and delivery to Europe. Under a gas supply agreement (GSA) signed with Cheniere, Calgary-based Arc said it would send 140,000 MMBtu/d to the Sabine Pass Liquefaction Stage 5 project in Louisiana for 15 years once the first train comes online. Cheniere would pay a price for those volumes indexed to the Title Transfer Facility (TTF), Europe’s gas benchmark, further exposing Arc’s volumes to international indexes. Arc CEO Terry Anderson said the deal represents the first time a Canadian producer has signed a long-term arrangement to send gas to Europe at prices tied to TTF. He added that it advances the company’s LNG strategy,...

Delfin seals long-term LNG supply deal with Gunvor - LNG Prime Delfin Midstream, the US developer of a floating LNG export project in the Gulf of Mexico, has signed a long-term liquefied natural gas supply deal with a unit of Geneva-based energy and LNG trader, Gunvor. Delfin LNG, a unit of Delfin Midstream, and Gunvor Singapore entered into the LNG sale and purchase agreement, according to a statement by Delfin Midstream. Under the SPA, Delfin LNG will supply between 0.5 to 1.0 million tonnes of LNG per year to Gunvor on a free-on-board (FOB) basis at the planned Delfin Deepwater Port, located off the coast of Louisiana for a minimum duration of 15 years. Dudley Poston, CEO of Delfin, welcomed the signing of a “major” long-term LNG supply agreement with Gunvor. This latest sale and purchase agreement “further demonstrates our attractiveness” as a long-term source of LNG, he said. “We continue to support US LNG projects and unlock new sources to meet the growing global LNG demand while further expanding our supply portfolio,” Kalpesh Patel, co-head of LNG trading of Gunvor, said. “Final phase towards FID” on first three floating LNG producers Delfin plans to install up to four self-propelled FLNG vessels that could produce up to 13.3 mtpa of LNG or 1.7 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas as part of its Delfin LNG project. The firm also aims to install two FLNG units under the Avocet LNG project. “The company has secured commercial agreements for LNG sales and liquefaction services and is in the final phase towards FID on its first three FLNG vessels,” Delfin said in the statement. In October, Delfin won more time from the US FERC to put into service the project’s onshore facilities in Louisiana.Delfin now has time until September 28, 2027, to construct and make available for service the onshore facilities.

Top 25 Natural Gas Producers in the US - In this article, we'll discuss the top natural gas-producing companies in the US and their current dynamics. If you want to skip our detailed overview of the country's natural gas sector, read Top 5 Natural Gas Producers in the US. The United States is rich in natural gas resources found in multiple key basins and regions. Firstly, the Marcellus Shale, spanning Pennsylvania and West Virginia and extending into New York, Ohio, and Maryland is a significant part of the Appalachian Basin and one of the largest natural gas fields in the US. Another important area is the Permian Basin, which stretches across Texas and New Mexico. Although primarily known for its oil production, this basin has experienced a surge in natural gas production due to new drilling techniques. In the south-central United States, the Haynesville Shale, located in Louisiana and East Texas, has witnessed a resurgence in production. The Piceance Basin in Colorado's Rocky Mountains, known for its substantial gas in tight sand formations, and the Anadarko Basin, spreading across Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, and Colorado, are also notable for their gas reserves. Moreover, the Utica Shale, primarily beneath Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, offers impressive future potential. Situated below the Marcellus, it is positioned to become a major source of gas in the US. Although comparatively underdeveloped, its vast, untapped reserves could play an essential role in shaping the country's energy landscape.Due to its rich regions, the US now produces the majority of the natural gas it consumes. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that the country reached a record high in dry natural gas production in 2022, approximately 36.35 trillion cubic feet (Tcf). This equates to an average daily production of about 96.60 billion cubic feet. In 2022, US dry natural gas production rose by approximately 1.82 Tcf compared to 2021. This increase was driven by growing demand, especially for exports, and the rising prices of natural gas. Furthermore, in 2022, five states—Texas, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, West Virginia, and Oklahoma—accounted for about 70.4% of the total national dry natural gas production, despite there being thirty-four natural gas-producing states in the US.The monumental increase in natural gas production is primarily attributed to advanced drilling techniques, such as horizontal drilling (drilling sideways underground) and hydraulic fracturing (breaking rocks with high-pressure liquids). These techniques are particularly effective in certain types of underground rock layers, like shale deposits, where gas is trapped in very tight and small spaces. These new methods have made it easier to extract gas from these challenging areas.US prepares wave of methane rules on oil and gas industry - Federal agencies are poised to release a battery of rules in the coming months that crack down on the oil and gas sector for releasing the potent greenhouse gas. That includes regulations for leaky pipelines; energy production on public and private lands; and infrastructure related to processing, transporting and storing natural gas. Even liquefied natural gas terminals and offshore petroleum production facilities, which aren’t covered by EPA’s coming methane rules, could find themselves paying for excessive leaks beginning in 2025.That’s on top of other methane efforts. The Energy and State departments are creating guidelines to distinguish relatively climate-friendly fuel producers and exporters from their more high-emitting competitors. And the Securities and Exchange Commission and federal procurement agencies are readying rules that would require publicly traded companies and government contractors to report on direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions, including methane, from their supply chains.Curbing the gas responsible for almost a third of today’s global warming could contribute to Biden’s climate legacy. And it might also buy the world valuable time to solve the more intractable problem of phasing out carbon emissions.“There’s a recognition that cutting methane is one of the fastest, best ways to reduce pollution that’s contributing to climate change,” said Paul Billings, national senior vice president for public policy at the American Lung Association. “The technology is available, and it’s highly cost-effective.”The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Enbridge gets state panel's OK to move Line 5 pipeline into tunnel -- The Michigan Public Service Commission ruled Friday that the relocation of Enbridge Energy's Line 5 oil pipeline from the lakebed of the Straits of Mackinac to a yet-to-be-constructed tunnel beneath the lakebed is the "best option" to improve safety while still securing the "public need" for fossil fuels.Commission Chair Dan Scripps, in approving a site permit for the project, noted the current placement of the dual pipeline on the lakebed west of the Mackinac Bridge, where it is exposed to a potential anchor strike, presents a risk that must be addressed."It’s clear," Scripps said. "We need to get those pipelines off the bottomlands and out of the Great Lakes.”The commission did require Enbridge to make additional risk assessments and safety considerations while moving forward with its plans, but the approval vote still angered Line 5 and tunnel opponents who attended the meeting. The motion to approve the site permit passed 2-0. Commissioner Alessandra Carreon abstained since she was recently appointed to the commission and had not been present for much of the debate on the matter. The two "yes" votes, Scripps and Commissioner Katherine Peretick, are both appointees of Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.The decision was greeted with outbursts from the packed meeting room of "Shut it down!" and "Blood on your hands." One of those addressing the panel said the commission should remove "public service" from its title after Friday's decision."You’ve broken my heart," said Lissa Spitz, a resident from Washtenaw County. "We are at the most critical time in human history right now. Our house is burning down. We must end the use of fossil fuels as soon as possible.”Andrea Pierce, a member of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, said she was "disgusted" by the vote and expected there would be an appeal. She and others argued the pipeline and tunnel would soon be "obsolete" as the state moved away from fossil fuels."This will be on your heads for the rest of your lives,” Pierce said.

The Problem with Enbridge Line 5 pipelines through the Great Lakes - Nearly 23 million gallons of oil daily flow through two aging pipelines in the heart of the Great Lakes, just 1.5 miles west of the Mackinac Bridge. Constructed during the Eisenhower administration in 1953, the two 20-inch-in-diameter “Line 5” crude oil pipelines owned by Canadian company Enbridge, Inc. lie exposed at the bottom of the Straits of Mackinac - a busy shipping channel. Enbridge’s pipelines, which run about 1,000 feet apart at depths ranging from 100 - 270 feet, have laid on the bottom of the Straits for over six decades. Enbridge installed several support structures under the pipelines in 2006 and again in 2010 and 2018, following the company’s oil spill into the Kalamazoo River - the nation’s largest-ever land-based oil spill. Now, hundreds of supports elevate 3 miles of the pipeline off the lakebed into the turbulent current. This design was never approved and makes the pipeline unsafe. Enbridge officials have said that properly maintained pipelines can last indefinitely, but the company’s history of major spills in Michigan and North America proves otherwise. Today, much of the oil flowing through the Line 5 pipelines (90 to 95%) comes from Canada and takes a shortcut through Michigan and the Straits of Mackinac before crossing back into Canada near Port Huron. Line 5 has spilled 33 times and at least 1.1 million gallons along its length since 1968. The pipelines in the Straits of Mackinac cross one of the most ecologically sensitive areas in the world. The Great Lakes are home to 21 percent of the world's fresh surface water. The pristine Straits area supports bountiful fisheries, provides drinking water to thousands of people, and anchors a thriving tourism industry with historic and beautiful Mackinac Island right in the center. This area is the definition of Pure Michigan. Several troubling factors have come together that cause grave concern:

• An anchor strike from a ship in peril in 2018 gashed and dented both underwater pipelines
• Enbridge contractors severely damaged pipeline supports in 2019, but all Enbridge safety measures missed the damage, which wasn't even discovered until June 2020 - at which point the pipeline was temporarily shut down to inspect the damage (subsequently reopened)
• The tarnished safety record of Enbridge, Inc., the Canadian company that operates the pipeline, including the largest inland oil spill when its Line 6B spilled 1.1 million gallons of tar sands bitumen into the Kalamazoo River in 2010
• There are ongoing issues of compliance with the contract between the pipeline company and the State of Michigan (the Easement), including eight known violations
• The age, location, and questionable condition of the pipeline
• An increase in the volume and pressure of fluids moving through the pipelines
• The lack of transparency about safety inspections and what petroleum products are being transported through Line 5 in the Great Lakes
• The lack of proactive regulatory environments in Michigan and at the federal level
• University of Michigan scientists modeled the currents in the Straits of Mackinac and called it "the worst possible place for an oil spill in the Great Lakes."
• Line 5 is a shortcut for Canada's benefit, with less than 5 to 10% of the product used in Michigan.
• Scientists warn that we have less than ten years to reduce carbon emissions by half or face dire consequences from a dangerously overheating climate. It is even more urgent to move away from dirty fuels like the ones carried by Line 5

Source of US Gulf oil spill still unclear: Update -More than a week after its discovery, federal officials have yet to identify the source of an oil spillfrom a major offshore US Gulf of Mexico gathering line that shut in production at seven offshore facilities.Emergency response crews have examined 40 miles of the 67 mile long Main Pass Oil Gathering (MPOG) pipeline system without finding any damage or source of the leak, the US Coast Guard said today. A survey of another six miles of surrounding pipelines has also failed to identify the leak. Overflights conducted since 20 November have observed no new oil releases or any effects on the shoreline and wildlife, the Coast Guard said.The spilled crude was identified as Light Louisiana Sweet (LLS), although the MPOG system delivers crude to Empire, Louisiana, where it can be traded as Heavy Louisiana Sweet (HLS). LLS and HLS traded on Monday at premiums to the Nymex-quality WTI benchmark in Cushing, Oklahoma, of $3.50/bl and $3.75/bl, respectively, on the first session of January trade. Both LLS and HLS traded well above their average premiums in the prior trade month of $2.61/bl and $2.17/bl.Federal officials said MPOG's closure has shut in production at seven facilities serviced by the line, which extends into the Main Pass, Viosca Knoll and Mississippi Canyon areas in the Gulf. The shut in has affected facilities operated by W&T Energy VI, Occidental Petroleum, Walter Oil and Gas, Cantium, Arena Offshore and Talos Energy Ventures, according to the Coast Guard.Federal officials estimate that as much as 1.1mn USG (26,000 bl) of crude leaked, based on meter readings from MPOG. The spill is located about 19 miles off the coast of southeastern Louisiana.

US Coast Guard says 3% of Gulf of Mexico's daily oil output remains shut in (Reuters) - The U.S. Coast Guard said on Tuesday that about 3% of the Gulf of Mexico's daily oil production remained shut in after a million-gallon oil spill, as it continued surveying Third Coast Infrastructure's pipeline to find the source of the leak. The pipeline was closed by Third Coast's Main Pass Oil Gathering Co (MPOG) on Nov. 16 after crude oil was spotted around 19 miles (30 km) offshore the Mississippi River delta, near Plaquemines Parish, southeast of New Orleans. The Coast Guard had not yet identified the source of the leak after surveying around 40 miles (64 km) of the 67-mile-long (108 km) underwater pipeline, as remote-controlled devices and divers scanned the rest along with other surrounding pipelines. No new oil had been spotted since Nov. 20 from the suspected release, the Coast Guard said while leading clean-up efforts. Initial calculations placed the volume of the leak at 1.1 million gallons, or 26,190 barrels, with the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement estimating that around 61,165 barrels of daily oil output from at least six producers was shut in. Operators whose facilities are impacted include W&T Energy VI (WTI.N), Occidental Petroleum (OXY.N), Walter Oil and Gas, Cantium, Arena Offshore and Talos Energy Ventures (TALO.N).

US production of planet-heating fuels hits record levels -U.S. oil and gas companies extracted record amounts of planet-warming oil and gas in 2023 — a year that was the globe’s hottest in recorded history. New reporting from The Guardian on Monday found that the U.S. government is planning for oil and gas production levels to stay at “near-record levels” until mid-century. The U.S., like most wealthy nations, has picked 2050 as the date by which it will zero out the greenhouse gases released by burning gas, oil, and coal. Those reductions are planned because burning such carbon-dense fossil fuels in power plants, cars and factories is far and away the biggest driver in the rise in global temperatures and extreme weather. But the reporting from the Guardian, which draws together both projections from the federal Energy Information Agency and recent U.N. reports, suggests that the U.S. has set itself an impossible chronology: a long plateau of high fossil fuel production that continues to mid-century — before somehow falling to nothing. The reporting comes as the U.S. negotiating team prepares for the annual United Nations Climate Change Summit (COP28) to open in the United Arab Emirates, one of the world’s major fossil fuel exporters. The reporting from the Guardian comes as the international fossil fuel industry is gearing up to argue — as Exxon CEO Darren Woods did earlier this month — that the fuels themselves are not the issue. “The problem is not oil and gas. It’s emissions,” Woods told the Asia Pacific Forum on November 15. “The solutions to climate change have been too focused on reducing supply,” he added. “That’s a recipe for human hardship and a poorer world. Leaving oil in the ground does nothing to stop the demand for it. It simply raises the price and makes it harder to alleviate poverty around the world.” This line matched one offered by fossil fuel representatives at a key U.N. treaty negotiation earlier this month that aimed to stem the rising tide of plastic waste.At negotiations in Nairobi, fossil fuel and petrochemical representatives argued that plastic waste could be addressed without slowing plastic production — an argument, activists noted, that the industry has made since at least the 1970s. Fossil fuel lobbyists have attended climate talks more than 7,200 times since 2003. Representatives of Big Oil — TotalEnergies, Exxon, Chevron, BP, and Shell — have been given 267 passes, a new report has found. For example, Agence France Presses found that U.S. consultancy McKinsey was helping the UAE craft a proposal by which oil production would fall by just 50 percent by 2050. These bids from the fossil fuel industry — which depend on a massive buildout in largely unproven and possibly ineffective technologies like carbon capture, methane monitoring and chemical recycling — cut directly against what scientists say is necessary: the drastic reduction and ultimate elimination of the use of fossil fuels. “It’s particularly alarming to see the projections of record U.S. oil and gas production year after year until 2050,” Michael Lazarus, a senior scientist at Stockholm Environment Institute, told The Guardian. “The U.S. is locking in production for years that makes it hard to meet climate goals,” he added. “It’s out of sync and it needs reckoning.”

US oil and gas production set to break record in 2023 despite UN climate goals -The United States is poised to extract more oil and gas than ever before in 2023, a year that is certain to be the hottest ever recorded, providing a daunting backdrop to crucial United Nations climate talks that hold the hope of an agreement to end the era of fossil fuels. The US’s status as the world’s leading oil and gas behemoth has only strengthened this year, even amid warnings from Joe Biden himself over the unfolding climate crisis, with the latest federal government forecast showing a record 12.9m barrels of crude oil, more than double what was produced a decade ago, will be extracted in 2023. Records will also be broken this year for gas production, with a glut of new export terminals on the Gulf of Mexico coast facilitating a boom that will see US exports of liquified natural gas (or LNG) double in the next four years. Tellingly, the US government expects this frenzy of oil and gas activity to continue at near-record levels right up to 2050, a point at which scientists say planet-heating emissions must be eliminated to avoid catastrophic climate breakdown. A third of the world’s planned oil and gas expansion in this period will occur in the US, a recent report found.At the Cop28 climate summit, starting in Dubai this week, the European Union and a cadre of “high ambition” countries that range from Kenya to Samoa willpush for an agreed “phaseout” of fossil fuels. António Guterres, secretary general of the UN, has called fossil fuel production the “poisonous root” of the climate crisis that should be dismantled. “Cop28 must send a clear signal that the fossil fuel age is out of gas, that its end is inevitable,” he said.The US’s surging fossil fuel production casts a pall over such ambitions, however. “It’s particularly alarming to see the projections of record US oil and gas production year after year until 2050,” said Michael Lazarus, a senior scientist at Stockholm Environment Institute, which helped produce a recent UN report finding the world is planning double the amount of fossil fuel production consistent with remaining within a 1.5C (2.7F) global temperature rise compared with pre-industrial times.“The US is locking in production for years that makes it hard to meet climate goals,” he said. “It’s out of sync and it needs reckoning.”Under Biden, the US has passed its first major climate legislation, called the Inflation Reduction Act, which has spurred record investment in clean energy such as solar and wind, as well as propel sales of electric vehicles.The US president’s administration has fashioned new pollution rules to slash emissions from cars, trucks and power plants and recently struck a renewed agreement with China, the only country that emits more carbon than the US, to do more to stem the climate crisis. US energy emissions, meanwhile, have been edging downwards and are expected to drop 3% this year, albeit at a slower rate than needed to meet its own climate goals.

US holds first of several oil and gas auctions as COP28 gets underway (Reuters) - The Biden administration on Tuesday said it raised $3.4 million from a sale of oil and gas drilling rights in Wyoming, the first in a series of such sales that will coincide with a United Nations' conference aimed at combating fossil fuel-driven climate change in Dubai. The Interior Department's U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) offered 37 parcels on 35,000 acres (14,164 hectares) in Wyoming, with just 18 tracts on 21,500 acres receiving bids, the agency said in a statement. The sale was the largest of a BLM plan to offer 63 drilling parcels on nearly 44,000 acres (17,806 hectares) in six Western states over the next two weeks. A bid of $2.6 million for a 720-acre parcel in Converse County accounted for nearly 80% of the Wyoming auction's total high bids, according to a Reuters analysis of bidding on the online platform EnergyNet. Details on the winning bidders was not immediately available. BLM will also offer acreage in New Mexico, Oklahoma, Nevada, North Dakota and Utah on Nov. 30, Dec. 5 and Dec. 12. The UN's "Conference of the Parties" on climate, known as COP 28, will begin on Thursday and will take place over the same two weeks. Dozens of nations plan to push for the world's first deal to phase out carbon dioxide-emitting coal, oil and gas at the meeting. U.S. President Joe Biden is not expected to attend. An Interior spokesperson did not comment on the timing of the sales. Environmental groups were critical of the sales. "Instead of doing the necessary work to fight climate change, Biden continues to support the expansion of fossil fuels here in the U.S.," Nicole Ghio, senior fossil fuels program manager for Friends of the Earth, said in a statement. Biden's Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a climate change law passed last year, made oil and gas auctions a prerequisite for renewable energy development. It also, however, requires higher royalty rates and minimum bids meant to boost taxpayer returns.

Environmentalists slam Biden admin's oil and gas auctions during COP28 -Environmental groups criticized the Biden administration's $3.4 million auction of oil and gas drilling rights in Wyoming on Tuesday as world leaders prepare to meet in Dubai for the COP28 climate summit.The 37 parcels of land covering some 35,000 acres was the first of 63 drilling parcels the Interior Department's U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) planned to sell across 44,000 acres in six Western states over the next two weeks.In addition to Wyoming, auctions will take place in New Mexico, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Utah. The last auction is due to take place on Dec. 12 — the final day of COP28. "Instead of doing the necessary work to fight climate change, Biden continues to support the expansion of fossil fuels here in the U.S.," Nicole Ghio, senior fossil fuels program manager for Friends of the Earth, said in a statement to media.Ghio said the Wyoming sales marked the latest in a series of disappointments from President Biden's administration, per the Washington Examiner. Biden has made tackling climate change a key part of his administration's national security strategy and he pledged to move away from fossil fuels. But Axios' Ben Geman notes he's faced a delicate balancing act on drilling.Biden signed into law last year key legislation that included measures to combat climate change under the Inflation Reduction Act. But it tethers the White House priority of offshore wind development to oil and gas offerings following demands from Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), whose vote was key in the bill's success.Environmental groups have filed a lawsuit challenging the Biden administration's approval of theConocoPhillips' Willow oil project in Alaska. Meanwhile, oil industry and Republican officials have criticized Biden for holding back future production. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said that in its decision on Willow, the administration was "following the science and the law when it comes to everything we do, and that includes gas and oil" lease considerations.

Bureau of Land Management Seeks Public Comment for Oil, Gas Lease Sales The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is seeking public comment for several oil and gas lease sales in the United States, the organization’s site shows. In a statement posted on its site on November 27, the BLM noted that its Nevada state office opened a 30-day public scoping period to receive public input on two oil and gas parcels totaling 2,320 acres. The parcels may be included in a June 2024 lease sale in Nevada, the BLM outlined in the statement. The comment period ends December 27, the organization highlighted. In a separate statement posted on its site on November 20, the BLM revealed that its New Mexico state office opened a 30-day public comment period to receive public input on 26 oil and gas parcels totaling 6,162 acres “that may be included in an upcoming lease sale in New Mexico and Kansas”. The comment period for these parcels ends on December 20, the BLM pointed out in the statement. In a statement posted on its site on November 16, the BLM noted that its Montana-Dakotas state office opened a 30-day public comment period to receive public input on 31 oil and gas parcels totaling 6,510 acres. These parcels may be included in an upcoming lease sale in North Dakota, according to the BLM statement, which revealed that the comment period for these parcels ends on December 18. On November 6, the BLM stated on its site that its New Mexico state office opened a 30-day public scoping period to receive public input on four oil and gas parcels totaling 6,972 acres that may be included in an August 2024 lease sale in Texas. The comment period for these parcels ends on December 6, the BLM highlighted in this statement. The BLM outlined on its site that it will apply a 16.67 percent royalty rate for any new leases from the sales, “as authorized under the Inflation Reduction Act”. Leasing is the first step in the process to develop federal oil and gas resources, the BLM highlighted on its site, adding that, before development operations can begin, an operator must submit an application for permit to drill detailing development plans. “The BLM reviews applications for permits to drill, posts them for public review, conducts an environmental analysis and coordinates with state partners and stakeholders,” the BLM notes on its site. “All parcels leased as part of an oil and gas lease sale include appropriate stipulations to protect important natural resources,” it adds.

California Refinery Caused Toxic Dust Incidents, Residents Say -- Bloomberg law.com – A proposed class of California residents are seeking compensation for exposure to toxic dust allegedly stemming from multiple incidents at an oil refinery in the San Francisco Bay Area. PBF Energy Inc. and its subsidiaries mismanaged the facility in Martinez, causing flaring and hazardous substances to cover surrounding areas on several occasions between November 2022 and July 2023, residents told the US District Court for the Northern District of California on Tuesday. Those substances included dust—created by gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel refined at the facility—that contained aluminum and other hazardous metals. Petroleum coke dust, a known carcinogen, was also ...

Oregon, Washington challenging federal approval of GTN Xpress gas pipeline (KOIN) – Oregon, Washington, and California filed a petition on Wednesday urging a federal commission to reconsider their approval of a methane gas pipeline expansion in the Pacific Northwest.The challenge to the pipeline expansion comes after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved TC Energy’s plans for the pipeline in late October. The company says the expansion is necessary to meet growing demand.The pipeline runs more than 1,300 miles through Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. The GTN Xpress project would expand capacity of the Gas Transmission Northwest pipeline by about 150 million cubic feet of natural gas per day.During a press conference on Wednesday, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced Washington and the non-profit Columbia Riverkeeper were filing a motion for a re-hearing of FERC’s decision. Inslee said Oregon and California were joining the petition, asking FERC to reconsider its decision.Inslee argues that the project would violate Washington’s environmental laws and would hurt consumers.The governor added that FERC’s “ill-considered” decision is “damaging to the future aspirations to the state of Washington,” and the state’s decarbonization goals.“The FERC decision somehow ignored the fact that Washington state is reducing its reliance on methane gas. We have multiple laws that require us to reduce the use of that methane gas, and in fact, we are reducing our usage,” Inslee said. “It is incredible to us that a federal agency would allow a project to move forward which is diametrically opposed to the policies and the laws in the state of Washington.”Inslee says FERC ignored the will of the people in the state of Washington by approving the expansion and overlooking the state’s laws.

Oil-rich Canada province challenges clean energy bill - The conservative premier of energy-rich Alberta province challenged the Canada government Monday over its plans to make the national electricity grid carbon-neutral by 2035. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith argues that this idea will jeopardize the power grid in her western province, which is highly dependent on natural gas, and would trigger sharp rises in utility rates for consumers. To oppose the clean energy bill, Smith resorted to a sovereignty law passed a year ago that lets her province disregard federal laws it deems harmful. Alberta is Canada's largest producer of oil and natural gas. "We're creating an opportunity for the federal government to do the right thing," Smith said. "I'm hoping that they now understand that we're serious, that we are going to preserve the integrity of our power grid in whatever way we need to, so that we can get back to the table and talk about the ways in which we can agree," she added. She said her government is considering creating a public electrical utility to dodge federal energy requirements. "It's simply too massive a risk for Albertans," she said, referring to what the consequences of the federal clean energy plan would be for her province. Canadian Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault responded by saying Smith's announcement lacked any legal basis and is fueled by what he called an ideology that resists the fight against climate change. The government's plans to overhaul the electricity grid are expected to become law in January 2025.

Alberta stands against “unconstitutional” regulations pushing Trudeau’s net zero agenda – Alberta Premier Danielle Smith invoked a measure to defy federal regulations that aim for a net zero electrical grid by 2035, setting up a confrontation between the Canadian province and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith The resolution proposed under the Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act orders provincial government agencies to not enforce or aid in enforcing Canada’s clean electricity regulations, arguing that power generation is the jurisdiction of the provinces under the constitution, not the federal government’s. The move is likely to set up a major court battle and standoff between Trudeau and Smith, a conservative premier who has vowed to thwart federal regulations that would undermine the province’s energy sector. Smith’s government said in a statement that Alberta, which relies on natural gas for the bulk of its power generation, is able to achieve a net-zero power grid by 2050 but the 2035 target would be “unaffordable, unreliable and unconstitutional” and puts people at risk of “freezing in the dark” when temperatures drop as low as minus-23F. The federal rules are flexible enough to be “realistic and accommodate Alberta’s needs,” Steven Guilbeault, Trudeau’s environment minister, said in a statement. “We have been collaborating in good faith on clean electricity investments and regulations as part of our Canada-Alberta working group, which we created at the request of Alberta with the express intent to work through these issues collaboratively. The government of Alberta has never brought up a constitutional veto at the negotiating table.” Smith has railed against the federal clean power rules for months, even launching a multimillion-dollar ad campaign against the measures. But Wednesday’s move marks the first time she has invoked her signature sovereignty law, which her government argues allows her province to override federal laws or regulations, but which has yet to be tested in court. The step comes a month after the Supreme Court of Canada largely struck down a separate federal law on the review major resource and infrastructure projects, legislation that was opposed by Canada’s oil industry. The province doesn’t have time to wait years for the courts to rule on the constitutionality of the clean electricity regulations and must act now, Smith said at a news conference on Monday. The federal clean electricity regulations are discouraging private investors from submitting applications for needed natural gas power plants in Alberta, Smith’s government said in its release. While the resolution to defy the feds wouldn’t apply to private individuals or corporations, the legislation instructs the province to study the feasibility of setting up a provincially owned corporation that could bring on and maintain “more reliable and affordable electricity” at a later date, regardless of federal net-zero government’s rules.

Dow plans Canada net-zero ethylene, PE units - Dow said today it has made a final investment decision to build the world's first net-zero CO2 emissions integrated ethylene cracker and derivatives complex in Alberta, Canada.The $6.5bn project includes construction of a new ethylene cracker at the existing Fort Saskatchewan site and increasing polyethylene (PE) capacity at the site by 2mn metric tonnes (t)/yr, as well as retrofitting the site's existing cracker to net-zero CO2 emissions.The project will use Linde's air separation autothermal reformer technology to convert the site's cracker off-gas to hydrogen, which will be used as a clean fuel to supply the site's furnaces. CO2 emissions will also be captured and stored, reducing existing emissions by approximately 1mn t/yr of CO2, while abating emissions from the addition of the site's new capacity.The project will proceed in two phases, with construction starting in 2024. The first phase, including 1.285mn t/yr of ethylene and PE capacity, would start up in 2027. The second phase, to start in 2029, would add approximately 600,000 t/yr of capacity.The investment is expected to deliver $1bn of EBITDA growth per year at full run rates, while decarbonizing Dow's global ethylene capacity, the company said.Dow selected the Fort Saskatchewan site due to Western Canada's cost-competitive natural gas relative to other regions, as well as cost-advantaged ethane. Dow said it expects the site to be one of the company's most cost-competitive in the world. The region also has access to existing CO2 transportation and storage infrastructure. The governments of Canada, Alberta and Fort Saskatchewan made subsidies and incentives to support the project.Linde has been selected as the industrial gas partner for the supply of clean hydrogen and nitrogen for the site, and Fluor was selected for front-end engineering and design. Wolf Midstream will provide CO2 transportation and Ravago will provide third-party logistics for finished products from the site.Dow currently has approximately 1.3mn t/yr of ethylene capacity at its Fort Saskatchewan site, and approximately 1.3mn t/yr of PE capacity split between two sites in Alberta.

Dow Makes FID on $6.5B Net Zero Emission Cracker in Alberta - Global materials science firm Dow Inc has declared a final investment decision on its $6.5 billion Fort Saskatchewan Path2Zero project, which aims to build the world's first net-zero scope 1 and 2 emissions integrated ethylene cracker and derivatives facility in Alberta, Canada. The project includes building a new ethylene cracker and increasing polyethylene capacity by 2 million metric tons per annum (mtpa) as well as retrofitting the site's existing cracker to net-zero scope 1 and 2 emissions, Dow said in a news release Tuesday. Dow expects its investment to deliver $1 billion of EBITDA growth per year at full run rates over the economic cycle while decarbonizing 20 percent of Dow's global ethylene capacity. Dow said it can begin construction in 2024 and add capacity in phases, with the first phase starting up in 2027, adding approximately 1.285 million mtpa of ethylene and polyethylene capacity, and the second phase starting up in 2029, adding an additional approximately 600,000 mtpa of capacity. To achieve net-zero scope 1 and 2 emissions, the Fort Saskatchewan Path2Zero project will deploy Linde's air separation and autothermal reformer technology to convert the site's cracker off-gas to hydrogen, which will be used as a clean fuel to supply the site's furnaces, according to the release. Further, carbon dioxide emissions will be captured and stored, reducing existing emissions by approximately 1 million mtpa of carbon dioxide equivalent while abating emissions from the addition of the site's new capacity. Dow selected the Fort Saskatchewan site for the project as Western Canada offers highly cost-competitive natural gas relative to other regions, as well as cost-advantaged ethane, a key feedstock for ethylene production. At full run-rates, the company expects the site to be one of its most cost-competitive in the world. The region also features access to existing carbon dioxide transportation and storage infrastructure with available capacity to fully support the decarbonization of the project, according to the release. Dow said it utilized the subsidies and incentives available from the governments of Canada, Alberta, and Fort Saskatchewan, noting that Path2Zero will be the first project to access Canada’s investment tax credit program. The project leverages approximately $2 billion of investment from third-party companies for circular hydrogen, carbon capture, and other infrastructure assets. Dow tapped Linde as its industrial gas partner for the supply of clean hydrogen and nitrogen for the site, while Fluor was selected for front-end engineering and design. In addition, Dow is partnering with Wolf Midstream, which will provide carbon dioxide transportation along the Alberta trunk line, and with Ravago, which will provide third-party logistics for finished products from the site.

Suncor Energy restarts oil production from Terra Nova FPSO offshore Newfoundland and Labrador – Suncor Energy announced that the Terra Nova Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel has safely restarted following the completion of the Terra Nova Asset Life Extension project. Production is expected to ramp up over the coming months. "Focusing on safety and operational integrity, we have brought this key offshore project online, providing additional cash flow for our shareholders as well as many benefits to the Newfoundland and Labrador and Canadian economies," said Rich Kruger, Suncor President and Chief Executive Officer. "We appreciate the collaboration and support from the provincial and federal governments regarding this project."Terra Nova is an oil field located offshore Newfoundland and Labrador approximately 350 km southeast of St. John's. The Terra Nova Partners are Suncor - 48%, Cenovus - 34%, and Murphy Oil Corporation - 18%.Suncor Energy is Canada's leading integrated energy company. Suncor's operations include oil sands development, production and upgrading, as well as offshore oil and gas activities.

Energy Contractors Forecasting Growth for Canadian Oil and Natural Gas Drilling in 2024 - The Canadian oil and natural gas well count – chiefly in Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan – will rise to 6,229 in 2024 from 5,748 this year, according to an annual fall forecast by the Canadian Association of Energy Contractors (CAOEC).“A continuation of capital discipline within energy producers will create a ceiling on potential growth,” CAOEC analysts said. But they added that improved service would encourage increased production.“This [ceiling] may be countered by the increase in new pipeline capacity with projects such as the Key Access Pipeline System, Trans Mountain and Coastal GasLink pipelines, as well as the recent expansion of Nova Gas Transmission Ltd.,” the CAOEC said.

Mexico Pacific Takes Another Step Toward Realizing LNG Export Ambitions - Mexico Pacific Ltd. LLC has announced a new advance on its 2.8 Bcf/d Sierra Madre natural gas pipeline. MPLMexico Pacific has hired a joint venture (JV) of Mexican construction company GDI Sicim Pipelines SA and oil and gas services firm Bonatti SpA to execute the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the project. Sierra Madre would supply Permian Basin gas from the U.S. border and traverse the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora to Mexico Pacific’s proposed Saguaro Energía LNG export terminal in Puerto Libertad on the Sonoran coast. The pipeline would extend 500 miles and could boast capacity of up to 2.8 Bcf/d. The liquefied natural gas project’s first three trains, if sanctioned, would have a combined capacity of 14.1 million metric tons/year...

Mexico Pacific awards Saguaro LNG pipeline contract - Mexico Pacific, the developer of the planned $14 billion Saguaro Energia LNG export project, has awarded the engineering, procurement, and construction contract for the pipeline which will deliver natural gas to the proposed facility. According to a statement by Mexico Pacific, GDI Sicim Pipelines and Bonatti will build the Sierra Madre pipeline project. Under the lump-sum-turnkey EPC contracts, the joint venture will engineer, procure, and construct the Sierra Madre pipeline with Bonatti’s scope extending to the required compressor stations, Mexico Pacific said. It did not reveal the price tag of the contract. The 500-mile (850km) pipeline will be utilized as the primary natural gas supply path for the transportation of up to 2.8 Bcf/d natural gas from the US border to the first phase of Mexico Pacific’s 15 mtpa Saguaro Energia LNG export facility located in Puerto Libertad, Sonora, Mexico. “Execution of our pipeline EPC contracts represents yet another important inflection point for our project as we prepare to move into construction,” Ivan Van der Walt, CEO of Mexico Pacific, said in the statement. He did not provide any information regarding the final investment decision on the project

Panama Canal Offers More Transit Auctions as U.S. LNG Traffic Continues to Fall - The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) is offering more opportunities for shippers to outbid each other for a dwindling number of transit slots on the drought-impacted waterway, but most U.S. LNG traders appear to be avoiding the route altogether. After announcing late last month that the number of available passages through the canal would be reduced even further for the rest of the year, ACP has launched a series of special auctions for additional transit slots. ACP hosted its first sale Saturday, offering ships that have queued off the coast of Panama for at least 10 days but haven’t been able to schedule their crossing a chance to bid on a slot. Initial bids for the auction started at $55,000.

Oil executives flock to Venezuela despite sanctions relief uncertainty – Oil executives are flocking to Venezuela to take advantage of lighter U.S. sanctions, even though there’s a risk that access to the world’s largest oil reserves might snap shut as quickly as it opened. Companies including Shell Plc., Repsol SA, Hungary’s Mol Nyrt, Sweden’s Maha Energy AB, the National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago and Bolivia’s state gas company YPFB have sent delegations to Caracas since the U.S. lifted curbs on Venezuela’s oil sector last month, according to four people with knowledge of the situation. The companies are generally trying either to secure access to oil and gas fields, rewrite contracts or recover old debts, the people said. They are effectively betting that the government of U.S. President Joe Biden won’t follow through on its threat to reimpose sanctions against companies that operate in Venezuela, which would stop the party just as it’s getting started. Washington gave the government of President Nicolás Maduro until the end of November to make significant advances toward holding fair elections, including defining a process for disqualified candidates to participate in next year’s vote. Maduro has yet to do this, bringing a risk of “snapback sanctions” that would reimpose tight curbs on Venezuela’s oil sector, making it nearly impossible for foreign drillers to operate there. “If they don’t take the agreed steps, we will remove the licenses we’ve awarded,” U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian Nichols said this month. However, the U.S. may be reluctant to reimpose controls. A revival of Venezuela’s oil sector helps offset the impact on oil markets of sanctions imposed on Russia last year, while a stronger Venezuelan economy also helps curb the flow of migrants to the U.S. The scope of the Biden administration’s decision to ease controls for six months, allowing oil companies to operate relatively freely in Venezuela, took many in the industry by surprise, setting off a rush to Caracas by would-be deal makers. Venezuela has more than 40 oil partnerships with foreign and local companies, some of which suspended activity due to the difficult business climate. The government now seeks to replace these with companies willing to make new investments and produce. The government is targeting production of 1 MMbpd, from about 750,000-800,000 bpd currently. The nation has about 300 Bbbl of reserves, a greater number than Saudi Arabia. The country could reach that target by end of next year if the U.S. extends its license for another six months after it expires in March, according to Asdrúbal Oliveros, head of Caracas-based consultancy Ecoanalitica. “The question is if this opening will last,” Oliveros said in a webcast this month. Shell declined to comment. Repsol, Mol Nyrt, Maha Energy, the National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago and Bolivia’s state gas company YPFB didn’t reply to written requests for comment. Venezuela’s information ministry, oil ministry and PDVSA didn’t reply emails seeking comment.

Europe Continuing to Rely Heavily on Natural Gas Despite Growing Calls -- The European Parliament called for a “tangible phase-out of fossil fuels as soon as possible,” ahead of the United Nations climate summit that gets underway in Dubai on Thursday. However, slow economic growth and rising inflation has left European governments delaying the transition from fossil fuels to renewables. European Union (EU) member states are free to determine their energy mix, and there can be a transitional role for gas as the EU pursues other energy sources, according to the European Commission (EC). Most of Europe continues to count on LNG and natural gas pipeline imports to meet its energy demand. “Even in a net-zero scenario, certain volumes of gas will still be needed in 2050, although we clearly expect its role in the EU energy mix to decline..

EU Opens Fourth Round of Matchmaking for Gas Deals ----The European Commission has opened a new window for companies in the region to register gas purchase volumes to be potentially supplied by international vendors. This is the fourth round of the AggregateEU service, under which the 27-member bloc can pool demand, negotiate with international suppliers and coordinate collective purchases. The last round matched 11.86 billion cubic meters (418.83 billion cubic feet) of pooled demand with offers from suppliers. For the fourth round buyers have until this Tuesday to submit their demand, which will be put out for bidding by suppliers on December 4 and 5. Delivery is scheduled between January 2024 and March 2025. “As we begin the heating season for most of Europe, the EU Energy Platform continues to contribute to our efforts to keep everybody warm this winter and keep energy at affordable prices, for citizens and European industry”, EU Executive Vice-President for the European Green Deal Maros Sefcovic said in a press release. AggregateEU, created under Council Regulation 2022/2576 of December 19, 2022, is part of the broader EU Energy Platform for coordinated purchases of gas, liquefied natural gas and hydrogen. The Energy Platform was formed last year as part of the REPowerEU strategy for achieving energy independence from Russia. “The EU Energy Platform is a success story in terms of our collective response to last year’s energy crisis, and it continues to serve us today”, Sefcovic added.

Ample Supplies Outweigh Cold Snap in Europe to Drag Down Natural Gas Price -- A shot of cold weather that settled in over the weekend across parts of Europe did little to lift natural gas prices in the region, where concerns about the winter heating season have continued to ease amid a surplus of supplies. The December Title Transfer Facility (TTF) contract fell 6% from its close on Friday to finish near $14/MMBtu ahead of its expiration this week. Winter TTF contracts remain in contango, but their premium to the prompt month has narrowed. Maxar’s Weather Desk forecast temperatures well below normal in Scandinavia, the northern UK and Germany over the next six- to 10-day period. However, the cold has done little so far to cut into record storage inventories for this time of year, which stood at 97.7% of capacity on Monday

Finland-Estonia gas pipeline to get capacity boost - LNG Prime --Finland’s gas system and LNG terminal operator, Gasgrid, and Estonian gas system operator, Elering, have revealed plans to boost the capacity of the Balticconnector gas pipeline once repairs on the offshore section of the pipeline are complete.The TSOs shut down the gas pipeline on October 8 due to a suspected leak and after that said that the earliest possible commissioning date of the Balticconnector would be at the beginning of April 2024.Moreover, the National Bureau of Investigation, a unit of the Finnish Police, said in a statement on October 24 that a Hong Kong-flagged containership is believed to have caused the damage with its anchor.The 77 kilometers bi-directional pipeline with a capacity of 2.6 bcm stretches from Paldiski, Estonia, to Inkoo, Finland where Gasgrid’s FSRU-based LNG import terminal is located.Besides the offshore section, the pipeline includes land-based sections in Finland and Estonia. Historically Balticconnector northbound capacity has ranged between 55-60 GWh/day in winter and 65 GWh/day in summer, according to Gasgrid.In the direction from Finland to Estonia, a capacity of 78 GWh/day has been offered, approaching the maximum transportation capacity considering the pipeline’s diameter and design pressure, it said.Gasgrid said enhancement of Latvia-Lithuania interconnection allows for higher gas volumes to be transported across the region.

The West Is Inching Closer to More Insanity in the Baltic Sea -In the Baltic Sea – home of the twisted wreckage of the Nord Stream pipelines – another pipeline was recently damaged along with telecommunications cables. Western officials are making escalatory statements and are again floating the idea of closing the “NATO lake” to Russian ships, which would likely be viewed by Moscow as an act of war. Onshore, Finland is rapidly militarizing its border with Russia. And a notable Chinese cargo ship is now at the center of the firestorm. Over the weekend of October 8th there was an unusual drop in pressure in the Finnish-Estonian Balticconnector gas pipeline. By the morning of October 10th, an investigation had found that the pipeline had ruptured. Telecom cables linking Finland, Estonia and Sweden had also been damaged, as had a Russian telecom cable in the Gulf of Finland.By October 20th, Finland and Estonia were pointing the finger at the Newnew Polar Bear – a Chinese vessel. The Finnish National Bureau of Investigation produced a large anchor found near the damaged pipeline, which it believes belonged to the 169-meter-long ship and likely broke off as it was dragged across the sea floor. Investigators have not explained a theory for how exactly the anchor damaged telecom cables on opposite sides of the pipeline and broke off at the Balticconector. I haven’t been able to track down an exact distance between the Balticconnector and the telecom cables, but Finnish telecom operator Elisa told Reuters that the distance between the two was “significant.”Nonetheless, speculation is that damaging the pipeline and cables would have been hard to do without knowing. According to Insurance Marine News:It seemed unlikely-to-impossible that the crew could have been unaware of this incident, as the event would have slowed the ship dramatically and involuntarily. If the anchor had fallen accidentally and it had hit the gas line, it could have caused severe damage to the pipe. If the anchor had been stuck to the seabed, it would not have passed unnoticed because the speed would have slowed and the ship would have tilted.The Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat wrote on Oct. 23rd that the Newnew Polar Bear stopped in bad weather 1.4 nautical miles from the gas pipeline for about eight minutes before continuing on.Images of the Newnew missing an anchor were soon circulating:Newnew Shipping Co. has been silent on the matter. Meanwhile, Finland and Estonia have formally submitted a legal notice to China for cooperation as part of their ongoing investigation. Beijing has promised its full cooperation, although it’s possible China might not be too eager to assist Estonia, which is allowing Taiwan to set up a government office in Tallinn. The Estonian FM recently doubled down on that decision, declaring that the country’s goal is to cooperate “with like-minded partners, mainly our transatlantic allies.” Accusations have already been flying of a plot by the Russians and Chinese since the Newnew sails under the Hong Kong flag and had a Northern Sea Route sailing permission issued by the General Administration of the Northern Sea Route addressed to Torgmoll, a Russian-registered company with offices in Moscow and Shanghai. While this has been treated by some as some sort of smoking gun, it’s simply because of a joint project of two Chinese companies – the international shipping line Hainan Yangpu Newnew Shipping Co and cargo agent Torgmoll. Russia’s state-owned Rosatom also provides information and navigation support for the newly established container transportation service via the Northern Sea Route between China and Russia.

Europe Is Getting Record Amounts of Russian Gas Through TurkStream. So Who Keeps Trying to Blow It Up? -The TurkStream pipeline, which brings natural gas from Russia to Türkiye across the Black Sea and then into southeastern Europe, was controversial in certain quarters of the West ever since it was conceived.Now the flow of natural gas to Europe from Russia via Türkiye is reaching all-time highs. TurkStream has a capacity of 31.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year, roughly half of which stays in Türkiye, and the rest continues on to the Balkans and Central Europe. Serbia and Hungary are the primary European consumers. According to S&P Global, supplies via TurkStream into Southeast Europe rose strongly in July, reaching a record monthly high.As the gas flowing through the pipeline increases so do the attempted attacks. The Russian Defense Ministry said that three unmanned Ukrainian speedboats carried out an unsuccessful attack against the Russian warship guarding a portion of the pipeline in May. When that failed, Ukraine apparently doubled down and tried again with six high-speed drone boats in June. That attack was also thwarted by Russian forces.Ukraine Energy Minister German Galushchenko declared in a recent interview with POLITICO that Ukraine fully aims to attack Russia’s oil and gas infrastructure. The statements, while trying to show confidence, instead showed the increasing desperation of Ukraine and its Western backers in the face of the Russian victory on the battlefield, as well as on the economic front.Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy infrastructure are nothing new. But Galushchenko’s comments are a pretty clear indicator that these types of attacks will be among Ukraine’s last gasp tactics. From the POLITICO piece:When asked if Zelenskyy’s “response” could include Ukraine targeting Russia’s vast oil and gas operations — by far the biggest driver of its economy — Galushchenko replied, “It would only be fair.”“When answering [Russia’s attack], we would answer by taking the same approach, attacking their energy infrastructure,” Galushchenko said.Galushchenko stressed he was not a member of the Ukraine military and did not discuss the possible targeting of Russian energy operations with U.S. government officials. He is a member of the Ukraine national security and defense council.What of those US government officials? What do they think of this strategy? Do they condone the hitting of not just Russian infrastructure but also that of NATO member Türkiye in the case of TurkStream? Moscow claimed that at the time of the unsuccessful Ukrainian attack in June, a US RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned surveillance aircraft was in that area of the Black Sea. Putin said at the October Valdai International Discussion Club meeting:We continue to supply gas to Europe through the TurkStream pipelines, and judging by everything, Ukrainian terrorist groups are plotting to do damage there as well. Our ships are guarding the pipelines that run along the bottom of the Black Sea, but they are constantly being attacked by unmanned vehicles, with English-speaking specialists and advisers clearly involved, among others, in planning those attacks. We have intercepted them on the radio: we always hear English speech wherever those unmanned semi-submersible boats are being prepared. This is an obvious fact for us – but draw your own conclusions. Russia also claimed in September and October of 2022 that it foiled attacks on Turkstream, but such these are routinely dismissed in the West. The Moscow Times, a western news outlet based in Amsterdam, believes Moscow is making such claims in order to lay the groundwork to blame Ukraine after Russia destroys its own pipelines – again.

Uniper to pay about $600 million to European firm over LNG contract pricing - German utility Uniper has to pay 550 million euros ($602 million) to a European energy firm following a ruling by an arbitration court over a long-term liquefied natural gas (LNG) contract concluded prior to the company’s spin-off in 2016. State-owned Uniper announced this in a statement on Sunday but it did not reveal the name of the company or any other details regarding the contract. Uniper has been notified on November 24 of an award against a subsidiary in arbitration proceedings under the rules of the International Chamber of Commerce which began in early 2021. “The proceedings between the Uniper subsidiary and a European energy company relate, inter alia, to the pricing provisions of a long-term agreement for the supply of liquified natural gas (LNG), concluded prior to the spin-off of Uniper in 2016 and which has since expired,” the firm said. “A payment to the opposing party of an estimated EUR 550 million related to the retroactive re-pricing of the long-term agreement would be due under the terms of the award,” Uniper said. The firm said that additional payment would have a full impact on the company’s annual results. Uniper added it was analyzing the reasoning of the decision and “reviewing all possible avenues of legal recourse against the award.”

Shell finds gas at Mina West offshore Egypt - Shell Egypt has proven gas with the first well of a three-well exploration campaign in the Egyptian sector of the Mediterranean Sea. The Stena Forth drilled the Mina West discovery on the North East El-Amriya Block in a water depth of about 250 m. According to Shell, main data have confirmed the presence of a gas-bearing reservoir. However, further analysis will follow to determine the size and recoverable potential. Khaled Kacem, vice president and country chair of Shell Egypt, said, “Shell, together with its partners, will continue to work towards safely and efficiently reaching the development phase of the block.” In September the company signed a farm-out agreement with Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Co. (KUFPEC) giving the latter a 40% stake in the block, with Shell holding the remaining 60% under a partnership with the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Co.

Jordan Explores Alternatives to Israeli Gas Amid Supply Concerns - Jordan is exploring alternatives to natural gas supplies from Israel amid concerns of a possible interruption, state-run Al Mamlaka TV cited Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh saying on Sunday. Jordan has spoken with two countries in the Arabian Gulf that expressed readiness in meeting the country’s gas demands if needed, Khasawneh said. While the gas deal between US company Noble and the National Electric Power Company under which Jordan gets Israeli gas is “not on the table for cancellation,” there are concerns over a potential disruption of gas coming from the Leviathan field in the Mediterranean Sea, Khasawneh said. “We have not seen any signs that this will happen,” he said. “But Jordan is planning for various scenarios and possibilities amid ongoing aggression and war on the Gaza Strip.” Jordan has explored a number of alternatives that have higher financial costs. One such alternative would cost 45 million dinars ($63 million) a month if Jordan switches to importing LNG and another will cost 115 million dinars per month if the country switches to diesel, Khasawneh said.

Russian oil imports to EU via Bulgaria surge – The amount of Russian oil imported into the EU through the Lukoil refinery in Bulgaria has increased significantly in the past few months, Martin Vladimirov, the leading energy analyst of the Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD), told Euractiv Bulgaria in an exclusive interview. “This means additional profit in the amount of hundreds of millions for the Russian company for the last quarter of the year,” Vladimirov noted. The Bulgarian think-tank actively monitors the import of Russian crude oil via Bulgaria to the EU, and last month, together with two other European organisations, raised the alarm about the transhipment of fuels from Russian crude oil to Bulgaria for export to Western Europe. Lukoil responded that it was not violating sanctions because it was exporting low-octane petrol to the EU, which is not covered by EU sanctions against Russia. At the same time, the Russian company threatened to shut down the Bulgarian refinery if the ban on Russian crude oil imports was imposed too quickly. Bulgaria plans to end its derogation from the EU embargo on 1 March 2024. The dispute over Lukoil’s Bulgarian refinery can potentially cause problems in the regional fuel market, as it is the largest in the region and the only jet fuel producer in the Balkans. According to CSD’s analysis, Lukoil has no economic reason to undermine its dominant position in Bulgaria’s fuel market, even with the withdrawal of the exemption for importing Russian crude. Vladimirov commented that the political power in the Kremlin also has no reason to create problems. However, he warned that Bulgaria could be used to “launder” Russian oil, which would still enter the EU but under a different label. “It would be much easier for Lukoil to try to launder Russian oil through Kazakh and Azeri oil in Bulgaria. I would not be surprised if, on 1 March 2024 (when Russian oil imports are scheduled to be banned), the blend processed by the refinery would contain 100% Kazakh oil. In this way, the money for the Kremlin’s budget will flow smoothly. Every month the exemption is extended is a huge windfall for Russia,” Vladimirov added.

Caspian Pipeline Consortium: oil exports up to 57.5 mln T so far this year Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) said on Tuesday that it has exported almost 57.5 million metric tons of oil so far this year as of Nov. 24 via its Black Sea terminal, up from 51 million tons in the same period in 2022. CPC is a main export route for crude oil produced in Kazakhstan, and CPC Blend is the grade exported from the marine terminal to international markets.

Four Australian LNG Import Projects Progress as Regional Natural Gas Shortages Loom - Australia’s domestic natural gas shortages on the largely populated east coast are helping fuel demand for four LNG import projects, placing one of the world’s largest gas exporters on track to become an importer by 2026.As fields that have typically fed domestic markets continue to decline, the supply outlook for Australia’s east coast declined. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission reported last fall that the country’s risk of gas shortfalls would increase after 2026.Specifically, Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia and Tasmania are likely to be facing frequent gas shortages by 2027, according to the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO). The AEMO has backed plans for LNG imports, citing a reduction in the need for demand curtailments over the winter...

Spill risk concerns from Otway Basin gas wells - Potential spills from gas wells planned of the coast are alarming environment groups. Fossil fuel giant ConoccoPhillips has released modelling on where contaminants may leak should something go wrong with its six test wells at two undisclosed sites off the coast. Varying scenarios show spills spreading to Jervis Bay in NSW, Macquarie Harbour in Tasmania and throughout the Great Australia Bight. The forecasts are contained in the company’s environment plan (EP) that’s now with the federal regulator, the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA). A consistent critique of such projects are the relatively short periods people have to respond to what are large, technical submissions, for projects critics say appear ultimately destined for approval regardless of the feedback they give. “We’ve got 30 days…as the general public to make a comment on this 810 page document,” Lousie Marr from the Australian Marine Conservation Society said. ConoccoPhillips and project partners 3D Oil appear so sure of being given the green light for their six gas test wells a drill rig was booked in July. “Activity is scheduled to commence no earlier than 1st of April 2024,” the company’s EP states. “The exact timing dependent on the receipt of environmental approvals and the availability of a mobile offshore drilling unit (‘MODU’).” Ms Marr says the EP highlights numerous areas of concerns, such as the amount of time it would take to try and contain a potential spill. “They’ve said it’s going to take at least 90 days for them to be able to stop the flow…getting another rig from somewhere near the equator down to pump a release well…or cap it in cement,” she said. The group has setup an information page about the proposal, that includes an animation of how far the spill could spread and what mammals would likely be impacted.

Protesters take stand against fracking in outback | The Singleton Argus | Singleton, NSW -- Protesters demanded protection of the Channel Country at a rally in Brisbane. Protesters have rallied outside Queensland parliament calling on the state government to protect the outback's Channel Country rivers from oil and gas exploration.Protesters have rallied outside Queensland parliament calling on the state government to protect the outback's Channel Country rivers from oil and gas exploration. The joint rally demanded an end of Channel Country fracking and a commitment to protect the remote region by year's end. About 100 protesters including Queensland Greens MPs, pastoralists, agriculturalists and First Nations people gathered, brandishing banners on Wednesday. More than 20,000 submissions supporting full protection of the Channel Country were handed to the government as part of an open consultation period that ended in late August. The Channel Country area spans Queensland's far west as well as parts of the Northern Territory, South Australia and NSW. A regulatory impact statement prepared by the Environment and Science Department has been released, saying the area's Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre Basin has global ecological importance and First Nations cultural significance. Environmentalist group Lock the Gate's Ellie Smith said the Channel Country rivers brought life to the desert region and played a vital part supporting farmers and wildlife. She said the majority of submissions in public consultation was for no more oil and gas exploration in the area. "What we want for Christmas is for the Palaszczuk government to announce they will put in the highest protections for rivers," Ms Smith told AAP. Greens MP Michael Berkman addressed the crowd and questioned how the government could let its commitments sit idle for so long. "For it to take as long as it did to get the regulatory impact statement out is in itself extraordinary," he said. The Wilderness Society's Hannah Schuch said communities did not want to see natural and ecologically significant systems unnecessarily tarnished by exploration and fracking. "We want to see these protections enacted now, we can't wait any longer," she told AAP. " We cannot risk this issue going for another electoral term."

BP exits gas field offshore Senegal following disagreement -- BP has exited the Yakaar-Teranga natural gas field offshore Senegal after a disagreement with the local government, reported Bloomberg. Senegalese Minister of Oil and Energy Antoine Félix Diome said bp wanted to export the gas from the field, but Senegal wanted it for domestic use. “We did not agree with bp on the daily production capacity, on the commercial strategy or on the date of the first gas delivery,” Diome told the parliament. “bp favoured exports, while we want to develop the gas for the domestic market.” Yakaar-Teranga field, which was formerly operated by bp, is important to Senegal’s gas-to-power plan to aid in reducing fuel prices and improving electrification in the West African country. The UK-based oil and gas major exited its stake without receiving any “financial compensation”, Diome noted.

Origin: Australia Pacific LNG deliveries impacted as tanker loses power at jetty - Deliveries from the ConocoPhillips-operated Australia Pacific LNG plant on Curtis Island have been delayed as a loaded LNG tanker docked at the terminal’s jetty had lost power and was unable to leave, according to shareholder Origin. Origin, which is subject to a takeover offer from a consortium consisting of Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management and a unit of US-based energy investor EIG, said in a statement on Tuesday that downstream operator of APLNG, ConocoPhillips, “is working with all parties concerned, including the relevant maritime regulator and port authority, to resolve the situation.” The firm, as upstream operator, has started turning down production to reduce the flow of gas to the LNG facility. In addition, Origin is taking steps to bank its non-operated portfolio production and execute additional domestic gas sales, it said. The company did not reveal the name of the vessel but its AIS data provided by VesselValue shows that the tanker in question is the 2017-built 174,100-cbm, Cesi Qingdao. Origin said only one LNG vessel is able to dock at the LNG facility at a time. As a result, no other cargoes can be loaded until the situation is resolved, it said. According to the firm, two LNG cargoes have already been deferred out of the FY2024 delivery schedule. “It is expected that more LNG cargos will be deferred, with Australia Pacific LNG ordinarily loading a LNG vessel for export approximately every three days,” it said. The total number of cargoes to be deferred will depend on the timeframe for resolution, Origin said. Origin added there is no impact to domestic gas customers and the firm “will provide further updates as appropriate.” ConocoPhillips Australia also confirmed later on Tuesday that an LNG vessel docked at the APLNG LNG facility lost power and was unable to leave the terminal as scheduled. The company said that there have been no injuries to personnel on the vessel or at the LNG Facility from the event. “We have been working with the ship captain and management, local and federal regulators, and the customer to respond to this event,” it said.

CNOOC nears completion of six giant Binhai LNG tanks - China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) is nearing the mechanical completion of six giant LNG storage tanks at its Binhai LNG import terminal in Jiangsu.The state-owned energy giant is building the 270,000 cbm tanks under the Phase I expansion project of its “Yancheng Green Energy Port” and these are the world’s largest LNG storage tanks, such as those five at CNOOC’s Zhuhai LNG import terminal in Guangdong, according to CNOOC.China’s state-controlled energy giant Sinopec recently put in use what it says is the world’s largest LNG storage tank at its Qingdao LNG import terminal in Shandong province and this tank also has a capacity of 275,000 cbm.The six tanks at CNOOC’s LNG terminal located in Yancheng Binhai Port Industrial Park add to the already four existing tanks with a capacity of 220,000 cbm.In September last year, CNOOC completed raising the roofs on all of the six 270,000 cbm LNG storage tanks and recently hydrotested one of he tanks.

India mandates biogas blending in CNG, piped gas -India plans mandatory blending of compressed biogas (CBG) in domestic compressed natural gas (CNG) and piped natural gas (PNG) to cut its reliance on expensive imports of LNG. Blending will initially be voluntary at 1pc for automobiles and households from the April 2024-March 2025 fiscal year and become mandatory from 2025-26, the oil ministry said on 24 November. Natural gas is mostly used in India's gas distribution network through PNG in households and CNG for automobiles. The CBG blending obligation (CBO) will promote production and consumption of CBG in the country, oil and gas minister Hardeep Singh Puri said, adding that it will encourage investment of around 375bn rupees ($4.5bn) and help to establish 750 CBG projects by 2028-29. The CBO is to increase to 3pc during 2026-27 and to 4pc during 2027-28, after which it will rise to 5pc. A central repository body will monitor and implement the blending mandate based on operational guidelines approved by the oil minister. The government last month launched its 12th city gas distribution bidding round offering areas in Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland and Sikkim states to connect to the natural gas pipeline network. "At present about 23,500km-long gas pipeline network is under operation in the country and around 12,000km pipeline is approved/under construction," Puri had said. India had 300 city gas distribution networks under the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board as of August, covering 88pc of the country's geographical area and 98pc of the population. The country has outlined plans to make India a gas-based economy, with the share of natural gas in its primary energy mix targeted to rise to 15pc by 2030 from around 6pc in 2022. The government also aims to have 1pc sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in jet fuel by 2027, which will double to 2pc in 2028, it said on 24 November. This would be done initially for international flights, as part of the country's effort to achieve net zero by 2070. Delhi initially targeted to have 1pc SAF blending in jet fuel by 2025, saying it would need 140mn litres/yr of SAF to achieve this. India additionally plans to increase ethanol blending in gasoline to 20pc by 2025 as part of efforts to reduce dependence on foreign oil. Now the government is also in discussions to promote production of ethanol from maize. This comes as there has been an increase in maize cultivation area and yield per hectare in the past few years.

OQ Trading submits lowest bid in Pakistan LNG tender - Oman’s state-owned firm OQ Trading has submitted the lowest bid in a tender to supply Pakistan with one spot LNG shipment in January. State-owned Pakistan LNG launched this tender on November 20 seeking one 140,000 cbm cargo on a delivered ex-ship (DES) basis with the delivery window scheduled for January 8-9, 2024. Four companies took part in the tender, including Vitol Bahrain, QatarEnergy Trading, and Trafigura, Pakistan LNG’s evaluation report dated November 24 shows. OQ Trading submitted the most competitive bid for the January 8-9 delivery and the firm offered a price of $18.4600/MMBtu, the document shows. Vitol Bahrain offered a price of $18.5800/MMBtu, QatarEnergy Trading offered a price of $19.4300/MMBtu, and Trafigura offered a price of $19.6400/MMBtu. Prior to this tender, Pakistan LNG received offers from traders Trafigura and Vitol for two spot cargoes with deliveries on December 7-8 and December 13-14. Trafigura was the only firm to submit an offer for the delivery on December 13-14 and it offered a price of $19.3900/MMBtu. Vitol offered the lowest price of 15.9700/MMBtu for the December 7-8 delivery. Media reports previously suggested that Pakistan LNG decided only to accept the offer from Vitol for the December 7-8 delivery. Pakistan gets most of its supplies under long-term contracts from Qatar and on the spot market, however, last year prices surged and Europe took most of the available spot supplies. In July this year, Pakistan also signed a one-year deal to buy one LNG cargo per month from Azerbaijan’s Socar. GIIGNL data shows that Pakistan’s LNG imports dropped by 16 percent to 6.91 million tons last year due to high prices. The country imported almost all of these volumes under long-term contracts from Qatar, or some 6.10 million tons, the data shows. Spot prices dropped considerably this year, prompting Pakistan and other Asian countries such as Bangladesh to return to buying spot LNG. JKM for January is currently below $17/MMBtu.

TotalEnergies EGINA Oil Spill Not a Minor One - NOSDRA - By Ndubuisi Micheal Obineme The National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) has said that the oil spill from TotalEnergies Egina Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel isn’t a minor one as the cleanup process is still ongoing. Based on our findings, the EGINA oil spill occurred while crude was being loaded from the Egina FPSO to a vessel on 15th November, 2023. In response of the incident, TotalEnergies E&P Nigeria Limited, Country Communications Manager, Dr. Charles Ebereonwu, confirmed the leak in a terse statement obtained by The Energy Republic, stating that the oil spill was a minor one and had been contained with appropriate remedial measures. In his words, “This is not a massive leak and the sheen has been treated with the appropriate response that resulted in a reduction of most of it. “No shoreline or communities have been impacted,” Mr Ebereonwu said, affirming that crude oil production at the 200,000 barrels per day capacity facility, with a storage capacity of 2.3 million barrels of crude, “was not affected by the incident.” Speaking in a media chat with journalists, the Director-General of the National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), Idris Musa, said that the spill was not a minor one, noting that the agency including TotalEnergies and other industry players are on the ground in tracing and tracking the oil slick and supervising response efforts. However, this revelation contradicts TotalEnergies’ claims of minimal impact, saying: “This is not a massive leak, and the sheen has been treated with the appropriate response that resulted in a reduction of most of it,” thereby underscoring the need for greater transparency regarding information on such issues. Speaking further, Mr Musa said: “NOSDRA deployed personnel led by a director to the site, and we have remained on the spill site as well as granting the requisite approvals to hasten the response.” He explained that the agency deployed high-level personnel and activated the National Oil Spills Contingency Plan to contain the spill, adding that NOSDRA and TotalEnergies are working hard in tackling the pollution to minimize its environmental impact.

Nigeria Lost 3,000 Barrels Of Crude To Offshore Spill – About 3,000 barrels of crude oil were lost to the November 15 oil spill from the offshore Egina Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel of TotalEnergies. The FPSO located 130 kilometres off the Atlantic coastline from Port Harcourt has capacity to produce 200,000 barrels of crude daily and can store 2.3 million barrels on board. Director general of the National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), Mr Idris Musa, told the News Agency of Nigeria on Sunday that the clean-up of the spill was still on-going. He added that NOSDRA and TotalEnergies did not spare any effort in tackling the pollution to minimise its impact on the environment, a development that kept the spilled crude from reaching the coastline. “The spill has not hit the coastline because of the effectiveness of the spills contingency plan we deployed,’’ he said. Musa explained that NOSDRA deployed high-level personnel and activated the National Oil Spills Contingency Plan to contain the spill. “The spill was not a minor one; it was the response strategy put in place that resulted to limited impact and we have been tracing and tracking the oil slick and supervising response efforts. “NOSDRA deployed personnel led by a director to the site and we have remained on the spill site as well as granting the requisite approvals to hasten the response,’’ he said. Musa explained that TotalEnergies took steps that made the response swift and effective, adding that other oil companies assisted in the response. He stressed that spills clean-up required collaborative response of oil industry stakeholders, which, in this case, deployed aircraft, and at least five vessels in the application of 15,000 litres of liquids to clean the waters.

India's petroleum product exports rise 12.6% in October; OPEC import share drops -- India's exports of petroleum products saw a significant increase of 12.6% in October 2023 from the same month a year earlier, despite a slight decline of 0.8% in the April to October period, according toPetroleum Planning & Analysis Cell (PPAC). The increase in exports comes amid a slight dip in the overseas sale of high-speed diesel (HSD) and naphtha. The report indicated a shift in the export pattern, with these commodities experiencing a reduced outflow.Concurrently, India's imports of petroleum products rose by 12.1% in October, led by a spike in the intake of petcoke, bitumen, and fuel oil. LPG and lubricants represented 41.6% of the total petroleum product imports from April to October 2023, marking a significant portion of the country's energy imports. Crude oil imports registered a modest increase of 2.2% in October and 0.6% for the seven months to October, compared with the corresponding periods last year. Notably, crude imports from OPEC countries fell to 47.8% of the total during April-October 2023, down from 63.6% over the same period last year, reflecting a diversification in India's crude supply sources.The total indigenous crude oil production for October was recorded at 2.5 million metric tonnes (MMT), with public sector companies and private players contributing to the output. The total crude oil processed in October stood at 20.6 MMT, a slight rise from the previous year, signifying a consistent demand for refined products.

OPEC accuses International Energy Agency of “vilifying” oil, gas industry – OPEC issued a strongly-worded defense of the oil and gas industry, pushing back against the International Energy Agency and highlighting the increasingly fractious debate over how best to tackle global warming. OPEC said that the IEA has “unjustly vilified” the industry over its role in the climate crisis, according to a Nov. 27 statement that took issue with a recent report from the Paris-based agency. The oil industry is embracing renewables, with major investments being made, and it is investing in technologies to reduce emissions, OPEC said. “The manner in which the IEA has unfortunately used its social media platforms in recent days to criticize and instruct the oil-and-gas industry is undiplomatic,” OPEC Secretary-General Haitham Al-Ghais said. “OPEC itself is not an organization that would prescribe to others what they should do.” COP28 begins on Thursday in Dubai, with the summit’s president, Sultan Al Jaber, also the head of the OPEC producer’s state oil company, making it one of the most controversial climate summits to date. On the same day, OPEC and its partners from outside the grouping, including Russia, are due to convene online in a delayed meeting to agree on production levels for 2024. A framework proposed by the IEA to align company targets with net zero goals “is a tool intended to curtail the sovereign actions and choices of oil-and-gas producing developing countries, through pressurizing their national oil companies,” the group said. It also defended carbon capture technology.

Russian Crude Oil Flows Rebound Ahead of Key OPEC+ Meeting -Despite storms in the Black Sea disrupting loadings, weekly crude oil shipments out of Russia rebounded in the week to November 26, rising by around 370,000 barrels per day (bpd) from the previous week, just before a crucial OPEC+ meeting this week, tanker-tracking data monitored by Bloomberg showed on Tuesday.In the week to November 26, observed shipments of crude oil from Russian ports averaged 3.24 million bpd, up by 370,000 bpd compared to the flows in the week to November 19, according to the data reported by Bloomberg’s Julian Lee. Still, the four-week average crude shipments from Russia were down for a third consecutive week. In the week to November 26, the four-week average crude oil exports from Russian ports was 3.16 million bpd, a decline of around 100,000 bpd compared to the four-week average flows to November 19, per Bloomberg’s calculations.The rebound in Russia’s weekly crude oil shipments comes days before OPEC+ is set to hold its meeting on Thursday, after delaying it by a few days over disagreements about quotas.At the end of last week, reports emerged that the OPEC+ group had made progress in talkswith its African producers over their oil output quotas next year. OPEC’s African members Angola and Nigeria have reportedly asked to have a higher production ceiling next year, after taking a cut in their quotas at the June 2023 meeting of OPEC+ as they had consistently failed to pump to their quotas.“Expectations are that Saudi Arabia will at least roll over its additional voluntary cut of 1MMbbls/d into next year. Clearly, if we do not see this, it would put further downward pressure on the market, given the surplus over 1Q24,” ING strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey wrote in a note this weekend.

Iraq’s oil export revenues exceeded $9.59 billion in October - (IraqiNews.com) – The Iraqi Ministry of Oil confirmed on Monday that oil export revenues through October surpassed $9.59 billion. According to final statistics issued by the State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO), the total exports of crude oil during October were more than 109.54 million barrels, with revenues exceeding $9.59 billion. SOMO data revealed that the total quantities of crude oil exported during October from oil fields in central and southern Iraq were 108,050,360 barrels; the quantities exported to Jordan were 464,728 barrels; and oil exports from the Al-Qayyarah oilfield in Nineveh governorate in northern Iraq were 1,030,501 barrels. The average price per barrel was $87.57, compared to more than $91.35 in September. The average daily quantity exported from Iraq in September exceeded 3.43 million barrels per day. Iraq exported more than 106.12 million barrels in August, with total revenues of $8,997,851. Iraq’s total exports of crude oil in July were more than 106.75 million barrels, with revenues estimated at $8.3 billion. The country’s oil export revenues in June were about $7.11 billion, compared to more than $7.3 billion in May. In April, Iraq’s oil export revenues exceeded $7.69 billion, according to an official statement. The total exports of crude oil during March exceeded 100.9 million barrels, with revenues slightly exceeding $7.5 billion. Crude oil exports during February were a little more than 92.25 million barrels with revenues exceeding $7.62 billion, while in January, Iraq exported more than 101.24 million barrels with $7.66 billion in revenues.

UAE set to ramp up Murban crude exports in early 2024 The United Arab Emirates will ramp up exports of Abu Dhabi’s flagship Murban crude early in 2024 as a new OPEC+ mandate kicks in and barrels are diverted to the international market owing to refinery maintenance, according to traders and Reuters data. That will add to increased output of other light sweet crude grades, including from fellow OPEC members Nigeria and Angola and non-OPEC countries such as the U.S. and Brazil. The factors are weighing on global price benchmarks Brent and West Texas Intermediate LCOc1, CLc1 and putting pressure on the Murban spot price. “The market expects bigger supply of Murban crude next year,” said a Singapore-based trading source, who declined to be identified. ADNOC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The UAE production baseline under OPEC+ agreements is set to rise 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 3.219 million bpd in January. At the same time, maintenance work at Abu Dhabi’s 837,000 bpd Ruwais refinery means less crude demand domestically. OPEC+ is due to hold a ministerial meeting to Nov. 30, when Angola and Nigeria plan to push for higher output. Oil supplies are currently in deficit, but the International Energy Agency expects that to swing to a slight surplus in 2024, even if OPEC+ nations extend their cuts into next year.

Oil supply running ahead of demand before delayed OPEC production policy meeting – Ahead of the delayed OPEC+ meeting on Thursday, there are indications oil supply is running ahead of demand, highlighting the thorny challenge facing the group as it prepares to set production policy for 2024. With futures well down from September highs, widely watched timespreads for global benchmark Brent and U.S. counterpart West Texas Intermediate have softened, signaling ample supply, while U.S. stockpiles have jumped. In addition, other more esoteric indications in the physical market, including differentials between specific grades, have been flashing warnings. The global oil market is fixated upon the meeting of OPEC and its allies, who’ll need to address what analysts see as burgeoning global supply, as well as an internal dispute on quotas. At present, Saudi Arabia and Russia are expected to extend voluntary production cuts, and market watchers say deeper group reductions are also possible. Their decisions will have a profound impact on trading this quarter, as well as next year. “Sentiment in the oil market remains negative,” said Warren Patterson, head of commodities strategy for ING Groep NV in Singapore. “There is a growing possibility that we see a deeper cut from the broader group. In doing this, the group would provide good support to the market going into 2024.” Futures curve. Of primary importance is the structure of the futures curve. The gap between WTI’s two nearest contracts has dipped into a bearish contango, with near-dated prices at a 28-cent-a-barrel discount to later-dated ones. A month ago, the opposite pattern — backwardation — held sway, with a premium above 80 cents. Brent’s prompt spread, meanwhile, fell into contango earlier this month for the first time since June, although it’s since recovered a little ground. Longer-term spreads have also come off. Brent’s six-month gap was last at $1.05 a barrel in backwardation compared with nearly $4 a month ago. In the U.S., stockpiles have been swelling. Inventories have rebounded since hitting the lowest this year in September, rising in five of the past six weeks. Other indications of ample near-term supply include sour crude grades in the Mediterranean trading at ever-widening discounts. For one, Basrah Medium is now offered at a discount of about $2.50 a barrel to its official selling price, a level many traders deem very low. Prices of other grades including Johan Sverdrup have also sunk. Asia’s appetite for oil is also softening, with the premium of Oman futures versus Dubai swaps declining this month. Spot differentials of key Middle Eastern grades including Murban have also been falling on weaker demand from buyers in the region, according to traders.

Saudi Arabia seeks OPEC+ oil quota cuts while some members resist -Saudi Arabia is asking others in the OPEC+ coalition to reduce their oil-output quotas in a bid to shore up global markets but some members are resisting, delegates said. The OPEC+ leader has been making a largely unilateral supply cutback of 1 million barrels a day since July, and is now seeking further support from across the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners, said the delegates, asking not to be identified because the information is private.The Saudi proposal comes amid difficult talks for the producers’ group, which was forced to delay its policy meeting by four days to Nov. 30 as Angola and Nigeria resist reductions to their own quota limits for 2024, which were set out at the cartel’s last conference in June.The producers were progressing toward a compromise on this matter before the weekend, but have yet to clinch an agreement, delegates said.The 23-nation OPEC+ alliance faces pressure to intervene in crude markets, following a 17% drop in prices over the past two months amid plentiful supplies and a darkening economic backdrop. Markets could weaken further in early 2024, when forecasters including the International Energy Agency anticipate the emergence of a new supply surplus.Saudi Arabia’s voluntary production cut of 1 million barrels a day, implemented in tandem with a 300,000 barrel-a-day export reduction from Russia, is currently set to continue until the end of the year. Most analysts expect Riyadh and Moscow to extend those curbs into 2024.

OPEC talks hit stalemate on African oil production quota dispute– OPEC is no closer to resolving the deadlock over oil production quotas for some African members that has already forced the group to delay a critical meeting amid faltering prices, according to delegates. The Saudi-led alliance hasn’t been able to reach an agreement with Angola and Nigeria, which are pushing back against lower quota limits for 2024 that reflect their diminished production capabilities, delegates said, asking not to be named because the information was private. The stalemate may not be resolved before the scheduled OPEC meeting on Nov. 30, potentially requiring a further delay, one delegate said. OPEC and its partners need to finalize production policy for 2024, with market watchers predicting that further cuts are needed as crude prices sag toward $80 a bbl on the prospect of a renewed surplus. Saudi Arabia, which has been making a voluntary oil production reduction of 1 MMbpd since July, is asking other members of the coalition to reduce their quotas to share the burden of cuts. Angola and Nigeria are disputing changes to their oil production targets that were provisionally agreed when OPEC last met in June. Those new quotas were subject to review by external consultants and both countries were unhappy with the revised figures. Lagos is now seeking a quota of 1.58 MMbpd for 2024, a slight increase from the provisional level, one delegate said. Luanda is proposing 1.18 MMbpd, which is lower than the figure agreed in June but higher than the consultants’ estimate, the delegate said. Failure to reach consensus could be very costly for the 23-nation coalition, which relies on oil revenue to cover government spending. Crude traders have largely priced in that group leaders Saudi Arabia and Russia will extend their 1.3 MMbpd of additional supply curbs through the first quarter of 2024. Many are banking on even more muscular action from the wider alliance. “With fundamentals softening and market sentiment bearish, OPEC may need to announce another formal cut,” analysts at Eurasia Group led by Raad Alkadiri said in a report on Monday. Anything short of a 1 MMbpd reduction could send prices to the low $70s, they added.

Saudis Pushing For Additional 1 Million Barrel OPEC+ Output Cut, May Come As Soon As Thursday --Ahead of the already once-delayed OPEC+ virtual meeting tomorrow - which may or may not be delayed again - the leaks, trial balloons and outright manipulation by various cartel delegates is approaching a level that would make the Fed and ECB blush.In the latest such leak, moments ago the WSJ largely repeated what we already reported last week, namely that to halt the drop in oil price, most OPEC+ members are considering - and in favor of - an additional 1 million barrels per day production cut. And while delegate sources confirmed that Nigeria and Angola, the two biggest African oil producers, still resist a downgrade of their individual quotas, as does the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia is in favor of the new cuts. And what Saudi Arabia wants, it usually gets.The move, which would likely send oil prices higher, could be announced Thursday at a virtual meeting of the cartel, although a deal for further cuts isn’t assured, and the prospect is still facing significant resistance.As a reminder, Saudi Arabia in June cut production by 1 million barrels, in a unilateral move as part of a deal with the other members of the Vienna-based group. Any cuts announced Thursday would be in addition to those announced in June, and would likely draw a rebuke from the U.S., which slammed 13-strong OPEC and its 10 Russia-led allies for agreeing to a cut of 2 million barrels a day last year. The White House - which is terrified of a spike in gasoline prices in the 2024 election year realizing it would all but cement Joe Biden's loss next November, called the decision by the so-called OPEC+ alliance shortsighted and suggested the group was actively supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.Separately, the WSJ reported that the delegates said the Middle East conflict hadn’t been brought up in the OPEC conversations.The OPEC talks also come as global industry and political leaders arrive in Dubai for the United Nations climate summit, where the role of major oil-producing countries in reducing emissions will again be a major topic of discussion. As a reminder, the UAE continues to push against further cuts and thus the fact that Saudi Arabia arranged for the OPEC meeting to take place at the same time as the climate summit suggests that Riyadh is not very pleased with its neighbor.

OPEC+ oil producers head into meeting with quota unease and geopolitical risks casting a shadow -- The influential Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, collectively known as OPEC+, convene to decide next production policy steps on Thursday, in a postponed virtual meeting overshadowed by conflict in the Middle East, internal disgruntlement and the imminent expiry of a key Saudi supply cut. All eyes have turned on whether the OPEC subset of the group — steered by heavyweight Saudi Arabia — will have mended its differences, after sources told CNBC that Angola and Nigeria objected to lower baselines for next year. Baselines, levels off which cuts and quotas are decided, have been a bone of contention within OPEC+, stalling talks amid UAE pushback in the summer of 2021. Angola and Nigeria have struggled with declining output amid underfunding, spare capacity depletion and infrastructural sabotage. But accepting lower baselines would pose risks in the event of future output recoveries. The two countries' baselines for 2024 — and implicitly their production quotas — were due to be studied following assessment from three independent data providers. Two OPEC+ delegates, who could only speak anonymously because of the sensitivity of discussions, told CNBC Tuesday that a compromise had yet to be reached, as the clock ticks toward key meetings between OPEC, OPEC+ and their technical committee. The gatherings were initially scheduled as in-person meetings last weekend in Vienna, before a last-minute downgrade to virtual conferences. Their new date overlaps with the first day of the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) hosted by key OPEC member the UAE, which is trying to raise its profile as a champion of the green transition. Beyond internal strife, OPEC+ has been contending with a perceived disconnect between prices and supply-demand fundamentals, which has frustrated the group — including Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, who warned market speculators they should "watch out" in May. Last week, three OPEC+ delegates stressed recent oil prices were pressured by liquidations in a tight future markets, while a fourth delegate said that prices are now shaped by global politics, including developments in Gaza. OPEC+ members already have a 2 million barrels-per-day production cut in place, compounded by 1.66 million-barrels-per-day voluntary declines from some members. Both were agreed until the end of 2024. Topping this, Saudi Arabia and Russia instituted respective supply drops of 1 million barrels per day and 300,000 barrels per day until the end of this year. These drops fleetingly boosted prices that languished amid high interest rates and banking turmoil in the first half of the year, but gains have since retreated, given a fragile recovery in China and political uncertainty in the Middle East. One of the aforementioned delegates said that OPEC+ would have to make a policy announcement to "support the market," while another delegate suggested cuts could be discussed. But a different delegate assessed it is unlikely that the coalition will change course, acknowledging uncertainty over Iran and Venezuela, where the U.S. signaled tightening and easing its oil sanctions, respectively. OPEC doesn't want to go back to 2015 when they lost control of the market, says RBC's Helima Croft Further cuts could stir dormant tensions with the White House, which prefers prices low at the pump but has stayed silent since a war of words with Riyadh last year. U.S. calls for additional production could conflict with Washington-endorsed efforts for global solidarity around decarbonization at COP28. OPEC+ and broader markets face uncertainty whether the conflict between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas would spread into the Middle East, echoing the crisis of 50 years prior that resulted in several Arab countries restricting oil exports to the U.S. Two OPEC+ delegates said the coalition would not politicize production, with one of the sources noting that the embargo of 1973 was decided by the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Some OPEC+ members will cut the oil that they send to the world to try to boost prices(AP) — The OPEC oil cartel led by Saudi Arabia and allied producers including Russia made another big swipe at propping up lagging crude prices Thursday, expanding some output cuts into next year and bringing up-and-coming oil supplier Brazil into the fold. Lower oil prices have been a good thing for U.S. drivers, who have been able to fill their gas tanks for less money in recent months. But it’s bad news for OPEC+ countries whose oil income bolsters their economies and who have faced setbacks in pushing prices higher despite initial fears that the Israel-Hamas war could affect oil flows. The OPEC+ oil ministers came out of an online meeting with more than 2 million barrels per day in voluntary cuts through the first three months of next year and declared that Brazil would join the bloc in January, bringing one of the world’s fastest-growing oil producers into an alliance that is trying to rein in global supply. However, sweeping cutbacks from OPEC+ and individual member countries since October 2022 have not made lasting changes to oil prices because of concerns about too much crude circulating in a weakening global economy, which could weigh on the thirst for oil for travel and industry.The market even shrugged off the new move, though it amounts to roughly 2% of global supply.Jorge Leon, senior vice president of oil market research for Rystad Energy, called it a “bit of disappointing meeting” for OPEC+ and a “bittersweet” one for Saudi Arabia in particular because it couldn’t convince the whole group to commit to production cuts. The market also was let down, because it “was likely expecting a deal covering the first half of next year,” he said.

Oil prices settle slightly lower ahead of OPEC+ meeting -- Oil prices settled slightly lower Monday as investors waited for an OPEC+ meeting later this week for an agreement expected to curb supplies into 2024. The Brent contract for January fell 60 cents, or .74%, to settle at $79.98 a barrel, while the West Texas Intermediate contract dropped 68 cents, or .9%, to settle at $74.86 a barrel. Both contracts rose slightly last week, their first weekly gain in five, underpinned by expectations that Saudi Arabia and Russia could roll over voluntary supply cuts into early 2024 and OPEC+ might discuss plans to reduce output further. However, prices had tumbled in the middle of the week after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies, including Russia, postponed a ministerial meeting to Nov. 30 to iron out differences on production targets for African producers. Since then, the group has moved closer to a compromise, four OPEC+ sources told Reuters on Friday. ING analysts said market sentiment remains negative given the dispute within OPEC+ over production quotas, although they expect Saudi Arabia to roll over its additional voluntary cut of 1 million barrels per day into next year. "Clearly, if we do not see this, it would put further downward pressure on the market, given the surplus over 1Q24," ING analysts said in a note. Estimated exports by OPEC countries have declined to 1.3 million barrels per day below levels in April, Goldman Sachs analysts said in a note, in line with the group's supply targets. "We still expect an extension of the unilateral Saudi and Russia cuts through at least 2024Q1, and unchanged group cuts, although a deeper group insurance cut is likely on the table," the bank added. However, the United Arab Emirates is set to ramp up exports of flagship Murban crude early next year, according to traders and Reuters data. In the United States, higher crude stockpiles could also put downward pressure on prices, analysts have said. The International Energy Agency said it expects a slight surplus in global oil markets in 2024 even if OPEC+ nations extend their cuts into next year. Commonwealth Bank analyst Vivek Dhar said: "With the IEA forecasting that global oil demand will only grow 0.9 million bpd next year, down from 2.4 million bpd growth in 2023, OPEC+ will have to show significant supply discipline, or at least jawbone such ability, to alleviate market worries of a deep surplus in oil markets next year." Oil prices have also stabilized after geopolitical tensions dialed down in the Middle East following a ceasefire in Gaza and an exchange of hostages and prisoners.

Oil on track to snap losing streak on hopes of further OPEC+ cuts - Oil prices rose on Tuesday, snapping a multi-session losing streak ahead of a crucial meeting of OPEC+, which is widely expected to deepen and extend cuts to oil production amid fears of supply being consistently higher than demand. Brent crude futures were up 45 cents, or 0.6%, at $80.43 a barrel at 0152 GMT, on track to snap a four-day losing streak. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were trading 43 cents higher, also 0.6%, at $75.28 a barrel, after falling for three straight sessions. OPEC+, which combines the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies including Russia, will hold an online ministerial meeting on Nov. 30 to discuss production targets for 2024. "Crude oil was up sharply in early trade amid reports that OPEC would reduce its output quotas," ANZ Research said in a client note on Tuesday. The group, whose move last week to postpone the meeting to iron out disagreements over production targets for African producers sent oil prices tumbling, has since moved closer to a compromise, four OPEC+ sources told Reuters on Friday, potentially helping de facto leader Saudi Arabia edge closer to consensus on deepening oil production cuts. Strong production by non-OPEC countries such as the United States has also added to pressure on prices, analysts say. "Saudi Arabia may be comforted that US gasoline prices have fallen for 60 straight days. This may soften the US opposition to any move to tighten oil markets and support prices," ANZ said.

Oil prices rise after storm disrupts Kazakh, Russian exports - Oil prices rose on Wednesday as a storm in the Black Sea region disrupted oil exports from Kazakhstan and Russia, raising fears of supply tightness, while investors awaited a crucial decision by OPEC+, which may deepen or extend output cuts. Brent crude futures gained 33 cents, or 0.4%, at $82.01 a barrel at 0127 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures climbed 45 cents, or 0.6%, to $76.86 a barrel. Both benchmarks gained about 2% on Tuesday on the possibility the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies such as Russia (OPEC+), will extend or deepen supply cuts, as well as concerns over Kazakh oil output and a weaker U.S. dollar. A severe storm in the Black Sea region has disrupted up to 2 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil exports from Kazakhtsan and Russia, according to state's officials and port agent data. Kazakhstan's largest oilfields are cutting combined daily oil output by 56% from Nov. 27, the Kazakh energy ministry said. "Investors covered short positions ahead of OPEC+ meeting amid worries over supply disruption from Kazakhstan," said Hiroyuki Kikukawa, president of NS Trading, a unit of Nissan Securities. "All eyes are on OPEC+ policy and demand outlook toward the end of this year, but WTI is expected to hover around $76, with a range of $5 each above and below, for a while unless OPEC+ significantly expands production cuts," he said. OPEC+ is due to hold an online ministerial meeting on Thursday to discuss 2024 production targets, after delaying the meeting from Nov. 26. The talks will be difficult and a rollover of the previous agreement is possible rather than deeper production cuts, four OPEC+ sources said.

WTI Extends Losses After Across-The-Board Inventory Builds, Record Crude Production -- Oil prices are sliding this morning (after yesterday's gains) as traders anxiously await tomorrow's high-stakes OPEC+ meeting (supply), and weighed signs that the Fed is done raising interest rates (demand).“The anxiety brewing in the crude market heading into tomorrow’s meeting is palpable,” “Positioning suggests that trades fear the downside more than the fear of missing out on a rally.”The producer group is expected to set policy for 2024, but has yet to resolve a dispute over output quotas for some African members, according to delegates. API reported overnight that crude inventories declined (and so did Cushing stocks) for the first time in six weeks. API

• Crude -817k (-700k exp)
• Cushing -465k
• Gasoline -898k (+200k exp)
• Distillates +2.81mm (-100k exp)

DOE

• Crude +1.61mm (-700k exp)
• Cushing +1.85mm
• Gasoline +1.76mm (+200k exp)
• Distillates +5.22mm (-100k exp) - biggest build since Dec 2022

The official data opposed API's with Crude and Cushing stocks building (and Gasoline stocks also rising vs API's draw). Distillates saw a huge 5.2mm inventory build too...The Biden admin took advantage of low oil prices and refilled the SPR with 313k barrels. That is the first 'build' at the SPR in 7 weeks...WTI was hovering around $76 ahead of the official data and extended losses after the across the board builds... Finally, the weak market is pressuring Saudi Arabia, the de facto leader of OPEC Plus, to push to continue and perhaps even deepen production cuts.

The Oil Market Posted an Outside Trading Day on Thursday as it Rallied Over 2.2% Early in the Session The oil market posted an outside trading day on Thursday as it rallied over 2.2% early in the session before it pared its gains and sold off more than 3.6% by mid-day. Early in the session, the crude market posted a high of $79.60 as the market awaited the outcome of the OPEC+ meeting amid reports that additional output cuts of 1 million bpd were being considered by the producer group. The market tested its earlier high of $79.60 as OPEC+ announced their agreement to cut output by about 2.2 million bpd for the first quarter next year. However, the market failed to breach its high and sold off sharply as the cut fell short of expectations, with at least 1.3 million bpd of those cuts being an extension of voluntary cuts that Saudi Arabia and Russia already had in place. Also, analysts believe that the output cuts would not amount to a 2 million bpd cut as some countries are already below their current targets and the output cuts are mostly voluntary. The crude market extended its losses to over 3.6% as it sold off to a low of $75.05 by mid-day. The oil market later traded in a sideways trading range ahead of the close. The January WTI contract settled down $1.90 at $75.96 and the January Brent contract settled down 27 cents at $82.83. The product markets ended the session in negative territory, with the heating oil market settling down 5.8 cents at $2.8305 and the RB market settling down 8.38 cents at $2.1998. OPEC+ oil producers agreed to output cuts approaching 2 million bpd for early next year led by Saudi Arabia rolling over its current voluntary cut of 1 million bpd it has had in place since July. Russia will cut 500,000 bpd and others will also contribute cuts. Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister, Alexander Novak, said Russia will deepen its additional voluntary supply cut of 300,000 bpd by an additional 200,000 bpd to reach a total cut of 500,000 bpd until the end of the first quarter of 2024. The cut will be made from the average export levels of the months of May and June and will consist of 300,000 bpd of crude and 200,000 bpd of refined products. Kuwait will voluntary cut output by 135,000 bpd from January to March and Oman will voluntary cut its output by 42,000 bpd from January to March. Algeria's Minister of Energy and Mines, Mohamed Arkab, said OPEC+ oil-producing countries may convene again before the end of this year. He said Algeria has agreed to an addition cut of 50,000 bpd January bringing its oil production target to 908,000 bpd. Nigeria has been given a quota of 1.5 million bpd, Angola 1.11 million bpd and Congo 0.277 million bpd. Meanwhile, an OPEC+ delegate said Brazil is set to join the OPEC+ group of oil-producing countries which includes Saudi Arabia and Russia starting in JanuaryThe U. S Department of Energy has awarded contracts for the purchase of 1.2 million barrels of oil in January to help replenish the SPR at a price of $77.57 per barrel, as a result of crude prices falling below DOE’s price threshold. Macquarie Commodity Trading received an award of 300,000 barrels and Sunoco Partners Marketing and Terminals received an award for 900,000 barrels. The contracts were finalized back on November 13th. Back in October the DOE announced it would post monthly solicitations for oil delivery for December until May and it set a revised maximum price it would pay at $79.00 per barrel. Prior to the October announcement, the DOE had said it would look to refill the SPR when WTI crude was at or below $67-$72 per barrel. Since 2022 the U.S. has released some 248 million barrels from the SPR in efforts to lower oil prices after the start of the Russia-Ukraine war. To date the DOE has only repurchased 7.5 million barrels.

U.S. crude declines as skepticism mounts over OPEC+ cuts --U.S. crude declined Thursday, erasing early gains, as traders grew more convinced that OPEC+, a group composed of OPEC plus its oil-producing allies, will not deliver on promised output cuts.The West Texas Intermediate contract for January fell $1.90, or 2.44%, to settle at $75.96 a barrel, while the Brent contract for January lost 27 cents, or 0.17%, to settle at $82.83 a barrel.OPEC+ released a statement Thursday that did not formally endorse production cuts, but individual countries announced voluntary reductions totaling 2.2 million barrels per day for the first quarter of 2024, with Saudi Arabia, the linchpin and largest member, leading the way.The market was disappointed with the outcome because the cuts are short term and the group failed to agree on a unanimous strategy, forcing members to implement unilateral cuts, said Jorge Leon, Rystad Energy's senior vice president, in a note after the meeting. Riyadh agreed to extend its voluntary production cut of 1 million barrels per day, a source in the Energy Ministry told the Saudi Press Agency. Iraq is cutting by 223,000 bpd, the United Arab Emirates 163,000 bpd, Kuwait 135,000 bpd, Kazakhstan 82,000 bpd, Algeria 51,000 bpd and Oman 42,000 bpd. Russia also deepened its voluntary supply cut to 500,000 bpd through the end of the first quarter, according to a statement from Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak. Traders are concerned that the cuts are voluntary and not mandatory, raising the question of whether OPEC+ can really follow through and curtail output, according to Phil Flynn, an analyst at the Price Futures Group. "The proof is going to be in the pudding," Flynn said. "Instead of having a clear answer to what is going to happen we only have a promise -- the promise is making people nervous," Flynn said. OPEC+ has a major problem when it comes to cohesion and compliance on output cuts, said John Kilduff of Again Capital. "Cheating is their middle name when it comes to these situations — OPEC that is," Kilduff told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" on Thursday morning. "They're like dieters around a dessert table in terms of trying to hold together and comply — they don't have a good track record with it." Kilduff said OPEC+ is getting squeezed by record production from nations including the U.S. and is losing market share in Asia, where demand growth is struggling due to economic headwinds in China. "They have a big problem on their hands," Kilduff said of OPEC+ and Saudi Arabia in particular. "They have their hands full and to me it's not going to prove to be a winning strategy for them," he said of the output cuts.

OPEC Slams IEA Over "Moment Of Truth" For Oil - Days after the International Energy Agency (IEA) said that the oil and gas industry faces “a moment of truth” in choosing between fueling climate change and becoming a part of the solution, OPEC criticized the agency for vilifying the industry and for playing down energy security and affordability. Last week, the IEA published a report saying that a “moment of truth” is coming for the oil and gas industry as most companies are watching the energy transition from the sidelines, with oil and gas producers accounting for only 1% of total clean energy investment globally. “Producers must choose between contributing to a deepening climate crisis or becoming part of the solution by embracing the shift to clean energy,” the IEA said. Commenting on the report, OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais said in a statement on Monday,“It is ironic that the IEA, an agency that has repeatedly shifted its narratives and forecasts on a regular basis in recent years, now addresses the oil and gas industry and says that this is a ‘moment of truth’.” “The manner in which the IEA has unfortunately used its social media platforms in recent days to criticize and instruct the oil and gas industry is undiplomatic to say the least. OPEC itself is not an organization that would prescribe to others what they should do,” Al Ghais said. OPEC also criticized the agency for describing carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) an “illusion”.Al Ghais concluded: “We do see a ‘moment of truth’ ahead. We need to understand that all countries have their own orderly energy transition pathways, we need an assurance that all voices are heard, not just a select few, and we need to ensure that energy transitions enable economic growth, enhance social mobility, boost energy access, and reduce emissions at the same time.”

US Military Says It Thwarted Ship Hijacking in Gulf of Aden Near Somalia - The US military said it thwarted a ship hijacking in the Gulf of Aden near Somalia on Monday as tensions continue to rise in the region due to Israel’s campaign in Gaza.US Central Command said in a press release that the destroyer USS Mason and allied ships responded to a distress call from the Central Park, a chemical tanker owned by Zodiac Marine, a company chaired by Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer.CENTCOM said five armed individuals attempted to flee the scene on a small boat but were detained by the US military. Hours after the incident, CENTCOM said two ballistic missiles were fired at the USS Mason from Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen but landed in the Gulf of Aden 10 nautical miles away from the US warship. The Houthis, known formally as Ansar Allah, seized an Israeli-linked tanker last week, but the Pentagon said on Monday that the attackers of the Central Park were likely Somali and not Houthi. “We know they are not Houthi,” Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said.

US Navy Responding After Militants Seize Israel-Linked Oil Tanker Off Yemen -Another suspected piracy incident is unfolding — this time in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Yemen on Sunday, as multiple news agencies are reporting that an Israel-linked oil tanker has been boarded by unknown militants. The emerging headlines have surprisingly thus far had little observable impact on oil prices, at a moment of growing security concerns and fears for international shipping in Mideast and Gulf regional waters. At least 22 crew of the Liberian-flagged Central Park, managed by Zodiac Maritime, are now believed to be held hostage. The Associated Press reports, "Attackers seized a tanker linked to Israel off the coast of Yemen on Sunday, authorities said. While no group immediately claimed responsibility, it comes as at least two other maritime attacks in recent days have been linked to the Israel-Hamas war." If done by the Houthis, this marks the first such piracy attack from Yemen during the Gaza truce which has successfully held, which went into effect Friday.The AP report further cites "An American defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, also confirmed to The Associated Press that the attack took place." Ship manager Zodiac Maritime described the seizure as "a suspected piracy incident."US naval forces appear to be en route, given the US defense official was further quoted as saying "US and coalition forces are in the vicinity and we are closely monitoring the situation" after "an unknown number of unidentified armed individuals" seized the ship.Maritime and private intelligence firm Ambrey said that "U.S. naval forces are engaged in the situation and have asked vessels to stay clear of the area."Below is what has become known so far of the vessel's ownership:Zodiac described the vessel as being owned by Clumvez Shipping Inc., though other records directly linked Zodiac as the owner. London-based Zodiac Maritime is part of Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer’s Zodiac Group. It wasn’t immediately clear who was behind the attack. Nearby Aden is held by forces allied to Yemen’s internationally recognized government and a Saudi-led coalition that has battled Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels for years. That part of the Gulf of Aden in theory is under the control of those forces and is fairly distant from Houthi-controlled territory in the country. Somali pirates also are not known to operate in that area. Given the location, and recent hostile incidents, the Iran-linked Houthis out of Yemen are the prime suspects for this newest ship hijacking....

Are Oil and Gas Vessels in the Red Sea Safe? -- Are oil and gas vessels in the Red Sea safe? The short answer is no, Torbjorn Soltvedt, Verisk Maplecroft’s Principal Analyst for the Middle East and North Africa, told Rigzone, responding to the question. “The threat of disruption to shipping in the Red Sea will remain elevated as long as the war between Israel and Hamas continues,” Soltvedt said. “Iran is seeking to avoid a direct military confrontation with Israel but is at the same time seeking to target U.S. and Israeli interests indirectly wherever possible,” he added. “In practice, Iran is outsourcing its response to its network of armed groups in the region. The result has been an increase in activity from Iran-linked groups in the region, including in Yemen and the Red Sea,” he continued. Soltvedt noted that that two important factors point toward an increase in Houthi attacks against shipping in the Red Sea over the coming weeks and months. “First, attacks carried out by the Houthis against commercial shipping carry a lower risk of triggering a direct U.S. or Israeli military response against Iran,” he told Rigzone. “And second, the halt in Houthi drone and missile attacks against Saudi Arabia since a diplomatic agreement between Riyadh and Tehran in March gives the group greater scope to focus on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden,” he added. “As a result, oil and gas vessels in the Red Sea now face an increased risk of hijackings as well as drone and missile attacks,” Soltvedt continued. “Ships with commercial ties to Israel and the U.S. face the highest risk of being targeted, but the increase in Houthi activities in the Red Sea also poses a threat to shipping more broadly,” he went on to state. The Verisk Maplecroft analyst said the Houthis have already demonstrated their ability to seize ships in the Red Sea and added that the group “also has the capability to target ships with an increasingly sophisticated arsenal of anti-ship missiles and drones”. When he was asked if oil and gas vessels in the Red Sea are safe, Dryad Global Analyst Noah Trowbridge said Israeli linked vessels are at a critical risk of hijacking by the Houthi in the Red Sea, “as illustrated by the seizure of the Galaxy Leader on … November 19”. “However, it is still unlikely that the Iran-backed group would risk escalation by targeting vessels unaffiliated with Israel at this stage,” Trowbridge added. The Red Sea, with its connection to the Suez Canal, is one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, Dryad notes on its website, adding that it’s an “essential channel, crucial to maintaining many countries’ political and economic stability”. “The Red Sea is of huge strategic importance lying between the continents of Asia and Africa, separating the Middle East and the Far East as well as Europe and Asia,” the company states on its site. “The geopolitical position of the Red Sea is important because it’s a natural border between the eastern coast of Africa and the western coast of the Arabian Peninsula and a vital route for the unarmed transportation of oil through the Bab el-Mandeb in the south to the Suez Canal in the North,” it adds. “As long as oil remains a primary source of energy for the world, this shipping lane will remain a vital channel for its transport from the Gulf,” it continues.

Qatar Says Israel and Hamas Agree to Extend Truce for Two Days - Qatar announced Monday that Israel and Hamas agreed to extend the truce under the Hostage deal for another 48 hours.“The State of Qatar announces, as part of the ongoing mediation, an agreement has been reached to extend the humanitarian truce for an additional two days in the Gaza Strip,” Majed al-Ansari, spokesman for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry, wrote on X.The four-day truce has held since Friday, and the two sides swapped another group of prisoners on Monday. The exchange on Monday included 11 Israeli hostages and 33 Palestinian prisoners.The exchange fulfilled Hamas’ commitment to hand over 50 Israelis during the initial four-day truce and Israel’s to release 150 Palestinians. Hamas has also released 19 other hostages, including 17 Thai nationals, a Filipino, and a Russian dual citizen, as part of separate arrangements.Qatar did not say what the terms of the two-day extension are, but Israel has said it would only extend the truce if Hamas releases 10 Israeli hostages each day. Israel is required to release more Palestinian prisoners during the extension.Israel has made clear that its brutal military campaign in Gaza will continue once the truce is over. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told a group of soldiers on Monday that after the ceasefire, the fighting “will be bigger and take place throughout the Gaza Strip.”

Israel and Hamas Exchange Prisoners for the Fifth Day - Israel and Hamas exchanged prisoners for the fifth straight day on Tuesday as the extension of the initial four-day truce appears to be successful despite the two sides blaming the other for briefly violating the ceasefire earlier in the day.Hamas released 12 more hostages, including 10 Israelis and two foreign nationals. Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said the Israeli hostages included one child and nine women.In exchange, Israel released 30 Palestinians from prison, including 15 women and 15 children. The new exchange brings the total number of hostages released by Hamas to 81 and Palestinians freed by Israel to 180.However, Israel has been arresting Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem nearly as fast as it is releasing prisoners. According to Palestinian prisoner groups, in the first four days of the truce, when Israel released 150 Palestinians, 133 Palestinians were arrested in the occupied territories. “As long as there is occupation, the arrests will not stop. People must understand this because this is a central policy of occupation against Palestinians and to restrict any kind of resistance,” Amany Sarahneh, spokeswoman for the Palestinian Prisoners Society, told Al Jazeera. “This is a daily practice – it’s not just after October 7,” she added. “We actually expected more people to be arrested during these four days.” The hostage deal truce is set to continue for at least one more day, although CIA Director William Burns is in Qatar discussing with Israeli and Qatari officials the idea of expanding the arrangement. According to The Washington Post, the US is pushing for a deal for Hamas to start releasing men and military hostages. Israeli officials have vowed to expand military operations in Gaza once the ceasefire is over.

Gaza Truce Brings Lull in Attacks on US Troops in Iraq and Syria - Since October 17, US troops based in Iraq and Syria have come under steady rocket and drone fire. At least 73 attacks have been carried out on US bases in the two countries, but they have stopped since the truce between Israel and Hamas to facilitate the hostage deal came into effect on Friday.According to Reuters, some of Iraq’s leading Shia militias behind some of the attacks on US forces, including Kataib Hezbollah, have said they would abide by the ceasefire. But the militias have signaled their attacks could resume once Israel restarts its operations in Gaza. The Iraqi government has condemned both the attacks on US troops and recent US airstrikes in Iraq that Kataib Hezbollah said killed ten of its fighters. The Iraqi government is warning that without a durable ceasefire in Gaza, the war will likely expand into a regional conflict. “The entire region is on the verge of a devastating conflict that may include everyone, and the extent of its expansion or how to control and stop it is not known,” Farhad Alaadin, a foreign affairs advisor to Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.“For this reason, we see any ceasefire in the conflict as beneficial and important at this stage for the people of Palestine and Gaza first and for all countries in the region, including Iraq,” Alaadin added.Israel and Hamas have agreed to extend the truce for another two days into Tuesday and Wednesday, but Israeli officials are warning their operations will be even bigger than before once they resume.

Israeli Airstrikes Put Syria's Damascus Airport Out of Service - Israeli airstrikes again targeted Syria’s Damascus airport on Sunday, putting it out of service, Syria’s SANA news agency reported.“At approximately 4:50 on Sunday afternoon, the Zionist enemy carried out an air aggression with missiles from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting Damascus International Airport and some points in Damascus countryside,” a military source told SANA.Israel began frequently targeting Syria’s airports in Damascus and Aleppo last summer, but the attacks have ramped up since the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel and the start of Israel’s onslaught in Gaza.Rudaw reported on Saturday that the Damascus airport was set to resume service after being inoperable for over a month due to Israeli airstrikes in October. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said flights resumed Sunday morning, just hours before Israel bombed the airport and knocked it out of service again.Israeli officials have justified Israeli airstrikes on Syria’s airports by claiming they receive Iranian weapons shipments. But the airports are also used by civilians. Earlier this year, Israeli airstrikes on the Aleppo airportdisrupted aid deliveries following a devastating earthquake that killed thousands of Syrians.

Russia condemns 'provocative' Israeli attack on Damascus airport - Syria's ally Russia on Monday condemned Israeli air strikes on Damascus international airport, describing them as provocative and dangerous. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Sunday's strikes could aggravate tensions in the region, already inflamed by the Gaza war. "We strongly condemn Israel’s latest provocative attack on an important Syrian civilian infrastructure facility," Zakharova said in a statement. "We are convinced that such a vicious practice is fraught with extremely dangerous consequences, especially in the context of a sharp aggravation of the situation in the zone of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the resulting increase in regional tension." Russia intervened in Syria's civil war in 2015 on the side of President Bashar al-Assad, and also has ties to Israel's other enemies in the region including Iran and Hamas. Relations between Russia and Israel have deteriorated since the start of the Gaza war as Moscow has repeatedly highlighted the suffering of Palestinian civilians under siege by Israel, as well as hosting a delegation of senior Hamas officials. The Syrian army and a pro-government newspaper said Sunday's Israeli air strikes put Damascus airport out of service and forced incoming flights to be diverted elsewhere.

Rocket Targets US Base in Syria - A rocket strike on a US base in Syria on Wednesday was the first attack against US troops in Iraq or Syria since the truce between Israel and Hamas in Gaza took effect on November 24. A Pentagon official told The National that a single rocket targeted Mission Support Site Euphrates, a US base in eastern Syria, and caused no injuries or damage to infrastructure.The attack marks the 74th time US troops have been targeted in Syria and Iraq since October 17. Some of the Iraqi Shia militias responsible for the attacks have said they were following the Gaza truce by not attacking US forces, but there are many different factions in the operations.Also on Wednesday, US Central Command said a US warship shot down a drone in the southern Red Sea that was fired from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. The Houthis, known formally as Ansar Allah, have been firing missiles and drones toward Israel in response to the onslaught in Gaza.The situation in the region is expected to escalate once Israel resumes its military operations in Gaza, which Israel’s defense minister vowed would be bigger than before. Kataib Hezbollah, an Iraqi Shia militia that said it was following the Gaza truce, signaled it would resume attacks on US troops once the ceasefire ends.The US has launched several rounds of airstrikes in eastern Syria and Iraq against the Shia militia, which have killed at least 15 people, according to US officials. Due to the recent escalations, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is planning to force a vote on a bill he introduced to withdraw all US troops from Syria.

Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha detained and beaten by Israel Defense Forces = Mosab Abu Toha, an acclaimed Palestinian poet, was detained last week by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which questioned and beat him before releasing him. The poet’s ordeal is a distilled expression of the barbarity of the Israeli state, which is attacking not only Palestinians themselves, but also their culture. Abu Toha was born in a refugee camp in Gaza and has lived in the enclave throughout his life. He wrote his first poems in 2014 as Israel was attacking Gaza from the air, the sea and the land. In 2019, he traveled to the United States to become a Scholar-at-Risk Fellow in Harvard University’s Department of Comparative Literature. He returned to Gaza in February 2021. Abu Toha’s first collection of poetry, Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear (2022), won an American Book Award and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle award. His writing has appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times and the Atlantic, among other publications. Like many other Palestinians, Abu Toha and his family were fleeing to southern Gaza on Monday, following the Israeli government’s warnings that they would not be safe in the north. The poet, his wife and his three young children were traveling to Rafah, where they hoped to cross into Egypt. “It is worth mentioning that the American embassy sent him and his family to travel through the Rafah crossing,” the poet’s brother Hamza Abu Toha wrote on Facebook. The Guardian, too, reported that the US embassy in Israel had told the poet that he was on a list of US citizens and their families who were allowed to enter Egypt. One of Abu Toha’s children was born in the US and is an American citizen. At a checkpoint between northern and southern Gaza, the IDF ordered Abu Toha to put down his three-year-old son, whom he had been carrying in his arms, and put his hands up. Soldiers then arrested him and took him away with about 200 other men. The IDF later said that Abu Toha and the others had been detained because of “intelligence indicating of a number of interactions between several civilians and terror organizations inside the Gaza Strip.” Aside from being extraordinarily vague, this assertion deserves as much credence as the IDF’s claim that the Al-Shifa hospital was “the main headquarters for Hamas’ terrorist activity.”

Vast scale of Gaza genocide comes into view -- Three days into the first letup in Israel’s two-month-long bombardment and invasion of Gaza, film crews have begun to document the evidence of the deliberate mass murder of Gaza’s civilian population in what is the world’s largest crime scene. Last week, Politico reported that the White House was “concerned” that a “pause” in Israel’s attack against Gaza “would allow journalists broader access to Gaza and the opportunity to further illuminate the devastation there and turn public opinion on Israel.” And so they have. An on-the-ground report by Al Jazeera over the weekend described the scene at Gaza’s Indonesian Hospital: “The stench of death forces people to cover their nose, charred, decomposing bodies, children among them, are piled up in one corner. No burials have taken place because Israeli snipers targeted anyone who ventured out to dig a grave. Streets, schools, houses, shops, Israeli strikes have destroyed them all.” These reports have completely exposed US President Joe Biden’s lie that Palestinian health authorities were overstating the death toll in Gaza. In fact, the Biden administration now admits the official death toll is a significant underestimation. It has been two weeks since the last official death toll was published by the Ministry of Health in Gaza, due to the collapse of health services which made counting the dead impossible. However, the latest unofficial count from the government information ministry, published Wednesday, estimated that 14,352 people had been killed, including 6,000 children and 4,000 women. Palestinian filmmaker Bisan Owda, whose social media reporting from Gaza has captivated millions of people all over the world, put the reality more plainly: “Numbers from Gaza you need to know: 20,000 people were killed, in 50 days of escalation—7,000 of them still under the rubble—8,000 of them are children—all of them are civilians.” According to Gazan officials, 233,000 housing units, or approximately half the houses in Gaza, have been either destroyed or damaged. Bombs or missiles hit 266 schools, of which 67 have been destroyed. Israel has killed 205 healthcare providers and 64 journalists. The most striking element of the death toll is the massive scale of death among women and children. An article published in the Guardian on Sunday stated that Israel claims it has killed between 1,000 and 2,000 Hamas fighters. Even if this were true, it means that for every fighter killed, Israel has killed three to six children, and that between 85 and 92 percent of those killed are civilians. On Sunday, the New York Times published a front-page article explaining that the massive death toll among women and children in the Gaza war is without precedent in the 21st century. “Israel has cast the deaths of civilians in the Gaza Strip as a regrettable but unavoidable part of modern conflict… But a review of past conflicts and interviews with casualty and weapons experts suggest that Israel’s assault is different.” The Times notes, “More than twice as many women and children have already been reported killed in Gaza than have been confirmed killed in Ukraine, according to United Nations figures, after almost two years of Russian attacks.”

Report Details How Israel Intentionally Targets Civilians in Gaza - A report from +972 Magazine published on Thursday detailed how Israel is intentionally targeting civilians in Gaza as part of its war strategy even when Israeli forces know strikes will kill young children.The report, which cited current and former Israeli intelligence officials, said the massive civilian casualties in Gaza since October 7 are due to Israel expanding its authorizations to bomb non-military targets and the loosening of restrictions related to civilian deaths. Israel’s operations in Gaza have had a very high civilian casualty rate, but never at the scale of the current conflict.Sources told +972 that the Israeli military has files on many potential targets that give them a good idea of the likely civilian casualties their strikes will cause. In one case discussed by the sources, Israel’s military command approved the killing of hundreds of Palestinian civilians in an attempt to kill one Hamas commander.One source said: “Nothing happens by accident. When a 3-year-old girl is killed in a home in Gaza, it’s because someone in the army decided it wasn’t a big deal for her to be killed — that it was a price worth paying in order to hit [another] target. We are not Hamas. These are not random rockets. Everything is intentional. We know exactly how much collateral damage there is in every home.”The report also explains Israel’s targeting “power targets,” which include civilian infrastructure, such as high-rise apartment buildings, banks, universities, and other public buildings. Three sources who’ve been involved in hitting power targets told +972 that the purpose is that a deliberate attack on Palestinian society will exert “civil pressure” on Hamas. Israel used to often warn people to evacuate power targets before they were hit, but that practice has become much less common. In the current war, apartment buildings full of civilians have been leveled with no warning.Sources told +972 that target files for high-rise buildings and other civilian infrastructure always contain some sort of alleged association with Hamas, the real purpose is to hurt civilians. “The sources understood, some explicitly and some implicitly, that damage to civilians is the real purpose of these attacks,” the report says.

US Reaffirms There Are No Conditions on Future Military Aid to Israel - Senior US officials speaking to POLITICO on Wednesday have reaffirmed that the Biden administration intends to place no conditions on future military aid to Israel despite public comments suggesting the idea was under consideration.Amid growing calls from Democrats to condition military aid to Israel, President Biden told reporters the idea is a “worthwhile thought,” but US officials said it won’t happen. “It’s not something we’re currently pursuing,” one official said.The comments come amid reports that say the US has been pressuring Israel to show restraint when it resumes military operations and expands them into south Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians who fled the south are located.White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby has said the US has “been clear with the Israelis that we don’t support them moving forward with operations in the south unless they have a plan to deal with the now-increased level of civilians there.”But there’s no sign the administration is using any of the leverage it has over Israel to curtail civilian casualties, and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has vowed Israel’s operations will be even bigger than before once the hostage deal truce is over.A US official has also clarified a tweet from President Biden that suggested he supported a real ceasefire in Gaza. On Tuesday night, the president’s X account said, “To continue down the path of terror, violence, killing, and war is to give Hamas what they seek. We can’t do that.”Many took Biden’s post as a significant shift in rhetoric, as he has previously rejected the idea of a lasting ceasefire. But a senior administration official speaking to Jewish Insider said it wasn’t a change in policy and that the US would continue to support the Israeli onslaught.“We want this to be the last war, and we recognize that, for that to happen, Hamas can’t be the governing authority,” the senior official said. “They have to be out of power, because if you have Hamas in power, you’re likely to have another conflict.”

Israeli Minister in Charge of West Bank Says Territory Is Home to '2 Million Nazis' - Bezalel Smotrich, the extremist Israeli finance minister who’s been given sweeping powers over the West Bank, has said the occupied territory is home to “2 million Nazis,” referring to part of the Palestinian population.It’s estimated that around 3 million Palestinians live in the West Bank. The Times of Israel reported that Smotrich made the comments in an apparent reference to two polls that found two-thirds of West Bank Palestinians supported the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel. However, the polls that were referencedsurveyed Palestinians living in both Gaza and the West Bank.The polls also came after weeks of Israel’s brutal bombing campaign and ground incursion into Gaza, as well as a significant uptick in violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.Based on polling, Hamas did not have much support before October 7 and the Israeli bombardment that ensued. A poll conducted on October 6 found that 67% of Palestinians in Gaza either had “no trust at all” (44 percent) or “not a lot of trust” (23 percent) in Hamas. The same poll found that 73% of Gazans favored a peaceful solution to the conflict with Israel.Smotrich, the leader of the Religious Zionism Party, also referenced “Nazis” in the West Bank in comments on X in response to a Fatah official saying the October 7 Hamas attack didn’t happen in a vacuum. “A reminder to those who have not yet sobered up and think that the Nazis in Judea and Samaria are different from the Nazis in Gaza,” Smotrich said, according to Middle East Eye.Smotrich, a West Bank settler himself, serves as the finance minister in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government but was also given a position in the Defense Ministry, where he has the power to approve new settlement construction and make it even more difficult for Palestinians to build new homes.Describing the views of Smotrich, the AP reported earlier this year that the politician and his supporters “envision a single state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea in which Palestinians can live quietly with second-class status or leave.”

Israel officials: Donations to Hamas-linked charities up 70% since Oct. 7 attack - Financial investigators in Israel have identified a significant increase in donations to Hamas-linked charities since the group's deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel, according to current and former Israeli officials, some of whom requested anonymity to discuss sensitive national security information. "We saw a 70% increase in money given to Hamas-linked charities," said Uzi Shaya, a former high-ranking officer in Mossad, Israel's intelligence service. In pure dollar amounts, this is equal to an increase of about $100 million in the past seven weeks, according to Israeli Defense and Foreign Ministry officials who requested anonymity. CNBC could not independently confirm the amount of money flowing to Hamas-linked charities. But current and former U.S. intelligence officials said Israel is capable of tracking this data. Since the Oct. 7 attack, Israel's retaliatory campaign has halted commerce in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, making international aid, which only recently started to flow, its only lifeline. In addition to waging war on the land, sea and air, Israel is battling on a fourth front: the international financial system. Stopping the inflows of money to Hamas is difficult, because the charity groups that collect the funds are scattered around the world and their structures can be fluid. Charities suspected of funneling money to Hamas often change their names, too, making them all the more difficult to monitor. "We don't want to designate charities and cut off funding for things that are legitimate," a Foreign Ministry official told CNBC.

Israel, Hamas Extend Gaza Truce for Seventh Day - Hamas and Israel agreed at the last minute on a deal to extend the Gaza truce for one more day, making Thursday the seventh day of the temporary ceasefire to facilitate the swap of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners.According to Middle East Eye, the agreement was made after Hamas sent Israel a list of Israeli women and children it could release. The extension of the truce since the initial four-day pause has been conditioned on Hamas releasing ten hostages per day and Israel freeing more Palestinian prisoners.“A list of women and children – in accordance with the terms of the outline [of the truce agreement last week] – was delivered to Israel a short time ago; therefore, the pause will continue,” the Israeli government said in a statement.The extended truce is due to expire at 7 am local time on Friday unless another deal is reached. Qatar-mediated negotiations are expected to be more difficult as Hamas is looking for more concessions from Israel to release the Israeli soldiers they captured.The exchanges so far have involved Hamas freeing Israeli women and children and Israel mainly releasing Palestinian women and children or people who were detained as minors.

Hezbollah Rejoins Fight, Lebanese Civilians Killed, After Gaza Truce Ended - The resumption of fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip after the truce ended Friday morning has quickly translated into rocket and artillery fire in Israel's north, where emergency sirens have sent residents running for shelter across several towns. Hezbollah, which over the past week has respected the Hamas truce during which time it by and large silenced its weapons, has rejoined the conflict. Already there have been deaths in Lebanon after Israel responded by shelling the town of Hula. Hezbollah-affiliated television channel al-Manar said that a mother and her son were killed in the attack. Previously in the day Al Jazeera reported that "Hezbollah claimed a strike on Israeli soldiers in the first cross-border attack on Israel since the resumption of the fighting in Gaza." Last weekend, the government of Iraq warned that if the Gaza ceasefire doesn't become permanent, there's a strong chance the conflict turns into broader regional war. The Pentagon has forces on high alert at US bases in Syrian and Iraq. Prior the truce of last Friday, American bases in the region had come under some 60 or more total drone and rocket attacks. The US responded with airstrikes several times against 'Iran-backed militias'. Whether these attacks will start up again is a big question the West will be watching closely. The Biden administration has repeatedly threatened to strike against Iran-linked targets and assets if Americans come under threat.

Israel Planning for Gaza War To Last Over a Year - The Financial Times reported speaking with sources who said that Israel plans to wage war on Gaza for over a year. In a little less than two months, Israel has killed at least 15,000 people, damaged 100,000 buildings, displaced 1.7 million Palestinians, and destroyed most of Gaza’s medical facilities.On Friday, FT reported sources said Israel was preparing for a multi-phase conflict in Gaza that will last at least a year. “This will be a very long war…We’re currently not near halfway to achieving our objectives,” said one person familiar with the Israeli war plans.According to the sources, Israel’s goals include “killing the three top Hamas leaders — Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif, and Marwan Issa — while securing a decisive military victory against the group’s 24 battalions and underground tunnel network and destroying its governing capability in Gaza.”Israel does not appear close to achieving these goals. US sources have said that Israel’s military operations in Gaza have failed to impact high or even mid-level Hamas members. On Sunday, the Guardian reported that Israeli officials estimated that 1,000 – 2,000 Hamas members had been killed. However, FT spoke with an Israeli military source who gave an estimate of 5,000 dead Hamas members. It is unclear why there is such a large discrepancy in the numbers, as both were given during the week-long pause in fighting.In either case, the Israeli military operations have killed more children, at least 6,000, than members of Hamas. The massive civilian toll has led to mounting world opinion against Israeli military operations.Secretary of State Antony Blinken attended a meeting of the Israeli war cabinet on Thursday and warned that Tel Aviv will lose more international support as the conflict continues. Gen. Herzi Halevi, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) chief of staff, said military operations in Gaza will take “more than a few additional weeks,” suggesting Tel Aviv did not plan to follow Washington’s advice. Still, America’s top diplomat said Washington was still firmly committed to arming Tel Aviv.

Iran Sues Leading Newspaper Over Leaked Top Secret 'Morality Guard' Document - The Iranian public prosecutor's office has slapped a prominent newspaper with charges over the publication of a top-secret government document outlining the country's volunteer morality guards - guys who go around whacking women for not wearing hijabs and other violations of Sharia law, who are separate from (but similar to) the country's official morality police. According to DW, citing the judiciary's Mizan news, a reformist daily newspaper, Etmad, published the "highly confidential" document - an instruction from the Interior Ministry regarding the deployment of thousands of morality guards to enforce the country's Hijab dress code for women.While the Iranian government has sought to portray the morality guards as nothing more than civilian volunteers who aren't part of the ministry, or the official morality police. But the leaked documents shows deep links between the group and the ministry.Iran's morality guards came under fire last month following the death of 16-year-old Armita Geravand, who fell into a coma after morality guards reportedly beat her into a coma for not wearing a hijab.Geravand was hospitalized and fell into a coma in after she reportedly had a confrontation with morality guards on the Tehran Metro for not wearing a hijab. She died in hospital weeks later.The incident prompted comparisons with the death of Jina Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish woman who died in the custody of the morality police in 2022.Her death led to unprecedent women's rights protests in Iran and around the world. -DWIranian authorities have denied that the morality police caused Geravand's death, which claimed that she fell and hit her head due to 'low blood pressure,' MDJ reports. The incident caused eight UN experts to call for an "independent, prompt, and impartial" investigation into the incident, saying that women and girls "should not be punished for wearing or not wearing any specific piece of clothing, and should certainly not be at risk of losing their lives for doing so."

Spanish Government Threatens to Break Ranks With EU and Unilaterally Recognise Palestine. What Gives? - During a tour of Israel and Palestine last week, Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez did something that most EU leaders dare not: he criticised Israel for its indiscriminate bombing of Gaza. At a press conference on Gaza’s Rafah border crossing with Egypt, Sánchez described the mass killing of civilians, “including women and children,” as “unacceptable.” He also raised the possibility of Spain unilaterally recognising Palestine as a state if Spain’s EU partners do not commit to collective recognition.“The time has come for the international community and especially the EU to make a decision on the recognition of the Palestinian State. It would be worth it and it would be important for us to do it together,” Sánchez said, adding that if that does not happen, Spain will make its own decision on the matter. As Euro News notes, while a number of EU Members do recognise Palestinean statehood, they do not include any of the larger states or economies, meaning that Spain could become a pioneer if Sánchez were to deliver on his word.Of course, Sánchez’s talk of the need for the “international community” to recognise Palestine as a state is absurd given that 138 of the world’s 193 countries — representing over three-quarters of the global population — had already done so as of December 31, 2019. The map below illustrates just how out of sync the international community of which Sánchez speaks — i.e. NATO & friends — is with the rest of the world on this issue. By the end of 2019, nine G20 countries had recognised Palestine : Brazil, China, India, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Argentina (all current or prospective BRICS members, though Argentina may leave before it joins), Turkey and Indonesia. Ten G20 countries hadn’t, six of them NATO members (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States) and three, major non-NATO allies (Australia, South Korea and Japan). The other, Mexico, this year reclassified the Palestinian Authority’s diplomatic mission in Mexico City from special delegation to embassy, despite huge pressure from the US State Department.

South Koreans want their own nukes. That could roil one of the world’s most dangerous regions (AP) — To the steady rat-tat-tat of machine guns and exploding bursts of smoke, amphibious tanks slice across a lake not far from the big green mountains that stand along the world’s most heavily armed border.Dozens of South Korean and U.S. combat engineers build a pontoon bridge to ferry tanks and armored vehicles across the water, all within easy range of North Korean artillery.For seven decades, the allies have staged annual drills like this recent one to deter aggression from North Korea, whose 1950 surprise invasion of South Korea started a war that has technically yet to end. The alliance with the United States has allowed South Korea to build a powerful democracy, its citizens confident that Washington would protect them if Pyongyang ever acted on its dream of unifying the Korean Peninsula under its own rule. With dozens of nukes in North Korea’s burgeoning arsenal, repeated threats to launch them at its enemies, and a stream of tests of powerful missiles designed to pinpoint target a U.S. city with a nuclear strike, a growing number of South Koreans are losing faith in America’s vow to back its longtime ally.The fear is this: That a U.S. president would hesitate to use nuclear weapons to defend the South from a North Korean attack knowing that Pyongyang could kill millions of Americans with atomic retaliation.

Ukraine war updates: Finland to close entire border with Russia; winter storms wreak havoc in Russia and Ukraine - Finland is set to shut its entire border with Russia this week, the government said on Tuesday. The border will remain closed until Dec. 13, according to a government statement. Last week Finland had closed all but one of its border crossings with Russia with the goal of halting an inflow of asylum seekers from the country. The Finnish government has repeatedly suggested that the refugees were guided to the border by Russian authorities. Close to 1,000 people from countries that are not Finland or Russia have entered Finland since August, and most of them have sought asylum in Finland, the government said Tuesday. "Russia has been not only letting through migrants or third country citizens without valid documentation, over the border toward Finland, but also they have been mobilizing people to access Finland and the European Union through that route," Finnish Foreign Affairs Minister Elina Valtonen told CNBC's Silvia Amaro on Tuesday. Russia's approach was a "hybrid operation" she said, adding that Finland had "responded accordingly" as a signal that the government "can't accept this phenomenon to take place." Meanwhile, southern Ukraine and Russia continue to be battered by bad weather, with huge winter storms causing widespread power cuts, losses of water supplies, mass flooding, traffic chaos and destruction. Heavy fighting carries on along the front line in Ukraine, nonetheless. There have been a number of deaths and injuries as a result of a surge in severe weather in recent days, with snowstorms and high winds hitting southern regions of Ukraine particularly hard, as well as Russian-occupied Crimea and southern Russia — especially its Black Sea coastal area.

Internal Polling Suggests Zelensky Would Lose Election to Gen. Zaluzhny - Internal polling in Ukraine shows that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky could lose a presidential election if he faces off with Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, the Ukrainian commander-in-chief, The Economist reported on Tuesday.So far, Zaluzhny has not expressed an interest in entering the political fray, but he’s been rumored to be a potential candidate. It’s also been reported that he’s been at odds with Zelensky, a spat that spilled into the public after Zaluzhny called the war against Russia a stalemate and said there would likely be no “deep and beautiful breakthrough.” Zelensky, who is still claiming Ukraine can win, later took a swipe at Zaluzhny, saying Ukrainian generals should stay out of politics. “If a military man decided to do politics, it is his right, then he should enter politics, and then he can’t deal with war,” Zelensky said. But polling shows the Ukrainian public trusts Zaluzhny more than the country’s political leadership, as Kyiv has been rocked by corruption scandals.The Economist report reads: “The figures, which date from mid-November, show trust in the president has fallen to a net +32%, less than half that of the still revered General Mr Zaluzhny (+70%). Ukraine’s spychief, Kyrylo Budanov, also has better ratings than the president (+45%).”Ukraine’s next presidential election is scheduled for March 2024, but Zelensky has ruled out holding one due to the war because Ukraine’s constitution prohibits holding a vote under martial law. Zelensky previously suggested he could hold an election if the West foots the bill but later ruled out the idea.“I believe that elections are not appropriate at this time,” Zelensky said earlier this month. For now, the Ukrainian public agrees that there shouldn’t be an election. The same polling cited by The Economist said eight out of ten Ukrainians are against holding elections, but things could change as the war drags on with no end or victory in sight.

NATO Chief Urges Members to 'Stay the Course' on Ukraine - NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday urged alliance members to continue funding the proxy war in Ukraine amid growing signs that Western support for the conflict is waning.“We just have to stay the course. This is about also about our security interests,” Stoltenberg told reportersahead of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels.The NATO chief acknowledged that the battle lines have barely moved in the past year as Ukraine’s counteroffensive has failed and justified continuing support based on the damage being done to Russian forces.“We have also to take into account that even though the frontline has not moved so much, the Ukrainians have been able to inflict heavy losses on the Russian forces with deep strike capabilities, with cruise missiles delivered by NATO Allies,” Stoltenberg said.However, the Ukrainian side is facing a manpower shortage as it has taken heavy casualties. The average age of a Ukrainian soldier is now 43, as many young Ukrainians have been killed or maimed in the war.An aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recently told Time Magazine that even if the West provided Kyiv with all of the weapons it needs, Ukraine doesn’t have the men to use them. The same report quoted another aide who said Zelensky “deludes himself” into thinking Ukraine can win the war. “We’re out of options. We’re not winning. But try telling him that,” the aide said.

Poland’s De Facto Blockade Of Ukraine Is Its Outgoing Government’s Last Power Play - This is also Poland’s last realistic chance to defend its territorial integrity in the face of the coming years’ threats. Poland is poised to become Germany’s largest-ever vassal state upon former Prime Minister and European Commission President Donald Tusk’s likely return to the premiership following the liberal-globalist opposition coalition’s victory in last month’s elections. Those who are interested in learning more about how this is expected to unfold should review this analysis here, which focuses on how the interplay between EU, German, and NATO policies will likely lead to this geopolitical outcome. Since that fateful vote took place, Polish truckers now even farmers have imposed a de facto blockade against Ukraine that the outgoing government hasn’t broken, which can be regarded as that party’s last power play aimed at giving their country a fighting chance at preserving some of its sovereignty. Here’s a collection of news items about this development from the beginning of the month in order to bring readers up to speed since the Western media hasn’t given it the attention that it deserves:

• * “EU state blocking Ukrainian vehicles – Spiegel”
• * “Ukrainian envoy condemns Polish trucker blockade”
• * “Protesters in EU state blocking aid to Kiev – Ukrainian official”
• * “Polish farmers to join Ukraine blockade – Bloomberg”
• * “Ukrainians warned of food shortages”
• * “Ukraine counting costs of Polish border blockade”
• * “Polish truckers blocking Ukraine military cargos – media”

This scenario was actually forecast in early October in the author’s piece about how “Morawiecki Suspects That Zelensky Struck A Deal With Germany Behind Poland’s Back”. It was predicted that Poland could impose a de facto blockade against Ukraine if the ruling party won in order to coerce that country into distancing itself from Germany to a degree, which sought to replace Poland’s desired sphere of influence there as part of its regional power play against it. Here’s the pertinent excerpt from that piece:“Poland could threaten to stop the transit of third countries’ (especially Germany’s) military and economic aid to Ukraine until Kiev pays restitution for [the Przewodow incident] in the form of institutionalizing its envisaged sphere of influence there. What’s being proposed is a remix of the 1938 ultimatum that Poland gave to Lithuania, albeit this time without the implied threat of armed force if Ukraine doesn’t agree. Nevertheless, the threat of cutting off that country’s military and economic lifeline would likely be sufficient for coercing Kiev into complying with Warsaw’s demands.”As it turned out, Poland did indeed impose a de facto blockade against Ukraine, though the ruling party and its potential allies failed to win the majority of parliamentary seats during last month’s elections. Nevertheless, their refusal to break up the trucker-farmer blockade of that former Soviet Republic strongly implies tacit approval for it, and nobody should be surprised if it’s later revealed that that they played a role in organizing this behind the scenes to some extent.

Outrage After Russia Outlaws 'International LGBT Movement' -In a decision that Amnesty International decried as "shameful and absurd," Russia's Supreme Court on Thursday banned the "international LGBT movement"—which critics noted doesn't actually exist—as an "extremist organization," a move human rights groups said will subject the country's already oppressed queer community to further repression.During a closed hearing, Russia's highest court sided with the country's Justice Ministry, which earlier this month filed a lawsuit accusing the "LGBT movement" of fomenting social and religious discord. LGBTQ+ advocates said the ruling will effectively silence queer activism in a country that banned so-called "gay propaganda" a decade ago, one of numerous legal attacks on gay rights including a law signed in July by Russian President Vladimir Putin prohibiting gender-affirming healthcare and stripping transgender people of marriage and parental rights."Russian authorities should immediately end this perverse persecution of LGBT people and concerned countries should support LGBT people and their advocates facing extreme risks and persecution in Russia," Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a statement.

Authorities Demand Access To Private Social Media Conversations To Spy On Anti-Mass Migration Sentiment - Authorities in Ireland are set to be given access to private social media conversations in order to spy on anti-mass migration sentiment following the riots in Dublin.After an Algerian migrant stabbed three children outside a primary school, fiery but mostly peaceful protests broke out in the Irish capital. Authorities reacted by being more outraged at the protesters than the actual would-be child murderer, who should have been deported 20 years ago and was previously released after being arrested for carrying a knife.Now Irish people who share spicy memes in WhatsApp chat groups are going to be under government surveillance should this new ‘hate speech’ legislation pass.“Gardai will be able to access and intercept private conversations on social media sites under new legislation, as the Justice Minister promised to crack down on crime following the riots in Dublin,” reports the Irish Times.

In-person preschool education early in pandemic tied to richer vocabulary - UK children who spent more time in childcare in the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic—including those from disadvantaged backgrounds—maintained more advanced vocabularies throughout the following months, suggest parent-reported data published yesterday in the Journal of Early Childhood Research.As part of an ongoing study, a team led by University of Leeds researchers parsed childcare data from 171 children aged 5 to 23 months who attended or didn't attend childcare from March to June 2020.Their aim was to determine whether previously demonstrated links between early-childhood education attendance and the development of language and executive functions, problem-solving skills, and personal-social development were maintained during the first year of the pandemic.The researchers collected data from online questionnaires in spring and winter 2020 and spring 2021. The questionnaires asked parents about their daily lives and children's abilities, including the number of words their child said or understood in categories such as vehicles, adventures, and animals and their child's executive function (control of attention, behavior, and emotion).Parents also recorded how often their child showed certain behaviors and how often they played games with their child designed to elicit signs of skills such as waiting, finding, and sorting. To capture problem-solving skills, parents reported whether, for instance, their child could retrieve candy from a bottle by upending it.The researchers then analyzed links between socioeconomic background, children's growth in language and cognitive skills, and time spent in childcare before the spring 2020 lockdown, during all three lockdowns, and in the intervals between those lockdowns. "Early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings faced significant disruption during the COVID-19 pandemic, compromising the continuity, stability and quality of provision," the study authors wrote, noting that disruptions also occurred due to staff shortages, cleaning regimens, quarantines, and removal of some materials from classrooms because of contamination concerns."Three years on from the first UK lockdown as pandemic-era preschoolers enter formal schooling, stakeholders are concerned about the impact of the disruption on children’s cognitive and socioemotional development, especially those from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds," the authors added.The study was a follow-up to an analysis the same team conducted in spring 2020 on early-childhood development during the first 6 months of the pandemic, which produced similar findings. ECEC was tied to more advanced receptive vocabulary (the set of understood words) and personal-social development in all children, with the added benefit of growth in expressive vocabulary (words people use to express themselves) and communication and problem-solving skills for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. For each day of the week spent in childcare, toddlers could produce, on average, 29 more new words and understand 16 more new words than those who didn't attend childcare. "Overall, results suggest that ECEC had sustained learning benefits for children growing up during the pandemic despite ongoing disruption to settings, with specific benefits for children from less affluent home environments," the researchers wrote. "As pandemic-era children progress to primary school, we discuss the importance of adapting their learning conditions and adjusting the expectations placed on them."